#well i guess the funny thing was like. if individuals have to move the roller racks to find the thing they're looking for.

[classicslesbianopinions]

[image description: a meme featuring a stock photo of library roller racks. the racks have manual cranks. impact font text on top of the meme reads, "I will die in you." end image description.]

my resolution for 2024 is to be crushed to atoms between the roller rack shelves

[kscope]

SPLATOON CHILL SEASON '22

Figured since I have the time, I may as well sit down and share my thoughts on all the things I've noticed in the new trailer for Splatoon 3's upcoming CHILL SEASON! I'll likely start just by talking about the new weapons and maps, and move into what else I noticed in the trailer and about how excited (or not) I am about certain things!

Feel free to share your own thoughts in the replies/notes !!

THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR SPLATOON 3'S CHILL SEASON TRAILER, IF YOU DON'T WISH TO BE SPOILED, GO WATCH THE VIDEO FIRST AND COME BACK! All spoilers will be located beneath the cut! But, without further ado, let's get into it:

LET'S TALK ABOUT THE NEW WEAPONS

01. NEW SHOOTER — "SPLATTERSHOT NOVA"

In the process of making this post, the Squid Research Lab posted individual renders of each of the new weapons, as well as the official names. It appears this bad-boy is actually a part of the Splattershot family, something I was both expecting and hoping I was wrong about. Personally speaking, I think we had enough -shot weapons. Not to mention enough shooters, but I'll take a cool-looking weapon where I can get it.

I had a friend describe this weapon as "edgy" looking, and I can't argue with that take, but I can say I don't mind it. Compared to the other weapons in the -shot family, it has its own stand-out look. I can't say I'll be maining this weapon, or playing it more than once or twice, but I can say that I'm excited to see how it plays and what it's gimmick is.

We don't get much screentime in the video for this, but the combination of what we do see, as well as the Twitter post from the SRL, we know a couple of things: it has killer wail, "galactic range", and pretty consistent aim. I don't have any predictions on where this will end up in the meta, but if they give it a good enough sub it may just end up being a cunt to play against, that's for sure.

02. NEW ROLLER — "BIG SWIG ROLLER"

The name is this weapon is so weird and funny that I really just want to take a moment to look at it and laugh. "Big Swig Roller". Who came up with this and why? I don't know, I don't care, but also I do. Why. Please, if you have answers, contact your local tumblr user kscope immediately.

This roller seems to be attached to a soda drink, with a straw being the connecting centerpiece of the roller as a whole. A friend of mine called this the "soda roller" thanks to this, and I'm stealing it from her, since it's befitting. If you ask me, this appears to be some weird mix between the dynamo roller (turf coverage) and the carbon roller (speed). The little bit of screentime it gets in the trailer shows off how much ground it covers, as well as its supposed speed.

The SRL post on Twitter tells us that it can cover a lot of ground, with very little ink consumption. This leads me to believe this is primarily going to be a turf-covering weapon, as opposed to being a damage-dealer. More likely than not, roller-crushing your enemies with this weapon won't be a thing. If they want to prove me wrong though, they can. There's still time, Nintendo.

As for the kit for this thing, I have no idea. It primarily seems to be used as a turfing weapon, so they'll probably give it something to compliment its speed and coverage. If not for Dynamo, I'd have guessed Tacticooler since it'd be good for special-farming. Without that, little clue, little idea. Thank God I'm not a roller player.

03. NEW CHARGER — "SNIPEWRITER 5H"

AS A CHARGER MAIN: I hate this stupid looking charger. I do not claim this stupid looking charger. I don't know whose ungodly design this was. Nintendo I am knocking on your HQ doors right now for answers. Let me in. I just want to talk.

All that aside, I do kind of like its name, and I like the idea. It reminds me of those pencils with different tips stored inside it, if you know what I'm getting at. I won't include a picture, but it's the ones that sometimes came in different shapes and were stackable. If you know you know.

As for the execution, I'm not a fan. This weapon is what happens when you ask charger players what they want in a weapon, but only listen to the Bamboozler mains. It got the most screentime out of all the new weapons, and from that we can see that this thing is capable of storing up to 5 shots, while being a 2-shot kill. Whether or not it has held-charge was never shown in the trailer, but I'm going to hope and pray to the Splatoon Gods that it does not.

What we do know, however, is that it has Tacticooler. I wanted this on a charger, any charger, but now that I have it I would do anything to take it back. This game fucking hates me. End post. Wait, actually, it also has a sub that has pretty high ink-consumption. Which one that is, however, is still unknown.

04. RETURNING WEAPONS

In conjunction to these three completely new weapons, we also got a peek at a couple of the returning weapons. According to the press release, we're getting a total of ten returning weapons. We didn't get a glimpse at all of them but the ones we did are as follows (alongside what I know of their kits):

DAPPLE DUALIES NOUVEAU (w/ torpedo)

ANOTHER MINI SPLATLING (w/ toxic mist & big bubbler)

TENTATEK SPLATTERSHOT (w/ splat bomb)

LUNA BLASTER NEO (w/ fizzy bomb)

FORGE SPLATTERSHOT PRO (w/ suction & booyah bomb)

LET'S TALK ABOUT THE NEW MAPS

It looks like this time, we're only getting two new maps (one of which is just a returning map from Splatoon 1). Nonetheless, let's get into it.

01. NEW MAP — "BRINEWATER SPRINGS"

My friends and I are constantly talking about how The Reef might get re-added to the game and everything, but this map kind of reminds me of it. Not in terms of its aesthetics (they are completely different in that regard), but rather in terms of their design.

In the Twitter post showing off the map, the SRL wrote "Defend the high ground or risk it all to invade from below?" From the video, it appears to have a central bridge, much like the reef, with an open area beneath it. This map, to me, is what would happen if you took The Reef and Snapper Canal, combined them, and then gave them a completely new aesthetic look.

Oddly enough, I don't hate it and I'm really excited to play it. It looks like it'll have a lot of verticality to it, and hopefully won't inspire every sweaty player to try to terrorize my spawn every chance they get.

02. RETURNING MAP — "FLOUNDER HEIGHTS"

I'll preface my opinions here by saying that: yes, I did play Splatoon 1. However, I played it briefly before 3 came out, which means that it was underpopulated. I also didn't play it much, and usually when I did, the same maps were always in rotation. I think I landed on Flouder Heights a total of one time, and that one time was a hot mess. I played with my Splatoon Veteran friends who were sniping me from places on the map I didn't know existed.

That is to say: this map is basically completely new to me.

Right now, it looks like Flounder Heights got Manta-ified. The walls that we're shown in the Twitter video supplied by SRL look to be about the same height as the walls out of camp in Manta Maria. For a map titled "Flounder Heights," I almost wish they would have kept the taller walls and the verticality.

Of course, I'm not complaining about the decluttering of the map as a whole. From what I do remember of it from 1, it was a total clusterfuck of a map, and terrible to navigate. This is coming from someone who was new to the game, walking backwards from Splatoon 2 to Splatoon 1, but at the same time, I don't think it was completely just the perspective that was an issue. I think Flounder Heights was really just Like That in 1, and that 3 is looking to fix that in part.

I just wish it had fixed it without removing "Heights" from the name of the map. But, I suppose beggars can't be choosers. At the end of the day, it still looks like a fun map! Hopefully it'll still be a fun map to snipe people on when it officially releases.

LET'S TALK ABOUT THE NEW GEAR

Attempt two at this! Tumblr fucking sucks as a website and completely undid the list I was working on, so I had to start from scratch. I am saving this time, because I was a fool not to. I am very upset, but we will pretend like I am not as we get into this. I'll be making a list of new & returning gear, in order from headgear, to clothing, to shoes.

HEADGEAR

skull bandana (RETURNING)

sv925 circle shades (RETURNING)

retro specs variant (NEW)

fake contacts (RETURNING)

white ocho octophones (NEW)

jellyvader cap (RETURNING)

annaki beret (RETURNING)

battlecrab helmet (NEW)

CLOTHES

inkwash shirt (RETURNING)

tan apex sweater (NEW)

new (light) kensa jersey (NEW) [ 1 ]

white ls shirt (UNKNOWN) [ 2 ]

black ls shirt (UNKNOWN) [ 3 ]

ski jacket variant (NEW)

dark bomber jacket (RETURNING)

inverse orca bolero (NEW)

SHOES

blue force reboots (NEW)

squink wingtips (RETURNING)

splatoon ugg boots (NEW)

new black shoes (NEW) [ 4 ]

ink-white clam 600s (NEW)

gold hi-horses (RETURNING)

black habaneros (NEW)

new kensa shoes (NEW) [ 5 ]

[ 1 ] — I'm not certain on this one, but in the thumbnail of the trailer, the inkling holding the new charger is the same inkling that has the splattershot pro in the gameplay. The view of his outfit in the video is abysmal so I took it upon myself to look at the thumbnail instead. It strikes a resemblance to a piece of gear that was hinted at in the Splatoon 3 pre-release Halloween art.

[ 2 ] & [ 3 ] — These are just two shirts that I can't figure out the brand of. I've decided not to try to name them, since I don't really know anything about them at all. The white one seems to be a button-down (I think?), whereas the black one resembles a sweater to me. Either way, pictures are below.

[ 4 ] — Same situation as the last one, kind of. I can tell they're new for the most part, but they're just completely black. I want to say they're Kensa shoes just because there's a fuckton of Kensa gear coming in, but I can't tell, so I'm not gonna say it. The dualies player in the above images is wearing the shoes in question.

[ 5 ] — Meanwhile, these are very obviously Kensa shoes, they're just Kensa shoes I haven't encountered yet. I don't know what to name them because of this. Peep the white Kensa symbol in the middle.

ANNNNND that's all I've got for ya. I spent too long writing this. I spent too much time on this in general. Tomorrow they're gonna post something on Twitter (if it still exists) that fills in something I'm missing (the kits). I don't care anymore.

Oh yeah, also: BIG RUN!!!!!!! FUCK YEAH BIG RUN!!!!!! Anyways:

THANKS FOR READING!

[washymylifeaway]

Haikyuu SakuAtsu fanfic recs: series edition ;)

ALRIGHT LOVES, BUCKLE UP! IM FORCING MYSELF TO FIND MOTIVATION LOL

As I was making that cursed SakuAtsu fanfic rec post (it really is cursed, but it’ll get done eventually cause I do love the SakuAtsu too much, when tho? only god know LOL), I decided that if I’m gonna finish it, imma have to break it up. SO that’s why this is our lovely series edition post LOL. Originally, it WAS writers, tags, series, then single fics BUT I decided to scrap tags and even then I was like it’s too long..... And so, this post materialized LOL (mayhaps writers next? who knows anymore cause I certainly don’t LOL). These are ONLY some of the series that I absolutely adore, and I say some because 1) the tag is literally like 4k fics long and I was on like page 20 something and I have SO many tabs open rn for SakuAtsu, so chances are I missed one or five LOL :’((((( and 2) my ao3 account hasn’t been made yet (should’ve done this a looooooong time ago) and so I don’t have them all saved anywhere :( (these just sound like excuses LMFAO) So these are just the ones I saw and was like OOP I LOVE and then added LOL (and so they’re in no particular order hehe). I also didn’t *** any of them cause they’re all so freakin good and even if you randomly chose one, you will not be disappointed.

As per usual, pls check WARNINGS, TAGS, and SUMMARIES for series and each individual fic before reading and make sure you’re taking care of yourselves (since mental health is key!) Stay healthy loves <3

I would also be more careful cause there are a lot more TW in these fics than other ships!

Terminal Curiosity by favspacetwink, moonlumie (E) // CHECK WARINGS, TAGS, and SUMMARIES!!! this is one of the BEST series I’ve read for this ship and even though I tend not to read WIP, IT’S WORTH IT! Please read ALL the tags before going into any of the fics in this series because there’s some real spicy stuff that may not be your cup of tea!

your highs and lows by astroeulogy (T,M,E) // this fic made me go on a roller coaster of feels from start to (tentative) finish :))) It’s great and I love it AHHHHH The progression in their relationship is just so ajfkjsf, and I just adore how Atsumu just broke(?) during that first fic and the number of double takes he did, v relatable LOL.

Different Kinds of Dysfunctional by DeathBelle (T,E) // I LOVE the entrance to this fic and how it flowed so well. I think Atsumu is characterized really well throughout this series (I could totally see Atsumu bringing the same thing up over and over again LOL), and his development was done beautifully (You just want to make me say it.,,, Kinda, yeah.). I really freakin love this series so please go ahead and read it don’t be shy hehehe.

we call everything on the ice, "love" by awkwardedgeworth (T) // I LOVE this fic omg,,, it’s in series, but it’s only two fics LOL... Anyway, Notte Stellata is one of my favorite SakuAtsu fics and I have reread it way TOO many times and the fanpage fic IS SO AMAZING (AND FUNNY ASF PLS). I really love ice skating AU’s too so this really made this ‘series’ all the more better <333333

know you better & related stories by theglitterati (T,M,E) // this is definitely one of the best relationship development series I’ve read, I love it so much! It really touches all the bases, and the progression is just SO good. It really is the fic version of the get along shirt, extended edition LOL.

flutterbird (a collection of sakuatsu one-shots) by wordstruck (T,M,E) // this series is such an easy pick up because it’s a bunch of one-shots (esp. if you’re not into smut cause there is some), BUT all of them are def worth a read. Personally, the third one, the sakusa kiyoomi listography, is my favorite (cause imma sucker for Sakusa), but that’s just personal preference hehe :)

Atsumu + Sakusa + The National = ? by isaksara (syailendra) (T,M) // this is another stand alone fic series but with AUs :D I don’t even know like most (ie. all) of the references (LMFAO), but I still read all of them LOL. Again, a personal favorite (without any references LOL) is the second one, famous angels (never come through england), it’s really funny and good and I just love it okay?

Better For Us Both by abrandnewheart (M) // (this was CP from my angst fic rec post LOL tho it is slightly edited cause istg my writing style changes every post LOL) THE MUG FIC. There is a sequel and when I saw it, it took me another week to read it cause I was like,,, am I ready to have my heart break again? No LOL. But the sequel is actually not as angst (but there’s still angst), so if you want to be like semi-broken or whatever, just read the sequel LOL (also it’s Sakusa POV HEHE). It’s so sad and it made me physically hurt every time someone even mentioned mugs afterwards (LOL why am I so dramatic but it’s the truth :///). Go ahead and hurt with me. You should read it even if you don’t like angst because you know what they say, no pain no gain :’)

parallax error: angle of inclination by min_mintobe (T) // okay so technically this ‘isn’t a series’, but it is two fic that are related, and what is that if not A SERIES :DDDDD Anyway, I really love this fic enough that I would find loopholes in my own dang post to recommend it LOL. I really love the service ace bet between Sakusa and Atsumu (I do think it is a superior headcannon (it’s hc right?)) but I also love what’s left unsaid by both in each other’s POVs hehe. If you want to go straight to Sakusa’s POV (cause their different POVs of the same fic), here it is parallax error: line of sight. You can read either first, but I recommend you read both eventually :)

to make any other mistake by honeymilktea (rosevtea) (T) // I, myself, am a very big fan of college Haikyuu (tho idk if it seems like that LOL), and this fic is very much up my alley hehe. I really like the idea that they are both TA’s and that Atsumu would totally bribe Sakusa into fake dating him as well as Sakusa wearing his brightest outfits to spite Atsumu.

How Do You Know? by awkwardedgeworth (T) // these fics are both so funny omg. The google search histories, the trial and error, and just everything in these two fics gives me so much dopamine LOL. There’s one POV for both end of the ship, though their tragedies are slightly different.

the human disaster chronicles by firtree (G,T) // is this another Atsumu gay panic fic? Yes, yes it is and I have absolutely no shame in recommending it hehe. I realllllllly like this fic and Atsumu having a break down cause Sakusa didn’t follow his routine? It is the move. Anyway, pls read this series cause like the title suggests, it really is a disaster (but at least there’s love right? LOL).

I Love You (Though it's Inadvisable) by Anubis_2701 (T) // okay the series itself is a wip (as in only one fic for now LOL), but the fic is so good, I couldn’t leave it off :))))) First, I do love a good soulmate AU and although I’m not a big fan on the body switching AUs, THIS one was SO good!!! It gets really cheesy and fluff at the end, but the beginning of this fic was just so immaculate, that we’re gonna ignore how much the ending made me want to stick my head into a hole (cause it was so FLUFF OMG).

The Germaphobe and the Asshole by metaandpotatoes (T,E) // so this series is also actually a WIP, but it’s okay I only read the first and the last one anyway cause they’re basically stand alone’s LOL. This series focuses a lot on Sakusa’s mysophobia, so if you’re not a fan of the hc, you should prolly pass hehe. TBH, my favorite is the third one, Avoidance Behavior, but that’s mainly cause I really like SunaOsa and I love the brother bond in it!

you are the cause of my euphoria by SugarHighs (T) // ajsfljksadhjkdfk is my first thoughts while reading this series cause ATSUMU WOULD. He would start posting thirst trap pics (which really reminded me of Wonho) in order to prove he was the most good looking member of MSBY. Tho, we do love the clowning of one Sakusa Kiyoomi, as done in the third fic (PLEASE NUMBER 17 AND Cheezel). Even if you can’t get yourself to read the other fics, read the third one, 5 Ways To Tell If The Person You're Dating Is The One, for the free serotonin boost plsplspls.

'basis' - noun. the underlying foundation for an idea or process. by auvelli (T) // like I said, college AU is a great AU, love it. This one, I do love indeed. We do stan having microwaves and mini fridges hehe. I support the ramen endeavors but oatmeal is gross, I said what I said. Anyway, I love the tags in the second fic, so even if you don’t end up reading it, read the tags,,,, they’re funny okay?

and i press you to the pages of my heart by volchitsae (T) // I LOVE THIS ONE, teehee again the college AU makes another appearance LOL. I REALLY love this writer, and this one is so funny but cute at the same time. It’s another two POV fic, but you’ll want to read this one in order hehe. Again, the ending is so FLUFF, that my head wanted to take a visit to the underground BUT ITS OKAY.

affection and acid reflux by volchitsae (T) // so the first fic is ~angst~ but IT GETS BETTER OKAY, happy endings. HAPPY ENDINGS. Anyway, there’s some really cute Sakusa in this one (esp. when he talks to the boy at the village LOVE HIM) and a healthy amount of angst as well. I really like this fic and guess what it is? Say it with me, COLLEGE AU LOL.

how big the hourglass, how deep the sand by volchitsae (E) // did I just recommend the same writer three times in a row? Yup and I think that says something LOL (tbh I like some of their stand alone fics more tho LMFAO but that doesn’t mean these series are bad nononono not at ALL (this sounded sarcastic but that was not the intention LOL)). This one is ~magical~ (v literally) and has some kinky stuff (holy water ftw) in it, so tread carefully :) I would make sure to read the tags before each one because it gets kinda steamy LOL.

^^ if I had to choose between these three, I liked and i press you to the pages of my heart the most just cause the plot was my type LOL. But they’re all good hehe.

a study on you(th) and reverie by sieges (G,T) // this series is such a sad series :( The first two are the only SakuAtsu but the third one is an angst Osamu one so there’s that LOL (and ofc the fourth one is KuniYama (is that their ship name idk)) But the first one is a moving on fic (which I liked) and the second is like basically a fake break up (which I liked more LOL) and both have some nice shares of angst and fluff so choose your battles wisely (or just read both LOL).

Burden of Blame by DeathBelle (E) // CHECK WARINGS, TAGS, and SUMMARIES!!! ah yes, the mafia fic LOL. I REALLY LOVE THIS FIC. I felt so bad for Atsumu the entire fic and yes it is, ATSUMU BEST BOY time. Did I really just recommend this series AGAIN for the THIRD TIME in THREE SEPARATE POSTS? Apparently LMFAO I didn’t even know TBH LOL. I just really like this one,,,,,, okay? But pls Atsumu just here for the ride man cause he BEST BOY. Anyway, if you want to see my other comments of this fic that I forgot I did links here :D (links and here are two separate links to two separate posts LOL).

OKAY so that’s most of the series that I saw and was like gotta put this here LOL. And do you see how long this is (I know I’m missing so many series I like istg when I find them later imma cry or just make another post LOL).... Can you imagine how long my actual fic fic one is LOL (i’m not kidding tho it’s so long I might just do fics with their actual summaries instead of adding my invalid, piss poor reviews :/). Ugh the more I think about it, the more I lose motivation to finish LMFAO, so imma go be no thoughts head empty, but I hope you enjoyed reading these series! I love SakuAtsu SO much, so there’s lots more to come (is that good or bad idek). I know I was kinda lazy on the warnings (my bad), so I hope you all were attentive and made sure to check before reading! Also if there are any errors, send me a message/ask! PLS, they’re v embarrassing LOL. (Also tell me if I forget to cap my I’s bc I do that sometimes and I can’t tell cause of the font LMFAO.) The way my posts get slightly more chaotic every time I post LOL.

[vaguely-gestures-to-the-void]

Hindsight: My thoughts on Loki (2021)

Welcome back! Spoilers below!

I need to clarify that I watch Loki purely as an escape. I've got a biased perspective in that regard because I don’t actively try to find fault with the show, though there are definitely things I’m not so inclined to. This is more of what I noticed and think things mean and it’s something I’m doing for fun. Anyways, here's my thoughts on episode 2 my loves.

Episode 2: THE VARIANT

Pre-title scene

Miss Minutes’ monologue in the recap is different to the one last ep.

1985 Oshkosh, Wisconsin

C-20!

“Today’s guest performances” on a board. Don’t really know if it means anything tho.

The Iconic (TM) I Need A Hero scene.

Pony.

The green tent - the lair of Loki.

I know not everyone’s a fan of the lighting, but it made sense to me. They’re still in the dark about who Sylvie is.

Why does C-20 take off her helmet? For the drama?

I hope Sylvie cleaned her blade. Narnia taught me well.

The Time Samsung (I can’t remember what it’s called right now) says that the date’s 04/12/1985.

Loki’s first mission (?)

‘Volume 26’ - how many of these does Mobius have?? #giveMobiusajetski

“ONLY at your LOCAL AUTHORIZED DEALER” - subtext about the TVA being control freaks? Jet ski safety?

I googled Wake Magazine. They’re up to volume 20 from what I saw, whilst Loki is reading volume 26, so I guess that’s something

Loki and Miss Minutes lmaooo.

Behind Loki’s elbow is the taxidermy something from the last episode. Also confirms that Loki threatened Casey at Mobius’ desk lol.

The thing has an egg?? What the hell is Mobius collecting? (He’s a Harry Hart variant lmao).

There are little twitches in Miss Minnutes’ hands. That’s so cool!

The egg timer’s a nice easter egg (I’m a comedian).

Mobius! B-15! :)

Is it just me or do the minutemen look similar, but not exactly the same. Makes sense if they’re variants.

I just realised the lights are built into the ceiling. Whoops.

What’s Mobius’ favourite?

Couple of things:

The racks full of identical uniforms/ones just hung up on doors.

The music has started to pick up the pace, but not in the way we see later on in the episode.

There’s a sign saying ‘FARE THEE WELL’ on it. Google tells me that it’s ‘used to express good wishes on parting’. Dang that was some good foreshadowing!

The person that looks like Agatha is still present.

I wonder whether it was supposed to be colder or whether the weather was just like that when they filmed.

The pony’s still around.

I think B-15 certainty that “a Loki couldn’t have gotten the jump of C-20” comes from her experience with them. She constantly tries to make it clear that because she’s not a variant, she’d know Loki better than he would, which (personally) makes the revelation that she’s a variant feel more devastating.

Again with the lighting, they’re still in partial darkness, constantly moving in and out of the light. Whilst what Loki says about the variant setting a trap is true, it isn’t in the context that he says it. Sylvie whoops their asses later.

The black and red-orange flags remind me of tomb markers. It’s a stretch, ik.

B-15 only has tally marks on one side of her helmet.

Mobius has fake pockets in his suit jacket. They’re the worst.

The ticking increasing in tempo as they approach red line - great for setting up tension.

I believe that Loki uses personal space like a weapon - slowly approaching them from the front, and then going behind Mobius’ back when he wants his way. It would make anyone uncomfortable, especially on a subconscious level because there’s a threat behind you.

Or maybe it’s that I have different personal space boundaries, not everyone likes being approached from behind. Loki’s movement felt intentional at least.

Getting Mobius to physically turn his way because of that might have been very subtle manipulation?

Loki looking back and forth trying to judge their reactions lol.

I liked the music in this scene, it sets up tension for Loki’s first attempt at betraying Mobius but then doesn’t completely dismiss it when it’s resolved.

Ravonna Renslayer’s office

The music here is 18 morceaux, Op. 72, No. 2. Berceuse. 18 morceaux, Op. 72: No. 2, Berceuse (Arr. For Theremin and piano) by Clara Rockmore for anyone that’s curious. I found out through Natalie Holt’s Twitter (I think).

The score is, and always will be, perfection.

Mobius’ small talk amuses me.

“Why do you get to keep all the trophies from my cases in here, you don’t think I’d love having that roller skate?” Mobius, what about the thing on the shelf behind your desk????

Ravonna seems like she’s answered these questions before, but she has a fondness for him that makes me think they’re good friends.

Also does Ravonna have multiple complete collections of the Encyclopaedia Britannica in her office? What are those books??

“I hope it’s a double.” Me too Mobius, me too (drink responsibly).

I don’t get how people think Mobius doesn’t remember leaving the stains. It sounded like Ravonna was chiding him for a bad habit and Mobius just made up a remark, not confusion.

Although he does place the cup at a different spot to the rings.

The ship flying past in the windows is a wonderful detail.

“The variant likes to stall for time.” It's very satisfying to me how everything stays relevant. Every detail advances the plot/contributes to it.

“Look, I know you have a soft spot for broken things.”

“I don’t think so-”

“Yes you do.”

Both Mobius and Ravonna only look at the middle figure when referring to the time Keepers. Either the other two are side-lined or don’t contribute at all.

“I’ll delete him myself.” At this point in time, I think Mobius is serious. As the episode progresses, his status may have changed, especially after the Jet Ski philosophy session.

Ravonna’s sash on the peg reminds me of the ones the people talking to Casey were wearing in episode 1.

Man those doors are so cool.

Peak sitting outside the principal’s office energy.

Mobius whistles at Loki as opposed to talking to him like he does later.

Any screen shot from the following scene is pristine chaotic disaster bi Loki energy featuring tired-of-your-tomfoolery Mobius.

“Isn’t that precisely why I’m here?” This marked a change in Loki to me. Up until that point, he’d tried to use what he’d known, who he’d been by scheming his way to the Time Keepers. By admitting he wasn’t sure of his purpose, we’re back with the person at the end of the last episode. It’s very Loki to try all avenues to get what he wants, and after having his world turned upside-down a few times in a short period, maybe he just wanted the familiarity of his old tricks, who he thinks he is.

Loki tensing up and then trying to assert control again reaffirms what I just said.

Man, give Mobius a holiday after all of this. Loki really tested him, huh?

Loki definitely likes validation on some level.

TVA archives (a.k.a the Salad Scene)

I can’t believe that place really exists. The looks combined with the music are just *chef kisses*.

I’m not sure if I’m thinking of the right progression, but the music reminds me of a plagal cadence. Google examples and play it side-by-side, you’ll get what I mean, maybe someone knows what it really is?

On either side of the elevators near the Time Keeper statues are the signs TVA archives.

The symmetry pleases my goblin brain.

I believe the entire show was just flexing the skills of the Loki crew and I couldn’t be happier.

“Pretend your life depends on it. I’m gonna get a snack.” This was so funny in the trailers but Mobius is dead serious (delete him myself comment). And he couldn’t even enjoy his salad.

Love that the end of credits takes from some of the scenes in episode 2.

The archivist has neat glasses.

I want some TVA stationary y’all.

It’s that moment fam.

I can’t be the only one curious by the ‘DISPLACED by 000:000:002:162’. Is that in Units? It would explain why the time line looks slightly bendy whenever we see it, especially if Apocalypses are so frequent.

IT’S THE SALAD LADS!

Mobius is reading the magazine that Loki was looking at earlier. Jet skis are Mobius’ comfort character.

“Don’t set fire to the palace.”

Tom Hiddleston has so much energy, he can move so fast.

“Oh God.” - Mobius, Null Time Zone

“YOU.” - Casey, Null Time Zone

Casey!

No thoughts, head empty, the Salad (TM).

But seriously, people only seem to be at their tables with others that work in a similar section. Not hunters and analysts eating in tandem to me, folks.

Oh Casey. Please don’t hurt him.

Aw, Mobius’ little giggle warmed my heart. Owen Wilson’s giving me whiplash with Mobius. My heart can’t take this y’all.

79 AD Pompeii, Italy

They’re both so giddy, Your Honour, I love them.

Mobius snuck them out lol.

“Bird noises?”

“BE FREE MY HORNED FRIENDS, BE FREE!” The post wouldn’t be complete without this.

Loki just throwing food at people and telling them “...enjoy your last meal while you can” is top tier comedy to me.

This is the first time we see Loki openly say nothing matters. I feel like the case file on the destruction of Asgard really pushed him to treat fate as unchangeable.

LXXIX is 79. Nice one Loki crew!

Mobius’ eye twitching as he checks the variance is a nice touch.

Loki throws away the stick that was holding the goat pen closed at the end.

TVA Archives, TVA cafeteria

Mobius picked up those files so smoothly I had to re-watch it.

Their position reflected what they were talking about - when Loki thinks it’s his individual contribution, he’s walking separately to Mobius, but they meet up when working together. I loved the blocking in that little moment.

I seriously thought that Loki was unconscious when I first saw him asleep around Mobius. I’ll admit it, it felt out-of-character for someone with such bad trust issues. Both of them seem pretty tired tho.

It’s the Jet Ski conversation comrades!

I’m beaming. Mobius talking about Jet Skis was the only time I’ve really remembered it’s Owen Wilson talking. It’s such a fun line to think about!

Loki’s smile. Adorable.

Just go watch the scene, it’ll give you good brain juices.

Mobius does it all for the Jet Skis and nothing else. I don’t make the rules, the Time Keepers do.

“My own glorious purpose.” This is a recurring theme in the season. Ultimately, I think that Loki is going to run for as long as it brings in money/until Loki gets killed again. However, I do like to think that in following seasons we’ll move beyond setting up Phase 4 Marvel stuff and just get deep dives into Loki’s character, though it may happen in the later eps or not be as interesting. Part of what made this show so interesting is the new setting in the Marvel universe but it’s hard to make predictions as to whether it will last in a show featuring the God of Mischief. Whatever happens, I’m happy that we got to see Loki’s existential crisis together, lads.

The music picks up, signalling that this quiet moment is about to end.

“No one bad is ever truly bad. And no one good is every truly good.”

“Scared little boy.”

These lines mean a lot to me. Loki perceives Mobius as an equal, similar to himself but not completely identical. The TVA’s whole aesthetic is Kafkaesque (Disney+ used that word), the imperfections keeping the place from looking mechanical and orderly like what the TVA promotes itself to be. Loki wants Mobius to acknowledge it, but Mobius is in the past, not addressing what’s right in front of him, surrounding him. That’s probably because Mobius doesn’t believe, he accepts what he’s been told though Loki wants to change that. He’s still focused on his job, the variant. I don’t think Mobius will struggle against change in the ‘belief’ part as long as things are rational.

Kate Herron (director) said that the Kablooie scene was improv which makes me wish we had more B roll of Owen and Tom. They seem so professional, invested and fun on set.

“No wonder you’re so bitter.” I’m sorry Mobius you sound as salty as your salad.

‘Artificially flavoured chewing gum’ Has something happened causing artificial flavouring to be preferred?

‘Blue’ has canonically changed to ‘Bloo’ by 2050 in America in the MCU. I blame capitalism.

Why does Mobius look so tiny? I say that like Owen Wilson wouldn’t look like a giant next to me lol.

Owen Wilson is 3.5 inches (9 centimetres) shorter than Tom Hiddleston. Yet he is dwarfed as Mobius. I need to stop talking about this and move on.

There’s no ‘variance energy detected’ line in the report.

“You’re gonna take my job if I’m not careful.” Loki looks so chuffed.

One day, I’ll properly address my thoughts on the shipping. Until then, I just want no one to die.

“Yeah, he’s doing great.” Mobius is so hyped. Good for him.

Owen Wilson has dimples.

Ravonna’s screen doesn’t show the timeline like it does later.

Ravonna is the done mom friend. Sane, undeserving of this, please give her a jet ski moment.

Buckle up folks because the last twenty minutes of this episode are my favourite so far.

At 34 minutes in, we get the music fading in with “Okay. But Mobius...” and a transition to my favourite composition so far. Natalie Holt outdid herself. The soundtrack is nearly constant, there’s no break for a moment of clarity anymore. The progression of events is inevitable, tying the bow on a plot line created in an hour and a half. The little embellishment from the strings (possibly) as Mobius and Loki exit is perfect. Combined with Loki’s raised fist leading to a pan to the ceiling, it prepared the audience for everything being turned upside down.

The changing camera angles and shot lengths (the continuous shot when B-15 takes the knives, the circling behind as the briefing occurs) keep viewers on their toes. The continuous shot is fluid, B-15 doesn’t look at Loki or Mobius, her reaction is natural and that just proves that the timing on that scene was impeccable. The circling behind reminded me of Loki positioning himself behind Mobius as he did earlier, but now he’s on the same side, part of the team though he continues to distinguish between himself and the variant. The building sensation that change is coming is met by the incredible swell in the music as we watch the picturesque Haven Hills get destroyed by modern technology and face the terrifying reality that is the Roxxcart store. There’s a close up on the Roxxcart storefront with school buses with the words ‘Evacuation shuttle’ in the background as we see the TVA’s minutemen come out reinforcing that even when the end is nigh, large corporations will loom over. A storm is raging with worse to come. I can go on and on, but you get the point.

2050 Roxxcart Disaster

I love that y’all are calling this the Alabama supermarket breakup. Makes me chuckle, that’s for sure.

I too hate when people can hear my footsteps. Someone that gets the struggle.

Sylvie places the TVA Samsung over a Roxxcart Security manual. She’s overridden both and is in control.

The date is 03/15/2050.

I think that the way the Hunters and minutemen hold their baton things is so that they don’t get yeeted. Neat.

As always, the beats are slick yo.

I hope the Azaleas guy gets some Azaleas wherever he ended up.

I love the way Loki says “In this storm.” It’s so satisfying for no real reason.

The wonderful Wunmi Mosaku does not get the recognition she deserves for this scene. She switched from B-15 to Sylvie so effortlessly. They’re two distinct characters, her facial expressions, body language everything changed in that instant. Even from the one line, “No, they usually survive,” her delivery had changed in a way that was noticeable. It’s uncanny, exactly what was needed when facing a foe that remained unseen. And the smile? It’s before we know the variant as Sylvie, so naturally it’s that signature Loki smile with a hint of malice we associate with the variant. Damn y’all, Wunmi’s incredible! I really hope she’s recognised for being so talented in this series, if not in all her other work!

Mobius really cares about those people. I really want his redemption (?) arc.

It’s been pointed out that even in those conditions, Roxxcart were selling blankets and water. I think it means that by 2050, cash would be defunct. If only electronic payment existed, as long as there’s electricity they can run a business. Chew on that.

If the man they speak to is 50 to 60, he was a 90s kid.

There must be a difference in the reprogramming or kind of variant selected to be a hunter as compared to an analyst. The Hunters look after their own, but the analysts (or Mobius) go as far as empathising with variants.

C-20 is sitting in front of safety standards.

“A bit amateurish.” Loki knows that the variant isn’t as skilled with magic as he is.

As Loki and the possessed people walk, the lighting becomes brighter. He’s moving out of the shadows.

Me too Loki, I’m worried about B-15 too.

Sylvie unironically saying bless is hilarious.

Randy must be hella tall.

There’s a low angle shot as Loki and Randy face off with the flickering light above with a sign hanging above them like a sword of Damocles and a physical separation. Terror is nearly constant in Loki's life now, but he responds by letting go of his drive to survive.

The subtle swells in the music just add to my rising blood pressure.

C-20’s voice over is sad lads.

“I wanna go home,” we know she’s not referring to the TVA.

Mobius seems like a caring person.

When B-15 sits up and searches the room, I think it’s her realisation. Her shiver was from fear and shock, the music wasn’t about her not seeing Loki, it was about the TVA and what had happened to her.

The head snap and the score timing matching. So satisfying.

“I would never treat me like this. Hi.” I think that’s Loki realising that his foe is not willing to talk their way through conflict.

This fight scene contradicts all the magic we see later ik, but if he didn’t want to hurt anyone and was trying to draw out the real enemy it made sense.

Some of Sylvie’s powers must come into the people she possesses. The guy punched a glass screen and didn’t even bleed.

“I have shit to do.” Sylvie wasn’t raised with court etiquette (from what we know) and her lexical choice reflects that.

Dell computers survive into 2050 in the MCU. So do those robot dogs and Roombas. I am only happy about the Roombas. Where did the real dogs go? :(

“Mobius.”

“Where is he?”

“I lost him.”

“What happened?”

“I...”

Until now, B-15’s delivery has felt slightly rhythmic, like she was used to having the same arguments, particularly with Mobius. When she trails off however, I think it’s her trying to rationalise what she’s been through with Sylvie’s possession. Her devotion to the TVA was rooted in the fact that she wasn’t a variant, her life had a purpose and it was intentional. This must have rocked her, I’m invested in where she’ll go.

THE CUT TO BLACK OH GOOD GOSH.

Sylvie, my queen. I’d roll off a cliff for her.

The person with the moustache (you know the one) has pure fear on his face.

Ravonna knows what’s up.

And so do you, yes it’s the music, go listen to it.

THE RED LIGHTING

The zoom out to that incredible hallway shot and then stopping behind the time door. It was never about him after all, he was in the background of her plans.

Sylvie’s wave in Roxxcart vs. Loki’s on the train. Discuss.

The blackout, thunder and Loki’s pause under the flickering red and white light, do y’all really want me to talk about the s y m b o l i s m????

He’s conflicted, you know it, I know it, Mobius knows it.

Speaking of Mobius, there he is, we cut back to Loki and see him make his decision, zooming back in on him.

And with that final flourish in the score, we are done with episode 2!

Cue the most amazing end credits score you’ll ever hear.

Do yourself a favour, listen to all of it, including the part after the main credits, both are Works. Of. Art.

Ep 2 review

In case you didn’t notice, this is my favourite episode so far. There are parts I didn’t take to as much, but details from the previous episode being used in the plot as well as others being explained by Sylvie in episode 3. Rewatching it was easier than episode 1 though it left me wanting more. It will get more interesting from here, but until then, that was a fun romp.

See y'all next time. I hope whoever's reading this has a wonderful day!

Part 1, Episode 1 extend review link:

[nights-lament]

RWBY Volume 8, Chapter 1 Thoughts and Opinions

HELLO, INTERWEBS!!! At long last, we are back with more RWBY, and with it, more RWBY Thoughts and Opinions! After the absolute roller coaster that was Volume 7's cliffhanger finale, I can not imagine the insanity that awaits us this Volume. So, without further ado, here are my various thoughts and opinions on Chapter 1 of RWBY Volume 8, "Divide"

SPOILERS BELOW:

Hmm, starting off with a mysterious woman scrubbing floors, and...wait, is that...no...

I really like the way they juxtapose Cinder scrubbing with her scratching the chair. Very symbolic.

Yick, something about organic architecture just gives me the willies. I mean, is the whale aware that they double as a building complex? Can they feel the diabolical ongoings of it's rib cage? Creepy stuff.

Oof, outright taking credit for grabbing the relic, Cinder? Yeah, no way that's going to bite you in the ass.

Oh my. Mercury, Emerald, AND Hazel have new looks this season. I'm sure I'll warm up to them eventually, but right now Emerald's and Hazel's aren't really doing this. For Hazel, the outfit is all right, but the hair is a bit boring compared to his originals. Mercury's is ok, but is it just me, or is he basically wearing Yang's V4-6 outfit? I mean, it works, but still.

"Without you, I am nothing." That...didn't sound like the first time she's said that. It almost sounds like something Salem's drilled into her head for years. Cinder may be irredeemable in my opinion, but I do love a good tragic backstory.

You know, I guess would make sense for the crater to be the slums area. Can't imagine living directly under a floating landmass would be considered prime real estate.

Ooh, this old man has badger paws. I don't think we've seen that kind of Faunus trait yet.

D'aaww, Nora gave Oscar a soft hug rather than her usual glomp. So cute ^-^

I'm interested in how Oscar not telling them about Oz is going to play out.

Ok, their is a lot going on in this bar-base worth talking about, but for some reason I am fascinated by the picture of (i'm assuming) the founders in the background. What interesting designs they have. I feel like they have a story, and I would like to hear it.

Penny's dejected demeanor is giving me all of the feels Q_Q

Not sure how I feel about the rift forming between RWBYJNRO, though I guess we'll have to see where it goes. At least we have people like Jaune playing mediator.

I will say, though, I look forward to seeing Ren and Nora apart. As much as I love them as a couple, I'd very much like to see them operate as individuals.

God, Ironwood trying to manipulate Penny like that.

And there it is. Ironwood has truly revealed his true feelings, and his motivation for his attempt to launch Atlas. He isn't making a tactical retreat in order to form a new plan altogether. He's abandoning the fight altogether, leaving Remnant to die so that he and Atlas can live. It's funny, he wanted to avoid becoming Lionheart, but he was a coward too.

"Everything that follows will be on your hands". That motherf-

You know, we don't see a lot of corpses on this show, do we? Penny got better, Amber's screentime ended as she died, Roman got eaten, Pyrrha got an express viking funeral, etc, and a lot of others were only corpses for seconds before we never saw them again. They did a good job selling how proper dead Clover is here.

Ok, I don't know squat about Hospital layouts. Is it normal to have the morgue right outside of an emergency room? I mean, I guess it saves some travel time should things go wrong, but still, seems like a great anxiety generator for the patient, especially with both rooms having windows. "That's where I'll be going next."

I like the new metal arm. The fact that you can see all of the internal stuff makes it feel like it was quickly put together for the sake of urgency, while still looking cool.

Man, that rendition of "Hero" in the background. Chilling.

Is Winter getting a new look already? I must say. I like the look of the braces, and the ponytail is a vast improvement over the bun.

JESUS H CHRIST IRONWOOD!!! I THOUGHT HE WAS GOING OUT THERE TO ARREST THEM!!! THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN A PRETTY BIG FASCIST MOVE, RIGHT!? HE JUST SHOT CHAD JAMES IN THE FACE!!!

What really interests me is everyone's reactions. Elm and Marrow are incredibly shocked, Harriet and Winter share their little look of doubt, and then there's Vine who just...doesn't react at all. Either that or it's all in his eyes, which we can't really see from here. Either way, not a huge reaction from him. Methinks the Ace-Ops and Winter might be starting to doubt the horse they bet on.

I find it interesting that Salem doesn't know how the Relic works, but then I suppose it makes sense, seeing as Oz probably placed them into the vaults almost immediately after finding them, so this is probably the first time she's even seen one in person..

Ok, OP time, and buckle up, guys, gals, and nonbinary pals, because this one is going to be a doozy.

-First off, the song sounds pretty good, but it seems like it's going to go through the same cycle as the rest where it doesn't do too much for me at first, but has me headbanging like a metalhead by the end of the volume

- Mantle glitching out between peaceful and wartorn is a wonderful effect. Definitely fills you with a sense of dread.

-The individual shots of Team RWBY are absolutely gorgeous. Conceptually, it's the standard "where we started and where we're at", but the composition is worthy of a chef's kiss. I think I've found my new wallpaper.

-The Ace-Ops appearing on Clover's pin is nice, but what I find interesting is Harriet and Qrow appearing back to back, especially with Harriet looking so angry. Is Harriet going to double down on her loyalty to Ironwood and go after Qrow?

- It seems Robyn is going to be Qrow's main source of support this season, though the bars seem to suggest they might be in custody for a while.

-Oscar seems to be in Salem's stronghold, which doesn't bode well for our farmboy, also, WHY DOES SALEM HAVE DEMON WINGS!? Emerald's Volume 5 illusion wasn't this scary looking!

-I feel like their's symbolism showing Team RWBY's weapons paired together like that, but I feel like it's too early to say what of. Looks pretty, though

-Ren and Nora standing so far apart. It hurts my soul! Interesting how, while Ren looks away, Nora actually turns towards him.

-I didn't notice Winter's change of expression/outfit before passing by Weiss. She went from looking confident and slightly condescending to full with doubt.

-Not a lot to say about the quick shots of Whitley and Willow other then the fact that they both look worried. The image of the Schnee Snowflake shattering, however, is VERY interesting.

-I'm always a sucker for some good ol' chess symbolism. I find it interesting that while Salem's pieces dissolve into creatures of Grimm, Ironwood's simply dissolve, leaving him alone. Perhaps shooting a fellow councilman in the face right in front of his inner circle doesn't play out as well for him as well as he thought it would.

- Speaking of the classics, also gotta love me some reflection artwork. Watts seems to be working behind Pietro's back while Pietro (presumably) works to get Amity running, while secretly worrying about Penny, whose reflection cracks, possibly symbolizing her resolve. I worry for her.

- The snowflake turning into a flower petal in Ren's hand, while a similar petal passes Nora by. I don't know what this means, but I'm intrigued.

- It seems Ruby and Yang won't be completely be at odds, judging by the look they give each other before going into the action shot.

- Hmm, while Cinder pulls a Za Warudo on the fight scene, you can see a dejected Emerald and a pissed off Neo, still moving, among the heroes. Interesting...

-Almost as interesting as Cinder grasping her Grimm arm before being engulfed in flames. Perhaps Salem pulled a Wormtail's Silver Hand with that arm.

-Is this the first time we've seen the Staff of Creation in it's entirety? I remember wanting to include it and the Lamp in my RWBY Vol 7 spritesheet, but couldn't find any images of it's bottom half. I like the little jewel on the bottom.

-Wow, CRWBY went full Kingdom Hearts with the heroes falling through the ice, and I absolutely LOVE IT! This op has some of the most gorgeous visuals the series has ever seen.

-HAPPY EVER AFTER HAPPY? NEVER AGAIN Daaaaaaamn, that's awesome. It kind of reminds me of a line from Red Like Roses Part II, "This bedtime story ends with Misery Ever After". It's incredibly haunting.

-Almost as haunting as the sketchy art style that flashes in between the words, particularly the part that shows Penny's eyes going red before the rest of her does. Did we predict Watts hacking Penny a volume too early?

-The final shot of Crescent Rose alone stuck in the snow. Damn. The theme of this op seems to be "foreboding as all hell"

Damn. Damn! DAMN! This was, without question, the best OP RWBY has ever had. By, like, a lot. The visuals were some of the best the show has ever had to offer, the foreboding is through the roof, and the symbolism is incredibly clever. I don't envy them when it comes time to make Volume 9's, because this will be a very tough act to beat. I am so happy to have RWBY back, and I am both excited and terrified to see what this show is going to do next.

[shadows-twilight]

RWBY Volume 8, Chapter 1 Thoughts and Opinions

HELLO, INTERWEBS!!! At long last, we are back with more RWBY, and with it, more RWBY Thoughts and Opinions! After the absolute roller coaster that was Volume 7's cliffhanger finale, I can not imagine the insanity that awaits us this Volume. So, without further ado, here are my various thoughts and opinions on Chapter 1 of RWBY Volume 8, "Divide"

SPOILERS BELOW:

Hmm, starting off with a mysterious woman scrubbing floors, and...wait, is that...no...

I really like the way they juxtapose Cinder scrubbing with her scratching the chair. Very symbolic.

Yick, something about organic architecture just gives me the willies. I mean, is the whale aware that they double as a building complex? Can they feel the diabolical ongoings of it's rib cage? Creepy stuff.

Oof, outright taking credit for grabbing the relic, Cinder? Yeah, no way that's going to bite you in the ass.

Oh my. Mercury, Emerald, AND Hazel have new looks this season. I'm sure I'll warm up to them eventually, but right now Emerald's and Hazel's aren't really doing this. For Hazel, the outfit is all right, but the hair is a bit boring compared to his originals. Mercury's is ok, but is it just me, or is he basically wearing Yang's V4-6 outfit? I mean, it works, but still.

"Without you, I am nothing." That...didn't sound like the first time she's said that. It almost sounds like something Salem's drilled into her head for years. Cinder may be irredeemable in my opinion, but I do love a good tragic backstory.

You know, I guess would make sense for the crater to be the slums area. Can't imagine living directly under a floating landmass would be considered prime real estate.

Ooh, this old man has badger paws. I don't think we've seen that kind of Faunus trait yet.

D'aaww, Nora gave Oscar a soft hug rather than her usual glomp. So cute ^-^

I'm interested in how Oscar not telling them about Oz is going to play out.

Ok, their is a lot going on in this bar-base worth talking about, but for some reason I am fascinated by the picture of (i'm assuming) the founders in the background. What interesting designs they have. I feel like they have a story, and I would like to hear it.

Penny's dejected demeanor is giving me all of the feels Q_Q

Not sure how I feel about the rift forming between RWBYJNRO, though I guess we'll have to see where it goes. At least we have people like Jaune playing mediator.

I will say, though, I look forward to seeing Ren and Nora apart. As much as I love them as a couple, I'd very much like to see them operate as individuals.

God, Ironwood trying to manipulate Penny like that.

And there it is. Ironwood has truly revealed his true feelings, and his motivation for his attempt to launch Atlas. He isn't making a tactical retreat in order to form a new plan altogether. He's abandoning the fight altogether, leaving Remnant to die so that he and Atlas can live. It's funny, he wanted to avoid becoming Lionheart, but he was a coward too.

"Everything that follows will be on your hands". That motherf-

You know, we don't see a lot of corpses on this show, do we? Penny got better, Amber's screentime ended as she died, Roman got eaten, Pyrrha got an express viking funeral, etc, and a lot of others were only corpses for seconds before we never saw them again. They did a good job selling how proper dead Clover is here.

Ok, I don't know squat about Hospital layouts. Is it normal to have the morgue right outside of an emergency room? I mean, I guess it saves some travel time should things go wrong, but still, seems like a great anxiety generator for the patient, especially with both rooms having windows. "That's where I'll be going next."

I like the new metal arm. The fact that you can see all of the internal stuff makes it feel like it was quickly put together for the sake of urgency, while still looking cool.

Man, that rendition of "Hero" in the background. Chilling.

Is Winter getting a new look already? I must say. I like the look of the braces, and the ponytail is a vast improvement over the bun.

JESUS H CHRIST IRONWOOD!!! I THOUGHT HE WAS GOING OUT THERE TO ARREST THEM!!! THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN A PRETTY BIG FASCIST MOVE, RIGHT!? HE JUST SHOT CHAD JAMES IN THE FACE!!!

What really interests me is everyone's reactions. Elm and Marrow are incredibly shocked, Harriet and Winter share their little look of doubt, and then there's Vine who just...doesn't react at all. Either that or it's all in his eyes, which we can't really see from here. Either way, not a huge reaction from him. Methinks the Ace-Ops and Winter might be starting to doubt the horse they bet on.

I find it interesting that Salem doesn't know how the Relic works, but then I suppose it makes sense, seeing as Oz probably placed them into the vaults almost immediately after finding them, so this is probably the first time she's even seen one in person..

Ok, OP time, and buckle up, guys, gals, and nonbinary pals, because this one is going to be a doozy.

-First off, the song sounds pretty good, but it seems like it's going to go through the same cycle as the rest where it doesn't do too much for me at first, but has me headbanging like a metalhead by the end of the volume

- Mantle glitching out between peaceful and wartorn is a wonderful effect. Definitely fills you with a sense of dread.

-The individual shots of Team RWBY are absolutely gorgeous. Conceptually, it's the standard "where we started and where we're at", but the composition is worthy of a chef's kiss. I think I've found my new wallpaper.

-The Ace-Ops appearing on Clover's pin is nice, but what I find interesting is Harriet and Qrow appearing back to back, especially with Harriet looking so angry. Is Harriet going to double down on her loyalty to Ironwood and go after Qrow?

- It seems Robyn is going to be Qrow's main source of support this season, though the bars seem to suggest they might be in custody for a while.

-Oscar seems to be in Salem's stronghold, which doesn't bode well for our farmboy, also, WHY DOES SALEM HAVE DEMON WINGS!? Emerald's Volume 5 illusion wasn't this scary looking!

-I feel like their's symbolism showing Team RWBY's weapons paired together like that, but I feel like it's too early to say what of. Looks pretty, though

-Ren and Nora standing so far apart. It hurts my soul! Interesting how, while Ren looks away, Nora actually turns towards him.

-I didn't notice Winter's change of expression/outfit before passing by Weiss. She went from looking confident and slightly condescending to full with doubt.

-Not a lot to say about the quick shots of Whitley and Willow other then the fact that they both look worried. The image of the Schnee Snowflake shattering, however, is VERY interesting.

-I'm always a sucker for some good ol' chess symbolism. I find it interesting that while Salem's pieces dissolve into creatures of Grimm, Ironwood's simply dissolve, leaving him alone. Perhaps shooting a fellow councilman in the face right in front of his inner circle doesn't play out as well for him as well as he thought it would.

- Speaking of the classics, also gotta love me some reflection artwork. Watts seems to be working behind Pietro's back while Pietro (presumably) works to get Amity running, while secretly worrying about Penny, whose reflection cracks, possibly symbolizing her resolve. I worry for her.

- The snowflake turning into a flower petal in Ren's hand, while a similar petal passes Nora by. I don't know what this means, but I'm intrigued.

- It seems Ruby and Yang won't be completely be at odds, judging by the look they give each other before going into the action shot.

- Hmm, while Cinder pulls a Za Warudo on the fight scene, you can see a dejected Emerald and a pissed off Neo, still moving, among the heroes. Interesting...

-Almost as interesting as Cinder grasping her Grimm arm before being engulfed in flames. Perhaps Salem pulled a Wormtail's Silver Hand with that arm.

-Is this the first time we've seen the Staff of Creation in it's entirety? I remember wanting to include it and the Lamp in my RWBY Vol 7 spritesheet, but couldn't find any images of it's bottom half. I like the little jewel on the bottom.

-Wow, CRWBY went full Kingdom Hearts with the heroes falling through the ice, and I absolutely LOVE IT! This op has some of the most gorgeous visuals the series has ever seen.

-HAPPY EVER AFTER HAPPY? NEVER AGAIN Daaaaaaamn, that's awesome. It kind of reminds me of a line from Red Like Roses Part II, "This bedtime story ends with Misery Ever After". It's incredibly haunting.

-Almost as haunting as the sketchy art style that flashes in between the words, particularly the part that shows Penny's eyes going red before the rest of her does. Did we predict Watts hacking Penny a volume too early?

-The final shot of Crescent Rose alone stuck in the snow. Damn. The theme of this op seems to be "foreboding as all hell"

Damn. Damn! DAMN! This was, without question, the best OP RWBY has ever had. By, like, a lot. The visuals were some of the best the show has ever had to offer, the foreboding is through the roof, and the symbolism is incredibly clever. I don't envy them when it comes time to make Volume 9's, because this will be a very tough act to beat. I am so happy to have RWBY back, and I am both excited and terrified to see what this show is going to do next.

[dansiere]

THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; Mun & Muse - Meme.

fill out & repost ♥ This meme definitely favors canons more, but I hope OC’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. Multi-Muses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm. tagged by: @breselin, & @citialiin; thank you for the tag! I was planning on stealing it. tagging: @rosiqe, @noirtux, @goldgliitters, @ndeavor,  @reminiscentsky, @battleshell, @ettards & whoever else wants to do this. Just steal it & tag me. -- go wild.

My muse is:   canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless / complicated [loosely affiliated mainly due to the fandom’s size. I am quite open to crossovers of any kind, really even if it takes me a while to open up.]

Is your character popular in the fandom? YES / NO. [she is one of the deuteragonists; has been around since the pilot & while she has been sidelined during the epilogue, she was usually at least around with her story arc / actions having a huge impact on the overall story as such.]

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK. [I guess so? Then again, that’s an objective statement so I am just? Assuming? I personally find her general aesthetics to be quite amazing; she is a dance battler, graceful & elegant; a ballerina with a classical theme that runs through her design & attitude like a red threat. I have a weak spot for stuff like that.]

Is your character considered strong in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK. [surprisingly, Pearl is considered to be the strongest non-fusion Crystal Gem according to the show (until Lapis Lazuli comes around). -- I assume prowess wise Pearl is high up next to Garnet & Rose whenever she can actually get her crap together due to having fought countless battles &, most importantly, survived the war in which she fought & shattered opponents thrice her size.]

Are they underrated?  YES / NO / IDK. [partially yes, partially no. She is controversial for sure but just as popular. At some point, the show delved deeper into her issues & actually had her mess up quite severely; the fandom’s reaction was so harsh that the showrunners had to interfere by “apologizing for making her human”. Pearl has always been a target for extreme criticism; some of it justified, some just straight down ridiculous.  -- It’s easy to forget what kind of complexity a character can offer when her resolution arc happens literally ten episodes before the show ends.]

Were they relevant for the main story?  YES / NO.

Were they relevant for the main character?  YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG. [Pearl becomes Steven’s guardian / mentor after the death of his mother Rose Quartz & can later be considered his stand-in mother alongside Garnet. It is safe to say that her actions have influenced Steven the most, both negatively & positively.]

Are they widely known in their world?  YES / NO. [she earned herself the title ‘The Renegade’ during the war for being the first (& arguably only) pearl that broke out of her conditioning; she used to be a wanted criminal / traitor to her own kind for 5000 + years until her record was cleared upon the beginning of Era 3 (aka official end of the Gem War). She is still being referred to as ‘The Renegade’ now & then; while she used to be proud of the title she has grown to resent it a lot these days.]

How’s their reputation?  GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL. [it depends on who you ask; Homeworld Soldiers? Well, they despise her; she is a defective Gem & a war criminal. She stands for all that is wrong with the rebellion; I mean a pearl who refuses to serve & calls herself an individual? a warrior? THE SCANDAL!! Some soldiers are afraid of her, call her ‘Rose Quartz’ terrifying renegade’, even. However, in her ranks aka the rebellion, she is being seen as a silent heroine. A celebrated war hero, Rose Quartz’s right hand & sole confidante (some even whisper that there is more between them).]

How strictly do you follow canon?  — uh... well. Not really but... kinda? Steven Universe’s canon is messy & occasionally QUITE inconsistent. -- while it gives you vague details, some lore can best be compared to a gaping void. Thus my reason for partial divergence isn’t lack of good character writing (because Pearl is very, very complex even on screen), but rather inconvenient lore holes & SU’s habit of leaving important facts uncommented, “unshown” or just stuck between the lines. While I don’t mind deep analysis, some of those “buried facts” fly other people’s heads which leads to terrible, terrible fanon takes. -- in order to distance myself from that, I usually take canon & expand it with my own headcanons & metas based on lore / show analysis. I often alter / cut what does not fit my narrative BUT I always root my stuff in actual canon occurrences.

     Sometimes, I just straight down change certain things that canon messed up in my pov. For example, in order to make it explicitly clear that she fell in love & rebelled on her own volition (even if it has been confirmed like ten times by now), my Pearl is around 1500 years older than the original & (in)directly served White Diamond before being handed to Pink (not the only reason for that change but well I will elude on it eventually). She was a default pearl with no customization & usually spent most of her time with organizing matters in the palace until Pink accidentally broke her customized pearl; Pearl was then 'poofed’ & handed over; she possessed a more sensible personality & a strict rule protocol that was supposed to help her “raise” Pink Diamond into the ranks of a ruler. Most other changes are rather minor but very important or essential to my portrayal (for example whenever “A Single Pale Rose” is concerned: Pearl suggesting the “sealing of the secret”, her not wearing the dress from the beginning, her not calling Pink “my diamond”, her arguing with Pink long before the fake-shattering took place, etc etc.); the epilogue series is another can of worms I will get to eventually but lemme just say I didn’t really like the way Pearl behaved / the plot-bound ooc-ness she sometimes yielded to & other stuff. 

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutuals.  —  well, she is a lesbian space rock from a strange universe; whose body is basically a manifestation of light? She is probably the most passionate being you will ever meet. -- if you are looking for a speedrun through human history, she is your gal. If you need someone to beat up some bullies, she will gladly come & smack sense into people; if you want to learn everything about Gemkind, sit down & listen because she won’t stop talking any time soon. 

     By definition, Pearl is a good person; the extreme loyal kind, absolutely & helplessly dedicated to a cause. She wears most of her emotions on her sleeve, comes off as genuinely caring, protective & trustworthy. She is empathetic & observant, she will always be there for you in one way or another. She is smart, loves to read & indulges in the higher arts such as (romantic) poetry, singing, painting, music (violin, piano, bass) & dance (predominately classic ballet / waltz but she has grown rather fond of jazz lately). Her knowledge about Earth & all that lays beyond is vast & if you ever want to see whatever is out there, she is the type to take you on a space tour with no questions asked. She fences, has learned to wield a lance, can engineer very well, has a very peculiar but... sorta adorable kind of humour that can either be hella obnoxious or super funny. There is no in-between. Pearl loves science, baking, housekeeping, ice-& roller-skating & is more than willing to take people along whenever she visits the rink. If you ask her for advice, she will gladly give it; if you need help, she will be the first to raise her hand. Pearl is orderly, has a strong sense of justice & a fierce, dedicated kind of resolve. 

Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?).  —  Pearl. Is. A. Mess. No questions asked. She is an introverted, nervous, neurotic, grief-- & trauma riddled mess who loves to pretend & rationalize things to death. Her self-esteem is abysmal, she is extremely jealous, obsessive & possessive [to the point where she straight up murdered men just because they dared to be around her girlfriend]. Her mind is a compartmentalized mess of repressed memories & heavy, untreated cptsd woven into it; Pearl lives too much inside her head & gets overwhelmed by her emotions far too easily; she feels too much all at once & lets her temper get the best of her. 

     She is self-centred, does not seem to understand that words & reckless actions hurt people, believes that only she deserves to grieve Rose & willingly destroyed relationships just to soak in her own misery; self-destruction is her forte & she will indulge in it no matter the consequences. She is often high-strung, judgemental, always has to be right, overachieves & overdoes whenever a chance is given. -- she can be petty, arrogant & desperate for validation. --  Needless to say, Pearl is the kind of person that pretends to be fine for years but once she cracks she reveals that she is anything but. -- she cannot move on, hates men, & just is a lot to deal with. Getting in touch with her means you run the risk to get dragged into her mess, whenever you want it or not. 

What inspired you to rp your muse?  —  first & foremost, my love for complex, purpose-driven female characters. I am a sucker for the “introvert, plagued lady” type & once parts of Pearl’s past were revealed during Season 1 I was sold. Pearl seemed relatable to me, extremely human & raw in her behaviour. While I love most of the SU cast equally, Pearl just wouldn’t let me go. Her aesthetic is amazing, her past intriguing. -- her connection to ballet & classical music, her elegant & graceful design just spoke to me. 

What keeps your inspiration going?  —  music. music. oh, and music. Poetry, long walks (I am not kidding), analysis, meta & hc writing, discussions with writing partners or my rl partner @rosiqe.

Some more personal questions for the mun.

Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

Do you think you give your character justice?  YES / NO / I SINCERELY HOPE I DO? [ despite my emo peculiar take on the character, I do hope that people hear her voice whenever they read my replies. ]

Do you frequently write headcanons?  YES / NO / SORT OF? [ I wish I could post more but I am very, very slow & a perfectionist at heart. -- I try to compensate for my lack of actual hcs by rambling in my tags. Most part of the time said ramblings include personal headcanons or analyses of specific scenes that include personal takes on pivotal situations; while I gather & write them down eventually, it can take me a long time to get stuff done. -- it is easier for me to jus blabber on & on in the tags. ]

Do you sometimes write drabbles?  YES / NO [ all my ask replies are drabbles, ngl. ]

Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day? YES / NO

Are you confident in your portrayal?   YES / NO / SORT OF? [... a sore topic. While I love my headcanons & have gotten quite proud of my writing over time, I constantly doubt myself regarding the “ic”-ness of my responses. I like to believe that I am doing rather well, but I am not confident, no. ]

Are you confident in your writing?  YES / NO. [ it took me a long time to develop my style; while I always struggle to believe in my portrayal I am quite confident in my writing as such. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but in general? I am proud of it. ]

Are you a sensitive person?  YES / NO. / SORTA.

Do you accept criticism well about your portrayal?  —  Well, yes. As long as it is the constructive kind. I love receiving feedback, may it be negative or positive. I will most likely try to discuss criticism with you; aka if you (i.e) tell me that Pearl shouldn’t have (C)PTSD, I will deliver canon proof & state my reasoning for my decision to implement it in my canon, etc. What I will not do is tolerate character hate or unreasonable hate towards my writing. Be assured that I will never headcanon something that has no solid footing in canon.

Do you like questions, which help you explore your character?  —  ABSOLUTELY. Send me random hc / meta asks, I beg you.

If someone disagrees to a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why?  —  sure. As stated above, I will probably discuss stuff with you. The chance of me dropping a headcanon however are rather low.

If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it?  —  Hm... it depends on what they don’t like. If it’s my writing, well, why are you following me to begin with?? If it is my take on things... well again, why are you following me? I stated in my rules what you should expect & that I will not water down specific aspects of a complex character. Disliking my portrayal is fine since I know that my kind of writing / analysis isn’t necessarily everyone’s tea but... again, why would you keep following me?

If someone really hates your character, how do you take it?  —  um. Not... well? While I will never excuse my muse’s actions, I dislike groundless bashing. In regard to Pearl... well. As stated above, I expected backlash the second I created this blog. Pearl is one of those characters the fandom either loves or hates; her canon relationship to Rose was branded toxic by a ton of people, people call her uncaring, salty, insane & straight up manic, she seemingly has no redeeming qualities, she is a bitch, too perfect (LOL) or arrogant & apparently has no character? I love it when people say stuff like that because... did we watch the same show? Is there a version of SU I don’t know? Please tell me, I wanna see it for myself! Some hot takes in this fandom are atrocious & make me want to commit a crime. 

     -- but I digress. I have spent too much time in her tag in 2014 + & I have seen quite the fights over the most ridiculous things; Pearl, in particular, got quite the flack for stuff that eventually got resolved in season 5 [which, again, was way too late but well]. In the end, clowns will be clowns, no matter what you do. I just don’t get why you would follow someone if you hate their character to begin with.

Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors?  —  yes, but please don’t be rude about it. I am German, English is my second language. I am currently learning Swedish / improving my Swedish so mistakes can always happen. Additionally, I am someone who posts her replies in the middle of the night & while I proofread a lot & most likely fix posts after I posted ‘em, some mistakes can still slip through. 

Do you think you are easy going as a mun?   —  ... I like to believe I am but I know that I am overly passionate & I can come off as too strong or too fierce sometimes. I can be too much, I can be too excentric (I’m a Scorpio, Karen); I have strong opinions in regard to my characters & I will not hold them back. I criticise shows mercilessly & I will plough through canon as much as I please. Stans & I usually don’t get along. HOWEVER, I am a meme. I love lame jokes, I am awkward, & sometimes very, very insecure. In the end,  I just wanna talk about my favourite characters & develop sth wonderful. I keysmash unironically, I use old memes unironically. I mean I have been writing for ten + years & I am about to smooth sail post the 24 age border aka I will turn 25 soon which renders me old according to tumblr standards. I am just here to have fun before the staff comes to lock my account down due to my status as an rp-senior. -- yeah... that is the kind of stupid ass humor I mean. I digress but... please, I am an awkward, rambling mess, just hit me up via dms & you will see what I mean. 

[jinjjarang]

my twinkling star

summary: park jimin is part of a band on their college, and they’re famous because of it. one day, he bumped into a girl and i guess you can say that his life was changed forever. the good thing is, it was the same for her.

[friends to lovers!au, college!au]

chapter 1

pairing: park jimin x female reader

a/n: hello! i’m going back to work during this pandemic, so i thought of finishing this au as soon as possible. please do leave comments or feedback regarding this, i deeply appreciate it! i hope you enjoy reading this update. 

Chapter 2: How many stars are there?

Today was an awful day.

I messed up at work, and I think I’m getting fired soon. It was a part-time job to help me sustain my needs as a student. If I end up losing this one, I think I’ll just go back to tutoring. Aside from that, my professor in a major subject suddenly decides that instead of a group project, our final assessment should be done individually and to be submitted next week. That works for me because I’m having a hard time meeting with my teammates anyway, but that also meant that I have to stay up late at night to be able to finish it at the given time.

Tonight is the start of my sleepless nights in order for this project to be done, but I’m a little distracted by the crumpled paper with the phone number lying on my desk. I took it while contemplating on what I should do with it. It has already been two days since that incident. Should I text him? What am I gonna tell him? Hi, I was the one you bumped on the street two days ago. How you doin’?

I sighed. 

If there’s one thing I’m sure of in this world, it was that he’s the most beautiful person and not even Brad Pitt can relate.

I typed in his number on my contact list, and opened a new message. I blankly looked at the blinking cursor on the ‘Type a message’ section, thinking of something witty to send but I must have been too tired as I slept the night away and woke up with my phone clutched within my hands. 

I have no time for boy problems at this moment in my life anyways.

*

The days went by so fast. I was able to finish the assessment on my major subject, and the first semester is finally going to an end.

I was texting my tutee while on my way home (yes folks, i got fired) when I suddenly bumped into someone. I looked up to say sorry, but the person who I bumped into was the one who gave me the number of the beautiful human being a week ago. Yoongi, was it?

“Yo, why didn’t you text him?” he said, while clutching the strap of his guitar bag. 

“Hyung!” shouted a man coming our way. He has silver hair, and he’s wearing a plain black shirt on a black skinny jeans.

That moment, the world went into a halt.

Every motion stopped except the person now slowly running into our direction. I could hear the angels singing in the background, and I could see how the sunlight is touching the features of his face softly.

He looks mesmerizing.

I looked at him in awe. “Right, Jimin ah. Did you pass your final assessment?”

“Yup! Hoseok hyung helped me at the last minute. Do we have practice today?” the guy responded. He smiled widely, and though he looks like a baby he also looked like an angel who was brought down into the world to make it a better place.

“Yeah, we do...” I noticed that Yoongi looked at me sideways, but I couldn’t really help staring at the silver-haired angel in front of me. Is he even real? Or am I making these up? “Hey so, you didn’t answer my question.”

I blinked hard and looked back at Yoongi, dumbfounded. “Uh… Huh?”

“Oh, who’s this? Your friend?” the Jimin guy said. He’s still wearing the most beautiful smile.

“No/NO!” We both answered and he laughed loudly. God, that was the most endearing laugh I’ve ever heard in my whole life. Laugh again, please.

“Okay, chill. You do look familiar though...” he stared at me while smiling still. Mama, God wants me to go with this angel and I will comply. Does he ever stop smiling?

“That’s cause I was the one you stole from.” I blurted out. I don’t know where I got the courage to say something like that because I’m actually an introverted person, but God lend this weak bitch the strength to move forward.

He frowned. “I’m not a thief..? I didn’t steal anything from anybody.”

“You did, so we’re going to the police and sue you right now.” Okay God, this might be too much of a strength here.

“Wait wait, hold on! What are you talking about?” He looks utterly confused now, but he still looks like an angel.  

Yoongi laughed beside me, which was really surprising to be honest and Jimin looked like he was surprised too. “Hyung! You’re LAUGHING? What’s so FUNNY about this? I didn’t steal anything at all!” he pouted and wow, his cheeks are so fluffy I wanna squish.

“Oh, you did Jimin ah. That’s harsh of you to forget, you know. Considering that it’s a really big crime. Think again.” he turned around, and continued, “By the way, I’ll go ahead now. Will wait for you at the practice room, or if you can’t go, that’s fine as well. Just text me.”

“Wait, hyung!” he turned to look at me and thought again. “Okay, for real, what did I steal?”

There was a moment of silence. He looked nervous as if doubting himself for a second, and I just had the urge to hug him and tell him that it’s alright but I also want to tell him off for stealing my heart. But I have no right, in reality?? 

“My heart.” This courage--I thank whoever has bestowed this upon me.

“What?”

“You stole my heart when you bumped into me weeks ago. I told you I’d sue you for not taking any responsibility for it.”

He stared at me, straight into my eyes as if waiting for me to tell him it’s a joke. “You want to sue ME because I stole your HEART?”

“Uh, yes. It happened almost a week ago, I guess. We bumped into each other on the street, and I shouted at you when you ran away.”

He looked bemused, then he laughed. “I remember now!” Then, he looked serious. Okay, wait a minute. I cannot handle the roller-coaster of his emotions. I am: overwhelmed.

“Will you let me off if I let you come with me right now until the end of the night?”

“WHAT?” What does he mean until the end of the night??

“No, like, have dinner afterwards or something. What came into your mind?” he smiled--a deadly one. He’s aware of his powers, and it’s scary.

“Nothing.” I looked away.

“You sure? Because to me, it looked like you suddenly thought of something embarrassing.”

“No, there wasn’t.” 

“So, is that a yes? Because this practice is really important to me, I don’t wanna miss it.”

I nodded without looking at him, and when I caught a glimpse I saw him smile a little. Is it okay to admit that I have fallen in love already? This soon??

We walked silently until we reached the Arts Building and the people we passed along the way each greeted Jimin with a smile. It’s not a surprise that he’s famous because he’s literally an angel. “Are you a student here?”

“Yeah, why?”

Nothing, I just thought of why I haven’t known or ran into you before when you’re this popular on campus. I felt like my whole life was a waste.

But the thought died in my mind as I chose to not answer his question. “Freshman?” I asked instead.

He smirked at me before answering, “Nope. Do I look that young?”

I suddenly got shy and felt my cheeks burn. I was about to counter his question when he stopped in front of the room labelled as ‘Practice Room 3′ and he turned to look at me nervously. “Okay, so we’re here. You’ll meet Yoongi again, and I have a couple of friends who stay here and I don’t want it to be awkward so just be calm. No need to freak out, alright?”

I chuckled because he looked like he was the one who's already freaking out. “Hey, don’t worry. I won’t mind at all. Besides, I’m the one intruding.”

He smiled warmly. “You say that now, but they can get overwhelming…”

When he opened the door, I saw different kinds of instruments and there was a big couch on the right side of the room where four people were sitting, each one focused on their phones. I saw Yoongi looking up from his phone and he was surprised when he saw me then he looked at Jimin who was scratching the back of his neck, and then he looked at me again and back at Jimin.

“Sorry if I’m late. Should we start?”

They all focused on him now, and then stared at me with surprised looks on their faces. It did get me more embarrassed so I decided to just look at the set-up of the instruments in the room. “Wait, you’re part of a band? Like, a real band?” I asked as I looked at Jimin.

“Uh, yeah. You didn’t know?”

“No. I didn’t even know you study here, too.”

“Wait, so you’re serious that you only met me when you bumped into me a week ago? And wanted to sue me right that moment?”

“Yep. What, you thought I already knew you before then?”

“Uh huh. I thought maybe,” he looked away “you know, that was your way of, I don’t know, like getting close to me?”

I scrunched my brows at him. “What, you’re so full of yourself. I would never go that far.”

“Oh, so suing me for something I didn’t intentionally do is not going that far??”

He has a point.

“Well, how do I know that wasn’t inten--” I was interrupted when we heard a sputtering burst of laughter from the other guys in the room. We both looked at them, flustered.

A guy with plump lips and I believe to be a descendant of Aphrodite said, “Ya Jimin-ah, is this the girl Yoongi was talking about? I didn’t believe it was true.”

The one with big doe eyes and who looked like a cute little bunny when he smiles nodded. “Hyung, you’re looking very shy right now.”

Then, a blond guy with dimples so deep stated, “I didn’t think you’d bring her here. This is unexpected, truly.”

“I second that. I thought you’d leave her alone or talk it out somewhere.” Yoongi said.

Jimin looked at his friends and pointed at Yoongi. “You’re the reason she’s here! You intentionally bumped into her a while ago.”

It was my turn to ask. “You did?”

Yoongi avoided my gaze, and stood up going straight to the piano. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, kid. We should start practice.”

The others started standing up from the couch. Jimin went to the mic and held the bass guitar, the blond guy with the dimples went on the other side of the room where there was a laptop and a lot of wires and other equipment, the bunny guy went to the drums, and the descendant of Aphrodite went straight to me. He extended his hand and introduced himself. 

“Hello, it’s nice to finally meet you. My name’s Kim Seokjin, but you may know that already.”

Kim Seokjin. Kim Seokjin. Kim. Seokjin. Doesn’t ring any bell at all. Is he part of the university council?

I shook his hand and smiled. “Hi, I’m Y/N. I’m sorry, but I really haven’t heard of you before.”

He looked surprised and laughed again while slapping his thighs. “Okay, that’s really cute. So you already know Yoongi, I guess?” I nodded. “Then, let me introduce you to Jungkook, the one playing the drums and there’s Namjoon who’s in charge of recording and other technical stuff. Anyway, you can go ahead and sit on the couch while--wait, I’m assuming you’re waiting for Jimin?”

“Uh…” I looked at Jimin and he was looking at us. He mouthed a ‘What?’ directed to me. “Should I be waiting for you?”

He looked flustered and avoided my gaze, then he nodded. I looked back at the descendant of Aphrodite, and smiled at him. “Sorry for intruding.”

He was suppressing a laugh and he nodded twice before telling me to sit comfortably on the couch as they will take some time with practice. I said I don’t mind and went to the couch. I looked at Jimin and his friends. How can good-looking humans be allowed to be friends? This is so unfair but I also want to thank God because I was alive to witness it.

While they were tuning their instruments, I decided it would be a good use of my time to do some of my unfinished requirements. I started to clean up on their table as it was full of plastic cups, and instant ramen bowls, when the door suddenly opened and a tall sophisticated man came in. He was wearing glasses, and he looks like the second descendant of Aphrodite. He looked at me and blinked thrice before he went to Seokjin and whispered something. They mumbled to each other for a while, and I continued what I was doing. When I was done, I sat up quietly and started to work on my paper.

To be honest, I was never able to do any of my work. When I was about to start, they started playing a song. Jimin looks like the main vocalist of the band with Seokjin the second with the acoustic guitar with him. The song was Pop Rock, and it was very pleasant to the ears. If Jimin already looks like an angel, how can I describe how he sounds like when he sings?

Is it justifiable to say that his voice sounds so serene to that point that it feels like you’re going to heaven despite all the bad things that you’ve done your whole life just because you’ve listened to him sing?

Throughout their whole practice, I found myself speechless and completely stunned. They work so well together. It felt like they’re already recording an album of their own, or like they’re already performing in a stadium, and their voices sounded so perfect. There was no flaw; truly astounding.

Guy in the glasses who was sitting beside me suddenly spoke up, “Are you with Jimin?”

“U-uh, yeah.” I don’t know why I stuttered, but listening and watching the band feels like I was in a completely different world and the question just brought me back to Earth.

He smiled and I noticed that it was one of those boxy smiles that actually looks like a grin, but this one’s a natural. “Ah, so you’re that girl! Nice to meet you, by the way. I’m Kim Taehyung. I’m Jin hyung’s boyfriend. You can just call me Tae. I’m from the Arts department, and my major is photography. How about you?”

“Oh, I’m Y/N. My major’s Comparative Literature so you may see me spending most of my time at the library writing or reading stuff. It’s very nice to meet you too.” I said as I started to pack my things little by little while I maintained a decent conversation with him.

“Hey, that’s nice! What’s your favorite book?”

“I have a lot. Please don’t make me choose, I can’t do it.” We both laughed.

“Well then, recommend me some books that you like, and I’ll give it a read. Can I have your number? We should keep in touch for that book recommendation.”

By the time I gave him my number, the band had already stopped playing the second song. They went for a break, and sat on the sofa while discussing some ‘band stuff’ that I couldn’t relate to so Tae kept me company. 

Taehyung and I were able to talk about a lot of random things and I found it very comforting. He has a way with his words that makes you feel like whatever you tell him is okay, and he’s ready to listen to all of it. I don’t usually like talking with others that much because I can’t keep a conversation going, but I really was able to open up to him more than with anyone else before.

The group went back to practice one last song, and Tae looked at the band softly as if it was a very fragile thing; as if looking at them could break them. He was smiling dearly and he whispered, “I just want to let you know that Jimin doesn’t usually interact with anyone else aside from us, so I’m really happy that he brought someone with him. These people… they’re very important to me. They’re my whole family.”

“It’s nice, having a family...” I wanted to ask him more about Jimin but it seems like I’d be invading a more intimate topic and I’ve only known them as of today. I’ve already been intruding too much.

“It really is.”

“Oh, that reminds me. I’m sorry if this is out of the blue, but I’m really curious. How did you guys know about me?”

He looked at me, contemplating on what to say. “Actually, we didn’t hear about you from Jimin. Yoongi hyung was the one who told us. He said something about an interesting girl who likes Jimin, and that’s that. Said you guys only bumped into each other, but he gave you Jimin’s number. Hyung always had a great eye for people; it’s as if he sees something that we don’t.” 

I stared at him. I don’t know what to do with that information. 

“It’s just that when they both came late that night, Yoongi hyung kept reminding Jimin to check his phone from time to time as he may receive a text. So all of us kind of waited for the text and since nothing came up, we accused him of lying. We must’ve been creepy because we all knew about you. Sorry.” he smiled apologetically.

I was quick to dismiss it because I felt embarrassed. “No, it’s okay. I’m actually very embarrassed because I know I’m intruding, and we didn’t really meet normally, you know. I don’t know what you’ve heard from Yoongi about how we met. Also, this is only the second time and we haven’t introduced ourselves formally--”

“Wait. You still haven’t introduced yourselves to each other? You and Jimin?” 

I smiled shyly at Tae and looked at Jimin. “Yeah. I only know his name is Jimin because that’s how Yoongi called him a while ago. Also, I’m not sure as to why he brought me here or something, I’m just going with the flow? I’m really sorry.”

It was his turn to laugh. “Oh my, you guys are so funny! I have absolutely no words.” The band started wrapping up by this time, and I suddenly want to run away when it all sank in how unusual and totally embarrassing I am. 

As soon as I saw Jimin walking to me, I immediately want to disappear. He smiled at me and asked me if we should already go. I feel hot all over, it’s as if I’m going to have a fever. I don’t have the courage to look at him anymore, the one that was lent to me has already expired. I just want to be swallowed whole by the ground. 

“Hey?” he tried to look into my eyes, and I looked at Taehyung asking for help through telepathy and he just laughed at me.

“It’s okay, you guys can go. We have already finished talking, anyway.” He said while flailing his hands dismissively, and left us both on the couch. Noooo!

“Are you okay?” Jimin asked, worry evident in his eyes.

I tried to look at him, and failed. “Uh, sure. I mean, yes. Let’s go. Oh. Where are we going?”

He smiled at me. “How about we talk at the park behind the building first?”

“Okay, sounds good.” No, it doesn’t sound good. I did not think this through. I’m not ready for this.

Jimin waved goodbye to the group, and I smiled at them before leaving. We walked silently towards the park, and the people greeted Jimin the same way they did when we got here.

He’s glowing. Wherever he goes, it’s like the light follows him.

We arrived at the park he was talking about, and we sat side by side on a bench waiting for someone to start a conversation. We both were looking at the students passing by the park and kept silent for a while until I started to have the courage to talk to him.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make things awkward for you and your friends. Also, I must’ve creeped you out with how we met or the things I was saying. But it was true, you know. I mean, just some of it. I won’t sue you, I promise.” I blurted out.

He laughed at look at me intently. “Hey, it’s alright. I’m not mad or anything. But shouldn’t we get introduced with each other first?”

“Right. I’m Y/N and I major in Comparative Literature. I’m graduating next semester.” I extended my hand to him for a handshake and he took it immediately while smiling. 

“I’m Jimin. I major in dance. I’m also hoping to graduate next semester.”

We talked for a while about our major and how he bumped into me that night due to the gig that they were catching up to. Jimin was a kind person, his smile never faded the whole time we were talking and I found out that it was very easy to make him laugh. He shared a lot of stories about their gigs and their adventures as friends. It was normal and simple talk about his life and some of mine. He kept the conversation going, and he never ran out of things to say.

It was already dark, and the lamp posts started to lit up. Jimin was still talking about his professor who keeps forgetting stuff, and I’m just staring at him. His eyes turn a crescent shape when he smiles, and he looks genuinely happy. The kind of happy when you give a child a lollipop or candy. 

He was like a twinkling star when he talks. He lights up the darkness surrounding us. Looking at him on this moment makes me think how many stars are there in the universe. It also makes me think if anyone can shine bright than the one star in front of me--I bet not.

[docholligay]

Cut String

Another end of year Patreon release for my post! Squid asked me for "Mina's death in MaS, from her perspective" and here it is! I would love to hear what you think of it!

Life is just a series of seconds. All strung together, like beads on a string, adding and adding, a long line of different colors and shapes, a necklace we all wear wound around us. The art we are is just a collection of these moments.

You don’t know how fragile that string is until it snaps, and the beads go bouncing to the floor, and it’s like you’re trying to look at all of them at once, the first ones, the last ones, all together now as they scatter.

The first thing I thought of, was the old Tv in my parent’s living room. This is how stupid dying is, that as the car came toward me, and and I turned the side of the bike, I thought of that TV. It was huge, one of those old wood-paneled things you never see anymore, and the sides of it used to rumble when something loud played. I used to watch those old westerns, and try to out-draw the bad guy.

There was a pop and snap that reminded me: I never did outdraw him.

My second thought was, Haruka’s gonna kill me.

She’s been dead for four years, but that particular bead didn’t pop to mind at the time, just the sense that her much-loved vintage Indian, the one she couldn’t bear to sell even if she couldn’t ride it anymore, was currently being dragged along the street, crunching as it goes. Haruka’s old motorcycle. The one I still think of as hers, though she gave it to me more than thirty years ago. The one Rei told me years ago to give to M.A. It’s a death trap, she said, so many times, and you’re too old to be driving it.

Well, it looks like you get to be right this time, fireball.

You get to be right about a lot of things. I shouldn’t be out in this weather, driving this motorcycle. It’s a bad idea to drive all the way out here, sometimes there’s irresponsible idiots out here, and they hardly know how to drive. It’s further than it should be from any of the hospitals.

I thought of her, as my bike began to slide toward the bright lights. The first time I saw her, the light bouncing off her hair, deflected like everything else in her life. The way I grinned at her, and she scowled at me, and we began that game we played for so many years. The one we convinced ourselves was just a game, for so many years.

I should have thought of something romantic, right? I should of thought of the day we got married, or the day she moved to kiss me, not in the dark or with any restraint, but with a sense of the freedom we’d finally achieved. Knowing that it was real. That we were real, now, and we didn’t have any other duty but the ones we wanted, the way we wanted them.

But that’s not how it works, when you die. You don’t pick the things you think about, when it’s so fast.

Your life flashes before your eyes, but it’s not a film, it’s just a cutting room floor, and each individual strip, out of order, gets held up to the light, as fast as you can before its all gone forever.

My body slammed into the ground, and the crush of Galaxia’s destruction came roaring back. I wasn’t hurt that day, not any more than being blown back into the dirt. I had bruises, and when I went to stand up, I was in that hot orange t-shirt and shorts again. There was no sword in my hand, even though I knew I’d just used it to stab the bitch. Usagi was not going to be happy with me, I thought.

She’s probably not going to be too pleased with me right now, either.

I hit the ground, but I didn’t stop moving, and the asphalt grew hot and tore at my pants and then my leg, deep, deep down, but the light just kept coming.

The too-bright light shone overhead that night, when I was in a public bathroom at the edge of a park, staring at myself in the mirror. The tiara on my head glistened brightly, the stone hazy, as if it was holding secrets you could see glimpses of, if you turned it. It was, of course. I didn’t know Venus then, didn’t know about the Moon Kingdom, didn’t know anything but that I’d been told this was my destiny. And that I was bleeding from my thigh, and had to try and fix it before I went home.

You’d think it would be worse, dying. It’s mostly just confusing, I think, laying here.

It’s confusing because as I felt the leg under the bike twist and shatter, more than it hurt, it made me think of Disneyland. Haruka loved Disneyland, we went every year. Kept doing it after she died. I forgot she was dead, for a second, but I remember now. I thought of the way the roller coaster took us through the darkness of the fake cave and out to the light. The pain was bright like that, like you’d been inside and you had to squint your eyes against it. But I just thought of her laughing next to me, and how I used to tease her about being our Cripple Pass.

When she was dying, I told her she was really messing with the Disneyland system. Maybe it was less confusing for her. She had more time to get used to it. She always needed more time to get used to things.

That’s when my vision got blurry, as I felt something go over the top of me, and something inside me burst like a balloon.

I wonder if this is what it was like for Rei and Michiru, when they lost their Sight. Rei lost her sight at the same time, and I always thought she lost them both in sort of the same way: She could still make things out, if it was big enough, or she were close enough, or the contrast was high enough, but so much of it was just a guess for her. Both Michiru and Rei had that still, in their Sight, every so often. Not enough to know, but enough to sometimes just make it out.

I wonder if she’s got something on the edge of her mind right now. I wonder if she’s thinking of me.

I can’t see at all anymore, but it doesn’t really matter. Some of the best times of my life have been spent in the dark. The first time Rei said she loved me. When Haruka, quietly, asked me to help her get her act together. When Michiru told me they were having another baby, and would Rei and I be her godparents. When I saw Usagi kissing Seiya, and laughing, and looking in love and loved for the first time since the War.

I’m not sure I’d count this among those, but it’s not as bad as I thought it would be.

I didn’t think I would know I was going to die. I know you must be thinking, “you still don’t” but I do know. It’s like being in love. You can’t describe the way it feels to another person, it’s something that defies anything you’ve felt, or thought, or known, in your life, that same kind of bone deep energy. I’m dying. I know that. It doesn’t matter that I can hear those far-off sirens, I know they aren’t going to come quick enough for me.

I can hear the woman trying to help me, and I want to tell her just to knock it off. That she’s mostly annoying me, really. That I know my blood is half on the pavement, and all I really want is a drink. But I can’t say anything at all, even though I feel my lips try to form the words. Words are gone for me now.

I’ve thought about what my last words would be since I was sixteen years old. I’ve given a bunch of speeches right before a battle, something I thought would be inspiring or deep, or at least funny. I revised what I wanted to say, over and over, until I got it just right. After a glorious death in battle seemed unlikely, unless Rei was fighting for a fukubukuro again, I figured I’d get plenty of time to say something profound. But no.

My last words are going to be “oh fuck,” and that’s disappointing.

You don’t get to choose much in death. If I’d known I was going to die, I would have said something to Rei besides, “I’m going for a ride,” and ignoring her scowl at me. I would have told her it’s been a treat to be married to her, that she keeps me on my toes, that after all these years, she’s still my fireball and she still makes me laugh. If I’d known I was going to die, I would have left something for M.A., for her kids, that would make them laugh when they thought of me. I would have told Michiru to take care of Rei as best she could, like we tried to do for her when Haruka died.

But I didn’t know, until I heard that woman scream on the corner, and I saw those lights heading toward me, and then it was too late to say anything but “oh, fuck.”

Everything’s hard now. I heard someone in the crowd say that the other driver’d been drinking. Rei’ll have his ass for that, I hope he’s ready. Shame I’m going to miss it.

There’s something wet on my back, and what’s left of the sound tinkles like bells. Another bead pops up, and it’s Usagi’s wedding, in hues of pink and gold and sparkles. She spilled champagne down my back when she hugged me, but I didn’t care. It was an ugly bridesmaid’s dress anyway, and Rei wouldn’t let me say anything about it, wouldn’t let any of us. Easy for her to say, she couldn’t tell how hideous it was. Usagi let Haruka wear a damn suit with a coordinating tie, but all the rest of us were trapped into that hot pink confection. We laughed anyway, the way you do when the tension breaks, because it finally seemed over. There was nothing to be scared of anymore. Every single one of us who’d survived, on her side of the aisle, and then she’d cried that day because she hadn’t realized Seiya wouldn’t have as many people. I don’t think Seiya cared, minus missing Taiki a bit. All she’d ever wanted was to be with Usagi, and when she danced with her, it seemed like everything fell into place. She invited Mamoru and his boyfriend. That’s just the sort of person Usagi is.

I hope my funeral’s not a total drag. I should have told Rei, what I wanted, but I thought there was more time. I’m not that old. I’m not that young, either, I guess. Should have talked about it when Haruka died. You always think there’s more time.

There’s the tapping of all those beads from that broken string, far off, now. It’s hard to care about anything anymore, and I don’t even remember if it ever hurt at all. I’m not sure it did. Maybe this is what it means, to be killed instantly, like they say in the papers, but it seems to be taking so damn long. I wish I could look at more of those moments, strewn across the darkness, but my hand won’t move to grab them. It’s dark, and it’s quiet, and it’s alone, and--

“Mina?”

“What?” I know that voice. I haven’t heard it in a long time.

“C’mon.” And then I can feel again, but it’s just her hand on my arm, shaking it. “Let’s go.”

I’m taking her hand, and the world drops from under my feet. I don’t need it anymore. I don’t know what I am, or where I’m going. I don’t know if any of those little beads will follow me to wherever it is, but there’s one familiar thing here with me, and if it’s just a lie, it’s a lie I’ll follow.

“You ready?” She’s laughing, “I mean, that doesn’t really matter, but.”

“Okay,” I can see the outline of her hair, blonde again. “Okay.”

[pientrop]

I feel weird in my stomach. It’s a funny feeling, but not because it’s fun to have. It’s like there was small shapeless void inside of me going up and down and making one part inside of me nonexistent. To feel empty. To acknowledge something is missing. Does it mean I miss something? If i had to immediately answer to this question, i would say what i just thought thirty seconds ago: No, I don’t miss something. Something was never there, things have temporarily occupied it’s space, but the answer is no, I don’t miss something. I just feel the emptiness that’s always been there, just momentarily filled by shapes that don’t even make sense. 

I don’t think i’ve stopped enough to analyse the way I feel lately. And I mean analyse, like really analyse, my emotions. Go to a coffee shop on my own, sit, be surrounded by the people, the world, the situations in it, and then think, as one individual disconnected from all that is moving around. As an individual becoming for an instance the center of everything that is going on. The voices of the people that exist to create the ambiance the main character is in. The spaces and objects strategically disposed in a way so that the scene has a coherence. Or maybe go for a bike ride following the straight road that get’s you out of the city and in direction to Lyon. Or maybe just sit out in the cold, with a good enough coat not to freeze but still feel the cold air cutting against the bare skin of my face. 

I take a resignation breath and realize the feeling persists. It’s a bit of a funny feeling. Like when you are going down a roller coaster. But with out the adrenaline i guess. I remember when i started this year... I was sitting one day, maybe a feburary or january day, on a cement bench at my previous university, well, the university where i used to study in El Slavador. And naturally, i took out from my backpack a notebook, and a pen, i started writing how i felt. The writing was a column centered in the middle of the page. Sometimes it got wider and others it was narrow. I was writing about being insecure all the time when it came to my opinions and deductions of the events of the world i would analyse from time to time. Then I decided it was time for me to become a concrete individual. To star developing an opinion, and strengthen it with arguments, experiences and deductions or what not. It was a moment of self analysis, of discovery, it was a moment of decision. Ever since I do feel like something changed in me. And maybe whatever’s changed doesn’t even have anything to do with this moment i just described, that day on feburary, but anyways, i still see it as an important moment. Maybe because it basically contradicted lots of the opinions i had had before, and it was a courageous decision to make, to believe in what i learn or discover of the world through my own experience. It was pretty much like that time when i was in ninth grade, eating cornflakes on the dinning room table, which was very close to the wall behind me, so i felt like in the middle of the table with the cornflakes and the old styled brick showing wall behind me, and it felt like very little space i must say. That day, i decided i wanted to learn, to find, to discover, to do, on my own and not only accept the information my teachers, or previous investigators had stated. I decided i would definitely use this information as tools, but i would rather try to understand phenomena on my own, through the feeling of my own hand palms, the sight of my own eyes, the sound my own ears could reach and blah blah.

This emptiness funny feeling i’m feeling today tho. Maybe I will cook a lentil soup for dinner. Tho if i’m honest, i feel a lot like working on my math problems, my physics laboratory analysis (which i must find among all my courses notes because i did not get a specific notebook for this subject), and even chemistry and biology. I feel like my desire of good knowledge and better academic performance is growing inside of me. This is what happens to me when i have problems, i guess. I start to focus more on my academic performance and to seek a relief in knowing, studying, getting good results, discovering the things i understood are right...

That’s a bit strange, and obviously smells like problem avoidance. I guess i always used this shield as a child and growing up when something was not going well. It must be why i was always a top of the class, and didn’t work the hardest, but clearly focused on being a top, just to feel good. Maybe to feel less empty.

I have for a while wondered why the geniuses continue to learn after they’ve understood things in life that can make an individual realize that being alive could mean nothing. I guess sometimes I've concluded that knowledge it’s just a beverage, you don’t want to stop drinking. Regardless the taste. It’s not the taste that makes it desirable. It’s the amount. You never know how much of  it will fill the void. 

y.e.

[fernlomwrites]

Chronicles of Tenaria: The Tour Begins

Life was not any easier for Harmons without the mask on. He could still feel Pinstripe in him, his voice in his head

“Come on lawman, find me a new victim. A new sucker for me to possess. I’ll make your life a living hell if you don’t”

“Is that a threat? Am I being threatened by a ghost?”

“A ghost that can very easily take over your body. Watch and learn badge boy”

Suddenly, as if he could not control his own body he un-holstered his side arm and pointed it to his temple.

“Tell me boy scout, you think you can survive a bullet to the brain?”

“What?? Can you? You damn psychopath?!”

“Of course I can. Do you know how much easier it will be to possess you if your brain dead? Fortunately for you, I need you as a pawn, not a body.”

Slowly, the gun was lowered and returned to its holster.

“Sleep, you are useless to me tired.”

“I should have never put on that damn mask”

“Yes, you are an idiot. Now sleep”

“I swear when we find you a new host, as soon as you bond to him or her, I am going to kill you”

From deep inside his mind Harmons felt the eerie laughter grow into a horrendous cackle.

“No you wouldn’t. You are limited by your stupid sense of honor bullshit. You would never kill me out of the fact that you would also kill an innocent person. You law types are all like this, too focused on what’s ‘right’ to make the tough decisions. It’s your idiotic sense of justice that got you into this mess in the first place. Now sit your ass down and get some sleep.”

Harmons felt his legs fall out from underneath his weight and fall face first into the bed’s comforting embrace. With a sigh he allowed himself to drift off into a deep sleep. Though it felt like he slept for only a few minutes, he woke to find he slept through the night and almost to the afternoon, only to awake from the sound of knocking on his front door.

“Urgh, Pinstripe you bastard!” Quickly, Harmons rushed out of bed, not bothering to change out of the suit from last night and swiftly opened the door.

“Your late deputy. Are your bags packed?” Cal stood at the door guitar hung over his back, cowboy hat replaced with a ragged old truckers cap, brown leather jacket over a grey flannel, old jeans and a large belt buckled designed like a horseshoe.

“Yes Cal, my bags are packed. Let me grab them so we can go”

Cal grunts under his breath and walks across the lawn to the Bus parked by the curb, marked with the OFFkeys logo. OFFKEYS. Surrounding by each of their individual necklace charms. Portions of the buss themed after each of the members, the front simple, and black for Clarice, afterwards red is mixed in a blood and fire like pattern for Mike, then more brown and silver is added for Cal, then the reds and browns are replaced with blues and purples for Jenny, then the blacks and silvers are replaced with a rainbow of color for Pandora, and the bus ends with neon colors, and pixel patterns for Eric.

Harmons looks at the buss in puzzled bewilderment. “H-how…how is it that works together…how?”

“All music is fundamentally the same” Clarice answered as she approached the bewildered deputy “So it is very easy to meld our different genres. And make something beautiful. Your friend Chris is on the bus already…is that your only bag?”

Harmons looks down at his solitary, small black roller bag “well…yes…should I have packed more?”

Clarice scoffs “Depends, how long did you expect to be with us?”

He shrugs “I…I guess a week or so…”

“Try a couple months. That’s how long the tour is Deputy”

Harmons almost choked on air “M-months? Are you serious?”

“Of course she is” Mike walked up and handed Harmons the mask “Clarice isn’t exactly humorous. Then again, neither am I.”

Harmons reluctantly takes the mask and puts it into his bag “And if I find a new host for Pinstripe sooner?”

“Unless you just have money for a plane ticket back here laying around yourself, you’re stuck with us deputy”

Harmons sighs and picks up his bag “Where do I put this?”

Mike gently takes the bag from him “I’ll take it for you, just get on the bus”

“Come on Deputy~” Jenny takes his hand and slink away with him into the bus “Let me give you the tour~”

Where the outside of the bus was a mix matched color disaster, the inside was much more uniform. A gold and brown color design filled the interior of couches, beds, and seats. Dr. Krins was sat on the center couch, chatting with Cal, Eric, and Pandora.

“So then this guy decides he wants my bag of stuff. And you know its not a good idea to threaten Santa. So, I brought out my canes and broke his jaw. I left a lump of coal in his pockets.”

“Geez Krins. That’s…badass.” Cal took off his hat in respect.

“Wait. Wait a minutes” Harmons walks up to the group, visibly confused “Did you say Santa?”

Dr. Krins chuckles to himself “Ho, ho, have I never told you?”

Harmons drops to the couch “My best friend…is Santa?” Slowly he drops his head into his hands “Can my life get any weirder?”

Cal tries to pat his back comfortingly “I know Deputy; I was the same way”

Dr. Krins chuckles “I wasn’t even hiding it. No one ever thought I was real is all. I thought I was obvious.”

“It…it was…but like you said, I didn’t think Santa was real.” Harmons slowly looks up “and did you say you broke someone’s jaw with your canes?”

“Oh yah, I broke Rodney’s legs last year when he was on his little murder spree. He tried to take my charm. I swiftly broke both his legs, and them left him a box with a little surprise inside”

Mike turns and faces Dr. Krins. “What was in the box?”

Krins smirks rather slyly “His first victims charm. He thought it was gone. His first victim could actually control his body if he wore his charm so he got rid of it. I found it”

Harmons stands up “I remember that charm. He wore it when me and the mayor took him down. It was a silver key with neon green gems in an atom formation. When the spirit of the charm took him over, he started steaming when the fight started. He eventually exploded, and what was left…. was his first victim. Professor Ilions. “

Eric was the only one to seem surprised “My dad…I forgot he was the first one dead. He is alone in his lab so often I never noticed he was dead. It wasn’t until he came back did he spend time with mom more”

The rest of the band silently stand by Eric and comfort him. Dr. Krins hands him a box of tissues, seemingly from nowhere. Harmons was the only one not by Eric. “Geez…that’s terrible Eric…”

Eric clears his throat and puts his glasses back on “Let’s get going now. Her Brady! Let’s get moving!”

Siting at the driver’s seat was a thin, scrawny man, with a simple chain necklace, its charm a flaming wagon wheel. He smiles politely before lurching the bus forward and down the road. For a while the bus seemed to be driving slowly, before suddenly shooting down the road as his charm glowed a bright fiery red.

The whole band and Dr. Krins stayed standing, seemingly unaffected by the sudden speed, but the initial lurch forward was enough to knock Harmons back down into his seat, and the speed increase kept him pinned.

Clarice laughed “Not used to Brady’s driving huh? Not many people are, he was a natural born driver, that’s why we hired him to drive our bus. We save so much time getting to our concerts when he drives.

“You know Deputy, it’s great that you came with us. Sometimes our...fans…can get a little close” Cal stands up and walks over to the fridge of the bus “And having a cop can be real convenient”

Harmons staggers to his feet “You think you are in danger? From your own fans?”

“They aren’t our fans. They know our power and want us dead”

Dr. Krins solemnly nods his head “Of course. Who are they?”

“They are called The Legion of Full Power. They believe if everyone in the world had powers, there would be peace. We know that is stupid. As does everyone else in town. Members have their symbol marked on their hands. The left hand has an anchor wrapped in chains, their right hand has a jagged key, engulfed in flames. Whenever we see someone with those markings approaching town, we swiftly turn them away”

“A cult. A cult has been trying to invade our town. Why does that not make me happier about the constant supernatural attacks. I should be happier about that since that is easier to deal with, but I’m not. A cult is so much worse, why can’t we just be a normal town. There are pirates at the docks, I was just visited by a mystic cowboy from the old west, and now I am haunted by the ghost of a damn assassin who killed my cousin.”

Mike tilts his head slightly “You had a cousin?”

“Yah, his name was George, his charm was purple pocket watch over a purple stone. He could control time, and unfortunately he decided to steal from Don Lomas. Bad idea on his part. I tried to protect him, but Pinstripe was too much. Funny thing is, Pinstripe knew how powerful the charms are, yet he left George’s. He didn’t want to take it. We put it in the vault, before we buried him.”

“You cousin tried to steal from the most powerful mob boss in the states? Was he stupid?”

“Yes he was Clarice, but he was still my family. As much as I never liked admitting. He was cunning like the rest of us. Doesn’t make him any less of an idiot though.”

Harmons staggers over to the fridge with Cal. “What do you guys have to drink here?”

“What would you like?”

“Beer preferably”

Cal opens the fridge and pulls out a can of beer for the deputy

“A lot to take in I’m guessing”

“Yah. I guess”

He opens the can and slowly drinks “Ugh, so, where is the first stop?”

“Portland. We should be there soon actually.”

“How? Portland is like a four-day drive from Keypers Cove. “

“Brady.”

Harmons turned and looked out the window expecting to still see the icy glaciers of Alaska, but instead saw a blur of blues and greens as the bus sped down the highway at impossible speeds.

“This…should not surprise me as much as it does”

“Yet it does. Funny right?” Eric softly pats his back “Just don’t spill the beer”

“Funny Eric. Very funny” Harmons smirks and returns to his seat

“Hmm, Portland ey~ Yes, my next host is definitely there~”

Harmons shivers “oh god, I forgot about you, I can’t wait to get your stupid voice out of my head”

“Who’s voice?” Cal looked up. Harmons made eye contact “oh right. So, yah, I’m kinda being haunted by Pinstripe”

“How…wait, never mind”

Mike reaches into his bag and pulls out the Mask. “Would it help if someone wore it for now?”

Harmons looked up and took the mask “Yah. Me. Turn away everyone. This is going to be bright”

The group looked away as Harmons slowly moved the mask to his face, before the bus was filled with a bright light, and Harmons was no more, only Pinstripe.

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

Chrono Link

[justheretobreakthings]

Remember Me - Chapter 2

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Word Count: 2,972 (Total Word Count: 5,794) Read on AO3

Story Summary:

It was strange enough for the paladins of Voltron to have found another human this far from home, locked in a Galra prison. But it was stranger still when this human insisted that he knew them, and even that he was the former red paladin of Voltron.

That couldn’t possibly be true, could it? After all, if this Keith was actually a part of the Voltron team, then why does nobody remember him?

Chapter Preview:

Keith’s brow creased downward into a scowl – one that wasn’t quite enough to mask his growing alarm – and he turned to Lance. “Is this supposed to be one of those stupid jokes of yours that I don’t get?” he snapped. “Because it’s not funny.”

“Look, nobody is trying to play any sort of joke,” Shiro said, much too calmly. “We’re just trying to figure out what’s going on. And, well, how you know us.”

Keith turned his fearful eyes to Shiro, a fevered desperation in them. “You – you’re serious,” he said. “You really don’t – you don’t know me?” He looked toward the others, and his voiced cracked as he asked, “None of you know me?”

Despite the promise of rest and relaxation upon finishing up the prison break and returning to the castle, none of the paladins had yet done anything restful or relaxing. Instead, they and Coran had, for varga after varga, spent as much time as they could in the med bay, with the cryopods. Ostensibly, they were there to keep a monitoring eye on all of the newly-freed aliens who were in the pods, but they all knew it was one pod in particular that had been holding their attention.

The human floated still and silent in the pod. The only time Lance had seen another human in the pod – not counting himself, of course, since he hadn’t been in a position to observe – was Shiro, and even back then Lance had been unnerved by how much a person in a cryopod looked like a corpse. The effect with this guy, though, was increased tenfold. He was already pale in the first place, and as the fluids in the pod worked away the bruises on his face, the dark half-moon shadows beneath his eyes became visible. His figure, which Lance had initially labelled simply ‘thin’, was actually more approaching gaunt, and his edges were rough, haggard, from his chipped and uneven fingernails to his disaster of a hairstyle; Lance had privately started calling the man Mullet in his head in lieu of knowing his actual name.

He had mentioned in passing to Coran shortly after the man had been place in the cryopod that sensation of looking at a dead body, and Coran had patted his shoulder and dismissed it. By his reckoning, the man was certainly in a bad state, but he wasn’t within the range of death. Judging by the ages of the wounds the cryopod had detected and his current level of emaciation, he’d probably been in the prison only a couple of phoebs, a shorter stint than any of the other prisoners who had been rescued from the bottom floor.

Lance replied that he didn’t actually think this guy was a corpse, he was just making an observation.

After all, the team could usually count on him to fill awkward silences, and the atmosphere around the med bay certainly qualified. Each of the paladins save Allura had taken a turn to examine Mullet closely, to see if his appearance rang any bells, but none of them could remember ever having seen him before. It seemed, then, that this was a perfect stranger who just happened to have wound up leaving Earth to be part of an intergalactic war at the same time they had. Needless to say, the curiosity was eating away at the team, and they were all impatiently waiting for the healing cycle to finally finish so they could get answers.

And of course, his reason for being in a Galra prison was only one of the answers they needed. The other, just as perplexing if not more, was how the quiznak Mullet had known Lance’s name.

The paladins had exchanged guesses and speculations, none of which seemed particularly plausible. “Maybe you misheard him,” Hunk had suggested.

“I heard him loud and clear,” Lance had replied. “He definitely said my name. Three times, might I add.”

“Well, maybe it was a word similar to Lance and he just messed up the pronunciation? Like, he was trying to say, uh, plants? Or – or lands, or dance.”

“Hunk, why the flying fuck would he have said ‘dance’?”

“I dunno. He was in prison for quite a while, maybe he really needed some entertainment, and was making a request.”

Pidge cut in with her own theory while Lance rolled his eyes with an exasperated huff. “Voltron’s been getting more well-known, and getting media attention. Maybe he recognized you from that?”

“I don’t know if the timeline would work,” Shiro said with a frown. “We haven’t been making ceremonial appearances for long, so he might very well have already been in that prison; we’d need a more precise idea of when he wound up there to know for sure. And most people just know us collectively as ‘Voltron’, not individually by name.”

“It’s because our shows are so impersonal,” Coran piped up. “You all just stay in your lions for the whole show, don’t really interact with the audience. If you’d just look over those drafts I’ve started so we can take the script in a new direction – ”

“Not now, Coran,” Shiro groaned.

“Do you think he guessed?” Pidge asked. “Saw a human, picked a human name. He probably had like, what, a one in a hundred-thousand chance of getting it right or something. It’s within the realm of possibility.”

“We’re really grasping at straws now, aren’t we,” Lance sighed.

“I think all we can do is wait,” came Allura’s voice from behind them. She entered the med bay looking as frazzled and harried as was to be expected considering all the refugees she had been tending to. The other paladins had all lent a hand during those few spare moments when they weren’t loitering in the med bay, but none of them could hold a candle to Allura’s people skills and handling of crowds, so a heavy portion of the work had fallen onto her.

She approached the group to stand beside them as they still stared up at the cryopod. “Anyone’s healing cycle ending soon?” she asked Coran. “We’ve still got a couple of refugees who I think should be rotated into a pod before they leave the castle.”

“The amphibious fellow on the far end should be finishing up in a few doboshes,” Coran said. “You can start ushering in whoever’s going to take it next.”

“How are things going out there?” Shiro asked. “We got any headway yet on getting these people back to their home planets.”

“It’s a logistical nightmare, I have to say,” Allura said. “But I did manage to get in touch with some of our rebel forces who should be able to provide transport. We may have to have them act as a shuttle service for a bit, and I don’t know yet how many vehicles they have. I do so wish we still had the crafts to spare.”

The rest of the team averted their gazes from her at the reminder. The attack on the castle ship had been weeks ago, and no one had gotten hurt to any degree that a varga in a cryopod couldn’t fix, but the damage that the attackers had done to the castle’s equipment and inventory had been quite a blow. Pidge had been practically distraught over the fact that they had somehow managed to circumvent the security measures that she and Coran had so painstakingly put into place (and recruited all the others to help out with for hours at a time) after the incident with Sendak. And Lance had never seen Pidge as angry as she was when she discovered that some of the invaders had found a way into the castle’s internal network, tampering with or wiping all sorts of data that she hadn’t been able to restore.

Still, the important thing, as Shiro had reminded the other paladins so constantly that eventually the words seemed to lose their meanings and become a random series of sounds, was that all of them had made it out okay. They were fine, at least relatively, the lions were fine, and they could all recover.

Of course, it did all mean that the castle wasn’t as suited as it used to be for taking in this number of refugees and coordinating their return to their home planets, but they weren’t about to sit on the intel they’d gotten about the Galra prison and wait around for the castle to be back in tip-top shape.

It was fortunate that the med bay was one of the few places that had come through the raid unscathed. If they couldn’t be efficient with transportation or lodging, they could make up for it by being efficient with healing. Allura and Coran took charge of rotating the more severely injured aliens through, and the cycles were growing shorter and shorter as they moved on to lower and lower priority cases.

Mullet had one of the longest healing cycles out of any of the freed prisoners, so, when his cryopod finally, finally, opened, the paladins were champing at the bit to be there and at long last get their curiosity sated.

Shiro had made it to the pod first, and was at the front of the group when the pod opened, so he was the one who caught the man, holding onto his arm and waist as he stumbled out, on the verge of tumbling right onto the floor. Lance sympathized; experience had taught him that coming out of a cryopod was akin to stepping off of a roller coaster that had gone painfully overboard with the loop-de-loops.

The paladins and Coran were still and silent as Mullet got his bearings in Shiro’s arms, and finally looked up at his surroundings. There were those purple eyes again, wide and bemused as they blinked wearily and darted from face to face, finally settling on Shiro.

With the tiniest hint of a smile managing to work its way out, the man said – voice still raspy but stronger than it had been when Lance had first found him in the lab – “Shiro!” He collapsed further into the black paladin, arms reaching up to lightly encircle him, as if Shiro was hugging him rather than simply holding him upright. “God, I – I thought I’d never – I missed you,” he continued softly, closing his eyes again and leaning in, practically nestling his head on Shiro’s shoulder.

Shiro’s eyes were wide, stunned, his body visibly tensing. He glanced around at the others, who looked just as surprised and baffled as he was, except for Lance – he was baffled as well, of course, but not as surprised as the rest. He offered Shiro a helpless shrug in response to the worried glance the latter sent him; he was glad to know he wasn’t the only one who had absolutely no idea how to respond to this.

“You, uh…” Shiro said slowly. “You missed me?”

“Well, yeah,” Mullet said, lifting his head off of Shiro’s shoulder. “Of course I – ” He paused as he met Shiro’s gaze and finally seemed to notice his facial expression. “… Is something wrong?” he asked.

Shiro looked back to Lance again for help, and Mullet slowly pulled out of the quasi-hug and stared at the rest of the group. “Guys?” he said softly. “Did – did something happen while I was gone?”

Allura took a small step forward. “While you were gone?” she repeated.

“Right, while I – um – ” Hesitantly, he stepped back, brow creased, any ghost of a smile he’d had when he spotted Shiro replaced by anxious confusion. “Seriously, what’s going on?”

Shiro straightened up fully and, with one last fleeting look at the others, decided to take the lead on this one. “Do you mind answering a couple of questions?” he asked.

Mullet raised a brow. “Um… go ahead, I guess?”

“First of all – how do you know our names?”

Somehow the stranger managed to look even more confused than he was before. “What?”

“Lance and myself – you called both of us by name. How do you know our names?”

Mullet’s eyes strayed to Lance before he answered, shaking his head, “What – what the hell are you talking about? Why would I have forgotten your names?”

“Forgotten?” Lance said. “How long have you known our names?”

“Wha – a while, I guess!” The man’s voice was gaining a bit more strength and volume, and the frustration in it growing clearer. “Since the Garrison at least!”

Lance turned to look at Hunk, who had turned to meet his eyes as well, probably thinking the same thing Lance was: they had been social butterflies at the Garrison, and they knew all of their classmates, at least by face. This guy hadn’t been one of them.

“Okay,” Shiro said, “Maybe you should answer something else first: who are you?”

Mullet’s jaw dropped, and he froze for a moment, utterly shocked. He took another shaky step back. “I – I’m Keith? Why are you – do – do I look different or something?” Cautiously, he lifted a hand to his cheek to feel his face. “You’re starting to freak me out…”

Allura leaned forward to speak softly into Shiro’s ear. “Keith. Do you know anyone named Keith?” Shiro shook his head, still staring at Mullet (Keith, Lance corrected himself. They had a name for him now.)

Keith’s brow creased downward into a scowl – one that wasn’t quite enough to mask his growing alarm – and he turned to Lance. “Is this supposed to be one of those stupid jokes of yours that I don’t get?” he snapped. “Because it’s not funny.”

“No one is laughing,” Pidge remarked.

“Well, knock it off!” He had backed up further still, and now his back was against the glass of the cryopod he’d just stepped out of. His eyes were fearful, and Lance noticed that the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed had become deeper and faster. Overall, he was starting to resemble a cornered animal. “I mean it, it’s not funny! Shiro!”

“Look, nobody is trying to play any sort of joke,” Shiro said, much too calmly. “We’re just trying to figure out what’s going on. And, well, how you know us.”

Keith turned his fearful eyes to Shiro, a fevered desperation in them. “You – you’re serious,” he said. “You really don’t – you don’t know me?” He looked toward the others, and his voiced cracked as he asked, “None of you know me?”

Lance was almost tempted to break in and lie, to tell him, yes, of course they knew him, simply because it was the only thing he could think of doing to fix that awful, panicked, pleading expression on Keith’s face. But he didn’t. He shook his head minutely, and around him the others did the same, with a couple of murmurs in the negative.

Keith slid an inch down the glass, his knees starting to visibly shake. “You don’t know me,” he repeated, like he was still trying to make sense of the words. “You don’t know me. You… forgot.” His breaths sped up further, growing audible, a frantic panting, and he reached his hands up to his head, combing them into his hair and gripping as if ready to tear it out, and slid further along the cryopod, shaking as he approached the floor. “Oh my God… You don’t know me. Oh my God.”

Before he even realized his legs were moving, Lance found himself hastily approaching Keith, kneeling down toward him, seeing Shiro do the same on the periphery of his vision. He knew an oncoming panic attack when he saw one; he had talked Hunk through a handful over the years, and had endured a couple of them himself. “Hey,” he said, his voice as calm as he could make it. “Hey, Keith, Keith, you need to relax. You’re okay. You need to breathe, okay? You need to slow down, and breathe.”

“I am breathing!” Keith shouted, whipping his head up toward Lance with what would have been a vicious snarl if his eyes weren’t glistening, pupils shrunk in his panic. Technically, he wasn’t wrong, Lance supposed. Hyperventilating still counted as breathing.

Still, this was no time to debate semantics. Lance reached out to take Keith’s shoulder, but when the latter flinched away, he rested his hand on the glass of the cryopod above his shoulder instead. “Not that way,” he said. “Take it slow. Four seconds in, four seconds out. Like this.” He demonstrated.

“I know how to fucking breathe,” Keith said through gritted teeth, but, after a couple more of his shallow gasping breaths, he squeezed his eyes shut and obliged, slowing his breath and inhaling and exhaling through his nose. He was closer to three seconds per breath than the four that Lance had instructed, but it was good enough.

A hand fell onto Lance’s shoulder, gently pulling him back. Lance glanced back to see Shiro, and was confused at first, until he saw that Shiro had his other arm out as well to push back the rest of the group, who Lance hadn’t noticed had huddled in closer. Oh, he realized, right. Better not crowd him.

“You feeling better, Keith?” Shiro asked.

“No,” Keith answered bluntly. He brought his knees up closer to his chest, folded his arms over them, and buried his head in them.

Shiro frowned, but he nodded. “Okay, that’s – that’s fair enough. But, well, we still need answers, if you’re feeling up to talking. We need to know a bit more about what’s going on and how we can help you. And – and who you are.”

“And why me and Hunk don’t, um, recognize you from our classes,” Lance added.

Keith mumbled something, but the low volume of his voice and the fact that he was muffled by his arms rendered whatever he said inaudible. “Uh, sorry?” Shiro said. “Didn’t catch that.”

So Keith lifted his head to meet Shiro’s gaze, and it seemed that his disquiet had finally reached the point of tears, since the droplets were shining from his eyes and just on the verge of spilling over. “I said, I wasn’t just their classmate.”

“So what were you, then?” Lance asked.

Keith turned to face him instead, and Lance wished that he hadn’t, since one of those tears had made it out and was rolling down his cheek – it was honestly difficult to meet the man’s helpless gaze, and became even more so when he answered:

“I am – I was – a paladin of Voltron.”

[gracevilliers]

Housewarming Party || Grace & Various (Chatzy)

Grace was accustomed to parties, although this one was more casual than the affairs she had grown up around. Those were all pomp and circumstance, and though she could always fit in with those circles, she had settled on something low key for this event, thinking it might make people more likely to attend. Besides, there was something charming about watching a handsome, muscular man flip meet on a BBQ in a tank top.

This was her first real house party in so long, and Elena had been frantic trying to research what exactly happened at house parties, in particular house warming parties. Everything she found online showed lots of people dancing, drinking from red solo cups, and eating copious amounts of small foods. Also, she read that it was customary to bring a gift to a house warming party, and though she didn't actually know whose house she was going to be warming, she brought something she felt was appropriate, a candle. She intended to bring a fire starter log, but it was too bulky and strange to carry, so she opted for a small scented candle instead. Now she just needed to try and find who this house actually belonged to.

Alia had never tidied her own place up enough to ever entertain the idea of a house party, so to see Grace’s place in all its immaculate glory was… quite something, to say the least. And as a housewarming gift, she had put dashes of different fae blood to create a special mix, and had poured it into a tiny bottle - the contents of which were enough to last maybe three shots or so. Now, all she had to do was to find the host, but that was proving difficult in the crowded house. And so instead of going on a wild goose hunt for Grace, she instead approached the closest person to her: a woman of the sea, if her senses weren’t misleading her. “Hi,” she said with a grin. “You wouldn’t happen to know where I can find Grace, do you?”

Elena greeted the woman who spoke to her with a wide smile, "Oh hi! Grace?" She pressed her lips together and shrugged, holding onto the candle with both hands, "No, I don't." Elena let out a laugh, "It's funny that you're trying to find someone, cause so am I. Except I'm trying to find whoever owns this house, unless that is Grace, cause then I guess we're looking for the same person."

Grace was doing her best to mingle with everyone. She only recognized a few people here, but she figured that was the idea. She extended her hand to greet the woman, recognizing her scent as merm without much of an effort. "I'm Grace. I don't believe we've met." She couldn't help but give Alia a small smirk as she approached. She was sure they'd spend some time together before the evening was done. "Darling, it's a pleasure to meet you. Please make yourself at home. I set aside some room for gifts on that table." She lifted her eyes to Alia, greeting her with a kiss on the cheek, since they had already become plenty familiar with one another already. "And Alia, a pleasure to see you again." In more ways than one.

Alia was just about to respond to the other woman when a familiar voice interrupted, and her grin only widened. She waited for the introduction round to make its way to her, and offering her hand to the mermaid, added, “I’m Alia.” She made a mental note to drop the gift off on the table. Accepting the kiss on the cheek and returning it with one of her own, she smiled. “Thanks for the invitation. You have… a really big home. Were those really hot springs I saw in the backyard?”

Elena followed suit, leaving the candle she had brought onto the table full of gifts. There were so many there, and so much room in this giant house, she was certain that even all of the gifts situated in one room wouldn't fill it up. "I'm Elena. Grace you have a lovely and very big house. It's probably the biggest I've ever seen, and you have hot springs in the back?" Elena was absolutely astonished, and it was clear on the excitement and surprise on her face.

"Well," Grace chuckled with a knowing look in Alia's direction, but looking back at Elena to keep her in the conversation as well. "It's not all about size. If Roisin had her way it would be the neighborhood's biggest 1950s roller-skating diner. That woman's taste leaves much to be desired. The springs are lovely though. There's a natural pool under the property that you'll have to experience for yourself some time."

Alia raised an eyebrow. “It’s not?” Her tone was intentionally skeptical, though she brightened at the idea of a roller-skating rink. “I like this Roisin already.” There was no doubt that Grace’s home left very little to be desired: if there was one thing Alia absolutely loved, it was hot springs. Perhaps because of the way they reminded her of home. “What do you think, Elena? Shall we take a dip in the springs later on?”

At the suggestion that they go for a swim the hot springs, Elena was at first, thrilled to be invited and lit up at the idea of relaxing in the steaming waters, but after the excitement wore off reality slowly kicked in. "Oh, I would love to, but I don't think I can. Hot springs are usually fresh water, aren't they? I can't really handle fresh water for long periods of time, but I would love to join and just chat, if that's okay?"

It was hard to miss Alia's flirtation. Grace was doing everything she could to metaphorically keep it in her pants in front of her guests, but her little chuckle at Alia's words promised more to come later, if they had the opportunity. "Roisin will be here somewhere. Just look for the beautiful woman with the ugly outfit. I think she was threatening bell bottoms." Grace gave an eyeroll. "Oh? I'm sorry, they are fresh, yes. But I suppose every species comes with its ups and downs. You're welcome to join us regardless."

Alia sent Grace an amused glance. “You seem to hold her in high regard,” she remarked dryly. Her mood dampened slightly as Elena informed them she couldn’t join them in the fresh water. “We don’t have to go to the hot springs now - how about we do something we can all enjoy? Like… a house tour, before our host gets too busy to entertain us?”

Elena never met nor heard of this Roisin person, but from the descriptions she was hearing, the woman sounded like quite the eccentric character. "A house tour!" Elena clapped her hands together, "That sounds nice! I bet a house like this has so many interesting stories as well. Is it haunted?"

Grace wasn't sure whether that was sarcasm in Alia's voice or not, but she chose to clarify. "Oh, she's my most dear friend. Just one with poor aesthetic tastes. And I think the party can spare me for just a few moments." She placed her wine glass on the counter and led her guests inside. "I certainly hope it isn't haunted given the amount I paid for it, but there was a nest of blood dolls in the basement when I first came to view it. Gave Iann and I quite the surprise."

Alia followed Grace as she led them into the house. “Blood dolls? What happened to them?” The way Grace talked about them made it seem like they weren’t there anymore. “Wait—Iann, as in, adorable Iann?” she asked, not caring that Grace most likely would have no idea about the moniker. “Did he help you move the blood dolls?” Iann had saved her life - she wouldn’t put it past him to help out with resettling other individuals as well.

"What exactly is a blood doll?" Elena asked curiously as they crossed over the threshold into the building. "I know Iann too, he seems to get around. He helped me kill a giant crab monster. Well, actually he just sat on it and it got squashed," she explained matter-of-factly.

Fane really wasn't sure whether coming was a good idea or a bad one, they had been sat in the Louis Armstrong airport back in New Orleans where he and Faye had been for the last week together when the invite had been forwarded by his progeny. A part of him had been sorely tempted to just say no, but aware his absence would likely be noted considering parties were... well, they were sort of his domain around Jamara he figured at least showing his face for a little time wouldn't be too bad. Explaining why his corvette sleekly pulled up outside and Fane climbed out getting Faye's door for her. With his gift tucked under his arm he headed toward the gate idly taking note of the decor through the shade of his glasses a small tilt to his head not allowing his uncertainty about being here to bleed through and projecting his typical air of confident nonchalance as he approached the gathering.

"The blood dolls? Oh, I had them all killed of course," Grace said with a casual wave of her hand, then immediately chuckled. "I'm joking, of course. They went with their new mistress to her new house in... Boston? Somewhere in New England? They were very pampered." Explaining what a blood doll actually was was a less casual task. Many people found themselves uncomfortable at the thought. "They're humans who enjoy being fed on, by vampires. Our kind sometimes take them in as live-in companions, but it's never been my thing." She changed the subject as quickly as she could. "Iann is... quite a character." She would have said more, but Fane's entry had stolen her full attention. She cleared her throat, waving him over. Bloody damn that tall handsome man and his ability to make any outfit look good. "Fane, dearest. I was just about to give a tour. Come and join us."

Fane tilted his head as the crisp English of Grace's voice cut through the garden, commanding the attention of all in the immediate vicinity and took a moment to edge his aviators down the bridge of his nose peering a little over the rim at her. A single dark brow arching at her greeting, but opting to keep things civil... for now. "Grace darlin'" he greeted smoothly a slight slant coming to his lips as his own English accent grew a little more pronounced as he drew nearer "pleasure... like always. You know, I'm almost surprised that I even got an invite." Especially considering how things went between them the last time they ran into one another but that was between them and likely none of the other guests needed to know those details. "A tour and no offer of drinks first? Tsk tsk Grace, what sort of host doesn't offer drinks to the newcomer?" it was said as a light needle nothing truly meant by it. That was simply Fane's humour at the end of the day, mildly sarcastic with a touch of mocking thrown in for good measure. He looked over at Alia and Elena with a wider smile taking the time to go over to each woman and press a kiss of greeting to their cheek "you're all looking lovely today ladies."

Alia paused, brow furrowing - and then rolling her eyes at Grace’s joke. “He squashed a crab?” she repeated, remembering the sea spirits well - though she couldn’t say she had squashed any that day down at the beach. When the newcomer arrived, she grinned at him. “Fane!” she greeted cheerfully, accepting the kiss to the cheek easily. “How have you been?” Turning to Grace, she added, “He does have a point. I haven’t managed to find my drinks, either.” Not that she really minded; she was more interested in looking around the house.

It was unwise to forget about Fane's charms. They came in multitudes. Certainly, Grace had changed over the years, and perhaps Fane had done the same, but that part of him still remained, it seemed, and that haircut was very flattering on him. She gave a quick glance to the woman at his side. They had met before too. Apparently, this was a small town. "Oh, how silly of me," she said, dragging her gaze back to Fane with an exaggerated eye roll and a vague smile. "What will everyone have?"

Elena turned when Grace began speaking to someone coming up the walkway. Her eyes landed on the familiar face of Fane, and while she was still new to the nuances of surface life, she picked up that there was some history between Fane and Grace. She smiled pleasantly when Fane pressed a kiss to her cheek in greeting, "You never sent me a message. I waited and waited," she feigned a frown, and then turned her attention to Grace when she asked about drinks, "Salt water for me! Unless you have margaritas. I had one recently and they're so good, especially with the salt around the rim."

Plucking his glasses off his face, Fane tucked them into the neck of his t-shirt giving a winning smile at Alia "oh me? Always getting up to some sort of trouble. Been in New Orleans the last week-- obvious from my tan" he deadpanned considering he couldn't tan anymore but grinned nevertheless. "Happened to deal with an alligator the size of a school-bus," his eyes widened utterly serious "no jokes, huge thing that creature, almost got shot in the process... But I'm in one piece, more or less, fun times all around I'd say." Fane pointed a little at her as she agreed to his point about drinks, "I'll never say no to a whiskey if you wouldn't mind darling?" He offered an apologetic smile at Elena then, "I know... I meant to, I never forgot but all this community town shenanigans the mayor loaded on us had me absolutely run off my feet and then this trip sort of snuck up on me entirely, I do hope you can forgive me? I'll make it up to you, promise."

That was twice he had called Grace darling now, and the word still stirred something uncomfortable in her, that strange feeling that came with a mixture of nostalgia and annoyance, conflicting unpleasantly. She had invited him though. She had meant what she said all those weeks ago about trying to move on, trying to make a new life. "You always did like whiskey, and I'm sure the bartender can make a mean Margarita. Alia?"

It seemed like Alia was surrounded by charmers today. “How did you manage to almost get shot when dealing with an alligator?” she mused aloud. “Was this another adventure for the museum?” And when Grace asked for their drinks, she added, “A margarita too, please.”

Elena perked up when Fane described his adventure, "Oh! That's a reference!" She gasped excitedly, practically bouncing in her sandaled feet, hair flipping, "I know that reference! It's from Harry Potter!" She was positively beaming, pleased with herself for understanding and being able to fit in so casually.

Grace gave a nod, excusing herself to disappear for a few moments only to return with a tray of drinks. Two whiskeys and two margaritas. When the tray was empty, she set it aside. "You must have so many stories I haven't heard," she said when she returned, giving Fane a long gaze. "Since you've been alive for several hundred more years than I was originally led to believe," she said with a shrug, keeping her tone pleasant, but him to read into it what he wished. "We'll have to make up for lost time some day. But first the tour, yes? Alia, you must be keen to see the bedroom," Grace said, placing a hand on the small of the naga's back.

Fane recalled his first attempt of trying to explain Harry Potter to Elena so her understanding had him snapping his fingers and pointing at her "that's the one! I'm guessing you've started to read the books at my suggestion? You should totally ask Faye about defence against the dark arts when you get the chance, and be sure to call it exactly that because that's what she teaches at the academy" Fane couldn't help but enjoy irking Faye with his Harry Potter references when it came to her magical capabilities. No matter how profound she was, there was no escape. As Grace returned his eyes slid over to her, taking the drink and keeping his own gift tucked under his arm for now. "I told you plenty of them, though circumstances were hardly ideal let's be honest" he answered with a slightly pointed glance in her direction but left it at that as she took on her role of hostess. Now wasn't the time for causing hassle or for spilling unsavoury truths to the populus. They could blame one another for eternity for all he cared, so long as he had alcohol he wasn't going to kick up a fuss.

“Pleasure trip?” Even to Alia’s ears, the words sounded illicit. “But that sounds exciting! Certainly an adventure, and even better that it wasn’t for work.” She grinned at Elena’s response, finding her enthusiasm catching. Taking one of the margaritas from Grace with a “Thanks,” she took a sip of it. The hand on the small of her back brought the tiniest of smiles to her face - she was a tactile person - though the tension between Grace and Fane soured it slightly. Flirtation was all well and good, but being used made her feel… well. It wasn’t a nice feeling. “I’m keen to see everything,” she said, if a little stiffly.

Despite enjoying the company of others, Iann wasn't particularly good at party settings, not when he didn't have some sort of purpose - like finding a certain person to ingratiate himself for favours or scoping the place out in the hopes of stealing something. Merely socializing in crowds, however, was just not something Iann ever got used to. Still Grace Villiers was essentially his first big 'commission', so to speak; and she did seem to have a sort of open-door housewarming, so he felt he should show up. Who knew - maybe ol' Gracie had more vampire friends looking to buy big property in Soapberry. He'd been drifting for a while, when he thought he saw Adorable Alia with the tall blond woman herself - and Villiers' hand hovering at the small of Alia's back. He pitched an eyebrow, and smirked slightly, watching with a slight curiousity at the gathered - and rather eclectic - group of people he knew.

Elena took one of the offered drinks, licking at the salt on the rim as it was her favorite part before sipping the drink. She saw that Grace put her hand on the small of Alia's back, and wondered if that was something necessary for a house tour. She wasn't sure, as this would be her first official one, and so she simply mimicked the action, putting her hand on the small of Grace's back.

Iann nearly spit out his mouthful of club soda when Elena gracefully rested her hand on the curve of Grace Villier's backside. Oh my god, if only Iann had a camera (he forgot his phone had one).

Grace could tell Fane was doing his best to be pleasant too. She wondered if inviting his partner to join them would ease things at all, but she seemed to have vanished in the crowd for a moment, probably having found a mutual friend to speak with. Never mind. At the touch of the merm's skin on hers, Grace stiffened slightly, but only momentarily, thanks to her lack of expectation. "Well, the more the merrier, I suppose," she chuckled, an arm around Elena's shoulder and the other around Alia. "Everyone here is so friendly. And we didn't even get to taking a dip in the springs yet."

At Grace's proclamation that everyone was so friendly, Iann hustled over, seeing it as a good opportunity to interject. "Ms Villiers! Geez, look what you did to the house, it looks completely different," Iann said, then grinned and gave Alia a friendly nudge. "Nice seeing you here, Alia. And you Elena." Iann winked at Fane. "You too I guess, Savin," he teased.

Alia brightened as Iann approached, almost wishing she wasn’t in her human feet just so she could nudge him back with her tail. “You’re right on time, Iann. Grace was just about to give us a tour.”

Iann couldn't help but ask, "Us? Or just you?"

Cassie saw the flyers here and there, but didn’t make much of it. After all, the name Grace Villiers, didn’t ring any bells. She was only further intrigued when she heard the name and mention of a house warming party multiple times through her errands or work day. Cassie eventually acquired the address, and made her way to the home, certain that even if she didn’t know the hostess she’d see someone familiar. She brought along a bottle of red wine and left it on a table near the entry way, feeling a little bit better about the random appearance. Weaving through the small clusters of people she picked up a few veggies from a tray to munch on. An eyebrow raised when she heard the hostesses name, Cassie approached closer.

Alia fixed Iann with a playful look. “Why, Adorable Iann? Are you jealous?”

"Maybe a little," Iann said, taking Alia's hand and putting it around his back and grinning a bit more.

Grace welcomed Iann with a smirk. "Everyone is welcome to join. It seems you are quite the little social butterfly, darling." Adorable Iann was a rather interesting nickname, although not entirely inaccurate. Flirtation seemed to be in the air in more ways than one. "A very quick tour. I can't leave my other guests for too long, you know."

Faye had made her way to the nearest bathroom as they'd arrived, making sure she didn't look too windswept after the ride over in the convertible. She checked herself in the mirror, turning her neck this way and that and checking her glamour. The long marks of Fane's fingers were hidden, as were the purple-black bruises that still lingered on her skin. She'd only glamoured them because well... she looked like someone had hurt her. So for sake of having to explain herself a thousand times, Faye had glamoured them over. For now. She quickly picked Fane's tall form out of the crowd and made her way over. "Miss anything?" she said sotto voice, unsure what the current going on were as her hand touched his back.

"Yes you can, Ms Villiers," Iann snorted as he looked around at the other guests. "We're obviously the most interesting group here. Oh, housewarming present --" Iann reached into his pocket and pulled out two matching magnets - one a rooster and one a cat, both beautifully carved and obviously craft-made. "Here you go. It's a cock and a pussy - traditional housewarming gifts."

Cassie still within earshot of Iann and Grace and a few of the others snorted when she side glanced to see Iann pull out the magnets. “Nice, really nice.” She murmured.

Iann heard Cassie's unmistakable voice (how could he mistake that persnickety mutter as anyone else) and looked over at her, only to find her eating vegetables of all things. "What the hell is that?" Iann asked, pointing at Cassie's carrot stick. "Did you - shit, are you trying to be like...vegan or something?" A vegan werewolf? Would Cassie go that far to avoid her wolfishness??

Fane had ended up losing interest in the tour with the level of flirtation that existed between his ex and the other women lingering around. The house itself was beautiful and thus for most of it his interest was taken by that he'd stopped by one particular painting when he felt a familiar hand at his back and his body swayed back into the touch relaxing as the familiar voice reached his ear. "Nothin' much," he answered honestly his voice low turning away to face Faye more directly "just social niceties I s'pose and Grace being... well, she's Grace."

Cassie turned and stepped closer when iann noticed her, glancing down at the last baby carrot in her hand. She wrinkled her nose at Iann and opened her mouth to stick out her tongue with mashed up orange carrot. “No, not really. It was the only thing I could find on quick walk through.” Cassie offered the carrot out ot her, “You want it? It’s rabbit food, truly. Trust me, i’m not ditching meat anytime soon."

Grace snorted at the gift, rolling her eyes and immediately affixing them to the fridge. "Well, since I like a little bit of everything, I'll display them with pride." She led her guests on a small tour, thankful that Fane seemed to have been distracted when his partner Faye rejoined him. She wasn't gone too long though. It would have been unseemly.

Iann mostly tagged along with the tour to watch Alia and Grace, since he'd originally given Grace the tour of the house in the first place. And there was only so much decor of rich fancy places that Iann was interested in - no, the two women were far more curious. His tagging along was probably a huge crimp in Grace's game, but he didn't care since he had Elena and Cassie to keep him company and he thoroughly harassed them both. "Do you two know each other? Elena, this is Pe - I mean, Cassie. Cassie, this is Elena."

Iann mostly tagged along with the tour to watch Alia and Grace, since he'd originally given Grace the tour of the house in the first place. And there was only so much decor of rich fancy places that Iann was interested in - no, the two women were far more curious. His tagging along was probably a huge crimp in Grace's game, but he didn't care since he had Elena and Cassie to keep him company and he thoroughly harassed them both. "Do you two know each other? Elena, this is Pe - I mean, Cassie. Cassie, this is Elena."

Alia smiled at the not-vegan werewolf. "And I'm Alia," she added.

Elena she looked over at the brunette woman named Cassie and smiled, "Hi! It's so very nice to meet you," she bounced forward to give the other woman a hug.

"Oh right! This is Alia..." Iann said, looking abashed. "And this is the lady of the house, the Honorable, Esteemed Lady Grace Villiers."

“Hmm?” Cassie turned to the other woman, suddenly embarrassed and finishing the carrot in her mouth before offering her hand to Elena and pulling back when the woman was clearly bounding forward to hug her. “Oh-oh-“ She stuttered, looking unsurely at Iann and then nodding a quick hello to Alia as well.

Grace was beginning to think the merm hadn't been on land long. It made for an awkward but entertaining number of encounters. And Grace didn't even have to be drunk to enjoy them. "Oh, I could never go vegan either. There's plenty of BBQ food, for that exact reason."

Elena had finished off her margarita while on the tour, and her face had a nice flush to it now as her body wasn't used to alcohol. "You smell lovely," Elena complimented Cassie as she pulled back from the hug, "Like... vegetation," she smiled brightly and then clung onto Iann's arm, as he was so far the only person she knew most at the party.

Faye glanced around as Fane commented, giving a low hum in response. "Oh? You mean she's bein' a traitorous, murdering bitch?" Faye said so that only Fane could hear. "Not a great way to treat your guests..."

Alia watched, amused, as Elena wrapped her arms around Cassie, before turning to Grace. "I didn't know you had that many titles attached to your name."

Cassie lips curled into amusement at the compliment from Elena, and getting a closer smell of the girl herself, confirming she was a mermaid, some of the strangeness settled into place. “Thank you.” She said kindly, “That’s a new one, I assure you.” She looked over at Grace and smiled brighter, “Barbeque, that’s amazing. And great to meet you. I uh, left some wine by the front. I didn’t know what else to bring…"

Grace waved her hand. "Just Iann being dramatic as usual. Just Lady will suffice. I believe you need to be a judge to be 'the honourable'.” She chuckled, lightly touching Alia's arm and whispering that she would be back soon before disappearing to mingle with some more of the guests. She hadn't spoken to Faye since she had arrived and decided to take the opportunity, walking over with a blissfully ignorant confidence. "Faye, I'm glad you could make it. I had no idea you and Fane knew one another. I'm glad he still has excellent taste."

Iann looked down at Elena and jostled the merm gently, "Hey you. Having fun?" He looked up when Grace mentioned his name. "I'm not dramatic! I'm sure those are all her titles...impressed?" he grinned at Alia, as Grace drifted off to greet Faye and Fane chatting a few paces away. "What do you all think of her new home? I helped her find it."

Fane raised a hand to stifle a snicker at Faye's salty attitude. Struggling to help the smile that did appear on his lips as he responded softly "well... I mean, there's been no backstabbing yet but that doesn't mean there isn't time to end up like the Caesar salad being offered up outside with the barbecue... Watch out for friends wielding knives" he grinned at his history joke but when he noticed Grace approaching out of his peripheral and took a sip of his drink thankful he spoke before she was near enough to hear their conversation. Though her remark did earn a slight arch of his brow as he regarded her and then Faye with a marginal smile. "Oh we know each other," he agreed looking at Faye then "very well."

Faye saw Grace coming, and while she'd only met the woman once - and truly liked her goddammit - there were some things that Faye just couldn't look past. Though she wouldn't make a scene. She did have a tiny bit of tact about her. "Grace," Faye greeted in return, a smile on her face. "I was wonderin' when I'd run into you. I was startin' to think I was gonna have to hunt you down to say hello."

Otto stepped into the house, still tentative. He received an invitation and wasn't so gauche as to turn it down, but he didn't know Grace Villiers very well. Vampire social circles were tight-lipped when the wanted to be, years of having to keep themselves hidden. He aired on the side of caution with a bespoke suit Teddy had picked out for him long ago. His gift was a bottle of expensive wine and a wine-opener with a golden-lined agate handle. He'd grabbed both from a local shop before making his tentative way to the party.

Elena nodded emphatically, hair falling into her face so she pushed it back, "So much fun," she responded to Iann with a smile. "I drank a whole margarita all by myself," she boasted. "You found this house? That mustn't have been very hard. It's so big."

Alia grinned. "Somehow I doubt that. And maybe," she narrowed her eyes at him teasingly, nodding as Grace excused herself before turning her attention back on the group. "You did? It's a nice place, seems to suit her well. And the hot springs out back!"

Fane was forced to bite his lip a little to try and keep his smile from blooming and instead dipped his head reaching out and immediately placing a hand to touch the small of Faye's back in a soothing fashion "Faye" he admonished lowly "that's not how we treat our hosts..." even if her choice of words was amusing to say the least.

Grace couldn't really miss the intonation. It seemed Fane hadn't kept his new woman in the dark. Good for them, she supposed. She was more upset at Faye having turned out to be taken than she was by Fane having a new lover. It was funny how time changed things. "No hunting necessary, thankfully." She waved a hand at Fane's interjection. "Oh, not to worry. I don't mind a little banter. She's wonderful, Fane. You should be proud."

Cassie eyebrows furrowed as she listened to Faye and Grace’s exchange. She had no idea of the background the two women had, but she could easily tell through their body language, or perhaps more Faye’s that something was tense. She was going to keep out of it, and turned her attention to Elena talking about a whole margarita. “You found this Iann? I’m not surprised.” A teasing grin grew, “You should become a realtor."

"Wanna go look at the hot springs? They're - well. They're hot. Probably way more enjoyable in the winter, but then again you must enjoy basking in the sun, Alia. And merms like water. And werewolves..." Iann squinted at Cassie. "Well you should come along anyway." At Elena's comment, Iann grinned. "What kind of margarita? Please tell me it was lime." What was the alcohol tolerance for a merm, Iann wondered. He also wondered if tonight was the night to find out. "No - I - well I helped her shop for it. Grace wanted to buy a home, and I'm the guy who helps people find their right home, you see. Want another margarita?"

Faye smiled. "We do yeah. Quite well. And they say taste improves with age. Or so I'm told." The words were said lightly, and with no malice. And honestly, Faye felt only a slight irritation and rumble of ire in her chest. People could change. She knew this for a fact. But it was still a shock for Faye to have learned about Grace. But for the sake of propriety she really was doing her best.

Otto tried to grab Grace's attention so he could drop off the alcohol and free his hands. He took the opportunity to look around and see mostly strangers, acquaintances, or people he hadn't spoken to lately.

Iann laughed, "Pegs, I AM a realtor! Kind of. I mean, I show people houses and then I take a commission...so." He pointed at Cassie. "It's your fault, you got me all invested in houses, thanks to the Germaine house." He looked at Alia. "Where are you living again? Near Vinegar Tom?"

Cassie cringed at the mention of the hot springs. “Oh I don’t know. I’m not a very good swimmer.” But she was happy when Iann picked up on her realtor comment. “I’ll take that fault.”

Alia nodded. "In Vinegar Tom. Are you looking to rent a place there?"

Elena "What does a lime taste like?" She mused, "I don't remember. Is it green or is it yellow?" She mumbled, not meaning to say those words out loud. "I do want another margarita, but you should have found a hot springs made of sea water. I'm thinking of renting somewhere. Is Vinegar Tom a nice place?"

Otto approached Grace first, before disappearing from the room completely. "Ah, forgive me- I, well I don't mean to interrupt, um, your conversations. But I've brought you a gift and was wondering where I should place it?"

Iann "I'm looking to upgrade you, Alia. Unless you're in the market for a sugarmama instead..." he was being a jerk and he knew it, but it was Alia and she was adorable, like always. "Vinegar Tom is a dump, don't go there. Let me make you a good margarita instead," he nodded over to where the bar setup was, motioning to Elena and others to follow if they wanted. "Alia, what do you want to drink? Pegs, you too, if you're drinking. You leave the baby with Lopez?" Iann shooed the paid bartender away and picked up a small lime, showing it to Elena. "Lime. It's sour and tangy and goes well with salt."

"Oh I'm more than proud of her," Fane answered smoothly with the self-assured confidence of an individual that knew where he stood in terms of his relationships but for the sake of propriety he adjusted the box he had kept cradled under his arm for the time being having been about to hand it over. "But, considering this is your party..." Fane paused as Otto stepped in then his words falling to the wayside as he brought the box he'd been carrying back down to his side deciding to wait before he offered the item. Perhaps at a more quiet point of the evening.

Grace was impressed with Faye's wit. Her beauty spoke for itself. It had made itself abundantly clear the first time they had met. The number of women in this town who were considered eligible to her charms seemed to dwindle down every time she turned her head, and she had yet to find a man worth her time. "Well, it was nice to see you again. Hopefully you can also attend the gallery opening when it's ready." At the sight of someone trying to grab her attention, Grace excused herself again, greeting Otto with a light touch to the shoulder. "Ah, hello. This is lovely. I'll have enough alcohol to last me at least a week at this rate," she teased, taking the bottle gratefully. "Are you a friend of Roisin's? You're...Otto, yes? She mentioned you."

Elena leaned her elbows on the bar and looked at the small green fruit Iann held up before her, "It's cute."

"Lime's a little sour," Alia answered. "It's green. Lemon's the yellow one. There are some hot springs in the sea, but I don't know if there are any in Soapberry." She paused, and then laughed. "A sugar mama? What are you implying, Iann?" At the talk of Vinegar Tom, she added mildly "I like it just fine. --And I'll have another margarita, please."

"Margaritas for all," Iann said, because he really did enjoy making margaritas for obvious (and totally not stereotypical) reasons. There was just a succinct joy in salting a rim.

Otto "Roisin? I-" Otto swallowed and blanched at the name. He'd spoken to her, at some other mostly vampire gathering and it hadn't gone well. He was never the most, erudite, with his words but he certainly didn't expect so much vitriol. It left a bad taste in his mouth. "Uh, well I do know her, of her- I mean to say we met before, but ah- Yes, alcohol is the sort of standard house warming nowadays. Forgive me, had I known you better I would have gotten something more thoughtful. A book perhaps, I was thinking about bringing one of poetry but uh-" He had thought better of it an left it in the car while he went to the shops.

“Ugh, definitely don’t go to Vinegar Tom.” Cassie agreed with the rest. She scratched her nose before responding to Iann. “I guess I’ll drink, do they have mango margarita? And yeah, Lilo is home with Addie. This wasn’t super planned so, yeah-“ She let out a breath, “No babysitter."

Elena gasped at Cassie, "Do you have a baby? I haven't seen a baby in years!" She moved closer to Cassie, "Can I meet your baby?"

Grace exhaled. She must have misunderstood the context in which Roisin had mentioned him, but she was glad Otto had come. She needed more vampire friends in town. "There is nothing to forgive. I love wine, and the tall, dark and handsome strangers who deliver it to me. What do you do for a living, dear?" She wanted to keep him talking, anything to keep Roisin from coming up again after the initial stiffness her name had summoned in him.

Cassie was slightly taken off guard by Elena’s sudden and enthusastic response over the mention of Adeline. She blinked, “Yeah, I have a daughter. She’s home with her daddy right now though-“ She smiled weakly, “I’m sorry.” Cassie did feel a little bad, considering how excited the merm seemed. “I bring her out and about a lot, so I’m sure she’ll meet her eventually."

Faye nodded her goodbyes at Grace, her stomach rolling with mixed feelings. She hadn't sensed anything bad from the woman when they'd met. But... God, she needed a drink. "Do you want a drink?" she asked Fane. "I could sure use one."

 "All I'm saying, Alia," Iann said, as he shook the mixer because fuck that blended nonsense, on the rocks was the best. "My pal Dani Savin - child of that Savin over there -" he nodded over to where Fane was, (dressed, honestly, like he was going to a gay fetish night afterparty after this party) "- has a loft with an empty bedroom. And if you haven't met Dani yet, that's fine. I know she'd love another roomie. I live there too, hm? Three's company, only you know. More...ah..." He tried to think of something. "Less...Mr Roper? I guess?"

"He is a professor at the University, as am I." Teddy stepped up next to Otto, offering a slight bow to Grace and mentioning, "I brought a token as well, but left it in the front hall. You must be laden with them by now. I'm Teddy Aynesworth, by the by."

Fane raised his glass already filled with liqueur that Grace had already happened to get him. "I've got one but I'll come with you to get another then maybe we can find a little more... acceptable company" Fane paused before adding "for once I don't want to actively cause a scene... Not yet at least." There was still time.

Grace didn't need to be greeted with a boy, but it was endearing, she had to admit. She wondered if her mild flirtations had summoned him. Her flirtation was harmless, merely how she tended to converse most days. "Nice to meet you, Teddy. I do enjoy a bit of academia. A noble profession."

Alia was glad to be in front of the bar instead of behind one for once, and was quite impressed as she watched Iann fix their drinks. “You’re a pro at this,” she remarked, and then glanced in the direction he had indicated. “I don’t know,” she said, frowning slightly. “I’m quite comfortable where I am.” Except in the winter, when her shitty heater hadn’t worked…And she had really liked Iann’s workshop, that time he’d fixed her up. “Maybe I can come visit you guys again sometime.”

Otto nearly choked at the last part as he handed over the wine. "I well, I- um," he swallowed, blinking as he persevered. Perhaps she was just being polite. Moreover, it was very dark in the room and she certainly couldn't make out much of his 5'8" frame self to conclude 'tall dark handsome' was in anyway applicable to the scrawny peevish thing he knew himself to be. "I- he's right, professor of vampire studies actually. I work mostly teaching fledglings."

"Probably not as good as you, I still need to see you at the Fainting Goat," Iann said with a grin, as he poured them all margaritas. He looked at Cassie. "No mango anything, but I'll add some mango liquer to it, should make it more sweet, hm?"

Elena maintained a bright smile as Cassie explained that her daughter was at home with her father. What an adorable landfolk image. "That's okay, besides, I don't think babies can have margaritas." There was some kind of age limit on drinking here, she wasn't sure how old the person needed to be to drink, but apparently it was old. "Maybe I should meet this Dani Savin," Elena started, picking up her margarita and licking the rim before sipping it, "I think I could live in a loft."

Teddy hummed in agreement with both Grace and Otto, continuing, "What made you want to open your lovely home to the town, if I might ask? You never know who might come traipsing through."

Faye nodded and they made their way to the where the drinks were being served. "Tequila on the rocks." She raised a hand in greeting to the people she knew, seeing Iann and Cassie, and then Teddy and Prof. Leitner speaking with Grace.

Grace 's eyes widened with interest. She had made the boy flustered. Perhaps he wasn't used to being openly complimented. Some people didn't know how to react. From Grace, it wasn't exactly 'false', she never outright lied, but it was all superficial. It was just how people in her circles had spoken to one another. "Vampire studies. Fascinating. It's very refreshing to live somewhere we can discuss these things openly." She had once contributed to a world that had wanted to destroy vampires. "Well," she shrugged, answering Teddy's question. "I'm new to town and I haven't made very many new friends yet. I wanted to change that."

Iann found the divide of the bar counter between himself and others comforting, it gave him a purpose and a design, so when Faye came over, he was happy to make the drink as the poor bartender stood there and fumed. Whatever; Iann would make sure buddy got his tips. "You should meet Dani Savin," Iann agreed with Elena. "And I thought you were happy living in the sea?" He nodded in greeting at Faye. "Having fun? Do - ah - do those two vamps know each other?" Iann asked of Grace and Fane.

“No mango?” Cassie repeated sticking out her tongue again, “Blasphemy.” She chuckled at Elena’s deduction that babies could not have margarita’s. “No, definetly not.” She followed Iann giving a small wave to Faye as well.

Otto waved to Faye with a slight nod and smile. It was always a pleasant thing to see his colleagues about. His gaze swept around the room when he saw Iann and cringed, remembering how he'd disappeared so abruptly. The fallout with Teddy about that wasn't the most pleasant and he wondered what Iann was feeling about it. So caught up he was he almost missed Grace's next comment, and still hadn't managed the hand off of the wine before it slipped from his grasp and crashed to the floor.

Fane set the parcel down on the side for the time being and necked his whiskey. If that wasn't an immediate answer to Iann's question there was no telling what was. "You could say that," understatement of the century but he didn't elaborate now was hardly the place much as he was tempted. Instead he got the bartender to order another though just as he did that there was a sudden smash and Fane peered over his shoulder "well, this party is certainly off to a smashin' start isn't it?"

Elena "I do love living in the sea, but sometimes I get so tired and apparently it's not good to fall asleep on a bench in the park"

Otto was mortified. "Oh dear god, no I am so- I didn't- shiesse- What I mean is-" He cringed at the mess, shards of glass and deep red liquid spilt all at his feet. "My apologies, I can, I'll clean this up. No need to worry, um, point me in the direction of the towels and dust pin and I will, uh, sort the mess."

Grace shot Iann a warning glare at his question, able to pick up his voice from across the room. "We're--" She was saved from explaining, but not quite by the bell. Otto, also caught up in the awkwardness of either this situation or one of his own, sent his wine shattering on the ground. Grace took a step back, only just managing to keep herself from cursing under her breath. "No harm done," she muttered, waving over one of the housekeepers to clean it up. "Perhaps we should take this back outside onto the veranda."

Iann heard the crash (who wouldn't? The ceiling was vaulted, the acoustics were great) and looked up to see - "What the fuck?" he muttered, then handed Faye her drink and stepped out from behind the bar, squinting at the stooped-shouldered man with Grace and Aynesworth. "Leets?? I thought you were in -" he stopped himself suddenly thank god, glancing at the others before glaring at Otto. "Well at least you're not dead. Again."

Teddy raised an eyebrow at the red wine that was soaking into his trouser legs, the hostess's shoes, the floor around them. "Jolly good party," he remarked. "I always say it's not a proper do unless at least one thing or body part gets broken."

Faye just looked at Fane and shook her head with a little smile. Though she frowned at the smashed wine, looking to see if anyone was going to help the Professor. Iann moved in that direction though after handing Faye her drink, to which she nodded her thanks.

Otto looked up, "Ah yes, of course. The help..." He nodded thin lipped and mortified. The situation only compounded by Iann's glare. "Uh- I'm- Well no, not dead again." He looked apologetically again at Grace and Iann. "The veranda sounds lovely at least."

"How's Addie?" Faye said across Fane to Cassie.

"No, you're just here," Iann snapped, then looked at Aynesworth for a moment, because obviously HE knew Leitner was back, obviously. But Iann didn't know until a fucking party. "I see how it is," he muttered, feeling that same slight swell of jealousy he felt at another party months ago - the bonfire night with Cassie, regarding her and Lilo Lopez. He looked at the mess, not really caring who cleaned it up; Grace Villiers probably had minions for all that. "Welcome back," he said brusquely, and then stepped away from the group and their discussion about curricula, extricating himself away from Otto in particular.

"Not to worry, darling. They're very well paid." Grace led Otto and his... friend? Partner? They hadn't made that exactly clear, out onto the veranda again, away from whatever drama was lurking with Iann. The BBQ was still going, and though Grace had no need to consume food, she quite enjoyed the normalcy of having it around. "You must tell me more about your vampire studies. I hear Faye teaches Defense Against The Dark Arts. I've never known a school with such a fascinating curriculum."

Cassie jumped at the sound of the glass shattering on the floor, but it looked like others had it covered, so she didn’t move from her spot, turning and smiling to Faye when the witch addressed her. “She’s good. Having some quality time with her Papa.” She finally smelled some of the BBQ on the air from the vernanda and asked, “Have you eaten yet?” It was mostly a question if Faye would join her. She didn’t really want to go out alone now that she knew other people at the party.

Teddy interrupted before Otto had a chance to start stammering and mumbling about his fledgling vampires and their nonsensical individual dogmas. "Indeed, I myself lecture in Philosophy. Particularly on Ethics and Morals among Supernaturals. It's an enormous and unfathomably wide topic, utterly brilliant." This of course gave the insinuation that Teddy himself, as the teacher, must be brilliant as well. Teddy had not even acknowledged Iann Cardero, since the man was ridiculous and best let severely alone. He internally congratulated himself on this decision and subsequently assumed that was why Iann stormed off.

"I- uh-" Again Otto’s attention was torn between the lovely anodyne conversation Teddy, Grace and he were meant to be having, and the aggrieved young Iann. "Do forgive me, yes it is wonderfully fascinating Ms. Villiers but I should talk to you about this later. But I really must go get something else, uh, sorted. If I am so rude not to come back today I should like to call upon you in the future?" Otto smiled, posing it as a wonderfully polite question. The most composed he'd been since coming, then he did the unthinkable for him. He left trailing Iann before he could storm off completely out of sight.

Grace thought perhaps it best not to ask any questions about what the situation was between Otto, Iann and Teddy. They could sort that out in their own time, and she had no intention of causing any more damage to her brand new house. She exhaled, taking in the fresh air when they made their way outside. Otto, it seemed, had other plans. "You must do as you see fit. I do hope to talk to you another time," she said with a nod.

"Iann,” Otto said. “Please, Iann do stop I'd like to- I need to talk to you will you please... Just."

"I really need to come and see her. Bring Wyn now that Addie's a bit older. Not that they could really play yet but..." Faye shrugged, shaking her head in the way of mothers talking about their children. "I haven't," she said to the eating part, and as everyone seemed to be moving outside, Faye touched Fane's arm and indicated where she was going if he wanted to accompany them.

Iann went to sulk not unlike a teenager in one of the quiet hallways, which had some very lovely paintings and other things to keep his interest as he fumed. But with his arms folded, glaring at nothing (because even he wasn't sure why he was so angry...he just was), he looked over to see Otto's figure silhouetted in the hallway entrance. "What? What is this?" he demanded aggressively. "You just fuck off and then you're back and - and - " And what? It wasn't like they were close. Iann wouldn't even consider Otto his friend. He was just like...a something. Iann didn't even know what, and right now he was feeling hard-pressed to remember. "Did you have a good time?"

Teddy smiled at Grace. "Professor Leitner tends to be somewhat ... scrambled, even at the best of times." He got a cider for himself, offering one to Grace, and continued, "I'm very fond of him, and it's true he needs more vampire friends, but he requires patience. Reams of it."

Grace accepted Teddy's offering with a grateful nod. "Indeed." It was quite a formal term of address, a curious one, and really there was no way getting around this without just asking, indecent as it may have seemed. "If there's one thing vampirism teaches, it's patience. Is he your partner?"

“Yeah! Anytime really. Addie is playing with toys more and she can lift her upper body up when she’s on her stomach so-“ Cassie chuckled, “She might be a little more interesting to Eowyn now.” She glanced back at Fane before walking out to the veranda with Faye and collecting a plate that she could get food on, “How’s Eowyn been doing?” She asked, “You’ve had a bit of change recently, yeah?"

Otto came upon the skulking Iann at once, and at once he had a sudden surge of irritation. Her was this man who'd put him through so much, needlessly, and here he was worried he'd hurt Iann's feelings. "No I did not have fun as a matter of fact. It was horrible, horrifying, I wish I hadn't gone but then I needed to go and well, when I- when I came back..." Otto sighed and most irritation melted away. "My phone was melted. There was, uh, fire of sorts. Then when I come back I discover Mal Ojo's phone is disconnected, and it's gone. I have no idea where to reach you and, well, I had my hands full of, other things... Concerning things... in the midst of trying to track you down and remembering your blasted phone number. It's that horrible e-phone you got me. I was too reliant on it."

Fane looked down as Faye touched his arm and with a final glance at the scene unfolding inside figured it best to leave it as is. It wasn't his business and frankly he wasn't here to get embroiled in any more commotion than necessary. Still, considering Cassie and Faye were occupied with their conversation he pressed a light kiss to Faye's cheek affectionate before slipping away towards Grace figuring he could speak to her a little whilst she was free. "Seems like old times hm? Never a dull party whenever we went to one... or hosted one for that."

Teddy was delighted by Grace's question and the way she'd delivered it. There were so few people in Soapberry who understood the art of chatting at a party whilst not being dull as a doorknob! "He is, yes," Teddy said, his voice brimming with excitement. "Yes, Otto is my partner." From the way Teddy's heart was going staccato, he realized with a shock that he didn't really talk about their relationship with anybody, finding most other people either too witless, aggravating, or inappropriate to bring Otto up with. Grace, though, seemed the perfect mix of parlour manners and barely knowing each other. "I fell in love with him when I first saw him, in fact, but I'm not the sort who has partners and it took a while to sort out."

Iann listened, trying his hardest to frown as heavily as possible, his face a mass of lines and wrinkles as he glowered at Otto. But the more the vampire talked - and he was surprisingly eloquent, without all that goddamned stuttering and stammering - the more Iann's frown unwound itself. "Your phone melted? What - did it get swallowed by a fire salamander or something? Why was it horrible?" He waved a hand, trying to dismiss something that was ultimately one of the most recent painful moments in his own life. "Mal Ojo's gone. It blew up...or imploded. It crumbled, it's gone. But...yes. E-phones are terrible for that, aren't they. Why carry a little black book around when all your contacts are e-recorded in your e-contacts list?"

Grace couldn't help but notice the quickening of Teddy's heart as he spoke about Otto. An enviable feeling, and not just because her own heart could no longer beat. It had been decades since she had felt anything resembling love, except for Roisin, and that wasn't romantic love. "I can't claim to have such a thing. I'm a bit of a free spirit, I suppose, but it must be nice. Have you known each other a long time?"

"She's getting so big already," Faye said wistfully, thinking of when Wyn was that age. She gave Fane a smile that said they would meet up in a bit and moved off with Cassie, collecting her own plate and putting bits of food on it. She had to admit, Grace had outdone herself. "She's good. She um... stopped talking awhile back. Last time I heard her say anything was when we went shopping right before you had Addie."

"My great-grandson." Otto sighed and ran his tongue over his lips. "Which is sadly the answer to both those questions. He is the reason it's so horrible, and melted my phone. He says it wasn't purposeful but I, well, I certainly have my doubts about that." As he spoke his hand worked through his hair, growing more concerned as Iann talked. "It's gone? My god. Iann are you alright? Is everything- well of course everything not alright but- Well, are you alright? that's important."

"Oh, believe me, I had no intention of being anything other than a free spirit. I certainly didn't expect to be entranced by a skeletal vampire dressed in leftover haunted house costume." Teddy sipped his drink thoughtfully. "We've only known each other a few years, five or so, I'd imagine. It gets hard to keep time when you've lived as long as we have, eh?" He tucked some hair back into place when the breeze lifted it, saying, "Which reminds me -- I can't quite place the era of your sense of style, my dear, and it's a dreadful blow to my ego. Tell me, what era is your decor based in?"

"Don't talk to me about me," Iann sniped, because for Iann, his news was old news - and to recount it here, standing in a hallway awkwardly with Otto Leitner so long after it happened, just seemed tedious and redundant. Especially in light of this whole 'great-grandson' thing. "Is this..." Iann tried to do the math, but generational things were difficult to grasp when he was all emotionally compromised (stupid emotions). "Anna's child? How old is he? Why the fuck did he burn your e-phone?" Because of course Iann couldn't stand to talk about his own travails in this environment, but he fully expected Otto to answer all of his intensely personal questions.

Cassie nodded as Faye mused about Addie growing quickly. It was exciting right now, but she imagined she would miss the infant days soon enough. But at the news of Eowyn she frowned, “What, really?” She chewed her lip, moving forward in a small line that had formed, “Do you have any idea why? I mean, is it still cause of…Chris?” She felt bad about bringing it up but it was the only thing she could think of. “You’re with Fane now though, so that has to be going well?” She scratched her chin, “Either way, I’m sorry to hear it.” It was just so unlike the toddler she remembered, “Maybe some time with Addie will help."

Grace already liked this town, and this conversation was proof the house warming party had been a good idea. She'd finally met some decent men, and they were in a relationship with each other. It was ironic, but amusing. They'd make good friends, she hoped. They seemed academic and thoughtful, and not without their own interesting stories. "I suppose you can't control love," she mused, watching the smoke from the BBQ weave tendrils in the air. "How sweet of you to ask. I was turned in the Victorian era. I try to keep the aesthetics, but a bit of 1920s doesn't hurt either."

"Yeah," Faye said quietly, a small frown on her face. "And that's really all I can think of. His leaving. I mean... it's been months now. Almost a year. And she had started talking less and less right after, just a word here and there, like that day we went out. But now..." Faye shook her head. "Nothin'. Though... Fane is teaching her sign language. And how to communicate with pictures. Other wise she's still the same though." Faye sighed, though a smile touched her face as Cassie mentioned Fane. "Yeah. It is. Really well. We um... we went to New Orleans for a week just a few days back. Spur of the moment kinda thing. It was..." Faye flushed a little bit before moving back to the topic of Addie. "I hope so yeah."

Teddy bounced on his toes. "I knew it! Or rather, I'd hoped but didn't want to disappoint myself." He tipped two fingers to his forehead as a gentleman would touch his hat to a lady, and said, "It was 1850 when I became the embodied nymph of the River Thames, well within Her Majesty's reign. You wouldn't believe how rare it is to find somebody else from that era! This is tremendous." Grace was growing more and more astonishing by the second, it seemed; Teddy could probably use some more friends himself, and this seemed very promising.

Otto was taken aback by Iann's abrupt-ness. Of course he wanted to hear about him, who was he to tell Otto what to talk about. Otto did well enough to swallow his pride. "I'm just concerned and- well-" He sighed again, well acquainted with Iann's style of third degree questioning. "He's Anna's little brother, not uh, my Anna, the Anna that was named after her great grandmother. Or- ugh- I know it all gets very confusing but I do often call them grandchildren to not, well, draw attention. He's too old to be acting the way he is I can say that certainly and he was able to burn it because- because-" Otto nearly stopped himself and closed his eyes. "Because he's an atronach. They all are, Anna, my ex-fiance Anna was one and lied to me for years about it..." He raised his eyes at Iann in an implicit 'are you happy now' gesture.

Grace beamed at Teddy's enthusiasm. "Well, I knew you were a London boy thanks to the accent, but the embodied spirit of the River Thames?" Grace turned toward the man, extending a hand to touch his shoulder. "I think I'm going to like having you here, darling. It's like..." She chuckled, shaking her head at her own sentimentality. "It's like having a little piece of home." She touched her glass to his. "To new friends."

Concerned? That mystified Iann, because he knew Otto wouldn't just say something like that and not mean it. But he wasn't going to try and address that right now. Instead, he tried to wrap his head around what Otto was saying, decipher the words spilled out in that particular and slightly infuriating 19th century Austrian way. "One day you're going to have to draw me a tree," Iann finally said, because it was really the only way he was able to understand the Germaine family lineage. These people and their immense families, Jesus. (As if it was such a crime to have families). "So this is all just some brat throwing a fit and burning your phone. Family drama, great," Iann said sarcastically, but then he sighed. "I guess I have no reason to be pissed off." He paused, aching to say 'but Aynesworth knew you were back', but he didn't. Instead he asked, "When'd you get back to Soapberry then?"

"To new friends, from old places." Clinking lightly, Teddy drank, finding the touch to his shoulder quite pleasant. He'd been rather sentimental all evening, so Grace's comment seemed to fit right into place with the mood of the conversation. "It could be so dreadful back then, really, but as the years have gone by I've realized that all eras are dreadful and glorious in their own ways. Tell me, Grace--" first names seemed the right thing, at this point, "--when did you come here, to Soapberry? Were you longing to see the New World?"

“Sign language, oh that’s great!” Cassie smiled, “I wanted to teach Addie when she gets a little bit older. It’s better than having to consistently decode screeches and cries.” She shrugged and then offered a reassuring smiile, “I’m sure she’ll come back around. It’s just a little blip.” Her brows rose at the mention of a vacation, “Wow New Orleans. I’m jealous. I’m really happy for you though. You two seem really content together.” And Cassie knew Faye deserved it, after so much. “We’ll have to make it happen.” Cassie nodded, making a mental note to keep her calendar open.

“Yes, dreadful family things I've been roped into. Apparently he'd gotten himself in a bit of trouble so I was dispatched to set him straight." Otto sighed again, not used to having so many people enter his life all at once. "I got back a few days ago, Teddy was the first person I visited and well. I arrived in such a state, and that business of uh, not finding you. Well-" He hadn't had to care about more that one other person's feelings for so long. It made him uncomfortable. "A night out seemed, acceptable. I didn't want to turn down an invitation..."

He was correct, of course. All eras had their beauty and their cruelty. At least Otto and Teddy could live openly in this one. "Very wise," Grace agreed with a nod. "I've only been here a few weeks. I came to visit my friend Roisin." There was that name again. She hoped Teddy wasn't somehow involved with whatever had made Otto blanche at her name. "Then I ran into Fane. A piece of my past that I... wasn't expecting. Curiosity made me stay, but I've been living between the UK and the US for some decades now."

"Only a few weeks! And yet you contrived to have your home so well-appointed in that time, impressive." Teddy nodded in satisfaction. That sort of precise, exacting knowledge of what one wanted and what one preferred was already commendable; added to efficiency, it was basically like manna to the nymph. He himself never moved into any sort of rooms or flat or other living arrangement without having it furnished and arranged to his specifications beforehand. "I'm afraid I haven't met Roisin. Does she work in the town?" Teddy was curious about what this elegant vampire could have shared in the past with Fane (who was harmless but, in Teddy's toffee-nosed opinion, something of a buffoon), but he would bide his time on asking further questions regarding that time in Grace's life.

So wait. Iann (still allowing himself to think selfishly) rolled Otto's last words over in his mind. The vampire had come home to seek out Aynesworth (understandable) and...him? Well shit; now Iann felt a little bad. Iann was pretty sure that if he returned to Soapberry after a long trip, that Otto wouldn't be first on his list to find. Okay so...okay. Iann pushed off the wall, sauntering over towards Otto. "Yeah, yeah yeah, okay. You needed to relax, I get it. Grace Villiers is really...ah. Well she's an exceptional person," Iann settled on saying. She wasn't exactly 'nice' or 'lovely' or any of those banal complimentary words, not in Iann's opinion anyway. He hooked and arm into Otto's and led him back out to where the bbq was. "I'll come over tomorrow or something and you can tell me everything, hm? I want to know what happened to you and Anna and this - this great-grandson and...atronachs! Jesus..." He looked over at Teddy and Grace, who were still chatting. "I'm staying with Dani Savin now, in their loft."

Bartender waggles eyebrows at Elena. "Hey gorgeous, want me to freshen your drink up? You look...thirsty." He jiggles his man-breasts to impress her.

Grace gave a small smirk, rolling the ice around in her glass absent-mindedly. "Well, I suppose I am a woman who knows what she wants." And the wealth to be able to afford it. It was a luxury she was accustomed to. It was to her relief that Teddy wasn't familiar with Roisin. It let her paint her own picture. She smiled with affection as she spoke of her, not unlike Teddy had as he spoke of Otto. "She is my dearest friend. We met in the 1960s and sadly her sense of style hasn't much progressed since then," she chuckled. "She works at the Museum. I suppose I have a way of attracting academic sorts."

"Dani?" Otto’s eyebrows flew up to his hairline, then he collected himself. "Ah yes- they're uh- well a good professor by all rights. An excellent roommate I hope?" His eyebrow raised again, more controlled as he posed the question. "As for a visit, I should like that. I do worry you though. The curmudgeon will be staying for a time."

 "Beyond excellent. I'm hard-pressed to find out what Dani Savin isn't good at - but then maybe that's just part and parcel of Savinism," Iann mused, but then he came to a full stop, tugging Otto closer. "Wait what? What?? Your great - that great grandson is here? In Soapberry? With you???"

Elena had been practically licking at the edges of her glass, trying to get every last bit of salt off it when the bartender asked if she'd like another. His man-breast jiggling went completely unnoticed to her though, "I would love another," she set her glass down and smiled lazily at him.

"You have the sexiest mouth, I just want to suck it off your face," The Bartender said lasciviously, because he really really badly wanted her to get the message as he begane mixing her a new drink and showing off his guns.

Ephram was trying, these days, to make himself go to situations that were on the formal side. Not that this was technically formal, it said so on the invite, but in Ephram's mind anything held in a 'manor' or 'estate' or the like meant it was more swank than he was used to. Thankfully, there was a bar in a quietish corner with a pretty girl propping it up, so he made his way over and straddled the seat next to her. "Hey," Ephram said, reaching out a fingertip to draw lightly down her nose. "You doin' okay in there? You keepin' hydrated?" Touching her had let him know she was a mermaid, which meant that she could be in serious trouble with the amount of booze it seemed like she'd been socking away. Then the bartender slid up, doing some kind of boob-dance meant to entice the mermaid girl and Ephram stared at him flatly. "Look, buddy," he said, "unless you wanna get slapped with sousing a girl who ain't used to liquor, buzz the fuck off."

"Yes..." Otto answered tentatively, and with a little guilt. He had left the child, that was too old to be thought of a child, alone with a charm of deep sleep. "Well, not with me and..." Otto frowned, his sharp vampire ears picking up on some truly offensive nonsense. "Dear god," he turned to look out at the opening to the hallway. "I hope Ms. Villiers isn't being overcharged for that buffoon to insult her guests."

"Stop being distracted with your exceptional vampire hearing!" Iann shook Otto by his bony shoulders. "Not with you and what??"

Elena was taken aback when the man who suddenly sat beside her touched her nose. It was such a strange interaction that she had never experienced before on her time above the surface, and for a moment she just stared at him, then she touched her own nose. Maybe there had been something there and he had wiped it off, or maybe it was a new way of greeting people. There were so many ways of greeting people on the surface it seemed, so after the man told off the bartender, who had just slid her another drink, she did the same to him. Sliding her finger down his nose and saying, "Hi." She picked up her margarita and sipped it.

Teddy picked up easily on the wave of fondness in Grace's voice and smiled. "How lucky for me that you do, my dear," he murmured. "I am very much looking forward to seeing you again in the future, but for now, I shall stop being so greedy and let you attend your other guests."

Otto gritted his teeth as the molasses thick accent replied back. Emphram, the snobbish vampire sniffed to himself. He thought this was supposed to be a classy event. "Wha-" Otto turned back to Iann. "Oh no, so sorry. It's just. He's home now, I haven't left him in the car with the windows cracked or something like that."

Bartender was no match for the town Sheriff and he backed off immediately, saying. "Hey no harm no foul, no goose, no fowl."

Iann would slap Otto to get his attention back, because the vampire currently seemed utterly distracted, but Iann just let him go. "Well whatever, I'll still come over tomorrow and I can meet him and everything, it'll be great."

Ephram blinked instinctively at the path of Elena's finger, but didn't stop her. Christ but she was lovely, even clearly six sheets to the wind. He ignored the weirdo bartender and said to the merm, "I'm Ephram. You been here long? You had a lot of those?" He tapped the rim of her margarita glass, idly licking off the crumbs of sugar (sugar? really?) that the bartender had fixed it with. It seemed the bartender had duly fucked off as ordered, so Ephram leaned his tall self over the bar to squirt a glass of fizzy water for Elena, swapping it for her second margarita. "Try that," he encouraged. "It'll tickle that cute lil nose of yours."

"You'll love him I'm sure. He's unflinchingly rude and holds no affection for social mores or good manners." Otto felt as if he very much needed a drink after all this talk. Of course he had none, save for the ounce of wine drying on his pant leg. He wet his lips and sighed. "Or you'll hate him utterly."

"I'm Elena," she greeted, "I've been here since the start," she wasn't sure when that was to be honest, but she'd been there a while, "This is my third," or maybe it was her fourth. She hadn't been keeping track, and didn't know she was supposed to. "Oh," she took the fizzy water from him when he swapped it for her drink and took a small sip. "It tickles!" She exclaimed with a giggle, but the taste was awful compared to the margarita she had been drinking before. "Who are you, Ephram?" She asked, looking at him over the rim of her glass she took another drink.

Grace smiled, giving Teddy an affectionate smile. "It was lovely to meet you, dear. I hope this isn't the last time we talk." And yes, she really should get around to speaking to her other guests, although part of her had to admit that what she wanted most of all was to see where Alia had got to. All in good time, she told herself, returning to the party.

[sabraeal]

Some shidan and garrack ;w; discussing, drinking, just more of them and maybe have shidan ACTUALLY kiss the lady. Uhh idk if you’ve incorporated them modern au but if not canon verse is good! :)

“Higata.”

Garrack’s TA startles, and she stifles a laugh. He’s a high-strung kid, more limbs than sense at times, but a hard-worker nonetheless. He doesn’t have the natural aptitude of Ryuu, or the studious heart of Shirayuki, or even Obi’s gift of lateral thinking, but he’s the sort of kid that doesn’t give up. He’ll throw himself against a wall before he’ll walk away from it – or, she can’t help thinking a bit uncharitably, go around it.

Listen, they’ll be hand-pouring gels for month to make up the cost of the boxes he went through only to realize he was using the wrong fucking ones. For fuck’s sake, they have a chart.

Higata cranes his neck to look back at her, his chair creaking beneath him. She holds back a grimace. That thing is probably older than him. When was the last time the labs got new furniture? Before her time, probably.

“Is everything set for the conference?” she asks, leaning against his cube. For once the Eastern Wetlands Conservation Conference was withing driving distance; usually they chose much nicer places to have their February conference – like Miami, or Charlotte, or anywhere without windchill – but local politics, namely Brecker’s last appeal, had made the planners select a location according to the statement it would make.

“Ah-ah!” Higata pours himself out of the seat, all unrestrained limbs. It’s impressive he can organize them in a way that keeps him standing. “Yes, Professor. All set. And ah…” He scratches at the back of his neck thoughtfully. “I got Professor Weise’s rental through Monday. He can just drop it off at the airport before his flight.”

“Great.” Garrack taps on the corner of his cube with a grin. “Shidan will be going over his recent run of data with me this weekend, so can you schedule a lab meeting for when I get back?”

He nods, eager to please as always. She was always good at picking the obedient ones. “Sure. I’ll get it set up for Tuesday.”

He turns back to his work, and it’s testament to how inoffensive he usually is that she’s almost back to her office before she realizes the problem.

“Higata,” she says, poking her head around the corner of his cube. He nearly falls out of his chair, but she’s too focused to care. “Is there a reason you’re not setting it for Monday?”

He blinks at her owlishly. “Oh, er, I just thought you might…um…”

“We don’t have all day, Higata.”

“I thought you’d want to spend Monday with Professor Weise,” he blurts out, turning a ripe cherry-red. “If I, uh, saw my girlfriend as little as you saw the professor, I’d need a day for, um, just us…”

Garrack stares. “Shidan is my what now?”

“He isn’t –?” Higata looks as if he’d rather be anywhere else rigth now, and Garrack can’t help but find the feeling mutual. “I thought he was your boyfriend.”

A long silence stretched between them.

“Make the meeting Monday,” she says, spinning on her heel. “First thing.”

“Right. Oh, professor, by the way –”

She glances back over her shoulder.

“It’s supposed to snow tonight.” She waits for Higata to come to his point. “Will Professor Weise be all right driving in that?”

“Shidan?” She grins. “Oh, I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

Shidan arrived two hours late, roller-bags wheels clogged and knit-wear choked with snow. He shakes his great mop of hair, spraying water and slush all over her and her mudroom, and says, “This place is godforsaken.”

“So dramatic,” Garrack teases, enjoying his struggle with his boots. That’s a better view than she’s seen in a while. “It’s just a little snow.”

He sends her a dirty look from between his legs, still locked in a tussle with one set of water-logged bootlaces. “There’s six inches of fluff out there. I nearly died twice.”

“Twice?” She lifts her eyebrows and shrugs. “That’s hardly a blizzard at all.”

“This place has changed you.” He tosses his boots onto the plastic trays she uses for drying shoes and sets himself onto divesting himself of his layers. “And not for the better.”

“You say that like a man who doesn’t want the brandy in the liquor cabinet,” she remarks, grinning as he drops his last coat to the floor. “You know, it’s just Massachuetts, not Alaska. You don’t need three polar fleece and a parka.”

“It’s freezing out there,” he insists. “Men die in these temperatures.”

“Men can also drown in an inch of water, but they have to be stupid to do it.” She jerks her head over her shoulder. “Come on, let’s warm you up.”

“Ugh,” he groans, rubbing his hands.He pushes past her into the living room, shoulder knocking against her. “Great idea. Brandy, right?”

Garrack frowns. “You’re not even going to read into that a little?”

“I’ve known you for almost fifteen years,” he calls back, collapsing on her couch. “Given the option between sex and alcohol, I know exactly which one you’re likely to offer me.”

She does not feel disappointed. “Well,” she grumbles, “you could at least pretend to be shocked.”

It takes two glasses for Shidan to thaw enough to ask, “Do you know what talks you’re going to?”

“Ah, yes.” She’s finally settled into her chair – a circular, pillow-nest thing, precariously balanced on top of its base – and he has another thing coming if he thinks she’s moving anywhere for the next few hours, especially to find her talk notes. Her back still aches from shoveling. “I printed out the schedule and circled a bunch.”

His mouth cants, smile sly. “Is it physically possible for a human to see all of them in a weekend?”

“I did that once – once – and suddenly I’m some sort of talk-attending robot?”She’s missed this, his teasing. She forgets how human he makes her feel.

He’s looking at her from out under hooded lids, his smile curving fondly. “You’ve done it three times, and you wish. I should be glad we didn’t do robotics, otherwise you’d probably built copies of yourself so you could go to all of them.”

“If I’d gone into genetics, I probably could do the same thing.”

“See,” he laughs, pausing to take a sip of his brandy. “The world should thank turtles, really.”

“And I’m guessing that you have no plan,” she drawls, watching as he ducks his head to hide his grin. “Are you just planning on following me around like a lost duckling?”

“I’m not lost if I mean to be following you around,” he says, so easily, in the sort of way she never could manage. She’s not good at affection; not the long-lasting kind, the kind that matters. “After all, I didn’t fly this far just for turtles.”

Her hands are nerveless around her glass, numb. She s trying excruciatingly hard not to think of Higata and his stupid, stupid comments “You didn’t?”

He sends her an incredulous look over his rim. “Garrack, I could go to any number of niche conferences in an academic year. Most of them in places god hasn’t abandoned for, I don’t know, the hubris of man. Whatever it is that makes him not like Boston.”

“The Patriots,” she supplies, though she’s not sure where it came from, since her mind is certainly not working.

He shrugs. “That’s fair.”

She times it just right; he’s taking another sip when she says, “You know, my lab thinks we’re fucking.”

Shidan splutters alcohol over her reclaimed-wood coffee table. “W-what? How did that happen?”

Garrack shrugs, a thousand times more casual than she feels. “I don’t know. Higata just assumed that I’d be spending Monday all day in bed with you.”

His eyes are wide, and he is so very, very still. She’s watching him so closely that she sees him relax each of his muscles individually, as if he has to remind each one that tense is not its natural state. “Huh,” he says finally, his voice an octave higher than normal. “Strange.”

“Mm.” She’s hardly thinking when she says, “But then again, he doesn’t know that you rejected me.”

“When I –?” Shidan bolts upright on the couch, his face flushed. “W-when I did what now?”

“In undergrad,” she clarifies, her heart is certainly not beating madly in her breast. She’s a grown woman, it’s been over a decade, she doesn’t care. It’s – she’s over it now. “When we were at –”

“You were drunk!” he blurts out, his eyes so wide she can almost see the white all around. “I thought you were – you never said anything the next day!”

“You said, and I quote, don’t make this weird.” She sets down her glass so its not so obvious how her hands shake. “Why would I go and bring it up sober?”

“I thought you – you didn’t remember.” Her runs a hand through his hair, leaving sweaty runnels through the strands. “You just said, I think we should fuck. That seemed like a very drunk thing to say! A very pass-out drunk thing.”

“Shidan, I was in my twenties.” She can’t even look at him; she has to stare somewhere toward her kitchen so he’s not even in her line of sight. God, she wishes she could conveniently stop existing for the next ten minutes. “I liked you, and I was not good at emotion!”

“You’re not very good with emotion now!” he snaps, voice cracking. “Why are you – why would you bring this up?”

“I don’t know, I just – it seemed funny I guess?” she tries desperately. “I didn’t think – I thought you wouldn’t even remember, I don’t know!”

The silence that stretches between them is painful; shewants to fill it with – with something,with anything that will make him forget that she ever brought it up. Shereaches for her glass, hoping it will at least numb the agony of this moment –

Shidan sits down on the table in front of her, handsgripping his knees. He’s inescapable this close, and one look at him tells herhe knows, that he’s not letting her squirm out of this witha few drinks and some comment about her big mouth.

“Garrack,” he says, so softly. She wishes he would stopbeing so close; she wishes he would lean in closer. “Do you still like me?”

She fidgets with the pillow, staring at his knees. “We’refriends, so –”

“Garrack.” He leans forward, wrapping his hands around therim of the chair above. It shudders a little under his weight. “Do you like me?”

She can’t avoid his gaze now, so she stares him right in theeyes, trying hard not to blink. “No,” she lies.”

She’s sure that will drive him away, that he’ll put spacebetween them, but –

He grins, and leans it.

Even though her eyes are wide open, she still doesn’tbelieve it’s happening until his lips brush over hers, until she feels just thegentlest flick of his tongue over the bottom of her lip.

“Shidan,” she breathes, leaning up into him, and that’senough, it’s enough; he’s putting aknee between hers, pressing down into her –

The chair tilts with a wooden shunk, and they both tumble back, stuck inside the nest. Shidan ishalf sprawled over her, half spilled off to the side, and he stares over at herwith wide eyes. Definitely not a partof his plan.

That’s fine. She’s good at improvisation.

“Oh good,” she says, twisting so that she’s above him. “I’vealways wondered if this chair could fit two.”

[theragamuffininitiative]

@amerraka replied to your post: I hate watching Supergirl. But I am in love with...                

   Why do you hate it?   

Whoo-boy, where to start.

Okay, so if you are reading this as a fan of the show, don’t hate me. I don’t hate you. I don’t judge you for liking Supergirl. The show has its merits. But as a fan of Film in general, and as a writer, I have....a lot of problems with this show.

So, in no particular order:

Melodrama: It has a lot of it. Not nearly half as much as its older brother Arrow, or even the awkward-but-beloved middle-child of The Flash. But Supergirl is not without its angst, emotional roller-coasters that are terrible plot devices, and people just going off to do their own things because “This Is What I Have To Do.” There are sooooooooo many examples, but let’s go with the one that is freshest in mind. To be fair, I just watched the last aired episode, so obviously I don’t hate it that much, but if you haven’t seen the episode The Martian Chronicles, don’t read the rest of this bullet, because spoilers: Near the end, as the nuclear reactor is going berserk and they’ve just discovered the White Martian has disguised itself as Winn (my poor child), both Kara with who we believe at the time to be Alex, and J’onn (my beloved Space Dad) with M’gann take a moment - or five - to have a Deep Heartfelt Conversation. In...in the middle of a freakin’ attack. Just...guys...you can do this later. And, as much as I adore Space Dad, the Martian Manhunter is among the drama queens of this serial. Often the guy who gets stuck in the middle of a tense and fast-paced situation because of emotional issues. He has plenty of reason for these, but he is the Martian Manhunter, not to mention the leader of the DEO. As a functioning agent and a functioning character, he needs to be able to set things aside and accomplish the mission. I’m sorry, but you cannot have characters have extremely long and drawn out, emotional dialogues when the world is suddenly going to pot. Again, this is only one example. I could find more, but it’s a good one, so I’ll leave this there.

Quickchanges. Supergirl morphs into her supersuit without any conceivable ability to do so. Someone is falling down an elevator? Go after her, Kara, but for heaven’s sake, make sure you change, mid-flight on the way down. And, I mean, how does her cape and boots and skirt fit underneath her regular outfit anyway? I understand this is a comic book story, and if it wasn’t so blatant, I might let this slide on that merit alone. But, good grief, at least DC usually gave Clark a telephone booth.

Personal note: No one takes care of Winn. LOL this doesn’t really count as a point, but you asked why I hate the show, and this is a reason. Winn, your normal average nerdy guy, goes through so much crap in this show and barely gets the occasional “are you ok” from his compatriots. Kara has utterly ceased showing concern for him since S1 - except when she’s generally unhappy about his team-up with Guardian. And his relationship with James is pretty much one of clinical manipulation, with James only coming to Winn in friendship when Winn has something to offer him. (Don’t get me wrong, I like James, I just need him to stop being such a jerk?) Also, although not every time, Winn remains one of the few voices of reason on this show: He tells James not to be Guardian for a long time before agreeing to help (and even then, only under the outspoken mentality of “I’m doing this because if you do it alone you have an even higher chance of getting hurt”). He does an admirable job of trying to teach/maintain Mon-el at the beginning. He is constantly trying to tell Kara not to go off and do stupid risky things. But does anyone listen? Nope, and it does usually backfire on them. But that is totally just because I’m in love with that particular character, I don’t care if anyone else feels the same way as I do on that one. ;) Winn needs friends who will listen to him, take care of him, and maybe occasionally give him a hug or a break. That’s all.

Relationship Status: super or unsuper or just unsurprising. Kara’s little flirts an flames have been near the forefront of the show since its beginning, and in the early days they were marginally decent at keeping those in check. But as the show progresses, it becomes more and more obvious that her dating dramas are the driving plot points of the whole thing. From James to Mon-El to the little off-shoots in-between, Kara Danvers really needs a solid boyfriend and fewer hormonal issues that take away from her character by instead portraying her as a hopeless romantic who is more concerned with who will take her to prom than who is trying to nuke the universe. I get that part of the show is about her trying to balance Kara Danvers with Supergirl. I applaud that. But guess what, tv execs and writers? There is more to what drives an individual on a daily basis than who they want to sleep with, and to be frank, that stuff is boring anyhow. Kara’s breakup with James? Didn’t shock me, and therefore didn’t impact me as a viewer. I just shook my head and fast-forwarded. What I would like to see out of this show is Kara balancing a healthy, long-lasting relationship with her super-self, or else not being all that concerned about it at all. I’m so tired of cheap romances on television, and Supergirl, for all of its feminist leanings, is no different.

They took out Cat. Cat was one of the best, most well-functioning and well-developed characters on the show, played by arguably one of the best actors in the entire cast. Idk if this was an issue of contract conflict or Harrison Ford’s wife just didn’t want to be on the show anymore, or if writing her off was some executive decision in order to make Kara’s character grow. While I definitely accept that the latter happened, I’m still unhappy about it.

Oh, and the cool map-orb thing on Kyrpton was a complete rip-off from my favorite Disney movie Treasure Planet. I’m not forgiving that cheap shot easily.

The actual film-making/writing of the show itself. This is actually the biggest one. I could devote an entire post to this point. It is so lazy and inconsistent, it’s painful. I’m just gonna give a few examples on this, because if I allow myself to, as a student of film, I will never stop. 

1. It is always snowing inside the Fortress of Solitude - idk, maybe this is in the comics? But there is enough snow inside Superman’s top secret sanctuary that Kara sees footprints in it, and there are always flurries dancing about there too. Like. Why. How? I mean, I know Clark is the kind of guy to just leave his front door key out in the open, but how secure is a sanctum where it is apparently completely exposed to the weather?

2. Switching tracts, you know how when the episodes go to the DEO, they often show the outside of the base, with like some tanks busing in and stuff? Look more closely next time, that’s the same footage, just edited slightly to reflect night or day. It is always the same tanks rolling up from the exact same angle. Every time. I’m sorry, that’s just lazy film work right there. You could have shot that scene just two more times and added those to the repertoire and it would have still been Bad, but at least it might have been a little less Noticeable. 

3. Characters not reacting physically how they should. James gets electrocuted? Walks it off looking mildly indignant. Winn is almost choked to death? Jumps up and make a funny quip. Supergirl can take down literally anyone but somehow still gets punched across the room on multiple occasions?

4. Oh, yeah, did I mention: Characters Having Dramatic Conversations Mid-Battle? This is a pet peeve of mine anyway, but holy cow, does Supergirl know how to use that trope to its most frustrating potential. No. One. Does. That. Deal with the situation. Then have the characters talk about what they need to talk about. Or, better yet, have your characters be people who actually talk to one another, and have the issues dealt with beforehand. This is yet another example of lazy writing and an unmasked attempt to achieve two things: establish emotional conflict with the characters, often in the form of anger or general angst, and/or make sure the dialogue you want to deliver doesn’t fall flat or boring. If you can’t find a way for your characters to discuss important, emotional things without making them take a pause in a life-or-death situation to do so, then you really need to work on your craft, folks.

I could go on. There is a lot about the show I’m personally unhappy with as far as quality writing, style, character development, themes, and etc; but I think that is more than enough to complain about for now. I don’t like to complain. But the errors, inconsistencies, and general laziness of the show do irk me. And, well, you did ask. So there it is.

Now, on a happier note: Some things I like/appreciate about the show:

Winn Schott, Actual Ray of Sunshine. I know, I know, moving right along...

The cinematography, as a general rule, isn’t awful. There have actually been some really solid, and occasionally unique choices as far as camera placement, movement, and visual editing are concerned. From a visual standpoint, the show is quite pretty and has a really good, vibrant color palette. In that regard, it is a pleasure to watch.

J’onn is Space Dad and I will always love him.

Kara is a beautiful, chipper, quality gal and brings such light and life to the story. I may complain about her, but she’s actually not a bad lead. And that is saying something coming from someone who really never likes main characters and completely goes for the sidekicks anyhow.

It is, as I said, a crap-ton happier than Arrow or even The Flash. Like. People smile and joke and laugh in this show. ??? I didn’t know that was possible. And, despite their drama and issues, not everyone is a back-stabbing, secretive, lying, manipulative, egotistical, brood-in-the-literal-corner-when-I-don’t-get-my-way moron. At least not all the time. I can actually smile watching this show.

I done now.

[spiffysixxsense]

1-100 go!!!

Sunrise or sunset? The only reason I see a sunrise is because I have been up all night, so I guess sunsets

Are you mentally ill? Oh god here we go

Are you physically ill? I don’t think so, I just take shitty care of myself

What is the most expensive thing you have bought? Concert tickets

Do you have a job? Technically? even though Im off until next May

Are you in school? Yes :(

Are you a dropout? not yet

Are you in college? yes 

Introvert or extrovert? Introverted to the point it impedes my life. 

What do you think when you look at your body? “I wish…” something about changing it. 

What have others said when they look at your body? How would I know? Probably like ‘that girl shouldn’t be wearing a bikini’

Do you have a particular song that you feel deeply? Lots. 

Talk about a time in your life where you have felt most alive? i have no idea. probably doing something as a kid.

Are you confident wearing a bikini? lol i answered that other question before seeing this one - no. 

Can you look people in the eyes while talking? Sure.

Has anything terrible happened to you? Yes. 

Has anything wonderful happened to you? I guess.

Favorite part of your personality? I am not easily offended 

Least favorite part of your personality? All of it? I’m depressed im anxious im insecure im stubborn im easily angered im moody im dependent im clingy

Favorite part of your body? I don’t have an answer for this in a physical manner, so my favorite part is that it still functions through what it has been through (And what I put it through)

Least favorite part of your body? Stomach I guess? I don’t like any part of me. 

Favorite quote? “What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly”

Do you have friendships with all genders? Sure

Do you have a good relationship with your father? I guess

Do you have a good relationship with your mother? Now, yes. 

Do you have a good relationship with your siblings? This implies i have siblings. 

Have you ever been hurt physically or mentally by a family member? Yes. 

Have you ever had a near death experience? I don’t think so. Car accidents, yes, but my injuries were not that serious.

Do you know anyone who has taken their own life? Yes. Both personal & followings.

Have you ever tried to take your own life? Yes & no. Ive committed harm to myself with suicidal thoughts, but I feel like if I 100% knew I wanted to end my life I would have. There was always doubt. 

Biggest lie you have told? “Yeah, Im okay, just tired”

Do you follow any conspiracies? I love conspiracy theories but usually don’t believe them 

Do you believe in a New World Order? I believe in the possibility. 

Do you respect your government and the way your country is run? Oh man you can tell these are questions for a worldwide audience. NO. 

Is there currently any strife in your country? Listen to a Trump speech. 

Have you ever been displaced within your country? Not on an individual level. 

Are your friendships healthy? sure?

Are you currently fighting with a friend? No but I also don’t have many friends. 

Are you jealous of a friend? Why? Im jealous of anyone who isnt me honestly. 

Do you believe in the Illuminati? Why the hell not. 

Do you think any celebrities are associated with the Illuminati? Who? Probably (Im looking at you Beyonce lol)

How can people tell you are nervous? Im sweating, sorry everyone, I keep my answers brief if spoken to. 

How can people tell you are sad? Im quiet. im angry sounding

Do you ever express your true feelings? No.

Regrets in your life? Not trying harder or participating when I could. 

Achievements in your life? Im still here? 

What did people say about you in school? I don’t think people said anything. I kinda didnt exist. 

What did you say about people in school? Again, not much, I had my group of friends and tended to stick with them and only them. 

Is there something you have never told anyone? Sure

Have you committed an illegal act? Ive smoked pot? 

If you had two days to spend one million dollars how would you spend it? Pay my tuition and then still owe money  

What were your aspirations at age 5, 10, 15, 18? Probably to like pet cats? To be a scientist, to be dead probably, then to go to college? I didnt want to but felt like i had to. 

Describe your first kiss? Was it how you imagined? I am sure i imagined some romantic thing but it was just in his doorway as I left his house. 

Growing up were you in a wealthy, average, or low income household? Average.  

Are you from a broken marriage? im from a broken never-married

Have you been raised by a solo parent? No, I lived with both parents until i was 17. 

Do you know both your parents? yes

What colour eyes, hair and skin do you have? Brown, Brunette, white. 

Have you abused drugs or alcohol? No. 

What languages can you speak? English

Do you conform to your societies standards? Not really. 

Do you cry often? Yes

Do you tell people what you think of them? No, but I don’t talk to many people to have an opinion of. 

Are you comfortable accepting compliments? No

Are you comfortable giving compliments? Sure

Is any mental illness hindering your life? Uhm every single fucking day of my life. 

Is any physical illness hindering your life? I guess my vertigo prevents me from going in things that move? ie roller coasters, boats

Do you keep up with current events? Not really. Just from social media

What’s the latest news in the world you have heard/read? Trump being an asshole, what else is new 

What have you done today? Studied a little but got distracted by this lol

Do you sleep well? Once i am asleep, I sleep fine. falling asleep is the problem. 

Do you sleep badly? ^^

Have you ever hurt anyone because you were hurting? All the time 

Has anyone ever hurt you because they were hurting? Maybe?

Have you ever had to end a friendship/relationship? Why? No, people always end their relationship/friendship with me. I dont blame them 

Have you ever stopped someone from hurting themselves? I have tried. 

Has anyone ever stopped you from hurting yourself? Not really? Like in the moment? no, nobody ever knew. 

Do you like your laugh? Its fine.

Are you preparing for an apocalypse? And what kind? No, let it kill me

Do you have any funny family stories? ‘funny’? not really. I have a second cousin? Who is a doctor and for some reason has had an ongoing joke since I was little that he is going to remove my spleen? is that funny? 

Are you religious? No. 

Do you like to watch true crime shows or movies? #CriminalMinds #RIPWalker

Are you interested in cults? They are interesting but Im not exactly looking into joining one? lol

Would you like to raise a family in your country? No but i will never have the courage to leave

List some things you wanted in your childhood but never got? family stability 

Is there a large age gap between you and a sibling? I don’t have any siblings. 

Are you from a blended family? No. just a broken one. 

Do you believe in marriage? Why/Why not? Yes, because nobody else in my life does. 

What is the nicest thing anyone has said to you? Calling me strong? saying I dont give up? Like i give up every day and everything affects me, Im not strong 

Do you keep a journal? As a kid i did. 

Would anyone be hurt by reading it? no, but don’t tell Jacob I had a crush on him in 5th grade

Do you have children? No

Have you been pregnant? No

List your favorite movies? A Beautiful Mind, Memento, The Breakfast Club, Dr. Strange. 

List your favorite people? @x-i-a-t & @reddragon8000

Talk about the birthmarks and scars on your body? I think I have a birth mark on my hip thats very faint, and all of my scars have honestly faded at this point that they are basically gone.

Do you look after yourself? Not at all lol

Do you put yourself or others first? others. 

Are you happy today? Im not extra sad, so Im as close as i can get. 

Are you loved? I think so.