#yes he's fairly new to my roster

[trooly-ticklish]

Day 12 of Tickletober: Favorite tickle game

My immediate thought went to hide and seek but I've already drawn that. Then...another thought of traps and games and evil lil clowns who want nothing more than to keep you and torture you. So I let Lenny choose the game, and it has chosen Spin The Wheel.

[hockeybabe]

So I did recently ask for a Quinn fanfic. And you did amazing like always!!

Could I maybe get an Auston Matthews one with smut and angst? I’m not really picky on the story as long as it involves me going from tears, to jumping for joy, to smirking. THANK YOU BESTIE!!

Am I Yours?||𝘈. 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘸𝘴

*gif not mine*

Pairings: Auston Matthews x gf!reader

Summary: Auston makes sure you know who you belong to after having doubts.

Warnings: smut, oral (f!receiving), handjob, penetration (p in v), dirty talk, angst with a smut ending, Auston being an asshole, slut shaming, morning sex, squirting.

Word count: 1.2k

Requested: yes

Note: The urge I had to just make this an angst story but this is the smuttiest thing I've ever written

Being in a fairly new relationship with Auston was nerve-racking. You weren't going to lie, but when Auston first posted you on Instagram for Valentine's fans reactions were mixed. Many people didn't like you; frankly; most people didn't like the fact that Auston was off the roster for single men.

Auston constantly tried to reassure you that everything was okay and that they were just fans who didn't know either of us. It got harder when you showed up to games, fans would find you and interrogate you, asking you questions like "When will you break up?" "Are you using him?" Or "You're just another whore who wants him."

Tonight the Leafs will play the Blackhawks and Auston was just getting back into playing after a three-week injury. You've told Auston the fans were becoming too much and that you wouldn't be attending them anymore and just stayed in your apartment and watched.

Auston wasn't thrilled with the idea, but also knew that the fans were getting the best of you. You had many doubts on whether on not you two being together was a good idea. Reluctantly, Auston agreed not without arguing first.

He left for the game angry and said "We'll talk about the when the games over." and walked out the door. The Leafs lost by two, and when Auston got home it was clear the tension in the air was thick.

"Auston?" You call from the couch in your family room, pausing the tv. "What do you want?" He glares, walking into the room. You feel yourself confidence shrinking with the tone in his voice. Auston always brings happy/uplifting spirits when he talks.

"Look I know you're upset-"

"Upset, I'm more than upset, I'm fucking livid!" He shouts, throwing his hat to the side. Flinching, you pull your knees up to your chest. "First you're worried about the fans! Then, its not wanting to go to my games! I need my fucking girlfriend!"

"And I need you to understand!" You scream, tears welding in your eyes. "You need to understand how fucking hard it is hear your fans tell me all the time how I'm not good enough or that I'm a slut and just using you for fame!" You shout, getting up from the couch, facing Auston.

Auston runs his hands through his hair grunting. "Well you know what they say, start believing what people say and you become it." He mutters, not looking at you. "Fuck you." You whisper out, sobbing. "Fuck you! How dare you slut shame me! You know what? You're sleeping on the fucking couch." You shout, wiping the fallen tears, stomping upstairs to bed.

While lying on yours and Auston's bed you hear bangs coming from downstairs. As time passes, sleep becomes. practically impossible without Auston. Rolling over, you lay on Auston's pillow, inhaling his scent for comfort, feeling yourself slowly drift off to sleep.

꧁꧂

Getting out of bed was the last thing you wanted to do; part of you expected to see Auston lying right beside you when you woke up, but he must've stayed downstairs like you told him to. Grabbing your phone off the nightstand, you open instagram to see Auston posted on his story.

Feeling your heart clench and warmth devouring your body, you walk down the stairs to see Auston sleeping on the couch with a blanket barely covering him. Your panties dampen at the thought of having make-up sex with him and probably wake him up to it.

Straddling Auston's torso, you place open mouthed kisses on his face down to his jaw, then neck; you gasp at the feeling of two hands gripping your waist and a grunt leaving Auston's throat.

"What are you doing?" He mumbles huskily against your lips. Lifting your head and looking down at Auston, you smile. "I saw the post." You start, trailing your finger down his chest. "I want you to show me how much I'm yours." You smirks down at him.

Auston growls and sits up in response burying his face into your neck sucking and kissing, tilting your head as you let him take over, but not completely. Dragging your hand down his chest to the waistband of his sweats, you put your hand in reaching for his cock.

"That what your want baby, you want me to take my pants off." He whispers into your ear, peeling off your t-shirt. "Yes." You breath out, Auston obeys, taking both his sweats and boxers off at the same time. Auston, Auston's  cock springs out, pre-cum, already spewing out.  

"By the looks of it, you seem ready for me." You giggle, wrapping your hand around the tip of his cock, spreading his cum around the tip. "Fuck baby." He moans out, leaning on his elbows, leaning his head back as you rub his shaft up and down while your other hand plays with his balls.

"Baby, I'm gonna-" Before Auston can finish he bursts into your hand, smiling at him; you bring your hand to your mouth, licking it clean. Amusement and lust flash in Auston's eyes as he changes positions for you to be on the bottom of the couch.

"I'm gonna show you how much you belong to me." He growls, shimming down your body, kissing around your hips, and pulling your panties off since you weren't wearing any pants. Auston kisses on the insides of both your thighs getting closer to you pussy.

Auston blows onto your sensitive bud, watching you shudder in his hold "Auston please," you beg, gripping onto his hair. "Please what baby?" He taunts, blowing once more. "Lick me." You shudder again. Auston does as told giving you one lick and another and another, until you're coming apart in his hands.

Gripping his hair tightly, your head falls back onto the cushions as your orgasm takes over your entire body while Auston continues to rub your clit. "Auston its too much," You try to warn him, every time you and Auston have sex, he makes it his job to make you squirt since he was the first to do so.

Your ragged breath and body start to shake uncontrollably, as you try to warn Auston you're stopped as juices fly out of your pussy soaking the couch underneath you and Auston. "Fuck, that was so fucking hot." He mutters, kissing his way up your stomach to your face. "Look at you, you're practically cock starved. You want my cock?" He mocks playing with the buds of your nipples.

“Y-yes.” You answer out of breath, grinding your naked body against Auston’s. Auston runs his cock up and down your swollen slit, entering with no warning. You gasp as he thrusts once again. Auston leans over your body, burying his head into your neck, whispering comforting words.

You can tell Auston's as close as you are as his thrusts get sloppier and rougher. "Auston I'm-" "I know baby, I know." He mumbles, as he then commands you to cum. Auston collapses right beside you, pulling you closer to his naked chest. You both have small talk as Auston cleans you up and takes you upstairs back to bed.

[pancake-blogging]

Transformers: Rescue Bots in Disguise — Prisoners of the Alchemor, and Cybertronians on Earth

( @too-many-blorbos because I know you enjoy these posts :] )

Surprise surprise! I have more thoughts about this au!!! For this post, we're exploring what I think they should've gone with in-canon when it comes to the general roster of the prisoner ship the Alchemor as well as the connection between Earth and Cybertron at the start of the series. This post won't go into EVERYONE who was imprisoned on the ship, but it will provide some examples. Without further ado! The post!

Personally, I think it's kinda silly that Earth DOESN'T know Cybertronians exist. I mean, the arrival of New Kaon in Nevada should've announced to the Whole World that aliens existed! As such, I've decided that for TF: RBiD, the existence of Cybertronians will be a known fact by all of Earth, with there being a Cybertronian Base on Earth that's run by Ratchet — when Chase and the others come to Earth, they'll likely stay at said base. Helps to explain why we'd have an adult Raf as the main human companion as well!

The Alchemor, in TF: RBiD, will have prisoners belonging to a variety of moralities AND factions — not all of them will be Decepticons, and not all of them will be explicitly evil. And we're not going with there being more evil Decepticons or wrongly arrested Autobots, either: there will be just as many good Decepticons and evil Autobots as there are good Autobots and evil Decepticons. Why am I doing this? To help sell the main lesson Chase is trying to teach Strongarm, which I touched on in a previous post!

Will some of the escaped prisoners get locked back up? Yes, some of them should actually be serving the sentence they were given (Thunderhoof is an Actual Mafia Boss who bribed corrupt members of Cybertron's police and oh my GOD what if he was arrested by Chase? Because he made the mistake of trying to buy Chase's cooperation! Rivalry!!!)

However, some of the prisoners who got locked up were an extreme response — the first example will be our favorite Terror Twins returning together, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker! Sideswipe was arrested for going SLIGHTLY too fast in a residential area, and Sunstreaker was arrested for putting up graffiti on too many walls. For the two of them (as well as any other prisoner whose crime doesn't ACTUALLY warrant being locked up indefinitely), Chase will instead issue them a very basic community service based on their specific skillset.

You know what this results in? More background bots! A reason to bring them back in a later episode without them being Problem of the Week: 2!

Now, let's talk about Steeljaw again... Unlike in canon, where he was introduced fairly early on and Strongarm immediately saw through his ploy of "I'm one of the GOOD guys who was on the Alchemor :)" — he's going to be introduced later on (probably still in season 1, but closer to the halfway point if not later), and will be specifically introduced after several OTHER Decepticons who actually were wrongly imprisoned! That way, we can have a version of events where Strongarm actually believes him and willingly brings him into the base.

When in the base, Steeljaw will find a way to incapacitate the Rescue Bots, and when he goes to free his imprisoned Decepticon cohorts, he finds some of them out and about on the base. Believing them to be like him, he tries to enlist them to help him free the imprisoned Decepticons and crush the Autobots...

So imagine his surprise when they reply with "Are you KIDDING? Chase gave me FIFTEEN HOURS of community service and then I can go do WHATEVER I WANT so long as I don't break the law!"

And then they kick him out and help Chase and the others recover from Steeljaw's attack, because they appreciate Chase treating them like actual bots instead of criminals :]

And when some of these Bots finish their community service... They decide to stick around. Earth is nice! They can get JOBS here! A lot of them think Chase is a cool guy! (The first (and possible only) one to say this will be met with Chase asking them to call his old teammates and repeat what they just said. This Will stop anyone else from calling Chase cool to his face)

[rotworld]

do you by chance have like a spreadsheet for all of the known packs/meanwolves? Also, is it alright for me to assume that you're alright with us writing fanfic for the meanwolves? I adore Flint (shyboys with feral streaks get me right in the heart) and want to write something for him/his pack but I'm not quite sure how the pack subgroups/hierarchy works moving down the line from van ╯︿╰

 i’m going to make one in a bit and i’ll add it to the navigation page. yes, i’m 100% ok with fanfic for any of my work! i’ll include a roster and explanation in the reference post but i’ll also clarify hoarfrost falls here, since i’ve gotten a lot of questions about this.

vanagandr’s territory is really, really big, and as his pack has grown, he’s started delegating leadership to some degree. the territory is divided into regions and each region is ruled by a “regional alpha.” they still answer to the pack alpha (hence why vanagndr gets called “the alpha’s alpha” in relation to these regional alphas) but they’re the immediate authority within that region. each region’s hierarchy follows standard pack hierarchy, so these regional alphas will also have their own regional betas. regional alphas are all of roughly equal standing to one another, but those presiding over larger regions are often considered higher on the hierarchy since more is expected of them. being older and making good decisions that improve conditions within a sub-pack also earns more deference. vanagandr himself also governs a region directly which is referred to as "the heartland." this can be considered equivalent to a country's capital city.

flint’s immediate/regional alpha is druian. i haven’t developed much about druian’s region or sub-pack at this point, aside from this also being corbin’s sub-pack. you can probably put druian right below vanagandr in terms of alpha hierarchy, since that’s the only relevant sub-pack lol. flint himself is currently at a fairly low rank since he’s new and in the middle of his apprenticeship, but he’ll have a much higher one after he becomes a shepherd. apprenticing as a shepherd means he’s a bit more “mobile” than usual, traveling between regions and sub-packs to learn as much as he can.

[lionsword]

It's the name he spots in the class roster that raises a curious brow, but merely that—curiosity. Roy was a fairly common name for young men, one that certainly had no relation to his nation's honored Emblem.

...Or so he told himself.

He could hardly believe his eyes just a few hours later, faced with a class of students eager to learn, and a number of familiar faces among them.

It was him, in the flesh. In the actual flesh. No floating, no particles of light, no glassy blue eyes—in his class sat a very tangible, very human Roy. (And there is Marth, as well... what in Dragons' name was going on?)

Diamant thankfully manages to mask his confusion until the class ends, and as the students begin to file out of the training hall, he stops the redheaded young man.

"Please, hold a moment! Roy... was it?" There are so many questions running through the Brodian's head, a whirlwind of emotions swelling in his chest. But above all, there is joy.

Relief, at seeing his old friend well... even if he was not quite the same. "...I just wanted to say that your form with a sword is impeccable... you must have had an excellent teacher."

The recent swell of new arrivals to Garreg Mach had been difficult to keep up with, and Roy didn’t quite know everyone’s names. He also didn’t think there was much reason for him to be at the center of anyone’s attention. He attended class like anyone else, quiet and studious during lectures.

When someone called out to him after class, Roy wondered if it was about more imposter nonsense. Whatever it is, there’s only a 30% chance I actually did it, but I can hopefully fix it and the damage to my family’s reputation—

But the expression on the stranger’s face gave him pause.

It was something… special.

He’d never spoken to him before, he was sure, but Roy’s heart skipped a beat at the genuine look in his eyes, the words carrying more with them than Roy could make sense of.

“—do we know each other?” No, he was sure they didn’t, but Roy wanted to. Very much. He got the impression his classmate would make a strong sparring partner, a reliable companion.

“Yes, I’m Roy.” Adjusting a few books in his arms, Roy held out his hand for a handshake, a smile on his face. “It’s good to meet you. I’m sorry I can’t recall where you might’ve seen my swordsmanship, but I had an excellent teacher indeed— she even teaches here, in fact. I owe any skill I have to those who support me.”

Supported, loved, nurtured, trusted— he had been given more than his fair share.

“There have been many.”

[anthonysstupiddailyblog]

Anthony's Stupid Daily Blog (729): Sat 16th Mar 2024

On my lunch break I listened to Frankie Boyle on the most recent episode of Off Menu and fuck me the guy still makes me laugh. At one point Ed Gamble said that he'd had a relatively small cake at his wedding and that Frankie wouldn't have had a good time and Frankie shot back "That's one reason yes" It's remarkable to me that he's even quicker and sharper than he was during his Mock The Week days where he was required to keep writing and honing material on a weekly basis but I suppose he must still write all the time only now it's not as constrictive as he doesn't have to write jokes on a certain subject like "Things you wouldn't want to hear in a movie trailer". When I got home I rewatched Wrestlemania 19 which contains possibly the greatest match in WrestleMania history: Shawn Michaels vs Chris Jericho. I think this is the match that made Vince McMahon realise that Jericho was the guy to go to if he needed someone to get a good match out of anyone else on the roster. It also made Shawn Michaels realise that in the four years he'd been away there was a whole new generation of wrestlers who'd been influenced by him who were now killing it in the ring and he was going to have to raise his game if he had any chance of keeping up with them which he certainly did. Even though I'm sure at the time I would have been livid that the older star was booked to beat Jericho clean it would pay off five years later when Jericho and Michaels would reignite their feud only this time after Jericho had adopted his new No Country For Old Men inspired character and this time Jericho would emerge victorious. I've tried a few times to watch every WWE pay per view since it's on my bucket list but I've always run out of steam fairly early into it. I think I may have found the remedy though. On a certain day off every week I'll dedicate it to going over a list of WWE pay per views from a single year and then watching all the matches I suspect might be good so that I'm not stuck watching the shite. In fact I may dedicate a different day off to a different form of entertainment. On Tuesdays I'll watch TV all day, Wednesdays will be movies and on Thursdays I'll try to watch as many matches from a single year of WWE all day.

[wildernessuntothemselves]

You Are My Queen Now | Part 3

Word Count: 9.3k

Genre: Smut, angst

Summary: Growing up as a child of a minor lord, you had it instilled in you since a young age that you needed to find yourself a rich and affluent husband that would not only provide a comfortable life for you, but would also help further your family’s position in the court. So it was of the utmost importance that you remain a virgin in order to land such a coveted husband.

The problem lies when the man you secretly love, Prince Beomgyu, suddenly and unabashedly propositions you.

Warnings: This a Yandere!beomgyu fic and will contain future noncon so if that is not something you’re comfortable with please avoid reading altogether. This particular chapter includes: cunnilingus, anal, switch!beomgyu, switch!reader, controlling and possessive beomgyu.

_____________________________

After finishing breakfast, you regrettably follow princess Wonyoung to her room along with the other ladies to see what she needs your urgent help with, only to find out she wants you to arrange her wardrobe. You must’ve been here for hours already, listening to her go on and on about which of her dresses have gone out of style and what new designs she’d like to have.

“Can’t we continue this tomorrow? It’s getting pretty late.” You interject, looking out the window to see the sun setting on the horizon. You’ve already had your lunch in the room because the princess insisted that it’s absolutely vital that you do not stop working.

“No, I told you we have to do this. I’m the princess and I can’t be seen with these old things.” She says, twisting her mouth in a frown as she looks at a dress she’s holding.

You fidget with the one in your own hands. “Can I excuse myself then? Just for a bit.”

“But I need you here.” She whines.

“Can’t the other ladies help you?” You look around at the full roster of ladies pointedly. Surely, you won’t be missed if you take your leave.

“But I need your opinion. I’m loving all these new dresses you’ve gotten and I want you to help me talk to the royal tailor to get a whole new wardrobe like that for me.” At her words, some of the other ladies throw you those familiar loaded looks, and you find yourself pulling the dress you’re holding closer to cover up the one you’re wearing–one of Beomgyu’s many “gifts”.

“And I’d love to help you, princess, but I just need a little break. We’ve been going at this since morning.”

“And what about it? Do you have somewhere to be?” She asks, not unkindly, but it prompts one of the ladies to speak up. “Yeah, why do you want to leave so badly?”

You regard her coolly. “I just want to stretch my legs.” 

Another lady snorts. “You mean you want to go meet up with a certain lord.” 

You scowl. “Yeah, so? He asked me.” 

“Ladies, ladies, please.” Princess Wonyoung intervenes, shooting the other women a reproachful look before she turns to you. “Come here, I want to talk to you.” 

She takes you to the side and speaks to you in a hushed voice so as not to be overheard. “Do you want to be dismissed to go meet up with lord Taehyun?” 

You chew on your lip, pondering whether you should tell her the truth. You’re an unknown lady coming from an insignificant family, and even though you’re fairly close to the princess and she’s always been very kind to you, you’re not near as close to her as you are to Beomgyu and you don’t know if she’ll take it as an offense if you leave her to go spend time with lord Taehyun. 

Oh, fuck it.

“Yes.” You admit. 

She sighs sympathetically and holds onto your arms, “You need to stay away from him. You’ve heard the rumors about him, haven't you?” 

“Yes, but those are just rumors. He doesn’t seem like that.” You try to justify, but she’s having none of it. “You’ve only seen him for an hour, you don’t know what he’s like. Even I was warned about it by my father. We have to deal with him as the royal family because he’s an important ally and we can’t afford to lose his support but you don’t owe him anything.” 

“I’m not seeing him because I owe him anything. I just want to see what he’s like for myself.” You explain, “What is he even going to do to me inside the palace?” 

“I’m just worried about you–” At that moment, you hear a knock at the door and the princess huffs and tells the person to come in. 

“Oh, thank god you’re here.” The princess says to her brother who has just stepped into the room. “I need you to talk some sense into her.” 

“I’ll handle it.” He answers readily without her even needing to explain to him what you were talking about. 

He grabs your arm and pulls you out of the room without a word. You’re a bit annoyed that he’s so discourteously dragging you behind him along the halls, but at least you’re out of the princess’s chambers and heading to your own from the looks of it. 

Once you’re inside, Beomgyu turns on you. “I don’t want you talking to lord Taehyun.” 

You cross your arms over your chest. “I’ll do what I damn well please.” 

“Don’t be a brat about this, I’m serious. He’s–”

"Evil, I know." You complete his sentence, rolling your eyes, but Beomgyu doesn’t find it amusing.  "You think this is a joke?"

You falter at the incredulous look on his face, feeling silly and letting your arms fall to your sides. "No.” 

“He’s a ruthless man. I can’t bear the thought of him laying a single finger on you.” 

"What if he's not the monster you all think he is?" You try to argue. “He seems… nice.” 

Beomgyu laughs humorlessly. "You’re so fucking naive. He calls you beautiful a few times and suddenly he’s a poor misunderstood man?" 

You bristle at his words and tone. He’s talking to you like you’re a stupid child. 

"Alright then tell me, oh wise prince, what has he actually done to warrant all this fear?”

“He has killed people.” He shouts. 

“He has killed criminals!” You try to justify. Yes, you’ve heard he’s quite strict when it comes to enacting justice but that just makes him a fair lord, doesn’t it? 

“Why are you defending him so much?” 

You look to the ground. “I think he likes me.”

“This is exactly why I have to protect you.” Beomgyu sneers, “You’re so stupid, you fell for his obvious act.” 

“I don't want your protection, Beomgyu.” You shout, feeling the hot burn of humiliation lapping at your skin from his words. “What would he even gain from misleading me? I’m nothing, no one! And if he's as ruthless as you think he is, wouldn’t that just mean he'll protect me better than anyone else?"

“He would gain pissing me off.” He grits, "That man killed his own father. You think he'll protect you?" He spits at you. 

"Those are just rumors. And why the hell would he want to piss you off? Why would me being with him even piss you off?" You exclaim, your confused eyes imploring him to make sense of any of this.

But he doesn’t. He just stands there and glares at you like you’ve committed an unforgivable crime against him that you were none the wiser to.

This conversation was going nowhere. “Look, I need to see this through. No man has ever expressed interest in me. What if he’s the one for me? I thought you of all people would be happy for me.” 

“Not with him.” 

“Well, that’s too bad because I’ll see him whether you like it or not.” 

"No, you won't." 

“What are you going to do about it?” You challenge, facing his full wrath as he stands there, jaw clenched and staring you down. 

But then a guard knocks on the door to tell Beomgyu that his father is looking for him. 

“I’m coming.” He throws his head to yell back before giving you one last look that you don’t shy away from. 

You don’t realize how much that defiance took out of you until the door slams behind him and you find yourself collapsing down to the bed, heart hammering against your chest. You hate upsetting Beomgyu like this but this might be your only chance at a good marriage. Lord Taehyun can’t be as bad as they say he is, can he?

You can’t fully fall into that whirlpool of doubt because you suddenly hear the very distinct sound of rattling keys outside your bedroom door. You spring to your feet automatically, launching yourself towards the door but before your body slams against it, you hear the click as the key turns into the lock. 

Pounding your fists against the heavy wooden door, you scream, “What the fuck are you doing? Let me out!” 

“This is for your own good.” You hear Beomgyu’s strained voice say through the door. 

"No. No. No!” You wail over and over again as you fists smack against the door. “Beomgyu, you fucking asshole. I will kill you." You know it's not wise to threaten a royal so openly, but you really, really feel like you could kill him right now.

He doesn’t seem to be fazed by it though. “I’m sorry, princess. I’ll be back for you after I finish the meeting with my father.” 

“No, please, let me out, please!” You cry out, feeling the opportunity at the honorable life that you’ve coveted for so long slip right through your bruised fingers. 

____________________

Long after your tears of frustration and loss have dried, you’re still left wondering whether your death would be swift or slow if you go ahead and kill the prince. 

You’re pulled from your vengeful musings when you hear an unusual sound coming from your balcony. Your ears perk up as you try to make sense of it. Is it perhaps some nocturnal bird messing around? You almost conclude that it must be just that when you hear a thud that is definitely too loud to be caused by a bird.

You freeze on your bed for a second, wondering if you should stay put. But then you realize that you’ve left your balcony doors open and whoever is outside can easily gain access to your chambers.

With fear coiling around your stomach, you reach out to grab the nearest object, which happens to be a candlestick. ‘Not bad for a makeshift weapon’, you think as you slowly approach the balcony, but the person on the other side beats you to it, hands reaching in through the curtain to grab you and slam you against the wall adjacent to the balcony door, making you drop the candlestick in shock. 

Despite the rush of dizziness that overwhelms you, you open your mouth to scream for help, but the stranger is yet again quicker than you, clamping their hand down on your mouth before you even so much as let out a squeak. 

“Hey, hey, calm down. It’s just me.” The person says, their gentle voice sounding familiar, easing your horror a bit, and you blink away the spots in your vision to be met with the large, striking eyes of lord Taehyun. 

What? 

“I’m sorry for ambushing you like this, my lady, but this seems to be the only way I could get to see you. I hope you’ll forgive me.” He says, looking at you expectantly like he’s waiting for you to say something, but you just stare at him blankly. 

“My lady?” He asks, and you mumble something behind his hand. Eyes widening, he realizes that he’s still covering your mouth and he lets it go and steps back. “I’m so sorry.” 

“It’s okay.” You croak, voice a bit hoarse from the shock so you clear it out. “This is just so… unexpected.”

He scratches the back of his head sheepishly. “I know and I tried sending for you like a normal person but they told me you were feeling sick. So I tried to visit to give you my well wishes but the guards outside refused to let me even speak to you.”

"So you decided to climb through my balcony?" You ask, not meaning to be rude but it was a very strange turn of events. 

He blushes. “It was all just very suspicious. I mean, you were fine just this morning but they want me to think you’ve suddenly become so ill you can’t even talk?” He rambles on as he tries to explain himself, ears red and for the first time since you’ve seen him, he looks his age–not like a powerful lord known for his savageness but a young man that climbed a balcony to see a lady he’s interested in. 

"I almost knocked the guards out to get to you but I thought it wouldn't be the best look to assault the palace guards when I'm staying here as a guest. Besides, I don't even have the key anyway so I would’ve had to knock the door down too and that would’ve definitely grabbed the attention of whoever didn’t want me to see you.” He says it all in one breath and finishes with a big gulp of air and a shake of his head. “I’m sorry. This was a stupid idea.” 

“It’s okay, my lord.” You bite your lip, trying to contain your grin so he wouldn’t think you’re making fun of him. “But you did smash my head pretty hard against that wall.” You grimace, lightly touching the back of your head. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” He gasps, rushing to get behind you and check if you’re injured. “I’m such an idiot.” 

He gently parts your hair to check to see if there is any wound there, all while mumbling about how careless and stupid he’s been. 

“It’s really okay.” You grab his hand and pull them away from your head. “I’m glad you came to see me.” 

“I’m glad I came to see you too.” He says, looking at you with such depth that you break off eye contact and look down to see your hands still intertwined. 

“Oh, sorry.” You drop his hands and turn around, looking for something to occupy yourself with so you won’t melt into a puddle in front of him. Luckily, you spot the wine in the corner of the room and head for it. 

“Would you like a drink, my lord?” 

“Yes, please.” He answers politely. 

When you’re done fixing the drink, you turn around to give one to him and jump when you see he’s been watching you. You hand him the drink shyly and he takes it gracefully. 

“So how did you wind up getting locked in your room?” He asks, tone for intents and purposes seeming light but you sense an edge to it. 

You swing your drink back to take a big gulp of it before answering nervously. “It’s Beomgyu.” 

“He locked you in here?” Lord Taehyun scowls, a hint of fury blazing in his eyes and you’re sorely reminded that no, he’s not just a young boy, he is the dangerous man everyone thinks he is. After all, he so easily snuck into your room and immobilized you without any of the guards outside noticing. “Does he do that a lot?”

“No, no, it’s not like that.” You rush to clarify. “This is the first time he’s ever done anything like that. He just… thinks you’re bad for me.” 

“And why is that?” 

You shrug, fiddling with the drink in your hands, and answer in a small voice. “It’s just… there are rumors about you.” 

“And what do those rumors say?” He steps close to you and you feel compelled to look up at him as if he’s hypnotizing you. 

“That you’re cruel…” 

“I see.” Taehyun noted, and once again you rush to explain. “I’m sure he didn’t mean any harm. He just really worries about me.” 

“I understand. I’m well aware of the rumors surrounding me and I don’t really care, but I would be remiss if the lady is scared of me because of them.” He cocks his head to the side, contemplating before speaking out. “I suppose a lot would think me cruel, but I think I’m a just man who cares about my people and would do anything to do the right thing. Does a thief not deserve to be punished for his crimes? Does a killer not deserve the same treatment as his victim?” 

“That’s what I said!” You pipe up excitedly but then calm down when he gives you an endearing smile. “But there is also talk about your father and how….” 

“I killed him?” He supplies, and you cut in. “I don’t mean to offend–”

“I didn’t kill him.” He says calmly but firmly. “Me and him weren’t on the best of terms but he made me the man I am today and I would never commit such a heinous crime as patricide against him.” 

“I’m so sorry, my lord. You must be cross with me now.” You duck your head down in guilt. 

Lord Taehyun props your chin up with his finger, making you look up at him to see him wearing the kindest smile. “I’m not mad. You have the right to feel safe with the person courting you.” 

You gape. “I–you–you’re courting me?” 

He laughs, the sound light and airy and so refreshing. “You think I just have a habit of jumping on lady’s balconies?” 

“Of course not!” You reply, face flaming. “It’s just, you’re such a respectable lord and I’m, well, you know how small my family is.” 

“That doesn’t matter to me, if it doesn’t matter to you.” He brings the back of your hand to his lips and presses a chaste kiss to it. “Will you let me get to know you?” 

“Of course.” You breathe, and for a moment you both stand there staring at each other with your hand inside his bigger one, his thumb brushing over the back of it soothingly. But then you add sadly, “But if we leave they’ll know that you’ve snuck into my room and that would be a scandal.” 

“I would never do anything to tarnish the lady’s reputation.” He concedes and you pout, feeling defeated once again. “So I guess we’ll just have to stay here for now.” 

“Oh.” You blush. Stay in your bedroom with a strange man? That would be unseemly. But then again you’ve allowed the prince to ruin your body at his whim. What is a mere chat compared to that? “I suppose.” 

“I’ll be perfectly gentlemanly, I promise.” 

You smile confidently. “I believe you.” 

____________________

You sit down together on the couch near the fireplace, sipping on your wine and basking in the warmth of the crackling fire. It’s all so domestic. You can already imagine a lifetime of this and your heart aches for it.

“I’m sorry I can’t be more hospitable, my lord.” 

“Don’t be silly. I’m the one who is sorry for being so discourteous as to sneak into your room.” He laughs and you do too, hiding your blush behind your glass. “I’m still glad you did.” 

He pins you with a sweet smile before he starts, “So tell me about yourself.” 

“Oh, there is not much to tell.” You take a sip of the drink in your hand, feeling nervous to be discussing your modest upbringing with such an important man. “I’m from a small family as you know. My father is a minor lord and he owns a small perfume business, but he was able to secure me a place here as the princess’s lady in waiting and so here I am.” You finish hurriedly.

“So you basically grew up inside the walls of the palace. What was that like?” He asks, and he seems to be so genuinely interested that you can’t deny him the silly details.

“It’s not as fun as you’d think, but Beomgyu made it better.” You laugh remembering all the strict rules you had to follow as part of the princess’s ladies in waiting, but you also remember how Beomgyu broke all those rules and made your life a lot more interesting. “He would always do something crazy and entirely forbidden that would shake the whole castle up. It was very entertaining.” 

“You’ve been close to the prince for a long time, right?” 

“Yeah, he was always very kind and friendly to me. You know, coming from a small family, not everyone accepted me being here, but he never batted an eye at it. I suppose he was just happy to have a partner in crime even if I was too much of a coward to ever help him carry out his plans.” 

“But you were his lookout.” He supplies and you gasp. “What?”

“You’d stand outside and watch to see if anyone was coming while he set up his little pranks.” 

You gape like a fish at him. “How do you know that?” No one ever knew about that. 

“Your prince played one of those pranks on my father while we were visiting the castle one time and I saw you outside the room being the lookout for him.” He explains, “I even approached you and you got so nervous you basically told me to fuck off.” 

You gasp, remembering now. 

“I didn’t make the connection when I saw you this morning but I’ve never had anyone curse at me before, let alone a lady, so I remember it quite clearly.” 

“I’m so sorry, my lord.” You start, but then you realize something, “But if you knew what we were doing, why didn’t you stop us?” 

He shrugs, “I wanted to see what would happen. Besides, my old man had yelled at me that morning so I figured he got what was coming to him.” 

You cover your shocked laugh, “Wow, I never would’ve expected that from you.” 

“Why not?” 

“Well, you just look so…serious.”

He puts his hand to his chest. “Are you calling me a bore?”

“No. Stop it.” You unconsciously reach out to smack his chest but he grabs your hand in the air and you realize your mistake. This is not Beomgyu. 

“I’m so sorry, my lord.” You try to take your hand back but he grabs it with his other hand and holds it to his chest as he smiles at you. “Stop apologizing. I want you to be comfortable around me. And please, just call me Taehyun.” He kisses the back of your hand before letting it go. 

You blush, dropping your hand to your lap. “Alright, T-Taehyun.” You grab your drink again and take a big gulp. “So what about you? I’ve heard so much about you.” 

He grins. “What have you heard? Other than that I'm a ruthless, savage man.” 

“I heard you’re a great ruler and a fierce fighter.” You say honestly, “That you go into battle right alongside your men.” 

“I do. It’s what my father taught me. He always said that you can’t expect to inspire much confidence in your troops if you order them to their death from behind a castle wall.” 

“That is so admirable.” You swoon, “Beomgyu has always wanted to do that too, but I think he looks to it more as a path to glory and heroism than anything else. But of course his father absolutely forbids it.” 

Taehyun looks at you in contemplation. “Forgive me if my question is too forward, but is there something going on between you and the prince?” 

Your stomach drops and now more than ever, you regret whatever it is you’re doing with Beomgyu because it means you have to lie to Taehyun right now and you’re not sure if those shrewd eyes of his would miss something like that.  

"No, we just really care about each other.” You lie earnestly, hoping he’d believe you. “As I told you before, we’ve been friends for years now and I guess he’s always felt like he has to protect me."

“Is that all?” He presses as if he already knows the answer. “Because that’s not what I've been hearing.” 

“What have you been hearing?” Your mouth goes dry. Did people know about you and Beomgyu’s secret relationship? 

“To put it bluntly, I’ve been discouraged from approaching you because I’ve been told that you belong to the prince.” He says, “And I hear I’m not the only one who was told such a thing.” 

“What?” You pale. "That’s absurd."

“Is it? How does a beautiful lady like you not have any suitors?” He asks, "And you’ve seen the way he’s acting. He wouldn’t even let me see you."

"I–" You pause. Yes, he was very insistent on you not meeting Taehyun, but he was just worried about you, right? 

“I’m sorry. I seem to have upset you.” 

“No. it’s fine.” You try to gather your racing thoughts and coalesce them into something resembling a rational opinion. Whatever the truth to this claim is, you’ll have to think about it when you’re alone. “They’re just stupid rumors. You of all people must be used to that.” 

“I’m sure you’re right.” He allows but you don’t believe him. Hell, you’re not sure you believe yourself. “Let’s talk about something else. You’ve mentioned that you wanted to learn archery?” 

You perk up. “Yeah. I know it’s not the most ladylike activity but why should the men have all the fun. I want to shoot things too.” You say with a pout and he barks out a laugh. “If you’d come back with me to my land, I could line up the servants and have you shoot at them.” 

You look at him in horror and he keeps a straight face for a second too long before chuckles nervously. “It’s just a joke, because the rumors about me being cruel and all.” He explains, once again blushing, and you smile, more at him being cute than the failed joke.  

“You have a stunning smile.” He says, leaning closer to you. “I know I said I’d be a gentleman but I really want to kiss you right now.” 

“That’s okay.” You lean into him too. “I really want you to kiss me too.” 

His lips press against yours, slow and deliberate, confident in a way that makes you feel at ease. You place your hands over his chest. He feels hot to the touch and firm under your fingers. He keeps his own hands to himself, not taking any more than you’re giving him. 

It feels so good that you feel undeserving, and find yourself pulling, but you keep your forehead pressed against his. 

“What’s wrong?” He asks lowly. 

You fumble with his shirt in your hands, not looking at him. “Why me?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Are you just playing with me?” You ask and he wraps his fingers in your hair and pulls your head back to look at you. “What makes you say that?” 

“It’s just, you’re this rich and affluent lord and I’m the least notable out of all the ladies here. What do you even see in me?” 

‘Also Beomgyu seems to think you’re just doing this to piss him off.’ Your mind offers, but you keep it to yourself. There is already tension enough between the two men. You don’t need to ignite it more.

“I’d be lying if I said you didn’t at first catch my eye because you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. There is a reason the prince keeps you hidden.” He murmurs and your breath catches in your throat. The most beautiful woman he has ever seen? Surely, that can’t be true.

“But it’s also because you intrigue me.” He continues, “I pride myself on being a good judge of character and I see a lot of potential in you. A fire that just needs to be fed and I want to be the one to do that.”

You don’t know what to say. No one has ever looked at you like this before. Everyone just brushed you aside because your family doesn’t hold any power and therefore your opinion was never important. Even Beomgyu, even though he has always been so kind to you and taken care of you. He has always treated you like something to be protected rather than try to help you face everything yourself. 

You lean in to kiss Taehyun again, but you’re interrupted by the sound of keys rattling as someone tries to unlock the door. You shoot up, looking between Taehyun and the door. That must be Beomgyu. He can’t see Taehyun here. You want to yell at Taehyun to go but it’s already too late. 

The door opens and Beomgyu steps in, the sorrow and guilt he’s wearing only staying there for a split second before he catches sight of Taehyun and his expression quickly switches to unbridled fury. He immediately stops in his tracks, jerking his head to the side to mutter something to someone behind him before he steps in and closes the door. 

“Beomgyu, I–” Whatever you had to say, Beomgyu wasn’t interested in hearing it for he marches over to you, grabbing you by the arm and yanking you behind him. 

"What are you doing here?" He growls at Taehyun. 

"I came to visit the lady." Taehyun’s relaxed demeanor seemingly never changes but you can see the tension around the edge of his mouth.

"Beomgyu, relax–" 

He turns on you. "How long has he been here? Did he do anything to you?" 

“No, we just talked!” You snap, trying to yank your hand back from him but his grip is bruising.

“How did he get in?” 

“That’s none of your business.” 

“You are my business.” He shouts and Taehyun gets up, “Let her go. You’re hurting her.” 

“Fuck you.” 

You’ve never seen Beomgyu this aggressive before, and Taehyun was looking quite on edge himself. You knew you had to be the one to de-escalate this situation before it exploded. 

“Get a grip, Beomgyu.” You hiss lowly at him then turn to Taehyun with an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, Taehyun. I need to talk to Beomgyu privately.” 

He looks between the two of you with uncertainty, clearly worried especially with the punishing way Beomgyu is still holding your wrist. 

“It’s okay, I promise.” You try to ease his worries and he sighs. 

“If you wish so, my lady.” 

“Thank you.” You look at him gratefully. 

Beomgyu glares daggers at his back as he leaves, and when he does, Beomgyu unleashes his wrath onto you. "You call him Taehyun now?"

You gawk at him. “Seriously? This is what you want to talk about?” 

“You’re right.” He says, “Why don’t you tell me how the hell he got in and what did you two do while I was in a fucking meeting like an idiot.” 

You don’t tell him how he got in, not wanting Taehyun to get in trouble for sneaking in, though Beomgyu can probably figure it out himself. You just focus on what you did. “We did nothing. I told you we just talked.” You tell him a little white lie. He doesn’t need to know about the kiss. 

“Why would you even look at him when I told you what a monster he is?” 

“Because he’s not! Those are all just stupid rumors. He told me so himself.” 

“Oh, he told you? Then it must be true.” He exclaims sarcastically. 

“Why do you care so much? I’m the one who has something to lose if he really is like that.” 

“Becuase I fucking care about you!"

You roll your eyes. "Or maybe it’s because you're pissed off that a man managed to get to me despite everything you’ve done to prevent that."

That stops him in his tracks and his grip loosens around you a bit. A flurry of emotions passes over his face. "What?"

“Taehyun told me about how you’re stopping men from approaching me.” 

He barks out a laugh. “And you believe him, of course.”

“Why not? Look at how you’re acting now just because I talked to him.”

His jaw clenches, “That’s because he’s a bad man and I’m worried about you.” 

“Then how come I never had any man try to court me before?” 

He scoffs. “How should I know?” 

“Do you think I’m ugly?” Your question must’ve hit him out of left field because his grip finally loosens around you enough to have you able to completely separate yourself from his hold. 

“Of course not. You’re beautiful.” He professes, and you swallow down the emotion threatening to choke you at hearing him say that for the first time.  

“So how does it make sense that no man has ever wanted to be with me? If you think I’m beautiful and Taehyun thinks I’m beautiful then how come all this time no man has ever approached me? Either I’m so hideous that no one would ever want me or you’re behind all of this.” You advance on him, poking an accusatory finger against his chest.  

It doesn’t have the desired effect of intimidating him, for he envelops your entire hand in his and looks at you with such intensity you think you’ll burst into flames. "Because no one is good enough for you."

“So you admit it.” You confront him weakly.

“Yes.” He pushes your hand to the side and steps even closer until you’re chest to chest with him and he has his hands on your waist, his nose brushing against yours. 

You’re so flustered and confused by his admission and his heat-fluttering closeness that your voice comes out small and shaky. “Beomgyu, I understand you’re protective of me but this crosses the line. You prohibiting men from approaching me and locking me in my room when one does is insanity. You can’t do that.” 

“I can.” He says, cupping your cheek lovingly. You’re about to argue with him when he speaks again. “I love you. I’m in love with you.” 

“What?” You hesitate, the world spinning around you and you’re glad he’s holding you or you would’ve surely fallen to the ground. 

“I have been in love with you since we were children and it fucking kills me that I’m promised to someone else because if I wasn’t, we would’ve been together a long time ago. I didn’t fucking choose any of this. I can’t say no to the marriage but I also can’t let go of you. You’re the love of my life!” Everything gushes out of his mouth at once as if it was behind a dam that has finally crumbled. “So no, I can’t let you go.”

“I love you, baby.” He looks you in the eyes, waiting for you to say something but you’ve gone completely mute. 

Beomgyu loves you? He’s loved you all this time? All this time you’ve spent pining after him and feeling like you’ll never be worth his time, he’s loved you back? 

You thought you’d be happy hearing that, and maybe a few weeks ago you would have but now after knowing he’s the reason you’re alone and insecure, and that he used that to get you to be intimate with him just enrages you.

“Baby, say something please.” He begs, looking wretched. 

“What do you want me to say–that I love you too?” You grab his hands and remove them from your face. “That you had me feeling so bad about myself that I never thought you’d give me the time of day when all this time it was because you were sabotaging me? That you happily let me believe that no man would ever want me so much so that my only option was to provide you with sexual services? That you love me so much, you treat me like a whore instead of marrying me?"

"I would marry you in a heartbeat but you know I can’t. My life is not my own." 

"Then let me be." You beg.

“I can’t.” He shakes his head, “But I can take care of you all your life, provide you with anything you could ever want. Isn’t that what you want? The reason you’re hanging out with that murderer?" 

"Yes, I want it but not as your whore.” You exclaim, “What would people say? I'd bring shame to my family. It would ruin them."

"All royals have concubines."

“Oh wow, what an honor!” You laugh in disbelief. “And what if I want a baby, huh? What if I want a family? What will you do then?” 

"I can give you a baby." His eyes darken and he once again crowds your space. 

"A bastard you mean." You say, stepping back from his ravenous look.

"They'd live better than most people. Better than a child with that fucker will ever live."

"What would any of that mean if they will have to live in shame, not acknowledged by their own father?” You shout, “I don’t want to live as someone’s secret, Beomgyu. I deserve more than that.” 

"Then what do you want me to do?” He shouts back, despairing. “How can I keep you?"

"I’m not something to be kept.” You sneer. You feel like you want to pull your hair out. You can’t believe you’re trying so hard to reject the love of your life. The fates sure are cruel. 

“Baby, don’t do this to me.” His voice cracks. “I can’t live without you.” 

Your heart squeezes at the tears gathering in his eyes but you force yourself not to give in. “You’ll learn to.”

"No. I refuse to accept that." The tears fall down his face and you start tearing up too. You never thought that this would happen. In all the times you’ve imagined Beomgyu confessing to you, this was never an option. 

“I’m sorry.” Despite everything he’s done, your heart still aches for him, for you, and you wrap your arms around him to comfort him. 

He sobs into your hair and you feel the misery slowly drown you. Why does the world have to be so unfair? 

But then you feel his lips on your neck and your mind buzzes. “Beomgyu, stop.” You let out sadly, weakly pushing against him. 

“Just one last time.” He pulls back to nuzzle your nose and give you short pecks. “Let me say goodbye.”

A goodbye? That seems fair, right? You’d never again get to kiss him, to touch him, to have him, so why not let yourself indulge in it one last time? To say goodbye to the love you’ve held so deeply in your heart for so long?

“Okay.” 

That’s all he needs to dive in, kissing you deeply and as hungrily as ever, his longing never dampening and now you understand why. He’s so different from Taehyun’s gentle coercion and you wonder how you never noticed that he loves you before. He kisses you so eagerly, pushing his tongue in your mouth and swallowing the little whimpers that escape you as if kissing you was more important than breathing air. 

It’s so easy to get frenzied with Beomgyu by your side. You don’t know if it’s because you’re so helplessly in love with him or if his hunger is rubbing off on you but soon enough you start whining into the kiss. He picks up on it, leaving your swollen lips to kiss down your neck just as eagerly and you’re left to grasp onto his shirt so as not to fall down from the dizzying heat. 

It doesn't help when his hands stray to grab at your body, cupping and caressing every inch he can reach, making you press yourself against him to try to find some relief. You don’t even notice it until he pulls back to look at you and dips his hand between your legs. 

“Fuck.” You whisper, your fingers digging into him and his eyes take on a whole new level of dark lust. 

“Feeling needy, princess?” He grunts gravely, and you don’t have it in you to contest the nickname anymore so you just nod pathetically. 

“I want to make you feel good.” He brushes his lips against yours sweetly while his hand rubs against your pussy. “Please. Just let me taste you for once.” 

You want to cry because of how weak you are. You shouldn’t be letting him do any of these things to you. You should be mad at him beyond forgiveness. He has messed your life up for his own selfish reasons, but can you really blame him when his motivation was a love as tragic as you hold for him? You’re blinded by your feelings towards him, and all you can see in front of you is the boy you’re in love with begging you to let him make you feel good one last time, and like the idiot you are, you can’t refuse. 

Wordlessly, you walk back towards the bed, with him hot on your heels. He doesn’t let you stray an inch away from him for even a second, following every step of yours with one of his until you fall back on the bed. He stands over your splayed form like a beast ready to devour his prey. 

And he does, leaning over you to trail his hands up under your dress to your underwear, grabbing the sides of it and pulling it down your legs until it’s free. To your mortification, he spreads it between his two hands, staring at the wet spot in the middle. 

“So wet.” He groans and you whine, falling down on your back and covering your eyes with your arm. 

But he won’t let you hide. He grabs your arm and removes it. “No. Look at me.” 

And you do. You look at him as he kneels on the floor in front of you and grabs your legs, propping them up so that your feet are planted on the bed as he slowly pulls your skirt up, exposing your skin inch by inch. You hold your breath the closer he gets to uncovering your pussy. 

“Fuck.” He breathes once your pussy is bare for him. The way he’s staring so intensely has you wanting to bring your legs together but his grip on your thighs is strong and unyielding. 

“Beomgyu.” You whisper, wanting him to stop staring at your pussy. But you regret it when his eyes flick up to yours. There is so much hunger in his eyes you’re afraid it’s gonna devour you. Keeping eye contact, he lowers his face down and licks a slow stripe between your pussylips. 

You whimper, your legs tensing under his hands. 

“Perfect.” He whispers, his breath tickling your pussy. “I’ve wanted this for so long.” 

His tongue does a lazy swirl around your hole, no doubt feeling it twitch in need. And before you even have the time to get used to that sensation, he puts his whole mouth on you.

His lips suck on your pussy and his tongue teases your hole, lapping up wetness that comes out, but you’re so aroused that his chin quickly becomes slick with it. He doesn’t seem to mind, losing himself in your pussy. 

Your mind goes blank. He could do anything to you and you wouldn’t care at this point, just as long as he doesn’t stop. God, your fingers could never compare to this. You’re sure he’s not the most skilled at this but you’re so touch-deprived and love-struck that anything he does is enough to have your toes curling, and his wet eager tongue has you lying there spread-legged and pliant for him as you let your moans ring free, encouraging him even more to the point he he lets his own moans vibrate against your pussy. 

“Beomgyu, Beomgyu,” You chant, your hand reaching down to grab onto his hair and push him even closer to you which he gladly does, nestling his nose against you. It brushes against your clit and you scream, a sudden sharp electric pleasure shooting through your body. 

Like a predator, Beomgyu quickly catches onto that and he moves his head up to lap at your clit, wiggling his tongue back and forth across it while his lips suck on the inside of your pussy and before you know it, you’re seeing white. Your legs clamp around his head as your whole body shudders but he doesn’t let up, continuing to lap up every drop of your release until you beg him to stop, too overstimulated to handle anymore. 

“I can’t—I can’t–Beomgyu, please…” You plead hoarsely and he finally stops, lifting his wet face from between your legs, his tongue still out as if he’s contemplating licking you more, a pool of saliva and slick coating it. “Please, no more.” 

He pulls his tongue in and swallows before licking his lips of any more release, and you close your eyes, unable to handle the lewd look of the prince between your legs. 

You’re lying there, catching your breath with your eyes closed when you feel him flip you over onto your stomach. He parts your legs again, and one of his hands rubs at your pussy. 

“Beomgyu, I just came.” You complain. “No more.” 

You think he wants to make you cum again but then he brings his fingers up to rub around your asshole, wet from having played with your pussy.

"What are you doing?" You ask shakily.

"Let me fuck you." He grunts, pushing the tip of one of his fingers inside your ass. 

"Beomgyu…" You protest but don't move, letting him ease his finger slowly inside you. 

He dips it in until the first knuckle then he pulls it out and goes back to collect more of your slick, rubbing it around your asshole then dipping in more, all while his other hand plays with your pussy to keep you relaxed and aroused. It all gets maddening very soon and before he’s even pushed the first finger in fully, you find yourself pushing back against him and taking his it in to the hilt. 

“Bad girl.” He chastises, taking his hand off your pussy and slapping your ass which only makes you clench around his finger. “Oh, you like that?” He slaps your ass again and you whine. “Beomgyu.” 

“Be patient. I don’t want to hurt you.” He mutters, taking his finger out and collecting more of your wetness. This time, after he’s done teasing you from outside, he presses two fingers in. It’s much harder to take in the two, the stretch a bit painful and you whine, trying to get away. But he hooks his other arm around your waist to keep you in place. 

“Be good and take it.” He orders in a deep, gruff voice that has you quivering and surrendering to him.

You bite the sheets beneath you and your fingers bunch in them as he works your asshole open, still going slowly and gently, and this time you appreciate it. Slowly but surely, you relax, the slide of his fingers going in and out easier, and before long, your mouth lets go of the sheets to let out little gasps of pleasure. 

That’s when he stops and takes his fingers out. 

“Why?” You cry, but shut up once he shuffles behind you and you hear him taking his dick out. You sneak a glance back and shudder at the size. Beomgyu’s fingers were big but his dick is even bigger and you’re afraid you won’t be able to take it. 

“Relax.” He coos, stroking his dick along your pussy, getting it wet and making you shudder. 

Once it’s wet enough, he scoops even more of the wetness over the head of his dick, trailing it up, and for a split second, you wonder if he's going to push his dick inside your pussy. 

But luckily, and a tiny bit disappointingly, he enters your ass instead.

"Oh." You groan, the feeling strange and a bit uncomfortable. 

He leans over you, kissing your shoulder and whispering little encouragements to you as he inches his way in. 

“You can take it, princess.” He soothes, “You’re made for me.” 

That makes you flutter around him and you try to relax, accepting him in slowly. When he’s balls deep inside you, he stops for a moment to let you get used to it. 

“How is it, princess?” He purrs against your ear, “How does my cock feel up your pretty ass?” 

“So full.” You whimper, “You’re so big.” 

He groans at that and rocks his hips forward a bit, which you figure was involuntarily since he whispers a breathless apology for it and stills once again. 

“No, keep going.” You strain, swiveling your hips back. “Slowly, darling.” 

He grunts at the pet name and rocks his hips lightly, only pulling back the tiniest bit before pushing back in to fill you up. 

“You feel so good, Beomgyu, filling me up just right.” You mewl, equal parts to encourage him and equal parts truthful. “You’re such a good boy.” 

“Oh, baby.” He almost collapses over you. “I’ve wanted to be inside you for so long, been fantasizing about it for years.” 

“Oh, yeah? All this time you’ve been thinking dirty thoughts about me while I thought you were just looking out for me?” You crane your head to look back at him. “What a bad prince.”

“I’m sorry.” He cries on your shoulder, his hips picking up the pace. “I just love you so much and I couldn’t help myself.”  

“I know, puppy.” You moan, raising your ass up to entice him more. “Take me like you’ve always wanted.” 

“Oh god.” He leans up to grab your ass, pulling his dick back almost all the way before slamming it back in. You’re still a little sore but dear god does it feel amazing. 

“Fuck, Beomgyu!” 

He’s even more of a mess than you are, quickly dissolving into an erratic, eager mess once he starts fucking you. "Fuck, you're perfect. My perfect princess." Beomgyu babbles, getting overwhelmed by the feeling of your tight heat surrounding him, and you have to work to keep him in the moment. 

“Good boy.” You encourage, fueling him. “Filling me up so good.” 

“I love you so much.” He effuses, mouthing against your neck sloppily. “Do you love me too?” 

“I do.” You sigh, being completely truthful. There is no point in lying when it’s the last time. 

“Say it. Please say it.” He begs, and you feel his warm tears hitting your skin, burning you up.

“I love you, Beomgyu.” You shout, and as soon as you say it, he becomes a new level of desperation, his hips hammering against you so hard it makes you dizzy. The only problem is that the more he pushes his fat cock into your ass, the more empty your pussy feels. It flutters around nothing and you gulp down every plea asking him to just fuck your pussy. You’ve never wanted to get properly fucked more than you do now. So you just settle for, “Please, play with my pussy, puppy.” 

One of his hands sneak around your body to play with your clit. “Again. Say it again.” 

“I love you. I love you. I love you.” 

He can’t handle it for long, falling off the edge as you proclaim your love for him. He slams his hips against you in a last thrust, his dick convulsing inside you and flushing you with warmth, but he never stops rubbing your clit. “There you go, princess. Take it all.”

He says as if he’s claiming you and just for that you cum, panting and squealing. It’s the most intense feeling you’ve ever felt in your life and when it passes, you collapse boneless to the bed, sticky and sweaty, taking Beomgyu along with you. 

He lies on top of you for a while, his tears turning to sniffles as he kisses the same spot on your neck over and over again. You want to reassure him that everything will be okay, but you know that would be a lie, and it might make him cry harder so you just sit under him and let the sadness soak you.

Eventually he quiets down and you feel his dick slip out of your ass and press down between your cheeks and against your pussy, his warm cum leaking along with it and, fuck, it makes your pussy twitch. For a fleeting moment, you almost want to forget about everything and tell him to shove his dick inside you. 

But then he flops to the side, taking his weight off you and allowing rational thought to seep back in. And along with it a million panicked thoughts wondering if anyone might've heard you or if anyone knows about you. 

So when Beomgyu wraps his arms around you and snuggles close to you, you bluster, “You should go before anyone notices anything.” 

His face falls hard and he looks like a kicked puppy. “We just fucked. Can’t I stay for a bit?” 

You look away from him, knowing you’re far too weak to handle his despondent look head on. “I don’t want anyone to notice and for it to get back to Taehyun.” 

“You’re still on that?” He asks irritably, and you push him away, grabbing the cover to conceal your body from him and get some semblance of dignity. “Have you changed your mind in the last half an hour and decided to marry me?” You ask sarcastically, “Yes, I’m still on that.” 

He’s cryptically quiet for a bit, thinking to himself while he wipes the remainder of his tears off with his palm. Then he asks, “Do you want me to give up my position?”

“What?”

“If I step down as a prince, the marriage will be null and we can be together.”

“You can’t do t-that.” You stammer. 

“Why not?” He grabs your arms and looks at you somberly. “There is nothing I want more in the world than to be with you and if I have to give up my title in order to do that then I will.” 

You get off the bed, trailing the cover along with you as you pace around. “But your family would disown you.” 

“I know and that’s going to hurt.” He gets off the bed too and stands in front of you to stop your pacing. “But it’s nothing compared to losing you.” 

You chew on your lip. “I can’t let you do that.”

“Why not?”

You twist out of his grip and turn your back to him. “I told you. I need a man to provide for me and–”

You can feel his mood shift even if you can’t see it and his bitter laugh rings loud and clearl. “And if I give up my title then I’d be useless to you.” 

You spin around on your heel. “Don’t say that.”

“It’s the truth, isn’t it? You don’t love me. You love my money.” He states incredulously.

You step forward and grab his face, making him look you dead in the eyes. “I love you, Beomgyu. Don’t you dare say I don’t. But I can’t give up my stability for you. I need to finally have security. I need both that and love and I can’t get that from you. But I might have a chance with Taehyun.”

Something dark crosses over his face before he schools it back into stone. “I see.”

“Please, don’t hate me.” You try to touch him but for the first time ever, he stops you. “I should go. Don’t need Taehyun to get the wrong idea.” 

“Beomgyu–” You start but he’s already marching towards the door, flinging it open and slamming it shut behind him.

For the second time tonight, you find yourself collapsing onto the bed crying because of Beomgyu. You’re too mentall and physically exhausted to even try to change out of the dress you’re wearing, the tears staining it along with the sheets as you allow yourself to finally let it sink in that you rejected Beomgyu. 

___________________

By the time you wake up the next morning, Taehyun had already left for his city. 

That understandably leaves you quite anxious but you try not to let it get you down. You’ll just have to send him a letter and figure things out from there. 

___________________ 

A/N:  hope you enjoyed this large-ish chapter as the updates will be slower from now on as I have some serious studying to do. But anyway let me know what you think, and also what kind of lover would you want taehyun to be? 

Hard dom/soft dom/ soft sub/hard sub? I’m leaning towards soft sub but I’d like to hear your opinion. And what do you make of the relationships between our trio so far?

Btw next chapter is the noncon scene so prepare yourselves

[stygianfields]

Diversity in Gaming and Cultural Melding, or "Why does that Aussie character have a Maori skin?"

I'm not too sure where to post this essay as it encompasses a lot of different games and diversity, I eventually decided on here. I want to preface that I'm half Australian and half Pakeha (NZ European). I don't claim to know the ins and outs of Maori culture, but I do have experience first hand as a New Zealand born.. New Zealander, and have lived in the country my whole life, so I still wanted to voice my perspective.

We've moved more and more from the older gaming trends of 'straight white guy saves impoverished people/country from shady group/tyrant' in recent years for modern gaming. A lot of fps games that had a scowling man on front cover walking/holding gun have changed tone and bucked the older ways to try and be more diverse and open for people, which can either be viewed cynically ('they just do it for more money') or as a genuine effort for change and growth. I'm honestly not here to debate either side of that as both arguments have merit, though I will say that I prefer the expanded range of characters regardless of original intention. This also isn't a post about the companies behind the games and the things they've done or still do, this is just a discussion on characters in the games.

Games having a diverse roster, be that culturally or even from various alien or fantasy races, inherently make a game a more enjoyable experience for me and many other people. If they're crafting in a fun and respectful way as well then that improves that factor even more. A suite of playable characters in a game needs those characters to behave differently from each other in order to keep things fresh and not allow things to feel the same with just a minor voiceline change and nothing else.

There's a reason why games such as Apex and Overwatch characters are much more loved and respected by their communities than the majority of playable characters in Call of Duty. Yes, all 3 of these games have different models, backstory and voicelines from the others in the game, but Apex and Overwatch cultivate a much greater personality to their characters which is showcased through animations, voicelines with more character and dedicated media outside of the game to expand on the lore and backstory of the characters.

Which is, unfortunately, where I need to put in the 'but'; due to a variety of factors, my culture is constantly mistakenly combined with another, or ignored entirely.

I come from New Zealand, a small country in the lower right hand side of the world, under Australia. To some, my country not showing up in media often may not even be a surprise. It's a fairly decently known meme that it never even shows up on maps in film and tv. A lot of people know us either from the director Taika Waititi or the Lord of the Rings movies. In recent times we've definitely made strides to be seen more in media but there still seems to be a mix of cultures that happens to people unaware of the differences. I don't claim to be an expert on my or any other bit of culture, but at least putting out some information and my viewpoint as born and raised Kiwi (NZer) may hopefully help at least one person better understand, which will make all this writing worth it.

I'll be talking specifically about 3 games and 6 characters in total; Maui in Smite, Mad Maggie in Apex Legends and Junkrat, Junker Queen and Roadhog in Overwatch.

Maui is the new character being added to Smite very soon, the second Polynesian god to be put in to the game. Maui is an incredibly important figure in many mythologies around the islands in the Pacific, but the decision was made to focus on his Hawaiian interpretation. I personally have little issue with this because I know and respect how prominent he is to various cultures. In mythology, he founded my country by fishing up the South Island and his boat was made the North Island.

This is actually shown in the game in his abilities with him pulling up an island as an ultimate ability. I love this, honestly. I'm a bit disappointed that they don't have more ties to Maori culture but they even specified in the dev notes on creating him that they wanted to shift mostly on to Hawaiian folklore instead of Maori. I more than understand that and I'm honestly just happy that the rich mythology is getting more coverage in media.

I adore Mad Maggie. She's legitimately the first full on Kiwi in a major game that I know of, alongside having strong Maori characteristics. She has a distinct accent and tone accurate to the role (she's literally voiced by a Maori woman), she has a skin inspired by Maori culture including tribal tattoos *and* she actually speaks Maori in game via voicelines. That's why it's so upsetting to me that people were mostly dreading her release due to an event in Apex she took part in.

For those unaware, Maggie has a history with the character Fuse, a man with a very strong Australian influence. Maggie featured in an event before she released, trying to chase him down and essentially making a bonus game mode. Unfortunately, she suffered from some of what other characters like Newcastle and Vantage did in that she repeated voicelines several times. This lead to a lot of people mocking her voicelines and openly exclaiming that they didn't want her in the game due to just 3 or 4 voicelines from a single event. Thankfully since release this has died down, but it did still temper my excitement due to how rude people were about her. I still love her though and probably always will.

Finally we have Overwatch, one of the first big games that really tried to push for an incredibly diverse roster that I can think of. I'm not fully invested in the deeper factors of the story but I do know that Australia was nearly destroyed during the Omnic Crisis and this caused a liberation group to be formed, a group of scavengers to pop up and the like. During this however, New Zealand is barely even mentioned, if at all in the lore.

Junkrat is probably the most overtly Australian (aside Junker Queen). He has a strong accent and says some common Australian slang. Roadhog is.. a bit more concerning.

Roadhog has several strong connections to New Zealand and New Zealand culture. His real first name is Mako, a shark that while admittedly seen in many locations around the world, is well known for being in Polynesian waters, including a common appearance in New Zealand. His voice is muffled by a mask so you can't hear his accent, but a few of his voicelines are more commonly heard in New Zealand than Australia. 'Sweet as' is a very well known Kiwi phrase and 'I'm beached as bro' is a reference to a viral youtube video making fun of Kiwi accents.

The strongest connection however is his 'Toa' skin. A Toa is a Polynesian warrior, or in Maori is used to mean being bold, experienced and capable. This in tandem with the skin itself having an obvious Maori influence with (an attempt at) tribal tattoos, Huia feathers and a mask with the tongue out to echo the end of a Haka (a dance to celebrate achievements or sometimes as a method of intimidation of an opponent) makes it pretty obvious they wanted him to be a New Zealander.

But he's Australian.

Mako is never mentioned being a Kiwi, his story begins with him being displaced due to a peace accord in Australia. In fact, aside from a leaked map datamine early in release, New Zealand is never mentioned at all, anywhere. With Roadhog being enraged at the treatment him and his people received to the point he joins a liberation movement, you would expect him to be a lot more proud and open about his heritage, yet he gets a couple of New Zealand sounding voicelines and an obviously Maori warrior inspired skin and he's still labelled Australian.

This has been a painful sticking point for me since I first played Overwatch several years ago, honestly. Overwatch released in 2016 and was the first character in a large game with a Kiwi influence. It took a 6 year wait to get Mad Maggie this year to get a much more genuine feeling character and it frustrates me. At best this feels like Blizzard accidentally mixed some cultures together but at worst the skin feels like an Australian man cosplaying as a New Zealand person and it honestly leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth even now.

To be honest I wouldn't make as much of a big deal out of this if it wasn't for Junker Queen, one of the newest characters in the game. JQ is a very obvious Australian, with another thick accent and very Australian voicelines ('get moving you drongos' etc). It honestly breaks down in to two problems: Overwatch having yet another Australian and allegations of being Mad Maggie 2.

The first part is fairly minor for a gripe as they also just brought in a third Japanese character; Overwatch now has 3 Australians yet no Kiwis. I find it frustrating that the only Australian with some NZ links is called Aussie and they just give us a third Aussie. It makes me disappointed because they always tout how diverse and vibrant they are, but they relegate New Zealand to some voice lines and a skin but give Australia 3 characters.

The next is about the gaming community as a whole, wherein Mad Maggie and JQ have been compared to each other several times by many people. I feel a decent amount of this is because they sound *somewhat* similar, however I won't say that I don't find it kind of harmful when New Zealand has always been underrepresented in media. In my opinion, JQ has a bit of what's known as a 'bogan' accent. It's typically used to describe an 'uncultured person' which can either be a pejorative or a term of endearment, but I feel it fits as she has a notable twang and is quite obviously a bit more blunt personality wise. In comparison I'd say Mad Maggie just has a fairly common New Zealand accent, with some of the similar bluntness (though dialed up to 11 just like JQ).

I'm not a linguist and may be inaccurate in terms of region specific accents. Saying this however, I've noticed a lot of people claiming they're basically the same character. I can see parts of this argument but as a New Zealander I still have to express it makes me sad that they get conflated together in a similar way to Roadhog and his Maori inspired cosmetic, especially when Maggie is very strongly inspired directly by New Zealand and our culture.

This ended up being a lot longer than I intended. I suppose it's been stewing in my mind for years, ever since I played Overwatch and found that Toa skin. I would honestly love to see New Zealand featured more and more in games as we have a diverse array of people and a rich history but it seems like very slow progress. I expressly remember when I was interested in Rainbow Six: Siege I made a New Zealand operator called Katipo, named after one of only 3 dangerous spiders in our country. I posted this fan creation online, excited to just share a *tiny* bit of my country and the response from other fans was literally "they'll do Australia well before this". It shattered me, because it was true.

Australia is big, they're much more well known. That doesn't mean that other, smaller countries don't deserve some attention and it *certainly* shouldn't result in smaller countries having their culture subsumed into an Australian character via a single skin and a couple of lines of dialogue. Maybe part of it is that Australia and New Zealand have always had a partial rivalry and respect for each other that makes it hit different, I'm not sure.

What I do know is that I love gaming. I loved it since I was a child, I've been a gamer for nearly two decades now. I love that more cultures are being shown and embraced. It's time for more Kiwi representation. I want others to learn about my culture, I want to learn more about my culture that I don't know. I felt so much pride seeing Mad Maggie release and I want to feel that again.

People really don't understand how impactful diversity can be until you experience your own culture being shown in a game for the first time.

[thehollowprince]

Omega-Level Mutants

A mutant whose dominant power is deemed to register - or reach - an undefinable upper limit of that power's specific classification.

Example: Both Magneto and Forge are rhe most powerful mutants of their respective types [Magnetism and Technopathy, respectively], but what makes Magneto, and not Forge, an Omega level mutant is that the upper limit of Forge's measurable powers could hypothetically be surpassed (and, in fact, has by multiple humans on the planet), while the upper limit of Magneto's power cannot be surpassed in any measurable fashion.

Note: Omega level is a classification of a single mutant power. While it's quite common that mutants manifest multiple powers, only one is normally Omega level.

Example: While Jean Grey is both a telepath and a telekinetic, she is only an Omega level telepath.

Omega Level Mutants of Krakoa

Jamie Braddock - MONARCH

Bobby Drake - ICEMAN

Joshua Foley - ELIXIR

Jean Grey - MARVEL GIRL

David Haller - LEGION

Erik Lehnsherr - MAGNETO

Kevin MacTaggert - PROTEUS

Absalon Mercator - MISTER M

Ororo Munroe - STORM

Bennet du Paris - EXODUS

Quentin Quire - KID OMEGA

Franklin Richards - POWERHOUSE (fuck you, Dan Slott!)

Gabriel Summers - VULCAN

Hope Summers - HOPE

All information taken from this data page.

Note: Nathaniel Grey is technically an Omega level mutant, but we're not entirely sure what happened with him since AGE OF X-MAN so we're going to exclude him from the above list.

I put all that first so that we'd all have an understanding of what an Omega level mutant is, and why I think it's time to expand that roster. Yes, they've added quite a few when it comes to the various new mutants we've gotten from Arakko and Amenth, but I feel it's time that we recognize some of the home-grown homo superior from planet Earth as deserving of that title.

#1: Madelyne Pryor

This should be the most obvious addition to the list.

Maddie is an exact physical clone of Jean Grey. Why she has never been considered an Omega level mutant is beyond me, but we're going to start putting respect on her name, especially after all the horrible things she's been through since her creation.

Justice for Maddie!

#2. Everett Thomas - SYNCH

Synch is another fairly obvious one, especially given his power boost since his time in the Vault. He can "synchronize" with other mutants (and super-powered individuals) and use their powers, often to a greater extent and efficiency than the original being. He's even shown being able to call upon powers he's previously synched with even when the owner of those powers is nowhere near.

Example: he used Jean's telekinesis when she was on Arakko [Mars] and he was on Earth.

#3. Christopher Muse - TRIAGE

His powers are almost exactly the same as Elixir, even up to reanimating the dead. With time, I could easily see him rising to the rank of Omega level, even being able to fill in as a replacement for Josh on the Five.

Of course, that would require for writers to remember he exists and actually write for him, which I'm not going to hold my breath for any time soon.

#4. Armando Muñoz - DARWIN

Darwin's power is literally to adapt to anything.

He went up against Hela, the Norse goddess of death... and won. He won! He beat a death god by spontaneously evolving into a death god himself.

He's an Omega level mutant. Fight me.

#5. Shiro Yoshida - SUNFIRE

Sunfire I debated on adding to this, because he's powerful, sure, but is he Storm or Iceman level powerful? Originally I would have said no, but after the KING IN BLACK crossover event for S.W.O.R.D., where Fabian Cortez boosted his powers to effectively make him a living sun, I've since reconsidered.

#6. Eva Bell - TEMPUS

Tempus can time travel. She can manipulate time to the extent that she completely erased an Omega level reality warper from existence. Sure, she did it with help from Xavier, but without her, all of reality probably would have fallen apart.

With some time (ironically) and training, she should be recognized as Omega level soon.

#7. Eden Fesi - MANIFOLD

Manifold is another no-brainer for me.

Abigail Brand described his powers as "talking to space and space listening" (paraphrasing). He could potentially use his power to "ask" all light to bend around him, and it would listen. He teleported light and heat from a sun at a Knull-possessed Cable. He caught a falling Peak S.W.O.R.D station out of the sky and sent it back into orbit.

There is no "teleporter" even close to being on his level.

#8. Nezhno Abidemi - GENTLE

Gentle is one of the ones I feel I'd get the most pushback on, but let's be real here. His strength was so profound that he required vibranium tattoos to keep his strength in check. Yes, this was later revealed/retconned to have been a psychological block he unconsciously imposed on himself because of his childhood abuse, but now that it's gone, he has no known limits.

It's been theorized (but not proven) that he could go toe-to-toe with the Hulk and more than likely come out on top in the end.

#9. Irene Adler - DESTINY

Destiny - the name says it all. She sees everything! Past? Present? Future? There is no where that her Sight doesn't reach. Hell, she can even see across timeliness!

Not to mention, she operates more as a Prophet than a seer, seeing as the things she writes down in her Diaries, have all come to pass. She doesn't just see the future, she writes it.

#10. Julio Richter - RICTOR

Last but not least, my boy Rictor.

To round out our elemental masters, why wouldn't the guy who controls the Earth itself be considered an Omega level mutant. He literally controls the Earth. And sure, he's had problems in the past, but if he continues on the path that he's on, he could be one of the most powerful mutants ever.

Honorable Mentions

Lorna Dane - POLARIS

Ruth Aldine - BLINDFOLD

Heather Tucker - TEMPO

Feel free to add more.

[lightandwinged]

School pictures for 2022-2023!

I am thrilled that Sammy decided to go for the laser background. Didn’t even hesitate, as soon as he saw it was an option, he flat out told me, “I’m getting the lasers,” and that did my 90s kid heart good. His came later in the year because he was actually sick on the original picture day, but I love it.

With the twins, you can 100% tell that I bought their picture day outfits before we all sat down and chose backgrounds. Isaac wanted New York City because he is obsessed with Spider-Man, so he needed to be in front of “mine New York City,” and I accept this. Carrie chose pink flower blossoms because that is just how she do. I’m wholly pleased with their portraits and adding them to the roster of “look at my kids growing up.”

Also spring boarding off of this to talk briefly about school and sick days this year.

It’s all basically a lose-lose-lose-lose-lose situation.

If you’ve been watching the news, you’ve probably read about how kids are just all sick all the time this year and ending up in the hospital with RSV and pneumonia and the flu and Covid. Thankfully, we haven’t gotten any thing that particularly bad yet (I blame that Isaac got RSV every year until 2020 so we just know what to do immediately to keep it from settling in his lungs), but it’s a bit like Sammy’s first year at daycare with how often everyone is getting sick. The twins specifically--because their unmasked exposure to other kids has been very limited, they’re just getting every germ imaginable in a never ending cycle of boogers and coughs.

And on the one hand, yes, keep them home if they have any sort of congestion or cough, but this year, it’s to the point where doing that would mean basically pulling them out of school for the entire fall. We’ve been sending them with masks when their coughs get particularly severe, and even then, we have yet to experience a week this year where one kid wasn’t home sick several days. This week, it’s Carrie’s turn, at least partly because our kids tend to throw up when they get boogery and that’s where she is right now.

(well. Where she is right now is sleeping, which is how I know she’s feeling cruddy; she’ll be downstairs later, I’m sure, to revel in finally getting to watch TV without either of her brothers demanding that their show be the one everyone watches, which means today will be a solid 4-5 hours of Gabby’s Dollhouse)

And! And apparently a lot of parents have been dealing with calls from truant officers threatening CPS calls if they keep their kids home anymore, which is like... what? But all of these absences are apparently flagging families and nobody is going to get a doctor’s note for the cold that goes ‘round and ‘round, so parents end up sending their sick kids to school (I don’t mean just sniffly, I mean genuinely super sick), then those sick kids get sent home by the nurse but not before they’ve coughed or sneezed or touched things and gotten other kids sick.

There is legitimately no winning this year. If we all mask up, that’s awesome, but then eventually, masks do come off, and lmao at the idea of getting a healthy portion of the population to comply with mask mandates again (can you fucking imagine the bullshit drama that would cause?). Keeping kids home when they’re sick is also a great idea, but it means that kids are literally missing half the school year and then parents are getting threatened with CPS because their kids are missing school. It’s all an absolute fucking disaster.

You know what probably would have helped things? Improving school ventilation systems. You know what didn’t happen? Improving school ventilation systems.

Ugh. And I feel fairly confident that this is just for a year because it reminds me so much of Sammy’s first year of daycare, where he was sick literally all the time and had an ear infection every three weeks and I got in so much trouble at work over it, so I’m hopeful that next year won’t be like this, but UGH in the meantime.

[joezworld]

Traintober Day 24

Today's prompt is: Non Stop

Buckle Up Everyone - This is a long one.

Non Stop

Stephen Hatt hadn’t been kidding when he said that with the addition of Osprey, the NWR now had a locomotive surplus. Thomas had been returned to service, meaning that Tornado could now work on the main line. Of course, while there may have been a shortage on the branch, the main line had no such issues, and both engines found themselves reduced to less important work like “thunderbird” duties and yard shunting.

Neither engine minded this arrangement - work was work, after all, and it was better than doing nothing - but there was some pushback from their drivers, as both engines were not only borrowed, but also very valuable, meaning that only senior main line crews were allowed to operate them.

Siobhan, who was now the senior locomotive driver for the NWR, but had worked her way up from the bottom of the railway’s hierarchy since the 1980’s, had no objection to this, and soon made fast friends with both engines. However, the rest of the Tidmouth-based crews allocated to the two had different opinions...

“Do you really want to cause a fuss over this?” Roy, the railway’s scheduler, was a no-nonsense Mancunian who had come to Sodor after finding Network Rail too disorganized. “Because this will reflect badly on you.”

“All I want is something better than yard work!” Whined Craig, Osprey’s chosen driver for the day. He’d worked for the NWR for many years, and had forgotten how lucky he was to be able to drive steam engines every day and get paid for it. “I’ve got an A4! Mallard and all that! And I get yard work? C’mon man, gimme something here!”

“Osprey.” Roy said over his spectacles. “Not Mallard.” He made a few very deliberate clicks on his computer. “But if you insist on barging into my office and making a fuss like a child, I suppose you can take 6B11 - it’ll make James’ day if nothing else.”

Craig smiled like a cat that caught the canary, and once the office printer had spat out the updated train orders, he left in a very self-satisfied manner.

Roy rolled his eyes and went back to his work, but within a few minutes his desk phone rang.

“Hello? Speaking. I see. Will this interfere with - oh his driver is ill? Well I hope it’s nothing serious.” He made a few clicks, un-assigning the engine from their next train. “Ah, well, there’s nothing that can be done about that. Yes, I’m already assigning a replac- oh, Osprey was asked for specifically? Well, I do apologize, but she has already left for her next assignment, however I do see that 98863 is available for that run. Yes. Splendid. Consider it done. Good-bye.”

He hung up the phone, and allowed a rare smile to cross his face. He could see into the yard from his office window. Considering that his fireman was still polishing the A4, Craig was most likely still harassing the staff canteen for a cup of coffee. Tornado could be seen by the coaling stage, and already the assistant stationmaster could be seen bounding across the tracks, ready to bring them news of their new assignment.

What a shame, Roy thought to himself as he updated the roster. From what I understand, Tornado is fairly adept with wagons.

NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY TOPS ACCESS PORTAL V25.1.2.6

© 2002 SUDRIC COMPUTATIONAL SERVICES LTD

* * * * * * * * * * *

LOCOMOTIVE ASSIGNMENTS PORTAL - TIDMOUTH YARD

USER: RMOON03@NWR.CO.UK

ASSIGN 98863 TO 3B04 ? Y/N [Y]

98863 ASSIGNED 3B04 - SPEED RESTRICTION CHANGE - MAX SPEED ALLOWED: 140 MPH

RECENT LOCOMOTIVE ALLOCATION CHANGES:

46040 - ASSIGNED 0C01 BIF->CVN | 08:54 18/05/2015

46040 - ASSIGNED 5R01 CVN->RCL | 08:58 18/05/2015

101900 - ASSIGNED 2F14 KFD->FFQ | 09:00 18/05/2015

370001 - ASSIGNED 2P34 PGD->KDN | 09:03 18/05/2015

98106 - ASSIGNED 7K03 FFQ->KPH | 09:11 18/05/2015

98105 - UN-ASSIGNED 6B11 TID->BIF | 09:57 18/05/2015

98809 - UN-ASSIGNED 0T00 TID->TID | 09:57 18/05/2015

98809 - ASSIGNED 6B11 TID->BIF | 09:58 18/05/2015

35102 - UN-ASSIGNED 3B02 TID->BIF* | 10:05 18/05/2015

*TRAIN SPEED RESTRICTION CHANGE: 35102 MAX SPEED 90 MPH. NO LOCOMOTIVE ASSIGNED. SPEED RESTRICTION: NULL

98863 - UN-ASSIGNED 1Z99 NUL->NUL | 10:06 18/05/2015

98105 - ASSIGNED 1Z99 NUL->NUL | 10:06 18/05/2015

98863 - ASSIGNED 3B02 TID->BIF* | 10:07 18/05/2015

*TRAIN SPEED RESTRICTION CHANGE: 98863 NO SPEED RESTRICTION. LINE SPEED LIMIT 140 MPH. SPEED RESTRICTION: 140 MPH

Ah well, I suppose she’ll have to console herself with the Fast Mail. Maybe next time, Craig.

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

Osprey

Osprey rolled her eyes as she rolled into the docks. Her driver was seemingly more eager for this run than she was, but it would be nice to stretch her wheels. The sidings at the docks were not full - it was low tide, and many of the bigger container ships and bulk freighters were waiting in open water.

A little red six-coupled diesel shunter was organizing a line of flatbeds under a crane, and stopped what he was doing as she was driven in. “Well knock me over with a feather!” He exclaimed in a strong Hampshire accent. “Whomever did you piss off to have someone like yerself come down here?”

“Ah, just button it!” Craig leaned his head out of the cab. “We’ve got the 6B11, on the quick!”

“I see,” Said the shunter sympathetically. “Hello, Craig! I’ll have your punishment brought around in just a tic.”

Arthur the fireman roared with laughter at this, and Craig turned a bright red. “You see here you little urchin…!”

But the diesel had already vanished behind a line of containers, leaving Craig fuming, Arthur using his shovel to hold himself up, and Osprey more and more bemused.

“You certainly know how to make friends and influence engines…” She remarked quietly.

She hadn’t meant for it to be loud enough to be heard, but evidently Arthur had good ears, and the fireman’s laughter redoubled while Craig tried and failed to “win” the argument.

The two were at the point of menacing each other with coal shovels when the little diesel struggled back into view, a line of rather large aggregate hoppers towering over his small frame. “Y’know, if I was you,” He said to Osprey directly. “I’d find a way to pay Craig out for this - they’re vicious today!”

“Oh, little Salty…” The lead hopper practically oozed cruel satisfaction. “You say such polite things about us! Tell me how you really feel!”

“Go bump yerself Hector…” The diesel growled at the hoppers as he was uncoupled, and scuttled away without another word to anyone. Osprey felt sorry for the next set of trucks that annoyed him.

Speaking of annoying trucks, the lead hopper looked over at her in a most unpleasant fashion. “Now, look at what we have ‘ere. What sort of cheese wedge are you?”

“I’m-”

“Looks like Cheddar to me! Is that what ye are? A nice hunk of cheddar?”

“My name is-”

“Oh! How’s about that Swiss cheese? Gruyere?”

“I am-”

At this point the other trucks had begun naming cheeses and laughing. Somewhere between “edam”, “camembert”, and “can we get a real engine please?” she lost patience with them.

“ALL RIGHT!” She bellowed, shooting steam every which way. “My name is Osprey! And I am going to take you jokers all the way to Barrow whether you like it or not!”

This did not have the intended effect. “Oooh! She’s a hot one! Best make sure she don’t melt!”

“I’d say she already has - lookit her, she’s all droopy!” This from another truck.

“Yer right. Must be Raclette then.”

Osprey said nothing as she was turned around on the yard’s wye. She was fuming, and had she said anything at that moment, she’d have sounded much more like Gordon or Mallard than she’d have liked to!

Craig meanwhile thought it was all a great lark, and relished in his apparent “victory” over both engine and fireman. This lasted until he tried to move the reverser into the reverse position, and found it stuck fast. Grunting, he yanked on it a bit harder, with the same result. Once, Twice, Three more times he yanked on it, but still Osprey refused to move the lever.

“C’mon…” he grunted. “Stupid thing… stupid engine… ”

Arthur, realizing the lunacy in calling an engine stupid whilst standing on their footplate, took a measured step back. Craig continued to pull, putting more and more of his strength into it until…

CLANG! WOOSH! “OW!” Osprey “let go” of the reverser, and put as much steam as she could behind the valve. It shot into the full reverse position, at which point Craig, who had been trying to pull the lever towards himself, now was hit in the forehead by it as it sprang back. It was such a hit that he saw stars as Osprey began to reverse out of the wye.

Arthur almost fell out of the cab, he was laughing so hard, and Osprey allowed herself a vicious grin as she backed down onto the still-mocking hoppers.

Make cheese puns all you like, I’ve been doing this since before you were a glint in your designer’s eye. She growled to herself. I survived the Blitz and Modernization, some garbage bins on wheels aren’t going to get the best of one of Gresley’s finest…

--

They made it as far as Gordon’s Hill. The journey there was a slow and arduous one, dogged by slow orders, red signals, and sticking brakes up and down the train. They'd been shunted aside for faster trains twice before passing Knapford. Osprey tried to bump the trucks into submission, but they were more than willing to bump her back, and that fight had ended when Arthur was almost thrown from the footplate by all the banging.

Seeing as they hadn’t managed to break 30 miles per hour the entire time, Craig stopped the train at Wellsworth and asked the signalman for a banker pre-emptively. In turn, the signalman informed him that if they dawdled, they'd likely miss their signal path to the mainland. This worsened everyone's mood significantly, and BoCo (who had banking duty today) was not looking forward to the long slog up the hill.

BoCo was right. Even with the diesel pushing from behind with all his might, the train was still too slow, and Osprey was eventually dragged to a seething, steaming halt halfway up the hill.

"Awww, poor little Raclette," Mocked Hector. "Worried you're gonna start melting?"

Osprey growled, a sound that was more metallic than organic, and started off again. BoCo wasn't at all ready for this, however, and when the slack pulled out he was left exactly where he was while the train surged ahead a few dozen feet, before grinding to a halt again.

The trucks howled with laughter at this, while Arthur watched Osprey's boiler pressure shoot up by a worrying amount. "Down girl!" He cried. "This lot isn't worth it!"

Hissing unprintable epithets under her breath, Osprey whistled to BoCo, and when he responded in kind, they set off again.

This time it seemed like they had a chance, so quite naturally Hector and his friends slipped their brakes on, dragging the train to yet another standstill with a screech that came from both their brake shoes and their engine.

"Maybe we need to go down and cut the train-" Craig suggested.

"No!" Barked Osprey, sending a gout of smoke and steam into the air. "Let's go again!"

"We can't-"

"We will!"

"Arthur..." Craig said plaintively. "Tell her."

"Hello, I don't think we've met before." Arthur looked at him as though he were an idiot. "I fire Gresleys on a regular basis. In what world is she going to agree to that?"

Unaware of the discussion going on at the front, BoCo chose this moment to speak up. "Osprey? What's our plan?"

"Melt! That's what the little cheese wedge is gonna do!" Hector crowed.

Osprey bumped the train viciously, but just as quickly was bumped back by the hoppers. This jolt was harder than the others had been, and actually shoved the A4 forward a few inches, her wheels screeching along the rails.

"Okay." She said quietly, more to herself than anything. "No more Miss Nice Engine. BOCO! HIT ME!"

"What?!"

"YOU HEARD ME! BASH THE TRAIN! HARD AS YOU CAN!" A determined look came across her face as her boiler pressure skyrocketed to the upper limit of what was safe. "I fought the Nazis. No truck gets the better of me…"

The trucks hadn't limited their horrid comments to Osprey, and BoCo didn't need to be told twice. He rolled back a chain or so, before surging forward, slamming into the hoppers with a violent CLANG that echoed up and down the hill.

At the head of the train, Osprey waited until the train was slammed against her tender before charging forward, almost ripping Craig's arm from its socket as the regulator slammed into "full steam" without warning.

With BoCo pushing hard from behind, there was a considerable mount of slack in the train's couplings, so when Osprey took off, the chain between her and Hector was able to stretch by a large amount, meaning that for a moment, she was accelerating without the train to slow her down.

Hector had begun to lose his confident look when BoCo had smashed into the train, and let out a yowl of both panic and pain when the slack between himself and Osprey finally let out, and he was violently jerked into motion. It felt like his coupling was going to be pulled out of his bufferbeam, a feeling that was exaggerated moments later by the slack behind him letting out, causing him to jerk the wagon behind him into motion, an experience that continued as each wagon behind him was yanked into motion, one at a time. "Bloody 'ell! Hold back!" He shouted to his fellows, trying to slip the brakes on and stop the train.

Osprey had other ideas. As soon as she felt the brakes start to come on, she threw as much power as she could at the steam powered air brake pump. Behind her, the trucks yelped as their brake shoes were forcibly pulled off of their wheels and into the "released" position.

With the trucks taken care of, Osprey charged forwards in a cloud of steam and sand. The crest of the hill was just coming into sight, and she threw every ounce of steam she had into her pistons. At the back of the train, BoCo was astonished to find that the load on his buffers was getting lighter, as Osprey began to pull the train up the hill by herself.

"Almost… there!" She panted as she crested the summit of the hill. Now that she had some momentum, the train became easy, and the aggregates hoppers began to pull away from BoCo with increasing speed. When the diesel rolled to a stop just past the summit, he found the train already well on its way down the hill, a thick black thundercloud of smoke trailing behind as a testament to Osprey’s effort.

Arthur had been shoveling like mad for the last ten minutes or so, and took a moment to wipe his brow and catch his breath as the train clattered down the other side of the hill. "Whoo, that was some serious effort!" He said, checking his watch. "And still on time - we might make Barrow on time!"

“What?” Craig stared at his own watch. “We’re at least twenty minutes behind! They’d surely put us in the loop.”

“I recall being told that we would have “generous timings” the whole way.”

At this moment, the AWS horn sounded, not the angry tone of an upcoming red signal, but instead the ding of an upcoming yellow aspect. “See?” Both men said, as Craig pushed the button to dismiss the warning.

“6B11, Control.” Squawked the radio.

“6B11.”

“6B11 disregard the approach and slow signal ahead of you. We’ve just lined you for a green all the way to Barrow on the down slow line. You'll take the crossover at Maron.”

“Roger that.” Craig just scowled as Arthur looked triumphant. Ahead of them, Osprey whistled victoriously as the distant signal raised its semaphore arm from “slow” to “clear.”

“See that Hector?” She called back down the train as Craig opened the regulator a bit more. “No stopping now!”

Hector hadn’t gone this fast in ages, and wailed piteously to himself.

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

Tornado

While astute viewers of the Television Show (and it has earned those capital letters, for the engines never refer to it in any other way) might know that Percy carries all the Island’s mail by himself, the reality of the situation is much more complicated.

The Royal Mail formally discontinued its use of mail trains nationwide in 2003, including Sodor’s mail trains. However, they did so without fully considering the geography of the island and its neighbors. You see, while Sodor has a very large rail network that connects every city, town, and village within it, (except Harwick and Ballaswein, but that is another story altogether…) its road network is decidedly sub-par. The A590, the island’s main road, is narrow and winding, with few overtake points to allow slower traffic to give way. It runs through town centers instead of going round them, meaning that any local traffic jam can quickly spread to the next town over.

The Royal Mail’s new plan for Sodor was to take all the mail to airports in Dryaw or Barrow-in-Furness by lorry, at which point it would be flown to Carlisle to be sorted, and then flown back, where it would be delivered to local post offices for final delivery.

In a vacuum, this system actually works rather well, as outgoing mail can be quickly and efficiently routed to destinations outside of Sodor, and since an airplane has already been scheduled, returning inter-island mail to the island is not an issue. Unfortunately for the Royal Mail, Sodor is not a vacuum, and problems quickly arose as the mail lorries began experiencing significant delays from almost the very beginning. Soon, the Island’s mail was being delivered late every day, much to the irritation of its residents!

This also deeply complicated the issue of mail coming from Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man. While mail from these places was sent from Douglas to mainland Britain by air, there had been a longstanding agreement between the governments of Sodor and Man that any ferry service between them would have to carry the mail - a holdover from the days before air travel, but a welcome one at the time, as it meant that mail from Man continued to arrive on schedule!

While no agreement had been worked out with the Royal Mail in regards to Northern Irish mail, the overall curtailment of mail services on Sodor was of a particular annoyance to the Royal Mail’s Northern Irish division, as they had just spent a large number of pounds expanding a sorting office near the docks of the Belfast-Tidmouth ferry!

These agreements/expenditures, and the resultant crown inquiry into whether or not they were still legally binding, were the primary impetus behind the re-institution of Sodor’s mail trains. Between 2005 and 2007, the NWR’s mail services ran as part of the Tidmouth-Barrow express trains. Its primary duties were the delivery of pre-sorted Irish and Manx mail to post offices along the NWR main line, however it also operates a limited en-route sorting service for letter post bound for stations immediately along the line. Since the mail contract did not include anything beyond Barrow-in-Furness, (The Royal Mail was very specific in its definition: “Sodor-Bound” mail went no further than Barrow) this necessitated detachable mail carriages. As the London-bound Wild Nor’wester had been run by Intercity 125 equipment since late 1999 - which did not feature easily detachable carriages, and the mail ferry sailings from Ireland and Man arrived after the train's 7:30 AM departure time, the cars were attached to the 11:30 Midday Express, which travelled from Tidmouth to Barrow with only a single intermediate stop at Crovan’s Gate.

Services ran in this manner until the summer of 2007, when the service was spun out into its own train - the Fast Mail - after an increase in bulk mail and parcel post traffic forced an unacceptable number of unnecessary stops in the timetabled non-stop journey. This increase in traffic came from two diametrically opposed services: print media and e-commerce.

E-commerce giants such as Amazon.com and eBay had begun significant expansions into the country over the past decade, with Sodor seeing the benefits of this after an Amazon fulfilment center opened in Rugeley, Staffordshire, allowing Sudrians to receive 2-day shipping on most items sold by the online retail giant. Meanwhile, the increased reach of online news sources and other pre-existing financial difficulties had caused many of Sodor’s newspapers to fold or merge due to falling readership in the early 2000s. This state of newspaper consolidation eventually left three survivors - the Tidmouth Advertiser, the Wellsworth Parliamentarian, and the Sodor Edition of Barrow-in-Furness’ North-West Evening Mail. While the Parliamentarian was content to reform itself as a weekly broadsheet, the two daily papers began fighting for a share of the Sodor news market. While their initial price war has long since settled into an uneasy but stable détente, both papers gained significant footholds into smaller Sudrian towns. As almost all Sudrian towns are located on or near the NWR’s main line, this traffic was sent down the railway, and generated enough traffic on the NWR to justify the reactivation of several old BR newspaper transport vans that had been left on the Island following BR’s discontinuation of dedicated newspaper transport services in the early 1990’s. As both the Advertiser and the Evening Mail were evening papers, the distribution occurred in the late morning, requiring the newspaper vans - which were Mk.1 General Use Vans or converted coaching stock just like the Royal Mail’s Traveling Post Office carriages - to run on mid-day passenger trains in order to meet delivery times.

Due to the scheduled nature of the stops required by the newspaper unloadings, which did not allow them to be placed on the Midday Express, and the demands of the newspaper companies to not have their goods placed on slow stopping trains, the newspaper vans were placed on the tail of the Limited, a mid-day semi-fast train that ran slightly ahead of the Express. This decision was not a successful one, and caused significant confusion and delay for the NWR, as the increased station dwell times caused by the newspaper deliveries, combined with the frequent unscheduled stops on the Express caused by Parcel Post deliveries (which could not be delivered or loaded while the train was still in motion), often led to both trains having simultaneous unscheduled stops at the same station - a situation that often led to “cataclysmic” delays further down the line.

After a mere fifteen months, the NWR was forced to reallocate the mail and newspaper cars into their own separate train - the Fast Mail. This train, which is timetabled as a non-stop return journey from Tidmouth to Barrow and back, operates under the principle of “goods request stops”, in which any specific station stop must be “requested” in advance by the stationmaster or by the freight customers - usually the Royal Mail and the distribution arms of the Advertiser and Evening Mail.

As a result of all this-

“Oi! Tornado! Wakey Wakey, lazy boiler!”

------

Tidmouth Station

Tornado snorted as she opened her eyes. “I wasn’t sleeping!” She protested.

“Yer eyes were shut.” Siobhan gave her a knowing look. “It isn’t like I haven’t been driving LNER Pacifics for years!”

“I was listening to a podcast!” Tornado said defensively. “It was just getting to the good part!”

Siobhan didn’t quite know what to say to that, and eventually walked back to the cab muttering about “damned teenagers and their trends.”

“Iff’n ye think that’s bad,” Sidney said as she entered the cab. “Wait until she gets talking about somethin’ she’s interested in. You’ll not be able to pry yourself free with a crowbar.”

“She’s not a normal engine, is she?” Siobhan hadn’t driven the new A1 before today, and the reports coming in from everyone else on the railway had implied that she was strange even by Sodor’s admittedly high standards.

“D’ya think I’d be here if she was?” Sidney was technically a volunteer from the A1 Trust, but had stayed on Sodor because, in his words: ‘Ya'd never survive wit’out someone who knows her!” The NWR had recognized his talent in engine-wrangling, and had allowed him to stay on Tornado’s footplate.

Siobhan merely rolled her eyes and looked out of the cab and down the train. As usual, the bags and bales of newspapers were slowing down the loading process significantly, and it looked like the Fast Mail would be late yet again.

-

Some minutes later

The newspaper van had finally been shut, and the stationmaster came up to the cab with the finalized train orders. “You’ve a light load today.” He said as he passed the papers up. “Wellsworth, Cronk, and then straight on to Barrow. Hopefully those layabouts with the paper won’t muck anything up today!”

“Here’s hoping.” Siobhan said as she took the papers. The newspaper delivery drivers were terrible at being timely, and often held up the train by many minutes due to their incompetence.

After a few more minutes of waiting, the Guard blew his whistle, the signal dropped, and the train set off towards Wellsworth. The train was short today - only four carriages, and almost immediately she had to rein Tornado in to prevent her from exceeding the station speed limit.

“Easy!” She called. “S’not a race!”

“Sorry!” Came the apologetic reply. “It’s quite light - I didn’t mean to.”

“Little scatterbrained, isn’t she?” She remarked to Sidney. “Reminds me o’ my daughter.”

“No doubt about that.” The older man (and she was getting to a point in her life where that meant something) said sagely. “She’s very good at pulling trains, but you’ve got to mind her at all times - she’ll leave ye behind if you aren’t watching.”

“Good to know.” Siobhan remarked idly, paying more attention to the line of hopper wagons in the goods loop just outside the station. A positively thunderous cloud of smoke was trailing from the engine in front, and she wanted to see which poor engine had got saddled with those brutes today.

“I don’ think you understand my meaning…” Sid tried to clarify himself, but his words were lost under the angry woosh of steam and flurry of curses coming from the A4 heading the coal train. “... I’ll admit I’ve never seen that before.”

“If those trucks cause something to her, I swear ta fuck I will nail your hide ta my office door, Craig!” Siobhan shouted out the window at the retreating train.

In the hubbub of all of this, no more was said of Tornado’s absentmindedness…

---

At Wellsworth, the post and newspapers were unloaded in short order, but the train was held for a few minutes to allow BoCo out of the yard.

“Banking duties, I’m sure you understand.” He said apologetically as he rolled to a stop next to Tornado.

“Oh of course!” She said brightly. “I just hope that - oh, there she comes!”

“She” referred to Osprey, who rolled into Wellsworth with such a clatter and commotion that all other communication was impossible. She was practically vibrating with anger as her driver stormed out of the cab and began to oil her joints.

“Does Gordon allow you to use his throttle in such a maladroit fashion?” She hissed.

“No!”

“Then why do you insist on doing so to me?!”

“Now you see here! I am trying-”

“And failing!”

“Why you stuck up piec-”

“Say it. I dare you.”

Everyone else in the station wished they were somewhere else at that moment, except Siobhan, who was about to “teach” Craig the proper way to speak to engines when the signal dropped and the guard radioed that they were clear. Tornado, who didn’t want to be anywhere near whatever was going on between Osprey and her driver, whistled urgently and began to pull out of the station on her own!

Sidney rolled his eyes and reached over to reduce steam before Siobhan noticed. When she finally returned her attention to the train, she hadn’t noticed Tornado’s slight movement and advanced the throttle normally. Tornado responded with a will, and charged out of Wellsworth and up Gordon’s Hill as fast as she could!

--

The train pulled into Cronk station, and already Siobhan could tell it was going to be a long stop. The station’s carpark was situated next to the tracks, and the lorries used by the newspaper companies usually queued up in the spaces reserved for buses. Seeing no lorries usually meant that they were going to turn up whenever they felt like it. This was a problem, as Cronk Station’s goods office had been turned into the station café many years ago. This meant that there was nowhere to put the unloaded newspapers, and as a result, the train would be forced to wait for the lorries to show up. Of course, the train was allowed to leave if the lorry drivers never showed up, but it was NWR policy to wait at least a quarter of an hour before doing so.

Quite naturally, this meant that the drivers were probably going to show up 14 minutes from now, and take their time unloading.

“Might as well get comfortable.” She said to Sidney.

“Huh?”

“No lorries for the papers. It’s gonna be a while.”

“I see…” He said, eyeing the station café, which was advertising ‘2-for-1 Steak Pies’. “In that case, I’ll be back.”

He clambered down from the cab, and made a beeline for the café, much to Siobhan’s bemusement.

Normally she filled spare time with the unending supply of paperwork that was required to run a train in the 21st century, but with the journey not even half over yet, there was only so much she could do, and ten minutes later Siobhan was pacing up and down the platform, acutely aware of how late the train was.

“Shall we ever be on our way?” One of the mail carriages groused. “I was unloaded promptly, so I just cannot understand the delay… Can you understand it, Constance?”

“Why don’t you shut your mouth, Elodie?” Snapped the newspaper van. “You didn’t see me complaining when your door jammed last week, did you?”

“Well, I never!”

“But you do!”

The mail clerks were busy stowing the last of the outbound mail, and exchanged tired looks with each other and the other mail carriages. Siobhan didn’t even try to intervene this time - you’d have an easier time convincing James to turn blue.

“I do hope I’m not interrupting a lover’s spat.” A familiar voice said from behind her, and Siobhan turned on her heel to find her husband Declan standing on the platform, a clipboard in hand.

“What are you doing here?” She said, her mood immediately improving.

Declan worked for a large business consultancy firm, and explained that his company had been hired by the Tidmouth Advertiser to find the source of the numerous complaints about their newspaper’s delivery and distribution. “Although I don’t think I have to look very hard to find one source.” He said as the coaches continued to bicker behind him.

“Oh, jaysus,” Siobhan buried her head in his shoulder. “It’s like this every time! Ah dinnae think we’ve been on time once this month!”

“Right,” He said while pulling a pen out of his suit jacket. “I’ll make a note of that.”

He proceeded to balance his clipboard on his wife’s head as he did so, which drew an exasperated laugh and playful swat on the arm before the moment was broken by the eventual arrival of the newspaper lorries.

The newspaper delivery team consisted of the four men from the lorries, plus an attendant employed by the railway who rode inside Constance and threw smaller bundles of papers out at stations where the train didn’t stop. They seemed to know that they were under observation, and the load of newspapers was hauled out of Constance and into the lorries in record time. It took only ten minutes for the newspaper van to be significantly emptier, and Siobhan practically snatched the updated manifest sheet out of the lorry driver’s hand when he finished signing it.

What happened next occurred very quickly:

Siobhan, Sven the guard, and Declan were all standing at the end of the train - the railway employees were making sure that all doors were secured on the train, while Declan was saying his goodbyes to his wife before leaving to follow the delivery lorries on their route.

-

Sidney was still in the station café, chatting to an old friend who he’d run into unexpectedly.

-

Tornado had heard “it’s gonna be a while” and had promptly zoned out, staring blankly into space while waiting for the departure. She’d only come back to reality when several of the semaphore signals at the end of the platform had clonked into the “proceed” position several minutes ago. One of them was for her, but she wasn’t too worried, as the guard hadn’t yet blown his whistle. The other one was very interesting, as it was for an “up-bound” train traveling east towards Barrow, but on the westbound “down” slow line, - she’d heard that Sodor often ran trains “wrong main”, but she’d hadn't yet seen it herself.

That “wrong running” train turned out to be Osprey, who had evidently regained control over the train somewhere between Wellsworth and Cronk, as she was in fine spirits as she flew through the station, the coal trucks screaming at her to slow down all the while. An A4 going at full tilt was a sight to behold all by itself, but the sheer calamity of Osprey’s train drew every eye to her, and everything else in the station momentarily ground to a halt until the train had disappeared into the distance.

“Oh!” Exclaimed Sven, who was now looking towards the end of the platform. “We’ve got the signal.”

He scanned the platform and found no sign of Sidney. He hadn’t seen the old man leave the café, so he was probably still in there. Ordinarily, he communicated with the train crew through the radio, but half the train crew was standing next to him, and his radio was in the guard’s compartment of the rearmost mail carriage.

Oh well, The stout Swede thought to himself. Guess I’ll have to do it the old fashioned way…

Taking a few steps back from the train, he blew his whistle as loud as he could, and waved his green flag.

Siobhan and Declan had both covered their ears in order to not be deafened by Sven, and kissed one last time before going their separate ways. “You gonna be home before seven?” She asked.

“Should be. I thought the match was on at 7:30?”

“We gotta eat first! I ain’t cooking during a - what the fuck?!”

Sidney hadn’t emerged from the café yet, and Siobhan was standing on the platform. There was nobody in Tornado’s cab. And yet, within a few seconds of the Sven blowing his whistle, Tornado sounded hers and began to move away from the platform!

-

At the front of the train, Tornado hadn’t been expecting the guard’s whistle, and started quickly, very aware of the amount of time she’d have to make up. The train rapidly pulled out of the station, and within a minute was out of sight, on its way towards Kildane.

-

On the platform, Sid threw open the door to the café and watched as the train vanished into the distance. “Damn it all!” he groaned to no-one in particular. He’d told them to mind Tornado, but clearly they hadn’t experienced an engine of such… independent spirit before.

“Sidney!” Came a voice from further down the platform. It was Sven, who was sprinting towards the station buildings. “Radio! Call it in! It’s a runaway!”

Sid’s hand stole to his belt and found nothing but an empty holster. “It’s in the cab.” He said, before trying to calm down the guard. “But don’t worry - she’s no runaway.”

“What?” Sven gasped from his exertion, already heading towards the stationmaster’s office. “Nobody was in the cab! Someone must have gotten in!”

Oh blimey. Sid thought, wondering how many times in the next half hour he was going to have to explain the peculiarities of Tornado’s operations to panicked railwaymen. “C’mon.” he said, guiding Sven towards the station building. “Let’s find Siobhan and the stationmaster and I’ll explain it to you all at the same time. There’s nothing to worry about. Trust me.”

How can you be so calm about this?!” Sven was unconvinced. “The train has run away, and Siobhan had to jump on it!”

“What?!”

---

Moments Earlier

Siobhan had been forced to bodily drag Sven onto the train by his lapel, and dragged him through the carriage to the guard’s compartment door. “Locked. Ye got yer keys?”

“Um, love, I don’t think I’m going to be able to help here.” Siobhan spun around to find her husband behind her. A formless curse fell from her lips as she looked at her hand, which was clutching Declan’s shirt, not Sven’s.

“Fuck!” She exclaimed, not for the last time.

“What’s going on?” Declan hadn’t quite grasped what was happening yet.

“The train’s doing a runner!” She explained as she tried and failed to kick down the door to the guard’s compartment. It was a steel door, and kicking it with her steel toed boots did nothing but hurt her feet. “And the brake cord is in there!”

Declan paled. “What do we now?”

“Find the next one!” And with that Siobhan was off, shoving open the door to the mail sorting compartment and running through with decided urgency. Declan, unsure of what else to do, followed in her wake.

--

The Stationmaster’s Office - Cronk Station

“What?” Sven screamed. “He’s ill? Now!?”

“As I have been saying,” His assistant said, her expression getting more and more fed up as Sven continued. “He is ill, and if you will just wait a minute, the assistant station master will speak with you!”

Sidney had given up trying to calm Sven down, and just held his head in his hands. This was only going to get worse before it got better…

--

The Main Line

It really was a wonderful day, Tornado thought to herself as she rolled towards Kildane. The sun was shining, she had a train behind her, and it was smooth sailing all the way to Barrow. If she didn’t know any better, she’d think it was the 1930’s.

The clatter of the AWS system reminded her that it wasn’t the 1930’s, or indeed even the 20th century. She acknowledged the warning and eyed the signal. It was yellow over green, with a pair of lamps - one blue and one white - illuminated below it: En-route Mail and Newspaper delivery - reduce speed to 40.

That was something the NWR had developed for the newspaper deliveries, she remembered, and she began braking the train to comply with the incredibly rare speed restriction.

That is so cool! She thought.

--

The Train

The guard compartment in the next carriage was locked too, and Siobhan had nearly broken her foot on the door when the train began to slow down.

“Thank fuck!” She yelled as a signal slipped by the only window of the carriage. “Must’ve tripped the AWS - we’re gonna stop.”

“Well,” Declan said, leaning against a wall now that it was clear the danger was over. “That was exciting.”

“Yeah.”

“You know, for all the yelling you used to do about how unrealistic that television show the kids watched was-”

“Don’ say it!”

“- this seems remarkably accurate.”

Siobhan didn’t say anything, and instead threw her gloves at him.

---

Cronk Station

“- I don’t care that you got left behind!” The assistant stationmaster shouted back. “I’m not causing a ruckus and stopping the ruddy train just because you couldn’t get out of the café in time!”

Sven spluttered incoherently. “I - he- I wasn’t - He was in the café!” He shouted, pointing to Sidney. “And the train left without anyone!”

The assistant stationmaster’s look spoke volumes.

“Just call them!” Sven shouted again. “Even if it is nothing, it’s against policy for the train to be without a guard, so do your job and stop the train!”

---

The Main Line

Tornado whistled hello to the mail staff on the platform as she chuffed through Kildane. Several of the men waved back, before turning their attention to the mail basket, which was prepared for the inbound post. A little further up the platform, a single mail bag hung from the mail crane. This whole process had already taken place several times already, but Tornado still found it all novel - this was her first ever mail train, after all.

After clearing the platforms (and it was very disappointing, in some childish way, that there was no appreciable jolt to the train when the mailbag was collected), the train rolled past the signals protecting the end of the platform, went through the junction that served the electric branch and the Motorail terminal, and continued onto the main line.

“3B02, Control.” The radio crackled.

Tornado waited a moment for Siobhan to answer, but when nothing happened, she mentally shrugged and answered the call herself. “3B02.”

“3B02, you’ve got the Limited coming up behind you sharp-ish. Can you stay ahead of it?”

“How fast are they going?”

“They’re passing Cronk right now. If you can get to SJJ 170 in ten minutes you’ll be fine, otherwise we’ll redirect you to the slow line.”

Signal SJJ 170 protected the west side of Kellsthorpe Road station, about seventeen miles away from Kildane station. Tornado was not the best at math, but understood that it was theoretically possible for her to make it. “I can do that.” She radioed back.

“Understood. No speed restrictions to report. Good luck.” Came back the reply.

Tornado smiled excitedly, and began to pick up speed.

--

Rail Traffic Control - Tidmouth

The controller watched on the “big board” as 3B02 began to pick up speed.

“Think they’ll break the ton?” His coworker asked him.

“Dunno about the ton, but with Tornado on it they’re bound to break something.” He said.

The phone rang, and he answered it.

“What?” He said disbelievingly into the handset. “I just spoke to the crew, that’s impossible. Told me so? What- hello?” He put the handset back. “They hung up on me!”

“Who was that?”

“Cronk station. Said that the train left its entire crew behind and was a runaway.”

“Didn’t you just talk to them?”

“That’s what I told him!”

“What’s going on?”

“I don’t know…” He said, picking up the phone to call Cronk station again.

--

The Train

The relief both Siobhan and Declan were feeling had evaporated when the train had stopped slowing down as it approached Kildane. They’d rushed into the next mail carriage, intent on finding the emergency brake cord there, only to find the hustle and bustle of a traveling post office train at work. This carriage - Elodie - had both the mail unloading mechanism as well as the catch netting, the installment of which had forced the removal of the guard’s cabin and the emergency brake cord.

Shoving their way towards the next carriage, Siobhan stopped dead as a friendly whistle was audible through Elodie’s open doors.

Rushing to the nearest door, (and ignoring the Royal Mail staff who shouted at her to get back) she leaned out of the doorway and looked down the train. There was a slight curve going into the platforms at Kildane, and she could see into Tornado’s cab: it was empty.

“What the fuck is going on?!” She shouted, drawing the attention of the mail staff on the platform. They gawked at her, and shouted for her to get back, and she ignored them, trying to see if someone was hiding inside Tornado’s cab.

This meant she wasn’t paying any attention to the platform, and she was surprised when a hand grabbed her by the shoulder and yanked her into the train just before the train passed the mail crane, the mail bag just inches from her head!

Spinning around, she found Declan staring at her in shock. “Pay attention!” He shouted, more out of fear than anything else, before clutching her tightly.

She blinked a long, shocked blink, letting him hold her. “Nobody’s driving, but we’re still going. What’s going on!?”

---

The Main Line

Tornado watched the permitted speed sign as she rolled past it. Before now she hadn’t really given it much thought, as she had been on the front of slow goods trains, or stopping passenger services that halted at Kellsthorpe Road.

But now she was on a fast train.

One that didn’t need to stop at the next station.

One that had been specifically instructed to go as fast as possible.

The A1 Trust hadn’t yet received clearance from Network Rail to run her above 75 miles an hour, but this wasn’t Network Rail track…

“Look out Ossie!” She called out at the fading trail of smoke that Osprey had laid down when she’d gone along the line a few minutes earlier. “I’m catching up!”

Inside the empty cab, the speedometer needle slowly crept upwards…

--

The Train

Constance the newspaper van hadn’t been built as a passenger carriage; she’d been built as a “General Utility Van”, and therefore had no equipment other than electric lighting. When she’d been reactivated for mail train service, she’d been retrofitted with gangway connectors, but that was all. Notably, she did not feature an emergency brake cord.

Siobhan had discovered this the hard way when she’d charged into the van and discovered the walls to be entirely bare, with nothing but a light switch anywhere. She growled, just a little, before wading through the bags of newspapers and heading for the door at the front.

“Where are you going to go?” Declan asked, too invested in this to stay in the mail cars where it might be safer. “This is the front of the train.”

“Corridor tender!” Was the only reply she gave.

Striding forward, Siobhan threw open the door at the other end, intent on stopping this train once and for all.

What she said next was thankfully lost to the howling wind that blew past her and sent loose newspapers flying.

The door to Tornado’s corridor tender was locked.

--

The Lineside - Between Kildane and Kellsthorpe Road stations

The utility company survey crew had just broken for lunch when the first steam train had gone by. Being native Sudrians, none of them could quite contain themselves when a Gresley A4 had roared past with a goods train (?!), and they’d moved their lunch spot a bit closer to the railway line in order to have a better view of the tracks, should something else exciting come along.

Just a few minutes after that, something else did.

They first heard the sound of a steam locomotive approaching rapidly in the distance.

Several of them jumped up to see what it was.

Almost before they could move from where they were standing, the train rocketed by.

A steam engine moving faster than seemed possible and a few coaches, it was gone almost as soon as it had arrived. The wind from its passage was strong enough to send sandwiches and drinks flying!

The foreman stared into the distance. Already the train was out of sight. “What was that?!”

--

The Main Line

Tornado could see Osprey’s smoke trail get darker and darker as she caught up with the A4. She wasn’t sure how fast she was going, but it was certainly faster than she’d ever gone before!

--

The Train

Constance’s gangway connector had not been made very well, and the resulting gap between tender and van was big enough that Siobhan hadn’t wanted to risk trying to kick the door down, so she’d started scrounging around for something that she could use as a battering ram.

“Found something!” She yelled, producing a crowbar from underneath a pile of bagged newspapers bound for Barrow-in-Furness.

At that moment, the train leaned into the curve that sat between Kildane and Kellsthorpe Road. It was deeply banked in order to allow trains to run through it without slowing down, which usually helped the train stay level. However, in the case of the newspaper van, it caused just enough lean for a precariously perched pile of papers to collapse.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Declan had to smother a laugh at the sight of his wife getting buried in an avalanche of news.

--

Rail Traffic Control - Tidmouth

“See, she did break the ton.” Remarked the other controller.

“Remarkable.” Said the first controller. “Do me a favour and see if you can raise Cronk. They’re not answering and I’ve got Kellsthorpe calling.”

--

Kellsthorpe Road Station

“What do you mean, ‘you won’t do it’?” The stationmaster yelled into his phone.

“I mean,” Came the voice of “control”. “That you’re supposed to call at least half an hour ahead. I’ve already lined their path for a clear run to the mainland - unless you want to rip the hooks off when they take the mail at a hundred!”

“But this mail is important!”

“Then why didn’t you call before now? I’ve got the Limited coming up behind them, they can’t slow down - the signal timings are tight enough.”

“I didn’t know it was coming, you horse’s arse!” The stationmaster shouted as he slammed the phone down, before turning to the sheepish Royal Mail driver. “This is on you now - go set out the hook if you want, but they aren’t going to take it!”

The driver didn’t hear much more beyond “put the hook out”, and sprinted off to the platform.

--

The Main Line

Tornado could see the tail end of Osprey’s train as it bucketed down the line towards Kellsthorpe Road. She let out a jubilant blast of her whistle, and was delighted to hear Osprey sound hers in return. She picked just a bit more speed, careful to remember that the end of the high-speed segment came soon after the end of the station’s platforms.

Inside the cab, the speedometer needle was bouncing at its stop.

--

The Train

Siobhan had actually managed to create a wicked-looking breaching tool by attaching the crowbar to a handle pulled from a newspaper cart, and Declan was holding on to her for dear life as she stood in the gangway and prepared to smash down the door to Tornado’s tender.

Unnoticed in all the chaos, the attendant who was supposed to ride in the newspaper van came sprinting in the back door. “How could I have forgotten?!” He asked himself as he searched the stacks of papers for the right one. “It must be here somewhere!”

He was so intent on his task that he blocked out the world around him, including the chaos going on at the front of the van!

--

The Main Line

“Ow!” Tornado yelped as something crashed against her tender’s rear door. “What was that?!”

It happened again, and she yelped again, this time reflexively unlocking the door in the process.

--

The Train

Siobhan yelled in victory as the door sprung open on the second attempt. Throwing down the improvised club, she jumped between Constance and Tornado and ran to the front of the tender.

Behind her, Declan looked down at the gap (and the rails flashing by below it), said a prayer to whichever Hindu god applied to this situation, (Vishwakarma, maybe?) and then made the jump himself.

--

The Traveling Post Office

The newspaper attendant came bustling back in with just a minute or so to spare and handed off the bag of newspapers to the lead mail clerk.

Kellsthorpe Road, not being near either of the towns it actually served, didn’t get much mail, so the mail clerk took the bag of newspapers and a small sack of mail and consolidated them into a single pouch, before sliding open the door to the train.

Traveling post office cars like Elodie have metal arms that swing out of the mail doors and hang away from the train. Mail bags are attached to these arms, and are then swung out by mail clerks to be delivered into nets set up along the lineside.

Ordinarily, these arms are not hard to load, but with the fierce wind blowing into his face, the clerk bungled the attachment several times before eventually getting it.

--

The Main Line

Tornado was deeply confused by the feeling of footsteps in her corridor connector, but was even more confused by the signal she was getting from Kellsthorpe Road.

It was a standard “proceed” aspect, and the lights indicating newspaper and mail delivery were dark, but in spite of that, a man was attaching a mail bag onto the crane anyways!

Unsure of what else to do, she sounded the whistle code for “mail pickup”, hoping that the mail crew could hear her. She slowly started to apply the brakes, trying to get the train down to a more reasonable speed without jolting the mail crew, who were presumably hanging out of the mail carriages right now!

--

The Traveling Post Office

The mail crew exploded into action as they heard the whistle blow. Unforeseen mail was common, but at this speed they needed to be ready sooner rather than later.

The mail chute was quickly deployed, and a clerk readied the mailbag to be swung out of the door the instant the platform came into view.

--

Kellsthorpe Road Station

Delta had been taking several coaches from Crovan’s Gate to Rolf’s Castle, and was waiting at the junction to be allowed onto the branch line to Kirk Ronan.

She’d been waiting several minutes, and had watched with interest as two clouds of thick black smoke had risen over the horizon.

The smoke had slowly been revealed to have been attached to a pair of engines, each of them racing along the opposite sides of the main line.

Optical illusions are a funny thing, because for a great while it seemed like the trains would never get any closer, but all of a sudden, both trains were upon her at once! First Osprey’s hopper train roared by, and was followed immediately by Tornado, who seemed to be traveling at the speed of sound. The diesel’s eyes practically spun in their sockets from the wind and the dust and the sound of the two Pacifics and their trains!

--

The Traveling Post Office

The platform edge came into sight. The clerk heaved the bag into the swung out position.

The bag made it about halfway out of the train before the straps connecting it to the metal bars came un-done.

--

Kellsthorpe Road Station

The Royal Mail driver had never used the mail crane before, and was struggling to attach the bag to the hook. The train was getting so close he was in danger of getting hit by it if he stayed where he was, so he took a panicked step backwards and tried to come up with a different plan.

The train sounded its whistle, and he could see the mail chute unfold from the side of the carriage.

It was now or never, his panicked mind realized, and he came up with the only plan that came to his mind.

The chute wasn’t that far off of the ground, reaching about head-height…

As the train got closer still, he took a deep breath and hurled the mail bag straight up into the air, before he dropped prone onto the platform.

At the same time, the sack of newspapers came undone from the metal arms. The bag, still being shoved out of the train, flew through the air at a slight angle. Traveling at over 100 miles per hour, it raced down the platform like a speeding bullet, passing over the head of the Royal Mail driver before continuing on towards the station building.

The train thundered by, neatly but improbably scooping the thrown mail bag out of the air. Elodie yelped at the sharp jolt of the high speed pickup, but the netting held, and the bag tumbled into the carriage, where it was swiftly picked up by the mail crew.

In the station, the stationmaster watched as a large object flew off of the train. It took him several seconds to recognize what it was and where it was going, and he had just enough time to throw himself to the ground before the inbound mailbag smashed through his office window!

Continuing on its path in a shower of glass, the mailbag continued through the stationmaster's office, punched a hole through the door, careened through the waiting room, shot through an open window on the other side of the building, and flew out into the carpark. There, a policewoman trying to issue a parking ticket had to jump out of the way as the bag ricocheted off of a “No Parking” sign, flew through the air some two dozen feet before flying into the open back doors of the illegally parked Royal Mail van sitting in the station carpark, where it landed with a catastrophic THUD! and an explosion of letters against the bulkhead separating the cargo compartment from the driver’s seat.

--

The Train

Siobhan stormed out of the connector corridor, and was baffled to find that the cab was empty. She probably would’ve stood there longer, but Declan running out of the cramped corridor and into her back forced her into motion.

“What the fuck is going on?!” She bellowed, trying to pull back on the throttle. The lever didn’t budge, much to her confusion.

“What?” Tornado was trying to see why everyone at Kellsthorpe Road had thrown themselves to the ground just as she went by, and wasn’t really paying any attention to Siobhan as she also began applying the brakes to slow the train down for the curve outside of the station.

She also had a moment of personal pride as the train sailed past signal SJJ 170 in exactly ten minutes.

Siobhan squealed like a little girl and jumped back as the brake lever moved on its own. After a moment’s hesitation, she grabbed it with both hands, trying to haul it back into the full stop position, but as soon as Tornado got the lever where she wanted it, it stuck fast.

Siobhan didn’t say anything after that, instead watching as Tornado expertly worked the throttle, brakes, injectors, and coal stoker, along with acknowledging the AWS alarm. The train rolled through the curve like nothing was wrong, and continued on towards Crovan’s Gate.

“What are ye doing?” She asked again, this time quietly.

“Driving the train?” Tornado was deeply confused.

“Why?”

“Because I’m the engine? You haven’t said anything about it?”

“When would I have?”

“What do you mean?”

Siobhan collapsed into the driver’s seat, unable to believe what she was hearing. “Lassie, ye left everyone behind. Ah’ve just run the whole length o’ the train thinkin’ ye were a runaway.”

Tornado had finally come abreast of Osprey and her train, so the exact words she’d said were lost in the clatter of the aggregate hoppers, but the horrified whistle she made got the point across!

---------

Later…

Osprey was tired, dirty, and hurt all over, and yet she had never felt so good in her life. She was sitting in the sheds in Barrow, waiting for her next train and luxuriating in the ache of a job well done, when Tornado backed in next to her.

“Hullo.” She said with enthusiasm. “What happened to you? You caught up with me at one point.” They'd run neck and neck for a while, but then Tornado had fallen behind and stopped at Crovan's Gate.

Tornado said nothing, and waited for her driver - an older woman who was unmistakably furious with something - to leave the shed and enter the station. “I left them behind.” She said quietly, as though her driver might hear her across the yard.

“Left who behind?”

“My crew.”

“What?!”

“Yep. I did a hundred and eight, all by myself.” She paused. “I am in sooooo much trouble.”

“You broke the ton?!” Osprey was ecstatic, then took in the rest of what her friend had said. “Alone? How?”

“It’s a long story.”

“We’ve got time, don’t we?”

“Not that much time.” Tornado’s driver was already coming back out of the station building, a group of serious looking men in hi-vis jackets behind her. They were stopping to investigate the mail cars first, but they would definitely be on their way to sheds soon.

“Oh…” Osprey could see where this was going.

“On an unrelated note, does it always feel like this?”

Osprey looked over at Tornado. She looked strangely relaxed, despite the huge amount of trouble she was apparently in. It was an expression Osprey knew very well, having seen it on the faces of her brothers, sisters, and cousins many times before. It was what her owner liked to call a “runner’s high” - the feeling one gets from doing hard work. She felt this way herself, right now.

“Yes. Yes it does. Have you ever…?”

“Nope. Sheltered life, remember?” Tornado paused for a moment. “Feels nice. I feel like a real engine for the first time in my life."

"It does feel nice. I suppose I never considered that you would have never experienced it before."

"Oh yeah." Tornado looked almost pensive - a strange look for someone as absentminded as her. "I want this. I like this."

"Come again?"

"Work." She looked serious. "They're treating me like a real engine, not a showpiece."

"Sometimes I forget that you and I haven't had the same life experiences."

"Mhm. You got to work for years. Is this better? Than preservation?"

Osprey closed her eyes. Mr. Cameron was wonderful, but life in preservation was... slow. "Yes. I think it is."

"Then let's stay."

"What?"

"We're famous. We can boss people around if we want to." Tornado and "serious" was an unexpectedly frightening combination. "Let's just stay here. On Sodor."

"You want to stay here?" Osprey asked again. "Even after what's going to happen once they get in here?"

"Oh yeah." Just like that, the serious look was gone, and Tornado was back to being blissfully unaware of the world around her. "It'll be totally worth it."

Despite herself, Osprey couldn't help but agree!

[burkymakar]

hey, i’m fairly new to ice hockey and i have no idea what free agency means or anything like that. are you able to explain it maybe and help a struggling fan out? <3

same newcomer anon as just before, what’s a no movement contract and an expansion draft as well.... i see people talking about seattle’s expansion draft and honestly have no idea what it means :’)

hi! welcome, excited to have you! And yes, I'll do my best to explain but let me know if you have further questions.

Free Agency is basically when a player's contract is up and they're free to make a new deal. Typically, contracts go from Entry-Level Contracts (ELCs) that last 1-3 years and are less than 900k. There are also 2-way contracts so players bounce between NHL/AHL. There’s a lot going on.

When that expires they become Restricted Free Agents (RFAs). RFAs are typically younger players and when their ELCs are up, the team that owns their rights (usually the team that drafted them) signs them to their next deal.

That deal typically falls into two categories: bridge and term. Bridge deals are usually less than 4 years, and pay a decent amount of money. Term deals go from 6-8 years and pay a larger total over that longer amount of time. But it definitely varies.

One potential factor of those longer term deals is called a No Movement Clause (NMCs) where the player with that contract gets to decide if they get to be traded and where. The team doesn't have that control.

When the RFA contract is up, players become Unrestricted Free Agents (UFAs). This means that no team has control on that player, and they can sign with any team for whatever deal they want.

Now, there are some issues between that. Sometimes, those rights get traded. Sometimes, those rights expire and an RFA will become a UFA. Sometimes, players get bought out and go into the free agency market. It's very complicated and it's totally normal to feel confused!

As for the expansion draft, when a new team comes into the league they need players. Typically, you get them by drafting but they need players immediately.

So the Seattle Kraken (the newest team in the league), gets to take one player from every team (except Vegas since they're also new) to help get them players.

Now, not all the players that get selected by the Kraken will be on their roster. They might get traded for other players, draft picks, it will definitely be interested to see.

NMCs come into play because teams have the right to protect players on their team to stop the Kraken from taken them. There are two ways of protection: 7 forwards, 3 defensemen, 1 goalie OR 8 skaters and 1 goalie.

If a player has an NMC, then they must be protected. For example, Erik Johnson of the Colorado Avalanche waived his NMC, and now he's eligible to be taken by the Kraken (but he probably won't be).

Now, UFAs are interesting in an expansion draft because the expansion draft is before free agency. So the team could leave a UFA exposed and the Kraken could technically have the right to pick that UFA.

But the Kraken probably won't want a UFA because they can immediately go sign with whatever team they want. They're more likely to take players already on contracts so they can physically have a team.

I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Sources:

https://www.reddit.com/r/winnipegjets/comments/8aj7e7/what_is_the_difference_between_rfa_and_ufa/

https://www.liveabout.com/nhl-free-agents-explained-2778995

https://puckpedia.com/salary-cap/contract-clauses

[popculturebuffet]

Justice League: In Blackest Night Review: A Case Study in Why John Stewart is  Awesome

Hello my Green Lantern Corps and happy black history month! And happy 40th Anniversary Year to John Stewart. And let’s get this out of the way now not the one replaced by trevor noah who handed Tucker Carlson his ass on television and got his show canceled, please do it again John i’d be greatful, and has a weird obession with how Pizza should be. No i’m of course talking about the Green Lantern, the third from earth and the second to headline the book itself, John Stewart.  But to me.. he was my first Green Lantern and one that gave me a deep and abiding love of the Corps since all thanks to this very episode. It’s thanks to John I’m the green lantern loving nerd I am today and without him I probably wouldn’t of found Guy, Jessica, Simon, Alan, and Kyle not to mention got into the varoius other corps. It’s thanks to this episode I wanted to seek out these wonderful characters eventaully and in part why I got into JLI, one of my faviorite teams, among many ohter great things and books. 

So quite obviously both this episode, which I haven’t seen in probably a decade, and John have a great place in my heart. And thus it warms said heart to FINALLY see John getting the recogntion he deserves: he’s going to be one of the starring roles in the upcoming HBO Max series, he was on Scott Snyder’s justice league, and he’s now going to be headlniing the main Green Lantern book going forward under writer Geoffry Throne, who like me was VERY sick of the Hal Jordan show the Green Lantern franchise could become at times, and also like me gave out about it a LOT. The fact DC hired him despite a very public and easily accesable record of him slagging of their use of Hal instead of him ESPECAILLY in the new 52 reboot aka why Cyborg is in the Justice League movie as Geoff kinda shoved hal in there despite John being a more sensible pick and doing so not only shoving the Martain Manhunter, who this show also gave me a deep lasting love for, out of the team but forcing Cyborg onto the team despite fitting with the titans better and, AGAIN there being a black green lantern and given the New 52 kept the history of there being multiple lanterns, no reason Hal could’ve been SECOND instead other than DanDiDio’s bitchy habit of EVERYTHING WAS BETTER ON MY EARTH that poisoined the company for a good decade before recently. 

And yes I felt the need to rant about that, yes Green Lantern the animated series is still good mind you, I just got tired of bland white guy over “Really awesome, really layred especailly thanks to this series black guy”, “stubborn asshole white guy whose hilarious and has a heart underneath the layers of douchebag”, “creative and imaginative white guy who has as personality and really uses the ring in fun ways”, and more recently “A muslim superhero struggling with his past who’se also really energetic and fun and has an intresting family life” and “Latnix superheroine who struggles with anxiety and actually struggles with constructs and once she gets past that has very unique ones”. In other words, yeah I’m bitter because everyone else was more intresting than Hal, and it’s only in recent years with Jessica gaining promience and John regaining it that DC’s finally broke out of that and is actually using the intresting ones, and again without John I wouldn’t be a fan, so they had no real excuse to barely use him outside of the comics if at at all after a while. 

So yeah as you can tell by that rant and by how specific it got for each lantern, this is one of my faviorite franchises, as said this episode is responsible and so for Black History Month I felt i’d be a huge mistake on my part if I DIDN’T cover my boy John and this episode and see how it held up. The fact it’s his 40th anniversary wasn’t something I was aware of, but now I am, expect more Johncentric episodes from Justice League sprinkled throughout the year to celebrate one of my first and possibly best GL. 

Naturally before we get to the episode we have to get to the series itself. The series was launched as Batman Beyond was winding down. Bruce Timm wanted to keep the crew together, something I could empathize with since Owen Dennis and JG Quintel have ran into that same problem lately, with most of their crews drifting off during the gaps in production and Owen desperate to get the show renewed  before he lost everybody. A good crew isn’t had to find in animation but KEEPING them for multiple shows or seasons can be. And there was one project the fans wanted more than anything: The Justice League. After all BOTH Batman and Superman had had tons of guest stars, especailly the latter, with Batman having Zantana show up and Superman having the Flash (Wally West), Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) and Aquaman all show up. There were seeds there.. but Timm was relcutant as he had trouble ballancing 2 or 3 heroes in a fight scene, wanting to keep them al lin focus so fans didn’t wonder where they were and they didnt’ have to cut back and forth, the idea of juggling 7 was daunting.  So as Beyond was finishing production a few things happened: The first is that they did the episode The Call, focusing on a future version of the League, and while only a two parter, it showed Timm his crew might be able to juggle a team of heroes after all, and second was the pitches Timm made BEFORE justice league. Since Kids WB had been hteir partner for a while now they tried pitching both a batman anime, he did not provide many details, and in his own words a “Kidified” justice league, basically the justice leagued mashed with the titans including a female version of cyborg. It was the latter pitch, which was rejected by Kids WB, that finally convinced Timm they could do this, but if they did it couldn’t be half assed or having compromises. it had to be what it SHOULD be. So they went to somewhere new, if in the same family and asked cartoon network, who said...

And here we are. They took their time to work out the characters, apparently taking a lot of delbiration, mostly on which GL to go with, and if they were going to do a hawk wether to go for hawkman or hawkgirl. In the end the roster was the iconic big 7 one, in large part thanks to Grant Morrison taking that concept and reviving it in his run on the team, but shaking it up slightly: Barry was naturally replaced with Wally West flash as he was THE flash in the comics, gave a slightly younger member for the others to play off of, and was more popular.. something Dan DiDio plugged his ears and went LALALALALALAL about for a decade before FINALLY leaving the company so he could stop screwing with a character he hated for reasons that can be summed up as ‘MY FLASH IS BETTER. YOU’LL LIKE MY FLASH.. YOU’LL SEE I JUST HAVE TO MAKE THE OTHER ONE A MASS MURDERER.. THAT’LL SHOW YOU FOR NOT LIKING WHAT I LIKE”... I still have maybe a smidge of lingering issues over how wally was treated the last few years after his return. I do not apologize for htem or for doing a little dance when I found out Didio was gone. 

Point is it wasn’t the only subsitution as Hal Jordan was replaced by John, obviously and rather than use Aquaman, they went with Hawkgirl, though Arthur still got an episode focusing on him fairly early into the series which has the iconic moment of him cutting his hand off to save his son. I dare you to find something more badass. Bruce both liked her deisgn better and felt it helped with the gender ballance. 

So with all that set and with some growing pains to get through they had their show so join me under the cut to see how it turned out. Spoilers: It good. 

We open INNNNNN SPACCCEEEEEEE, as a coaltion of neat looking aliens wants justice and has gone to a space court lead by three weird alien faces, likely inspiried by the kryptoian tribunal in the donnerverse superman movies, with their prosecutor sending a group of mysterious robots known as the Manhunters to go fetch the accused for a trial: John Stewart. Given he’s voiced by Kurtwood “Red Forman” Smith, i’m very surpised he didn’t order them to also put their foots up his ass. Maybe he’s saving it for the trial.

After the titles we cut to John himself whose in shades and trenchant for reasons.. I mean it looks neat, but he’s in his old neighborhood not hunting down his exes killer or trying to hide the fact he’s a ninja turtle. Why is he all disguised. I mean sure WE know people are coming from him and given what he thinks he did he knows.. but he has no intention of running from what he did. It’s just a weird stylistic choice. That said we do get a cool sequence when while casually walking he notices a robbery, and stops it simply by first stopping the wheel then levitating the car.. and while he does get a little showy shaking the guy upside down to return the money.. it’s all very controlled. It shows off how John works. While we’ve seen him at work as Green Lantern before this this small sequence says volumes about john in the span of a few minutes, showing that shilw he HAS immense power, he only uses the amount he needs, knows when to hold back, and only shows off a tiny bit, and even then he’s likely still keeping the theif absolutely safe. It also provides excellent foreshadowing for later as to why the League takes his side even when he refuses to defend himself, as it shows that John really is a professional true and true.

He runs by a basketball court and fails to make a basket when throwing a ball back to a kid before meeting his old gym teacher, who turns out to be the kids uncle or something like that, and invites John to join them as they go to the barber shop. The kid wants John’s haircut, his granpa says the usual and i’m wondering why as John’s haircut isn’t that radical: it’s a miltiary style cut, belying the fact that for this series, while it dosen’t come up in the plot here, John was a former marine instead of an architect. Honestly.. this wasn’t a bad change, giving us the deciated and measured john we know, to the point the comics gladly retconned it in. Not that it’s really a huge deal given it meelrly adds shades to the guy and dosen’t prevent him from being an architect. It just adds lairs by giving a reaosn he’s so focused and driven. He had it drilled into him and carried it with him. 

Meanwhile on the watchtower The Flash clumisly tries to get to know Hawkgirl better and maunver into asking her out, though it’s clear sh’es not intrested. Still even if he can’t help flirting, and it sometimes gets creepily obnoxious, it’s still better than I expected remembering this running subplot, as he DOES try to get to know her and what she does in her off time, even if it’s to set up asking her out, and is trying to ask her out instead of just hitting on her or doing anything far more creeptacular. It’s still not great mind you and hasn’t aged well at all.. but for the time it’s not TERRIBLE and again it goes away pretty quickly in favor of the much more intresting John and Shierya relationship. 

Flash accidently shoots himself in the foot.. conversationally though given how Wally is at this point in the series I wouldn’t be suprised, by asking the Martian Manhunter, who gives Hakwgirl an easy exit if he’s ever felt alone.. you know the guy whose entire race including his wife and child died horribly. He quickly apologizes though and John understands he just stuck his foot in his mouth at lighting speed. And it’s not the MOST insensitive he’s been about Jonn’s dead wife. 

But things are soon interupted as Jonn notes “We have an incursion!” 

But the Avengers are dealing with all of that so they can instead focus on the Manhunters shooting toward earth. I really like this as the primary reason Batman set up this station was to monitor for alien threats, it just because the Leagues base because superman had the idea to stay as a team and it was a good un, and given earth JUST had an invasion, as this likely isn’t too long after that given it’s only the second set of episodes, it’s understandable they’d  be on high alert. 

So our heroes move to intercept. As the first episode after the pilot this one also sets up a recurring part of the show and a necessary one: only a handful of Leaguers would feature in each two-parter, as the episodes for the first two seasons were essentially one hourlong story split into two episodes. The only exceptions were the three part premire, the three part finales for each season, and the sole solo episode comfort and joy which is fucking awesome and my faviorite christmas episode period. But even with the extended run time the crew simply felt i’td be unwiedly to juggle 7 characters eveyr episode, feeling it’d eventually get to original series star trek leevels of having one just manning a console or something. So rather than try and cram them all into every episode, they choose who they needed and gave valid excuses for the rest when necessary. In this case Batman and Wonder Woman have solo missions their busy with , as does Superman whose adressing an earthquake.  Our heroes try talking to the Manhunters.. who refuse to talk to them and then also say their coming for John, and aren’t explaning why. So naturally a brawl breaks out as the League SHOCKINGLY dosen’t want their friend who as far as they know has done nothing wrong taken by a brutish paramilitary force who won’t actual talk to the citzens their policing or try and be coporative. More on this in a second. The fight itself is pretty awesome as our heroes fight as evenly as they can.. but it’s clear their outgunned outplanned outnumbered and outmanned, as while their you know the justice league and do their best and Jonn is in Superman’s weight class the battle makes it VERY clear their barely holding in there and that the blast from the manhunters rods are just too potent for them to stand up against. 

But help and hope arrives and things get a bit less lopsided when Superman shows up! Unfortunately it’s season 1 superman, and something a lot of fans noticed but I as a kid didn’t and the crew themslves did not until it was too late to course correct for the season, was that Superman came off as a bit of a wimp in this series. See they had the good intention of having him struck down to show a threat’s serious, something TV Tropes calls the “The Worf effect” after the fact that Worf on Star Trek TNG would get knocked on his ass a lot for the same reason, but it has the side effect of making a character look like their made of paper mache if done too often. To the crew’s credit they realized this and not only made sure this didn’t happen as much in season 2, but dedicated the first episode of Season 2, twilight, to showing Superman as a badass by having him try and cave Darkseid’s skull in. Granted they overcompensated in places in that episode, but that’s a story for another day. Point is he had a habit of getting knocked around and it varied between really effective and overselling it. Here it works as the manhunters had already knocked Jonn around a bit, knocking him into some poor kid’s apartment whose really wondering what the fuck just happened too much to enjoy meeting the martian manhunter, so him  not being too on top of them simply sells this threat is equal, and possibly past the League. 

Meanwhile John is talking to his former teacher who says the kid reminds him of John... it’s not only a nice bit of depth to show the restrained John used to be a bit of a hellraiser before the Marines.. but also shows John’s guilt as he hopes not.. but before he can unload, he notices the fight and suits up to his old mentors shock and the kids joy, I mean I would too if a guy suddenly because a green lantern in front of me, and dashes off.. to surrender and break up the fight, handing over his ring and going with them and telling the League not to interfere. Their response can be summed up thusly. 

To John, he’s peacefully surrendering for a crime he comitted to a bruitsh and unfair police force but one who is duly deputized and as an officer himself, for the unaware the Green Lanterns are space cops and given the reason rightfuly reconing on the police I will certainly be discussing this as we go, is trying to coparate and prevent any collateral. While LIKELY Bruce pays for any that happens, as beneath his batdick demanour at times he’s a very good man and if he has the pockets for a space station, space craft, commuincators and all the good stuff a superhero team has on hand, he probably has a dedicated fund set up to paying for collateral since insurance might not cover it, and not only that would likely give any impacted extra to do any upgrades they coudln’t before because he’s a philanorphist .. one who dresses up like a bat to punch people in the face, but that itself is still philathophy in a way. 

But to the League? Their friend was taken by a bunch of shady paramilitary robots who didn’t bother talking to them, is trying to keep them out of it and for all they know only surrendered to prevent a fight, and even if he had valid reasons, as his friends-ish and teammates, they have a right to answers. So while John sits in his cell completlating his apparent crimes.. the JL have taken off in the Javelin, the spaceship I mentioned batman funding. And of course Batman has both spaceship money and had a design for one so ready it likely took a month at most for him to get it up and running, if not less, and only didn’t have one in the batcave because he hadn’t neededed it yet and likely didn’t want to embezle more money than he has to from his company. Jonn uses the stars John saw, say that three times fast I dare you, to find a location and our heroes head there.  Our heroes arrive.. and are attacked by the local security despite Superman geninely trying to hail them, the Javelin not firing back and our heros only going out to intercpet personally so they don’t die, and even then making careful certainty not to attack. So we get another thrilling battle, with our three flying heroes all pitching in, and the flash realizing he dosen’t know how to fly the thing and me cursing out bruce in my head for you know, not either forcing flash to learn the stuff, or having the forsight to put a manual on board for any members who forgot something, aka so when Wally inteivibly goofs off and eats candy instead of reading it the first time, he can speed read it and at least retain it long enough to land the thing in a crisis. If it were anyone else i’d be understanding but this is the guy who again, either had spaceship plans lying around or could get one together in the span of a month or so and while not thinking of the ship in terms of a team, still also paid for and likely created the commuincators they used, so he’d know his team well enough to know he needs this. 

My nitpicking aside, our heroes land, make quick work of the locals, and then crash in on John’s trial after he’s escorted in, passing his fellow lanterns who rightfully treat him with disdain.. but for the wrong reasons as we’ll see. John gives  groaning “oh no” , like he’s embarassed. When REALLY..

Seriously John, again you were as far as they knew kidnapped, and the way the manhunters acted, they had no reason to think they were legitamate, and you didn’t take five minutes to tell them, “They have every reason to be takning me” or “I blew up a planet I deserve this” . They still would’ve came mind you, they just might of realized this wasn’t a traditional rescue mission and actually tried to use some subtly. You also COULD have told the manhunters they might show up so the security wouldn’t attack them. They probably woudln’t o LISTEND or attacked themselves, so i’ts a damned if you do damned if you don’t situation, but you still did absolutely nothing. It’s the one mistep with John here and even then it has the justification of his self loathing at the moment being so high, he assumed they’d rightfully write him off without question.. not to mention given the team is mostly white guys, two aliens and a princess who woudln’t know better, he probably assumed like most white dumbasses they’d assume the police were correct and not give him the benifit of a doubt. To their credit, especially since you know one of them’s superman and the other one’s a professional dumbass, they didn’t think that for a second. Some would not be such a good person. 

But Prosecutor Forman and the big giant heads aren’t much better than the manhunters, so Prosecutor Forman sends some orange guys to put foots up their asses.. and since unlike the manhunters their just... some ambigiously gendered aliens with no powers, they go down quick and before the manhunters enter, superman RIGHTFULLY calls them out, as he points out they just wanted to know what the hell was going on, didn’t throw the first punch, and have been under attack since, and the heads admit this IS a public trial, and they kinda overreacted so as long as the superfriends don’t do any other antics and watch like anyone else, their good. Superman has his team play it safe for now as they really don’t know what’s going on and given they could only stalemate the manhunters on even footing, they know they can’t take them on their home turf.  

The trial is soon underway, and Prosecutor Forman calls the witnsees.. Kanjar Ro, also voiced by Smith. This is neat little bit as Ro was one of the first foes the League fought in the comics, a space pirate, and while he originally was just going to be some random asshole, someone brought up the idea of him being Ro and the crew really loved it. It’s a nice nod to the comics and honestly if you have a vast superhero universe with decades of continuity to draw from for your show, why NOT make the secondary villian of the episode be someone from the comics. 

Ro is, like the comics, a pirate and seemingly came forward because what John did was so bad even he can’t stomach it and has to say something. So we FINALLY find out what John did.. well okay the audience as a whole does I remember this from being a kid. He and Ro had a routine cop and robber interaction, Ro was smuggling shit, and John was doing his job as GL of Sector 2814 and stopping him and cut out his engine.. but seemingly said engine drifted off, and destroyed a planet as  result via chain reaction, and thus the debris right outside the planet John’s being tried on are apparently thsoe of the planet he accidently killed. The court takes a break and while the League, understandably, assume that the obviously shady man was lying John ends part one by confirming that no he did it. And this is why I put a pin in things... because the episode being about a space cop being arrested by worse space cops and dealing with his friends in the badge turning on him while some of his other friends try to prove he’s innocent, and the man in question being an african american... tackles some very loaded issues that, givent he writer and most of the staff, Dwayne McDuffie accepted, were very much white, i’m thinking they just kind of fell backward into and it only came out as good as it did either do to McDuffie or just blind luck that it didn’t turn out entirely awful in hindsight.

And if anyone is complaning: “Wait you dont’ need to get political leave politics out of this”.. please leave my fucking blog. For one, the recknoing with the police was long overdue, I feel ashamed for not having it sink in how fundementally broken the police were and not realizing it for my whole fucking life, I knew some cops were bad but I hadn’t realized the institution was inherently racist and bad  and feel so much deep and lasting shame for that, and for another again it’s a story that at it’s core is a black police officer being arrested for doing something wrong, taking full responsiblity for his actions like a police officer SHOULD, and having friends of his try and prove he didn’t really do it, while his fellow officers, rather than find the act itself abohhrent, come out as either being loyal to john no matter what (kilowog) because fellow officer, or assholes who ONLY are upset because it makes them look bad, and are ONLY distancing themselves because of that, and not because you know JOHN MAY OF CAUSED A GENOCIDE BY INCOMPETNECE. So yeah, i’m not ignoring the real world implications, I couldn’t and wouldn’t if I wanted to, and i feel if done right ANY medium, animation, comics, what have you, for kids or not, can tackle such issues and should be able to. 

So i’m not ignoring the elephant in the room, and as we get into part 2 we get the good and bad of this in full: Superman feels something’s off about this whole thing, a hunch admitely but given an engine falling in a crater seems a bit too convinent, he has a right to investigate and takes MM to do so, while he leaves Flash and Hakwgirl to stall. Both take diffrent approaches: Flash signs on as GL’s lawyer.. and it’s an awesome scene as we find out, in your standard evil lawyer joke, that the tribunal of faces solved this by simply having the lawyer share the punishment.. but it also shows Flash’s loyalty and faith that his friend did not do this and something worse is at work, as he still agrees after learning he’ll probably die if his other friends don’t fix this. 

And now we have full context i can get into where this episode really does the issue justice for the most part: John is presented as the model of both what the GL Corps and what police should be: He’s professional, uses minimal force despite having a weapon that can do anything, and when he THINKS he did something horrible, he dosen’t run from his crime: the most he does is go back home to see it once last time, simply waiting for someone to come and get him for what it did wether it be his own brothers in arms or as we saw the manhunters and he doesn’t defend himself because he dosen’t feel he should as he screwed up, got an entire planet killed, and rightly thinks he should pay for it. He’s likely, as a black man in the early 2000′s, been falsely accused, pulueld over and fucked over by police and seen people in his community he knewe and care about die because of shit like this so when given the chance to take responsibility, even from a clearly broken system, he does. Because in the same situation a lot of officers back at home would not and would walk away clean and that’s not who John Stewart is, how he was raised, or what he or the corps stands for. 

But the episode gets to have it’s cake and eat it too, as the League does belivie John didn’t do this on purpose.. and the blind faith they especially superman did come off as wince inducing.. until I realized it’s not because of some “brotherhood of the badge” bullshit.. but because it’s Superman. He belivies in the good of most people. In this very series despite Lex Luthor having tried to kill him dozens of times at this point, he STILL shows the guy empathy when he finds out Lex is dying of cancer. Lex spits at the notion of course and dosen’t take it seroiusly.. but Superman is just that good a person, so if he has a hunch somethings’ wrong.. it probably is. And even if he and Jonn found nothing... it’s the right thing to do. A crime should ALWAYS be properly investigated to make sure someone dosen’t hang for something they did not do. This is what I meant by have it’s cake and eat it too: the episode tackles police brutality.. but the accused is also the victim, and it thus tackles the unfairness in the us courts, how black people are often assumed guilty when that’s horribly racist and biased as fuck and how Police are assumed correct. Our heroes are assuming john is right based on optisim but are not wrong for wanting him to at LEAST get a fair trial and full investigation that clearly was not done. It also covers, again probably intetioanlly, how some are often not able to get proper representatin, with this court outright getting rid of it, which is wrong and bad, and the flash being the best John can do and not very good at it, mostly stalling for time. It shows the system’s brokena nd soemtimes you have to directly fight iht and can’t just take it , and even if your convinced your guilty and want to rightfuly take the blame for something your sure you did... you still deserve a fair trial and a compitent one. 

It’s not all good: as said the gl’s are portrayed as bad for not wanting anything to do with john, and in order to make them unsympathetic they care more about their rep than the fact a friend may of comited genocide and kilowog showing up and providing character witness is seen as a good thing, even if he provides no actual character evidence other than “Johnny’s a good guy” and that’s not ideal. It’s not perfect and again it was writtne by an old white guy so of course it isn’t but the fact it gets so much right the more you dig in despitei t’s awwkardness and being written and aired 20 years ago... that is nothing to sneeze at. 

We have more to dig into here too with the manhunters but first moreof the plot: While the other stuff mentioned happens, Superman and Jonn investigate as said.. and we find out WHY superman was supscious: while it was part hunch.. he did in fact have valid reason to suspect something was off, and as we saw actually heard the case against his friend first, and only went against it because the evidence was off.. in that the MOON of the planet is still there and should’ve flown off. He and Jonn soon find a MASSIVE device that John identifies as a bigger version of a toy he had as a kid, something that created images... and again shows whya  PROPER investigation was needed. Had the court actually looked into it instead of presuming John guilty, they would’ve found this thing too. Naturally though Kanjar Ro has followed them and wants to kill them.. but with her subplot wrapped up Hawkgirl went to seei f they needed backup, stealing one of the guard ships which given they attacked people on ap lanet iwth a PUBLIC TRIAL going on without haling them yeah don’t blame her, and kicks his ass. Our heroes find out the truth as I mentioned earlier: Ro was paid to lie and be in on things for an assload of money.. byt he Manhutners.. who at the moment are plotting to strike while Oa, the home of the green lanterns is weak, as the Guardians who created them and monitor them mostly left to go to the trial.

As we catch up with them, THe guardians speak on each lantern being trusted with the ring and given little oversight.. because they pick wisely. The prosecutor just wants John to hang, calls for a sentence, which is death and John and Flash nearly die, in case you thought I was pulling those parallels out of my ass. But Superman rushes in, and in a small, subtle gag he and Jonn do so thorugh a small pain of glass put over where they enterted last time, fight off security and save them, and before prosecutor foot in the ass can harumph about it more.. Superman claims jonn’s innocent..a nd has Shiera smash the generator, showing he indeed is, getting John aquitted. John also attacks Ro, who they brought along as a witness, rightfully so, but the League get him to stop as they don’t have time for that: the Guardians are strangely leaving after that, the manhunters are clearly doing something given their asbent, so John retakes his ring, restored to who he was now knowing he truly WAS innocent and was simply set up.. and he wants to find out why. 

We soon get the why as the Guardians explain the manhunters after the League won’t let them just.. brush by after they aburbtly tried to leave. They AREN’T behind the current attack.. but did create them, feeling robots would be better policeman. They were wrong, with the manhunters lacking empathy, being far too military in their job, and generally not being up for it so they simply gave them smaller jobs as bounty hunters, court balifs that sort of thing ans assumed they were fine because they didn’t say anything. As John puts it perfectly “Not outloud. “ And this itself is the other thing that makes the episode work as an allegory, if a very unteitonal one: The Manhunters are the police as they are now, violent brutes with way too much power, no restraint in using it and no ounce of mercy or sympathy for those they protect. And the Guardians rightfully removed this system, and replaced it with the corps. And while the Corps STILL have a lot of leway and power, being free to investigate on their own provided OA dosen’t call them to do someting specific, and given a ring that can do anything within corps guidelines, which basically means “don’t kill” and “don’t be a dick with it”, the guardians still watch them, do not interfere in trials and choose very wisely. not only that ther’es only one officer per sector, each sector being galaxies wide.. but that’s because that’s only what’s NEEDED. One Lantern with the power to take on entire fleets if needed, which is a fair amount of power given the scope of the job, and come in as requested by the people themselves, honestly isn’t a bad system. Granted the corps is wonky from time to time in the comics as are the guaridans depending on the writer, but at it’s core the corps really sounds like a more responsible versoin of the police: given just the gear necessary, the men necessary, and only called in when truly needed or if they spot a crime in process. THat’s what the people protecting us should be like and that’s why this episode still works. 

Obviously though I was aware of none of this as a kid, and the real reason I loved this episode is this climax. The League arrives on Oa just in time to provide backup. Presumibly the guardians there and incoming with the league simply dont have the power to spare to call for reinforcments. Which is weird but fair enough drama wise and our heroes storm the planet , with the corpsmen from before all showing up to pitch in. But John gets there too late as the head manhunter drains the central power battery, the source of the lantern’s powers, and declares I AM THE POWER, refusing to accept he’s out of date.

 And this, folks is the moment that made me love the lanterns for life. John is outgunned, the wise old wrinkled blue men who gave him his powers drained of there, starring down a massive monster planning to subjigate the universe... and he does not blink. See lanterns are picked for their willpower, their abliity to stare down things like this, and fight anyway, their very rings controlled by this, by their own force of personhood. It’s another reason besides logistics why theires only one per sector: it’s that hard to find one. Earth is so remarkable because , even if it’s simply so we could have more stars in the books over time in real world, we produced not ONE person capable of this.. but 7.. Alan Scott whose not in the corps but whose powers stll work on will and could probably use a regular corps ring very much included. John was chosen because he simply won’t give up. He gave up before.. but it was the right thing to do and ultimately biding his timea nd accepting his trial.. gave his friends time to aquit him and prove he was framed. 

But now is not the time to back down.. now’s the time to stand.. so how does John win? By USING his will, by using the reason he was chosen coupled with ihs own personal dedication and concentration, he grabs his ring as it floats toward the guy, takes it back.. and starts reciting the lantern oath. And since the Manhunter is indeed “The power”.. it means he too can be controlled like any lantern energy. and thus with every bit of willpower he has, struggling all the while but not moving a damn inch, John recites his oath and shoves the monster that framed him, and the power he stole, back into the battery, all while saying an oath so badass it has been etched into my head since thanks to this episode. Say it with me now..

In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night No Evil Shall Escape My Sight Let Those Who Worship Evil’s Might BEWARE MY POWER, GREEN LANTERN’S LIGHT!

And the credit goes to phil lamarr, who delivers the oath with all the gravitas and awesomeness it’s first delivery in this continuty it deserves. It was this that made me a lifelong fan: one man with the power of anytihng using PURE MENTAL STRENGTH AND DETERMiINATION TO SHOVE AN EVIL ENERGY BEING IN A GIANT LANTERN WHILE RECITING A BADASS AND AWE INSPIRING OATH. And if that dosen’t sell you on the Green Lantern’s being awesome I can’t help you and don’t know why your here. 

So wrapup time: The Guardians genuinely thank john, saying they choose well, and John brushes off his fellows corpspersons as they should’ve belivied him and thanks the League for having faith in him even when he didn’t. And while the former part has some.. bad implications we’ve gotten into already, I also can’t entirely blame him given they did it not because he might’ve killed someone but again, because 

Precisley. So our heroes prepare to head home, cue the credits. 

Final Thoughts:

So how does this episode hold up 20 years later? As should be obvious, damn well. It’s a good introduction for the corps, if showing them to be kinda assholes in places, and a good spotlight episdoe for John showing who he is what he stands for and again how TRULY MONUMENTALLY BADASS the man is. And lest you think the comics versoin is any LESS badass, he once got into a sniper duel in with Bedovian, a member of the Sinestro Corps and a crab person.. who was as I forgot till looking it up, THREE SECTORS, which i’ll remind you can comprise entire galaxies, away, with a ring made sniper rifle. In one shot no less. Point is even with some.. wonkier aspects, and ones that aren’t intetnional, it still works and is a shockingly relevant episode 19 years later and the fight scenes, as are standard for the series, are overwhelmingly awesome. Check this one out, and the series as a whole. With its great animation, character work and general badassery this one’s worth a few watches. And obviously given my love of this seires, and it’s 20th anniversay next year, and my love of John, check back here for more John-centric episodes throughout the year as we celebrate the guy. And I will also celebrate the green lantern NAMED guy eventually too, and jessica.. and all of them ebcause I love them all. Yes.. even Hal.  As for which John episode i’m doing next? Easy, one that intorduces me to a character I love who dosen’t get used near enough, Metamorphisis. The when I can’t say QUITE yet as my March schedule is full and most of my ongoing projects are on the backburner so I can tackle two arcs of ducktales, which coincidentally happened to be in time for the finale. That wasn’t planned AT ALL mind you, it just ended up working out really well that way.  For now though tommorow I begin my coverage of the final 4 episodes of ducktales with “Beaks in the Shell” and later this week finish up black history month with blacksad, continue my Lena retrospective with a money shark and some pr work, cover the second season of close enough, celebrate Tex Avery’s birthday and also celebrate the new Tom and Jerry movie.. with the OLD tom and jerry movie. Until then, see you next rainbow. 

[snarkwriteswrasslin]

Can I request Darby Allin headcanons?

Oh my god, fucking finally. I was wondering when someone would send me an ask for Darby. I have... a definite weakness for him, beats the hell out of me as to why, oops rip. Anyway, yes. Yes. and more yes. I will happily do these for you! Thank you so so so so much for sending me this ask.

Since you didn’t specify NSFW or fluff, I think I’m going to /attempt/ fluff. Attempt being the key word. I hope that’s okay with you?

Warnings:

None. Kids, you can all stay. For now.

Tagging:

@kyleoreillysknee @rampagewriting @writertoo18 @thatnerdwriter @wrestlingismyguiltypleasure @chasingeverybreakingwave @waywardwrestlewritingwaif @sassymox @champbucks @hungmanhorsecarriage @wardl0w @ryantaylorgirl @dilfmoxley  @hotyeehawman @darbysallin @gabbynorth98 @bec0m

@linziland13

Other Stuff:

[ ABOUT MY WRITING | MASTERLIST | TAG LIST DOC ]

You two just kind of clicked upon meeting. You found it fairly easy to get comfortable with him, fairly quick. It got to a point where you guys could have an entire conversation without words. using mostly facial expressions or body language.

-- This quickly got irritating to people around you who didn’t quite get it. Especially whenever someone like say... Guevara.. would come around hitting on you and you’d look over his shoulder, locking eyes with Darby and the two of you would kinda... share a glance before both dissolving into laughter. More than a time or two, Guevara has stormed off because he’s seriously trying to flirt with or pursue you and you’re too busy laughing and sharing some super secret inside joke with Darby to notice.

Darby takes it upon himself to train you, so you two get even closer. And maybe, on occasion, there’s a little bit of flirting. It’s tentative, of course, because Darby is still trying to figure out if you feel the same things he’s feeling and he strikes me as the kind of man who won’t force himself upon someone until he knows for absolute certain that his advances would be welcome.

-- You’re trying to learn some high flyer moves. You’re a bit of a daredevil. Normally, this would not bother Darby at all. And he’s happy to teach you, but damn does it make him catch his breath every single time you take to climb something and dive off. One time, you take a little longer to get up than usual because the foam blocks you landed on were just that soft and you were having too much fun kinda chillin. He was not happy with you when he got to the area you landed and found you lounging in the foam blocks. He winds up laughing and pulling you up. “You fucking scared me.”

You two don’t know just how touchy-feely you are until several of the other members of the roster just start to assume you’re a thing. Neither of you really bother correcting them either. 

-- You have to share a hotel room with him one particular night... And a bed in said hotel room. And you two are up all night talking and laughing, whispering back and forth. Somewhere in the midst of it all, you realize that you’re always happier when you’re around Darby. And you start to really notice these little things. It’s mutual, because there’s a long pause and you two are just laying there on your sides, staring at each other. Darby’s hand reaches out, caressing your cheek. You melt against him. One of you groans and lips brush together lightly...

At first, you two try to take a few steps back and just... pretend that you didn’t wind up making out, practically dry humping in a darkened hotel room. But it quickly became apparent that neither one of you had really forgotten. And the air was always so heavy between you two. Touches seemed to linger a lot more. Those little teasing looks across the room?  Turned to smouldering and lust filled ones instead. His training sessions with you were infinitely more hands on now too and afterwards, he’d taken to start massaging you. Neither of you did the typical / stereotypical “hide from each other because things got a little weird” bit. That unspoken night seemed to make you closer? Either way, it was crystal clear that nothing was going to be the same now. And that things were getting serious.

-- Still, you two managed to hold off a discussion. Until you just couldn’t anymore. And it’s Darby who brings it up, because he doesn’t strike me as the kind to keep his opinions to himself when he feels something needs to be said. He goes about it in the sweetest way possible too. You never really realized that your goofy best friend had quite a serious and romantic side.. But when he opens up and lets it all out, he really shows you that side because the whole time he’s talking, spilling his heart out to you, he’s constantly touching you. Hugging you against him. Staring down at you wtih this look in his eyes like you’re his whole world. 

-- Things get... Intense. Clothing winds up ripped and strewn all over the room. And he’s a very slow and gentle, attentive lover. Wants to kiss/touch every single part of you with each new article of clothing he tears away from your body. Wants to taste you, whether it be burying his head between your thighs or the way your kisses taste. Very vocal. Oh god, so vocal. Quiet grunts and groans. Bucking himsefl against the mattress while he looks up from where he’s positioned himself between your legs, with this fire burning in his eyes. He’s... He’ll leave marks, but they’re not really big or heavy/deep ones. Handprints, however.. He grips you so tight that sometimes, he leaves red marks behind. If he has a kink, it’s being blindfolded.... giving over total control to you. Letting you touch him all over... Maybe a bit of a pain kink, but mostly, he likes being blindfolded and giving over dominance in bed. Loves to praise you. Really loves it when you praise him. 

Does the cutest little romantic things.. Like leaving you little love notes and drawings in the steam on the mirror while you’re showering. Loves to take pictures of you and keeps them in his locker.Leaves you random surprises.

Carries you everywhere.

You two still have the whole unspoken conversations, only now they’re either dirty and flirty, or you two are sharing your general disdain with having to go out and be social on occasion because you’re both pretty private.

You two like to be lazy during downtime. And cozy. Lots of cuddling on the couch with movies like The Crow or Final Destination playing. Lots of you two doing random ish like the hot pepper challenge. Or going randonauting. Or just sleeping late because you stayed up half a night, cuddled in bed, talking and whispering back and forth.

It’s just v.v cute okay? Soft.

[kawaiichan67]

F! It Friday?

From my WIP Volleyball Fake Dating AU. InuKag Modern      

The gym was only half full, but the sound was still quite loud. The shouts really reverberated as Yashiro walked into the stands to watch the girls’ volleyball team.  He’d heard good things about them; they apparently had a few new first-years and had risen through the ranks. He nodded at a few of the other players and was more than a little surprised to see so many different sports teams represented. Wasn’t Hyuga on the basketball team? And Tsubasa and Kurosaki were definitely on the soccer team. Why were all these people here?

 “Hey, Yash!” his friend Miroku called out and waved him over to an empty seat. He smiled at his friend and nodded towards the court. “They are really quite good. They’ve just finished their first game and are nearly ready for their second.” Yashiro looked at Miroku, really looked, and saw something…something he didn’t quite like.

 “You look like the cat that ate the canary, hentai,” Yashiro snorted and settled into his seat. “What’s got you so…uh...worked…up?” Yashiro leaned forward, unsure. Was that? No. He looked at Miroku, shock written all over his face. “No. It can’t be?” he barely choked out,  shaking his head.

Miroku chuckled and nodded. “Yes, I was surprised too, but I checked the roster and its definitely her. THE Higurashi Kagome.” Miroku chuckled again, then leaned closer to Yashiro. “She’s still using one of the moves you taught her, you know?”

It felt like yesterday. He’d asked her if she wanted some help with a few volleyball moves and, of course, she’d brought her whole team. While he and Miroku had worked on different moves for the team, Yashiro couldn’t help but watch how smoothly Kagome moved on the court. She seemed to read the ball so well and moved with grace. It helped that she had long, beautiful legs. The funniest part was that she was fairly clumsy, but not while she was playing volleyball. 

She’d been so helpful and considerate, fetching water or towels for everyone when they seemed to need it. Also, she’d been so determined to learn something new that he’d worked with her very hard on her sliding digs until she could do them on the entirety of the court. And they’d had some good dates, aside from any volleyball training, yet they’d sort of drifted apart. But, this was perfect. He recalled their last meeting in person. He’d taken her to a park and they’d had some delicious desserts at a nearby cafe (she did love chocolate) and then gone for a walk.  Back then, he’d been getting messages on his Line account from some girls and she’d solved that problem pretty easily. She grinned and sat very close to him on a park bench, holding out his phone and taking a cute picture of her kissing his cheek. He’d saved it immediately and used it as his profile pic just to be safe. He still had it, actually. And now, when he couldn’t seem to get rid of a few annoying girls, why wouldn’t they just take the hint. Well, here she was. The perfect answer!  “If you ever need a fake girlfriend, you know who to ask!” she’d said, then winked. So cheeky! and so adorable!  “One fake girlfriend, coming up,” and Yashiro headed down to the players’ level.

[carewyncromwell]

The next Cinderella AU part is here...and I am so thrilled about this part, because not only do we get a new character (who I’m quite sure you can identify from the sketch above -- only my second time drawing him ever, and I’m actually pretty happy with it!), but we’ll also get a nice serving of drama! Goodie!!

Robin Hood as a legendary figure first originated through the oral tradition, so its history is a little hard to plot out, but his first reference in writing is a ballad from the 15th century. Although our modern image of Robin Hood is that of a chaotic good heroic figure, his original incarnation was decidedly less saintly -- he was a bandit, and although he did refrain from stealing from women, he was rather violent, reckless, and hot-tempered, as well as flagrantly against both clerics and all nobility. Robin Hood’s backstory of being a disgraced nobleman who turned outlaw after losing his title and land and who remains loyal to the “good king” Richard while opposing the unlawful regent Prince John was added later, presumably to make him a bit more “approachable” to an Elizabethan audience who was more accustomed to hearing tales about nobility (just look at a lot of Shakespeare’s plays from that period -- many of them center around royalty or the upper class). Plays about or referencing Robin Hood then increased in popularity on the British Isles throughout the 16th and early 17th century, until the rise of Puritanism in the 1640′s put a halt to theatrical productions. (Bloody kill-joys.) For more information on the history of Robin Hood’s development, I strongly recommend this analysis done by Overly Sarcastic Productions (...actually, just watch everything on their channel, it’s all great XD).

Previous part is here -- whole tag is here -- Katriona “KC” Cassiopeia belongs to @kc-needs-coffee -- and I hope you enjoy!

x~x~x~x

Carewyn had a lot of trouble returning to her daily routine at the palace the following morning. Getting so close to the border with Orion and hearing about how much scarier it was likely to get on the battlefield made her all the more worried for Jacob’s well-being. Even if the spell Charles Cromwell had paid for nine years ago made it so that Jacob would stay alive as long as he willed it, Carewyn dreaded the thought of what harm, physical and emotional, that Jacob might face. If she only had some idea which battalion he was a part of and where on the front he’d be, then she could always just try to send a letter his way...maybe even ask Orion to drop it off to the camp for her, since his father was an officer. But Carewyn had combed every military roster she could get her hands on, but hadn’t been able to find a single record of Jacob anywhere.

‘He must be under another name,’ Carewyn told herself. 

It wouldn’t be too unreasonable that Charles wouldn’t want Jacob to advance in the ranks on the back of their family name. And really, Carewyn knew full well how displeased her grandfather would be if he found out she was trying to reach out to her brother without his approval -- he could’ve even forced Jacob to take on another name, just to try to make it that bit harder for Carewyn to contact him without his approval...

Carewyn’s friends noticed a rather abrupt shift in her mood. She was singing as always, but her choices were a bit less upbeat and her voice sounded oddly distracted and nostalgic. At one point, Andre mentioned offhandedly that he’d been designing themed outfits for his friends to wear to his mother’s New Year Eve’s Masque Ball, but Carewyn had trouble putting much attention on it.

“I’ve already finished some ‘owl wings’ on a cape for KC and a fur-trimmed wolf mask and gown for Erika...I was thinking perhaps a stag for Bill, a dragon for Charlie, and a lioness for Ginny? I considered a horse at first, but I think a pale gold would make her just glow, don’t you think? Yours I’m most excited for, though...I’m hoping to actually make your newest pair of shoes with fabric on the inside for comfort and diamond on the outside for sturdiness, if I can manage it!”

“Mm...that sounds great,” said Carewyn absently.

Her gaze was drawn out the nearest window, as far out as she could.

“...Andre,” she said slowly, “I realize this is very last minute, but...may I have this afternoon off, to go see my family?”

Andre blinked. “Is something the matter?”

“Oh no, no,” Carewyn lied with as pretty and reassuring of a smile as she could. “It’s just...well, it’s nearly Tristan’s birthday. My uncle keeps him very close to home, compared to my other cousins...I merely thought I might stop by and bake him a little something, as a surprise.”

Andre frowned slightly. “You...get along better with your uncle and his son than with Iris, then?”

“No, but Tristan is only a boy. It’s hard to hold any bad behavior against him. And well, maybe if he and the others don’t know I made it, he’ll enjoy it better.”

Carewyn could see Andre still looked confused and a little dismayed, so she quickly added, “I’ll be back by tomorrow morning, in time for my rounds. I won’t allow it to interrupt my duties.”

Andre offered a hesitant smile. “Well, all right...if it really means that much to you.”

Carewyn’s eyes softened. “Thank you, Andre -- I really appreciate it.”

Fortunately for Carewyn, Andre wasn’t the best at picking up on other people’s pretenses. Unfortunately for Carewyn, two of his most regular confidantes were his cousin KC and fencing instructor Erika, and they did pick up on Carewyn’s odd behavior.

“She said she wanted to surprise her cousin with something for his birthday?” asked KC, frowning deeply. 

“Well, yeah,” said Andre. “I admit, it seemed a little weird to do something so nice without even wanting credit, but Carewyn is an awfully selfless sort. From the way she made it sound, she just wanted to do something nice for him.”

“And you believed her?” said Erika rather coldly. 

She whacked Andre’s practice sword out of his hand with her own, making the Crown Prince hiss in pain. 

“I’ve told you before, Prince Henri -- you all may think Carewyn Cromwell’s nothing like her family, but that’s absolute bunk. She might be more pleasant than them, but she’s not stupid and she’s not honest. Or did you not notice that that weird guy she hangs out with keeps calling her ‘his lady,’ as if she weren’t the penniless orphan of a deadbeat merchant?”

Erika picked up Andre’s sword and tossed it back to him with ease. 

“Then of course that guy himself is shady as all get out.”

Andre frowned. “You mean Orion? Come on, Erika, he isn’t that bad -- I thought he seemed quite amiable, myself. Don’t you agree, KC?”

“He is,” said KC fairly. “But Erika isn’t completely off-base. There is a lot about Orion that we don’t know -- that even Carewyn herself doesn’t know. She admitted as much to me, after I first met him. That being said,” she raised her own sword and got into position to attack Andre, “I don’t think Orion’s a threat. You would think anyone with the ability to sneak over the palace walls not once but twice would’ve tried to make some move to attack you by now, but he’s only ever come looking for Carewyn. And although I don’t completely understand the reason behind why she’s acting like a lady around him,” she shot Erika a faintly reproachful look as she and Andre traded blows, “I’m pretty sure it has more to do with her own insecurities than because she’s a terrible person -- ow! Damn it!”

Andre had successfully disarmed KC. 

“Insecurities?” he said, his eyebrows furrowing in concern. “What is there for her to be insecure about? I mean, yes, she has no dowry, and taking Orion’s wardrobe into account, I’d suppose he has to come from a family with modest wealth -- but Orion seemed to enjoy the Weasleys’ company quite well, and their family is poor. I think they’d make a lovely match, really,” he added with a rather smug grin. “They even matched at the Festival, without realizing it.”

KC massaged her wrist, frowning a bit sourly. “Yes...but Carewyn is solely under Lord Cromwell’s charge. He’s the one who sent her here. He’s the only guardian she really has. And I think it’s quite clear how much influence he has over his family -- even his daughters who married into other esteemed families still live at his estate with their husbands and children, rather than moving out onto their own estates. And in Carewyn’s case, she doesn’t even have a parent to help shield her from Lord Cromwell’s will. She doesn’t have a penny to her name. So that means, in effect, she’s chained to him, and in those circumstances...well...”

She hesitated. 

"Well what?” Andre prompted her. 

KC looked incredibly uncomfortable. 

“I didn’t want to say anything before without knowing for sure...but I think someone’s been looking at our military ledgers, documenting troop placements. Everything’s neatly put away the way they should be, but there are more fingerprints on them than before. And usually I’m the only one who has much use to look those up, whenever I’m ready to suggest a new war strategy...”

Erika’s eyes narrowed very sharply and she got right up into KC’s space. “And you’re only just saying this now?! That information could be critical to Royaume’s enemies! What if that guy Orion sneaked in not just to see Cromwell, but to get his hands on those? Or what if it was Cromwell herself, working in collusion with him?”

“Impossible,” Andre said forcefully. “Carewyn would never be a spy for the enemy -- it’s not in her character.”

“And I don’t think Orion would know where those documents would be, even if he did sneak in,” said KC. 

Erika, however, looked unconvinced as she made for the door. “You can coddle those two all you want, but I plan to tell the King and Queen -- they’ll want to interrogate Cromwell and this ‘Orion Freeman’...”

“Erika, belay that!” Andre said in a suddenly much sharper and more authoritative voice. “That’s an order.”

Once Erika had stopped walking and turned back around, the Crown Prince exhaled heavily and crossed his arms in a business-like manner. 

“I’ll get to the bottom of this,” he said firmly. “If Carewyn is heading to the Cromwell estate, she’ll have to take the road through town, correct? I’ll simply take a horse and follow the road after her.”

Erika and KC looked startled. 

“Uh, Andre,” said KC, “you haven’t forgotten that you’re not allowed to leave the palace, have you?”

Andre smirked. “No. I’m just sneaking out.”

Before Erika and KC could articulate an argument, he added in a much sassier voice, “Look, I’m doing it whether you come with me or not. I’d appreciate the company if you want to come along -- all I expect is that you’ll dress appropriately. I hear linens and cottons are fashionable for those who don’t wish to attract attention.”

And so Andre, KC, and Erika made preparations to follow Carewyn...completely unaware that a half-hour earlier, Bill and Charlie Weasley had -- after having a similar, but much more concerned conversation with Badeea Ali about Carewyn clearly lying to Andre’s face -- decided to take their horses and tail their friend themselves. And sure enough, the two eldest Weasleys soon enough found themselves following Carewyn on the road heading northeast, avoiding the Cromwell estate all together.

At the very same time, in Florence, Orion had finalized his plan. Today was the day he was going to request a formal audience with Prince Henri, as Prince Cosimo VII. As Carewyn had said, he’d need to act fast if he was going to stop his father from finding a way to complete his own ruthless strategy -- the battlefield itself would be a difficult place for Orion to make his case, with so many distractions, but he knew a more balanced, peaceful setting wouldn’t be. And so he wrote a long letter to the King, explaining everything that he had learned from Royaume and its people as well as Florence’s own, so as to make a case for peace. He then had the court magician Severus Snape deliver it to the Florentine camp in his stead, while he dressed in his finest and prepared to leave for Royaume. 

When he made as if to take his own horse, however, Orion found Skye and McNully waiting for him, a black coach already prepared. 

“If you’re planning on going to meet Prince Henri, you really should arrive in style,” said McNully with a wry smile. “A good first impression to the King and Queen would help your case by a good 45%.”

“And you have to know there’s no way in Hell we’re going to let you go out and expose your true identity to the enemy without back-up,” Skye added, her arms crossed over her chest. “

Orion’s black eyes softened. “...Thank you.”

As he climbed into the carriage, both McNully and Skye’s faces nonetheless betrayed some hesitation. 

“Are you sure you want to do this?” McNully asked. “There’s a 74% chance they’ll respond badly to it -- I reckon there’s a 39.5% chance they’ll try to arrest you on the spot and hold you as a prisoner of war...”

“I carry no weapons with me, and I come with the explicit purpose of diplomacy,” said Orion levelly. “Therefore I’m not an enemy combatant. As long as I follow their direction while under their roof, then any harm they might do me would be violating the conventions of war...and the Royaumanians, for all of their flaws, do have honor.”

“One could make a case for you having been involved in espionage, though,” McNully pointed out, but Orion ignored him and settled down in the carriage, crossing his legs offhandedly. 

“What about Lady Cromwell?” said Skye, her voice a bit lower and more concerned. “She’ll find out you’re a Florentine. And not just any Florentine, the Prince of Florence.”

Something sad flickered through Orion’s confident, unflappable expression.

“She was going to learn the truth sooner or later,” he murmured. “If our time together has come to an end...then at least I may have the memories to hold onto...and the knowledge that by ending this War peacefully, I may have spared her of more heartache.”

He closed his eyes and began to meditate, clearly having said his piece on the matter. Skye and McNully, however, couldn’t help but exchange a look that was both anxious and very sad. 

As long as they’d known Orion, he’d always been a little reckless, but he was also passive and avoided direct confrontation. This plan to directly appeal to Royaume’s royal family, however, required a lot of guts  -- far more than either of them had thought Orion possessed. And they knew such courage could only have been encouraged by one person...the very same person who Orion loved so much that he would choose to follow her example and protect what she loved, even if it meant destroying their relationship forever. 

Orion meditated during most of the journey to the Royaumanian palace. It was merely fortunate that, as they approached, McNully broke him out of his trance by tapping him on the shoulder and pointing out the window. If he hadn’t, then Orion would not have seen a rather familiar trio of riders on horseback, riding through town past them -- a short, stocky lady with dark red hair and freckles; a very tall blonde with a square jaw and sharp eyes; and a very handsome dark-skinned man dressed in a purple tunic, emerald green pants, and gold-buckled black boots. 

“Stop the carriage!” said Orion, his soft, level voice nonetheless very firm despite not rising in volume. 

He barely waited for the carriage to completely stop before slamming the door open and jumping out.

“Andre! KC!”

Andre, KC, and Erika all stopped their horses in an abrupt halt and turned around as Orion dashed up to them.

“Orion?” said Andre, startled. 

KC looked from the rather finely dressed Orion to the expensive-looking black coach behind him and back. Erika’s eyes narrowed critically upon Orion as he came to a stop in front of them, his hands clasping in front of him. 

“I...had not expected to see you out and about,” said Orion, trying to put on his most pleasant, calm expression. 

Andre glanced over his shoulder up the road, frowning deeply. “Yes, well...some business has come up.”

“Orion, have you seen Carewyn?” KC asked him, her face very serious. 

Orion blinked. 

“Not since last night,” he said. He could feel his heart starting to beat faster. “Why? Is something wrong?”

“Never you mind,” barked Erika, as she turned back to the road. “Come on, we don’t want to lose the trail -- ”

“Erika,” reproached Andre, before he turned back to Orion, his face visibly concerned. “...Carewyn asked for the afternoon off to go see her family, but it was very last minute, which isn’t like her. And according to what we’ve heard in town, there’s been no traffic down the road toward the Cromwell estate in the last four hours...”

“So Carewyn had to have been lying about where she was going,” finished KC, her face much more stoic but her voice no less tense. “We need to find her and figure out why.”

Orion’s eyebrows had furrowed over his widening black eyes. His heartbeat was slamming in his ears as the memory of Carewyn in the woods returned to him -- looking northward, toward the army camps, as if longing to run toward them --

“I know where she’s gone,” he said at once. 

He rushed back to the coach, grabbing onto the window frame and standing on the boot of the carriage. 

“To the northern border,” he urged Skye, who sat in the driver’s seat. “Quickly!”

“The border?” repeated Skye as a sharp whisper. “But Orion, your meeting with the Prince -- ”

“Can come later,” Orion told her very firmly under his breath. “Both he and I must get to the war front.”

He shot a significant look over his shoulder in Andre’s direction. McNully, putting two-and-two together, nodded and inched himself up to the window of the carriage. 

“If you tie one or more of your horses to the carriage, we should decrease our travel time by a good 21% per horse,” he told Erika, KC, and Andre. “If Carewyn left an hour ago, then with one horse, we should be able to overtake her within an half-hour -- two, within twenty minutes, and three, within ten. Though with Orion on the boot, there’s a 12% chance he’ll fall off if we ride at full speed, so we might have to go at 95% instead -- ”

KC fixed the blond-haired man with an incredulous look as she leapt off her horse. 

“Are you really calculating all that on the fly,” she asked, looking as if she wasn’t sure whether to be impressed or amused, “or are you just pulling those numbers out of fat air?”

McNully couldn’t help but grin. “Excellent! Now I can officially say that I’ve been asked that question over a hundred times before.” 

Still looking faintly bewildered, KC moved to help Andre, who’d quickly started attaching his, Erika’s, and her horse’s to the front of the carriage with the two black ones already pulling it, ignoring Erika’s incredibly sour and distrustful expression. There was no time to lose. 

From the boot of the carriage, Orion directed Skye down the same road he’d taken with Carewyn the previous night, Andre, Erika, and KC riding with McNully inside the coach. Once they’d reached the forest, Orion caught sight of a familiar-looking golden eagle with a bandaged wing -- at the sight of the Florentine prince, the eagle gave a loud shriek and flew down into the trees, and Orion urged Skye to pursue him into the woods. The road took them deep into the trees, until at last the eagle landed on a branch over the heads of two familiar-looking ginger-haired men, who were bound with thick rope to a tree. 

Bill and Charlie were stunned at the sight of such an elegant coach, but were absolutely beside themselves with relief at the sight of Andre, KC, and Erika. Erika immediately yanked a knife out of her ankle boot and set about sawing off their bindings -- once she’d cut Charlie free, he immediately rushed forward and grabbed Andre’s shoulders. 

“We’ve got to hurry!” he said anxiously. “They’ve got Carey!”

“‘They?’” said Andre, very startled. “They who?”

“This band of Florentine bandits,” said Bill, his voice very low and urgent. He kept maneuvering his bindings as Erika cut them to try to sever them faster. “They cornered us so they could try to rob us -- they were willing to let Carey go since she was a lady, but she bartered with the leader, saying that they could take her so long as they left us alone. Claimed that they could probably get more money from holding her hostage than us, given her family...”

Both Skye and McNully glanced at Orion. The Prince’s face had lost most of its color -- he’d turned his face away and closed his eyes, breathing in and out slowly as he tried to stabilize his emotions. 

“The bandits in these woods are Florentines, so I doubt they will harm you,” Baroness McGonagall’s words returned to his mind, “but I cannot be sure how they would respond to a Royaumanian, especially one related to one of their wealthiest noblemen.”

“They took all three of our horses and tied us to the tree so that we wouldn’t follow them,” growled Charlie. “They left us a knife so that we’d be able to cut ourselves free, but it’s so dull I reckon it would’ve taken us hours to do it ourselves...”

Bill succeeded in snapping the weakened ropes in half and leapt back to his feet, massaging his wrists. 

“They must have taken her to a camp of theirs,” said KC, her dark blue eyes narrowing. “Even bandits need some base of operation.”

McNully nodded, resting his arms on the edge of the coach’s window. “The lady is right. Given where we are, I’d say the odds are fairer that it’s southeast of here.”

“Closer to the Florentine side of the border, you mean,” presumed KC, and McNully nodded again. 

“They were heading south through the woods,” said Bill. “But we won’t want to bring the coach. They stopped us because they wanted money -- if they have any reason to think any of you have it, they’ll no doubt want to imprison you too...”

“On the contrary,” said Orion in a very low voice, “this carriage may be just the thing we need, to ensure that they don’t imprison us.”

Everyone looked at Orion, their faces all a mixture of incredulity and revulsion, but he seemed disinterested in explaining himself. 

“We must be quick, McNully,” said Orion, and although his voice and face were as level and unreadable as ever, they both betrayed a slight edge. “Time is not on our side.”

With Bill now sitting with the driver’s seat next to Skye and Charlie hanging off the boot with Orion, the black coach set off again. Overhead Orion caught sight of the wounded eagle again, which shrieked at them warningly -- the Prince thought it must mean they were close, but did not respond fast enough to the trap set out in front of them. 

The coach rode right through a certain cluster of vines, and within seconds, they had magically sprung to life, lashing themselves around the limbs of the five horses pulling the coach. The steeds reared back, panicked -- Skye immediately yanked out a sword from her belt and began hacking away at them, and Erika and Andre both leapt from the carriage with their own swords to help, but it was no use. The vines only lashed onto them, binding all three of them fast and making it impossible for them to move. And when things seemed like they couldn’t be any worse, without warning, a group of green-dressed men and women had swung down from more vines attached to the nearby trees, surrounding them in a tight noose-like circle and pointing their arrow-decked bows at them. 

They were trapped. 

“Well, well,” said a voice from the trees above, “we don’t often see coaches that ritzy out here.”

The voice’s owner leapt down to the ground. Unlike his companions, his hooded tunic was yellow instead of green. When he lifted his head enough that they could see his face, it was the host of a mischievous smirk. 

“Especially ones crafted in Florence,” the dark-haired and eyed bandit said breezily. 

Andre, KC, Erika, and the Weasleys all stiffened. 

“Florence?” breathed Bill. 

They all as a unit whirled on Orion. His face was remarkably calm and solemn as he stepped off the coach and in front of the others and faced the bandits’ leader, his hands clasped in front of him. 

“We do not come seeking trouble,” he said. “We merely come to retrieve a lady who surrendered herself to you. Frame like a robin’s. Hair the color of a red sunset. Eyes the color of the sky.”

The bandit’s leader raised his eyebrows curiously. “The maid called Cromwell?”

“That is her.”

“And what reason would you desire her in your custody?” challenged one of the green-dressed bandits with a cocked eyebrow, a dashing man with tanned skin and dark brown hair. 

“Wants to ransom her off himself, no doubt,” sneered another woman with messy brown hair and cold magenta eyes. “He probably works for Lord Malfoy -- we all know he’s the sort to make money off illicit enterprises and keep it all to himself, rather than give it to anyone who actually needs it...”

Two of the other bandits -- a pair of women with long red and short pink hair, respectively -- exchanged a sour look. 

“We have nothing to do with Lord Malfoy,” spat Skye, vainly tugging against the vines binding her. “We wouldn’t collaborate with that rat if you paid us -- !”

“Skye,” said Orion in a quelling voice. 

The last bandit, a very strong-looking man with dark red hair and emerald green eyes, frowned deeply at the leader, who considered Orion carefully. 

“I know your face,” he murmured. 

Orion inclined his head, his black eyes boring into the other man’s face. “I’m sure you do.”

The leader’s thin-lidded eyes narrowed critically -- then they widened, realizing. 

“Bring out Lady Cromwell at once,” he said abruptly. 

The others all whirled on him. 

“What?!” cried all three women and the dashing man. 

“Jae, are you mad?!” said the woman with the magenta eyes. 

“Do it,” said the leader called Jae firmly, without flinching. 

The strong bandit -- the only one who hadn’t questioned the leader’s direction -- grabbed a vine, which immediately retracted back up above them. 

Jae glanced at the magenta-eyed woman. “Merula, have the vines set them loose.”

Merula looked rather scandalized. “What? Oh come on, you know how much of a pain it is, to have to recast a spell after it’s broken -- ”

“Better that we do it now than wait around for the spell to expire on its own,” Jae said dryly. 

Still looking very reluctant, Merula nonetheless did as she was told, holding up her hand, which glowed with light green. 

“The terms are now invalid,” she muttered sourly at the plants. 

The plants sparkled with a similar green flare before falling limply off of the horses, Andre, Erika, and Skye. KC and Bill moved to detangle the now harmless plants from their companions and around the horses’ legs, and Charlie moved to soothe the frightened steeds. 

Within a minute, the strong bandit was back, holding onto the vine easily with one hand and holding Carewyn under his opposite arm. She had her ginger hair tied back in a loose bun and was dressed in the green peasant dress she’d worn to the Festival and her slightly oversized brown shoes -- no doubt because it was the most comfortable dress for travel she had. Orion was also beyond relieved to see that she was perfectly unharmed -- not a single cut or bruise. 

“CAREWYN!” cried KC, Andre, Bill and Charlie in relief. 

All three of the men immediately dashed right over to her and threw their arms around her in a group hug. 

“It’s all right,” Carewyn reassured them with a small smile. “I’m all right.”

“They didn’t hurt you?” Bill interrogated her. 

“You must have been terrified -- ” said Andre. 

“Where are the horses?” asked Charlie. 

“Tied up in a makeshift stable over there,” said the pink-haired bandit with a wry grin and a vague hand gesture. 

“A bit tricky to lug them up into treehouses,” added the red-haired one cheekily. “And no, for the record, we did not hurt Carewyn Cromwell. She may be a stick in the mud, but she’s a decent sort.”

“And brave too!” said the muscled man, beaming. “She wasn’t scared at all, not even when Merula stuck a knife in her face!”

“I was only getting fed up with her smart remarks,” huffed the magenta-eyed bandit called Merula. “You’d think she was the Queen of Sheba, with how she acts...”

“She is a proper lady, to be sure,” said the dashing bandit, shooting Carewyn a rather Casanova-like smile. 

Carewyn tried to stifle a snort of laughter behind her hand as Jae approached her. 

“Seems you’ll have an escort after all, Carewyn,” he said, lowering his bow with a slightly more serious look. “I don’t think I can convince you to reconsider, but under the circumstances...well, just make sure you’re careful. I’d hate to hear of Royaume losing one of its only honorable citizens due to their own stupidity.”

Carewyn inclined her head to him, her blue eyes very solemn. “I’m far from Royaume’s most honorable citizen, Jae, nor from any other country, I daresay. But thank you.”

Jae nodded. He then looked up at Orion. 

“By your leave then, your Highness,” he said with an abbreviated bow. 

He then nodded to the other bandits, and one by one, they all disappeared back up into the trees. 

None of the people on the ground, however, gave them much mind. All of them had turned back around to face Orion -- Carewyn felt like her heart had stopped still as she stared, taking in his neat ponytail and finely tailored black doublet and hose and boots. 

“...‘Your Highness?’ ” repeated Charlie, shocked. 

Andre’s eyes widened. “Then...then you’re...?”

Orion swallowed, but somehow managed to keep his composure as he nodded. His eyes were locked on Carewyn’s face, never shifting and as turbulent as a black ocean. 

“King Cosimo’s new heir,” KC breathed, her face flooding with fresh understanding around her amazement. “Cosimo VII.”