#and he doesn't know how tom did it‚ but now she's in his new home too. he doesn't have to leave her behind just bc he found somewhere new

[miniagula]

movie sonadow would be so l umity-coded…and i say this bc their dynamic is similar to the games but with a different and tender perspective: they both empathize deeply with each other now, and this shadow is not as reticent or closed off bc of that. that being said: movie!sonic would ABSOLUTELY 'YOU'RE the sweet potato!' the hell out of shadow

[tomriddlehyperfixataion]

Tom Riddle x Reader Masterlist

Oneshots

One was enough-Horcrux Toms x Reader-Smutshot

A perfect match- Tom gets love potioned and becomes obsessed with (y/n), thankfully she gets him the antidote but he is now genuinely interested. romance, and murder, ensues.

Switching worlds-(y/n) gets into an accident and ends up switching with a Harry potter version of herself, who is somehow dating the young dark lord. Tom does everything in his power to make sure his (y/n) comes back. smut included

The girl who shattered time-Long fic! (y/n) gets sent back to the 40's by a broken time turner during the battle of Hogwarts. She cant get home on her own, during this time-she develops a rivalry with Tom Riddle, the Slytherin Prefect; then they fall in love, then she finds out he's Voldemort (Happy end)

Through time and space, you're mine.(The girl who shattered time alt end); (y/n) goes back to her time instead of staying with Tom, but he followers her in an unexpected way. But there's no dark lord so....yay???

Through time and space; you're mine (Part 2!); (y/n) eventually meets Core Tom and Thomas(Voldemort and his 'son'), ending up at the Riddle manor for the whole summer. she eventually comes to terms with this new reality and allows herself to love him again. (SMUT)

New perfume? Smutshot- (y/n)'s perfume gets tampered with Amortentia and Tom goes hogwild for it.

A Fathers love-less of an X reader(but still has (y/n) included) and more a story about Mattheo Riddle and his father Voldemort. Mattheo calls out for his dad-needing to be saved. Voldemort doesnt disappoint.

Happy Memory- Tom tries and fails to produce a patronus, its not till his favorite nuisance helps him find a powerful memory to make one that matches hers.

Vamp! reader x Tom- theres a vampire that is lurking around the forbidden forest, Tom doesnt really care until he notices a fellow student looking ill, and has a hunch. smut included.

Salted caramel, metal, strawberries, vanilla, and ink.- Tom takes a whiff of Amortentia and discovers a load of scents he didnt know he liked. he figures out all these scents actually belong to his best friend.

Panic- DADA class has a practical lesson with Boggarts. Tom has a panic attack in reaction to his boggart and (y/n) helps.

fuck you(my pleasure) Fem Tom x Fem reader- Tiana Riddle hated (y/n). she really did...right? (shorter fic, smut included)

Stupid with love-more of a funny fic/platonic x reader- Tom thinks love is stupid-he just doesnt get it! (y/n) on the other hand is just like 'dude you're ace, not broken.'

mommy? sorry. mommy? sorry. mom-; Tom Riddle is a simp for his buff hufflepuff quidditch player of a girlfriend. (blurb)

teaching-(y/n) thinks her boyfriend Tom sucks at kissing. Tom takes it as a teaching moment. (blurb)

Weirdo- (y/n) bites Tom. he thinks his girlfriend is weird. (blurb)

stained- Tom let (y/n) buy new lipstick. big mistake. (blurb)

Cheated- Tom's girlfriend cheats on him with (y/n)'s boyfriend. on valentine's day no less. Tom and (y/n) get their revenge and end up falling in love. smut included.

Craving-smutshot; (y/n) is craving her boyfriend. he obliges.

The bet- (y/n) bets Tom she can make him whimper within 5 minutes. he thinks otherwise.

imagine-you're a fashion designer and Tom is your personal model.(art included :D)

Herbology Detention, smutshot- Tom somehow gets detention and ends up knocking into a plant that is a natural aphrodisiac (wonderful idea in a school full of hormone-ridden teens), (y/n) is with him, and his only option.

imagine-a relationship with Tom. (how you (blank) fic)

Golden hour- Tom is utterly in love with (y/n) before they're even together, and also while they're together. just shit ton of fluff with smut at the end, mostly Tom just being a dork.

Truth or Drink(and spin the bottle), smutshot- Tom gets dared to admit who he wants to snog-he doesn't, but he does get a kiss from the girl hes wanted to snog. he kisses her back. They have sex in the common room.

his musician-Tom overhears the violin music of a fellow student, one he doesn't catch a glimpse of till much later.

Haunted- Tom uses the basilisk to make his first Horcrux-except something else latches onto his diary, and then-to himself.

playing house- (y/n) and Tom meet again after many years, and very quickly-things change in her life.(stalker Tom)

his right-hand woman-(y/n) is Voldemort's closest follower, Bellatrix gets jealous.

meeting the mother - Tom has (y/n) meet his mother.(blurb less than 800 words)

Bunny Bunny- (y/n) accidentally uses bunny hair in her polyjuice potion and gains bunny ears and a bunny tail. Tom cant keep his hands to himself.

Odd Pair- Tom and (y/n) Lovegood are...odd together, but good, her easy going airy demeanor easing his troubles, even when he's buried in school work.

No innocents- The order takes Voldemort's wife in an attempt to make her betray him-to give up information. She refuses. her death results in Voldemort taking revenge for his wife.(inspired by castlevania)ANGST

Morning distraction- Anon request; (y/n) distracts Tom from his morning workout with a kiss.

Once upon a Time- (y/n)'s children request a story about a villain she once defeated.

i would take a bullet for you(just to prove my love)-(y/n) has been murdered, Tom is haunted by the whispers of her voice, mocking him.

Big brown puppy dog eyes- Tom is so down bad for a girl that he lets his followers turn him into a puppy.

Day at Hogsmeade- you drag Tom to hogsmeade, and make him carry your bags AND make him try a shit ton of candy.

Unbreakable vow- Tom forces (y/n) to make the unbreakable vow with him.(Anon request)

The dark lords lady- you're his love, his only soft spot, and even though you're mostly soft spoken, it means no lack of respect for you from any Death Eater. (anon request)

Everything- you'd been taken, why? you weren't completely sure, it was for some sort of information, but they'd gotten nothing from you. weeks go by, and finally-you're saved, but not by someone from the light side, no, its someone you thought you hated since you met. Tom Riddle, son of Voldemort.

Multipart fics

Change(Man in the mirror) You are Harry Potter's cousin, thrice removed(something like that.) and there was only one person you hated in the whole world. Tom Riddle. yet it seems...he doesn't feel the same way anymore.

Goblet of fire era, you and Tom are 17, lots of fluff, angst, humor, a bit of smut, and YEARNING on Tom's side, you hate his guts and he loves it.

Part 1 Part 2

The diary of Tom Riddle(just a link to the main masterlist for that, im too lazy to go through all them lol) 6 parts Total with 3 different endings.

The dark lords Nanny (y/n) becomes Tom Riddle's, or lord Voldemort's, nanny for his two-week old son since no other nanny seems capable of handling the boy, or at least seem capable of NOT trying to seduce the dark lord. as she grows attached to Mattheo, and Mattheo to her, another relationship blooms between her and Tom.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

The summer of 1942 Tom's orphanage chooses to send its children into the countryside for the summer-that includes Tom. He ends up going to a classmates house and they run a dog shelter. He ends up having the best summer ever, making new friends, and developing a new appreciation for animals. And beignets.

Part 1 Part 2 part 3 part 4 part 5 part 6 part 7 part 8 part 9 part 10 part 11 part 12 part 13

Wild Uncharted waters Tom gets saved from drowning by a fellow student-he doesnt remember their face-only their voice. it becomes his mission to find this-siren.

Skeleton-part 2 to wild uncharted waters. Tom found his siren, now its onto (y/n)'s pov. and someones stalking her.

Rumor has it Rumor has it Tom Riddle has a crush, on who? no one knows but him. but it wont stay secret for long. Part two- they're married and in love now and have a kid. so much fluff in both parts.

Not sorry for loving you Tom and (y/n) are childhood friends, they fall in love, but Tom is doomed to have a tragic story, leaving (y/n) to suffer alone.

Part 1 Part 2 Alt Part 2 (happy ending)

How did we get here?(i used to know you so well) Old story! 2023; Tom and (y/n) have a hidden relationship at hogwarts, he falls for her hard, she cant help but to fall for him to, but Tom is doomed for tragedy, and she's forced to watch him fall into darkness, refusing to follow.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

From birth you'd been promised since birth, the both of you-to each other. marriage, children, the works, all before you were even born; you were set to marry the dark lords son. Tom. Both of you arent quite sure how to do it, any of it, but...you'll make it work.

Part 1 Part 2

To be regularly updated!

[mama-qwerty]

Do you think that Tom would be secretly jealous over the fact that Wade was able to form a friendship with Knuckles in a short amount of time, while he himself has trouble having a full conversation with the kid?

Even though Sonic and Tails already are fond of him, the idea that Knuckles isn't as close to him but with his best friend instead would probably bother him a bit

Tom stood at the window near the front door, watching as Knuckles slid into the passenger seat of Wade's truck. Wade gave a little wave, before pulling away, taking the boy . . .

Well, Tom didn't really know. Knuckles never said, and asking Wade seemed almost like an invasion of privacy. Even though Tom and Maddie were supposed to be looking out for the echidna, just like they did the fox and hedgehog who were currently sitting in the living room playing video games.

"You're gonna get frown lines glaring out the window like that."

Maddie's voice broke through his thoughts, and Tom turned to find her hauling a basket of laundry toward the utility room.

"Do you see the way he smiles when he heads off with Wade? He never smiles like that around here."

She rolled her eyes. "You make it sound like he's a teenage daughter going out on dates with a guy you don't trust."

Tom flinched slightly. "I just . . ." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Sonic buddied up to me right away. Tails, too. Why won't Knuckles?"

Maddie shrugged, shifting the basket on her hip. "He's not like the others, Tom. In a lot of ways, he had a much harder life. He wasn't looking for . . ." She gestured around them. "This. A home. A family. New parents. He was looking for that emerald. And now that he has it, he's trying to figure out where to go from here. Where he fits."

"Yeah, well, right now he seems to 'fit' better with Wade than us."

His voice was a little harsher than he meant it to be. This whole situation was actually kinda pissing him off, and he wasn't quite sure why. Sonic thought the world of Tom, and Tails was right there, too. Was it an ego thing? He had to have everyone love him?

He didn't think so.

He was pretty sure, anyway.

Maddie watched him for a moment, before moving closer. She ran a knuckle over his cheek, drawing his attention back to her.

"You're jealous."

His brow furrowed. "Am not."

A smile curled her lip. "You are. Sonic practically appointed himself a Wachowski from all those years he snuck around outside, and Tails has absorbed some of Sonic's admiration of you. But Knuckles doesn't see you that way, and it just eats at you."

Tom pulled his lips tight. She may have a point. A little one. A nano-point.

"I don't want him to idolize me or anything, but I mean, come on. Wade??"

Maddie shrugged. "Wade's got his issues, but he's a good guy. And maybe Knuckles needs someone who's not gonna be as . . . fatherly."

"But I'm not--"

"You may see it as being Sonic's 'buddy', but we all know what you really are to him." Her voice was softer, but not unkind. "Tails, too. I'm just saying that Knuckles wasn't looking for that. He doesn't want parents. Not right now. I made the mistake of just lumping him in with the others as a kid who needed a mom right before he went AWOL with Wade to Reno. I tried to parent him when he wasn't ready for it."

He didn't respond, instead looking out the window where Wade had been parked a few moments before. All that had gone down while he'd been out of town, and judging from how freaked Maddie had been when Knuckles had disappeared after the ill-fated grounding, she understood his feelings right now.

Knuckles was the hardest of their kids to understand. He didn't speak much of what happened while he was being the Most Dangerous Warrior in the Galaxy, and Tails tended to go a bit tight-lipped, too, when asked. The echidna was independent to a fault, proud to the point of almost-but-not-quite arrogance, and insisted he didn't need to be looked after.

He was older than the other two, but that didn't mean he still couldn't benefit from having people care for him. Watch over him.

Tom turned back to Maddie. "So it doesn't bother you that he spends more time interacting with Wade than us?"

She blew out a little huff. "Hell no, it pisses me off." A little smile pulled one corner of her mouth. "But I understand. It was one thing when Sonic came. He knew Earth life, he watched us for who knows how long. To him, he practically lived here already. Tails is a smart kid who seems to adapt easily to new situations. But Knuckles . . ."

She trailed off, glancing out the window with a little sigh.

"He's different. He likes to feel in charge of himself. So, like it or not, we're just gonna have to let him come to us when he's ready. And we have to stop treating him like a kid who needs to be taken care of. Even though he is. He has to decide he wants it before we can meet him there."

Silence settled over them as her words sank in. They made sense. If Knuckles were a dog, rescued from the fighting pits, you'd have to establish yourself as a safe place before getting too close. Let him realize he was safe before trying to establish any closer relationship. And while it hurt him to think of the echidna like that, based on what little he knew of Knuckles' history, it was heartbreakingly similar.

Wade had somehow broken through this defensive exterior Knuckles still wore around the Wachowski home. As much as it pissed Tom off, maybe he needed to swallow his pride and ask Wade just how he'd done it.

"He's such a proud little guy," Tom said, his voice softer. "Always watching out for danger, trying to protect us. I just wish he'd see that we want to do the same for him."

Maddie nodded, letting out a soft sigh. "I know. It kills me that he doesn't see himself as needing it. But I think he wants it. I've seen the way he looks at us when we hug Sonic or Tails. But if he catches me looking, he just turns and walks away."

Another awkward silence fell, broken only by the soft sounds of video game music from the living room.

"We just have to give him space," she said, and Tom could hear the frustration in her tone. The sadness. "Let him know we're here, but don't push it. As hard as it is, we're gonna have to leave it up to him to show us when he's ready to reach out."

Tom's heart clenched. He hated that idea. Waiting for this traumatized kid to decide he wanted love. Wanted to be part of the family. Knuckles apparently did want that closeness, otherwise he wouldn't be so buddy-buddy with Wade. He just wasn't ready to get it from the Wachowskis.

Yet.

"Yeah," Tom sighed, running a hand down his face before taking the laundry basket from her. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

They headed toward the laundry room, and Tom cast a quick glance in at Sonic and Tails, sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the TV, game controllers in their hands.

It'd been so easy with them. They both had joined the family like they'd always been there.

He wished it was that way with Knuckles, too. He hated to think of the horrors the echidna had seen as he grew up. The hardships he'd gone through.

And Tom wanted nothing more than to tell him he didn't have to be afraid anymore. Didn't have to be so tough anymore. Didn't have to take care of himself, or be worried about being betrayed. That there were people who cared about him, wanted to love him, if only he'd let them.

He uttered another sigh. Time. It would just take time.

And they would just have to be patient.

[sydwritess]

New Addition

Johnny Lawrence x fem!reader.

Summary: Reader's mom just got married to Bobby Brown's father. Just as reader was hoping to get away from him even more. She finds out that they are moving into Bobby's house. Reader doesn't really like Bobby and his friends to much, but Johnny seems to change her mind over time.

First Person POV

Note: I made up a name for Bobby's dad as one was not mentioned in the Karate Kid movie.

Me and my mother have been on our own for a while now. But she recently met a man that she fell madly in love with, who also had a son that went to West Valley High. I wondered who it was, but my mom said she forgot his name. Before I knew it, all four of us went to dinner. Mr. Brown said he was running late due to his Karate practice. 'Who could that be?' I asked myself in my head. Thinking nothing of it. Someobody walked into the diner and sat with us. Bobby Brown. One of the top people on my 'Do not like list.' After that night, we started doing more things as a 'family. And now my mom was marrying Bobby. Brown's father. The Bobby Brown. Just as I wanted to get away from him more. Don't get me wrong, I love my mother dearly and I'm happy for her, but Bobby couldn't be more annoying to me know that were "siblings."

"Y/n, guess what." my mother asked in the car. Interrupting me from my thoughts. All four of us coming back from Golf n Stuff.

"Yeah?" I said looking at her from the back seat."

"We are going to be moving into to moving in with Tom and Bobby." She said sounding excited.

No. Way.

"That's just wonderful." I said, fake smiling.

"They are going to help us pack our things when we get home." She said. We make our way home and we start packing our things to take to Tom's house. While I'm in my room packing, I hear a knock on my door.

"Come in." i say. Not taking my eyes off of the things I'm packing.

"Do you need help?" A voice behind me asks. turning around I see Bobby.

"I'm fine." I say coldly.

"Listen I don't want this either, but we have to get along some time."

"Yeah, when your friends and you start treating me with a little more respect, then I will start being nice to you." I said.

"Can I at least help you pack?" He asks me.

"Sure, posters and pictures go in that box. Random stuff you find on my desk and on surfaces like drawing supplies, or random things go in that box, and fragile stuff like crystals go in that box." I say pointing to the different boxes.

"Okay." He says, helping me pack. Eventually we got all of our stuff packed within two days and started our move into Bobby's house. When we got our boxes into the house, I set up my room the way I wanted it, already making it feel like my personal space. As I was putting the last of my things away, there was a knock on my door.

"Hey y/n. How are you doing?" Tom asked me politley.

"I'm fine. Just getting the last of my things up." I said, slightly smiling at him.

"Listen, I know moving can be hard, but I'm here if you ever need anything." He said smiling at me.

"Thank you, I appreciate it." I said. He started walking out of my room.

"Oh, and if Bobby starts giving you any trouble. You let me know. Now that you're in this family, I won't allow him to treat you wrong." He said smiling at me.

"Thank you, I definitely will." I said giggling.

"Anytime."

Throughout the day, I finished unpacking my things, and then we all sat down and had dinner together.

"So, how are you doing with everything y/n?" Tom asked me again.

"I'm doing okay."

"Did you get everything unpacked?"

"Um, yeah, I just got everything done before I came down here."

"That's good. Less you have to do during school time." He said.

"Yeah." I said quietly.

"How is school going? Getting good grades this year?" He asked.

"Yeah, I like to think so." I said.

"That's good to hear. No one giving you any trouble now, are they?"

"Not lately no."

"Well, that's good. Now you remember our talk earlier, if Bobby and his little friends starts to bother you in this household, we'll certainly have a talk about that." He said smiling at me.

"Dad! I don't do anything to her!" Bobby said trying to defend himself. my mother slightly smiling at the conversation.

"Y/n does he do anything to you?" Tom asked.

"They do anything per say, their just really annoying, more to me than anybody." I said, smirking at bobby.

"Well, I will make sure to handle that myself if it ever happens again." He said smiling at me.

"You're really taking her side dad?" Bobby said.

"Son, she is new here, we want her to feel welcome. And you know that I don't tolerate any of that. If I would have known sooner, I would've done something about." Tom said, waving his work in Bobby's direction.

"Now, his friends will be coming over tonight, so I'll keep a close eye on them for you y/n." Tom said smiling at me.

"Thanks, I appreciate it." I said slightly smiling back.

After dinner, I helped clear the table and went to go watch TV in the living room, Tom eventually coming in a watching Tv to until I hear a bunch of chaos come through the front door. 'Great' I say to myself, getting up from my spot, going to find somewhere else to go.

"You can stay here; Ill keep my eye on them." Tom said.

"Thanks." I said.

Of course, at the same I said that they walk in.

"Hey y/n, how's Bobby treating you over here." Tommy said walking in, sitting next to me.

"Fine."

"Must be tiring seeing him all day." Dutch asked.

"Very tiring." I said, rolling my eyes.

I continued watching TV as the guys started goofing around with each other again.

"You boys need to calm down right now, it's getting way to loud up in here." Tom said.

"Yes sir." Tommy said.

"Sorry Mr. Brown." Jimmy said.

"Sorry dad." bobby said. The remaining apoligizing.

The group ended up sitting down, talking quietly along with watching the TV.

"Hey y/n, I bet your so happy to be living here with Bobby. Isn't he just the best stepbrother you could ask for?" Johnny said to me.

"Yeah, you too must really connect now that you're living together." Tommy said. I just rolled my eyes and continued watching TV. Later, I decided to go out to the garden, and sit there, taking in the nature. Then the boys came outside and sat around me. Surrounding me.

"Hey y/n." Bobby said.

"What."

"Why are you being rude? We just wanted to hang out with you?" Dutch asked.

"Yeah right." I said annoyed.

"How's school going for you y/n?" Tommy asked.

"Just fine, thanks." I said fake smiling.

"You must be really excited to see Bobby all day every day." Johnny said.

"Oh yeah, I'm very thrilled." I said.

"What are you doing out here all alone anyway?" Jimmy asked.

"Trying to enjoy some peace and quiet but clearly I'm not going to get any." I said annoyed.

"Come on, let's go watch TV." Bobby said, having his friends follow him. Johnny staying behind.

"What are you still doing here?" I asked Johnny, genuinely concerned.

"Just thought I'd sit with you." He said.

"Uh- okay." I said.

"How's your day been so far?" He asked, trying to make conversation.

"Fine, I guess."

"How's the move been?"

"Didnt you already ask me?" I asked.

"No"

"It's fine."

"Your life seems fine." He said.

"What?"

"You keep saying your fine, and everything is fine. Nothing else."

"Cause I don't know why you're talking to me. You like hate me. You push me around every day at school, so why are you talking to me now?"

"I don't know. I feel bad I guess. For treating you badly."

"Okay...."

"So, is living here good?"

"It's alright. I mean I just got here." I said.

"Oh yeah, right," he said.

"Do you do anything outside of school?" He asked.

"No, I just go home."

"Why?"

"Cause I don't really have anyone to hang out with."

"Yeah, I've noticed you don't talk much." He said

"It's called social anxiety."

"What's that?" He said with a questioning look.

"I have a hard time talking to people, and when I do, I don't talk much."

"Oh, makes sense."

"How's school going for you?" I ask.

"Good, Glad it's almost over."

"Same."

"How's karate going?" I ask.

"Good, were training a lot for the tournament."

"When's that?"

"In December." He said.

"Are you excited?" I ask him.

"Excited to win." He said. I rolled my eyes, laughing a bit.

After a few moments in silence, Johnny speaks up again.

"I'm sorry. For treating you the way we do at school."

"It's fine."

"No, it's not.

"Well, it's not like you push me down the stairs or anything." I said smiling.

"Yeah, but still. It's not right."

"Why are you apologizing. The amazing Johnny Lawrence never apologizes." I said with a slight laugh.

"Because I'm sorry, and maybe I like you more then I should." He said looking at me deeply.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you want to go out on a date with me?" Johnny asked. I took a few seconds to process his question.

"I'd love to." I said smiling at him.

"Great." He said smiling back, hugging me before going back inside.

Hey loves! Comment your user to be added to my tag list!

Tag List:

@3lliana

[redux-iterum]

Can we have some fun facts about Whitestorm, Redtail, Speckletail, or Bouldernose? I really like their characters and seeing as most are gone, and Bouldernose isn’t likely to get more screen time, I thought now would be a good time to ask. If you don’t want to that’s a-okay!

I really do appreciate the effort, complexity, and life that you poured into these characters! All of them seem like their own person with goals that I would be willing to read a book about!

Thank you for the kind words! Let me see...

Whitecloud has never once wanted to be in charge of anything, but he was very aware of how good he was at being a leader. And what sort of fool would he be not to utilize those skills with an apprentice or an entire Clan? He would've been content never making it to even deputyhood, honestly, but ThunderClan needed him more than ever, so by golly was he willing to step up.

As a side note, he never raised his voice. He spoke mostly in a quiet, lax rasp that was somehow nonetheless easy to hear. Yelling at Fireheart to escape with Cinderpaw was the first time in years he had actually shouted, and it hurt his throat when he did it.

Redtail, I've always imagined to be pretty short for a ThunderClanner, as well as long-bodied and long-tailed. He was compared as a kit and apprentice to a weasel more than once. Not that that really bothered him. He was good at rolling with jokes and comments that would've thrown anyone else off.

Another side note: his body made it down the river all the way past RiverClan territory, was picked up by an unusually kind human when he snagged on a fallen tree close to shore, and buried on that human's property that the river ran alongside. Thankfully, he rests in a small grove, shadowed by trees. It did take him a second to find StarClan, given just how far away he was from the territories, but he was never at risk of becoming a wraith - he didn't know that Tigerclaw was the one to push him in, so he assumed it was a rogue and ran his way home, barely taking time to look around at his new surroundings and enjoy the view. He should have. It's a very pretty place.

As we've mentioned before on this blog, Speckletail's father was deputy before her, and likewise didn't make it to leadership. She is delighted and amused in StarClan that her son is deputy now too. Also immensely proud of him, but amused.

Speckletail herself had probably the most "buddy" relationship with her apprentice, Mousefur, when the two were training. Like, they didn't feel like a typical teacher and student. They felt like old friends with a few years' difference in age. They got along really well all throughout Mousepaw's apprenticeship. It likely led to Mousefur being as chill and practical as she is.

Finally, Bouldernose is good with kids. Shockingly good. He isn't allowed near the younger kittens (better safe than sorry with a newcomer tom), but apprentices and near-apprentices all like him greatly, and he likes them in return. He's also pretty good with making up stories as he's telling them, so when it's a rainy day or the kids are bored, they'll go to him and he'll whip up a tale about a cat with rabbit ears that whispered secrets to reeds. It's always weird random premises like that. The apprentices love it.

Final extra info! The Aulmir doesn't really allow for good tracking or use of one's nose thanks to the nasal cacophony that is the streets. Too many really strong scents to keep track of or identify. It overwhelmed him at times. Now that he's out in the wild, he can make very good use of his sharp senses (particularly his nose) and has a ball learning about all the new things he can smell and see out here. He's doing great, basically.

That's about all I got! I hope that sufficed.

[bayetea]

about frazel & the trouble with raising kids

so frank didn't grow up in a (white) traditional nuclear family environment but it's very normal for chinese families (and many other ethnic groups really) to maintain close proximity to each other and just have multiple generations living under the same roof together so his living with grandma zhang is very normal (also it's incredibly rare for us to know anything about a demigod's grandparent let alone for them to have screentime, the only other real instance is piper's grandpa tom. grandma zhang is such an interesting presence in the franchise). at the same time though emily zhang is presumably not at home super often despite her protectiveness over frank because she's actively serving in the canadian army, so frank's home life is limited to a rather cold relationship with his emotionally distant and kind-of-sort-of verbally abusive grandmother

furthermore frank in son is openly disinterested in his own heritage and doesn't see the value in preserving tradition at all (i.e. his disdain/disgust for his grandma's weird antiques) which is a pretty typical consequence of diaspora + children of color growing up in majority white areas and feeling othered from their peers, thereby repudiating anything that makes them feel "more ethnic" like their family's language or their food and other elements of their culture. but he still appears to come around eventually after grandma's "death" (she may have fled from the fire but she stated explicitly that she didn't have much time left in son, so she's almost definitely dead). he's learning chinese and more appreciative of what he comes from. frank lost every remnant of his heritage in the zhang manor fire and now it's up to him to both preserve the zhang bloodline and create a new legacy in companion with his romanness, his chinese heritage, and his distant greek shapeshifter blood as a legacy of poseidon (frank is inconsistently referred to as a legacy of poseidon/neptune in the books lol but I stick with the greek version because I think it makes the most sense)

meanwhile hazel comes from. well. something very different. she's from 1930s great depression era jim crow new orleans and she grew up poor in a single parent household with an abusive mother. hazel was born with a curse because of marie's "greed" (how dare an impoverished black woman want the literal god of riches to provide for her but yk whatever. it's very greek tragedy-esque) and hazel's ideas about the dangers of wanting more and being selfish aren't really resolved well in the books. hazel being born is the event that kills her mother, she's a kind of prophecy that seals marie's doomed fate. marie knows this and she explicitly blames hazel for everything in her life that went wrong

and hazel is an extremely unselfish person as a result. she sees her mother's bitterness over her fate and doesn't want that for herself. hazel sacrifices over and over and over because she can't ever want things the way her mother did. the only precious thing hazel really allows herself to want and go after is arion but she still freed him out of necessity to escape from the amazons, and she still never has or owns arion for herself because he's a free-roaming horse (and a literal god). many people say that bringing a child into the world is a selfish act within itself and I think that's especially true for demigods in context everything that demigod children go through. when you add on the layer of hazel's birth being the consequence of marie's greed/selfishness I think it's not hard to see why having kids would be especially challenging for someone like her

anyways what I'm saying is that I think frank would want a bigger family and a strong nest, like he would love to have maybe around 4+ kids and begin to reforge everything that he lost (furthermore I mean. of the canon pairings frank and hazel's kids would definitely be the most powerful new gen demigods because both of their parents are so powerful). his dream retirement situation is probably to live in a big house with hazel and their kids and grandkids in new rome and he'd love it if one of his kids also grew up to be a praetor. the romans care so much about legacy-building and cultural preservation and generational prestige but I think hazel wants the opposite of that. I think childbirth is uniquely frightening for her because as said previously hazel's birth is the thing that kills her mother, and who's to say that the selfishness of having such powerful kids won't result in their being cursed, too? and that's not even considering frank's curse--he was nerfed with firewood because he was deemed "too powerful". what about the kids he has with a child of one of the big three gods? AND there's the magic factor to take into account because marie had magic. she isn't a regular mortal. she had louisiana voodoo magic powers in her which was how she summoned pluto in the first place. hazel's potential with magic comes from marie. so frazel's kids would be legacies of mars and pluto and poseidon and be shapeshifters and likely have magic powers of their own. no way their kids aren't gonna be hunted down by monsters like crazy and get wrapped up in like 50 world-ending prophecies

and that's not even getting into the unignorable nuances of being a poc x poc interracial couple and the inevitable complications of raising children that are half asian and half black, not just in the real world but in the context of a roman camp that fought for the confederates lol. they would have to really talk to each other and have that uncomfortable conversation about frank being a father to black children and hazel being a mother to asian children and the ways they need to prepare themselves for that. if you've ever been in an interracial relationship and you want kids then this is a subject that just has to come up or else you're not taking things seriously imo

in contrast with frank hoping for a big family I think that if hazel wants children at all (and I doubt that she really would) she only wants one max and after giving birth I think she would be fighting against the desire to just take her (their) kid and disappear off the face of the planet. like... yeah sure frank comes from an illustrious family but hazel has no glory in her bloodline beyond her own accomplishments. she's an undead girl who only gets to be alive at the end of hoo because her father is ignoring the rules of life and death. and there's a kind of self-centeredness to generational legacy-building that's just so far beyond hazel's personality and life experiences like I really do think she's a "this bloodline ends with me" kind of person and only her love for frank and belief that they really can build a good life together would give her enough confidence and hopefulness to have kids with him

and I haven't even talked about their class differences (the irony of frank growing up wealthy and dating the daughter of the god of riches who grew up poor lol) but where frank might be inclined to spoil his kids with everything they want/not really think about the exorbitance of giving his kid mega expensive gifts because he grew up rich, I think hazel's reservations about the dangers of greediness would be a recurring interference in their parenting methods. like…. this is all so interesting to me and I could go on and on. like don't get me started on frank having a boy and not a girl there's a lot to get into here. anyways hashtag frazel renaissance 2025

[piecesofanita]

-So many of you are wanting to brand Bertha as an abusive mother yet are failing to forget she doesn't have the benefit of the THERAPY we all use today. She loves Gladys, she does truly. But Gladys is strong willed and flighty at the same time. Bertha wants to teach her to channel the strong will and control the flight into something powerful but she can't because George and Larry are always coddling her. EVERYONE in this family treats this woman like a baby, not.

-Bertha sees what I saw and gave you solid evidence that you dismissed because you want to hate Hector and Bertha so bad it might kill you to see the other side. (I am talking to the Haters®️ right now, not the Hive™️. Maybe the undecideds too...what's a good H word for the undecideds?)

-Gladys is dragged home wearing her napoleon hat, Railroad Daddy returns, Larry reads the paper, Bertha won't stop lying and everyone starts panicking. Fast forward and another worthless suitor breaks Gladys’ heart. I’m SCREAMING 😂😂😂

-Gladys and Hector like each other and get along quite well, and if they were left to their own devices without expectation and pressure they would be married within the year. The problem is Hector doesn't have time. His people are counting on him and he is resolved not to fail them. He's literally selling his soul to save these people that were probably condemned to their circumstance by his potentially worthless father. Exactly what I said nobody chooses the DUKEDOM you are born into it. Oh baby I feel so seen I could fly like the pigeons in New York😂

-Gladys in her strong willed and flighty ways is like a kitten that keeps bringing mice into the house and showing you. First its Archie Baldwin. Very young women have a tendency to fall in love with their eyes first, their heart second, and their mind third. Archie was attractive and sweet, but he was also weak. He took the first offer that was given to him and left. I think Gladys had genuine puppy love feelings for him, but it wouldn't last. Next she brings home a sewer rat instead of a mouse in Oscar Van Rhijn. Don't get me wrong, I like Oscar a lot...when he's being true to himself and cracking jokes. Not when he's trying to dupe a young woman into a loveless lavender marriage. This was transactional arrangement even on her end so it wasn't really heartbreaking. Finally is the dumbest mouse of all in Billy the coward Carlton. She didn't even have to catch this one, he just jumped in her mouth. Gladys was not in love with Billy, we know this because she doesn't even consider him a suitor when we meet him. It was Aurora Fane who suggested it and Gladys dismissed it. But she's desperate for love and to get away from her mom, she’s also not stupid and realizes her mom wants her to marry Hector (she even calls him the dumb Duke at one point even though we know she doesn’t consider him dumb and she was cheezin so hard her face was in danger of permanently sticking when they were chatting) She starts talking herself up on Billy and then becomes borderline obsessed over it.

-Gladys is only heartbroken over Billy because she knows she’s losing her autonomy if she doesn’t get away from her mom. Not realizing she would lose it anyway if she married Billy, a weak coward like that couldn’t handle a strong willed wife, he’d do everything he could to clip her wings in a year.

-I don't think this about Billy because like we have discussed he was a terrible match for her, no one on this sub can argue otherwise...but I think if Archie had turned down the life ruining offer, George would have overruled Bertha and let Gladys marry him. These scare tactics were only to weed out people not strong enough to be the husband of George Russell’s daughter.

-How we know this is that Agnes does the same thing to Marian and Tom Raikes. Ada asks her if she would really cut Marian off if they did run away and get married and she tells her "No, but I want them to think I will" and her plan worked because the man she thought to be a shyster proved her right.

-The old money and the new money people are two sides of the same coin. They are playing the same game using the same tricks but turning their noses up at each other because rich people have too much time and money on their hands and that gives them the ability to be petty over things that don’t matter.

-This has to be why the season one promo poster is just Agnes and Bertha. TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN!!!

-Agnes makes a joke “do people like that bring their daughters out or did they sell them to the highest bidder?” But Agnes sold herself to an abusive man to save her little sister. We can’t be fully sure of this because we meet her in her 60-70s but if push came to shove after Henry lost them their house and everything they were born to…Agnes would have probably been just fine. She waxes poetic about the old money but she would have taken care of her self and who knows she might have struggled for a few years and ended up with the house on e61st and 5th anyway. The problem was Ada. She’s smart and strong but not in the same way, she gives the impression that she as a young girl was too sheltered and coddled just like Gladys has been and unlike her big sister she would have probably died on the streets or attached herself to a worthless man who would stifle her. Remember one of her old worthless men comes back to try to pick her up again in season one and Agnes snuffs him out with the disinheritance litmus test. Bertha is doing the same thing for Gladys that Agnes did for Ada it’s just in the reverse.

ONE THING ABOUT ME IS I WILL CARRY THE GOSPEL LIKE A TOWNCRIER😂 YOU PEOPLE MUST SEE FHE LIGHT LIKE PAUL DID ON HIS WAY TO DAMASCUS

-Old money thought the Dollar Princess scheme to be tacky, but it wasn’t the arrangement part of it, it was the buying a title and influence part.

-They of course had no room to judge because old money was busy inbreeding like the Hapsburgs for political influence. Don’t believe me? Go look up Eleanor Roosevelt's maiden name. When Marian meets Aurora they aren’t really cousins because she’s Arnold’s sibling’s child but she says “oh hey I think we are cousins anyway through the Livingstons!” The ruling classes on both sides of the pond are always 3 tiers away from having the same name show up on the family tree. Hector is probably related to Queen Victoria by under 3 generations

At least Hector and Gladys aren’t related.

OMG no wonder Mrs Fish’s husband, Anne Morris, Aurora, Lina and Marian are all related in some way���

-A bunch of inconsequential stuff happens they go to the opera Mrs. Fish delivers my favorite line of the episode with perfect inflection. “So many heiresses so little time”

-Now Gladys is back on her bullshit because she thinks it’s only a matter of time before her mother comes up with a new plan. So she begs Larry to plead her case to the coward and Larry who coddles and comforts his sister and would never stand up to her agrees even though he thinks it’s a dumb plan.

NOW THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS I DISLIKE LARRY BECAUSE THERE HAVE BEEN SITUATIONS WHERE I HAD TO PUT MY FOOT DOWN AT THE RISK OF PISSING OFF MY SIBLING BUT I STILL DID BECAUSE THEY WERE ABOUT TO DO SOMETHING STUPID. EVER SINCE LARRY GOT HIS WILLY WET IN S2 HE SUDDENLY THINKS HE IS A MAN AND HE HAS BRAINS. MEANWHILE HE AND GLADYS SHARE THE SAME BRAIN CELL BUT HAVE NOT USED IT SO FAR. Exhibit A: Billy Carlton. Exhibit B: trying to exclude Jack/John from the clock meeting when he has no idea how the clock works. So much for that Harvard degree🙂‍↔️

-Bertha realises she’s dealing with a toddler who hasn’t napped, so she has to talk to him like one so she changes her tone from friend to mother. Our boy Hector is an orphan at this point. So he’s listening to her while he’s being manipulated because she’s morally grey (she’s not fully evil but she’s like charcoal grey) and she brings up the allowance. I’ve already the claims that they are planning to steal from Gladys but again some of you want to hate Hector and Bertha so bad it might kill you to see the other side.

Berth ate with the word “pussyfoot”.

-George is not stupid. None of these people are. He’s not going to set up the trust in a way that Hector can touch the money without Gladys’ express consent. And Hector isn’t going to beat her to get it. This is a Julian Fellowes story, not Edith Wharton. While Lord Fellowes isn’t afraid to be dark, he will only do it for a very brief moment.

-For an abusive marriage to be portrayed, we’d need to see him hit her more than once. Even if it’s not on screen, but the sound of it happening off screen. And that is too dark for Fellowes, it’s also not the kind of story we are watching. Also the sweet lil cinnamon bun has never done anything to show he would resort to violence, his temper never rose above George and the more upset he got, the more childlike he became. This story also already has an abusive marriage, it was Agnes’ but he’s dead so we’re all safe from seeing it.

Part of the reason some of you are so staunch on this is because for two seasons you fully bought into the narrative that Gladys is Consuelo Vanderbilt. You’ve been had, this isn’t a documentary, it’s fiction by a guy who loves a happily ever after. This is Hallmark with much better dialog and bigger production budgets. It’s Masterpiece Theatre. This is not Consuelo’s story it’s Gladys Russell’s story. You guys have allowed history to cloud your perception when this isn't a documentary but entertainment

-He can’t steal the money but Bertha makes him realize she might share it if she’s happy which is something he might have considered himself if he took a fucking nap. Bertha is still talking but she’s talking about the wrong things. So he sits there unmoved. These people haven’t figured out yet this isn’t about personal gain, it’s about saving lives and livelihoods. And then she says the bit about saving the castle and if you are looking at this eyes and not the fucking mustache like you’re supposed to you’d see the light bulb go off and that’s when he moves. He relaxes and sits back.

-George comes home and Bertha is floating because she’s done it but he’s still not convinced because he doesn’t want to break his love match promise to his daughter.

Oh Bertha Russell you have done it again girl breaking the barriers in society😌

-She tells him that marrying for the love they had is different for Gladys since she keeps falling in love in ways that can’t possibly last. She needs a steady relationship that can grow into love and Hector will give her that plus power because now she’ll be an upper echelon aristocrat. She’ll have freedom to learn to channel her powers without her family because they haven’t managed to teach her anyway. Right before he leaves the room you see George’s eyes change (did you look?) because it occurs to him everything Bertha has said is true and he has to break his promise to Gladys. It is a love match, it’s just a different kind and she hasn’t realized it yet. He also knows while he doesn’t really like Hector yet, he’s a better match than anyone she’s brought him.

-It’s the unveiling day and Gladys is hysterical, George looks so pained🤣 he is considering finding out if Anne Morris still has Patrick’s pistol. A lot of you (of course) completely misread Bertha in this scene. You think she’s laughing like hyena at her daughter because she’s won. But Bertha for the life of her has no idea how to be the good cop. She’s only able to be soft when she’s being manipulative. I’m SCREAMING 😂

-George recognizes this and side eyes her and decides to take over the conversation. He softly asks her to just listen to Hector and give him a chance and the tears in her eyes are where the Russell's marriage begins it’s (hopefully temporary) fracture. She goes in and the chemistry in that room could combust the house. I covered this scene well enough last time I’m not doing it again but I will make a change to what I said about the portrait unveiling.

-When Gladys first glances to Hector to see his impression of the painting, he's not even looking at it...He's looking at her, watching how she reacts to the painting, he doesn't care to look at it when he can see her in real life. When she bashfully looks away he turns to the painting and says "marvelous" so she can hear his reaction (even though he already told her it would be marvelous in the breakfast table scene), as he knows that's why she turned his direction in the first place.

Ouuuuuu🤭

-In the preview it shows her asking her father what to do, she's still at home at this point. It’s likely long past the time she should be at the church and our poor sweet cinnamon bun is waiting. Hector realizes he has to go and ask her to be honest with him, like he promised they should always be. He's the only one that can give her the comfort she needs to go though with it. Larry won't because he doesn't realize yet that Hector is her one. George can't do it because he's already broken over breaking their love match pact in the first place, he no longer wants to play an part in this except to support what Gladys chooses for herself, but even if George did want to provide counsel, it wouldn't make a difference.

Girl, my ass would have been at church at the crack of dawn!!

-Like we’ve covered in the end of the last episode showed us it was Hector and not George that Gladys looked to during the unveiling, she's already more curious about his thoughts than those of her father. and to repeat for the obtuse when she looked to see what he thought, he was looking directly at her because to him she was the only thing in the room that was interesting or worth looking at. They won't even have to look at each other,* the conversation will be enough because in her heart she already trusts him.

*and they better not! Fellowes had Mary open her eyes in that scene which foreshadowed the end of that season!

-No one is dragging Gladys down the aisle, this isn’t going to be Alva locking Consuelo in the closet until she agrees to go to the alter. She’s going to make a transition that no other woman she knows so far has been able to do. Get married and still remain her own person.

-Gladys will become Her Grace, the Duchess of Buckingham. She’s not going to just be called the Duke's wife, she gets her own separate title. No other woman she knows gets the courtesy of her own name when she enters the room. Her mom is Mrs. George Russell, Agnes’ monster husband had been dead a decade and she’s still Mrs. Arnold Van Rhijn, Evil Ken is shacking up with another woman and Aurora is still Mrs. Charles Fane.

She’s not going to prison guys and I’m standing on business.

In summary

LAST TIME I CHECKED I HAVE TEN TOES (not one is missing) AND I'M STANDING ON BUSINESS AND BEHIND BERTHA RUSSELL.

From Reddit(that godforsaken app) but she’s ABSOLUTELY RIGHT 💯💯💯💯

[dessarious]

What Makes a Family? Pt27

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Marinette walked down the stairs to find Cass scowling at Bruce and signing rapidly. Selina was whispering with her Maman, who looked far too amused, so Cass had to be laying into him pretty hard. Damian was looking on in confusion, but the other boys were nodding along with whatever her twin was saying. She really needed to have Cass teach her to sign. Chloe appeared next to her.

"I'm actually learning new terms. You sister is extremely creative with swearing." Of course, that would be what impressed Chloe. Mari had to wonder how much of it was just not knowing common terms, so she made up her own.

"I don't want to mess up her relationship with him." Chloe scoffed.

"Given the way the others are reacting, this isn't the first, or worst, of his overstepping. I'm thinking this is a long overdue rant."

"You did what when I was with Babs?" Dick's indignant shout startled most of the room. "Yeah, I'm never bringing anyone home ever again. Not unless I've been married for two years." Mari sent Chloe a questioning glance.

"Trust me, you don't want to know." Yeah, if Chloe was saying that... she really didn't want to know.

"You've never known when to butt out, old man. The difference this time is that you don't have any right to butt in in the first place." Jason's tone was downright hostile.

"She's my daughter."

"A biological connection doesn't mean you own me. I'll be eighteen in three months anyway and I'm completely financially independent, so if you want any type of relationship with me, it's going to be on my terms, Mr. Wayne. Those terms will include not interfering in my relationships with others, romantic or otherwise, and not telling me how I'm allowed to live my life." He looked like he was going to argue, but Cass signed at him before standing beside Mari. He looked at the boys for help, but the only one not glaring at him was Damian.

"Marinette, you're young. You have no idea the danger-"

"Do not pretend you know anything about me or my life, let alone what I do and do not know. I assure you, I know what I'm doing, and Luka and Kagami are not a threat or a problem. If you can't accept that, then you can leave." She hadn't wanted to get to this point so soon, especially since it put Cass's ability to stay in question. Unfortunately, she also wasn't willing to set a precedent with him by letting him think he could act this way with her. She'd been around enough powerful people to know that if she didn't set boundaries now, she'd never be able to enforce them. Jagged was proof of that.

"Perhaps we should discuss this privately." No way was that happening. She could almost see the hero lecture waiting to burst out of him.

"After what you just tried to pull, and your apparent history of browbeating your kids into things, we're not about to let that happen." Tom's voice was harder than she'd ever heard it. "If you won't respect my daughter's boundaries, you'll be asked to leave." The emphasis he put on 'my daughter' caused Bruce to flinch. She would feel worse about it if not for the fact that all her siblings, besides Damian, seemed to approve of it.

"I think we should separate for the time being, and try this again later. Tempers are high, so we all need space to calm down." Sabine sounded cheerful enough, but there was a hard edge to her words that everyone caught. As much as Mari thought it was a good idea, they were in a bit of a time crunch.

"Given that they're only going to be here for a week, it might be best to get things settled. But, if Bruce isn't willing to compromise, there's not much point in continuing this discussion." She could hear how tired she sounded and given the concerned looks at her and glares at Bruce, everyone else could, too.

"By compromise you mean letting you decide everything." The sulkiness in Bruce's voice made her roll her eyes. Yes, this had to suck for him, but he couldn't honestly expect her to let him just take over her life.

"No, but there are going to be things that aren't negotiable. I'm not going to tell you how to live your life, and I'd appreciate the same courtesy. We know next to nothing about eachother, and until we do it's not really fair to have an opinion on each other's lives." He didn't seem to know what to do with that. She was sure that, for a man used to being in charge, it wasn't something he had experience with. "I want to get to know you, all of you, but I'm not going to change who I am or how I live my life to do it. If you can't accept that, you can leave."

Cass hugged her from behind, and Mari could feel her twin glaring at Bruce. As much as she had hoped it wouldn't be necessary, it was obvious who Cass would side with in this. Of the boys, Jason seemed firmly entrenched on her side, Dick and Tim were more of a neutral, and Damian just seemed confused, but he'd most likely side with Bruce for the time being. Hopefully, it wouldn't destroy her chance of getting to know him permanently. When it became obvious Bruce either couldn't or wouldn't back down, Selina went over to start whispering in his ear. Alfred had been scarily silent through everything, and Mari really wasn't certain what to make of it.

"You need my help." Selina rolled her eyes, and Alfred just shook his head. The man really needed to learn when to back down.

"I need Cass. That's it." He flinched, and even the boys were trading looks. Bruce was closing off. She could see it. "I need to show Cass her new school. Why don't you take the evening to think things over? We can try this again tomorrow when everyone is calmer." Bruce looked about ready to explode.

"That sounds like a good idea. Master Bruce, we should head back to the hotel." The glare Bruce sent Alfred didn't phase the man at all. The stern look he sent back had the boys looking like they were ready to wet themselves.

"Fine." Bruce signed something at Cass and she felt her twin stiffen up behind her. Chloe looked like she was about to start screaming at him, too.

"Miss Cassandra will be staying with Miss Marinette. Indefinately." Alfred's tone was frigid and just about everyone seemed to be cowering or eyeing the man like he was going to explode. Even Bruce hunched in on himself a tiny bit. "Now we really should be on our way."

Mari had a feeling Alfred was going to be having a long conversation with Bruce. She just hoped it had the desired outcome. The man obviously had control issues, and she couldn't afford to have him try to take over her life. She had a feeling she was already going to have a major issue with Batman trying to step on her toes once he actually went through an Akuma attack. She couldn't count on there not being one before he and the others went home. Not to mention, if she'd heard right, he could just use some tech the Justice League had to teleport back at any time. She'd have to ask Cass about that, too.

Selina practically pushed Bruce out the door, while the boys followed under Alfred's gaze. Before going joining the rest, Jason shoved a piece of paper in her hand with a wink. She had a feeling he was one brother she could count on not to run to Bruce with information.

Once they were all out of the door, Mari felt herself relax. She felt terrible that things had gone downhill so quickly, but there really wasn't another option at this point. She couldn't afford to show weakness. There was far too much at stake, both in her personal life and as a hero. Cass tightened her hold on Mari.

"He needs time. He'll calm down."

"Unfortunately, time isn't something we have right now. If this doesn't get better, I'm going to have to force him to leave Paris before Hawkmoth is back in fighting form." She didn't even want to think about how much that would piss him off. She had a feeling Batman's ego wouldn't take too well to being thrown out of a city by another hero. Alfred and Selina would take her side... at least she thought so.

"Alfred will make things right." She wasn't quite sure what Cass meant by that, but she hoped she was right. She opened the paper that Jason handed her and heard Cass giggle behind her.

If you need someone to help you hassle B, give me a shout. ~Jason

It had five phone numbers on it. If she didn't know his 'occupation', it would seem excessive. It did mean she had at least one of her brothers on her side when it came to Bruce though. Whether that was a good thing or not was yet to be determined.

"Why don't we head over to the school? There are a few clubs meeting, so I know the building is open. That way, you can get a feel for the layout before tomorrow." She knew it would stress Cass out if they didn't scope out the building. It was going to be bad enough being around so many new people.

"You don't want to eat first?" Given the looks her Maman was shooting at the door, she was more worried about them running into Bruce than the actual food, but it was a good idea anyway.

"Of course, Maman. We wouldn't want it to go to waste." Especially since she made enough to feed the whole city again. Maybe she should text Jason and see if he wanted to meet them at the school and they could bring him some. "Maybe we could take some to go as well. I wanted to show Cass the houseboat, and if it's late enough, we might stay there." It wasn't a lie, just not the whole truth.

"Probably a good idea. It'll give your father and I time to talk to Bruce should he decide to come looking for you." She really hoped he didn't. Her Maman might actually kill him. She would text Selina or Alfred to make sure he didn't come over, but she had a feeling that would have the opposite effect she was looking for. After they ate and while her Maman was boxing up food, her Papa motioned her out into the hallway.

"What's wrong?" She heard the panic in her own voice and her Papa winced.

"Nothing's wrong. I didn't mean to worry you. I just wanted to make sure you were handling everything alright. I know things have been tense, and you tend to overthink everything without letting anyone know." She leaned forward slightly, and that's all it took for him to envelop her in a hug. Her Papa gave the best hugs.

"What if he makes her go back?" She knew it was an irrational thought, but it wouldn't go away. Her Papa hugged her tighter.

"That's not going to happen. We won't let it, and more importantly, Cass won't let it. I truly don't believe there's a force strong enough to separate the two of you. And if there is, Plagg will get rid of it." Marinette started giggling and couldn't stop. It was a little disturbing that she found the image of Plagg getting rid or Bruce amusing, but she was willing to chalk it up to stress.

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Tag List

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[howtodrawyourdragon]

How do you think hiccup will react for when Tom tells him about his battle with Jormungandr in the ancestor au?

You know what? I actually don't know. That takes figuring out just why Hiccup decided to trap Jörmungandr in the first place and I haven't been able to figure it out. Other than, you know, The Nine Realms being predominantly for a younger audience, which means "hurting animals/other people bad" when other instalments were for older audiences and could therefore allow a little more nuance.

Like how the Red Death did need to die after causing almost 400 years of bloodshed on both sides and for being both directly and indirectly responsible for a mountain of corpse. Like, Stoick worrying in Httyd 1 about feeding his village after another dragon raid made off with most of their food source. With the battle happening with all the Vikings and dragons there at risk of her wrath. Or like how defeating Drago's Bewilderbeast was indeed the way to go as there was no room for a gentler option. Not with Drago, his abuser, right there or with the Bewilderbeast actively attacking Berk and almost killing Hiccup, which is ultimately what had set Toothless off and left no more room for mercy in his eyes.

There was the Screaming Death, where their only way to take care of him was to fight him off and keep him as far away from Berk as possible until Hiccup realized that all the Screaming Death wanted was his mother. After which he reunited them and then had no further encounters until Hiccup's idea to use Screaming Death scales as armor to protect Toothless and Hookfang from dragonroot arrows.

Hiccup has always been consistently someone who doesn't like to unnecessarily get his hands dirty, but he will if the situation calls for it. Yet he's also someone who respects nature and the cruelty within it. Like when he first wanted to let the Catastrophic Quaken take Dark Deep for himself until Fishlegs figured out he was chasing the Gronckles away, not to claim territory, but because he feared the new faces. Another example is Vanaheim, he was super protective of that place and didn't want anyone to mess around with it, not even him and his Dragon Riders.

The only times he really interferes in dragon business is when other humans do or when their (also his) dragons were directly threatened. (Or that one time he found a baby dragon and took him in, though he didn't even know Torch was a baby)

Like when he trapped the Death Song and freed their dragons and one baby Thunderdrum because that was the deal he made with the adult Thunderdrum, but their dragons weren't the only ones trapped there in initial shots. Same thing when the Dragon Riders decided to stop the Cavern Crasher from attacking the Fireworm Queen's nest. Not only had she saved Hookfang's life, but she came to them for help. Yet when Singetails came to take the original Storehouse island, they put up a fight, but ultimately let the Singetails take it and they've been there for the rest of RttE. The island now belonging to them, even though Spitelout had clearly gotten there first.

Yet, there's no sign of this with Jörmungandr. No humans getting involved or signs that this was just nature taking its course, he got involved for who knows what reason. Was Jörmungandr messing with the homes of their dragons specifically? Or was it because he truly did push the balance in the Hidden World off-kilter so badly? And if he really was such a threat to the dragon world (idk, he seemed more like a gigantic bully to me, I need to rewatch those eps and I'm currently on season 4) than I don't see Hiccup's thought process behind locking this thing up for over a 1000 years as his solution for Jörmungandr when that is infinitely crueler than just killing him.

I mean, ending his existence vs 1000 years in a confined space with little food and water and no room to really move? The same brown walls to stare at with freedom just beyond a dragonproof grate for well over a thousand years? I think it's pretty clear which of the two the more merciful option is and it's not the one that has been scientifically proven to push humans to the brink in, like, a few hours. Let alone specifically 1 300 years.

I'm reminded of when he decided that the Skrill needed to be frozen back into the ice it came from in DoB versus his decision to ultimately let the Skrill go after it escaped, having watched the utter loss of fight in the Skrill's eyes as it just accepted it was going to be trapped all over again. Which Hiccup saw and was what made him decide against doing it again.

Maybe there's the possibility that the cage was only supposed to be a temporary solution and Hiccup died before he could come up with a permanent one? Dragon Club does find his prosthetic leg and tools in a space he clearly worked in (no bed, just a table, his leg and tools as far as I remember) and just why would he leave those things behind? Especially as a canonically disabled person who has lost his replacement limbs before, Hiccup wouldn't leave his prosthesis there unless... there was just no more use for it.

So yeah, I don't understand a lot of the things that Hiccup did in The Nine Realms, which makes this a difficult question to answer. (it's a shame, because at least one of the writers wrote some of my favorite RttE eps) I don't understand a lot of things Hiccup does from THW and onwards!

But if we take the idea that his solution with Jörmungandr was supposed to be a temporary one that he just could not solve before his own time ran out, then he'd probably feel guilty. Both for leaving Jörmungandr to be locked up for so long and that Tom and his friends had to deal with him in his stead.

[hello-nichya-here]

Hello, whats your opinion on this as a mai fan

I think this person is either misremembering the show or deliberately mischaracterizing what Mai, because what they're claiming she revealed on The Beach is the COMPLETE OPPOSITE of what she actually said.

She doesn't say "My parents used me as a pawn in their game to get close to royals" or "My parents never wanted me to learn anything about combat." She tells us that her parents will let her do whatever she likes - as long as she BEHAVES. As long as she's invisible. Out of sight, out of mind. They don't care what she does, as long as it doesn't affect them, as long as she's quiet. And that's what she says in an attempt to DOWNPLAY how bad her relationship with them actually is and how it affected her emotionally.

When Mai is complaining that she doesn't like Omashu because there's nothing for her to do, her mom doesn't try to talk to her about activities that could keep her busy/entertained, or show any concern about how she's adapting to moving to a whole new country, to a city where she doesn't know anyone. Instead, she ignores her daughter's attempts to talk about her feelings by reminding her that this is important for her father. There's no attempt to make this situation benefitial for her as well, it's all about how she needs to be grateful that someone else is happy about it.

Yes, when Tom-Tom is "kidnaped", they won't stop panicking, and are overjoyed when he's brought back safely. But there's not a word on them being concerned over Mai's well-being when she's leaving in a potentially dangerous mission. They don't show up to congratulate her at any point after she helps the Fire Nation conquer Ba Sing Se, even though that is a legendary feat. Favoritism much?

In book 3, literally the only adults we see in her home are servants, and considering one needs an airship to go to the island where the boiling rock is, it's pretty safe to say her uncle can't be dropping by too often. They let their 15-year-old daughter live in a different country, without any adult acting as her guardian - that's how much they don't care about her.

And speaking of her uncle, yes, he is doing a good job of being an attentive family member (is aware of her situation with Zuko, immediately lets her out of prison the second he knows he can get away with it) - but using that to claim "Thefore her family life is fine" is absurd because, again, that's her UNCLE, not her parents. By that logic, Zuko shouldn't be complaining about his family either, after all he has Iroh and somehow that is supposed to cancel out being raised by freaking Ozai, riiiiiiight?

And speaking of Zuko, there's a reason why, in a finale where everyone is being reunited with their family and friends, even when the travel time doesn't make any goddamn sense, Mai's happy ending involves a heartwarming reuining with him, and he's delighted to see her - but there's still nothing about her parents. Their daughter was sent to prison for life, then her boyfriend became Fire Lord giving them THE perfect chance to come rescue her, and they STILL are nowhere to be found.

For fuck's sake, AZULA showed more love for Mai than her parents did. Girl was clearly happy to see her again, and even gave her a "hug" that wasn't that touchy because Mai doesn't like it. In "The Lost Adventures" we find out that she was also the one who pushed for her and Zuko to get together (though that also ties into her knowing that was the only way to make Zuko come home despite his guilt over what he did to Iroh). Even on The Beach, she's the one who first connects the dots and realizes that Mai is always so aloof because she's used to being told to shut up when she says something inconvenient.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying her parents had no political ambitions (the Yang comics leaning into that was one of the few good things about his writting). Obviously they were happy that their daughter was best friends with the princess and dating the heir to the throne, and I'm sure Mai didn't appreciate being treated more as asset than as a daughter.

But her complaint was not about that. It was about how her parents are simply not part of her life at all. She's an outsider looking in. She can stand next to them and do as she's told, or she can leave. What she can't do is actually engage with them, mean anything to them, expect anything from them, rely on them at all.

Mai's parents are neglectful to a degree that, in the real world, could potentially have them lose custody of her because she consistently has to turn to literally anyone else instead of them whenever she needs anything.

Is it really any wonder she had a soft-spot for Zuko, aka the boy that is always disregarded by his father, to the point of literally being kicked out of his home, and is actually openly pissed off about it and will let everyone know it?

[deanwritings]

The Guest House - Chapter 6

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Series Summary: Dean Winchester is going through a nasty divorce. He doesn't have much left to his name, but what he does have is his house. Leave it to his soon-to-be ex wife to find a way to even ruin that for him. Enter Y/N, who is looking to get away from life for a bit, and stumbles right into the middle of it all.

The Guest House Master List

Word Count: 3,288

A/N: Almost missed this week's chapter because I've been obsessively reading Fourth Wing and Iron Flame. Took a lot of willpower to put the books down and get this finished 😅

You were absolutely shocked, flabbergasted, dismayed, aghast, and every other word in the thesaurus when Dean offered to be your hiking buddy. 

Never in a million years did you ever expect the man to offer you any favors, not alone fix your car, and definitely not take you hiking. 

After he left for work, a part of you still wanted to go. You weren’t one to wait around if you didn’t have to, but if you were being honest with yourself, you had been scared to go alone. The only times you had ever hiked alone was when you were a fearless teenager, and even then you had your 110 pound dog, Beau, by your side, so you never had to worry about someone bothering you. Plus, those were your home trails, you knew them even when you took a wrong turn. Mount Carmel was entirely new to you. Even though the hiking reviews said the trails were relatively easy, there was always a chance of missing a trail marker, especially being out of season. Hiking markers were typically re-sprayed in spring, so it had been almost a year of weathering the elements since the last time they’d likely have been updated. 

And of course, the big question ringing in your mind – could you trust Dean? The truth was, you didn’t know much about him. Every interaction up until that point had been contentious at best. Not to mention that gun he first greeted you with. Sure, you two had a nice morning together, but was that enough to trust him and let him lead you through the woods alone? 

So you decided to give Sydney a call.

“Absolutely not.” Her voice rings through the receiver. “Just cause he was nice to you once means nothing.” You sigh as you throw yourself onto the couch. 

“I know.” And you do. That’s why you were calling her for a second opinion. “But he actually seemed genuine. Surprisingly so.”

“Nope. No. No way.” She reinforces her position on it. “Please don’t make me have to do an interview on Dateline. I will not be nice. I will say ‘I told her not to go but she was dumb and didn’t listen.’ Twitter will have a field day with it.” You laugh quietly as you let your head fall against the back of the couch, staring up at the plank ceilings that match the floors. 

“Fair enough,” you conceded, knowing that what she’s saying is absolutely true. “But what if I told you he was really hot?” You raise your eyebrows even though she can’t see you. 

The other line is silent for a moment.

“How hot we talking? Like Tom Hiddleston hot or Chris Hemsworth hot?”

“Hemsworth, definitely.” You smile as you think about Dean’s defined features; a strong jaw covered in a few days worth of scruff and his oddly beautiful green eyes. You don’t think you’ve ever considered a man’s eyes beautiful until you met him. You also enjoyed the way his hair swooped over his forehead. It wasn’t long, per say, but you definitely could see yourself grabbing a handful of it if the time were right.

“Are we forgetting the vindictive ex-wife?” Sydney chimes in, breaking you from your daydreaming before it takes a shameful turn. “I mean, he had to do something to her to make her hate him that much.”

“I’m not trying to marry him, Syd.” You roll your eyes. “Yeah, he’s kinda an asshole, but he’s a hot asshole. And it’s not like I’m going to be around here much longer.” You only had about two weeks left on your rental, and now that Dean was starting to come around to you, the thought crossed your mind that maybe he could be that vacation fling you had been hoping to find. 

“Okay, well I gotta get back to work.” You can hear her heels click before background voices filter in. You glance over to the kitchen clock; 1:31. Her lunch break was ending. “Just make smart choices, please.” Her voice pleads just a bit. You know she trusts you, but you would be looking out for her if the roles were reversed. 

“Always do, Sydy. I’ll text you later.” 

As you hang up, you realize that you haven’t actually gotten lunch yet for yourself. You had some cold cuts in the fridge, but considering you were supposed to be out hiking right now, you were antsy to get out of the house. 

You decide it’s a good day to head back into town and grab some lunch, and who knows, maybe you’ll run into a certain mechanic. The idea has you smiling as you grab your coat and throw on your boots, not before freshening up with some quick makeup before you go. Just in case. 

Thankfully, your car starts with just one easy press of the ignition, and your lips turn upward as you think about Dean saving you this morning. 

A few minutes later, you’re parked downtown, this time getting a spot right in front of BILLIES. Your eyes scan the street, not seeing the tell-tale forest green truck of your neighbor. 

It had been wishful thinking, but you still need lunch so you head inside.

“Afternoon, hun.” Billie herself greets you, and you give her a wave as you take a seat at the counter. This was your fourth visit now, and each time Billie had always greeted you with a warm smile and treated you like a regular, even though she knew you were leaving soon. 

She drops a menu and a water in front of you.

“You know the deal.” She gives you a smirk before turning towards the kitchen. And you do. Once you are ready to order, just flag her down.

You’ve been making a point to order something new each time you visit, so today you were going with a chipotle turkey cheeseburger, curly fries, and your usual Diet Coke. 

Once your food is ready, Billie drops it in front of you, but you stop her before she can hurry away. Even with a near-empty diner, she always manages to find something to keep her busy.

“Hey, can I get your opinion on something?” She nods, her hair bouncing around her as she drops a hand to her hip.

“What’s up, hun?” 

“You know Dean pretty well, right?” Her chestnut eyes narrow at you. 

“Sure do,” Her tone is lighter than her gaze. “Known that boy since he was a tyke. Babysat him and his brother a few times.” 

Well that was interesting, you didn’t know Dean had a brother. Not that you would, but considering all your run-ins, you assumed he would have been around. Maybe he didn’t live here anymore. 

“He offered to take me hiking on Mount Carmel on Thursday. Obviously I barely know him, he’s safe to go with right? Like, I don’t have to worry about him killing me or anything?” Her head falls back with a deep laugh, and her hands clap together. It takes her a moment to collect herself as her chest heaves, and she wipes a tear away from her eye. You just watch her with wide eyes as she draws the attention of the few patrons enjoying a late lunch. 

“Oh, LORD, I have not laughed like that in a while.” She throws a hand onto her chest. 

“I’ll take that as a ‘no’ then?” You assume from her reaction. 

“Sweetie, that boy is harmless.” She assures you, a hint of laughter still in her tone. “A pain in the ass, maybe, but you don’t have anything to worry about with Dean.” 

“Well that I knew.” You pick up a fry and take a bite.

“How’d you manage to talk him into taking you for a hike anyhow?” Billie asks as she rests one hand on the counter and the other finding its way back to her hip.

“He offered,” you shrug, biting into another fry as her eyebrows shoot up. 

“He offered to take you hiking?” She parrots in disbelief and you nod. Her eyes look you up and down and you suddenly sit up straighter under her scrutiny. 

“What?” You now feel self-conscious. You don’t know what she’s looking at or for, but heat rises to your ears and cheeks as she looks you over. 

She just tsks and shakes her head, pushing off the counter. 

“Just surprised is all.” She gives a small shrug as someone behind you flags her down. “Enjoy your meal, hun.” 

And with that, she hurries into the dining room, leaving you confused and hungry as you pick up your burger and dig in.

Dean’s toweling off his hair, the bathroom steamed and warm from his shower, when his phone buzzes on the counter. 

He clicks his phone alive, 7:02 in big white numerals above the text notification bearing your name. 

He stands up a little straighter as he clicks open the text, his eyes quickly scanning your words.

If the offer still stands, I wouldn’t mind a hiking buddy on Thursday. 

He smiles down at the text. He obviously didn’t know you very well, but he fully anticipated you ignoring his warning and going hiking alone today anyways. 

But his shoulders drop as he realizes he’s now committed to a hike and he drops his head back. 

“Fuck,” he mumbles as he tossed his damp towel in the hamper and heads into the bedroom, thinking about his response as he grabs some sweats, a henley, and a thick pair of socks, because god damn, it was cold out. 

 Once he’s changed, he picks his phone back up.

Consider it done. He texts back as he heads downstairs to whip up some dinner. 

Dean didn’t have a lot of skills outside the auto shop, but one thing he was good at was cooking. He spent a lot of his childhood watching cooking shows with his mom as she tried to up her own ability, his early years being a lot of tv dinners and mac and cheese. By the time he was a teenager, she could pull together the most delicious pot roast and mashed potatoes you ever had. And Dean was her number one helper. 

“My little sous chef.” She would call him until he begged her to stop one day when he was twelve. 

The thought makes him smile, and he realizes he hasn’t called her in a while.

Once he gets out the ingredients he needs, he grabs his headphones and pops them into his ears.

“Hey Siri,” He unwraps the strip steak and slaps it down onto a cutting board. “Call mom.”

The phone rings as he heavily salts the beef.

“Dean!” His mother's excitement makes him wince as it nearly blows out his eardrums.

“Hi, mom,” he smiles, happy to be talking to her for the first time in well over a week. He tried to call her every few days, but as his divorce has been draining him mentally and financially, he’s been calling less. And at this moment, he feels really bad about it. 

“It’s been a while.” She says much softer. “How are things?” The genuineness in her voice immediately eases the stress that has burrowed in his shoulders ever since Lisa left. 

As he heats up and butters his cast iron skillet, he fills his mom in on happenings at the shop, Mary needing full updates on Benny, Adam, and the rest of the gang. How the divorce is going, and Dean fills her in about his guest. 

“Dean,” she sighs. He knows this divorce hurts her. She had loved Lisa like the daughter she never had, and was so excited to watch her son start his life with what she thought was a lovely woman. He still remembers her heartbreak when he told her that he caught Lisa cheating and that she had left him.

“Sweetheart, is this really worth dragging on?” He rolls his eyes as he bastes the steak. 

Here comes the mom lecture. 

“I really wish you could just move on from all this. I know she hurt you, but Dean, how long are you going to continue giving her power over your life?” His shoulders drop as he sighs. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to move on, but to be honest, he just didn’t know how. Everything went so wrong so fast, his head was spinning like a top, and that was before he found Lisa in bed with Gavin. 

“I really want you to be happy, Dean.” The break in her voice has him shaking his head. This was another reason he hasn’t been calling as often. He didn’t want his own mother to pity him. 

Here he was, 32 years old, in the middle of a divorce, with nothing but a house and bitterness, while his brother was thriving. 

At 28, Sam was proving to be a shining star at the law firm he started with when he graduated law school. And last month, he proposed to his college sweetheart, Jessica. His life was just beginning, while Dean’s was stuck in the mud. 

“I am happy, mom.” He lies. “And I’ll be a lot happier once this divorce is over and Lisa is out of my life for good.” He carefully flips his steak, continuing to baste so it doesn’t burn. He can hear his mother’s sigh in his ears. She always knew when he was lying.

“Are you coming up to visit anytime soon?” She changes the subject.

“Actually, I’m coming up this weekend. There’s a car auction Sunday and Rick wants me to come tune up a few of his cars before he puts them on the block.” 

“Oh good!” His mother’s excitement returns, and they carry on with their conversation. 

Fifteen minutes later, Dean carries his finished plate to the table; seared stripe steak and roasted green beans with some leftover potatoes he had from a few nights ago. 

He rubs his hands together before he cuts into the steak, humming at the perfectly medium rare center. 

After a few bites, he picks up his phone, and sees he has a missed text from you stamped 24 minutes ago, while he was on the phone with his mom. 

Not sure if you wake up early on your days off, but if you do, I was thinking a sunrise hike? But if not I’m happy to go anytime. 

Dean purses his lips as he takes another bite, this time mixing in some mashed potato. 

He Googles Thursday’s sunrise: 6:59am. The hiking trails were about 25 minutes away, and it takes about an hour to hike to the lookout. Doing the math backwards, they would have to leave here by 5:30am. Definitely a little early for his taste on his one day off this week, but he invited himself on your hike, so he was going to swallow down his own distaste for that early of a start and agree. 

Sounds good to me. Meet me in the driveway 5:30am. We can take my car. 

Dean’s about to put his phone down but the three text bubbles jump up on the screen, and only a few seconds later, your next text.

On second thought, how about a post-sunrise hike? 

Dean smiles and lets you know that works, and you agree to meet in the driveway at 7:30am instead. 

See you then. You reply, and Dean closes out the screen and returns to his dinner. 

He’s not sure why, but he feels almost excited for tomorrow. Which is odd considering how much he fucking hates hiking. And though you two have been civil, he still wouldn't say he likes you. He just doesn’t dislike you anymore, finally able to separate you from the scheme Lisa dropped you into.

But Dean doesn’t dwell on it, more than likely just looking forward to a change of scenery as he takes a big bite of steak and settles into his seat.

“I can’t believe you consider this fun,” Dean huffs behind you, watching every step he takes as you transverse the mountainside. The incline is not overly steep, and thankfully the path isn’t too rocky, but the real danger is the one Dean warned you about; the ice. Thankfully you haven’t fallen flat on your ass, but you’ve definitely slipped a few times, once which had you rolling out your ankle to make sure you hadn’t sprained it only fifteen minutes in. 

“No one forced you to come.” You remind him with an easy breath as you focus back on your own steps, your gloved hands resting easy on the lapels of your backpack. Not that you’re trying to taunt him while he seems to be struggling as he staggers behind you.

“You know, you could walk on a flat road.” Dean continues to complain a few minutes later, as the trees start to fall away, replaced by boulders and lingering snow patches. “I mean, really, what the hells the difference? There’s plenty of trees on the road by my place if that’s what you’re looking for.” He gripes as you turn over your shoulder, watching as he steps around an iced-over puddle.  

“Tell me Dean, are you always this grumpy, or do I just seem to bring out the worst in you?” You pause and fully look towards him, dropping your hands across your chest as he takes a few more cautious steps, closing the distance between you as he steps up on a rock, the added height making him tower over you.

You’ve been at this for almost an hour, and Dean has complained almost every chance he’s had. It was very clear that he did not enjoy hiking, and it was starting to sour your morning. This was supposed to be your get-into-nature, positive energy, meditative morning hike. You had no problem taking this hike alone, he was the one who invited himself. So it was time he started acting like the guest he was. 

“Must be you, sweetheart.” He grins widely down at you, his white teeth flashing, and you suck in a breath as your heart halts.

Holy shit, this man is beautiful. His hair is tucked into a gray knit hat, and his broad frame is hidden under a thick, camel hunting coat. But his eyes. Those green eyes are shining bright in the early morning sun, and they may be the most amazing eyes you’ve ever seen, on a man or woman. It’s almost unfair. 

Truly, what the hell is a man as good-looking as Dean doing hiding away in this small town? Especially with the city only two hours away. He could easily be a model or an actor if he wanted to. The world opens doors for beautiful people. 

“Lucky me,” you regain your composure and return a tight smile as you turn on your heel, but as you shift, your left foot slips out from under your boot and you start to fall forward, your hands shooting out to brace your fall just as two hands grip your hips, catching you. 

“Warned you about that ice.” You can hear the cheeky grin in his voice as he helps you straighten up, his fingers digging deliciously into your skin through your workout tights before he lets go.

You want to shoot back a sassy remark, but you bite your tongue.

“Thank you.” You offer instead, turning towards him carefully as to not lose your footing again. 

“Don’t mention it,” he smiles down at you as he pushes past, taking the lead for the first time since you started your hike, and you have no choice but to follow.

Keep Reading

NEXT TIME:

“This is weird, right?” You say to yourself once you’re back to your little cabin. Who the fuck goes on a trip with a man they barely know, to stay with his mother of all people. 

Aunt Rose would. Your inner voice rings out. Hell, she would jump at the opportunity for the chance at a fun weekend at a fancy car show. 

I mean, it did sound cool. You’ve never been to a car show before, not that you know much about them, but you do “ohhh” and “ahhh” whenever a nice car drives by. You can at least appreciate them. And what were you going to do this weekend? The loneliness was starting to grate at you. Turns out four weeks alone wasn’t as relaxing as you expected it to be. It was nice at first, but now it was getting boring. You’ve hiked, you’ve read, you’ve meditated, you’ve shopped. Though it sounds like the town is bustling with city tourists during the warmer months, there was not much going on while there’s snow on the ground. Really, the only thing you could think of was to head to Max’s. Maybe you could meet someone this time, and not get interrupted since Dean won’t be around. 

But you know that’s not what you want to do. 

Oh god, Sydney is going to murder me. 

You pick up your phone and open a text.

I’m in. 

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[muffintonic]

So, I watched Sonic 3 today.

I wish they would have continued on from the growth of Sonic calling Tom and Maddie his parents from the end of Sonic 2. Also in that vein, I want Knuckles to call Sonic and Tails by their names at least even if he's not at the point of calling Tom and Maddie his parents, too (he did at least call Maddie by her name in the Blu-Ray Drone Home short, so calling her by Sonic's nickname in this movie was a step back)

Continuity error spotted: at the end of Sonic 1, they moved Sonic's stuff from his cave to his new room in the attic, so the cave should have been empty or they should have mentioned offhandedly that they had to leave some stuff behind because it wouldn't fit or it was too damaged or something

It's been a few YEARS since Sonic was discovered (per Ivo's comment about trying to get him for years + Tom and Maddie talking about the busy past few years)??! I knew at the beginning of Sonic 2 Ivo had said it'd been 243 days in "portobello purgatory," but, wow, it's been a while between 1 and 3. That explains why they're all so close to Tom and Maddie's heights at the end of the movie's group camping shot....they're growing up. :') Though it also begs the question how old they are now--Sonic couldn't have been any younger than 4 years old to remember Longclaw/10 years passed since she died and the events of Sonic 1 happened, so that would mean he's 16 now since it's plural years??? I guess older ages than what they are in the games would suit them...or at least Knuckles with his 40-year-old-man voice

Sonic 3 takes place in 2024: confirmed

In Sonic 2, Tom and Maddie were worried about Sonic tackling stuff on his own because he was a kid and needed to grow up more--did that change because a few years have passed, or because he has his own "team" now? I know there was a timeskip between Sonic 2 and 3 (and Walters acknowledged at the end of Sonic 2 that Sonic was on their side), but I feel like G.U.N. having Team Sonic on call was a surprise--it wasn't even mentioned in the Knuckles series or anything.

At the end of Sonic 1, Maddie mentioned to Sonic that he had to go to bed early because it was a school night. Does Sonic 3 take place during summer vacation (since the weather is nice enough for camping)? I want to see these kids in school, dangit!

I don't like how Tom and Maddie act together in this movie. Tom says through his puppet that he should leave her...Tom makes eyes at the projection of the military lady...Maddie sucker punches Tom in response and he looks very much in pain... Not a healthy dynamic anymore :(

Why is Gerald alive. He is 110 years old and still moving and grooving like nothing?

So....SCU!Shadow just....straight-up wants revenge on all of humanity? Without any amnesia making him more malleable to committing planet-wide genocide?? They were torturing him with dreams of Maria's death for 50 years straight??????? He and Gerald were totally fine with ultimately being caught in the explosion, too?????????????????? How is this movie still PG

Shadow's change of heart did not feel appropriate. After 50 years of torture and being fine with the idea of nuking the planet, a single flashback would not change his mind. At least in Sonic 2, we see Knuckles gradually realizing Robotnik isn't that great of a person and how Sonic's values are good--Knuckles also wasn't TRAPPED IN A MIND PRISON FOR FIFTY YEARS STRAIGHT.

SCU!Shadow was discovered instead of created, so doesn't that make him not the "ultimate lifeform" anymore since he doesn't have a purpose? Maria isn't even sick in this version (which I think hampered any reasoning for her being at the base, especially in such top-secret areas). I guess the Biolizard doesn't exist, either? At least completely flipping his backstory to make him on Earth wanting to see the stars instead of the reverse makes sense. They didn't even explain his inhibitor rings, but he still took them off for a power boost at the end... Do the Black Arms exist???? Does The End or the Ancients???? Why DOES he look like Sonic if he wasn't modelled off his prophecy mural?

Why is SCU!Knuckles scared of ghosts if, per the Knuckles series, he regularly sees the ghost of his dead tribe leader?

Knuckles was BEST. BOY. in this movie!!!!!!!!!! Every scene he was in was perfect!!!!!!!! He knows about Pokémon! His "Don't do this!" was so wrenching, good lord. TT-TT Then he stands down?!! Then he SAVES SONIC AND TAILS FROM BEING BURNED UP IN THE EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE?!!!

Why did they leave Knuckles behind in the ark when it was actively going to explode??? He gave his last ring to Tails, so what was the plan for him??? Also, why didn't Knuckles bring Ivo with him when he leapt out? Could he not find him in time, did he think it was fine to leave him to die since he was their enemy, or did he not think of it?

Is Eggman really dead in the SCU now? I don't see how that would stick, but also how would he survive? Shadow surviving is more reasonable since he was in Super mode at the time of the explosion, and fits with the reveal of him having actually survived in his game

Glad Stone finally got thrown a bone! Though I wonder what he'll do now...

Sonic and Shadow should have gone blind staring at the sun like that, pffff

I just realized Tails is the only one in the SCU so far without a tragic backstory. Like, from Sonic 2, he kept his original backstory of just being made fun of for his tails, which is nowhere near the level of "my adoptive mom got killed in tribal warfare/my entire tribe was massacred in tribal warfare/my adoptive sister was gunned down by the government." We haven't even had any flashbacks for Tails...very strange

I know they probably amped up the wacky humor aspects for this movie to offset the body count (Maria, Commander Walters, Gerald, Ivo, Shadow-ish), but it really fell flat for me (the one-liners were still pretty good, but the comedy scenes were always too much). I rewatched Sonic 1 & 2 yesterday to prep for 3, and I was laughing throughout both of them. They could have leaned more into the seriousness of the content like the masterpiece that was Kung Fu Panda 2

The SCU is now facing the Steven Universe Problem: the stakes are too high for regular shenanigans. Sonic 2 was perfect because everything was still personal and surrounding the ultimate plotline of Sonic integrating into familial life on Earth, but now things are too big. We already had Maddie and Tom abandoned at the beginning of the movie, and they felt forced into the plot compared to the smooth fusion of the A and B plot of the Sonic 2 wedding (the location of the Master Emerald even happened to be within visible distance of the wedding site) and left almost immediately after Tom got wrecked (also, why did Tom have a broken arm instead of broken ribs or something after getting socked square in the trunk by Shadow?). I really hope they have more family stuff going on in Sonic 4, otherwise they're going to make Tom and Maddie feel completely irrelevant

I knew the Knuckles series was canon, but it still pained me extremely to see Wade being appointed the guardian of the Master Emerald because I hate him

Minor nitpick: Tom should have mentioned his brothers in Sonic 2 when he was saying he wanted Sonic to have a team/wingmen. The reveal that he has brothers seems out of left field since we're three movies in and we just found that out

AMY CONFIRMED! How is Metal Sonic a thing if Ivo is dead, though? Why did they not just have her be the catalyst for Shadow remembering his real promise to Maria like she was originally? They introduced both Tails and Knuckles in Sonic 2, so why did they save her for Sonic 4 and make Shadow's backstory so weird instead?

Keanu Reaves did a much better job with Shadow's voice than the current, sneering Batman wannabe one from the games

Overall, the movie felt a bit disjointed, fell back into Sonic 1's trap of telling instead of showing (particularly the heart-to-hearts), and left me with more questions than answers. 7/10 on my first watch (Sonic 1 = 8/10 told instead of showed and had some bad acting from the humans; Sonic 2 = 9/10 hilarious, but needed more Knuckles and the pivonka scene dragged a bit; Knuckles series = 3/10 desperately needed more Knuckles)

[handercover]

Things feel slow in the apartment lately, but Tom doesn't mind that at all. Maybe he even likes that. For once he isn't fearing a storm brewing, he feels like he's drifting in a calm sea actually, peacefully swayed by the waves

A peaceful sea where Han would joke too much and Salem would cling to him, but he wouldn't have it in any other way. His own little corner of world away from the chaos that is generally his workplace, a hectic workplace that often takes him away from the peace of his apartment for days on end

But in that stillness Tom found himself... Developing a new habit

"Stop poking my damn stomach." Huffs Han swatting Tom's hand away as she takes a sip from her mug, he scoffs, smiling smugly behind his own mug "Will you stop poking my sides then?"

She gasps, outraged "How dare you even imply that, I would never!" "You poke my side every time we pass by at work, at home, and sometimes you even wake me up booping my noise... Did I miss something?" He points out rather casually, Salem jumping in his lap for cuddles "I also do that to get your attention whenever you get distracted." She hums

Tom smirks in amusement at that, a small victory in his eyes as she adds that "So you're guilty." She huffs again "Idiot..."

Tom lives for the slow days lately.

Han wouldn't know but Tom indulges in his new habit rather often... Namely when she's asleep. It relaxes him deeply just draping himself over her back, wrapping his arms around her, laying his head on her stomach if she falls asleep sitting slightly up...

All he needs is an excuse really, and he's determined, very determined... Which means most times he's using Han as his personal pillow when she doesn't know

It's a lazy day, or at least that's what Tom pretends it is... Just another day, he never liked his own birthday anyway

In the past it reminded him of his own mortality, then of his lonely life, at some point he actually liked it. But now that he's a grown adult paying taxes and with a job it's just another day, another day people like to celebrate... A day he'd rather just lay in bed and sleep with the two things he tolerates most, Except Salem is sleeping in some quiet corner of the apartment and Han is snoring already

And Tom? Tom is relishing in the occasion to just soak some warmth like a damn lizard

He sighs contently as he holds Han, burying his face in the juncture of her neck and shoulder, his legs tangled with hers as his chest presses against her back. For a moment he feels content and the bonus point is that Han won't call him out on this... But then he frowns "Hey, are you awake?" he murmurs quietly, thinking Han is awake

For a moment everything is quiet, and he almost thinks he just imagined it when he frowns again. With a huff he hovers over her, his arms on her sides, but Han is sleeping peacefully... Too peacefully to be faking it, he grabs her hand gently but... Yeah she's sleeping as a rock

Tom blinks, silent for a few seconds before laying back down and dragging Han back in his arms, feeling petty he decides to just poke her stomach... But it's not a long victory because soon enough he's confused yet again. This time he doesn't move, he just presses down on Han's stomach, his confusion turning into...

"What the fuck"

This has been in my drafts for... Months I think?

Insert that one "asked the man whom is the father of my kids what are we and he said we just bros" meme, idk I imagine Han is a dumbass to the point she wouldn't know she's expecting until surprise now you've got a child (with a man who was seeing how long it took for her to notice) (a man who probably said one kid first, then four, then until he gets a daughter lmao) (man plans to have an army of kids to bully Han at some point)

Maybe I'm having too much fun with this

[sillychatonnoir]

Mr. Bug and Cait Sith AU | Part III

Madame and Monsieur Dupain-Cheng got the whole story just like they asked. From the very beginning to the end, they needed to know where they were standing before going to see their sweet daughter in the hospital.

"This is not your fault, Adrien," Sabine says at the end. Seeing how much the whole situation was killing him, she only remembers the blonde guy looking so miserable after his father died.

"With all due respect, Sabine," He starts, long gone were the formal treatment, they are family. "It is, I should've never allowed this to happen. It was my duty as the black cat, her partner, I failed..."

"This is not the moment for self-loathing, Adrien." Viperion finally speaks again. He had been silent for the last minutes, but he is getting tired of the new guardian putting all the blame on himself. "If anything, this is Chrysalis' fault, not yours."

"I must agree with snake boy," Tom supports. "You did everything you could, son."

Luka feels weird being called snake boy. For a second, he even forgot he was transformed. After a short reflection, he decided it would do more harm than good to keep his identity a secret "Sass, scales rest."

"Now, I really need to sit down," Tom says in disbelief, quickly looking for the couch to do as he said, pale.

"This is certainly a lot to process, but it makes so much sense." Sabine reflects about the sudden revelation. "Why of you made such weird excuses and..."

"I understand, but now we need to talk about what we're going to do about Marinette." Luka pets Sass and gives him a little snack to help him recharge a little before transforming again."For starters, we need to show up as Viperion and Mr. Bug because we are the ones who she saw first, to give her some sense of familiarity".

"And also there's what we're telling her about her life, she can't know she was Ladybug, for her own safety" Adrien looks like he doesn't want to continue what he is saying "And, I'm sorry, Luka, but I think we shouldn't tell her about our relationship with her".

"What?!" The snake holder snaps, turning to see Adrien so fast that it's a miracle he didn't break his neck.

"Don't look at me like that! This is not easy for me either!" The blond combs his hair anxiously "But she doesn't love us, Luka, she doesn't even know who we are! What if she can't-- I don't want to pressure her into feeling something just because she is supposed to, because of what she was before".

"Adrien, I love you, but this is nonsense," Luka tries to find support "Please, someone tell him this is a bad idea".

"Luka, dear, I'm sorry, but we're as lost as you right now, if not more" The have barely processed that their sweet daughter has been Ladybug this whole time, and her charming boyfriends were superheroes too, not to mention the memory loss, it's simply too much for them.

"I think it's stupid," Plagg declares. "But you might want to sit if you're waiting for this kitten to listen to my advice."

"I think we ssshould all calm down" Sass tried to mediate "We mussst think about what's best for Marinette, just like Master Fu before her, she's in a vulnerable state right now".

"Tikki?" Luka's last resort, when he sees her expression he feels like the worst person in the whole world just for asking.

"I think you should be careful, do not tell her everything in one go," the goddess of creation seems absent "She’s easy to overwhelm."

There's silence, heavy, uncomfortable.

"Let's go to the hospital. She is waiting for us." Luka feels defeated.

"We'll talk about this better at home, I promise" Adrien caresses his cheek before calling for his transformation "Tikki, spots on".

"Sass, scales slither".

[loomimoosh]

Ok I'm going to say this out loud because I can't include it in my rewrite because of the way I've butchered the family tree but

Squilf should have gotten with Rainwhisker.

Look, let me lay this out.

Sootfur dies during the badger attack and Squirrelflight is the one who has to break the news to Rainwhisker. He says he'll talk to Sorreltail about it, but he appreciates her trying to save his brother even though it was too late. He opens up a little about losing their mother to badgers as well, and thanks her for trying to help Sootfur, but knows it was too late for anyone to have done anything.

In the coming moons, Rainwhisker is plagued by thoughts of badgers. He had lost his mother and his brother to them. His sister was poisoned by someone who, if you consider the canon family tree, would have been their half brother, a person who later killed their father. Rainwhisker himself was attacked by an owl in his youth. It's easy to see how he could have become convinced that the world was against him.

Squirrelflight has been struggling, herself. Being batted between two toms who are both increasingly bad for her, not being able to help her sister, all of ThunderClan struggling to settle into their new home...Squirrelflight has learned that she thrives on helping others. And here's someone who she tried to help and failed, and now he's suffering for it. Tossing and turning in his sleep, scared of his own shadow, trying his hardest every day and still coming out worse for it.

They're both struggling, is what I'm saying. And they could find some comfort in each other. They're both good cats, if a little spunky. And having someone be nice to her after all the nonsense Brambleclaw and Ashfur have put her through could really help Squirrelflight. They don't have to collide fast. Just enough to consider each other as trustworthy.

They could be friends. Coworkers, at least.

They fill their days with service, trying to build a life after a tumultuous move. Everyone has lost. Everyone is struggling. They're no different, no more special than anyone. So they both, individually, put that aside. Everyone else seems to be doing the same. If nothing else, it gets her mind off her relationship issues.

And then Leafpool approaches Squirrelflight. Leafpool is pregnant. She doesn't have to say who, Squirrelflight knows. But this is bad. Even after the messiness, no one would understand like Squirrelflight does. It was a brief moment of insecurity that is now having consequences. Leafpool is scared.

All Squirrelflight wants to do is help. But she can't take the kits without a father. She's seen how Daisy and her kits are treated. These kits deserve a normal life, free from the judging gaze of their peers. A good, loving family. Squirrelflight can give them that. But they need to be ThunderClan.

Leafpool insists; it can't be Brambleclaw. She has her own reasons, and Squirrelflight isn't sure she agrees with those reasons, but she'll agree to the stipulation. It's the one demand Leafpool makes. And Squirrelflight knows her sister. She knows how scared she is. She wouldn't even dare ask if it wasn't important enough. If the choice is Brambleclaw or the nightmare that comes with revealing the truth, she'd rather take the latter. And that alone is enough for Squirrelflight to agree to it.

But she doesn't think she can trust Ashfur, either. Not after what he did. Not after Hawkfrost.

Someone she can trust. Someone who understands the struggle of wanting to do anything to help your sibling, and not being able to do enough.

Her mind goes to him.

And so she asks. Carefully, as to not reveal the game. But she asks how he would feel about something like that. If she needed a favor, would he help? If she needed a fall guy, would he do it?

He's a little scared. He won't give a clear answer. There's something big she's not telling him.

But he promises that she can trust him. He just needs to know.

Her words are his secret. He'll take it to his grave. But he can't promise more if he doesn't know the promise he's making.

And so she tells him. In a moment of weakness, she tells him.

Leafpool, Crowfeather, the kits, everything. She feels vile telling this secret to anyone. But he listens, and he takes it. He takes it all to heart.

And it excites him, honestly.

The idea of being a father. Of having someone else to love. He's lost all but one of his favorite people. There's nothing he'd love more than being a dad, honestly. And he'd protect them, and he'd love them, and he would take every burden he could off her shoulders, if nothing more than for the love of being the father he never truly had.

He wants to do this.

And that's the thing that gets her the most. It's no longer that she's asking him to do this, to make a sacrifice for her and her sister. Now, he's begging her to let him love these little things he's never met, who haven't even been born.

And it's done.

And something happens to him. This idealized life he has in his head becomes his reality. He spends time with her, every day, talking and doting and being so excited about this. She knows it's because she's the only one he can talk to about this. But it's a good show. Whispers start to pop up. Natural whispers.

She's not even the one who's pregnant, but the show fits the narrative so well that no one questions it. Save two. But he becomes a different cat when they're involved. He stands up to Brambleclaw, taking the heat for her. He upstages Ashfur, showing her genuine kindness detached from romance.

And when the time comes, he goes with them. Sees the faces of his kits on day one as they wiggle at Leafpool's belly. It's unconventional, but it's his.

It's no small miracle that one of them is the same cloudy gray that Sootfur was. Another the same dark shade that Darkstripe was, and her and the third, a little golden kit, both have the fur that he does, the kind that squares the face and broadens the shoulders.

They're perfect.

When the six return to camp, Rainwhisker keeps his word. He loves them like his own, and no one questions a thing. Sorreltail coos that Hollykit looks so much like him, reminding them of their mother.

And Jaykit has his eyes.

And when the others whisper about those eyes, call him broken, Rainwhisker is quick to shut the whispers down. He doesn't let the words linger.

When Jaykit begins to echo them, he reassures his little warrior. No one, not even Jaykit himself, will say those words to his son.

Their relationship is just a show, Squirrelflight is painfully aware. But day by day, she starts to see him. Past the pain and misery and loss is a cat whose life has been in the name of love. And he's strong, and sweet, and he does everything for others. Wouldn't let her suffer a day in her life if he had the choice.

It's starting to feel less like a show.

And when Jaypaw is apprenticed to Brightheart, Squirrelflight knows he's right to be insulted. Firestar sees them both differently.

But not Rainwhisker. And he's quick to say as much. Telling Jaypaw he knows Brightheart is a good mentor. A fantastic hunter, a thorough thinker, and a kind soul.

She and Cloudtail had trained him, after all. It's only fitting for his son to be her apprentice, too.

It makes Jaypaw feel better, even just a little. Like he's not as broken as the others say. Rainwhisker sees past all that.

He has a way with words. An honest way. A good heart, a warm smile. It's not just pretty words he says. He's so genuine in what he says.

Squirrelflight starts to wonder if those pretty words he tells her are more true than she believed.

She feels lucky to have had him in her life.

She wonders if it's too late to ask him to stand beside her.

[bomberqueen17]

Liveblogging the Aubreyad: HMS Surprise pt 2

Yeah yeah i really wasn't going to do this but I had to split it. We left our heroes limping toward Bombay in a broken-kneed Surprise with every last rat eaten and scurvy breaking out again and their dead reckoning so far out that it's telling them they should be in the Himalayas. (The master on this ship is not a gifted navigator.) But Jack knows math now, and consulting with Tom Pullings who has been here before [see the breakout running tally section] they make their landfall dead on, and reach Bombay. The Admiral there immediately removes Lt. Hervey to promote him, but by recompense gives Jack free run of the naval storeyards, so they can repair the Surprise.

And there's somebody ostensibly in Bombay, who doesn't know they're coming.

Stephen goes ashore and goes native, delighting in the city's diverse ways of life, and is adopted by a young street kid named Dil, who takes it upon herself to make sure he does not come to harm.

He finds Diana quite by coincidence. It had been said that she and Canning were traveling and would be out of town until the 17th, and this rumor had reached Jack, but she had grown bored and ridden home early, so she sees him in a crowd, is astonished and delighted, and tells him he must come to her house. He does so, they talk, she confesses unhappiness in her situation here-- Canning is violently jealous, the other women all refuse to see her socially, there is vicious gossip. Stephen asks her to marry him. She is so shocked she turns him down. He is completely shattered by this.

Canning walks in as they are still talking, and Stephen cannot tell how much he heard. He acts friendly enough but not quite right. He must suspect Stephen's motives.

Stephen goes back to his lodgings, finds out Jack has been furiously trying to make him come back on board for several days. Jack wants them to leave so that Stephen won't see Diana, it's clear, and has been relentlessly driving his people through the repair and refit of the Surprise to make it happen. But Stephen declines to return with the messenger, and goes out to tie up his various bits of business.

He finds his little street kid dead, so he pays for her funeral, and sits by the pyre until it's gone.

Meanwhile the new 1st lieutenant comes aboard-- Stourton, who had previously been in a floating hell ship under a flogging captain, obliged to carry out that kind of discipline. Jack knows this and doesn't make the mistake he did with Parker of trying to be subtle-- he immediately tells Stourton explicitly that the Surprise almost never flogs and he won't stand for trivial hard-horse bullshit. Stourton is inexpressibly relieved, and proves to be a thoroughly decent and competent chap. He is leery of Pullings, who he is painfully aware he is supplanting (precedence of lieutenants depends entirely on seniority in the service, not seniority in the ship)-- and Pullings it was who did all of the exhausting, driving work of the refit, of course-- but Tom is such a nice kid that he never so much as looks at Stourton cross-eyed, because he never would.

Stephen shows up finally, and Jack is ready to be furious with him, but at his obviously devastated, gray aspect, Jack wisely says nothing. A little later he endeavors to cheer Stephen up by taking him into the foretop and showing him where he carved his initials on the cap as a midshipman. Stephen is touchingly delighted by the view.

Jack writes to Sophie; they could live modestly in a charming little cottage, if only Jack can get free of the last of this debt which he surely can in short order. Pullings knows about the earth and advised him on gardens, they could live like that, surely, living off the land in deep frugality. It pleases him to imagine it. (He also mentions Babbington being on the sick-list but does not elaborate that it is because of venereal disease acquired in Bombay. Time for an update to that young man's running tally...)

The envoy has a medical crisis. Stephen says they must get to solid land within 24 hours. “Pulo Batak, sir,' said Pullings at once, touching the coast of Sumatra with the dividers. 'Inside Pulo Batak. We watered there twice in the Lord Clive, both coming and going.” which means another update to that tally as well.

Tom is given more or less complete control, and as part of the approach he has to anchor them in deeper water than Jack has ever anchored in, against a very powerful ebb tide, and Jack is dubious but believes in Pullings's seamanship. Pullings claims confidence but is horribly nervous about it. Babbington comes and cheers him up supportively, which earns his gratitude.

Alas, alas: they make it to land, and land the envoy, and set up to operate on him, but he does not survive long enough. Mr. Stanhope dies at 3am from, well, a medical person could probably make it out but the terms Stephen uses are incomprehensible to me.

They put back to sea-- homeward bound now, there's no reason to continue to Kampong, as they have no envoy now. Their mission is ended. And they soon encounter the East India Company's China fleet, bound for the very long haul to England.

Pullings takes the littlest midshipman, Church, up into the tops to behold the riches of the Orient-- six million pounds or more, in that convoy. He also tells Church that if he is careless in his speech the Captain will nail his ears to a plank and cast him adrift in the ocean, solemnly attesting that he saw the captain do this to no less than three young gentlemen in the Med.

(Pullings made two voyages in the Lushington, apparently, which brings his tally up to an improbable eight. I don't think Pullings is meant to be lying about the Indiamen, despite him practicing on Church's credulity about the young men cast adrift, but he has to have been in some sort of chronological anomaly to do this.)

The China fleet has seen them, and signals them to come aboard to dine. Officers in the East India Company are well-paid and eat well; they are fond of the Navy, if a bit self-conscious in an inferiority-complex kind of way-- the proper long-haul Indiamen are designed to look as much like men-of-war as possible, to deter piracy and privateers, and there's a bit of mutual friction on the whole between the merchant and martial fleets. But Jack isn't given to that sort of thing, and Pullings is very well-disposed toward them, so they have a lovely dinner, all the young pretty women in the fleet having been signaled to come aboard to make up the numbers ("repeat: young, repeat: pretty"), and all the officers being eager to make a good impression.

Young Church eats so much his dining companion is afraid he might hurt himself. The ladies withdraw, and Babbington makes a pretext to follow them of course. Upon their return to the ship, Church hurries down to the midshipmen's berth to eat a second dinner.

The wonderful outcome of this meeting is that they offload most of the envoy's suite into the Indiamen, which can provide much more luxurious accomodations. This frees up a ton of space in Surprise and also rids them of the obnoxious Atkins.

They have not long parted ways with the China fleet when they sight sails again-- in his haste to report, Babbington trips and sprawls headlong at Jack's feet, and Jack tells him this is carrying deference too far. But the upshot is that these sails are the French-- Linoir's squadron, very clearly on the hunt for the China fleet, who would be a delicious fat prize for them and is the main incentive for them to haunt these waters.

Surprise must try to lure the French away, then double back to report to the China fleet so there is time for them to defend themselves. Linoir has four ships, most of them far too large for Surprise to hope to defeat. Jack gets up to his favorite kinds of capers, rigging a drag sail so the ship can be seen to be cracking on while remaining eminently catchable-looking, and other things to lure them to chase thinking they'll be able to catch and take him without imperiling their search for the China fleet.

In the course of the chase (Jack repeats a move he used unsuccessfully against Linois in the Mediterranean, doubling back to dart between two pursuing ships, and is this time more successful), they close with a small corvette, the Berceau, which fights them far more aggressively and gallantly than they expect, taking shocking damage. Jack has had Babbington rig one of the large sails so that it can be let go suddenly (though secretly will land without harm), to pretend the Berceau shot it away, to give them more reason to limp and look tempting, luring the Frenchmen on thinking they could catch him. Babbington makes a great show of this, with tremendous flair and style and the enjoyment of all the hands involved who love a caper, and they also make a fire amidships in one of the kitchen coppers with slush and tow to burn very smokily, everyone acting panicked and running around shouting and hollering.

They keep up their capers until dark, and then change direction rapidly and crack on to reach the fleet, but Jack knows Linois and does not assume the intelligent, experienced admiral will necessarily be fooled. But they did their best, and he turns in.

Indeed Linoir guessed at their capers, and had sent one brig northwards in case the Surprise doubled back that way, so they are spotted near-immediately. But it did divert the main body of Frenchmen, giving them enough time for Surprise to come up with the China fleet well in advance of the French approach, and Jack immediately calls in all of the Indiamen's captains for a council of war. They do have guns, they can fight, and if they organize themselves strategically, they have a real hope of fending Linoir off-- out here the French do not have ready access to resupply, and if any of the French ships are badly damaged they will not be able to repair them. Jack firmly believes that if they puff themselves up enough, if they act sharp and aggressive, the French will not engage, or will be driven off by a determined resistance.

He is incredibly nice to the merchant captains, very respectful of them, lays out all the amiability he can muster to keep from offending them, because he knows what a situation this is. Were he not there, the fastest of them would probably run, and would probably escape, leaving the weaker ones to be snapped up-- but it is some of these faster ships that he has to implore to stay against their immediate best interests and help defend the others, in hopes of a good outcome for all. It's a hard sell, but the fleet's commodore, Captain Muffit of the Lushington, speaks eloquently in Jack's favor, and convinces the other captains. The fleet divides up into a leeward squadron of the smaller, weaker ships that will sail as far away as they can to try to get well out of reach of the French, and a windward squadron that will form a line of battle, the largest among them being given as much help as possible to look like real Royal Navy ships. Jack strips his quarter-deck, sending even his purser to one of the ships, as the man is an avid seaman and can point a gun beautifully despite that not being his job-- and very delicately makes offerings such as all his officers' spare coats for the captains of the Indiamen chosen for disguise to wear, man-of-war pendants and blue ensigns for the ships-- it is illegal for them to endeavor to deceive in this manner on their own account, but with Jack there to countenance it, this is technically legal, but it is hard to overcome their resistance.

But he does, and their commodore, Muffit of the Lushington, had liked him from the start and is very cooperative.

“I admire the regularity of your line, sir,' said Jack. 'The Channel fleet could not keep station better.' 'I am happy to hear you say so,' said Muffit. 'We may not have your heavy crews, but we do try to do things seaman-like. Though between you and me and the binnacle,' he added in a personal aside, 'I dare say the presence of your people may have something to do with it. There is not one of us would not sooner lose an eye-tooth than miss stays with a King's officer looking on.”

The ruse initially works; the windward ships, fifteen of the big long-haul Indiamen, form a proper line of battle, wearing in succession with snappy Royal Navy promptness, three of them very convincingly disguised as frigates down to Jack's second-best coat on the captain on the quarterdeck of one of them (Pullings recognizable to Jack on the quarterdeck of the Lushington solely by his huge grin), and the French decline the engagement that first day, sailing away for the night in an obvious attempt to beat up overnight to get the weather-gage so they can control the engagement on the morrow.

They do, but a swell rises, which Jack had hoped for-- it means the French cannot accurately point their guns at long range, which will spare the English ships a distant hammering to which they cannot reply.

The next morning the French come on, and Linois intends to break the line, which cannot be allowed to happen, pointing his flagship Marengo at the weakest point between what he has accurately guessed to be the two lightest-armed, poorest-sailing ships. The Surprise comes out ahead, alone, to engage; the Indiamen only have cannonades, which are short-range inaccurate guns, and cannot fight effectively at any range; they must stay in formation so their overlapping fields of fire can repel the French ships.

The Marengo is a 74, approximately twice Surprise's size, and she can only hope to hold her off briefly. This they do, at the cost of a shocking drubbing from Marengo's much heavier guns. All seems lost, but three of the Indiamen come off the line in a pretty manoever that lets them still reinforce one another, and they come up to hammer the Marengo from both sides, which she cannot endure, rescuing Surprise and in turn breaking the French formation. The Indiamen force Marengo to turn, and Surprise manages to give her enough of a pounding that her rigging is badly damaged and the French lose heart for the engagement-- Jack is correct, they cannot afford damage, they cannot refit, and so they turn and flee. The Indiamen chase briefly, but they are not designed for speed and Surprise is too badly damaged to sail fast, and once the French are too far to come up on the leeward ships, they turn back.

Muffit is horrified to realize how torn up the Surprise is, and offers all the help he can. Mostly, Jack just wants his officers back-- he relies on them and it was difficult to fight an action without Pullings, Babbington, and the others.

So-- he won no prizes in this engagement, took or sank no Frenchmen, but neither did the Frenchmen win a single penny from the entire China fleet, which is preserved intact. The East India Company is absolutely delighted with him, and the fleet escorts him into Calcutta victorious though inches from foundering most of the way, pumping heavily.

There the Surprise is lavishly repaired at the Company's expense, and all her people wined and dined, a purse of gratitude-money distributed among her sailors, and Canning comes and offers Jack a very delicately-put reward for himself-- freight. A Royal Navy captain that consents to carry "freight"-- necessarily small, precious items, so as to be worth the doing but not cumbersome enough to interfere with the running of the ship-- will be repaid according to a percentage of the cargo's value, and the Company has a shipment of precious stones that will answer the purpose admirably. It is more modest but far more sure than prize-money, as there is no fighting and no legal questions surrounding it.

This will be enough for Jack to meet the terms of the engagement as set out by Mrs. Williams, so he takes advantage of Canning's offer of a fast overland mail courier to send her a letter begging her to come out to Madiera and meet him there, and another letter to his friend Heneage Dundas asking him to carry her to Madiera.

Meanwhile Stephen goes to see Diana. She is in a fluster; from what she says it is clear she thinks he is only interested in taking possession of her because she is otherwise so trapped that she has no choice, and what she believes his motives to be I am unsure, but he has been at such pains to discipline himself against sentiment with her that she certainly cannot understand his feelings for her with any clarity, and he does not understand her hesitation.

“Why wait till now? Anyone would say I had brought myself so low that you could do something quixotic. Indeed, if I were not so fond of you - and I am fond of you, Maturin: you are a friend I love - I might call it a great impertinence. An affront. No woman of any spirit will put up with an affront. I have not degraded myself.' hcr chin began to pucker; she mastered it and said, 'I have not come down to… 'But in spite of her pride the tears came running fast: she bowed her head on his shoulder, and they ran down his bloom-coloured coat. 'In any case,' she said between her sobs, 'you do not really wish to marry me. You told me yourself, long ago, the hunter does not want the fox.”

Canning walks into the room and demands to know just what Stephen thinks he is doing. Stephen demands to know what Canning thinks he is doing, when anyone knows that Mrs. Canning is on her way and will arrive on the sixteenth. Where then will be your "protection" of Mrs. Villiers?

Canning is furious (he had not told Diana of this, though it had clearly been weighing on him), says Stephen has been tampering with his papers, and in a passion he strikes Stephen. Diana throws a table between them and tries to break them up, begging Stephen to take no notice of the affront; Canning runs out of the room after smashing a chair.

Stephen leaves, and then goes to the Surprise's captain of Marines to ask him to be his second in a duel.

He does not tell Jack, but instead asks him to play a duet, and they play the Boccherini in C, the best they've ever played it. Jack is delighted. And then Stephen gives him his confidential papers and asks him to dispose of them as directed, "the usual things", as he is to duel Canning in the morning. Jack is unhappy, but insists he will come along.

Stephen resolves to shoot Canning in the arm, but his aim is not what it was ever since the torture in Port Mahon. Canning fires first, striking Stephen in the ribs. Stephen staggers, puts the pistol into his other hand, changes his stance, and fires in return. His shot hits Canning in the chest, piercing either the aorta itself or his subclavian artery, and the man dies within moments. Stephen is horribly downcast, and is bandaged and driven away.

Jack takes a letter to Diana. He is coldly angry with her, blames her for the whole thing. She asks if she might come back to England in the Surprise and he tells her it is impossible. She knows this is a lie and tells him he is a scrub. He leaves.

The pistol ball is lodged in Stephen's ribcage and must be extracted. Stephen insists on performing the operation himself, and commissions the ship's armourer to make him a custom-designed extractor for the purpose.

“No, sir. I do this with my own hand.' He looked at it critically, and said, more or less to himself, 'If it could undertake the one task, it must undertake the other: that is but justice.”

Jack holds him while he performs the operation, and nearly faints at the end; he is used to wounds but the cold inhumanity of it quite unsettles him.

“Christ, Bonden,' said Jack, 'he opened himself slowly, with his own hands, right to the heart. I saw it beating there.' 'Ah, sir, there's surgery for you,' said Bonden, passing the glass. 'It would not surprise any old Sophie, however; such a learned article. You remember the gunner, sir? Never let it put you off your dinner. He will be as right as a trivet, never you fret, sir.”

Stephen is ill, feverish, for a long time. Diana comes aboard, and, told not to upset Stephen, she lies and says she simply did not think to ask Jack if she could come aboard in the Surprise, but she is happy to go in the Lushington instead, it will be just as Stephen wishes, she will see him in England, and so she leaves.

Jack sits with Stephen, who is delirious and ranting and says many, many things in many languages. Others would be happy to sit with him, Jack knows, but he has begun to understand how much of Stephen's life is confidential, and he does not wish anyone else to hear the things Stephen is saying, knowing that it would mortify Stephen to know anyone had heard them. Some of them are unkind things about Jack, many of them are about Diana. Jack is grateful on the occasions Stephen lapses into other languages, because he does not understand any of them. Jack is also deeply grateful that he can rely so thoroughly on his officers to run the ship, Pullings especially but Babbington too, because it means he can just sit and listen to Stephen's ranting and not have to expose these secrets to anyone else.

But eventually the fever breaks and Stephen progresses disagreeably (he is a truly horrible patient) through his convalescence. They go ashore on a remote island that Jack wishes to properly survey, and Stephen discovers a truly massive land tortoise unknown to science. He immediately names it after Jack (testudo Aubreii) and they take it aboard, and this turns the corner for him into recovery as he is so cheered up by it.

They are following the path the Lushington took, and hear news that the ship has passed everywhere that can have recorded said news. They reach Madiera, where Jack had written to Sophie to ask her to meet him. But she is not there. And what's more, the Lushington had touched there, and Diana disembarked from it, leaving Stephen a note in which she returned the ring he had given her. She has gone instead to America with a man named Johnson who had been trying to court her in India, there to be married to him, and she will never see Stephen again, though she will always remember him fondly.

Stephen takes this as well as can be expected-- he goes up a mountain to read it, knowing since he can feel the ring through the envelope that it is a Dear John letter, and lies there in a hollow in a rock all night, and then comes down and admits what has happened to Jack. Jack is similarly bereft, as Sophie did not come. Stephen tries to cheer Jack up-- perhaps she did not get the letter in time-- but Jack had sure news that the courier had arrived, so that cannot be the case. No, she declined to come.

So they get back on the Surprise and continue homeward, most of the ship in high delight at the prospect of home and sweethearts, but both Stephen and Jack mute and downcast.

But at night they meet two English frigates, and the second is the Ethalion captained by Heneas Dundage, who signals to Jack that he has women for him, a rather puzzling and yet heart-stopping message.

“The Surprise shot across the Ethalion's bows and rounded to under her lee. He gazed across with a look of extreme apprehension, trying to believe and to disbelieve; and Heneage Dundas called out from her quarterdeck, 'Good morning, Jack; I have Miss Williams here. Will you come across?' The boat splashed down, half-filling in the choppy sea; it pulled across; Jack leapt for the side, raced up, touched his hat to the quarterdeck, crushed Dundas in his arms, and was led to the cabin, unshaved, unwashed, wet, ablaze with joy. Sophie curtseyed, Jack bowed; they both blushed extremely, and Dundas left them, saying he would see to breakfast.”

This is notable because it might be the only time Jack hugs a man of his own volition in this entire series, I hadn't been tracking it but had noticed several notable lacks. (Anyone else who is reading these please do send me examples I've missed, as I said I wasn't looking for it! Tangent: Jack is canonically bad at sex but would probably be amazing at hugs don't you think?? We'll get to that in Yellow Admiral.)

Jack has a parson aboard and offers to marry Sophie right now, but she declines, she has promised her mother to marry at home in the local church.

And so they set off for home.