#these are regular turtles but i might as well tag these:

[pizzazz-party]

Day twenty seven. Why yes, I do think I’m hilarious.

[ecargmura]

Pokemon Horizons Episode 32 Review - Lapras and Lucius

I’m a bit divisive over this episode, honestly. On one hand, there are good aspects of this episode that I liked. On the other hand, there are things that are nagging at me a lot. Sit down, relax and let me explain the good and the bad of this episode.

The good was the entire Ludlow sequence. That man is a crazy sailor and knows how to pilot a ship. This makes sense as the Brave Asagi used to be his small fishing boat, after all. Seeing Chansey rolling around and Murdock sliding on each side was a treat to see. I do hope that a Ludlow backstory episode will be shown one day; I’d love to learn what sort of person he was in the past for him to be just a regular fisherman now. The part where his Quagmire used Surf was great. I think the last time I saw Surf used efficiently was back at the Tag-Team Tournament in the DP era. 

I think the part where Diana asks Liko and Roy whether Lapras is good or bad for stealing food was nice. To humans, what Lapras is doing might be bad, but for Lapras and its friends, they’re doing it to survive. Good and bad are not applicable in Pokemon’s standards. It’s either survive or die. I do like that sort of nuanced writing.

I also liked the part where Lucius finally makes his debut. His face is fully shown and he looks like a male version of Liko in a way. The memories his Pokemon have of him end with him going to Rakua and promising that he won’t die and would come back—but he never did. That was why Lapras was upset; that was also why Galarian Moltres was upset at the time. It just builds up the mystery behind what Rakua is and why Lucius never came back. Regarding Lucius, he’s either a direct ancestor of Liko, or related to by another of Lucius’s family. He’s voiced by Daisuke Namikawa, who also voices Dot’s Quaxly.

For the bad parts of the episode, I do feel like the whole Lapras portion was a bit hastily written. Lapras did fight off the Rising Volt Tacklers by freezing their boat, but afterwards, Liko, Roy and Friede just showed up at its base and after some convincing and seeing the flashback with Lucius, it goes along with Liko. I honestly thought it would be more reluctant than this. I do feel like these hero Pokemon go along with Liko so quickly that it doesn’t feel unearned. Well, in the case of Arboliva, they helped out with the forest, which earned its trust. But for Galarian Moltres and Lapras, it just meets Terapagos, thinks about Lucius and then tags along. It makes me wonder if there will be a hero Pokemon that will be harder to convince to come later on. I’d like to see that, honestly. I want to see multiple attempts of the group trying to convince a Hero Pokemon to come with them, but they are so doubtful of their intentions.

Though, I do admit that giving them food was the best thing to convince Lapras to join. I just want to know how Lapras ended up in that situation; did it get those scars before or after its awakening? Since Horizons focus more on the people part of the Pokemon world rather than the Pokemon, I guess Lapras’s scars will remain a mystery.

The Terapagos’s adventure segment has the little turtle explore the basement of the ship where Fuecoco and the other wild Pokemon sleep. It has cute interactions with all of them but Fuecoco especially. It’s nice to see Terapagos interact with the starters but still try to maintain their personalities.

Now that Shiny Rayquaza has shown up, I do wonder what’s going to happen. The next episode’s preview has it that Amethio is fighting the dragon with Ceruledge; all I know is that Rayquaza is going to wipe the floor with Ceruledge. It was nice knowing you, Ceruledge. What are your thoughts on this episode?

[pecharuntspeachwine]

Big Kieran Headcanon Post

now that I’ve played the entire DLC as of recent

(Pt 1?? I have a bunch of headcanons for a bunch of characters so I might make a series for each of them)

gif - gif

🩷 - AUTISM. Everyone sees it coming so we’re getting it out of the way. This is one of the most autistic coded characters I’ve ever seen since Donatello from Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He DESPERATELY needs to get a diagnosis. And some aripiprazole, maybe. You’ll see quite a few autism related headcanons in here.

🍎 - Sibling mischief. When your ace Pokémon is a group of dragons stuck in a huge apple. Not just a regular apple. But an apple made ENTIRELY of syrup? There have been many such cases of Carmine getting chased by a very sticky-handed Kieran.

🩷 - On topic of hands, one of the way he stims or fidgets is biting. Which ends up with him gnawing on his fingers. He also sucks on his thumb, and he HATES IT when people point it out or comment on it. It makes him feel very embarrassed. Autism counts as a developmental disability, it is something he’s just never grown out of. (I am autistic myself, do not use this or any other headcanons to baby autistic traits in the tags)

🍎 - High-leaning support needs, can manage himself fairly well but still needs frequent support from others.

🩷 - After Indigo Disk, he still experiences outbursts and breakdowns at times. That doesn’t just go away like magic, you know. The others try their best to keep an eye on him and make sure he’s safe throughout his recovery.

🍎 - He looks like a cat to me, and this has resulted in me thinking his Incineroar sees him as a Litten. That’s its baby. Unfortunately, this results in people seeing Kieran with rather messy hair sometimes. It’s kind of hard to get a 5’11”, 183 pound muscle cat off of you when it’s VERY intent on “cleaning” your hair.

🩷 - His Furret is a shiny. To me. And its name is Shortcake. To me. Wow he really caught a shiny one (1) time and lost every single bit of luck for the rest of his life huh (I’m joking I’m joking I’m joking I’m jo)

🍎 - Since he didn’t have Dipplin until later on in Teal Mask, I’d like to think it just hadn’t evolved yet. Instead, I’d like you to imagine the imagery of Kieran carrying a little Applin around for a majority of Teal Mask. Either in his hands, on his head, in his bag, or on his shoulder.

Also, its name is “Appy Slice”, which later becomes “Appy Slices” once it evolves. He named it when he was little and gets embarrassed the entirety of the Indigo Disk arc when he tries to cover it up with something like “Kaiju” or “Behemoth” only for it to not respond. (And then respond when someone says its actual name)

🩷 - This headcanon varies between these two for me, but I could see him having BPD or Bipolar Disorder. If you were to interpret Indigo Disk as a manic episode, or even splitting on himself and others. (people who demonize bpd and bipolar or any disorder are not welcome here)

🍎 - Quite subtle speech impediment, but it gets more noticeable when he’s emotional or nervous. He used to get embarrassed when it happened, but it doesn’t bother him as much anymore :)

🩷 - In Teal Mask he has this really nice fruity or dessert like shampoo, but in Indigo Disk this boy smells like COLOGNE and AXE BODY SPRAY. LORD. 💔

🍎 - After Mochi Mayhem one of his vocal stims unfortunately became muttering “mochi mochi” to himself. This scared the fuck out of Carmine when he did it for the first time. The sibling screams and havoc ensues. Someone in the other room could hear the “CARMINE NO” shortly before he got tackled.

🩷 - During the Indigo Disk arc, he would forget to take out his scrunchie(?) before bed sometimes. He’s fairly tender headed, so much to his dismay, this resulted in some pretty bad pains in the scalp. A headache if he was unlucky.

🍎 - Oversized clothes enjoyer. It’s stated in his concept art that his uniform is oversized, plus in his dorm room there’s a gray hoodie hanging off his bed. Which makes me like to think he wears this sort of clothing even outside of his uniform.

🩷 - He loves those chocolates full of creme. Especially raspberry creme or orange creme chocolates. Those, or any chocolate filled with caramels. Cadbury eggs can be used as an example for both of these.

🍎 - He sneaks little chocolates into the pockets of those he especially likes, such as crushes or very close friends. If worried someone will be skeptical of his gift when they find it, he’ll write “Ki” on it and hope they understand.

[peanutrat20]

Welcome, to Warriors Heart

About Warriors heart

Warriors Heart is a separated au where leo and donnie get left behind when splinter escapes draxums lab (so original i know).

thing is in my au big mama actually agreed to let splinter participate in draxum's experiment. as long as she could have one of the turtles when he was done. she chose leo before the mutation so when he was left behind he was handed over to big mama while draxum kept donnie.

leo and donnie meet for the first time when they're four years old. when big mama comes to draxum asking him to train leo to fight. they spend as much time as possible together when leo comes over for training after that.

two years later leo fights in the nexus for the first time. he wins. but he was so censored to the nexus fights before that he doesn't realize what that means until too late. he runs off to draxum's where donnie sits with him while he breaks down.

while donnie is sitting calming leo down draxum goes to have a chat with big mama. upon his return he tells donnie he has to leave immediately. tells him to find splinter and the rest of his brothers.

unsurprisingly donnie does not want to leave. draxum tells him he has to because he is unsafe otherwise, leo will follow at a later time.

donnie reluctantly leaves. he finds splinter living in the sewers with mikey and raph. he makes himself a new home with them.

eight years later donnie still makes regular visits to the hidden city. he avoids the battle nexus and anywhere that has ties to draxum and big mama.

he has become not only an incredible scientist but a master of mystics as well. every piece of tech he builds has some kind of mystic element built in.

he has no idea what has become of leo.

until mikey joins him on an out to the hidden city and finds a flyer for the battle nexus with leo's face printed on it.

furious of the mistreatment that he can see obvious from the flyer donnie plans a heist to break leo out.

the only things he needs is the human world entrance to the nexus, and some hidden city money.

both of which he can get from his dads.

donnie gets to see draxum again, and bring leo home on the same night.

What to expect to see with this au

here on tumblr i'll be posting art, reference images, and any small stories that don't fit the main narrative.

anything written will be posted on ao3 (links will be added here as they are posted)

Want to interact with this au?

if you see Warriors Heart and decide you want to make fanart or whatever else you are 100% welcome to. there is only one rule no t//c3st besides that you can do whatever you want with my au as long as you tag me so i can see it.

i will also answer questions sent to my ask box about Warriors Heart

Other Links:

Art

first reference to WH

leo might have stabbed someone

some twins doodles

late nights with donnie and mikey

leo accidentally adopts a cat??

what could this be?? i refuse to tell

donnie's prosthetic and how he got it.. sort of

Writings

this was originally supposed to be for WH so i guess it counts

Other things

assigning witcher songs

who's up for some spoilers??? .. more spoilers because i said so

donnie's favorite snack .. and another one .. oh look more pretzels

quick! before the ref sheets come out!!!

tentative timeline

[fluffytriceratops]

Random facts about Monet. <3

Couldn’t help myself, I drew an older Monet. I love this bab so much. She deserves the world. Raph is definitely a proud papa. And Kristina feels lucky to have raised such a strong young woman. 😊❤️

I’ll be doing Nefertiri next, so stay tuned for that! ^~^

I drew this quite a while ago, I just never had the time/chance to post it. But since my job is done with, hopefully I’ll have more time to come online. See my pinned post for more details hehe. There’s quite a bit that went down the past couple weeks. I’m on vacation rn, so I won’t have a ton of time, but I’ll come on when I can! Expect to see a lot of spam from me because my notifications are overflowing— I’m talking way over 500 lol. So if I accidentally missed something you tagged me in, I apologize profusely. 😫 (also I am in no way trying to brag or anything about how many notifications I have, if it felt or seemed like that I’m sorry that’s not my intention I’m just trying to explain why I might miss something someone wanted me to see— 😅)

Tags: @thelaundrybitch @rheawritesforfun @digitl-art-monstr @turtle-babe83 @leosgirl82 @post-apocalyptic-daydream @mysticboombox @drowninghell @squirrelfurs @lec743 @raphslovemuffin80 @bibiz82

(If you want to be tagged in my future TMNT/Raph&Kris related posts, feel free to let me know and I’ll happily add you!)

Have a wonderful day/night! Sending all the virtual hugs to you!! <333

—

- She was named after Claude Monet, a famous French painter.

- She is super strong, like really freaking strong. (Mystic power strong?) She can take a hit and she can deliver one too. When sparring with her sister (Nefertiri) she has to continuously remind herself to take it easy and not use her strength to its fullest. Otherwise she could accidentally really hurt her. This probably goes for other family members as well, especially those that are human and can’t really handle the brunt of her attacks when she is using 100% of her strength.

- Monet loves her strength but sometimes she’s scared she’ll accidentally hurt someone. (Something that’s happened on a few occasions, especially when she’s upset/angry or overly excited, she tends to forget how strong she really is) so she usually dials her strength down a lot if she can remember to. One of her biggest fears is to accidentally go too far and really hurt someone she cares for.

- Definitely a secret softy. Very few people in her inner circle have seen this side of her. It’s not something she’s comfortable with sharing. However, a lot of her family and friends knows she’s like this. She just heavily denies it. (Classic Raphael move hehe)

- She has anger issues and they only get worse the older she gets. She can be very violent and sometimes needs a reminder to take a step back and breathe. This is usually given to her by one of her family members.

- She is not afraid to put anyone in their place. She will speak her mind, no matter the consequences. Her bark is just as big as her bite. Monet is brutally honest and has a hard time keeping her mouth shut. She will snark the shit out of someone and loves a good banter. She loves to poke fun and tease people and doesn’t mind it if they do so in return.

- Please challenge her to an arm wrestling battle or spar with her. She loves it and will forever be your friend.

- Hates bitter and overly spicy or sour foods. She has an enormous sweet tooth. Loves baked goods, chocolates and candies. (All except the sour ones) Also prefers cold foods/drinks over hot ones. For example, iced coffee over hot coffee. Or milk/boba teas over regular hot tea.

- A good way to get on her good side is by bringing/making her something sweet. Whether you bake her some cookies or buy her a boba tea. Whatever. She might not show it right away, but she would be very grateful and happy about it.

- Loves to pull jokes and prank people, especially with her cousin Noa ( @rheawritesforfun ‘s OC).

- Monet is obsessed with horror/gore. She loves the genre, they’re always her favourite movies/books/video games. Halloween is her favourite Holliday. She goes all out for it. Candy and horror? That’s her shit! And it’s one of the only times she gets to be out on the surface. Which is awesome.

- Second favourite Holliday is April fools/Loki day. Everyone dreads the first of April because they know it’s about to go down. She prepares months in advance and anyone and everyone she knows will be suffering from her pranks. No matter who you are or how old you may be. No one if safe on that day. She goes all out.

- Bares her teeth at people often. Monet has sharp canines like her father, and sometimes they poke out of her mouth. But when she’s angry or in a bad mood, she will bare her teeth threateningly at people. Especially when she’s fighting.

- Queen of resting bitch face. Even when she’s in a good mood she’ll look the opposite.

- Often tells people to go fuck off or to go fuck themselves. Her mum hates her potty mouth, but Monet loves to curse/swear. She likes to come up with weird or creative comebacks too.

- Just like her mother, she is not the best singer. She’s definitely better than Kristina is, maybe even average? But she wouldn’t consider herself as someone with a good/great singing voice.

- Shows her affection with actions rather than words. Doesn’t hug often, but she will give head pats (or ruffle someone’s hair) as signs of her love and adoration. Same thing goes for fist bumps and secret hand shakes n stuff. If she is more physical with someone, they better not mention it because she’ll most likely immediately pull away and brush them off out of embarrassment. If someone continuously teases her about it, she’d snap angrily and storm off.

- Monet will get into a physical fight with someone. She tends to lash out and sometimes it can get quite aggressive. She gets better at storming off and walking away the older she gets, but it’s definitely very hard for her to do so. Her anger isn’t a party trick. It’s serious. And it’s something she battles with every day.

- She also tends to rant/vent A LOT to those she’s closest to. (Noa is definitely one of em lol) she doesn’t like to express her feelings openly to most people but she will to a select few. And those select few better be prepared for an ear full.

- HATES being bossed around and controlled. Especially if it’s involving someone she doesn’t like, or if she’s forced to do something she doesn’t want to. If it’s an order, she will do it. She’ll just bitch about it while doing so.

- Door slams are very common with Monet. And because of her strength, she has broken waaay more than anyone would care to admit. There’s a jar labeled “Monet’s doors” filled with cash from Monet because she usually has to pay for a new one. Or at least, help pay for one. It’s like a swear jar but with doors. They’ve given up on her swearing long ago hehe.

- Monet can be described as being erratic emotionally. She is daring, brave, and free spirited but she can also be quite sardonic and sarcastic. And of course, a classic rebel. She is very athletically adept, and can be quite friendly/kind to her family and friends. However, Monet is also very willful, stubborn, incredibly rude and aggressive. She is also the most relentless out of her siblings. It is her relentless ferocity that makes her such a deadly fighter.

- Monet loves to fight, wrestle, and trash the place. If there’s a brawl, she would love to join in the fight. Because of her passion for fighting, she would fight first and reflect and ask questions later.

- She can also be very cocky and competitive. When she wins games and duels against her friends and family, she will rub it in their faces, much to their dismay.

- Monet can be unpredictable, and her ferocious temper can sometimes frighten enemies even her friends/family. She can be very aggressive when trying to solve problems, even with her family and allies. Sometimes during training, Monet can get hostile, and she would do anything she can to beat her family in sparring matches. When she feels misunderstood or irritated (which unfortunately happens a lot), she tends to storm out and go topside or roam the sewers on her own. Despite the fact that her parents don’t like this considering it can be very dangerous.

- Despite all of this, she is the most loyal friend anyone could ask for. She will do anything, literally just about anything to protect those she cares for. Even if she might not ever admit it, in order to stay “badass” and “hardcore” and to protect her pride. She will do everything in her power to protect her friends and family.

- Basically she’s Raphael 2.0 (more so the other iterations, but still—).

- Because of her anger, and rebellious nature I do not believe she would be chosen to be the next leader. Whoever would be picked, she’d feel a bit resentful towards. They’d definitely have a bit of a rocky relationship. Especially if it’s a certain someone (cough cough Milo cough). (Another of @rheawritesforfun ‘s ocs). Due to their relationship already being a bit rocky lol. It’d definitely be a classic Leo vs Raph thing. And she’d probably be like “of course you’d get the role, you’re the former leaders son. I call favouritism.” Or something like that lmao. She’d defy his orders a lot, that’s for sure. Honestly, she’d defy anyones orders. Except maaaybe Noa. Cuz they’re as thick as thieves.

- Her weapon of choice would be the tetsubo. And she’d also always carry brass knuckles with her wherever she goes. Specially made to fit her hands by her wonderful uncle Donnie. She’d probably have a whole collection of them in her room somewhere. All of which she got as gifts, most likely all made by Dee. Unless she somehow got her hands on some regular human ones, then they’d only be there for decoration. Since she can’t wield them for obvious reasons. Along with the other classic side weapons the ninja carry (I.e. throwing knives, smoke bombs, grappling hook, etc.)

- Has two male pet rats named Zeus and Poseidon. They are her babies and she will die for them. And they were a gift she received from her Granpapi Splinter, and yes it was an ironic gift and she loved it for that.

- Like her ma, she also thinks Greek and Egyptian mythology is super cool. It’s one of the few things she’ll totally geek over. Another good way to get on her good side, get her to talk about it or get her a gift involving it. Even if it’s simply watching a movie with her. She’ll adore it.

[lol-q]

There’s so many things I love about the show that I haven’t seen people give enough credit for and I want to go on a little ramble because people are focusing so much on what they don’t like vs. what they do. So here’s my list. Sorry for the grammatical errors 😬

I love that the lesbian main character is this sweet, innocent, big hearted young woman and not portrayed as a overly sexual fuckboi that hits on every woman. I love that Fatou is soft and gentle. More lesbian rep like that please

I love the soundtrack. It’s exactly the type of stuff I imagine Fatou would listen to and it’s not just the top 100 hit songs.

I love that they use the soundtrack as a way to connect to the plot line, like the lyrics to the song Fatou was listening to when she was on the rooftop said “And I hate to leave you feeling all alone.But your story cannot start until you've grown. You can find how to be OK on your own. I just can't be the one that makes you feel at home” which was a hint as to where the plot was going

^^ also the song playing during Kieu My and Fatou’s museum date

I love the little mannerisms Nhungi chooses to show as Kieu My. The happy little bounce she did in ep 1 when she called out Fatou’s name and when she subtly checked Fatou out by looking her up and down.

I love how their rooms show their individual personality so well. Like Fatou’s room in the beginning of the season was normal and then it became increasingly messy as the episodes moved forward, showing her stress and chaos in her life

I love the height difference between Fatou and her brother lol

I love when her brother and her were thinking of what to get their parents so they split the bill on a gift - a very subtle way of showing siblings interacting

I love when Fatou and Ismail interact cuz it’s so funny

I love the physics teachers speaking voice, he sounds like kermit the frog

I love fatou’s eyebrows. Idk it’s just so perfect. Give me tips plz

I love that the characters rewear clothing. And it’s not a show where every episode is a new outfit with new clothes. Very realistic and it always bothered me when teens on highschool on tv have new clothes every episode

I love that Fatou’s original bio on tinder was “wanna cuddle?”. I feel like that girl would rather cuddle with someone than win the lottery. She’s so soft (also why did it say she was 24 in ep 2 when she was on tinder lol)

I love that the show showed the struggles of coming from a bilingual family and being the only one that struggles to speak it. When fatou was talking to her grandparents with her brother and her brother had to translate for her and it was awkward af, I felt that. I’m the youngest in my family and I struggle to speak Tagalog so people have to translate for me sometimes and it sucks.

^^ I relate to fatou so much in that scene cuz the dynamic in my family is the same as Fatou’s. My parents lay off and let me and my brother do our thing unless there’s an indication we need their help. The only time I ever spoke about school with my family was when report cards would come and they would see my grades weren’t that good. I remember my mom seeing I had a D in middle school and automatically jumping to conclusiosn without letting me speak. My brother is academically successful and he would also try and get me to do more school stuff when I was younger. Like he would make me do math problems to help with my grades. So it’s all very relatable for me

I love when Fatou sings, her voice is so soft and smooth.

I love whenever Kieu My and fatou are flirting both so blatantly and yet so subtly. Like the tension is there but it’s still awkward despite how smooth they both try to be it’s so adorable

I love how Fatou and Kieu My are so confident flirting and talking to eachother through texting but when it’s irl it’s still awkward and new. It shows the reality of an actual relationship in the making. It’s not just a full head dive into “I love you”.

I love when they were at the table tennis bar place and Fatou was hyping up Ava when there were dudes looking at them and Ava did a fancy ass turn and smile. She’s so pretty

I love that Fatou’s problems were shown in subtle ways in the beginning with money. Counting money at her job and when she wa trying to pay for the drink at the bar. It was a small interaction but in real life it would cause a lot of stress and anxiety if money counting problems kept happening over and over again

I love Yara and Josh’s friendship. More platonic friendship between a male and a female please. Also more Yara in general please.

I love that Zoe owned up to her actions last year to the entire group (minus Ismail Constantine and Kieu my) on New Years. I see her owning up to the role as Nora’s big sister.

I love when Josh was drinking a lot during New Years and Fatou was trying to get him to slow down. It shows how big her heart is for her friends. Also I think Josh and Fatou could be great friends

I love that Kieu My looks at Fatou like she hung the stars. When Fatou mentioned she knew Kieu My was a Scorpio, it’s the first time I’ve ever seen that girl smiled so big (before episode 5 of course)

I love that whenever they kiss Kieu my is smiling.

I love Sira’s side profile. There I said it. Girl has the jawline of a Greek goddess.

I love that they change Fatou’s hair. She looks good in every hair style but it’s always nice to see her in different styles.

I love that they showed the struggles of being a passive and gentle person. Because we’re not assertive in regular everyday life we are easily looked over. And it’s hard for us to muster the gusto to be assertive and take what we need because we prefer shying away from conflict and just letting things flow. I relate to fatou’s character so much in that sense. I lowkey think this is the universe’s way of telling me to stop being so passive about life and to take charge idk.

I love that the topic of white savior and performative activism was touched on. And I love that it was between two friends because it’s very realistic to how dynamics work between young people these days. The way they handle it differs in opinion but the fact that they even spoke about it was great.

I love that moment when Kieu My wrapped the vietnamese pancake in the lettuce snd handed it to Fatou. Its so sweet. If I was Fatou I would have forgiven her right then and there lol

I LOVE THE HEIGHT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWo. YES MORE HEIGHT DIFFERENCE.

Episode 6. Just all of it. Even the angsty part. I want more of that. Episode 6 yes. I’ll marry episode 6

Kieu My wearing Fatou’s cardigan. 💕💕💕💕💕💕✨✨✨✨✨😫😫💕✨✨🥺

^^ but also as a person that tried bangs before, you can’t tell me that girl woke up with her bangs perfectly in place lol. This girl probably bought a mini straightener or something too

Fatou telling Kieu My it doesn’t matter if she wears make up or not rather than going off on how she looks prettier without it. She’s just like “it doesn’t matter. You’re pretty no matter what, my little space nerd”

Pissed off fatou is a hot fatou. Js

I love Sira’s acting in general. But the way she shows Fatou’s sadness is great. It’s not just tears and that’s it. When she got fired it was a build up of tears but she wasn’t sobbing, same thing with the cashqueens argument. But she broke when her and Kieu My got in a fight.

Finn being socially awkward. It’s so funny cuz Zoe is this bubbly party girl and her boyfriend is so awkward. Nice balance.

^^also his hair makes me laugh idk why

Ismail opening up to Fatou shows how so many people feel at ease with her. Girl has a calming presence for everybody, she doesn’t even realize how much she’s helped others.

I love that Constantine wears the same jacket over and over again. Idk it seems to fit his character.

^^also kudos to the actor who plays him, he’s doing an amazing job

Love Fatou. Love her dimples and her soft voice. She gets all high pitched when she’s normally speaking but when she was fighting with Kieu My her voice became lower. Just love the way Sira’s voice sounds. Also Nhungi’s speaking voice.

Love the shaky camera movements. The fast pans and the slow motion dance scenes.

Love the aesthetic of Kieu My smoking but PLEASE DONT SMOKE, CHILDREN. ITS BAD FOR YOU.

Love the different aesthetics of the cashqueens

Love maike. Great actress. Give this turtle an Oscar.

Love Kieu My climbing the roof to help her Fatou. Softie to her girlfriend but an ice queen to the world lol.

Love the actors. Love the characters. It just makes me so happy.

This is so well written, i might actually cry no but really it was really nice to read your positive and cuteee facts after the tag check :/ and it really helped because i get mad and sad when i see bad takes. Everything you said was so true and i think im fangirling over this essay. And it made me emotional 👉👈.  Represantation does really matter.

This season is so important for so many people and i don’t think some people realize that when they’re ‘’criticizing’’ some things. Not only we have a lesbian main, we have a black lesbian main who is the softest person in the world and she has LD and/or ADHD. I sometimes can’t believe we got to the point of skamverse where we get rep instead of hurtful,problematic seasons and plots, some might interpret that as shade but it really isn’t, careless storylines really does hurt ppl and why would you want to hurt people when you can give 8 min of sapphic museum date instead 👭🌌 :)

i love this season, i love this gen and i love this essay

[darkarfs]

my favorite WWE matches of 1997

Though I officially started watching wrestling in 1995 (my family famously first bought SummerSlam that year, which would be my first wrestling show ever, because it was $25.00. 1995 was a bad year for wrestling), I became a regular watcher of both WWE and WCW Raw and Nitro, and was able to buy my own PPVs, around summer of 1996, when Hogan turned. The first show I bought with my own money was In Your House: Buried Alive, though I kept up with weekly TV. And, for better or worse, I've been a fan ever since.

1997 was a REAL rollercoaster year for wrestling. The NWO was becoming a bloated mess in no time at all, Bret Hart was riding high, while he and Shawn Michaels publicly hated one another, a young Rocky Maivia was slowly transforming into the most charismatic wrestler of maybe all time, a young Steve Austin has broken his neck and can only work 5 minute matches but is somehow the most OVER wrestler in the company, and by the end of the year, the Screwjob happens, Bret's in WCW, Shawn's on handfuls of SOMAs (yet main-eventing). In a lot of ways, I'm grateful, because I side-stepped all of Hogan's WWF and WCW run. But it was a tornado of a year for a business always on precarious footing, as it ever has been.

And it gave us some CRACKING matches! - The 1997 Royal Rumble I love me a Rumble, and it's REALLY hard (but not impossible) to find a bad one (1993, 1995, 1999). And I personally love one with a storyline that runs throughout, and in this case, it's the ultimate heeling of Stone Cold Steve Austin. He visibly dominates the match until he hears Bret Hart's music, and then goes into panic mode. And it furthers the characterization of Bret's hand-spun narrative as being rightfully pissed that he's being taken advantage of by the roster, screwed by the company, and booed by the fans. Fun bonus: this is also the only Rumble appearance of lucha legend Mil Mascaras, who was so full of old-school carny spirit he famously refused to let anyone else eliminate him, so he eliminated himself, pissed Vince off, and was not spoken of again on WWE TV until the 2012 Hall of Fame ceremony, where he was inducted by his huge prick nephew, Alberto del Rio. - Bret Hart vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin, WrestleMania 13 This match is considered legendary, and for good reason. The greatest technical wrestler in the company vs. the best brawler, months of build, the world's most iconic (and off-the-cuff) blade-job (so much so that the visual of Austin bleeding in the Sharpshooter going "DAAAHHHH!" became the cover for his first VHS) and the wrestling world's most exquisite double-turn. It's fun, it's thrilling, it feels at once timeless and modern. Fun fact: there's a fun version of this match you can watch with just Austin doing commentary over it, and it's entertaining as hell. A true classic, and one of the greatest 'Mania matches of all time. - Ken Shamrock vs. Vader, No Holds Barred match, In Your House: a Cold Day In Hell Vader, famously, while a big teddy bear and a for-all-accounts lovely guy outside of the ring, had a reputation of being a bit "snug" with other wrestlers. Meaning he hit a little too hard, had little self-control, and took liberties with people, especially rookies and younger guys. It's supposedly why Shawn Michaels didn't want to work a world title program with him from summer to fall of 1996, because he was "too rough." But what never occurred to Vader is that trying that with a guy who's had 2 matches but has almost 5 years of MMA experience might not be the smartest or most prudent idea. Shamrock gives Vader as much as Vader gives him in this match, and there are moments where you can tell the guys are going into business for themselves. There's a moment where Shamrock is clubbing Vader with punches, and you can hear Vader, as he's turtling up and putting his arms up to block, yell "SLOW DOWN!" and then he rolls out of the ring to catch a breather. Vader, by the end of this match, is bleeding through his mask, a product of a broken nose, which is why I assume he gives Shamrock the stiffest short-arm clothesline I've ever seen. It's brutal, it's stupid, it weaves in and out of the script SO many times like a drunk man trying to stand up straight on a canoe, and I'm fascinated by each and every instance. - Owen Hart vs. the British Bulldog, European Championship Tournament Finals, Monday Night Raw, March 3rd Somehow, a workrate classic is stuck on a rinky-dink episode of Raw from Berlin, Germany. Smith and Hart blended some of their acquired WWE-style of work with classic junior heavyweight wrestling, complete with intricate reversals and fast-paced offense that was unlike either man's designed ethos of the time. Hart's shift toward his underhanded instincts as the match wore on provided enough story to balance the beautiful grappling from two men with impressive resumes. You can feel that these two knew one another, grew up together, and most importantly, wrestled together. An honest-to-God sleeper hit, but everyone who knows this match calls it a classic. - Shawn Michaels vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin, King of the Ring It's a concept that would be beaten into the ground in short order: Tag Team Champions that hate each other's guts. John Cena, seriously, has only been tag champions with people he's feuding with. That's

not even a joke. Austin and Michaels won the belts out of mutual dislike for the Hart Foundation, and then were programmed together for a wild match at the King of the Ring, one without a winner. Early on, the two actually pieced together a tremendous wrestling match full of nifty counters (prior to Austin changing his style after August for obvious reasons), before it degenerated into chaos after both men assaulted referees in the heat of the moment. Granted, neither man could really lose this one, so the screwy finish did serve its purpose. Until that point, it's a different type of incredible Austin match. You're never so happy to see a double-DQ finish. - Owen Hart & the British Bulldog vs. Shawn Michaels & Stone Cold Steve Austin, Monday Night Raw, May 26th And now we have a match set! The previous 4 participants in a brilliant and brutal tag team match. The Tag Team championship switch marked Austin's first piece of recognized gold in WWE, in a match on free television no less. That's not to insult the match any, as it was a pay-per-view quality fracas that barely slowed down. It is a mere 14 minutes long WITH entrances, but it moves at a clip, and everyone has their working boots on. It was a harbinger of days to come for this new period in WWE's history, and the crowd ate it up.

- Taka Michinoku vs. the Great Sasuke, In Your House: Canadian Stampede What happened here? Just when you think WCW had the cruiserweights cornered, WWE pulls this shit...and then kind of ignores it for a few months. But not before importing two of Michinoku Pro's finest to have a TakeOver-length exhibition. At first, the crowd in Calgary wasn't sure what to make of the undersized performers, but it wouldn't take long to win them over. From Michinoku's hands-free springboard dive to Sasuke's beautiful Thunder Fire Powerbomb, the expansive crowd was positively hooked on the daredevils with each passing minute. Although Sasuke wouldn't be long for the company, and Michinoku's run as Light Heavyweight Champion faded as 1998 wore on, the display at Canadian Stampede was a wondrous experience. This wouldn't have looked out of place in a Chikara King of Trios tournament. - The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Jim Neidhart, Brian Pillman, the British Bulldog) vs. Team Austin (Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Legion of Doom, Ken Shamrock and Goldust), In Your House: Canadian Stampede I would have put this match on the list for the entrances and the finish alone. The crowd is at fever static for the entire match, seriously at the level of Punk/Cena at MITB 2011. And even though the Harts are the heels, they're in Calgary, and they get rock-star level ovations for merely existing. Everyone plays it mad and delighted, and you can tell they're all having a ball. Especially Pillman, who is just magically unhinged, a template for a young Dean Ambrose during their feud with the Wyatt Family. It is a magical, unreal main event, one of the best B-ppv main events maybe of all time. Well...other than MAYBE... - Shawn Michaels vs. the Undertaker, Hell in a Cell, In Your House: Badd Blood The very first Hell in a Cell match may very well double as the greatest of its kind. What stands out to me (other than how the match ends) is just how GREAT Michaels' selling is. When he's running away, he's constantly looking around for an exit, like a scared rat. When he finally gets caught and struck, he sells almost to the level he did for Hogan at SummerSlam 2005. But while he was doing that to make Hogan's offense look stupid, he's doing it here to make Taker's offense and anger look legit, and it somehow WORKS. But as fabulous as the match and the psychology is, it somehow takes a backseat to the debut of the Undertaker's monstrous little brother Kane, finally confronting his older brother in perhaps the greatest character debut in WWE history. - Mankind vs. Kane, Survivor Series I dunno what it is about this match that does it for me. Mankind's emotional lead-up to the match, where he's sad that Uncle Paul (Bearer) left him. Maybe the fact that Kane sells like Michael Myers, not so much that he's in pain, but as if he's never been hit in the face with a steel chair, a DDT or a piledriver. Maybe it's because Mick takes more horrific bumps than he needs to to make sure Kane looks like a legit monster. Maybe it's the broken Virtua Boy lighting. But it's genuinely unlike any other Mankind, Kane or ANY match I've seen before or since. It's a perfect somehow sympathetic serial killer vs. bigger, scarier serial killer that feels nothing story in a wrestling match. I didn't even know you could DO that.

[only-here-for-jatp]

Build-a-Band pt 1&2

Inspired from a tumblr post that I have lost track of. (If you see it lmk)

The boys go to Build-a-Bear. 

Each chapter is told from the POV of a different person. Reggie is first up!

I tried to reference actual build a bears, but the accessories are whatever I wish into existence so there.

Can read on Ao3 here

And also below! ~1900 words

Everything had been normal since the Orpheum. Well as normal as life can be when you live with three teenage boy ghosts from the 90s and you’re in a rock band that played one of the most well-known clubs in LA. The boys still got into their crazy antics that Julie inevitably had to fix and there was still something going on between her and Luke, whatever that was. She didn’t have time to worry about it so much these days.

Ever since the Orpheum they could touch and every now and again they could become visible to Flynn or Carlos. It still hadn’t happened in front of Ray yet, much to Reggie’s disappointment but he kept trying. Ray had taken news that the boys were ghosts surprisingly well with the addition of a few extra rules. He eyed the empty space where one ghost in particular was supposed to be when he told them although if the object of Ray’s focus noticed he sure didn’t show it.

Time was passing by rather quickly these days, and soon it was the start of summer. Julie’s dad had been nudging her to get a summer job and she couldn’t help but think it might be a good idea. The band was playing regular gigs now, but they weren’t making much money. If they were going to keep going, they needed another source of income. The boys of course couldn’t be of much help with this since you know, dead, so it was mostly up to Julie.

The boys, especially Luke, were a little grumbly about her taking time away from their music. Once she explained that this was to make money for the band, they’d felt a little better about it. They still weren’t over the moon, but the pouting had definitely decreased.

This is how Julie found herself with a job that she knew really wasn’t that awful but was exhausting none-the-less.

Build-a-Bear.

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

The boys were really enjoying the fact that summer meant more time with Julie, even if she did have her new job at the mall. Reggie in particular loved having the extra people around. There was always something going on with Carlos and he’d made numerous trips to baseball practice, or to the park, or whatever was going on.

Today though, after much begging and pleading with Julie, she’d finally relented to let him tag along to her job. For the most part she’d forbidden them from visiting, saying that her job was chaotic enough without throwing three teenage ghost boys into the mix, but Reggie had just been so intrigued.

Build a Bear was apparently a place for kids where they came and made stuffed animals and you could add hearts and costumes and name them. To him that sounded like possibly the best place in the world.

When he was younger, he’d had a small chocolate brown teddy bear that he carried around with him anywhere. It came with him for the first day of kindergarten, and most days after until he found Luke. Then Sir Reginald, as the teddy bear was known as, would stay in his backpack, just in case. It’d been his support during all of the fighting, and he’d hold tight every time he hid in his closet trying to drown out the noise.

In truth, he’d never really grown out of his teddy bear but it was early middle school when Luke discovered there was a way to climb in through Reggie’s window and soon it was Luke sitting with him in the closet or pulling him out of the house to the studio to play music and wander the beach.

How exactly did one make a stuffed animal he thought? It seemed like it would take a long time sewing all of the pieces together and stuffing it? That’s a lot of work, do kids really enjoy it?? So he was very curious about this Build a Bear, especially when Julie exclaimed that they sold more than just bears! He could Build a Dog or a Turtle or maybe A DRAGON. He had no idea what he was going to find, but he was so excited to find out.

Reggie poofed into the store sometime that afternoon and immediately felt his eyes widen. This. Was. The. Best. Stuffed animals lined the walls of all shapes and kinds and colors. He stood in a sea of kids all running and screaming in sheer joy and he got it. If Julie hadn’t already spotted him, he would absolutely be doing laps right now. But he promised and he really wanted to try and keep the promise that he would be on his best behavior.

He took in the plastered on smile that edged just a little bit toward frantic, her tense posture, and the kids that were lightly tugging on her arms and knew he really couldn’t- “OH MY GOD JULIE IS THAT A STAR WARS BEAR.” He shrieked upon seeing what was clearly a teddy bear but it LOOOKED LIKE DARTH VADER and before he knew it he was poofing over to Julie, tugging on her arm much like the children while speaking so fast it sounded like a blur even to him “JulieJulieJulieJulieJulieJuliePrettyPleaseJulieCanIHaveTheBearJulieIt’sStarWarsITSSTARWARSJULIE.”

All of a sudden Julie was laughing and he stepped back to give her a curious look. Had he broken her? He hadn’t meant to break her. OH NO what was Luke going to say if he broke Julie? And Alex? Oh god please let her not be broken.

But soon he saw the soft smile playing on her lips, a genuine one this time. He smiled back at her and he watched her give him a small nod in a different direction. His eyes followed where she was indicating, and he felt his mouth drop open. There was a soft tan bear with kind of curly fur and its feet had this soft pink material on it. And he couldn’t say what about the bear it was, but it felt like he was looking at Alex.

Reggie quickly glanced at the name, “Timeless Bear” and he smiled. That was all of them exactly. Julie had come to stand next to him, and whispered softly “we can make that one, deal?” Reggie nodded, joy spreading through him quickly and he couldn’t stop his excitement from making him bounce.

Julie had a horde of kids following behind her and Reggie joined them, fitting right in if he wasn’t taller than them. And a ghost. Julie had picked up what looked like a deflated version of the bear and understanding was slowly started to dawn on how this whole process worked. But he still couldn’t figure out how they were going to all stuff and sew it.

Julie led them to this small open space and he watched all the children sit down, so Reggie followed along. In front of them was this huge machine and Reggie stared at it in awe. Was that? Was it filled with stuffing??? This was so cool! He was almost too distracted to miss Julie’s speech. Something about waiting your turn and choosing the softness levels and adding the heart.

Wait. The heart? Reggie tuned back in.

“Alright everyone, you will all need to pick a heart for your new friend.” Reggie’s eye grew wide. The shuffling of kids drew him to the little boxes filled with soft satin hearts. They were all in shades of red and pink and checkered. Julie was there talking with the kids to help him decide when he spotted a heart that was the exact same shade as Alex’s favorite sweatshirt. He pointed with a small voice and said that one. Julie picked it up as they all headed back to the big machine.

“Of course we can’t just put a heart inside our new friend. We’ve got to get it going with some magic first.” Reggie’s eyes widened, watching as Julie charmed the kids into believing with her. “First, we’ve got to rub the heart between our hands to make it warm.” All of the kids followed suit, and even though he knew Julie had the heart for his new friend between her hands he still followed suit. “Next, let’s add a little excitement! We can jump up and down for this one. Gotta have a spring in our step after all.”

“Now, give it a big hug so your new friend knows you’ll always be there for him.” Julie was making eye contact with him now and he could feel himself tearing up a little.

“Finally, make a wish and whisper it into your heart.” Reggie whispered into his hands “I wish I could stay with my brothers forever.” He didn’t know what Julie whispered to his heart, but he trusted her.

The kids bounced around in excitement, not feeling the gravity that was shifting around them. Julie stared for one long moment at Reggie before turning back to them with a smile and beginning the process of stuffing the bears. Reggie gasped so loud he made Julie whip her head around at him. THAT was how they did it. The machine did the stuffing and then it was just a quick close up! He watched the kids get their new stuffie one by one and then take them over to the “grooming” stations where you could brush them and “bathe” them before finding outfits. Reggie wandered over to the clothing section and admired all the selections. There were fancy dresses and Halloween costumes and pajamas and sports outfits and fanny packs.

WAIT. He shrieked with joy and immediately started clapping and jumping around. There in the accessories was a little black fanny pack. He started searching more thoroughly now. There wasn’t a pink sweatshirt but oooh! Was that a pink shirt! And and a baseball cap. YES.

He turned around to find Julie only to discover she was on the last kid. He walked over to her and stood patiently by as she heaved a sigh of relief. Waving them off. “Ready Reggie?” He nodded and shook in excitement. “Here!” She handed him the little pink heart and for a second he could only stare at it. But then he held it tightly in his hands and whispered in his mind.

You will be Alexander. You are the greatest drummer and one of the greatest friends a guy could have. You will be there for every heartache, panic attack, and moment of joy. You are sarcastic, but there for us anyway. Just wait until you meet the real Alex.

Julie nudged him, ready for the heart and watched as the limp piece of fabric became almost real. He didn’t give Julie much time after she finished before dragging her to his clothing selections. She giggled the whole time though, he knew that although she might act exasperated she was having as much as him. She approved of all the clothing choices, and offered one additional thing.

A small rainbow flag that had a band so it looked like the bear was holding it.

Reggie watched it all come together. He took one look at the dressed up bear and exclaimed- “It’s ALEX!!! I have to go show him!!! Thanks Julie” He gave her a quick hug and poofed away before anybody could wonder why that bear was floating.

[kelelamentia]

Dogs are a Ladybug’s best friend

Dogs are a Ladybug’s best friend

@ozmav

This came from @thebookwormfairy idea “What if Marinette had a Retired Police Dog as a Pet”

@realrandomposts and I discussed which Miraculous would be used and, while my initial thought was turtle, @realrandomposts was the one who came with the idea for the fox, and just fit better for this fic (And I want to tick Alya off), because Trixx would NEVER miss a chance to cause chaos via having a dog as a holder.

As for Trixx’s gender, the site basically told me it varied from translation to translation, so I flipped a coin; literally.

 At a Gotham hotel:

Marinette couldn’t believe Captain snuck himself on to the plane!  Actually, she could, he’s such a smart boy.  But, how did he get past all that security?  Never mind Trixx probably helped with that, he likes to cause chaos like that.

“Trixx, did you have a hand in getting Captain on the plane?” Marinette asked.

“Noooooooooo.” Trixx dragged out, trying and failing to look innocent.

Marinette sighed, running her hands through Captains fur.

“Besides he was going to miss you terribly so.” Trixx continued.

“And you would have missed him as well Marinette.” Tikki added.

“True…” Marinette agreed.

“And I know Captain never wants to leave his partner alone unless he has to.” Trixx said.

Marinette smiled, still petting Captain and him loving it, the Fox Miraculous; hidden by dog tags and a bandana, catching her eye.  Marinette remembered how this came to be.

*Flash back*

Marinette was having an awful week; Lila spread rumors around the school about her, her classmates have shown to be more like sheep than classmates, Adrien wanted her to continue being a doormat, and Chat could NOT take the hint at the last Akuma attack and left her alone to fight so he could throw a tantrum.

Thankfully, Captain has proven to be the best and most loyal friend she could ever hope for. Marinette knows he would never leave her in danger just because he didn’t like what she said, he never believe she was petty and jealous of a person with such FAKE tales, and he would never ask her not to stand just for justice; being a former police dog.

That’s when an idea hit Marinette.

“Tikki, I have an idea.”

Tikki tilted her head in confusion, watching Marinette look over at her dog.

“Come on Captain, I’m going to introduce you to Master Fu.” Marinette said.

The worst the Master could do was say no, right.

 With Master Fu:

“Greetings Marinette, Tikki” Fu welcomed.

“Hello Master Fu.” Tikki greeted.

“Hello Master, I hope you don’t mind but I brought my dog; Captain.” Marinette returned.

“I don’t mind Marinette; animals can be the best of companions and partners.” Fu smiled, holding out his hand for Captain to sniff.

Captain gave a cautious sniff, but accepted Fu; allowing him to give a single head pat.

“Why don’t we sit down, I feel we have much to discuss.” Fu offered.

“Thank you Master.”

Once they were seated at Fu’s low table, Fu began talking.

“What would you like to discuss Marinette?”

“Can a Miraculous be given to an animal?” Marinette asked.

Fu raised an eyebrow.

“May I ask what brought this on?”

Marinette steeled herself.

“First Chat Noir; he’s late or doesn’t show to battles, when he does he’s pretty much out of the fight immediately, he flirts at the worst times even though I’ve told him I’m not interested in him, he throws hissy hits on a regular basis, and he doesn’t see being a hero as a responsibility but as a game.”

“What of the other heroes?”

“The other heroes have proven that they see being a hero as game as well, they don’t look to see the truth went given no evidence, they like pretty words and offers of connections than working for it themselves and are unwilling to listen to reason when it’s something they don’t want to hear.”

Marinette looked Fu in the eye.

“I’m tired of fighting alone Master Fu.”

The last sentence bore a lot of weight behind it; and Fu heard it.

“I understand Marinette.”

Fu got up to retrieve the box, once he sat down again he started talking.

“You wish for Captain to stand beside you.”

“Yes Master.”

“Do you think he will be able to handle it?”

“Yes Master, he’s a former police dog, he probably has more training and experience than I do.” Marinette giggled.

Captain gave a small tail wag; he loved hearing his girl laugh.

Fu smile and nodded.

“Now it is possible for an animal to use a Miraculous, but the process is different.”

“How so Master?”

“Normally the Guardian would choose the hold, but in the case of animals; the Kwamii’s get to choose if they want to work with them or not, so I cannot guaranty anything Marinette.”

“I understand Master.” Marinette nodded.

“Good, first we must…”

Fu was cut off by a box shaking and jumping around until Trixx popped out.  Once he was out he grabbed Marinette’s hand and began to beg.

“Please, please, PLEASE let me team up with you and your dog! This looks like it’s going to cause chaos and so much confusion!  Please let me, I know how to speak canine, so I know when to transform and stuff, I get along really well with Tikki, my Miraculous can hang with his tags, and my charge up food is really easy.  Please, please, PLEASEEEEEEE!”

Marinette couldn’t help but laugh.

“I have no problem working with you Trixx, but let’s see what Captain thinks.”

Marinette turned to her dog, he liked Tikki, but that doesn’t mean he’d like Trixx.

Trixx flew over to Captain; Captain gave him a sniff.

“Hi Captain, do you want to team up with me to protect your girl?” Trixx asked.

Captain was quiet for a moment, but eventually gave a gentle woof in agreement.

“Yes!” Trixx cheered.

Marinette, Fu and Tikki laughed as Marinette clipped the Miraculous on Captain’s collar; behind the tags, but that laughter was cut short by screaming and crashing outside.

“AKUMA!!!!”

Fu turned to Marinette.

“Go.”

Marinette nodded her head.

“Alright Tikki; Spots on!”

Captain gave a stern bark.

Once the transformation light died down Marinette could see what Captain looked like.

Captain wore an orange, black and white vest that was modeled after a normal police dogs vest; it had the fox tail symbol, in white, on the back and a ladybug symbol on the front where a police badge would be.  Captain also had arm guards on his front legs that covered the top of his paws; they faded from orange to white, but Marinette’s favorite part was his mask.  It was just a normal orange, black and white mask, but just looked so cute.

“Well, I can’t call you Captain, no matter how common that name might be.” Marinette said, looking at her dog. “How about…Hunter?”

The newly christened Hunter gave a soft woof in agreement.

“Come on Hunter, we have an Akuma to fight.”

And then they were off.

“Good luck.” Fu said as they left.

 Where the Akuma was:

The fight with the Akuma, which Chat did not show up to, went smoothly. Hunter cast his illusion by howling and apparently, he could also sniff out the akumatized item, this made things so much easier.  Ladybug didn’t even need to cast Lucky charm! They even did a ‘Pound it’ where Hunter bumped his nose against her fist.

But once everything was fixed by the cure, Chat showed up.

“Hey Bug-a-boo.”

“You missed everything Chat.” Her voice was hard, causing Hunter to tense up.

“Aww, don’t be like that Love bug, it couldn’t have been bad.”

Chat reached out to grab Ladybug only to be blocked by a snarling Hunter.

“What the heck is that?!” Chat exclaimed, back away from the costumed dog.

Ladybug smiled sickly sweet smile at Chat.

“This is Hunter the new, and permanent, fox holder and my new partner.”

“But what about Rena Rouge?! And I’M your partner” Chat demanded.

“She has been retired, and don’t worry about the Guardian; he’s already agreed to this.  As for being my partner; tell me Chat when was the last time you showed up on time for a fight, didn’t get turned against me, or thrown a hissy fit and leave just because you didn’t get what you want?” Ladybug asked.

Chat couldn’t answer her, his mouth flapping uselessly.

“That’s what I thought.” Ladybug then turned to Hunter. “Come Hunter we should leave before your time runs out.”

Hunter gave a woof in return and jumped away with his girl, not before giving one last hard look at Chat.

*End flashback*

Trixx had been appalled by Chat’s attitude and was steaming while he ate his marshmallows, Tikki doing the same while eating cookies.  

Marinette smile as she remembered Alya’s outrage at being replaced, and by a dog at that.  But Hunter proved to the people of Paris how good he was and how great of a partner he was for Ladybug; Their ‘Pound it’ was all the rage in the internet and is now the most popular trick to teach your pet.

So here she was in Gotham with her super hero dog, which snuck aboard a plane, and two powerful little gods.

What was her life?

“Well, sulking around this hotel won’t do us any good; how about we go for a walk guys?” Marinette suggested.

Captain, Tikki and Trixx agreed; Tikki flying into Marinette’s bag and Trixx flew under Captain Bandana.

 At a nearby Park:

Marinette felt so much freer at the park, the only thing people would see was a girl and her dog.

She was just throwing the ball she got for Captain when another dog, a Great Dane, came up and began sniffing Captain.  Captain held still, ball in mouth, and let the other sniff; eventually Captain seemed to like the other dog and began leading them over to Marinette.

“Did you make a friend Captain?” Marinette asked, petting her dog.

Captain gave a slight wag of his tail and Great Dane’s tail was going so fast in was a blur. Marinette reached out her hand for the Dane, so they could get her scent; she was rewarded with a lick on her hand.

“Well aren’t you a sweet heart!  Let’s find out your name.” Marinette laughed, before reaching for the Dane’s tags. “Titus? Well it’s nice to meet you Titus!”

Titus barked his hello, trying to get closer to Marinette’s hands for petting.

“Alright buddy, you want to play fetch with me and Captain while you wait for your owner?”

Titus barked again, this time jumping around in excitement.

“Okay, okay,” Marinette laughed before winding up the ball. “FETCH!”

Marinette let the ball go and both dogs shot after it; tussling a bit to be the one to bring it back. This went on for a while before Marinette heard a voice shouting.

“TITUS!”

Titus responded to the call and ran over to a boy about her age, a very handsome boy.  Titus circled around the boy a couple times before running back to Marinette.  Marinette could only guess that this was Titus’ owner.  He made his way over to her.

“Hello Miss, I’m sorry if Titus caused you any trouble.” He greeted.

“Titus was no trouble at all; he was a real sweet heart.” Marinette assured. “My name is Marinette, and this is my dog Captain.”

“It’s lovely to meet you Marinette; my name is Damian, you’ve already met Titus.” Damian greeted, gently taking her hand and placing a kiss on the back; Marinette couldn’t help but blush.

Watching his girl blush at the new person caused Captain to step between the two, making both of blink.

“I’m sorry Damian; Captain doesn’t like strangers getting too close to me.”

“It’s fine Marinette; I should have introduced myself to your dog before invading your space. It’s understandable that he takes me as threat.” Damian said, slowly reaching out his hand for Captain.

Captain investigated the offered hand and gave Damian a hard stare.  There was a tense moment before Captain gave a snort and walked to Marinette’s side.

“I think you’ve been approved of Damian.” Marinette said surprised. “He usually doesn’t like a lot of people; really it’s just me and my parents.”

“A high honor then, I will do my best not to waste it.” Damian stated. “I would hate to ruin my chance at talking to a beautiful lady such as you.”

The blush returned to Marinette’s face.

“T-Thank you, but I’m not much.”

Damian just smirked at her, making her blush more.  Damian was going to say something when he noticed Titus sniffing at Captain’s Bandana. Marinette knew he was smelling Trixx.

“That is a very well made, where did you get this Marinette?” Damian asked.

“I made it myself; I couldn’t find anything in the stores that I liked.”

“Really?  Might I commission you to make one for Titus?”

“You can, but I don’t have a lot of my sewing supplies with me in Gotham, so it could take some time.”

“Where are visiting from Marinette?”

“I’m visiting with my class from Paris; we’re here mainly to see Wayne Enterprise.”  Marinette clarified.

“And they let you bring your dog?” Damian asked.

“They didn’t ‘Let me’.” Marinette looked over at Captain with a mock serious look. “Somehow, someone managed to trick the entire airport and sneak himself onto the plane.”

Damian gave a snort in amusement.

“Really?!”

“I know it sounds fake, but…”

Damian cut Marinette off.

“No, I believe you; I’ve seen animals be smarter than people before, but this very impressive.  Your classmates must have thought it funny.”

Marinette wilted a bit when Damian mentioned her classmates; he noticed.

“What’s wrong Marinette?”

“You won’t believe me…”

“I’ve been told I very good at telling who’s lying, so please tell me.”

“There’s a girl in my class who doesn’t like me, and she made it sound like I snuck Captain aboard the plane on purpose just to get attention.  I wouldn’t even know where to start on that!”

“It sounds like she’s done more than that Marinette.”

“She has…” Marinette sighed, she then gave a brief explanation to Damian about what was going on; he was not pleased.

“Your classmates are morons; large ones.”

“Yeah, they are.  Hey Damian, do you know much about Wayne Enterprise?” Marinette asked.

“I know enough.”

“Do you think they let Captain in?  I’d hate to leave him at the hotel tell all day.”

“I’m positive they will Marinette, the Wayne family is a very open-minded family.”

“Thank you, Damian,” Marinette smiled, before asking another question. “Do you know any nearby dog friendly restaurants are?”

“Of course, I’d be happy to show you.  Perhaps you would let me join you as well.”

“I’d like that Damian; it would be nice to talk to someone with common sense that isn’t Captain.”

Damian chuckled and held out his arm; which Marinette took, and began to guide her to the closest café their dogs trotting along with them.

While at the café Damian got Marinette to open up a bit more about her classmates; Marinette didn’t know why she did that, she was just comfortable with him.  And if Damian thought her classmates to be morons before, he though them to be outright imbeciles now.

“These people clearly have no brain cells Marinette.”

Marinette smiled at Damian, it was nice to have someone who can listen to reason.

Eventually Marinette and Captain did have to go back to the hotel, not before they exchanged number though.

“Can we do this again tomorrow; my class won’t be spending all day at Wayne Enterprise.” Marinette asked just before she left; surprising herself at her boldness.

Damian didn’t seem to have an issue with her request though.

“You took the request right out of my mouth Angel.”

“A-Angel?” Marinette stuttered.

“Certainly, you’ve shown your class kindness and patience when they don’t deserve it or you, so yes Angel; unless it makes you uncomfortable Marinette.”

“It’s fine Damian, just please; never call me Princess.” Marinette pleaded.

Damian clearly wanted to ask why but left it alone.

“Of course, Marinette; I will respect your wishes.” Damian nodded his head. “Now will you allow myself and Titus to walk yourself and Captain back to your hotel?”

“Sure Damian.”

The walk was made up of Marinette asking what Damian wanted the Bandana for Titus to look like.  Once they reached the hotel they said their goodbyes.

“It was wonderful meeting Damian, you too Titus.”  Marinette said.

“You as well Marinette, Captain.” Damian waved goodbye.

 The next morning:

Marinette, Captain and the class set off for Wayne Enterprise, Lila being Lie-le the entire time on the bus.

“The Wayne family just loves me; they always try and make sure I’m alright.” Lila boasted.

“Wow Lila, do you think you could introduce me?  I’d love to have an interview!” Alya questioned.

“Maybe Alya, they are a very busy family after all; we probably won’t even see them.” Lila redirected.

“Aww, that’s too bad.” Alya was disappointed.

Marinette, keeping a hand on Captain, resisted the urge to roll her eyes.  Last night before going to sleep, Marinette looked up the Wayne family; ignoring all the pictures she didn’t care about those and found many things. Like, if Alya wanted an interview she could just request one, yeah there would be some restrictions but Alya doesn’t care for doing her own research.

Adrien just kept quiet, just as always.

The class reached Wayne Enterprise; Marinette and Captain at the back of the group and were greeted by a surprise in the lobby.

“Hi everyone, I’m Dick Grayson and I’ll be the one giving you the tour around the building.”

The entire air shifted; Alya was ecstatic, Lila could get her an interview right away!  Lila was terrified, because this could go very south on her and she had no back up plans on being called out by one of the people she bragged about.  Marinette was confused, why were people getting excited?

Marinette was never good with icons outside fashion and music, so she didn’t know the Damian she spent time with the day before was the Damian Wayne.   So, when Damian got home he spoke with his family, telling them of a girl in the French tour would likely be using their names for gain.  Nobody liked the idea of being used, so if the topic came up they would shut it down; Damian figured out from Marinette’s descriptions that the topic would come up from one person or another.

Damian theory proved true when Alya; the pushy, rude, ‘always right’, Alya raised her hand.

“Go ahead.” Dick called on her.

“Hi, I’m Alya; I’m friends with your friend Lila Rossi!”

Lila froze at Alya’s exclamation; going very pale.

Dick frowned, now knowing who the liar in the group was; but was inwardly smirking at the chance to call them out.

“I’m sorry, but I’ve NEVER met a ‘Lila Rossi’ in my life; whoever that is lied to you.”

Alya looked like her world shattered with that one phrase.

Marinette realized Dick must be an important person Lila lied about; which one Marinette wasn’t sure they all sound the same after a point. Marinette looked over at Alya and saw the devastation on her face; Marinette really hoped her former friend would learn from this and start fact checking.

Marinette started running one her hands through Captain’s fur, the motion keeping her calm; watching more horror appear on her classmate’s faces as Dick continued.

"I hope she didn’t use our name to take advantage of people and she continues like this she will be hit with a lawsuit.”

Lila blanched, a lawsuit would really be bad, but she didn’t know how to backtrack from this lie; she didn’t think a Wayne would be the one conducting the tour.

“Well, now that that’s cleared up we can begin the tour.” Dick said, clapping his hands together.

But in a desperate attempt to get the negative focus off her Lila tried to get Marinette in trouble.

“Look Marinette brought her dog!  He can’t be here!”

Everyone turned to look at Marinette; Ms. Bustier was quick to say something.

“Marinette why in the world did you bring your dog?!”

“I didn’t want to leave Captain alone in hotel ALL day, what kind of pet owner would I be if I did that Ms. Bustier?  And how did you not see me bring him onto the bus?!”

Ms. Bustier opened her mouth to try and reprimand Marinette more but was cut off by Dick.

“This is perfectly fine Ms. Bustier; we were warned ahead of time that due to some strange events, there would be a dog in the group today.”

Ms. Bustier could only nod, not being able to argue with Dick, But Lila was outraged by this turn of events.

“Who could have possibly warned you about her dog?!”

Marinette; as much as she didn’t like Lila had to admit, that was a good question.

“I did.” Came a voice off from the side.

“Hey, Damian.” Dick greeted.

“Hello Grayson,” Damian nodded, before approaching Marinette; Titus at his side. “Hello again Marinette, Captain.”

“Damian! Titus!  I hadn’t thought you might work here!” Marinette said, “Which is silly looking back now, because you knew if Captain would allowed or not.”

“It’s fine Marinette.” Damian smiled at the sweet girl.

“Oh, hold on!  I was going to give this to you later, but since you’re here now.” Marinette said as she rummaged through her bag, pulling out a yellow piece of cloth.  “I managed to find some cloth and made Titus a Bandana, it’s nothing fancy but I wanted to see if he even liked it first.”

The Bandana was yellow with black thread spelling out ‘Titus’ in cursive.

“Its wonderful Marinette.”

“Thank you, Damian, can I put it on Titus now to see if he likes it?”

“Certainly.”

Marinette bent down to carefully tie it to Titus; who was holding still for her.

“There.” Marinette stood up.

Titus was then bouncing around her and Captain, braking and wagging his tail in happiness.  Making Damian and Marinette laugh, as Titus did his best to get Captain to play with him.

While they were in their own little world the people around them watched in awe; Damian Wayne could smile, he could laugh!

Dick was grinning ear to ear, being very thankful the lobby had cameras or else there would be no proof of this happening.  

Alya could decide between being hurt or confused; hurt by Lila’s lies or confused by the fact Marinette knew THE Damian Wayne.

Adrien was concerned; this was just going to cause more problems, why couldn’t Marinette just stay low?

Lila was seething, how is it that when she finally won over the class of idiots and turns them against Marinette, Marinette goes and somehow charms one of the riches and coldest people in the world!  This could not continue.  Lila slipped away; unknowingly catching Dick’s eye.

The rest of the class was just in awe of the sweet atmosphere around the two.

That atmosphere was broken when the sound of screaming and breaking began, a giant form comes busting into the lobby.

“Hello everyone, I am Arachnae and with no Ladybug or Chat Noir around, you all will be nothing but flies in my beautiful web.”

Arachnae was a human torso on a spider’s body, her entire form was covered in bright orange fuzz; head to the tip of each spidery leg.  The form was also very clearly Lila; she had her face and hair and the necklace she always wore, but the one thing different about Lila’s is that she now had 8 eyes.

Dick was the first to react.

“What the %&$@!”

Arachnae let out a hiss and shot webs from her hands; the strands aimed mostly at the class and Marinette.  The people that got hit were turned into little soulless puppets for Arachnae to play with and amuse herself.

Marinette jumped to dodge the web, hitting the ground running; looking for a place to hide, Captain at her side.

“Marinette!”

When Marinette dodged she threw herself away from Damian, causing him to worry, but his yell brought Arachnae’s attention to them.

“Ah yes Marinette, when I catch you I’m going to make you miserable!  And your little dog too!”

Arachnae charged at Marinette.

“Damian run!  She’s focused on me, go get help!” Marinette yelled, before she and Captain took off.

The chase began, with Arachnae destroying anything that got in her path.  As she ran Marinette began looking for a place to transform, counting on Captain to guild her around Arachnae’s attacks.  Eventually Arachnae ends up bringing the ceiling down and blocked herself from Marinette and Captain.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Arachnae screamed in rage. “FINE, I’LL JUST PLAY WITH MY NEW TOYS UNTIL YOU COME BACK! I KNOW YOU WILL YOU USELESS GIRL!”

Marinette looked around for a place without cameras and spotted a closet.

“This will have to do Captain.” Marinette said to Captain, as she closed them both inside. “Tikki? Trixx?”

“Ready!” They chimed together, flying from their hiding spots.

“Alright, now; Tikki Spots On!”

*Bark!*

With a flash of light Ladybug and Hunter were ready.  Looking around she saw some vents she and Hunter could crawl though, so the cameras didn’t see her.

 In the Lobby:

Arachnae had gotten most of the people in the lobby, except for three; Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne, and Adrien, her biggest targets outside Marinette.

“Just surrender to me, it would make this all so much easier!” Arachnae hissed at the boys, sending more webs and puppet people at them.

Dick and Damian had managed to dodge webs, puppets and Arachnae; Adrien was hiding behind a plant behind Arachnae, but they were also trapped in the lobby and running out of options.  Titus was running around, unable to get to Damian and Dick.

*Bark, Bark, Bark*

“Shut up, you dumb mutt!” Arachnae hissed, raising one spider leg bring it down on Titus.

“Titus!” Damian yelled.

Just as the Arachnae’s leg was about to hit a string from a ceiling vent wrapped around it and pulled. Arachnae was pulled with such force she toppled over, and two figures fell out of the vents.

“I don’t know how you got Akumatized outside of Paris, but that doesn’t mean you’ll win.”

“Ladybug.” Arachnae snarled.

“What?  Not happy to see me?”

Arachnae gave a war cry and launch herself at the duo.  Ladybug and Hunter jumped out of the way, Ladybug in the opposite direction of the people, Hunter grabbing Titus and bring him over to Damian and Dick. After dropping Titus off Hunter went back to Ladybug’s side; who was dodging Arachnae’s webs and people puppets, and bit one of Arachnae’s spider legs.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH” Arachnae let loose a scream of pain, she turned to Hunter. “You God awful waste of space!”

While facing Hunter, Arachnae left herself for a hit; but the hit wasn’t from Ladybug.  A small black blur cut Arachnae across the arm.

Arachnae hissed at the contact, as Batman dropped down from another vent in the ceiling.

“Batman?!  What are you doing here!” Arachnae growled.

“Really Lila?!  We’re I Gotham, you’re causing trouble and you expect Batman not to show up?” Ladybug’s exasperated voice came.

“Shut-up! And it’s Arachnae!” Arachnae snarled, clearly humiliated.

Batman threw a few more baterangs that exploded into smoke bombs and ran over to Ladybug and Hunter.

“What’s going on?” Batman asked.

“That is Lila, she has been akumatized,” Ladybug started. “Not sure how outside Paris, but that’s worry for later, but we need to find the akumatized object and break it.  That will make her lose any power she has.”

“What’s the object?”

“The only thing it could be is the necklace, everything else is just orange fuzz, but getting close to her is dangerous.  If you get hit by her web, you’ll become her puppet and I rather not fight you Batman.”

“What are your names?”

“I’m Ladybug and this is my partner Hunter.”

*Woof*

The smoke was beginning to clear from Arachnae’s face.

“We better hurry before she…”

Ladybug was cut off by a voice.

“Don’t worry Milady I’ll help you!” Chat yelled, while trying to jump in, only to get hit by on of Arachnae’s webs.

“Not again Chat!” Ladybug cried.

“Does that happen often?” Batman asked, disappointed.

“More than I’ll ever truly admit to” Muttered Ladybug.

“Oh, this perfect! Or should I say purrfect?” Arachnae jeered, as Chat puppet now dangled at the end of her web.

Batman tried to cut the web by throwing some baterangs at it, but they just bounced off.  Arachnae then sent a swarm of people puppets at them. Ladybug then had an idea.

“Batman, I need you to throw more smoke bombs.”

He did as he was instructed.

“Hunter!” Ladybug called out.

Hunter let loose a howl.

Once Hunter’s howl was done Ladybug grabbed Batman and ran behind a pillar.  Once the smoke was cleared Batman carefully looked around the pillar and was stunned when he saw the figures of himself, Ladybug and hunter were still there; Moving, talking and just outright distracting Arachnae.

“How?” Batman was blunt in his question.

“Hunter can cast an illusion, but he can only cast it once before he’s on a time limit.” Ladybug explained.

“And you?”

“This; Lucky Charm!” Ladybug through her Yo-yo in the air and what came down was a bottle of peppermint extract.

Batman gave Ladybug a confused look.

“Lucky Charm only gives me what I need, not what I want.” Ladybug clarified looking around and spotted the sprinklers in the ceiling. “I have an idea; do you think you can cut the necklace off of her neck?”

“Yes.” Batman replied, catching on to her idea.

Arachnae just managed to destroy the illusion; disappearing in a puff of smoke, when Hunter and Batman dropped in front of her.

“Why won’t you do things MY way!” Arachnae screamed.

“Because your way is wrong.” Batman stated, throwing baterangs at her.

Hunter jumped at her spidery legs, barking and biting at them; because he was under her she couldn’t shoot webs at him, but his biting allowed enough distraction for Batman to try and target the necklace.

As the three battled, Ladybug made her way up to the sprinkler system; carefully hooking up the bottle.  Once it was secured Ladybug dropped to the floor and pulled the nearest fire alarm; causing the sprinkler system to go off.

Since Lila was currently part spider, and spiders don’t like peppermint, she started to scream and curl herself into a ball.

Batman saw the opening and accomplished cutting off the necklace; which Hunter caught and brought over to Ladybug.  

Ladybug broke the necklace and release the akuma, catching it with her Yo-yo and cleansing it.

“Bye, Bye butterfly.”

After she was done cleansing the butterfly, Ladybug turned to Hunter and held out her fist.

“Pound it.”

Hunter bumped his nose against her fist

As Lady was cleansing the akuma, and ‘Pounding it’ with Hunter, Batman turned off the sprinklers a brought back the Luck Charm.

“I’m sorry for the trouble.” Ladybug said taking the charm. “I really don’t understand how she did this.”

“Gotham’s use to damage.”

“It doesn’t make it okay, but don’t worry I have something for it.” Ladybug smiled, “Miraculous Ladybug!” Ladybug tossed the bottle in the air and it exploded into thousands of little sparkly pink ladybugs.

The ladybugs swarmed over everything, reversing all the damage, turning people back to normal and healing any injuries.

The barricade Dick, Damian and Titus were behind was cleaned up and put away, leaving two stunned people and a very happy dog; Titus bounced over to Hunter to say Hi.

“Holy Sh*t! How!?” Dick asked looking around.

“Magic!” Ladybug chirped.

A groan caught Ladybug’s attention; it was Lila.  Ladybug made her way over to her.

“So, here we are again Lila.” Ladybug said in a scolding tone.

Lila tried desperately to come up with an excuse.

“It wasn’t my Fault Ladybug! Hawkmoth…”

Ladybug cut her off.

“Hawkmoth doesn’t have the power to akumatize someone in another country, let alone one across an ocean, or he would have been doing it from the start.  Now how did you get akumatized Lila.”

“You can’t prove anything!” Lila tried.

“I can.” Batman said, pulling up some security feed on his computer gauntlet, he projected it for all to see.

The video was of Lila slipping into a hallway, clearly trying not to be seen by people, and when she was done double checking her surroundings; she pulled a little glass jar out of her bag.  That jar contained a purple butterfly.  Lila then opened the jar and let the akuma to fuse with her necklace; creating Arachnae.

The people from Paris gasped.

“I-it isn’t what it looks like…” Lila began.

“Really, because to me this looks like you are either helping a known terrorist or wanted the destructive power at your disposal for whenever you felt necessary.” Ladybug was disgusted, turned to Batman. “Gotham, America in general, are not my territory; how do you want to handle this?”

“The young lady is clearly a threat to people and has purposely tried to harm them; she will be facing justice.” Batman said pulling out a pair of hand cuffs.

“What?...No!  YOU CAN’T!  I’M THE DAUGHTER OF A DIPLOMAT! TWO OF THEM!” Lila tried to fight Batman off, but without the power of the akuma she had no chance.

Around this time the GPD showed up, Batman gave them a quick run down about what happened, and they took Lila away; Batman would be dropping by later with the evidence.  A few stayed behind to take statements.

A frantic beeping was heard.

“I’m sorry Batman; Hunter and I have to return to Paris, out time is almost up.”

“Before you go can you tell how you got here?”

“The horse miraculous can teleport,” Even more beeping, “Thank you for your help Batman, come on Hunter.”

*Bark*

With that Ladybug and Hunter were gone through the vent they entered, leaving Batman and a disoriented Chat behind.  Batman made his way over to Chat.

“How did you get here?” Batman asked, Chat clearly hadn’t come with Ladybug, so he needed to know.

“Uhhh…Got to go!” Chat just ran off.

Batman knew he was just going revert to civilian state somewhere in the building, he’ll look at the security feed later.

“Damian!” Marinette busted into the new repaired lobby with Captain right beside her.

“Marinette!” Damian yelled running over to her “Are you alright?”

“I should be asking you that!  You were the one trapped with her!”

Batman was shocked to see Damian be sweet with a girl, with anyone really, and subtlety glance at Dick. Dick smiled and mouthed ‘Future girlfriend’ to him.

As Damian and Marinette were connecting, Batman noticed a blond boy run into the lobby; from the same hallway Chat ran down.

“Marinette, what were you thinking?” the blond asked running over to her and Damian, interrupting them.

Just as Adrien was about to reach her Captain stepped in front of her in a protective stance; Titus joined him, causing him to stop short.

“Adrien, what are you talking about?” Marinatte asked, standing behind her furry guards.  Damian wrapping his arm around her for comfort.

“You caused Lila to be akumatized!”

“What!  No, I/she didn’t!” Marinette and Damian yelled.

“Yes, she did, if Marinette has just stayed low none of this would have happened.” Adrien insisted.

Batman intervened before Damian could break the boys jaw.

“Young man we have proof that Lila Rossi voluntarily did the ‘akumatization’ to herself.  This young lady had nothing to do with it.”

“B-But Batman; if Marinette hadn’t exposed Lila…” Adrien began, only to be cut off by Dick.

“Hey kid, I’m the one who called out that liar and are you insinuating that you KNEW that she was lying to her classmates?”

“W-Well she wasn’t hurting anyone.”

“Kid you need a lesson on toxic people; BADLY.” Dick shook his head at Adrien.

Adrien was about to say something when he felt a hand on his shoulder; he turned, it was Batman.

“Please return to your class, the police will take your statement.”

“What about Marinette?” Adrien tried, wanting the girl to came back with him and away from Damian and his dog; not that Captain would let him get close.

“I’ll be the one taking her statement, now please return to your class.” Batman stood firm in this.

“I’ll take him back Batman.” Dick offered, grabbing Adrien’s shoulder.

So Adrien shuffled away; being lead by Dick, continuedly glancing over his should at the group.

“Is this normal behaviour for him Angel?” Damian asked.

“When I don’t do what he wants, yes.” Marinette confirmed.

Damian made a face at her answer, but before they could farther into that talk Batman had a question.

“Miss can you tell me more about these ‘Akuma’ and what happened with Ms. Rossi.”

“Sure.” Marinette sighed, “But you’re going to need some back story as well.”

Batman nodded his assent and Marinette gave the entire rundown about what is happening in Paris and the amount of rolls Lila played as an Akuma.  When she was done Marinette was out of breath but looked like the world had been removed from her shoulders.  Damian had pulled her closer as she spoke, and Captain and Titus were trying to cuddle up to her.

There was a beat of silence before Batman spoke.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know how the League missed what was happening.”

“It’s fine Batman, I know the League would never let us flounder if they knew what was going on.” Marinette assured, “Honestly I think magic had something to do with that, but I’m not sure WHY the mayor didn’t contact you.”

“It will be investigated, thank you for your time.” Batman then walked off to talk to an officer.

Once he was gone Damian turned to Marinette; who was still in his arms.

“Are you sure you’re alright Angel?”

“I’m fine Damian, I promise, Captain and I hid in a closet.  Thank you for staying with me though, talking about akums and Lila just takes a lot out of me.”

“Consider what you told me yesterday and what you just told Batman, I think it’s a miracle that you were akumatized yourself.”

“I work hard not to be, but I should be allowed to feel bad without Hawkmoth trying to take advantage of me.” Marinette sighed.

A commotion of noise grabbed their attention, it was Marinette’s class; they were arguing amongst themselves.

“I really don’t wat to go back over there; that looks like pure drama.” Marinette groaned.

“Drama that could have been avoided if they had any common sense.” Damian commented, “Since you don’t wish to rejoin your class, and you’ve already given you statement, would you and Captain like to join Titus and I for lunch again?  We’ll still be in the building and I’ll let Grayson know what’s going on.”

“That sounds wonderful Damian.”

Captain gave a small tail wag and Titus was just happy to spend more time with Marinette and Captain.

“Then it is agreed.” Damian said, sending off a text to Dick and then holding out his arm to Marinette. “Shall we?”

Marinette giggled and took the arm.

“We shall.”

Damian began to lead Marinette and the dogs to the cafeteria.

“I hope the Wayne family isn’t too mad at the problems my class caused.” Marinette commented, making Damian freeze in his tracks.

“Damian?”

“Angel I should let you know; because I would hate you to think I lied to you, but I am Damian WAYNE son of Bruce Wayne.”

“Oh.” Marinette blinked, “Well I hope you and your family aren’t too mad at my class.”

Damian’s was stunned, Marinette saw the look.

“Damian, clearly your family is important, but that doesn’t matter to me; what matters is that you are a good person.  I’ve met other kids from important families, but they were terrible, and I wanted nothing to do with them.  You’ve already proven to be a great person and that’s all I need.”

Damian gave a soft smile.

“Thank you, Angel, you truly are treasure.”

“So, your family won’t be mad?” Marinette asked.

“Nope, Gotham sees more damage than any other place in America, so the problems Rossi caused wouldn’t raise any more attention.” Damian explained. “The fact is was repaired by a hero from Paris will actually draw more attention.”

“Oh.”

“Indeed, now shall we continue to lunch Angel?”

“Definitely.”

So, arm in arm Damian and Marinette went to lunch; Captain and Titus trotting along with them.

 End.

That was Dogs are a Ladybug’s best friend.

 Also

 Extra:

The Day after the Akuma attack:

Wayne Enterprise Employee - *Crying*

Bruce - *Very concerned* What’s wrong?!

WEE - *Still crying* N-Nothing.

Bruce – But you’re crying.

WEE- *Crying* I’m happy!

Bruce – Happy?

WEE - *Crying* Ladybug fixed everything!

Bruce - *Warry* Yes…

WEE - *Crying harder* We don’t need to redo all the paper work!  Or do the added paper work for the repairs!

Other Employees nearby - *Start crying in happiness as well* No extra paper work!

Bruce - *Has no idea how to respond*…

 Extra 2:

Before the trip to Gotham:

Alya – *On her phone* Ooooo a new interview with Ladybug

Alya clicks on the link

Interviewer – So Ladybug who is the new fox?

Alya - *Screaming* NEW FOX!

Ladybug – This is Hunter, he is the new and permanent fox.

Alya – PERMANENT?!

Interviewer – May ask what happen to the old fox?

Ladybug – You can ask, but I won’t give you an answer; I won’t let you take what happened and turn it into a hot topic.

Interviewer – I see…What can you tell us.

Ladybug – Hunter is my trusted partner, don’t be afraid he’s here to help you and me.  Please give him the same respect you would gave me.

Interviewer – Of course!  There has also been a talk about you and Hunter doing a ‘Pound it’ is it true?

Ladybug – This is true, would you like to see?

Interviewer – Yes!

Ladybug – Hunter!

Hunter - *Bark*

Alya – A DOG!!!!! I’VE BEEN REPLACED BY A DOG!!!!!

Ladybug - *Holding out her fist* Pound it!

Hunter - *Bumps nose against Ladybug’s fist*

Interviewer – Awwwwwwwwwww.

Ladybug - *Smiling* I’m sorry, but hunter and I have to go.

Interviewer - *Nodding their head* Thank you for your time Ladybug, Hunter.

Ladybug and Hunter leave.

Interviewer - *Facing the camera* Well there you have folks, we have a new fox!

Alya couldn’t watch the rest of the interview.

Alya – AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

 Extra 3:

Wayne House hold:

They were sitting down to dinner.

Bruce – So, Damian.

Damian – Yes Father.

Bruce – When will you be bringing Marinette over for dinner?

Damian - *Chokes on food* F-Father?!

Dick – Yeah little D, we need to meet your girlfriend properly!

Damian – Grayson!

Jason/Tim – GIRLFRIEND?????

Damian - *Turning red* She’s not my girlfriend!

Bruce - *Smiling* But you called her ‘Angel’.

Damian – FATHER!!!

Tim – When did this happen?!

Jason – What the h*ll did we miss?!

 Extra 4:

Batcave:

Bruce - *Looking at the security footage*

Damian – Father, what are you looking at?

Bruce – Take a look.

Damian sees the blonde boy (Adrien, if he recalled) hiding behind a plant arguing with the air, before he was surrounded by a green light and reappeared as Chat.

Damian - *Not impressed* So he’s a failure on all fronts.

Bruce – So it seems.

 Extra 5:

Adrien Hiding behind the plant when the Attack was going on:

Adrien – *Whispering* Plagg we need to do something!

Plagg – How do you plain on explaining how ‘Chat’ got here?

Adrien – No ones going to ask that.

Plagg – Yes, they will!

Adrien – No, they won’t.

Plagg – Your class may not, but there are others here that have more than one brain cell!

Adrien – Plagg! That was rude!

Ladybug and Hunter show up.

Adrien – *Dreamy sigh* Ladybug…

Plagg – And her PARTNER Hunter.

Adrien - *Not paying attention* Plagg I need to transform.

Plagg – Are you nuts! You can’t transform here!  People will see!

Adrien - *Still paying more attention to Ladybug* Alright Plagg let’s do this…

Plagg - *Beyond frustrated* Kid!

Adrien – Plagg; Claws out!

Plagg - *Is done and wants a new holder*

[inthedayswhenlandswerefew]

But You Can Never Leave [Chapter 4: City Of Dreams]

Series summary: You are an overwhelmed and disenchanted nurse in Boston, Massachusetts. Queen is an eccentric British rock band you’ve never heard of. But once your fates intertwine in the summer of 1974, none of your lives will ever be the same...

This series is a work of fiction, and is (very) loosely inspired by real people and events. Absolutely no offense is meant to actual Queen or their families.

Song inspiration: Hotel California by The Eagles.

Chapter warnings: Language, not really angst but you can FEEL that the angst is coming, pre-angst???

Chapter list (and all my writing) available HERE

Taglist: @queen-turtle-boiii​ @loveandbeloved29​ @killer-queen-xo​  @maggieroseevans​ @imnotvibingveryguccimrstark​ @im-an-adult-ish​ @queenlover05​ @someforeigntragedy​ @imtheinvisiblequeen​ @joemazzmatazz​ @seven-seas-of-ham-on-rhye​ @namelesslosers​ @inthegardensofourminds​ @deacyblues​ @youngpastafanmug​ @sleepretreat​ @hardyshoe​ @bramblesforbreakfast​ @sevenseasofcats​ @tensecondvacation​

Please yell at me if I forget to tag you! :)

He calls you at home, at the bare-bones flat you share with two Imperial College nursing students; he calls because he knows you want to see the world. He can’t give you the world yet, he can’t quite afford that. But what he can afford are two tickets to the British Museum, which are, incidentally, free.  

Roger shows you the Rosetta Stone, a column from the Temple of Artemis, the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, the River Witham swords, the Benin ivory mask of Queen Idia, Chinese jade, Incan gold, portraits of Anne Boleyn, bronze busts of Hadrian and Claudius, Rembrandts and Da Vincis and Van Goghs. He shows you the treasures of the living and the ruins of the dead, their currency and their gods and their flesh: skeletal mummies of people who walked the earth a millennium and a half before the Mayans, three thousand years before Alexander.

He’s uncharacteristically patient. He takes his time. He studies the maddeningly small words on the displays and asks you which relics you like best, whether they speak to you, what they say. He doesn’t want to leave even when you offer, even when you can see he’s restless for a cigarette, when he drums his fingers against his hip and gnaws his lower lip with those tiny canine teeth. Maybe there’s something else he’s even more ravenous for.

Roger wants to show you everything. There are alabaster-white, echoing corridors roped off for renovations, but that doesn’t stop him. He sprints with you down dimly-lit hallways—your fingers interlaced with his, your hair flying—and raises curtains and murky sheets of plastic to reveal marble faces, Anglo-Saxon helmets, Viking blades, fifth-century scrolls. He keeps watch as you look; and when he hears the footsteps of security guards he pulls you into the shadows, presses you flat against the wall, giggles in whispers as he clasps his palm over your mouth and begs you to be quiet. I’m trying, your gleaming eyes tell him, and when he lifts his hand away his burning sapphire gaze drops to your lips, and you think he might kiss you, and you think you might let him. But at the last moment you turn away, pretend you hadn’t noticed, tell him you think the footsteps are gone.

And the words ricochet perilously through your mind like shrapnel: I won’t fall in love with him. I won’t fall in love with him.

That once felt like a promise; now it feels like a plea.

~~~~~~~~~~

“I have a deeply philosophical question for you.”

“Go ahead.”

John is laying across the studio couch on his back, using your maroon-tights-and-golden-sundress-clothed thigh as a pillow, holding his notebook with one hand and a dulling pencil with the other. You’re working through a pile of the band’s outfits that need mending, denim and leather and knits and polyester strewn over your lap; you are excellent at stitching, whether in fabric or flesh. Every once in a while you twirl a lock of John’s feathery hair, and he doesn’t seem to mind. “If Brian was a superhero, who would he be?”

“Spider-Man,” you reply instantly. “The limbs.”

“Ahhhh, of course! He’s a regular daddy longlegs, isn’t he?” John begins sketching. “I already have Roger as Thor—blond and ragey, likes to throw things—and Freddie as Iron Man. Innovative and unstoppable. Fearless leader. Shamelessly opulent.”

“How about you?”

John smirks, but maybe he winces a little too. “Doctor Strange.”

You frown down at him. “You aren’t strange, John.”

“I am,” he says simply. “But that’s alright. I make do.”

“I don’t find you strange.”  

“Yes, well. You’re accustomed to patching together damaged things.”

Freddie explodes into the room, his tall black boots clopping on the linoleum floor. He waves his arms hysterically and thrusts his notebook towards you. I need your help, he’s written.

“Sure thing. Ask away.”

He scribbles another line and turns the notebook so you can see. Tell Brian he’s a twat.

You sigh. “Freddie, no.”

Behind the soundproof glass, Freddie, Roger, and Brian have been working on In The Lap Of The Gods: first Roger’s falsetto parts, then Freddie’s piano. This has been no easy task. Freddie is on complete vocal rest after being diagnosed with laryngitis, Brian is recovering from a duodenal ulcer (on top of his residual fatigue from hepatitis), and they’re all ready to strangle each other. Freddie opens his mouth to protest.

“Don’t you dare!” you cry, leaping to your feet. You start a fresh pot of tea on the hotplate and grab the flashlight from your bag. You’ve registered with a London-based travel nurse agency and, after heavy lobbying from Freddie and Roger, have officially been signed with the record company as Queen’s tour nurse. Assuming, of course, that the next tour ever happens. “Let me see.”

Freddie reluctantly plops down onto the couch so you can shine the flashlight down his inflamed throat.

“I better not find out you’ve been bitching at people,” you tell him. Freddie winks and flips his hair.

From the other side of the glass, you can see Roger jabbing an index finger at Brian, shouting, swearing, needling until Brian flings his hands into the air and stomps out of the studio.

“Well,” John says. “I’m glad that’s going well.”

You aren’t terribly alarmed; you’ve seen this before. Brian will spend a few minutes outside, pacing and muttering to himself under the sweltering August sky, and eventually he’ll right himself again—like a sailboat gaining traction in a storm—and return for round two or twelve or twenty. You pour Freddie a cup of piping hot tea with honey and slip into the live room, Freddie and John following behind you.

“How are things?” John asks cheerfully.

Roger is wearing a half-unbuttoned leopard print shirt, tight black leather pants, and black sweatbands on both wrists that he tugs at when he’s frustrated. He snorts in reply and rolls his eyes. Then he glances over at Brian’s Red Special. The guitar has been left unattended on its stand, shining and forbidden. Oh no.

“I wouldn’t,” John cautions.

But Roger does: he pulls the Red Special into his lap and begins to pluck away at it. You recognize the mournful intro riff of Stairway To Heaven. John whistles nervously. Freddie crosses his arms over his chest and taps the heels of his boots against the floor in disapproval.

“Roger, please,” you say. “Don’t stress the man out, you’ll give him another ulcer. You realize if he sees this he’s going to murder you. Hack you into tiny bits. We’ll never find all the pieces.”

Roger laughs. “Calm down, nothing’s gonna happen—” And then, as soon as he begins to adjust it, a tuning key pops off the head and rolls away. Freddie’s teacup shatters as it tumbles out of his grasp. Roger gapes at you and John and Freddie, horrified. “Oh no.”

“Roger!” you yelp, palms cupping your flushing cheeks.

John scoops the tuning key off the floor and rushes to Roger’s side. “Give it to me.”

Roger shoves the Red Special into John’s outstretched arms and begins hyperventilating, yanking at blond hair that you’ve learned is the product of cheap boxed dye. “Oh my god, Brian’s gonna...he’s...he’s...he’s gonna...”

Freddie bolts through the door and disappears outside, still clutching his notebook; he’ll try to delay Brian as long as he can. You wonder if you should join him, if that would make Brian even more suspicious, if there’s anything you can do. Roger paces like a lion behind iron bars.

John says softly as he works: “If I can’t fix it before Brian comes back, I’ll tell him I did it. He already hates me.” That’s not exactly true, and you all know it; but Brian and John clash better and connect worse than any of the rest of them. You marvel, momentarily, at how it can be possible for you to care so consumingly for four men who are so astronomically different. Ah, but perhaps you don’t care for them all in the same way.

“I can’t let you do that, Deaks,” Rog replies. Beads of perspiration are springing up along his temples, his collarbones, his neck. Don’t look, you tell yourself, feeling something scalding and hungry rippling through your skin like goosebumps.

“What can I do?” you ask desperately. “John, can I help...?”

“Almost there.” John is twisting the tuning key. You hear thumping against the door.

“Freddie, move!” Brian is shouting outside. “Move! What are you doing? What are they up to in there?!”

There’s a frantic commotion as John and Roger rush for the guitar stand. You spin to watch the door as it opens. Brian steps inside, his hawkish eyes narrowed. A frazzled Freddie materializes behind him. Your gaze darts back to the Red Special. It’s resting on the guitar stand where Brian left it, orderly and fully intact. Roger and John are chatting nonchalantly by the drum kit and trying to conceal the fact that they’re gasping for air. Oh thank GOD.

Brian peers back at Freddie. Freddie flashes an innocent grin. Brian props his hands on his waist and examines the room, taking long determined strides, fidgeting with the beaded choker around his neck. “Roger,” he says at last.

Roger bats his long eyelashes and casts you a knowing smile. “Hmm?”

“Why is there tea all over the floor?”

~~~~~~~~~~

Summer bleeds out, and autumn floods in like the tide. With dying leaves and cutting evening gales come other eventualities as well: a release date for Sheer Heart Attack, Killer Queen’s roaring reception as the album’s lead single, radio play and fanfare and the announcement that Queen’s first world tour will begin on the day before Halloween. So I might finally see some return on investment, you teased Freddie when he told you. He shot back: Just keep my vocal chords humming, bitch.

Tonight you’re at Top of the Pops with the rest of Queen’s usual entourage: Chrissie and Mary, Josephine and Veronica, assorted representatives and assistants from the record company Trident. The show has laid out a spread of fruit and meats and cheeses and cookies—biscuits, you remind yourself, you have to call them biscuits now—and alcohol...including Moët & Chandon, of course. You circle the table with Chrissie, piling free food onto your plate and sipping champagne, chattering mindlessly to distract yourselves from how petrified you all are. Freddie and Brian are still in hair and makeup; Roger is berating the producers for forcing Queen to perform to playback; John is compulsively snacking in some shadowy corner somewhere and avoiding the crowds, presumably with Veronica. You don’t dislike Veronica. She’s polite and gentle and undemanding, if a bit reticent around the band. You don’t think she would ever try to exploit John for the novelty of being with a musician, nor for the possibility of money and fame. But you sometimes wonder how much of John she really sees.

“Is this white cheddar?” Josephine asks as she stabs a cheese cube with a pink foil-tipped toothpick. “Or maybe gruyere? Monterey jack...?”

“I think it’s halloumi,” Chrissie offers.

“Ohhh, exotic!” Jo takes a bite. “It’s good, whatever it is.”

You pop a sliver of pineapple into your mouth. “My goal is to eat at least three of everything. And wrap extras in napkins to smuggle home. It’s a hard life, you know. Roping one’s fortunes to an almost-famous rock band.”

Jo smirks and shakes out her hair: dark, full, freshly trimmed. “I’ll have to live vicariously through you. I’m watching my figure.” She glances pensively down at her svelte body, which is sheathed in a silvery mini-dress.

“Love, you look amazing,” Chrissie says, somewhat pained. You’ve learned that when anyone suffers, Chrissie aches right along with them.

Jo just wrinkles her nose and shrugs. Jo is wilder than Veronica, edgier than Chrissie, less saccharine than Mary, more glamorous than you. She’s the only match you could imagine for Roger; and this brings you down some days, drags you low, sinks you into indigo melancholy. But lately Josephine has been the blue one, the quiet one. And you suddenly find yourself wondering if perhaps there is no match for Roger at all, no perfect counterbalance, no one soul that could tame his anywhere in the world.

“You’re flawless, Jo,” you tell her, but it feels hollow and anemic.

Mary appears, stroking her large gold earrings restlessly. “Fred’s almost done. They want to start in twenty minutes.”

You toss your empty plate into the garbage—rubbish, you amend mentally—and shake the crumbs from your dress. “I’ll go get John.”

You scuttle around the set, checking gloomy forgotten spots and the dressing rooms and broom closets. As you search, Roger finds you.

“Hey,” he says, mostly confidently, a dash apprehensively, his hands buried in his pockets.

“Hi. I’m trying to locate your bassist so you can pretend to perform in fifteen minutes.”

“That’s kind of you. I just passed him, though. He’s with Freddie. Everything is as it should be. Can I talk to you?”

“Um.” You stare at him, confused. “We’re already talking, aren’t we?”

“Yes, alright, true, but I have something important to say.”

“Okay.” You study him warily. Roger clears his throat and glimpses around. The two of you are standing in the shadow of a monstrosity of a lighting rig and are very much alone.

“I just...I wanted to inform you that...um...I’ll be...ah...well, you see...” He shakes his head and forces it out. “I’ll be breaking up with Jo soon. And I just wanted you to know. For you to be the first to know.”

You recoil, stunned. “Why would you break up with her?”

He smiles. “So I can take you out, of course.”

Oh my god oh my god oh my god. A furious barrage of images cascades through your mind: touching him, being touched by him, whispers in the darkness, rings, chapels, children, and then: Josephine. What it must feel like to be Jo, what the beginning looked like for her, what the end will: scorched earth and desolation. “I’m not interested,” you say, pleasantly surprised by the steadiness in your voice.

“Sure you are,” Roger replies, undeterred. “We’re going to be travelling all over. It’ll be museums and monuments and libraries and natural wonders galore. I can show you the world.”

“I’m really not.”

“Why wouldn’t you be interested?”

“Because I’m not looking to get played. And you seem like someone who might play me.”

Now he’s wounded; those massive pale eyes are glossy. “I most certainly would not.”

“Roger, I’m completely enchanted by you. You’re brilliant and fun and caring and so much smarter than people assume you are—”

“Thanks...?”

“—And you’re a fantastic friend. But if we do this and it doesn’t last...which, let’s be real, it probably won’t...I’ll lose you forever. And the band. And my job. The math just doesn’t work for me.” But, oh god, I’d do anything to rearrange those numbers.

Roger mulls that over, shuffles his feet, lights a cigarette. “I have a list, you know. Not a written list. It’s just in me, a part of me. Here.” He points at his chest. “It’s not long. It’s only things I can’t live without, or things I wouldn’t want to. There’s becoming a musician. There’s leaving Cornwall. There’s finding a band worthy of me. Check check check.” He takes a drag and exhales smoke into the air. “Next there’s becoming a famous rock star, seeing the world, providing for my family. That’s all coming together presently.” His eyes find yours. “You’re on that list now. And once something’s made the list, it never comes off.”

“Not until you’ve had it.”

That knocks Roger back, makes his brow furrow, makes him blink as it rolls through him; because maybe that cuts just a bit too close to the bone. Then his face clears like a cloudless sky and he smiles, brightly, blissfully, as he always does. “I’ll just have to change your mind.”

“You can try.”

He takes your left hand, skates his teeth lightly over your knuckles, grins mischievously. “I’m going to need one last toast for good luck.”

Roger leads you back to the snack table and pours three flutes of champagne: one for you, one for him, and one for Chrissie, who’s waited for you. John, Freddie, and Brian are testing their equipment on stage; Mary, Veronica, and Jo have commandeered spots with the best view and refuse to abandon them. The three of you toast, drain your champagne, and watch the preparations from afar. John is bopping around the stage as he strums his bass, lost in the music in his head.

“Such a strange man,” Chrissie murmurs, although not unkindly.

Roger immediately bristles. “He’s only strange if you don’t bother to try to understand him.”

“Oh hell, Rog, come on, I didn’t mean it like—”

But Roger pushes by her and breezes away. He swipes a pint of beer and a bunch of grapes off the snack table, saunters over to where John is playing, and gnaws the grapes messily as he points and asks John questions.

Chrissie sighs and turns to you. “You know I didn’t mean it like that. You know I adore John.”

“I know it.” And of course, you adore him too. But you have something else on your mind. You tilt your champagne flute towards Roger. “What was he like when he and Jo first got together?”

“Why?” Chrissie asks, eyebrows raised. “You mean...was he the same way he is with you?”

You twirl your empty glass morosely. “Sure. If I am in fact that transparent.”

Chrissie chuckles and rubs your shoulder reassuringly. “Now now, don’t be grumpy.” She lights a cigarette and thinks. “Honestly, no. He’s different with you. More himself, less dramatic. Less always trying to be the dashing playboy. Just pure energy, that enthusiasm he has that’s almost childish. He’s happy. Really happy.”

You nod. “So you think I should give him a chance if he asks for it.”

“Absolutely not.”

You startle and whirl to her, not understanding.

Chrissie smiles tenderly, sadly, wishing she could change it. “He’ll ruin you. He ruins everyone. Now if he asked you in ten years? Fifteen years? Maybe. But if you say yes now, he’ll burn through you like battery acid. He’ll love you until you can’t imagine a world without him, until everything you were before is quarried from your bones. And then he’ll move on. He can’t help it, that’s just who he is. Reckless and wonderful and insatiable. And good luck trying to find anything on this whole fucking planet that can replace Roger Taylor.”

“I understand,” you whisper. “Thank you.”

You watch Queen up on the stage as they count down the minutes until showtime, how Freddie fluffs his hair and checks his eyeliner, how Brian meticulously rehearses his notes on the Red Special, how John and Roger exchange comments and jokes. And it occurs to you how symbiotic they are: Roger bringing passion and dauntlessness and fire, John tempering that when necessary and contributing something so dissimilar and yet vital, something steady and pragmatic and immutable. Brian’s a willow tree, Fred’s a lightning storm, Roger’s wildfire...but what is John?

You can’t decide. Roger is tapping away at the hi-hat and it sounds like a metronome, like something hypnotic, like a spell older than the pyramids.

I won’t fall in love with him. I won’t fall in love with him. I won’t fall in love with him.

[vex-bittys]

Flufftober 2020: Day One

Prompt: Coffee Shop AU

Pairing: Classic Alphyne

Category: Romantic

----------

Undyne was not the type of monster to overlook details; her eye for minutiae had gotten her promoted through the ranks to Mount Ebott’s Chief of Police after all. Today, though, she had underestimated the weather, and the summer heat and humidity left her water bottled drained long before the end of her daily jog. Overheated, sticky with sweat, and uncomfortably thirsty, Undyne ducked into the first little coffee shop she saw to purchase a cold bottle of water.

That decision changed her life forever.

Undyne grabbed a bottle of water out of the cooler, barely paying attention to her surroundings… until she saw the barista at the counter. The short yellow lizard monster wore a frilly apron and a bow adorned her head spikes. Her name tag had “Alphys” written on it in round handwriting with tons of flourishes, and underneath that, in neat, small letters, it said “Owner.” Undyne stood at the cash register, staring in awe at the monster in front of her and entirely forgetting that she needed to actually pay for her purchase. 

The lizard monster, Alphys, repeated the total, stammering a bit as she did. With a quick apology, Undyne handed over some cash and hurried out of the coffee shop without even waiting for her change. Outside, she leaned against the brick wall of the building, heart thumping a rapid rhythm in her chest, bottle of water dangling, unopened, from her hand. She couldn’t stop thinking about Alphys.

Undyne began to jog past the little shop every day. At first, she only stopped to check that her running shoes were properly tied, glancing surreptitiously through the window at Alphys when she discovered, time after time, that her shoes did not need the attention. She finally found the courage to go into the shop again when she accidentally left her water bottle in her work locker. Sure, she could’ve gone back to get it, but the coffee shop wasn’t far, and Undyne supported local small businesses!

Once again Undyne grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler, but this time she remembered to pay for it, dropping the change into a festively decorated tip jar. She lingered in the shop with her purchase, just listening to Alphys talk to various customers. It became a daily ritual for Undyne, stopping at the coffee shop, buying a bottle of water whether she needed it or not, and observing the cute lizard monster who ran the shop.

The more Undyne thought about it, the more things began to make sense. She’d never really noticed the males around her when they attempted to flirt with her or asked her out on dates. She’d brushed them all off with disinterest, thinking that perhaps they weren’t her type though she had no clue what her type might be. Now she knew. Her type was an adorable lizard monster who wore the cutest outfits, spoke with a slight stutter when nervous, and always blushed ever so slightly if Undyne stayed at the cash register to talk to her.

I’m a lebiab, thought Undyne before correcting herself. Lesbiam. Less bien....

She liked girls, and more importantly, one girl in particular, one female monster whose sumptuous curves and clever mind had stolen her heart so easily and completely that she hadn’t even noticed it. Now she needed to figure out what to do about it. How do you flirt with someone that you’re already head over heels for?

----------

Alphys had developed a crush on a customer. Each day before work, she chose one of  her cutest outfits, knowing that the buff fish monster, Undyne, would be stopping by later. Undyne always wore her jogging outfit to the coffee shop- a black sports bra and tight lycra pants in a bold and colorful pattern. This allowed Alphys an uninterrupted view of some very toned lady abs, abs which she tried hard (and mostly succeeded) not to stare at.

Cautious peeks through the big glass windows facing the street had become daily visits for bottled water and eventual conversations. Alphys once mentioned a love for magical girl animes, and Undyne had absolutely glowed as she passionately described a favorite anime of hers- one involving big swords and tenacious heroines. The attraction was undeniable, at least on Alphys’ end, but she had to find a way to break the ice about a possible date.

Alphys decided to do what she did best- create the perfect recipe for a baked good, something tailored specifically to Undyne’s tastes and formulated for her healthy lifestyle. She’d seen Undyne staring longingly at turtle brownies (which contained absolutely no turtle, a joke that had made Undyne roar with laughter), but the fish monster always passed them up because of all the refined sugar and carbs.

Alphys worked diligently to make something healthy that satisfied that craving for decadence, and finally, she settled on a recipe to win her sushi crush’s heart.

The next time Undyne stopped by the coffee shop, Alphys stepped out from behind the counter, making her heart go doki-doki. It was a bold move for the usually shy lizard monster, but the two female monsters had become comfortable enough with each other that Undyne didn’t suspect anything more than a coffee shop owner joining a regular customer for a drink and a chat.

As the pair of female monsters took seats at one of the quaint little bistro tables with their mosaic tile tops, Alphys surprised Undyne by placing a plate of turtle brownies in front of her. Undyne opened her mouth to protest, but Alphys quickly reassured her that these particular baked goods had been crafted with care… and less calories, carbs, and refined sugar. She took advantage of Undyne’s open mouth by breaking off a piece of one of the brownies and popping it inside.

Undyne chewed thoughtfully and swallowed.

“Well?” asked Alphys, eager to know if the healthy treats were a success.

“I like you… I mean, them!” Undyne blurted. Her face turned as bright red as her hair, and Alphys smiled smugly.

“That’s what I thought.”

READ ON AO3

INDEX | DAY TWO

[multi-obsessed-fanfic-writer]

It’s For The Best (Zuko x Reader)

Author’s Note: Ah! First fanfic post! I absolutely love Zuko and Sokka so there’s probably going to be a lot of one-shots for them right now haha. This is also set up for a part two if anyone ever wants it! I’m also content leaving it at this as well, though. I’m really excited to be writing again and I can’t wait to post more stories for everyone to read! Thank you so much!

Summary: You adjust to life with Zuko after the war when you realize it may not be everything you’ve ever wanted and more. 

It’s For The Best

Zuko x Reader

Word Count: 3,164

Warnings: Angst

You had never expected to even make it out of the war alive, so how did you end up where you are now?

You’re currently sitting in the courtyard of the Fire Nation palace while feeding small pieces of bread to the floating turtle ducks in the pond. If someone had told you this is where you’d be two years ago, you would have laughed in their face. Oh, how times have changed.

“Hey, (Y/n),” A voice behind you causes you to turn around. You face the one and only Zuko, your ruggedly handsome boyfriend. 

“Well, hello, Firelord Zuko,” You say, smirking slightly. He grimaces at the excessive use of his title. 

“We’ve had this conversation already, (Y/n), I don’t-”

“You don’t want me to use your title all the time, yadda, yadda, I get it.” You sigh, rubbing a hand over your face as you turn back to your previous position facing toward the pond. You toss another piece of bread to the turtle ducks. 

Zuko sits next to you, his hand finding yours. You let him take your hand and rub his calloused fingers across your smooth skin. You stop throwing bread and turn to face him.

“I’m sorry this is so hard for you,” He murmurs, bringing your hand up to his lips as he presses a feather-light kiss to the back of it. Your features soften at this side of him. It’s a special soft side of him that he saves for when the two of you are alone. You love it, though. 

“It’s just...not the life I thought I’d be living, you know? It’s taking some time to adjust.” You look down at your feet, your hand dropping from his grasp.

“It’s been almost a year, (Y/n). How long do you think it’ll take to adjust?” He whispers, his eyes searching your face for an answer when you don’t give him one.

A long silence passes between the two of you before you decide to finally break it.

“I’m starting to get hungry after throwing all this bread at animals. I’m going to go get a snack from the kitchen. I’ll see you later.” You press a chaste kiss to his cheek before abruptly standing and striding off to the kitchen. Zuko stays behind.

You hate to do this to him. You hate to make things so hard on him while you try to adjust to life in the palace. However, as a waterbender from the north pole, you were way out of your element. Quite literally. You were used to freezing cold temperatures, heavy coats, and playing in the snow. Here? You feel...out of place. It’s much too hot for you, you can’t wear any of the clothes that you’re comfortable in, and there’s no place that you can feel at home at. Least of all the palace.

Zuko wants you to feel at home in the palace, he wants you to feel like you fit in. You know why, of course. As his girlfriend, it’s natural that he’d eventually want to marry you, and if that happens, you’d spend your life here. Of course he wants you to feel comfortable at the place you might potentially spend the rest of your life at. However, you just couldn’t. It had been a year and you had yet to relax in the palace. You didn’t want to be the queen of the nation that had ruined your home, not that ruining your home was something you were still upset about. The Fire Nation was better under Zuko’s rule, but you still didn’t want to rule a nation at all. It wasn’t in you. You’re just a regular girl.

“Lady (Y/n)? There are visitors here to see you.” A guard speaks to your right. You jump at his presence, having just reached your hand out for a biscuit. 

“Uh, send them in. Thank you.” Your cheeks flush with embarrassment that the guard had caught you snacking and had seen you jump when he scared you. However, the guard seemed to pay no attention to this fact as he steps aside and three people rush forward to greet you. 

“(Y/n)!” Katara, Aang, and Sokka grin, running toward you with arms open wide. You get enveloped in a bone-crushing bear hug from the three as a warm smile spreads across your face.

“Hey, guys! Long time no see!” You hug them back, a warmth filling your chest. It had been roughly a month since you had visited them at the south pole with Zuko on some ‘external relations’ diplomatic mission Zuko was sent on. You had tagged along to see your friends.

“It’s been too long!” Aang complains, finally breaking the hug to give you a wide smile as he laces his and Katara’s hands together. You smile at them, you’re happy that they’re still doing well together.

“How have you guys been? And where’s Toph?” You ask, looking individually at their faces. None of them have grown up too much which gives you a sense of relief even though it has only been a month since you saw them last. 

“We’ve been great!” Katara grins and squeezes Aang’s hand as he blushes.

“And Toph had some important family issue at home she had to attend to. I’m not entirely convinced she just didn’t feel like traveling. But anyway, we miss you! You should come back to the south pole, we need you there,” Sokka interjects with a pout. You smile sadly at him but don’t answer, fearing you might let something slip out that you don’t necessarily mean.

“Where’s Zuko? Shouldn’t you guys be together?” Katara winks at you, giving you a playful smirk. You didn’t have the heart to tell her that you had just left him sitting alone out in the courtyard. 

“Uh, I think I saw him in the courtyard last.” You feign innocence, pretending to think hard about where your boyfriend might be. They all grin widely.

“Well, let’s go pay him a visit! Come on!” Aang and Katara all-but-drag you over to the courtyard where Zuko is still sitting on the stone bench, a forlorn look on his face. You furrow your brows as you get a pang in your chest. You put that look on his face. 

“Zuko! My man!” Sokka saunters up to him and sits down, slinging an arm around his shoulders. Zuko’s head shoots up, clearly not hearing the four of you approach. 

“Oh, hey guys.” Zuko waves to everyone, his eyes lingering sadly on you for a moment. You look anywhere but at him.

He knows you’re not happy here and he’s having the same internal debate that you’re having. Do you stay together, hoping that one day you’ll be happy and content in the Fire Nation? Or do the two of you let go and accept that your lives may be taking you in different directions?

You’re not sure where your head was at on that question. On one hand, you love Zuko dearly, and you’re not sure you can give him up. On the other, though, you think about what it would be like to be the queen of the Fire Nation. You’re not cut out for that kind of job, and you rarely get to see Zuko now that he’s Firelord, so what would happen when you both had royal duties to attend to? Would you get to see him at all?

“How are you guys doing over here in the Fire Nation?” Aang pipes up, smiling between you and Zuko. You look over at Zuko and find that he’s already staring at you, waiting for your answer first.

“Things have been...great,” you lie straight through your teeth, “Zuko and I have been having a wonderful time. I’m so excited to be here with him.”

“Really? First you lied to me, now you’re lying to them?” Zuko mutters. Katara, Sokka, and Aang overhear this and turn to you in confusion. Your cheeks heat up in embarrassment.

“I never lied to you, Zuko. I said I needed time and that’s exactly what I’m standing by. Are we seriously going to have this discussion right now? Here, in front of our friends?” You say, your voice quiet as you carefully plan what you’re going to say to stop the argument.

Too late.

“I think this discussion is long overdue, (Y/n). I’ve given you a year in the Fire Nation and you still refuse to call it home, to accept that this might just be where you belong. You refuse to accept me,” He breathes out, having stood up. He now stares at you from a few feet away, a fiery look in his eyes as his anger flares up. You know you’ve put him in a tough position, but this wasn’t easy for you, either.

“Zuko, I don’t want to cause a scene. Please, can we discuss this later? In private?” Your eyes flit over the faces of your friends. They all look shocked, not having known that you and Zuko were not doing well.

“I don’t want to discuss it later! I want to discuss it now! How come you aren’t comfortable with me anymore? Here? Where we belong together?” He asks, taking a few steps forward until he’s only two feet in front of you. You grit your teeth, screwing your eyes shut as he says this.

“Because this isn’t where I belong, Zuko,” you finally let out the words that felt like they were being trapped just beneath your skin for ages, itching to finally get out in the open, “I belong in the north or south pole, with my people. I belong with other waterbenders who can help me hone my waterbending skills. I belong in the cold where I can wear clothes that I’m used to instead of the sweltering heat where I feel like I’m constantly being melted alive. I belong somewhere where I might have the chance to be normal again instead of being exalted to the highest status in the nation. I don’t want to be queen, Zuko, I want to live a normal life without royal duties. I want to be able to see my husband in the future instead of constantly being told that he’s in a meeting. This is where you belong, but I don’t think it’s for me.”

Everyone is speechless. They all gape at you, eyes wide and mouths dangling open at this sudden confession. Zuko’s eyes convey fear, hurt, and betrayal all at once. You want to grab him and pull him close to you, telling him that you still love him and that you want to continue to try to be comfortable here. For him.

But you know it’s too late for that.

“Do you even still love me?” Zuko’s voice comes out barely above a whisper, only loud enough for you to hear. You mull over the question in your head.

Do you?

Before you can answer, Zuko has taken your silence as your answer and he starts to walk off in the direction of the palace, brushing past you on his way through. Your heart breaks as you feel him graze your shoulder as if you aren’t even there. This answers your question immediately.

Yes, you still love him, but you’re not sure that’s enough anymore.

“What...was that?” Sokka interrupts your thoughts, staring in shock at you. You bite your lip.

“I...I don’t know.” You manage to spit out, tears threatening to spill out of your eyes as you think about what you’ve done. You can’t just bounce back from this. You had all but admitted to Zuko that you didn’t want to be here anymore, which meant you didn’t want to be with him anymore.

“We’ll...be in the guest quarters. Come get us when you’re ready, I know you probably need some time to think.” Katara gives you a sad, knowing smile as she grabs the boys and leads them away from you. You sink to the ground, your knees grazing the water of the pond as the turtle ducks wade over to you for food. You sit back on your ankles, your mind reeling as you think over what this could mean and what your possibilities are now.

Could you go back and apologize? After everything you’ve said, would he even accept your apology? Would he want you back?

Would you even want to come back?

“I need to talk to him…” You murmur to yourself, looking over at the baby turtle ducks. 

You stand, still a little numb from the previous interaction, and start to walk toward the palace. You need to sleep things over before you rush into any more tough conversations with Zuko.

You walk to your chambers, falling into the bed and falling asleep on top of the covers almost immediately. Your sleep is fitful and dreamless.

~+~

You wake up, you’re not sure how much time has passed, but it’s still day time. You look down and realize that a blanket has been draped across your body and a hot cup of tea is waiting on your bedside table. You reach over and take a quick sip, kicking the blanket off and swinging your legs over the side of the bed. Once you’re standing, Zuko slips into the room quietly. He turns to face you, realizing that you’re already standing there.

“Oh! You’re awake,” He says sheepishly, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck, “I didn’t know. It’s morning, by the way. You slept the whole night.”

“Oh, sorry...Did you do all of this?” You ask, motioning to the hot tea and blanket. He nods. 

“Yeah, I...I did. Um, listen, we need to talk.” He sits down on one of the small couches in your room. You sit on a couch across from him.

“We do.” You nod curtly, sucking in a breath as you prepare for the pending fight.

“I-I know that I was rude yesterday, and I’m sorry. We both said things that I think we didn’t mean…” He trails off, looking up at you. You give him a sad look.

“I’m sorry, Zuko, but I meant what I said,” You say softly. Your eyes hold a tenderness that he knows you only hold for him. Zuko looks down at the carpet, a poorly attempted smile making its way onto his face.

“I know,” he murmurs, “and I understand now. It took me a few hours, but I think I know what you mean. The Fire Nation is only a burden to you, and I’m sorry it took me a year to realize that.” 

His eyes look sadder than you’ve ever seen them before. You know this is hard for him, and it’s equally as hard for you, but you both know that it’s for the best. 

“It’s not your fault. I was hard to decipher sometimes, and even I didn’t really know what I wanted until yesterday. I’m really sorry, I...I didn’t want for this to happen,” You reply truthfully. You didn’t. You wanted to be with him, to love him, to be his queen. But it just wasn’t in the cards for you.

“I know you didn’t. Neither of us planned for this to happen, but I think we both know what’s best for you. You should join Sokka and Katara in the South Pole, they need you there. And I wish that you could need to be here, too, but we both know that you don’t. You most of all. So, go. I want you to be happy, even if that means leaving us behind. I’m...trying really hard to be mature about this,” Zuko rants, running his hands through his hair. You grab one of them and hold it in yours, sitting next to him on the small couch space.

“I love you, Zuko. More than you could ever know. And I don’t think I’ll ever stop truly loving you…” You trail off, leaning in for one last kiss. He complies, pressing his lips to yours softly and lingering there as he soaks in every last moment with you.

“I’ll visit the South Pole soon, yeah? Just because we won’t be together doesn’t mean we can’t still be friends, right?” He rests his forehead against yours and tears slip down both of your cheeks.

“Right. This isn’t goodbye, it’s just a see you later. We’ll be on separate paths in life, but that doesn’t mean that we will never see each other again,” You murmur, pressing a kiss to his forehead, “I’ll see you soon, Zuko. I promise you that.”

“I’ll see you soon, (Y/n/n),” Zuko whispers as he watches you get up and walk away from him, through your door, and into the hallway. 

Once you’re in the hallway, you let out a breath of relief. You can’t believe that conversation went as well as it did. 

First thing’s first, though. You need to find Katara, Aang, and Sokka. 

You run down the hall, newfound freedom running wild within you. You smile and knock on Katara’s door and it swings open in two seconds flat. Inside are Katara, Aang, and Sokka already chatting. They look confused at the smile on your face.

“I’m coming back to the South Pole with you guys,” You say, your smile only growing wider. None of them question you as they break out into wide smiles of their own.

“Heck yeah! Now we can go penguin sledding together!” Aang cheers, pumping his fist in the air. Katara gives you a slightly confused look and you shake your head, motioning that you’ll talk to her about it later. She nods and envelops you in a big hug as the boys join her. You hug back and a few tears slip down your cheek unnoticed. This is a very emotionally torn day for you since you feel happy and sad at the same time. You’re not sure whether it’s tears of joy or sadness leaking out of your eyes right now, but it doesn’t matter. You’re going home with some of the people you love.

“Let’s get going, then!” Sokka links arms with you and Katara as Aang links Katara’s other arm with his. Together, the four of you walk down to Appa and get ready to leave. 

You take one last sad look over your shoulder to the Fire Nation palace and think about Zuko. You know this is the right decision, but you can’t help but feel a sad twang in your heart for leaving the one you truly love.

It’s for the best, though, and you know that. That’s the reason you muster up the courage to turn back around and climb into Appa’s saddle as Aang yells an enthusiastic “yip, yip!” and you’re headed off into the sky.

The palace descends into a small speck as you get further and further away from it on Appa, and you can’t help but shed one more tear for Zuko.

It’s for the best.

[toysoldiers-rwby]

[SYT] 5. the leading lamb

Show Your Teeth

Characters: Fiona, Winter, May, Robyn, Joanna Rating: Mature Tags: implied abuse, hurt/comfort, parental sibling, confessions, fluff Word Count: 7,219

Summary: Three Mantle Rats are invited to an Atlesian Party. What can go wrong?

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A/N: as a survive it’s very important for me to NEVER focus on the abuse itself. I try very hard to imply it and show the damage it can do but honestly I’m tired of reading stories where it’s just pain. So I try very hard to focus on the recovery and healing. I’d love feedback on this. Also check Ao3 for NSFW art lol. i forgot tumblr hates links so i think i’ll just edit it back in after a week or something to keep things organized.

Some how a shopping trip also turned into a raid on the local arcade. Fiona was winning despite what all the leaderboards was saying. Winter was cheating, she had to be. Robyn and Joanna was the better shot, they were the only ones that used range weapons a regular basis! Still Winter came in first. May should have won the batter’s game, her favorite weapon was a staff. Number One? Winter Schnee. The other three loudly cheered Fiona on as she adjusted her grip on the hammer.  

The last game was a the gold on ‘Test of the Strength.’ Sure, some of was actual strength but almost all of it was leverage. Fiona loved stealing… borrowing! Loved borrowing heavy weapons. Axes… Elm’s hammer. She almost got Marrow’s boomerang and still had two years to do it. A worker quickly stepped in as Joanna was some how about to convince the man they’ll settle the matter like adults.  

Several minutes later they had enough tickets to buy all the giant stuff animals on display. Like adults, everyone gave their tickets to the children nearby.  

Like an adult, Fiona slammed her fist on the counter and demanded the giant lion.  

“By the brothers, Fi…” Robyn mumbled a little embarrassed.

It was the fifth time she’d manage to surprise and fluster the women. Fiona wasn’t counting the smirk tugging at her lips and cute mole on her chin. The fluttering in her chest wasn’t getting worse and her hands didn’t feel cold and empty when she looked at Robyn. Fiona only hugged her stuff animal tighter.

“I won and Winter cheated! I deserve a trophy!” Fiona argued sticking her tongue out at them. In truth she just needed something to desperately keep her hands occupied. Joanna was the only one that smiled fondly at her and ruffled her hair. The other three acted disappointed.  

And to be extra annoying she refused to absorbed it and forced the group to return to Robyn’s apartment. Fiona dumped several bags of clothes onto the living room floor and then took the couch with her new best friend. May took the time to choose to pick out everyone’s outfit and will most likely buy a few more accessories when they head up to Atlas.  

“What should I name it?” Fiona asked with a grin, ears wiggling happily.  

“Childish,” Robyn said with a soft teasing bite. Fiona didn’t notice the way her eyes light up, all bright and unguarded. Or noticed Robyn’s habit of blowing her fringe out of her eyes.  

“Deviant,” May said slowly shifting through the bags. Eventually the others helped her but Fiona stayed on the couch.  

“Selfish,” Joanna added.  

“You all suck,” Fiona mumbled. She fell back, laying down on the couch and not even taking up all the space. She held up the stuff lion above her, playing with its tiny round ears as her own fluttered happily.  

Today was the most fun she had in years. And not because of the sex. A sudden shiver rolled through Fiona’s body, a flash of heat dried her mouth and warmed her cheeks. The sight of Robyn stretched out before her… The sweetness rolling off her tongue and down her chin and neck. Her ears fluttered, remembering how Robyn screamed Fiona’s name.  

Fiona buried her face against the muzzle. Trying not to groan at the memory. Robyn was her teammate, going to be her huntress partner. Not… Fiona tried to shelved her dancing heart. It was just… stress relief between friends. Casual hookups and friends with benefits weren’t unheard of when majority of Atlas’ population was asexual.  

Robyn will be her new partner. They’ll pass their combat final with flying colors and… and ideally Robyn will stay. Fiona swallowed her racing heart back down to her chest. She’d get to see those stupid eyes everyday.  

“I’ll name you… Spring.” Fiona said cuddling her trophy. Robyn glanced at her with a smirk and raised brow. “For new beginnings!” Fiona huffed and pouted at the women. Robyn’s smile eased the tension from her shoulders, looking… a lot how like Winter looks at May. Stupidly fond and earnest and Fiona had to look away with ears fluttering about.  

“You have competition now,” Joanna teased, elbowing her partner. Fiona saw a light blush on Robyn’s tanned cheeks for a second. They all turned back to the elites, noticing May holding up an outfit that wasn’t for any of them.  

“They won’t be able to do any compression for awhile,” Winter said. They, meaning the Thief. Fiona sat up, resting her chin on her trophy’s shoulder. The two elites picked out an outfit for the Thief on their last shopping trip. May shifted a little more, looking away uncomfortably.  

Fiona realized that she never saw May in anything that she didn’t want to wear. She switched between the boy’s and girl’s uniform according to her mood, wore makeup whenever she felt like it and never because it was required. Fiona always thought it was May being May, a rebellious brat tired of all the rules… the rules just never applied to her in the beginning.  

Fiona touched her ears, only being able to relate on a different level. “Scarf’s are good too,” Fiona said. Her teammates gave her a pointed look with a soft sneer. Fiona pouted at it back before Robyn playfully sat down next to her and tugged at the scarf around her neck.  

“Are you ever going to give it back?” May tried to be teasing but was still a little tense.  

“Maybe… not?” Fiona mumbled, an idea hitting her. She blushed and looked away. It was stupid and humans always got the wrong impression but it was true. “Maybe we should give it to the Thief-”  

“Glade,” May gently reminded.  

“We should give it to Glade,” Fiona corrected. “They responded pretty well to me and May so it might calm them down.” Joanna and Robyn glanced at each other a little confused. “Um… Faunus are wired differently,” Fiona answered, fidgeting a little in her seat. She never actually had to explain it to May and Winter. The pair picked up on it because they’re secretly super attentive and sweet. “We’re not hunting dogs, it works on a subconscious level and we don’t really notice it.” Fiona said. She was dancing around the subject a little because her nose was a little more sensitive than the average Faunus. Everyone had their own unique scent. Winter smelled of cool fresh air, like fresh dawn and a new beginning. May smelled of flowers, so soft it wrapped and cuddle Fiona from the inside.  

Robyn and Joanna smelled like the forest of Mistral. Deep and rich, the kind of ground you could really set roots in and grace with flowers. Every bit of them was different parts of a home Fiona would like some day. No wonder Glade snuck in earlier.  

Robyn and Joanna raised a brow. The slight movement helping Fiona realize she was quiet a little too long, “People just smell nice,” Fiona blurted out with a blush. “Familiar smells are calming while strangers are…”  

“Upsetting?” Robyn asked.  

“Kinda? It’s why May cuddles me when we need to sleep in hotels.”  

“And why they practically dragged you into Robyn’s room last night,” Joanna said with chuckled, “That’s adorable.” The three students blushed softly.  

The little lamb grumbled and shifted in her seat. Fiona didn’t tell them it was a sign of trust and acceptance in Faunus culture. So when they dropped off the clothes at the clinic and the Thief- Glade, walked into the clinic’s staff lounge with the scarf wrapped around their neck, Fiona smiled brightly, ears wiggling happily.  

They chose the grunge outfit her elites bought, subtly turtling into the scarf as they tucked their wavy pale green hair into beanie… Keeping their eyes closed until they slipped on the dark reflective shades. Was their Faunus trait their eyes? Where they nocturnal or did they have non-human eyes?  

“Thanks,” The Thief. said with a soft smile.  

“Yeah, of course,” May tried to act like Winter, stoic and aloof. It was an adorable failure that had Fiona and her group of mismatched friends snickering. She grumbled at the mismatch group and looked focused on Dr. Pietro, “Are you attending the Schnee recital tonight?”  

“Perhaps, Young Glade here has offered to help me finish my work but I will definitely attending Silvio’s birthday later this week,” Dr. Pietro said with a smile while the Thief frowned a little.  

“Glade? What am I a stray dog?”  

“We even got you a collar,” May taunted, pulling at collar of their flannel shirt. Glade only scoffed and quickly retreated back into the clinic, favoring one side over the other. Everyone noticed and gave Dr. Pietro a worried look.  

“A broken leg that never healed right. Completely unrelated to what happened this morning.” Dr. Pietro said. " We had a close call with Ms. Goodwitch and Silvio earlier but they’ll be safe. If they stay here," He stressed the last bit loudly and pointedly.  

“I promise I’ll keep you all out of trouble,” Glade yelled somewhere in the clinic.  

“Not reassuring!” Fiona yelled back as they left. She took a few dancing steps in front of the group, smiling up at her friends, “So we ready to head back to Atlas?”  

“Let’s see… Glade? Treated and recovering. Window. Fixed. Weapons?” Robyn asked.  

“Check!” Fiona smile with a flick of her wrist, a switchblade was suddenly in her hands and flicked open. The others seemed to falter a little, a quick blush appearing on everyones face and Robyn looking particularly… bothered. Fiona only brightly smiled at her until Winter cleared her throat.  

“Atlesian lesson 101?” The Schnee asked next.  

“They’re bitches,” May and Robyn answered at the same time. Fiona giggled as Winter lightly glared at them both. “Public opinion is everything,” Robyn answered. “And 102, deliver what they think they want.”  

What the Atlesians wanted from Robyn wasn’t far from who she actually was.  

Joanna cleared her throat, “An average civilian, rising to the occasion to save a brilliant mind during a sudden attack on Mantle, the charismatic hero who always gets the girl in the end,” she narrated the hard-light poster dramatically before throwing her head back and laughing.  

Thank god Winter had the foresight to drag them to Schnee Manor before the actual recital started. The only people around were servers, security, and fiends. It gave time for the Mantle Rats to get used to the environment, to the disgusting show of wealth. They had space for real trees in the city. Gated behind a wall with security cameras pointing out in every direction. Marble, chrome, rich dark oaks constructed the building and hard-light lamps advertised the Schnee emblem and tied it all with a soft blue glow.  

Then there was the hijacked hard-light poster.  

It was suppose to be displaying the poster May showed them earlier today, Weiss sinking on stage. Instead it was Robyn. Valiantly fighting Grimm in the foreground, fending off those creepy long fingers and giving Fiona time to grab Silvio as the ground erupted beneath them. Fiona tilted her head.  

It looked like a movie still.  

A very hot one Fiona would probably take for herself later but it didn’t feel right. “Is this what people see when they watch Huntsmen and Huntresses fight?” She asked softly. “Just action and adventure? Not, y’know… helping people?”  

“It always seems like saving people is the ultimate form of help. It gets rather tiresome.”  

The group turned around to see Goodwitch approaching. Her usual wear was formal enough, a lot more than the group’s casual suits and dresses. Robyn’s tie was purposely loose the top two buttons left open for that perfectly clean your-not-important-enough-for-me-to-care persona the group decided on. Just thinking about it made Fiona’s hand twitched. She wanted to pull at it for a while now. She enjoyed Robyn’s shock and flustered face and that tie… Robyn’s her teammate, not a casual fuck.  

Fiona took a slow breath and looked back up at Goodwitch who eye did bounce between the gold bird pin everyone wore on their body.  

“I’d like to formally apologize on Qrow’s behalf,” Goodwitch said a bit reluctantly. “Though I do not apologize for his absence. He’ll probably just puke all over the floor or hassle the servers.”  

"If you want to apologize stop bringing up that drunk," May said, her arm leaving the small dip of WInter’s back. Winter tried to stay relax but was glaring hard up at the Vale huntress.  

Goodwitch smile, “Best idea all day. Worse being people sneaking Grimm into the city,” She finished looking at Robyn and Fiona. The words made Fiona’s heartbeat leap into her throat. There… that was one explanation. The only reasonable. May did say something about a greater plan. Glade was the only one that acted- No. Fiona looked at Robyn, Glade was the only one that had the skill and resources to act. “James has told me you’ve looked into previous cases, Detective Hill?”  

Detect… Detective?! Fiona tried not to sputter at the title. She tried to relax her ears, stop them from sticking straight out from the sides of her head. Joanna chuckled softly beside her and ruffled her hear, unfreezing her muscles.  

“Fighting rings have started to bring in small non-Atlas Grimm to spice things up,” Robyn said. Fiona pulled her head out of the gutter, trying to focus on the conversation. Joanna set a hand on her partner’s shoulder, calming her down enough to continue civilly. “We’ve been trying to get the military involved for months.”  

“Do you think these events are related?” Goodwitch asked.  

“We put a dent in the major rings so I hope not,” Joanna whispered. “If Atlas gangs figure out how to turn Grimm into weapons…” Fiona didn’t want to think about those Imps agains.  

“We’re already seeing some bandit tribes in Anima use similar tactics,” Goodwitch informed. One reason why Atlas was so crowded and industrialized was that Solitas made living outside of proper settlements difficult. Normal citizens without a protective Aura can’t even leave the kingdom without expensive equipment. “Extort them for protection by leading the Grimm to them and leave them once the main horde arrives.”  

“They can’t all be connect,” Robyn said firmly shaking her head. “Twisted mines follow the same path every now and then.”  

Goodwitch stared at the group for a long while, then smiled sadly, “I don’t suppose I can steal you from Atlas, can I?” Goodwitch asked.  

“She’s mine,” Fiona blurted out, heart skipping a few beats as panic filled her for a second. She was so close to making things up to Winter and May. Just one last thing before they all continue with their training and studies, two years until they graduation. Robyn nudged her out of it a playful smirk comforting the little lamb. “She’s my partner for our combative final.”  

“Ridiculous,” Goodwitch said with a deep scowl, “With how you all fought, I’ll see ensure James pass the three of you and accept you two into the Academy,” She looked at the students then at the detectives. The group blinked stunned until Goodwitch raised a brow.  

“Thank you… ma’am,” Winter said softly. Even her eyes were wide.  

Goodwitch only nodded. She turned on those high heels and practically marched away, “I look forward to working with you ladies again.”  

“As long as that creepy as bird doesn’t break my shit!” Robyn called out after her. Robyn was practically bouncing, a large smile on her face as grabbed Joanna’s hands and practically bounced, “Heard that Joan! We’re Atlas students-”  

“Your an Atlas student.” Joanna said pulling her hands free and pushing them firm on Robyn’s shoulders to stop her small bounce. " We don’t have the money for both of us to attend."  

Fiona winced in sympathy, “I’m on almost five scholarships and it’s… not easy,” Fiona said softly. She needed to write essay’s attend tournaments, her workload was nearly tripped the average student’s. Another reason why she was so desperate to stay with Winter and May, another team would just hold her back. “I’m lucky i got teamed up with a perfectionist and a competitive idiot.” She nodded to Winter and May, both avoiding their gaze with an uncomfortable look. This wasn’t a conversation her elites usually hear.  

Robyn scowled, gritting her teeth. Joanna smiled and patted her head like a she was pouting puppy, “We’ll figure something out Rob… Today is still our day off, right?” She looked at May who nodded.  

“Would you two like a small tour of the manor?” Winter ask, already leading the group out of the foyer. They headed to the kitchen first, trying to walk past all the giant paintings of her family but Robyn stopped at the giant portrait. Winter tried to encourage the group to walk past but Joanna eyed the giant suit of armor and sword next to it. “My grandfather, Nicolas Schnee.”  

“I read about him,” Joanna said, “When Robyn first suggested we go to Atlas Academy I laughed at her.”  

“Yeah, I was so hurt I almost kicked you out,” Robyn mumbled. She turned towards Winter, “But you three know why we want to become Huntresses now.”  

Fiona looked at Winter who pressed her lips tight. She only turned and walked deeper into the manor, forcing the group to follow. May didn’t leave her side, pressing into her shoulder every time a server passed with a tray of empty wine glasses. Their hands brushed every so often but neither of them made a move to hold on.  

It was obvious why May joined. Winter was hung up on the fact that they only met their new friends yesterday.  

“Same as you but a little different,” Fiona said, wiggling her ears for effect. “To help everyone, Mantle is just the start-” Suddenly hear ears perked up, flicking in the direction of the private area of the manor. It sounded like glass breaking.  

“Damn it…” May mumbled. This time her hand finally slid into Winter’s, “I’ll check, you stay.”  

“No.” Winter said, voice brittle and body so taunt it was ready to snap. Fiona hung back, letting May try and calm her not-girlfriend teammate. She also stopped Robyn from springing into action.  

May stepped close, their heads leaned together to whisper as soft as possible. Fiona tried to ignore it but it was impossible with how quiet the hallways were. “You come, they come.” May said. Then her voice soften, “Please… Don’t put this all on me, Win.”  

Winter blinked. Blue eyes shinning and cracking. Fiona would never say tears were in her eyes. After another squeeze Winter finally relaxed and let go of May’s hand. “Alright… Let’s go-”  

“Stop! Please!” Silvio’s voice broke through the thick walls.  

Immediately the group broke into a sprint. Winter was the fastest and Fiona was trailing behind her after absorbing her heels. A Glyph light the hallway. Before Fiona could stop her, a Beowolf roared, crawling out of it and slashing the door opened. She could hear two kids scream and another glass breaking.  

Fiona only had a moment to take in the scene before the two kids ran towards them. Three adults and thanks to Fiona’s sensitive nose she could smell some alcohol on all their breaths. Weiss was in Winter’s arms in seconds and once Silvio stumbled out of Author Watt’s slacken grip, he was behind May.  

“Let’s go.” May shoved Winter out of the room. She fought it, eyes on her mother and father. The Beowolf slowly growling.  

“Please,” Weiss whispered. That finally broke Winter’s furious trance. She stepped back but left her Beowolf growling viciously it made Fiona’s ears twitch painfully low.  

May lead them back to kitchens, Fiona could tell by the delicious smell and the clanking pots. It was the only life in the manor, the staff singing loudly and enjoying their work until the rich snobs came in and they’d have to act pleasant. When the group came in they immediately froze, nervous. They took one look at the kids and quieted down. The singing wasn’t as loud but still lively and cheerful.  

Fiona watched some energy and return to the kids, a small weight lifting off their shoulders as Klein quickly appeared. His light brown eyes shifted from them to Winter, “Oh dear… what happened now-”  

“Nothing.” Weiss said softly.  

“Nothing new,” Silvio said with a scoff. He sat at the table, taking a dessert and stuffing it in his face before retreating into his Scroll. Klein sighed and replaced it with a fresh treat from the counter.  

Fiona looked at Winter and May who gave her a gentle pleading look. The little lamb grabbed both Joanna and Robyn’s hands, leading them out of the kitchen. “Come on, their garden has real flowers in them,” Fiona said, trying to sound cheerful for the sake of the kids. Weiss didn’t smile and Silvio didn’t look up from his Scroll.  

No one wanted to speak until they got the garden. Even then the heavy silence lingered, growing heavier as the trio watched the sunset on a bench. Finally Joanna sigh let out a loud sigh, leaning heavily into Fiona and pushing her into Robyn who easily bore the additional weight of two people.  

“Maybe we should take Goodwitch’s offer and go to Vale?” Joanna mused softly. “It’d be cheaper too. Warmer. Friendlier.”  

“But they don’t need us,” Fiona said softly.  

Robyn came back to reality. Fiona and Joanna had to right themselves as she leaned forward and rubbed her face. “That is so messed up… Not even the rich has it easy in this fucking kingdom,” She was trembling. Voice on the verge of breaking and so damn angry. When Fiona tried bending down Robyn harshly turned away.  

“I can smell you crying… sensitive nose remember?” Fiona whispered. She moved, taking Robyn’s other side so her and Joanna could sandwich Robyn in. Her hand hesitated, hovering above Robyn’s knee. Just as she was about to pull back Robyn uncurled and grabbed her hand. She held onto tightly as she leaned her head on Joanna’s shoulder and whipped away the tears with her other hand. “Now you know why they’re so protective of me… And why Winter wants to become a huntress.” Fiona said softly, rubbing comforting circles on Robyn’s skin with her thumb.  

“What’s good is being an officer if I can’t even arrest a drunk huntsmen, let alone those three,” Joanna growled. She took a deep breath. Her arm was long enough to rest heavily on Robyn and Fiona’s shoulder. It was like a loose hold, so Fiona snuggled into both of them. For a long moment they all just sat there, letting their brains turn off.  

Winter was the first to find them with a tray of food and drinks. She looked guilty but smiled seeing Fiona’s and Robyn’s hand tightly intertwine. Fiona haded how soft Winter’s voice came out, “I’m… I’m sorry you three had to see that.” She said. Fiona got up, passing the tray to Robyn and wrapping her arms tight around Winter.  

“I’m sorry we can’t do anything they deserve,” Joanna said back. The three Mantle Rats invited Winter to sit with them on the bench but Winter politely refused, withdrawing a little instead. But she was here… and May asked her not to put it all on her anymore.  

Fiona extruded a picnic blanket for them to sit on. Joanna and Robyn looked comfortable on the bench looked relaxed stretched out on the ground. After some thought, Robyn dropped her head onto Fiona’s lap. The little lamb smiled down at her, both enjoying and needing a sense of touch. Fiona selfishly let her heart beat faster, eyes wandering to Robyn lips and eyes as she played with the platinum strands of hair.  

The cowardly part of Fiona wished Robyn didn’t relax the way she did, closing her eyes and humming softly in approval. At same time she’d hope to see it more. No wonder her two elite always got grumpy whenever their morning routine was interrupted.  

“We’ve dealt with families with… similar situation,” Robyn explained, slowly turning her brain back on. “I can recommend some good therapist for your sister. Silvio too.”  

“That’d… that’d be much appreciated. You’d have to talk to May about Silvio, she’s already helping him with… other things.” Winter said softly. She hide half her face behind a drink, her eyes meeting Fiona’s for a moment then down to Robyn and Joanna. “Thank you,” She whispered into her drink.  

“Don’t thank me yet,” Robyn said with a small smile. She rolled onto her stomach and Fiona missed the warmth of her scalp and softness of her hair. “One more thing. Just pin May to the wall and fuck her already.” Winter blushed hard, coughing softly and trying to clear her throat. Joanna patted her back while Fiona giggled.  

“I… I can’t-”  

"Can’t? You practically fucking her through me," Robyn continued to press. Winter blushed harder, completely off balance and embarrassed by the topic. It was rare a sight, one that only May pulls off on a good day so Fiona jumped in.  

“Technically, I was fucking you,” Fiona corrected, lightly flicking Robyn’s nose. “Because Winter’s too sweet on May to actually fuck another person,” She leaned forward and grinning at the Schnee. Winter tried to get Fiona to submit with a hard look. When Fiona started wiggling her brows a little Winter was forced to set her drink down or risk spilling it all over their semi-formal clothes. She barely remembered they were here for an Atlesian party.  

“I don’t know if I should be upset that you two noticed before May did,” Winter grumbled softly. “But I didn’t think she liked me back until this morning.”  

Fiona tapped her chin thinking back on their years together. “Honestly… I didn’t either. You? You were so obvious! The morning routines with the hair, how protective you were over her!” The pair might have edged each other to the extremes but that also meant they were always softer and much more relaxed when together.  

“I have been hinting at it when since we were young,” Winter confessed. All the Mantle rats flinched. Joanna ran a hand through her hair, messing up the gel the Marigold styled it with.  

“Well of course May don’t realize it!” Joanna said with an annoyed sigh. “You’ve been giving her mix signals-”  

"How was this morning mixed signals?!" Winter hissed with a deepening blush.  

“Just tell her,” Robyn said waving her hand.  

“Tell who what?” May asked rounding the corner of bushes with another tray of food. “Klein wanted to make Fiona’s favorite since we haven’t snuck back in awhile.”  

“Yes!” Fiona cheered taking the tray of fruits and sweets, strawberries covered in chocolates to fluffy cream stuffed puff. After throwing one in her mouth she teasingly dangled one in front of Robyn’s face. The women rolled her eyes, taking a bite of the strawberry and watching as Fiona finished it off.  

May sneered, “Glad I haven’t missed much.”  

“They’re trying to convince me to tell you about my undying love for you,” Winter said, in her default tightly controlled and dry tone. Before anyone could act surprised May threw her head back and laughed so hard her face went a little red.  

“Yeah! Do it after Weiss’ performance.” May said with a bratty cute grin. Fiona tensed, a smile plastered to her face as she tried not to scream. Damn it May! “Announce our engagement so your father and my cousin can die of a heart attack!” She bent down, taking Winter’s hands and gently pulling her up, “Come on! Show’s starting soon and Silvio wouldn’t shut up about us grabbing front row seats.”  

Within a few minutes the the theater was full and the lights dimmed to darkness. Fiona looked around. Her eyes spotting most of the military in the booths above the crowd. Goodwitch sitting irritably next to General Ironwood. Across from them senior Clover Ebi was sitting next to the freshmen Marrow. The other Faunus was busy looking around the theater too, a determine look on his face.  

“There’s a lot of Atlas students here…” Fiona whispered a little uneasily.  

“We do have two Atlesian scientist and the one visiting from Vale with his family,” Robyn said. Fiona looked back up the balconies. Sure enough she spotted the Vale scientist with his Faunus wife and daughter.  

Unfortunately due to May and Robyn’s hassling each other, they didn’t get center seats, but from this angle Fiona was able to see just behind the curtains. At the side of the stage was a hooded figure in robs… Weiss next to them with Silvio a little ways off. Fiona strained her ears but it was too far.  

The hooded not-Schnee figure took the center of the stage and from his Scroll Silvo activated the music. A slow piano piece fitting for the rich audience. Slowly the stage lights turned on, letting Fiona’s sensitive eyes adjust while gradually getting brighter for the humans to see, piano growing louder, picking up tempo.  

“You are an ocean of waves, weaving a dream like thoughts, become a river stream,” the mysterious stranger sang. Her voice was lower than Weiss. A shock mummer spread across the crowd but the opening act wasn’t phased even as Fiona watched the military in the booths grow a little tense. They only relaxed when they realized another voice would join occasionally, Weiss standing beside Silvio, harmonizing into her mic. “Yet may the tide every change, flowing like time to the path, yours to climb.”  

Fiona turned back to the stage, ears flinching a little whenever the music was too high for her sensitive ears. Whoever the mysterious singer was, she knew how to entertain walking the stage, posing and gesturing to the audience until the easily swayed like Marrow was at the edge of his seat and the reserved ones like Vine was absolutely enthralled. Robyn looked amazed, beautiful lavender eyes wide.  

“Thou seek the light with an outstretched hand,” Slowly the opening act’s voice faded. Weiss’ voice growing louder but she hadn’t walked on stage yet, “A divine blade lies before you so command the wake of dreams, to restore the world, cut 'way the seams,”  

Then the tempo picked up yet again, a drum encouraging Fiona’s heart into a powerful and steady beat. The mysterious singer reached out the audience, “Join in our prayer, in our song of birthrights and love,” She sang loudly. Weiss’ voice slowly appeared again, matching harmonizing so perfectly it had Fiona’s ears shuttering in pleasure, “Come the sun, illuminate the sky. Pray that we may quell the dark. Light take the throne. Lost in thoughts, all alone.”  

Then the lights dimmed, the music slowed to pause. Fiona heard Robyn and Joanna catch their breath next to her. Fiona saw the mysterious singer rush to the side, encouraging Weiss onto the stage. She vigorously shook her head for a moment until Silvio whispered his own words of encouragement, gesturing to where Winter was sitting.  

With a huff and a stomp she rushed to her position, the opening act helping her on the left and then rushed to their own position on the right side. It was then she noticed the slight shaking in her hands. As Silvio increased the lighting, Fiona could see the redness in her eyes she missed before.  

Poor kid. Still having to preform after the bullshit three adults put her through. Fiona heard Robyn gasp softly, “This is all improved…” she muttered.  

The verse repeated but this time the music didn’t slow. The drums became louder, drums and violins filling Fiona with a rush as she listened to every word, “Thou seek the dark with an un-sheathed blade,” Weiss’ voice was beautiful, it sent chills down her spine and the haunting familiarity of her assistant pulled everyone in like it was story, “Now a white ivory throne beckons so obtain the fate you sow on this path be wary friend and foe.”  

The way they moved on stage, circling each other or stepping close and matching their steps was almost poetic. “May thy chosen path lead way, and grace you with virtue but surely balance awaits,” Slowly Weiss took the lead, the opening act smiling as Weiss’ hands stopped shaking. She looked directly at her sister in the front row, “So be it bliss or pain you gain beyond the route-way’s end. You’ll gain resilience and weakness. The trials, the thorn in your side becomes the greatest strength, in you.”  

The song was a message to her sister, Fiona realized with a happy smile. She looked at the older Schnee. Winter looked proud. She reached over to her partner, grabbing her hand giving it a thankful squeeze. Fiona glanced at Robyn her own hand feeling stupidly empty. Until she notice Silvio and the hooded singer nodding at each other.  

“Descend into the abyss thou see- Hey!” Weiss screamed as she was suddenly shoved into the orchestra pit. One of the musicians threw their instrument aside to catch her. The crowd gasped, all the military huntsmen and students shocked in their seats. The music changed, suddenly blaring through the speakers but the volume wasn’t enough to make Fiona flinch.  

“The future is bulletproof the after is secondary!” The opening act sang. Finally the hooded opening act ripped off their hood. Fiona’s mouth hung open as a familiar helmet and gold horns standing on stage. I promise I’ll keep you all out of trouble, Glade said before they left Mantle. “It’s time to do it now and do it loud!”  

“Are you serious!?” May screamed in the theater. Fiona looked at her elites. May was almost pulling her hair out and Winter jumped into the orchestra pit to check on her sister. Glade grinned, hard-light ears taking shape and floating above their helmet.  

They pointed at May, “Kill joys! Make some noise!”  

“Your fucking dead-”  

“Na, na, na, na, na!” Glade stomped their feet in time with the rock music. Fiona barely pushed May back into her seat as the military moved in. Thankfully it was the students first. Vine swinging in with his semblance and Elm’s massive thighs launched her off the balcony and towards the stage. But Glade only smiled, never missing a beat, “Drugs, gimme drugs, gimme drugs, I don’t need it but I’ll sell what you got,” The pair was only able to make an entrance. The Dust in Glade’s clothes glowed a bright purple. A low warping sound ran deep in the room. Vine gasp a sudden weight pulling him down with Elm. It was enough force for the pair to crash through the stage.  

The crowd sneered and laughed. “Bring what Rat in and they all come,” Someone said behind them. Fiona was pretty sure it was May’s cousin but she wasn’t about to ask the Marigold to check. Fiona only kept watching. Winter had snuck Weiss back behind the curtain and was now glaring at Silvio. It looked like she was trying to lecture them but the kids were smiling, busy watching Marrow clumsily climb onto the stage while Harriet appeared with a trail of lightning behind her.  

Fiona laughed at the nervous looking boy, “Come on Marrow!” She cheered. Glade has yet to attack anything sentient and alive so he won’t get his ass beat but humiliation can be just as painful.  

“You’re looking good for someone who almost died this morning,” Harriet taunted.  

Glade only smirked, “But I’ll take what I want form your heart and I’ll keep it in a bag, in a box, put an X on the floor!” They continued to sing. Glade bounced around, light on their feet and motioned for the pair to come at them, “Gimme more, gimme more, gimme more! Shut up and Sing it with me!”  

“Marrow…” Harriet ordered the kid.  

Marrow took a deep breath, tail straightening as he concentrated, "Stay!" He hasn’t perfected his semblance yet but Glade’s singing paused, body moving slowly but still moving.  

Harriet grinned cracking her knuckles before running forward. Just as she was about to reach them, the gravity Dust glowed bright. Harriet lost her footing but the momentum continued until she crashed into the wall. The audience laughed even harder. Robyn and Joanna roaring next to her.  

The poor freshmen couldn’t hold his semblance and dropped it, panting heavily. Just as Clover was about to step onto the stage the lights shut off. Glade reach over, throwing Clover at Marrow. With a sharp whistle a wall of ice rose up, blocking all of Ironwood’s favorite students on stage. Glade ran to the side, grabbing the blind Schnees and Watt and running out of the theater. Before they disappeared they gave Fiona a pointed look.  

The little lamb grabbed everyone and ran to the nearest side door. Klein gasped, semblance activating with a small scared sneeze and red eyes was looking at them. “Good, good, I was worried ya’ lot wouldn’t catch on,” Klein smirked, voice gruff and a little aggressive. Fiona giggled, she always like this one the best. “You… I can’t believe you’re in on this too!”  

“Don’t blame me lil’ miss,” Klein scowled and growled back up at May, “Originally we were just gonna turn off the lights and sneak Weiss out, but the lil cunt made a friend and well…” Klein gestured to the theater and the loud shouts and yells. Ironwood was demanding the lights be turned back on and the crowd was starting to panic a little, “Best get ya’ out of here, eh? Rides out back, hurry on, now.”  

Fiona new the manor well enough to get the group there. Robyn tried to stop laughing. It was a good thing Fiona was still holding her hand because she was sure Robyn would have been several halls behind them. There were other security guards around but they would see a server accidentally stumble into them or slow down the cart of food or equipment.  

“I’m glad Weiss is still being look after.” May muttered softly under her breath. That finally got Robyn to stop laughing a sobering smile aimed at her elite.  

A chauffeur waited patiently with the door opened for them. Winter didn’t jump, only gave them a small smile while the kids giggled to themselves. May was the only one still furious, “Where’s Glade?”  

“They ran off while I was lecturing Weiss and Silvio,” Winter explain. “Said something about, 'How they weren’t paid enough for that,” She finished looking pointedly at the young adopted Watts. “How long have you two been planning this?”  

“Sneaking out in the middle of the performance…” Weiss blushed and looked away. “A few… weeks?”  

“It was suppose to be during my party but… then… fuck my uncle,” Silvio huffed. The mood died a little but Silvio was still grinning. “It was so worth it.”  

“You two should have told me,” Winter said.  

“You should come around more often- Ow!” Silvio winced as both May and Weiss punched him.  

Winter took it in stride. She closed her eyes, as if concentrating to break the aloof and cool facade. She smiled, gently and earnestly leaning towards her sister and the young genius, “I guess you two will need to fill me. How exactly did two brilliant kids made a fool of the military? Hm?” They both grinned up at her.  

May acted like a grump rolling her eyes but leaning heavily into her partner side. Fiona grinned at the scene, ears fluttering happily. Robyn sneered and chuckled, fingers playing with the tips of her ears while Joanna had an arm slung around both their shoulders again.  

Fiona hadn’t realized she didn’t let go of Robyn’s hand until she was swinging their joined hands in the elevator. May set the kids up in another suite, talking a little more with the kids. Fiona and Robyn naturally gravitated to the balcony while Winter and Joanna collapsed onto the king sized bed with a deep sigh.  

“What a day…”  

“I’ll say. Fighting Grimm, sex in the changing room, a picnic and a show,” Joanna teased. The trio blushed hard and Robyn still made no move to pull their hands apart. This time she caught the women glancing at her lips. Fiona tighten her grip, fighting the urge to pull at the loose tie.  

“I’m going to live variously through you two again.” Winter said. Fiona nearly jumped and the pair looked at Winter, lounging like a cat next to a bear that was Joanna. The Schnee looked pointedly at their hands, “Just make out already.”  

“Yes, ma’am,” Robyn whispered, voice husky and slow. It sent a shiver down Fiona’s spine and she realized the women was quiet for awhile now. Fiona could almost feel just how long Robyn was holding herself back. At first the kiss was desperate and almost vicious. Fiona gasp softly when Robyn bit her lip and her tongue danced against hers. Both of Fiona’s hands was held in Robyn’s against the railing, as if this is how she wanted to take Fiona during their two rounds this morning.  

With a dazed heart Fiona followed whatever mood Robyn wanted to give. Meeting her energy as best as possible. The frenzy kiss slowed to a passionate one. Finally Robyn let her hands go and Fiona let them wrap around her neck. The kiss might have slowed but it didn’t die. Fiona only felt the warmth in her chest spread, the cold metal of the rail worth the feeling of Robyn pressed against her.  

“There’s no way you’d kiss May like that,” Joanna mumbled next to Winter. “It’d be a lot more sweet and chaste.”  

“Shut up,” Winter mumbled softly. Robyn and Fiona broke apart giggling at their banter and at each other. Fiona swallowed trying not to think too much about how she wanted to keep those lavender eyes for longer than their academic years. How Robyn’s sweetness reminded her for her elites or how that Mantle attitude reminded Fiona that she wasn’t alone in their fight.  

She didn’t want to fall but Robyn and the others were making it tempting.  

Robyn leaned in again but not for a kiss, her nose nuzzled Fiona’s cheek trying to push her head to the right but Fiona fought it for a second and took a deep breath. Lavender and a fresh spring fields filled her nose, clouding her mind in a happy daze and settling her heart into a slow dancing rhythm. When Fiona finally opened her eyes she saw May on the balcony next to them. Face red and gold eyes wide.  

“I want to do it right because…” Winter’s soft words floated through the open air. Robyn and Fiona giggled, watching May blush so hard it must have been painful but the smile on her face didn’t make her worry. Instead Fiona pulled gently pulled on that loose tie around Robyn’s neck and pull her down for a kiss.  

This kiss was slowest yet. A practiced and gentle dance as Winter continued to speak, “Because I’ve loved her since I can remember.”

[superrobotmonkeyteamramblingsgo]

7 PEOPLE I’D LIKE TO KNOW BETTER. rules:  fill this up and then tag 7 people you’d like to know better!

one / ( alias / name ):  Acara, though I have been called Rambler before two / ( date of birth ): May 29th three / ( zodiac sign ): Gemini Monkey four / ( height ): 5′ 9″ (actually more like 5′ 8 and 3/4″ but I round up lol) five / ( hobbies ): doodling, writing, reading, playing with pets, going for walks both outside and on wikis  six / ( favorite color ):  Yellow!  seven / ( favorite books ): Hm, does manga count? Because it would be probably be Dream Saga by Megumi Tachikawa. This series holds a close place to my heart, as I managed to get all volumes of it back in the early 2000s, before  it went out of print. When I was in middle-school and reading all the manga I could get my hands on, this one stood out to me. While plenty of manga and anime have references and allusions to Japaneses mythology, this was the first one I read that came out and said ‘here is the creation myth of Japan and here is the myth of Susanoo rescuing the princess’, which kept it from going all over my kid head. It kind of became a starting off point for me to learn more about the mythology, and the art became a big influence on me. eight / ( last song listened to ):  Hell or High Water by The Rescues  nine / ( last film or show watched ): Other than SRMTHFG? Hm, probably was the Ducktales reboot.  ten / ( story behind url ): I ramble, a lot. My main blog is randomramblingtidbits but here I am rambling about SRHMHG!  eleven / ( inspiration for muse / talk about an oc ): Oh boy, you ready to see my rambling first hand? :D

So once upon a time I had this massive SRMTHG fanfic I began writing after season three wrapped up. Even back then I was of the opinion that adding more female characters to a show is always a good thing, and as I said before the backstory of the store is a sausage feast. So I began creating all these female lore characters, who more often than not also had a robot monkey friend. Then I began pruning them down as I grew up and my ideas matured, as well as incorporating stuff from season four. As it is, Pheena is a mesh of aspects from about three or four old OC’s.

The main idea was that there is a lot of unknown when it comes to the backstory of the Monkey Team. Somehow it was foreseen that there would be a Chosen One. Somehow the Alchemist had to stick around long enough to complete the team despite how advance his transformation appeared in Golden Age. Somehow Shuggazoom stayed protected between the time of Captain Shuggazoom and the Monkey Team. Somehow the Skeleton King was kept at bay and away from Shuggazoom until season one. Somehow the monkeys went to asleep after Mandarin.

It is just easy to replace all those ‘somehows’ with ‘someone’, and thus Pheena.

Similarly, Flora originated from several robot monkey OC’s, several of whom were the robot monkey companions to the same characters Pheena originated from. I use to have alot of RM OC’s because...I actually thought there were going to be more monkeys in the show? That might sound weird, but between Sokko, Mandarin (remember, I thought he was a random unrelated monkey who went Krinkle on the team), and the Robo-Apes, middle-school Acara was sure that there would be more monkey side characters. I was so sure that Shuggazoom was just going to be this place where monkeys lived alongside the humans, with morere characters like Jinmay who had a monkey companion, but who wasn’t actually weren’t like evil. So Pheena and Flora are kind of an exploration of that girl and her monkey idea that Jinmay and Sokko presented and their human-monkey relationship acting as a foil to Chiro and the team’s (but especially with Antauri).  

And while Flora being a normal monkey came later, that further explores the idea of seeing how the robot monkeys would react to a regular monkey. As I mentioned before, she really fills in the role of bratty child that UltraForce!Chiro was suppose to be, as well as being something of a ‘little sister’ to the team’s dynamics. And when I was in fandom like Sonic the Hedgehog, Friendship is Magic, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles I was floored by way fans used real world animal facts to enhance their stories, weaving in biology with fiction to make such interesting tales. I am a veterinary nurse, so seeing animal facts utilized is for anthros and cartoons animals always fascinated me. So Flora became a good way for me to try my hand at the same thing, integrating more real world monkey facts into the fan narrative I’m crafting. The Spottova twins are similar, being a way for me to utuizlie what I learned about cotton-top tamarins and family structures of monkeys. 

...and this is why I’m called a rambler XD 

AGGED BY: @sweetcircuits and @monkeyinaround! Thanks for the shoutout and sorry I took so long to respond!  TAGGING: Hm, who in the SRMTHFG! fandom hasn’t been tagged? Let’s see, there is @ar-blackshaw, @iudormu, @obscuraperla and has fandom mom @netbug009 done it yet? IDK, help yourself, pools open feel free to jum pin. 

[crickey-itsjake]

Alex’s BDRPWriMo 2k19

Task #13 : Makin’ a ship that’s never gonna happen, but it’s definitely got the craic

Side quest: Make this as fanfic terrible with reptile jokes and flirting as possible (Happy Early Birthday Pet). 

10 applicable Ao3 Tags: 

Drinking, Farm Boy/City Boy, Oral Sex, Motorbike sex, Crack!Ship, Flirting, Smut, alternate universe, one shot, reptile jokes

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The OutBack End's vibrant neon lights shone out across the town miles outside of Adelaide. It was a bit of a dive, but to the locals, it had all the charm of a local bar with none of the judgement of where you came from or who you were with.

Jake Rogers, park ranger and grad student, knew every single person in that bar. Both intimately and not. So to see a 6'3 blonde with the most dazzling smile and kind eyes you could ever find out in these parts? Well, that just made his night didn't it? He walked closer to the stranger, he was a city boy. He could tell immediately, especially with that accent.

The park ranger walked forward, stetson hat perched on his head which he tipped back in greeting as he came to introduce himself to the newcomer. He actually had to tilt his head to look up at someone for once, it was a rare find. "Long ways away from Sydney aren't we, stranger? Can't say I've seen a bloke like you around these parts for quite some time." His eyes flickered across the stranger who looked a bit like he'd just come out of a surfer magazine.

"Yeah? You could tell immediately off my accent then?" He flashed a smile right at Jake, like a spotlight really. He aimed to steal it.

"Well, city boys can be a little bit easier to spot. Kind of a rare breed around here. Know everyone in the pack and a newcomer sniffin' around is just gonna stick right out. Let me get ya a drink and you can tell me your story. Bet you've got somethin' interesting hidden under all that blonde hair."

"Maybe I do. Thanks for the drink…?"

"Jake."

"Name's Stan. Stanley, but yanno, no one other than my grandparents call me Stanley."

"Well, it's really no problem at all, Stan." He grabbed him a beer (he rode his bike here and didn't plan on staying much longer if ya know what he meant) and pulled Stan away from whatever other lingering stares were appraising him, towards some of the back tables.

"Ya look like a regular cowboy in that hat there, Jake." Stan chuckled and took a swig of his beer as he sat down in his seat, looking over his new found drinking partner.

"Park ranger, so you're close, mate, for sure. Just the day job though. I'm studying to be a magizooloist at the University actually. Outback's my home and all those crazy creatures that come with it."

"Wow, really? That's somethin'. I'm a biologist myself, well, in grad school for it anyways. I'm actually on my way out to Kangaroo Island working on a project with the native turtle species out there."

"Kangaroo Island? Well, you know, you're talkin' to the right bloke, Stan. 'Cause I got every shortcut in the book to get ya there with the best routes for wildlife. Just leave it to ole Jake."

"Who says I want to get there faster? Might enjoy taking my time here." His good-natured smile shone right through the dim lighting of the bar.

Jake smirked his hand wandering to Stan's thigh, "I'd enjoy takin' my time with you as well, so I can't blame ya."

Stan let out a chuckle, "Wow, don't think anyone's been so forward with me like you have, Jake."

"Hey, it's not every day you find a Western Myall tree taller than your own to climb." The blonde winked over at the gentle giant who shook his head at him.

"Shameless. But effective, ya know."

"Then come home with me."

Stan hesitated just for a second, brows furrowing in thought before shrugging, "Guess if that's the way the currents are flowin' I might as well drift along too. You seem like a bit of a riptide, Jake."

"Mate, you ain't seen nothin' of this typhoon."

"Bet ya say that to all the boys." Stan grinned, downing the rest of his beer he'd been sipping on and looking around at all the eyes that were following them.

The ranger gave a shrug, scrunching his face up a bit, "Only the ones I wanna get wet. C'mon." He motioned for him to follow him, taking his hand and leading him through the bar that had slowly become more crowded as the night went on. He strode up to his motorbike, pulling out a helmet for Stan before putting it on his head, "How's your head feel?"

"Don't receive any complaints about it." Stan quipped back, ultimately shocking Jake, but in that sort of shockingly turned on kind of way.

"Stanley! Didn't think ya had in in ya. You've been holdin' out on me, ya wanker." He gave him a playful nudge as he put on his own helmet.

The biologist just shrugged his shoulders, securing the helmet to his head eyes peaking out from under the brim of the helmet to look down at the other bloke with his grin tugging at the corners of his lips (and if you could see in the dark of the night, he was blushing quite a bit too).  "Don't know what came over me."

"Yeah, you play innocent all ya like, climb on." He lifted his leg over the motorcycle's seat before patting behind him as the other boy did the same, Stan's arms encircling around his waist as his body pressed to his back as he kicked his bike to ignition and drove them out to his place.

The drive only took about ten minutes but for all of those ten he just felt movement Stan made behind him, hands adjusting on his waist, head pressing to or leaning against and over his shoulder to look at the road ahead of them. The dusty old barely paved roads sprawled ahead as they came up to a small house out in the brush. Pulling into the garage, Jake came to a halt, looking behind him to his passenger, "Now you're just coppin' a cheeky feel."

Stan chuckled, his hands roaming down along the ranger's abdomen, brushing beneath the shirt that had fluttered up in the wind of the bike riding down the trails. "Don't think that’s a complaint I'm hearin' so guess there's no worries on that matter."

"Nah mate, got no worries about you at all." The blonde chuckled, slowly freeing himself from the arms and pulling off his helmet. Stan just swung his leg over and sat sideways on the bike, pulling his helmet off before his hands came out to tug at the belt loops and pull him close between his legs as the outback native just chuckled, "Ya really think since you're taller you can pull me around, huh."

Stan gave a shrug of his broad shoulders, "Why stop what's already flowin'. Just doing whatever my mind takes me to do. You think way too much." And with that he leaned up and closed the distance between them, kissing this stranger full on the mouth.

Jake was pleasantly surprised by how forward this laidback surfer type seemed to be. Who'd've known, right? He reciprocated the kiss, tasting the beer on his lips from earlier. Given that the sun had gone down and they were out in a desert town, the temperature had dropped, so he'd lean into whatever warmth he could get in this garage. His hands fought to turn the tide of control in his direction, it's what he did. A creature would make a move and he'd be right there on the defensive to counter it until he found an opening to reel 'em in. He just had to figure them out first. His fingers moved into short dark blonde hair, body pressed firmly against the one perched on his bike as his tongue swiped at Stan's lower lip.

The taller Aussie kept things slower, hotter, deeper, his hands taking their time travelling along the curvature of Jake's torso which made him all but shudder. Jake's hands were a bit more aggressive, tugging at hair before falling down along a strong neck and shoulders and trailing down to rest in the sitting boy's lap.

There was no mistaking what was hiding under those shorts as he rubbed his hand along the length of the bulge, hearing and feeling the softest of moans into his mouth. Stan had himself quite a cock. Now, Jake was proud of his own, it'd suited him just fine, but Stan? He could do a little more damage if you weren't careful. He broke their kiss with a smirk as he breathed out, "You hide a Tiger Snake in your pants? Good thing I'm an expert in venomous snake wranglin'."

Stan's blush didn't go unnoticed as they pulled back for a moment, Jake's hand moving to unfasten his belt and unzip his pants, "Ya know, a turtle's dick is essentially half the length of 'em. So I guess I'm doin' pretty alright."

"Yeah, well, they also breath out of their ass, don't they." Jake quipped back with a smirk, "You always bring out the turtle sex facts when you're tryna fuck or am I just special?" Before Stan could reply, Jake kissed him again, firmly and briefly, this time sliding his hand into the taller bloke's pants and gripping Stan's length in his hand before running his fingers along the length of him. Stan was a right dag really, but he was a hot dag, so Jake thought it was a bit endearing. Stan shuddered under his touch, hips moving up from the seat ever so slightly, urging for more contact.

"Key to really wrangling a snake…" Jake started stroking down along the base of Stan's cock before sliding down to thumb over the tip, "is to show it doesn't affect ya in the slightest. Look it right in the eye," He tugged up on his length, pulling it free of his shorts and boxers as he knelt down next to his bike, "and show 'em who's boss." He took the tip of Stan's lengthy cock into his mouth, running his tongue over the head. Stan's hands immediately tangled themselves in blonde locks, letting out a groan, "Fuck, mate…"

Jake smirked, gently sucking as his tongue worked over the head. He was feeling more in control now over the towering figure (though compared to Jake it was just a few inches), more powerful with every passing moment that Stan let out little groans and whines. The biologist's hips moved forward again, wanting to bury himself more into the hot, moist warmth of Jake's mouth.

The ranger made sure to press a hand to those wandering hips, keeping him on the bike as he sucked harder and took more into him, bobbing his head slowly along his length. Stan could see his hot breath in the cold night air as he tilted his head back in pleasure, moaning out as Jake's expert mouth took more of his cock. He didn't know how much longer he could remain on this bike so he tugged back on Jake's head, pulling his mouth from where he wanted it most. "Let's get inside before you freeze on your knees."

He slipped off of the bike, tugging his pants back up on his hips as Jake stood up, looking up at him with a quirked brow, "If you insist, mate." He opened the door to his place. It was nice enough, decent couch in the living room, small kitchen, his bedroom was in the back.  They didn't get there though, Stan's arms wrapped around him from behind and he could feel his hard, half-sucked, cock pushing up against him.

"Think you should lose this." Stan reached around and started unbuttoning Jake's shirt, pulling it apart and running his hands along the defined abs and chest of the bloke in front of him, his mouth moving to kiss at the ranger's neck. Jake let out a shudder of approval before his laugh, "Fuckin' cheeky bastard, ain't ya?"

"Don't plan on being it, guess I just am. Or ya pull it out of me." Stan discarded the shirt and went to unbuckling his pants at which Jake turned around to face him and moved his own hands to shove Stan's shorts completely off this time, revealing the full length of his hard cock. The sight of which, only made Jake more aroused. Soon after, his own pants and boxer-briefs were pushed down his legs and Stan's hand was wrapped firmly around his length, pumping his fist around him slowly. Jake leaned up and captured Stan's lips in his to muffle his moans of pleasure and to just do something because fuck, this city boy really knew how to turn the tables on him without even trying.

Jake's legs all but buckled as Stan circled his thumb around the head of his cock, spreading whatever pre-cum that was down there along the surface. The taller boy noticed and immediately, without a second thought, lifted Jake up around his waist without breaking the kiss. A muffled noise of surprise escaped Jake's lips as a bloke literally lifted him from the ground without a flying fuck and walked them into the living room where he was pushed back onto his arm chair, naked as the day he was born with a bloke only in a t-shirt hovering over him. Not how he expected this night to go, to be completely honest.

Stan straightened up a bit to pull his shirt up and over his head, tossing it aside in the living room. Jake's eyes looked across the toned expanse of flesh that had been revealed to him. Bloke had to workout or something because he was cut almost as sharp as he was. He looked down at the hard, thick cock between his legs and although the ranger considered himself a top, Stan had proven time and time again that Jake was a bit out matched. Stan was like trying to catch water with a net. No matter how hard Jake tried to keep him in his grasp, he slipped right from it and engulfed him.

The biologist took the Outback Aussie's cock in his hand and Jake let out a low moan pushing his head back into the chair as he stroked along the throbbing, warm skin. Jake's eyes had been closed for only a moment or two when he felt a warm mouth on him, his hips bucking up in response as he gasped, threading his fingers through the dirty blonde hair on the other Aussie's head and gripping the strands.

"Fuck, mate… C'mon now." He chuckled breathily, feeling Stan take him further into his mouth as he sucked on his cock. He could practically feel Stan smiling around him as he watched his head bob between his legs with one eye open. His eyes roamed over strong shoulders and down the toned biceps that pressed his thighs to the chair. It was enough of a sight to make him go right there and then, but he wasn't about to give up this go that easy.

Or maybe he was. 'Cause the minute that 6'4 Australian's finger circled around his asshole, he all but came, tugging the bloke off of himself and crashing their mouths into a hot, wet kiss.

He didn't know how he somehow ended up off the chair again, nor how in one second it seemed like he was flat on his back on his own bed. But he was there, consumed and pressed down entirely by this city boy who'd come into town on a whim on his way out to study turtles. Shit was laughable sometimes.

Stan's hips pressed against his own, their cocks rubbing up against each other in order to find some kind of pleasurable friction but really it just seemed like all the more like a tease. He grunted in frustration and pulled away from the kiss and Stan with one final kiss to his lips before pushing up to reach for the condoms and lube in his bedside table.

Mistake really. Jake should've known not to turn his back on his prey in this hunt. Even if it was a fuckin' giant turtle. Long fingers moved down his back, causing Jake to sigh out, his skin prickling up with goosebumps as Stan rubbed up against his ass.

"Well played, mate." The ranger quirked a brow and looked behind him at the Sydney native straddling his lower half and brushing his large cock against his ass cheeks.

"I'd never play with ya. Very serious business, don't ya know." His hands gripped and pulled at each cheek, making the boy beneath him press his hips up against the bed below him. "I'm a pretty serious bloke once ya get past the reptiles." He couldn't hide the amusement in his voice, Jake could hear it immediately. Bloke couldn't lie to flirt let alone save his life.

"Really only one reptile I'm thinkin' of right now. More squamata than testidune." It was a low dig, but hey, the bloke studied turtles and he studied snakes, ya needed to toss in a snake dick joke in there didn't you? Be a crime not to. Two tall blonde Australian reptile loving blokes somehow found each other? Gotta take advantage of someone who knew the terminology.

And Stan said, in the most matter of fact scientific tone he could muster, grin spreading across his face as he tore the condom package open. "Right, the burrowing asp."

And crickey was his asp about to be right burrowed.

[handeaux]

St. Clair’s Defeat: The Day Cincinnati Almost Died

It is sometimes called the Battle of the Wabash or the Battle of a Thousand Slain. It remains the greatest victory by Native American warriors against the United States Army. People still sing about it. We mostly know it as St. Clair’s Defeat. It might have been the day Cincinnati died.

Only a twist of fate saved Cincinnati from a massacre in the days following 4 November 1791. The little river town was not quite three years old and was home to only 100 or so settlers. Many of the men were off dying in General Arthur St. Clair’s misbegotten campaign against what they called “the savages.”

It is often forgotten today that hostile attacks by Native American warriors on early settlements in the Ohio lands were encouraged, financed, organized and sometimes even led by the British. Despite their defeat in the American Revolution, England hoped to contain the United States to the eastern seaboard and to preserve a lucrative fur trade in the Northwest Territories. The British equipped their indigenous allies for proxy wars right up through the War of 1812. In 1791, Detroit was still a British outpost and the funnel through which furs flowed into Canada and on to England.

Cincinnati was first settled in the final days of 1788, almost simultaneously with the towns of North Bend and Columbia. All three settlements endured regular attacks by Native American tribes, mostly encouraged by the British. Although no significant populations of Native Americans lived in the immediate area around Cincinnati, several tribes hunted in the area. Harassment by native hunters passing through the region led to increasingly vocal appeals to the federal government for protection.

Remember that Cincinnati is older than the United States Constitution. In 1788, there was hardly any national army left. The next year, brand new President George Washington sent Revolutionary War veteran Arthur St. Clair out to command the new Fort Washington in Losantiville. St. Clair immediately changed the name to Cincinnati and began assembling an army to chasten the British-backed Indians.

St. Clair was a popular war hero. Born in Scotland, he was among Washington’s favorite generals and distinguished himself at the Battle of Trenton (for which Washington crossed the Delaware River). After the war he presided over the Continental Congress in 1787 when the Northwest Ordinance was drafted. St. Clair’s assignment to Fort Washington followed the lackluster performance of General Josiah Harmar who had led a couple of inconsequential expeditions against the natives in 1790.

General Arthur St. Clair arrived in a very nervous settlement, described by none other than future President Theodore Roosevelt in an article he wrote for Harper’s New Monthly Magazine [February 1896]:

“The squalid little town of Cincinnati also suffered from the Indian war parties in the spring of this year, several of the townsmen being killed by the savages, who grew so bold that they lurked through the streets at nights, and lay in ambush in the gardens where the garrison of Fort Washington raised their vegetables.”

Washington ordered St. Clair to assemble a militia and attack the combined Miami, Shawnee, Delaware and Potawatomi in the summer of 1791. Difficulties in finding volunteers and acquiring horses and supplies hampered St. Clair’s operation and he was unable to march out of Cincinnati until October, leading a rag-tag, poorly trained and meagerly equipped army of about 2,000 men.

At its peak, St. Clair’s force consisted of maybe 600 regular army soldiers, 800 conscripts on six-month contracts, and about 600 militia drawn mostly from Kentucky. As St. Clair’s army marched toward their destination around today’s Fort Wayne, Indiana, more and more men deserted. The force dwindled to about 1,500 men and some 250 camp followers (women of various associations and even a few children).

While St. Clair suffered from gout, disciplinary problems, desertions and faulty supply lines, his opponents gathered in strength. Waiting for St. Clair were two of the most formidable chieftains of the Native American confederation, Little Turtle of the Miami and Blue Jacket of the Shawnee. They led a well-equipped army of around 1,000 men drawn from all of the areas surrounding the British trading post at Detroit.

St. Clair made camp just outside of what is now Fort Recovery, Ohio, about halfway to Toledo. He was lax in setting sentries and negligent in sending out patrols. The native army struck while the American troops were eating breakfast, their weapons stacked in piles.

Little Turtle led his first attack against the poorly trained militia. They were so shocked they ran away, leaving their weapons behind. The regular army troops responded and drove the attackers back temporarily. On at least three attempts, the Americans charged the Indians with fixed bayonets. In each case, the natives surrounded them and killed everyone.

After three hours of battle, St. Clair joined the few survivors in flight southward to Fort Jefferson in Darke County. At least 630 men were killed and 260 wounded in various degrees. The dead amounted to approximately one-quarter of the entire United States Army at the time. Many of the wounded were captured and there are reports that execution fires burned brightly for several weeks. Almost all of the camp followers – women and children – were slaughtered.

And then? And then Cincinnati got the biggest break in its history. Many Native American leaders, egged on by their British allies, argued that now was the time to wipe the American settlers out of Ohio. Opposing them, a majority maintained that a poor harvest necessitated warriors returning home to hunt. The mighty Indian confederation disbanded.

According to a surviving letter of John Cleves Symmes, the settlers at Cincinnati panicked and many abandoned the town:

“On my arrival in the purchase about the 20th of November, I found the settlers in the greatest consternation, on account of the late defeat. Several had fled into Kentucky, and many others were preparing to follow them.”

With residents fleeing and soldiers slaughtered, Cincinnati, according to Charles Greve’s “Centennial History of Cincinnati,” found itself occupied by herds of cattle.

“One strange result of this defeat was the throwing upon the market of a large number of beeves which had been provided by the government contractors and which were made unnecessary by the destruction of the army.”

It took weeks to entice some of the scattered refugees back to town. Some never returned.

George Washington was so outraged at the news, he threw a presidential temper tantrum. St. Clair demanded a court martial to prove his innocence. He was denied and retired to a farm in Pennsylvania.

Having missed their opportunity, the Native American tribes also lost their momentum. U.S. forces led by “Mad” Anthony Wayne defeated another confederated army, assisted by British militia, in 1795, effectively ending the Northwest War.