#uh... I know CC would definitely be worried if that happened though

[scuddle-bubble101]

I love Scottish folds! I was thinking you were Scottish Fold mixed with Munchkin and Norwegian Forest Cat. Explains the luxurious fur ruff and long hair ^^

I know I should not love scottish-folds due to their weak tendons but like its my favorite breed as well as those other breeds ESPECIALLY THE NORWEGIAN FOREST CAT!!! SUCH BIG BOYS, SUCH GOOD HECKING CHONKERS!

[i-got-a-bad-feeling-about-this]

Together (Space Mark x GN Reader)

Chapter 2

Chapter 1 , Chapter 2 , Chapter 3 , Chapter 4 Chapter 5 , more coming soon!

summary- Being captain of the ship was a job you enjoyed a lot. You didn't mind the busy work, or not being able to go home after a day of work. Though right now you did mind the work because it separated you and Mark. While being captain is a great job, it doesn't come without some dangers, and of course, with your luck danger appears at the worst possible time.

TWs- Major character Injuries (Multiple), NO character death, Minor character injuries, mentions of blood, doesn't go into much detail about injuries, mentions of anesthetic gas, anxiety, mentions of fear ( Nothing major, not detailed.), fainting, angst, hurt/comfort (Literally). Long ( 2,597 words) NO ONE DIES OR WILL DIE.

I wasn't planning on making it as angsty as I did, but I think I'll make up for it in the next chapter and with the hurt/comfort at the end. Also mad this long, about 2,500 words. Definitely has some fluff and goofs at the start though. The captain is a bit clumsy not me projecting, hope you all enjoy <3 please read TWs

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No Real spoilers for ISWM part 1 or 2 but may change as the story goes on, so check for spoiler warnings!!!!

READ TRIGGER WARNINGS BEFORE READING!!!!!!

You followed Gunther to the ADS, your thoughts still on what was about to happen with Mark. Were you two seriously about to kiss, did he really like you? You questioned yourself. As your thoughts raged on Gunther stopped in front of the ADS and because you weren’t paying attention you smacked right into him. 

With an oof you fell on your ass for the second time that day. Gunther turned to make sure you were okay, 

“ You okay there cap’n?” he asked, offering you his hand. You cringed a bit at yourself for falling twice, but nodded. 

“ Yeah, uh sorry about that Gunther.” you answered as he pulled you up. Gunther raised his eyebrows before asking, 

“ Now cuse me if i’m being rude cap’n, but something on ya mind? Ya seemed a bit distracted.” , you blushed softly, so he hadn't seen what was about to happen. It’s not like it was a bad thing, it wasn't at all. You just thought, you and Mark should talk before anyone else finds out. 

“ Oh nothing on my mind, just a bit tired. “ you replied walking into the ADS room. He followed behind you and said, 

“ Ah, that happens to us all cap, I was just worried Mark might’ve said something to upset ya.” He put his hand on his hips, “ I don’t think that softy would ever do that though, he has a soft spot for ya cap.” 

He started to type on the ADS computer, you were glad he wasn’t looking at you or he would see your surprised reaction.

“ Isn’t he nice to everyone though.” you questioned, your eyebrows furrowed together. 

Without looking away or hesitating Gunther answers, 

“ Well Mark’s a nice person, but he isn’t always nice ya know. He can get annoyed pretty quick, I remember someone was tryna use his tablet without asking and boy oh boy did he get mad.”  He waved a hand around, “ He doesn't really yell at people all that often, but when he does he can be scary at times. It's just he doesn't get annoyed by you or around you. “ He finished typing turning to face you. 

“ You remember when Burt accidentally let the reactor heat up too much and he had to go in there to fix it” You nodded, “ Yeah well, if you weren’t there he would've been a real asshole bout it. Not like I blame em, i wouldve been pissed if I had to fix that mess.” he laughed, stepping to the side. You walked up and input your code, 

“ I don’t know about the “ does not get annoyed around me" part,  I've seen him and CC argue all the time.” you mumbled, 

Gunther let out a chuckle, “ That we all have cap’n, but you haven’t seen him actually mad. Probably just wants you to have a good impression of him.” You nodded, 

“Yeah, makes sense I guess.” you finished inputting your code, “ Okay, that should do it. If you need me just tell the computer.” He nodded, 

“ Will do cap,” The door closed and you started to walk back to the bridge. You knew there was no way Mark would be done yet, but you wanted to be there when he was done. 

As you walked into the empty bridge your stomach filled with butterflies. You knew it would only make the most logical sense that he returned your feelings considering what happened, but logic didn’t really play a part in your emotions. 

Who would’ve thought the captain of a spaceship, a person who is responsible for the lives of so many people, would get so nervous about almost kissing someone. Well, not someone, Mark wasn’t just someone. He was your best friend and right hand. He was kind and always supported you, never getting annoyed or mad. He was amazing. 

You leaned slightly on the monitor watching the door. Depending on how through CC was going to be It could be a while before he got back, and knowing her she would want to be through. You let out a sigh, normally you loved that about her, but right now you just wanted to talk to Mark. You turned to the monitor and did a bit of busy work.

After about an hour you bit your lip and crossed your arms, maybe you should go to cyro and see if he- if they need help. 

You nodded to yourself and stood up. He wouldn’t mind right? Yeah of course he wouldn't mind, it’s Mark. 

You walked towards the door, looking down at your tablet to see if anyone needed you first. As you walked through the door frame you ran into a stern chest, and for the 3rd time that day started to fall. 

Though to your luck, this person reached out and grabbed you before you could fall. Even better than that, was the fact the person you ran into was Mark. You don’t think you’d want anyone to have their arm around your waist like he is. 

You both blushed, and as your eyes met you let out a soft laugh. Mark soon joined, pulling you up and grabbing your hand. He led you into the empty bridge.

“ I’m so glad you caught me, I don't think I'd be able to live with myself if I fell on my ass 3 times in one day.” you said to him, your hand in his. He raised an eyebrow, 

“ Wait, 3? When did the second one happen?” he asked letting your hand go and moving towards his locker.You blushed, 

“ Well I was walking behind Gunther and I wasn’t paying attention and ran straight into him.” you moved to stand beside Mark, “ And unlike you, he didn’t catch me.” Mark let out a soft chuckle and you lightly hit his shoulder, 

“ It's not funny.” You said, he smiled and closed his locker. His hands free of his gloves and gauntlets and his overalls pulled down to his waist, showing off his white turtleneck, which he rolled the sleeves up. 

“ I’m sorry captain, but It's just a tiny bit funny.” he said lightheartedly, you joined in laughing with him. As your laughs slowed to a stop you looked up to see a soft smile and blush on Mark’s face. 

You got lost in his kind eyes, seeing that glimmer of what you hope to be love is there. You stepped a bit closer to him, so you could take his hand in yours again. 

He smiled as you interwided your fingers with his. Both of your hands free of gloves. 

“ You are so stunning, Captain. “ Mark complimented, you looked away from him feeling embarrassed. He stepped closer placing a hand on your cheek and gently moving your head to look at him, while saying, 

“ no, no, please don’t hide that gorgeous face of yours. Look at me please.” Your eyes met his, you mumbled

“ How could I ever say no to you?” He chuckled lightly before answering, 

“ Pretty easily actually. Not that I would want you to.” his features became more serious, 

“ I wouldn’t ever want you to do something you didn't like,” he said. You knew what he meant, If you said so he would back off of you. You didn’t want that though, so you placed a hand over the hand that was cradling your face, leaning into his palm. 

“ I don’t wanna say no, not to this.” You placed a kiss on his palm, “ Not to you.” Mark pressed a gentle kiss to your forehead, 

“ I -” Mark started before the ship jolted and an alarm started. You guys were forced to the floor, Mark twisting so he would take the blow of the fall. 

You got off Mark and kneeled next to him, with a worried look asking him, 

“ Are you okay?” He nodded, slowly starting to get up. You stood up fully, 

“ What’s going on Computer?” you asked, quickly ripping open your locker and slipping on your gloves and jacket as the computer responded, 

“ A leak in Cyro, Celcionna is not responding. The leak in Cyro is over chilling the lines to the reactor.” you nodded, Mark finally up, pulling his overalls up. You looked over to Mark,

“ Grab your gloves and wrist computer and meet me at Cyro.” He nodded quickly going over to his locker, as you ran out of the room. Crew members were seen slowly getting up or injured. You frowned, you’d have to help them after you fixed cryo or everyone would be dead. 

As you got to cyro you saw mist leaking from under the door, you stood in front of the door and attempted to open it. 

“ Keypads frozen over, already called Gunther, Burt’s in the reactor keeping it stable. Keypad on Burts side is frozen as well” You heard Mark’s voice state walking up to you, 

“ Is there another way we can open the door quickly?” you asked, Mark nodded and got on one knee opening up the frozen keypad. As he did that Gunther quickly arrived, 

“ ADS is stable and working, called medical to start helping people.” You nodded, 

“ Thank you, Now both of you when the door is open it's going to send a wave of snow, mist, and cold air our way, so we need to stand to the sides. I’ll go in and start fixing Cyro, Gunther grab CC, Mark go and help Burt keep the reactor stable.” They both nodded, and Mark looked up at you. 

“ Ready when you are captain.” You nodded as you 3 stood off to the side. You yelled to the other few crew members to get to the side. When they did you nodded to Mark and he stood up and opened the door. 

Burst of snow and wind plowed down the hallway. The cold bit at your face, teeth clenched as you held onto Mark's arm. Once the first gust of wind finished you ran into the room. 

It looked like a blizzard in there and as you walked to the main control you spotted CC. She was lying next to the cryo pod. As you ripped open the control center you saw Gunther pick up CC and leave the frozen room. You got to work, the first thing you had to do was limit the CO2 supply, so you could fix the broken tube, which was luckily in the room. As you did that you saw Mark rush to open the door to the reactor, and quickly start helping Burt. 

Even with your gloves and jacket on you felt your fingers go numb, you bit your lip. You had to get this done, you limited the CO2 and now you needed to patch the tube. You grabbed the emergency patch kit kept in the room and walked over to the leak. Even with the supply lowered it spurred out ice cold air. Your fingers were so numb they started to hurt, you couldn't feel your face or toes. As you went to grab the tube to steady it, the ship jolted again. Your body was thrusted right above the leak, you screamed and jumped back hitting your head on the control mantel. The cold air burning your neck and chest, You wish you would have closed your jacket. A thumping pain in your head not helping.

Your eyes started to get blurry as you attempted to stand up, you quickly realized that wasn’t going to happen. You crawled over to the leak and got on your knees. You got to work patching the tube, a job much harder with numb fingers and probably a concussion. Though you were able to get the job done.

You let out a sigh of relief when the alarms shut off and the leaked air could no longer be seen, the room temperature rising to normal levels for cryo. You collapsed on your side and hugged yourself. You felt so cold, it hurt so much. 

You heard Mark’s voice call out to you, not making out anything other than your name. You gently tried to raise yourself off of the ground, but failed with a groan. Quickly you felt Mark’s gloved hands on your body. You looked at him and found his face stricken with worry and fear as he looked you over. He yelled in panic at Burt to get a medic,

“Captain, can you hear me.” he asked, you nodded your head, immediately regretting your decision. 

He gently held your cheeks, a panicked look on his face, 

“ Don’t move your head captain, I’m gonna pick you up and get you outta here okay, try not to pass out on me.” he said gently placing his arms under you. You let out a small sound of approval, leaning into his warm body. 

He picked you up making sure your head was upright and still as possible on his chest. He walked fast out of the Cyro, your head throbbing you let out a groan. He shussed you softly as he almost ran. As you entered medical, the medics met Mark at the door and started talking to him about something. All you could focus on was your pain and Mark. 

Mark gently set you down on a cot as the medics started to do their work, it was all a blur to you. What wasn’t a blur was Mark trying to step back from the cot. With what little strength you had you grabbed his wrist. He looked at you in surprise and you whispered, 

“ Please don’t leave me Mark.” tears brimmed your eyes, “ Please… Mark.” He looked at a medic and a quick conversation happened. He gently leaned down next to you as the medics pulled the privacy curtains closed around the cot. He pressed a kiss to your hand, 

“ I’m not leaving captain, I promise.” He gently squeezed your hand. 

“ I’m gonna be in that chair the entire time, I’m not going anywhere.” he said. You understood most of what he was saying, but held onto his hand. 

He pressed a kiss to your forehead, 

“ Baby please, The medics have to do their job. I promise on everything I have I will not leave you okay.” he spoke softly,so only you could hear. 

You gently released his hand with a small barely a whisper of an “Okay.”

He once again placed a small kiss to your hand before dropping it and moving out of the way of the medics. He stood in front of a chair not too far away from the bed, but not in the way. 

The medcis started to ask you things, which most you were able to slur a couple of answers to. Finally they put a mask on you telling you they were putting you under for stitches. 

“Sitches?” you thought, why did you need those. Then it dawned on you, your dizziness , your head pain, and the blood patch on Mark’s chest, you had a head wound. You reached out for Mark and he quickly came to your side, holding your hand . 

“ Mark, i, uh, i”  you couldn’t think properly, but you had to tell him, but the gas was making it hard to think. Mark hushed you once again and said, 

“ Save your energy baby, you can tell me when you wake up.” your vision started to go black as you were able to get out these last words, 

“Mark… Love” you felt his grip on your hand as your vision went black, you were going to be okay. You knew it, Mark was beside you, and he would always protect you. 

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[dent-de-leon]

(138 spoilers just in case) Did Lucy called the Somnovem "impotent" or "empty"? (episode 138 at 3:20:18) It looks like "empty" to me but the cc says otherwise... If it IS indeed "empty" then... Molly's backstory has a bit of a different meaning, no? What are your thoughts on this? (PS: That laugh tho... I loved it...! )

Ooo this idea sounded really cool to me, so I went back and listened to that scene again, and here’s what I got from it: “They were reborn greater than they could’ve ever anticipated. Isn’t that right? Power of a thousand minds. Dreams, imaginations and wills made one. Founded in the ether of manifestation. A miracle. Unstoppable. Yet, rudderless. Fractured. Wild. Jealous. Impotent.”

Matt’s voice acting is really exceptional here, the whole thing definitely feels like a grand presentation. There’s so many different ways he enunciates and emphasizes his words. He sneers “Jealous,” with a much louder voice, full of scorn, but then quiets down to cold indifference when he says, “Impotent.” Like, every word of this speech just sounds so good, even though the content of it really throws you off at first.

To me though, the word “impotent” came through clear, but I’ve definitely mixed up a few words here and there from Lucien’s accent before. So I could be wrong, but I tried to listen for it, and I just kept hearing that instead of “empty.” Which I’m kinda disappointed by, because him calling them Empty would be so interesting thematically 👀

If we’re talking about word choice though, I am still fascinated by the use of “reborn.” At one point, Beau says she believes that Lucien twitched during the tarot reading when he heard Jester say “rebirth.” In actuality, the twitch happens right after Jester finishes her interpretation of the final card. I’m personally of the opinion that it was more so the cards themselves--specifically Death--that triggered it, since Matt’s made it pretty clear to me those twitches are from Molly. And he responded to seeing the drapery of his coat as well, so I imagine his hand drawn cards for the Moonweaver must have also had an effect on him.

But being reborn is definitely a part of Molly’s identity as well. So if the word itself was what reached through to Molly, and then Lucien throws it out there too (this isn’t the first time we’ve heard him say it either)--well, then that’s certainly interesting. Not quite as meaningful as Empty, but it’s something. For context, here’s the other mentions of being reborn I was able to catch.

From the tarot reading:

Jester: “Facing you is death. That’s not necessarily a bad thing Lucien, you know! Some people think death means a rebirth...something must end for something new to begin.”

Matt: His right hand twitches. Like twice.

Jester: “How do you feel?”

Lucien, after a moment of silence: “Thank you. That was interesting...always been idly curious from a distance about such strange, uh...hobbies. Thank you for indulging in the offer.”

Jester: “Of course!”

When Jester scried on Lucien and Cree in Aeor:

Lucien: “Don’t worry, we’re getting there. I can feel it. But they’re close now too--the wee babes, lost without their king. Endless hunger. Limitless potential. Without focus, divided upon thousands of newling fragment minds...the Nonagon saw this in them. And they’ll be reborn greater. I’m their savior as they were mine. I will save them from their pain. From their wasteful existence. And you’re to join me there, in their memory.”

Cree: “Aye. In their memory.”

Also yes, I love Matt’s evil laugh last episode so much!! Molly himself is so full of genuine joy and warmth. So when Lucien breaks out this absolutely chilling, perfectly unhinged villain laughter? It’s both fantastic and heartbreaking.

[official-alan-dabiri]

First and foremost, we have some exciting new changes that everyone can get behind. Absolutely nobody has a problem with the new experience globe mechanics. New experience globes are only at full value for six seconds, and after that are worth 25% exp. And then they last for thirty-nine seconds. Nobody finds this objectionable in any way. This change was not on the PTR due to public outcry from Reddit when it was leaked early, but it’s here live with all of its zero problems fixed.

Another change about which we have received zero complaints is a new tag system behind the scenes. People looking for just the right hero for the situation can easily find it by searching for such keywords as “CC” “Silence” “Sustain” and “Double soak” and find extremely useful and not absolute garbage results. Don’t worry about checking it ahead of time, just get right into draft mode and use it to find the perfect pick!

In addition to those minor and unobjectionable changes, we have removed Volskaya Foundry from the ranked queue, and added everyone’s favorite quickmatch map, Warhead Junction. We have also done this simultaneously with an Overwatch-themed event.

Hero changes below the cut, because this patch is another doozy, with fiiiiiive herooooo rewoooooorks, Four buffed assassins, three nerfed offlaners, two nerfed tanks and we also nerfed the looost viiiikiiiings!

Anduin is the first of our reworks and with him taking a more prominent role in Shadowlands we want to be able to welcome WoW players with open arms. He, uh, doesn’t have a new skin or anything, we just want people to play this game. The central goal of the buff is to improve his healing output in line with other heroes without removing the largest strength in Leap of Faith. As such, we’re just touching literally every part of his kit and talent try and praying that it goes the way we want.

People keep mistaking Johanna for the best tank in the game. This is factually untrue, since Muradin exists. As such, we are just gutting the absolute pants off of Johanna’s talent tree and making it weird and clunky.

For too long has Raynor been the scourge of draft play. Too good to skip, but not scary enough to ban. Perfect macro contributions, with respectable hero damage. Enough self-sustain to take weight off your healer, and self-peel for when tanks are bad. The perfect killing machine. As such, we’ve nerfed his damage into the ground. Start playing Greymane, bitches.

Stitches has proven to be a mediocre bruiser in the eyes of the community. After all these years, I think I know why. We accidentally categorized him as a tank. As such, he needs some serious changes to make him fit that label. This whole time we’ve been balancing him as a bruiser and nobody said anything? This is as much your fault as it is mine.

The average damage output of a ranged assassin has been steadily climbing for a while now. As a result, for a hero to actually be a glass cannon, they need some serious firepower. Valla now has the gunpowder to match her glass. And she’s the glassiest cannon there is. Don’t get me wrong, she still evaporates like a drop of water in California when an enemy hero looks at her. But when she has a solid tank and three healers behind her, the world is your oyster.

Oh my god they didn’t break down the heroes by category. Jesus Christ what the fuck Blizzard? You just decided that this is the line? This is the day you stop caring? Well, congratulations, you’ve made reading your patch notes mildly more inconvenient. I’m still doing this. Ya bunch of jack-offs.

Mei has been grossly overperforming, and we have no idea how that happened. We certainly didn’t buff her over and over again for an entire year. Anyway, we’re just going to roll some stuff back. Definitely probably fine.

It turns out - and bear with me here because this might be hard to follow - Hogger, D.va, and Sonya were all overtuned? For six months? So we’re just gonna tippy tappy them down the smallest little bit. And then slap them around a little for good measure. D.va’s mech form is no longer indomitable, Hogger can no longer solo any merc camp in the game in 12 seconds, and Sonya is now... Basically fine still, honestly. We kinda gave her just a slap on the wrist in comparison. But honestly after gutting Hogger like that, I just didn’t have the heart. One of the benefits from being a little later, alphabetically.

After riding the TLV train up through the ranks, I think it’s about time to recognize that I’m not actually good at them. They’re just overtuned. So it’s time to come back to earth, Icarus. Don’t be fooled by the seemingly-small HP nerf, though. The real nerf is buffing Longboat Raid. People are going to have to pick it to test it and it’s gonna murder their winrate.

Someone told me that Lucio is a problem and needed to be addressed this patch, but my cat came into the home office being adorable so I didn’t hear exactly what they said. So we had to kinda wing it. Hopefully these minor adjustments to his talent tree will solve whatever they were talking about!

Even we know Uther is a problem. Being first pickable and filling three different unique roles was what we wanted to do with Varian not Uther. So we’re going to try and make him incrementally worse at tanking until he just goes away. First up: Shaving off some of that personal armor.

AFK splitpush trash Azmodan is dead. Long live teamfight artillery mage Azmodan. Really glad I made the last HotS Content post about Nova instead of Azmodan because boy howdy do these changes invalidate the entire playstyle that post would have discussed.

W build Falstad has obviously become a problem. Not only was he riddled with bugs after the rework - don’t worry, we learned from our mistakes and made sure there were no bugs with our new reworks - but also he had the ability to point and click on an enemy hero and force them to run all the way to the next lane over in order to stop taking buckets of free damage. It turns out that ability was more powerful than anticipated, and required adjustment.

Q build Falstad has obviously become a problem. Not only was it completely overshadowed by a build that did more damage in every situation with less skill requirement, but we overestimated the value of macro power on a build that demands PvP for stacking. As such, we’ve doubled the amount of power each stack gives him! That’ll do.

AA build Falstad... Stay the course, buddy. Doin’ fine.

Junkrat has been underperforming, which is surprising for a hero with his level of power. As such, we’re going to make a few small buffs to hopefully draw attention, and then we can roll things back once the pickrate reflects his actual power. Hopefully then WE CAN FINALLY MAKE THE MANDATORY CHANGE I PUT IN EVERY MEMO. TYRE. WITH A Y. THAT’S HOW THEY SPELL IT IN AUSTRALIA. KAEO I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU- wait, did Kaeo leave? Who the fuck is still here? Kinnabrew? Adam? Jason? JASON! JASON!?

Tassadar has also fallen off a lot without us having done anything at all whatsoever to nerf him. Entirely undeserved treatment. I’m disappointed in all of you. As such, we’re going to tweak his numbers up just a little tippy tap so that you all remember who killed the Overmind. It wasn’t James Raynor or Sarah Kerrigan. It was Tassadar... Tassadar Bassadar. That’s his last name. Don’t look it up, just trust me.

In the bug fix department, we’ve had a nice sit-down with the Mountain Giants on Alterac and told them that if they have time to lean, they have time to clean. Reaching the end of their lane and expecting the core to come to them is putting undue stress on an already overtaxed position. The core is a very stressful job, and if the mountain giants could just do their part to walk into the core pit when they arrive, that’s a huge load off their shoulders. Drek’thar and Vanndar really needed this expectation taken off them right now, and I’m hopeful it will lead to a better work environment.

[honkster]

Okay so I did miss a few things

Mainly stuff that either I didn’t think were important enough to address or I just didn’t think of.

Let’s get to it.

1. Techno betraying Tommy.

2. Ghosty bois coming back.

3. Tommy and Quackity as ab*se survivors.

<_><_><_>

I try to be as un-biased as I can whenever I say “From a writing perspective”, I kind of disassociate and look at the story how I would write it if I had to. You know, purely analysing the characters without the attachment I feel for them as a viewer.

But I don’t have to do that to say that Techno is not going to betray Tommy.

I get the angst – oh do I get the angst. I’m a fan of angst, I used to write only it for a while.

But Dream. You know how much Techno cares about Dream?

He’d rather read his donations than not risk Dream’s wrath at avoiding the admittance of Tommy in his house.

Techno has shown that he cares more for Tommy than he fears Dream (Fear is probably the wrong word here. Neutrality as he bides his time until he can strike – much more Blade. Because no matter what, Dream is just a temporary ally to Techno, much like what he started to view Pogtopia as.) He is shielding Tommy from him, he is reluctantly reminded the he owes Dream a favor, he dismisses his role as Lycomedes in this myth that’s so accurate to the story. Not even once in the streams Tommy and Techno did together (and the subsequent Techno or Tommy solo streams) did it seem that Techno was even considering a Tommy and Dream meetup. Yes, the favor is looking to be another Chekhov's gun, much like the TNT under L’manburg, but whoever said it means that Techno will succumb to Dream?

When did we decide that Dream cashing in his favor with Techno doesn’t mean that the pig will take that chance to betray Dream?

When did we decide that Dream cashing in his favor with Techno means that Dream trusts Techno unconditionally and won’t try to betray Techno?

Dream and Techno are in a unique stalemate currently. Techno can’t harm Dream, not when he has creative mode, and for Dream Techno is far more useful as an ally. That favor that Dream is holding over his head? That is the one-up he has on Techno. Until, perhaps, Techno pulls a Spirit and decides that Dream doesn’t control him…

Is this better anxiety than angsting over Techno potentially turning Tommy in? :)

(Bonus: I’m pretty sure that Techno and Tommy are even when talking about betrayals. Tommy established a new government in front of Techno, Techno blew the government up. Techno isn’t going to betray Tommy because he’s still salty. Tommy was slightly petty when he huddled under Techno’s house, but he seems to have gotten over that and now it’s just sibling banter.

They betrayed each other and then were angry at each for it. They’re even, stop the angst.)

<_><_><_>

Another thing I keep seeing despite everything…

The Ghosty bois returning.

Schlatt through possession, Wilbur through some method Philza may find months after the moment he first wrote it in a book.

My answer is… What’s the point?

Okay, you bring back Schlatt. What’s he gonna do, re-establish Manburg?

As if.

So he possessed Quackity/Tubbo. Again, what’s he gonna do? L’manburg is not the same thing that it was before, when Schlatt and Wilbur first found their power. It’s not a place where words mean more than weapons, where no armor is worn yet wars are won. Since L’manburg’s pacifist dictators have died/been changed to more violent ways, L’manburg has adapted to the landscape of the server and become just like every other faction – fighting wars with weapons.

So again, what would happen if Schlatt returned, in one form or another? The moment someone realizes what happened, he gets taken down. No one likes Schlatt, no one is on his side, everyone would stab him in his weak heart and twist the blade to “just make sure” he is truly dead. No one will rally behind him, he will have no power. You don’t gotta worry about that ghosty boi.

Wilbur? Well, if we dive into meta and what the cc himself has said, it’s going to take more than just a totem of undying to bring him back. And from a writing perspective, Ghostbur needs to come to terms with himself. Him just forgetting the things that he did, the people he harmed and just being wholesome – that’s not the end of his arc. It’s not even the middle. Ghostbur has a long way to go to be at peace with himself and stop haunting the server, to move on to the afterlife.

Him being brought back to life, to return to what he tried to forget, and then most definitely being killed again, quickly or after he’s able to do more damage, returning to his Ghostbur form… Well, that can do two things.

1. It could, possibly help him come to terms with Alivebur’s actions, being so suddenly dropped into his life again and forced to confront the trauma of it all. It could, possibly, maybe, slightly start him on the path to being at peace again.

2. It resets his progress so far.

I know which option is more interesting, more… character-developing.

Sadly, that one is the less likely option.

More trauma doesn’t help deal with previous trauma. Things would have to go a very specific way for Ghostbur being brought back to life to be actually helpful to him. Ghostbur isn’t an amnesiac, not in the way where his memories were just given a soft reset and his only job is to find things that would help him unlock them again. He’s a ghost, no one can fully understand how he works and what he needs, and how he may act if he is brought back to life after being dead for so long.

Not even another ghost.

Who’s to say that Schlatt, if he ever appeared in-character, in ghost form, isn’t just as confused as Ghostbur? Who’s to say he isn’t “traumatized enough” for selective memory? Who’s to say that Schlatt hasn’t moved on like Ghostbur hasn’t been able to?

Wilbur’s not gonna come back soon, if at all. His arc, coming to terms with making L’manburg the way it is now, has relevance to the current events happening (especially since L’manburg’s death seems to be inching closer and closer, and Ghostbur seems to be only related to it, out of all the things in the server.) but it has very little plot-changing importance. Who’s going to listen to the ghost of the man that made this mess happen in the first place? Definitely not the people making similar mistakes to him!

<_><_><_>

Oh I don’t like talking about ab*se. I’ve had enough of Dream and his manipulation of Tommy, it’s why I hated the bastard so much.

But this? Quackity and Tommy having the same mixed feelings towards their manipulator, a deep hatred and also a deep attachment, resulting in just a lot of confusion whenever the bad guy in question is brought up?

Yeah I got nothing.

Mainly because Tommy and Quackity haven’t interacted in that way just yet. Most people, in-character, don’t realize what Quackity went through (that’s a problem for a lot of the characters though, how their trauma is almost invisible, but very loud in terms of their actions.) or at least don’t realize that Quackity wants Schlatt back. Cause no one wants Schlatt back – what are you, crazy?

It is definitely an interesting parallel. How both of them were manipulated, then suddenly left the manipulator, how both of them were introduced to different ways of coping. Tommy with Techno, someone who cares about him and is determined to get revenge on their behalf, someone who is just sensitive enough to realize that you shouldn’t do certain things when talking to the traumatized person. Quackity with The Butcher Army and El Rapids, being given an outlet for his anger and confusion, a way to hide the pain he feels and focus on something entirely else, something he can actually understand and not question endlessly as he slowly goes insane. A way to do good, to try and do good things for other people, or at least fight the bad ones, even though you are utterly baffled at what is going on inside you.

...I’ve been dancing around this for a long time but uh… From experience, both of those ways are valid.

Listen, listen. Facing your trauma, going on the tough path of healing from it and coming out a different person, one not affected by whatever was done to you – that’s good. That is a good recipe for moving on to bigger and better things, this should be the path taken.

But (not) realizing your trauma, and instead deciding to flourish in spite of your manipulator, becoming stronger than them or even fighting them (or whoever you blame for your trauma) head on and WINNNING, purely out of spite and anger that you were actually that weak or that you didn’t notice what they were doing to you, remembering the things that you thought were normal and now being horrified at what your life was like…

The whole SMP needs therapy. They all need to have a sit-down, and a talk, and come to certain conclusions about themselves and whoever wronged them, and repeat that for a few days (weeks, months maybe). They all need to learn healthy ways to cope.

But this is the Curse. The Author’s Curse.

Therapy is boring.

Yes, we love these characters. Because we love them, we would much rather see them healthy and well-adjusted, and ending the cycle of ab*se.

...But the SMP isn’t peaceful enough for that.

More from the writing perspective – the foundation of the server right now is violence. Endless, gruesome violence, it has become the number one way to deal with whatever is plaguing you. Talking has worked once (The Pet War (?) ending), but even then it was after extreme violence. And this will continue, because any other way of dealing with things has just become… irrelevant. Some people can only speak one language, and it’s not one that is healthy.

So not only do all of the people on the server need to be shouted at for being so violent, bullied into considering more peaceful options for things, but also the people who cannot or will not change their mind, because they have become delusional with their power and only believe in that singular language, must be eliminated.

It all comes back to Dream. It all comes back to more violence. The Curse cannot be broken.

But… It can be, if used properly, a way to at least eliminate most of the evil in the server.

You’d need a whole guidebook for that though.

And the problem wouldn’t be fixed.

That server reset’s gonna be a huge part of the lore!

<_><_><_>

And I know I may be coming off as aggressive here like “Oh stop making up headcanons that will never happen” but that’s not my intention because if I truly took that standpoint I would be incredibly hypocritical. I thought Techno was going to be this battle-hardened warrior, able to detach himself from everything in this world to focus on war – mans turns out to be the most secretly caring person in the server. I sometimes dismiss characters that turn out to be actually really powerful (Ranboo, for one. BBH and Puffy for three.), I’m wrong on a lot of things.

So honestly, if you have an AU for Ghostinnit or Ghostbo (Toast) or Dadschlatt or Dream redemption arc, or just irl AU, Harry Potter AU, Starinnit – fucking amazing. You play out your canon-divergent dreams you funky little writers/artists. I’ll stay over-analyzing stuff over here, don’t mind me! Your ideas are super cool, and you can bully me for not having any hcs and never thinking of an AU of my own. /gen

[welllpthisishappening]

Want Something That Lasts Forever

The weight in his jacket pocket is getting heavier. Burning a hole. A metaphorical one. Because a literal one would probably freak David out and David is already worried enough and Killian is a very good friend. Who is willing to help David plan his proposal to Mary Margaret. Even if it messes everything else up in the process. 

----

Rating: T with a heavy dose of CC captain charming-esque feelz Word Count: Just over 5K AN: Today’s Festive Fic Prompt A Thon comes from another delightful anon and is: "i planned out this super romantic proposal and you just ruined it by beating me to whole proposing thing." I’ve already done proposing at the same time, so here’s something a little different with an extreme influx of Captain Charming for good measure. And Narnia. For reasons. 

|| Also on Ao3 if that’s how you roll || 

----

“You think we should get flowers?” Killian hums—far too distracted to be even remotely helpful and he doesn’t have to look up to know David is glaring at him. That’s been a theme for the last few hours. 

This has lasted several hours. 

Already. 

And he probably should have said no. 

He wanted to say no. He had every intention of saying now. But David and Mary Margaret had gotten to the city a few days before and David had that look this morning—some kind of wide-eyed, enthusiastic, nervous thing that made Killian exhale dramatically and he was agreeing before he realized what he was doing and Emma’s gaze had gone a little glossy when she realized what was happening. 

He considered that partially a win. 

Even if it lost him some friendship points.

“What kind of flowers do you think?” David presses, and Killian has to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from groaning. That’s also not great. As far as friendship goes. 

Because he figures this is pretty par for the friendship course. 

Helping. 

Planning. 

Helping to plan. 

A proposal. 

David is going to propose to Mary Margaret. At Christmas. And it will be extravagant and over the top and, Killian is sure, there will be several different types of flowers. Mary Margaret will very likely cry. 

She will definitely say yes. 

And that’s nice. It’s better than nice really, because Killian is only kind of an ass and something vaguely Grinch-like and the only reason for either one of those things is because—

“Seriously,” David snaps, Killian nearly flying off the couch when the word feels like it reaches out to smack him across the face. With romance. Of the holiday variety. “Are you ok?” “Yup.” “No, really.” “No, really,” Killian echoes, but David has known him long enough to know a blatant lie when he hears one. It probably does some slapping of its own. “Although I am admittedly a little confused by this we who is buying flowers. I’m not sure how I feel about donating to the monetary cause of your wedding.” “This is not the wedding.” Killian shrugs. 

“Do you have a romantic bone in your body?” David groans. That feels unfair. Killian doesn’t mention that. David is nervous enough already, he absolutely cannot cope with any sort of romance that involves Killian and his sister. 

Maybe Killian will start texting Emma updates of the day. She’d enjoy that. He’d enjoy that. He’d enjoy it more if he was with her and going through his own plans and his own vaguely Christmas-type hopes, but—

David appears to be growling. 

It’s very loud, whatever the sound is.

“Am I being a jerk about this?” David asks. He slumps forward when he mumbles the question, an obvious burst of nervous energy and Killian can’t help but feel for him. 

All things considered, proposing at any time is a little terrifying. But proposing at Christmas — with their friends coming into the city and long-standing traditions that require an almost excessive amount of eggnog and mulled wine is something entirely different.  

It requires a certain kind of romantic fortitude. 

And a best man who is willing to spend all day going over flower options. 

Killian assumes he’s going to be the best man at this wedding. 

He will look very good in a tux. And Emma will look better in a maid of honor dress. 

There’s the silver lining he’s looking for. 

“A little,” Killian admits, “but you’re also freaking out. So I’m willing to overlook the jerkiness of it.” “Is jerkiness a word?” “No.” “You think I’m freaking out?” “I’m also a little offended that you don’t think you’re freaking out.”

David sneers, dropping onto the edge of the coffee table. He nearly knocks Killian’s feet off in the process. “Flowers? Thoughts?” “Oh, are we speaking in one-word questions now? That might get old pretty quickly.” David rolls his eyes. And his whole head. 

Killian chuckles lightly, slumping further into the couch and the pinch in his lungs loosens just a bit. He can hear his phone vibrating in his pocket. It’s louder when it vibrates against everything else in there. 

“Poinsettias?” David asks. 

“They’re ugly aren’t they? Also I’m somewhere in the realm of seventy-two percent positive that they represent death.” “That’s not a very good grade.”

“You want me to look it up?” “Yes, I absolutely do.” Killian clicks his tongue, but he can still make out the buzz of his phone and he’s closer to one-hundred percent positive that it’s Emma. 

He’s right. 

“Hey,” Killian breathes into the phone, Emma’s soft laugh in his ear. He can feel his smile. That’s only vaguely ridiculous. Decidedly romantic, though. “Are poinsettias deadly?” She doesn’t answer immediately. And Killian assumes that’s because she’s blinking at open air in their kitchen where, per the schedule, she and Mary Margaret are slated to be baking for the majority of the afternoon. 

“Am I making that up?” Killian asks. “I feel like I'm making it up.”

David groans. “This is not helping my overall confidence!” “Swan, this is a very serious question about poinsettias, so if you’ve got any facts to share about the very ugly flower—” “Judgmental about poinsettias, aren’t we?” she mutters. Definitely smiling too. 

He can tell. 

What a weirdo. 

“What are your thoughts about poinsettias, love?” “Well, they’re ugly,” Emma says, and Killian can’t help whatever expression takes over his face. David looks like he’s trying not to lay across the entire coffee table. 

“I told you,” Killian cries. 

David flips him off. “Do you have a better Christmas flower suggestion?” “It’s not my proposal.” “Yeah, but you’re helping and—” David makes that noise again, head falling into his hands and Killian kind of feels bad. He’s still annoyed that his day has been commandeered, but he’s known David for years and he genuinely can’t remember a moment when he wasn’t head over heels for Mary Margaret, so—

He moves back into the living room, flicking his finger against David’s right wrist. “Holly? Is that a flower?” “No,” David and Emma answer at the same time before she adds, “Why is he freaking out, exactly? Also, is this not a dangerous conversation we’re having?” David mumbles something that sounds like an agreement, but Killian’s willing to be a bit selfish for a moment. And talk to his girlfriend. Flirt with his girlfriend. 

Still his girlfriend. 

Especially tonight. 

“Also,” Emma continues, voice dropping a bit, “poinsettias do not represent death.” David’s head finally jerks up, quick enough that Killian is briefly worried for the state of his neck, and Emma is not done. “They are, however, the victim of a long-standing urban legend that suggested they were poisonous. It lasted forever. In 1970 the FDA even published an actual pamphlet saying that one leaf could kill a kid.” “This is not great,” David grumbles. “How did they eventually decide that they weren’t deadly?”

“Uh—rats.” “Oh jeez.” “Did you say jeez?” Killian asks. “What year is it?” “The year of freaking out grooms,” Emma says. “That would suggest they’re getting married by the end of the year, though.” “Damn, that’s true.” “You two know I’m sitting here, right?” David sneers. Emma’s smile widens. Killian assumes. Knows, really. 

He resists the urge to walk back to his coat. And directly out the door. 

David is starting to look a little green. 

“I do have eyes, yes,” Killian nods. “And your middle finger is going to get stuck like that if you keep it in that position for too long.” Emma snickers. 

His heart may grow. It’s another Grinch-type joke. 

“God,” David huffs. “Ok, so, uh—poinsettias aren’t actually deadly, but Em, Em, seriously, how did you know that?” “He wants to talk to me now, does he?” Emma quips. “I do have to go back to distracting the future bride at some point.” “Don’t jinx it!” “Is he insane?” “He might be,” Killian answers. “What are you baking?” “Right now? Chocolate chip, but that’s only because—” “—How did you know about the poinsettias?” David yells. Killian is going to run out of parts of his mouth to bite by the end of the afternoon. 

“I know everything,” Emma answers simply, and he refuses to be held accountable for whatever that does to several different internal organs and the way his whole body surges forward when he laughs. 

David droops. Directly onto the coffee table. 

It is equally absurd and even more hysterical. 

“That can’t possibly be comfortable,” Killian muses. “Or good for your spine.” David flips him off. 

Third time’s the charm, or whatever. 

“Is he laying on something?” Emma asks knowingly, and Killian’s mouth is going to get stuck in perpetual smile. “I’m really worried about the lasting damage it’s going to have on his vertebrae.” “I can still hear you,” David growls. “Ok, no to the poinsettias, just—what time is it?” “Almost two o’clock.” He sighs. 

“You’re going to be late picking up the ring,” Emma mutters, only to gasp softly when she realizes what she’s said and the general proximity of Mary Margaret’s very well-tuned ears. “Ah, shit—David if you heard that, it’s fine, everything is fine and—Oh, hey M’s, you ready to keep baking?”

The green tinge in David’s cheeks grows more pronounced. 

And Killian can’t quite hear Mary Margaret’s answer, but it doesn’t sound entirely suspicious and he finds he’s nodding encouragingly at David’s prostrate body before he can come up with all the reasons why that’s not helpful at all. 

Emma’s still giving Mary Margaret assurances that it’s fine, everything is fine, no I’m just making sure Killian has —

“Champagne,” he suggests. 

She hums, a thank you without actually saying the words, and that’s probably for the best because Killian is fairly positive David would have rolled onto the floor if they made it anymore obvious they were up to something. Mary Margaret is probably making that face. 

With the eyebrow thing. 

She’s very good at lifting her eyebrows. And making everyone feel like they’re about to get detention. 

“Champagne,” Emma repeats. “We need champagne for later, right?” It sounds like Mary Margaret says yuh huh. That is decidedly un-Mary Margaret. 

Killian grimaces, a quick glance towards David and the arm he’s got splayed across his face now and he doesn’t really think before he starts talking again, but his mouth is moving and there are words coming out and— “We’ll see you later, ok, love?”

She makes another noise in the affirmative, a mumbled string of something that sounds a bit like get me my own bottle of champagne, but then Killian is stuffing his phone in his back pocket and ignoring the desire to look at his jacket again and the smile he forces on his feels a little strained. 

“Alright. Well, that went—” “—Terribly?” David asks. “Eh. We learned about poinsettias. That’s something, right?” “For what? Christmas trivia contests? Also did you think poinsettia had more t’s in it? It sounds like it should have more t’s.” “I’m genuinely starting to think you are going insane.” “Don’t we call it point-settia? Like that’s how you say it, right?” “This is the most ridiculous conversation we’ve ever had,” Killian says. “And we need to get your ring.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” “We’re starting to sound a little less enthused.” “Rats were poisoned, Killian.” He nods, lower lip stuck out and it’s only a little placating, but David hasn’t actually sat up yet, so maybe that’s exactly what he has to do. Friendship-wise. He’s very focused on the friendship aspect of this. 

Like it’s karma. 

For his own plans. 

God, that might lose him points too. 

“But not you,” Killian points out. “Or the presumed and eventual blushing bride. So, that’s something right?” David props himself up on his elbows. “You think she’ll blush?” “I think she’ll weep in extremely romantic fashion. Obviously. Seriously, are you not going insane?” “A little.” “Yeah, I figured. Ok, so aside from being stupid late to pick up your ring, what else do we have to do?” “Flowers. Maybe actually get champagne.” “That was a stroke of genius, right?” “Your girlfriend is incapable of lying.” Killian squeezes one eye shut. The word makes his stomach flip in quick succession. And if David weren’t slowly, but very obviously losing his mind, he would have noticed that. As it is, he just huffs out another bit of frustrated oxygen, hopping back to his feet and plastering his own fake smile on his face. 

“Alright,” he says, clapping Killian on the shoulder. “We need to get Turkish delight, too.” “I’m sorry, what?” “Are you not aware of what Turkish delight is?” Killian shakes his head—partially in disbelief and partially in...no, all disbelief. “I’m very aware of what Turkish Delight is, but mostly in an Edmund Pevensie kind of way and—” “—Yeah, that’s exactly the vibe we’re going for.” “You want to vibe with Edmund Pevensie in your proposal?” “Oh, God, don’t say it like that,” David groans. “It’s her favorite book.” “Mary Margaret?” “Nah, the other person I want to marry.” “That was funny,” Killian says, falling into step with David when they walk towards the door and he refuses to be held accountable for whatever sound flies out of him when David’s fingers reach towards their jackets. 

“Are you dying?” Killian shakes his head brusquely, not trusting himself to speak and he needs to stop carrying it in his jacket pocket. But he...well, he wants. With everything and then some, a quiet desire that’s crept up his spine and taken root in every inch of his brain and every part of his heart until it’s all he can think about. Like some sort of crazed romantic lunatic. 

“Killian,” David prompts, and he actually flinches. This day is a disaster “Seriously, are you ok?” “You realize that Edmund Pevensie betrayed his family for Turkish delight, right? Like that’s a basic tenet of the story.” “But it’s good.” “Familial betray?” “Turkish delight. And Edmund redeems himself.” “In overtly religious ways,” Killian says. “Is this a Christmas story, even?” “Santa Claus is prominently featured, yes.” “You think he brought Turkish delight for Edmund after he became king?” Some of the tension between David’s shoulders almost visibly appears, a shaky laugh falling out of him. “At some point, when I’m presumably not insane, I will thank you for this, I swear.” “Don’t swear, Santa won’t appreciate it.” “Or maybe he’ll arm me with a bow.” “Weird, right? Just doling out weapons to children. How old was Susan supposed to be when they found Santa?” “He found them, technically.” “Remember when I said the poinsettia conversation was the most ridiculous we’d ever had?” Killian mutters, pushing his arms into his jacket. It feels heavier than usual. “I lied. This is definitely the most ridiculous.” “Entertaining, though?” “Now you’re fishing for compliments.”

David snorts, yanking his own jacket on and Emma is texting Killian. It is absolutely complaints about chocolate chip cookies and the fact that they are not snickerdoodles.

It is almost stupid how in love he is with his own girlfriend. 

Despite his growing disdain for that particular moniker. 

They’ll get there. 

After an in-depth analysis of the entire Narnia franchise. 

“It’s fair,” David agrees. “And Edmund figured his shit out, eventually. He was wavering even before he got Aslan and the not-so-covert religious allusions. Plus—” “—God, how is there more?” “This is it, really. It’s definitely Christmas-related, at least story-wise, because they make a big deal about Narnia under Jadis’ rule—” “—Who the hell is that?” “When is the last time you read the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe?” Killian snaps his jaw. “I was, like, eight. Max. Should I know who Jadis is?” “The aforementioned witch,” David explains, swinging open the door and grabbing Killian’s keys off the hook nearby. Killian catches them. “Is named Jadis. It’s not important to the plot—” “—Seriously, is any of this important?” “Let me get to my point. Which is that, Narnia, while not explicitly a Christmas book, does highlight the overall importance of Christmas to the general zeitgeist and suggests that the arrival of good things will also inspire Christmas. To, you know—or whatever.”

“You just used the words explicit, zeitgeist and Christmas in the same sentence,” Killian says, and he is physically incapable of keeping a straight face. 

“Christmas is good, is what I’m getting at.” “Mmmhm. Ridiculous. It shouldn’t be too hard to find Turkish delight, right?”

Wrong. Fundamentally and completely wrong. 

“Maybe if he we were high kings of Narnia,” David grumbles, letting his forehead drop onto the shelf in the third Gristedes they’ve walked into in the last hour. 

Killian sighs. “Only Peter was high king, God, get your act together.” “You couldn’t remember the witch’s name before!” “Yeah, but this is basic and—” “—What about like...speciality markets? What time is it now?” “Almost four.” “Shit. And we’re supposed to be at Belle and Scarlet’s at what time?” “Six.” “Shit. Again.” “I don’t even remember what street we’re on,” Killian says, tugging his phone out of his pocket and there are what, at first glance, appears to be several thousand texts there. And a few missed phone calls. 

Honestly, everyone knows about this proposal except Mary Margaret. 

Mary Margaret may know too. 

Killian hopes Mary Margaret doesn’t know. 

“Lexington,” David answers. 

“And?” “I don’t know. Some cross street that doesn’t have Turkish delight.” It’s wrong to laugh. It is. But Killian can’t help it and then David is joining and they’ve been to so many supermarkets. 

“It’s pretty awesome that you’re doing all this,” Killian says. He didn’t mean to do that either, but that appears to be his MO for the day and David’s half smile might win him every potential friendship point. 

An explosion of friendship points. “Yeah?” “Romantic, even,” Killian adds. “The swooning will be quick and imminent.” “Sounds less romantic.” “You’ve got no reason to be nervous.” David groans. “Yeah, that’s not how it works, really. This is—I mean, it’s a big deal, right? The rest of your life and happily and ever after and all of that?” “I’d suggest not using the phrase all of that in your proposal.” “A gentleman and a scholar, you are.” He smiles, a hand in his hair and eyes flitting back towards his phone screen. “I’m not saying it isn’t a big deal. It is. But you guys are—” Killian shrugs. “—I don’t know, the inspiration for all other romantic endeavors.” “I think you’re trying to impress me with your vocabulary.” “There’s another supermarket on 86th Street, we could probably try there.” David takes a deep breath, chest shifting and growing with the force of it, but then his hand is back on Killian’s shoulder and his smile is as honest as its been all day, dim memories of college-age dates and slightly different nerves and— “Thank you,” he says. “For—all of this. Narnia analysis not withstanding. It’s...I wouldn’t have have trusted anyone else to help me scour Manhattan for a dessert I really thought more people would be inclined to buy.” “You’ll make me blush.” “I’m serious. I’m freaking out a little and you’re—well, you’re you.” “I’m me?” Killian asks. “You,” David nods. “A good guy and willing to go along with my bullshit—” “—Seriously you have such a way with words.” “You got Emma to help distract Mary Margaret.” “That didn’t take much convincing,” Killian objects. “Your sister is a much better person than I am.” “And you’re stupid in love with her.” “Yeah, I am.” “Quick agree.” “Perpetually.” David presses his lips together, eyes narrowing slightly and Killian can almost hear the ideas and theories bouncing around his skull, but neither of them say anything and that’s probably for the best and they have to get to Fairway anyway. 

They’re definitely at least five blocks away. 

“You want to find some Turkish delight?” “Perpetually,” Killian repeats. 

They end up buying seven boxes at Fairway. Just to be safe. 

And Killian has to blink several times to make sure they’re in the right place when they get to Belle and Will’s apartment — an explosion of garland and tinsel and actual ornaments hanging from the ceiling. “Is that safe?” he asks Emma, hardly out of his jacket before she’s plastered to his side and Ruby definitely brought champagne. Opened it, as well, it seems. 

“Absolutely not,” Emma mutters. There’s a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, eyes bright far too green to be anything except vaguely festive and a color Killian would be more than willing to stare at for the rest of the night, but then he’s flinching because Anna and Ariel are snapping crackers and Emma’s laugh seems to find its way under his skin and possibly into his soul and—

She’d very nearly touched his jacket. 

“How’d today go?” she asks, fingers curling around the front of his shirt like she’s using him for balance.

He kisses her forehead. 

On instinct.

“Was that the answer?” Emma mumbles. “Because it’s a very one-sided conversation we’re having here.” “You’re holding your own pretty well, love.” “Oh, two-fold critique.” “Is it good champagne?” “Did you get some?” He nods, nose brushing against her skin and he can’t help but wrap his arm around her middle, like he’s trying to make sure she doesn’t ever leave. He’s asking questions without actually voicing them. 

David totally knew. 

“I love you,” Killian says before he can stop himself. 

Emma tilts her head up. “Yeah?” “Hopefully that wasn’t up for debate.” “Nah, it wasn’t. I just—that was nice. You look nice, did I mention that?” His cheeks flame, a heat that isn’t entirely uncomfortable, but might be a hint of nervous energy and the words are there, sitting on the tip of Killian’s tongue and begging to be said and asked and kissed. He can’t kiss out words. 

He’s very willing to try. 

“Are you ok?” Emma asks, pushing up on her toes to let her fingertips graze his jaw. His throat suddenly feels very small. 

And he hadn’t been nervous before. 

Not once. 

Not when he was thinking about the question. Or practicing the question, muttering it under his breath in the shower or the backseat of Ubers, and that had drawn more than a few questionable glances, but that one driver had actually been nice when he explained and then they’d kind of practiced together and Killian had given that guy a five-star review. 

He was pretty confident it was going to go well. 

And yet. 

Now, with the champagne and the specific color of Emma’s eyes and the threat of concussion by glass ornament quite literally hanging over him, he’s nervous. He wants it to be perfect. He wants it to be better than perfect, he wants—

David clinks the side of his glass, the room quieting almost immediately. 

He’s not quite green anymore, but definitely paler than normal and Emma pulls herself closer to Killian. 

“So, uh—” David starts, more than a few muted snickers and Killian swears he can feel Emma’s smile through his shirt. “It’s…” He exhales, shaky and excited and a slew of adjectives that practically ring with romance, stuffing his hand into his pocket to grab they box they picked up nearly an hour later than originally scheduled. 

Emma sniffles. 

Killian kisses her hair again. 

Mary Margaret gasps. 

So, maybe she had no idea. 

“I love you, Mary Margaret,” David says, dropping onto one knee. Emma is not the only one crying now, Killian’s gaze flitting around the room to find their friends with matching looks on their faces, more than a few hands covering mouths and Ariel keeps having to drag her palm over her cheeks to keep the tears from flowing too freely. 

“I can’t remember when I didn’t,” he adds, “and I—well, this seemed like the perfect moment. For us. With everyone else we love here and—” He reaches behind him, an awkward twist that ends with a soft grunt because shoulders aren’t supposed to twit that way. David’s fingers find the boxy of Turkish delight eventually, and it is several different miracles that it doesn’t spill onto the floor, but the floor is also suddenly covered by a broken glass ornament and—

Mary Margaret starts to laugh. 

It’s a little shaky at first, probably because of the tears and perfect imperfection of the whole thing, but the ornament also didn’t land on anyone, so. Points. Of the Christmas variety. 

“Yeah,” she says. 

David’s eyes bug. “What?” “Yes. I—well, that’s the goal here, right?” “I didn’t even ask yet!” “We’re under attack by the ornaments, though.”

Ruby growls. “This is festive!” “Oh my God,” David grouses, and Mary Margaret looks a bit like the sun. Emma sniffles again. 

Killian is going to set a record for kisses pressed to her hair. 

“Ask, then,” Mary Margaret says, fingers fluttering at her side with an undeniable sort of energy. “I, uh—” “Will you marry me?” David cuts in. 

“Yes.” He doesn’t jump, but he might teleport into her space, fervent kisses and roaming hands and the Turkish delight joins the ornament on the floor. 

“Good thing we bought extra, huh?” Killian calls, David making a gesture behind Mary Margaret’s head. They don’t stop kissing. 

And he does get the ring on her finger eventually, glass and whatever gelatin substance makes up Turkish delight in the garbage, champagne flowing and glasses toasted and there are pictures and smiles and then more champagne because that’s just how they operate and—

Emma stumbles through their door hours later, fingers still clinging to Killian with a slightly more tired smile. “God, that was fun,” she breathes, and he does not know what to do with every emotion he’s ever felt and currently feels for her. 

It’s too much. 

And not enough. 

“You’ve got that face on,” Emma accuses, another finger tap to his cheek. He nips at her finger, getting the yelp he fully expected and he refuses to do anything else before he kisses her. 

He’s got priorities. 

She doesn’t quite melt, but she might sag against him, wholly romantic—like she’s certain he’ll hold on and the thought only spurs him on, his tongue brushing her lips and his fingers inching up her side, tracing over skin and tugging her closer. 

Emma sighs into his mouth, nose scrunched against his and it’s not particularly graceful, but she’s also only managed to get one of her boots off and eventually Killian will blame that for whatever happens next. 

Because whatever happens next is not part of any plan he ever came up with. 

He hopes the Uber driver isn’t disappointed in him. 

“Marry me,” he mumbles. 

“What did you say?” Ice water. In his veins. Metaphorically dumped over his head. It’s presumably worse than getting hit with an ornament. 

And Killian doesn’t know what to do, mouth opening and closing quick enough that he’s sure there’s a Nutcracker joke to be made. 

Emma doesn’t blink. 

She doesn’t look away. 

Her fingers had been actively trying to unbutton his pants. 

Less romantic than he intended. “Say it again,” she whispers, and Killian doesn’t think he mistakes the greedy edge to her voice. He swallows, leaning back and pulling the box out of his jacket and Emma doesn’t gasp. 

She beams. 

Like the top of a Christmas tree. 

And the sun. And the moon and a few stars thrown in for good measure, a rather jarring return to romance because— “I’ve been carrying this around for weeks,” Killian says softly. “Trying to think of the perfect moment and how it would be good and great and every other adjective something like this is supposed to be. And I came up with the party.” “This party? The one we just went to?” “One and the same. All our friends, presumably a lot of champagne. I wasn’t expecting the ornaments, but—” “—Ruby really thought it was festive.” “Yeah, well—then David showed up here today with his own plan and he was freaking out and we had to get Turkish delight and figure out the history of poinsettias. And he kind of uh...well, he got to the proposing first.” “The stuff about poinsettias is really very common knowledge.” Killian shakes his head, nosing at Emma’s cheek and mouthing at the side of her neck and she shivers. He grins. “No, it’s not, love. But you knew and I—I think you might know everything.” “Flattery will get you everywhere,” she laughs. Giggles, a little. He’s going to overstretch the muscles in his face. “I love you a ridiculous amount,” Emma adds. “And I—you were really going to do that tonight?” “I think I’m still doing it tonight, technically.” “God.” “The banter is part of our appeal, Swan.” She huffs, no frustration in the sound, a slightly different shade of green in her gaze and dots of pink on her cheeks when she looks up. “I love you. Again, just to really hammer the point home and I—shit, it’s so nice that you did that. For David and M’s and ah, God, I just said shit during your proposal, didn’t I?” “You did. I love you a ridiculous amount too.”

“I’d imagine that’s helpful for everything else.” “Everything else?” Emma nods, a sharp inhale and quicker exhale, fingers in Killian’s hair and her mouth just on the edge of his lips. “Say it one more time.” He’s not nervous anymore. 

“Will you marry me? I just—I want to marry you so much.” “I’m going to be honest the last part really sold it for me.” “Emma.” “Serious voice.” “Swan.”

She kisses him that time, a little greedy again and neither one of them really keep their footing when they trip towards the couch, but they don’t break apart either and that’s probably some deeper meaning that bodes well for the future and collective pronouns and rings on very specific fingers. 

“I need an answer here, love,” Killian says, kissing towards her collarbone. He cannot remember how Emma got onto her back. 

“Yes.”

“You want to go make out in bed?” “Do you get follow-up questions in a proposal?” “This one, apparently,” Killian laughs. Emma takes his hand as soon as he offers it, another nod and more stolen kisses, the pair of them leaving a trail of clothes behind him and eventually he has to go back to the living room to get the ring. 

He doesn’t bother putting his pants back on. 

[dvp95]

quiet on widow’s peak (3)

pairing: dan howell/phil lester, pj liguori/sophie newton/chris kendall rating: teen & up tags: paranormal investigator, youtuber phil lester, dan howell is not a youtuber, online friendship, slow burn, strangers to lovers, nonbinary character, trans character, background poly, phil does some buzzfeed unsolved shit and dan is a fan word count: 3.1k (this chapter), 9.5k (total) summary: Phil’s got a list of paranormal experiences a mile long that he likes to share with the world. Abandoned buildings, cemeteries, and ghost stories have always called his name, and a particular fan of his has a really, really good ghost story.

read this chapter on ao3 or here!

Interviews used to be Phil's least favourite part of this job. The research was always captivating, the filming was always fun, the editing was always challenging, but talking? To people? About things? Absolutely not.

He still doesn't love doing it, but he's long past the point of begging Martyn or Ian to pretend to be him on the phone.

The curtains in Phil's room are open for once, letting natural light in so he doesn't look as dark on the Skype screen. His eyes keep drifting to himself, distracting him as he tries to fix his hair or laments not getting out of his pyjamas. This is his fourth interview of the day, and he's starting to hate the process with a renewed fervour.

"Okay, thank you," he says, clicking out of the screen record window. "Can I message you here if I have any further questions, or would you prefer this to be your final statement?"

"Oh, um," the girl says, her eyes round with some kind of emotion that Phil can't be bothered to parse. "No, no, that's... that's all I saw. I don't have anything else. But you can still... message me, if you like."

Ah. Phil makes a face that he hopes reads as apologetic and not panicked. "No, I - sorry. Gay. Just interested in your ghost."

"Oh!" she says again, looking more puzzled than Phil thinks she has any right to after a forty minute conversation where he mostly just asked her clarifying questions that she kept dodging. She tucks some of her long hair behind her ear and shakes her head. "Sorry, that's just - you haven't said that online."

Phil isn't very good at knowing when people are lying to him, but now he's definitely suspicious of the half-assed testimony he'd gotten from this girl. He sighs. "Okay, you know who I am, then?"

"I mean, I looked you up when you messaged me about a video and all," she says. "Wanted to know if you were a creep or, like, legit."

Okay, that's fair enough. Phil supposes that if he were a girl in uni and a stranger asked to video chat, he'd also do a little digging first. He still doesn't quite believe her story, though - most of it matches what she'd written on Facebook, word for word, and she didn't go into detail on anything she claimed happened.

"Right, of course," says Phil, feeling awkward and exposed.

Her eyes are wide and blue and she can see into his room, into his life, and she's giving him this look like she thinks she knows something about him. He hates this feeling.

"That a secret, then?" she asks.

"No," Phil says. "It's just not relevant to my job. I don't have a lot of ghouls asking me out."

She doesn't laugh. Phil is getting more and more uncomfortable by the second, and he's wondering if it's worth it to hang up on a potential lead - no matter how dubious her claims - when she says, "Well, alright. I won't tell anyone anyway."

"Thanks," Phil says automatically. He doesn't particularly care if she does or not, but he does want this call to end as soon as possible. "And thanks for your time. Message me if you think of anything else you forgot to mention about the Wilkins place or if you know of someone who's seen something."

Before she can even respond, Phil hits end on the call and groans, resting his forehead on his thumbs for a moment.

Unsurprisingly, this is giving him a migraine. It doesn't take much to make the twinge of a headache turn to insistent throbbing, because Phil's body hates him and overreacts to everything.

Phil takes a couple of deep breaths before he comes out of hiding. He attaches the final screen recording to the email he's already got open and ready to send to Martyn. After a moment's thought, he CCs PJ and Sophie in and adds, Nobody sounds credible except the second person to me, so... it's not looking good lol, before hitting send.

He takes off his glasses and rubs at his eyes for a moment. Interviews are still draining for him, especially when they don't go as planned, and Phil's starting to get the impression that there's nothing to even find at the Wilkins place.

But. Phil pauses, considers his options. He hasn't interviewed everyone, has he.

Before he can talk himself out of it, Phil shoves his glasses unceremoniously back onto his face and opens Tumblr. Winnie hasn't said anything to him so far today, so Phil feels only a little like he's bothering them when he shoots off a quick, Hey! I just finished interviewing the sources you gave me and most of them aren't very promising. Would you consider letting me ask you some questions to round out the video?

me?????, Winnie replies almost immediately. i didnt even see anything?? like im happy to answer questions but idk how much use ill b in an INTERVIEW

I know! And you don't have to lmao so don't feel pressured or anything but you know so much more about the place than they do. Everyone claimed that they didn't know other people were having paranormal experiences.

oh bullshit, Winnie says. Phil is surprised into a huff of laughter.

There's a part of Phil, fuelled by anxiety and uncertainty, that worries Winnie is just pulling an elaborate joke on him. That part of him feels a little more at ease every time he actually talks to Winnie. They just seem... genuine. And maybe Martyn would disagree, would blame Phil's desperation to see the best in people, but there's a reason Phil doesn't tell Martyn everything.

Before Phil can agree with Winnie's colourful derision, his laptop beeps again. i look like an ogre rn but i can voice chat if you rly think itll help

It would!!, Phil assures them. The tender spot behind his eyes twinges again, serving as a reminder. Can I call in like an hour? I've got a headache from the screen lol

sure i really have nothing else going on today

--

So it's later in the day, late afternoon light still streaking through Phil's window, when Phil sits back down at his computer and adds the Skype username Winnie gave him. His head still hurts a bit, but it isn't all-consuming now that he's had another coffee and some painkillers. The padded headphones feel good to put over his ears, blocking out most of the typical noises from such a full house and a busy street, and Phil just sits in the blissful quiet for a moment before he sends a voice call request.

It gets picked up almost immediately, and Phil presses a smile into his palm before he says, "Hi! Can you hear me alright?"

There's a beat. Phil waits, in case Skype is lagging as usual, but he's opening his mouth to repeat himself by the time he gets a response.

"Yeah," says Winnie. "I can hear you."

Phil isn't really proud of himself for being surprised by Winnie's voice. It's just. He knows his viewer demographics, okay, and he has a rough grasp on Tumblr demographics, and the name - alright. It isn't his proudest moment, is his point, because he's expecting a much higher pitch for absolutely no good reason.

In addition to that, his brain automatically tries to classify Winnie's voice as very obviously masculine, and Phil has to push back against that.

"I can hear you, too," Phil says cheerfully, not allowing his anxieties to spill over into the conversation.

"That's good, probably," Winnie says. There's another beat of silence, and then a huff that might be laughter or a sigh comes through Phil's headphones. "Sorry, I - I'm not trying to be fucking weird, this is just surreal."

"Is it?" Phil hums. "But I haven't even asked you about ghosts yet."

A snort - definitely laughter, this time - follows, and Phil is so glad that he's able to put Winnie at ease even if his brain is betraying him. "That's true. I guess it's gotta get weirder from here."

"That's kind of, like, the subtitle of my whole channel," says Phil. After a moment, he frowns. "Subtitle? No. What's the thing, on the poster -"

"Tagline," says Winnie. They sound so amused and warm and, okay, they've got a nice voice. That's not gendered. Phil can think that. "You're thinking of a tagline, you buffoon."

"Tagline," Phil echoes gratefully.

"Don't you," Winnie starts, then stops abruptly. They don't finish the sentence, but Phil can kind of guess what they were going to say. There's the sound of some rustling, like Winnie is getting comfortable, before they change tacks. "Again, I didn't see any of this alleged ghostly activity with my own eyes, but I know the hot goss."

Phil opens the recording program out of habit, nodding even though Winnie can't see him. "That's still really useful at this point," he says encouragingly. He clicks a couple of buttons. "And, yes, I do have an English degree. Thank you for not asking."

Winnie laughs, the sound of it filling Phil's headphones and making it feel like they're in the room with him. It's warm, like everything else about their voice, and absolutely contagious.

"I didn't want you to think I was, like, a big stalker," Winnie says, and Phil can hear the grin in their voice.

"Eh, I know you watch my videos," says Phil. "So I figure you know some stuff about me. You probably know that I'm going to ask this, too, but - is it okay if I record our conversation? I don't need to include it in the video if you don't want me to, but it's still useful for me if I don't so I can, like, actually remember the things you told me."

"Yeah, sure," Winnie agrees easily. They hesitate, for a moment, and Phil waits for whatever the caveat will be. "Uh, can I still swear?"

The question surprises Phil into laughing. "Yeah, you're fine. I can bleep them out."

"Then I am all for it. Ask me the ghost questions, ghost man."

Phil presses record and glances down at his notebook, where he's scrawled some disjointed questions alongside his usual doodling. "Uh, okay. Yes. I am totally a professional."

"If you say so, mate," says Winnie.

"Hush. Okay." Phil finally gets his brain back on track and taps his pen against a question near the end of his list. "So, Winnie, you did all this research into the Wilkins place on your own downtime, but you mentioned that you've been hearing murmurs about it for a while, right?"

"Not that long, actually, I've only been hearing about it since term started," Winnie says, and Phil is struck by how comfortable they suddenly are now that there's a guideline. Or, maybe, now that there's a non-Phil audience. "Which I thought was pretty weird, since I'd been there a couple times since I moved here, and it's a spooky fucking place but nothing to write home about."

That's more or less exactly how Phil feels about the situation, except that he doesn't remember the Wilkins place to be scary at all. Maybe it's gotten worse in the years since, or maybe he's just got a higher threshold for empty, decrepit homes than Winnie does. Either way, he's not sure if he should be relieved or suspicious that their thoughts on it mirror his own so well. He starts a spiral in the corner of his page as he considers the answer.

"So, you never got the impression that it was haunted before?"

"I - can I be perfectly honest?" Winnie asks, and then doesn't wait for a response. "I don't get the impression that it's haunted now. I dunno if people are just making shit up or if they're doing too many drugs, but we all know that ghosts don't actually exist."

Phil snorts. He does have a fairly large number of skeptics who watch his videos to argue in the comments about logical explanations for his findings or to just enjoy watching him fail so much, but he hadn't really expected that from someone who sent him a sourced essay on the topic of ghosts.

He's recording right now, so he's not about to give away the fact that, yeah, he kind of does agree with Winnie on this one. Instead, he keeps his tone neutral and says, "You don't believe in ghosts."

"I don't believe in most things that can't be explained by science," Winnie says, so matter-of-fact that Phil has to smile.

"I don't really believe in science," Phil says, mild.

A beat. "Excuse me?"

"I said I don't believe in science," Phil repeats, doubling down on the joke so he can hear that incredulous pitch of Winnie's nice voice again. "I mean, isn't it all just as made-up as anything else? People just tell us stuff exists and we have to believe them?"

"We believe them," Winnie says slowly, "because it's a fact."

"How do I know that?" Phil asks. He knows how off track he's already gotten, and he decides to cut this part out before he sends the file to Martyn or his friends.

"Because you can. See it. With your eyes." The genuine bewilderment in Winnie's voice is very funny. "Like. What the fuck, Phil. If someone drops an apple and it hits the ground and they're like, 'oh that's gravity', how are you supposed to say, 'uh, no it ain't'?"

Phil leans back in his chair a bit, his spiral turning into an apple. "Because, what if that's just what the apple wanted to do? It's not like we know any of this for sure, Winnie."

"You're fucking with me," Winnie says, but they don't sound very certain.

"I am," Phil admits happily. "Do you remember the first incident that kicked off the Wilkins place rumours?"

"You," Winnie says, and then cackles. They lean away from their mic as they do, but the sound of it still makes Phil feel some secondhand giddiness. He wonders if their laugh has a volume limit, or if it's just going to keep getting louder the funnier Phil is. He is so tempted to put that to the test. "Fuck. You little fucker."

Phil hides his own giggle in the palm of his hand and clears his throat, trying to get back into the professional mindset he'd forced himself to be in for the four earlier interviews.

"Do you need me to repeat the question?" Phil asks. He can't resist teasing, just a bit.

"No, fuck off," Winnie chuckles. They take a deep breath and let it out on a hum, low and thoughtful. "So, there was this shindig during fresher's, which I obviously didn't go to because I'm not a fresher and I'm too old to go to shindigs, but people were talking about how the house was making weird noises. A girl I know - I linked you to her Reddit post - said she saw someone just standing outside the window watching them, but, like, is that really a supernatural occurrence in Rusholme?"

"It's not. And she hit on me as well, so I'm not sure her judgement is trustworthy."

"Sounds like her. Sorry. Anyway, nobody really thought 'ghosts' as much as they thought 'rats in the walls and a pervert on the street', but then - this one didn't get spoken about online. I don't even know how valid it is."

"Word of mouth is how most ghost stories get passed," says Phil. "I'm not going to hold you to citations on rumours."

Winnie huffs a laugh. It's soft, quiet, and Phil almost wishes he could say something ridiculous to make them cackle again. Unfortunately, he has a job to do.

"Fair enough. Well, some idiots spent the night there to see if anything weird would happen," Winnie says, and Phil feels a bit attacked, "and three separate dudes had sleep paralysis."

Phil hums and jots some messy notes down. "In the same night?"

"At the same time," Winnie corrects him. "The other idiots were trying to wake them up for a long time, apparently. They're convinced that the guys who fell asleep were just pulling a prank on them, and maybe they were, but that's when the ball really got rolling."

Out of everything Phil has heard today, this is the most compelling story so far. Maybe that's a good indicator of the Manchester students being full of it - maybe there truly is nothing to find in the Wilkins place - but it piques Phil's interest anyway.

"For someone who only believes in cold, hard science, you're good at telling ghost stories," Phil says.

"Thanks," Winnie says, sounding pleased with themselves. "Learned from the best."

Phil is suddenly very, very glad that this isn't a video call, because he can't stop himself from smiling like an idiot. "Oh, is that what they're calling me?"

Another cackle. Phil doesn't remember the last time he made someone laugh so much without tripping over his own clown feet.

"I never said I was talking about you."

"Uh huh."

"Oh, shut up," says Winnie, and Phil can still hear the laughter in their voice. "Don't you have a bunch of questions to ask or something?"

Phil does. He has a whole list of questions that he should be following. He chews on his pen and looks at the doodle-covered list of things he's meant to ask Winnie. His head still hurts - maybe the extra caffeine didn't help after all - and all he really wants to do is take a nap.

"Yeah," Phil says, reluctant. "I've just got, like, a migraine. Can I call you back another time? This was a really great start."

"Oh, yeah, sure," says Winnie. They've dropped their voice down to something soft, like they're worried that they'll make Phil's headache worse.

"I'm actually going up to check the place out this weekend." Phil isn't sure what makes him say that. He meets up with sources in person, sometimes, but usually only if they've seen something with their own eyes. He just feels comfortable talking to Winnie, far more than he'd felt talking to the other students he'd interviewed today.

Phil doesn't actually extend the invitation, and Winnie either doesn't pick up the hint or doesn't care to.

"That'll be good," they say, still soft. "Get some rest, Phil, you can call me back when your brain stops trying to drill a hole through your temple."

After Phil says goodbye and hangs up, he sits at his desk for a long moment. It feels too quiet, all of a sudden, his padded headphones blocking out all the ambient noise around him. It's good for his head, but Phil is still weirdly disappointed.

[frickfracksnatchisback]

Fear of Infection (Monster AU)

So I love @teenytinyhatkid‘s Monster AU to death (haha get it???) and this idea for a shortish story would not leave me alone (and this took way too pecking long to write asdfjks). Premise is that Hat Kid is acting strange in the monster house which leads to almost everybody freaking out and investigating. And it turns out that Hat Kid isn’t all what she seems...

Warning! Bloody (and possibly gory) descriptions of animal corpses. No human gore though, so you’re safe there!  Enjoy the angst!

***

It was like any other normal day outside.  The sun was shining brightly, the spring flowers were all in bloom, and the air was filled with chirping birds. A small hatted child was running in the backyard of a small house, laughing as she ran through the freshly cut grass. Another child came close behind her, they were both playing a fun game of tag. As the two children laughed and played in the backyard of their home, one particularly tall adult watched over them. He kept a look out, making sure that the two young girls wouldn’t get into any trouble. As he watched, another adult was planting in the garden not too far away. The sun was shining down on her straw hat as she planted the herbs and vegetables. Yes, all was perfectly normal in this household. The werewolf pup playing chase with the human child, the vampire keeping watch over them, and the witch gardening…

Well, perhaps “normal” wasn’t the right term.

“Thanks for agreeing to watch over them, dearie. You’re being a big help!” CC said happily as she dug up another hole in the small garden with her trowel. Snatcher grunted in reply, steadily watching the girls like a hawk. He shifted his umbrella to get more cover himself from the sunlight. He really had no need to, he was pretty much shaded head to toe already. Not to mention he was sitting on the porch, which had a big enough awning to give him more than enough protection. But in Snatcher’s opinion, you could never be too careful when you’re a vampire. Especially when the sunlight was as strong as it was today.

“I hope it’s not too much trouble for you. I’d do it myself if I could, but I don’t have eyes in the back of my head.” CC joked as she planted a cucumber plant into the ground. Snatcher chuckled lightly.

“Who knows? You could make a spell or a potion that could do that.” he joked back, laughing as CC playfully threw one of her spare gardening gloves at him.

“You’re quite the rascal when you want to be.” she giggled, going back to her gardening.

“Hey, would I be me if I wasn’t?” Snatcher grinned, making CC giggle even more. He quickly went back to watching the two girls. It really wasn’t that much of a bother to be honest. Yes, she did wake him up much earlier than he was used to being up. Yes, it was annoyingly sunny out. And yes, he could be getting some lawyer work done or go out to look for a meal. But hey, CC bribed him with saying she would get him some blood bags. And it wasn’t too hard of a job to be honest, so how could he turn that down?

He brought his attention back to the two girls. It looked like they were taking a break from all the fun and games for now. Hat Kid was calmly sitting in the shade of a tree while Mu was...digging. Snatcher groaned, not again.

“Hey CC, the little gremlin is making a mess again.” he told CC. She stopped what she was doing and sighed.

“Please don’t call her that.” she said politely and turned around towards the pup. “Sweetie, what have I told you about digging holes in the backyard?” she called back. The little werewolf pup look up, her paws covered in dirt.

“I think I found a rabbit den!” she said as she grinned mischievously, her tail wagging behind her. She ignored CC and went back to digging. CC just shook her head and went back to what she was doing. Snatcher also shook his head, but more so at CC’s actions. When would she ever start being more assertive with that brat?

“You alright kiddo?” He yelled across to Hat Kid, who seemed to be staring off into space. She didn’t reply, her face had an odd expression. “Kiddo? I said, are you alright?” he yelled again. This time she snapped out of her haze and nodded back.

“Yeah! Just tired!” she called back and went to staring at the ground. It looked like she was picking up rocks or looking for bugs. From where Snatcher was sitting, it was kind of hard for him to tell.

“Is it just me, or has the kid gotten bigger?” Snatcher asked CC. She simply nodded as she was working.

“Wouldn’t be too unlikely dear. She’s been getting these awful growing pains lately. I know her appetite has certainly gotten bigger!” CC said, patting the soil firmly. Snatcher perked up from where he was sitting.

“Growing pains?” he asked, a bit worryingly. He hadn’t really been kept up to date with all the happenings in the house. He was busy with more important things after all. Things either relating to work, paying the bills, or… Well, CC didn’t know about all the hunting trips with Conductor. And he planned to keep it that way. Still, he definitely hadn’t been checking on the kid recently. That raised a few concerns from him.

“Oh yes, poor dear. She’s said her head has been hurting a lot lately, along with her waist.” CC explained. She grabbed a potion from the belt she was wearing. She poured its contents into the roots of the plant. As always, she couldn’t do a task without some kind of magic involved.

“Her head? You sure she isn’t coming down with something?” he asked, very confused. CC looked up at him and shrugged.

“I don’t think she’s sick, she wouldn’t be eating if she was. She just has some body aches here and there, other than that she’s fine.” She said as she quickly went back to gardening. Snatcher could tell she was worried though. She wasn’t very good at hiding her emotions. And to be honest? He was worried about the kid too. She might have injured herself, that was always a possibility. But then again… He looked back at the kid. She was happily playing with rocks and twigs she had managed to find on the ground, as if they were dolls. Seeing this made him shrug his worries away.

Eh, it was probably nothing too serious.

“You should really she the way she eats nowadays.” CC spoke up, tearing away Snatcher’s concentration once again. “She really enjoyed the beef stew we had a couples day ago! She even asked for thirds!” she joked, laughing to herself as she dug another hole in the ground. “If she keeps it up, she outgrow all of her old clothes. She’s already lost a few...huh?” she said, her trowel hitting something in the dirt.

“What? What did you find?” Snatcher asked, very curious.

“Hold on, I’m trying to find that out.” She said, digging up the ground faster. She saw something and quickly grabbed it. She trying pulling it out of the ground, tugging on whatever she had a hole of. She let out a surprise yelp as she finally pull it out, nearly knocking herself back. She started at what was in her hand, it was a piece of fabric. A shirt to be more precise. She looked it over with a puzzled expression. Her eyes widened, as she quickly tried to dig up the earth with her own hands. And underneath the dirt was a huge pile of dirt-covered clothes.

“Aren’t those the kid’s?” Snatcher asked, recognizing a few of the shirts and outfits.

“Yes...yes they are.” CC grumbled under her breath. Snatcher looked back at her, alarmed. Uh oh, now she was going to get assertive. There was only one person who was guilty of this, and they where about to get one heck of a lecture. She quickly stood up and yelled behind her.

“MU!”

The werewolf pup stopped digging again, the hole being much larger than it was before. She bounded over towards CC on all fours, her tail wagging back and forth. Once she got up to CC’s feet, she stood back on two legs.

“Ooo! Did you find a gopher? Can I eat it?” Mu smiled, her tail still wagging happily behind her. Her face dropped once she saw the face that CC was giving her though. It was the kind of face you never wanted to see as a child. The kind of face that said You’re in big trouble young lady. Her tail drooped along with her puppy ears.

“Would you care to explain why I found this buried in the garden?” she said sternly, holding up the ruined shirt. Mu’s face turned from ashamed to confused once she saw the shirt.

“What? I didn’t bury that!” she said, holding up her hands. But CC was not amused.

“So now you’re lying to me?” she said as she crossed her arms.

“Wha- No! I swear I didn’t bury it!” Mu begged.

“Well, who else could’ve buried it then?” CC asked her. Mu opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She thought for a minute, thinking about her answer carefully.

“A raccoon?” she said, laughing nervously as CC glared over her.

“That doesn’t explain why they’re covered in dried blood.” Snatcher spoke up from behind them. He had made his was over to the hole, picking up one of the dirty clothes and sniffing it. “Jeez kid, did you kill something in this?” he asked, turning his nose away from the smell.

“No! Because I didn’t do it!” Mu yelled.

“I think that’s enough time outside today.” CC sighed, shaking her head. “Come on. If you won’t admit you did it you’re staying in your room until you tell the truth.” she said, motioning for Mu to go back in the house.

“Nuh uh! I’m making a break for it!” Mu panicked, trying to run away as fast as she could. CC saw it coming though, and was quick to catch her. She lifted her up in her arms, keeping a tight hold on her. “Let me go! I’m innocent!” Mu grumbled, squirming and struggling to get away.

“May I give a bit of advice? Maybe next time you shouldn’t say you’re going to run away, especially if you’re guilty as charged.” Snatcher joked, Mu growling at him.

“Don’t give her ideas.” CC fussed at him, turning to head for the door. “Be a dear and tell her to come inside too, won’t you?” she asked him, somehow keeping her hold on the struggling pup as she pointed towards Hat Kid.

“Sure thing.” Snatcher said, snickering at Mu shouting for freedom. He went over to Hat Kid with his umbrella while CC went in the opposite direction.

“Help! I’ve been wrongly accused!” Mu shouted, the door slamming shut on her words. Snatcher chuckled to himself. When would that brat ever learn? And speaking of brat… “Hey kiddo, it’s time to go back inside.” he called to her. She looked up from her piles of sticks and pebbles.

“Aww…” she whined, getting up off the ground anyways.

“What? I thought you said you were tired!” Snatcher said, grinning wide. Hat Kid groaned at him and rolled her eyes. “Hurry up. The sooner we get out of this cursed sunlight, the better.” he said, walking faster.

“I think it’s nice!” Hat Kid said as she tried to keep up with him. “The sun is really warm and it makes me feel cozy!” she beamed at him, skipping alongside him. He scoffed and shook his head.

“Easy for you to say, kiddo! You don’t have to worry about burning up. Literally.” he said, making Hat Kid mumble awkwardly. As they made it to the back of the house, he put up his umbrella and held the door open for her. “After you, I insist!” he said, bowing in a ridiculous gesture.

“Thank you!” she giggled as she stepped inside.

“Don’t mention it.” he said as he followed after her, letting the door close behind him. Hat Kid rushed to the living room as he was putting his umbrella in the umbrella stand. Once he was done he decided to go in that same room.  As he walked in he saw the kid sitting on the couch, watching TV. “Mind if I join you?” he asked as he went up to her. She nodded, patting the seat next to her. He smiled and sat right down. He figured he could use a bit of relaxing time after being out in the sun all day. They both stayed there for a couple hours. Hat Kid watching her cartoons and Snatcher slowly starting to fall asleep next to her.

But he quickly woke up as his stomach growled loudly. Hat Kid didn’t seem to notice him, as she was transfixed by the TV. He rubbed his stomach, guess he was hungrier than he thought. He grumbled, CC was still too busy with the little monster to give him his blood bags. Looks like he was going to have to look for a meal, as much as he didn’t want to. But hey, nothing a little hunting trip couldn’t fix. And the sun was just beginning to set, which was perfect timing for him.

“I’m going out.” he told Hat Kid, pushing himself off the couch. “If CC asks where I’ve gone, just tell her I went shopping or something.” he said, straightening the cuffs of his shirt.

“Are you going hunting again?” she asked, he was surprise that she figured him out so quickly.

“Wow kid, read my mind like an open book.” he grinned. “Yes, I’m going hunting. I just need a quick bite to eat, that’s all.” he said, heading towards the hallways that lead to the front door.

“Can I come with you?” Hat kid asked again.

“What? No, you can’t come with me.” Snatcher told her, standing in the doorway. “I mean, unless you want to eat raw deer.” he joked. But Hat Kid didn’t laugh. She just rubbed the top of her head and pouted.

“But I’m hungry...” she mumbled quietly.

“What was that?” Snatcher asked, he didn’t quite hear her.

“Nothing!” she said quickly. He looked at her quizzically, she was acting rather strange.

“Okay then...” he said, unsure of what she had said. But he didn’t dwell on it further, he was too hungry to care. “I’ll be back in a little bit. Smell ya later!” he called back. Hat Kid smiled back at him, still rubbing her head for some reason. He paid little mind to it though, as he went down the hall to the front door. But as he opened the door his conscious told that something wasn’t right. He hesitated before going out the door. Was she going to be okay?

He shook the thought off, telling himself that he was worrying over nothing. The kid just had some growing pains, that’s all. And with that, he went outside and closed the door, leaving his worries behind him.

***

The entrance door creaked as Snatcher sneaked back into the house. He was visibly scowling, grumbling under his breath. His hunting trip had lasted longer than he thought it would, and it had all been a huge waste of time. And he didn’t managed to catch anything in the forest, which left him in a rather bad mood. Whatever, he was going to get those blood bags from CC soon. Maybe he could hold it off until then.

He silently closed the door behind him. The house was quiet, everyone was probably already in bed. Typical, since the sun had set the moment he walked in.  But he was used to that, he had come home later before. He tip-toed through the hallway, careful not to wake the kid up. That wouldn’t end well for him. Or worse, CC could be-

“Snatcher? Is that you dear?”

Awake...

He froze in his steps once he heard her voice from the living room.. Peck he thought to himself.  He held his breath and push himself against the wall. Maybe she just thought he heard him. And if he stayed quiet enough, maybe he could get out of-

“Snatcher, I know you’re there.”

Nope, she definitely heard him. He sighed in defeat and made his way over to the living room entrance. He peeked in, not wanting to walk in just yet. CC was sitting on the couch near the TV, drinking tea. She didn’t look too angry, so that was a plus. But she had an expression on her face that he couldn’t quite read. He quietly stepped into the room, she kept silent. There was tension in the air, which meant something was definitely up. CC put her empty cup down on a nearby table and looked back at him.

“We need to have a talk.” She said, as if she was his mother. Snatcher shifted uncomfortably. Oh boy he thought. This is going to be a long night.

“Listen, whatever it was I didn’t do it.” he said in his own defense.

“This isn’t really a time for jokes, sweetie.”

“I wasn’t trying to make a joke.”

“Ye sure about that? Because that sounded an awful lot like a joke to me, laddie.”

Snatcher whipped around towards the new voice. It belonged to the very last person he wanted to see tonight, Conductor. He was sitting in the armchair not too far away from CC, gripping a bottle and glass of what Snatcher assumed to be alcohol. He was staring back at him accusingly, his face cold and stern. Great, looks like he was going to get two lectures. And from the grumpy old man no less. Just perfect.

“What is he doing here?” Snatcher asked, annoyed as he pointed to Conductor sitting in the chair. Just seeing him gave him a massive headache. Peck, being in the near proximity of him was like a massive headache all by itself.

“Oi! Ah have every right to know about what the lass is going through, ye bum!” Conductor shouted. CC shushed him, gesturing him to keep quiet. Conductor saw this and grumbled in his chair, taking a swig of his glass.

“What? She just has some growing pains, nothing more.” Snatcher said simply. Conductor sat up and glared at him, as if he had said something offensive. He turned back to CC. “It is just growing pains, right?” he asked her. She kept her head down, saying nothing for a few minutes. She bit her lip nervously before finally speaking up.

“Actually...that may not be the case.”

Snatcher was shocked at her words. “What do you mean that may not be the case?” he asked, rather miffed that no one was telling him anything.

“You may want to sit down for this.” CC said, patting the seat next to her. Snatcher hesitated for awhile before plopping down next to her.

“It’s not like I’m going to faint.” he mumbled, shifting in his spot till he was somewhat comfortable.

“Well...” CC trailed off. “Conductor didn’t take it very well-”

“Ah did just fine!” He screamed, CC was quick to shush him again. Snatcher could see that he was lying though, very badly too. His hands were shaking as he filled up his glass again. And as fast as he filled it, he chugged the alcohol down in one swift motion.

“Conductor, sweetie, please don’t make yourself sick!” CC said distressingly.

“Ah’m fine, lass. Now get on with it.” he growled, making her shrink back in her seat. She took in a deep breath, shaking a bit in fear.

“Go ahead. The quicker you get it over with, the better.” Snatcher tried to comfort her, slowly putting a hand on her shoulder. She looked back at him and gave him a weak smile.

“Thank you.” she mouthed, not wanting to disturb Conductor. “Well… the little one has being getting worse now.” she said meekly, barely speaking above a whisper.

“Okay then…” Snatcher said, trying his best to collect himself. “How bad is ‘worse’?” he asked, fidgeting with his hands nervously. He hated it when he did that, but it was all he could think to do right now. He saw that CC looked like she was about to cry. Oh no he thought to himself. This can’t be good.

“I...I think she might be...” CC was choked up, her eyes watering. He told himself wasn’t going to panic. He was going to get through this bad news. Whatever it was he could handle-

“I think she might be infected.” CC said, breaking down as she finally managed to get the words out. If Snatcher wasn’t already a vampire, his skin would have been deathly pale at this moment.

“WHAT?!” he shouted, jumping from his seat. He couldn’t believe it. No, he wouldn’t believe it. They had all been so careful with watching over the kid! So how could she have-

He stopped panicking and walked towards Conductor in an angry stride. “You better start talking old man! And fast.” he hissed, clenching his fists by his side and gritting his teeth. Conductor was caught off guard, draining his glass before he noticed that Snatcher standing right in front of him.

“Wha- YER ACCUSING ME?!” he yelled, setting his glass down and standing up so they could see eye-to-eye. Snatcher was much taller than him, but that didn’t stop the two from giving each other death glares.

“How else would she have gotten it?!” Snatcher shouted back at him.

“Ye no good, dirty peckneck! I outta strangle ye with me bare hands!” Conductor said as he tried to stand on his toes to heighten himself.

“Wait!” CC said, quickly getting up to separate the two. “We don’t even know what it is yet! Please, don’t fight!” she said as she pushed the two apart. The two looked at her, confused out of their minds.

“You don’t know what it is?” Snatcher asked.

“Lass, I thought you said it was-” Conductor started, before Snatcher put up a finger to shush him.

“Well...that’s the problem. It’s hard to tell what it is, exactly. I’ve never seen anything like this before.” CC tried to explain, and failing miserably. The three fell silent for a moment, none of them knowing what to do about the predicament.

“Okay, let’s try to think this out.” Snatcher spoke up, distancing himself from Conductor. “Has she been scratching herself lately? Because he does that often.” he said, jabbing a thumb at Conductor. Conductor retaliated by slapping his hand away. “Watch it, old man.” he threatened as he glared at Conductor.

“She has been doing that, actually.” CC muttered. The two looked back at her again, then back at each other.

“Ha! So you did bite her then?” Snatcher said, smiling thinly at Conductor.

“What?! Ah did no such thing to the wee lass!” Conductor sputtered, holding his hands up defensively.

“No, no! That’s not just it!” CC fussed.

“Well what else could it be then?!” Snatcher snapped. He wasn’t handling the pressure very well. CC looked back at him, clearly irritated.

“I should be asking you that!” CC said hotly, poking as his chest. “How am I supposed to know? You think I know everything about turning symptoms? Because I don’t!” she continued, stomping away from the two. “I’m supposed to be the one who watches over her! And I...I just can’t-” she choked out, before falling back onto the couch. She covered her face and sobbed loudly, making Snatcher feel a twang of guilt inside him. He slowly made his way over to her, hoping he’d be able to comfort her.

“Hey, listen. It’s okay, you didn’t know about this.” he sat next to her and rubbed her back.

“I’m sorry it’s just-” she tried to speak through all her blubbering. “I have no clue what’s wrong with her or what she’s turning into. I don’t know if she has wereowl symptoms or...” she trailed off.

“Or…?” Snatcher asked.

“She could be turning into a bloodsucker, laddie.” Conductor spoke up as he came closer to the two. Snatcher looked at him, his eyes glaring daggers.

“Are you insane? You think she’s turning into a vampire?” Snatcher exclaimed, the Conductor was starting to get on his last nerve.

“It’s not too unlikely, dear.” CC broke in. “She’s been shaking all over, like you when you’re...hungry.” she explained, getting Snatcher’s full attention. “And she bit her lip today, very badly. And I almost thought I saw...” she stopped before plucking up the courage to say it.

“I think she had fangs.”

Snatcher eyes went wide. “F-fangs?” he said, a panicked smile on his face. CC nodded, looking back at him with pity. He took his hand off her, bringing his hands down to look at them. “N-no...I would never even consider biting the kid! Let alone turning her!” he said, fear on the edge of his voice.

“How do we know that ye didn’t do it on accident?” Conductor sneered. Snatcher stared at him for a moment, face-palmed, and shook his head.

“You don’t understand. Turning someone into a vampire is much more complicated than just a simple bite.” he groaned, rubbing the spot between his eyes. “I would have to feed off of her and then give her some of my own blood in exchange.” he explained, recalling the process all too well in his memory. “And it’s not an easy process. Unlike yours, that is. All you have to do is bite her once.” he finished. Conductor kept his mouth shut for a moment, processing his thoughts.

“Ye act like a real bumbling idiot when yer hungry. Are ye sure ye didn’t bite the lass?” he asked, cocking his head in question. Snatcher’s eyes thinned as he scowled back.

“Do you want an honest answer to that, old man? Or should I just carve it into your skull?” he hissed, stretching out his claws and digging them into the couch cushion.

“Will you two cut it out?!” CC shrieked, grabbing their attention. “Arguing is getting us nowhere!” she scolded them. They stayed in bitter silence, with Snatcher softly nodding. “Maybe we should just wait until morning. I think we all just need some rest.” She sighed, getting up from the couch.

“Sure, whatever.” Snatcher grumbled as he did the same. “We don’t have a lot of time though. We’ll need to find out what’s happening to kid soon, before things get ugly.” he said as he straighten his shirt collar and tie.

“Yer right there. Don’t want the lass biting and feeding off of peck knows what.” Conductor joked.

Something inside of Snatcher snapped as his eye twitched. And before he knew it, he was holding Conductor up by the throat. Conductor gasped and struggled for air as he was lifted off the ground. Snatcher’s eyes were glowing with rage and his fangs seemed to grow in size. CC watched in horror, frozen on the spot. She was too scared of what he would do next.

“I would. Never. Bite. The kid.” he snarled, tightening his grip as Conductor choked and gurgled. “Don’t you ever assume that I would hurt her like that again.” he said, showing off his gleaming, sharp fangs. He then let go of Conductor and watched him drop to the floor. Conductor gasped as he fell on his hands and knees, coughing up a storm. Snatcher simply watched the feeble old man, his shadow looming over his weak body. He leaned down ever-so slightly and whispered to him.

“You’re just a careless old fool, so quit denying it.”

Before he could brace himself, Conductor got up and popped him right in the nose.

He was knocked back with great force. His body slammed onto the hardwood floor and the back of his head bumped into the couch. He groaned, his eyes tightening with pain and watering. He laid there for a moment before quickly pushing himself up. Something warm trickled from his nose and he quickly went to cover it. He brought back his hand, he saw that it had smears of blood. He looked back at Conductor to see him shaking his hand in pain. Conductor then started wiping his hand on his white shirt, leaving behind small red stains.

“Oh, so that’s how we’re going to talk this out.” he laughed coldly, unaware of Conductor’s glare towards him as he held his nose. “Then again, why am I surprised? You always were a brute with conversation.” he grinned, flashing off his teeth. As he saw Conductor seething with rage his smile swiftly dropped.

“I’LL SHOW YE A ‘CONVERSATION’!” roared Conductor. He made to lunge towards Snatcher, would was still laying on the ground. He braced himself, outstretching his claws so he could give the old man a couple scratches once they made contact. Conductor’s hands were reaching for his face-

“ENOUGH!”

The two froze on the spot. Literally. A pulse of blue magic washed over them, freezing them like a statues. Conductor stood hunched over Snatcher, still reaching for his face but somehow managing to keep an impossible balance. Snatcher still had his claws out, still protecting his upper half through his frozen trance. CC was panting, she didn’t mean to cast that spell. But it had stopped them from killing each other, so that’s all that mattered. She walked up to them, their eyes were the only thing moving. They looked back at her, she sighed.

“If I unfreeze you both, you have to stop the fighting. Alright?” she asked them both. They couldn’t nod, but if they could they’d be doing it in unison. She quickly clapped her hands together. They both let out a yell as the spell was broken. And before he could move out of the way, Conductor fell on top of Snatcher. He grunted, feeling squished under the old-timer’s weight.

“Get. Off!” he wheezed, shoving Conductor off himself. Conductor yelped in surprise, his face hitting the floor and his hat falling off. Snatcher stood back up at an alarming speed, dusting himself off hurriedly. He tried fixing his tie but did it much too fast and undid it instead. He tore the tie off his neck and threw it on the ground.

“I am going to bed, I’ve had enough of this!” he growled, his hair puffing up.

“Darlings, what is all this racket?” Grooves said as he appeared in the doorway, yawning and half asleep. He was then fully awake as Snatcher came towards him and shoved him out of the way.

“GOOD! NIGHT!” he shouted, stomping off towards the attic room stairs. He slammed the door to his room, making the others jump and the house shake a little. Grooves looked back at CC and Conductor. CC had a very worried expression and Conductor was still getting up off the floor.

“What was that all about?” Grooves asked.

***

Snatcher tossed and turned in his old bed, the mattress creaking underneath him. He turned again for what felt like the hundredth time and stared at the ceiling. He huffed and then sighed, he just couldn’t sleep. He was too angry, his nose still being sore from that punch earlier. It wasn’t broken and the bleeding had fortunately stopped now, thanks to a couple tissues. But he was going to get back at that old coot for what he did.

Yet, as mad as he was at the Conductor, he was also extremely worried. What if he did infect the kid? It was a crazy notion, one that he dreaded. But it lingered in his mind like a bad dream. It was almost like he could picture-

Him standing over the kid in an alleyway. His claws sharp and ready to cut through flesh. His teeth bared and pointed, bigger and sharper. His eyes glowing and glaring, like he was a predator of the night. But he wasn’t all there. He was too hungry to notice or care. He didn’t care that the kid was crying. He didn’t care that her small body was shaking as he came closer and closer. He didn’t care that his claws were hurting her as he grabbed her. All he want to do was sink his teeth in and-

“Shut up.” he hissed at himself, smacking his face with a pillow. “That didn’t happen, and it never will.” he told himself. But he mind still wouldn’t let go of the dark thought. He knew that he could be very impulsive when it came to feeding. He hadn’t had a meal in days. And it could be possible that he slipped up and blacked out making him forget the whole thing…

No, he refused to believe it. He would never turn the kid. He didn’t want to admit it, but he cared about her too much. And he would never, under the stars and moon, ever bite her. The kid turning into a vampire? It was a stupid, rash thought. One that he needed to forget and take his mind off of.

He got up from the bed and began pacing back and forth. Perhaps he was just...hungry. Yeah, that was it. The lack of blood was probably driving him crazy, making him paranoid over silly little things. He just couldn’t wait another day for those blood bags that CC promised. He probably wasn’t getting them anyways, not after that little fiasco. Which meant he needed to find some food for himself. He went over to the window, looking out into the backyard and into the woods. He’d just have to make another hunting trip, that’s all. Just go into the forest, find a quick meal, and get out before-

He immediately paused his thoughts as he saw a figure outside. A very small figure was running through the grass. He got closer to the glass and set his hands against it. Who on earth was that? He tried squinting his eyes, his vampiric vision helping him try to see who it was. Was it a burglar? No...too tiny. Was it the monstrous puppy? No...she’d be running on all fours if that were the case. Then who the heck was-

Snatcher gasped slightly as noticed the hat. The all too familiar top hat that he could recolonize in a flash. But...no it couldn’t be her. It just couldn’t be her. His eyes widened with fear as the kid stopped running and turned around. She looked back at the house, her movements odd and jittery. She looked up at the house, almost at him, with...

Two. Glowing. Eyes.

Snatcher was shaking in fear. He used all his willpower to keep himself from screaming. He put a hand to his mouth, and then another. The kid hadn’t noticed him watching her from the window, or she didn’t care, as she ran faster into the woods. He stood there in shocked silence before stepping back and dropping back onto his bed. He shivered, pulling a his hair with tears of despair in his eyes. Telling himself over and over that he didn’t see that, he didn’t see that, HE DIDN’T SEE THAT! There’s was no way that the kid had glowing eyes! Only werecreatures had glowing eyes! Or...or-

“Vampires...” he said through his weeping, the word caught in his throat. He held his face in his hands, sucking the air in through his teeth. He stayed like this for a few moments, tuning out the world around him. Then, as fast as he broke down crying, he stopped. He got up off his bed a second time, stiff and emotionless as a robot. He made his way over to the door and was about to reach for the doorknob. But he hesitated for a moment. Should he really go after the kid himself?

No, he had to bring someone with him. He had to. Even if it was CC, who would be skittish and scared the entire time they would be in the forest. Peck, he would even take Conductor with him at this point. He would most likely insist on it anyways, despite him being a major hindrance. But he just need someone, anyone to come with him into the forest. He just need some clarification, that’s all. Just some evidence or excuse that he could hold onto for dear life. Because he did not infect the kid, and he was going to prove it. He opened the door and hastily went to wake the others up.

Time for another hunting trip.

***

“Are ye sure ye saw the lassie run off here?” Conductor asked for the fifth time in a row as they were treading through the forest. The sounds of chirping crickets, crunching leaves, and the occasional scampering of startled critters were all around them. Yet this didn’t stop them from going deeper into the forest.

“I know what I saw.” Snatcher said. He had manage to fill the two in on what happened, keeping the details of his nervous breakdown to himself. He lead the group, perking his head up as he listened to his surrounding with his pointed ears. He stopped the group for a moment, his ears twitching, and then motioned for the two to keep following him from behind.

“I hope she’s okay...” CC whispered, trying her best to be extra quiet. She stepped on a branch, yelping at the dry snapping sound it made. “Sorry!” she apologized, but he paid little mind to it as they kept on walking. “You said she looked strange?” she asked, her voice even quieter. Snatcher turned back to look at her, looking more serious then he had ever been before.

“Strange is an understatement. This is...frightening, to say the least.” he put it simply, quickly going back to directing the group. CC and Conductor glanced at each other. CC then went back to following Snatcher. She thought if he was this serious about it, then he must be trusted. But Conductor wasn’t so sure, staying behind from the group for a moment. Was it really a good idea to put trust in him of all people? The same crazy bum who nearly broke his own neck? It just didn’t seem right…

“Conductor, are you coming?” CC whisper-shouted over to him. He snapped out of it, nodding back at her.

“Ah’m coming, Ah’m coming. Give me a minute.” he responded, catching up with the group.

“We haven’t got all day, old man. Who knows how deep in the kid is by now?” Snatcher said back to him. Conductor grumbled and followed them hastily. Looks like he really would have to follow him, as much as it annoyed him. Wasn’t there any other way? Couldn’t he just go look for the little lass himself? Then again… Peck it. He was already out here following them, and there was always the possibility that he could get lost all by himself. Besides, he wasn’t doing this for the bum’s sake.

He was doing it for the lassie, he had to make sure she was safe.

“Ah wish DJ Peck Neck would’ve helped us.” Conductor complained, it was all he could think to do to ease the tension. “‘Ah need mah beauty sleep’ he said! What a load of rubbish! I’ll tell him where to shove his ‘beauty sleep’ once we-”

Conductor’s ranting was interrupted as Snatcher stopped in his tracks. The two bumped into him, but he still stood upright. He shushed them, holding up and hand and staying silent.

“Do you hear that?” he asked them in a whisper.

“Hear what?” Conductor said in his regular tone of voice. Both CC and Snatcher were quick to shush him.

“Be quiet and listen!” Snatcher fussed. Conductor glared at him before cuffing his ears to listen better for the noise. CC did the same, and they all joined in to listen…

What they heard was very disturbing. It sounded like little growling noises from an animal. Yet, they almost sounded human-like if you listened close enough. There were also crunching noises that were accompanied with wet chewing and tearing. The growling would stop for a few moments and a small gulping noise could be heard. They were sickly noises that sounded like something was eating. Or, more specifically, feeding.

They all looked at each other, chilled to the bone. Snatcher tried to compose himself as best he could, trying not to shake or shiver in fear. He tried thinking of a reasonable explanation to what he was hearing. Perhaps it wasn’t the kid? Maybe there were just hungry wolves in the area? No wait, bad thought. If there were wolves in the area where the kid ran into, that wouldn’t be a good sign. That means a pack of wolves could’ve found her, chased her down, and eaten her... Oh heavens, why would he even think of that?! That was a terrible thought!

While Snatcher was panicking in his own mind, so was CC. She was more concerned for the child then she had ever been before. Hoping that what she was hearing was just a trick if the imagination. It was probably some other creature, right? Like a squirrel or a rabbit maybe. Then again, those animals didn’t growl as much. But it was probably nothing! Hat Kid was just...a sleepwalker! Yes, just a sleepwalker! They’ll just find the little girl sleeping in a bush, take her back home, tuck her back into her little bed, and pretend like this all didn’t happen! After all, she had to be safe right? Right?

Conductor’s dreads were also starting to settle in more. He could tell that the growling sounded animal, but was it actually human. He broke out in a cold sweat, he recognized that growling. It was exactly was a newly turned wereowl would sound like during a full moon. But strangely enough, there wasn’t a full moon out tonight. And the lassie hadn’t been sprouting feathers the last time he checked, just scratching. So he had nothing to worry about, right? Hat Kid was perfectly fine and not turning into a tiny, little wereowlet. Because he hadn’t bitten her...or had he?

Snatcher set the group back in motion by plucking up the courage to go further. CC noticed this and quickly joined him. Conductor was the last one, taking a huge gulp before moving on in shaky steps. The terrible noises became louder. Snatcher was breathing rapidly, carefully moving through the brush so as not to disturb whoever was making the noises. Conductor was visibly quaking as they kept on going. But CC seemed to be the only one acting calm. At least, she was on the outside. But in the inside? Her motherly instincts were going crazy. They all now heard the noises from behind a few trees, as if they were right in front of it.

They froze as heard a voice. A voice that sounded like a child’s, but filled with growls and a soft yet creepy tone.

“Mmm...yummy, yummy...”

They all perked up at the child’s voice. CC was the most alert to it, her eyes wider than the two men combined. “Sweetheart? Is that you?” she called out softly, still whispering meekly. The chewing noises continued anyways, as if the person eating hadn’t heard her. Before Snatcher could stop her, she was already pushing past him to get through. She went up towards the patch of trees and tried to look past them. “Sweetie, are you okay?” she said, a little more frantic this time. “It’s okay, I’m h-”

She stopped as she caught sight of something. She stood there, stiff as a board. Snatcher and Conductor looked at each other, puzzled as to why she was so quiet. They both moved closer to her.

“Uh, CC? You doing okay?” Snatcher asked, making to tap her on the shoulder.

“Lass, what’s wrong?” Conductor joined in, reaching out to her.

CC started falling to the ground. Snatcher jumped back as CC fainted in Conductor’s general direction. Conductor managed to catch her by pure reflex, hoisting up her limp body. She was very much unconscious, but still breathing slowly. He looked back at Snatcher with a worried and confused face, still holding her in his arms. Snatcher just stared at her, his hopes were beginning to crumble into dust. All he knew was that this wasn’t a good sign.

“Just...set her down somewhere. She’ll be fine, we can get her later.” Snatcher whispered, instructing Conductor. Conductor hesitated before carefully lowering CC onto the ground. He move her arms and legs a bit, making sure she would be comfortable. As he did that, Snatcher was already going ahead of him. He hid behind some of the trees, moving around but not wanting to been seen. Conductor looked up and quickly left CC laying there to join him. But he didn’t hide like Snatcher. Instead, he simply walked on forward. They moved closer and closer to the sounds-

Until they finally caught a glimpse of the hatted child.

She was sitting on the ground, dressed in her little frilly nightgown. Only the nightgown was smeared with grass, dirt, and blood stains. To their horror, they could see exactly why. She was holding some sort of small creature in both her hands, tearing it apart with her teeth. And her teeth...they were pointed and clearly not human. Her chin was dripping with blood as she dung into her meal rather greedily. They both saw this, watching in terror and disgust as she gobbled up the fresh pieces of animal flesh.

Snatcher could not recall a time where he was more terrified. Watching the kid munching away with her teeth. Her sharp teeth. He couldn’t tear his eyes off of them. It recalled terrible memories for him. His past life spent with her. Him slowly be turned by her, an agonizing process of which he could never forget. His first time feeding, getting a taste of blood for the first time. And then, the village killings. The one memory he wished he could forget, but couldn’t. She reminded him too much of those memories. The pain, the hunger, the mindless urge to just feed. He scratched his claws against the bark of the tree, tears in his eyes. Please! he thought. Anything but this!

While Snatcher was fixated on the child’s inhuman teeth, Conductor was just as scared if not more. His blood went cold as he saw something that Snatcher was too scared to notice. All around the where Hat Kid was sitting, scattered here and there, were feathers. Little. Yellow. Feathers. On the ground, stuck to her clothes, even some on her face. He couldn’t believe it. He didn’t want to believe it. But he couldn’t stop the himself from crying fearful tears. It’s true isn’t it? he thought in despair. He had bitten the little one. He had infected her. He couldn’t remember when it happened, but he must have. Now she was cursed to live a light under the full moon. A vicious little beast that fed off of tiny woodland creatures like snacks. And it’s all my fault...

Hat Kid was alerted to the sound of their sobbing. She quickly looked up at the two, grabbing their attention.

They both gasped at the same time. She didn’t look at all like herself. Her skin was orange-red and scaly, gleaming under the moonlight. Her eyes, like cat or snake eyes, bright yellow with a slit in the middle. And was that a tail? Yes, they saw a long pointy-tipped tail poking out from beneath her gown. They both got a full glimpse of what she had been eating, now that her face was out of the way. The small body of a dead bird was in her hands, nothing but a feathery and bloody pile. She was an absolute mess, her clothes ruined and her face bloodied. And she was, without a doubt, not human.

But she wasn’t a vampire or a wereowl. And that made all the difference.

“KID!” Snatcher yelled in surprise, letting go of the tree he was clinging onto and running over to her.

“LASSIE!” Conductor followed him, stumbling and nearly falling.

Hat Kid didn’t get a change to escape as the two men picked her up off the ground. They hugged and squeezed her together, as if she had been gone for an entire week. They didn’t care that they were visibly crying next to each other. And they didn’t care that the blood the kid was covered in was getting on their clothes. They just cared that she was safe! And more importantly, not infected by either of them. They kept hugging and cuddling her, not wanting to let go.

But they both lifted their heads once they heard her beginning to cry.

“Hey kid, what’s wrong?” Snatcher asked as she sniffled and sobbed, tears rolling down her scaly cheeks.

“Lassie, are ye alright?” Conductor asked, just as worried. Hat Kid managed to open her watery eyes to look up at them, a sad look on her face.

“Please don’t be mad at me.” she wept. They look at her in shock.

“Mad at you? Why on earth would we be mad at you?” Snatcher replied, laughing nervously in relief.

“Lassie, Ah’m the happiest man alive right now. And you better believe it!” Conductor said, playfully ‘booping’ Hat Kid on the nose. She giggled weakly before going back to frowning.

“Why didn’t ye tell us about this?” Conductor asked.

“And what are you anyways?” Snatcher added. Conductor glared at him. “What? Just asking.” he shrugged, ignoring the glare. Hat Kid looked down in shame, keeping quiet for a few minutes.

“I’m...an imp.” she finally managed to say. She took off her hat, revealing two little red horns on the top of her head. Snatcher and Conductor were fascinated by them. How had they not seen those before?

“Oh...” Snatcher blurted out, not knowing what else to say. He’d never really heard of an imp before, or even seen one. And neither had Conductor, who was staring at the horns rather bemusedly.

“I’m really sorry!” Hat Kid apologized out of the blue. “I used magic to make myself look human so you wouldn’t find out.” she explained, holding on tightly to her hat.

“Why?” Snatcher asked, tilting his head in question. Hat Kid’s eyes started to well with tears again.

“I didn’t want to scare anybody...” she muttered softly. “Nobody likes imps. I don’t know why, but everyone who’s seen my true form hates what I look like.” she sniffed, leaning into Snatcher’s chest. She started to full on sob. “And...t-they said I was a...m-monster! And...and a d-demon and I...I-” she tried to speak through her sobbing. “I’m so, so soooooorry!” she wailed, hugging Snatcher tightly. Both Snatcher and Conductor’s hearts felt like they were going to break from sadness. How could people say such things to such a little girl? Sure, she definitely wasn’t human. But she was the most kind, caring, and sweet kid they had ever meet!

“Shhhhh, hey now. It’s okay, it’s okay. Everything’s fine.” Snatcher spoke softly, cradling her like a baby. Conductor also helped to calm her by rubbing her back.

“It’s okay that yer a monster. Ye know that we love ye anyways, right lassie?” Conductor said, stroking her on the head. Hat Kid looked up at him, a glitter of hope in her eyes.

“R-really?” she asked.

“Kid, seriously? You live with a witch, a zombie, a vampire, a werewolf, and a wereowl all under the same roof. I’m pretty sure we’re okay with you not being human.” Snatcher said sarcastically, making her giggle happily.

“Bum’s got a point. I’ll have to agree with him fer once.” Conductor joked, resting a hand on Snatcher’s shoulder. “Ah don’t think we could trade ye fer anything in the world.” he smiled back at her. They couldn’t really tell, but Hat Kid was blushing from underneath her scales.

“Come on! It’s past your bedtime, young lady.” Snatcher grinned, picking up the kid and sitting her on his shoulders.

“Oi! How come ye get to carry her?” Conductor huffed.

“Oh? You’re telling me you don’t want to carry CC home?” Snatcher jested. Conductor’s face went red as he lowered his hat over his eyes.

“Shut up, peckneck.” he sputtered, heading off to get CC anyways.

“Language!” Snatcher shouted as he followed him, the kid resting on his shoulders. Once he saw Conductor with CC in his arms, they headed back towards to house.

“Y’know…you could have told us sooner. At least a warning would’ve been nice.” Snatcher told Hat Kid, sighing tiredly. He saw the kid sticking her tongue out at him, it was black and forked like a snake’s tongue. He snorted, she was just too adorable for her own good. Even in monster form!

“C’mon, kiddo. Let’s get you cleaned up before CC has a heart attack.” he said. He then realized something. “Wait a minute...” he paused. “You were the one who buried those dirty clothes in the garden, weren’t you?” he told Hat Kid. She rubbed the back of her head, looking extremely guilty. “Oh wow, hiding the evidence to frame someone? You’re more of a little troublemaker than I thought!” he grinned mischievously.

“Ohoho! The pup sure isn’t forgiving ye fer that one, lassie!” Conductor called back, joining in the fun. Hat Kid then huffed and crossed her arms.

“I was hungry okay?!” she yelling, irritated and making a pouty face. Conductor and Snatcher stared at each other for a few minutes. Snatcher started cackling and Conductor howled with laughter.

“What? What’s so funny?” she asked them, but they weren’t listening.

“Oh kid...you’re a riot.” Snatcher said, snickering a little. Conductor was too busy giggling to have a witty reply, so he just kept on walking. Hat Kid didn’t quite get the joke, but she smiled anyways. “Come on, kid. Let’s get you home.” Snatcher said, bouncing her on his shoulders. Hat Kid laughed, yawned loudly, and rested her head on top of his soft hair. Home… she thought happily as she started to fall asleep.

She was really starting to feel more at home that she ever had before.

[snowbatsims]

Post ##

Since I finished the whole Strangerville thing, I can go back to posting random shenanigans! Basically, let’s just play catch-up for a bit here. 

I didn’t actually post these ones on the thread, this was just a draft that got too long. 

First up is the Island Living stuff, so I sent them to Sulani for a quick overnight vacation. Sulani in the daytime isn't exactly the best place for vampires to hang out at all, so they went home pretty soon after.

Back at home, the house has gotten a little... haunted?

EINARR: Ah, hello. Old friend.

EINARR: I am sorry to have forgotten your name, but I'm happy to see you again. EINARR: Wait... Marion? Marion Storm! That was it.

EINARR: How's the rest of the crew? EINARR: Ah. Not so talkative today, huh? That is fine.

Kvikindi has started taking up guitar.

She's also taking her time figuring out this whole vampire thing.

KVIKINDI: BAT WAS RIGHT. KVIKINDI: Blood is absolutely delicious.

It's spring, and Morten’s birthday rolled around!

(It's set as a holiday, so immortals can still celebrate it every year without actually aging. Definitely feel free to do this too.)

Siini came visiting for a bit. MORT: What, you don't believe me? SIINI: What would weird alien plants be doing on this flimsy little planet? MORT: Dude, you're an alien too. SIINI: I didn't really ask to crashland here, though! Dazzo's spaceship was a piece of garbage. MORT: Okay, sure. But maybe those alien plants didn't plan on hitting this planet either? MORT: Like, look, that huge Mother plant was in the bottom of a lab, located in the middle of a huge crater. It clearly arrived with an asteroid or something. SIINI: ...Good point.

At this point they're just all hanging out in Morten's room.

RUNE: Oh, you're asking what happened to my new boyfriend? You want to know?? RUNE: He doesn't trust me because I got touched by the spores once! That's it! One time!  MORT: Paranoia, then?

RUNE: Yes. RUNE: But I don't think we've actually broken up yet. MORT: Oh, good. RUNE: Yeah, maybe there’s still hope. 

The birthday present from Einarr was a little fishing trip to the local docks.

MORTEN: This one is so pretty!! EINARR: Cute catch. 

EINARR: Oh, there's a lot of blood to get out of this one. MORTEN: Hell yea!!

MORTEN: O-oh.

EINARR: ...they'll be fine.

MORTEN: What in the absolute heck just happened. EINARR: Alien abduction.

MORTEN: I mean, obviously- EINARR: Do you feel any weird at all? MORTEN: No, not really. EINARR: Well, great!  MORTEN: But wait... I do recall some kind of.. map? EINARR: Map??? MORTEN: Yeah, on the screen? It looked like Oasis Springs. EINARR: Sounds like they were headed that way for something and maybe accidentally picked you up on the way. EINARR: Maybe we should too. MORTEN: What? EINARR: Head to Oasis Springs! Come on, the night is still young! EINARR: We might find something cool! MORTEN: Uh--

MORTEN: Dude, this cave entrance actually glows. That's awesome. EINARR: Oh!!

EINARR: I can break this open. Just give me a minute...

EINARR: So, who goes in first? MORTEN: ...you. EINARR: Alright!

While waiting, Morten builds a sandcastle.

MORTEN: (I wonder if he found anything cool...)

He did.

He found the Forgotten Grotto. And it is absolutely gorgeous.

MORT: Dude... EINARR: I know. Was this worth it? Oh, absolutely. MORT: Yeah.

They both spent a bit of time down there, and built this little shack out of nearby materials before leaving.

Sometimes, I find Morten sitting down here to play with his toy.

My child.. 

Einarr took a night-shift at a fishing job, by the way! I like the work outfit.

Later, a trip to Granite Falls happened.

Practicing vampire powers...

Failing more. 

KVIKINDI: How do you guys DO THIS???

I found him like this. Laying down in the grass. Watching the stars. What a mood.

Exploring the woods!

Finding the hermit. 

Greeting the hermit! MORTEN: Hi!! Morten here, sorry, I'm just kind of passing through. HERMIT: Hello! You're another one of those campers that got lost in the wood, I presume? MORTEN: Yes! MORTEN: So uh, the sun is going up, can I go indoors? Please? HERMIT: I'm a little confused as to why you would need that, but sure. MORTEN: Y.. yeah, you don't want to get into that. Don't worry about it.

MORT: This is really cozy. Goals.

MORT: Blood. MORT: Wh--- NO!! That's the man's pet! What-- what am I even thinking... MORT: I must be hungry again :(

MORT: Might as well clean the guy's dishes while I'm here... MORT: And then leave as soon as the sun is gone. 

Later, they celebrated 17. Mai, a custom holiday of mine set in springtime, which is supposed to resemble the national day of Norway. It's kind of a formal party for the entire country. (I found CC of the national costumes here, so OF COURSE I had to do something about it, right??)

Bat doesn't involve himself since he is not from here and really doesn't care, while Einarr is a couple centuries older than the country itself and also isn't very bothered about it.

They also invited some of Rune's dead relatives. His brother and favorite cousin, in fact.

They had a good time. 

Chilling near the lantern.

Just gonna include these pictures too, in loving memory of the time when we had the ability to at least wade in certain bodies of water.

It was better than nothing, and I want it back. 

[actually-good-rwbyaus-moved]

I already apologize for this angst. AU where Yangs underlying suicidal tendencies are adressed by someone (maybe Blake?). Cause seriously there are LOTS of them like how she still felt she should die for a mistake she did when she was 4! I consider this AU good as it is preventing of Bad consequences and could have some good character Development. Maybe in Atlas there was a Situation where Blake realized it? I mean... try to convince me Yang ISNT somewhat suicidal.

So uh. This is way more than you wanted but I took your last sentence as a challenge. Under a cut for length and TW.

TW for suicidal ideation!

*cracks knuckles* you want me to convince you? Here we fuckn go pal.

So, as someone who is suicidal (not like. Actively. But ya boy just does not want to exist most days), Yang does not read as suicidal. Y’know who does though?

Miss Weiss “My Aura is extremely low and I’m going to fling myself into this exploding geyser to take out an enemy” Schnee. Miss Weiss “Velvet has just been taken out by a mech and I’m going to run into that fight with low Aura and no guarantee of my semblance working” Schnee. Miss Weiss “Constantly throws herself at the enemy with low/no Aura and almost dies” Schnee. Weiss is super bad at taking care of herself during a fight.

Or even Blake who’s Semblance requires her to stand in the way of someone’s weapon before she can leave a clone and get out of the way. We see her stare down Adam thrice with low Aura as he stabs, slices, and shoots at her. If Blake had been just a second slower with her Semblance her head would be gone. She would have been shot in the face. Or she would have been stabbed again. When she’s fighting Roman she literally had to wait for his weapon to be right there before getting the fuck outta the way or else the Dust she used wouldn’t have worked. Blake, who was ready to lay down and die first because she is arguably the most depressed out of the team? Blake, who literally set her house on fire to draw a crowd so she could make a political speech. Blake disregards her safety so much that it is actually worrying to me. Her entire fighting style is about letting her enemy get as close as possible and then getting away with only a second to spare. Her entire fight with the Leifong, for instance. There was no trying to draw it in closer, nah she just used her own clones and Sun’s and Sun himself to launch herself at the damn thing. She stood above Adam and called his name, and yeah she had people behind her to help, but Adam is super fast as we’ve seen. In Volume 1 when she went down to the docks with Sun to see what the hell Torchwick was up to and then she launched herself into the fight? Blake do you not remember you ran away from a high ranking person in the White Fang and he’s probably not super happy about it???? She literally grabbed Roman, a full grown adult, and threatened his life without blinking even though. He’s an adult? And obviously has enough sway over these White Fang goons to have them doing as he says? Blake you are one teenager I love you but what are you doing.

Or what about Ruby? Our first look at Ruby in the Red trailer is her facing down a whole pack of Beowolves. She’s so desperate to prove herself in the first few seasons that she constantly threw herself into fights with things much bigger than her. Strange woman sneaking into the CC tower? Let me go fight her myself without calling for backup. Pyrrha is going up to fight Cinder, who just killed Professor Ozpin, alone? I’m gonna run up there and help even though she just killed Ozpin and there’s also a giant fucking Wyvern up there. When Qrow is up against Tyrian and Ruby is fully aware that Tyrian is there to kidnap her, she still joins the fight. Even though Tyrian is pretty evenly matched with Qrow. Hell, within the last 3 episodes of Volume 6 alone Ruby constantly rushed a giant mech with a giant cannon that shot missiles and Dust, jumped in an airship to try and shoot up the missile part of the canon, jumped into the barrel of the canon to shoot at the Dust in it, and then got up close and personal with a Leviathan with fire-breathing abilities with no guarantee of her Silver Eyes working. Ruby is big into running into high risk situations with no help or guarantee of winning. Ruby, while a beautiful strategist, is horrible at actually going ‘hey maybe I shouldn’t do this thing that may almost definitely end in my death’.

I can make such a big case for Weiss and Blake and Ruby being suicidal, but the only times I can see an argument for Yang is like. Twice? Thrice? And even then, given the actual context of the situations, those don’t hold water.

Yang said she should have died that day. This is true. Had Qrow not gotten to them in time, she and Ruby would have died. Yang should have died that day because she got stuck in Grimm infested woods with her baby sister and no way to get help. Qrow just happened to be able to stop it. Sure the wording is weird, but it doesn’t prove she’s suicidal.

Yang threw herself at Adam in V3 without thinking it through. Yang had also been through a very, very stressful 24 hours. She’s accused of attacking an opponent on live T.V., her friend is then killed on live television, Grimm are filling her school along with White Fang, her little sister is missing, and now she’s staring at a man who has just stabbed her partner. She didn’t have any time to come up with a different way of fighting Adam, she needed to act then.

Yang going up against Neo in Volume 2 could also be a point to make. Except that Neo doesn’t look like that strong of an opponent and Yang thought she could take her. In all honesty a better matchup there would have been Weiss and Neo, but they had no way of knowing the Lieutenant would be in the next car. (Oh hey, another point for Weiss’ suicidal tendencies. Weiss immediately tells Blake to ‘go on ahead’ upon being faced with the Lieutenant, even though he’s a huge guy with a goddamn chainsaw.)

Yang is huge on strategy, she’s not the type to just run into a fight. She fights smart. Look at her fight in her trailer! Sure you could say she’s insane for going up against an entire club full of people with guns, but she obviously had a strategy in place. Shake ‘em up by hitting the floor first, use brute force to take out the waves, dodge the attack from the DJ. When the Twins come out, Yang figures out how to incapacitate them as well and even changes up her style against Melanie when she realizes her punch-oriented style wouldn’t work super well against Melanie’s kicks. Yang doesn’t like high-risk situations, she greatly prefers when she has a high chance of winning it (which is why she’s good in a team. Going up against something high risk on your own is dangerous. Going up against something high risk with a team? Greatly heightens the possibility of winning).

It’s just. Yang isn’t suicidal. She doesn’t have suicidal tendencies. While Blake literally laid down to die Yang was still fighting against it. Yang isn’t interested in dying yet, she’s gonna fight against it for as long as possible. One of our last quotes from Blake this season was literally “A Huntress fights to the bitter end,” and you picked Yang to be the suicidal one in team RWBY? You looked at RWBY who has 3 out of 4 members who have run headfirst into situations they had little chance of winning or getting out of and went ‘Yes. Yang, the most cautious one, is definitely the one with underlying suicidal tendencies’??? If anything we need Yang having a talk with the rest of her team about their suicidal tendencies.

-🍒

[guktwt]

love yourself tour experience! ♡  japan and singapore

hi! so i’ve been wanting to make a post like this for a while on twitter but i hate twitter rn so here i am. this january i was blessed with the opportunity to attend love yourself in nagoya (japan) and singapore and honestly? it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. i wanted to share my experience because really, concerts in japan and everywhere are else are so different, right from ticketing and the show itself. i thought you guys would find it interesting? and also i need to let this out ahhh keeping to myself is not going to do me any good :( anyways, i hope you find this post somewhat entertaining 💞

under the cut because this got really long sorry 

♡ love yourself in nagoya ♡

first of all, tickets. getting concert tickets (and any ticket, really) in japan is tricky. most kpop groups in japan have a fanclub and if you’re a member, you get the benefit of applying for tickets first (like a presale!). did i say apply? yes i did. in japan, ticketing for concerts adopts a lottery system for presale and general sales usually a month later. 

for presale through fc, you’d have to apply for a lottery on a website and wait to find out if you win or not. you need a fc membership (paid), which also needs you to have a japanese phone number and address in order to apply. and you HAVE to pay your presale tickets in japan because you need to pay them in a convenient store. complicated, i know. FC presale tickets usually give the best seats. there’s no gurantee, but that’s usually the case. fortunately for me, i have a cousin residing in japan to help me with the address (you really need it, they’re going to ship you your membership card) and i found someone on twitter to help me make the payment. if you a apply for lottery, there’s no guarantee you’ll win. so you can apply as many times as you want with a maximum of 2 tickets for each shows. i think i used up all of my luck with this one [sobs]. FC presales usually have more than one round lotteries. 

general sales is much simpler. i dont have enough experience to know the details but it’s usually up on japanese ticketing websites and can use credit cards? dont know if foreign ccs are accepted though. 

oh and all tickets for all sections cost the same!!! so doesn’t matter if you get the best view or worst it’s all equal 

/if you have more questions about this don’t hesitate to send me an ask i don’t know much but i’ve read a lot about it/

you can’t know your seat until a week (or a month? idk) before the concert, when it’s time for you to print your tickets at the same convenient store (yes you have to print them and you can only do it once so don’t lose the damn thing!!). my seat was really good!!! i didn’t get floor sadly but my section was right in front of the extended stage so i got a great view. 

i arrived in nagoya a day before the concert (i spent a week in tokyo beforehand) and queued for merch!!! it was winter so it wasn’t hot at all and the japanese really know how to line up. everything is so organized like??? i was so amazed. i spent a good 4 hours queueing before getting my items and even then a lot of the things i wanted were sold out quickly :( 

and then comes the concert day!!!! basically since it was all seating tickets i didn’t have to worry about queueing for entry but i did queue for merch again,,,, from 4 am. let me tell you how devoted people are there when it comes to queueing. some actually stayed from the afternoon? and it was winter. crazy. 

i entered the dome an hour before the show started and the staff were so kind and helpful whenever i asked for help (i couldn’t find my seat). and everyone around is so kind and warm :( i didn’t really interact with a lot of people due to the language barrier but they’re so . polite. 

and moving on to the show!!!!!! japan has strict rules about recording so i couldn’t do any of that [:(] but honestly it just made me enjoy everything better. of course they were amazing on stage and their japanese were so cute :( i still can’t get over nagoya, nekkoya my pure babies!!! 

and uh . taehyung. so damn fine. can’t believe i was part of the first people to see him reveal his blue hair. and i can’t stress this enough but his gaze when he looks at the audience... i felt the love and fondness in his eyes i wanted to CRY. 

and jimin!!! was so clingy towards joon the whole night ugh we love a baby koala. and jungkook :( he introduced himself as kookoo im so fucking sad. the second he said kookoo desu i was ready to give up my firstborn for him. 

hoseok was a fucking machine. he’s so charismatic on stage i can’t handle him. and seokjin was full on crackhead mode :( we stan a whole legend i love love him so much. my mans yoongi was so?? small yet not??? i wanna put him in my pocket. my mans joon was looking like a whole snacc. all legs and dimples.  

honestly what struck me the most was how everyone gave seokjin a standing ovation and applause after epiphany???? that was my first time seeing something like that and i just started tearing up because it was so beautiful. people were so respectful they didn’t scream or shout when bangtan were doing their ending ments. the fanchants were absolutely on point!!! whenever bangtan bowed i actually spotted some people in my section bowing in return and i was !!!! oh my god 

but on another note you’d think that japanese fans are quiet during shows but theyre really not. they’re loud as hell too they just know when to shut up and listen and i think that’s beautiful. 

the whole thing passed by really quickly. i felt hollow and empty by the time it ended but i have to say that it was the most relaxing and chill concert experience i’ve ever had. it just feels so different than my previous concerts. the only downside about it is the no recording part (i could’ve been sneaky but staff was right in front of my section) i guess. but without worrying about my phone i got to watch them perform. like actually watch them. it felt euphoric. 

♡ love yourself in singapore ♡

ah. 

so for singapore, i got cat 1 purple 2 tickets at first. but because me and my friend wanted yellow initially, we managed to find someone who wanted to trade with us. 

i arrived at the venue at 6 am because i had to distribute banners and fans for my fan support. here’s a pic of them!!!! 

basically for standing ticket holders we were required to queue by 12:30 pm and fortunately my qn got the indoor holding area so i didn’t stay under the heat for long. we started moving to the venue at around 3 or 4 pm even thought they said it would be 2:30 pm. because my qn was large by the time i got inside all the good spots were already taken :( i ended up at the very back sigh and we had to wait for another 2-3 hours before the show starts. it was hot and everyone was thirsty. some people in the pit wanted to sit down but some also stood up so it was rlly cramped :/ 

everyone was hyped tho even when mvs were played. and then when the lights dimmed and the show finally started was where things got really,,, rowdy. when the first beat of idol played everyone pushed forward??? the amount of times i got squished and elbowed and pushed aside... man it was hectic. if you’re claustrophobic please do NOT go for standing in concerts. 

but that aside of course it was amazing loud and crazy. there were accidents here and there. at one point several people actually fell down but everyone helped everyone up. some people got mad and started yelling and others but that’s understandable. it was hot and cramped of course you’d get cranky. 

funny story i got my period two hours before the show and basically bled through my vagina for 3 hours as i watched 7 fine men go off on stage. 

but anyways. 

me and my friend managed to finesse our way from the back row to the third row because we’re amazing. no we did not push if you were there the pit was always moving so we just. squeezed through i guess. i was so fucking tired but when so what came on i forgot that my pants were like fucking soaked and just jammed the fuck out with everyone. they got really close to my section during this and i cant believe i got to see taejin dance together like clubbing buddies. jin is so goofy!!!!!! 

oh but fuck you guys jimin up close is ethereal. he looks so fucking unreal i couldn’t keep my eyes off of him throughout the whole thing. none of the pictures can ever do his beauty justice. he’s so fucking beautiful and i was starstruck. and he sang promise!!! i fucking couldn’t believe he did it. one word to describe him is definitely godly. 

namjoon was so hyped and loud too :( gosh he’s so adorable. hoseok looked crazy beautiful up close too. his aura.... fucking amazing. YOONGI ALSO MADE THE CUTEST EXPRESSION AFTER JIMIN SANG PROMISE I SQEUALED. gosh i was actually really close despite not getting barricade i feel like crying thinking about it now. 

jungkook went so close to my section during so what i got a good fancam of him that i can’t stop watching :( jimin slipped during dna my poor baby but he just laughed it off :(((( 

they all looked prettier irl tbh. they have such nice skin??? and all that shit about jimin being short... well guess what fuckers he’s all LEGS. man. i think i left that stadium as a jimin stan. 

taehyung’s so hot i wanna die n i want the whole of rapline to spit on me thx.

fun times aside the pit is hell. luckily the staff were responsible and gave us drinks after each set of performances. and everyone kind of just understood each other. whenever someone looked like they were about to faint people asked if they were okay. we helped each other and gave each other drinks. at one point during the show i crouched down because i was exhausted and someone asked if i was okay or if i wanted some candy. 

hellish experiences aside, there’s a mutual understanding between everyone in the pit. like, we’re in this together. i’m sweaty and thirsty and tired but i’m here for one thing and so is everyone else. it’s a good feeling. i mean, yeah, i was drenched in sweat and water but. it’s a good feeling. here are some pics!!!! (i have more videos bu t i cba to tak e screenshots ajsjs sorry)

also met some of my twitter mutuals <3 love u guys 

perhaps this is it for my experience post? yeah you can see how different nagoya and singapore were. it was exciting to be able to experience them both. now back to my post concert depression and withdrawal :(

[araliyaintheskywithdiamonds]

Kiss Me On The Mouth And Set Me Free- A CrissColfer Fic

For this lovely prompt: hey i’m not that anon who asked about nc17 but if you’re willing to write something a little more racy .. ive always had a special place in my heart for talking about sexy times- not even them doing it, just talking about it. so could you write something with d and c just talking about what they like/want (maybe early cc, maybe c is nervous) thanks ;) you’re seriously awesome, your writing is great, luv u xx

Thank you so much for the lovely message!! 

Word Count: 1469 AO3

*Title from Troye Sivan’s Bite. 

The thing about Darren, is that he is incredibly tactile.

It used to be a problem before they were together, back when Chris wasn’t used to touch from guys. Girls he could hug and kiss on cheeks without a second thought, but he was always wearier around guys, worried that he’d make them uncomfortable. Chris knows now that he shouldn’t have been obliged to think like that, but going to a school where the male population avoids you like the plague kind of does that to you.

And then Darren had come along and thrown all of that out of the window, touching and embracing without abandon. A finger down his forearm, a hand around his waist, a gentle palm on the small of his back- all of which would leave Chris reeling.

Now, it’s better, because he’s allowed to want that touch, and to give that touch back. Darren likes it, loves it when Chris does the little things- a press of lips to the forehead will leave him beaming.

They haven’t discussed going further, though. Chris knows Darren’s used to having a more than fulfilling sex life, and he hates thinking that he’s not able to give him that.

Darren hasn’t pressed, and for that Chris is grateful. He’s sure Darren knows that Chris is far from experienced, and the few intimacies he’s ever had have either been ones that Chris desperately wants to forget, or the ones that have been with Darren.

All of this really shouldn’t be running through Chris’ head while Darren is currently kissing a path down Chris’ neck, both spread eagle on the couch. Darren must know he’s distracted, because he leans back on his elbows to looks at Chris, eyebrows furrowed in concern.

“You okay?” he asks, brushing a strand of hair back from Chris’ forehead. He’s flushed and panting, and Chris’ heart hurts.

He wants to say he’s fine, to grin and lie to Darren’s beautiful face, but he can’t. They need to talk, and Chris has been pushing this away for too long.

“No,” Chris whispers, and Darren’s face falls so fast that Chris is scrambling to remedy it. “I mean, I’m fine but we need to- to talk.”

He kisses Darren gently before allowing himself to be pulled upright. Chris doesn’t move away, however, making sure that he’s still as close to Darren as possible, legs intertwined, and hands clasping one another. He needs to do this in case he ends up putting his foot in his mouth and hurting Darren. He needs to show him that he cares, because he does, more than anything in this world.

“I want to talk about us.”

Darren’s still anxious, brushing his thumb repeatedly over Chris’ pale skin. “Yeah?” he asks tentatively.

“About where we stand with sex.”

“Chris, we don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with-”

Chris shushes him with a kiss, smiling when Darren follows his lips as he pulls back. “I’m ready and I think I have been for a while, okay?”

“Okay,” whispers Darren.

“And I want to talk to you about where we stand with everything that we could do together.”

“Of course.”

Now that Chris has finally breached the subject, he’s unsure about how to go forward. He guesses stuff like handjobs are a given, but-

“I- is there anything you don’t want to do? Like, things that would make you uncomfortable or…”

Darren seems to think about it a little before answering. “Not really? Like, I find most things hot, and if it makes you feel good, then it’ll definitely make me feel good, no matter what it is.”

“I know you’re used to sex with girls and stuff, are you- are you uncomfortable with doing similar stuff with me?”

“Like anal?” Darren asks, and how can he be so calm about this? Chris is sure his face is burning.

“Yeah,” Chris says, and he tries not to sound too breathless.

“Chris, baby, nothing I could do with you would make me uncomfortable. And I’ve uh- I’ve done that a couple of times before, so, I’m definitely not against it. It would also make you feel much better than it would for a girl, so if I get to make you feel like that, I’m all for it. That is, if you’re okay with it?”

“I am,” Chris says as confidently as he can, because it is something he’s thought about a lot. He knows a lot of gay guys don’t actually do penetration, but there’s something so intimate about it that makes Chris want experience it with Darren. Baring yourself like that, letting yourself be vulnerable. “And are you more comfortable with being on top?”

Darren traces the shell of his ear, and Chris shivers. “I don’t mind, actually. I’m open to both, but as always, whatever you’re most comfortable with.”

“That’s fine with me too. I mean, I wouldn’t know until I’ve tried it, but… we can see where we go?”

Chris watches Darren play with his fingers, flitting from knuckle to knuckle, pausing to kiss a line on his palm.

“There’s no rush,” Darren says softly,  lips forming the words against Chris’ skin.

“I know.”

Darren looks up and their eyes meet, and Chris feels like his world’s stopped turning.

This has happened before- where Chris has been immobilised just by looking at Darren. It freaked him out the first time; they’d been surrounded by people and Chris had been in the middle of saying something. He’d been so scared if anyone had noticed his words stutter and his eyes widen.

And then Darren kisses him and Chris loses himself.

What seems like hours pass by before Darren gently lowers him back onto the couch, and settles himself between Chris’ legs. Chris is immediately clutching at him, fisting the material of his shirt as Darren mouths at his neck, all tongue and teeth and pleasure and pain.

Chris involuntarily bucks up, scrabbling at Darren’s back for purchase. He can feel Darren’s lips slide lower until they’re brushing the neckline of his v-neck, and Chris pushes Darren away to impatiently tug off his shirt. He has no time to feel self conscious because Darren dips back down immediately, tongue tracing the circle of a nipple.

“Darren-!”

Chris pulls him up for another searing kiss, grabbing his shirt to pull it up and off his shoulders. His hands immediately find their way to the curves of Darren’s back, arms crossing to find the arch of his shoulders. Darren trails his fingers down Chris’ abdomen to the button of his jeans, and looks up into Chris’ eyes for permission.

“Okay, all this chivalry is nice and all but- ahh!!”

Darren completely bypasses the button and pushes his hand into Chris’ pants, cupping him over the material of his underwear.

“God, Darren-”

His words are stifled with a kiss as Darren undoes the button with his other hand, pulling the jeans to rest around his upper thighs. Chris melts into it, letting Darren trace the waistband for a torturous moment before creeping under it to grip Chris’ length.

“Dare- oh-”

“Shh, sweetheart,” Darren says, bringing a hand up to brush Chris’ damp hair off his forehead. Slowly, he starts up a teasing rhythm of strokes, using the wetness already spilling from Chris to slick up his hand and ease the slide, erring on just the right amount of friction.

Chris is soon gasping into Darren’s mouth, fingers clutching at his shoulders while he thrusts into Darren’s hand, losing himself in the intensity of the twisting pulls of his touch. The sudden coil of heat in low in his stomach almost makes him dizzy with the fervor of it.

“Baby, I can’t-”

“It’s okay,” whispers Darren breathlessly, “Let go, sweetheart.”

And Chris does, his movements stuttering under the force of it, heat flooding his body while Darren strokes him through. He comes down to the feeling of Darren wiping a tear from Chris cheek, one that must have escaped when he squeezed his eyes shut just moments before.

“You- what should I do?”

Darren’s face is tucked into the crook of Chris’ neck, breath hot on his skin. “There’s no need,” he laughs, kissing a bruise under Chris’ ear. “You made me come in my pants like a teenager.”

Chris blushes, and that’s a true feat since he’s already flushed with heat.

However, that blush dissipates as soon as Darren starts humming Teenage Dream under his breath, and Chris smacks at his arm feebly.

“Oh my god, Dare, please stop.”

Darren rests his chin on his hands atop Chris’ chest (and Chris does not want to know where he wiped his hand), and grins deliriously.

Hair a mess and eyes shining, Chris looks at him and thinks he’s the luckiest guy in the world.

[stillthewordgirl]

LOT/CC fic: Chances Are (Ch. 11)

What if Leonard had been stuck in the 1950s with Sara, Ray, and Kendra in season 1? And how the hell did they survive, anyway? 

Last full chapter! It’s a really long one. You’ve been warned. I recommend reading here at AO3 or here at FF.net.

Many thanks to @larielromeniel for beta’ing the whole damned thing. :) Just an epilogue left to go.

The drive to Nickel seems both incredibly long and all too short at the same time. Sara takes the steps up to the apartment two at a time, Leonard following at a slower pace. The inner door is unlocked, and Sara makes a beeline to the living room, pausing in the entryway.

Kendra's sitting on the sofa, wearing a bemused expression that still isn't sure what it wants to be. She glances up at Sara and smiles a little, a tired smile and a grateful one, and Sara crosses the rest of the room quickly, sitting down next to her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

Kendra leans into her with a sigh, closing her eyes. Sara, rubbing her shoulder, looks up to see Len hesitate in the entryway. After a moment, he clears his throat, nodding to Kendra as she opens her eyes again.

"I've got Raymond," he says quietly. "You…OK?"

"Better now." Kendra gives him a tiny smile. "Thanks."

Leonard may have changed, but he's still not all that comfortable with feelings unless they have to do with Sara. He just gives her another nod, glances at Sara, and leaves posthaste.

Kendra makes a noise that might be a laugh, might not, and shakes her head. "I'm impressed. And a little surprised he came with you."

Sara had never seriously considered that he wouldn't, a confidence that now makes her pause, a touch defensive. "It's only the four of us…"

But her friend holds up a hand. "Down, girl. I know. I didn't mean to insult your crook." Sara's pleased to see the spark in her eyes. "But we both know he's not fond of…"

"Mushy stuff?"

"I was going to say, Ray." Both women laugh a little, but Sara shakes her head.

"I think they've grown on each other a little," she says. "And right now, he also feels the need to, err, give him a dose of typical Snart pragmatism." She pauses. "Uh, how long have you known…"

"Maybe an hour before I called. Suspected longer, but…this isn't the best era for such things." Kendra sighs. "In so many ways."

Leonard's not the only pragmatic one, but Sara feels the need here to try to reassure the other woman. "But at least we know a lot. Right? Stuff that's common knowledge in 2016. Um…I think?" This isn't precisely her field of expertise. "Or…" She nibbles her lip. "…I mean…do you want this…"

"Yes." Even Kendra seems a little surprised by her own vehemence. "Sara, I thought when Carter died…well. Yes, I do, now that it's settled in a little. I just…really, really wish the Waverider would come back now."

"I hear you."

They sit in silence a few more moments before Sara speaks again.

"So," she asks, squeezing her friend's hand. "Did they give you a due date?"

Raymond isn't precisely hard to find. As Leonard had expected, the scientist is sitting at the bar at the first very establishment of that kind he pokes his head into. Len pauses, gives the air an experimental sniff, deems the atmosphere not too loaded with cigarette smoke and unlikely to cause an immediate headache. Then he saunters in, not bothering to conceal his movements, walking right up behind the oblivious Raymond and pausing.

Well, he deserves it. Leonard considers him a moment, then thwaps the dark-haired man upside the head.

"Hey!" Raymond yelps, nearly dropping his drink. The bartender gives Len an odd look.

Leonard shrugs, pulling out a stool to sit down and motioning toward a bottle of scotch.

The bartender shrugs back, reaches for the bottle and pours. Apparently minor assault of other patrons is allowed as long as you're buying the booze.

Raymond still has a hand clapped to his ear, giving Leonard a wounded look. "Really?" he says in a hurt tone.

Leonard takes a drink, considering him. "Thought better of you, Raymond," he drawls after a moment. "And yet…you're here."

The bartender gives him a flat look at the perceived insult to the establishment. Len waves his hand in an "explain later" gesture, watching the scientist.

Raymond looks down at his drink, suddenly sheepish. Leonard waits a moment, then takes a closer look. "Wait…are you drinking…"

"What? It's ginger ale. That's all I've had."

Len can't help himself. "Raymond, if you ever need a real drink in your life, it's probably now." He nods to the bartender, who pours another scotch with alacrity and slides it over.

"I don't want to be that guy…"

"If one drink makes you that guy, you've got bigger problems." Len stares at the man until he takes a gulp of scotch, then nods.

"OK," he says, "talk."

"Kendra called you? Is Sara…?"

"With her."

"Oh. Good." Raymond lets out a relieved breath. "Someone should be. I mean..."

Leonard can't hold his own somewhat surprising indignation in any longer, though. "And why the hell aren't you?" He downs his drink, pushes the glass across the bar for another. "I'd think she'd need you now. Sitting at a bar after you've found out you're going to be a father..."

It's something Lewis would have done. Frankly, he's pretty sure it's something Lewis had done. And his own visceral reaction to that thought actually makes him a bit nauseated.

But Raymond gives him a look of horrified indignation right back.

"She kicked me out!" he says in a tone of high dudgeon. "You think I didn't want to be there? I'd never abandon her."

Leonard opens his mouth, then closes it. Apparently, his own biases have led him to misread the situation a tad.

"Ah," he says wisely, trying to decide how to continue. But Raymond's off and running, alleviating the need for him to find a tactful way to backpedal.

"I was..." He considers his drink, then sighs and takes another big gulp. "...I am...really happy. I mean, we were trying to avoid it because...well. But I always wanted to be a dad. And I love her. I can't wait to see what our kid will be like."

He gives Leonard a woebegone look. "But Kendra got really angry when I wanted to celebrate."

Len eyes him, wondering if the other man really is that tone deaf. He's not precisely a marvel of empathy himself, but even he could have predicted how that would go.

"Raymond, the woman just found out that she's in for nine months of...unpleasantness," he drawls, finally. "And then childbirth. And then raising the kid in..." He glances around, but the bartender has vanished at the moment and there are only a few other patrons in a back corner. "...this godforsaken time. You think it's not an adjustment? Especially since you didn't plan it." He eyes the scientist. "You didn't, did you?"

"No!" The dudgeon is back. "I...uh. Not at all. Definitely an accident." He looks a little sheepish again. "More like six more months. Probably, ah, happened in Gotham. Kendra was really, um, enthusiastic...and we really shouldn't have, but..."

"I don't need to know this."

"You don't need to know this." Raymond looks at his drink again, then downs it suddenly, putting the empty glass back down and hopping to his feet. "You're right. That was really insensitive. But now I'm going to go back, and I'm going to show her that I get it. And that I'm going to be the most awesome dad ever. I will change so many diapers..."

"Sit down, Jim Anderson." Leonard sighs when Raymond gives him a quizzical look. "Never mind. But give it a few more minutes. Let her vent to Sara."

"She can't vent while I'm there?"

"She's probably venting about you." Len gestures to the reappearing bartender, who obligingly refills Raymond's glass. "And Sara's likely to agree with her."

"So?"

"So Sara has knives."

Raymond stares at him a moment, then picks up his glass. "Ah."

Leonard salutes him with his own glass. "Ah, indeed."

Despite the touch of hyperbole (Sara definitely has knives, but Leonard's relatively sure she won't use them on Raymond—relatively), the two men head back to the apartment fairly soon. Dragging Raymond back to his pregnant "wife" toasted might have been amusing, but unproductive, and Sara would have been rather tempted to use her knives on him in that case.

The two women are sitting at the dining room table, and from the look of things, they've polished off a few pieces of cherry pie. Sara looks up at them, at Raymond's tentative expression and Leonard's rather world-weary eye roll, and smiles.

He can't help smiling back at that smile. At this point, he's incapable of anything else. Kendra looks between the two of them and makes an amused noise, even as she gets to her feet and starts toward Raymond.

The scientist has already started toward her. "I'm sorry…"

"So am I." Kendra sighs as she nestles into his arms, resting her head on his chest. "I'm glad you're…"

"No, no, no, I should have been more understanding." Raymond wraps his arms around her. "Really. I'm sorry. And I'm here for whatever you need me for."

Kendra, incongruously, giggles. "I think you being there for whatever I needed you for is what led to this."

Leonard snorts despite himself and Sara shakes her head with a grin, rising from the table herself and walking over to him.

"Good job," she murmurs as she gets closer.

"Didn't do much." He hesitates, then puts an arm around her, drawing her near. It's not like Raymond and Kendra don't know they're together. Right?

Sara lifts an eyebrow, but obligingly leans into him. "You got him back here."

"About that…" But Raymond and Kendra are murmuring quietly to each other, and Leonard decides to leave it be. "How are you?"

"OK." She hesitates. "I'd like to hang around tonight. OK? A little moral support. And to visit a lot more often for a while, but we can talk about that."

He'd been a little worried she'd consider just going back to Nickel to stay. "Right. Ah…can we try to get a hotel?"

"What, you don't want to sleep on the couch?"

"Not particularly."

In the end, they do wind up staying at the apartment that night, mainly because they stay so late it doesn't make much sense to try to go find something.

Sara's pleased; Leonard actually exerts himself to be sociable, or as sociable as he gets. Distracting Kendra seems to be the best thing to do at the moment, and when Sara starts a game of Monopoly, he obligingly joins in, robbing Ray blind whenever the man isn't paying attention to his cash and producing more "Get Out of Jail Free" cards than the game should rightly have from up his sleeves. Eventually, Ray is suspiciously paying more attention to the smirking crook than the game, Kendra can't stop giggling, and Sara emerges victorious when Leonard lands on her Park Place.

Sara means to sleep in the same small room she'd had before but first stretches out on the couch with Leonard after Ray and Kendra finally go to bed, wanting a little bit of time together. They're quiet for a long time, her head resting on his chest, one of his hands tangled in her hair, before Sara clears her throat.

"Thanks," she says, quietly.

"Mhrmm?" From the groggy sound of his voice, Sara's suddenly pretty sure Leonard had dozed off. "What?"

"Thanks. For finding Ray. For sticking around. For helping give Kendra something else to think about. I'm glad you were here." That approaches actual discussion of feelings, so she stops then, unwilling to go further...yet.

He's silent for a long moment. Then, in a voice so low she can barely hear it: "Same."

They fall asleep there not long later. And although Sara wakes to the sound of Ray's "Awww!" in the morning and with a cramp in her neck from the awkward way they'd been lying, she can't bring herself to regret it.

Sara decides to cook breakfast in the morning, just to give Ray and Kendra a break. She's not a bad plain cook, really, but Leonard takes over the pancakes with alacrity when he sees what she's doing, and they spend a companionable 20 minutes or so side by side at the kitchen counter, Sara cutting up fruit and Len making batter and then flipping pancakes. Ray hovers at first, but then goes into the living room to grade some papers, and they all decide to let Kendra sleep in.

Unfortunately, Kendra—who emerges from the master bedroom right about the time the meal is ready—takes one sniff of what Sara had considered fairly luscious odors and bolts for the bathroom. Ray hurries after her, and Leonard and Sara share slightly resigned looks…and repair back into the kitchen to eat. Well, there's no point in the food going to waste.

After a while, Kendra comes back out to meet them, looking sheepish, Ray hovering a bit, but having the brains not to do so too much. Sara makes her some plain toast; Ray reheats some pancakes, and they have their Team Legends '58 breakfast after all.

Afterward, they talk a bit, or Sara, Kendra, and Ray do, about practicalities and the possibility of "the Pratts" moving on to a house. Leonard, restless, moves around the living room while they do, providing the occasional pithy comment and staring at the still-patiently blinking beacon. And eventually, he joins them, turning one of the dining room chairs backward and planting himself in it. Kendra returns his steady gaze, smiling back at him just a little.

"Hey, crook," she says (and Sara wonders if maybe she's lost possession of her usual…well, she supposes she can call it a pet name…for him). "Thanks."

He lifts an eyebrow but doesn't respond further beyond an inclination of his head. But Kendra's smile grows as she regards him, and Sara decides suddenly that her friend has his number, that she too has well and truly figured out that there's far more to Leonard Snart than "crook" and "survivor" and even "sarcastic smartass."

"You know, if we decide to do such things, you and Sara will have to be the baby's godparents," Kendra tells him, quite seriously. She holds her expression for a few beats, studying his rather disconcerted expression, then laughs, leaning back against Ray, who's also looking amused.

"We're serious, though," he tells Leonard, then looks at Sara. "I mean, we still have to talk about...well, a lot of things, including that sort of upbringing."

"The priesthood of Horus isn't precisely acceptable in 1950s America," Kendra murmurs, getting a nod from Ray, who continues.

"...but there are, um, expectations in this era and we need to figure that out. We sort of like the idea of godparents, at any rate." He looks momentarily tentative. "Um. If you're all right with that? I mean, if anything happened to us, you might be on the hook..."

"Of course, Ray," Sara tells him immediately, reaching out to gently slug him in the arm. (Earning an "oof" despite the lightness of the blow.) "Kendra. There's no way I'd do anything else." She glances at Len, who's still silent, wondering what he's thinking.

She'd pretty much expected a snarky comment, a way to deflect the relative intensity of the moment, but instead the shutters are up in his eyes, the walls not so icy as before, but definitely there. At this point, though, Sara knows that sort of blankness means he's struggling with a bit more emotion than he's comfortable with, which is a sort of answer in and of itself.

The three of them seem to simultaneously decide to let the topic go, to give the fourth member of their little Legends-in-exile a moment to collect himself—which, Sara thinks, is a measure of how much even Ray and Kendra have gained some understanding of Leonard Snart and how he operates. But before Sara can change the subject, Leonard shakes his head-not in denial but in what seems to be disbelief—and speaks.

"I'd be honored," he says, just a trifle roughly, then gets up and vanishes into the kitchen, from which Sara hears running water a moment later.

By the time he's finished washing the dishes, the moment's passed, and he's right back to needling Ray about, well, nearly anything he can think of. They all let him keep his illusion of indifference, though, if that's what he needs.

They know better.

"D'you want kids?"

Sara, who'd been thinking her own thoughts in silence during their drive back to Orange City, glances over at Leonard in surprise. They'd left later than intended, and at some point during the drive thus far, the sun had set, casting them both into shadow.

Leonard's profile is illuminated by the periodic lights along the highway and the occasional headlights of the other cars on the road. He's still looking straight forward, but there's a muscle ticking in his jaw, betraying tension, and Sara's not quite sure why. Concern she'll say yes? Or...otherwise?

"I...really haven't thought about it in a long time," she says slowly, watching his profile. "I used to. But then the League happened, and the Pit, and...well, like I said before, I'm not even sure I can. If I could...maybe? In the right circumstances." She hesitates. "What about you?"

His silence stretches out. Sara continues to study him, wondering, realizing that the answer is more complicated than expected for him, as well.

Finally, he shrugs. "Used to be a hard no," he mutters, still watching the road. "Between the life I led and...past history."

Used to? "And now?"

Something in his expression suggests to Sara that he hadn't even realized the wording he'd used. After a long moment, he just shrugs again.

And that's the end of the conversation. For the moment, anyway.

With all the turmoil in Ray and Kendra's lives, it seems almost unfair that Sara and Leonard's lives have settled into something far steadier. Sara continues to work with Ginny every morning, mingling techniques in a hybrid sort of martial arts, and starts to research other instructors in the area who might be willing to take on a female student. She has some luck, more than she'd expected, really, and compiles what she finds into a list ostensibly for Ginny—even as she starts considering trying to lure some of them into a potential studio of her own.

Leonard and Sara go shopping for a camera with plans to start making some actual marketing materials for the business, and settle on a shiny new Kodak 35mm, with actual newfangled color film. Sara, who has fond memories of a college photography class, starts tinkering with it and finds herself with something of a new hobby, especially as the weather truly settles into mid-summer and they start exploring a little more of the area during their free time. The drives back and forth between Nickel and Orange are rather nice in the good weather.

But while she's enjoying that, Kendra's not taking the summer warmth nearly as well. The morning sickness has continued, along with fatigue, and while that's apparently completely normal, it doesn't mean she's enjoying it.

"I know this might pass...at least, I really hope it does," she tells Sara while they're visiting one day, about a month after that initial post-baby-news dash to Nickel. "It's making it really hard to bake." She takes a sip of the mint tea that seems to help. "I mean, I'm not really planning on growing the business beyond where it is, but it's doing well, and I don't really want to lose that. Then I really would just be another housewife with baby on her hip."

She sounds so melancholy that Sara reaches out to grab her hand and squeeze it, feeling a bit helpless.

"I'd stay a bit and help out, but I'm pretty hopeless at baking," she says. "Now, Len…but he's got the business too…"

Kendra squeezes back. "It's not the baby thing," she says with a sigh. "I mean, people have kids and stay themselves all the time. At least, they do when we came from." She shakes her head. "That's the problem. I don't want to…to fade away here."

"We'll do our best to make sure that doesn't happen," Sara tells her, as Leonard and Ray—who'd been out and about looking at real estate—come back into the apartment arguing about what seems to be the ethics of intimidating someone into accepting an offer. "Even if we leave the kid with the guys and go terrorize Gotham's criminals with Kathy every weekend. Every other weekend?"

Kendra laughs, Ray comes over pleading with them to side with him, Leonard follows him, smirking, and the issue is forgotten…for now.

Not long after that, the newer three residents of 19 Gabriel move out and on to new lives that Len and Sara had partly helped to set up. Isabelle, the widow, is setting up shop in a Gotham suburb as a seamstress—with the patronage of Kathy Kane, who's pleased to have someone…discreet…to go to with costuming challenges. Maryann, the younger girl, is posing as her also-widowed daughter, serving as her assistant and attending secretarial school on the side—which Len had paid for—while Isabelle watches the baby.

They're both still feeling very pleased with that when there's a new problem.

David, a quiet and reticent child by nature, has been relatively content to ghost around the house, reading everything Len can get him and following Len like a puppy whenever the man is around. Sara occasionally tries to convince him that the boy needs more social time with kids his own age, but Leonard—who'd spent a good portion of his youth wishing that everyone would just leave him alone—disagrees.

Miriam's been visiting perhaps every month to see her son and calls from Empire City regularly every Sunday night, but when a Sunday comes and goes without a sound from the telephone, to David's great disappointment, Rebecca tries calling the next morning herself.

She gets off the phone partly in tears, partly furious, having been reamed out by the wealthy man whose family Miriam had been working for as a housekeeper. He'd fired her, apparently, nearly a week ago, accusing her of stealing a piece of jewelry and throwing her out with barely a moment to collect her things.

He uses a few slurs that Rebecca is unwilling to repeat. But both Leonard and Sara can guess.

Leonard, hearing this story—which they keep from David, for now—freezes, his expression going dark as a thundercloud. (Sara's pretty sure that it's only all the months of goodwill built up with Rebecca that keep her from being downright terrified of that expression.)

After a moment, he turns and heads for the door, and the car. Sara follows, hopping into the passenger seat and meeting his stony expression with a matter-of-fact one.

"I'm going with you," she says quietly. "Don't argue."

He doesn't.

Empire City is usually just under three hours from Orange, but it's all highway driving, and Leonard drives faster when he's angry. They have the address where Miriam had been live-in housekeeper from the letters she's exchanged with David, and Sara looks up the area on the map they still keep in the car as Leonard drives. They find the home, a stately Greek Revival mansion in an obviously ritzy part of the city, one not far from the state capitol building, and park not so far away.

Leonard closes his eyes, his fingers still wrapped around the steering wheel, white knuckled, and Sara can hear him trying to calm his own breathing. It's a good sign, really, given that she's pretty sure he'd like to do nothing more than stalk up there to that house and drive his fist into the face of the man who owns it. (At least, since he doesn't have his cold gun.)

Finally, he opens his eyes again and looks at her, and Sara studies what she sees in them. After a moment, she nods.

"Do I go with you, or not?" she asks quietly. "How do you want to play this?'

Leonard considers. Definitely not reacting with his emotions alone anymore, Sara thinks with relief.

"No, stay here," he says finally. "I think I can better convince him to spill any information on my own." He gives her a brief, utterly humorless smile. "I won't even threaten him. No matter how much I want to."

She doesn't ask if he's sure, just nods, and after a moment, he gets out of the car. Sara watches him regard the house a few minutes longer, then adjust his dark suit jacket and start toward it.

She believes him, but…Sara still rolls down her window, and listens as he stands at the door. Whether for screams or gunshots, she's not sure, but she'll be there in a heartbeat if he needs her.

She hears nothing. No yelling. No weaponry. It's torture to sit there and wait, but Sara has experience at waiting. Even if she hates it.

Finally, Leonard saunters back down to the car. His face has a carefully controlled expression, the kind that suggests that he would, indeed, like to have punched the man in the face. He gets in the car, nods to Sara, and starts it, driving a block or two, out of sight, before stopping again and leaning his head back against the seat, eyes closed.

"What," he says, after a moment, "an asshole."

Sara hums in agreement, a trifle annoyed she hadn't just gone along with him. For face-punching purposes, of course. "Any luck?"

He shrugs a little, opening his eyes and staring out the window, then turning his head to look at her.

"I posed as an investigator," he says. "And he was all too willing to rant about Mrs. Jacobi. Apparently, something really did go missing, but there doesn't seem to be any evidence at all that it was her. For one thing, he'd have called the cops if there had been." He shakes his head. "But he decided to blame her. Because of course it had to be the Jewish woman."

Sara's fists clench despite herself. There could still be face punching today, she thinks. She really wants there to be face punching.

But Leonard's continued. "That's never a vibe I got from her, at all. I'm positive she didn't steal it." He shrugs. "One thief knows another. She's not a thief. Not even if she was desperate."

"And she just…vanished?"

"Yeah." Leonard starts the car again. "We need to check some places. Just in case."

And they do. They check hospitals. They check police stations…and morgues. They check soup kitchens and aid organizations. They check the local synagogue.

No luck. Not even a clue.

They stay overnight at a small motel, something that would be almost nostalgic if not for how tense and upset Leonard is. Skinny, dark-haired David, Sara's long since come to recognize, reminds her lover rather forcibly of himself as a kid. And this…

The memories have to be excruciating.

Sara curls up behind him in the bed, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, feeling the tension there. It's not the time to try anything amorous, but she thinks that he's finally in a place to take touch as comfort, at least from her, and starts gently working on the stiff muscles on his back with careful hands.

He accepts the caresses, maybe even relaxes under them, and after a few minutes, there in the dark, she hears him whisper.

"She wouldn't have just left him there." he murmurs. "Would she?"

The uncertain words, the tone, are so unlike him that Sara's heart hurts. She knows he knows the honest answer—it'd happened to him, in a way, after all—but that's not what she wants to tell him now.

"I don't know," she says finally. "I only met her once or twice, and she didn't really talk to me. Desperate people do desperate things. And if she thought David was in a better place…"

That gets a ragged sigh and a murmur she can't quite hear. But she can guess.

Finally, they both fall asleep. It's not a very restful night, but it keeps them going.

Options of the moment exhausted, they drive home the next day, leaving contact information with a sympathetic police captain and a rabbi. Leonard's shoulders are slumped as he unlocks the door to No. 19, and he's barely set foot inside before he freezes in his tracks. Sara steps to his side, and then realizes why.

David's standing in the doorway to the next room, looking at them expectantly. Rebecca hurries up behind him to put her hands on his shoulders, her own expression not nearly so hopeful. Life has made her a realist.

David's still a bit more optimistic.

"Did you find my mom?" he asks hopefully, trying to peer around them. "Is she OK? Is…"

But Miriam isn't there, and Sara sees the moment the boy realizes it. His eyes dart to Leonard's, reading the response there before the man can even speak, and his face falls. He turns, shaking off Rebecca as he runs toward the stairs, clattering up to his tiny room even as they all hear a sob escape his throat.

Sara's not sure what hurts her more in that moment—that heartbroken noise, or the look on Leonard's face as he watches the boy go.

Leonard spends a good part of the day in his office, making some phone calls, calling in some favors he's apparently earned through his security work. Soon, there's a bit of a network keeping an eye out for Miriam Jacobi throughout the region. Rebecca does the same, talking to some of the people she's helped throughout the past few years.

David hides in his room, and none of them blame him. Sara had been a little worried the boy would try to leave, to go search for his mom, but if that's a danger, he's apparently not quite ready yet.

She takes him lunch that day, and he does open the door to her quiet knock, taking the tray with a nearly inaudible "thank you." Beyond him, she can see the pile of books on his bed—apparently how he tends to hide. A bit like Leonard, indeed.

"David," she says quietly, before he can shut the door—and then suddenly finds herself uncertain what to say as his eyes dart to her face. He doesn't need to hear that it'll be OK, not when they're not sure if he'll ever see his mother again. And he's too realistic, now, to want to hear reassurances that she can't back up.

"We're here," she settles on, quietly, meeting his eyes. And for the moment, she sees a flicker of appreciation there. It doesn't fix things. But it helps.

Later, in the evening, they coax him downstairs for dinner, Leonard getting his permission to look at photographs and paper that Miriam had let in a box in the room, just in case there are clues to where she might have gone. Sara joins him after a few minutes, staring at the static images of a family trying to pretend to be happy—the frozen expression in Miriam's eyes, the steely gaze of her husband, the growing stress in David's gaze as he gets older-then gets back up, crossing to the window and staring outside.

She's had a thought rattling around all day. It's unexpected, really, and there probably are all manner of things wrong with it. But it's settled in, and before she knows it, she's blurting it out, needing to hear Leonard's reaction.

"Len," she says, looking out the window and into the backyard. "If we don't find…do you want to adopt him? David? Do you want us to adopt him?"

For a long moment, there's no response. She thinks, perhaps, that she's stunned him. Then he clears his throat, a startled noise, and speaks, his voice low and a little uncertain, latching on a side detail of the idea that nonetheless holds a great deal of importance. "We'd have to…"

Yes, in this day and age, they'd have to be married. They both know it.

As proposals go, it's not a good one. In fact, Sara thinks sheepishly, turning back around, it's pretty weak. Well, it really wasn't the main gist of her offer.

But, yeah. It's something they have to address.

Len's watching her with, yeah, a slightly stunned expression on his face. She's not sure what's surprised him the most, really, the thought of adopting the kid or the implied marriage proposal. They study each other, and after an interminable amount of time, he starts to speak...

But before either one of them can say anything more, there's the sound of an opening door downstairs, then a ruckus, raised voices and then a cry.

At the sound, Leonard's running for the stairs, Sara on his heels, sliding a knife into her hand. It hadn't sounded like violence, but she'll be ready.

They hit the bottom, turn the corner, and…

Miriam Jacobi is sitting in the parlor, her far-too-tall-for-such-things son folded into her lap. David's crying what seem to be happy tears at having his mother back. Sara's seen the other woman as stoic and severe the few times they've met, but now Miriam is weeping too, her arms wrapped around her boy, the two of them holding on for dear life.

"I'm sorry," she says, looking up at them. "I'm so sorry I didn't call. I…I just wanted to find something else before I told you, but I've had no luck." She shakes her head violently. "I didn't steal anything, I didn't, I would never…"

Rebecca, who's approached with Ginny from the kitchen, steps forward to rest a hand on her shoulder. "I know," she says gently. "Shhh. We'll work it out."

But Miriam's shoulders hunch, as if in pain, and she shudders. "I saved up a little money, but I used up a bit of it for somewhere to stay and then bus money back here," she says brokenly. "I don't have enough for a new start, not yet, and now I don't have a recommendation…"

"We will work it out," Rebecca tells her again, as Ginny backs her up. "We will. We'll find you something…"

"I can…I do a lot of household stuff. I can cook, I can clean, I can care for children, I just need someone to give me a chance…"

Sara glances at Leonard, who's watching mother and son with an expression that's…well, the best she thinks she can describe it is a mixture of relieved and almost protective. He notices her watching after a moment, and gives her a half-smile, a light in his eyes, and it occurs to her that, just maybe, this reunion is healing something that's been raw and painful for a long, long time.

They're still going to have to talk about the offer she'd made him. But not right now.

Miriam is still worried, still having trouble accepting anyone's assurances that it will be OK. The other women are tossing ideas back and forth, and David's looking like he's both relieved beyond measure and wondering if he should still be worried. Sara's pondering how to reassure him…

And then she has an idea.

She steps forward, squeezing Leonard's hand as she does so, drawing the others' attention. Miriam, who's only met Sara a few times and has always seemed rather reserved around her, glances up, looking uncertain, even as David smiles at her.

"Mrs. Jacobi," Sara says thoughtfully, "you said you can cook. How do you feel about baking?"

Miriam is quite willing to relocate to Nickel City, and with Sara and Leonard's assurances, even tentatively agrees to let David come with her. The boy doesn't really want to leave Orange City, but neither does he want to let his mom go alone, especially now, and after a talk with Leonard, he decides to go too.

The first time they meet, Raymond (who's been thoroughly filled in on the situation, along with Kendra) charms Miriam, making it as clear as he possibly can that he will allow no harm to come to her there. Even Leonard will admit that the other man can be quite charming when he wants to be, and his Boy-Scout nature seems to reassure her in a way Leonard's native snarkiness cannot.

And Kendra, about 5 months pregnant now and showing a bit (and grumpy about 1950s maternity clothing), gets her immediate empathy.

Miriam is actually quite eager to work with her, to help fill all the orders local restaurants and coffee shops have standing, but she and David still need somewhere to stay. Mother and son could stay in the apartment—there's room—but Kendra and Raymond still have to keep their real origin quiet, and they are posing as a married couple.

Instead, they find a small apartment nearby—tiny, but clean, furnished and secure—and Leonard pays off the rent for six months, figuring that the pair might want to move on by then. Miriam, however stoic, is thrilled at the notion of her own home again, however small, and even though David barely has a closet-size space of his own again, he's a little giddy, too,

And just like that, it's a deal.

Leonard's not sure how to feel as he finishes carrying their bags in. Good, he guesses. He's helped someone else…again. His rep is never going to recover.

Ah, hell, he'll admit it. He doesn't care.

Miriam has already thanked him profusely, but he knows she's still skittish around him, probably always will be. He gets it. It's OK. The results are always what matter. And the results will help a kid too much like him get away from being…too much like him.

David's arranging books in the small shelf in his room, when Len drops by, fussing over their order, but hops up immediately as Len sticks his head in the door.

"Mr. Wynters!" he says eagerly. "I'm putting my books away. I have my own bookshelf!"

Leonard had made sure he had that bookshelf, which hadn't been in that original version of the apartment. "Excellent," he murmurs, moving into the room a little. "Mind if I sit down?"

The boy, brow wrinkled in confusion, nods, and Leonard takes a seat, passing the book in his hands back and forth. David sits down on the end of the bed after a moment, watching him. But there's not that wounded-animal shyness anymore, and that's a thing that makes even a hardened crook smile.

"Got something for your collection," he murmurs after a minute, passing the book over.

It's a copy of H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine." And if Leonard hopes that someday, if his four benefactors just up and vanish, an older David will put the pieces together, well…

David studies it, leafing through a little bit, then grins. The kid likes science fiction, much as a younger (and, OK, the current) Leonard Snart did, and Len's been picking up copies of things he'd once read here and there, including Asimov's "I, Robot" and "Foundation," Bradley's "The Planet Savers" and Andre Norton's earlier books.

"Thank you, Mr. Wynters!" he says, hopping up to carefully place the book on the shelf. "I'll read it right after I finish 'The Hobbit.'"

"Wait and see if you want to go right into Tolkien's other stuff." He considers the kid, pleased at the change. If he's done one good thing with his misspent life, it's this.

There's a lot he could say here. Reminding the boy, again, that he's not his father. That what other people think of him does not define him. That it was never, ever his fault.

"We'll visit," he says instead. "And your mom's gonna let you go back to school, I hear. You missed the start of the school year, but you should be able to catch up."

David looks a mix of pleased and uncertain at that news. He's a bright one, but school learning isn't really his favorite. Len can empathize with that too. "Yes," he says, a little reluctantly. "I'm…I'm worried…"

He'd once been very skittish about admitting to worries. His father hadn't considered such things "masculine."

(One of the few things Len has as a secret from Sara, here in this time, is that he'd tracked down Jonathan Jacobi not long after meeting Miriam and David. And while he hadn't done anything permanent…well, not really…he's pretty such the man won't be coming after them. Not after Leonard had given him something to really worry about…)

" 'Bout what?" he asks David, keeping his tone casual.

The boy shrugs. "The other kids, what if they pick on me for not having…a dad?" He pauses. "What if they think he didn't want me?"

Len considers that a moment, because the kid deserves it, and a realistic response. "You won't be the first to get that kinda stuff," he says finally. "And you won't be the last. There are people like that, but then you'll know they ain't worth your time." He smiles at the boy, a little. "Find your people. Stick with them."

It's not quite the response David wanted, he thinks, but it's the best one he has to give. After a minute, the boy nods.

"Thank you," he says quietly. "I'll try."

If they were two different people, Leonard thinks, it would be a good time to give the kid a hug. But neither one of them are really comfortable with that. Still too many damages. So, after a moment, he just reaches out, slowly, and awkwardly pats the boy on the shoulder, pleased when he doesn't flinch.

"I know," he says, just as quietly.

The days can be long. Increasingly, the weeks are short.

As fall settles in, so do they, even more. Sara drags home pumpkins from a farmers market and makes Len carve jack-o'-lanterns with her, an exercise that quickly devolves into a mess and an impromptu wrestling session…and a very nice shower, together, afterward. Rebecca shows Sara how to plant perennials and they put a row of black-eyed Susans in along the side of the house.

Len has to visit Metropolis for a very lucrative security job, and Sara goes with him. After the business part, they turn the trip into a bit of an idyll, really, playing tourist and trying new restaurants—and spending a few long, lazy mornings in bed. Neither of them have brought up Sara's offer again, but there's at least one moment, standing at the harbor and looking out at the sunset, that Sara wonders if Len might be planning an offer of his own…

But they continue as they are. And what they are is good.

David and Miriam are thriving in Nickel City, Miriam beginning to blossom as she deals with a business she's truly good at and an employer who appreciates her. Mrs. Levy, the landlord and book shop owner, befriends them both, especially David, and the collection on the boy's small bookshelf starts growing again.

Kendra's moved past the worst of the morning sickness, finally. Ray is driving her crazy, but it's drifted into a contented sort of crazy, for both of them. Sara starts to consider a baby shower, if the '50s version can be adapted to something tolerable. Len and Sara are both visiting when Kendra lets Ray feel the baby kick for the first time, and Leonard doesn't even mock him when he starts to tear up.

The holidays are on the horizon. Sara starts thinking about getting Christmas ornaments and banters with Len about real trees vs. artificial. (She's for the former, he's for the latter.)

But a far smaller, but still meaningful, milestone hits them first. Sara and Ginny are sparring in the studio when Ginny manages to throw Sara for the first time. Sara had, to be perfectly honest, been distracted by other thoughts (Leonard had stuck his head into the room and smirked at her, and she'd been rather recalled to certain activities the night before)-but the feat stands, and Ginny is so thrilled that Sara, after she picks herself up off the mats, promptly declares that this needs a celebration.

She takes both Ginny and Rebecca into downtown for lunch and a shopping excursion, getting meals, drinks and desserts at a nice restaurant and then wandering about the stores, looking at dresses far fancier than they really need. At one ritzy shop, Rebecca, uncharacteristically, puts her chin in the air and tries on a lovely red dress after Ginny tells her shyly how pretty she'd look in it. That spurs Ginny to try on another one in an emerald shade of green. Sara, watching them model the dresses and giggle, is convinced to try a pricy strapless blue silk number and falls in love with it…then buys all three in a spurt of generosity.

Leonard's out of town that day, but he's home the next evening, and Sara, feeling impish, is wearing the blue dress when he arrives. She has the radio on, too, and is fiddling with the dial as he comes in, dropping his bag and closing the door behind him.

Sara, grinning, can feel his eyes on her as she finds a station, then turns to regard him. Leonard, looking very dapper in a dark blue suit, is regarding her in return, a smile hovering around his mouth, eyes dark.

A song comes on the radio, then, and Sara turns to turn it up a little. She's only just done that when she feels steady hands at her waist, and warm breath at her ear.

"Honey," he purrs, "I'm home."

Sara snorts in laughter, then turns in his arms. "Sorry, dear," she drawls, "I'm not vacuuming the house in pearls and heels."

Len's eyes darken more, if that's possible. "Wouldn't want you to," he murmurs, pulling her forward a little more, taking a step back as he puts one arm around her waist and lifts the other to claim her corresponding hand, settling their linked fingers over his heart. "Impractical."

Given that she's been wandering around waiting for him in a fancy silk gown, that's a little amusing. Sara grins at him, settling her free hand at his shoulder.

"Wanna dance, Leonard?" she says quietly, an echo.

He doesn't answer in words.

"Chances are 'cause I wear a silly grin "The moment you come into view "Chances are you think that I'm in love with you"

Aside from Johnny Mathis' smooth voice, it's quiet in the house on Gabriel Drive. The faint sound of traffic is barely noticeable, and even the wind has died down.

"Just because my composure sort of slips "The moment that your lips meet mine "Chances are you think my heart's your Valentine"

It goes against the grain for Sara to let anyone else lead, but she trusts Leonard. She takes a deep breath and lifts her eyes to his as they move slowly across the floor, from the kitchen into the living room and back.

"In the magic of moonlight when I sigh, hold me close, dear "Chances are you believe the stars that fill the skies are in my eyes"

Leonard's watching her with an intense expression as they sway, and Sara's pretty sure her own expression is no less passionate. She takes a deep breath and moves even closer as they watch each other, trying to convey a lot of the things they don't say but she's pretty sure they both know.

"Guess you feel you'll always be the one and only one for me "And if you think you could "Well, chances are your chances are awfully good"

She only gets a moment of warning, a flicker of Leonard's eyes just before he swings her up into his arms in a bridal carry, startling her into a laugh. Smirking, he carries her toward the bedroom, shoving the door closed with one foot behind them.

Johnny Mathis continues to sing.

"Guess you feel you'll always be the one and only one for me "And if you think you could "Well, chances are your chances are awfully good

"The chances are your chances are awfully good"

Someone once said that there's no point in worrying, for real troubles are the sort that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday. It's earlier in the day, but it is an idle Tuesday, when the phone rings in the office. Leonard's in there and grabs it nearly immediately. Sara, who's out in the living room looking through some artsier photos she's taken and musing about a gallery she'd seen in the city, can hear the murmur of his voice, but not much more. She has no reason whatsoever to believe that something's up.

At least, not until Len walks out into the living room, expression blank, drawing her attention with his silence moreso than any exclamation. She glances up, then blinks and starts to ask, but he beats her to it.

"They're back."

Sara stares at him. Impossible not to understand what he means, but impossible, also, to believe.

"When?" she manages finally, sitting the photos down, voice sounding loud even to herself.

"Maybe...an hour ago?" Leonard's voice sounds oddly hollow. As if he can't figure out how to react. "Hunter tracked Raymond and Kendra down because of the beacon, knocked on their door. Wants us all back. ASAP."

"I…are they all OK?"

"Raymond said so. Didn't say much more."

Sara takes a deep breath. It's a dream. She's going to wake up and... "I...we..."

She doesn't wake up. She waits a moment, then gets to her feet. Leonard watches her, still with that odd expression, or lack thereof.

Should she pack? Is there anything she wants to take? They need to...

"I need a little bit," she says finally, her own voice sounding odd too, even to her own ears. "Not too long. Just..."

Len waits a moment after her voice trails off, then nods. "Yeah. Me too," he says. "And we need to..."

"Yeah."

Less than two hours later, they walk together to 19 Gabriel Drive in silence. Sara knows that she's looking around as if in a daze, but it's still registering that she's never going to see any of this again. At least, not in the same way.

They've just locked up and left the house in which they'd become lovers, sparred, cooked dinner together, read, argued, played cards, grumbled over housework. They'll never get a Christmas tree together. She'll never see the black-eyed Susans come in. They'll never expand the studio like they'd discussed.

And now, here they are, there's the green house next door; there's where Wayne landed on his ass the first time he met Sara; there are Ginny's damned chickens and the rooster Leonard threatens, regularly, to cook. Sara stops on the side porch, staring at the door, remembering...

Leonard doesn't pause, though. He unlocks the door one last time, then steps inside.

Ginny and Rebecca are both in the dining room, eating what seems to be a companionable lunch. They both glance up at the visitors, and Ginny hooks a foot around another chair, pulling it out and inviting them to sit down and join them even as Rebecca stands to say the same.

But: "We need to leave," Leonard tells them, his voice unadorned by drawl or humor, perhaps just a touch harsh in the way that means he's trying not to let emotion in.

Ginny blinks at him. "What? Right now? Why..."

Rebecca, however, has twigged to the fact that he doesn't mean just today. She draws in a long breath, starts to speak, but stops as Leonard interrupts her, dropping the folders in his hands onto the table in front of her, then two sets of keys on top of them.

"This is yours," he says abruptly. "The business, the stocks, the house. It's all tied up legally; I made sure Stephen knew we might have to leave abruptly one day. He'll take care of it all."

He shrugs as Rebecca stares at the pile in front of her. "Sell the business or take it on. Either way, it's yours now." He pauses. "You'll be OK."

Ginny's turned to Sara, then Len, looking back and forth between them. "Are you in trouble?" she asks worriedly.

Sara thinks about Rip's inevitable reaction to all they've done here and snorts. "Well…" But the other woman's face holds a mixture of distress and determination, the latter something Sara herself has done a lot to instill, and levity doesn't seem like it has a place here.

"No. We just...have to return home," she says gently. "It's a really long story. And we want to...but we're just really going to miss some things." She leans forward and pulls the other woman, her protégé, her friend, her substitute sister, into a hug. "Like you two."

Ginny hugs her back, fiercely, like Ginny does almost everything, then leans back to study Sara's face again. "But...will you come back to visit?"

"I...don't know." But there's a "no" underlying the words, and both women hear it. Ginny suddenly starts blinking like she's trying not to cry, and Sara turns away before she can start doing the same, looking at Rebecca, who's watching them with

Ginny is fierce. But Rebecca is her own sort of strength, and she nods, once, as she looks at them, accepting this change like she's accepted so many others.

"Thank you," she says simply. "I don't know what we would have done without you. Mr. Wynters..." She looks at Leonard and swallows hard. "You were a godsend that night. And since."

Leonard hesitates only a moment, then steps forward and, telegraphing his movements, reaches out to hug her. Rebecca smiles a little as she squeezes him back, closing her eyes.

Sara's blinking quickly again as she watches these two damaged children turned determined and damaged adults, and she turns back to Ginny, who's watching them too.

"Take care of her," she says in a low tone. "Rebecca. She'll try to fix the world and forget to take care of herself."

Ginny snorts in understanding, but nods. "I'll do that. No worries." Her grin, sudden and a touch evil, appears. "And you take care of him."

Sara regards her, then lets the corner of her mouth twitch up. They're not just talking about having the other person's back. "I will."

The farewells could have gone on all day, but cutting things off quicker, cleaner, seems to be the best route. They're back outside within minutes, heading to the car, and Rebecca and Ginny are standing on the porch watching them. They're holding hands, Sara notices, and that somehow that makes her start to tear up again.

Leonard starts the car, leans out the window and waves, and Sara does the same.

And they drive away.

In the Nickel City apartment, Raymond's standing in the doorway of the room that was going to be the nursery, staring at the walls he'd painted pale blue, the crib that he had—in true Boy Scout fashion—already put together in the corner. One of Sara's framed photographs—a red-tailed hawk silhouetted against the sky—is still on the wall. Not typical nursery décor, but they'd all felt it appropriate.

Leonard might enjoy harassing the other man, but he's not completely an asshole. He pauses, loathe to interrupt, and waits for Raymond to make his peace with it.

Finally, the other man sighs, glancing back at Leonard and shrugging.

"Well," he says, turning away, reaching up to retrieve the photo as he does so, "at least Kendra doesn't have to give birth in this time. Right? That's good."

There's not much to say to that, really, so Leonard doesn't even try. He watches Raymond carry the picture out to the living room and tuck it into a bag, then pick up the beacon that, now dark, is still sitting on the coffee table. The scientist gives it an almost affectionate pat.

"Rip said this—the piece I picked up in Gotham—made it possible for them to find us sooner than they would have otherwise," he tells Leonard, satisfaction in his voice. "And, no, he didn't say what happened, just that we'd talk when we were all back on the Waverider." Raymond shrugs. "He seemed OK. You know Rip."

"I do," Len acknowledges, looking around the apartment. "Anything I can do?"

"Nah. We're not really taking a lot." He looks around too. "Where's Sara?"

"Downstairs. Talking to Mrs. Levy about the arrangements for Miriam and David to move over here, so Miriam can continue to use the kitchen." Leonard pauses. "Kendra's giving her the baking business, right?"

"Yeah. We already told her. Kendra's still over there now." Raymond zips the bag closed, then hefts it. "The rest of the stuff's in the car. I'm going to go get her, then head…back."

"We'll be there soon."

Miriam already has a bit of whiplash when Leonard knocks on the door not long later. She gives him a wide-eyed look, as if wondering if the business and new apartment that have just been bestowed upon her will be taken away again, but he's already shaking his head, holding his hands up as if to reassure her.

"Kendra and Raymond…Mr. and Mrs. Pratt…already told you, I know," he says gently. "David's in school, right?"

Miriam takes a deep breath, then nods, giving him a somewhat uncertain smile.

"He is," she says. "I'm sorry…"

"No, that's where he should be. But would you give him this for me please?" He extends an envelope to her, an envelope holding a letter, the boy's name on it. "It's not sealed, you can read it. Please tell him I'm sorry I didn't get to tell him goodbye in person."

Miriam takes it, after a moment, nodding again.

"Thank you," she says quietly. "For everything."

"Mrs. Jacobi, believe me, it was my pleasure."

The Waverider, according to Hunter via Raymond and Kendra, is parked on the outskirts of the city, much like it'd been once upon a time in Central City 2016. Leonard drives the black 'Vette one last time, careful to find a relatively safe place for it. He's giving it to Stephen, has already dropped a letter containing the location and all the documentation into the mail to the lawyer.

He sees Sara watching him and shrugs. She gets it.

They have one bag each, so small an amount to take away from nearly a year, a life they'd started to build together. Leonard has some of his books. (Hell, yeah, he's going to keep that first edition of LOTR, even if it didn't now have sentimental value). The framed photos of their respective home cities from the house. The journals he'd kept. Nothing more.

Sara, he knows, has her camera and the photographs she's taken. A few pieces of clothing. (He hopes she brought the dress.) She shoulders her own bag, gazing at the empty lot that allegedly holds the Waverider, then, glancing at him, starts to walk forward.

He falls into step besides her.

Once they've set foot in the lot itself, there's a shimmer in the air, and the ship appears. Gideon, it appears, has been watching for them. Leonard stops in his tracks, much like he'd done back...forward?...in Central City that day. After months of 1950s technology levels, it's a momentary kick in the stomach, to see the damned thing, even more than it was in 2016.

Sara's stopped besides him. She studies the ship, then glances at him. They're both acting oddly reluctant, after months of wishing and hoping for this. He wonders why she is.

But then she speaks.

"I don't want things to change," she says suddenly, looking at him. "I mean, I know they'll have to. But I don't want you to step back out of my life or, hell, my bed." A pause. "Or my heart."

He stares at her, wondering if she's beaten him to the confession he's been thinking about making. But he's still trying to put the words together when she speaks again.

"I love you, Leonard Snart, and I don't want that part of this little adventure to end," Sara says quietly, glancing away, then back at him. "I hope it doesn't, now that we're back to the Waverider and hunting down Savage and…"

"I love you too." He pretty much blurts the words out and winces as her eyes widen in surprise. But he's committed now. "Have for quite a while now. Wasn't really sure how to say it."

Sara's smile is almost shy, which is so uncharacteristic of her. But she looks up at him as he gazes down at her, and somehow everything's OK. Everything's more than OK.

"Well, I think you just did fine," she murmurs, then holds out her hand.

"C'mon, crook. Let's go save time."

He takes it. "Lead on, assassin. Lead on."

And together, they head back on board the Waverider.

All of time ahead of them.

Author's note: Only an epilogue left!

[stimmypaw]

stimmypaw reads Shattered Sky, a late tumblr post

I just, forgot to post this for some reason. It’s me writing my thoughts on the third book of A Vision Of Shadows, I also did that with the first and second ones! Very full of spoilers, enjoy!

Omg.....meet Darktail's Kinnies... someone should name their wc kin server that its a great name, most of them seem to have wc names tho I thought he was a whole gang?? Did more of them get wc names or have already than we knew???

Oh no I barely got to see echosong :c I hope the others are okay, frecklewish is a wonderful name

Chapter one they already have all of the clans going 2 fight???? This absolutely won't go well and that terrifies me

Onestar realized Darktail has a beautiful voice :/ and he feels bad battling him /j

Yup just as I expected, awful loss. Plus Twigpaw was sure her sister was gonna kill her which killed Me

Alderheart parent mode

YASSSS ITS TIME FOR SKYCLAAANNNNNN

obviously the clans are pissed why the hell did they have this as a secret bro!!! why?? bramblestar was just ashamed now firestar???? bro WHY i seriously need to read firestar’s quest I just don’t get it

scenes of elders being cared for by apprentices is always so comforting, seeing it being interrupted and taken from violetpaw feels awful

WHO THE FUCK IS THISTLE he isn’t in the allegiances??????????????????? HELLO ah okay the rogues are showing up slowly ok

Violetpaw did a u-turn to her character here it seems?? She didn't find the elders were lecturing her at first, was Darktail's lil speech about how she was brave enough to convince her they are wrong??? A few compliments couldn't possibly be enough for that. Plus again she is seeing Darktail brutally murder someone and how despite seemingly treating each other nicely these cats are ready to betray each other anytime. Surely this would be enough for her to feel like the elders are still right and she can't trust these cats???

Hope she doesn't start seeing this violence as normal

I'm so sorry for blossomfall I can't believe she got with thornclaw of all cats

LIONBLAZE JAYFEATHER CINDERHEART AND TAWNYPELT, ALL JUST CASUALLY LISTENING TO GOSSIP. ABSOLUTELY SCANDALOUS I LOVE THEM

I love like how the book will take breaks every now and then to show for a millisecond ivypool being mad at tigerheart or vice versa and dovewing looking at tigerheart or vice versa and have the POV go "wonder what thats all about" and just proceed with the plot. Wonderful

Twigpaw :c

"A "mrrow" of welcome" has got to be my favorite line on this book

The cats complain there's already enough plots going on.

Whitewing is a very nice background cat and I appreciate her. But God Omen of the Stars only proved Starclan is just a bunch of old dead cats and that can be both good and terrible. Her argument is needed tho.

The others have a point tho, how can they leave the clan with less cats right now? I guess they would come back with more but what if they're not strong enough to defend themselves? A lot of trouble could happen with Skyclan coming as is to the territories and its understandable for the cats to be concerned

Violetpaw and Needletail cope with trauma as best they can and thats not a lot

I hope Violetpaw at least realizes how fucked up it is that they are scared of their leader who is supposedly their kin and the one who they should be the most loyal to

Oh Boy kittypets!

I love kittypets so much they're always fun. Darktail is so creepy tho I read some quotes he said to my girlfriend and she said he sounded like GLaDOS and yeah he's creepy I can feel it without Violetpaw agreeing with me that she's scared of what will happen next. Where did Darktail get that blood thing????

I like Zelda. She seems to be Violetpaw's age I hope she is so they can kiss. ALSO THIS IS KINDA LIKE MENTORING??? Violetpaw should get a warrior name

TWIGPAW PUT A PILLOW UNDER HER BLANKET SO NO ONE WOULD NOTICE SHE LEFT AHAHAHHA I bet she went to find Skyclan didn't she

PURDY

NOOOOOOO PURDYYY NOOOOOOOOOOOO NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

my gf said indigestion can sometimes have those effects on a cat if its really bad i didn't know that

PURDY CANT BE GONE PLEAS

I am SO sad I knew this was coming and I hated it terrible awful

I never saw a vigil so sweet. We Are All Love Purdy.

OH RIGHT TWIGPAW GSGWHAHAH

I appreciate no one is annoyed or pissed theyre all just worried, I am too

Apparently Alderheart and Bramblestar disagree lot? They seem to get along great though. And uh I guess Bramblestar doesn't always take his advice but, that doesn't mean much they like talk about stuff and Bramblestar forms conclusions taking in consideration the stuff his son said and all. Idk, feels like a weird statement Twigpaw something tells me the Erins are failing to send a message somewhere

Fuck I hope someone finds twigpaw soon, her adventure has been fun but I'm terrified for her

Violetpaw seems to be having a hard time too, not only is everything awful and terrible plus we had a time skip of a few days so who knows what happened to Twigpaw. Anyways Violetpaw having to care for Needletail like a mentor is like a young teen having to care for a young adult's mental health and that always sucks for the kid, there's not much else that can be done though Needletail probably doesn't want to worry

Violetpaw :C

This is so sad and terrible, I wish Violetpaw could be with Twigpaw right now she wouldn't be starclan knows where if they were just together!!! I hope the other cats don't start saying nonsense about Violetpaw now. She's scared she won't be accepted in Thunderclan and doesn't see herself as worthy of acceptance, and feels responsible for her older friend. I'm :CC

PAGGDHAHAHA Zelda is a trash cat and I love her

Violetpaw is suffering so much and Darktail is absolutely brainwashing her ass and she can't understand how he is to blame for everything.

Oh boy when she does.

This is such a good story God im like very tired and in need of sleep but I can't stop reading

Oh God so much has happened, this is so terrible, I love that Mothwing and Alderheart are hanging out tho I forgot what a fun character she can be!!!

Thinking about how so much would be easier since book 1 if Onestar agreed to lend a helping paw. Thinking about the begging dying bodies piling up at his door. Thinking about onestar.

Oh scratch what I said earlier guys WHEN VIOLETPAW FINDS OUT DARKTAIL KILLED DAWNPELT OH BOY

Its terrible knowing dawnpelt isn't there and like, so far thinking she was in thunderclan, only to have thunderclan cats wonder if she's in shadowclan like oh God oh fuckle this is IT

I feel so bad for Loki and Zelda :c I would give them treats

What the fuck Darktail

Holy shit Darktail

I am noticing like, cats making seriously spot on assumptions of things that happened out of small information and idk if that really isn't realistic and just a way to make cats realize things or if I'm just too autistic to relate

I'm so glad the medicine cats treat anxiety. Last time I remember that happening was the prophecy begins but I might be forgetting somethin

The fear these cats have of the clans ending feels so real I am absolutely terrified for them and I love it

It doesn't make sense for twigpaw 2 die so I'm not buying it but wow this hurts

Violetpaw time

I am itching for them to find skyclan so bad

Violetpaw you're not Squirrelpaw or Leafpaw in the new prophecy you wouldn't have felt if Twigpaw died :P

Bro Needletail :c I miss when she was a wild free creature

This prisoner smuggling deal is so fun I am absolutely excited about everyone's plans, it can't all go well so soon though.

TWIGPAW YESSSS BABY I MISSED YOU

Twigpaw lactose intolerant moment

omg she had a vision

Vision cat be nice 2 my baby she is dying

TWIGPAW FOUND SKYCLAN YESSSS YES YES YES

OMG......HAWKWING.....AAAAAAA THATS HER DAD BRO SHE FOUND HER DAD IM YESSSS YEAYESYESYEYD

This is so good im so happy

This is so awful I'm so sad WHERES THE CLAN CATS they were supposed to show up when they were asleep right????? Fuck!!!

This is so scary

NEEDWETAIL IM

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Violetpaw definitely could have used a better friend at times, but God was Needletail good im so sad

Bramblestar: alderheart we need a point of view from thunderclan of what's happening so you're coming to the battle

OMG THEY DID IT!!!! I DID NOT EXPECT THAT WROW VERY NICE

Oh this is so exciting, how will they get Windclan back????

Twigpaw baby you always had your place here

I think they should both go to Skyclan but I understand if Twigpaw is indecisive she has always had a good life in Thunderclan.

Nononono Rowanstar, Scourge is the villain from the The Prophecy Begins here, your guy is named Darktail

Ominousnestar

I have been vaguely spoiled about Onestar being related to Darktail but I have no clue how

I can see Onestar's, Smoke's and Darktail's designs rotating in my mind its beautiful

I'm loving this story this is so cool

You dare challenge the warrior cats Fandom?

SKYCLAN, DROP YOUR CATS

RIVERCLAN, GET THE BUCKET

WINDCLAN, GRAB YOUR LEAFBLOWERS

THUNDERCLAN, GRAB YOUR LIGHTNING RODS

SHADOWCLAN, IDK MAN SAY BOO OR SOMETHING AHHAHA

I'm glad this is the prophecy this series really is Tumblr vs 4chan

Oh my god

This is so surreal

What an astounding battle wow and what an ending

I loved it

That was so so good

Everything here was fantastic, looking back its hard to believe they managed to fit so much plot into one book and like the pacing was Very Good this was just good writing wow? The development of Darktail, everything with Onestar, very fun I was on the edge of my seat through the whole thing it was incredibly fun. I’m very excited for what’s to come too, I worry it probably won’t be as fun and exciting as this since they already got rid of the biggest threat, unless they get another, but still like I really wanna know what’s gonna happen with Skyclan! And Violetpaw and Twigpaw!!!! How will the clans cope with all this loss and receive a new clan in the territories??? There’s a lot of good build up that I don’t know if it will live up to all that happened so far, but I think it can be very good and I’m excited, lots ahead of us!!! Oh boy!!

[hockeyytrash]

Alaska - Chapter Twenty Three

-2600 words-

Every Wednesday night is trivia night back home at my dad and my favorite sports bar. The two of us would make the ten-minute drive every week religiously, sitting in the same booth, ordering the same meal, and picking the same team name.

So as I sit here in a high-end restaurant with Auston, ready to play a low-end game of trivia, I am reminded of home. Luckily, the amount of Wednesdays I've spent answering trivia questions helped me get good at it and hopefully prepared me for tonight.

The waitress had already brought out our food, as well as the tablet we would using for trivia. Another waitress came over the sound system to announce the start of the game and explain the trivia. Basically, you have twenty seconds to answer each question and can't use your phones. The questions would span over a wide variety of categories like history, sports, and geography.

"For those of you playing trivia, please choose a team name, before we start," the waitress/announcer says. I glance at Auston who, like me, was digging into his meal. He looks up at me and gives a shrug.

"What should our name be?" I ask after finish chewing my food. He shrugs again and wipes off his mouth with a napkin.

"I don't care, you pick," he says, taking a sip of his water. I smirk and begin tapping away on the tablet. He did tell me to pick...

Satisfied with the name, I clicked enter and sat back with a satisfied smile. I go back to clearing out my food until the announcer announces that the game is starting.

"First question! Where was the first Hard Rock Café opened?"

I immediately turn to Auston who finally tears his focus away from his food. I think I know the answer, but I want to see if he has an idea first. I give him a questioning look as I take a sip of my champagne.

"Definitely New York or Las Vegas," he says, followed by a confident bite of steak. I shake my head in disagreement.

"I'm almost positive it was London," I say, running over any other possibilities in my head. He frowns and gives me a wary look.

"Are you sure? It kinda seems like an American thing," he says.

"Ten seconds!" the announcer hollers, sending me into a small panic. Ignoring Auston, I type London into the answer box and hit submit. Auston gives me a worried look as we wait for the results to appear on the big screen.

"The answer is... London!"

I smirk and look back over at Auston with a smug expression. He rolls his eyes, acknowledging that I was right. I down the rest of the champagne in my glass then place it back on the table with a smile. The announcer clears her throat before moving onto the next question.

"What color hair was associated with prostitution in ancient Greece?"

The announcer repeats the question as I look at Auston expectingly. My mind started going over all the possibilities, and I could tell Auston was doing the same.

"It's definitely either red or blonde," he says, resting his forearms on the table. I nod in agreement, independently debating between red or blonde hair. Auston suggested we use blonde for our answer, so I quickly type it on the tablet and hit submit.

"And the answer to our second trivia question of the night is... blonde!"

The announcer continues to rattle off questions, most of them proving to be easy for Auston and me. Most of the questions were centered around either history or entertainment with some asking for actors in various movies. However, the announcer did say that the questions may begin to grow in difficulty towards the end.

Maybe an hour after the game had started, the announcer pauses to gather everyone's attention.

"This concludes the preliminary round of trivia. Only the top three teams will continue on for a chance at the prize. If you hear your team name called, you are in the finals, which will consist of four questions," she says through a smile, "Your finalists are: CC & Frank, the Hotshots, and the... uh, Pens Fanatics?"

The smile on my face widens, and Auston groans, holding his head in his hands. Somehow he isn't nearly as pleased with our team name as I am. I can't imagine why!

"You told me to pick," I say, shrugging with an amused smirk. He rolls his eyes and pushes his now empty plate towards the end of the table. I stack my plate, rid of all traces of food, on top of Auston's for our waitress to collect before straightening in my seat.

"For the first question of the finals, what author created Middle-Earth?"

Auston and I turn to each other and nod, unanimously agreeing that we know the answer. He grabs the tablet and begins typing. He stops after a few seconds, flipping the device around so that I can see it.

"I think there are two Rs," I suggest, wracking my brain for a visualization of the correct spelling. I never read the Lord of the Rings books, but I have seen all of the movies. My dad used to love watching them.

"I thought it was one!" Auston says frantically, eyeing the countdown on the TV. I look up to the lights strung from the ceiling as if they would tell me the answer.

"10 seconds left," the announcer booms, obviously too close to the mic. My eyes widen at Auston, hoping he would remember something.

"Should I submit it?" he asks, but I shake my head.

"No! Add another R," I say, trusting my gut instinct. Thankfully Auston obeys and adds the extra letter. We wait in suspenseful silence for the correct answer to be announced.

"The answer is... J. R. R. Tolkien!"

Auston releases a breath of relief, as I do the same. However, we still had two more questions to answer before we could celebrate.

"Next question! What is the name of Dr. Evil's cat in the Austin Powers movie?" the announcer says, causing my heart to drop a little. I had absolutely no clue what the answer is. For all the other questions, I at least had a general idea what the answer was.

"Please tell me you know this one," I say, turning back to Auston with a worried expression on my face.

"Already submitted it," he says with a proud smirk. I raise my eyebrows at the speed of which he answered with and allow myself to crack a smile. A minute later, the announcer reads off the answer.

"And the name of Dr. Evil's cat is... Mr. Bigglesworth!"

Auston begins to beam, obviously proud of his answer. I shake my head, still wondering how that came to him so quickly.

"How did you get that so quickly?" I ask him, my curiosity getting the best of me.

"The Austin Powers movies are my favorite," he shrugs after taking a sip of water.

"There's more than one movie?" I ask him, causing a twisted expression to appear on his face.

"You haven't seen them?" he asks, holding his chest as though I had just seriously harmed him. I shake my head, not expecting what his reaction will be.

"That's it! We have to watch them sometime," he says with a smile that makes his cheeks look chubby. I would be lying if I said he didn't look cute like that.

"Sounds like a plan," I reply, genuinely excited by the idea of having a movie night with Auston. I just hope he was being serious. Jesus, what is happening to me? I used to hate the guy and now I'm wanting to watch movies with him? I really am turning soft.

My eyes linger on Auston's for a moment longer until our waitress diverts my attention away when she sets another glass of champagne down on the table for me. I glance at her, confused at the refill of bubbly because I don't recall ordering it. She smiles and points at a blonde seated across the room.

I follow her outstretched arm to see Steph sitting with an older lady that looked like an older version of Steph, obviously her mom. Steph turns, probably sensing all of our eyes on her, and winks at me while taking a sip of her drink. I roll my eyes and thank the waitress, causing her to hurry away.

Of course, Steph is here, why wouldn't she be? Might as well have invited the whole Leafs roster because Lord knows that word of our date will be making its way around to everyone we know now that  Steph has spotted us. I'm sure I'll be getting a swarm of texts from her with questions about the date. However, I'll worry about that later.

"Your next question deals with a bit of geography... what U.S. city is located on the Allegheny, Ohio, and Monongahela rivers?"

Smiling immediately, I snatch the tablet from Auston and type the answer in record time. He raises an eyebrow at me, clearly questioning either speed or confidence or both. I take a big sip of the champagne, courtesy of Steph because I'm obviously not going to waste it. As I continue to sip the bubbly alcohol, I hold up my index finger as a way to tell Auston to wait.

"Alright, the answer is... Pittsburgh," the announcer reads off the card. Auston shakes his head, realizing why I answered so quickly. I smile and shrug, taking a final sip of champagne.

"Do you miss home?" Auston asks, catching me slightly off guard. I piece together my response in my head before speaking.

"So much," I answer, "and it's not that I don't like Toronto because I do. It's just that I miss my old friends and my extended family. Not to mention my dad. I miss him the most."

"I take it you and your dad are close?" he asks, looking like he truly wants to know the answer. It's a trait of Auston's I've started to notice. He's very observant and is a good listener. He makes talking to him so easy.

"Yeah, we are. As lame as it sounds, he's  like my best friend. We have all these inside jokes and rituals. For example, every Monday was sit-com and Chinese day, while Thursdays were pizza and Star Wars day. However, every day was always hockey day. My dad was a hockey fanatic, so naturally, he got me hooked as well. He would go insane if he knew I'm friends with the Maple Leafs," I ramble, hoping I wasn't putting him to sleep with my sappy nostalgia.

"It's not lame at all, Alaska. I think it's awesome that you're so close with your dad," he says, smiling to show his white teeth. I return the grin, a warm feeling forming inside of me all because of this short, personal talk. My eyes focus on Auston's face whose features appear softer, due to the dim lighting. And in this moment I could kiss this confusing boy.

However, the giddy announcer seems anxious to keep this trivia game going, judging by the speed with which she moves onto the final question.

"And now, the final question asks for the music group that has received the most Grammy awards," she says with a tight smile.

"Any ideas?" Auston asks me with a concerned look on his face. I run over a list of possible answers, none sticking out to me.

"I don't know, you?" I ask, hoping he has at least one good guess. He shakes his head, staring at me with wide eyes.

"Maybe the Beatles?" I suggest, not very confident in my own answer.

"That doesn't seem right," he says, looking around the room for a sudden burst of inspiration. I do the same, allowing my eyes to rake the room for a clue. We didn't sit here for two hours just to go home empty handed.

"10-second warning!"

"Okay, what about U2?" Auston suggests with a hesitant expression. I mull over the idea for a moment before deciding that it's probably our best bet.

"Yeah, go for it," I say, gesturing for him to enter it in. He does, pressing submit a second before time is up.

"Alright folks, the answer to our final trivia question is... U2!"

Auston stands up and lets out a cheer while I throw my arms in the air and celebrate in my head. Other customers look at us like we're crazy, but we don't mind at all. Hell, we just won trivia!

However, just before I get a chance to congratulate Auston, the announcer interrupts, once again.

"There seems to be a tie between CC & Frank and the Pens Fanatics. That means we are going into overtime! That means the first group to answer correctly wins! We'll start in one minute," she says excitedly. This must be the most interesting part of her job.

"Are you kidding me?" I exclaim, but only loud enough for Auston to hear. I can't believe we didn't win, or at least not yet.

"It's alright, Laska," he says calmly, "Do you want to type or should I?"

"You should probably do it. Knowing me, I'll mess it up," I say truthfully, suddenly nervous. Auston nods and slides the tablet over to his side of the table.

"Your tie-breaker question asks... how many designated faceoff spots are there on a hockey rink?" the announcer booms, causing me to immediately whisper yell 'nine' to Auston.

He frantically taps a few buttons on the tablet and looks back up to the announcer, waiting for her to announce the winner. I do the same, saying a silent prayer and pleading for a victory with my eyes. We both hold our breath when the announcer picks up the microphone again.

"And the winner is the Pens Fanatics! You've won a free night in the penthouse at the hotel! Congratulations!"

Auston and I immediately stand and awkwardly hug each other from across the table. A moment passes before we realize what's happening and pull away. However, we both can't stop smiling for some reason.

"So are we actually actually staying in the suite tonight?" I ask him, a little curious about how this was all going to pan out. His face lights up and his smile quickly forms a smirk. He only breaks the smirk to answer my question with yet another question.

"Why would I pass up a free night with you?"

[placebonut]

So I finished FFVII: Remake and I have thoughts! Need to record my first impression before I read what everyone else thinks and potentially have my opinion warped beyond recognition! 

Overall, I enjoyed it. But maybe a “re-imagining” is a better description, as it looks like it’s shaping up to be a new story. I’ll need to play it again to fully understand all that wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff, though. FF games tend to get a bit abstract and confusing for me toward the end, so that’s not a criticism, just my reality lol.

Highlights:

+ Wedge lives! Apparently Biggs, too, but I have different thoughts about that… Even though they’re essentially the same, Wedge happened before knowing what the Whispers are, and that capital ‘D’ Destiny is fighting to stay on track by smothering all potential divergents, so it was a nice little surprise for me that Wedge survives. I’m even satisfied with how it happened. Like, he’s in the middle of sector 7 when the plate falls, but just through sheer luck gets knocked into a secret underground lab, which I now get to explore? Cool!

+ Johnny lol. No longer “childhood friend”, but still very entertaining. Though that scene where Cloud straight-up intends to execute him while he’s bound and blindfolded is a bit… Uh? I feel like it was supposed to be telling me something about Cloud’s character, but doesn’t really seem consistent. He’s got an attitude, and is very often moody and rude to people’s faces, but that moment is next level cold. That scene also implies that Avalanche aren’t killing all of the Shinra troopers they fight. I’ll just accept “fantasy” as the explanation for how they manage that!

+ Cloud being recognised in Shinra tower. Though does the Kunsel name-drop mean that some of Crisis Core canon will be included? I mean, they basically did a frame-by-frame reanimation of Zack’s last stand, but he doesn’t have the CC scar so I assume no Angeal. Lots to unpack, but I just enjoyed the moment. It makes sense that someone would remember him!

+ I think Madame M’s main role is to replace the .. violation? that Cloud experiences in the OG Honey Bee Inn. She’s still pretty much forcing him to have that hand massage, but at least he just hates that he likes it, rather than being actually super uncomfortable in a hot tub full of strange men. I feel like they steered away from the old homophobic humour and instead embraced some fun, gender non-conforming characters. I’m very straight and cis though, so maybe there’s nuance I missed. No named Shinra employees in the private HB rooms though?

+ Tifa!! I don’t think they’ve actually made changes to her character, but you just get so much more time with her, and I’m able to love her in a way I never really did in OG. My OG first impression was that she was needy, and annoyingly timid at the worse times. Obviously she gets a lot of character growth, but I could never shake that initial impatience I had with her, and the rivalry with Aeris (who the game clearly pushes you to like) just left me with a criminal under-appreciation for her. Remake Tifa is a goddess! Her voice actor is great, which definitely helps. Her empathy, compassion, and generosity are showcased really well in lots of scenes, but she’s still such a badass! I love how she’s always the one to catch Cloud when he’s falling off of something, but my absolute favourite moment is when she steps out of the mist to offer Aerith her hand, “we found you”/”I guess you did..” Had me clutching my chest.

+ The immediate friendship between the girls is sooooo nice compared to the competition they pose for each other in the OG. Even as early as the sewers, when they’ve only just met. Maybe it’ll come later, but I kinda don’t even feel like Tifa expresses all that much romantic interest in Cloud. She’s not jealous of Aerith, and while it’s clear she worries about him and cares what he thinks, she’s certainly not hopelessly in love with him… At least not yet.

+ Voice actors did a better job than I expected tbh. Some awkward attempts to mimic Japanese vocalisations, but that’s always a problem with anime dubs. Hojo’s last scream of laughter really solidified the ‘crazy scientist’ bit. Barret was way funnier and less cringey than I thought he’d be. Marlene is cute as a button! Aerith is a bit high and breathy, but the pitch actually makes her probably the easiest to understand since the background music always seems a bit too loud when they’re talking. Cloud, Barret, but especially Sephiroth, I really struggled in parts to understand. I think Sephiroth was even murmuring things in that final battle, probably just related to his special attacks since all important dialogue had subtitles, but I’m sure I could hear his voice but could understand literally nothing!

+ Music and graphics, obvs. Man, everyone and everything is just so dang pretty!

Didn’t like, or maybe just didn’t understand?

- Sephiroth. I employed some real mental gymnastics to explain to myself what I was seeing, and I mostly succeeded until the very end. Okay, so like, his first appearances I rationalised as being PTSD hallucinations or something. Also, in a real-world sense, I read somewhere that the OG director used the movie Jaws as inspiration for how they introduce him slowly, showing only the destruction he leaves behind to create tension, but it’s 20 years later and he’s an icon in video game and anime culture, they can’t play the same tricks and expect the same result. This game only features the initial Midgar part of the story which he wasn’t originally featured in, so gotta find a way to give the fans some service. Alright, that makes sense, I can accept that.

But then it became clear he’s using the clones to actually communicate with Cloud…. huh. Well, okay, I guess there’s no reason why he couldn’t have always been able to do that. He’s much more interested in Cloud than I think he should be at this point, but if he’s trying to organise Reunion, and I suppose Cloud is the only one resisting, I can make it work: if he’s aware of the clones, then he’s aware of Cloud. It makes no less sense that he’s always been able to connect with them, than him suddenly being able to out of nowhere or only deciding to start at a plot-convenient moment. I always assumed it was Cloud’s proximity to Jenova that triggered the whole series of events in Shinra Tower. That she, and by extension Sephiroth, “wake up” while he’s there. But if Sephiroth has actually been conscious the entire time, maybe Cloud just showed him exactly where to find her, so he’s coming to get her. It’s complicated, but I think I follow.

I don’t know why he’s on the other side of the Destiny storm, though. Really, why was he even there? Is he working with or against the Whispers? And I can’t make sense of his invitation for Cloud to join him. Join him in what? Reunion, still? Sephiroth’s OG plan can benefit only Sephiroth, so what is he even offering? I’m going to have to play it again and pay closer attention to what he says. I did like Aerith standing up to him. One of my favourite OG lines, “the future isn’t just yours!” is reflected nicely. Also, “screw him!”

- Roche. Whyyy? Track record for inventing new SOLDIERs isn’t good, just leave it alone!

- Biggs lives. So, we only witness him waking up after everything has gone down, which is why I reacted differently to his survival than Wedge’s. Basically, it doesn’t make sense. First of all, physically, for him to have survived all that fire and falling. Secondly, it seems to contradict what we know about the Whispers: they interfere when the characters are at risk of taking a path they don’t want, ie. different from OG storyline. Why wouldn’t they have done something? If they’re powerful enough to revive Barret because “it wasn’t his time”, and injure Jessie so Cloud has to join the Reactor 5 bombing mission, surely they could quietly kill off somebody who is “supposed” to die, especially if he’s already most of the way there. So then it’s really Wedge they should have killed off! He’s where the chain begins: I assume he’s the one who finds Biggs and brings him back to Elmyra, since Biggs never would have known who she was, and Wedge only knows after surviving the plate fall. Does having defeated the Harbinger Whisper mean that not only future changes are possible, but past? Anyway, it’s all a bit convoluted, and tbh feels a bit cheap, too. Why not bring back Jessie, while we’re at it? Their OG deaths had a motivational impact on Barret and co., and also drives home the evil of Shinra for the player, who might not have cared that much about unnamed deaths, however plentiful. It makes the plate fall a more personal tragedy, since we’ve spent time with these characters.

- Low-key disappointed I didn’t get to see Avalanche’s secret hideout underneath Seventh Heaven.. But at least I got to play some darts.