#war w 2021 me in my mind so i’m trying not to think too hard about how i acted on here then.

[handcovers]

i don’t belong here anymore but the only things ive thought abt in days are percy jackson and saltburn so i need to be on this app to investigate

[jimmyandthegiraffes]

for the wip ask meme: "WIP sweet revenge" sounds like a more than good bet for being starsky & hutch fic, so i'd love to hear about that! 👀

helloooo tysm!!!! u r correct it is s&h!!

so i actually dont rly know where im going with this fic but it's set in the weeks and months following sweet revenge, based on an idea a friend of mine and i talked about many years ago of hutch getting sick while starsky is recovering. i'm sure it's been done to death haha but i'm a sucker for this shit.

“The world ain’t gonna end because you’re sick for a week, Hutchinson. Not if you’re sick for two weeks, a month.”

“You sure?” Hutch rasps. If he could sound flippant, he would, but he sounds deadly serious.

He also sounds awful, and Starsky tells him so, to his face, bluntly. “You look like crap, and you sound like crap. The world can take it.”

“I’m sorry,” says Hutch. “I didn’t mean to – ” When he tries to sit, Starsky pushes him back down. He’s grateful that Hutch doesn’t resist too much – if it came to a contest of strength, Hutch would still win, even as sick as he is. Starsky’s not up to wrestling, but Hutch has seen enough in the last few months to know the cardinal rule of this game: no engagement Starsky can't match.

There's a lil snippet! The fic focuses on Hutch's feelings of responsibility, and his fears of failure and inadequacy, and Starsky's feelings of frustration and exasperation - mostly good-natured (Hutch is silly).

bonus also from survival WIP which is my other s&h WIP from that list:

When he wakes, he’s not sure that he has. There’s blue sky and it’s fuzzy at the edges. His head throbs and he can feel his heart beating, fast and fevered, in every part of him. There are black spots dancing in his vision, and he blinks hard to try and clear them away, but instead they come into clearer focus. They’re buzzards, far off, high in the warm air-currents. Buzzards. Hutch lies still and tries not to feel fear. Struggling makes the claustrophobia and the heat and the pain and the dust and the thirst crush him downwards, like being buried alive. He breathes, in and out, over and over, and watches the buzzards. They’re a long way off, just specks in the sky, really. Just specks in the sky. He was going to think about death. He was going – Starsky is going to find a dead body. He can’t call anything much to mind. They didn’t know, you don’t know, nobody knows who he is or where he is or what he wants. Help me, I’m going to die here. I’m going to die. The buzzards are black spots, they’re specks in the sky. There were thousands of them. They were living in tents. Sonny is gone. The war is over.

idek what to say abt this, I wrote it I think winter 2021 and I keep trying to find the inspiration to finish it. it's rly just a thinly veiled excuse for me to write in my fave theme - characters who for whatever reason (in hutch's case dehydration and pain) experience a disruption or abstraction (permanent or temporary) in their normal thought patterns, which creates a perfect crucible to explore a scene on a deeper level through a character's distorted viewpoint. smth about looking at something sideways to see it more clearly - when a character is somehow in an altered state it can be easier to tease out interesting threads from them

but anyway i loveeeee the radio thing that hutch is listening to as he's driving at the beginning it rly stuck w me and i wanted to find a way to have it stick in hutch's mind too even if he's not paying attention to it consciously

pick a WIP from this list and send me an ask and I'll post a snippet or share smth about the fic!!

[armoricaroyalty]

call your girlfriend | kelly’s playlist | armoricaroyalty

I’ve been working on-and-off on this playlist since september 2021. I’m very satisfied with the finished playlist, and I hope you enjoy it, too!

track list w/ selected lyrics and a bit of character analysis/synthesis under the cut!

The songs with bolded titles were foundational, both to the playlist and my understanding of Kelly’s character. The bolded lyrics are especially significant to my understanding of her character.

1. So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings - Caroline Polachek

i get a little lonely get a little more close to me you’re the only one who knows me, babe

2. When Am I Gonna Lose You? - Local Natives

everything has its place now we’ll lie in our bed wondering how to explain

3. Girl of the Year - Allie X

There's a hollow inside you But, don't worry I'm here (I'm here) I don't care if you're looking for the next girl of the year

4. All This Could Be Yours - Cold War Kids

you would rather crash than go straight ahead

5. Trap Door - Stars

he told me he was young, I said ‘well what is that good for?’ nobody stays that way, day after day

6. Call Your Girlfriend - Robyn

call your girlfriend it’s time you had the talk give your reasons say it’s not her fault

7. Too Much - Carly Rae Jepsen

it’s hard to get to know me are you down, down?

8. Black Sheep - Kailee Morgue

everyone pulls away from you

9. Fast Slow Disco - St. Vincent

slip my hand from your hand leave you dancing with a ghost

10. It’s a Trip! - Joywave

when you’ve gotten what you want maybe I should start over there’s nothing left to want

11. Powder Blue/Cascine Park - Yumi Zouma

another summer in your eyes another mind made up nothing ever made you mine

12. Fresh Laundry - Allie X

these days, no one’s bothering me ‘bout nothing

13. Dancing in the Dark - Lucy Dacus

Man, I'm just tired and bored with myself Hey there, baby, I could use just a little help

Kelly surprised me. She was meant to be a one-off character, never to be seen again after kicking Freddy out of her apartment and leaking his nudes. She was supposed to be a one-note social climber, as opportunistic as Freddy was shallow. From a feminist standpoint, though, I didn’t really like having a one-note gold-digger in my story. I felt like she deserved better, so I started putting a playlist together to explore some different concepts for her character. I hit on Girl of the Year and Too Much right away, and those ended up being the songs that were instrumental (heheh) who she became in my story.

Instead of a gold-digger aggressively pushing to meet the royal family, shack up with a prince, and become a duchess, Kelly ended up being a person who is reflective, troubled, and very lonely. Girl of the Year was written about the relationship between musical artists and recording executives, but I was intrigued by the idea of a woman bringing that same attitude toward a wealthy/influential boyfriend. What would it be like to date someone knowing that you’re disposable, knowing that they might move on at any moment, knowing that the best-case scenario is coming in second place to that man’s future wife?

Kelly is a bit ambivalent about the power/money/influence gap between herself and Freddy. She isn’t a gold-digger, but she can’t help but wonder what she might be able to get out of him. I think Kelly is caught in a really difficult place of liking Freddy while understanding deep-down that the relationship doesn’t have much of a future. Her decision to remain in that relationship under those circumstances reflects both low self-worth (she doesn’t think she deserves better) and a bit of a mercenary outlook (if the relationship is doomed anyway...why not try to eke some money or notoriety out of it?).

As I’ve worked to put this post together, I was struck by how isolated Kelly is. She alludes to other people in her life (therapist, family, roommates) but we never see them. They aren’t even named. She shows up/is referenced at least nine times before we see her with anyone but Freddy, and there’s no transcribed dialogue in that post. She doesn’t actually speak to anyone until this conversation with Jacques, and they don’t have a meaningful conversation until a few pages later.

Despite her scattered references to family, roommates, and her therapist (no references to friends, notably) Freddy seems to be the only person in her life with whom she has any kind of emotional connection. And even though he was making efforts to ‘bring her into his world,’ he’s making out with someone else less than two hours after she breaks things off with him for the last time. Between their first and last appearances together, the two have switched places: he’s pushing her to take the next step in their relationship and she’s pulling back. In Kelly’s mind, Freddy was never serious about her, but he just hadn’t realized it yet.

Another thing that jumped out to me rereading Kelly’s posts is the fact that she seems to have 0 positive relationships with other women. I haven’t fleshed out her backstory, but I feel like Kelly is still recovering from a Not Like Other Girls phase and feels very alienated from womanhood in general. The first time we ever see her in the same physical space with another woman is here, more than a year after she was first introduced as a character. Notably, she and Emily don’t actually speak to one another in that scene, and Emily is unwilling to intervene when Jacques is extremely fucking shady about following a seemingly-drunk woman into a bathroom. Kelly’s first actual conversation with another woman is...this attempt to buy a bus ticket.

I think Kelly’s most important female relationship is actually the relationship she doesn’t have with Vivi. Although they never interact directly, they’re connected through that paparazzi picture and Vivi’s belief that Jacques is is the father of Kelly’s child. In this way, they’re foils for one another despite the fact they never meet. Kelly  explicitly names the tabloid abuse Vivi as one factor in their break-up. Kelly and Vivi are both royal outsiders and are thus extremely vulnerable to cultural misogyny. They’re very different women, but from an instrumental standpoint, I think their differences in outlook/opinion is due to the differences in their support networks. Vivi has good relationships with her family, especially her older sibling. Even though Vivi is in the process of being absorbed into the royal apparatus, she still has her family to lean on. Kelly doesn’t have those resources. If she married into the royal family, she’d be alone within that structure, and she knows it.

I really like Kelly. She's messy and deeply flawed, but she’s not the one-note villain I intended her to be. She’s probably my favorite among the secondary characters, and I’m going to miss her!

[apollostears]

TEENAGE LOVE AFFAIR [ BTS ]

group: BTS

pairing: BTS x daughter!reader

warning(s): swearing

request: can you do BTS reacting to their 15 year old daughter having a boyfriend/girlfriend?

requested by: @mela3340

oomfggg this was so fun to make!! thanks for requesting the first request of 2021 :) hope you enjoy love <3

➝︎ jin

he’s literally dramatic af.

#dramaking

but no really, he’ll be shook to the gods.

like huh??? his child got a partner?!!!

my kid?!!! IN THESE STREETS?!

he would faint, then wake back up and shake her til she’s dizzy.

ok but on a more serious note, i think if he saw his daughter have genuine feelings for this person they’re with, he would support a 100%

definitely wants to meet them asap

would chaperone their dates but in a way that’s soooo cliché. i mean ugly ass disguises cliché.

will definitely have a heart attack if his daughters partner used the fake ‘yawn-over-the-shoulder’ move while at the movies.

all his daughter would hear is someone choking horrendously a few rooms behind them and instantly know it’s her dad.

will call the boys up every time she asks him to go on a date with their partner or if they can come over to hang and study.

“i’m at a lost here! it’s like i’m in the war!�� jin exaggerates on the group call with his friends.

“hyung, i think you’re over exaggerating.” jungkook would say sheepishly.

with the straightest face, jin would hang up and contemplate his choice in friends.

after about the sixth month mark, i do think he’d let up a tremendous amount.

like he’s no longer breathing down her neck about them and allows them to go on dates without him, so long as she tells him where they’re going.

10/10 is the dramatic dad that goes through a midlife crisis when their daughter starts dating.

➝︎ yoongi

mans does not care.

ok lemme clarify, he doesn’t care to the extent that jin does. he trusts his daughter and her decisions and understands that this is an important part of her life. he’s gonna try his hardest to not overstep.

but deep down, he definitely is having a hard time coming to grasps that his daughter is in love and starting to enter the dating world.

he understands the pressures surrounding dating too, especially at fifteen. so he’s definitely giving a nice lil lecture about sex, safe sex, consensual sex, and commitment.

and yes, yoongi knows that most of these young love relationships don’t last long, but he wants his daughter to know that her relationship is legit to him. no matter how old she is.

will look intimidating af to their daughters bf or gf. he definitely overhears them discussing if yoongi likes them or not 💀

looks like he could kill you and will but is also such a sweetheart once you actually know him.

doesn’t do no undercover brother shit but will follow his daughter on their first few dates just because he’s worried. isn’t overbearing and keeps a good distance.

honestly, if anything it brings his daughter a lot of comfort to know her dad is there to back her up 🙂

100%!is the father that seems like they’re chill on the surface but on the inside is working overtime to not be overreactive when their child starts dating.

➝︎ namjoon

is literally the 😯 emoji

when his daughter tells him that she’s got a lover, he literally looks exactly like that emoji.

he’s like “love? what you know about that?”

is extremely confused the entire time. yes, he knows that at her age, children start experimenting with dating but he never actually thought he’d have to deal with it.

was definitely worried that he’d lose out on daddy-daughter time once she started dating.

that was his biggest fear. that his daughter wouldn’t need him anymore. she would no worries.

is deathly afraid of his daughter experiencing heartbreak. their s/o could be the perfect match for his kid, he still wouldn’t care. namjoon is going to be worried regardless.

constantly asks for updates on their relationship to see if he needs to give any advice on how to keep the relationship going.

he doesn’t see their love as something immature. namjoon values it the same way he would value an adult relationship.

which meansss giving them the birds n the bees. same as yoongi, a thorough talk on sexually transmitted diseases, birth control, safe sex, you name it.

was incredibly nervous to meet the person their daughter was dating 💀 like how you supposed to be the daddy but more scared than the actual date.

chaperones his daughter’s first couple of dates. doesn’t get in their way but definitely makes his presence known when does attend.

has a strict “have her home by 9 or else” policy.

won’t ground their child if they give them a heads up on why they would be late.

is 100% the type to be the “work in progress” dad that wishes there was a book on what to do when your teenage daughter starts dating.

➝︎ hobi

mans was like “awww my wittle baby likes somebody!”

was wayyy more excited about meeting their child’s s/o then what is deemed normal.

don’t get me wrong, he’s definitely protective of his kid but hobi understands that these things happen.

it was bound to happen that one day his daughter would start dating.

doesn’t hound his child with questions but is very curious to learn more about this bf/gf that their daughter has.

when he meets them, he’s very scary looking at first. switching into serious hobi, he intimidates the kid just a bit before breaking into a grin and letting them know he was kidding.

is the type of dad that would make their daughters’ s/o fall in love with him 💀

hobi gets along with virtually anyone so it wasn’t hard for him to bond with the s/o.

however, he does make it known that he is a father and while the kid seems to be an alright choice for his daughter, he still lets them know that he will go liam neeson on a motherfucker if necessary.

doesn’t follow his daughter on dates but somehow ends up attending some of them because they both want him around.

on the times he doesn’t go, there is a curfew in place and it’s 8 o’clock 😔

hobi is 100% the dad to become friends with their daughters’ bf/gf but still be a force to be reckon with when needed.

➝︎ jimin

probably the one who meddles in their daughters love life.

sees their daughter walkout of school with a guy and is asking fifty million questions on who he is and if she likes him.

all for her to turn around and be like “dad, i’m gay.”

and he’s like 🥺🥰 “good, boys are disgusting anyways.”

so now he’s scoping out girls that could be a potential match for his kid 💀

“what about her?”

“nah, she’s a little rude to me.”

“you know what they say! she likes you!”

“no dad. just...no.”

was not expecting the girl his daughter chooses but can totally see it once he actually gets to know her.

is constantly giving his daughter cute date ideas for her to do w her gf. definitely has a pintrest board of places for them.

will happily be a chauffeur for his daughter if necessary. this can be good and bad. good bc yayay free rides. bad because she has to deal with a jimin that wants to be on time or a jimin that makes them ten minutes late to a movie showing. there is no in between.

he doesn’t follow his daughter around. mainly because he’s always driving them but if he doesn’t, she still gives him a heads up on where they’re going.

doesn’t mind them hanging sleepovers or leaving the door closed but will totally pop up at random times to be nosey.

is definitely in his daughters corner anytime someone tries to give her and her gf a hard time for being together.

a 100% the dad that’s constantly involved in his child’s love life but not to an extreme point. is totally just excited to be there and apart of her world.

➝︎ taehyung

the motherfucker is all smug and shit talking about some “ i know ” 😏 when his daughter approaches him about her new partner.

lets be real; taehyung would know his daughter like the back of his hands. he would have suspicions that she’s seeing somebody but won’t pressure her to speak until she’s ready.

acts like the fbi when he finally meets their daughter’s partner.

is stalking all social media, finding where they work, who they guardians are, and where they grandma stay 💀🤣

but it’s really because he knows how dangerous people are and the last thing he wants is for his kids’ life to be in danger.

is definitely a hard ass to whoever his daughter ends up dating regardless of gender. will go major payne on a motherfucker real quick.

does not care if he gets caught watching out for his daughter while she’s on a date. will deadass sit there and stare them down as they look at him, completely unbothered.

after meeting their partner a few times, he’ll become a bit more loose in regards to their relationship but will still eye them wearily.

his daughter is very important to him and he’s just worried about any potential heartbreak she may experience.

“have you ever killed?”

“uh, no sir. i-i’m only fifteen...sir.”

kisses teeth, “would you kill for my daughter?”

*beat of silence, two horrified teenagers*

scoffs, “pathetic. d/n choose a new partner.”

“dad!”

seems like a hard ass and is a hard ass but it’s completely out of love.

is 100% the dad that gives their daughter’s partner a hard time and will hold such a passive face that they’ll never know if he likes them or not, but overtime will start loosening up and accept them for who they are.

➝︎ jungkook

he was thoroughly surprised.

like...she might as well had told him she was pregnant.

jk needed a moment to comprehend that his daughter...his precious jewel was dating.

just the thought sent chills down his spine with his dramatic ass.

immediately demanded to meet the person who stole his daughter from him. and when he found out it was the bad kid from school??!!! mans was heated.

i mean really? the juvenile delinquent of ALL people?

he feels this way mainly because he remembers how he was as a kid and he knows how anal teenagers can be. really just wants the best for his kid.

is present for their first date. why is that? because it was at their house with him sitting on the opposite couch, watching them like a hawk as they attempted to watch a movie.

after that, his daughter had a serious talk with him about personal space and independence.

jungkook didn’t like the fact that he had to have this talk, but he understands it’s importance. him and his daughter have a sacred bond with one another that he doesn’t wanna risk breaking all because of his overprotectiveness.

that overprotectiveness does come in handy though because their daughters’ partner is always on time when it comes to getting her and dropping her off. honestly, if his daughter ever tried to convince their partner to skip curfew, their partner would text jungkook to snitch 💀

“so...you tried to skip curfew, eh?”

“wha-? how do you know this?!”

smirks, “i see all d/n. besides, your partner knows not to cross that line with me.”

“i literally cannot stand either of you.”

this has definitely led the daughter to question if she has a relationship or if her dad has a relationship with her s/o.

after about three months of them dating, jungkook turns into a pretty chill dad to be real. at that point, he understands that he can’t protect her from pain. so, he might as well just try his best to support his daughter through everything she does.

is 100% that is overly dramatic at first and comes off as incredibly scary but eventually comes down to earth and becomes a big teddy bear 🥰

❧ join my taglist: @olamidey @knjkitten @pimpnameyannie @sweeneyblue1 @sunrayyellowhalo @exomama-random @simplyskz-maya @valkryienymph @supop @namjoonswifeyy @asparagusclifford

[fanficsandfluff]

Tickles of Color Entry 2021

Heeeere we are! I hope you enjoy @twordficsnooneaskedfor !!! I really don't know the character of Ahsoka (never watched Clone Wars) but I tried my best! Thank you to @ticklesofcolor (@tickle-bugs and @peachytickles respectively) for hosting this super awesome event!

Fandom: Star Wars, The Mandalorian

Characters: The Mandalorian (Din Djarin), Ahsoka Tano, Grogu (The Child)

Words: 1,551

Ahsoka spent time with the youngling, listening. She did much listening, she realized, as the poor child could not communicate with anyone else, nor had he actually been able to speak in quite a long while. He was releasing and explaining. He spoke of the horrors, the not-so horrors. It was all feelings inside him, and then the Mandalorian would come into the picture. Grogu perked up.

“He’s made you happy,” Ahsoka smiled softly as the youngling nodded, cooing in agreement.

She listened some more and then cocked her head at something he said, “You want to make him happy?”

Grogu again nodded his little head, ears flopping.

Ahsoka placed two of her fingers on top of Grogu’s small hand, smiling at him, “I’m sure you’ve already made him happy, little one.”

The child’s head bowed, gurgling something like disappointment. He wasn’t enough. He was a burden… well, the Mandolorian has willingly protected him for this long… maybe less of a burden than he thought.

“Let’s meet with the Mandalorian for food. We’ll discuss options later,” and Ahsoka picked the child up and made her way back to the ship where said topic of conversation was cooking for them. It was a meager meal of hunted creatures, and they sat around a small burning fire.

The Mandalorian picked piece by piece of meat off the bone for the youngling. It turned out the child was eating the meat faster than the Mandalorian could tear it.

“Hungry, are we?” the tinny voice filtered through the helmet. Grogu made a noise of contentment. The next chunk given to the child was eaten at a purposely humorous fast pace, and both of them knew exactly what was going on.

“You’re very funny,” a gloved finger brushed under the child’s chin and the child giggled.

Ahsoka looked on, eating her own small cooked animal, crunching on the singed skin. She smiled when she heard the Mandalorian chuckle. He has already proven worthy of the child’s love and attention based on the way he helped him channel the Force during training.

The Jedi set her meal down and brushed off her hands, staring at the Mandalorian. Focusing, Ahsoka poised the fingers of one hand inconspicuously, aiming, and… The Mandalorian’s hand chased away an invisible bug on his neck, eyes searching for the culprit. Ahsoka bit the inside of her cheek… she can work with this.

“What do you need me to do?” Din asked the next morning, standing in the clearing in the woods with Ahsoka and Grogu.

“Your participation will be crucial for today’s training,” Ahsoka reassured, holding back a smile.

Ahsoka knelt down next to Grogu, who was placed onto a large rock. She whispered something into his ear. Grogu exclaimed in what to Din seemed like joy. Maybe he already knew whatever it was Ahsoka was telling him to do?

“Mando,” Ahsoka spoke louder now, “I’m going to demonstrate to him first.”

“Okay,” Din said, standing still. He didn’t know what was supposed to happen, but he waited.

Ahsoka pointed her hand towards him and he felt a crawling up his sides and back. He jerked, surprised, bewildered… all-around confused.

“You okay?” Ahsoka asked with a very visible smile on her face now.

“Y-Yeah.. Was it--? Is it supposed to feel so…” Din didn’t know how to describe what he felt so he wiggled his fingers in the air, “Scratchy?”

Ahsoka huffed a small laugh and Grogu made a noise, as well.

“Well, yes. But it’s very important you stay still.”

“Okay. Can you tell me what it is you’re teaching him?”

Ahsoka looked to the child to get his approval of what to say. Answer honestly? Grogu said no.

“It’s a Force touch. Like he’s feeling out into the world without having to move.”

Din nodded, “Alright. Just be more… careful, I guess.”

“Show one more time? Very well,” Ahsoka made up that part of conversation with the youngling as she once again poised her hand and made sparks fly all around the Mandalorian’s shielded sides and ribs. It encompassed him, feeling like they weren’t really touching him at first. It was like a breeze being blown all over his torso. But then the feeling zeroed in and Din barked out an obvious laugh. He hunched over, elbows pressing into his sides.

“W-Wahahait!”

Ahsoka was shaking her head, “If you cannot handle what I am demonstrating, I’m sure you’ll do much better with Grogu.”

“It feeheels so strange,” Din regained himself, clearing his throat after standing straight.

“That may happen from time to time,” Ahsoka smiled but her mind was on a slightly different track now, “What was it?”

“I don’t know. Like a buzzing. Not so much like touch, though.”

“I see,” Ahsoka raised her hand again, “It feels like this?” and Din was once again squirming, but this time trying to hold back his laughter at the feeling on his belly now.

“Yehes!” he croaked.

“It seems like it’s tickling you,” Ahsoka said what she was doing this whole time, stopping the sensations again.

“Tickling? No, isn’t that… that’s what babies feel.”

So, he really didn’t know. Her thought was correct.

“Grogu,” she knelt again by the child, “Would you like to try?”

The child shut his eyes like he usually did when he had to concentrate on the Force. He did that first to get the feeling in his bones and then opened them to aim it at the Mandalorian. Din stood still, fighting the very soft feelings. He didn’t move, didn’t laugh. Thank goodness for the helmet because they couldn’t see him smiling and biting on his lip.

“Kihihid!” he burst out laughing when there felt like a sharp, focused jab to his hips. Grogu giggled.

The Mandalorian couldn’t stay still. He could try and suppress the laughter, but he just couldn’t not squirm. He looked honestly very silly, squirming about, taking little hops and steps here and there. Ahsoka even snickered.

“You’re moving, Mando,” Ahsoka teased.

Grogu was enamored by the display. He’d never really heard the Mandalorian laugh before. He’d chuckle from time to time. But this was different. This was wilder.

“Y-You’re doing this on p-puhurpose!” Mando accused, arms secured to his middle.

Ahsoka started walking closer to the Mandalorian, “Grogu wanted to make you happy. This was our solution.”

Din’s heart warmed at hearing that. The kid only wanted to make sure he was happy. I guess it was hard to gauge under the helmet and all. He couldn’t always tell if he was smiling. But that warm heart was quickly frozen over once more when there were pinch-like motions on his lower ribs. This time those were real touches. From Ahsoka.

“Hahang on! I didn’t say you could actually do that,” he started backing away from the Jedi.

“Oh, my apologies. Grogu may continue,” Ahsoka smirked. Maybe Din should’ve just shut up.

Grogu giggled and tried again. He could really only get forceful pokes and jabs out with his Force; that or it was a spread-out attack. Both were devastating to Din.

The Mandalorian made the movements to walk over to Grogu on his rock to get him to stop. But he was taken down to his knees with laughter and weakness to tickling only halfway there.

Din hadn’t felt anything like this before. Maybe distantly, in a memory and a world he seldom remembered. He knows the touch of a small bug walking over his fingers, the feeling of water rushing against his bare skin when he bathes. He even could recognize a playful shove or pat on the shoulder or back.

The proud Mandalorian was now flat on his back, too tired to protest or fight back. He could only laugh. Grogu found a way to change directions so he moved the Force touch downward and Din squeaked, turning over onto his side, curling up.

“Stohohop! Kid, please! Hahahaha!” Din begged, the touch fluttering down his thighs to the backs of his knees. He was giggling now. Grogu was most definitely mocking him with his own giggles.

“I think that’s enough, Grogu,” Ahsoka finally stepped in. Who knows how long the kid would’ve continued if she didn’t stop him?

“Y-You’re just as bad as him,” Din coughed out, sitting up in the dirt.

Din would’ve loved to take off his helmet and breathe fresh air, to gulp it into his lungs, now sore from laughter. He felt another touch at his knee and he almost swatted it away before he realized it was Grogu’s hand. The kid had waddled his way over to him. Checking on him, it seemed, by the look on the kid’s face. Din picked him up and sat him in his lap.

“I’m okay, kid.”

Grogu tilted his head, reaching up to touch the helmet.

“I’m happy, too. You got what you wanted,” Din poked a finger into the kid’s belly and made him giggle, “How do you like it?” he chortled.

Grogu leaned into Mando after cooing a little to the pokes, shutting his eyes. Mission accomplished. His masked protector was happy and it was because of him. That felt good.

Din shifted so he was looking at Ahsoka. She was looking right back, a soft smile gracing her features. And he smiled. Definitely happy.

[renegadeontherunn]

2021 fic review

tagged by @dashedwithromance! thank you liss!! muah

total number of completed works: 27!! literally all my fics but three ajskldasd

total word count: I’ve posted 77,771 words, but plus wips/unreleased stuff (based off my brief word count calculations) is actually more like 100,000 aljsdkl

looking back did you write more, less, or the expected amount of fic this year? definitely more. I wrote like 2 fics before 2021 and this was the year I actually started writing and posting stuff. I think I posted more than I ever thought I would or at least more than I thought I would in a year

your own favorite story of this year? I think I’m gonna have to go with if i’m lost, then how can i find myself? which I feel like I never shut up about aljsdkads; but yeah it’s my longest fic and I worked really hard on it for quite a while and I feel like it really packs an emotional punch, or at least I feel that when I think about it, so yeah!

did you take any writing risks this year? I wrote my first star wars fic this year! I’d also say doing collabs this year. I’ve also loved the idea and thought it was so cool that that was even a thing and I was fortunate enough to do quite a few collabs this year and it was really intimidating honestly especially since I worked with like. fic writers I’ve spent years reading and like really looked up to but they were all a ton of fun

do you have any fanfic goals for the new year? yes, definitely! I want to write/release my first multi-chapter and I think I also may try to dabble in other fandoms? idk I worry about getting voices right when I do that, but I think it could be really fun to try. plus I also want to keep writing while at school and try not to put it on the back burner as much as I did this semester

most popular story of the year? if we’re talking hits, then it was 22. white lies, red blood which actually surprises me I feel like I always forget about that one ajldskads but the one with the most kudos is i’m only me when i’m with you idiots

story most under-appreciated? I’m honestly shocked and insanely pleased with the reaction I’ve gotten w my fics I didn’t expect that at all alsdkasl but if I had to pick I’d say moonlight sonata which is kind of a cheat answer since it’s a massive collab I did and so just a portion of it is mine but I absolutely love it and a ton of work was put into it and it’s honestly just a really cool fic (and I don’t mind any like less popularity/appreciation of it! the process of planning/writing it was so much fun, but yeah! there were a ton of really amazing writers who worked on it, and I can’t say too many good things about them, so yeah :))

most fun story to write? okay so I wanna say moonlight sonata again alsdk;ads bc it was!! but instead, I’ll say take my hand, hold on forever bc it was just a purely self-indulgent fluff fest and I really enjoyed writing it :’)))

most unintentionally telling story: I honestly don’t know what to say for this one hmm I feel like the answer is either neither or all of them alkjsd;s maybe words that you never told me (it’s not enough to say i’m sorry)? sometimes I insert like. my own mannerisms into fics especially when I’m writing ahsoka so, sure, let’s go with that one

biggest disappointment: I’m not really disappointed with anything, I’m super happy w what I’ve done this year! I do wish I had kept up with my prompt fills more than I have but I know I’ll get them done even if it takes a while aljsdk;asdk;l so I’m not really disappointed by it! 

biggest surprise: honestly I think my own capabilities. like I surprised myself with what I could do and like I wasn’t ever expecting to have written as much as I have or like. agh this sounds so self-centered but I honestly wasn’t expecting the quality of my fics to be what I feel like it is! like I’m pretty proud of what I’ve been able to do and I wasn’t expecting it at all so :’))

my favorite part of fandom this year: is this even a question? the people!!!! oh my god I’ve met so many absolutely wonderful and just. gah the best people ever and that actually might be my biggest surprise because I really wasn’t expecting there to not only be so many friendly, encouraging, supportive, hilarious, and wildly talented people but also that I would talk to them???? and be friends with them???? literally the best thing ever I love all of you so much thank you for making this year online absolutely incredible :’))))

no pressure tags! @katierosefun @meep-morp-s @just-another-dreamerr @pandora15 @imadetheline 

[duhragonball]

I’m posting this video as a reminder to myself to sit down and watch it when I’ve got an hour and forty-five minutes to spare.   My understanding is that it explains the “pro vs. anti” thing that I’ve seen people talk about, but never in enough detail that I could figure out what the thing was that people were supposed to be for or against.  

I’ve been a huge nerd for over thirty years now, and it always feels like I’m just close enough to some big argument that I hear about it, but I’m never close enough to actually know what the hell it’s about.  I will hear people say, “Oh, the fandom is so toxic”, and I have no idea what they’re talking about, because it’s usually a bunch of stuff that went down where I never would have been able to see it.    I don’t know if that makes me smart for staying out of these controversies, or clueless for being so unaware of them.  

This has always been my approach: if I like a thing enough, I might devote some of my internet presence to that thing.   I don’t really see myself as part of the “Dragon Ball fandom” any more than I’m a part of the “wrestling fandom” or the “chemistry fandom.”  If I ever started a Star Wars blog, that would only mean I was bored enough to do it.   It would not mean that I had entered the “Star Wars fandom,” something I presumably did in 1980.

The “wrestling fandom” has this shibboleth called “the IWC”.   I think it dates back to the 90s, when fans using the internet could talk about backstage politics and openly acknowledge that the matches were fake.  This led to terms like “internet wrestling community”, to distinguish these kinds of fans from the mainstream.   It’s 2021, and everyone and their mother is on the internet now, but for some reason people still talk about “the IWC”, and blaming “them” for everything that’s wrong and toxic in professional wrestling.   If only those keyboard warriors would go outside and touch some grass, and let the real wrestling fans enjoy the product.  

I think there’s a similar phenomenon in other "fandoms” , where the public perception of it is shaped by vocal minorities: the most toxic fans, the most well-known fans, or the most communal fans, the ones who make an active effort to band together under a common banner, for better or worse.   They just don’t have a name for their boogeyman, like “the IWC”, a name that falls apart under scrutiny.   If everyone’s using the internet, then it’s silly to blame an “internet community” for making things worse.  

So maybe the term “fandom” has reached a similar obsolescence.   In theory, it should only mean “people who like (x)”, but in practice it seems to mean “people who make it their business to be part of the fandom.”   But it seems like the only way to be that big a contributor is to be really popular, or tribalist, or toxic, or some combination of the three. 

I remember writing a thing about Dashcon after it happened, and I was mostly like “What the hell was that supposed to be?”  I don’t think I even knew about Dashcon until it happened, and I was like “Oh, I could have gone to this,” and then I realized I had no idea what it was trying to be.   I always thought of my online presence as a way to share hobbies, talk about favorite TV shows, that sort of thing.   The Dashcon crowd seemed to think they were making “Tumblr University” a real thing, like they were trying to start a cult and not enough people showed up.   Not everyone who watches Xena is qualified or inclined to organize XenaCon ‘97.  

Maybe I should have just started watching Sarah Z’s video in the time it’s taken me to write this, but I’m kind of in the groove so I’m going to keep going.   I want to follow this line of thought.   “Popular, toxic, and tribalist” seems to work well as three categories of fandom problems, as I’ve seen them.

1) A “big name fan” goes too far, or gets too big for their britches, and people turn on them en masse.   Think Logan Paul filming a dead body in Japan.  There’s smaller versions of that all the time.  

2) Entitled assholes harass someone over one thing or another. Twitter has really opened my eyes regarding the sheer gall of some people when it comes to art theft, reposting without credit, etc.   They will not only double down on their perceived right to screw over content creators, but they will then turn on the same creators for daring to stand up for themselves.  This also extends to professionals as well, like when Vic Mignogna’s fanbase decided to turn into his personal army against Funimation and the voice actors listed in his ill-advised defamation lawsuit.  

3) Us versus them mentality.  I think “pro vs. anti” has something to do with shipping characters below a certain age range.   I got that impression once, but something tells me it’s kind of an amorphous argument, and I’ve seen people expand “age of consent” into all sorts of things.   Is it okay to “age up” a character?  What about two adults with a big age-gap?   What if a character just “looks” younger than they are?   What if some people?   Write creepy shit?   To cope?  I’m pretty sure a lot of this is just trying to find a hill to die on, a hill popular enough and noble enough to make it worth their while.  

Loyalty has been on my mind for a while.    This idea that if you support someone hard enough, long enough, they will reciprocate that support when you need it.   But it doesn’t always work that way.   You can put all this time and energy into a relationship and then it turns out the other person was taking you for granted the whole time.  For you, it might be a big deal, but they can take it or leave it.   It’s an imbalance, and it’s not a healthy one.

And all three of the above are examples of that imbalance.  These toxic movements always seem to center around some cult-of-personality, like an artist or a voice actor.   They might be a good person, and a group of people try to take them down out of spite, or for sport.   Or they might be a jerk, and they throw their weight around and people will defend them out of social inertia, or a misplaced sense of loyalty.   Or there might not be a BNF involved at all, and it’s just groups of people rallying around whatever flags they’ve made up for themselves.   They each try to demonize the other side to make themselves feel noble, a mutual admiration society.   But I think it always comes down to loyalty, this idea that if I just stick with this person or cause long enough, it’ll pay off later.   That’s why so many of those Capitol rioters thought Trump would pardon them, even though he didn’t even know their names.

That’s not a “fandom” issue.  That’s a human issue, and I’m not sure there’s a fix for that.  I’ll see people lament how terrible a particular fandom is, and I always think “I never hear about the good ones.”  I think that’s because there are no good or bad fandoms, only good or bad experiences.

In any event, I think I’ve reached the conclusion that loyalty isn’t something to be given lightly, since it isn’t always returned.   The hill you’re dying on can’t love you back, and sometimes the people dying on it with you aren’t that into you either.   

[back-and-totheleft]

Oliver Stone Settles the Score with Cannes Debut ‘JFK Revisited,’ Feels Unappreciated at Home

When you think reliable narrator, Oliver Stone doesn’t exactly come to mind. Since his start as a director in the 1970s, the lightning-rod filmmaker, now 74, has leaned into fiction narratives with political points of view, from “Salvador,” “Wall Street,” and “W.” to Best Director Oscar-winners “Platoon” and “Born on the Fourth of July.” His last Oscar nomination came in 1996, for “Nixon,” arguably his peak of high regard in Hollywood. It’s hard to recall that in 1992, controversial global smash “JFK” earned three Oscar nominations including Best Picture.

Times change, and Stone’s complex historic and global point of view is far more layered and nuanced than current American partisanship will accept. That’s why the Yale-grad-turned-Vietnam-vet has managed to alienate folks on every side of the political spectrum, including accusations of promulgating violence with “Natural Born Killers,” promoting a whistleblower in “Snowden,” and conducting friendly documentary interviews with dictators, Cuba’s Fidel Castro in “Comandante” (2003) and more recently Russia’s Vladimir Putin (Showtime’s four-part “The Putin Interviews”).

“Many people are scared and touchy,” said Stone’s long-term backer, Argentinian producer Fernando Sulichin (“Alexander,” “Savages”), “because he goes to talk openly to big powerful people who are not liked in the West and gets their point of view. He does that as an exploration. If you have a chance to speak to these people, they will be judged by history. For example, Nelson Mandela and the NSA were declared a terrorist organization, then 20 years later he’s the savior Nelson Mandela. It’s an overview of the geopolitical system, [Stone] is not affiliated. And everything is coherent within a historical time frame; it’s a historical approach to modern reality that is not made by the people in the political world of the newspapers.”

So when it comes to setting the record straight on who killed President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, in that motorcade in Dallas, Texas, Stone might not seem the most objective documentarian to tell that story. After all, isn’t he just trying to prove the same conspiracy theories he put forward in “JFK” almost 30 years ago, that got him in hot water at the time? “Of course,” he told me at Cannes, where he world-premiered and launched world sales on documentary “JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass,” which he finished during the pandemic. “To make this documentary is to prove our case. We proved it as far as possible. There is no absolute proof.”

When producer Rob Wilson proposed the idea of returning to the shooting of JFK, Stone decided it was important to bring multi-generations up to speed on what really happened back in 1963. At first, Stone pitched four one-hour episodes for television, but no sale. So he fashioned a two-hour movie instead, completed, along with his recent memoir, during the pandemic. “The 1991 movie was a dramatization, nothing wrong with it,” he said “I got nailed by people, literalists, saying Stone made up this and that, like, Kevin Bacon was an amalgam of five homosexual characters in New Orleans.”

For “JFK Revisited,” Stone leaned on a screenplay based on facts, culled by indefatigable Kennedy researcher and autodidact James DiEugenio, who deconstructed two assassination tomes published after the release of “JFK” — Gerald Posner’s “Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK” (1993), and Vincent Bugliosi’s “Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy” (2007). Stone also wanted to assemble all the primary evidence that has been declassified and revealed in the last decades, from the initial Warren Commission Report to subsequent government investigations that undermine many of the Warren Commission’s findings.

“When the 50th anniversary rolled around,” said Stone, “I was depressed that even the networks and print outlets were ignoring alternate theories on the Warren Commission. You’d have thought it was the Bible. It was a cover-up whitewash.”

DiEugenio had read every text about the assassination, Stone said: “He went after everything. The script was wonkish. Rob and I simplified it.” While one could argue with Stone’s choice to add to his own narration the familiar voices of Whoopi Goldberg and Donald Sutherland (who starred in “JFK”), nonetheless the movie makes a persuasive argument against the Warren Commission’s lone gunman theory, which had Lee Harvey Oswald fire a “magic bullet” that passed through Kennedy’s body in multiple unlikely locations, and was mysteriously found in an untarnished state. “JFK Revisited” persuasively argues for a conspiracy theory involving multiple players and makes a cohesive case that two rogue arms of government, the FBI and the CIA, both contributed misleading evidence to the Warren Commission, which overlooked evidence that was subsequently unveiled.

And the movie is unabashedly pro-Kennedy. “Kennedy was a true true warrior for peace, he did not want proliferation,” said Stone at the Cannes press conference, “a great American leader. Had he succeeded we would be in a whole different place.” And if the assassination had happened in an age of mobile cameras, the investigation would have gone very differently, too. “But what is the absolute truth? We don’t have it. History itself is up for grabs.”

Stone sees Kennedy as the last president to question the power of the entrenched and well-funded military industrial complex, the FBI and the CIA — which may explain why he often seems sympathetic to Donald Trump. As far as Stone is concerned, George W. Bush was a much worse president. “He led us into the war on terror,” he said. “The Liberal movement changed after September 11, 2001, became super-patriotic, identifying America as an oppressed nation, because it was attacked by terrorists — as if we hadn’t committed acts of terrorism abroad ourselves. 2001 was a payback for a lot of stuff we’d done.”

Next up: “Starpower,” a clean energy eco-documentary. “I’m looking to global interests,” said Stone. “We have to realize energy is an international issue. A lot of businessmen are progressive when it comes to energy. It’s not political, it’s beyond that. With energy and climate change, we’re looking at the danger of carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere. It’s crucial we solve that problem by 2050. The Russians and Chinese are doing a lot of work with new energy, and the U.S. is doing it at a smaller level with less government support. I believe that a world of peace and coexistence is more crucial than anything.”

And Stone worries that Netflix algorithms that predict what moviegoers want to see preclude greenlighting the kind of movies that made his career. “I always believe that if you build it they will come,” he said. “I struggled to make my first films, like ‘Salvador.’ I don’t think anyone could question military strategy today like I could in ‘Platoon.’ An algorithm couldn’t predict who would come to ‘Platoon’ or ‘Born on the Fourth of July,’ which both took 10 years to make. The film dictates the audience. If it’s good, it brings the audience. Algorithms don’t work that way.”

The director also fears that Americans aren’t getting the full story via their news media, with censorship on the rise. He sees himself being funded by more international outlets than domestic ones. While “JFK Revisited” scored favorable early reviews and strong international sales, North American distribution is still up for grabs. “If this movie is not shown in America,” said Stone, “something is wrong with our system.”

-Anne Thompson, IndieWire, Jul 24 2021 [x]

[n8thegr8]

My Avengers Academy Chapter 2: And Along Came a Spider

“This. Is. So. Cool!” Peter couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The lobby of Avengers Tower looked like something out of Star Wars, but it still had that Stark Industries feel to it. Holographic images of Tony Stark played welcoming whoever walked through the door. The floor was gold stained marble, and Peter could see his own reflection. They probably deep wash this floor every night! He saw multiple strangers littered across the entire room: business people, the media, some students, and even some pro heroes.

“Oh my God, Ant Man is literally twenty yards away from me,” Peter mumbled, absolutely star struck.

“Jeez dude, you ‘aight? You seem really uh…” Pietro trailed off. 

“Eager, to say the least,” Wanda cut off Pietro. She planted her hand on Peter's shoulder and almost flinched; he was shaking and quivering. To be fair, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, considering how excited he must be. He was excited. Wanda would describe Peter as a young child being brought to his favorite toy store. She knew how important this was to him;it was important to her as well. She wanted to be a hero who could magically whisk away people’s problems. If Wanda couldn’t do that, then she wanted to help as much as she could. 

“I know how excited you are, but keep it down a level or two. We can talk about all this...” Wanda’s gaze scanned the giant room, “...really,'' her journey stopped when she saw golden statues of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, The Hulk, the first Ant Man, andThe Wasp respectively. They weren’t massive, which allowed for them to be placed near the enterence to the staff and student only elevator. “...cool,” her gaze wandered over to see a rather attractive man in a blue uniform with a red flowing cape. “Oh my God, it’s Doctor Strange.”

“Oh my God, he’s right there.” Peter pulled out his hero notebook.

“Oh my God, he really is.” Pietro’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Oh my God, shut up,” a fourth voice spoke up.

The trio turned their heads to see Flash. His face was plastered with a smug grin. Pietro stood forward, pushing Peter and Wanda behind him.

“Oh please, Eugene. You wanna get into Avengers Academy too,” Pietro spat back, “You gotta be a little excited, right? Or is that impossible for someone with a cold dead heart?”

“Tch.” Flash put his hands in his pockets and walked past Peter and Wanda. Pietro mimicked his movements, effectively acting as a wall between the two and Flash. Flash looked at Peter, “How’s the hand, wall-crawler?”

Peter closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His eyes opened back up and he pointed to Flash’s arm. “J-just fine. How’s that bruise on your arm?”

Flash’s eyes widened and lifted his left arm to inspect it. What he found was right under his short sleeve; a dark red bruise. He put his arm down and glared at Peter with a ferocious intensity. “You should get better material, Parker,” he growled, “Whatchya lookin’ at me so much, huh? Peekin’ out from the cracked closet door?”

“Enough.” The four turned once again to see their chaperone towering over them. “If you four aren’t on your best behavior, believe me, I will personally see that each one of you is punished. Got that?”

“Yes, sir…” all four replied.

Peter watched as the chaperone walked away. Yeah, just ignore the casual bullying, nothing to see here. Peter groaned in annoyance.

Flash sighed and started his walk towards the main group, bumping his shoulder with Pietro as he did. “I’ll catch you later, Wall-Crawler.”

Peter felt so helpless when he called him that. It just reminded him of that day.

“Jeez Peter, you’re so weak!” a young Flash Thompson said while on top of a wall.

Peter glanced towards the ground in embarrassment. He has been trying to climb the wall for the past ten minutes, but he kept falling. “I can’t do it, Eugene! I-it’s too, um… slippery!”

Flash rolled his eyes. “Stop making excuses, Peter! Come on!”

Peter’s mind raced as he looked upon the wall again. It towered over him, making him feel so small. He couldn’t do this there’s nothing to grab on to. “F-Flash, I’m just gonna go around.”

“Ugh Peter, don’t be such a sissy.”

“That’s not a nice word,” Peter muttered.

“Come on! Just do it!”

Peter winced at Flash’s command. Why couldn’t Flash just let him go around? Peter couldn’t climb it; it’s too steep and slippery. He’ll just fall again. He didn’t want to make Flash mad, but no matter what, Peter just couldn’t climb it. 

“Hey! What are you doing you wimp?!”

Peter snapped back into reality and noticed that Flash was gone. W...where did he go? he thought. 

A scream deafened Peter’s ears. “Flash?!” Peter called out for his friend.

“Stop! Stop please!” the screaming continued, “Daddy! Help me!” the screaming was coming from the other side of the wall. 

Peter didn’t think when he heard those screams. He vaulted himself onto the wall and started to climb. Digging his fingers into the cracks, pushing up off the ledges under his feet, reaching for the deformities to climb up. “Flash, I’m on my way!” He got to the top and then looked down behind him. He… he did it! He climbed the wall. “I… I did it.” 

“Hey, Peter-“

“-are you okay?” Wanda’s voice suddenly entered the picture, and Peter jolted out of his dreamlike state. No longer was he at a park in the year 2021. Instead,he was back in Avengers Tower in the year 2030. 

He turned his head to look at her and nodded. “Yeah… yeah, I’m okay,” Peter gave a big smile, “Let’s go and enjoy this!”

Wanda flashed a smile back at Peter. “This is gonna be great!”

The tour of the facility was structured into three sections, and each section had been allotted an hour. The first section of the tour was dedicated to the general history of the Avengers, its founders, and the history of heroism. 

“Our tour guide is Hawkeye?!” Peter gushed excitedly to Pietro, who returned his excitement.

“I know! Dude, do you think he really has a quirk?” Pietro asked inquisitively.

Peter closed his eyes and put his hand under his chin. He then went into deep thought. “I actually never considered that. If he doesn’t then it would definitely be a scandal in the superhero society. However, he claims that he never misses, and his quirk is called ‘Dead-Aim’ when he was being interviewed by the Daily Bugle top journalist Eddie Brock he has never released his blood examples to the public. It’s not like he’s contractually or legally obligated to. The Super-Human Registration Act never forces you to make anything about yourself public, and even then it’s highly unlikely-“

“Hey, kid! Yeah, you! The one next to the white-haired boy an’ the brunette, would ya mind shuttin’ ya trap? I’m tryin’ to give a tour here!”

A jolt of surprise ravaged Peter’s body as he was interrupted by the very subject of his mumbling. His gaze was met with the intense gaze of Hawkeye himself, who had conveyed annoyance from his posture. “I-I-I,“ Peter stammered as his body stiffened, and his face turned a shade of crimson red. 

“Yeah yeah, that’s what I thought, just keep your mouth closed alright?”

“Y-yes, sir…” Peter said with his face hung in embarrassment. He averted his gaze to the right and noticed Wanda gritting her teeth.

“Asshole,” Poison dripped from her tongue as she said this.

Peter let out a small chuckle and pulled out his hero notebook. He opened it to Hawkeye’s page, and added, ‘Rude,’ under his personality profile. Definitely not asking him my question… 

“Tch,” Peter looked up from his notebook to see Flash looking directly at him. He then shook his head, putting his attention to the tour.

The second section of the tour was a showcase of the academy. The group was stuffed into a large elevator and was lifted up to floor 63. From there, the tour continued to the vast array of classrooms. Peter was astonished from the sight. It was the end of lunch for the students, and they were all headed back to their classrooms. “So many students, and they’re all gonna be heroes…” Peter murmured.

“They’re all so well dressed…” Pietro added, “Ugh, do I have to put the effort into how I look when I go here?”

“The day when you put effort into your appearance is the day when hell freezes over, Pietro,” Wanda jabbed, “Maybe if you do, you’ll actually get a girlfriend.”

Peter tried so hard to keep in his laughter, but his body betrayed him. Pietro then shot Peter a dirty look that screamed, “Are you for real?” Pietro was wearing the bare minimum in terms of fashion. He bore a logoed t-shirt with bright blue jeans and basic white gym shoes. Compared to Wanda’s more fashionable choice of a black undershirt, a red jacket, ripped dark jeans, dark gym shoes, and a red bandana wrapped around her head in a nice bow, Pietro’s fashion was basic and uninspired.

“Nah, I don’t have to put effort into my appearance,” Pietro scoffed, “I’m already perfect as is. The girls are gonna run at me.”

Wanda rolled her eyes at Pietro’s egotist statement. “How am I even related to you?”

“Wanna have a detailed explanation?”

“I’d rather not.”

“Guys, Beast is in the class next to us,” Peter whispered, peeking into a classroom.

Pietro and Wanda dropped their sibling banter and joined Peter. There they saw Dr. Hank McCoy, also known as Beast. He had a heteromorphic quirk, which meant that he looked different from “regular” humans. 

“He’s huge,” Peter gasped. He stood at 6’8,” and was covered head to toe in blue fur. He had fangs, sharpened claws, and had muscles that were reminiscent of an ape. Peter pulled out his hero notebook once more, and wrote down what he was observing.

“Jeez, he’s intimidating,” Pietro blurted quietly.

“Y-yeah for real,” Wanda stammered.

Peter was writing in his notebook with a fervor that was never experienced by man before. He wrote down every detail he saw: how he was reading a book as he was hanging upside down from the ceiling, how even though he looked like a monster he still had to wear glasses to read, how he was now right in front of him? Wait, what?

Peter’s soul nearly jumped right out of his body as he came to the discovery that the Pro Hero Beast was now standing right in front of him. He looked to Wanda and Pietro, who were shaking in their soles.

Beast opened the door that separated him from the trio. “Hello! How may I help you, children?”

He’s so polite! Peter, Pietro, and Wanda had the same reaction.

Beast took a deep look at the three children that were in front of him, they all had a mixed look of terror, anxiety, curiosity, and amazement plastered onto their faces. He noticed their lack of uniform and came to the only rational conclusion.

“Ah, you must be on tour!” He clapped his hands together and laughed. “I know how overwhelming this school can be at times, with all the pro heroes and promising students treading around.” He kneeled down to be at Peter’s eye level. “But you should know that at the end of the day, we’re all human. We’re just like you, and that’s why we’ve become heroes in the first place.”

As Beast was giving his small lecture, Peter wrote every word he heard, all while maintaining eye contact with him. Beast took note of this. “Ah, a fine learner, I presume?” 

Peter stopped writing and tried to stammer out an answer. “I… I… I…”

Beast gave a hearty laugh. “Oh don’t be embarrassed, my boy! Be proud of your sense of curiosity and love for learning.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell him for years!” Wanda chimed in gleefully.

“Oh, and you have support as well, young man! By just looking at you three I can tell that you are all extremely close.” Beast took a hand each of the trio and put them together, the trio now in a position reminiscent of how sports teams break in their huddles. Peter’s face was cascaded in red as he took Wanda’s hand. “Cling on to this kinship that you all have, children. If you wish to graduate from this school and become a hero, having friends you can trust is the most important weapon to fight evil that you will ever have.”

Peter, to say the least, was starstruck. An esteemed hero, such as Beast, was giving him and his best friends life advice to become heroes! He didn’t ask if he was quirkless, and he didn’t assume anything negative. Peter had to ask him his question. Beast was the right person to ask.

“D-Dr. McCoy I-” Peter felt a hand squeeze his shoulder, which shocked him deeply.

“What did I say about being on your best behavior?”

Peter, Pietro, and Wanda turned around to see their chaperone, who wore a very annoyed look on his face. 

“Sorry, sir.” The trio hung their heads in shame.

The chaperone huffed. “I apologize for the annoyance, Doctor.”

Beast laughed once again. “Oh do not apologize, my good man. These children are just starstruck!” Beast smiled warmly. “It’s not every day that you get to see a pro hero so up close.”

The chaperone sighed. “Well, you’re not wrong.” He motioned to the trio to go back to the group. “We’re waiting on you three.”

Peter, Pietro, and Wanda said their goodbyes to Beast and headed off on their way. Peter excitedly opened up his notebook yet again and turned to Beast’s page. He wrote the word “kind” under his personality profile. 

“Jesus Christ.” Yet again, Peter perked up to see Flash looking at him yet again. Flash looked away, then, as if nothing happened.

Peter suddenly had a horrible thought. Was Flash going to do something to him on this field trip? There are so many people around, though. Was Flash growing bolder? Did he think he can get away with hurting Peter without anybody noticing? No, he’s not that stupid. There are too many people, plus Wanda and Pietro are here. Peter shook his head and walked with the tour guide to the last section on the itinerary.

The final section of the tour was a scientific demonstration by Dr. Bruce Banner and Tony Stark, also known as Hulk and Iron Man. The demonstration was held in the school’s auditorium, and it was the biggest room that the group had ever been in. They sat in three seats next to each other in the front row of the auditorium.

Wanda reached her hand towards the ceiling. “It’s so tall...”

“Thanks, Captain Obvious,” Pietro sneered, “Anything else painfully apparent that you wanna point out?”

Wanda shot a dirty look at him. “You’re an idiot who’ll run into a ditch on your first day of being a professional hero, and you’re going to fall into obscurity as I rise to the top.”

“Ouch.” Pietro dramatically clutched his chest. “These hot takes are giving me a strong case of ‘You’rejustjealousthatIhaveacoolerquirkthanyou-itis.’”

“Oh, I’ve heard of that! There’s a vaccine for it, it’s called a ‘reality check.’”

“I like Hex more than Super-Speed, I gotta admit,” Peter chuckled.

“No, not you too, man!” Pietro reached out to Peter. “Don’t tell me she brainwashed you!”

Peter showed Pietro Wanda’s page in the hero notebook and pointed to the ‘potential’” section. “I mean, Hex can probably make her fly and that’s automatically awesome.” Peter flipped the page to Pietro’s. “While your quirk is astonishing, and you’re only going to become stronger with more practice, I don’t see you flying. Sooo, yeah.”

Pietro’s face drooped with disappointment. “Yeah, thanks for the ego check, man.”

Peter smiled brightly. “You’re welcome!”

Wanda snickered.

“Oh my God,” Pietro sighed.

“Hey Pete, can I see my section?” Wanda held out her hand.

“Yeah!” Peter handed Wanda the notebook. “Here.”

Wanda flipped to her section of the notebook. She scanned the page and saw that the ‘Potential Hero Name was filled with different options. “Wow, there are a lot of names.”

Peter scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. “Yeah, like a week ago I sat at my desk and made all of these potential hero names for you. Some of them are cool, but the others… not so much.”

Wanda gave a small chuckle as she scanned the names. One name, in particular, caught her gaze. “The Scarlet Witch?”

“I actually really like that one!”

“Sounds like a villain’s name, to be honest.” Pietro chimed in.

“It sounds cool but…” Wanda pulled a pen out of her purse and added a new name. “How about this?”

Peter and Pietro leaned in to see the name “The Crimson Sorceress.”

“That’s just ‘The Scarlet Witch’ with different synonyms, sis.”

“Yeah, but it sounds more heroic.” Wanda acted like she was putting up a magic barrier between her and the boys. “More magical.” 

“I like it!” Peter exclaimed.

“Yeah, of course, you would.” Pietro sank into his chair. “Whipped,” he whispered. 

Suddenly, a stinging pain found its home on the backside of Pietro’s head as Wanda’s hand slapped it. “Ow! What the hell?!”

“I heard that, you dick.”

Peter tilted his head in confusion. “Heard what?”

“Don’t worry about it, Pete.” Wanda winked, but only for a moment.

The lights in the auditorium dimmed and brightened, signaling that the demonstration was going to begin. Peter put on his glasses and pulled out his camera. He wanted to take pictures of the event, and maybe get a better photo of Dr. Banner and Iron Man for his notebook.

Wanda turned to Peter. “Make sure the flash is off, okay?”

“Yeah, ya don’t wanna cause any difficulties, alright bud?”

“Don’t worry, I turned it off before we even got on the bus,” Peter confirmed.

The curtains rose, and there he stood: Dr. Banner, the Incredible Hulk. He stood even taller than Beast did. Peter’s estimate put him at least seven feet tall. Dr. Banner wore a suit that had to have been tailor-made for him, considering how buff he was. He wore heavy rimmed glasses, which Peter appreciated. Like Beast, he looked intimidating, but he emanated this feeling of kindness and sincerity. His appearance showed the strength of his character, as for many years, the Hulk was called a menace to the Earth. Dr. Banner has made many TV appearances to talk about his beginning years as the Hulk. How he fled to South America to escape the United States Military, how his childhood trauma fed into the alternate persona that the Hulk adopted, how dealing with anger management is important, and how living with a split personality disorder is just another facet of the crazy experience called Bruce Banner’s life. When he merged himself with the Hulk, he explained that he felt whole, but sometimes when pushed to the edge the other personality comes out. He went on to explain that the Hulk wasn’t a bad person, far from it. In reality,the Hulk was actually a really kind and gentle creature that just wanted to be left alone. In fact, The Hulkstill had conversations with him about the meaning of life, the ins and outs of heroism, and even what they were going to have for lunch that day. Ever since then, Dr. Banner has been a pioneer in not only the genetic and radiological sciences ,but also in mental health and the understanding of all kinds of disabilities. Whenever Dr. Banner had an interview, Peter made sure to either watch it live or record it; he loved hearing the man talk.

Peter heard the audience murmur about the missing hero who was supposed to be with Dr. Banner on stage: Iron Man. The most popular hero, not only in the USA, but in the entire world. The story of how Tony Stark, a weapons dealer and billionaire playboy philanthropist became the Invincible Iron Man. Everyone knew how it went: Tony Stark was a selfish CEO of Stark Enterprises, and only looked out for himself until he was captured by terrorists in 1998. The terrorists used missiles that were designed by Stark himself and were struck in the chest by shrapnel but were saved by a man who managed to create a magnetic field inside his body to keep the shrapnel from reaching his heart. He was forced to build a new type of weapon for the terrorists, but what he really did was build a suit of armor that augmented his quirk: Arc Reactor. He then became the Invincible Iron Man, and escaped the terrorists’ base  making it back home to the United States in one piece. He put a stop on all weapon construction, changed Stark Industries to become a humanitarian company, and registered as a hero. He became a cultural icon; everyone knew  of Iron Man and his heroism. He wasn’t Peter’s favorite hero, but he still held a place in Peter’s heart as a founding member of the Avengers, and a great hero all around. He hasn’t made a public appearance in a while, though, Peter thought.

Dr. Banner stepped up to the mic, tapped it just so slightly to see if it was on, and had to catch it because it almost tipped over. “Sorry, over thirty years of being in this body, and I still can’t gauge how strong I actually am.” The audience was filled with laughter. Dr. Banner waved his hands to signal the audience to calm themselves. “You might be wondering about the lack of an overinflated ego that’s trapped in a yellow and red suit of armor.” He took the microphone and started to walk across the stage so that he wouldn’t stay static during the presentation. “Unfortunately, about thirty minutes ago, Iron Man was called for duty, and it’s my off day.I’ll be damned if they call me in.” He played with the wire of the microphone. “I never get called into work, I mean,” he chuckled, “Would you want to be the one to tell The Hulk that he has to come in on his day off?”

The audience burst into laughter once again, which showcased how strong Dr. Banner was as an enter, Dr. Banner knew how to keep the audience entertained. Peter had a hard time getting a good shot due to his own chuckles. 

“I never knew he was such a personality on the stage,” Wanda whispered to Peter.

Peter turned to her and raised an eyebrow. “Wanda, we watched like five of his interviews two nights ago.”

Wanda’s face was struck with confusion. “We did?”

Something told Peter that Wanda wasn’t paying attention that day, and that made him a bit sad. He soon forgot about it though, considering how  the actual presentation began.

“Now, onto the real show.” Dr. Banner walked towards the podium that was on his left. “As we know, quirks are genetic in nature, but scientists haven’t figured out what they really are yet.” A projection of a DNA strand appeared behind him. “However, we do now know that the quirks have a very similar genetic make-up to that of gamma radiation.”

“Hey, is that true?” Pietro asked Peter in a whispered tone.

Peter leaned his into Pietro to speak directly into his ear. “Yeah, last year they found out that his irradiated genetics are comparable to quirks. He wasn’t born with a quirk, remember? It was the gamma bomb that did it.”

“So, to pursue the hypothesis that quirks were birthed from a gamma event, the Avengers Institute and Stark Enterprise partnered with Oscorp to explore this line of thinking.” 

A sudden thought rushed through Peter’s head, Oscorp? That’s Harry’s dad’s company… I haven’t texted him in a while. I should see what’s up with him when I get home.

“Just recently we made a gigantic scientific breakthrough, we found out how to create quirks.”

The audience erupted in disbelief. Soft mumblings filled the auditorium. Some were in disbelief, while others questioned the ethics of such a practice. 

“Nah, that’s impossible, man.” Peter turned his head to Pietro. “There’s no way that you can create a quirk just like that.ike, an actual quirk, not a superpower born from an explosion or from an experiment, but an actual quirk? I call BS.”

“Would you just shut up and watch?” Wanda spat.

“And, this, right here, is the fruit of our labor,” Dr. Banner declared as he pressed a small clicker in his hand. “Oh, it didn’t break it this time, thank god.” 

The stage floor opened up. Peter heard the machinery in the under-stage doing its work. Then, out of the blue, he saw a very odd-looking machine rise up. The machine had two parts to it: two pillars stood erect parallel to each other. Each pillar curved into each other, at the end of both points were bright red spheres. Various ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ were delivered from the audience.

“This, my eager audience, is ‘The Quirk Accelerator,’ and we are going to make a quirk, right here, right now.” Dr. Banner clicked the clicker once again and a thick sheet of glass separated the stage from the audience. “Man, I’m on a roll today,” he stated proudly. “Now, once I press this button again, we will create an entirely new quirk.” 

“Dude, you have to  get a shot of this,” Pietro demanded.

“Yeah, Pete! Ooo, this is gonna be cool!” Wanda exclaimed in a hushed voice.

Peter excitedly pulled up his camera, but not before double-checking to see if the flash was turned off. He put his eye up to the viewfinder, and pointed his shot towards the Quirk Accelerator. As he took multiple shots of the machine itself, he noticed something that wasn’t supposed to be there. It was small, but he saw it. A spider, that was lowering itself from the ceiling with a single strand of its web. Peter didn’t know why he focused on such a minuscule thing, but he took a picture of it anyway. Who knows, maybe it’ll get him an award or something. That’d be nice, he thought to himself.

“Strap yourself in folks, ‘cause this is gonna be one hell of a frickin’ light show!” Dr. Banner shouted with excitement.

With yet another click, the Quirk Accelerator hummed. All of the lights that illuminated the stage shut off, and the thick sheet of glass tinted itself to a rather dark degree. Dr. Banner’s description was very apt. In between the two pillars, extremely bright electricity flowed and clashed with the two red spheres. Muffled crackles of thunder were heard as the light got brighter and brighter. Peter, in desperation, shot a picture aimed right in the middle of the action. The sheet of glass got darker as the light emanating from the experiment got brighter. The light show got to its final performance as the light suddenly turned a bright green. The light soon disappeared, though.  stage lights were turned back on, and Dr. Banner stood there with a big smile. It faulted for a moment, before returning to a grin. “Now, the quirk will be collected. Since we don’t have any machine assistance here on the stage, I’ll have to collect it myself.” Dr. Banner took a small capsule out of his pocket and walked between the two pillars of the Quirk Accelerator. The audience immediately went into various chatter.

Pietro turned to Peter. “Hey, do you think if any of us go blind because of that, Tony Stark will pay us boatloads of money in settlements?”

“'No, we signed away our right to sue in the event of an injury. It's not like Stark would give you anything. It's better for all of us if you were blind.".” Wanda shook her head.

“It’s true.” Peter nodded.

“Aw, man, that can’t be legal can it?”

“It’s totally legal.”

“Ah, so…” Dr. Banner’s voice cut the audience’s murmuring down to silence. “Apparently, this is our first failed test.”

“Told you he was full of-” Pietro was then cut off by a swift kick to the shin, courtesy of Peter. “Ow!”

Dr. Banner walked back to the podium. “But this is to be expected with any realm of science, that is why we go back to see what went wrong here.” He clicked the clicker for the last time which resulted in the Quirk Accelerator being lowered back into the stage. “We do have various quirks in storage, but live testing hasn’t been authorized by the government yet.” He walked downstage to where the mic stood and put it back in place. “We’re getting closer to unlocking the mystery of quirks every day. Maybe one day we can even track what the very first quirk was, but for now all we can do is theorize and experiment. I apologize that this was a failure, but I’m very glad that I was able to show you our latest endeavors here at Avengers Tower.” Peter took a shot of Dr. Banner as he said this. “I hope to see some of you attend the school next yearand that I sparked a wealth of scientific curiosity within you. Thank you so much, and have a good day, everyone.”

The curtains cascaded down upon the stage, and with that, the demonstration came to end. The lights illuminated the auditorium and people got out of their seats and headed towards the exit. Some were bummed, and others were ecstatic to be in the same room as the Incredible Hulk.

Pietro snatched Peter’s camera right out of his hands. “Dude, did you get the shots?” 

Peter jumped in surprise when he realized that when he blinked, his camera was no longer there. “P-Pietro! Be careful with that!”

Pietro shot a genuine smile at Peter. Pietro was tossing the camera up and then catching it with the same hand without looking at it, showing off his dexterity. “Don’t worry, man! I’m the most careful person in the world.” 

Wanda crossed her arms. “You literally broke a plate at dinner last night.” 

“A one-time incident, won’t happen again.” Pietro tossed the camera up again and waited for it to come back down, but it never did. “Wait, what the hell?”

“Interesting camera you got there, Maximoff. I’m surprised you could afford something like this.” 

Pietro groaned as he recognized the voice, he turned around to see Flash going through the pictures on the camera. “That was a lazy insult you had there buddy. Let me guess, did the parasite come up with that one?”

“Funny,” Flash grunted. 

Peter stood in utter fear as Flash held his camera. The phrase, Why does he have it? Why does he have it? kept repeating in his mind. This was his biggest fear. 

“Here ya go, Parker.” Flash held out the camera in front of Peter. “Just wanted to make sure you didn’t have any weird pics of me.”

“O-okay.” Peter hesitantly reached out to grab the camera. “Thanks, Fla-“

A thud. A crack. The sound of plastic falling onto marble flooring. Glass shattered. Peter’s gaze peered downward to see his camera in pieces. 

A devious smile crawled onto Flash’s face. “Whoops.”

Peter was stunned. Did that actually just happen?

“Thompson!” Pietro grasped Flash’s shoulder and forcefully turned him around to face him. “What the fu-?!” 

A black tendril shot itself out of Flash’s body and hit Pietro square in the face. He backed up, holding his nose in pain. “Don’t touch me, you freak.”

“Pietro!” cried Wanda.

“That’s it!” Pietro pushed against his right nostril and exhaled from his nose, a clot of blood flew out of his left nostril. “I’ve been playing nice for Peter’s sake, but you just crossed the damned line, Thompson!”

“Pietro, stop this!” Wanda exclaimed with a desperate expression on her face. “Don’t fight him!”

Peter backed up against the wall of the stage. His legs quivered beneath him. A fight? Here?

“Nah, nah, sis!” Pietro rolled up his sleeves as he walked towards Flash. “This guy has been a pain in our asses for years, I’ve been wanting to put him in his place.”

Flash took his stride over to Pietro. The symbiote crawled itself onto his skin and up his neck. “Let’s do this, wuss. Show me you’re a real man and not some pathetic bitch.”

“Bring it on, douchebag.” Pietro leapt forward at Flash in less than a second. Fists flew, and the fight began.

“Pietro, no!” Wanda rushed towards the scene.

“Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God,” Peter muttered over and over. He curled himself into a ball. His breathing became fast and uneven. He felt light headed, too. A sensation of dread and anxiety swept up his body in a hurricane of fear. “Nononononononono.” Why did this always have to happen? Today was supposed to be a good day, for crying out loud. Why did Flash have to ruin it again? Pietro was just making it worse. He won’t be allowed back into Avengers Academy. Peter thought about his camera, and the thought alone forced him into a shaking fit. He was glued to the sight; his precious camera, it was in pieces. It used to belong to his mother. The name: Mary Fitzgerald, was written in sharpie on the side. Why did this always happen to him? Why did he bring bad luck wherever he goes? Why was he so useless? Why was he quirkless? Why am I just human? Why do I-

Peter felt a stinging pain on his right hand and slapped it. “Ow!” He looked down and his hand and saw a giant bite mark, and the corpse of the spider he just squashed. He sighed. “This day’s just getting better and better.” Perhaps the spider bite was a blessing in disguise, it broke him out of his panic attack. He sighed again and steadily began to stand back up. He started walking towards Wanda, but with every step he began to slow down. He felt as if there was a giant weight on his shoulders. His legs turned into jelly. He started to shake violently. “Wh-what’s happening to me?”

“-eter? A-e -o- oka-?” 

Is that Wanda’s voice?

“W-ah! B-o yo- goo-?”

Pietro?

“Y-! Wa-cr-ler! Th- -ck’s th- ma-er?!”

Flash?

His vision started to become blurry, and darkness crept in from the edges of his eyes. “Wanda, I… I don’t feel so good.” Peter lost all control, and immediately lost consciousness as he hit the ground. 

“Peter?!”

To be continued…

[theforsakenprince]

Frostbitten Chapter 2: Patton

Previous Masterlist Next

Word Count: 2021

Warnings: getting knocked out, blood but only a tiny bit, lemme know if I need to add anything! 

Patton tried to be optimistic, especially when the storm clouds began to gather in the distance and thunder boomed overhead. He really did!

But even his smile became a little forced when he had to tell his class of SilkWing dragonets that their school fishing trip was cancelled due to the weather. The fact that they had made it all the way to the docks when it started raining and Patton had received instructions to cancel the trip made the situation no better.

He had a class of twelve dragonets, and he would have to disappoint all of them.

“Bad news, kiddos,” Patton raised his voice over the wind. “the fishing trip is cancelled.” Some of the chaperones rolled their eyes, while others tore at the grass in frustration.

He received a chorus of groans and complaints in reply. He smiled apologetically. He knew how much they had been looking forward to this trip. “I know, I know, but maybe we can reschedule-”

“Mr. Patton!” one of the students, Firefly, shouted. “The boat!”

He whipped his head around to look back at the docks and sure enough, one of the boats was floating freely in the water, the rope tethering it to the docks nowhere in sight. He sighed and turned back to the dragonets, who were staring wide-eyed at the boat, scrambling on top of each other and flapping their bug-like wings to get a better view. The chaperones all looked at Patton, as if expecting him to make a decision. 

“Alright, everyone!” he had to shout over the roar of the wind and the pounding of the rain. “Follow your chaperone back to the hive! I’ll be right behind you! I hope,” he added, too quietly for anyone but him to hear. He hoped he wasn’t making a terrible decision. He hoped he would be back on land soon.

As the rest of the class walked away with heads and tails down, Patton turned back to the problem. He sighed and took to the air, slowly making his way to the boat, careful to dodge debris that threatened to knock him in the head or throw him into the ocean with difficulty. His fragile wings weren’t meant to be used in this type of weather.

He hovered around the vessel before he threw his entire weight into it, but it was much too big to push, especially with the weather working against him. His only choice was to try to row back to shore. If only I asked somebody to come with me… he shook his head as the thought crossed his mind. It was too late to fly all the way back to the hive and get help.

He considered leaving the boat, but quickly dismissed the thought. He knew the blame would be put on him, and he would have to pay for the missing property. Getting the boat back to shore was Patton’s only option.

He landed on the boat, stumbling and sliding before he dug his claws into the wood. He looked around frantically until he spotted the oars under one of the benches. He lunged toward it and wrapped his claws around it.

A moment too late, he realized he had never learned how to row a boat before. He gripped the oar and stepped to the edge. “No time like the present, Patton,” he said to himself as he dipped the oar in the water. He chuckled nervously. “I’m in danger.”

Patton ducked as a piece of wood flew over his head and disappeared on the other side of the boat. He gulped. 

It was raining too hard to see the edge of the docks now.  He pushed his panic down and focused on rowing.

The shore was in sight now. His muscles burned from the exertion, but he forced himself to row faster. The shore was so close-

A blinding pain hit him in the back of the head, and he hit the floor of the boat, unconscious. 

Patton woke up to the most painful headache he’s ever experienced in his life. He groaned and sat up, wincing when he realized he had bruises all over his body. He had a vague memory of being pelted by rocks falling from the sky (Was that a dream? It felt weird enough to be a dream) and seabirds flying into him.

Sand was everywhere- in his scales, between his claws, in his eyes. A crab watched him cautiously before determining he wasn’t a threat and skittered away. He could feel seaweed wrapped around one of his back legs, and his mouth tasted of salt.

“W-where are my glasses?” he mumbled, coughing up seawater and sand. He patted the ground beside him and hissed in pain as something sharp pricked his palm. He opened his eyes and realized he’d pricked his palm on pieces of his broken glasses. Blood was now running down his arm, staining the sand below him red. His cat hoodie was soaked, but nothing was ripped, which was a relief.

He attempted to stand, only to collapse back onto the sand. He sighed. Why did everything have to hurt so much? The simple act of rubbing his eyes caused little pinpricks of pain to travel up his arm. He only succeeded in making his vision even blurrier.

Patton forced himself to open his eyes fully and examine his surroundings. Instead of the sheer cliffs of his home continent, Pantala, he was on a beach that slanted upwards to a grassy field. What remained of his boat was spread out not far from him. His heart sank at the sight of the wrecked vessel. The hull had been shattered and the sail was shredded to the tiniest pieces. The oars were nowhere to be seen.

The sound of talonsteps made him swing his head toward the noise. A dragon the color of the beach was making his way toward him. He lifted his head warily, but after a moment, he could tell she meant no harm.

“Are you okay?” she asked. A forked, black tongue slithered out of her mouth. Her eyes were as black as obsidian.

Patton shook his head weakly. He tried to stand again, but fell. The strange dragon caught him with a grunt and began to lead him up the rise. It was difficult because his feet kept slipping in the sand and he was considerably larger than the strange dragon.

He realized she was leading him to a small wooden hut which he presumed was where she lived. She helped him inside and onto a stiff cot. “Wait here,” she ordered, as if he was in any condition to move. “I’ll go find something to fix you up.” she paused on the way out. “My name is Jerboa, by the way.”

Jerboa left the room and returned later with bandages and salves. She started to apply the salves and bandages. Neither of them said anything.

When she was done, she stood up and said, “I’ll get you something to eat. I think I have some pelican in the back…”

Patton laughed nervously. “Do you have anything that’s… not an animal?”

Jerboa blinked at him. “You’re vegetarian?” without waiting for an answer, she turned away, mumbling, “That’s interesting…” 

Patton tried to get comfortable while he waited. Jerboa seemed nice enough, but her fascination with him made him a bit uncomfortable.

And where was he, anyway? It was clear that he wasn’t anywhere near the hives. Did everyone back home think he was dead? It looked like a few days had passed since he left. Maybe his class already had a new teacher. 

Jerboa came back with some plants he didn’t recognize. She set them down in front of him and gestured for him to dig in. She reached for something behind her as he started to eat.

“I assume these are your glasses?” She set his glasses, completely fixed and crack-free, in front of him.

He stared at them, his jaw on the floor. He picked them up slowly and put them on, shocked that they worked perfectly. “How? They were in pieces when I came!”

Jerboa smiled, the first display of emotion he’d seen from her. “I’ve got my secrets.”

He decided not to ask and continued to shovel food into his mouth.

She stared at him as he ate, which was unsettling. As he finished, she said, “I can tell you have questions.”

He nodded slowly.

She waved her talons. “First, I have a question for you. What tribe are you from?”

Patton fiddled with the cat hoodie wrapped around his neck. “I’m a SilkWing.”

Jerboa looked impressed. “So you really are from the Lost Continent,” 

“The what?”

“The Lost Continent. It’s what we call the continent across the ocean. Your continent,”

He let his talons drop. Across the ocean. He had sailed across the entire ocean. He was an ocean away from his home.

He shook his head vigorously. “How did I cross the ocean?”

“On the boat you crash landed into my yard, I presume.”

Patton snickered. “I suppose.”

Jerboa wrapped her tail around her talons, and he noticed for the first time that she had a poisonous barb on the end of it. She caught him staring and tilted her head.

“You really don’t know what I am, do you?” she took his plate away and placed it on a small, stone counter. “I’m a SandWing. Most of us live in the desert, but I like it better here.” she gestured to the hut with a wing. “It’s also easier to avoid the war out here,”

Patton blinked. “The… war?”

“Right.” Jerboa shook her head. “Right now, the entire continent is in turmoil because the SandWing queen died eighteen years ago,” she sighed, as if this was a painful topic to talk about, “Queen Oasis had three daughters: Blister, Blaze, and Burn. When Oasis was killed, all three daughters wanted to be queen, but no one would step down. So they dragged all the tribes into the war,”

He curled his tail around himself, shivering. What had he gotten himself into? Sure, living in the hives wasn’t exactly a walk in the park, but a war wasn’t something he wanted to get in the middle of.

The SandWing looked sympathetic. “I know it’s tough, but you can’t stay here. The IceWing queen likes to stop by sometimes, and she definitely would take interest in you,”

“The IceWing queen?”

“Yeah. It gets annoying sometimes,”

Patton rubbed his eyes and decided not to ask. “If I can’t stay here… is there a way I can get home?” he asked hopefully.”

But Jerboa was already shaking her head. “You wouldn’t know where you would be going. You can’t just pick a direction and sail. That’s suicide. And there’s also the possibility that you could sail into enemy territory…”

“Alright, stop, you’re giving me a headache,”

Jerboa looked at the ceiling thoughtfully. “Though it’s risky, there is somewhere you could go for the time being,”

He immediately perked up. “Really?”

She nodded. “It’s called the Scorpion Den. It’s one of the few cities that haven’t been touched by the war. It’s ridden over by thieves and criminals, but a SandWing named Thorn has taken it over. It’s become a lot better now that she and the Outclaws are there,”

Patton felt disappointed, but he gave her his best smile. “Thank you, Jerboa. I’ll take your advice.”

After a few days of rest, (Jerboa insisted that he fully recover before setting out) he took some necessities and a map Jerboa had drawn him and set out for the Scorpion Den.

As the wooden hut became smaller and smaller, and eventually became too small to see, he was surprised to feel a pang of homesickness. Homesickness for the hives, for his small apartment, the tiny school he taught at. For the wooden hut he stayed in for a few days. 

He turned his eyes to the horizon, pushed away the homesickness and replaced it with determination. 

He would adjust to his new world. He would make sure of it.

Taglist: @bangchanthelegend