#(also i kind of like ben with a ponytail)

[oso-mimir]

I JUST discovered there were concept designs for Ben 10,000 ??!

It's interesting that they all have an omnitrix robot arm

I always figured something was up in the original series, because Ben 10,000 always wears his fingerless glove on his omnitrix hand. Almost like he can't take it off

[cyberluvzu]

HII!!! I was hoping that you could do a Ben drowned x reader (or y/n, idk which one you use) that has thick and curly hair? I know, kinda boring, but I thought it was cute (ノ∀≦。)ノ anyways, remember, don't push yourself on requests! And have a nice day/night <3

OF COURSE SMOOKIE BEAR. I don't have curly hair, but I do know people that do, so I'll use the info I get from them!!!! ALSO YOU SEEM SO SWEET OML

Ben drowned x reader

He loves it

Absolutely loves how it looks in any form

It could be in pigtails, buns, a ponytail, not styled at all, he just LOVES how it looks

He does have a lot of questions about it, since he has straight hair you'll have to explain a lot of things about it to him

Expect a LOT of questions

"What's shrinkage?" "oh so your hair is actually THAT long?" "What products do you use" "can I use your hair stuff, it makes my hair so soft?"

This man will use your hair products

Until he realizes how expensive they are, the after that he'll just sneak in a use here and there

It won't hurt if he doesn't use too much, right?

And of course, what you don't know can't hurt, so he'll use just a bit whenever he wants to pamper himself

But he isn't sneaky, you can always tell because of how soft his hair feels after

"Did you use my hair stuff?"

"HOW DID YOU KNOW?!?"

He genuinely believes that you're keeping track of how much product is in your bottles

But in actuality you just know because of the way his hair smells and the fact that it's 20x softer than normal

If you're willing to, he'd SO play with your hair

He'd play with it, scratch your scalp, even do cute little hairstyles (to the best of his ability)

He could genuinely sit there for HOURS doing that shit

He would watch YouTube videos on how to do curly/thick hair and then try to replicate it on you

"Hey babe, can I try this on you?"

"THIS IS THE FOURTH TIME THIS WEEK, BEN"

In the end you'll let him because he's a persistent little fucker

He really likes how it feels in his hands

Likes the thickness of it because it gives him more to play around with

He also loves how your hair looks when it's down

He'd be so willing to help you out when it comes to your hair

Absolutely anything that you need help with, he's DEFINITELY THERE

Partly because he's clingy, but also because he wants to touch and look at the pretty person with the pretty hair

You need him to help you with washing it? He's your man. Styling it? He's all yours. Coming up with ideas for different hairstyles? He's DEFINITELY there.

He'll look at different videogame characters with curly hair and want to try out those hairstyles on you, it's honestly the main place where he gets all kinds of ideas from

Of course, majority of them won't work

But it's always fun to see him try

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

A/n: I got a BIG Ben fanfic for y'all come up, keep your eyes out for that one, I'll also TRYYYY to get my ass on all these requests 🙏😓

[raaorqtpbpdy]

Have You Ever...

Danny gets invited to a hero convention as Danny Phantom, and his booth is next to none other than the legendary Ben 10, one of Danny's own favorite heroes. But when the two start playing a modified version of Never-Have-I-Ever to alleviate their boredom between handshakes with fans, they accidentally expose some things they didn't really mean to.

You can also read it on AO3

Written for X-over Danuary Week 2024, Day 1: Ben 10 | Prison Thanks @crossoverdanuary for running this!

I got a late start because I had DnD today, and I finished this at like 10pm, so I didn't have time to edit. I'm planning on editing it later this week, but until then, sorry for any mistakes. [Edit: it has now been edited]

[Warning for mentions of past traumatic experiences]

It was weird to see such a huge convention center so empty.

Well, it wasn't completely empty, but a few people carrying boxes and setting up displays was a significantly smaller crowd than Danny would normally expect to see in a place like this.

"Ah! Danny Phantom you're here!" A woman with a high ponytail and a convention staff t-shirt walked over to him. "Wow, I'm so excited that you actually came!" 

Her voice was familiar.

"Sally, right?" he guessed. "Sally Braddock?"

"You remembered!" She said brightly.

Sally had been the one who'd convinced Danny to come to this convention. She'd offered him pretty substantial payment, but it was only when she told him he could have three free tickets to the convention as well that Tucker told him he had to agree or they wouldn't be friends anymore. 

So here he was, at San Diego Hero Con, halfway across the country, to sit at a table and sign autographs for a few hours each day, and then do an hour-long panel with a bunch of other teen heroes, and another tomorrow on specifically ghost hunting. (He was still debating whether he should actually show up to that one, or if it would be too dangerous.) The worst part, though, was how early he had to wake up to set up his booth before the event started.

"Here's your presenter badge," Sally said, and handed him a bright yellow name tag clipped to a blue lanyard with the convention's logo on it. "Celebrity meet-and-greets are over there. I'll lead the way. We try not to put them too close to each other or the lines get out of control, but your booth is right next to Ben 10's."

Danny perked up at that. "The alien guy?"

"Yup!"

Oh, man, he hoped he'd get the chance to talk to him. Ben 10 was Danny's favorite superhero. He got to fight real life aliens, sometimes in actual space! And sure, Danny had been to space before that one time Technus had taken over a satellite, but it had still been a ghost fight. It wasn't the same.

"So, this is your table," Sally said, pointing to an empty, white folding table. "Do you have a tablecloth, or banners or headshots or anything?" she asked him with a tight smile.

"Uh.... I don't photograph well," he replied.

Sally sighed. "Well, I can bring over one of the convention tablecloths, but you really should get some kind of poster or cardboard cut-out or something that shows people who they're meeting. And you'll definitely need something to sign. Comic books, or T-shirts. Anything, really. There's a portrait artist in Artists Alley who works pretty fast, her name is Jess. If you get something from her, I can send a gopher to make copies for you to sign." 

"Uh, okay? But, I can just call a friend to bring something."

"Whatever works." With that, Sally left to go organize something else.

Danny called up Sam, who was back at the hotel with Tucker—Tucker would no doubt still be sleeping—and asked her to find a nearby print shop and get a Danny Phantom Banner to hang up and a whole bunch of 8x10 illustrations of him. He let her pick the picture, but asked her to please not pick anything too embarrassing.

Right as he hung up, a pair of people approached the booth next to him carrying plastic tubs. It was none other than Ben 10 himself and a tall, furry, blue alien who was no doubt one of his allies. (That or a cosplayer, but since they were with Ben 10 himself, Danny felt safe in assuming that they really were an alien.) The two of them placed their tubs on the floor and opened them up to start unpacking their display.

"Woah, hi!" Danny said, louder than he meant to.

Ben 10 snapped his head around, muscles tensing. Danny recognized that response all too well, and tried not to let out a sympathetic wince.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," he said. "You're Ben 10, right? I know this is cringey to say, but I'm a huge fan."

"Uh, thanks? Just Ben is fine."

"I'm Danny Phantom, but you can just call me Danny."

"I can see that... uh... nice to meet you?" Ben replied. He seemed uncomfortable. Had Danny come on too strong.

"Something wrong?"

"What? No, of course not," Ben said, though it wasn't very convincing.

"I am Rook Blonko," Ben's companion said, offering Danny a handshake which he excitedly accepted. "It is an honor to meet another hero, though I will admit, it was only recently that I came to learn about you." 

"Oh, yeah," Danny let out an awkward laugh and rubbed the back of his head. "My scope is a lot more regional and sometimes not very... in this dimension." 

"That would be... the Ghost Zone, right?" Ben said casually. "What's it like? Anything like the Null Void?"

So he was at least somewhat familiar with Danny and his exploits. Danny tried not to let that go to his head, but he couldn't help feeling a little giddy nonetheless. Ben laid down a black tablecloth with his logo on it and spread it across his table. This definitely wasn't his first rodeo.

"I don't know about the Null Void," Danny said. "It's like the bottom side of this dimension. It's where ghosts live... or... not live. Reside. Almost everything is green because of all the ectoplasm there, and when humans go there, they can pass right through walls and objects just like ghosts can in this dimension."

"That does not sound like the Null Void at all," Rook observed, pulling rods and boards out of one of the boxes and assembling them into a small standing shelf.

"What's the Null Void like?" Danny asked.

"Mostly red," Ben said with a shrug. "Full of floating islands and enormous aliens. Used as a penal colony for this dimension's worst criminals."

"Oh... yeah, no. Aside from the floating islands, that doesn't sound anything like the Ghost Zone," Danny agreed. "Although it's kind of a cool coincidence that we both have experience with alternate dimensions."

"Yeah, I guess so." Ben looked over at Danny and his sad excuse for a booth—really looking for the first time. "First time at one of these things?"

"Oh yeah," Danny confirmed. "My friend is bailing me out at a print shop right now, but I was so unprepared."

Ben snorted. "Here," he said, digging through one of his boxes and pulling out a bright green swath of fabric. "You can use one of my tablecloths. I brought an extra, just in case. It has my logo on one side, but if you turn it around so the logo faces you no one will be the wiser. We have basically the same color scheme, so it works out."

"Thanks," Danny accepted the tablecloth, slightly surprised, and spread it out over his table. It was almost exactly ectoplasm green, just a shade or two darker. "Have you been to a lot of conventions?"

"A few," Ben said.

"This is your fourth," Rook said.

"That sounds right. If it hadn't been for Rook, I probably would've been just as lost as you at my first one. He's all about preparing in advance. But yeah, I've been a public hero for over a year now, and since my identity isn't a secret anymore, it's easier for the people who run these things to get a hold of me."

"About that... why don't you have a secret identity?"

"It wasn't exactly my choice," Ben replied. "Some kid found it out and exposed me on the internet. It turned out surprisingly well, though, for the most part. Must be nice for you though, not having an alternate identity—not that being dead is nice or anything like that—I mean, it's not a bad thing—or it is a bad thing? I uh... yeah, I don't know what I'm saying."

After taking a moment to parse that rambling sentence, Danny burst out laughing. 

"Hahaha! Is that why you're acting so uncomfortable around me? Because I'm dead? Ha! You don't have to worry about that. You're fine."

"Serious?"

"Dead serious," Danny replied with a smirk.

Ben shook his head with a soft laugh. "Alright, fine.... Actually, that's not the only reason. Back when I was ten and just starting out I had... a bad experience with a ghost-like alien of mine. Ever since, ghost stuff just puts me a little on edge."

"Oh... I see. Well, don't worry, I won't take it personally," Danny said. "Did you really start doing this when you were ten?"

"Yeah. Although I kinda retired for a few years when I was eleven, and started up again when I was fifteen."

Danny did some quick math in his head. "Oh, so altogether, you and me have been in this for about the same amount of time. 'Cause I got started a little over two years ago."

"Yeah?" Ben was silent for a few moments. He pulled out boxed figurines of his alien forms and lined them up on the shelf Rook had assembled. "So... when did you...."

"Die?" Danny finished for him. "I was fourteen. I'm almost seventeen now. In about three months, I mean."

"Do you still age?"

"Sort of?" Danny shrugged.

He and Jazz had come up with an answer to this question a little while ago, when people noticed that Danny Phantom was starting to look older, even though ghosts supposedly didn't age.

"A ghost's body is a reflection of their mental image of themself. In the Zone, ghosts don't really age or change unless something specific happens that makes them feel older or different. Because I spend so much time in the human world still, because I learn and grow with each fight, I still feel like I'm growing up, so I look like I'm growing up, too."

"That is fascinating," Rook said. "I would love to learn more about ghostly biology."

"I would love to tell you about it. Problem is, I really don't know that much," Danny told him apologetically. He shrugged. "Sorry. I'm a superhero, not a scientist."

"I'm here!" Sam called, her heavy combat boots tromping into the room. She was carrying a large cardboard box. "I would have been here sooner, but I had to put together a design for the banner. Luckily I found a printer that could make one for you on short notice like this, or you'd be screwed."

"You're a life saver!"

"You wish," she scoffed. "I got you a banner and three hundred head shots."

"That's not gonna be enough," Ben said immediately.

"Ya think?" Sam asked.

"Trust me."

She sighed heavily in annoyance. "Okay, I can go back and get some more, but you so owe me, Danny."

"Yeah, I know," Danny said, taking the box from Sam. "You're the best!"

"Yeah, yeah," she said, taking one of the head shots off the top of the stack and leaving again.

"Is that your friend?" Ben asked.

"One of them," Danny confirmed, setting the box down on the table. "That's Sam. She and Tucker have been with me since the beginning. He's probably still asleep at the hotel."

He pulled out a stack of head shots for the table and slid the box with the rest underneath. She'd picked a good picture. It was a poster illustration for a local ghost awareness presentation he'd done a while back, and he nearly sighed with relief when he saw it. He'd been half afraid she'd pick one of the grainy newspaper photos of him in his underwear.

"That's cool," Ben said. "Yeah, I don't think anyone could do this job without allies. When I first started, I had my Grandpa and my cousin, then my cousin and my best friend, and now I have Rook as my partner."

"We have been together for a year," Rook added.

"Like... together together or...?"

"Working partners," Ben clarified insistently. "It's not like that."

"Oh, okay, my bad."

Hoping to alleviate his embarrassment, Danny unfurled his new banner and flew up to hang it on the wall behind his booth. It looked cool, but not too complicated. Just his name and logo and a little bit of ghost designs around the edges. Sam had done a good job with it.

"You are not the first to think that," Rook consoled. "It is a more common assumption than one might think."

They continued chatting idly while they set up their booths. Danny got to ask Rook what kind of alien he was, and what his home planet was like. Sam showed up with a whole bunch more photos and then immediately abandoned them to get a sneak preview of artist alley before she came back as an attendee.

Just before the convention center officially opened, Danny worked up the courage to ask Ben for an autograph, and Ben obliged him with a smile, offering an exchange, rather than asking for payment. Danny eagerly accepted, signing one of his own pictures and trading it for Ben's. Ben's looked far more professional than his own. He hoped people wouldn't be disappointed.

As people started trickling in past the security checkpoint up front, both heroes only got a few people in the beginning. After only about twenty minutes of boredom, Ben suggested they play a game.

"Sure," Danny agreed. "What game?"

"My buddy Kevin calls it Reverse-Never-Have-I-Ever, and my cousin calls it Have-You-Ever." Ben said. "See, we could never play regular Never-Have-I-Ever, because we all knew all the weird stuff we'd done and we'd target each other mercilessly. With this version, You say something you have done, and anyone who hasn't done it loses a point. If everyone's done it, no one loses a point."

"Okay... I think I get the idea, but why don't you start? Five fingers or ten?"

"Let's start with five," Ben said. "Rook, you playing?"

"I will pass," Rook said. "I always lose this game."

"Alright, if that's what you want." Ben shrugged. "Alright, Danny, have you ever... transformed into a different species?"

"Yes."

"You have?!"

"Uh, yeah. I went from human to ghost. Duh."

"Oh... right, duh," Ben agreed, shaking his head at how foolish he'd been to blow his first question like that. "Wow, I can't believe I didn't even think about that...."

"My turn, right?" Danny said. "Have you ever fought an evil alternate version of yourself?"

"Yeah, like six of 'em."

"Okay, well, now you're just showing off."

Ben smirked. "Oh, I never get to use this one on my friends. Have you ever been to space?"

Danny smirked right back. "One of my rogues possessed an orbital satellite."

"Damn it!" 

Someone walked over to Danny's table and he smiled at her, pointedly ignored the way she shivered when he shook her hand, and signed a photo for her.

"Okay," he said, shifting his attention back to the game, "have you ever... been cut in two."

"I regenerated, but yeah."

"How?" Danny demanded.

"Plant alien."

"I should've guessed. Stupid plant creatures with their stupid regenerative powers. Undergrowth-ass alien. Lame." 

Ben laughed at him while he signed a figurine for a fan who came to his table. "How about this. Have you ever fought a medieval-style knight?"

"A knight? Hold on." Danny considered that for a moment. Had he? He'd rescued Sam from Dora's realm that one time, and yeah, he'd definitely had to fight the ghosts of knights then. Oh! Also Fright Knight. How could he forget about him. "Yes, I have definitely fought knights on several occasions. Ghost knights, obviously."

"Ugh! I really thought I had you with that one. Why do ghosts who died a thousand years ago have to stick around for so long?"

"Nope!" Danny teased. "Okay, how about this one. Have you ever fought a ghost?"

"Define ghost?" Ben asked.

"The law defines a ghost as any creature which produces ectoplasm, is composed of ectoplasm, or requires ectoplasm to survive," Danny recited. 

There was no need to say which law—that would be the anti-ecto acts. It was stupid that those stupid acts were still even law when public support of ghosts had never been higher. Although, they hadn't been as heavily enforced the last year or so, since the G.I.W. lost a lot of funding after repeatedly failing to catch their most wanted, Danny.

"Then yes, I have," Ben said. "Have you ever fought an alien?"

"Define alien."

"A creature originating from a planet or plane other than Earth."

"Then yes, ghosts."

"Ah ah ah!" Ben argued. "Ghosts are the spirits of dead humans, which means they originate on Earth."

"Except that not all ghosts are the spirits of dead humans," Danny countered right back. "Many ghosts originally formed inside the Ghost Zone, which makes them, by your definition, aliens, and I have fought them, too. Also I fought off some Incurseans back when they invaded the Earth a little while back. It was awesome." 

Ben groaned.

"Haha! Gotcha!"

"Just go already."

"Have you ever died?"

"Ha! Yes, I have," Ben said, as if dying was some huge victory. "You probably thought you had me, but you were wrong. I may have been brought back through alien magic and/or time travel, but yes, I have died. Speaking of which, have you ever time-traveled."

"Psh, have I time traveled?" Danny scoffed. "I have literally met the Ancient, omniscient Master of Time. He's a huge pain in the neck."

It was at this point that more people started accumulating at the two heroes' tables. Some got in line for autographs, though both Ben and Danny were too engrossed in their game at this point to give their full attention. Others just stood, watching, and listening to the two of them. A few even started filming their little game.

"Alright, my turn," Danny said. "Have you ever... oh, I have a good one! Have you ever had to fight your best friend after he copied your powers which then caused him to lose his mind and become evil?"

"Literally how?!" Ben shouted.

"Is that a no?"

"No, I meant 'literally how' as in how has something that specific happened to both of us?"

"No way!"

"Yes way! That's happened to Kevin more than once."

"What?!"

"I know, right?"

"It is also strange for this game to go so long without any of the participants losing a point," Rook said. "I believe it is at this point that I would have lost, had I been participating."

"You put up a good fight, Rook," Ben joked.

"But... I was not playing?"

"I was teasing, Rook."

"Ah, yes."

"Whose turn is it now?" Ben asked. "Mine, right?"

"Yeah," Danny confirmed.

"Have you ever had a limb severed?"

"Yes, but I'm a ghost, so I reattached it pretty easily. Have you ever altered the fabric of reality?"

"I once had to recreate the entire universe after it got destroyed, and then went on intergalactic trial for doing it. And the worst part is, ever since then, grape smoothies just don't taste the same. It's so frustrating. I did get this super comfortable hoodie out of it, though." 

"Ew, smoothies?" Danny grimaced. "What are you a yoga mom?"

Ben stood up, slamming a hand on his table and with the other, he pointed accusingly at Danny. "Smoothies are delicious, screw you!"

"You're just frustrated because I'm winning."

"You're not winning, neither of us have lost a single point! But you will!" Ben declared. "Have you ever saved the whole entire universe."

"Yes."

"What?" Ben fell back into his chair, deflated.

"A while back, this one group, the G.I.W. tried to destroy the Ghost Zone with a special anti-ghost nuke, and I stopped them. The Ghost Zone is the flip side of our dimension, so if it had been destroyed, it would have taken our universe along with it. Hence, I saved the universe. I just didn't let it get all over international news first."

"Boo!"

"Isn't that my line?" Danny said. 

Ben threw a sharpie at him and he turned intangible and let it pass right through him while he laughed at his own joke.

"Anyway, have you ever visited an alternate timeline where the entire earth is barren and desolate and the alternate version of you rules supreme?"

"Yes, I call it the Mad Universe, because it looked like Mad Max, you know?"

"Oh, yeah, I guess I can see it. But really? You have?"

"Yup. The alternate version of Rook was a jerk." 

Rook frowned but didn't have the chance to say anything before Ben kept talking.

"Have you ever... I don't know... every time I go weirder, you just match me. Have you ever had a family member be friends with one of you enemies?"

"Yeah, my dad considers my archenemy his best friend in the world," Danny said. "The feeling is not mutual, though. Have you ever been imprisoned by one of your enemies?"

"More times than I can count. Have you ever asexually reproduced?"

"Do clones count?"

"No!" Ben refused.

"Yes," Rook argued, possibly still upset about Ben's jerk comment. "Technically, cloning is a form of asexual reproduction."

"But could they fly?"

"I don't see how that's relevant to asexual reproduction, but yes," Danny said. "They were ghosts. They could fly. Most of them were too unstable to survive though. There's only one left." He frowned.

"Oh... sorry."

"It's... fine." It wasn't fine. He still found himself lying awake at night thinking about them sometimes. Danny shook his head and plastered on a determined grin. "I really think I've got you this time, though."

"Do you?" Ben did not sound convinced.

"Have you ever had to fight sentient food that was not still alive?"

"Y—wait...." Ben frowned as he thought about it for a long moment. "No... I haven't."

"Yes!" Danny cheered and Ben buried his head in his hands, humiliated. "This puts me in the lead."

"Not for long," Ben said. "Have you ever eaten food from another planet?"

"Wha—noooo...." 

"Ha!"

"We're dead even again." 

Their game continued.

"Have you ever fought a cult's subject of worship?"

"Have you ever had a Christmas-themed battle?"

"Have you ever fought on the same side as one of your enemies?"

"Have you ever been called upon to end a war?"

"Have you ever unexpectedly developed a new power that caused you trouble?"

"Have you ever used your powers to get out of other responsibilities?"

"Have you ever had to skip out on something you were really looking forward to and save the day?"

"Have you ever been blamed for property damage your enemies caused just because you happened to be there at the time?"

"Have you ever been mind controlled?"

"Have you ever fought an evil circus?"

The game kept going on and on, while they absently shook hands and signed autographs, with neither of them giving up another point. Until Sally showed up to tell them it was time to go to the teen hero panel they were on. 

It was only then that they looked up and saw all the cameras that had been recording their game. How long had they been recording? How much had they gotten?

"Uh... right," Ben said. "Sorry everyone. You can come back for autographs after the panel. And Danny, I think we're gonna have to call it a draw."

"We'll have to have a rematch some other time," Danny said, trying to keep his tone light, despite his sudden anxiety. 

Sally led the two of them to a large room with rows upon rows of empty seats, right down the aisle to the stage up front where a man in his thirties was already standing, and a masked teenage girl with glowing pink hair and eyes was sitting behind the table.

"Hello, I'm John and I'll be moderating this panel," the man introduced. "This is Lucky Girl, another teen hero we invited. Lucky Girl, this is Ben 10 and Danny Phantom."

"Nice to meet you," Danny said.

"I can't believe they roped you into this," Ben said, smiling at the girl like he knew her.

"Shut up," the girl barked back. "We can't all gain international fame overnight, and I have to pay for student housing."

"You two already know each other?" John asked, surprised.

"Oh yeah, we've known each other for a long time," Ben said. "All our lives, in fact."

"Ben, I swear if you give me away I will hex you so bad your children's children's children will travel for miles just to spit on your grave."

Ben put up his hands in surrender, and took his seat without another word. Danny followed his lead. This Lucky Girl didn't seem like the kind of person he wanted to mess with.

Once they were all in their seats, John gave them a quick run down of how the panel would go. He would ask a few questions. They would answer. He would open it up to questions from the audience, and they would answer those too. After an hour, the panel would be over, and they would return to their booths, or in Lucky Girl's case, simply leave, as she apparently didn't have a booth.

"She uses her powers to disguise herself, but she can't keep that up for more than an hour and a half," Ben whispered to Danny, clearly sensing his confusion. "She'll probably hang around for a little while after to greet fans, but she'll have to leave when her mana's drained."

"Oh, okay, that makes sense," Danny whispered back, nodding. "I was worried it might be like a sexism thing."

"As if she'd stand for something like that," Ben scoffed.

Soon enough, the doors opened, and people started trickling in. The seats filled up with mostly teens and young adults, with a few parents and older adults sprinkled in. Danny noticed Sam and Tucker come in and sit in the back row and waved at them. Rook was also sitting in the back row, trying not to draw attention to himself. Although, it seemed like most people thought he was a cosplayer, so he didn't really have to bother hiding.

When the doors closed, John started the panel.

The first part was easy. 

John asked questions like: "How do you balance being a hero with the other responsibilities you have as an adolescent?"

"Honestly, not well. You know how people say 'you can sleep when you're dead'? Yeah, that's a lie." 

"I'm lucky enough to have a good memory so I don't have to study much, otherwise my grades in school would tank. For me, the real struggle is finding time to do chores." 

"I prioritize my other responsibilities. I don't usually face world-ending, city-destroying threats like these two, which allows me the luxury of saving hero work for after my homework is finished."

And: "Where do you go when you want to de-stress after saving the day?"

"I usually go over to my friends' and play video games. I feel safe around them."

"If the sun's still up, Mr. Smoothie. But if it's late, I like to go out for chili fries."

"The library. I know it makes me sound like a nerd, but whatever. I am a nerd. Who cares."

And: "How do your parents figure in to you heroic activities?"

"They... don't know. They don't exactly have a great opinion of ghosts, and they don't recognize me when... I mean, they don't recognize me anymore. So I guess they don't figure in." That wasn't entirely true, but Danny wasn't about to say they shot at him in front of a crowd of hundreds of people.

"My parents are actually very supportive. At first, they wanted me to quit, because they were worried about my safety, but I changed their minds. They raised me to know right from wrong, and to help others whenever I can, and they're proud of me."

"My parents don't know either, and I don't live with them right now because I live on my school campus, so I guess, like Phantom, my parents don't really figure in either."

They were easy questions to answer, even if Danny didn't always tell the whole truth. John kept things light, focusing mostly on them being teenagers, and how being a hero affected that aspect of their life, rather than the other way around. There were a couple questions about battles and enemies, but for the most part, they avoided the heavy stuff.

Then, about halfway into the panel, John opened it up to the audience to ask questions.

They didn't shy away from the heavy stuff.

"Hi, I'm Mandy, big fan," said a girl with curly brown hair. "I have two questions for Ben, first is, are you dating anyone?"

Ben chuckled, trying to sound amused, even though, up close, Danny could tell the question made him uncomfortable.

"No, I'm not dating right now."

The girl giggled for a moment before asking her next question. "My next question is: when you're fighting an alien invasion basically by yourself, do you ever feel afraid?"

Ben didn't answer right away. He took a breath, and nodded.

"Yes," he said. "I know I'm strong, and there's a lot that I can do and have done, but when I'm outnumbered a thousand to one, yeah, I'm a little afraid."

"Not that you were ever actually by yourself," Lucky Girl pointed out.

"Heh," Ben rubbed his neck awkwardly. "That's true. Even if there weren't many, I've always had people in my corner."

The next person who stepped up was a guy in a Danny Phantom T-shirt which read 'it's not gay if he's dead.'

Danny immediately groaned and Ben grinned hugely. "Before you ask your question, I have a question for you. Where did you get that shirt?"

"I got it at a souvenir shop when I went to Amity Park, but I think you can buy them online, too," they guy said.

"I'm getting one."

Danny groaned even more insistently.

"My question is for Phantom. If you hadn't died, do you think you still would have become a hero, and protected your home from ghosts?"

"Honestly? I don't know," Danny admitted. "Amity Park does have other ghost hunters, the Fentons and Red Huntress, for example. If I hadn't d... if I didn't have my powers, I wouldn't really have the ability to protect anybody. I'd probably leave it to the ghost hunters who were better equipped."

"And for Lucky Girl, are you single?"

"Ha ha no," she said flatly. "I have a boyfriend."

"Figures."

Next up was a girl in some pretty fantastic Lucky Girl cosplay. Her wig even lit up. Although she looked like she was quite a bit taller than the real thing.

"Lucky Girl, do your periods ever interfere with fighting crime?"

"Uh... that's a bit personal," Lucky Girl said instantly, as if the answer was instinctive. 

But when she saw the way the girl reacted like she'd been slapped, hunching in on herself with shame, Lucky Girl bit her lip and answered anyway. 

"Actually... the life of a superhero is really stressful. The kind of stress that has... biological effects. When I first started fighting crime as, like, a regular thing, I didn't have a period for months. When I finally did again it was... you know what, I'll spare you the details. Suffice it to say, it was really bad. Like, my doctor prescribed me pills to stop me from menstruating bad. So... I guess the answer to your question is 'not anymore' and also sorry for the TMI." She finished with a short grimace.

"Thank you for answering," the girl said before going to sit back down.

Ben covered his mic and turned to her. "How come I never knew about that?"

"Are you kidding?" Lucky Girl muttered back. "Like I'm gonna discuss my cycle with a fifteen-year-old boy."

Ben didn't even attempt to argue with that.

As... much as those questions were, it was the next one that really stopped everything in its tracks.

"Hi, I'm Michael. I don't know if you know about this video that's going around. It was only posted, like, less than an hour ago, but it's really blown up in fan circles already," the young man said. "The video shows Phantom and Ben 10... I guess playing a game or something? Where you guys are asking each other if you'd done certain things and basically comparing experiences with each other? Do you know it?"

Ben and Danny shot each other anxious looks.

"Uh... I haven't seen it, but I think we know what you're talking about," Ben answered cautiously. "Is that your question?"

"No, my question is... well, in the video you guys are talking about alternate timelines, and fighting evil versions of yourselves, and getting mind-controlled, and changing reality. I guess my question is. Did all that stuff really happen to you guys?"

Neither Ben nor Danny wanted to answer. They didn't look at each other, or the crowd. They deeply regretted playing a game that revealed such personal secrets in a public space.

Finally, Ben cleared his throat. "Yes, all that happened." Danny nodded his own confirmation. "The life we lead is a dangerous one, and it demands sacrifices, and it takes a lot from you, and it puts you in a lot of strange situations that few others can understand. It's... not for everyone."

The next fan stepped up to the mic. "Follow up questions. First, how are you guys like... functional? Because I mean, if I'd gone through the kind of stuff you were talking about in that video, I think I'd have a mental breakdown. Second, why would you put yourselves through all that?"

"Well, first off, bold of you to assume I've never had a mental breakdown," Danny said. "And secondly, if we don't do it, who will?" he asked. "We're not just random ordinary high schoolers who up and decided to subject ourselves to unspeakable trauma just for the fun of it. 

"We do this because we have the power to do things others can't, to fight enemies other people can't fight. We do this because if we don't... if we don't, people die. Or worse. People experience the kind of things we do trying to protect them. So I guess the answer to both of your questions is, what other choice do we have?"

"Yeah, exactly what Danny said," Ben agreed. "I tried to give up my powers, and my responsibilities once, and people got hurt because of it. My grandpa.... Because I wanted to live a normal life, to take it easy, there was no one else to protect them. It is every individual's responsibility to do what they can to help others. It just so happens that we can do more than most, and that comes with drawbacks. 

"Lucky Girl, care to weigh in? You weren't in the video, but I know you've had your share of superhero related trauma."

"I think you guys pretty much covered it," she replied. "I don't think I've been through quite as much as you two, but I definitely know about the sacrifices we make for this life. I also know that it's worth it to know that the people and places you love are safe and protected because of you."

The boy's both nodded in agreement.

The questions didn't really lighten up after that. "What's the worst experience you've ever had as a hero?" "Have you ever failed to protect someone?" "We heard Ben 10 say so already, but have you ever wanted to quit, or wished you never had powers in the first place?"

After a point, John noticed how uncomfortable they were getting and had to step in and ask that the next few questions not be so dark.

A younger girl, maybe even a middle schooler, hand mercy on them at last, and asked, "What was the funniest thing that ever happened to you while you were saving the day?" and from there the questions finally eased up.

It felt like it had been far longer than an hour when the session ended, and they left the stage and returned to their booths to sign autographs and shake hands and listen to dozens of people gushing, "I'm you're biggest fan!"

They didn't pick up their game again, even when things got slow. Evidently they'd learned their lesson. And they kept learning it as more and more of the people who came to visit them asked about that video. Each time Danny had to smile and laugh it off, the regret deepened. 

It had been a while since he felt like such a complete idiot. Since he'd done something so thoughtless. He'd gotten a lot better at keeping secrets over the years, but he'd just been so excited to talk with someone he had so much in common with—and yeah, he'd probably gotten a little too competitive also. He should have known better.

"So uh... I was at your panel earlier," said a girl who placed a science magazine on the table for him to sign. The cover touted an article about 10 Things You Didn't Know About Ghosts (they have their own culture!). Danny remembered doing that interview.

"That's nice, thanks for coming," Danny said, his smile tensing. "Do you want me to sign the cover, or the page with the article."

"The cover please," the girl said. "For Marnie. And um... I was too nervous to stand up and ask before, but... I was really curious."

"Oh?" Danny asked, keeping his eyes on his hand as he signed the cover 'To Marnie, stay spooky'.

"Why would you make it a game?" she asked. "Wouldn't it be better to try to forget all those things?"

"Easier said than done," Danny said. "Things like that stay with you. Turning them into a joke or a game takes the power away from those bad memories. When you're laughing at your fears, what can they do to you? That's the way I see it. Ben might have another reason, and technically, it was his game. He came up with it."

"So... what you're saying is, laughter is the best medicine?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Danny agreed. He slid the magazine back to her. "Thanks for coming by."

Finally, Danny's shift was over, and Ben's ended at the same time. Just in time, too, because Danny was just about out of photos. He'd have to get more for tomorrow. He signed his last picture with a sigh of relief, thankful that the convention staff had come by to cut off the line when it was about time for him to be finished.

"You finished too, Danny?" Ben asked.

"Yup."

"You wanna go get lunch with us? Wait... do ghosts eat?"

"We do, but I was gonna meet up with my friends for lunch today, and then explore the convention a little." Danny said. "Are you gonna be here tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'm here for the whole con," Ben said. "Here, let me give you my number. We should keep in touch."

"Totally!" Danny agreed. "It'll be nice to have an actual superhero friend. I love Sam and Tucker, but there are some things...."

"Yeah, I get what you mean."

After swapping numbers the two of them headed off to their separate engagements. Danny transformed and got to experience what else Hero Con had to offer without getting swarmed by fans like he saw happening to Ben that afternoon.

They met up again the next day. Chatted at their booths, had lunch together, checked out the fan artists, just hung out for a while. This time around, Danny didn't have his human form to protect him from the crowds. 

That video of their game haunted them both for the rest of the convention. People kept bringing it up until it became almost more annoying than mortifying. 

When Hero Con finally ended, they both breathed sighs of relief. The convention was over, but Ben and Danny kept in touch. They never did have that rematch though. In fact, they were both pretty much done with 'Have-You-Ever'.

[derrypubliclibrary]

fem losers hair headcanons :) because exactly One person asked yippee yay!! under a cut because i KNOWW im gonna be insane

bill: SUPERRR straight. like. cannot hold any kind of curl AT ALL no matter what. + some bangs in my head theyre very almost 2000s-ish side bangs but not quite As intense

^ like these first picture is the bangs second picture is the everything else i think itd stay pretty similar through her whole life except i Also think she grays really fast & also maybe has thinner & thinner hair as she gets older she wears it in a ponytail basically 24/7 especially as a kid

mike:

first picture is her hair when she’s younger (chapter 1) (but in my head im picturing it with those godawful plastic piggies that rip your hair out when you pull them & no beads) & second hair is when shes an adult (chapter 2) + in my head she has the grey sides like miniseries mike

ben: IM SUPER TORN HERE. BECAUSE I SIMPLY DO NOT KNOW😞😞😞 i think probably straight & blond/dirtyblond-ish but also its insanely thick. she also has bangs & i think she’d also wear it up probably in a bun or pony tail most of the time

^ bangs like this & probably similar to this color

richie: SOOO insanely frizzy as a kid. she did NOTTT take care of it/do anything to make it look nice & i think maggie just simply Did Not Know How To. stan would show her later maybe in high school but she goes thru Most of her life with the biggest & frizziest hair in the whole world <3 as an adult she gets better curls both because she gets a proper hair/makeup guy for shows & stan/bev bully her into it but even then its not Perfect. i think she’d also just. wear it down most of the time & then get mad when it got in her face

eddie: eddie is the other one im most torn on.. i think she has a Little bit of wave to her hair as a kid but when shes little her mom irons it down & then as soon as shes old enough to hold the straightener shes ironing down herself (>:)) i think lengthwise itd be to her collarbone/right above her shoulder & shed have a collection of headbands she wears every single day. as an adult she cuts it short & ditches the headbands :)

stan: she has almost perfect ringlet curls idec. like. as a kid & as an adult they do not change except maybe her hair color gets a little darker as she ages. she’d wear it down most of the time except for when she didnt (ponytail)

[pyrorptrs]

Ben 10 Redesigns Playlist 1

Did redesigns of Ben's first 10 aliens awhile back.

I think Ben 10 designs as a whole work best when you have a specific color scheme to work with, so I tried to incorporate green as the primary with a greenish shade of black and white as the secondary's and highlights. I also made it a rule that unless the alien has some way to properly incorporate the omnitrix into the body, they need some sort of suit or device on them to house the badge

Ben - Honestly doing a design for Ben is kinda hard to do, most of the better takes you can do were done by the original canon and the fandom at large have pretty much filled out the rest. I think the soccer shirt with stripe down the middle is probably the most iconic part of his design, so I tried to incorporate that with his undershirt while messing with the colors. Took some inspiration from both the jackets he wore in the past for his hoodie. Coming up with an Omnitrix design was probably the hardest bit, I'm not a fan of when it looks like a normal watch, but addign too much detailing it can make it a pain to redraw, so I tried finding something simplistic but still kinda techy..

Heatblast - In terms of overall design I tried leaning towards Omniverse, but I also wanted to lean a bit into the 10,000 design from the OG series with the shoulder pauldrons. The reason why I gave him shoulder pads is that I like both the ideas that the aliens grow with ben and that they're the "peak of their species"; which isn't necessarily a good thing. so the shoulder pads act like kind of like "braces" for the shoulder pauldrons since the flames burn more intensely than on other Pyronites.

Wildmutt - Went with a mix of his OG and OV looks with a bit of 10,000 influence to make him look older. I feel his shoulder pad is kind of iconic to his design, so I tried to incorporate it and a similar one on his right shoulder into his suit. I also used the collar idea from OV to round out his suit, with the rest extending over his back since Wildmutt tended to be used as a mount a lot. Finally the stripes and tail are nods to his 10,000 design.

Diamondad - I honestly feel a bit bad for anyone that has to do a design for Diamondhead, because he has such a solid look. Nonetheless I tried to come up with a decent look for him. His OG split outfit look is easy his best suit design, so I wanted to use that as a primary inspiration, but I also liked the the collar that the reboot version had, so I wanted to call back to that. I also liked the earth look he sported in UAF and wanted to take some inspiration from that as well.

XLR8 - Similar deal to Diamondhead, XLR8 just has a solid design, so really was more about adding a couple personal tweaks here and there for personal taste. Did add the back spikes from the reboot version though

Greymatter - I always thought his suits looked like hazmat suits so I wanted to lean into that with his redesign, making it look a bit more techy. I also added some of those falangy thingies other older Galvans tend to have in order to make him look a bit older too.

Fourarms - Another case where the OG design was just so good that it's hard really do another take to it that doesn't amount to personal preference. I obviously used the OG look as a base for the suit and face (mostly because I didn't like the ponytail on UAF or the Goatee on OV), but I also added a belt and bracers on his arms on the arms to spice things up. Finally made his spikes more prominent to make him look a bit older.

Stinkfly - I'll bring up the second design I did in a minute, but for the more classic Stinkfly I leaned toward OV in terms of general proportions and colors, but I also wanted to call back to his OG design with his head being a different color from the rest of his suit.

Slopfly - Obviously this is based primarily off of the design from the reboot, which I have mixed feelings about. Didn't like the almost exclusively humanoid look, so I tried to make him look much more insectoid with more prominent Dragonfly aspects and a bit of Hornet thrown in too. Lore wise, I like to think of his as being from the same planet, but an evolutionary offshoot; think of it like the difference of an ant vs a bee. Overall I tried to make them different, despite basically being the same character. My idea is that classic stinkfly is a bit hardier and can use his claws and stingers more offensively, while "slopfly" as I call him is a bit weaker, but can more effectively use his slime.

Ripjaws - I liked the way OV handled him and wanted to push that more monstrous look a bit further. In terms of his suit, I wanted to add a rebreather so he doesn't immediately start to suffocate, but still kept that weakness.

Upgrade - I lean very hard into Classic as far as my fav designs for him go and wanted to keep that sort of feeling. So I tried to keep his general body shape that same sort of gloppy look he used to sport before OV bulked him up. I also tried to keep the high contrast color he used to sport since I feel it helped his circuitry pattern stand out more.

Ghostfreak -Honestly both easy and hard to come up with a ghostfreak design; their are good aspects in every design, but something also holding them back. I did ultimately lean more toward OV in terms of the overall look, but I also tried to streamline some bits and included the claws from his unskinned form

[oliveroctavius]

Did you check out the first issue of the new Ultimate Spider-Man? I'd be curious to see your thoughts

I was planning on letting it pass by me, zen-like. I kind of... disapprove of the entire concept. The more redundant universes Marvel creates (note that I say redundant, in that I like some AUs with recognizably different heroes and story lines) the more it approaches a DC-like level of story fragmentation, where nothing has to matter and everything runs on vibes. Every new restart survives an even shorter amount of time. It's a death spiral.

But alright. I may not know who Hickman is but some other people seem to like him. I'm Charlie Brown, the new title is a football, here's some of the whistling my foot makes as it flies through the air.

First off a disclaimer: comics are into longform storytelling these days, so almost nothing happens in this issue by design. This is a setup, not a story. I can point out some pettier dislikes, but I can't know what might turn out well yet.

I get that this is going to tie in to the Maker, but calling this USM is a bogus decision that is going to cause so much confusion down the line. It's like they didn't want to admit they were setting up yet a third story. See above grouch about redundant universes.

Uncle Ben being alive instead of Aunt May is a hell of a decision. But I like Hell Of A Decisions if they're pulled off with confidence. I miss og USM's ponytailed gentle old hippie Uncle Ben, I admit. He had a surprising amount of characterization, which I always liked about that series.

I... do not get... why they are homewrecking Robbie + JJJ for Ben. Like, I'm kind of offended on Robbie's behalf. og USM already put some of Robbie's plotlines into Ben--I mean, Ben Urich's hands, but this is more based on 616, isn't it? Robertson's personal moral compass and how that interacts with his job and his safety and his journalistic ethics AND his relationship with Jameson's short-sighted tendencies have been the core of his character for 60 years. Could we not think of something new for Uncle Ben to be doing instead of overwriting an existing character relationship and adding next to nothing to it? And Robbie's there and just kind of fine with the Kingpin's proposal as far as we see so far. This is probably my biggest complaint.

The kids could be an interesting element, but we don't really see any of that yet so it's purely potential.

The Harry fans seem to like this new Harold and his visual design so far. I suppose he's not fully flavorless but the flavor that is there is like. Salt and pepper.

MJ could stand to look older and have more characterization but that is not an original observation. Wait, she's definitely based off her 616 self and not her USM self isn't she? God why DID they call this USM, this is a structural publishing nightmare

The Goblin design is what people think the Raimi goblin costume was, which is not exactly a compliment. Also I *know* I'm the Goblin Fan but are there, really no other villains you could think of to open with? No? Is this the only plot point that's ever going to get adapted over and over again? Maybe it will be good and I'll be glad, I think! And then imagine Charlie Brown and the football again.

Another thing that really got me was the churning camera angles on some of the simplest scenes here. I respect the dutch angle hustle, Chechetto, but if I'm feeling seasick while trying to follow a scene where people have a conversation while sitting down then you might want to rethink your strategy.

To misquote Roger Ebert for a second, "the penciler has learned from better comics that artists sometimes tilt their panels, but it seems he has not learned why."

[shortkidenergy]

OK DONE WITH PART 1

Characterization thoughts:

Bill: I like kid Bill a lot. especially as part 1 goes on you see more and more of that gravity he has and why he’s Big Bill who all the other kids (and anyone with sense) would follow into hell. i always imagine Bill with dark hair and maybe…a little stockier? but i think this Bill felt more visually and emotionally like book Bill than movie Bill did to me. closer to my ideal Bill. a platonic Bill if you will. adult Bill I still haven’t seen much of yet but the PONYTAIL. the PONYTAIL IS HILARIOUS. i love that in the book adult Bill was bald and in the miniseries they were like what if he had A LOT of hair tho. it’s such a bad ponytail.

Ben: oh Ben my beloved. kid Ben might be my favorite of these losers. he’s SO EFFORTLESSLY COOL and i really love that for him. like the actor is genuinely so great. he’s sweet but also just so cool. which is like honestly so Ben. im sad it feels like they’re playing down how smart he is by removing the library and replacing his scare with something about his dad. or whatever that was going on with his cousin??? unfortunately as much as i love kid ben so far adult ben is my least favorite. i haven’t seen much of him so i’m trying not to judge too harshly but everything about his introduction was so ://. he’s supposed to be a weird lone reclusive artist who frequents a particular bar so often he knows the bartender. he’s supposed to live in the middle of nowhere and have picked up cowboy traits. making him a player???????? no. this man is SO insecure. (yes he is also Very Hot and Lots of people would be attracted to him but the DIFFERENCE is that he would not get close enough to anyone for that to matter. because 1 he’s gone back to being the lone wolf he was before joining the Losers and 2 his heart is still holding out for Bev even if he doesn’t remember her…)

Eddie: kid Eddie is GREAT. he’s like a tiny little old man and that’s fantastic. his voice, his lines, his clothes, the way he *walks* perfect. impeccable. tiny little geriatric man. no notes. it’s sad that we don’t get his character arc with his asthma and everything, but i get why they didn’t have time to flesh out the characters the way they did in the book/movies (unless that’s coming in part 2 but from the scene where they all passed around Eddie’s inhaler i kind of doubt it). i also LOVE that they kept Eddie’s sense of direction. i just love when all the kids have special powers for no explicable reason. Eddie just always knows where to go 🥺 adult Eddie I have not seen much of but i have HIGH HOPES FOR. i love his look, i love his voice, i love his micromanaging. so far he’s my favorite adult. can’t wait for good things and only good things to happen to him in part 2 :)

Bev: very fond. i really really like how kid Bev looks. her wardrobe and those braids. it just really feels like she’s a scrappy kid right with the rest of them. the movies made her feel a little more…grown up/cooler than the rest of them but i guess thinking about it the kids are older in the movies. and like she is supposed to be cool and she is cool but she’s cool the same way the rest of them are, y’know? i really really liked her bantering with Richie. i have such a soft spot for their friendship and i really felt it here. grown up Bev i haven’t seen much of, but so far i like her. i wasn’t so sure at the very first scene, but after she got the call from mike i was like ohhh yep there she is.

Richie: oh Richie ascshdjs. i like this Richie a lot. definitely feels a lot like book Richie which makes a lot of sense because book Richie is so very from the 50s, and so is this one lol. i love his look and body language. when he’s running from the werewolf i’m just like yep there he is. limbs too long. flailing around. perfect. LOVED when he dumped his drink on the bullies. LOVE whenever he says shit and starts shit. he’s just so much fun. the chemistry between him and Eddie isn’t as strong as it is in the movies (i honestly don’t remember how it was in the book) which is for sure missed. but also they feel like they have an age difference between them that they don’t in the movies. adult Richie i’m ehhh on so far. i just don’t think i’ve seen enough of him yet.

Mike: sad that we don’t get to see more of him as a kid :( don’t love the way he was introduced but a lot of that is i think because i don’t like that they are in school. i also think he’s…smarter. than to draw attention to himself like that. also the fact that doesn’t go to school with the rest of the losers kind of feels like an important thing that got missed. that’s why none of them know him. i also feel like his connection to the historical racial violence in Derry is under-played by just having him just presented as being interested in Derry’s history of violence. like there’s a REASON he knows this stuff and it’s because of his PARENTS. specifically his DAD. who i am upset has never made it into any film adaptation. will hanlon my beloved :,( ultimately i don’t feel like i got enough of kid mike to decide how i feel about him. ADULT MIKE HOWEVER i am a fan of. his vibes are GOOD. i love him sticking his nose in the crime scene at the start. i love that that’s the opening. i love this nosy librarian who gets Involved In Shit. I really love how he looks. His voice. Everything about him. high hopes for adult mike in part 2

And finally…

Stan: oh Stan :( my baby. it took me until the stan part to get a read on him and. wow. both kid and adult stan are Really Really Good. the grabbing his ear and reciting the boyscout code or whatever it was he was doing. again i get why we didn’t get birds if it’s just a cut characterization for time thing so i LOVE that they gave him something else to recite. and oh my god when he sees the photograph and he just. has a mini meltdown i. god i love him so much. he’s so so scared to go into the sewer. he gets the brunt of the trauma down there. and then he’s so so reluctant to promise to come back. and god when he gets the call. and he and patty are so sweet…it’s so interesting how the timing of his bath is different in the book, movies, and mini series. and i think this one is honestly the most devastating. like the book you know right off the bat, and then it’s a slow sort of pain as you get to know him because you know exactly how he ends. the movies… i guess i don’t know what it’s like to watch them without knowing what happens, but i feel like the break in between the first and second movies shaves the edge of it down. but here. here you’ve seen the rest of them answer the phone. you’ve seen him throughout in the background. then you see just how devastated he is by It. just how much he can’t accept it. how traumatized he is. how he went into the tunnels scared and came out scared and still promised to come back. and then. and *then* Stanly takes a bath.

devastating.

i was planning to write more about other stuff but it’s getting late and i wrote so much more here than i thought i was going to asgdj. probably expect at least another one of these when i watch part 2

[muskoxen]

I try to intersperse my escapist fiction adventures with an occasional non-fiction book. For, you know, “personal growth” &c. Mostly, that takes the form of non-fiction about animals, because animals are awesome. Occasionally, however, I’ll actually read a Political Book instead of just doomscrolling news headlines and listening to my podcasts (shoutout BTB and PSA and Strict Scrutiny).

Which is to say, I read Cassidy Hutchinson’s book Enough, which is about her life and her time as assistant to the White House Chief of Staff. I just came across the note I started while reading it and, y’all.

Look, there’s a million reasons why I’d never vote for Trump (the pettiest being: he hates sharks so fuck him very much sharks are the BEST), and there’s at least 37,000 reasons why people are furious with Biden and don’t want to vote for him.

But you guys. This is our choice. It’s Trump or Biden. And there’s thousands of reasons why Trump is a really really REALLY bad guy to return to office (including LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive rights INCLUDING BIRTH CONTROL, environmental reasons, keeping your right to health care (if Obamacare gets overturned, my niece will eventually be dropped from coverage because she received an organ transplant as a baby and the ACA outlaws discriminating for preexisting conditions), protecting Medicare and social security…) and Biden has been pretty amazing at pushing through bipartisan efforts like the IRA, which was the largest environmental bill. EVER. In the world. Ever.

But if you want some, like, slice of life nuggets of stories from someone who was there and witnessed the kind of people Trump surrounds himself with, and the types of things they get up to, please give Hutchinson’s book a chance. Your local library definitely has a copy, if you don’t want to give money to her. But she did take a stance after republicans tried to, you know, do a coup and she literally had to go into hiding to avoid these nutters from going after her. Also, holy cats, we all say R’s are misogynists but the anecdotes she relates without comment in this book are nuts. The entire time I read it, it was like reading a horror novel and the worst part is that Hutchinson doesn’t remark or comment or acknowledge it?? Is she even aware of the tone of this book? (Also, she despises Matt Gaetz and it’s fucking hilarious)

Excerpts after the break: (bolding mine)

Former speaker John Boehner was standing under the awning, smoking a Camel, when we arrived. “You’re new.” Ben answered for me. “Yeah, second day.” About an hour into the dinner, Boehner came over to our table to address the members. He looked down at my cranberry vodka and whispered, “Dark liquor or red wine from now on.” Then he tugged on the ends of my hair, saying, “And lose the ponytail.”

—

I turned with a start when I felt a tap on my shoulder, and was relieved to see that it was only Mark [Meadows].”

“I heard today’s your twenty-third birthday,” he said with a smile. I hadn’t told anyone, a fact my perplexed expression obviously conveyed. “I know everything,” he said, still grinning.

—

“How are you taking the big news?” Matt [Gaetz] said by way of greeting. I yanked him away from my friends. “Shut up, Matt. Mark [Meadows] doesn’t want anyone to know yet. You heard him.” I scowled. A tight smile crept across his face as he nodded. “Mark has big things in store for you. He’s not going anywhere, don’t worry,” he said. “Just let it all play out. He truly adores you.”

Suddenly I felt claustrophobic, but I was torn between running outside into the frigid winter air and pressing Matt for more information. I did not understand what he meant or why he was sharing this information in the middle of a crowded Washington bar after one of the most consequential votes in US history.

“Okay,” I said, shifting my weight from one leg to another. “So, do you want a drink?”

He chuckled and brushed his thumb across my chin. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re a national treasure?”

—

I fought to mask my shock and slowly glanced over at Mark, who was already staring at me. We locked eyes, and the corners of his mouth twitched upward as he winked. I locked my cell phone and tipped my chin once.

“We make a great team, you and I, don’t we?” Mark whispered as we walked to Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell’s office for our next scheduled meeting. I looked over my shoulder and stole a glance at Eric, who was trailing far behind us, then turned to Mark. “We do,” I replied with a smile.

I was pleased Mark trusted my judgment to help him make better decisions. At the time, I hadn’t considered how little Mark had seemed to look into the matter before firing McKenna, neither aware of the hit I might have just ordered nor viewing it as a potential initiation.

—

A few of us were left when, at one o’clock or so, Dan Crenshaw, who had lost an eye in Afghanistan, brought out a display case of variously designed glass eyes he always carried with him, and began popping in one after another and asking us which we liked best.

There was a knock on the door. I thought it was Camp David staff coming to warn us to quiet down—Kevin [McCarthy]’s cabin was across from the president’s. But when Kevin opened the door, we discovered Matt Gaetz leaning against the doorframe. Matt straightened his posture when Kevin asked him what he wanted, and he explained that he had seen my golf cart parked outside and thought that this was my cabin. Embarrassed, I got up and asked Matt what he needed. He explained that he was lost and asked me to escort him to his cabin. I told him to proceed around the circle drive—all the cabins were clearly marked and it was impossible to get lost. He asked me one more time to leave with him. “Get a life, Matt,” Kevin said, then shut the door.”

—

The president tried on several N95 masks at the Honeywell plant in Phoenix, Arizona, which manufactured all manner of personal protective equipment (PPE). He was not thrilled that staff urged him to wear a mask, believing it would make him look weak and afraid of the virus. He decided on a white mask and strapped it to his face before asking each staffer whether or not he should wear it in front of the press pool.

I was standing behind Mark and had not expected the president to ask for my opinion. But he did, making a thumbs-up/ thumbs-down gesture. I could feel Mark glare at me as I slowly shook my head. The president pulled the mask off and asked why I thought he should not wear it.

I pointed at the straps of the N95 I was holding. When he looked at the straps of his mask, he saw that they were covered in bronzer. “Why did no one else tell me that,” he snapped. “I’m not wearing this thing.”

—

Mark leaned against the door and rubbed his temples. “Cass, if I can get through this job and manage to keep him out of jail”—referring to our boss, the president—“I’ll have done a good job. Can you call my detail and tell them I’m ready to go home?”

—

Mark wanted to grab a bite to eat at the Trump International Hotel before people began gathering at the White House for the president’s RNC acceptance speech on August 27. I sat in the hotel lobby with his security detail, waiting for him to finish. I felt a tap on my shoulder. Matt Gaetz was standing behind me. He asked if he could ride with us back to the White House, a few blocks from the hotel. I looked him up and down and replied, “It looks like your legs are working just fine.” He said he was going to tell Mark I had been rude to him.

—

Matt Gaetz was lurking in the hotel lobby when we arrived and spotted us right away. He wanted to come with us so that he could give the president debate tips. I could see that Mark was trying to ignore him. I intervened and suggested that Matt find Kimberly Guilfoyle, Donald Trump Jr.’ s then-girlfriend, and take her for a drink in the hotel bar. Mark, David Bossie, and I got on the elevator together, letting the doors close on Matt. As we ascended, Mark thanked me, and whispered that I should keep my distance from Matt. It was a protective order, and I understood.

—

Matt Gaetz started dropping by more frequently. He had asked me several times if I thought the president would issue him a pardon. I tried to dismiss Matt’s antics but began wondering why he was pushing so hard for a pardon. I raised the issue with Mark one day after Matt had left and asked if there was anything I should know about.

“Between you and me,” Mark said, “DOJ may be looking into something about Matt. Best to stay away from him. Can you do that for me?” I nodded and promised I would.

—

I find Rudy in the back of the tent with, among others, John Eastman. The corners of his mouth split into a Cheshire cat smile. Waving a stack of documents, he moves toward me, like a wolf closing in on its prey.

“We have the evidence. It’s all here. We’re going to pull this off.” Rudy wraps one arm around my body, closing the space that was separating us. I feel his stack of documents press into the small of my back. I lower my eyes and watch his free hand reach for the hem of my blazer.

“By the way,” he says, fingering the fabric, “I’m loving this leather jacket on you.” His hand slips under my blazer, then my skirt. I feel his frozen fingertips trail up my thigh. He tilts his chin up. The whites of his eyes look jaundiced. My eyes dart to John Eastman, who flashes a leering grin.

I fight against the tension in my muscles and recoil from Rudy’s grip. “It’s faux leather, Rudy. Tell the boss to pay me more and I’ll get a real one, just for you.” Filled with rage, I storm through the tent, on yet another quest for Mark.

—

Matt Gaetz made an unannounced visit to our office to lobby Mark for a personal pardon but didn’t receive one.

[splashskitty]

It's time for Nerium lore part three and the subject this time is this Nerium

This is reaper au Nerium it not a very creative name but that's what I call it. in this au she's a grim reaper could you guess. she doesn't show any emotion except for manic happiness she The embodiment of the flower she's named after oleander every part of her is deadly AKA poisonous her skin her blood the vines she makes and her scythe .

In this au she started out normal but when she was 6 she was drawn to oleanders which she started eating the oleanders began to basically kill and control her so in this au she's basically a deadly emotionless somewhat evil flower.

She has the power to create oleander Vines and the flowers themselves she created her scythe to.

if you know Liam Vickers she moves like a Liam Vickers character and kind of acts like one too she's just basically the oc I made for edgy purposes bloodshed and gore.

And in this au when the flower fully takes over she kills her brother Nino by poisoning him and her mother by impaling her with vines leaving her sister Nepta to witness what she's done horrifiedly she runs away and calls the police but Nerium was already gone.

Nino was brought back to life by in oar fish named Ben who Nino adapted as his son.

Actaea and Nerium are still childhood friends in this au but Nerium mysteriously disappear around 12 AKA when she's fully taken over by the flower in this au Actaea is a little different she has ponytails instead of braids and years later in an encounter with Nerium she slices Actaea in half and she becomes half angel half dark angel

angel of darkness you know like the song I don't know something like that don't listen to me. basically now her hair it becomes white on the right and black on the left same with her eyes white on right and black on the left and same with wings she doesn't have a scar cuz it magically healed but if you draw her you can give her one.

Nerium around the age of 14 is confronted by the god of death who tells her she's killing too many people and it's causing an imbalance he strikes a deal with her making her a grim reaper so that she can sense when people are going to die and only kill them so she so that she doesn't kill too many people but can still do so.

Since Nerium is a Grimm reaper she has the power to sense when people are going to die anyway since it is her job to reap their souls but usually she just kill them instead of their disease's or accidents or anything like that because she likes doing it and sometimes she just likes to hunt people for sport depends on how she's feeling you know like a cat.

All the other characters aren't in this au except for Delphinium Dianthus Datura and Deparia though they have powers and are kinda royalty in this au normally they're just kind of siblings that sometimes cause a little bit of chaos they're side characters in my normal story and they're kind of side characters ln this too.

Now for the new characters there's only a few but they're still there Spider Lily is Nerium's best friend in this au Spider Lily and Nerium are basically just friends based on the fact that they kill people they love to compare each other's murderers it's a game to them.

Colocasia is a demon that Nerium is also friends with though they mostly just cause chaos together they're not very close but they're still friends. and Iris who Nerium doesn't know we'll talk about him more a little later.

Now it time to show what the characters look like I made these all in gacha life 2 I know I really need to draw them but it's faster to just make them In gacha life

This is Spider Lily the yellow on her face is supposed to be more eyes and she should have four or six arms but you can't do that in gacha life she's based off of a Black widow and she does have a full spider form she like 10 ft tall in that form normally she's just six feet something she's kind of a siren she sings and dances to attract her pray mostly men who she kills and eats.

Actaea she's 28 she is a half angel half dark angel after becoming an angel she feels it's her duty to make sure Nerium doesn't take her reaping too far and she takes the job she gave herself very seriously. She has two swords they're not black and white like you think they're both red and when she's mad they become flaming swords.

Delphinium she's 25 is the youngest sibling of Dianthus Datura and Deparia. she's sweet caring can seem innocent and optimistic she's jealous and resentful of her sisters because they think they're stronger and smarter just cuz they're older. they also based off the seasons Delphinium winter Dianthus is spring Datura is summer and Deparia is Autumn their powers kind of go with what season they are not fully just kind of Delphinium has ice powers mostly to make sharp spikes of ice but she can make snow too and where she is usually cold when she has strong emotions.

Dianthus she's 27 she's kind of rude and Petty she's the kind of girl that knows she's the best she is a Chappell roan listener which is my way of saying lesbian and she's got fire powers and she is hotheaded to go with it.

Datura they're 32 they are Deparias twin they're chaotic and a troublemaker and kind of completely insane they don't understand empathy they're the type that likes to watch it all burn. It's eyes can change from pink yellow green and blue all at the same time one at a time or just two at a time it's power is telekinesis they mostly uses it to move the ribbons on they dress and make them do whatever they wants like a Sylveon.

Deparia she's 32 she's very caring kind she loves every creature and she tries to do what's best for everyone even if it gets her into trouble he's usually picking up after Datura's chaos even though her and Datura are the same age she's definitely acts as the older motherly type. She has winds/weather power mostly wind and tornados though she can make thunderstorms too.

This is Iris he's 26 I haven't given him a birthday he doesn't have anything to do with Nerium but he's a part of this au he's a demon because he killed himself and his parents when he was 14. him and Colocasia are close they've been running away from hells equivalent of cops together since they were 16 and 17 they've been thick as thieves ever since.

This is Colocasia he's 27 his birthday is the 13th of August I haven't decided what got him in hell but he died by getting impaled by a metal pipe when he was 14 and he uses the same metal pipe as his weapon now he's very chaotic and I kind of made him like discord from mlp he's got goat legs his right hand is what's supposed to be a dragon talon his left hand a kitty paw his right tail is an axolotl tail and his left you can think of it as fire or a moomins tail. and what he's wearing supposed to be like a dress suit coat thing.

Also an extra bit of lore here but the character that this Nerium is wasn't always Nerium herself the character used to be based off of a flower that doesn't actually exist it was a flower my brain made up that was blue purple black with an emphasis on the black and purple it didn't have a name and neither did the character but they had the exact same personality and joy from killing as reaper Nerium and the same deadliness all over and the vines to. The only real difference being that this character had a sword instead and she was more purple and blue her design was also more witchy than grimm reapery. Anyway though how her character got repurposed into Nerium was I was trying to find a name for her cuz her name was still splashskitty at the time I got the idea to lookup deadly flowers and the first result was Nerium oleander they're flowers that are deadly all over and they're pink so they were perfect that's how Nerium came to be and why I repurposed the unnamed deadly flower character into reaper Nerium so there's the lore.

Anyway speaking of that same character I actually made her a character now too and she's also a grim reaper so yay she has a different personality than Nerium she don't like killing but she had to make this deal or else she would be stuck in between life and death so now she's forced to reap souls even if it makes her sad her name is Stella Salvia and she is a ghost she still has a sword but she's less witchy more ghosty.

Anyway that's about it for part three this may be my final part for a while or at least my final Nerium part if you want to know about any of my other ocs just ask they probably wouldn't make as long posts as this but I still have a lot to talk about for all my ocs.

Anyway if you read this or any of my other lore parts thank you!! I really enjoy my ocs and I really enjoy talking about them and again if you read all of this thank you for taking even just a little bit of interest in my characters it means a lot!! And Nasty13 thank you specifically for inspiring me to make these posts in the first place your support means a lot to me!! <3

Is anyone interested in art of my ocs I'll probably post them anyway but I just wanted to know

[thislovintime]

Peter Tork, Davy Jones, and Micky Dolenz with Ben Savage, Rider Strong, Jeff Sherman, Danielle Fishel, and Rhino managing director Harold Bronson on the set of the Boy Meets World episode “Rave On” (aired on November 17, 1995). Photos by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images, and unknown.

“‘I’ve sung Monkees songs all my life,’ quips Tork, 53, between chomps of a candy bar on the ‘Boy Meets World’ set in Hollywood. ‘I had almost forgotten how [to sing other songs]. I have never sung anything else in 30 years. In the shower, I sing nothing but Monkees songs. The same songs over and over. I sing all the parts. That’s all I ever sing.’

Well, not really. In fact, Tork released his own album this year, ‘Stranger Things Have Happened.’ ‘It’s kind of middle-of-the-road, up pop,’ he says. ‘Micky and [ex-Monkee] Mike Nesmith sing backup on a couple of songs. If it isn’t available in your local record store, you can get it by calling 1-800-Not-Ribs-0!’

In the ‘Rave On’ episode, Cory (Ben Savage) and Eric (Will Fredel) enlist the help of three of their parents’ friends (guess who?) after their plans to combine an underground party and a surprise wedding anniversary party backfire.

‘I was in the show last year playing the same character,’ says Tork, who plays Jedidiah, the father of Cory’s love interest, Topanga (Danielle Fishel). Dolenz also has previously been on the series as family friend Gordy.

‘My thing is I am, like, some guy who shows up [that] the parents had met 20 years ago,’ offers Jones, 49. ‘I sort of, like, house crash.’

The reason?

‘I’m here to protect you,’ he says wryly.

‘He’s the eldest, you see,’ pipes in Jones. ‘You probably figured that out.’

Yes, your birth dates were printed on the back of your first album, ‘The Monkees.’

‘They lied [about my age],’ Tork confesses. ‘They lied because they didn’t want anybody 24 [in the group].’

‘I didn’t realize that,’ says Jones, the youngest. ‘What’s your name again?’

‘George Harrison,’ Tork deadpans.

[...] The trio still seem to exude the goofy chemistry that endeared them to millions of teeny-boppers in 1966. Sitting in the empty bleacher area of the darkened sound stage, the group jokes and banters around. Though Tork has already chatted with the set visitor, he’s decided to sit in with Dolenz and Jones.

So what’s it like to be performing together and not playing the Monkees?

‘That’s all I have ever done in my life is to play a character,’ replies Dolenz, 50, who sports a tiny ponytail. ‘The Monkees was a character I played.’

‘No! No!,’ Tork retorts. ‘You were that character.’

Dolenz looks up at Tork. ‘Are you going to do this interview for me?,’ he says with mock disdain. ‘Thank you.’

‘I am here to keep the record straight,’ Tork says with a smile.

‘I always approached [the Monkees] as a part I was playing,’ Dolenz says. ‘I remember Bob Rafelson, the director and creator, talking about it and the original brief on my part was Jerry Lewis. They wanted a Jerry Lewis-type. They wanted a Huntz Hall-type. They wanted a Will Rogers-type.’

‘And,’ Jones interrupts, ‘a Peter Tork-type.’

‘You’ve got to remember, the reality was that the Monkees was not a band,’ Dolenz continues. ‘But a TV show about a band. We became a band in every sense of the word. But we do a lot of acting. Peter just did a thing on “Wings,” didn’t you?’

‘Yep,’ Tork replies. (Tork’s appearance as himself on ‘Wings’ airs Tuesday.)

‘I just did “The Love Bug” for a movie-of-the-week,’ Dolenz says. ‘I’m doing a series for USA called “Pacific Blue” where I play the mayor of Santa Monica. I’m also directing.’

Though Jones isn’t a big fan of sitcoms, doing ‘Boy Meets World’ is ‘a fabulous way of getting exposure’ for their upcoming 30th-anniversary tour.

‘What I find so incredible,’ Dolenz concludes, ‘is the entire project only lasted two years. I have had dinner parties that were longer than the original project. And here we are!’” - Los Angeles Times, November 12, 1995

//

“The networks and studio then (stupidly) told me the Monkees appearance was not be ‘an event’ for them unless I could get all four. Did I mention networks can be stupid? They ordered me to enlist Mike Nesmith, too. Micky had warned me this would never happen, but I valiantly tried; called Mike Nesmith at home. He listened to my pitch and, after a rather long moment of silence, in his slow Texan drawl, he flatly told me, ‘I'd really rather not.’ Micky explained that, for years, Mike was not very anxious to appear as a Monkee -- he'd moved on. [...]

Maybe a half-hour before our evening taping, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a tall, lanky fellow with dark glasses and big sideburns slip by me and into the dressing room area. Michael Nesmith had shown up! All four of the Monkees were here in the same place -- for the very first time in years and years. I could see them through the little window to the area, shaking hands, hugging, laughing. Unbelievable!

As a major Monkees nut from when the show originally aired on NBC, this was dreamlike. I couldn't figure it out. Mike told me there was no way he wanted any part of this. My friend, Harold Bronson, who co-founded and was running Rhino Records (and arguably the biggest Monkees fan in the world, next to me), explained to me that Rhino had recently re-released all the Monkees albums on CD and they had all gone multi platinum. Because the guys were all going to be gathered, he invited Mike down to take photos with Davy, Micky and Peter backstage on our set with their platinum records!

My boss, Michael Jacobs, found me gawking through the window, slapped my back and said, ‘Sherm? Go get him!’ He said that Mike Nesmith was physically here in this building and, as a producer, it was my duty to go get him to appear with the other guys. I explained, again, that Nesmith had turned us down. He repeated, ‘Get! Him!’ He literally pushed me through the door.

Sort of awestruck and scared at the same time, I paced up to the four guys. Micky saw me and said, ‘Hey Jeff, come meet Mike!’ I came over, shook his hand and introduced myself as the fellow who'd called him a couple of weeks ago. He stared at me a beat, then half nodded. Mike went back to talking to Micky and the guys. It was very warm between all of them. It was truly beautiful. I heard them talking about maybe going into a rehearsal hall together, ‘See what we sound like,’ Mike said.

My mouth dropped open. This was rock 'n roll history and I was standing right there witnessing it. All the guys were really into it, started making plans of when and where. I didn't want to interrupt this, sort of backed away. Turning, I saw my boss staring at me through the window, insistently pointing at Mike. I took a deep breath, walked back up. Mike slowly turned to me. I said something like, ‘So, Mike, you know we're shooting the show in a couple of minutes. Since you're here and since it would be such an incredible --’

‘I'd really rather not,’ he twanged. He stared me down, then returned to chatting with Davy, Micky and Peter about an out of the way rehearsal hall he knew about where no one would bother them. I backed out of the room, through the swinging door and Michael Jacobs said, ‘Well?!’ I explained that Nesmith did not want to be on our show. Michael explained that no one ever wants to do these things, but it was my job as a producer to get back in there and convince him. Two network people walked up and seconded that.

Fearing my job was on the line, I took a deep breath and went back in. Covering my abject fear and loathing with a nervous grin, I slowly walked back up to the guys who were all excitedly talking about meeting up and jamming. Micky, then Davy, then Peter saw me nearing again. I never got a word out. The last one to turn, very slowly and deliberately, was Mike Nesmith. Laser beams were shooting from his eyes through my soul. He slapped his knees, slowly stood WAY up and said one last time, definitively, slowly and with a deeper tone -- ‘I'd... really... rather... not.’ I think I maybe whimpered ‘'K,’ gave a wimpy finger salute and somehow escaped from the room.

Emerging again, my boss, the network folks and now our entire staff moved back from watching me through the portal. ‘Well!?’

‘He'd... really rather not,’ I sighed, and hurried off to look for something to drink and update my resume.

The rest of the night was dreamlike. The whole week was, in fact. It was electric rock 'n roll literally and emotionally in that t.v. studio. Great laughs, great energy. Everyone there knew this was a rare and special night. Even the moments with actor Dave Madden (Manager ‘Reuben Kincaid’ from The Partridge Family) were huge laughs. Everything was perfect.

Nesmith never did appear on the episode, but it was incredibly thrilling to see Micky, Davy and Peter perform live together. They sang live to playback tracks they'd recorded together earlier in the week -- and YES -- they really played and sang and REALLY PLAYED AND SANG amazingly at the session. I was there. What great musicians and vocalists they were together. What classic interplay and rhythm in their acting, as well! The episode was incredible and got huge, huge ratings. [...] I hope people will go back and watch the ‘Rave On!’ episode -- and think -- Mike Nesmith was just maybe 50 feet away!” - Art Brodsky, Huffington Post, March 4, 2012

[supercap2319]

The Prince and The Fairy Chapter 9

Pairing: Sky X Male Reader

A/N: This chapter is a bit longer than usual. Thanks for waiting so patiently. Bloom also joins the cast now.

Y/N and Sky had Silva leaning on them for support as they hobbled back to Alfea. Y/N wasn't so sure what a gash from a Burned One would do, but from the way Silva was breathing heavily, it couldn't be good. Their friends were right behind them as they made it inside the courtyard. Students were staring at them in shock, seeing the Headmaster of the Specialists, injured.

“I'll get a medkit from the Bastion!” Terra says.

“And I'll get Dad,” Sam says, as Musa follows him.

“I'll get the Headmistress,” Beatrix said. She ran in the direction of Ms. Dowling’s office.

They get Silva to the greenhouse and Mr. Harvey, Sam, and Terra’s dad gets to work on treating Silva's wounds. Sky was a nervous wreck, walking back and forth in anticipation.

“How bad is it? Sky asked tensely. “Can you help him?”

“Sky, I’ll be fine. Just let Professor Harvey do his work,” Silva said weakly. Silva groans as Ms. Dowling enters the greenhouse. “I should have moved it right away. You should have had more soldiers,” she said.

“Guys, could we have the room, please?” Silva asks, looking at Y/N, Sky, Sam, and Terra. “We’ll keep you informed. Go on.” Everyone nods their head, but Sky is still reluctant to leave Silva. Y/N grabs Sky’s hand and gently leads the young prince out of the greenhouse. When they're sure that they are alone, Ben Harvey looks at Silva and says. “It’s just us Saul.”

“The Burned One was loose before we got there. I saw someone… in the road.”

“Someone let it loose on purpose?” Ms. Dowling asked, shocked. The Headmistress looks at Ben and frowns. This isn’t good.

“He’s gonna be ok right, Y/N?” Sky asked. They were laying on Sky’s bed. He was shirtless and in sweats and Y/N was dressed in pajamas. Sky’s arms wrapped around Y/N. Y/N could hear Sky’s heart beating against his chest. “Of course, he'll be alright. I know that I only just met him, but he seems like a tough guy,” Y/N says. “But what if he doesn't get better? What if he dies? I can't lose another father, Y/N. I just can't,” Sky said.

“Shhh. It's okay, Blue Eyes. Let it out,” Y/N said, as Sky buried his head in the crook of Y/N’s neck, as his body began to shake as he cried softly. Y/N rubbed his hands up and down Sky’s back in comfort, as his eyes turned white and a vision made its way into his mind.

In the vision, Y/N could see a young woman in her early twenties. She had long, pale blonde hair tied into a ponytail, with kind amber eyes. She wore a pale green tube top and a pale blue ruffled mini skirt over pale blue leggings with yellow ribbons tied around them and matching ankle-length boots. She had beautiful giant wings that were shaped like seashells. Yellow, with a green border. She was crying.

“I'm sorry, little ones, but I can't let anything happen to you.” She brushes a hand and Y/N can feel it on his skin. We’ll be together again someday, she promises as Y/N can hear babies crying.

“Daphne. It’s time.” The young woman walked away.

The vision shifted and Y/N found himself in a hospital. The sound of a heart monitor could be heard. Then a flat line. “We’re losing them. Hurry!”

“Damn. No!”

It was quiet after that. I have to go tell the parents that–“Excuse me, ma'am? You can’t be in here–”

“I’ll take it from here, doctor,” a voice says.

A woman enters the room. Not the same one as in the first vision. The woman appeared to be in her sixties. She had long, blonde hair with striking blue eyes. She had wrinkles on her eyes. She smiles at Y/N. “When the time comes… find me.”

Y/N came out of the vision and quietly gasped. What the hell just happened?

….

It had been almost a week since Silva was attacked and Y/N’s vision. Things at Alfea had changed. Bloom finally came to Alfea and Y/N couldn't be happier than to have his sister here with him. He told her about everything that she had missed. About the Burned Ones, being changelings, his vision, Sky. At that last one, Bloom smiled. “So, I miss Hogwarts for one week, and my baby bro already has a boyfriend? Damn,” she teased. She was roommates with Terra, Aisha, Musa, and Stella. That'll be fun. Along with the good changes, there were also some bad ones as well. Sky was a lot more distant. He trained all the time, so Y/N barely saw him that much. Did it hurt? Yes, but Y/N understood Sky was hurting and needed some space.

Y/N, Bloom, and Aisha are on their way to class when they stop and look at some old photos of past Fairy students. “Can we not do this again?” Aisha says.

“I know. I know,” Y/N said.

“There are just still a few possibilities,” Bloom said. She had a vision the same night Y/N did, and when she found out he had too, they agreed to find the woman who left them in the First World. “I know it’s hard to see what someone’s going to look like when they’re older, but… see if I squint my eyes and tilt my head, this Farrah Fawcett one is a dead ringer.”

“There are a lot of fairies in the Otherworld, guys,” Aisha says.

“Well… you said the most powerful ones come through Alfea, right?” Y/N asks her. The woman, Daphne in my vision, had seashell shaped wings, and according to the book on fairy wings in the library, comes from a source called Sirenix, which is ancient ocean magic.”

“Technically, Alfea looks for magic potential,” Aisha says. “When they admit fairies, but, yes, powerful fairies come through the school.”

“Well, these women embedded these memories in our heads 16 years ago. So, they must mean something,” Bloom told her.

Aisha sighed. “Well, maybe Terra’s dad has some old yearbooks we can look through.” Y/N and Bloom smile. “After the class, we’re now officially late for. Let’s go,” she says, grabbing their hands and dragging them to class.

Sky is unfocused during his sparring match against Riven. He’s been so focused on making sure Silva’s alright that he’s off his game today. He’s been off the whole week, actually. He’s been really distant from Y/N, and he felt really bad about that. His boyfriend’s older sister finally came to Alfea. A fiery redhead, who was also a fire Fairy. Oh, the irony.

He and Riven fenced back and forth with wooden swords. Sky used one and Riven used two. Silva hobbled towards them as concern flickered across Sky’s face. Silva’s sharp eyes caught Sky’s hesitation as he called out: “Sky, watch your footwork.” The two boys continue to trade attacks until Riven gets the best of Sky and sweeps a foot under him as he falls onto the mat. “Nicely done, Riven,” Silva congratulated. “Nicely done.” Riven grins as he helps Sky to his feet.

“Does he seem worse to you?” Sky asked.

“What? Riven gets a compliment, and all of a sudden, Silva has brain damage?” Riven chuckles. They walk over to the bench where Stella is sitting, texting on her phone. She’s bundled up in a pink fluffy pink jacket, scarf, and headband. “Well, it’s been a week since he got infected by the Burned One. I dunno. Maybe I’m overreacting.”

“What do you think, Stel?”

The princess of Solaria looked up from her phone, clearly uninterested. They put their weapons in the bags. “About what?” She asks.

“Silva. How does he look to you?”

“Fine,” Stella says.

“Dr. Stella coming through with a zero-effort diagnosis,” Riven jokes. Stella ignores him. Riven takes a swig of water as Stella asks Sky: “Are you training later or are we hanging out before the party?”?Stella asks. Sky puts on his jacket. It's a bit chilly outside and his training wardrobe doesn't cover his bare arms. He's unfocused. He's focusing on Silva.

“Sky?” Stella says.

“Hmm?”

“He's fine,” Stella tells him. “Professor Harvey still has him on the Zanbaq, right?”

“Yeah, and that just manages his symptoms,” Sky counters. “He won't get better until they kill the Burned One that attacked him.”

“And there are people out there looking for it,” Stella says. It's not gonna get away from every Fairy and Specialist in the Otherworld.” She glances at Riven, then at Sky. “I have class. Stop worrying,” she kisses him on the cheek and gets up, and walks away.

“So, do you take them both at the same time, or do them separately?” Riven asks.

“What are you talking about?”

“I'm just having a hard time understanding who you're with. Is it Stella or Y/N?”

Sky frowned. “I'm with Y/N, Riv. You know that.”

“Well, then why are you starting shit up with Stella then?” Riven asks.

“I'm not starting anything,” Sky defends himself. “She's just trying to be nice, Riven.”

“Yeah, sure mate,” Riven said. “Why did you choose Y/N over Stella anyway?”

“Because I love him, Riv. He gets me,” Sky said.

“Really?” Riven smirks as a lewd thought comes to him. “It’s butt stuff. He lets you do butt stuff, doesn’t he?”

“Shut up, Riven!” Sky pushes Riven off the bench as the brown haired boy chuckles from his new position on the floor. Riven gets back on the bench, and tries to be comforting to his best friend. “Look, I would blame Y/N and Stella for your shit sparring last week, but… I know how close you and Silva are.”

“I’m about if you ever wanna, like–”

“Um… I gotta run, ok?” Sky tells Riven, as he stands up.

“Sky!”

Sky turns around. “Yeah?”

“Talk with Y/N. Don't keep pushing him away.”

Sky nodded his head.

….

Y/N sat in a classroom with other Fairy students. Sam was sitting next to him. Aisha and Bloom were sitting together and Musa and Terra were partners. Ms. Dowling had given them each different types of items in order to test their magical abilities. Y/N stared at the pages underneath his notebook. “What are you hiding?” Sam asks him. Y/N turns to look at his friend. “Nothing.”

“Come on, Y/N. I saw the pages.”

Y/N sighed. “Alright, I may or may not have stolen some pages from a Fairy book from the library.”

“You did what?” Sam asked. “Man, Griselda will kill you if she finds out.” Sam chuckled at the thought of their strict librarian. “Didn't think you were the bad boy type.”

“Well, I'm full of surprises,” Y/N grins.

“What do they say?” Sam asked, indicating about the pages. Y/N slips the pages towards him. “It talks about ancient transformation magic.There are so many of them, with different usages. Like: Enchantix, Believix, Mythix, Harmonix, and Bloomix.”

“That’s quite the list,” Sam says.

“Yeah, it is.”

“So, how are you and Sky doing?” I know things were pretty shocking last week and we’re all dealing with it differently, but how are you doing?” Sam asks. Y/N gives Sam a sad smile. “I wish I could say we’re okay, but the truth is. He’s been really distant this week, and I want to help him, but he won’t let me in.”

“That really sucks, mate.”

“Tell me about it.” Y/N focuses on Musa, then turns and smiles at Sam. “What’s going on between you and Musa?” Sam looks shocked. “What makes you think something is going on?”

Y/N chuckles. “Come on, Harvey. I’ve seen the way you look at her, and vice versa.”

Sam blushed. “It’s going well. Really good.”

“Good.”

Ms. Dowling comes to them. She looks at Sam. “Your magic connects you to living things. Feel how they communicate to you.” She walks behind them. You can give life. “Can you give life and keep its beauty hidden as well?” Sam’s eyes glow dark green as he makes two flowers sprout from the pot. He changed one flower into another and kept the other one translucent.

“Good.”

She turned to Y/N. “Snowflakes are as light as air and can travel to any place they wish. Can you do the same with that piece of twig?” Y/N’s eyes flash blue and he concentrates. He thought of the snowflakes swirling around the twig like they had him and Sky last week. He imagined it jumping from one place to the other. To his amazement, it had. The snowflakes had teleported the twig to the other side of the table. Ms. Dowling smiled.

Bloom tried to light a single piece of twig without touching the other ones. She had done it, and Y/N was a bit jealous of how she passed her first magical assignment on her first try. Aisha was next, but couldn’t isolate a single body of water without making a splash. Ms. Dowling excused the class after that.

After lunch, Y/N spent the afternoon looking through old yearbook photos, trying to find the mystery Fairy. Sam came walking into his former room later on looking at Y/N. “Hey, aren’t you going to get ready?”

Y/N frowned. “Ready? Ready for what?”

“The Senior Specialists party,” Sam said.

“Yeah, hard pass. You know I don’t do parties.”

“Right, only social at the grocery store and Sunday football games, right?” Sam asked.

“Yeah.”

Y/N didn’t feel like going, but if it was for the Specialists, then there was a good chance that Sky would be there too. Maybe they could finally talk to each other. “Will Sky be there too?” Y/N asked hopefully.

Sam nods his head. “Yeah, Riven’s going. So, it’s a safe bet Sky will too.”

Y/N got ready.

Beer was spilling over plastic cups. A bonfire burned bright and hot as music played. The whole place was bathed in a soft purple light as teenagers Y/N's of age and older danced, kissed, and drank to their heart’s content. All of Y/N’s friends and his sister went off in different directions. That was alright with Y/N. The only reason he was here was to see a blond-haired prince from Eraklyon.

On a bench safely away from tonight’s festivities, Y/N saw Sky nursing a cup of water in his hands, staring down at his phone. Y/N smiled and walked towards his blonde boyfriend.

“Haven’t seen you all day.”

Sky looked up from his phone and smiled when he saw it was Y/N. “Have you been looking?” He looked handsome. Sky always looked handsome, but tonight he looked extra good. His blonde hair was combed back and styled perfectly. Y/N had to resist the urge to reach out and grab a handful of golden locks. He wore a blue jacket with the symbol of the school on the side.

“Desperately,” Y/N said. Sky smiles at him.

“How’s Silva?”

Sky’s smile faltered as he sighed. “Um… Rough,” he admits. He sits down and Y/N sits down next to him. “But… They’re closing in on the Burned One. It’s only a matter of time before he gets better.”

“How are you doing?” Y/N gently pushed. Sky looked down at his feet as if they were the most interesting thing in the world. Maybe Y/N had pushed too hard. Then Sky admitted. “I feel shit, Y/N.” Sky licked his lips. “I’ve been a shit boyfriend as well.”

“Hey, don’t say that,” Y/N told him gently. “You’ve been a great boyfriend.”

Sky shook his head. “No, I haven’t. I was so cold and distant to you and for that I’m so sorry.”

“Hey, it’s alright. I understand. I mean yeah, it hurt, but you were dealing with a lot and the last thing you needed was Teen sex drama.”

“Teen sex drama?” Sky asks. “Is that what we’re calling it?”

Y/N blushed. “You know what I mean.”

Sky looked at Y/N. “I know I’m supposed to be strong but…” Y/N held his gaze as he listened to Sky’s pain and wanted him to know that he was here for him. “Silva basically raised me after my father died. They were best friends. I know we train to fight, to risk our lives, but… I never let myself think that Silva…”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to be strong all the time, you know,” Y/N told him. “Certainly not with me. You can let your walls down around me and I promise I won’t let you crumble.”

Sky had a few tears in his eyes as he asked. “I know at the moment you’re at a crossroads with your parents, but how close are you with them?”

Y/N sighed. “If you had asked me that a week ago, I probably couldn’t have answered it,” he admitted. “Now that I think about it, nothing has changed. I mean, technically, yes, things are different, but my love for them is still there. Adopted or not. Love is love.”

“You always know just what to say. How is that?” Sky asked.

“Ancient Chinese secret,” Y/N jokes.

“Well, it’s a good thing I like a good mystery.”

“Yeah, well, I’m an open book, so…” They chuckled. “I could use a good distraction.”

“Well, I did hear mention of beer pong if you want a… big distraction. But we can just sit here and talk if you want,” Y/N said.

The shorter boy stood up and smirked. “Drinking beer really isn’t my thing, but I’d kick your ass at it.” Sky stood up as well and looked down at his shorter boyfriend. “Oh, is that right?” Y/N nodded his head. Sky’s eyes shined like the embers in the bonfire. “You just made a huge mistake. Come on.” He grabbed Y/N’s hand and led towards the beer pong table.

.

[twentyminutemiso]

Below is pasted from notes on September 2022 Los Angeles trip:

Dish soap Big water Cleanser Wound wash Towel Cash More milk Toilet roll £7

Shirley’s ihg number 430953641

Extraordinary attourney wu - netflix Mr queen

Go pocha Jay jay gastropub Studio city Venice canals Halloween horror night universal

G eazy no limit 1975 and gods plan in shirleys car

Poopourri Botanical curtain Fluffy pink headgear Verbena handwash Goldfish tank

Prawn ceviche Oyster shot Eggy cream with cinnamon Amanda’s eyes are red and watering because someone’s chopping onions

Do you wanna see my garage A tiny pink set with a pink bar and pink glasses on it A cockroach with cowboy boots She hands me a pair of inline skates, do you know how to rollerskate?

Amanda’s eyes are still watering Bo makes angie and cesar a sandwich each and he makes me a sub with a banana and cheese and orange slices in it Angie has stomach cramps and doesnt want to come to goodwill

A tiny light blue grandma dress with doilies on it for amanda but it’s for children Phil collins playing in goodwill

Does bo want to get ice cream. Pumpkin pie flavor. Lemon flavour for amanda. We’re dropping off jade how long until we get there? 3 minutes 1 2 3 we’re not there yet. No you have to count to 60 three times. Where’s my road it’s the left or the right i forget. Two okay signs in the sunshine

Los alcos plaza Melrose avenue Go rollerskating at the beach with amanda

Ben and joyce at the korean restaurant. Ben’s english but he tells me he’s really thrown by an asian person with an english accent. He also met a french chinese person recently and that blew his mind too. Joyce is a pretty korean american with her hair dyed light brown. She swears kookily and calls you bitch in not a completely authentic way.

Velvet sofas. A pair of bears reading in bed.

A crack in the window in the shower ktown. Sunny yellow building roofs palm trees satellite dishes.

Cool burger place chinatown vinyl flooring hipsters in window lots of picture frames breakfast sandwich restaurant called amboys

Older guy purple hat check shirt camo pants dog boombox hanging in right hand playing street fame waking kinda hunched

John chamberlain and larry bell The first foam contorted bodies the other mirrored glass cubes “west coast minimalism”. A small foam like a conch shell.

Mika rottenbeeg. A tractor plows the ground close up thundering. Gelatine tubes candy coloured slicing oddly satisfying. Plop. Water steams off metal surface. Tubes slap slap slap slap poke poke. Salt salt. Rotating hexagons like a gear turning. hun mming like a didgeridoo back of the space shuttle. Mongolian throat singers. Pink candyfloss melts red on the metal like bloody goo. Red outfit on mongolian. Kind of like educational childrens videos

Ppl browsing a 2 dollar store

Interactive sculptures ponytail flicks and plants go up and down and LED light grows cress

An eighties powersuited woman with a blow dry opens doors through liminal colourblocked office rooms and a soap bubble quivers and dips

Ppl in boujie gallery understand the british water request

Mazda miama

You owe shirley twenty for the dinner

My phone number 6263713004

Art picks me from a dark creepy san marino street. Most expensive place in all of LA, you can’t get away from crime anywhere.

capital_a_la Thursday Sunset rooftop - say art’s name Sunday - boardwalk venice beach Friday South central

Everyone wants to be friends here

Aiyi hands me a persimmon while I’m zooming. I leave the desk. We eat jujubes, crisp and bright white inside, green skins. and a chilled avocado and the persimmon skinned and quartered. I was peeling it and she said i was being wasteful so she peels it instead. She gives me an apple from costco.

I’m so excited that ive driven myself to cvs i feel untouchable. Is this self actualisation

Steve Lacy plays again on Kiss on the way to Paru’s place.

Get to Paru’s place, bart simpson pinata. Books. Sitting on the tatami. Little pea chips, a rice cake with kiwis and blueberries and coconut. Peanuts, small bowls set down gently from a tray. Water (with ice!!!). Paru plays us two songs, ones a space vibe, beepy with guitars that their mentor put over the top. Their voice is really good. Making bao with clay. Drying from the lacquer. They laugh say it seems to be the dumb creative phase they’re currently going through.

Tora i

At the art show. Hard seltzer. Very cute bartender boy with braces. Gives me apologetic smiles every time I ask for something because they don’t have it. We see Jem inside with her friend, Austin, a Korean fashion design boy who works for Levi’s she’s met 2 days ago at Byredo where she works. They went swimming at his hotel pool and today they went to a Nike party and Austin was the only one not wearing Nike. Jason comes to meet us because he has a crush on Jem and it only takes him like 5 minutes to get there. 30 dollar pizzas and we eat it family style. A pappardelle with ragu and I love it. Austin flirts with me and i’m technically flirting back cos I keep smelling his wrist, until I get slightly uncomfortable and then I’m trying to angle my body towards Paru. He’s a little more drunk than everyone else and has a rich international boy aura.

We’re in Virgil village. Jason and Paru realise they’re barely two blocks away from each other. You see that duplex? I’m on the left one. We pass a taco place that’s just been trying to start up. Paru wants to see what’s up with Jason and Jem and he should text her if he has some thoughts and he says let us know if we’re going to her show on Sunday.

Guangchangwu and fantuan and soy milk in garvey park. Kiki doesn’t make noise. She’s a quiet baby. Shirley says rubbing Kiki’s belly.

LACA

22.50 ramen

Root beer cheese burger lemon wedge with my ice tea.

Go utah its crazy

Four storey high fountains in echo park. Man fishing and ellaella says it’s like putting down a community lot in the sims and the townies come. Woman unbuttoning shirt and puts hubbys hand onto her breast and she’s gripping his arm. Lotus flowers on the corner of the pond.

Things i read at heavy manners Sunday in the park with boys - jane mai - depressed schoolgirl comic. Drawings of objects for titles. Bartkira. Steps and colors in the outer sunset (sf)

Passing by the heavy petting woman

Cotton on jungle park jc penney forever 21 macy’s.  Fashion nova store

An angel called osh at the tattoo store.

Nina molloy paints a copper koi on a panoramic ghostly blue canvas in a sheer green square pond with copper lily pads. Tidawikney lek’s napping girl in on the sofa with creeping hands and flower prints on the sofa and real flowers and a tiny island in the sunset through the balcony door and palm trees because i’m in LA. Dominique fongs orange deep dea diver in swampy water with many limbs holding vines catching fish but is she a statue covered in life spearing some fish. Bambou gili ghostly diners with summer rolls duck dark space.

Peach and black tea kombucha in a millenial brewery venture

Aunty brings a handful of pineapple guavas. Talking in the kitchen about taiwan, not liking tourism but liking driving around america because of the freedom, doing 100 miles stretches at a time and feeling relieved to see a petrol station, visiting a friend in colorado, going to yellowstone with her friend, not finding a hotel, deciding to go camping instead

Boba photoshoots at the library, Mariah in the car, windy on venice beach. Peas and feathery leaves on the street trees. Polly pocket houses. Wearing my rolex and mina rolls down the window and does a cheesy british radio announcer voice. Doja. 70s cinema and cringe rubbish bin act.

The red lion tavern. Cigarette vending machine. The smiths to die by your side. Green box of american spirit menthols. Never seen straights

Owe felix 50 for the baseball tix

Coffee Water Butter Bread Oil Batteries

Mina making blueberry pancakes. Gecko on the tree stump.

On the tram ella says it feels like when they go to westworld, getting off its like entering scientologist hq. Tinkling and euphoric music like the sims. Cy twombly exhibtion. Greek god names scratched into paint and written with oil pastels with urgency. A carnivalesque painting by belgian charles ensor and a guy has a chode face. Kampoinge. Three children long shadows on a new york street turned 90 so their shadows are vertical. Watching a video of rye crawling in the garden in edmonton while im looking at art.

… Who sanctions this violent dismemberment- Reaps the barren, crusty smell of denial- Archaeological masks, drums, look clumsily On museum walls

Hung twisted awestruck Witness to this absurdity

Louis Draper Camera magazine july 1966

Ballroom neon lights at the urban outfitters in downtown. Car trunk table for dining in the pa ord parking lot.

Eames house. Fittonia? Purple leaves with green edging. Mina notices.

Traffic loud on the road by santa monica. Three helicopters and we look up at each one. Teenage boys ask mina for squad pics. Three angles a serious one and a silly one and squatting. Purple building lights coming back from the toilet. An apartment block like a covent garden soup.

Pier. Cheesy guitar players. Northern chinese family with camping chairs fishing off the end of the pier. One mad one with four rods. Lettering man bumping guangchangwu tunes. Rasping aero smith in rusty’s bar.

Smokey robinson then dangelo cruising. Picking up ella’s hoodie from LA apparel the most gta scene yet.

At Watts Towers whose construction materials include ten thousand sea shells. 99ft cos city hall was 100ft. Simon loved hearts. Sankofas as well. Four year old girl sundress in gaps between white chairs still sunny. Kouman kele west African dance company

Outside seven eleven getting white claw for our night out, two chinese bros scratching their scratchcard on the car bonnet.

Dodgers, walking from top deck to centrefield because they had to put the bags away. Felix and nadia. Luke had to run to theater rehearsal. Didnt get my hotdog. Steward with a colourful beaded necklace tells me i’m not shy.

One piece playing on the tv in the japanese restaurant we went to pee in when me and mina are walking from the bus we got from Night+Market, to Felix’s. Hello kitty lipbalm in family mart.

Mina photoshopping me and ella into a picture of the beach, ella giving opinion

At the huntington library exhibition olde english vibes and ella says i love it when the letter s is the f. Square japanese courtyard garden bonsais around the perimeter. Wooden hut. Wooden bridge over the creek slosh slosh moss rocks glimmering. So many different biomes we’ve enjoyed today ella says it looks like legend of zelda. Sitting down on concrete bench and ella bobs around taking different angles of the Japanese gardens and saying wtf.

Beautiful multicoloured tins of coffee trader joes.

Kylie can’t get you out of my head in the sunset.  I love you wittle turtle boy everybody goes slow. <3 theres holes in the los angeles life. Pizza and bagels and sleet. (Not that much grass) bonnie tyler. Cant fight this feeling while driving in the night.Tacos at the place near Luke’s. Later on, I find out from Mina that they are discussing how our date is going and Felix is looking at Luke on find my friends and laughing because Luke’s getting tacos next to their house (assuming they are alone)

Karen on kost fm extremely lovely and sentimental.

Sad on the Flyaway, tired but trying to keep my eyes open so i make the most of this place. Palm trees and cars cruising on the freeway next to me always cars and the flyaway is the fastest. Aircon blasting.

Piccadilly back to the ends.  Listen to clairo to heal the pain. The west london terraces are okay. Memories of car journeys and bar conversations swirling. Kind of beautiful to notice the place you live even if you’re sad.

Fawziyah posts a story about unrelaxing into city life. ‘Being present is the meeting point between holding on and letting go’

[zimcard-artblog]

Read more for Info

Albedo's Aliens tend to be different than what Ben has except for Chroma (and maybe more if I think about it). His symbol is different than the Omnitrix usual symbol- a mere triangular that shifts like a camera lense when snapping a picture.

Note: Human Albedo and Galvin Albedo are actually two different people. Human Albedo isn't really "Albedo" (real name, Adrian) but a 15 year old boy who is a trained soldier under the REAL Albedo's (Galvin) supervision.

Galvin Albedo- often called "Boss", runs some sort of Anti-Plumber kind of gig with the sole purpose to taint Azmuth's name.

BTW!

Did some updates on designs for my au such as: Ben wearing a beanie IF he can't find his hairband to tie a ponytail or if he has a bad hair day, Gwen having glasses and her anodite form more simple than before, Rook's design since I found difficulty in drawing him, and also finally added Kevin.

[carewyncromwell]

“Uptown girl --  You know I can't afford to buy her pearls, But maybe someday when my ship comes in, She'll understand what kind of guy I've been, And then I'll win!”

~“Uptown Girl” by Billy Joel

x~x~x~x

Bill Weasley had always had trouble relating to kids his age. As the oldest of seven kids, he’d pretty quickly slipped into the role of support for his mother Molly, parenting and looking after his younger siblings while his father Arthur was at work in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office. Even when he was little, there wasn’t really anyone his age in his tiny hometown of Ottery St. Catchpole. All of the other magical families with kids in the area were much younger than Bill, and it was always a tricky proposition trying to play with the Muggle children who lived closest to the Burrow, with the Statute of Secrecy looming large. So when Bill got to Hogwarts, he found himself almost inevitably falling back on how he acted around his younger siblings, even with kids his own age...which, in turn, made Bill lose his footing, when those kids his age didn’t respond well to being coddled or “looked after.” And given Bill’s rather modest, people-pleasing personality, he wasn’t the type to force anyone to listen to him or do what he said...and so, almost inevitably, he found himself at a loss about how to interact with someone without looking after them in some way, on completely equal footing. And thus Bill Weasley, sweet and amiable as he was, actually found himself largely alone in those first two years he spent at Hogwarts -- and that solitude was something he found out pretty quickly he really didn’t like. 

Bill was relieved when his younger brother Charlie started his first year at Hogwarts. Although Bill had trouble admitting to his family just how unhappy he’d been those last two years, the eldest Weasley was secretly relieved that he’d now have some family at school too. He had always been closest to Charlie out of all of his siblings, given their closeness in age, so it was comforting to know he’d at least have one friend to spend time with, when he wasn’t in class. Charlie’s year, however, also included a ginger-haired Slytherin girl called Cromwell -- the same surname as the infamous “delinquent” Jacob Cromwell, who’d been expelled from Hogwarts and disappeared mysteriously a few years ago. 

Bill first heard about Jacob Cromwell’s sister Carewyn through Charlie, who’d heard that she’d stood up to another Slytherin in their year, Merula Snyde, for bullying Charlie’s timid dormmate Ben Copper and even defeated her in a duel with a Disarming Charm, a spell not taught until at least Bill’s year. Despite himself, Bill actually felt a bit relieved -- he hadn’t known Jacob Cromwell at all, but he figured it had to have been really difficult, for someone to lose their only sibling. Even if he didn’t know Carewyn Cromwell at all, he couldn’t help but feel sorry for her...but at least if she was still confident enough to stand up for herself and others, then it probably meant she was doing okay, even with what had happened to her and her family. And his analysis seemed to be confirmed when Carewyn sought Bill out to get his help the following year with breaking the curse on the Ice Vault. From the moment they first met, Bill made up his mind -- Carewyn Cromwell needed someone to look after her, so he would, until she found her brother again. And so Bill and Carewyn became friends. 

In Bill’s fifth year, he was named Gryffindor Prefect. It was a rather obvious choice for Minerva McGonagall, considering Bill’s predisposition to “look after” and mentor younger students, but it still filled Arthur and Molly Weasley with immense pride. It was also the first year that Bill and Charlie invited Carewyn home for the holidays, upon hearing that her mother Lane had been commissioned by the Ministry of Magic for an international assignment and wouldn’t be able to be home in time for Christmas. When he heard Merula Snyde also wouldn’t have anyone to spend the holidays with, Bill made the remarkably kind move to invite her to the Burrow as well, even with Charlie and Carewyn’s misgivings -- but that holiday ended up being one of the best all four of them had ever had. Merula and Carewyn were even able to mend fences enough to sing Christmas carols together, the first’s clear Soprano voice hovering ethereally over the second’s warm, emotional Alto harmonies. That Christmas was also the year Carewyn gave Bill his very first record -- an album called An Innocent Man, by an Muggle artist named Billy Joel. Arthur Weasley was almost more thrilled by the gift than his son was, and he immediately brought out the Muggle record player he’d...”been allowed to take home” from work so Carewyn could show the Weasleys how to play the record on it. And for the rest of the winter break, it wasn’t uncommon for one of the Weasleys to put the record on in the background while doing dishes or playing a game of Wizard’s Chess in front of the fire. The song from the record Bill found himself humming the most, even after returning to Hogwarts, was the first song on side two of the record. He’d liked the tune immediately just because it was fun...but it also reminded him of a girl in his year he’d been trying to muster up the courage to talk to -- a very pretty and daring Gryffindor named Emily Tyler. 

“And when she's walking, she's looking so fine, And when she's talking, she'll say that she's mine... She'll say I'm not so tough, Just because I'm in love with an uptown girl!”

Emily Tyler was the most popular girl in Bill’s year, as well as one of the most popular in Gryffindor house overall. She’d made a name for herself at the Dueling Club, where she remained Gryffindor’s main champion -- it was likely only thanks to Hufflepuff’s own dueling prodigy, Diego Caplan, that Emily had any competition at all. She also was top of her class in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Bill’s favorite and best subject, even managing to Stun an entire flock of bats with one spell. And coupled with that talent was a lot of style, confidence, and ability to captivate and charm others. She never seemed uncomfortable in a crowd and never seemed to be at a loss for words around her peers -- something Bill himself still struggled with. She’d even expressed some interest in Cursebreaking post-Hogwarts, gushing about the acclaim and glamour of the profession. In short, in Bill’s eyes, Emily just seemed amazing -- a bit out of his league, sure...but maybe if he was brave and put himself out there, she might give him a chance!

So one day, right around spring break, Bill passed Emily a note in Defense Against the Dark Arts, asking her to meet him in the castle courtyard. The eldest Weasley was kind of an emotional wreck on the inside, absolutely beside himself with nerves, but he put on his bravest face anyway. He’d even brought a pink rose, which he tried to keep out of sight in his back pocket until Emily arrived. It was the flower that caught Carewyn’s eye, when she was passing through the castle courtyard. 

The third-year Slytherin had been planning on meeting up with Ben and Rowan in the library so they could study up for an upcoming Charms test, but she put that on hold, seeing her friend Bill sitting alone in the courtyard, as if waiting for someone. Normally she would've gone over to say hello, but the pink rose in Bill’s pocket made her give pause -- a fortunate thing too, for not long later, Bill shot to his feet as Emily Tyler entered the courtyard. She was dressed head-to-toe in bright pink, with her dark hair tied up in a high ponytail and her makeup impeccably neat. She wasn’t alone -- several other boys and girls were with her, all talking to her animatedly. They reluctantly waited for her at the edge of the courtyard, their eyes locked on her as she approached Bill. The scrutiny from Emily’s cohorts clearly intimidated Bill, but he didn’t let it rattle him. He faced his crush with the best smile he could.  

“Hi, Emily,” he greeted. “Thanks for coming -- I know you’re pretty busy with the Dueling Club...”

“I am,” assented Emily. Her voice was matter-of-fact. 

Bill gave a weak, uncomfortable laugh. “Well, uh...I won’t take up too much of your time, then. I just wanted to...er...”

He took the pink rose out of his back pocket and offered it to her. Emily blinked down at it in surprise. 

“I wanted to...give this to you,” said Bill with a modest smile. “Pink is your favorite color, I’ve heard. Not that I’ve been eavesdropping on you or anything,” he said very quickly, “I just heard you tell one of your friends that once, last month, and...”

Carewyn felt very uncomfortable, listening to this. Deciding at once that the whole thing really wasn’t her business and that Bill deserved his privacy, she turned to go. She probably would’ve walked away, were it not for how disdainful Emily's voice sounded, when she spoke.

“Is this...some sort of confession?”

Carewyn immediately stopped and turned back around. Emily was looking from her friends on the sidelines to Bill, her face twisted in a very critical, flabbergasted sort of look. 

Bill, to his credit, somehow managed to keep a weak smile on, even as her brought up a hand to rub behind his neck uncomfortably. 

“Well, uh...yes! I guess so. I...was sort of hoping we might be able to hang out sometime...maybe get some butterbeers in Hogsmeade or something -- ”

Emily’s eyes had widened little by little with every word out of Bill’s mouth until, finally, she brought them to an abrupt halt when she started to laugh. 

“You -- you’re serious?” she said incredulously. She glanced over to her friends on the sidelines and then around the rest of the courtyard, as if expecting someone to jump out from behind a nearby pillar. “This is a joke, right? Tell me this is a joke.”

Her laugh and slightly louder voice had caught the attention of some other students close by. Her friends over by the entrance of the courtyard were exchanging disbelieving looks and whispers among themselves. 

Bill’s smile faded. 

“A joke?” he repeated blankly. “No -- it’s not a -- ”

Emily fixed Bill with a rather pitying, condescending look as she slipped the pink rose out of his hand. 

“Look, Bill,” she said very coolly, “you’re cute and all -- but you really think you’re my type? You’re a Weasley. Prefect or no, you’re still a blood traitor in messy, second-hand clothes with younger students always tagging along after you like ducklings and a father who chases after Muggle airplanes and scooters rather than work a job that can pay the bills.”

She carelessly dropped the pink rose in the fountain and turned her back on him. 

“Maybe actually make something of yourself, and then we can talk.”

Carewyn had been furious at the things Emily Tyler had said -- but it was the absolutely devastated, heartbroken look on Bill’s darkly flushing face that made her snap. In an instant, the third-year Slytherin had barreled right up to the pink-dressed Gryffindor as she rejoined her snickering friends at the side of the courtyard. 

“How dare you!”

Emily’s friends all stopped laughing to look down at Carewyn. 

“Excuse me?” said Emily, looking down at the much smaller girl with a very condescending eye.

“Bill bared his heart to you just now, and you don’t even care!” Carewyn said fiercely. “Talking about his family being poor and liking Muggle things as if it’s something to be ashamed of...clearly Bill couldn’t have liked you for your personality, because it’s disgusting!”

Emily’s nose wrinkled as she glanced around at her friends. “I don’t think anyone’s surprised you’d throw in your lot with a Weasley, Cursebreaker kid. Your family’s got even less reputation to be proud of -- not to mention your clothes are just as out-of-date as theirs are.”

The boys in the group all gave a low “ooh,” sniggering among themselves. 

“Well, fortunately, unlike you, I could care less about my reputation,” Carewyn spat. “And I’m frankly glad of it! Bill is a kind, hardworking person who always puts others first and puts his whole heart into everything he does! If his family’s reputation makes it so you can’t appreciate any of that, then I’d say you’re the one who needs to ‘make something of yourself’ -- ”

“Carey.”

Carewyn felt a hand coming down on her shoulder, almost holding her back. She looked up, to see Bill standing over her. His gaze was locked on Carewyn rather than Emily and his face was very scarlet, but his voice was low and forcibly level. 

“Don’t worry about it,” he mumbled. 

Carewyn looked at him with concern. “Bill...”

“It’s okay,” said Bill. He forced a thoroughly unconvincing smile. “Let’s just go.”

Carewyn stared at Bill for a long moment, feeling very reluctant to let the issue go. Her eyes then fell away, drifting away -- it seemed they’d acquired an audience, in the rest of the students scattered around the courtyard.

Bill would probably be even more embarrassed, if I escalated things further, she thought guiltily. 

Exhaling quietly, Carewyn shot one more very dirty look in Emily’s direction and walked off with Bill. As they walked off, some of Emily’s friends shouted taunts after them.

“‘Mother Duck’ Weasley strikes again!”

“Follow along after Mama, little duckling!”

Carewyn forced herself to keep walking and not turn around. She shot a furtive glance at Bill, and saw that he was doing the exact same thing, even with the ruby red flush in his cheeks and the slight shine to his eyes. 

Carewyn followed Bill out of the courtyard, down the hall, through the large double doors, and out onto the castle grounds. The eldest Weasley seemed to be walking with no destination in mind, his gaze endless and his steps aimless. Carewyn could practically feel the misery, shame, hurt, and embarrassment coming off of her friend, and it made her heart hurt. Her gaze fell to her feet as they walked side-by-side together. 

“...I guess...it was her, wasn’t it?”

Bill straightened up. He’d clearly forgotten for a moment that Carewyn was there. 

“Huh?” he said, before uncomfortably adding, “...W-who?”

“Who you were thinking about, whenever ‘Uptown Girl’ came on.”

Bill flushed a dark red. “What? No, I...what makes you...think there was anyone I was...?”

“Oh, come on, Bill,” said Carewyn with a pitying look. “Your eyes were always so bright, whenever side two started up. I thought...well, there had to be something special you were thinking about, when you heard that one. Even if it wasn’t a specific person...it just felt like that song was something that spoke to you, I guess...”

She offered him a weak, sad smile. 

“...It kind of reminded me of when I sing certain songs. Like even if the words are someone else’s, you can sing them like they’re all yours.”

Bill considered Carewyn for a minute. Then, his flush darkening further, he bowed his head. 

“...Yeah. I suppose that’s true.”

He gave a low sigh.

“...What did I do wrong, Carewyn?” he asked. “Did I come on too strong? Should I have sent her a note, or asked to meet her somewhere more private?”

Carewyn whirled on Bill with an incredulous look. “What? Bill, you didn’t do anything wrong!"

“Sure feels like it,” mumbled Bill. 

Carewyn stopped right in front of Bill, putting her hands on her hips and fixing him with a very reproachful look. 

“You listen to me, William Weasley,” she said fiercely. “I may not know anything about that snobbish twit -- ”

“Emily Tyler.”

“ -- I may not know much of anything about her, but I know you, and I know you deserve so much better than how she treated you. Even if she doesn’t feel the same way about you as you do about her, there’s no excuse for how cruel she was to you...all clearly just to save face around those awful friends of hers...”

Bill blinked in surprise. “You reckon?”

“Yeah,” said Carewyn. “She kept glancing at her friends, the whole time. She rejected you that soundly because she thought they wouldn’t approve of you.”

Seeing the look on Bill’s face, she added, “But that shouldn’t matter, Bill! If Emily thinks impressing her friends is more important than being a decent human being, that’s her problem. And if her so-called ‘friends’ are the sort of people who look down their noses at good people like your family...well, clearly Emily Tyler’s a rotten judge of character.”

Bill looked a bit comforted by Carewyn’s words. He tried to smile again, but it still looked halfhearted at best. 

“Thanks, Carey,” he said lowly. “It’s just...well, she’s just so amazing. Talented and pretty and perfectly brilliant -- you should see her in Defense Against the Dark Arts, I reckon she’s on the NEWT level already. She even said she might like being a Cursebreaker, when she graduates -- travel everywhere, and become world-famous...”

Carewyn brought a hand onto Bill’s shoulder and gave it a supportive squeeze. It felt a little odd: he hadn’t really talked to anyone about his feelings for Emily, and just talking his feelings out, rather than listening to someone else’s...it was something he could only really ever remember doing with his parents, and only occasionally. It was weird, but it felt...nice.

“I just...didn’t think she’d react like that,” Bill admitted. “Not that I expected I’d sweep her off her feet or anything, but...I’d sort of hoped that she’d give me a chance, and that when we went out, we’d get on, and maybe even hit it off...”

He sighed heavily. 

“Guess I really don’t know much about love at all, do I?”

Carewyn frowned deeply. “That’s not true at all! You know plenty about love. You love your brothers and Ginny, and your parents...and you love your friends too!”

“That’s really not the same thing,” said Bill. 

“It should be,” huffed Carewyn. “Love is love. If you love someone, you care about their happiness more than your own. Sure, maybe when you marry someone, there’s a lot more kissing and you want to have kids together and stuff like that...but well, the important part is that caring, right? Without that, what does the rest of that stuff matter?”

Bill’s face softened slightly. 

“...I guess you’re right. And I guess...when I am looking for that person...I should find somebody who’ll care about my happiness just as much as I do theirs.”

Carewyn nodded with a smile. “Definitely.”

She took Bill’s hand.

“And maybe someday when your ship comes in,” she sang brightly, “she’ll understand what kind of guy you’ve been...”

Bill’s face flushed again, but this time it wasn’t out of embarrassment -- this time, it was accompanied by a bright, touched look in his brown eyes. 

“And then I’ll win,” he finished, in a much less trained, gravelly singing voice than Carewyn’s. 

Carewyn beamed. She walked on ahead, pulling lightly at Bill’s hand so as to coax him to walk next to her. 

“And when she knows what she wants from her tiiiiime~...”

Bill gave a laugh, but followed Carewyn’s lead, recalling the words by heart. 

“And when she wakes up and makes up her miiiiind~...”

Soon Carewyn and Bill were back toward the castle, swinging their linked hands idly back and forth as they sang the rest of the song together, getting louder and louder with each line. 

“She'll see I'm not so tough, Just because I'm in love with an uptown girl! You know, I've seen her in her uptown world -- She's getting tired of her high-class toys And all her presents from her uptown boys.... She's got a choice! Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh! Whoa, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!”

Before long, all the two thought of while singing that song was hanging out together and being silly, while not caring what anyone else thought. Not a single word of the song brought Emily Tyler back to Bill’s mind -- and in the years to come, Bill would continue to enjoy the song with no negative connotations whatsoever, instead only remembering when Carewyn and he sang it at the top of their lungs to make him feel better. And that moment did indeed signal a shift in the dynamic between Carewyn and Bill. For Carewyn, it made her feel like she was walking home with Jacob again -- like she had an older brother who she could look after, the way she used to for Jacob. And for Bill, it made him feel like he’d acquired a second younger sister -- one who emotionally supported him the same way he did his real siblings. 

One thing was for sure, though -- it was this moment, among many others to come, that cemented Bill and Carewyn as the very best of friends. 

x~x~x~x

Tagging @the-al-chemist​ and @oneirataxia-girl​ for expressing interest in this prompt! 🤗

Carewyn’s dress is based on the design on the left 💗

[thebluestbluewords]

Something New (~1700 words, Mal/Ben, shameless fluff content because I don’t care what Disney says, I’m writing a better wedding for these kids)

✨

“Hey, Mal.” Ben says. “Look at me for a sec?”

Mal turns. There’s a faint breeze blowing through the pines, and the air moving over the water of the enchanted lake smells fresh and sweet, despite the late-summer heat that’s making Mal’s hair fall limp and sweaty against the back of her neck.  “Yeah?”

Ben’s smiling at her, that sweet one that makes his cheek dimple and his eyes go all bright and happy. He’d been sitting on one of the rocks by the lake, but slides off so that he’s kneeling instead, still staring up at Mal with that sweet look on his face. “Will you marry me?”

What.

“I--” Mal stutters. “Yes?”

“Really?”

Mal’s heart is pounding like she’s running from a dragon. From Mother. No need to sugar coat it when there’s nobody but herself to hear. “I think so,” she tries again, breath stuttering. “I mean, yes. I do want to marry you.”

Oh, gods above. Mal does want to marry him, and it’s terrifying. She’s never wanted to marry anyone before, and she’s thinking about it too much now, and oh, Evie is going to absolutely flip when she hears this. “What the fuck.” Mal says. As Ben scoops up her hand and kisses it. There’s no new ring in his hand, but he kisses the seal, the one that Mal’s been wearing since that first day where she choose this new life, when she chose to be good.

“I love you,” Ben says. “And I want to marry you.”

“And I love you.” Mal says back, automatically. “Why do I feel like I’m being completely blindsided by this?”

Ben shrugs. He’s still down on his knees, and the sunlight filtering through the trees is turning his hair all golden. He’s so earnest about these things. Mal loves him, whatever the hell that means.

“I couldn’t tell you that,” Ben says, leaning into Mal’s leg a little bit. “I wasn’t trying to be subtle, you know. The whole, like, cute place out here, making time to actually get a proper date instead of just crashing after class, and I did literally ask you how you felt about marriage the other week.”

“I thought it was a hypothetical.” Mal says, almost automatically. “I thought you were asking for, like, some kind of vague time in the future, not now.”

“Do you want me to take it back?” Ben asks, looking a bit taken-aback himself. “I can ask you later, or never, if that’s what you want.”

“No!” Mal exclaims, and makes a grabby motion at her fiance, whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean. Ben’s got a very kissable sort of face, so it only makes sense for Mal to kiss him a little bit.

“Okay.” Ben says, but it comes out sort of like ‘Ookey’ because of the way Mal is sort of holding on to his face. “Not taking it back then.”

“I think I’m gonna need a hot second to process this.” Mal says, once she’s pulled back from kissing the daylights out of her prince, what the fuck. “Are we like-- what does this even mean?”

Ben buries his grin in Mal’s cheek, as is right. “Well, when two people love each other very much--”

“Shut up! Are we like, is this it?” Mal asks, tipping over into something a little bit hysterical. “Do you have some kind of royal bling hidden somewhere you’ve been waiting to pass on until now?”

Ben kisses her again, just a little bit. “Well, I do sort of have to do this publicly at some point,” he says, voice low like he’s at least sorry about it. “It’s a whole tradition, and my parents will get really mad if I don’t, and you know the whole deal. I was going to give you the ring then.”

“I want fair warning before you make me have emotions in public,” Mal says, quick as anything. She’s crying a little bit, oh gods. “And the council will get mad, you mean. Your parents accept me for who I am now.”

Ben kisses the tears that are sliding down Mal’s cheek. “Yeah. My parents want me to be happy, and you make me really happy, so. The council was still hoping that I’d get married to one of the Auradon Prep princesses, but well, you saw how well that was working out.”

Mal snorts through her tears. “You like a bit of rough, huh princling?”

“I like you.” Ben says, oh-so-earnestly. Oh, she’s going to cry again. Ben must notice the way that Mal’s face is going warm and blotchy pink with the emotion, because he pulls back sort of abruptly to put his hands on her shoulders instead, moving his thumbs gently along the tense muscles there. “Is that too much? I shouldn’t say I like you?”

“I-- I don’t know,” Mal stutters. She feels sort of sick, but in a good way. A stomach-flipping, butterflies way.  “I feel sort of like I’m going to-- I think I’m having an emotion?”

“Does it hurt?” Ben asks, grinning.

Mal smacks him gently with the palm of her hand, and leaves it there, cupping his sweet face. “Yeah! It does. What’re you gonna do now, huh? You’re making fun of me, and I’m hurt. You can’t say something like that to your girlfriend. That’s not Auradon-approved.”

Ben’s grin only gets wider. “Ah, but I’m not saying it to my girlfriend!” he says, approaching unbearable levels of disgusting joy. “You said yes! You’re my fiancee now.”

Mal has to laugh, and even if it comes out a little hysterical sounding it’s better than nothing.  “Evie says it doesn’t count until there’s a ring on it, and I don’t see any ring yet, princeling. Gotta get me that bling and then you can be mean to me all you want.”

“I do have a ring, you know,” Ben says, leaning into Mal’s touch. “I thought you wouldn’t want to see it yet.”

Mal’s not sure what exactly to do with that one. Sure, she’s got some different traditions around relationships, but it’s hard to miss any wedding traditions from back home when none of the villains she knew even got married unless it was to publicly announce an alliance, and even then those marriages were usually short lived and an excuse for a night of indecency and public innuendo. Nobody but sidekicks got married for love on the isle, and while gangs might have exchanged some sort of trinket to make sure they were marked as running together, the bracelets and tattoos didn’t have the same sort of sentimental value as proper wedding jewelry.

Unless.

“Oh. Until you do it publicly?” Mal realizes. She’s been the one to put more emphasis on doing things the ‘right’ way, and even after some of the revelations that came with her somewhat public meltdown last year, she’s still got some hangups about doing things the way that Auradon society would have them done.  Evie would have some psychoanalysis about it , that’s for sure.

Whatever. It’s fun to figure out how to blend in to proper high Auradon society, especially now that she knows there’s no pressure from Ben to do so. As  long as she’s not actively insulting people or trying to stir up too much trouble, he doesn’t care what kind of lowkey, simmering dissent she’s stirring up against his father. It’s like blending in anywhere else, really. All it takes is a little practice and some bending of the rules, and now that she’s got a good enough handle on what boundaries can be pushed, it’s almost like a game and not like a terrifying unknowable pit of anxiety that’s consuming her bones from the inside out.

Yeah.

“Yeah,” Ben agrees. “I thought you’d want to have something left of the surprise for when I do it publicly, but you can look at it once we get back if you don’t wanna wait.”

“Yeah? Is it in the back of your sock drawer too?” Mal asks, teasing now that she’s got her mind under her again.

Ben goes a bit pink about the cheeks. “Maybe,” he says. “So what? It’s not like anybody’s looking there.”

“Knowing you, you’re keeping some kind of historical relic in the back of your drawers, huh?” Mal asks, sweeping her fingers through her fiance’s hair. Fiance. It’s not sort of a nice sound to it, actually.

“No.” Ben says, immediately. “It’s not a relic. Not for you, Mal Bertha, first of her name, first of the VKs to come over to Auradon. You deserve something that’s all your own.”

“I’m not--” Mal starts.

Ben cuts her off. “You are. You’re the first Mal, and that’s what matters. Your mom might not have given you a full name, but you made one for yourself. That’s what we’re about, aren’t we? We’re the ones in charge of our own destinies, not some stuffy adults who are still living in the past.”

“Yeah.”

“Are you crying?” Ben asks, because he’s awful sometimes and wants Mal to talk about her emotions.

Ugh. Dragons don’t cry. “Not yet, asshole.” Mal gets out, around the weird feeling in her throat, and okay, yeah, the tears that are threatening to slip out.

“Do you want me to stop being nice to you? I can smack you if that would help.” Ben offers unhelpfully, still grinning a little bit. What a dork.

Mal lets out a choked sort of laugh, and leans back to offer her cheek, tears and sweat and all. “Yeah, actually. Just gimme a good whack, okay? I’m sure that’ll go over great with the others.”

“We can say you drove into a branch.” Ben says, and presses a kiss to her cheek instead.

“Oh geez, don’t even remind me,” Mal says, wincing a bit at the memory. She’s still getting the hang of the whole moped thing, and narrow forrest trails don’t make for the easiest learning experience. “I think I still have pine needles in my teeth.”

Ben kisses her again. “Sorry.”

“No you’re not.” Mal reminds him.

“I’m not!” Ben says gleefully, and hugs Mal so hard she can feel her ribs protest a little bit. “I’m going to marry you.”

“Dork.” Mal says, ruffling his hair.

“Yeah.” Ben agrees, and pulls on the sweaty end of her ponytail in something like retaliation.

“You wanted to make this official, beastie boy?” Mal says, teasing but also so deadly serious that she can feel her heartbeat all the way in her fingertips.

“Yeah,” Ben breathes. “Yes, Mal.”

“What’s more official than a little true love’s kiss, huh?” Mal breathes,  and kisses him.

[airandangels]

Five episodes into Camp Cretaceous and I can report:

- they ARE acknowledging the "people get eaten" aspect, the kids actually witnessed a couple of adults who were trying to warn them to take shelter being munched by Indominus rex (also found someone dead in an overturned jeep) - no deaths or bodies are visible onscreen but the kids' shocked reactions imply them.

- I now know "Texas"'s name is Sammy, well done me, and she has ditched the black jacket for a much more suitable summery halter top, although she is wearing it with indigo jeans and cowboy boots. She is also a spy who has been taking stolen information and samples to a drone that leaves the island at night, and since she realised Brooklynn accidentally filmed her taking a swab from a friendly dinosaur in the background of one of her videos, she stole the phone while it was charging, wasn't able to put it back with the video wiped before Brooklynn noticed it was gone, had to lie and say she didn't know where it was, Brooklynn is pissed as hell (people keep borrowing her phone because she's the only one who was allowed to keep hers at camp, since the whole point of her being there is to promote the resort with exclusive vlogs), and now the phone (which Sammy was carrying in her jeans pocket) got broken in a fall (nobody else knows yet, Sammy is still hiding it). Brooklynn is absolutely right to suspect Sammy but Yasmina, who only just made friends with Sammy, is already ride or die and defends her fiercely. Presidential Alert THE GIRLS ARE FIGHTINGGGG

- can I say how much I appreciate that the girls are fighting over a stolen phone and whether Sammy is engaged in THEME PARK ESPIONAGE, not over something boring like a boy

- I am not suggesting all boys are automatically boring, but fighting over them definitely is

- Also Yasmina does love dinosaurs, she has a sketchbook full of them, I'm glad somebody other than Darius is Here For The Right Reasons. Unclear how she got a golden ticket or, still, why poor Ben is there at all (but his crayon drawing of himself playing chess with a friendly ankylosaurus was very sweet - he just seemed scared of dinosaurs until he got to see a wee anky hatching from its egg at Dr Wu's lab and promptly adored it).

- Contrary to the usual cartoon tendency, even in very detailed CG cartoons like this, for characters' appearance to be fixed on model with changes rare (I remember bitching about this in the Trollhunters/Arcadia series, particularly the way the kids sleep in their school PE uniforms because apparently the asset design budget did not run to designing pyjamas! and when everyone goes to Aja and Krel's house during summer vacation they sit around the swimming pool fully dressed and no one swims because they have not been designed swimsuits!), not only have characters changed outfits since arriving at camp, there's real attention going into how their clothes and hair become more dirty and dishevelled as the peril goes on, eg Yasmina's top has popped a shoulder seam, everyone has spatters of mud and dust on their clothes, Sammy's bobbed hair looks bedraggled and sweaty and Yas and Brooklynn's longer hair is pulling out of their ponytail and bun respectively, while Darius' curls are looking increasingly frizzy. Kenji's hair is holding up remarkably well, I suspect it is rock hard with gel. I love hair details.

- Kenji just showed leadership by declaring himself The Leader, and then as leader, telling everyone to listen to Darius because he knows what he's doing.

- Weird detail: perhaps for the benefit of international dubbing, all the on-screen text with a few exceptions like the park logo and the word "RESTRICTED" on a door in the lab (Brooklynn gets caught snooping, apparently not having considered that posting video of top secret R&D is not the kind of exclusive content the park wants her to share, and claims she thought the sign said "restroom") - whew, where was I? All the on-screen text is squiggles/not any language I recognise, a bit like the writing in Pokémon world: