#who has a few pertinent secrets there he would like to keep.

[myhahnestopinion]

THE 2022 AARONS - Best Film

75 films released in 2022 are eligible for this year’s ceremony. That ties a low with the pandemic year of 2020, but my goal was to focus on quality over quantity. Well, at least that’s what I told myself until I opted to watch Disenchanted over Decision to Leave. I did watch a lot of good films last year though. Here are the Aarons for Best Film:

#10. Scream

Ready or Not directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett were the first people brave enough to take a stab at Scream since the passing of director Wes Craven. They slayed at becoming its stewards. The fifth film’s satire has bigger prey in mind than just the slasher subgenre, cutting through a whole culture obsessed with reliving an idealized past. It’s a scary, and pertinent, reminder of how easily infantilized fan-bases can be weaponized against human beings, told with a sly style that would have made Craven proud. While the film features plenty of familiar faces and Ghostfaces, it’s the new blood of current and soon-to-be horror icons like Dylan Minnette and Jenny Ortega that really made the horror-comedy a scream.

#9. The Black Phone

Based on the short story by Joe Hill, The Black Phone recalls the best works of his father Stephen King. The 70s-set serial killer thriller grabs ahold of viewers with its supernatural hook - a phone that converses with the dead - but it’s the clever characters that will keep them captivated. Sinister director Scott Derickson slowly dials up the dread as young Finny Blake tries to escape the clutches of his kidnapper, with the looming specter of past victims making the cost of failure clear. The frightening film’s secret weapon is its resourcefulness, deftly deploying Ethan Hawke’s maniacal villain and eerie 8mm imagery as it lays the groundwork for an off-the-hook finale.

#8. The Batman

Since its debut, every comic book filmmaker has been riddled by the same dilemma: how to eclipse The Dark Knight. If director Matt Reeves, who sharpened his skill for thoughtful blockbusters on Planet of the Apes, didn’t solve the question, he at least gave a very good guess. Reeve’s reinvention pushed the envelope of superhero cinema by drawing inspiration from David Fincher, distinguishing itself in the competitive genre through grounded stakes and great spectacle. Abetted by Paul Dano’s riveting Riddler and Robert Pattison’s arresting, arrestedly-developed version of the vigilante, the twists and turns of the mystery noir keep viewers tightly-wound even after its dam breaks open. 

#7. TÁR

TÁR’s composition is unusual: it begins with a full set of production credits, shown in reverse of traditional order. The switch-up is the opening salvo of a film fully intent on upsetting power dynamics. The three-hour character piece plays with audiences’ sympathies as it chronicles the collapse of famous (fictional) symphony composer Lydia Tár. The nuanced tale of narcissism takes some cues from modern day ‘cancel culture,” but the tenor is a tragedy as classical as they come. To alleviate trepidation, it’s important to note that TÁR isn’t as stuffy as it may sound: the coda of this unusual composition is a rollicking punchline as appropriate as it is unpredictable.

#6. Pearl

Pearl is a gem. Filmed in secret alongside its predecessor (more on that shortly) and released a few months later, the prequel extrapolates X into a compelling study of its eponymous character. The wickedness of the Oz-inspired technicolor terror contrasts itself through its singular focus. Tracing the lead-up to Pearl’s first string of murders in 1918 as her fairy tale dreams turn into a deranged fervor, the film keeps the body count going but the spotlight fixed on the incontestable star power of Mia Goth. Goth’s devotion to the demented ending guarantees that, while X is extricating, Pearl will always linger in the back of one’s mind. 

#5. X

‘Elevated horror,’ the designation given to the recent trend of arthouse films, has routinely struggled to find the right balance between lofty thematic ambitions and expected genre titillation. X marks the spot. The trick was in fixating both on being unabashed about one’s nature. The thrust of Ti West’s throwback grindhouse flick, which documents a group of sexually-liberated filmmakers’ fateful encounter with an envious elderly couple, is a morality play about accepting mortality. The sexed-up slasher doesn’t skimp on penetrating flesh though, with gnarly gore effects designed by Wētā Workshop. It could have been objectifying and objectionable material, but West directs it all with a curious compassion; as a result, X multiplied wins for his films this year. 

#4. The Banshees of Inisherin 

Banshees is a lament of ghosting gone wrong. Martin McDonagh’s drama escalates an unconscientious uncoupling - truthful but tactless - between two life-long best friends to its most absurd and absurdly funny degree. Backdropped by the Irish Civil War, the boiling tension between the curiously incongruous but synchronously stubborn pairing of Brendan Gleeson’s ambitious Colm and Colin Farrell’s simplistic Pádraic highlights how quickly spite can erode one’s better angels. It’s a downbeat design yet Inisherin’s spirit lies in its impeccably witty dialogue. They may not be able to put their finger on whether it’s gaiety or grief, but audiences will be howling in response to Banshees for one reason or the other.

#3. Speak No Evil

Much has been said recently about horror’s use as a vehicle to process past trauma; Speak No Evil returns the conversation to the genre’s custom of cautionary tales. Danger lies ahead, not behind, of the film’s family when they accept an invitation to an idyllic weekend stay with a foreign couple. Evil preys on the unprepared; the insidious nature of its terror isn’t clear until its trap is already sprung. For the unassertive, the Danish film is uniquely devastating. The less said to prospective viewers, the better, though rest assured that Speak No Evil deserves every good word.

#2. The Fabelmans 

Steven Spielberg has spent a lifetime doing his dream work and capturing his audiences’ imagination along the way. Loosely based on his own childhood, The Fablemans brings that wide-ranging filmography into focus. The assortment of anecdotes is one of the director’s funniest films and undoubtedly his most vulnerable. While this semi-autobiographical story could have been a simple victory lap for the septuagenarian, Spielberg’s sentimentality has always been far wiser than critics claim. The sure to be sacred text to future generations of filmmakers is certainly a testament to the magic of movies. Yet, even as Spielberg reframes his past, the learned moral imparted by The Fabelmans is really about what cinema is unable to control. 

AND THE BEST FILM OF 2022 IS...

#1. Everything Everywhere All At Once

Movie multiverses may be inescapable at the moment, but no project encapsulates the concept’s infinite possibilities more than Everything Everywhere All at Once. The revolutionary martial-arts flick runs like The Matrix trading its estrogen for ecstasy as it awakens an under-audit laundromat owner to the larger worlds around her. The film’s directors, collectively credited as Daniels, learned the tools of the trade on the offbeat Swiss Army Man and apply that same sense of humor here: one that’s lewd, ludicrous, and incredibly life affirming.  Able to transform a universe of humans with hot dogs for fingers from joke to tearjerker and back again, the film is continually unexpected but everything one’s ever wanted all at once.

NEXT UP: THE 2022 AARONS FOR WORST FILM!

[the-firebird69]

novae terrae

I like it it has meaning and it is important meaning. It's pertinent and it does a striking effect on me and my husband is in awe we're husband and wife and we are the big ones here.

north American Celestials

and we approve of course

Hera Zues

We like it too and we're gonna look at it and it goes along with what they think is a Canadian name It is really really a potent name though but still people take awhile to figure out stuff and we can't name it turtle that's ridiculous and we don't think it was named turtle they're they're kind of weird people. And this is the MR2 above it would be one of the cars used there could be three one of them might be the Volkswagen so we're going to think about it but that is from engine but it might fit in this particular car because it's not really that high up.

Olympus

No offense folks but the Volkswagen outnumbers all of you and it's sturdier and we can do it with the others if it doesn't work but I checked it it's like an inch higher than the Cena but we're going to lower the cockpit not the front portion and we're gonna actually the way it put it comes out front is fine and it would be the same that the wheelbase is about four inches shorter so a 103 inches versus 107 and we're gonna make it longer anyways but when you do that it'll be about the same way same length and you can make the same car 4 wheel drive is fine then first these start with 130 horsepower

vw bug stock 130hp top speed 185mph yes mph

vw bug o beetle really 0-60 4.5 seconds yes not so good

vw bug quarter mile 7.9 seconds and ok

.........................

CENA KIT CAR OURS ON VW BEETLE year 1997-2010

new top speed 425mph plus

new 0-60mph 3.9 seconds

quarter mile 6.9 seconds

Keep in mind that it has a full cage and is safe has an enclosure it is not massively heavy and Xena has a heavy car and he probably have metal panels and still go 600 miles an hour and that's the reason for a big motor and so you have to heft if you need it but this has speed and safety and you can get away even with half done a supercar doesn't really help that much if you hit a regular pickup truck it's all over. except for the cage I mean he might survive a few hits but same thing with this car he just bounced off and it might be safer.

Black God and Black Goddess

These are kind of secrets but nobody seems to get them incite someone talking and they don't know if it's true or not I realize I realize that and he's been saying it his clan is handing out information on the max got in trouble and people didn't really believe them and it was horrible someone told them to shut up and they said no he said I'm getting some of it and I I'm making something work and they were amazed too and who.

mac daddy

We also have a comment on this this is terrific and he wants to do the porch version too and we need the engineering on the John Cena and I just don't have time. I wanna do it I wanna do it badly and the two can help and really this is this would make a comeback for the Volkswagen and you have a version that people liked it's old and the front end doesn't look like a ball over the top and the rear end looks better and he's he knows what it is it's the Carmen Gear and yeah so you can make that for regular car for regular people 4 door two and a two door like they do everything else and he thinks that's great and it is so maybe you could design all three. And it needs to be stretched out a little and dropped down and the new features and he wants a list so I've got that. And I'll send it over and this is great it says we can do it start it in the Midwest and you can start your Porsche kit over there and yes we'll see who makes more of which any studs laughing that's a good idea but yeah I guess we'll have to design it but he wants you to do the Porsche 1 and he wants assistance with AVW and he's gonna have a Frank do it and he says he will and that's Frank Castle hard castle and Duke Nukem blockbuster says it was my car as well so he says who wants to do that. And Frank Castle a hard castle says it was his car And he's gonna do it good so I think for the VW and he agrees there's a lot of them and they still run but how many versus these cars. It says there's a lot more.

Thor Freya

iw as in the top

Frank Castle Hardcastle

There is a lot more to this no but I will tell you that the Volkswagen is prevalent but it doesn't have as many around as the MR2 but that doesn't have as many around as the Honda 660S which has mostly all of what we need to get it going there are other things to take into account rather than mid engine is the power level it's a very weak car the transmission in motor Not really sturdy but he says that you put it in there and you have on the literature an upgrade and we can sell the upgrade which would be a Honda in the Honda Trans axle or facsimile thereof and it's truly you can get the Honda Motor and the guy blows out his 880 or whatever and he buys the four cylinder so with that said I understand the concept. Smaller it's less expensive you can buy AS 660 for around$3000 it's kind of a dog it really is it is a complete dog it is a complete failure except in Asia and they still don't like it there it's ridiculous so we will go ahead with it and we're going to look at this because it seems to be a really good idea and I like it a lot I don't think that we could make a rear engine version work that well and the front engine is too high up in the air no it won't handle well enough if you do it with this 660S it's way too underpowered and the motor is expensive satan $8000 with the transmission. The Volkswagen they have only 200,000 trillion no it's like 200 trillion they're all kind of kind of gone so I'm going back to the damn Chevy Cruze and I'm more comfortable with 200 horsepower and I saw your face too 800CC it's like 40 cubic inches. That's ridiculous. You said a Harley Davidson Motor is still only 100 horsepower and they way too much but the transmission would hold out probably work but what a pain so we don't want to do that. He said he's gonna just keep gyrating until I pick it up and knock it out there it'll take only a few days with young engineers who want to have a part of it. I do feel bad and I see what you're saying we need them to take on the responsibility and shoulder it and have the cause and it is a great one this thing would be awesome I like the Chevy Cruze idea it's a regular car it doesn't do anything it's not like it could do something which a lot of these sporty ones could. It's like it will never do it just like the beetle. That was the point of the beetle being used with the Bradley GT1 and he told Dave and he said no way so it's the same concept the thing will never go faster than 130 and will never beat anybody in a race no matter what you put in it change the tires put a 350 in there and you're going up to 170. So I'm gonna get working on this and I'm glad we went through this there's other cars for those but really they're phased out so they're gonna have to think of something different probably something like Chevy Cruze in Germany and something like it elsewhere and he says no it's here so it would be these cars the American cars that don't do anything and there's a lot of them in different models look like different cars the Mercedes has a supercar it looks like a the Mercedes has a supercar it looks like a Chrysler the configuration is the same and I get that chrysler has a 400 horsepower car and there's a Mercedes super car that looks really hot and women would like it and that's a German car so he's interested and it's a better idea I'm gonna go ahead with this and start getting it going and your idea is good we think that Sina will actually buy them and eventually we use a different chassis that we would probably make and we can make it faster it's easier to do but we're not gonna do the work but you know sometimes it's easier to make a car than it is to make a kit but at this point you have to do that and we're gonna start out with it so he is interested and we're gonna proceed

Duke Nukem blockbuster

We're going to approve this

Olympus

God bless you all for hanging in there this was terrible . Right now there's a war right to the east the more locker out there with 40 households out of really 107 they didn't get trapped and they are ganging up on them no they're getting more and more people right now it's becoming a huge huge battle and we will have more updates momentarily.

Thor Freya

Moving that engine is difficult and he wanted to avoid it but boy you can't do it these days and we want it to be a mid engine but we're gonna offer there's an option. It won't be that hard for us and they'll think it's worth $1,000,000 we'll probably have to charge some money and to make it sell. But first he says it's not going to be an expensive kid that we get that.

Olympus

Now I don't see what you're saying it's not going to be Bradley gt but it won't be like a replica and replicas are pretty good so I am going to do it and I saw the Spartan interior and it's not his it was a different vehicle but that's the idea is to make it very cheaply and simply to get it out but not dumb looking it's going to look modern like a spaceship and I do know how to do that i'll put a couple things in there make it cool and the steering mechanism and gear shifter have to be and that's nice in the seats so that's something I understand and I do understand what you're saying we don't want to make it a $1,000,000 car we want people to be able to afford it in lots of them. And his guys don't have much money. Kinda kick things around like this and something to do rather than get in trouble. So we're gonna go ahead with this and I'm gonna start right now. Now I have the concepts it's gonna be down and dirty but it's gonna look awesome and work awesome and the insides they can do the they have all sorts of people who do that and at some point he said well launch a contest for the interior design and see which components go in and that's saying no way and we can do it that way and then we'll claim the design. They do buy it more afterwards by the way.'cause they knew who it was

'cause they knew who it was

Duke Nukem Blockbuster

It's kinda like the outside when you start it up but I do understand what you're saying it's really his design but here we go with that stuff right now.

john Cena He says I'll have to go out some ax where they got it

[faeriejones]

hey!!! deimos here :)

i hope you're having amazing holidays!

first of all, id like to apologize for not being so active these past weeks. they've been way busier than i expected and i wish i'd had more time to chat with you. however i do hope we'll become friends even though we didn't talk as much as i expected :)

now, about your last response to my ask:

i loved back to the future! i've watched the three films but its been a few years since i've watched them, so i cant quite remember exactly what happens. (but i do remember i liked them a lot!)

i prefer icarly mainly because i watched it more than victorious when i was a kid (i dont really know why......i just know it was easier for me to watch icarly????????). my favourite icarly episodes are any episodes where spencer has tons of screen time. i really like those where they go to japan as well! and spencer is definitely my favourite character. spencer and gibby – they are THE best!

speaking of nostalgia, i've recently started playing club penguin again. i grew up playing it, got really sad when it ended and now i'm back at it (obviously not playing the original BUT its still cool)

it really was amazing. i'm curious for what's going to be the theme for next year's presentation. i think it's going to be an even nicer experience since i'll probably feel more confident :)

yes!!!!!!! make pluto a planet again!!!!!! pluto's been a planet for so long why not just let it be a planet??? it's not harming anyone!!!

lore olympus is really lovely. i hope you enjoy reading it! i don't think deimos appears at least for the parts i've read. who knows what happened after that?

again, i hope you've had/are having lovely holidays. i loved being your secret santa and i really really wish i'd had the time and energy to talk to you more often during this. but what's done is done and i really hope we'll keep chatting (you're so nice and interesting aaaaaaah!!!!!!)

have a great day :)

- lilly

hello, lilly/deimos! it’s nice to finally meet you!!! i apologize for the late response, as i’ve been busy with work and i also have a concerning tendency to stall before responding to people. so don’t even worry about giving late responses, as i completely understand how difficult it can be at times! with that being said, i hope you’ve had a wonderful holiday!

there’s this little quirk about bttf 2, which is most notably one of the most random subplots in cinematic history, where marty suddenly gets pissed off every time someone calls him ‘chicken’. it’s absolutely hilarious when you go back and watch that scene where he turns around and says, ‘nobody calls me chicken’ with a serious tone. where did this subplot come from? why is it pertinent for the movie to establish that marty doesn’t like to be referred to as a barnyard animal? i don’t know, but it’s funny as hell lmaoooo

spencer and gibby are the backbone of icarly, to be completely honest. spencer’s niche artistic expression paired in with his genuine passion for his little sister’s show is what makes him such a great character. and gibby’s eccentricities are also what makes the show so iconic even years after its final cancellation. (although, noah munck did admit that he began to feel exhausted by how fans of the show would constantly go up to him and ask him to pull off his shirt—the whole “gibbyyy” routine) it’s a shame that gibby’s anticipated spinoff show was cancelled before an official pilot was released. it would’ve been interesting to see how that character’s life would’ve progressed post-series finale. instead, we got ‘sam and cat’ ; a decent show that contained two of the most beloved characters on nickelodeon at that point in time, but a failed emulation of its predecessors

icarly tangent aside, that’s awesome that you reconnected with club penguin again! did you play any other online games that were popular at that time like petpet park, movie star planet, poptropica, ect.? (damn.. we had so many virtual games that catered to our demographic back then :( )

okay, if you receive any hints as to what’s going to be next year’s theme for your presentation, i’d love to know! it’s great to know that you’re gradually becoming more comfortable with performing in front of others!

YOU’RE RIGHT!!! pluto has never committed a single crime (besides being too short, i guess) this is a noble cause for short kings/queens worldwide : advocate for pluto’s validity as a planet!!! and hopefully, deimos makes at least a minor appearance in the most recent issues of lore olympus. he deserves more representation, poor chap :(

as i’ve said previously, don’t fret about not having sent enough asks during this event. i wholeheartedly enjoyed exchanging messages with you and hope to become good friends as we enter the new year! you’re very kind and interesting, and you’ve introduced me to media that was unfamiliar to me before. overall, you’re really cool and i anticipate that we continue to keep in touch here on tumblr :D

have an amazing day!!!

[quixoticanarchy]

Goes without saying that the Finrod and Lay of Leithian rock operas have left an indelible mark on my perception of the entire Leithian story, but I was rereading the Finrod-vs-Sauron song scene in the actual Lay, and while I think the way the rock operas interpret it makes sense for purposes of drama and performance, there are some other layers going on that they miss, as did I before proceeding to overthink.

So initially, Sauron starts his song in attempt to unmask Finrod & co., who are disguised as orcs but have already aroused suspicion. Finrod’s response is first summoning the strength to keep his secrets and speak of escape, but as the song and the struggle go on, he draws on more and more of his elven power, ultimately invoking images of the shores of Valinor. By this point, this isn’t a song of someone who intends to stay fully hidden; he keeps his personal identity secret, but does reveal that he’s a) an elf and b) from Valinor. If Finrod let Sauron’s song go unresisted, he would be found out anyway, so instead he’s essentially declaring himself and his power in defiance.

I don’t know what it would’ve taken for Finrod to win this song battle, but I’ve fairly often seen the interpretation that he almost did win before Sauron turned the tables with the reminder of the kinslaying. The Leithian rock opera treats it like this, but today I’m reading it more as Finrod throwing all he’s got into the fight to match Sauron’s strength, not necessarily that he’s on the brink of winning. I also don’t know that Sauron is masterminding this fight and planning Finrod’s downfall, though; I think Sauron’s song (“of piercing, opening, of treachery / revealing, uncovering, betraying”) subtly leads Finrod’s own memory to undermine the very power and glory of Elfinesse that he (perhaps naïvely) relies on.

To elaborate: would Sauron himself even know all these details of Alqualondë? Who would have told him? You could imagine his spies report the tale, maybe, but how does he guess that this memory would do such damage to Finrod in particular? What if he draws that memory out of Finrod himself rather than imposes it on him? The text in the Lay doesn’t specify that the narrator of the given imagery has changed: we have lines of what Finrod’s song depicts when he’s mustering all his power, and then from the end of that description - “..beyond the western world, on sand, / on sand of pearls in Elvenland” - to the new stanza beginning with “Then the gloom gathered, darkness growing / in Valinor, the red blood flowing” there is no overt change in narrator or source of these images.

This vision of Alqualondë could be an intrusion by Sauron to deliberately undercut Finrod’s defiance by poisoning the memories from which he draws strength - but I wonder if he does it not by himself refuting Finrod’s selective memory of Valinor, but by pushing Finrod himself to keep revealing more than he meant to, an internal betrayal encouraged but not wholly designed by Sauron. The purpose of Sauron’s song from the beginning was to uncover what the others wished hidden, but he doesn’t have to know precisely what he’s looking for. At this point Finrod has as good as declared his allegiance and background already, so it’s not really his orc-disguise that Sauron’s spells of piercing or uncovering actually undo; it’s the façade of memory that Finrod is leaning on.

I also think it’s worth noting that “not all unavailing were the spells of Felagund, for Thû / neither their names nor purpose knew.” In terms of the information that he was actually seeking, Sauron doesn’t gain much from the song battle. He does of course stop them from escaping, but for all Sauron’s efforts to pierce and reveal and uncover, Finrod keeping even a few critical secrets is still remarkable. It also may be significant that Sauron’s song, made for the purpose of prying out secrets, managed to uncover this one very damning and shameful memory but not the more pertinent and precarious fact that Finrod and Beren et al are on a quest for a Silmaril. Finrod’s song failed but in some way so did Sauron’s – it draws out an evil memory that, while certainly very damaging to Finrod, might actually be better than other secrets that could have been revealed.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 303: And What, Pray Tell, Is a “One For All”

Previously on BnHA: The Todorokis (really just Enji) looked at their children and went “how can we screw up all four of them in uniquely different ways” and proceeded to do just that. Touya was all “just because practicing how to set myself on fire better hasn’t worked to win my dad’s affections YET doesn’t mean it will NEVER work”, because child logic. Turns out setting oneself on fire real hard isn’t so effective at winning affections, but is actually incredibly effective when it comes to burning oneself to death, so there’s that. Back in the present day, the Todorokis basked in their various misplaced (again, except for Enji) feelings of guilt, and were all “anyway but get over yourself already Enji, you still have to do something to stop this kid”, and Shouto was all “I’ll help too”, and Enji was all “(╥_╥)”, and Hawks and Jeanist were all “[surreptitiously listening in from outside the door]”, and that’s basically where we left off.

Today on BnHA: Hawks and Jeanist are all “mind if we join you on this family journey?” and proceed to stroll in uninvited with their puns and their perceptive insights. Hawks is all “so to sum everything up, we’re fucked, but at least you have us here to help you out! by the way, no clue why I’m the first person to ask this in three hundred chapters, but wtf is One For All.” We then cut to Deku, who’s still all “[(－－)]z”, and All Might, who is all “I’m just going to ignore the extremely loud racket going on right outside this room.” Which, btw, is happening on account of Bakugou, who is all “(╬◣Д◢)” as Satou, Tsuyu, and Mineta cart him away. Anyway so that’s a lot of antics, and also it looks like Hawks has gotten tired of the Todorokis refusing to put the pieces together on their own about OFA and so he is fast-tracking that shit. And meanwhile Deku is chatting it up with the Vestiges exactly like we all thought. And now we have to wait another whole week for updates on all of this. This really is not fair.

omfg lol

“our bad, we were kind of accidentally listening in on purpose.” like I said last week guys, no fuss. it’s a tradition

OMG

I am absolutely fucking floored. Hawks literally said that so casually that it’s impossible for me to rewrite it so as to be even more casual. that’s literally what I would write in the “today on bnha” section. in fact I probably will write that

(ETA: just for laughs I tried it and it really worked.)

a couple more things to point out about this panel: 

“TOP 3” omg yes. more like “top only” at this point, honestly. interested to see how that goes

Hawks’s phone is freaking the fuck out about something, calm down there

I know this is a standard Jeanist hair-fixing gesture that he does all the time, but I can’t help but form hypotheses about this being a stress reaction because Hawks’s hair is making him internally freak out. Hawks, if this man tries to get you alone with him and some hairspray and a comb, please for the love of god do not listen to him. get out of there and call the authorities

omg Shouto’s face

okay confession, I wasn’t really sold on the whole “Shouto has a schoolboy crush on Hawks” thing until exactly now, when I became 100% sold on it. that is adorable

and heck with it, gotta show Enji and Rei’s reactions here as well because lol

“omg my son who’s not my son, and he just overheard everything about me being a terrible shitty father and person overall, oh and plus my actual-son set him on fire and called him out on a national broadcast. I’m just gonna stare at him baffledly.” versus Rei, who is all “hmm, who are these people”

so Hawks is all “I got released from the hospital after one day for some reason so I made Jeanist drive me around places while we talked about life” but uh, heyyyyy, what’s Rei doing

okay, uh

SO FUCKING FORMAL OMFG. “SORRY MY KID TRIED TO BURN YOU TO DEATH, APPARENTLY HE DOES THAT” REI NO IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT

HAWKS IS ALL “I’M JUST GONNA LAUGH SINCE THAT’S MY DEFAULT RESPONSE TO BEING PROFOUNDLY UNCOMFORTABLE”

let me tell you a secret Hawks, it’s my default response too. ahahahahahahaha oh thank god Jeanist is helping her up -- AND MAKING A JEANS PUN, OF COURSE. IT’S BEEN ALMOST THIRTY SECONDS. MY MAN WAS DYING

“WTF IS ILLEGAL DENIM” he’s talking ‘bout them counterfeit jeans, Rei. Antoine Bugleboy knows

THANK YOU JEANIST!! OUT HERE ASKING THE RELEVANT QUESTIONS

damn straight. we’re not gonna sit around waiting another 300 chapters for this information on this man’s watch

now Hawks is telling Endeavor he used to watch videos of him all the time, and calling him his “childhood obsession” I can’t

OH MY SWEET STARS AND MOONS

1000% CANON. “SO CLOSE...” ARE YOU SERIOUS. YOU REALLY PUT THAT THOUGHT BUBBLE THERE AND EVERYTHING. “GOOD MORNING EVERYONE, SO JUST IN CASE YOU WEREN’T ALREADY AWARE, TODOROKI SHOUTO IS NOT ACTUALLY STRAIGHT.” HORIKOSHI KOUHEI I AM LITERALLY DUMBFOUNDED. THIS IS AMAZING

and meanwhile that look on Hawks’s face while he casually-but-not-really-casually-at-all asks this question. that phone app better be using his actual voice. I’m not sure I could take this scene in the anime at this point if it was like Alexa talking or something

that look in his eyes is basically saying that so far, based on the information he has absorbed up until this point, Hawks is prepared to view his former childhood obsession as a flawed but changed man. however I get the distinct feeling that depending on Endeavor’s answer now, he would be willing to drastically shift some of his opinions on him

(ETA: this is maybe my favorite panel in the entire chapter. the fact that his question isn’t addressed to anyone in particular, but his eyes are zeroing on on Endeavor. and the way his leaning-on-Shouto pose manages to be simultaneously nonchalant and yet ever-so-slightly protective. there’s so much going on in this one question and gesture and I’m mildly obsessed with it.)

however, Rei is all “that was me” and ONCE AGAIN WITH THE FACES IN THIS CHAPTER holy shit

Hawks definitely did not see that one coming sob. it’s so fun watching him frantically recalculate his ideas about this family every two seconds

DAMN IT HORIKOSHI I UNDERSTOOD THE PARALLELS ALREADY, YOU REALLY DIDN’T HAVE TO DO THIS

yes, Hawks, you get it. it’s not exactly the same, but it’s close enough. though unlike your shitty parents, Rei and Enji are at least trying

OKAY I SERIOUSLY CANNOT WITH ALL OF THIS

fljkdlaskfjlwkjl okay we’re doing the bullet-points breakdown here

first of all, the fact that poor little Shouto’s heart is still thumping away at this proximity and all he can think is “CLOSE” all intelligently as he stares at him with that face omg

and meanwhile Horikoshi has these STRATEGIC BANDAGES WRAPPED AROUND HIS CHEEKS TO HIDE ALL OF HIS SHOUJO BLUSHING omfg. SENPAI NOTICED YOU SWEETIE!!!

HAWKS YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY ZERO OBLIGATION TO WASTE ANOTHER SECOND OF YOUR LIFE WORRYING ABOUT THESE TWO ASSHOLES WHO NEVER SPARED YOU THE SLIGHTEST BIT OF REGARD OR CONCERN IN THEIR ENTIRE LIVES. THE NICEST THING YOUR MOM EVER DID FOR YOU WAS BUY YOU A $2 ENDEAVOR PLUSH FROM THE DISCOUNT BIN TO KEEP YOU QUIET, AND YOU WERE SO AWED BY THAT ONE ACT OF SORTA KINDA APPROXIMATE KINDNESS THAT YOU SHAPED YOUR ENTIRE WORLDVIEW AROUND IT. PLEASE LET ME PICK YOU UP IN A BIG HUG FOR JUST A SEC, YOU DESERVE THE WORLD AND YOU WERE ONE THOUSAND PERCENT JUSTIFIED IN LEAVING THEM IN THE DUST THE SECOND THAT YOU COULD

but all that said, he immediately recognizes that Shouto would also have had cause to do the same in his situation, and yet hasn’t. and so he has that much more admiration for him all of a sudden, which is just super sweet, and fully appropriate. Shouto does deserve props. I’m choosing to take this as an “it takes a lot of strength to be able to forgive, and people who choose to do that even though they’re not obligated to are really amazing" type of thing, as opposed to “people who don’t forgive other people who severely wronged them are bad.” and if I’m wrong and Hawks’s line here is meant to be seen as actual failing on his part, well then fuck that, but we’ll move on

SO NOW, DOWN TO BUSINESS!

I am so, so curious as to what kind of strategy Hawks has for this (if he even has any), so I’ll just be quiet now and read

so Hawks is summing up basically what we already knew -- that Tomura and his inner circle (curious that there’s no mention of AFO, because if Hawks doesn’t know about him, that implies almost no one does) are still on the lam with a few PLF stragglers and some High Ends; that a bunch of prisons have been “liberated” (I assume this means all of the inmates escaped, so if that’s the case then where’s Kurogiri??); that the HPSC is fucked; and that heroes are resigning all over the place, and so civilians are taking matters into their own hands

OH DAMN!?

does this mean we’ll actually see some international heroes?? I will LOSE MY DAMN SHIT omg

(ETA: apparently people who paid more attention to the first BnHA movie than I did recognized the silhouettes as belonging to some background characters from Two Heroes. so maybe they were just cameos and they’re not actually new characters who are soon to join us lol. oh well.)

anyway so Hawks agrees with the other Todorokis that Endeavor has no choice but to fight

awww

DON’T WORRY ENJI THEY’VE GOT YOUR BACK. WITH YOUR FLAMES, AND JEANIST’S PUNS, AND HAWKS’S BOYISHLY GOOD LOOKS, THE THREE OF YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU SET YOUR MINDS TO

so Enji is very pertinently asking why they’re standing by him in spite of the... [gestures vaguely to everything]

oh my lordy lord

Shouto you had better do something to combat this soon, or this man will sneak past you on my favorite character ranking after all. his face. his cheeky lil finger gun. the fact that he sums it up so fucking simply. “if someone is trying to do the right thing, I want to support them.” exactly. exactly

(ETA: and one last thing I love but forgot to mention, which is the fact that Hawks calls it a team-up despite the fact that he is clearly in charge.)

meanwhile Jeanist is all “as for me, at this point I just straight up don’t give a fuck”

I can’t handle how fucking cool this chapter is you guys

so Hawks is all “you good?” at Enji. and Enji...

if anyone needs me, I will be building myself a discourse-proof fort made entirely out of problematic characters. I don’t even care. I will go on living my life very happily in here

lol at Natsu being all “BUT DON’T THINK THIS MAKES US FRIENDS”

I’m living for this weird and no-doubt entirely unintended implication that Natsu and them all are gonna join in the fight with the rest of them. I mean, they do presumably all have very powerful ice quirks. and Natsu has medical training on top of that, and Fuyu is skilled at getting eight-year-olds to behave which could be a useful talent for dealing with Tomura hahaha I kid, but I’M JUST SAYING. who needs hero licenses anyway

OH SHIT FINALLY SOME DISCUSSION OF AN ACTUAL STRATEGY. even if it’s just a PR strategy

WHAKLHL

and now for some reason we’re flashing back to Natsu and Fuyu’s attempts to navigate through the media crowd outside the hospital

well I guess this is why I’m not the mangaka. if I were writing this I would have done something trite and predictable like using that “One for All” line as an excuse to cut to Deku!! as opposed to this entirely unrelated scene!!

seriously though why do we need to see this lol

no one in this crowd has ever heard of Alexander Dumas huh. or even the popular 2007 Disney Channel original movie, High School Musical 2

so now there’s an entire page of Hawks saying they need to know what One for All is, and Endeavor having one of those patented Todoroki WHOOSH realizations lmao look at this

just wait until this man figures out that one of the scrappy new interns he took on three months ago was actually the main character all along

SKDFIOHWIERLKSJGLWLK!!

NOW IS PROBABLY A GOOD TIME TO ASK MYSELF WHY I CHOSE THIS CHARACTER WHO KEEPS DISAPPEARING FOR SIX OR TWELVE OR FORTY CHAPTERS AT A TIME TO BE MY FUCKING FAVORITE. WELCOME BACK SON PLEASE DON’T SCREAM YOURSELF TO DEATH YOU STILL HAVE A HOLE IN YOUR TORSO

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

(ETA: can we just take a moment to appreciate how Bakugou even got so close to Deku’s room in the first place though. in this giant hospital with no idea of where to even go. does he have Deku Radar or something.)

YOU SIX ARE OFFICIALLY ON MY HIT LIST!! SPARE ME YOUR GOOD INTENTIONS!! MY BAKUDEKU REUNION KEEPS GETTING POSTPONED WEEK AFTER WEEK!! YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE HEROES WHERE IS YOUR CONCEPT OF MERCY

(ETA: btw just to be clear, I’m not actually angry lol; it makes total sense that they don’t want this rampaging feral toddler who was still in his own coma all of fifteen minutes ago to come and start screaming at the other coma child until he tears all his stitches out. if there’s anything we Bakugou fans should be familiar with by now, it’s being patient.)

also, Tsuyu wrapping her tongue around Bakugou’s still-healing torso wound absolutely can’t be hygienic at all. also wait is that Inko??

(ETA: pretty sure it is her. she got all of one line smdh.)

Iida is all “thank god Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight pulled through, I thought for sure he was a goner back there”

for the record this is actually really sweet to see how relieved he is. he’s one of the few people who saw the original injury close up, back when he was still at the battlefield and unconscious, so I imagine it really did freak him out quite a bit

JIROUUUUUU

“sometimes I just like to stand here and tug on my imaginary suspenders, what of it”

how come you guys get to loiter around Deku’s room but Kacchan doesn’t. god fucking dammit. AND WHAT DOES THIS EVEN MEAN

I BET KACCHAN COULD WAKE HIM UP FROM HIS COMA WITH THE POWER OF RIVAL INTENSITY!! BUT NOOOOOOOO, [is dragged away back to my fort]

OH MY GOD!?!

"this seems to be an entirely normal and above-board situation that we have just stumbled onto”

I see Jeanist comes from the Iida Tenya school of respectfully using people’s full names

Jeanist becoming one of the main characters is the best thing to ever happen to this series

EXCUSE YOU, IIDA

BUT I’M SURE HE’D MAKE AN EXCEPTION FOR KACCHAN THOUGH!! [elbowing my way back out of the fort] HAWKS, PLEASE --

DON’T GO ALL OMINIOUSLY PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER ALL ON YOUR OWN GODDAMMIT

“there’s absolutely no way this angry wriggling shoulder burrito kid here could answer literally all of my questions, so I’ll just ignore him”

OH MY GOD WE’RE FINALLY CUTTING BACK TO HIM BUT THE CHAPTER IS ENDING

[jumps up, throws a folding chair at Iida and the rest of the gang, and then runs]

oh my god. actually this chapter was awesome. but I’m so fucking mad at this cliffhanger though lol

at least we got a couple of answers! and some hints and teases! poor Deku looks so worn out even though he’s asleep dlwkjl my little green baby. and is it just me or is his quirk activated?? All Might’s all “I can feel it” as if it isn’t obvious just looking at him, why are you trying to be all mysterious dude

anyway! so at least we finally have confirmation and a date for those vestige antics at long last. looking forward to meeting Mister The Fourth next week so we can finally ask him “hey dude, what the fuck”

[lololollywrites]

~Blog rebrand & Sherlock fic~

So... the few hundred or so of you who still follow me may know that I haven’t posted in a while. This began as a D&P blog about 7 years ago, which was already a side blog for my travel photo blog @siempre-selamat, and - as tends to happen - my hyperfixation has changed. I’m interested in a smattering of miscellaneous things, but BBC Sherlock has definitely consumed me as I’ve started writing fic on AO3 within the fandom this past year. I just thought I’d see if any of my current followers might be interested, request new followers who might like to follow along with my fic/ramblings, and rejuvenate my posting schedule a bit! 

AO3 Profile: LoloLolly

CURRENT WIP, [Updates on Fridays but has been completed]:

Genius is a Star Whose Light (is Soon to Sink in Endless Night) 

Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, 

Graphic Depictions of Violence, canon-compliant through TFP, alternating pov, established relationship, new relationship, explicit torture, Sherlock is kidnapped, by his old Serbian captors (see remaining tags in posted work), Chapters 5/10 (16,218 words, eventual ~45,000)

Sherlock was unsure just how much information pertinent to his identity the Milošević brothers had ever been able to obtain – it hadn’t been relevant before, seeing as how he’d thought them dead. For God’s sake, Mycroft. He certainly hadn’t told, hadn’t broken in that frigid, dank cell. His glenohumeral joints still ached when the air turned cold, and he still needed to reach for the silicone gel at least once weekly to soften the scar tissue which so uglily marred his back. If he occasionally woke in the night gasping, curled in upon himself to preserve warmth and to protect his vital organs from the onslaught of a beating, that was his own secret to keep. And John’s, of course. He had been able to help more recently. With both the scars and the nightmares.  ~Excerpt taken from Chapter 2~

More below the cut:

Of Sweat, Sociopathy, Scars, and Secrets

Sherlock Holmes/John Watson,

Sherlock is not a sociopath, nor is he a psychopath, canon-compliant through TFP, Sherlock pov, honest conversation, first kiss (see remaining tags in posted work); Chapters 1/1 (8,190 words)

John approaches Sherlock with a theory. Much more is revealed than he anticipated. And Sherlock, well... he had been waiting for this. Inevitable.

Excerpt:

“I couldn’t accept guilt I was not supposed to have felt. It would weaken me. But this process was shoddily completed in my young mind, I suppose. I was silent for days. Weeks, maybe. Barely aware of my surroundings. Reprogramming, perhaps, before I ever had a mind palace. After, all I knew was that I felt upset. That I was missing pieces. Mycroft’s Redbeard story sufficed to explain it. It wasn’t instant, my self-imposed sociopathy. I struggled. I suffered. Mycroft helped mold me. I discovered drugs. Honed my skills. Found an outlet that allowed me to atone for unknown past failures, to fill the void inside of me that continued to expand. Made myself more and more impossible for anyone to like me. To truly understand me. For that, John, would have been the largest threat to my hollow façade.”

“You destroyed yourself,” John stated.

[queen-scribbles]

The Long-Burning Torch

For the @shepherds-of-haven​ Shepherds Summer event, the Ryn/Red muses latched onto 20′s Detective AU and would not let go. I’ve gone so deep down this rabbit hole there’s gonna be chapters, but the first piece works as a standalone. (title might change along the way, again bc chapters)

----

There were, in Xaeryn’s experience, two types of people who made use of her services. Both were driven by desperation, both tended to hit her doorstep late in the day. There were the belligerent ones, incensed they had to stoop to hiring her, a Mage, to solve their problem. From them she had to pull the pertinent facts of their case one begrudging sentences at a time. And there were the frantic ones, who had exhausted every other route and she was their last chance. Details poured so freely from them she had to pick through it to find what was actually relevant to the case.

The young man standing before her now, at the start of her day, appeared to fit neither of those groups. He’d knocked and entered without awaiting an invitation, seeming unperturbed by the eyebrow she arched at his arrival.

“May I help you?” Xaeryn asked, leaning forward to rest folded hands on her desk.

He shifted to fold his own hands over the head of a walking stick she’d wager he didn’t actually need and smiled dryly. “If your reputation is anything to go by, Miss Shrike, I certainly expect so.”

She gestured to the chairs in front of the desk. “Let’s find out, Mr...?”

“Riel Syndran,” he said, passing her a business card as he took the offered seat.

The card was hardly necessary, and Xaeryn set it on the desk with only a passing glance. “You run Whitestone Couriers, don’t you?”

There was the faintest twitch on the left side of his jaw. “The company is a guild venture.”

“And I wouldn’t be much of a snooper if I couldn’t figure out who truly ran a company as vital to the city of Haven as Whitestone Couriers, Mr. Syndran.”

He gave her a sharp smile. “Very good. I knew coming to you first was the right call, Miss Shrike.”

“Flattered as I am by your confidence” --and she was; she was typically the last resort, being first was something of a novelty-- “why don’t you tell me what or who you need found, and we can discover if said confidence is warranted.”

“I’m certain it is,” Syndran said, his gaze briefly dropping to the Shrike Investigations placard on the edge of her desk. “But you are correct. To business.”

And business, as he explained it, ran thus: Whitestone Couriers had been contracted to transport a collection of artefacts, originally from all parts of Blest, from their previous temporary home at the Conte-by-the-Sea museum to Haven’s Hall of History and Culture.

”How well-known was your being contracted?” Xaeryn interjected.

“It was something of a secret,” Syndran replied, flicking invisible dust off his sleeve. “Some of the pieces are quite valuable, so it was largely in hopes of avoiding theft.”

Hopes that had proven vain. They’d had an uneventful journey--blessed with good weather, even--made it through city customs upon arriving at Haven (checked everything after making it through and found nothing amiss), and proceeded to the museum. Upon unpacking the artefacts, however, it was discovered one was missing.

(Of course.)

The missing piece--an obsidian and bronze pendent thought to belong to a ruler in the Jalis desert pre-Autarchy--had limited monetary value, especially compared to some of the other items in the collection. (Those, of course, had been more closely watched.) Its worth was largely historical and religious.

“Enchantments?”

“None so far as we know.”

“I’ll look into it for you,” Xaeryn said with a nod. She loved mind-twisters like this. “I’ll need to talk to your people, as well as the museum staff, so it would be helpful if you let them know I’m coming. Otherwise my kind” --a twitch of her fingers set energy dancing above them briefly-- “aren’t usually given the time of day.”

“Of course. I shall do so.” Syndran stood and bowed. “I thank you for taking my case, Miss Shrike, and look forward to your success.”

“Two things, Mr. Syndran,” she spoke up as he turned toward the door. She waited until he paused and looked back to continue. “I will, of course, endeavor to find this relic on my own, but should I require an expert’s... knowledge of its history, say, is outside help acceptable?”

His nose wrinkled briefly. “If you must. But as few others as possible, and only those you trust to keep it in strictest confidence.”

“Understood.”

“And the second thing, Miss Shrike?”

She smiled. “One third estimated payment is due upfront.”

“Oh, obviously.” He returned the smile and pulled out his checkbook.

----

She made some good progress between that afternoon and the next day. Interviews with the caravan guards and those responsible for the artefact collection gave insight to their procedures--which were indeed top-notch; it was impressive someone had managed to find a weakness--and how long the pieces were out of their sight coming through city customs.

“Don’t see why that matters,” the pink-haired courier who’d been in charge of the caravan commented. “We checked them all when we got through; made sure everything was still there. Standard procedure.”

“When you say you checked, is this a thorough examination or just a glance to make sure it’s still there?” Xaeryn asked, glancing at the notepad balanced on her knee.

“There’s no fine-tooth comb involved,” came the somewhat tart and harried reply, “but we do look to confirm it’s there and undamaged so nothing undeserved can later be blamed on us. The company has a sterling reputation for a reason, Miss Shrike, and the guild would very much like to keep it that way.”

“Hence your boss coming to me instead of the police.” Xaeryn tapped her pen against her chin and skimmed over her notes. “I think I have everything I need, Miss Aerin. Thank you for your time.”

Aerin gave a sharp nod. “Of course. Anything to get this cleared up and the artefact found as quickly as possible.” She flicked a worried glance toward the notebook as Xaeryn slipped it in her handbag. “How much did you write down? A lot of our procedures are trade secrets; if someone should see...”

Xaeryn laughed and withdrew the notepad again, flipping it open to show the other woman the symbols that filled the pages. “Never fear, your secrets are safe with me. An added bonus of my own shorthand; no one else can read my notes.”

“Smart.” A brief hesitation. “No one? You’re sure?”

“Well, perhaps the friend who helped develop it initially, but I’ve tweaked it since then.” She flipped the pad closed and stowed it in her bag. “I think it would take a little work even for him. We worked it out to take faster notes in class, but taking faster notes also come in handy in my line of work.”

Aerin relaxed and nodded again. “I’m sure it does. Thank you for the reassurance, Miss Shrike.”

“Of course. Have a good day.”

“You as well.”

With the last of the days’ intended interviews behind her, Xaeryn headed back to her office. Now to review what she’d learned from all the sources together. She was confident she had plenty to give herself at least a couple leads worth pursuing, even if there wasn’t enough for a scry.

---

It took a day and a half of running herself off her feet for Xaeryn to burn through the leads she’d found without much to show for it. She’d been unable to track down the specific guard who checked that portion of the shipment, but his supervisor assured her such an important collection would have been treated with utmost care, seeming miffed at the insinuation otherwise. None of the drivers or other courier employees had noticed anything unusual once they passed through customs, no interruptions or suspicious folks in the streets.

Even scrying had fizzled out without so much as a vague semblance of where it might be.

Nothing, nothing, nothing.

Xaeryn dug her fingers into her short hair and glowered at the photographs of the pendent Mr. Syndran had given her. It was so small. So easily concealed. And so simple it would hardly draw attention unless you knew what it was.

She’d been forced to grudgingly admit her minimal progress to Mr. Syndran when he called for an update and it had her in a foul mood. This sort of baloney was not how she kept the lights on. It was time for a new tack.

If she couldn’t (yet) trace where the pendent vanished from, perhaps it would work better to learn more about it; figure where it might be going and get a solid enough knowledge of it she could successfully scry its location. Who would want it badly enough for the hassle of stealing from Whitestone Couriers to be worth their while? Looking into the pendent’s history and provenance seemed the next logical course. Just because Mr. Syndran had told her it was on loan to the collection from the “proper” owners did not mean said owners had told him everything, or indeed, that they’d told the truth. She needed an expert and knew just where to find one.

It had been long enough since her time at Solhadur Academy Xaeryn actually had to look up the telephone number before calling. As she listened to the line ringing, she wondered absently how much of a gentle scolding Headmaster Tevanti would give her for her first contact in more than a decade being to ask for something rather than merely catching up. She’d always been the type not to bother people unless she had to. That was, after all, what she preferred. And her self-reliance had carried her through quite a bit. But she was aware most people would differ from her on that point; Tevanti especially was fond of jawing, so he would surely have words for her long silence.

She let it go to ten rings before giving up. Revelation came with a glance at the clock; it was late enough there was likely no one around to answer. No matter. She could drive out tomorrow. The Academy was in Capra, that wasn’t terribly far. (Not for business, anyway.) Headmaster Tevanti wouldn’t mind one of his favorite students dropping in for an hour or so to discuss a relic from one of his favorite historical periods. She’d even engage in small talk, if he wanted.

Xaeryn smiled to herself and locked both the photographs and her notepad in one of the desk drawers. If that was her plan for tomorrow, she should turn in early, make sure she was well-rested. Time for a trip down memory lane.

---

The morning was uneventful, aside from the troublesome discovery she’d left her office unlocked all night. She was normally more attentive than that, even being on a higher floor. But nothing was disturbed or missing, so Xaeryn shrugged it off and got on with her day.

If she selected her wardrobe with a more critical eye than usual, well, she wanted to look professional. Headmaster Tevanti had been a wonderful mentor, and she wanted to show how far his encouragements about using her bright mind and sharp eye had carried her.

(She wondered, briefly, as she pulled on the royal blue skirt and its matching blouse, accented in deep golden-yellow, if she would see any other familiar faces. But she shook off the warmth of the thought; they’d all scattered to the winds after graduation. Getting to see Tevanti would be enough.)

Satisfied with her ensemble, and needing to fill some time before she left, Xaeryn sat at her desk with her notepad and transcribed everything she knew about the missing pendent(not much), along with questions to ask. She picked out the best of the photographs from Mr. Syndran, just in case, and sighed as she looked at the clock. She’d still be a tad early for it to be polite, especially just dropping in out of the blue, if she left now.

So I’ll drive at a leisurely pace, she argued to herself. Take my time. Allowing a buffer in case there’s trouble along the way is only wise. God in heaven, she wished she could figure why she had worse jitters about this than some dates she’d gone on. “Oh, this is ridiculous,” she muttered to the empty office.

She locked the remaining photographs back in her desk, slipped the chosen one and her notepad in her handbag. After a moment’s internal debate, she slipped one of her stiletto knives down in her boot as well. Solhadur was far from dangerous, but it was prudent to have some measure of protection when traveling alone. She grabbed a hat on her way out the door--which she made certain to lock this time--and had it securely on her head by the time she reached the car.

----

Despite her efforts to make it a leisurely drive out to Capra, and weather that was perfect for that goal, Xaeryn still found herself standing in the entrance hall of Solhadur Academy at an earlier hour than would usually be considered polite for impromptu business meetings. She debated walking the grounds for a while, revisiting some memories from her time here, but decided simply apologizing for her early arrival was the better course of action.

With a final steadying breath and running one hand down her blouse and skirt to chase away wrinkles, Xaeryn headed for the reception desk. She smiled at the young woman behind it. “Good morning.”

The receptionist blinked, seeming mildly taken aback by how far up she had to look to meet her visitor’s eyes. “Morning, miss. Office hours don’t start until ten-”

“Oh, I’m not a student here,” Xaeryn said with a laugh. “At least, not anymore. And I do apologize for the early appearance, the drive out went much faster than anticipated.”

A brow twitched at that. “And what is it that brings you to Solhadur, miss...?”

“I’m doing research on a selection of artefacts and haven’t been able to turn up much on one.” It was barely a lie; she had read a bit on the other exhibition pieces, even if the pendent was the only one she needed to go deeper. “It’s from a period I know is of particular interest to the headmaster, so I was hoping to speak to him for a while, see if he could help.”

The receptionist pursed her lips. “Former student, you say?”

Xaeryn nodded. “If he’s busy first thing, I don’t mind waiting.”

““No, actually, being early is smart,” the receptionist said with a light laugh. “His hours are more full at the later end of things. This would be the best opportunity if you want some of his time.” She glanced over Xaeryn once more, then nodded. “You can go up. Third door--”

“On the left. I remember,” Xaeryn finished. “Thank you.”

“You might actually beat him there,” the receptionist laughed. “He isn’t always punctual.”

“I remember that, too,” Xaeryn returned with a grin. “Like I said, I don’t mind waiting. It’ll be good to see him again, few more minutes won’t hurt.” She toyed with one of her earrings as she headed up the stairs, steps lingering and heavy with nostalgia.

It was almost exactly as she remembered. A few portraits replaced or rearranged, new photographs from after she left. New name placards outside the doors she passed. The headmaster’s office door was closed, and a light inquiring rap of her knuckles brought no response.

Looks like she was right, Xaeryn thought with a smile, leaning against the chair outside the office to wait. Her gaze drifted to the high ceiling, following the details of familiar carvings to the scenes painted on the ceiling itself. Slightly faded from what she remembered, but that was to be expected after a decade--

“Xaeryn?!” The voice, still familiar even after years apart, sounded like he’d seen a ghost.

Her heart lurched in her chest and she’d spun around before the impulse to do so had even fully registered, his name tumbling from her lips unprompted in return. “Red?!”

He crossed the remaining distance between them in just a few strides(God, he’d gotten taller, how was that even possible?), barely remembered to set the books he carried on the chair before wrapping her in a hug.

Xaeryn didn’t even flinch, and only just managed to keep her grip on her handbag as she hugged him back. He still smelled of old books and ink and sunshine and she smiled at the memories it stirred.

Liefred Antiqua, her seatmate in any classes they shared and best friend regardless of how many they didn’t for the entirely of her time at Solhadur. Friendly, charming, and just as fond of books as he was people. (The nights they’d spent pressed shoulder to shoulder reading in the library were still among her favorite memories.) Between his warm nature and classic good looks, he’d had half the student body swooning  after him, and yet despite the sharp contrast to Xaeryn’s more reserved and self-reliant bent, they’d still spent most of their time together. Their friendship was the strongest of the few she’d formed at Solhadur, and Xaeryn valued it immensely.

(Too much to risk on anything like admitting when the sight of his smile sent something that was definitely not friendship fluttering in her chest. It was just a crush, it would go away.)

( And then it didn’t.)

They’d both had plans to travel after graduation, and she couldn’t count on all her fingers combined the number of times she’d almost suggested they do it together. But in this one thing, she never could quite summon the nerve. And before she knew it, her departure date had arrived and they were hugging farewell, and come with me wouldn’t unstick from her throat. After a few months’ silence stretched between them--both traveling and unsure where the other might be, obviously--she’d resigned herself to their paths never crossing again, much as the thought hurt.

And yet here he was.

All the memories flew through her mind in the few seconds their hug lasted, and had a lump starting in her throat by the time they parted.

“Wonderful as it is to see you,” Red began as he stepped back to reclaim his books and run a glance over her, “what are you doing here?”

Xaeryn cleared her throat as she returned the apprising glance with one of her own. He still looked practically the same. A few inches taller, shoulders a bit more broad, and an attempt had been made to tame his bright red hair. It had only achieved partial success, and combined with the warm glint in his green eyes, he still was the same Red she knew. (The same Red she’d been more than a little in love with, even if she’d never dared the risk of admitting it.)

“I’m doing research,” she said, reaching up to tug the back brim of her hat as she glanced at the office door. “Into some artefacts. I wanted to ask Headmaster Tevanti about one in particular that’s being difficult.”

Red grimaced and fumbled his books. “Did you not hear, Xaer?” His voice went soft on the nickname, despite them being alone. Voices did carry in these halls, as they very well knew. “Tevanti died.”

She blinked, shock and sorrow curling in her chest. “Wh- How? When?”

“Not long after you left, actually,” he said, raking his free hand through his hair and tousling it out of respectability. “You know he’d been having problems with his heart. It gave out a few months after you left.” His brow furrowed. “I’m surprised you weren’t told when you set an appointment.”

“I didn’t so much set an appointment as show up looking to talk,” Xaeryn admitted with a soft, wry snort. “And I did simply say the headmaster when speaking to the receptionist.” She cocked her head. “Who would that be, now?”

Red smiled sheepishly, half-bit his lower lip. “Me, actually.” He shifted the books to one arm and opened the office door. Slightly nonplussed by two such major revelations in a row, Xaeryn was silent as she followed him in.

“I thought you wanted to travel,” was the first thought to pop in her head and then out her mouth as she looked around the office. It was spacious, lined with jam-packed bookshelves(He must be in heaven), and in a state of... corralled disarray that was so very Red it made her smile despite the news about Tevanti.

“I did,” Red replied, setting the books on his desk. “And I got to, at least a bit.” He tucked a handful of papers inside an open tome occupying one of the chairs, flipped the book closed, and set it on a side table so he could offer her a seat.  “I’d already left when he passed, so Professor Rumi and some others kept things going until I got back.” Rather than sit in the chair behind the desk, he shuffled a small stack of books onto the floor and sat in the one next to Xaeryn’s as he continued. “He’d... wanted me as his successor, Xaeryn.”

“That makes sense.” The words were out  before she could weigh them, spurred by the disbelief in his hesitation. “You’re brilliant, charming, and have a history with the school.” Her face warmed in the wake of being so candid, and Xaeryn glanced over at the large painting of Tevanti that hung on the wall between two bookshelves. He knew what he was doing. “You’re a logical choice.”

Red laughed warmly. “High praise from the smartest student in our class.”

“But far from the most charming,” she countered with a wry smile.

The warmth of his gaze didn’t abate. “I’ve always appreciated your-”

“Bluntness?”

“Straight-forwardness,” Red substituted, and was smiling when she looked his way. “An ability to cut to the heart of the subject is an invaluable skill.”

Xaeryn gave a faint shake of her head. “As is your kindness. But speaking of the heart of the matter...”

“Ah, right. You came here for a reason.” He pushed his unbuttoned shirtsleeves up toward his elbows. “I can’t promise to know as much as Tevanti would have, but I’ll certainly do my best to help.”

“Actually...” She snapped open her handbag to pull out the photograph and her notepad. “You’ve done a lot of research on pre-Autarchy history, so you might be able to help more than you think.” She set the photograph on the desk and Red cocked his head to look at it.

“Solimer’s torch...” he murmured, turning the photograph for a better look as his gaze gained that focus of a niche interest being whetted. (Which, for Red, meant she was about to hear everything he knew about the pendent’s history in too much detail to called a summary, and Xaeryn found herself leaning forward slightly in anticipation.) He glanced up at her. “Isn’t this one of the pieces in that exhibit about to open in Haven?”

She nodded. “That’s why I’m researching it.” She bit her lip but barely hesitated on the gamble of her next words. ‘Those you trust’, Mr. Syndran had said, and there was no one she trusted more than Liefred Antiqua. “It was stolen, and I was hired to find.”

His head came up, derailed from the growing ramble on the pendent’s history.  “Oh?”

“I’m a detective,” Xaeryn said, playing with one of her earrings. She laughed softly. “Scrying does give a considerable leg up to finding things. Or people. But that only works when--”

“You know enough about them,” Red nodded. “So this visit is for business, rather than personal.”

“Mostly, yes,” she conceded, resting one hand on his knee. I didn’t know you’d be here.  “But I was more than willing to chat with Tevanti” --there was a pang in her chest--”which most definitely extends to you as well, Headmaster Antiqua.”

His neck and ears went faintly pink as he laughed. “Surely we don’t need to be quite so formal, Detective Shrike?”

“Just ‘Miss’,” she returned with a laugh of her own, withdrawing her hand to instead fiddle with her notepad. “I work for myself, not the cops.” There might’ve been a little pride in her voice at the words, but it was well-earned.

“I thought you wanted to travel,” Red said, turning her own remark back on her.

“And travel I did,” Xaeryn said lightly. “For quite a while, even. But a girl does need a job eventually, and I’ve always loved a good mystery.”

“Or even a bad one,” he teased. “All kidding aside, Miss Shrike, I’m sure you’re a brilliant investigator.”

She smiled, chuckling at the playful glint in his eye even as her ears warmed at the praise. “Thank you. And on that note, what can you tell me about the pendent?”

“Right, right. You’re here on business.” Amusement lingered in Red’s eyes even as he turned back to the photograph. His sleeves started to slide and he shoved them back up again. Xaeryn very deliberately kept her focus on the photograph, not his arms--or hands--as he tapped one finger at the center of the obsidian pendent. “This was a protection...  charm, I suppose you’d call it, worn by the head of the Solimer tribe ages ago. Literal ages. Without refreshing my memory, all I can tell you is they were one of the few tribes whose wanderings regularly took them through the heart of the Jalis desert, and yet they always fared better on those journeys than the other tribes, which was credited to this pendent.”

“So it is magical?” Xaeryn leaned closer to look over the piece again, not that a photograph could do it full justice. This was a familiar position; the two of them bent over a shared project, and she hadn’t realized how much she missed it until that moment.

“Possibly?” Red shifted and his shoulder bumped hers. “ The story goes that on their first attempt to journey through, they saw a light, like a torch, keeping pace with them. It only showed up at night, and seemed far enough away from their caravan the chief felt it was too dangerous to let anyone go after it to see what it was. Their wariness at its presence, however, kept them vigilant enough they were able to see and fend off any wild animals that came after them, and it did nothing except travel their same path, so they let it be. 

“A couple weeks into their journey, as their supplies were starting to run low, the chieftain’s wife was out hunting and strayed far enough in search of food that the sun started setting while she was out. As the skies grew dim she could see the Torch, much larger than they usually did from the caravan, though it was floating away. Seized by good old-fashioned curiosity” --he paused to wink at her and Xaeryn bit back a smile-- “she followed the light rather than work her way back to camp. She kept after it long enough night had nearly fallen when it crested a ridge and disappeared. She hastened after it, and when she made it over the ridge, found herself standing by a waterspring the likes of which they’d never seen. When she looked around for the light she’d followed, there was no sign of it, save a black rock that lay at her feet. There were no other rocks anywhere nearby, so she decided this must be what had caused the torch-like light her tribe had seen. 

“She carried it with her when she returned to the tribe with news of water, and the Solimer took it as a sign of the gods’ favor. The chieftain had it bound in bronze” --he traced a finger along the lines of the coiled setting-- “to be worn as a way to hold that favor. It was passed from leader to leader and from all accounts they had far better luck surviving the desert than the other tribes for a long time.”

“Was that not likely just them knowing better how to handle themselves? If they traveled those portions of the desert more frequently, of course they were better prepared.”

“Maybe.” Red shrugged. “We have no firsthand written records from any of these tribes, just legends and history relayed orally. And a lot of the second-hand ones were... lost when the Autarchy came to power. From the way the stories run, after generation of favor from the pendent, it was lost when the Solimer were defeated in a skirmish over resources with another tribe. Their next several trips went so poorly it cost over half their number, and they wound up assimilated into other tribes within the next couple decades just to survive.”

“Sad,” Xaeryn murmured, though she wondered if the pendent’s loss had become a self-fulfilling prophecy if they believed in it that strongly. “And what happened to the pendent after that?”

“That’s all I know off the top of my head,” Red said sheepishly as he sat back, running a hand through his hair. “Anything more I’d have to research. To refresh my memory.”

“Oh, that’s all? Tsk, tsk, Liefred, you’re slipping,” she teased, then snorted a wry chuckle. “Of course, it’s more than I had.” She showed him the scant lines on a single page of her small notepad.

Red smiled at the sight of the shorthand and let the playful ribbing slide as he ran a finger over the page. “You tweaked it.”

“A bit, to make it jive better with detective work.” Xaeryn tucked the pad back in her handbag. She’d been so caught up listening to him talk she’d not taken a single note. “I’m certain you could work it out with a little time.”

“Oh, time-” Red’s gaze flew to the clock at the same moment there was a knock and muffled “Headmaster?” at the door. “Damn. Forgot I have a meeting.” He smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. “Tribulations of being in charge. Just a minute!” he called toward the door, then, to Xaeryn, “I can look into this more in my free time, if you’d like.”

What free time? she almost asked, looking at the stacks of books and papers everywhere. But she swallowed that in favor of, “That would be lovely, thank you so much.”

“Any specific information you need?” Red asked as they stood.

“Anything you can find is welcome, but specifically.... What happened to the pendent after the Solimer lost it, who would have claim of ownership, if ownership is contested... anything like that. I want to find it, but part of that may very well lie in figuring out who would have most reason to steal it in the first place.” Xaeryn pulled out a business card and handed it to him. “So I don’t wind up nagging you,” she laughed. “You can call when you find something. The telephone’s in my office, but I live adjacent, so I’ll always hear it.”

Red nodded and slipped the card in his pocket. “I’ll try not to take too long.”

“Much appreciated. Also...” She grimaced slightly. “This is something of a secret; the Couriers don’t want it being common knowledge.”

“Understandable,” he said as they started toward the door. “Oh, don’t you need this?” He reached back for the photograph and held it out to her.

“Yes, thanks.” Xaeryn smiled and tried not to let the flutter in her chest when their fingers brushed as she took it gain purchase. She slipped the photograph back in her handbag as Red opened the door. Given the student waiting in the hall, she was the picture of professionalism--aside from the twinkle in her eye--as she nodded farewell. “Thank you for your time, Headmaster.”

Several things flashed through Red’s eyes, the brief desire to strangle her, a loud burst of laughter, an eyeroll, but he settled on a warm smile, wide enough his dimples just started to show. “Happy to help, Miss Shrike.”

She was still fighting a grin as she turned to descend the stairs, heart practically singing with warmth. Of all the lovely surprises... Regardless of whether she succeeded or failed, this case was already among the most worthwhile she’d ever taken, simply for bringing him back into her life.

[pellucidity-is-me]

A Plan

Summary: Albus Dumbledore hears of a small boy—Remus Lupin—who was recently bitten by a dangerous werewolf. The boy-turned-werewolf is only five, but Dumbledore has already made the decision that he will someday be enrolled in Hogwarts: a feat which has never been achieved. First chapter from my longer fic (link in blog description)!

Wordcount: 2727

Dumbledore sat in the Hog's Head, trying to avoid the gaze of his furious brother. They never talked now. Dumbledore could understand why, but it did feel a bit childish to be bickering like... well, like siblings. He listened to Aberforth scrubbing the counter in a sort of agonized rhythm. Aberforth was still staring, eyes narrowed—perhaps Dumbledore could not see it, but he could feel it. "Just a few more minutes and I'll be out of your hair, Aberforth," Dumbledore said lightly. "I am afraid that this is the easiest place for secret information to remain secret."

"I had to shut down my pub, just for you," scowled Aberforth. "We can't all be rich and famous, Albus. Some of us have to make an honest living instead of pulling political strings for the greater good."

Dumbledore winced. All of their meetings went like this. "This is important," he said. "And Clark is an honest man."

"Clark Darnall is a werewolf."

"An honest werewolf, then. He is doing good work and he has important information. I might as well offer him a drink at one of the best pubs in Britain."

"Flattery won't work on me."

"I am not trying to flatter. I truly do not mean to bother you, Aberforth—" Dumbledore glanced up at the portrait of Ariana and sighed. "I do not mean to bother you," he said again. "Please. One hour."

"I wish the whole world knew that you aren't the paragon of light they think you are," hissed Aberforth, slamming down his towel. He sat down behind the counter. Dumbledore heard him cross his arms.

Silence. The only noise in the room was the sounds of Aberforth's annoyed huffs and the tapping of Dumbledore's long fingers on the tabletop.

Minutes passed. Suddenly, the door flew open.

"Albus Dumbledore. Oh, thank you fer meetin' me." Clark looked just the same as ever—all mussed brown hair, unhealthy frame, dirty face, and ripped robes. His strange accent was the same as ever. Clark Darnall had been bitten at age nine and had escaped to Greyback's werewolf pack shortly after. The pack, from what Dumbledore understood, was a conglomeration of all kinds of different people and nationalities. Clark's accent was a strange combination of a lot of different places. He hadn't lived in human civilization in a little less than twenty years. Dumbledore's heart ached for his plight.

"My pleasure. Sit down, Clark. Aberforth, if you would..."

"Don't speak to me," said Aberforth, slamming two cups of Butterbeer on Dumbledore's table. Dumbledore stole a glance at Aberforth for the first time. Sure enough, Aberforth looked ready to kill him. Never mind that, thought Dumbledore. He turned his attention back to Clark. Dumbledore's relationship with his brother, he suspected, was a lost cause.

"You said that you had pertinent information, old friend?" said Dumbledore gently, and Clark bobbed his head up and down.

"Yes. Yes, sir, I do. I... werewolves... you know. No one listenin' in?"

"Not a one. Except for Aberforth, but he's a very moral man. He can keep a secret."

Aberforth scrubbed harder and grunted an agreement.

"Tha' man. Aberforth. He doesn't like werewolves much, hunh?"

Dumbledore smiled. Clark wasn't usually this blunt, but a werewolf who had lived amongst other werewolves all his life often misjudged humans' ability to hear spoken comments. Heightened senses were a blessing and a curse. Mostly a curse, according to Clark. "He can hear you, Clark."

"Oh! Oh, I'm sorry, sir. Ab... Aberforth. So sorry."

Aberforth did not grace this with a reply, so Dumbledore broke the awkward silence. "How much time do you have?"

"'Bout an hour till Greyback notices I'm gone, p'raps less. I should hurry."

"I'm listening." Dumbledore took a sip of Butterbeer.

"Greyback's been excited lately. Dare I say over the moon." Clark chuckled weakly. "There was this man, while ago. Fergot his name. Somethin' like... Loopy, I guess. I'll remember later, prob'ly. But he sort of insulted Greyback... Greyback had a spot of trouble with the Ministry, you see, and was brought in fer a proper hearing. Pretended he was a Muggle tramp. Almost got away with it, 'parently, but... the bloke, Loopy... he didn't buy it at all. Clever man."

"Do you know anything else about this man?"

"Greyback was goin' on abou' Boggarts. 'Parently the bloke was an expert... and then they hired him at the Ministry. Somethin' like Crocodile fer a first name... you know my mem'ry's not all there, Albus."

Dumbledore paused. An expert on Boggarts who had been hired by the Ministry... Crocodile Loopy? Dumbledore's mind started to conjure pictures of the young man whom he had taught years earlier... brown hair, shy demeanor, studied various subjects for fun... sense of humor... got into fights with other Hogwarts students at times. Mostly mild-mannered, but a temper. "Lyall Lupin," he said heavily. "It was Lyall, wasn't it? I taught him." Dumbledore started to picture what possibly could have happened between Greyback and Lyall that made Greyback so happy... a fight, perhaps? Lyall lost? The full moon was a few weeks ago... was Lyall killed? Or bitten? Poor man.

"Yup, Lyall Lupin. Tha' was it, I'm sure of it. Well, Lyall saw righ' through Greyback. His coworkers didn't believe him, and Greyback mentioned... Greyback said they sort of taunted Lupin a bit. Seemed happy abou' it, whatever it was, but I don't know what they said. Ministry let Greyback free and tried to Obliviate him, but Greyback escaped. Ministry knows what 'e looks like now. Greyback was hoppin' mad abou' tha', he was. Face's all over the papers. Can't go undercover anymore. But 'parently Lupin said that... werewolves were... heartless, soulless... creatures? I do'nno. Also implied we should all die."

Dumbledore closed his eyes. Oh, Lyall...

"So I guess Lupin both insulted Greyback and outed his appearance to the media, and Greyback was goin' on abou' revenge for a full day. 'Twas the day before the day of the full, you know. He was tellin' the story to everyone who would listen. Called us all together. Plotted his revenge. Said he was goin' over to Lupin's and killin' him. Said if the whole world knew who he was, he might as well make it worth it."

"And...?"

"And he went over to Lupin's a bit before the moon rose. Came back. Looked pleased. Blood all over."

Dumbledore felt a bit ill. "Lyall...?"

"Perfectly fine. 'Parently Greyback went out and scouted the area. Watched the house fer a bit. S'not just Lyall livin' there, he has a family. Wife. Kid."

Dumbledore felt even more ill.

"You know how Greyback goes after the kids. Ecstatic that there was a little lad there. Big Lupin got away with not even a scratch, he did, but Greyback meant to kill the kid."

So there was hope after all. "Meant to?"

"Meant to. Lad was only 'bout five, Greyback says. Tiny thing. Asleep before half-seven. You know children tha' young don't survive the firs' full, so there was no point in bitin' him and lettin' him live. So Greyback decided to... you know. Rip 'im apart. Leave 'im barely recognizable. Wanted to hurt Lupin, he did."

"Meant to?" Dumbledore repeated. Clark had always had a flair for the dramatic; he certainly liked to draw things out for maximum suspense. It was usually entertaining, but right now it was just mildly annoying. "You said that he... meant to kill the child."

"Yeah, he did. But he says he only got one bite in before Lupin heard noises and scared 'im off. No sense stickin' around when a wizard's got a wand and s'firin' curses at you." Clark chuckled. "Miffed parents are dangerous, and Greyback's not stupid. Says it was still fun, though—lad didn't even scream; too stunned to do anything but stare. Greyback was pretty happy abou' how things turned out. Says it'll be a lot more fun for Lupin to live with a werewolf kid for a month. Said it wasn't possible fer such a young lad to survive the full, so Lupin would either have to put 'im down or let 'im die with the rising of the moon. But he regretted that he didn't get the kid fer himself. Younger ones taste better, he says."

Dumbledore shifted in his seat with discomfort. Clark was desensitized to such talk, having grown up among werewolves, but Dumbledore was not. He wasn't entirely convinced that Clark did not ever bite or kill people on the full moon, but he would never voice his reproaches to Clark. Clark was, after all, a good informant and debatably a good man... yet Dumbledore would not hesitate to protect anyone whom Clark may be willing to attack. "Continue, Clark."

"Righ'. Well, tha' was two and a half months ago, tha' was. Lad's been through the first full. Lupin let 'im live, which Greyback found surprising. But you know what's even more surprising?"

Dumbledore shook his head.

"The kid lived. Had his skeleton torn apart at the age of five, he did, and he didn't die. Mostly they've got to be at least five and a half, and even tha's rare. Greyback says seven is the best age. Greyback also said the kid wasn't even five yet when Greyback bit 'im. Close, but not yet—he was four. Family was talkin' 'bout fifth birthday prep'rations, he said. Lad prob'ly transformed for the firs' time righ' aroun' his birthday. Only five."

That was rare, certainly, but Dumbledore didn't see why it was such important information. "So...?"

"So tha's a big deal! You prob'ly don't understand. Yer brigh' and all, but you can't understand. In the werewolf world, tha's huge. Greyback went and discovered a kid who somehow got past all the laws of the world. Tha's why he's so happy. Got 'imself a protegee, he said. But when he tried to go get the kid and bring 'im to the pack... lad refused."

"Do you know the child's name?"

"'Course I do. Remus Lupin. Greyback's been sayin' it over and over, like it's a song stuck in his head. He gets obsessive sometimes. Scary. The fact that Remus refused made 'im even happier. Usually he can go into the child's room sometime before the second moon, cast a Soundproofing Charm, and then convince the kid to come join. After they've been through the firs' full moon they'll do anythin' to make it better, and Greyback makes sure the parents aren't aroun' to make the decision fer their kid. So tha's what Greyback did with Remus. Sometimes he makes us do it, but he really wanted to do it himself this time. Never seen 'im so excited abou' anythin'. His heart was going a mile a minute, it was."

"But Remus refused?"

"Yup. Greyback did all the normal stuff... promised he could make the pain go away, said it was almost like a cure, said Remus'd meet other kids like 'im. Greyback even said that he tried to act all nice and fatherly, but none of us believe 'im. Anyway, lad heard that Greyback could help an' then flat-out refused. Said he wanted to stay where he was. Also a big deal, Dumbledore... pain's a lot, an' kids don't offen have the presence of mind to make their own decisions."

"I see."

"Greyback tried Plan B, as he always does when the kids refuse. Took off Soundproofing Charms, let parents in. Sometimes the parents love to get the kid off their chests. But Lupin wasn't having it, 'parently. And Lupin can duel, so Greyback left. Lupin still loved his kid, even though he'd hated werewolves just two and a half months ago."

"Fathers do tend to love their children," murmured Dumbledore. "Lyall was always headstrong, but I never had any doubt when he was at Hogwarts that he'd do the right thing."

"Don'no if it is the righ' thing, meself. Remus Lupin's not gonna have an easy life. People're gonna hate 'im. And he's only five. He migh' have been better off with us... plus, I kinda wanted to meet him, I did. After Greyback's said so much abou' him."

"He will be better off here," said Dumbledore. "He will. Lyall is a good father, I'm sure."

"Yeah, well. They moved, after Greyback found 'em the second time, but Greyback isn't worried. Loves that the lad has a mind of his own. Says he'll go find Remus later when he's grown and try again. Says it's somethin' to look forward to. He's always so much happier when he has somethin' to look forward to. We're always scared of 'im after the euphoria of the last full moon dies down and he's got a whole month to go. But now he's practically bouncin' off the walls. No tellin' whether Remus'll survive the next full, but I hope he will. Really wanna meet the kid, I do."

"So do I," said Dumbledore thoughtfully. "But I imagine that the family is going through a lot right now. You're right, Clark. This certainly changes things. You always do bring me good information."

"Least I can do after you saved my skin few years ago," said Clark. "Heckin' werewolf hunters. Execution's the worst way to go. Well, I'd better get back before Greyback wonders where I've been. See ya sometime, Albus."

"See you sometime," repeated Dumbledore, smiling. He watched Clark go. The second he left, the smile dropped off of his face. "Aberforth, you needn't listen. But I need to talk things through." Dumbledore stood up and began to pace.

"Oh, joy," said Aberforth sarcastically.

"Armando is set on retiring, and I—forgive my arrogance—expect to be headmaster in a few months' time."

"Of course you do."

"Lyall was always a good man. He will raise Remus to be a good man as well, I am certain of it."

"If you think werewolves can be good."

"I do. And I think that, since Remus is so young now, he will have had a chance to adapt to the curse by the time he is eleven..."

"Oh no," said Aberforth. "Absolutely not."

"I heard that Lyall has married a Muggle. I believe her name is Hope. Remus might be nonmagical... but with Lyall's talent, I suspect that he is a wizard. I shall have to check, but I would not be surprised if his name is already down for Hogwarts. If I can create arrangements for full moons..."

"You're not planning on raising this boy to fight in the war, Albus."

"I thought you didn't like werewolves," said Dumbledore. "Don't worry. That is not my intention. I simply think that he has a right to an education, don't you? I can see many ways that this will be a success... but, if I am as magically competent as I believe myself to be... I cannot see many ways in which it can fail. If this works... yes, indeed, I can see it working," he said, more to himself than Aberforth, "and it could be life-changing for a great many people. Or perhaps just Remus Lupin. Either will satisfy me."

"You say that, but you only care about the greater good. None of that is true at all."

"It is certainly true," said Dumbledore quietly, "and I'll thank you to let me be my own person. I am changed. I have learned. And Remus Lupin will learn as well, if I have anything to do with it... except in a very different sense. He is young still, but in six years... six years. Yes. I shall... what is the expression?... put it on the back burner." He smiled. "Would you like a caramel toffee, Aberforth? In thanks?"

"A caramel toffee will not make up for your mistakes."

"No, but a caramel toffee certainly doesn't hurt..."

"I don't want your toffees."

"A couple Galleons?"

"I am not a charity case."

"A hug?"

"Don't touch me."

"You may have my scarf, but it's a bit old and probably too flamboyant for your tastes..."

"Get out of my pub so that I can reopen."

"Very well. Let me know if there's anything you ever need, Aberforth."

"I need you out of my life," Aberforth called, but Dumbledore was already halfway down the cobblestone street, humming Rossini's Barber of Seville overture.

All in all, it had been quite the productive day.

[quickspinner]

New Year, New Life

A little sequel to All I Want for Christmas is a New Beginning

It's been a year since a certain cute elf met a certain hot single uncle waiting in line to bring his niece to see Santa. A year since she ran away from him and fate--or rather Juleka--brought them back together again. A year since they kissed at midnight after Alya's annual New Year's party.

It's once again time for Alya's New Year's party, and with all the possibilities of a brand new year before them, Marinette and Luka can't help but be excited about it.

Technically I feel like I should be posting this tomorrow, but I wrote it for the @lovebugs-and-snakecharmers Sprint Challenge which closes today, so Happy New Year just a little bit early! The prompt was "New Year’s party with a New Year’s kiss" and it seemed like the perfect chance to revisit these two. You don't really HAVE to have read the previous fic to get this one, but it will have a little more context and impact if you do. 3 15-minute sprints with 24 hours to edit. I did it all in less than 12 hours, but I also added a good five or six hundred words in the ‘editing’ phase, so...make of that what you will.

😆

It was amazing how many things could change in a year, Marinette thought, grinning up at Luka and leaning back into him as they moved together with practice ease. Just like last year, he had joined her at Alya’s annual party after playing his own New Year’s gig, in the same ballroom of the Grand Paris that Alya had rented last year. As soon as he’d arrived and done the obligatory greeting and handshakes and bises where necessary, he’d coaxed her to the dance with him, just like that first time. It was easy to agree; after a year of dating him, she was no longer awkward on the dance floor. They swayed and rolled and dipped together, both grinning and neither with eyes for anyone but each other. His hands on her body were not so light or hesitant as they’d once been, and frequently they were not so carefully respectful anymore either. She bumped her hip into him and gave him a pout for teasing her, which just made him lean down and catch her mouth in a brief kiss.

Marinette giggled and faced him, sliding her arms up around his neck as his hands found her waist and pulled her close.

“Hey!” Alya yelled as she danced past them, one hand holding a drink as the other waved in the air. “No making out on the dance floor!”

“Since when?” Marinette hollered after her, and then pulled Luka down for a prolonged kiss, just to make her point. He tasted like champagne, and Marinette had to stop kissing him because she couldn’t stop smiling.

“I”m almost sorry this year is ending,” she told him, rubbing a hand along his arm tenderly. Luka gathered her up in a hug, and then dropped his arm to slide around her waist, guiding her off the dance floor. They wandered together towards the windows, cuddling together as they looked out over the city lights.

“I love you,” Luka murmured, and the words still gave her a little shiver. She pressed closer to him.

“I love you too,” she sighed happily.

“It has been a spectacular year,” Luka continued, squeezing her hip. “But I gotta say that I’m looking forward to this year even more.”

Marinette hummed and looked up at him. “Why’s that?”

Luka took a deep breath, glancing back behind him as he slipped a hand in his pocket. Curving his body towards her slightly so no one else could see, he held up the small velvet box between them.

Marinette stared at the box for a stupefied moment, and then her eyes snapped up to his. A smile quirked the edge of his mouth, and he nodded at her with a soft look. Slowly she took the box, turning slightly towards him as well as she opened it to further shield them from the party. The ring nestled inside removed any doubt as to what was going on. She stared at it, overcome.

“I’d get down on one knee but I’m pretty sure that would give us away,” Luka murmured. “Marinette, this has been the best year of my life, and I want every year from now on to be just like it. Will you marry me?”

“Yes,” Marinette managed to gasp, and Luka plucked the ring out of the box, taking it with his other hand and snapping it shut, popping it back in his pocket before anyone else could see. As calm and smooth as he appeared, his hands were shaking when he took Marinette’s hand and carefully, deliberately slid the ring on her finger. As soon as it was there, Marinette pressed against him, burying her face in his chest. She could feel him taking slow, deep breaths with extended exhales, and smiled to herself. He was a cool customer, her Luka, but she knew his cues now. He’d been nervous as hell. She stayed there until her own jumbled nerves were settled and his breathing was more normal. Then she looked up at him, and as soon as her face was tilted high enough, he bent down and kissed her, slow and deep, and his heart fluttered wildly under the hands she placed on his chest.

“It’s not midnight yet!” Alya called, and they both turned to see her approach.

“Traditions are for the weak, Césaire,” Luka called back, grinning fit to split his face. Marinette opened her mouth to get rid of her dearest friend, but before she had a chance, Alya let out a shriek.

“MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?”

Before Marinette could blink, Alya was at her side, grabbing at her left hand. Marinette flushed deeply and behind her Luka chuckled. She looked up at him, and he shrugged, though a blush was painting his cheeks as well.

“How could you not tell me?” Alya said, examining the ring.

“I haven’t had time ,” Marinette snorted, snatching her hand back. “Way to ruin the moment, Alya.”

“Now?” Alya gaped, looking up between them. Then she recovered and put a hand on her cocked hip. “Really, Couffaine? You couldn’t wait until midnight?”

“Nope,” Luka said easily, without shame. “Gotta seize the moment when it comes.” He winked at Marinette. “Besides, now I get to kiss my fiancée at midnight.”

Marinette turned bright red and felt as if there were no air in the room. She hadn’t even had time to process and then he had to go and say that . Alya burst out laughing and shoved Marinette back into Luka’s arms. They folded around her and squeezed, and she snuggled close.

“All right, all right,” Alya laughed, “I'll keep the secret a little longer so you two can have your moment, but I’m making an announcement at midnight and you two are going to smooch in front of everybody . If you’re going to upstage my party you’d better do it right!”

When she was gone, Marinette sighed, resting her chin on Luka’s chest and peeking up at him. “Sorry,” he smiled. “Maybe I should have waited until we were alone, but it just...seemed like the right time.”

Marinette smiled, and then lifted her head to kiss his chin.  “It was. It was perfect.”

“If it’s too soon, you can tell me,” Luka said, squeezing her lightly. “It’s not a one-time offer. You don’t have to wear it if you’re not ready. Or you can wear it for as long as you want to, and we don’t have to set a date until—”

Marinette rolled her eyes, straightened, and took his face between her hands. “Luka. I’m ready. I want to marry you.”

He flushed at that, and the grin on his face was so wide and boyish and so unlike his usual smooth smirk, that she had to laugh. “Silly,” she muttered as he pulled her close again.

Luka shrugged. “It’s not like the first time I jumped the gun. I don’t want you suddenly freaking out and making a run for it on me again,” he teased.

“Oh,” Marinette gasped, too outraged to even scold him properly. “Oh, you—argh!” She drew back and whacked his arm, but she did it with her left hand, which just drew her eyes back to the glittering stone on her finger—wow, it was sparkly, no wonder Alya had noticed it right away—and then she was all smiles again.

“Dance with me some more,” Luka urged, catching both her hands in his and tugging her after him.

Marinette joined him gladly, and maybe her eyes kept straying to that sparkle where her hand rested on his shoulder, and maybe his hand kept sliding up her arm to caress her fingers or hold her hand to his chest, and maybe for once midnight came a little too soon for either of them.

A few minutes before midnight, their attention was drawn from each other to Alya, who had gotten a microphone from Nino and climbed up on a table.

“Everybody ready for the countdown?” she hollered, and there was a chorus of cheers. “Marinette and Luka, get up here.”

Marinette groaned, but took Luka’s hand and led him toward Alya’s table, accepting the inevitable.

“Hold up that hand, Marinette, and flash us all that rock!” Alya demanded, leaning down to grab Marinette’s wrist and wave her ringed hand in the air. “Check it out, folks, and remember you heard it here first! These two lovebirds are tying the knot. Max, who wins the pool?”

Marinette snatched her hand back, her mouth dropping open in outrage. “ Pool? ”

“Yep,” Alya grinned. “Been running since June. So who picked New Year’s Eve?”

Markov flew up to Alya’s side and she held out the microphone for the little robot.

“The winner of the Couffaine-Dupain-Cheng engagement pool is Jonathon C.”

Alya frowned, pulling the microphone back. “Okay, who’s—”

Luka coughed, behind Marinette. “That would be me.” Marinette turned to stare at him, and he winked at her. “Luka Jonathan Couffaine.”

“Oh you filthy cheater,” Alya screeched, kicking him and nearly falling off the table. “How did you even— Max ?”

Max held up his hands, but no one could hear him over the uproar.

“He filled out the web form with all the pertinent information,” Markov observed. “There is no rule excluding Luka from participating, nor any rule against using a middle name for registration. Luka’s entry is valid. I shall transfer the appropriate amount to the account you designated.”

“Thanks, Markov,” Luka said, and the pure Couffaine shit-eating grin on his face robbed Marinette of any ability to be mad at him. “I appreciate you all funding the ring.”

Alya groaned. “Oh my G—okay, you know what, the countdown’s about to start, so you two get up here. I expect one world class smooch for that, Couffaine.”

“Sorry, Alya, I’m in a very committed relationship,” Luka laughed, but while Alya scowled at him and insisted he knew what she meant, he pulled over a chair and graciously offered his hand to help her down from the table. Then he helped Marinette up, and carefully joined her.

“I hope these tables are sturdy,” Marinette muttered under her breath as the countdown began.

“So what kind of a show are we making here?” Luka asked her, raising his eyebrows.

Marinette smirked at him. “I’ll handle it. Just put your arms around my neck and don’t struggle or we’re both going to fall off this thing.”

Luka’s eyebrows lifted higher but there was no time for more questions.

“Five,” the crowd screamed, waving their champagne glasses. "Four!"

“Three,” Marinette murmured, her eyes fixed on Luka. “Two.” She hooked one leg behind his knee and put her arms around his waist. He put his arms around her neck as she’d instructed. “One.”

She dipped him back over her thigh. “Whoa!” Luka gasped, and then grinned, and leaned up so she could reach him, and the crowd roared “Happy New Year,” as they kissed, oblivious to both the cheering and the camera flashes going off all around them.

Later, they would watch the year’s first sunrise together through the windows, pressed tight under a blanket on the couch, and sit quietly with the gravity of all that had passed, in the contentment of each other’s company.

But just as that moment, the fireworks and cheers and celebration seemed a perfect background to a kiss that went on until Marinette’s trembling arms forced her to break it. Luka laughed breathlessly as she hauled him up, and he pressed his lips to her forehead.

“You’re amazing,” he told her, as the music resumed. He got down from the table, and then reached up to catch her waist and lift her down beside him.

“Think Alya will be satisfied?” Marinette giggled.

“If she’s not, I’m more than happy to try a do-over,” Luka grinned, and then lowered his forehead to hers. “I love you.”

Marinette smiled, cupping his cheek. “Happy New Year, Luka.”

“Happy new life, Marinette.”

[elmidol]

Error: Program Not Found-Twenty

Summary: You are in charge of programming the droids that work most closely with both General Hux and Kylo Ren. Unbeknownst to you, each of these two men have it in their heads that your relationship extends beyond the workplace. This causes things to escalate quickly when your two apparently secret boyfriends compare notes on their respective partner who is far too similar for their liking.

Read on AO3

Side Notes: Contains all three routes, divided by breaks

Error: Program Not Found

 “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” - Helen Keller

 Twenty: Workday

 [Kylo Route]

 Construction on the droids had hit a snag, albeit one that set things back a single cycle. It had been deemed fit to alter the bodies of the anti-procrastination droids so that they were smaller. The more compact versions would be plenty capable of ensuring personnel resumed work with minimal distractions along with reducing the costs of construction. The one downside was a shortage in one of the components, which thankfully was simple enough to obtain. Aelin devoted his time to building the other portions of the beta unit while in the presence of your team.

 This placed you, Eddard, Aelin, two mechanics, and one other programmer in a single room together with TeeArr. The droid communicated with the other two droids in the room; one was a test unit for the assassination droid program and the other for the physical therapy droids. The assassination droid possessed no weaponry. What was being tested at current was the ability to blend in. You hoped that it would mimic the physical therapy droid, however if this did not occur you had several lies on hand for the members of your team without proper clearance.

 Eddard stood next to one of the mechanics near the physical therapy droid. On the other side of the room, the other mechanic worked alongside Aelin. You, meanwhile, remained by the assassination droid and TeeArr with the other programmer.

 “I am a little surprised the officers didn’t order you to have the droids use cattle prods to get people moving,” the programmer said under her breath. You snorted, clenching your jaw to fight off a smile. Your gaze flickered over to the door. She acted similarly and, when she spoke again, kept her voice low. “A small companion droid would be nice for the long nights. Well, them and a cup of caf.”

 What she described sounded a lot like what you preferred; it emphasized, for you, one of the reasons you enjoyed TeeArr’s company even when the droid was in a more obstinate mood. That companionship and the fact that he helped to keep you on task. His personality did, you had to admit, cause some distractions. That was nothing you planned to remedy.

 “I have been enjoying teas as well as caf,” you stated, tilting your head partway to one side. “They can be more soothing, I think.”

 “Hmm. I’ll have to try some,” she replied. You considered her, the way her badge possessed her family name and first initial—Kerti O.—and tried to remember just how old she was. You knew that she was at least two years your junior. Though this was not the first assignment you had worked with her on, it was the first time you had personally requested her presence. Kerti ducked her head in a wince as the physical therapy droid toppled over. “Oh.”

 You cringed a bit a well, having seen the act firsthand. The droid had tangled its limbs in an attempt to execute one of its functions to assist a patient in stretching. “I am so glad that we have been given time to run these tests.”

 While Kerti hit the switch on the droid, you pulled up the programming on your device and entered a few quick commands to bring up the section requiring review. The droid would need to better understand its own balance and limitations, lest it injure or potentially kill the patient. For the most part this had already been ensured, however it seemed that certain scenarios had been overlooked. Kerti returned to your side to read through the edits you made. Having a second pair of eyes was pertinent; the accidental deletion of other lines was always a possibility. That had happened with the physical therapy droid on its first test, which had then come to an abrupt end and delayed progress for two cycles.

 The door to the room opened as you worked on the code, and though you did not look up to see who had arrived, you identified the individual by the sounds of their footsteps. Kerti shifted to your other side as a means of creating distance between herself and Kylo. Thus your peripheral view was unobstructed and allowed you to notice Kylo carried a cylindrical droid. You rightly assumed it was one of the newer training droids that had been completed for him specifically.

 “Fix this.” Those two words, that command, spoken in a slightly softer tone than he would have used with anyone else had you holding back a snort.

 You passed the datapad that you had been working on to Kerti then held out your hands for the droid. Kylo placed it in your possession as you asked, “What is the issue you are having with it?” Rather than respond, he simply stared at you. Now you were tasked with holding back a grin. There was nothing wrong with the droid that you held. Kylo had brought it as a means of having a proper excuse to see you if anyone reporting to Supreme Leader Snoke should question his presence.

 To keep up the pretense of working on the droid, you lifted up a second datapad that you kept with you. This contained the programs for several training droids that you had worked with since coming to the First Order. There were numerous things you wanted to say to Kylo Ren, however your current audience prevented that. Instead you asked him a more generic question; how were the other training droids holding up?

 “They are satisfactory.” You hummed in acknowledgment to his words whilst scrolling through the names of the various folders containing the programs. 

 Eddard walked up just then, diverting your attention. “There are a few limitations on the anti procrastination droids due to their altered physical form.” You chewed on your bottom lip. “Without larger hands, it cannot remove many distracting items from its assignment.”

 “A small tractor beam.” Both you and Eddard looked quickly in Kylo Ren’s direction, equally surprised that he had offered input. More than that, it was a wise addition. Kylo’s visor lifted from the droid in your hands to your face. You could not help but wonder what expression he was making in that moment. Shy? Smug? A combination? You imagined that he began to scowl the longer you said nothing and stared at him.

 Thus, as a means of lessening any discomfort you might have caused, you nodded sharply. “It would not alter the budget all that much if we do it correctly. Although this means that we will have to speak with the board for approval.” You wrinkled your nose at that. Politics, as always, were far from your favorite thing. Eddard, too, scrunched his face at the prospect of being present for such a meeting.

 You looked to Aelin, who occasionally glanced up from his work to consider the group you were a part of. Walking over to him, you relayed what Kylo had suggested. Aelin paused in his current task and drew the plans he had previously scrawled nearer to himself. To finish the entire body of the droid now would be foolish; that would only succeed in increasing his workload when he had to disassemble components that blocked where the tractor beam would be installed. Aelin drummed his fingers on the table upon which the droid parts were sprawled.

 TeeArr wandered over to you, the assassination droid following along. It was reminiscent of a baby bird with its mother. A deadly baby bird. Clearing your throat, you asked what TeeArr wanted. He prodded one of the droid parts while questioning the reason behind Kylo’s presence. His optics fell to the training droid still in your possession.

 “It has not been damaged by a lightsaber.” A statement of the obvious, one that drew a chuckle from Aelin. You spared him a glance as you readjusted how you held the training droid. “A weapon of that nature would be a potential threat.”

 The cleverly stated suggestion instilled in you a sense of pride with how TeeArr’s programming allowed him to better adapt to situations in which you found yourself. You sought Kylo with your gaze, and found that he had been watching you. Kylo Ren stepped forward, crossing the room until he stood nearer to the assassination droid. Its lack of weaponry did not mean that it would pose zero threat if it was triggered to act in a violent manner. All this meant was that it would be easier to subdue as well as any damage it was capable of inflicting would be minimal. Minimal was not zero, no matter how people would wish to sugarcoat it. Kylo’s presence, meanwhile, offered you more peace of mind. He could stop the droid instantly with the Force.

 Kylo reached for the lightsaber hilt, removing it from his belt and holding it perpendicular to his body. His thumb skimmed the switch without activating the blade. Nevertheless, Aelin jumped, his limbs jerking in preparation for the hiss of the plasma blade’s emergence. TeeArr had no reaction despite the fact that he had been maimed by the blade before. The assassination droid likewise did not react.

 Kerti slipped closer to one of the walls away from Kylo and the droids. She did not know about the assassination droid’s true function, yet that did not make her ignorant to what a lightsaber could do. The reactions of the others in the room varied. Some altered how or where they stood. Others remained in place. Everyone did jump in place the moment Kylo Ren activated his blade, which screamed to life then hummed, crackling.

 The assassination droid stuttered in its movements, drawing the eyes of everyone off of the red lightsaber and onto it. It lurched towards the weapon rather than away from it, its limbs darting to seize the blade. You winced upon witnessing the droid maim itself on the plasma, which cut through its right arm. The lightsaber would have damaged the droid further had Kylo Ren not had the presence of mind to deactivate his blade.

 Even once the threat of the weapon had disappeared, the assassination droid moved in pursuit. TeeArr stepped to the droid and closed his servos around the other’s remaining arm. The assassination droid whirled around, slamming its skull against TeeArr’s. Metal on metal released an echoing clash that had others covering their ears.

 “Kriff,” you swore while reaching for loose components that you did not wish to have damaged if the squabble between the droids hit the table. Kylo stepped forward with his free hand outstretched. The groaning of metal grated on your ears, and here you did cover them as Kylo forced the assassination droid to still.

 “The safety protocols on your droid are a nuisance.” You breathed a sigh of relief, nodding in response to his words. They had offered a proper enough lie that the others in the room not privy to the droid’s true purpose were put at ease. You moved over to the droid, which was held in place by both Kylo and TeeArr, and flipped the switch to force it to shut down. “The training droid can wait.”

 That was well and good, considering you had dropped it when the assassination droid had attacked TeeArr. It was likely undamaged, however you wanted to ensure that you had not jarred anything loose. This was known to happen with them, a design flaw that Aelin worked to eliminate when he was not preoccupied with other projects. There was a high chance that he would be passing off that assignment to one of his peers now that he was bogged down with a similar workload to yours.

 The chance to see Kylo lightened your mood, giving you more energy to focus on the work you had planned to accomplish that cycle. You knew that your spike in mirth was noticeable to those around you, and it gave you not an ounce of embarrassment. Your mood seemed to be contagious as well; the others in the room finished their tasks early, and thus everyone was granted an opportunity to get a headstart on the next day’s work. Even with this, you found yourself with little to do before clocking out and heading for your quarters to get some rest.

  ~~~~~~~

 [Hux Route]

 Construction on the droids had hit a snag, albeit one that set things back a single cycle. It had been deemed fit to alter the bodies of the anti-procrastination droids so that they were smaller. The more compact versions would be plenty capable of ensuring personnel resumed work with minimal distractions along with reducing the costs of construction. The one downside was a shortage in one of the components, which thankfully was simple enough to obtain. Aelin devoted his time to building the other portions of the beta unit while in the presence of your team.

 This placed you, Eddard, Aelin, two mechanics, and one other programmer in a single room together with TeeArr. The droid communicated with the other two droids in the room; one was a test unit for the assassination droid program and the other for the physical therapy droids. The assassination droid possessed no weaponry. What was being tested at current was the ability to blend in. You hoped that it would mimic the physical therapy droid, however if this did not occur you had several lies on hand for the members of your team without proper clearance.

 Eddard stood next to one of the mechanics near the physical therapy droid. On the other side of the room, the other mechanic worked alongside Aelin. You, meanwhile, remained by the assassination droid and TeeArr with the other programmer.

 “I am a little surprised the officers didn’t order you to have the droids use cattle prods to get people moving,” the programmer said under her breath. You snorted, clenching your jaw to fight off a smile. Your gaze flickered over to the door. She acted similarly and, when she spoke again, kept her voice low. “A small companion droid would be nice for the long nights. Well, them and a cup of caf.”

 What she described sounded a lot like what you preferred; it emphasized, for you, one of the reasons you enjoyed TeeArr’s company even when the droid was in a more obstinate mood. That companionship and the fact that he helped to keep you on task. His personality did, you had to admit, cause some distractions. That was nothing you planned to remedy.

 “I have been enjoying teas as well as caf,” you stated, tilting your head partway to one side. “They can be more soothing, I think.”

 “Hmm. I’ll have to try some,” she replied. You considered her, the way her badge possessed her family name and first initial—Kerti O.—and tried to remember just how old she was. You knew that she was at least two years your junior. Though this was not the first assignment you had worked with her on, it was the first time you had personally requested her presence. Kerti ducked her head in a wince as the physical therapy droid toppled over. “Oh.”

 You cringed a bit a well, having seen the act firsthand. The droid had tangled its limbs in an attempt to execute one of its functions to assist a patient in stretching. “I am so glad that we have been given time to run these tests.”

 While Kerti hit the switch on the droid, you pulled up the programming on your device and entered a few quick commands to bring up the section requiring review. The droid would need to better understand its own balance and limitations, lest it injure or potentially kill the patient. For the most part this had already been ensured, however it seemed that certain scenarios had been overlooked. Kerti returned to your side to read through the edits you made. Having a second pair of eyes was pertinent; the accidental deletion of other lines was always a possibility. That had happened with the physical therapy droid on its first test, which had then come to an abrupt end and delayed progress for two cycles.

 You collaborated with Aelin as well as the others in the room, working to ensure that no one was tipped off to the assassination droid’s true function. It mimicked TeeArr, following along as a child does a parent. You pursed your lips after a time, debating how best to screen for errors in the droid’s programming. You were particularly concerned with safety. What would make the droid go beserk? This question was one you would pose to your other team later.

 In the meanwhile, you discussed potential upgrades to the anti-procrastination droid with Aelin so that he could implement them prior to finishing the droid’s body. Afterwards you returned to the physical therapy droid, checking on Kerti’s progress.

 Time felt as though it flew by given how busy you were, and when you noticed that your shift had ended, you nearly hesitated to leave. You likely would have spent another hour there had Eddard and TeeArr not practically shoved you out the door. The latter followed you through the halls as you made your way towards Armitage’s quarters. He did not comment on the fact that you had brought along one of your datapads and presently had it powered on, flicking through notes that you had made. Nothing sensitive was displayed where curious eyes could see; you were not an idiot. Despite this, you instinctively drew the device nearer to you any time you passed another human.

 This time when you arrived at Armitage’s quarters, you discovered that he was already there. You smiled, glad to see that he was less bogged down with work than you had feared he would be. The desire to see him was nearly always present. You would not be spending the night cycle with him, which made his presence more important.

 “What are those for?” you asked, gesturing to the notation cards sprawled across his caf table. It was not common to see handwritten notes; most people utilized their datapads for just about everything.

 Millicent sat atop the table, her paw on one of the stray cards that appeared to have scribbles taking up the majority of its surface. No doubt this was an indication that whatever had been on the card before that had been useless to its creator. The object would be burned or shredded later. That much you were certain of, as Armitage had never struck you as someone who would allow his work to fall into the hands of anyone not meant to possess it.

 Said man hummed distractedly whilst tapping his fingers against a different card. He offered no other response, and rather than be annoyed by this you found it rather endearing to see just how absorbed he was in the task. That did not eliminate your curiosity, and so you stepped nearer to the table and crossed your arms behind your back whilst leaning down to read a section of what remained written. There were several terms only vaguely familiar to you; projects that he had mentioned in passing or that you had overheard through other conversations. This was not a proposal for those projects nor an update per se despite their mentions. You furrowed your brow, concentrating harder and reading another note card since Armitage had not waved you away.

 As it dawned on you just what you were reading, your mouth formed around a silent oh. Warmth traveled throughout your body, your heart hammering in your chest. It was cute, you had to admit. Armitage not only practiced his speeches, he wrote them down and edited them. The pride that he placed in his work filled you with joy. Through it there was once more that sense of camaraderie, the knowledge that the pair of you shared similar views on how one should conduct themselves.

 “Is there anything I can help with?” you asked, reaching to the side and stroking Millicent’s head. You lifted your eyes, meeting Armitage’s gaze. He blinked, his cheeks reddening a little. You cleared your throat. “Sorry.”

 “There is no need to apologize,” he said, his voice catching. Armitage shifted on the blue couch and made room for you to come join him. You walked around the table and seated yourself next to him, your hip touching his. “One of the officers involved in each of these projects is being transferred so that he can begin work on a different one. The focus is meant to be on what he had to offer rather than the projects themselves.”

 “I see.” You tapped your chin, keeping your hands up for a bit as Millicent walked across the table to climb into your lap. You curled your limbs around her, feeling the rumbling of her purrs. “A means of encouraging others not to screw things up while thanking him. Giving a proper send off. That kind of thing?”

 Armitage nodded. “Precisely that.” His lips pursed forward and he sat back, his hands on his knees. You rested your head on his shoulder. “He does not want so much attention, nothing that feels forced.” You blinked then, quietly, asked him if he was disappointed the officer was being transferred. “Yes. He is one of the First Order’s better workers.”

 This caused you to smile in understanding. Some of the other officers, namely those that had served the Emperor when he had been alive, remained caught up in old ways. They were more conniving than the younger officers, more stubborn and resistant to changes that could benefit the First Order as well as the galaxy. Certain transfers were not due to requests from more successful officers. At times it was for political reasons that, you believed, was meant to create a more hostile workplace. To bring more tension. It reminded you how Snoke appeared to play Armitage and Kylo off one another.

 Your smile began to fade, and you calmed yourself by petting Millicent and rereading one of the visible cards. “I think it will mean a lot, the words coming from you.” Armitage grunted. You rolled your eyes at him. “Think of what you would want to hear.”

 As he hummed this time, Armitage grabbed up the pen he had previously placed on the table and drew one of the cards closer. He began scrawling, his handwriting legible yet messier than it had appeared on other cards. You offered him some privacy, pulling Millicent up to where you were able to rest your forehead against hers. Her purring increased, and you kissed her nose then returned her to your lap, where she again curled up.

 Though you could not read the entirety of the notecard, you did catch sight of proof that the flaws of the Empire can be overcome and exceptional in his field, inspiring newer recruits. Your eyebrows rose. Mentor. That final word revealed so much, and perhaps that was why Armitage quickly scribbled it out, the light flush of his cheeks transforming into a deeper blush. He huffed.

 “There are ways to highlight his ability to mentor others without making it too obvious that you are referring to how he inspired you.” You held out your hand, palm up, and accepted the pen he then placed into it. He passed you a new note card next. You immediately began to scrawl various lines, some paraphrased and others promptly scribbled out. “It will go along with your mention of inspiring newer recruits.”

 “I appreciate your assistance.”

 You nodded. “No problem at all. I do hope you know, you will be reading these aloud for me to hear.” A mischievous grin twisted your lips upwards. Armitage quirked a brow. “I am completely serious.”

 “I know you are.” Armitage began to gather up the other notecards into two stacks, which turned into three. The third consisted of cards that were useless due to how much was scribbled. You were not entirely certain how he had divided the other two, but that did not matter. You were still occupied with writing. You chewed on your bottom lip, your hand pausing. Finding the correct balance to ensure the officer in question did not become flustered and so that others did not tease him for anything overtly sentimental, that was rather tricky.

 “TeeArr?” Your droid, who had gone to a corner in the room to recharge, turned his optics to you. “Person or unit?”

 “Context?” You read the line. “Unit.” It was just as you had thought; it made the line less personal, more direct. Dispassionate in a way. 

 Armitage grunted, nodding in approval as he read the sentence. “Droids can be rather clever.” You released an mmhmm, beaming with pride not unlike how a mother would feel towards a child that had been given a similar compliment. “I should have the pair of you come over more often to help me edit speeches.”

 “You should,” you agreed, toes curling as more joy swirled inside of your chest. “Especially with more personal speeches.”

 ~~~~~~

 [Poly Route]

 Construction on the droids had hit a snag, albeit one that set things back a single cycle. It had been deemed fit to alter the bodies of the anti-procrastination droids so that they were smaller. The more compact versions would be plenty capable of ensuring personnel resumed work with minimal distractions along with reducing the costs of construction. The one downside was a shortage in one of the components, which thankfully was simple enough to obtain. Aelin devoted his time to building the other portions of the beta unit while in the presence of your team.

 This placed you, Eddard, Aelin, two mechanics, and one other programmer in a single room together with TeeArr. The droid communicated with the other two droids in the room; one was a test unit for the assassination droid program and the other for the physical therapy droids. The assassination droid possessed no weaponry. What was being tested at current was the ability to blend in. You hoped that it would mimic the physical therapy droid, however if this did not occur you had several lies on hand for the members of your team without proper clearance.

 Eddard stood next to one of the mechanics near the physical therapy droid. On the other side of the room, the other mechanic worked alongside Aelin. You, meanwhile, remained by the assassination droid and TeeArr with the other programmer.

 “I am a little surprised the officers didn’t order you to have the droids use cattle prods to get people moving,” the programmer said under her breath. You snorted, clenching your jaw to fight off a smile. Your gaze flickered over to the door. She acted similarly and, when she spoke again, kept her voice low. “A small companion droid would be nice for the long nights. Well, them and a cup of caf.”

 What she described sounded a lot like what you preferred; it emphasized, for you, one of the reasons you enjoyed TeeArr’s company even when the droid was in a more obstinate mood. That companionship and the fact that he helped to keep you on task. His personality did, you had to admit, cause some distractions. That was nothing you planned to remedy.

 “I have been enjoying teas as well as caf,” you stated, tilting your head partway to one side. “They can be more soothing, I think.”

 “Hmm. I’ll have to try some,” she replied. You considered her, the way her badge possessed her family name and first initial—Kerti O.—and tried to remember just how old she was. You knew that she was at least two years your junior. Though this was not the first assignment you had worked with her on, it was the first time you had personally requested her presence. Kerti ducked her head in a wince as the physical therapy droid toppled over. “Oh.”

 You cringed a bit a well, having seen the act firsthand. The droid had tangled its limbs in an attempt to execute one of its functions to assist a patient in stretching. “I am so glad that we have been given time to run these tests.”

 While Kerti hit the switch on the droid, you pulled up the programming on your device and entered a few quick commands to bring up the section requiring review. The droid would need to better understand its own balance and limitations, lest it injure or potentially kill the patient. For the most part this had already been ensured, however it seemed that certain scenarios had been overlooked. Kerti returned to your side to read through the edits you made. Having a second pair of eyes was pertinent; the accidental deletion of other lines was always a possibility. That had happened with the physical therapy droid on its first test, which had then come to an abrupt end and delayed progress for two cycles.

 The door to the room opened as you worked on the code, and though you did not look up to see who had arrived, you identified the individual by the sounds of their footsteps. Kerti shifted to your other side as a means of creating distance between herself and Kylo. Thus your peripheral view was unobstructed and allowed you to notice Kylo carried a cylindrical droid. You rightly assumed it was one of the newer training droids that had been completed for him specifically.

 “Fix this.” Those two words, that command, spoken in a slightly softer tone than he would have used with anyone else had you holding back a snort.

 You passed the datapad that you had been working on to Kerti then held out your hands for the droid. Kylo placed it in your possession as you asked, “What is the issue you are having with it?” Rather than respond, he simply stared at you. Now you were tasked with holding back a grin. There was nothing wrong with the droid that you held. Kylo had brought it as a means of having a proper excuse to see you if anyone reporting to Supreme Leader Snoke should question his presence.

 To keep up the pretense of working on the droid, you lifted up a second datapad that you kept with you. This contained the programs for several training droids that you had worked with since coming to the First Order. There were numerous things you wanted to say to Kylo Ren, however your current audience prevented that. Instead you asked him a more generic question; how were the other training droids holding up?

 “They are satisfactory.” You hummed in acknowledgment to his words whilst scrolling through the names of the various folders containing the programs. 

 Eddard walked up just then, diverting your attention. “There are a few limitations on the anti procrastination droids due to their altered physical form.” You chewed on your bottom lip. “Without larger hands, it cannot remove many distracting items from its assignment.”

 “A small tractor beam.” Both you and Eddard looked quickly in Kylo Ren’s direction, equally surprised that he had offered input. More than that, it was a wise addition. Kylo’s visor lifted from the droid in your hands to your face. You could not help but wonder what expression he was making in that moment. Shy? Smug? A combination? You imagined that he began to scowl the longer you said nothing and stared at him.

 Thus, as a means of lessening any discomfort you might have caused, you nodded sharply. “It would not alter the budget all that much if we do it correctly. Although this means that we will have to speak with the board for approval.” You wrinkled your nose at that. Politics, as always, were far from your favorite thing. Eddard, too, scrunched his face at the prospect of being present for such a meeting.

 You looked to Aelin, who occasionally glanced up from his work to consider the group you were a part of. Walking over to him, you relayed what Kylo had suggested. Aelin paused in his current task and drew the plans he had previously scrawled nearer to himself. To finish the entire body of the droid now would be foolish; that would only succeed in increasing his workload when he had to disassemble components that blocked where the tractor beam would be installed. Aelin drummed his fingers on the table upon which the droid parts were sprawled.

 Kylo considered the assassination droid and TeeArr before returning his gaze to you. “The training droid can wait.” You appreciated his method, the way it prevented others from questioning things that were beyond their clearance levels. Kylo gave an almost imperceptible nod in your direction then took his leave. You offered a smile at his retreating form. It meant a lot that he made the time to come see you, no matter how brief the meeting had been. It was sentimental in more ways than he would ever admit to.

 The remainder of your work day felt as though it flew by given how busy you were, and when you noticed that your shift had ended, you nearly hesitated to leave. You likely would have spent another hour there had Eddard and TeeArr not practically shoved you out the door. The latter followed you through the halls as you made your way towards Armitage’s quarters. He did not comment on the fact that you had brought along one of your datapads and presently had it powered on, flicking through notes that you had made. Nothing sensitive was displayed where curious eyes could see; you were not an idiot. Despite this, you instinctively drew the device nearer to you any time you passed another human.

 This time when you arrived at Armitage’s quarters, he was already there. You smiled, glad to see that he was less bogged down with work than you had feared he would be. The desire to see him was nearly always present. You would not be spending the night cycle with him, which made his presence more important.

 “What are those for?” you asked, gesturing to the notation cards sprawled across his caf table. It was not common to see handwritten notes; most people utilized their datapads for just about everything.

 Millicent sat atop the table, her paw on one of the stray cards that appeared to have scribbles taking up the majority of its surface. No doubt this was an indication that whatever had been on the card before that had been useless to its creator. The object would be burned or shredded later. That much you were certain of, as Armitage had never struck you as someone who would allow his work to fall into the hands of anyone not meant to possess it.

 Said man hummed distractedly whilst tapping his fingers against a different card. He offered no other response, and rather than be annoyed by this you found it rather endearing to see just how absorbed he was in the task. That did not eliminate your curiosity, and so you stepped nearer to the table and crossed your arms behind your back whilst leaning down to read a section of what remained written. There were several terms only vaguely familiar to you; projects that he had mentioned in passing or that you had overheard through other conversations. This was not a proposal for those projects nor an update per se despite their mentions. You furrowed your brow, concentrating harder and reading another note card since Armitage had not waved you away.

 As it dawned on you just what you were reading, your mouth formed around a silent oh. Warmth traveled throughout your body, your heart hammering in your chest. It was cute, you had to admit. Armitage not only practiced his speeches, he wrote them down and edited them. The pride that he placed in his work filled you with joy. Through it there was once more that sense of camaraderie, the knowledge that the pair of you shared similar views on how one should conduct themselves.

 “Is there anything I can help with?” you asked, reaching to the side and stroking Millicent’s head.

 Armitage shifted on the blue couch and made room for you to come join him. You walked around the table and seated yourself next to him, your hip touching his. “One of the officers involved in each of these projects is being transferred so that he can begin work on a different one. The focus is meant to be on what he had to offer rather than the projects themselves.”

 “I see.” You tapped your chin, keeping your hands up for a bit as Millicent walked across the table to climb into your lap. You curled your limbs around her, feeling the rumbling of her purrs. “A means of encouraging others not to screw things up while thanking him. Giving a proper send off. That kind of thing?”

 Armitage nodded. “Precisely that.” His lips pursed forward and he sat back, his hands on his knees. You rested your head on his shoulder. “He does not want so much attention, nothing that feels forced.”

 Certain transfers were not due to requests from more successful officers. At times it was for political reasons that, you believed, was meant to create a more hostile workplace. To bring more tension. It reminded you how Snoke appeared to play Armitage and Kylo off one another. It had to make these speeches more awkward to deliver.

 You pet Millicent and reread one of the visible cards. “I think it will mean a lot, the words coming from you.” Armitage grunted. You rolled your eyes at him. “Think of what you would want to hear.”

 As he hummed this time, Armitage grabbed up the pen he had previously placed on the table and drew one of the cards closer. He began scrawling, his handwriting legible yet messier than it had appeared on other cards. You offered him some privacy, pulling Millicent up to where you were able to rest your forehead against hers. Her purring increased, and you kissed her nose then returned her to your lap, where she again curled up. You rested against Armitage while he worked, pleased to be watching him.

[staggeringsmite]

ooh, top 5 moments you've had/witnessed as a DM? (please use this an excuse to hype yourself up if you want!!)

my players make dm’ing beyond worth it, so i really have to give credit to them for the joy of what they bring to a lot of these scenes <3 (also this is all wandering isles bc it’s been my most narratively satisfying and invested dm experience) Buckle Up it’s a long one!!!

bonus: i’m very proud of my individual character moments! throughout the campaign we’ve had about four of these (the intro session scenes, two dream sequences for every pc, and a set of individual trial scenes). we’re a pretty big party so it’s hard to narrow it down, but i just love writing and running those longer narrative moments bc i think it’s a v interesting insight into each character and gives them each a separate moment to shine <3

5. “promise you’ll come back to her” / burning of contingency letters

i put these moments together perhaps to cheat a little bit, but also because they deserve it. xarus, the party’s barbarian whose family was abandoned by his mother at a young age pulls theresa, a forge knitting cleric about to board the airship he is a quartermaster of in order to find a cure for her sick wife. he asks theresa to promise him one thing, that no matter what she will come back to her wife. along the way they write contingency letters to their loved ones in and outside of the party as their adventures grow more and more dangerous, and eventually, exhausted and worn, theresa and xarus find each other in the den of a safehouse to talk. recognizing each other’s willingness to self-sacrifice, their conversation ends with them burning the contingency letters they’ve written, committing to life. these scenes come together because it shows how far they have come together, and the theresa and xarus relationship will always be a highlight of the wandering isles to witness. sometimes the players do all the best work for you, and it’s so wonderful to sit back and watch <3

4. miles is missing

damien returns to the university he works at after an unprecedented amount time away to check on his office before he heads back out on another adventure with the party. while there he moves to put a sticky note (canonically a magical item in the wandering isles universe) on his rival colleague’s (and gay lover/roommate of 20 years) door only to find it entirely emptied without a trace. despite their bickering, miles and damien are very close, and miles would never pack up his things and go without telling damien.

this was a more subtle cliff-hanger for the session, but it was made so much fun as a dm because the players were excited and joking the whole session about miles’ second appearance (and only since the very first session) so his sudden disappearance was made much more severe based on everyone’s anticipation of meeting and having a light-hearted interaction with him.

3. the infamous sex rave

sometimes things go very right as a dm and sometimes things spiral out of control when a pc mislabels a situation which becomes a running joke of the campaign. either way i love being stubborn in my defense of “it isn’t a sex rave!!” whenever they bring it up (and immediately playing an npc who also calls it a sex rave). basically the players had a heist encounter in which they were hired to break a group of pirate prisoner’s out of a secret underground information center (where magical artifacts were also being held and studied, and there was pertinent information stored for the party to take a swipe at). the group split and one subset of party members were forced to hide from guards on the outskirts of a large, gladiatorial style ring within the compound, in which prisoners were competitively battling in order to test the abilities of certain unknown artifacts for the entertainment of anonymous nobles in masquerade getup. based on the magical lighting effects, the strangely dressed noble onlookers, and the,,,, Fighting Noises being some of the only things the pc’s perceived from the level of the auditorium they hid at, it was unfortunately misnomer’ed the “weird sex rave” and has only been referred to it as that ever since.

2. mother abel’s goodbye

hmmm am i making players cry again? yeah maybe. mother abel was an elder cleric of nosa crossing, the starting city of the campaign. she’d lived through its settlement, destruction, rebuilding, and given her all not only to the city but also to the jilted creed (a secret society dedicated to disrupting geline, a large and dangerously powerful island-state which is one of the campaign’s greatest evils). in the last use of her strength she took on a role as a conduit for a powerful plane shift ritual to transport the residents of the city to safety in the feywild as nosa crossing began to be overrun by potent wild magics in the prime material plane. as a low-level cleric, the spell took its toll on her, and as the party arrived in the feywild via a similar ritual to find the inhabitants, they were led to her side. theresa, a native of nosa crossing now reunited with her wife yodean, went to abel’s side with yodean. as yodean sat on the foot of the bed, theresa kneeled as though praying to hold abel’s hand cleric to cleric, confessing her gratitude but admitting that she cannot give as freely as mother abel did, that she and yodean deserve to live for themselves as much as they choose everyday to live for other people. with her final words in a soft, weak message, mother abel comforted theresa in her decision. the scene as a whole was so wonderfully sad, and the best dm moment of something so raw as telling aj, theresa’s player, that while there was no way to confirm it in any real capacity, something in theresa felt that perhaps mother abel held out a little while longer to make sure she was safe one last time and make sure she’d truly gotten everyone home.

1. rosa’s betrayal / lian’s resurrection

enough of that sad shit let’s get mean babey!! aslkjglfk i will be riding the high of this session for an eternity, but it’s quite a lot to break down. rosa rucksaw is the captain of the crew the party rescues in the heist sequence, who eventually reveals herself to in fact be xarus’ mom who fully left to assume a new identity and is Pretty Horrible as a person. at the safehouse, the party is asked by the people they were hired if they would be willing to take the crew to a longer term safehouse island, and the decision is left to xarus. not wanting to be like his mom, xarus agrees to endure a little more time with them in order to them this service out of convenience and kindness. a few hours from their destination, rosa finds xarus on the deck and honestly? kinda begins to admit some amount of guilt for all the shit she did,,,, literally seconds before she reveals that when her and her crew were caught by geline, she struck a deal in order to keep them alive, saying to her biological son “out on the cloudsea your crew is your family, and son, believe me, i’d do anything for my family” before her crew on the deck anchored the ship to an invisible gelinish war vessel and we snapped to roll20 for combat. the look of horror and betrayal on everyone’s face as her monologue hit those final lines, ugh and the fact that no one was super suspicious made it even better!! sometimes it Really Works, and this was one of those times!

flash forward in the battle, and an npc (it’s miles, the gay lover from a few numbers ago) being held hostage by the gelinish vessel is killed, as he is resurrected by two party members (damien and theresa) damien reaches for his soul, as theresa, who multi-classed into divination wizard after a pc named lian died (with failed attempts from theresa and xarus to hold her back) feels another presence in the grey, misty beyond. lian died in session four, and when i said her name to reference jack’s character everyone lost it mostly out of confusion before i began to narrate lian feeling restless in the afterlife, eventually reaching out and forming a celestial warlock pact with miles through his connection to damien and being called upon by her goddess sune as theresa reached out, offering lian the chance to go back. theresa returning to that moment with both her clerical and divinatory abilities, with the blessing of sune, lian emerging on the battlefield, now a vengeance paladin instead of life cleric, with a flaming sword and celestial wings at her back was such an incredible highlight to set up and run,, i just, <333 very proud of myself (and very thankful jack was on board for her coming back) for this moment

thank you so so much!! this was a long ramble, but i hope it was somewhat interesting to people not in the wandering isles <33

send a top 5 or 10?

[embersrevived]

//So recently I have been able to somewhat slightly add onto my list of OCs and (background NPCs) who are pertinent to Nad or a verse that she is involved in in some way. This is just me making a list of all I have so far so that I can keep track of them: 

- Cyrus (Kourosh) Darvish - vampire/monster slayer and the primogenitor of her family’s lineage (the Darvish-Kouroshzadeh clan, in which the second half of the name is literally derived from his own name, Kouroshzadeh literally translating to “descended of Cyrus”), In default verse he lives in the 13th century Persia and is responsible for spearheading the efforts to begin vanquishing Dracula’s night creatures that managed to spill over towards the east/past the Caucasus; whether this was due to some sort of experimental transcontinental campaign on Dracula’s behalf or mere incident is unknown. 

- Houshang Darvish-Kouroshzadeh - vampire/monster slayer and descendant of Cyrus (possibly grandson, this has yet to be decided), ancestor of Nadir. 

-Lord Zahhāk Ahriman - a duplicitous, conniving, Machiavellian vampire noble (satrap) who also comes from Persia who attempts to utilize his intellect and tact in order to curry favor with those individuals he believes will be of greater use to them (whether they be Dracula, other known vampiric nobles, or even mortals he deems ultimately useful as part of his overall plans). Will utilize charm and act as an informant of various matters if need be in order to acquire a desired individual’s trust and get into their good graces; he is one to also silently observe and take mental note of the overall personality, strengths, and weaknesses in others (especially if they should be evident) and exploit such to his advantage. 

- Rostam Gharabaghi, MD, PHD (Nad’s mentor in modern/postmodern verses who is technically supposed to be a reincarnation of Rinaldo Gandolfi of Lament of Innocence; a close friend of Nadir’s family. In this verse, she had studied both medical sciences and magic under him (in a sort of dual curriculum of sorts that he himself had managed to successfully create in the future), he also has a hidden secret of his own (elaborated on from the CV!verse page below) 

In modern verse, Nadir is still a sorceress though under the mentor of a man by the name of Rostam Gharabaghi, a somewhat enigmatic individual who is also an old family friend. Rostam is in truth the reincarnation of the character of Rinaldo Gandolfi from Castlevania: Lament of Innocence (albeit a bit younger in appearance), and functions as a rather potent and sage sorcerer, physician, and alchemist in his own right. Given that the majority of Nadir’s modern day interactions have involved characters from the Castlevania Chronicles of Sorrow series (Aria of Sorrow, Dawn of Sorrow), the modern verse has taken place in the setting of these games thus far, though the timeline of her modern verse is also open to flexibility interaction and character(s) depending.

Like his original incarnation, Rostam’s family was also torn apart due to the curse of , his wife being attacked and transformed suddenly one horrible, fateful night. Rostam was left with little choice but to end her life as she lunged for him. It is a memory that haunts and grieves him to this day, though he has told others (namely his close friends which include Nadir’s parents, though there’d been a period of time where they had limited contact) that she had passed away as a result of a terminal ailment. At some point, he eventually tells Nadir what actually happened and asks her to not relay the truth of it to her parents.

An even deeper secret, one that Rostam keeps solely to himself, is that on that very night that is family was so tragically impacted, the very vampire who had attacked his family had also managed to bite him as well in the ensuing skirmish, though for some curious reason the vampire’s venom did not have its full intended impact on Rostam. This isn’t to say that Rostam had been unaffected, as he would find out later that he did indeed gain quite a few abilities associated with vampirism, all while still keeping a hold of his human soul. He would come to find that his state was rather unique and perhaps little heard of (if at all), and incompletely transformed being. Rostam would designate the name of Animus to describe his incomplete transformed ‘limbo’ state, and he endeavors to keep all knowledge of this newly gained abilities and physiological changes to himself.

[shmegmilton]

What do you think Burr's sexual orientation was?

It’s funny that you ask that because I think that’s the same question people have been asking for the last 250 years. Nancy Isenberg’s book has an entire section about it at the end where she cites example after example of people being obsessed with the idea of Burr’s sexuality. Sexuality wasn’t really something they put a label on back then (you either engaged in martial sex or in “sin,” which was defined as basically everything else) so it’s kind of hard to say. It was easy for people to associate Burr with sin, though, not just because of Hamilton’s hatred for him, but because he was a man who (kind of) openly engaged with sex workers, was very charming to people, and believed in a lot of what we consider now to be basic truths like “women and black people are people.” So people at the time associated him with the most extreme sexual views imaginable, regardless if they were true or not. He supposedly had a particular power over young men, the so-called Burrite Boys, and a lot of people associated them with Burr engaging in some sort of grooming behavior.

The majority of lovers that we know of by name have been women (Theodosia Sr., Mary Emmons, Celeste, “Clara,” Eliza Jumel, etc.), but given that he was so secretive and so much of his writing has been lost or intentionally destroyed, we’re never going to know. There are some notable smaller examples, though.

Jonathan Bellamy

When Burr was about 18-19 he stayed with a family friend who had a son about his age, and they really hit it off. Jonathan would die by the time Burr was 20, but they often wrote to each other during Burr’s first few years in the Revolution. Absolutely none of Burr’s letters to Bellamy have survived or been found, but we do have 2 or 3 letters from Jonathan that Burr felt was pertinent enough to put into his memoirs. It’s obviously impossible to say for certain because there is so little evidence and the way words and implications were used 250 years ago is much different than they are now so examining them through a modern lens is difficult, but this many is straight up swooning over Mr. Patriotic Aaron Burr to the point he’s having dreams about him.

There is also a separate letter (which I can’t find right now) where Jonathan basically tells Burr (paraphrasing) “Marriage is dumb, let’s run off into the woods together! No girls allowed!” Which is obviously a very normal, very heterosexual thing to say to your male best friend.

European Journal

This one is also a bit of a unsubstantiated point for two reasons; Burr keeps a very detailed record of his expenses, and therefore a record of the people he slept with and how much money he spent on them while in Europe. He sometimes gives little descriptions of the type of person (he never uses names), but most of the time he doesn’t.

The second point that makes it confusing is that Burr talks in code, essentially. He abbreviates things, he uses numbers or letters in place of certain names, he straight-up omits certain words, he’ll write in different languages, and he has a code word that he uses well talking about sexy times. Muse. So, example, instead of writing “I had sex with ---,” the majority of the time he’ll say “I was amused by” or “Muse - 2 dollars.” But it is such an innocuous word, it’s hard to say for certain every time he uses it, it means a sexual encounter (which is why he chose it.)

There are several points in the journal where he talks about being ‘amused’ or ‘approached’ by various males, the most famously memed line being “I have been amused for half an hour with a very handsome young Dane. Don’t smile. It is a male!” (December 21, 1808). There are also several interactions that may or may not imply that Burr was propositioned

-

So, I guess the long & short of it is that we really don’t know. He never seemed uncomfortable interacting with women or men, so maybe he really was as sexually open as they say.

[notyetneedcoffee]

No Secrets, Part 5

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader, Bucky Barnes x Reader (???)

Warnings: None in this section

Sam stepped up to your front door carrying a tray with two lattes and a bag of pastries. ‘This is going to suck.’

“Morning sunshine.” You opened the door.

“Thought since you missed out on coffee yesterday, I’d bring you some this morning.” He held out the cups. “How’s your face?”

“Thanks.” You took a sip. “I’m fine. I’ve gotten worse sparring in the gym.”

‘Yeah, but that doesn’t scare the hell out of Bucky.’ Sam dug into the bag. “Cheese danish?”

“No thanks.” You pulled your bare feet under you. “So, Steve told you he ah...”

“Confessed his undying love?” Sam dropped on to the sofa next to you. “Yeah, but he hasn’t talked to Bucky. I don’t know why.”

“Peggy.” You provided. “Steve’s carrying around a sort of guilt. He gave his whole heart to Peggy and loving someone is like betraying that, somehow.”

“And Barnes is the only one around who knew her.” Sam was a lot more observant than people gave him credit for. “So is Steve afraid of being judged or he scared to admit that Bucky’s got it bad for you, too?”

You wondered that yourself. In fact, you’d sat up most of the night thinking about Steve and Bucky. This condition afforded you a great deal more information than you ever could have imagined. But with a man like Steve, or a man like Bucky for that matter, you were thankful.

Sam misunderstood your silence. “If it’s obvious to me, it’s got to be like flashing neon signs to you. What are you going to do?”

“Nothing.”

“What?” Sam sputtered. ‘Are you fucking kidding? That’s so wrong! They’ll kill each other.’

“Sam,” You put down your coffee and took his hand. “Damn, you are such a good friend. Answer something for me. Has Bucky ever come on to me? Ever overtly hit on me?”

“I mean, he’s joked. We all have. But, no, not his style.”

You nodded.  “I was given some sage advice when this happened. I was told to not judge people by what they thought, but by what they chose to do.”

“Alright, if you say so. You let me know if there’s anything I can do to help, okay?” Sam sat forward. ‘Just keep me clear of the blood bath.’

Steve Rogers couldn’t seem to rest on the flight home. Despite being physically tired, his mind wouldn’t settle down. He wanted to call ahead to say he was on his way home, but it was nearly three in the morning in New York. Instead, he pulled out his laptop and tackled some of the more mundane work of running the Avengers.  

He read through reports and approve paperwork for a couple hours when he opened the report requiring payout for a car accident. Multiple vehicles were damaged, minor injuries and the attorney recommended a reasonable settlement as the agent in question was completely at fault.  

His eyes locked on your name.  

His fingers tightened around the stylus. It took him a moment to take a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. Flipping through the report, he found Sam’s write up. “...stated she sensed the thoughts of the driver behind her attacking his wife. This distracted her, causing the accident. Sergeant Barnes and I were off duty in the area and heard the accident. I recognized the car and we went to investigate. Considering her current condition, the situation was overwhelming to her and we felt it pertinent to remove her from the situation. She had no significant injuries from the accident. I left those impacted by the accident with the contact information for the Compound before leaving the scene.”

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose. He forced himself to breath. You were alright. Sam and Buck were there and took care of you.  

Why the hell had you been driving in town?

Checking on the landing time, Steve approved the expense and read through everyone’s statements again. There was less than an hour left before landing. He wondered if it would be alright to wake you, if he called as soon as he made it to his quarters.

The message alert on his phone dinged.

‘Find me when you land, punk.’

After landing, Steve ventured into the common kitchen in search of Bucky. He found his pal slumped over a cup of coffee and the newspaper. "You save any of that for me, jerk."

Bucky pointed at the pot. “Sure did.” He sat back in his chair. “How’d it go?”

“As expected.” Steve poured himself a cup and sat across from Bucky. “Less eventful than your run for teriyaki.”

“I have no idea what the hell she was thinking.” Bucky huffed. “Said she just wanted to go through the coffee shop. I think she’s got cabin fever really bad. But Stevie, you should have seen how shaken she was.”

Steve took a sip of his black coffee, scowling. “How bad was she hurt?”

“Bruise above her left brow. Little bit of burn from the airbag.” Bucky got up and refilled his cup. “Jesus, when I came through that crowd and saw her slumped in the driver’s seat...” He blew out a strong breath. “It’s bad enough when we’re heading into a situation on alert, ready to fight. It’s something completely different when it’s a surprise like that.”

Steve stared as Bucky continued, leaning against the counter.

“I think I freaked out some of the locals. She said she wanted out and I ripped the door clean off the car. I’m glad Sam was thinking, ‘cause I just scooped her up and carried her to the truck. I wasn’t about to let her down or stop to deal with anyone else.”

He sat down, realizing for the first time the intensity of Steve’s stare. “What?”

Steve’s back went stiff. He frowned, before diverting his eyes back to his coffee. “Buck, do you love Y/N?”  

“What?” Bucky leaned back with a half laugh. “Of course.”

Steve stood so fast the chair hit the wall behind him. He was gone before Bucky could say anything.  

“What the fuck?” Bucky put down his coffee, righted Steve’s chair and followed his friend down the hall. The early morning made it easier to track him without asking for the AI’s help. He was headed for the roof, at least that’s what Bucky guessed.  

He stepped out into the early morning air to find Steve standing near the edge, shoulders slumped and a hand pressed into his chest like he used to do as a kid when he had an asthma attack. “Stevie?” Bucky walked up slowly, knowing he didn’t have to raise his voice. “What’s wrong? Talk to me.”

Steve forced himself to take a deep breath, but didn’t turn around. “Does she love you? Has she said that she loves you?”

“Steve.” Bucky came a little closer, but still left some distance. “Talk to me.”

“I told her I love her. Let her know how much, how hard...”  

“Oh.” Bucky felt his gut flip over. He knew the gravity of Steve’s confession, knew how hard it was for Steve to let himself love, really love, someone again.  

“And you just say ‘of course’ you love her, too.” Steve growled out. “Of all the people in world, Buck, why her?”

“Wait.”

“Of course, you two are always joking and laughing. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before. I’m so fucking stupid...”

“You sure are, punk.” Bucky actually smacked him on the back of the head.  

“Fuck off.” Steve’s arm swung out and clipped Bucky, but he caught Steve’s arm.

“Shut up and listen, will ya!”

Steve just glared.

“I didn’t know you felt that way about her.” Bucky growled back. “After Peg, well, I know how bad that hurt you.” He watched his best friend’s face crumble. He voice softened, “When did you tell her?”

“Before I left on this last mission.”

“In person?”

“Yes.”

Bucky nodded, considering. “So, she was aware of what you weren’t saying, too.”

“Yes.” Steve’s voice tightened.

“Wow.” Bucky dropped down on one of the iron benches. “What, ah, what’d she say?”

Steve’s hands buried deep into his pockets and he turned his back on his oldest friend. “I asked her not to say anything. We talked, and I told her anything she wanted to know, but I didn’t want her answer if it was a shock.”  

“You know she loves you.” Bucky said to his friend’s back.

Steve just barked a mirthless laugh. “Do I? Because my best pal loves her too. Maybe she loves you.”

“Stevie,” Bucky rubbed his forehead. “I would never stand in the way of you being happy, ever.”

“If I asked her now,” Steve frowned. “Would she be able to say she doesn’t know you want her too?”

“Fuck.” Bucky stood up and stalked over to Steve. “Honestly? No. If she’s been in my head, then she knows how beautiful I think she is, how much I want to take care of her, how good she feels. But damn, Steve, that’s in my head. Only. In. My. Head. She’s my friend, our friend. I’ve never behaved in any way that would cross that line. If she’s your girl, I never will.”

“You said you love her.” Steve’s desperately tried to hold on to his anger, but couldn’t.

“I do. I won’t apologize for it. She’s one of my few friends.”

“But you’re attracted to her, too.”

“So are most of the men who know her, hell, most the men who see her.” Bucky shook his head. “Don’t ever use that argument with her, because you know full well women’s panties have been dropping for you since the forties. It doesn’t mean they love you or that you love them.” Steve’s ears went pink. “So, when did you figure out that she wiggled her way past that giant wall of yours?”

Steve ran his hands through his hair, frustration and jetlag leaving him exhausted. “A while ago. Scared the shit out of me. I should have talk to you about it.”

Bucky threw an arm over Steve’s shoulders, “Still can.”

“Won’t that be weird?”  

“My best pal is love with the best gal I know.” Bucky laughed. “That I can deal with. I know you’d rather die than break her heart. Now if you told me Sam was in love with her, I’d have to break his legs.”

TAGS:

@asiaaisa77​ / @babygurl8840​ / @badassbaker​ / @bangtan-serendipity​ / @beautifullungs​ / @buchanansebba​ / @buckybarneshairpullingkink​ / @dsakita​ / @geeksareunique​ / @imma-new-soul​ / @jennmurawski13​ / @jesseswartzwelder​ / @kiki5283​ / @lbouvet​ / @michelehansel​ / @mindtravelsx​ / @morganhoran1671 / @my-favorite-fics-and-imagines​ / @notyourtypicalrose​ / @nova3312​​ / @patzammit​ / @rainbowkisses31​ / @readermia​ / @rynabarnesrogers​ / @sammghgecko​ / @scarlettsoldier​ / @sebbysstangirl​ / @sexyvixen7​ / @sllooney​ / @thegetawaywriter​ / @theneuropsychwriter​ / @the-omni-princess​ / @the-reading-octopus​ / @thorfanficwriter​ / @unadulteratedwizardlove / @vanillabunn21​ / @vxidnik​​ / @what-is-your-plan-today​ / @wildmoonflower​ / @wwe-fanfiction-queen​ / @sassy89sworld​ / @bitchwhytho​ / @carinacassiopeiae​ / @jessyballet​ / @killcomet​ / @steve-rogers-is-a-saint​ / @phoenixwench​  

[knittingdreams]

Fireheart - Chapter 8

Okay, let’s quickly give you all the links to the previous chapter while I *cof cof* work on a *cof* masterlist :D

Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Chapter 7

If you’re new to this story, Fireheart is a HS AU from the TOG saga. (I love and hate abbreviations so much, lol) It’s centered around Celaena joining High School when she’s 17, to try and find clues on who killed her parents. 

Sam (my baby, my love, my little beam) has a lot of protagonism in this story, and you’ll see his POV quiet often (like on this chapter, yayyy)

WARING: Almost every chapter will have physical violence and blood. I will do my best to remember and add other pertinent warnings on each chapter (sorry if I don’t, I’m still pretty new to publishing my work and sometimes forget about this things. Don’t hesitate to let me know if I forget, so I can make sure to add them up and save any readers a bad time, which is the last thing I want <3 I want my writing to entertain you, sometimes to break your heart a little, but only to fill it back up with mushy feelings afterwards n_n)

On the last chapter.... We left Celaena in the office, the door knob slowly twisting....

CHAPTER 8

A thanks would do

The dance floor was still packed, the same as it had been since the start of the night. People came and went, but the crowd never diminished. Sam had been dancing to the side of the room for a while, trying to talk with as many people as possible while keeping an eye on Celaena. He hadn’t been surprised when he saw her walking up the marble stairs, and had made sure to start a counter on his wristwatch. 

It was sitting on eleven minutes when Sam started to get fidgety and walked closer to the stairs’ landing while dancing with a girl called Ansel. She was so incredibly full of energy; Sam was almost struggling to keep up. 

“This party is lit!” The girl said as she raised her arms in the air and started spinning around in circles.

Sam used the distraction to leave the girl behind and move closer to the stair, casually lingering around the landing while fake sipping from an empty plastic cup. By the twelfth minute Chaol Westfall, the one he had learned to be Dorian’s best friend, headed up the stairs. He waited until the guy was almost to the top before he rushed up on silent feet. The staircase ended up in a long hallway stretching to the right, and a dead-end to the left. Sam peeked through the corner, watching Chaol walk halfway across the hallway and stop in front of a door. His hand sat on the knob for a moment before he looked to the side, towards the end of the hall, and kept walking.

“For fucks sake,” Sam murmured under his breath.

He tiptoed the first half of the hallway and once he was there, Chaol’s hand on the knob of the last door, he purposely tripped with the carpet and cursed out loud. Chaol almost jumped up as he turned around, his brows tightly knit together.

“What are you doing here?” The student president asked in a stern voice.

“So- So sorry, mate,” Sam half slurred. “They-Someone… told me there was a- agh- toilet up here,” he finished as he scratched the back of his neck, holding himself against the wall with one hand.

“You shouldn’t be up here,” Chaol said as he walked towards him. “There’s a bathroom downstairs you can use.”

“There was a - agh - really long - que… queue,” he finished as he stretched an arm and rested it on Chaol’s shoulder for extra support. “I’m really... busting.”

“Come here, I’ll show you the way to the secret bathroom out back, Dorian will kill you if you puke up here,” he continued. “He will get the place professionally cleaned up before his father is back in town, but still, he hates when people sneak up.” Chaol kept talking almost to himself as he walked Sam down the hall and towards the stairs. 

Sam looked back just in time to see Celaena peeking through the door before they turned the corner.

“You owe me,” he said under his breath, low enough for his voice to be lost under the music that was already reaching them from below.

***

All everybody was talking about on Monday morning was how amazing Dorian’s party had been. But all Sam could think about, was how close of a call it had been. He was sure Celaena had a plan B and could have gotten out of it, but any kind of suspicion could have ruined her plan. They were lucky no one had found anything out, and Celaena had shown back in the middle of the dance floor minutes later, dancing around as if she had never left.

He hadn't told Arobynn about the incident, he was too scared he would have scolded Celaena for being careless and almost getting caught. He was risking his neck by keeping that information to himself, but it was worth the risk. And obviously, Celaena hadn’t thanked him for the help. She hadn’t even spoken a word to him since the party.

Once lunchtime came over, Sam was feeling restless after thinking for so long. He needed something to do, he was probably just not used to the quietness. He had had a really busy weekend training for the fights to come, and sitting still wasn’t resonating with him. The tournament was set to start in a month, but he had a fight on the weekend to win his place in the competition, which meant he had trained hard, his muscles still aching from the strain he had caused his body.

He looked up at Celaena, who was eating her lunch with the exchange student again before he decided to go for a walk. He hung his bag from his shoulder and started circulating the hallways, pretending to be mindlessly walking while he tried to catch on anything unusual. He hadn’t studied the building as much as Celaena had, and he was always glad for any spare time to get to know the place better.

The halls were almost deserted and fairly quiet, which was probably why he heard the soft sobs coming from one of the classrooms. He headed straight towards the sound, opening the door slowly and finding a girl with her head hidden between her arms. All he could see was a mass of dark brown hair spilled onto the desktop. 

“Are you okay?” He asked as he approached the crying girl, carefully placing a hand on her forearm.

As the girl looked up, her emerald eyes made Sam’s gut twist at the sadness behind them. Her eyes were red-rimmed, with tears pooling in the corners. She looked puzzled for a moment, as if unsure of what to say.

“I’ll be alright,” she said in a small voice. “Just… leave me alone, I didn’t think anybody would find me here.” She turned around, hiding her face between her arms again.

Unsure of how to proceed, Sam sat on the floor next to her, his legs crossed.

“I think I’ll stick around in case you want to talk to someone, I promise I won’t bother you, but you shouldn’t be alone while you’re in pain,” he said. “I’ll be quiet,” he added.

She looked down at him with fresh tears running down her cheeks. “Why would you do this? You don’t even know me,” she said between quiet sobs.

“I don’t need to know you in order to care, Lysandra,” he said. She didn’t seem surprised that he knew her name, but why would she? Everybody in school knew who she was.

“Sorry, I don’t even know your name,” she said as she wiped her tears and tried to smile a little.

“I’m Sam, Sam Cortland.” He extended his hand, and Lysandra shook it with a chuckle.

“Why are you being so nice to me?”

“You’re distressed, I know I would like someone to be by my side if I was in your position, so here I am. I can listen to what’s troubling you, or I can just sit here in silence. If you like it better, we can chat about the weather or any other non-important matters to keep your mind off whatever is troubling you,” he offered.

Lysandra wiped the remaining tears with the palm of her hand, seeming calmer after Sam’s little monologue. She took out a small mirror from her bag and opened it up. 

“Don’t think I’m superficial, but I rather people not notice I’ve been crying,” she explained as she fixed her makeup, adding some mascara and then concealer under her eyes.

“Here, look at me,” Sam said as he pushed her chin lightly to make her look his way. “Hmmm, I can’t even tell, your eyes look brighter if that’s even possible, but you look as good as you do every day,” he concluded with a smile as he let go of her chin and stood up, offering her a hand. “Would you like to head back to the cafeteria?”

Lysandra accepted his hand to get to her feet but shook her head in denial. She smiled warmly at him for a moment, and then looked down to her feet.

“That would only lead to trouble, and the bell is probably about to ring. I’ll head straight to my next class, but thank you, Sam Cortland,” she looked up as she said his name, and started to walk towards the door.

“I’m always here to help,” Sam said as he followed her towards the door.

Lysandra walked through the threshold and turned left almost at the same time that Sam went out the door barely a step behind her, and turned the other direction. He was watching the girl walk away, and didn’t notice the small group of people coming back from the cafeteria already, making him bump straight into someone’s chest.

“Sorry,” he muttered as he took a step back and looked up.

“Look where you’re going, you fucking newby!” The guy he had bumped into said. Sam took an extra step back, feeling the angry energy that was emanating from the guy. He knew his kind, and he could tell anything he said would be used as an excuse to start a fight. 

There were already a few curious eyes looking their way, making him confirm his suspicions that the guy meant trouble.

“Sorry mate, my bad,” Sam said with his palms raised, trying to look smaller than he was as he rounded his shoulders inwards.

The guy standing in front of him took a step forward. He wasn’t taller than Sam, maybe even an inch shorter, but as the guy cracked his knuckles, Sam realized he wasn’t alone. Two taller guys were towering behind the first one, keeping watch.

“What were you doing, getting out of a room with a taken girl?” The bully said loud enough for the whole hall to hear as he pointed at Lysandra as if looking for an excuse to get mad at him. Sam looked over his shoulder and found the girl frozen in place only a few steps behind him.

“Leave her out of this,” Sam said, taking a protective step forward. “She’s got nothing to do with whatever is going on here.” He pointed to the narrow gap in between them. 

The guy closed that gap, grabbing a fist full of Sam’s shirt by its collar. He ran his other hand through his short black hair as a chuckle escaped his lips and his equally dark eyes bored into Sam’s golden ones. 

“What is going on here, is that you're about to get a black eye for being a smart ass,” he spat on his face.

“Look, mate,” Sam said with his hands still lifted in front of him, showing his palms. “I don’t even know you, sorry I bumped into you. Now, let’s just be mature about this and move on.” He smiled then, and he knew straight away that was the wrong thing to do. He knew the type all too well, the guy in front of him was going to have his head just for existing, just because he could feel a different vibe coming out of him; just because he felt threatened. 

He wished he could explain he was no competition to him.

“I’m Rourke,” the guy said with a grin. “And now that we know each other, junior, let’s teach you a lesson.”

Before Sam could even blink, Rourke’s fist collided against his jaw.

I’m so sorry my baby bean Sam T_T I love you! <3

Isn’t he the most adorable thing?? <3

[punkscowardschampions]

Dash & Lux

Dash: ☀️🧙🏽‍♀️🎶🥁🎸🪕🧚🏿‍♂️🌿🌼🧚🔮💃💫🔥🕺🏻🌳💗🍯🍻

Lux: That is almost exactly what the inside of my head looks like right now!!!

Lux: Is mind-reading a power that is bestowed upon you believers this eve?! 🤔😲

Dash: Right on

Dash: it’s one of many, trust

Lux: I’m ever sadder I can only be an observer now

Lux: Telepathy would be the most useful!

Dash: you gotta open your 👀 at least twice

Lux: I can 👀 at it, all of it in its splendour, just not participate

Dash: Bummer! What’s got you backing off? You don’t look like no wallflower chick to me

Lux: I got the dress code 🌻🌻🌻

Lux: Sunflowers are so strong-looking for flowers, don’t you think?

Lux: Not dainty and delicate

Lux: Well, I’m a Christian and technically this is a Pagan ritual so it’s a big 🚫🚫

Lux: I am finding it super interesting though

Dash: they don’t look strong, they are, babe 🌻🌻🌻 cleaned up Chernobyl, it’s far out what they can do

Dash: its roots, yeah, but we’re not all pagans here & we all still find something to celebrate, you could do St John the Baptist’s birthday as a christian, bonfires were big for that too

Lux: Whaaaaaaaaaat????! TELL ME MORE

Dash: about 🌻🌻🌻 or 🎂🔥🎇🎆?

Lux: 🌻🌻🌻 birthdays are contentious too

Dash: Helianthus annuus, from the Greek helios, meaning ☀️ they can remove poisonous chemicals & metals from the ground, water or air

Dash: they spread rapidly & can stabilize if not totally clear a field in 3 years, it’s 🤯

Lux: I wish I’d gone to school

Lux: Do you know any more fascinating things?

Lux: That sounds like magic

Dash: the world’s full of magic, but it wasn’t school that taught me to recognize it

Lux: Share the secret, kind sir

Dash: you’ve got the 🔑 & this here’s your kingdom, all you have to do is hang out & stay hip to what you 👀👂👃👅

Dash: 🧠➡️⬅️⬆️⬇️↗️↘️↙️↖️↪️↩️⤴️⤵️

Lux: I’ve 👅 so many wondrous tastes today

Lux: I feel full in so many senses of the word

Lux: How long have you been a member of the kingdom, stranger?

Dash: quest accepted to lay that feeling on you in every sense, then it’ll be a rad celebration

Dash: I’ve been here since I could walk, everywhere else is too big a drag to keep me

Lux: Oh, that’s so kind!

Lux: Everyone is so open and willing to teach me things

Lux: For instance, quick, when’s your birthday, wolf boy

Dash: it’s that kinda space 🦊

Dash: 20th of January 🎂 got me on the cusp ♑♒

Lux: Twins!

Lux: My birthday, which I’ve never celebrated before, is the 20th of March 😱

Lux: Someone, I’m not sure who, was just telling me about the Celtic tree signs

Lux: ‘If you were born in the month of the birch, you probably have a fresh and unusual outlook on life. People born under this Celtic tree astrology sign tend to be highly driven and are always full of zeal and ambition. They always want more and try to reach new horizons and expand their knowledge. Some of the characteristics attributed to the Birch sign are tolerance, toughness, and leadership. The Birch signs can brighten a room with their smile and quickly charm other people’

Lux: Yay or nay 🐺

Dash: you charmed so far or nah? [obviously smiling at her wherever she is as well like heyyy]

Lux: [definition of this emoji 🤭]

Dash: What’s your celtic tree sign?

Lux: ‘Those born under the Alder sign are natural pathfinders. They have the ability to move people and quickly gain followers to their cause. The Alders have a way with words, mingle easily and people love to be around them. They possess a mystic charisma, confidence and strong self-faith. Other character traits are: a good focus on goals and ideas, can’t tolerate fluff and waste.’

Lux: I am unsure but flattered 😊😊😊

Dash: I dig it

Dash: they let you know if we’re compatible? Your ♓♈ cusp makes you mad desirable to all signs

Lux: You need to see who here was born 15th April to 12th May or 2nd September to 29th September

Lux: But it says I’m compatible with you, so how does that work?! 😣

Lux: There’s so much I have to get my head ‘round

Dash: You’re gonna be 🥰💖 for me while I’m 🔍 for a 🐈 or 🐤 born on those dates?

Lux: Hey, that’s way less nice!

Lux: but I can also be looking for people born 13th May to 9th June AND 10th June to 7th July so 😋

Dash: those signs are full of it, trying to make me look uncool but don’t sweat it, I’d never cut you that low, like

Lux: If it’s not in the 💫s I can still say I’m pleased to meet you today as friends, Mowgli

Dash: Look up

Dash: if you don’t see a 🌠 I can show you a 🐺🌟 & 🦊🌟 chasing each other across the sky

Lux: [obviously literally does]

Lux: That’s very Disney 🏰✨

Dash: is that allowed?

Lux: I watched some at a friend’s house one time

Dash: & how was it?

Lux: 😭 but romantic

Dash: Anyone told you the oak king story yet?

Lux: Okay, thank Goodness

Lux: this lady with the dreads and the big back tattoo tried to tell me but I couldn’t understand her 🙊

Lux: Redeem your gentlemanly reputation and save both of us the embarrassment

Lux: Her accent was wild! 🤯

Dash: did her version start with Fadó, fadó?

Dash: wouldn’t be a wild guess

Lux: I won’t credit you with any telepathic skills this time, then

Lux: also I’d need to 👂 it again to confirm fully but yes, I think so

Dash: [send her an utterly unnecessary voice memo]

Lux: It sounds more intriguing when you say it

Dash: [obviously gotta tell her the full story in an irish voice memo purely for the #flex and the flirt cos you know damn well you’re gonna have to translate it, boy]

Lux: 🤩

Lux: Did you learn that here too?

Lux: I’ve lived so many different places and yet I only know the one language

Dash: My ma started it but when the establishment took over it was a bad scene & turned me off for time, last few years here it felt groovy again having that connection & I refound the 💚☘️

Lux: It’s really cool

Lux: it sounds old, or like elvish or something else not real

Dash: it’s a trip, you’ve gotta get someone to teach you while your fly by lasts

Lux: Oh, I live here 😊

Lux: I room with Nora, do you know her?

Dash: Beats me, what’s her deal?

Lux: Her and her brother Finley have been here for a while, but not forever like you

Lux: but there are a lot of people here so I’m not surprised you’re not sure 😅

Dash: not a clue but loads of people are too rattled to wanna get involved, could be her vibe

Dash: or she just ain’t outta sight like you

Lux: She’s totally involved, she secured like all of the sunflowers for today

Lux: well, me and Amber helped but she was definitely the most enthusiastic

Dash: 🌻👑! I do know her, but her in with Amber & instant karma means she’s not gonna mess around with me

Lux: Ooh, what did you do

Dash: jack, Amber’s hassling me cos I’m not trying to be her old man, she gets super rash & things get heavy with 0 slack

Lux: Hmm I shouldn’t have asked 🤐🙉

Dash: ask her why she’s making a move on my older bro now if not to try & lay a trip on me, babe’s lost it

Lux: Whaaaaaaa

Lux: You have a brother?!

Lux: Is he invisible?

Dash: I wish

Lux: Which one is he, point him out

Dash: [points in the direction of their house lol]

Lux: [a face of understanding like oh okay]

Lux: How does Amber know him then?

Dash: from stalking me

Lux: I don’t think she would do that

Lux: She must’ve just bumped into him or something

Dash: at my house, yeah

Lux: It’s cool, it’s not really my business

Dash: open 👀 like I said

Lux: 📖

Dash: that too 🧠💗🤲

Lux: I can agree with that sentiment

Dash: we’re groovy then

Lux: Of course 😊

Lux: enjoy your evening

Dash: back at you, golden girl ☀️🎇👸🏼

Lux: I like your outfit too

Lux: it’s very ☀️🧙🏽‍♀️🎶🥁🎸🪕🧚🏿‍♂️🌿🌼🧚🔮💃💫🔥🕺🏻🌳💗🍯🍻

Dash: [comes over and ties a chain of flowers around her wrist like it’s a friendship bracelet energy]

Lux: [clearly delighted with this]

Dash: [ask her if she wants to dance even though you know damn well she’s only observing because kind of boy you are]

Lux: [so rude lowkey when she’s struggling so hard with what she does and doesn’t believe now, we’re in enough of a dilemma without your help but there we go; thus we will go dance with you because we do want to and we can make arguments that that isn’t joining in with the rituals of it all]

Dash: [he’s lucky Amber is busy because she would fight him, but instead enjoy your dance you two]

Lux: [the audacity of your lies about her, we were so awkward like 😬 anyway, we will have a nice dance though]

Dash: [such a dickhead he can only be humbled by fire, full offense Nora because we’re ignoring you hen cos you’re clearly wise to his bs]

Lux: [there’s clearly a growing group of gals who are unimpressed by your nonsense and that will be interesting to navigate]

Dash: [Definitely, but yeah probably do slip away like a snek before any of those gals do kick your ass]

Lux: 🎃👠🐁🌠🕛

Dash: A 📘 for the 🔥

Lux: 🤔?

Dash: it’s a drag, all that heavy shit with her fam is a bummer, she gets to split but only til 🕛 that’s some 🌠

Lux: Yeah, it’s enough to get help though and then she gets saved

Dash: nah, to get shafted, she don’t get to dance with anyone else there, it’s a scam

Lux: 😅 who else does she need, she’s got the prince, silly!

Dash: someone who recognizes her next day?

Lux: Touche 😏

Lux: Being a 🤴 is a lot of work

Dash: What 🤴 told you that?

Lux: Where to begin

Lux: I’ve known several who would say as much and the 👸s would never disagree

Dash: Fadó, fadó, fadó a bhí ann…

Dash: but I’d shut it down from the beginning, they gotta be shining you on

Lux: I’m going to have to have translate open constantly, I see 😰

Lux: but very noble

Dash: I try, like you & your ☘️ it’s chill we’ve all got your back

Lux: It would be way worse if it was the only language any of you spoke

Lux: thank goodness 😅

Lux: there’s lots more that’s more pertinent for me to get a grip on

Dash: 🧝🧝🏻‍♀️🧝🏽🧝🏾‍♀️

Dash: we’ve got you on the rest too, like, goes without saying

Lux: Most everyone has been super welcoming

Dash: how long have you lived here?

Lux: Not long enough that that’s insulting 😋

Lux: but gosh, a couple of weeks? Must be

Dash: nah I meant cos I don't wanna explain to you what sorta place this is like you're fresh through the door if you've had loads of time to find your own way

Lux: Oh no, I’m a total n00b

Lux: Hazel got me here but I’ve kinda just been left to it since

Lux: Anything you wanna tell me would be appreciated

Dash: did Amber or Nora give you the tour?

Lux: Amber’s been super busy and Nora likes to stay in our room mostly

Dash: not super welcoming

Dash: but it’s no sweat, I’ll show you round, we’ll have a blast

Lux: they’ve both got their own stuff going on, I don’t expect them to drop it for me

Lux: but that would still be cool, thank you!

Dash: say when

Dash: it’ll be as electric under the ☀️ as the 🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌙

Lux: I can 👀 in the dark

Lux: You choose

Lux: find me when you’ve stopped having the MOST fun?

Dash: 🐺🐾🦊

Dash: Meet me in the orchard at midnight, ditching your shoes before

Dash: there’s an 🍏🌳🍎 you can 👀 the whole farm from the top of

Lux: And you’ll remember what I look like?

Dash: you look unreal

Dash: unforgettable

Lux: I got creative with the arts and crafts 🌟⚡️☀️

Lux: I’ve always made my own clothes

Lux: well, I made them for my sisters before

Lux: looking unforgettable was not the end goal there though

Lux: that was for secret

Dash: my nan would be hip to you, she used to make her own clothes, for her girl & her sister too when they wanted, it’s still a vibe for her

Lux: I will make her something then

Lux: what’s her style?

Dash: indescribable

Dash: I’ll show you pics

Lux: Awkward if your nan is cuter than you

Dash: at our age she totally was

Lux: Awh, you’re so sweet

Lux: I have nothing nice to say about my meemaw

Dash: keep it for mine when you meet her

Lux: You’re gonna introduce me to your nan? 😊

Dash: right on, she’ll wanna put whatever you make on for you to 👀 & it’s only a few fields over

Lux: 🏞 it’s a crazy beautiful spot to live, that’s for sure

Lux: so you live with her?

Dash: Yeah, my ma grew up there & when my parents called it quits she wanted to move back

Lux: You’re close-knit

Lux: that’s special

Dash: closer than I am to my da

Lux: Does that upset you?

Dash: I don’t let it upset my equilibrium, he’s uptight, that’s his problem not mine

Lux: I understand

Lux: I don’t agree with my dad on a lot of things

Lux: it’s still sad though

Dash: I got killer people round me, a 2nd family here accepting me for who I am, it ain’t cool he don’t, but they give me what I need

Lux: I’m happy for you

Lux: Seriously

Lux: again, that’s special, you should be really grateful

Dash: I am, believe me

Dash: you’re gonna scope out how special it is here now I’m in charge of showing you everything

Lux: I’d love to see your 🌍 how you see it

Lux: Kinda sounds like everything I need, honestly

Dash: you can, easily when we’re sharing a branch

Lux: 🧚‍♀️ you’re dainty, I trust you won’t let me fall

Dash: I’ll let you fall into something good though, new heights

Lux: Will it hurt?

Dash: no way

Lux: You aren’t pranking me, are you?

Dash: there’s no plastic on me, I’m being real with you

Lux: If you’re gonna try and jump me out in the orchard I’ll have to show you crazy and I really can’t afford to lose this place okay

Lux: so if I believe you right now and you were lying, it’ll be worse than it would’ve been, you feel me?

Dash: Hurting you isn’t my action, I’m about a gentler touch than that

Lux: and I’m not a bully, that’s not my vibe so that’s the warning out of the way

Dash: avenging 👼 I get it

Lux: My costume has you fooled, I think

Dash: Wait, so you’re pranking me?

Lux: No, I swear! 😅

Lux: I don’t feel like I’ve been anywhere near as nice to you as you have to me though

Dash: but you did dance with me & that was choice

Lux: I wanted to

Dash: me too, I wasn’t asking just to be nice

Lux: even though you’re very nice

Lux: I believe that

Dash: I think we’re getting somewhere

Lux: You understand why I’d find a boy like you being interested in me dubious at first, right

Dash: Nah, but I’m listening

Lux: Well it’s embarrassing to say

Dash: alright, listen, I think you’re the most

Dash: I’m embarrassed I’ve not met you before tonight

Lux: There are so many people to meet

Lux: and you’re like the 🤴 of this place, huh

Lux: you have to dance with all the ugly stepsisters too

Dash: if Amber said write that to bait me I’m shutting up

Lux: I think Amber left 🤔

Lux: And who’s calling her ugly, even if you guys have beef, like no way

Dash: & Nora’s gotta be back in your room cos that’s her bag, yeah?

Dash: so where are you?

Lux: I’m in the middle of [one hippie activity] and [another]

Dash: [go find her and dance with her again obvs, we can be bolder about if some of the haters are gone and it’s later so he’s clearly a bit more drunk/high by now too]

Lux: [the way you’re probably sober like how lmao, not saying you always are or will be ‘cos no but gotta have our wits about us ‘cos witchery is afoot; but yeah we all know it can shamelessly way more of a Thing™]

Dash: [at least Amber was too until her row with the bae even if she wasn’t the most present in other ways, so it wasn’t just you gal, but yeah, dispel any remaining fears she may have that you’re not into this please boy with this moment]

Lux: [we know you got your own going on, it’s good, this drama has to happen whether you like it or not babe sorryyyy, when you’re then even more into it because it’s like HELLO IS THIS ALLOWED, so new and fresh to get to remotely be this brazen]

Dash: [shouldn’t LOVE that for you but I do, we should probably let y’all go on your tour then because we’re both in a mood and there’s nobody to separate you]

Lux: [probably, but I will insist on making you wait ‘til midnight regardless]

Dash: [it is a fat mood and I did pick that time deliberately so yeah, dance the night away first hens]

Lux: [sure it’s probably near that time anyways]

Dash: [yeah absolutely]

Lux: [we can skip to the after in this if you like?]

Dash: [are we thinking am like did y’all fall asleep together or?]

Lux: [Hmm, do we go with the Cinderella and have her bounce or do we go against it and not, because then she would think he wasn’t a dick later]

Dash: [even though he’s a dick I still want all the cute I can grab with my smol hands]

Lux: [it’s not like you can’t be like I just fell asleep it’s nbd with it so yeah okay

Dash: [I also like the camber parallel of it all so]

Lux: [true true, we can do it, then you can just have breakfast as a group because duh, was it sunday or monday today?]

Dash: [I think it’s sunday aka Cosmo is having his 2nd date with Ruby tonight and then Camber breakfast dates start monday]

Lux: [okay then you will have to think of a creative way to ditch her then boy hohaha]

Dash: [at least he can just go home because Amber only stayed to angrily eat some fruit and Cosmo had a busy day ahead because I doubt the shower situation at this commune is thriving, water probably runs out always]

Lux: [what a poser lmaooo]

Dash: [and very rude not to invite her when she probably wants to shower or bathe too]

Lux: [we literally got gems stuck to our face but pop off]

Dash: [we know you’re not because your mother is there and sick of your behaviour but yes, it wouldn’t kill you to let her boy]

Lux: [no offence but run him over, anyway, some time later]

Lux: are you ⬇️🍄?

Dash: 🛹⚡️

Lux: aha, cool

Lux: good thing you didn’t invite me I’d end up 🤕 for sure

Dash: I didn’t stop you falling out of a tree last night to have you fall off a board later in the AM

Lux: Hey, you make it sound like I was 🤏 close! 😆

Dash: nah, your balance is sound

Lux: I don’t recall you stepping on my toes, either

Dash: don’t wanna have to start the day off doubting your 🍒 recall, that’d be a bad scene

Lux: I was totally sober thank you 😅

Dash: easy to claim the magic’s all you when I ain’t met you before but I’m a believer

Lux: Wait, was that a compliment or a diss?

Lux: Maybe I’m contact-wasted

Dash: contact with Nora would get you more sober, there’s a diss

Lux: Awh, don’t be mean!

Lux: She’s been really nice

Dash: chill out, I’m only playing

Lux: Hmm 😏

Lux: anyway, what are you doing later?

Dash: I said I’d hang with Yara

Lux: Oh cool, who’s that?

Dash: I’ll introduce you after

Lux: after what?

Dash: we’re done messing around

Lux: wow, alrighty then

Dash: you’ll like her, she’s a trip

Lux: I’m not totally sure she’d want you to 💬 that

Lux: or I’ll know what to 💬 now

Dash: it’s no biggie

Lux: idk, this is not the way I was raised

Lux: you say it’s not but idk, you know

Dash: you don’t have to meet her

Lux: Yeah

Dash: I think she’s rad but you gotta make up your own mind

Lux: It’s not about her

Dash: nah, you, I understand where you’re coming from, it’s a new world

Lux: Right, it seems really icky to me that you’d tell me any of this

Lux: it’s not about how rad she could be

Dash: Come on, Lux, I’m keeping this honest

Lux: I guess

Lux: Why do you need to tell me though, I don’t get it, for real?

Dash: I like you, I don’t want it to get twisted

Dash: 📖

Lux: Okay, I appreciate the sentiment then

Dash: I’ll come find you later, on my own

Lux: That’s okay

Lux: I’ve got lots of chores to catch up on

Dash: they’ll be done faster if I help you

Lux: I can’t stop you

Lux: the place is a mess after last night and the more people who pitch in the better

Dash: I don’t get why you’d wanna stop me

Lux: I don’t really wanna hang out now, not today anyway

Dash: I can’t believe you’re being like this

Lux: Being like what?

Dash: Amber

Lux: I’m not

Lux: you can’t hang out now, I can’t hang out later, how is it any different?

Dash: the way I’m travelling through today is a straight line, yours is all over the place

Lux: Good for you?

Lux: It doesn’t matter either way though

Dash: doing a u turn on me does matter

Lux: It does?

Lux: because last night you thought I was rad, so obviously this morning I wanted to hang out with you again, so I think it’s my turn to do the 180, if you think about it

Dash: I still think you are, last night was unreal & we can be again, I’m just asking you to take 5 cos I can’t split on Yara after making plans time ago

Lux: That’s fine, it’s not fine to be mad at me ‘cos I ask you to take 5 too

Lux: that makes it make no sense

Dash: I’m not mad at you, I’m trying to make sense of why you’re mad at me

Lux: I’m not mad at you, I’m upset

Lux: You only need to ask

Dash: idk I didn’t think this would go down how it is

Lux: Me either, I guess

Dash: you for real want space?

Lux: I don’t know

Lux: Can I get back to you on that?

Dash: yeah

Lux: I wanted to see you again

Lux: I thought you’d want to see me too

Dash: I do, you read me right last night, why are you gonna start disbelieving yourself today?

Lux: You want to see Yara more

Dash: I wanna see her too

Lux: Okay, have fun then

Dash: we cool?

Lux: I don’t know

Dash: idk what's turned you different, you were laying it on me like you got it, how I'm

like royalty & everyone wants a piece of my time

Lux: Oh my Gosh

Lux: I wasn’t being serious and I didn’t think you were

Lux: do you honestly think that, like what?

Dash: It's a touch plastic saying I'm like 👑 but still close to how it is

Lux: Um, you don’t even live here

Lux: you have a whole house and family

Dash: I'm here with my chosen family as much as I can be

Lux: Yeah, but what do you

actually do for this place, or anyone here?

Lux: The audacity to act like it’s your kingdom, that’s laughable and gross all at once

Dash: back off babe, I do whatever they need me to do

Lux: Babe-ing me right now isn’t a good look

Lux: manual labour at best makes you help, not visiting royalty

Lux: are you crazy, like, who do you think you are, seriously I’m so curious

Dash: Who are you? Thinking you can lay this trip on me about what I can & can't do

Lux: I’m not telling you you can or can’t do anything

Lux: I asked you not to call me babe, which is basic politeness

Dash: nah, you're telling me I don't belong to this place

Dash: questioning how I do like

it's up to you

Lux: I said you don’t live here, and you don’t

Lux: and I’ve never seen you contribute, maybe you were super busy before I got here, then I’ll apologize for that

Dash: you're doing a census, yeah? Hold up [everyone currently who doesn't live her like the petty prince he is]

Dash: I've got family here, they all keep me busy

Lux: Cool? Thanks for telling me who else is a tourist ???

Lux: You’re just being defensive, there’s no need if you’re secure in that and your place here

Dash: quit trying to rattle me

Lux: I’m truly not

Lux: but no, we’re not cool now

Dash: I made it known from the top where I live

Lux: Where you live isn’t the issue

Dash: what's your issue? I'm loved & welcomed here, that's all I said

Lux: That’s nice

Lux: I don’t really want to discuss my issue with you, with you, right now, if that’s okay

Dash: later then

Lux: See you around, Dash

Dash: I can't believe you think I'm a flake, this has me totally unglued, you know

Lux: I don’t feel great about it either

Dash: how can I make you feel less bummed out?

Dash: your tour was the most far out I've ever given

Lux: I don’t think you can, it’s done now

Lux: I just need some time to change what I thought this was, or was gonna be, in my head

Lux: but thanks, for offering

Dash: take your time to 👀 what we can be & how you wanna evolve

Lux: Maybe we can be friends later on

Dash: I’d dig it

Lux: I liked talking to you last night

Dash: I felt more connected to you than I usually do

Lux: I don’t think you’re an awful person, FYI

Lux: I just think you could’ve been clearer, and accept that you hurt me without getting way defensive, you know?

Lux: I can accept you didn’t mean to

Dash: I thought I was being clear

Lux: Yeah, I know

Lux: I’m from a very different background and place, it just didn’t translate well, clearly

Dash: yeah

Lux: but I thought I’d put that across well enough that you got that too

Dash: I do get you, but I can’t 180 myself to fit

Lux: No, I’m not asking you to fit my understanding, it’s fine you don’t

Dash: What are you asking?

Lux: Nothing, honestly, I’m trying to explain why I’m upset

Lux: Just like you can’t 180, I can’t change how I see and feel about it immediately, even if some of the ways I were raised are outdated or potentially bad, you know

Lux: You don’t need to do anything

Lux: From my perspective, it felt like a 180 and hurtful to tell me about hooking up with someone else the morning after

Lux: I know how you think and operate is totally different, but that’s it

Dash: but I wanna do something, to help you

Lux: You are nice…

Lux: I don’t know though, what would help?

Dash: I meant what I said last night about showing you this place, making it feel more like a home, how it is for me

Lux: Maybe you could come back and help with the chores

Lux: I shouldn’t have said you NEVER help out, I’ve not been here long enough to make that observation

Dash: maybe it looks like I don’t, cos with family you take liberties sometimes, that kid who’s naughty at home & don’t say shit at school, comfortable to play up

Lux: I have 8 brothers, I understand 😅

Dash: you can have that too, should

Lux: I did, as much as any of us did

Lux: I was a boy, remember

Dash: with 0 limits though, people trying to control & change what you do is for outside of here, I don’t have to think in my dad’s 🟥🟧🟨🟩🟦🟪⬛️⬜️🟫 way or do what my ma reckons is righteous

Lux: Sounds idyllic, Dash

Dash: it is

Lux: You have to understand my experience of people doing exactly what they want means someone is being exploited or abused for that person’s privilege

Lux: my parents had their utopia at the price of the things we wanted, needed

Dash: that’s why you need this new experience

Lux: Okay

Lux: I do want new experiences

Dash: the farm has the magic to grant you whatever you’re here for, no wish is the wrong size

Lux: You really seem to believe it so I will try too 😊

Dash: I’m about to 🛹⚡️ back if you wanna clean the opposite end or hide from me in the 🍏🌳🍎

Lux: That’s cool

Lux: but thanks for the warning 💗

Dash: don’t let how out of this world you look distract me then

Lux: I so don’t so that won’t be an issue 😌

Dash: It's an accident, huh? I feel you, it must be my fault I can’t look away

Lux: You’re way too smooth for your own good

Lux: but I wouldn’t say that’s a fault, necessarily 🤭

Dash: Hey, I didn’t manifest you into being, even if last night did feel like it had to be cosmically devined somehow

Lux: I felt it too

Lux: no one has ever

Lux: not like that anyway

Dash: you’re like a song I can’t get out of my head, I don’t want it to turn sad

Dash: I’m sorry I got you unglued too

Lux: It’s a lot more complicated than just you

Lux: it’s a whole thing

Dash: You’re gonna find people to share how heavy it is

Lux: 🤞

Dash: they’ll carry you through & even if it’s Amber I won’t let it bug me

Lux: I’m sure that’s a misunderstanding

Lux: I could talk to her? Subtly, of course

Dash: yeah, her misunderstanding me, you’ve got your reasons, she’s not new to any of this

Dash: her problem is she thinks she’s the most & everyone else should think she’s choice no matter what

Lux: Do you think she likes your brother?

Dash: no way, unless she’s got a football obsession now too

Lux: ��� maybe

Dash: idk

Lux: Me either

Lux: it just seems a bit crazy otherwise

Dash: he’s as uptight as my da, she’s never gonna get nowhere trying to mess around with him, whatever she’s doing it for

Lux: She won’t have any problem finding someone new

Lux: you said he’s older, right?

Dash: not loads, but he’s gonna be done with school in a sec

Lux: I see

Lux: so you’re the 👶

Dash: til my dad’s new lady puts her demands in

Dash: how many sisters you got to go with your 8 bros?

Lux: you don’t like her at all, huh

Lux: and 5, so they had a tough job being outnumbered

Dash: you heard of a WAG? That’s her whole deal

Dash: whoa, so you had a full time secret sewing job

Lux: yes, we lived in England for a while, that’s how I ended up here

Lux: like a Kardashian, I can see you not having a lot to bond over

Lux: exactly 😂

Dash: you gotta teach me, my nan would be jazzed

Lux: I’d love to!

Lux: there’s a surplus of old clothes to practice on

Dash: still a chore, we get to skip cleaning, yeah?

Lux: Mending isn’t as fun as creating but you’ve got to start somewhere so, I think so 😊

Dash: 😁

Dash: we’ll have a blast cos I gotta start somewhere on earning your forgiveness too

Lux: You’re sweet, Dash

Dash: I’m being for real

Lux: I know you are

Lux: I don’t know what to say though because I’m awkward 😳

Dash: it’s a hands on kinda task & you already know what you’re doing with it, it’ll be me feeling 😳

Lux: No flirting, only crafting

Dash: 🧷📏🧵✂️🧶📍✨

Lux: That’s a very impressive emoji selection

Dash: missing 😍💞🥰💓😘💘 but it’s chill

Lux: Idiot 😏

Dash: 💟 is the compromise

Lux: Okay, that’s adorable

Lux: allowed 🤭

Dash: [show up and take her hand to lead her off to sew, we know you weren’t far away bitch]

Lux: [the way you just melt when he shows, oh gal]

Dash: [I’m upset about it]

Lux: [we know you really like him, for better and worse rn]

Dash: [thank god he does actually like you and it’s not a straight up Drew and Ro situation happening]

Lux: [we can only do that ‘cos they both lowkey suck so we aren’t sad lmao]

Dash: [I like this gal too much to be that evil]

Lux: [it’s drama enough without it being entirely one-sided like no lol]

Dash: [I hope some sewing does take place amidst the blatant flirting because learn a useful skill for once in your life dickhead]

Lux: [we aren’t gonna just roll over immediately ‘cos actually did upset us so you will have to]

Dash: [yay]

Lux: [so that’s probably the vibe for today ‘cos yeah we absolutely won’t even though it’s clear we still like you like that too, so you’ll just have to hang out platonically]

Dash: [it’s gotta be the vibe for a while, sucks to suck boy, but obviously hang out until that girl comes to find you because you clearly do also wanna hang out with her platonically it’s not just like that vine where he breaks the skateboard]

Lux: [a quality vine]

Dash: [do we wanna leave this here?]

Lux: [I think we can]