#...heartwarming to me and makes me happier than if this would have been a 'private' thing and the streamers looked through every bit...

[criminalmutantsins]

Top 10 Favorite Young Justice Characters

10. Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle

Starting off the list is Blue Beetle. Young Justice introduced me to him, and I was hooked. He’s probably the most mellow and calming voice. His arc and relationship with Bart (friendship or not) were my favorite aspects of S2. They bounced off each other in every scene. I was very disappointed when Jaime and Bart were sidelined so much, and hope S4 changes this (particularly with Bart).

Jaime in the number 10 spot since he doesn’t really have much of a memorable personality. Still love him to bits though.

        9. Will Harper/Red Arrow

Funny enough, I did not like Will. He was an asshole in S1; S2 kind of changed my mind about him but not enough since he didn’t appear as much. What really changed my mind was the episode “Private Security” (S3 Ep.4). I started looking back into Will’s storylines and, I have to admit, his is probably one of the best character development.

The first season had him unwillingly living a lie and betraying the people he cared for. In season 2 he was so consumed into finding the original Roy for five years, not even caring or focusing about his own life. I felt really bad for Will because he was probably going through an identity crisis and thought he couldn’t live his life without finding Arsenal. Probably felt guilty.

Seeing him living his own life and being happy with his daughter was so heartwarming. I smiled every time Will appeared in the latest season (totally ignoring the Will x Artemis fiasco), especially with Lian. I’m very proud of him.

I feel bad for putting him so low, yet I adore the next characters more.

 8. Garfield Logan/Beast Boy

I have been a massive Beast Boy fan since Teen Titans so you probably can imagine how excited to see him. His origin story was unique and his brother-sister bond with M’gann was very sweet. It was pretty weird seeing how much younger Gar was than Dick, but I got used to it. I was bummed that Gar wasn’t in S2 as much; however, S3 truly made up for it. 

After watching Beast Boy being a great leader in S5 of Teen Titans, I wanted a leader-like and more mature version of him. Young Justice truly delivered with Gar being the leader of the Outsiders. It’s nice to see him treated with respect rather than as a joke because that was my biggest gripe with Teen Titans. Though it was weird seeing him not crack a joke at all.

Gar’s story with his mom was heartbreaking to see. I literally cried seeing his reaction to revisiting his trauma in S2 and S3; I just wanted to hug and tell him how awesome he is. My only complaint with Gar in S3 was that the Outsiders weren’t established until near the end of the season.

His voice actor being Greg Cipes also gives him extra points (He’s a chill guy and radiates BB energy).

 7. Dick Grayson/Nightwing/ Robin I 

Sorry to all the hardcore Nightwing fans.

I love Dick (don’t get any ideas), but he doesn’t get enough development in the spotlight. One of the things I really wanted to see from him is his growth as a main leader, and his journey to becoming Nightwing. I was really bummed when these happened between the first two seasons.

To be honest, I don’t have as much to say about him other than straightforward qualities I enjoy about him.

1.His Voice (it’s so soothing)

2.His Personality (very charismatic)

3.Very Handsome (Probably in the top 3 my most handsome YJ Men list)

I put him higher than the others since he made a lot of contribution to the story and his new words (gotta love that aster!)

6. Megan Morse/M’gann M’orzz/Miss Martian 

If I made this list during S1, M’gann would have probably been in my top 3 (maybe even No. 1), but S2 didn’t give her any brownie points.

I really liked S1 Miss Martian because of her kind heart, awkward girl next door personality. Her trouble fitting in the beginning reminded me of when I was going through a time in high school; seeing her having trouble as well helped me feel not so lonely. M’gann powers were (still are) my favorite since I am a big fan of mind-like powers. I would feel so powerful. Watching her identity crisis(?) arc was great too. I’ve had trouble feeling comfortable in my own skin as well as my social anxiety (I’m a mess) and I could understand how scared Megan was of her friends’ thoughts on her true form. 

Oh boy. Season 2 basically ruined her. Learning what she would do to enemies was terrifying to see and left me wondering what happened to Miss Martian that made her step this far. What she almost did to Superboy was almost unforgivable. You do not try to manipulate with your boyfriend’s mind when you guys have an argument! Shame on you M’gann. If Superboy hadn’t forgiven you then I wouldn’t have either.

Good thing S3 somewhat redeemed her. Her kind heart was noticeable again and she refused to do that mind trick again (thank god). Very excited for the Superboy and Miss Martian wedding! Please creators, I beg of you to not skip over it. I want to cry my eyes out in happiness!

 5. Kaldur’ahm/Aquaman/Aqualad 

Now we’re in the top 5 with Aqualad (*ahem* Aquaman) starting it off.

Creating Kaldur was the best decision the creators ever did. I love him with all my heart!

He added diversity to the original team and was a great leader. S1 was not his breakout season, though the second season definitely was.

Kladur played the villain so well that he deserves an automatic Oscar. I never doubted that he was with the heroes, but he didn’t disappoint. My favorite part about Aqualad’s performance was when he rose from the ocean slowly like a cliché villain (he made it work), and the line he said right after he “killed” Artemis; it sent me chills. Love it! 

Pretty disappointed that he didn’t appear as much in S3. Very happy that he is a part of the LGBTQ+ community and is in a happy relationship. I’m a part of the community and loved that there was finally some representation in one of my favorite shows. Even so, I have to criticize how rushed and sidelined it was. I hope Kaldur and Wyynde’s relationship gets development.

 4. Kon-El/Conner Kent/Superboy

Like Will, I did not like Superboy at first. Mainly angry and volatile characters were never really my cup of tea. I do understand why he was upset and felt bad for him; I just handle anger the direct opposite as him. My love for Conner started growing around the end of S1. He was very sweet towards Miss Martian (bless him for not caring about her appearance) and his anger was in control.

Season 2 pretty much switched my opinions on him and M’gann. It was awful what M’gann almost did to him. That scene with him being so sad that what she did ruined that special bond they had almost made me cry. I wanted to give him a hug. He grew so much too since I don’t think he would have handled the whole M’gann drama as well in S1. A lot of furniture would’ve been broken.

I gotta admit something. I almost put Conner near the bottom (maybe no. 7). A comment in a poll in Amino changed my mind. I wrote a poll asking other fans who did they prefer SB or MM. At that point I said SB, though I didn’t think much of it. Someone (specifically yjfangirl) responded “Superboy has the best development in the show.” This had me thinking about how far SB has gone. In the beginning, Conner was an angry guy who felt alone and rejected by the person who he was meant to emulate. Now he is happier and living for himself rather than to be the next Superman. He’s getting married people! A little detail I noticed when rewatching S3 was Superboy mentioning to new characters that they weren’t obligated to be a hero because of their abilities. I adored this! The main reason why Superboy was created to be Superman if the original ever died, and another one of Luthor’s puppets. But he strayed from that pressuring path and is doing his own thing. Conner doesn’t want other people to feel like he did. What an absolute pure soul.

Also, yjfangirl, first I want to say Hi (*waves*)! Then say thanks for writing that comment. It made me really think about the bigger picture with SB and my love for him as grown exponentially. You probably didn’t mean to do that, but I still want to thank you. 😊

 3.Wally West/Kid Flash

We’re in the elites now.

I don’t know how to explain it, I just love Wally. He makes me laugh, and his character growth was great. At first, Wally was this cocky flirt who didn’t take the hero work as seriously. That changed in “Cold-hearted,” one of my favorite episodes in the series. This was when I really started seeing more of Wally than being this dumb flirt. It was great seeing him actually caring about helping people since I believed for a long time that he wanted to be a superhero to just have powers rather than actually protect others. The regret in his eyes when he thought his impulsive behavior killed Perdita helped me see who he really was- this somewhat arrogant speedster who had a kind heart. Episodes that can make me change my perspective on characters are truly special.

I was very upset that he wasn’t in S2 a lot. I understand why since he gave up the life, but I was still bummed. Seeing him being so loving and protective towards Artemis was amazing. Spitfire is my favorite ship and I will not give up on them. All I want is a happy ending! The penultimate episode of S3 was a hint that it will happen. Watching the S2 finale was heartbreaking, I cried watching him disappear, his love for Artemis being the last things he said. Artemis’ reaction did not(I just wanted to hug her). 

I have more to say, though I’m leaving it for another post. 😉

 2.Bart Allen/Kid Flash II/Impulse

Picking between Bart and Wally for second place was tough. Took me a while to decide; I’ll talk about it later on.

The moment Bart made his appearance, I absolutely adored him. He is amazing and I live for his hyper, fun attitude. His arc and relationship with Jaime were my favorite aspects of S2. What can I say, their chemistry is great to see.

That scene when he was meeting the Flash family was so adorable. His excitement was infectious and spoiling his dad and aunt’s births was hilarious! I watch it occasionally whenever I need a good laugh or reason to smile.

Unlike most time travelers- at least the ones I’ve seen- Bart was very involved with what was going on and befriended his biggest enemy- evil and weirdly huge future Blue Beetle. He was pretty careful about disclosing very important information and took things very seriously. You never know if disclosing everything was the thing that brought the world to chaos.

What I found interesting was his choice on how to interact with everyone. He seemed pretty gloomy in the future, but decided to portray this cheerful, devil-may-care attitude to be more likable. I understood (still kind of do). I had terrible mental health issues and I pretended to be happy in front of loved ones because I thought they wouldn’t care about me anymore. Bart got some brownie points for that.

I was dissatisfied when his role was greatly reduced. I wanted the creators to go further with Bart by revealing his past and how it affected him. He was pretty much comedy relief. You couldn’t imagine how disappointed I was, especially with it involving my second favorite character. Season 4 better change that.

I know that you shouldn’t assume a character’s sexuality, yet I really hope Bart is gay. There needs to be more clear representation and Bart can be one of them. I’m also a Bluepulse and Bartuado shipper (fine with either one as long as Bart’s bond with each of them stays strong).

Anyway, I mentioned that I would explain why I chose Bart for 2nd place over Wally. It mostly stems from wishful thinking. I really want S4 to have Bart as a main character since I believe the future will be strong plot point in the season. Development could surely happen such as Bart opening up more about what he went through. Let all those feelings go.

I’m going to write an article on my hopes for S4 when a release date is announced. Bart and Wally will most definitely be talked about.

 …..

We are finally near the end!

And my No. 1 favorite character is…

Drumroll please!

…

..

.

1.Artemis Crock/Tigress/Artemis

That’s right people!

Artemis Crock, original member of the Team and daughter of villains!

She is such an inspiration to anyone who wants to go their own past without their parents’ support.

It’s hard to describe how much I love Artemis. She’s brave, strong-willed, and a kind person. It’s crazy how great of a person she is after all the terrible things that happened to her. I look up to her because I don’t have a healthy relationship with my parents (verbal and mental abuse) and there are times I don’t feel strong enough to stand on my own. I want to carry the amount of strength Artemis has as my own.

After all that happened in S2, it was amazing to see Artemis come back to the team and train the new generation. It must have been hard to walk away from a safe, comfortable life for a chaotic, dangerous life. I admire that in everyone, but I hold more respect for Artemis since “the life” “killed” Wally. I wanted to hug her so bad.

She’s also one of the kindest people in the show, the events in S3 being the best example. When Zatanna was crying about her dad, Artemis was there to comfort her. It was so sweet! Roy and her also took in Halo and Terra like they were a part of the family; the archer treated them like the best big sister. That rainstorm scene was heartwarming to the core.

Wouldn’t Artemis be an amazing mother? Lian and her have a strong bond like a mother and daughter; I loved it, and Lian is in good hands with Roy and Artemis. Though Jade deserves a chance to be a mother. Artemis also seemed to enjoy taking care of those kids in that S1 episode. Wally too. You guys know what I’m guys insinuating. 😉

Get ready for some fanfics on that someday.

My favorite Artemis-centered episode was the second to last episode of S3. I was waiting for this episode centering around Artemis missing Wally and learning to move on. It was great yet heartbreaking. Nothing bad happened. That Will and Artemis kiss never happened. Everyone makes a mistake. No matter how terrible it was.

Anyway, seeing Artemis and Wally living their lives and having a baby gave me life, even if it was fake. It was a vision of the future. I will believe this until there is confirmation that Wally will not come back.

Did anyone else cry when Artemis was so desperate to, but Wally wouldn’t let that happen (the real Wally would do that)? They are a great example of a healthy relationship with all the love and support they have for each other. I want that.

[pathological-peoplepleaser-alert]

Hospital Playlist : Season 1

So, I recently re-watched season 1 of Hospital Playlist in preparation of season 2 that’s going to be released on the 17th of June, and I have a couple of thoughts that I want to share. Warning: It’s going to be filled with spoilers, so for those looking to avoid that, please don’t read more. Also, this is a looooonnnnggg one :)

“Hospital Playlist” is a Korean Drama that follows five doctors in their 40s who have been best friends since adolescence as they form a band together. While the log-line appears simple, the depth in the script and acting will enchant any audience. The narrative is free-spirited and quirky, reverberating friendships forged by love and time in a heart-warming style.

This slice of life drama realistically tackles what occurs within the white walls of the hospital. From ungrateful patients to the long wait for donors, it has it all. This drama covered plenty of cases, each of them as sad as the next. I recall when Yang Seok Hyeong, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynaecology, had a patient who delivered a baby with anencephaly. He was considerate enough to not allow the mother to hear the baby’s cries by playing loud music in the delivery room and quickly escorting the baby away from the mother. I teared up during that scene, and I still tear up just thinking about that. I watched it as a case in a K-Drama, but it is many people’s gruesome reality, and all I can offer are my sympathies.

Despite zoning out during the technical aspects and elucidation of medical terminologies, I could feel the gravity of an operation and the burden of Atlas resting on the doctors when they held the scalpel. I liked the fact that there wasn’t any hospital politics. Rather, the show focused on the doctors, as they tried their best to save their patients. I mourned during the losses of life and celebrated with the characters after a successful surgery.

The ensemble cast for “Hospital Playlist” was flawless. The sincerity of the actors and the efforts they had put into studying and understanding their roles were clear as day. The chemistry between them was organic and the banters, natural. While they didn’t verbalise every emotion, the viewers could feel their familiarity, like they were real-life friends on screen. I was on an emotional rollercoaster as I watched this, rooting for them through hardships and cheering whenever they laughed.

“I wondered why my life was getting so difficult. It was really tough. But all of a sudden, one day, I realised how much time I was wasting. Wasting my life away like this because of what she did to me was doing a disservice to myself.”

Jo Jung-Suk did a flawless job portraying Lee Ik-Jun. This was my second time witnessing a drama with Jo Jung Suk, and while I wouldn’t applaud his performance in “Oh, My Ghostess!” (But in his defence, I found that script to be problematic) I absolutely loved him in “Hospital Playlist”. Lee Ik-Jun is an assistant professor of general surgery. He’s funny, sociable, laid-back, charming, and a dotting, single father to his son, Woo Joo.

The first time I, as the viewer, was introduced to him was gold. Naughty little Woo Joo had managed to put a blotch of super glue to a Darth Vader helmet, which was later worn by his father. During an emergency at the hospital, Ik Jun showed up decked in Darth Vader gear and bravely holding a light saber, demanding that the helmet was unglued from his head. He got his wish, but only after performing surgery while wearing the helmet.

Watching Ik-Jun and his son together is heartwarming, to say the least. You can tell how much he loves his son, as seen by the way he prepared meatballs from scratch, including the ketchup, excitedly for his son, only for the latter to claim he wanted meatballs, causing the former to trip on his way to the kitchen. I also adore how most of the bonding scenes we see between them happens over sandwiches. I find that very precious.

Ik Jun is also very friendly to everyone. He warmly welcomes the medical students, greets his colleagues with a smile, and most notably, plays as a matchmaker between Jeong-won and Jang Gyeo-wool, even if it is so the latter could assist him on more surgeries. His relationship with his sister is also beautiful. I love how authentic they are, from their bickering and the hidden ways they care for each other.

Ik Jun provides comic relief plenty of times— I nearly fell off my chair laughing when he mimicked a train, and also upon seeing how adamant he was to eavesdrop on a private phone conversation of Kim Jun-wan.

“I don’t deserve to be a doctor. I can’t control my emotions. I empathise too easily.”

I must admit, Ahn Jeong Won has a soft spot in my heart and is my favourite from the group of friends. An assistant professor of pediatric surgery, Jeong Won gets overly attached to patients and takes every loss personally. Due to his sensitive nature, he’s detailed in everything he does, earning the teasing nickname of “Buddha” from his colleagues.

Hardworking but overemotional, there have been many instances when Jeong Won swears to quit being a doctor after a patient has unfortunately succumbed, and it’s only through the insistence of his oldest brother does he continue his job. He’s immensely religious and has a close relationship with God, and considered being a priest until the season finale.

His interactions with his young patients tug on all my heartstrings. From the gentle way he gets the permission of small children to check their vitals, to the dedication with which he treats his patients and dissolves their fears.

One of my favourite quotes of this drama was said by him, “Do you know why doctors only give vague answers such as ‘We can’t be sure yet,’ ‘We don’t know yet,’ and ‘We need to observe a bit more?’ Doctors must take responsibility for their words, so we must be careful. There’s only one thing we, as doctors, can tell our patients with certainty. ‘We will do our best.’”

Despite being born from a wealthy family, Jeong Won is nearly broke, spending all his fortune anonymously covering the hospital fees of poor patients.

Chae Song Hwa summarised Jeong Won’s personality neatly in episode 12 when she said, “Lastly, there’s you (Jeong Won). Seeing others enjoy good food makes you happier than when you are eating it yourself.”

“If the doctor gives up on the patient, he isn’t a doctor anymore.”

At first glance, Kim Jun Wan appears cold and scary, but there are so many dimensions to his character. He’s blunt, assertive and has a reputation for telling his patients what they need to hear, not that they want to hear.

However, he’s possibly the most caring person, having allowed Jeong Won to, in his own words, “mooch” of him for years now. He was also always nagging and hovering over his friends, keeping a stash of chocolates for them. He stepped up as the Chief of the cardiothoracic surgery department multiple times, whether it was to act as a shield to his mentee or to reprimand his juniors about the importance of (a patient’s) life and how every single decision taken by a doctor has to be thoughtful and absolute because there’s no way to reverse such things.

A great example of his outer versus inner personality is when he’s questioned by a medical student on why he chose to be a cardiothoracic surgeon. While he claimed that he became a surgeon after asking his professor which job would allow him to get the most money, with a glimpse of a flashback scene, it was revealed that when back as a student, Jun Wan was given the opportunity to witness a surgery and then, to touch a beating human heart, and felt life, that solidified his decision to choose cardiology as his field. Recalling that scene gives me goosebumps even now. That was magical.

Jun Wan is also a huge foodie, his only competition being Song-Hwa.

“What have you done for yourself lately?”

Chae Song Hwa is an associate professor of neurosurgery. Discerning without being too critical, she is intelligent and is often the mother hen of the group. Respected by her juniors, she has also been fondly dubbed the ‘ghost’ due to her busy schedule that has left several of her colleagues wondering whether she has time to eat or sleep. She was everywhere and knew everything, which allowed her to quietly look after the residents of the hospital and the patients.

Despite being buried under piles of work, she still made the time to grade her juniors papers, and I’m reminded of one of the first instances the viewers were given of her, which was when she comforted a patient in the elevators of a hospital. The only female professor in neurosurgery, she is kind to her patients.

I adore how decisive she is, being extremely clear about what she wants, drawing boundaries while still being friendly and radiating professionalism to those around her, despite the hardships she might be going through. She routinely goes camping during the weekend and is the embodiment of positive self-love.

Some of my favourite moments in this drama was literally just Song Hwa and Jun Wan aggressively eating like they’ve been hungry since the dawn of time. Song Hwa might have claimed that the reason she ate so rapidly, so full of zeal was because of growing up with older brothers, but Ik Jun was quick to shoot her down and note that they all looked boney.

“My time is too precious for that. I want to live doing the things I like. And the things I want to do right now.”

Probably the most under-appreciated character, Yang Seok Hyeong is a treasure. My first opinion of him was ‘mama’s boy’ and while I was correct, wow, I had not expected the reason why. In his youth, Seok Hyeong was not close to his mother at all, and we could even see him ignoring her phone calls. But after everything that happened with his dad, he grew closer to his mother, developed a new sense of protectiveness and appreciation for her, and I adore that.

He was also the reason the band reunited in the first place, making that his condition for working at the Yulje Medical Center. Despite seeming aloof, he was an open book to his friends. He didn’t like to bother or intrude on people and usually kept to himself, gaining a reputation for being a loner whenever he was not around his four friends.

Throughout the season, he was trapped in a whirlwind of turmoil, from the news of his unexpected brother to his father’s death and his surprise succession to the company he wants no ties with. He maintains a calm exterior and braces through the troubles.

Seok Hyeong lives up to the sensitivity his job demands from him, softly informing expecting mothers about the risks of their pregnancies while encouraging and empathising with them when things get hard.

He prefers to stay in the shadows and allow people the opportunity to sort their messes out themselves, after reminding them that he’s only a call away if they need him. He’s an excellent confident booster and appreciates those who are responsible.

These characters stayed not only in my mind but also in my heart. Each of them has such vivid personalities I can’t entirely capture in words. Their insecurities, struggles, and feelings were so real and incredibly relatable and easy to empathise with.

As conveyed by the title, music plays an important part in this T.V. serial, by allowing the characters to reminisce their college days and also allowing them a breather from their stressful life. There are thousands of words in the English language, and yet, I can’t string together enough of them to express how I felt when Jo Jung Seok sang Aloha.

The doctors use music not only as an outlet to release their frustrations, but also to express their thoughts and feelings. To heal. Listening to the songs and the covers made by the band lightened my heart. The labour they put into practising the songs made the moments more precious.

Through the music sessions in this T.V. serial, I found my affection for each character increasing. I found myself surprised to recognise some of the songs considering they are quite old, but I hummed along and felt the air around me thrum with glee as they sang.

I also found it rather ironic that Chae Song Hwa is considered to be a bad singer (her pre-routine of gulping down raw eggs fascinated me on an odd level) although the actress who plays her, Jeon Mi Do is a talented singer.

Therapeutic and well-written, I marvel at the writer’s ability to weave together arrays of mundane subplots into endearing bliss, leaving lingering positivity after every episode along with a yearning to watch more.

I’m a huge fan of writer Lee Woo-Jung’s Reply series and was hesitant to start this drama, afraid that it would fall short of expectations. But having watched it, I can safely say that those concerns were unnecessary, and whatever expectations I had were only exceeded. I couldn’t recognise any leading plotline of this drama. To me, it simply showcased the daily life of five doctors.

As it is character-driven, there is a slow progression of the drama, which needs some time getting adapted to. It was also a little hard trying to keep track of the multiple characters initially introduced, but within three episodes, I was able to get a hang of things. The dialogues were witty, impactful and sharp, capturing my attention from the beginning to the end. However, despite containing a plethora of humorous moments throughout this serial, there was a subdued layer that focused more on the community than the plot.

I must admit, however, that I found the first episode to be subtly chaotic and slow-paced. I couldn’t grasp the concepts or connect with the characters until the second episode, after which I had no qualms.

I loved the character arcs in this story. It was a pleasure to observe their journeys and diligence as various storylines diverged or amalgamated, how they grew as individuals while maintaining their core values. The flashback scenes were fascinating to watch and compare how they are now to how they used to be.

The cinematography was stunning. I was in awe at how different shades and tones of light could impact not only the setting of the scene but also the mood of the viewers.

I recommend “Hospital Playlist” to anyone who likes to watch T.V. serials possessing the perfect amount of drama, laughter, angst, warmth and love. This serial is a truly rare gem in a basket of rocks where the storylines are solid without being too predictable.

[ongaku-ato-kakikomi]

So after that hurtful monster prom break up, I'd like to request the Monster prom cast being proposed to.

(A/N): Here you go, hun! Sorry it took so long, I hope you’ll like these :)

Miranda Vanderbilt :

Marrying Miranda Vanderbilt was the only thing you wanted to do for a very long time, the whole thing becoming a wild dream of yours that would hopefully be true someday, until you decided that you couldn’t wait and decided to propose to her.

Only proposing to Miranda, meant first one thing: and that was to ask for her hand to her father, the king of an oceanic kingdom, who was and still is the most terrifying creature you had ever met. But for the sake of your gorgeous girlfriend, you shoved down your fear and asked for a private meeting.

And when you asked him if you could marry his daughter, you were surprised to hear his reaction.

“Finally!” He had put his hands in the air, a glad expression on his face. “I thought you would never ask!”

He then gave you his mother’s wedding ring to propose to Miranda with, a ring that he explained was in his family for a few generations, and told you to not hesitate to ask for his help to give his daughter the proposal of her dreams. Despite being shocked and also utterly happy to have his blessing, you accepted his help, and he managed to prepare for you the most gorgeous setting you could ever ask for.

He paid (or threatened… you never know with this family) the beautiful Botanic Garden to help grow flowers specifically for the proposal, a place that Miranda has always wanted to go to for years.

And so one night, when you invited her to walk in the magical gardens, the two of you were taking the amazing sights of flowers and sparkling lights with wide smiles on your face, Miranda’s grandmother’s ring sitting nicely inside your coat’s pocket.

“This is so beautiful.” Your beautiful princess looks back at you with a sweet smile. “Thank you so much for taking me here, (Y/N).”

“Miranda…” You spot the flowers that were grown for you and her, and you make a sign for her to look at it. “What do you think of this arrangement?”

“Hm?” She turns at the flowers expectantly, squinting her eyes when she notices that they’re forming words. “What does it say? Is it… marry me, Miranda-”

She gasps in surprised, tears coming to her eyes as soon as she analyzes the situation, and then turns back to you only to see that you have already knelt down. She hides her mouth with her hands when she sees you present the ring to her, a million of thoughts coming to her head.

“Miranda, I love you so much… I don’t wanna spend another day without you by my side.” Your smile stretches out, your own tears threatening to fall down. “… will you marry me?”

“Yes!” She jumps at you before you can even give her the ring, her arms wrapped around your neck while she cries on your shoulder. “Yes, I will marry you! Oh, this is the greatest night of my life!”

She parts away to let you put the ring on her finger, then once she takes a good look at it, she grabs your head and crashes her lips against yours.

“Oh, (Y/N)!” She gives you another kiss before parting away, your heart bursting inside your chest from happiness. “I love you so much!”

And you love her too, more than anything in the world.

Damien LaVey :

It took you a long time to find the perfect ring for Damien.

I mean, it’s Damien. You couldn’t just take any random ring in a jewelry store, that would be too boring. No, you needed to get the most intense wedding ring that could ever exist, and that meant forcing the witches to help you put a spell on a ring so it could always be on fire.

Amazing idea, right? Yeah, but the plan you had was a little longer to execute than expected, because convincing the witches to help you was more the most difficult thing in existence. I mean, you took  days to do master manipulation and subtle threats that never worked on them, only to end up telling them the truth (“Fine, I want the ring to always be on fire so I can propose to Damien with it.”) and instantly got a positive response from them (“Oh my god, of course we’re gonna help you! That’s it’s so sweet!”).

Let’s face it, it’s not the way you would have normally go with them (threatening is so much more fun), but you already waste too much time on the ring so you went with truth and kindness instead.

And it worked. A simple spell from them, without even needing a little sacrifice, and you got the wedding ring of Damien’s dream. You couldn’t wait to propose to him with it, so much that you decided to just give him the ring without any other kind of preparation.

“Is that…” His grin widens at the sight of the fire enveloping the ring. “A fire ring!?”

You give him a smile from your place on the couch. “Yep.”

“Awesome!” He doesn’t wait to put on his finger, chuckling at the flames trying to eat his red skin without any success. “Thanks, babe.”

You lose your smile at the lack of reaction, then quirked an eyebrow at him. “Don’t you wanna know why?”

He looks back at you in confusion. “Hum… why?”

“Because you’re getting married.”

He blinks at you in silence for a few seconds then gives out a smirk. “I am?”

“Hm-hm.” You bite your bottom lip, suddenly fearing that he might say no. “On Friday.”

“Really? That’s pretty fast.” He approaches his face to yours, a proud glint in his eyes. “To who?”

“To me!” He laughs out at your annoyed expression and your face scrunches up in embarrassment when you realize that he has been messing with you, then you stand up to walk away. “If you don’t want to, I’ll just find someone else-”

“No, you won’t.” He grabs your hand and pulls you back towards him, ending up falling into his lap and getting trapped with his arms around you. “Because we’re getting married on Friday.”

A wide smile breaks out of your lips, his own starting to give your shoulder small kisses. “Promise?”

“You’re the one who asked the question remember?” You let out a small giggle, almost getting tickled by his lips. “Hope you like hell, ‘cause that’s where it’s gonna be.”

Nothing would make you happier than to marry him. Doing it in hell is just a bonus point.

Scott Howl :

When you decided you wanted to marry Scott, you instantly wanted to make your proposal something sweet and special, just like he has been to you ever since you’ve met. That monster was the most kind and precious person you could ever dream to love, and he deserved all the good things in life you could give him. And although choosing a ring in a jewelry store wasn’t that special of a gesture, you could make the proposal the most amazing thing in the entire universe.

You had planned everything. When he would go coach his football team for one evening, you would take the time to hand-write little notes of why you deeply love him all attached together, ending it with the famous question ‘will you marry me?’ at the end that would then reveal the gorgeous ring you chose a few days earlier in the box. Then tomorrow, when you would spend the day together, you will let him ‘find’ the box somewhere in the house and wait for his answer.

Hopefully, he says yes.

That’s what you think as you finish taking your shower, drying yourself with a towel as soon as you get out of it. Your notes for your proposal were all finished, the box left on your bed and now waiting for you to find it a place to hide it until tomorrow. You can’t help but giggle happily when you think about getting married to Scott, the whole idea feeling like a dream that will come true.

“I’m back!”

The entrance’s door closing make you drop your smile, your eyes going wide upon hearing Scott’s voice.

The box is on the bed!

“(Y/N)? Are you home?”

“Y-yes!” You try your best to put on the clean clothes you took with you, which consists of a very loose shirt and black sweatpants. “I’m in the bathroom!”

“Oh, what’s this?”

“No-” You open the door of the bathroom and stops when you see Scott already reading the little notes. “Oh god-”

“You’re the source of all my joy-Awn.” He turns his head at you to send you a smile. “You’re the source of my joy too!”

Despite your heart warming up at his words, you can’t help but feel stressed out seeing him continue reading your notes, the man getting closer and closer to the ring. You hide your mouth with your hands, frozen on place.

This is happening. This is really happening. I’m proposing to Scott… and I’m wearing sweatpants! I can’t propose to Scott wearing sweatpants-

Scott gasps, taking the ring out of the box with sparkles in his eyes, but they seem to get even brighter when he looks at you.

“We’re gonna get married!” All your worries go away as soon as he says this, a heartwarming laugh escaping your throat when he takes you in his arms for a tight embrace. “We’re gonna get married!”

“Y-yes!” You still giggle when he suddenly attacks your face with kisses, his lips feeling like a million butterflies against your skin. “Yes, we are!”

“I’m so happy…” He puts his lips against yours for a moment, only parting away to look back into your (e/c) orbs. “I love you so much!”

Your smile widens. “I love you too.”

You honestly couldn’t marry a better person.

Liam de Lioncourt :

Finding Liam the greatest ring of all time wasn’t as hard as you thought it would be.

I mean, you had this amazing idea of finding a ring that was made the year he was born, which you thought would be almost impossible to do since Liam is literally centuries old… but guess what? With a little help of Vera, you managed to unearth the perfect ring from the darkest corners of a very old Antique Store, and now you’re always carrying it in your pocket while waiting for the perfect moment to ask him to marry.

So yeah, finding the ring wasn’t hard at all, but convincing Liam to settle down in a marriage (possibly for eternity, as well) will probably be the most impossible thing you would ever have to do. Remember how hard it was to get him to just accept he could love someone without it being ‘ironically’? Or how it took you weeks to make him want to truly become your boyfriend, with and without the cliché moments? Or how you had to give him a huge list of logical reasons why your lives would be easier if you lived together? What do you think it’s gonna take for him to want to marry you?

Luckily, you’re not the kind of person who gives up before even trying. So, one random afternoon at your place, you sit down beside him on the couch, looking at him read an 80’s Hungarian book for a few seconds before you speak up.

“Liam.”

He slowly turns a page from his book, but his head slightly perks up at the sound of your voice. “Hm?”

“You love me… right?”

He blinks at his page in confusion then turns his head at you with a small smile.

“Yes, I love you.” He quirks an eyebrow when you give out your own grin. “Why are you asking me that?”

“So, since you love me… it’s okay for me to assume that you like spending time with me.”

“Yes… that is true…” He closes his book, curious to where you’re going with this.

“And since you love me and enjoy spending time with me, then you might wanna do it forever… right?”

“Where is this coming from?”

Your lips stretch out at his confusion. “Just answer my question.”

He sighs, replacing his glasses on his nose as he thinks.

“I suppose that…” A red blush creeps up on his cheeks when he imagines a lifetime with you. “… being with you for eternity would be… a little more than nice…

“So you wanna marry me.”

He looks back at you with wide eyes. “Pardon?”

“If you wanna spend eternity with me…” Your cheeks almost hurt from how much your smiling. “Then you wanna marry me.”

“I-I… well-I won’t lie…” He seems to be at lost of words until his yellow eyes look into yours. “… I did think about it one or two times.”

“Good.” You take the ring out of your pocket, his eyes widening at the sight of it. “Because I wouldn’t want this ring to go to waste.”

“How did you- When did you-”

“Just say yes, love.”

He lets out a nervous chuckle. “Yes… I will marry you.”

You let him take the ring to put it on his finger, his eyes memorizing all the details of it before he looks at you with a smile.

“What would I do without you?”

“I have the same question for you.” You approach your face to his, still grinning happily. “You do realize I just manipulated you to marry me.”

“I wasn’t manipulated.” His own smile turns to a proud grin. “You only proposed before I had the chance to do so.”

“Wait, you-” Your eyes go wide in realization. “You wanted-”

It only takes him a second before he traps your lips within his, one of many ways he chooses to show that he’s thankful to have you in his life, and finally parts away to show the ring he had bought for you himself.

“If we’re doing cliché, might as well do a double proposal, no?”

Polly Geist :

If there’s one thing that hasn’t change in the years you’ve been with Polly, it’s her need to always go party somewhere no matter the time nor the place. Sure, you’re both not as excessive as you used to be,  but you still crash random parties you weren’t invited to or go drink on a roof until dawn, watching fireworks and giggling together. It’s something you hope that never changes, but if you could ever hope for something it’s to get the chance to spend eternity by her side, loving her and cherishing her with all of your heart and mind.

Finding her a ring was something hard to do because you couldn’t just buy any random rings for her. It needed to be a ring that she could wear, a ring that was ‘dead’ enough to be in a ghost form, but also a ring that you knew she would love.

It took a little help from Liam, both of you going in dark and unknown places to try and find the most perfect ring for Polly you could ever find without her knowing anything about it. And thanks to them, you did, finding a sparkling ghost ring in the oldest antique shop Liam could find for you. You could never thank him enough for that, having promised him to help him with anything if he ever gets in trouble (which you might regret later on, but who cares? It’s for love). And now there was only thing you needed to do.

Asking the question and hoping for a positive answer.

“You’ve been quiet for a while.”

You look away from the colorful fireworks popping off in the black sky to watch your girlfriend’s face, the ghost woman taking a sip from the bottle you’ve been sharing all night while grinning at you. You giver her back a bright smile, grabbing the box inside your coat’s pocket.

“Tonight’s perfect.” You give her cheek a kiss, proud to see her blue cheek turn red. “I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

She lets out a giggle. “Oh yeah? I thought you said I was annoying.”

“Hm… sometimes.” You take the bottle from her hands, approaching the tip to your lips to take a sip. “I wouldn’t love you if you weren’t.”

“Oh my, thank you. I feel so special.” She looks back at the sky, her eyes lightening up at the fireworks. “You’re right, tonight’s perfect.”

You keep looking at her, the pop of colors in the sky reflecting inside her soul.

“We’re living a pretty good life, right?”

Polly’s lips stretch out. “Oh yeah. Wouldn’t trade it for nothing else.”

You take the box out of your pocket, catching her attention, and her eyes open wide as soon as you open it to reveal the ring.

“Wanna do it forever?”

“Oh my god.” She puts her hands in front of her mouth, then puts them down. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god-”

“I need an answer, Polly-”

“Yes! A thousand times yes!” You let out a laugh as you put the ring on her finger, then get cut off when she suddenly throws herself at you. “This is amazing! Oh my god, I love you so much!”

She puts her mouth against yours before you can even answer, then just keeps giving your lips kisses despite your laugh.

“I love you too.” You finally manage to say the words when she parts away, your smile stretching out as you look at her happy expression. “It’s too late for you to run away now.”

She snorts. “You realize that just sounded like the interdimensional prince, right?”

Your expression falls down to a horrified one, making your fiancee laugh as hard as she ever did.

Vera Oberlin :

Ever since you picked up a ring in a jewelry store, you’ve been asking yourself the same question over and over.

What if Vera doesn’t want me to propose?

Not that you don’t think that she doesn’t wanna get married. She’s actually been pretty clear on the subject for the last few years you’ve been together. She would like to spend the rest of her life with you, even if you both become criminals and get locked up, she wants the two of you to stay together. It’s a sweet thought, although you’re glad none of you have been arrested and that she has calmed down with age, and you couldn’t be happier to know that she wants the same thing as you.

No, what you’re wondering is if she would want to be the one proposing to you instead of the other way around. I mean, it’s what happened with most of the important events in your relationship. When you asked her to prom, she refused before she got on to invite you instead a few seconds later. Same thing happened when you asked her to be your girlfriend… and don’t even try to remember when you brought the idea of moving in together.

Vera likes to be the one with the big ideas, and so you’re not sure she would like it if you were the one proposing.

But you couldn’t just ignore that perfect wedding ring you coincidentally saw in an Antique store. It was a silver snake with black diamonds forming its eyes, the animal wrapping itself around the person’s finger and forming a beautiful ring. Everything about it screamed ‘Vera’ to you when you saw it, and you bought it before you could even think about if she would like it or not.

So now, you’re just waiting and worrying while you continue your everyday life with your gorgeous girlfriend, trying to act like you’ve never bought a wedding ring for her even though it’s always hidden in your pockets every time you two go out… even when you’re just grocery shopping.

“Do we still have chili at home?”

Vera’s staring at the spices on the shelves when she asks you that question, holding unto your grocery basket full of food while the snakes on her head look around. You let out a giggle when one of them gives your cheek a small lick, your left hand fidgeting with the black box in your coat’s pocket the whole time.

“Didn’t we bought some not too long ago?”

“I think we already used it all, but I’m not sure…” She stays silent for a moment, then grabs two bottles of chili spices. “Let’s take some just in case.”

“Of course.” You give out a grin. “And you sure it’s not because you love spicy food?”

“Shut up.” You giggle at her words, her cheeks blushing in embarrassment. “You never complain about it.”

“True.” You put your lips against her cheek, leaving a small kiss before parting away. “I love you too much to complain.”

Her lips stretch out under your touch, her eyes looking up at you. “Can you go pick up pasta?”

“Sure, I’ll be right-” The loud thud of something hitting the ground stops you in the middle of your walk, your expression faltering down when you look down to see the ring box between you and her. “…back.”

You both stare at the black box in silence, feeling the tension rising inside your chest and your head when you see that she is just staring without moving an inch. You suddenly feel like this is a bad idea, that you shouldn’t have bought the ring and brought it with you wherever you went. You should have waited to know if she wanted to be the one to do it or if she wanted you to-

“Do it.”

You blink, looking back at her to see that she’s looking right at you. “Huh?”

“I said ‘Do it’.” You see her lips stretch out wildly, her breathing hard from the excitement.  “Do it!”

“O-okay-um…” You kneel down to pick the box ring, already being in the familiar position to ask the big question, and you look up to stare at her red eyes. “This is not where I thought I would do this, but…”

She lets out a sharp breath, her smile widening.

“Vera…” You open the box, taking out the snake ring between your fingers and showing it to her, ignoring the few gasps from random people arriving in the isle. “Will you marry me?”

“Yes!” She lets you put the ring on her finger, her eyes mesmerized by everything that’s happening right now. “Y-yes… why-”

You stand up with a huge grin on your face, waiting for her to look back at you.

“It’s beautiful.” Tears appear in her eyes, a rare sight that you almost never get to see. “Why do you always do those things before I get a chance to?”

“I don’t know, but I’m glad you didn’t steal that moment this time-”

You yelp when she grabs your shirt to shove your mouth against hers, the other clients applauding you two until you part away. You stare at the determination in her red eyes, her cheeks red both from embarrassment and from love.

“I’m saying my vows first.”

Your grin stretches out. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

[relatablemormonmoments]

Saturday Morning and Afternoon Session Talks

(Note, I listen to Conference rather than watch it, names are probably butchered.)

Ulysses S. Suarez

We need the help of a faithful and inspired teacher, but we also need to teach

Teach your sons and their sons in the ways of the Lord

We need to raise our families in the Lord

Emerse yourself in Scriptures

How do we put principles in the gospel into the actions of our lives?

Actions speak louder than words

Most of our critical spiritual decisions relate to family. (story of a single divorced mother rearing her children)

Mother should guide her children

God wants us back in his presence

Pros: Encourages closeness within our families and with the lord, Encourages us to consider our actions of faith

Cons: The Family A Proclamation to the World, Seemingly excludes those with a poor connection to their families or who converted without their families or whose families have fallen away

Becky Craven

"Happiness, $15" -> cheap trinkets and souvenirs

We as a church are blessed to know how to find true happiness

Car stuck on train tracks-> conductor pulls on emergency break + whistle -> people are able to escape but car is destroyed -> woman watching claims that conductor didn't even try to stop, didn't try to swerve out of the way.

Keep our wheels on the track no matter what obstacles are in our path

Casualness can lead us from the path

World is laiden with distractions, decieving even the elect

We may drown if we aren't careful.

Actions in the "grey" (the "howevers, buts, and althoughs") = "That council does not apply to me"

"If ye love me, keep my commandments"

Doesn't mean being formal or stuffy, but being appropiate

Be more engaged & careful & modest

For the Strength of the Youth applies to each of us (no matter our age, position, or gender)

We need to seek the guidance of the holy ghost

How can we mark ourselves in the Image of Christ?

The world calls us a "peculiar people" which is a large compliment.

We need to widen the distance between ourselves and our worldly influence

Gift of repentance

When you are worthy to recieve personal revelation, you will be blessed and happy

Pros: Gospel is guide to happiness, Doesn't claim that the only way to happiness is through temple marriage, Discusses what leads us from true happiness

Cons: The analogy to a train is nice but doesn't make sense with the rest of her story and implies that there is only one path to happiness, insinuates that temple marriage is part of the path to true happiness, doesn't offer any solutions to avoiding distraction.

Brook P. Hales

God blesses us according to our desires and to his infite wisdom

Scriptures teach us

Lord carefully leads us even if we can't see the results

Lord prepares ways to overcome obstacles before they can occur (Lost Plates and Nephi)

How can God answer us? ->1. Son recieved coat too small, gave it away to another missionary who had been praying for one because he could not afford it (through other people) 2. Joseph (and his coat od many colors) 's brothers sold him rather than killing him, leading to blessings for Egypt and eventual redemption of their family (through.. better circumstances?) 3. Son not hired for dream job, but would have missed a life changing opportunity had he been hired. (Through denying us our wants for eternal perspective)

Patricia Parkinson -> Began going blind at 7 years old, had to go away to boarding school (very home sick) -> Went fully blind at 15, returned home and went to regular highschool-> Eventually gained success at university and in life -> Had a procedure, but came out saying "I'm going to be blind for the rest of my life, I know it, you know it, God knows it." -> Nephew tells her to ask Heavenly Father because Heavenly father grants all of our wishes -> She explains that HF doesn't give us everything when we want it. -> Hales remarks that she's always positive and happy in public but struggles with herself, her disability, and God in private -> she sees that God's hand is in everything

If we keep our commandments, we are blessed by God, even if its not how we expect or want to be blessed.

Pros: Nice approach on how we can struggle with our faith when God doesn't answer us how we want, Good examples of how God does answer us and why he may answer us like that

Cons: Some Ableism in his story about Patricia, simply claims that God will bless us for following commandments

UCHTDORF!!!!!!

Airplanes take 3 hours between Rome and Jerusalem in the present (would take 40 days to travel that distance in Jesus' time)

Even though the church faces persecution, we continue to grow

Put growth into perspective ( A very small flock indeed)

GERMAN SHEPHERD

In some places, the church is shrinking

We must share the good news of the gospel!

How can we fill that great commision in our daily lives?

Share the gospel with friends and acquaintances

Some go out and declare it boldly, others are more hesitant and hide behind the pew when daily missionary work is mentioned, why?

Lord doesn't require expert efforts, but he does require a willing heart and mind

We can draw close to Heavenly Father, Fill our Hearts wirh love for others, and read our scriptures

By doing this we will become better, happier, more authentic

Pros: It's Uchtdorf, Airplanes mentioned, Even small efforts matter

Cons: Airplanes mentioned only once, Encourages a lot of proselytizing in day to day life, Many members are leaving church or going inactive, Really short talk :(

W. Christopher Weidell

His (nonmember) brother (Mike) had Pancreatic cancer, could see the temple from his hospital bed.

Mike became friends with the priesthood leaders, kept askin hc about the church

Mike joined the church and gained strength

Had no pulse when on day gaining Melchezidek priesthood, has pulse as soon as Weidell enters room, he lives to gain the priesthood, but dies 5 hours later.

It takes remarkable efforts to minister

Don't give up on a "Not Interested"-hearts change

Desire tonhelp others achieve deeper conversion

Serving others

Want others to reach divine potential

Sensitive to trials and struggles

We are encouraged to follow the guidings of the Holy Spirit

Trust the Lord

Focus on what's important

It's never too late, you'll never wander too far from the path

Never too soon to extend an invitation

There is always hope

Pros: Heartwarming story about brother, hope if you are inactive and want to come back, hope if yiy have friends or family who have left the church for various reasons

Cons: Influences those really aggressive ministerers to keep going at it, which can weaken someones already weak bond with the church, ITS REALLY SAD, I CRIED OK?

Henry B. Eyring

United as one is the feeling we want in our homes

Families

No contention due to love for God (4th Nephi)

Symptoms of Spiritual Decline TM - How can we protect and increase feelings of love to combat them

Underlying cause=Satan

Reverse spiritual decline in family and in home

Remember the savior as you remember thine sins

Praying as a family brings you closer together

Family who prays together is together, even when far apart

Offer the gospel to your enemies

Examples of Parents

Worry about Celestial Kingdom and the Family Arrangements will be more wonderful than you can imagine

Pros: Talks about strengthening family bonds, NOT ABOUT THE PROCLAMATION TO THE WORLD!!!, strengthen love for God=strengthen family, FOUND FAMILIES? NON NUCLEAR/TRADITIONAL FAMILIES? ?!?!, All you need is love, Love is all you need

Cons: May encourage abusive/extremist parents to shove gospel down childrens throats to "strengthen family" therefore pushing children away

M. Russel Ballard

Can't control what impacts our life, we can control how it impacts our happiness

Do the best we can each day

Heavenly Father loves you

Love God, Love Neighbors

Find peace and happiness in your life

We minister because we love others

Preform Temple ordinances

Keep it simple

Pros: Don't worry be happy, If you follow the commandments you will find happiness, Keep it simple (KonMarie LDS edition)

Cons: The whole we can control how it impacts our happiness doesn't include neurodivergent people, especially those with depression.

Mathias Held

Found a church (ours) where he felt at home

Personal growth, education, humanitarian efforts, self-reliance

Wanted to know everything about the church before joining

Mosiah 1:18

Confident that Heavenly Father would guide him

Through the power of the Holy Ghost we may know all things

Pros: Short and sweet, lists what attracts people to the church

Cons: May make some people in process of conversion feel left out or like they aren't on track/moving fast enough

Neil Anderson

God has given us a way to learn essential truths

See truths of God through the Eye of Faith

Spirit sons and daughters (AND CHILDREN, ELDER ANDERSON! AND CHILDREN!) lived with and worshipped god

We all knew God's plan for us

Prophets see ahead, not only the dangers, but the privileges and blessings

Faith, patience, and diligence

We are all part of a larger family

God will shine his approval on you

Pros: Its about the Plan of Salvation, Eye of Faith, We are all part of a larger family and should strive to help each other, I like the notion that the prophets are also seeing Good things because the world has been very much the bad place as of late..

Cons: I'm pretty sure this is the one where he mentions his LGBTQIA friend who was all like "we need to abandon the ways of the world and thus I be celibate" so... Slight homophobia maybe? I don't know I didn't write it down but a lot of people are bothered by this

Takashi Wada

Overcome darts of the Adversart

True feasting is an experience of joy and thanksgiving

Feasting on scriptures should build our relationship with God

Hearts filled with Gratitude

1. words of Christ increase spiritual capacity for revelation

2. when we struggle with our identity and self esteem, turn to the scriptures

3. live lives of others through the scriptures

A little boy handed Wada's mother a hymn book even though she coukd have easily accessed it herself, an innocent act of kindness he learned through the church and his parents

Hearts burn within us when we read the scriptures

Ye shall have eternity

Pro: This man??? so Sweet??? Hi I love him?, Very innocent stories, very funny.

Con: There is none. Perfect talk.

David P. Homer

"I'm sorry I didn't bear my testimony today, I love you"

1. Critical moments, multiple voices with competing directions, 2. Vital that we listen to the right one

We often focus on what's convenient

Popular =/= best

Mountain climbers' death zone= Spiritual too much time in bad places

Korihor

Impressions given by the Holy Ghost

Seek God's voice

Be doers of the word, not just hearers

Answers can be slow to come

Heavenly Father makes it possible to hear and follow his commandments.

Pro: His opening quote is really cute, Wow this is a call out talk

Con: You may feel called out if you don't follow commandments

Jeffery R. Holland

Adam and Eve closed door to immortality

Help comes from the Lamp of God

Offer broken heart and contrite spirit

Reduce clamor in our buildings

Be mindful of broken hearts and sad spirits around us

No shortage of suffering in the world

Lift load from those who are burdened

Bring tears to the Lord's Sacrificial Altar

Pros: calls people to acknowledge those who are hurt around us, calls people to stop using church for socialization

Cons: What is a Lamp of God?, How can we focus on broken hearts and contrite spirits without hurting them?

[pop-punklouis]

hey hope!! i’ve completely run out of things to watch recently and was wonderinf if you had any recs of movies and tv shows??

HI! 

It’s your lucky day because I have found myself in a hole of watching many new things lately that I’ve more or less found enjoyable so hopefully you will too? lol

1. Russian Doll:  Nadia, a young woman who is on a journey to be the guest of honor at a party in New York City. But she gets caught in a mysterious loop as she repeatedly attends the same event and dies at the end of the night each time – only to awaken the next day unharmed as if nothing had happened.

(I know I’m late to the party with that one, but it is quite literally one of the best comedy-dramas I’ve seen in a long while, not to mention Natasha Lyonne, the ultimate babe, stars in it. It is, blatantly, obvious that the script was written by women (thank god) and it has a cool, mind-trip twist at the end that’ll have you guessing what actually was happening the entire time. Super easy to binge!! 10/10)

2. Perfume:  When a woman is found murdered with scent glands excised from her body, a detective probes a group of friends who attended boarding school with her.

(A German mystery-crime-thriller that is way too convoluted and intertwined to know the real culprit of the grisly yet complex murders until the few minutes of the last episode. It has an incredibly intriguing script with intricate details and dialogue. Pleasantly surprised by how solid the entire storyline and characters were. TW though!! There are scenes of obscene sex, implied rape, domestic abuse, and sexual assault. So be careful if those things trigger you. Watching it in German with English subtitles is the way to go, though. Trust me.)

3. Handsome Devil:  Two opposites, a loner and the top athlete become friends at a rugby-obsessed boarding school, and the authorities test their friendship.

(An irish coming-of-age LGBT film that, again, pleasantly surprised me with how well it was executed underneath the guise of an overly cliche storyline. It’s winning, compelling, and quite moving with how it tackles individuality in teens. It’s just a great film that takes tropes and turns them on their head by transforming the characters in their own way. Not to give too much away but the talk one of the boys have with the English professor on the rugby field at night is so, so important as an open dialogue.) 

4. Dumplin’:  The plus-size, teenage daughter of a former beauty queen signs up for her mum’s pageant as a protest that escalates when other contestants follow in her footsteps, revolutionising the pageant and their small Texas town.

(As you can probably guess this film is an emotionally-impactful conversation about self-acceptance that rides on the back of societal expectations of young women all tied together in a very heart-warming coming-of-age drama. Also there’s loads of Dolly Parton music. What else is there to say)

5. The Lobster:  In a dystopian society, single people must find a mate within 45 days or be transformed into an animal of their choice.

(Isn’t a new watch, but I was reminded of it recently. Just an extended Black Mirror episode, pretty much. It’s odd. It’s bizarre. It’s engaging. It’s a lot of things, and they are great.)

6. Shirkers:  In 1992 teenager Sandi Tan shoots Singapore’s first road movie with her enigmatic American mentor, Georges, who then absconded with all of the footage. The 16 mm film is recovered 20 years later, sending Tan, who is now a novelist living in Los Angeles, on a personal odyssey in search of Georges’ footprints.

(One of my favorite documentaries I’ve seen in a while, mainly because it doesn’t exactly feel like a documentary. It feels like you’re privvy to the incredibly frustrating, disheartening, and determined story of friendship, women-bound creativity, youth, and dishonesty when it comes to the mystery of where and why Georges disappeared. It’s also empowering in a way to see the transition of these young women reclaiming their lives after such betrayal.)

7. Grace & Frankie:  For as long as they can recall, Grace and Frankie have been rivals. Their one-upmanship comes crashing to a halt, however, when they learn that their husbands have fallen in love with each other and want to get married. As everything around the ladies is coming apart, the only thing they can really rely on is each other.

(I’ve been living under a rock, sue me. This show is fanfuckingtastic. Just watch it. Just binge it. Just do it.)

8. Voyeur:  Gay Talese investigates Gerald Foos, a Colorado motel owner who spies on his guests. Using a carefully constructed platform in the motel’s attic, Foos documents his guests most private moments, from the mundane to the shocking.

(Just a frustratingly and horrifyingly sad and strange recollection of two men who act as an incredibly interesting character study if nothing else. Recommend)

9. Some Freaks:  A charming romance develops between a boy with one eye and an overweight girl, though when she loses her weight after going to college, their relationship is tested in devastating ways they never dreamed would happen.

(….. I still don’t know how I feel about this movie. I’ve watched it twice, once alone and once with a friend, and I’m still conflicted on my lasting thoughts about the film and its message. It’s definitely something I suggest watching, at least, to come to your own conclusions about how it made you feel. It’s just. uncomfortable in the strangest of ways, and I just need more people to converse about it with lmao)

10. The Kindergarten Teacher:  A teacher sees such great promise in her 5-year-old student that she goes to unreasonable lengths to protect his talent.

(I watched this film on a whim one day while off from work, and I was pleasantly surprised by its depth and heartbreaking tendencies. This film does not evoke anything but unsettled feelings and yearning for both the young boy and the teacher. Many people tend to gloss over the fact that this film does so much more than its superficial narrative. it opens such a bigger conversation into what absence and neglect of personal creativity and art through someone’s marriage and family can cause them to in-turn have an unhealthy obsession with wanting to keep a child’s love/talent for art alive. Haunting but great film.)

11. Mr. Roosevelt:  A struggling LA-based comedian goes home to Austin, Texas, when a family member becomes ill and finds herself in the awkward position of staying with her ex and his amazing new girlfriend.

(Friend found this hidden-gem on Netflix, and it’s such a quirky, comforting, easy-watch that I miss a lot in indie films. It’s progressive and weird in all the right ways, and it leaves you with a cozy feeling inside once the film reaches its end.)

12. Queer Eye Season 3

(You know the drill just more feel-good reality-television makeover that makes all of us a little bit happier about humanity’s ability to be kind)

13. Happy Anniversary:  On their three-year anniversary, Molly and Sam are at a crossroads and need to decide whether to move forward or call it quits.

(Another hidden gem found on Netflix that I ended up thoroughly enjoying. It comes across as a real, genuine, non-exaggerated look at the inside of a couple’s relationship. It’s candid, fun, witty in dialogue, and heartwarming towards the end. I’ll admit I got a bit misty eyed at 1 AM lol also the dude who plays jean-ralphio is one of the mains so c’mon.)

14. Class Rank:  When her class rank threatens her college plans, an ambitious teen convinces a nerdy peer to run for the school board to abolish the ranking system.

(Listen up, I watched this film because I was under the impression that it was going to be a b-rated teen film I could be amused by, but it ended up being a sorta cute story that I enjoyed a lot more than I probably should’ve RIP. Give it a shot).

15. Cam:  A camgirl has her principles, until a mysterious woman who looks just like her takes over her channel.

(Don’t take the general critic review to heart and watch the film, yourself. It’s. a ride. It definitely gave me chills as much as it made me uncomfortable. A thriller with twists and uneasiness at every corner. Just a real creepy look into AI, especially in industries like the camgirl industry. I do want the girl’s play dungeon tho rip)

[veky1993]

Caught - Chapter 4

I couldn’t resist having Sharon ogle Andy once more. 

I hope you enjoy the read. You can also find it here.

“You know what we haven’t done in a while?” Andy asked. He sat on the couch with his socked feet propped up on the coffee table and a hand in Sharon’s hair as she lay on her side with her head pillowed in his lap.

They were relaxing for the day, enjoying the rare work-free evening while watching some movie that had been on their watchlist for a good year before they finally found the time to watch it as intended. Regretfully though, Andy found the movie rather boring, and the way Sharon easily drew her attention from the screen to him as she rolled over onto her back to look at him, said she wasn’t too engrossed in it either.

“No.”

He looked down at her, smiling at the questioning, but slightly melodious lilt to her reply, and continued stroking her hair. “Go to a game,” he told her on a shrug.

“Oh.” She drew out a long sigh. They’d barely seen a stadium from outside lately, much less from the inside. “You tell the bad guys to take a day off,” she playfully ran the back of her fingers down his chest, then flicked her hand in the air, “and let’s.”

“I’m serious,” he suddenly straightened, and briefly she was forced to lift her head while he rearranged her pillow for her, “we could make a whole weekend out of it, maybe have Nicole’s boys over, take ‘em to the game, you know,” he shrugged, “spend some quality time with them before they turn into moody teenage monsters who think all adults are lame?”

She chuckled. “You just want them to do something else besides dance, and,” she lifted a hand to his cheek and pressed into it in slight admonishment, “an excuse to eat junk for a change.”

“No,” he protested quite vehemently, even though she had sounded teasing enough. “Work’s just been so,” he groaned, momentarily tilting his head back in imagined agony, “crazy, and I think we could both use a break.”

He gave her that half a shrug of his and jutted his lower lip out just so, that even if he did have unbecoming agendas she would have been unable to say no to even the silliest of requests. She sighed in quiet pleasure, when as if to further sell his point, he dug his fingers into her scalp precisely the way she liked. Her eyes slipped closed at the welcome sensation, and she instantly agreed. “I know.”

“So?” He shifted in his seat yet again, but she remained safely in his lap. “What do you say?” He wiggled his eyebrows enticingly, expecting an answer in the affirmative.

No answer came forth though, for Sharon’s mind went unexpectedly blank, and all she could do was stare at him. He looked so utterly childlike and excited at the prospect, as if nothing more would make him happier than spoiling his grandkids with her for a weekend.

She absolutely adored it.

Honestly, as much as everyone found her work persona at odds with her private self, she was equally amazed by his contrasting personalities. At work she would never find him this eager and excited over anything, sans maybe going home after a long day, or giving Provenza a hard time. Determined, and nearly hell bent on getting something done? Oh, yes. But this gentle at work? Her eyelids fluttered closed again when his fingers pressed into her scalp once more, momentarily interrupting her train of thought. He was gentle around kids, and certainly careful and thoughtful with victims and their friends and families, but otherwise, he was intense, quick to anger (although less that in recent years) and he would sooner punch a dirtbag in the face than show him any kind of sympathy, or God forbid, leniency.

She liked that about him. She liked being one of the select few privy to all the sides of him. She liked how excited he got over baseball. She liked how excited he got with his grandkids.

At the end of the day, she could deny him nothing. Or maybe just very little. Certainly not a weekend with their grandchildren and baseball.

Her prolonged silence diminished his confidence slightly and prompted him to offer further arguments, and she should have interrupted him, told him he had her at ‘game’, but then again, he was rather cute when he tried talking her into things he worried (unnecessarily so, especially when it came to baseball or football, and of course, their families) she might not be as enthusiastic about as he.

It allowed her to (with the slightest tinge of guilt) tune him out. Instead, she fought that little affectionate smile reserved only for him, and simply observed, her mind a million miles away, even as the topic of her musings loomed barely an arm’s length above her.

She was truly and thoroughly content. The hand in her hair and his rambling voice certainly helped, but it wasn’t just that. It was him being there. It was him wanting to be there. It was him wanting her with him. With his family. With her family. It was him no longer making single plans, and only very few most base of decisions, without her.

It was her wanting all of that equally as much. There was an incredible comfort in knowing he was her partner in the true meaning of the word. It offered her a sense of safety and utmost trust, which she wasn’t sure she truly had even during the early, good and happy stages of her first marriage. Perhaps it was age and experience that had tampered the sensation somewhat, because it wasn’t as headrush inducing anymore, but maybe it was also age and experience that made the feeling all the more encompassing, more profound, more heartwarming.

She was irrevocably in love, that much was clear, but she was also undisputedly comfortable and serene in his company, and pure infatuation was not the only reason why. It was rather ironic how he offered stability and support in the way her reliance on protocol, rules and laws did for decades before him, when he so very much liked to rebel against those same things every chance he got (of course, still within the realm of legality). He was steadfast, reliable and loyal, just as much as he was hot headed, passionate and stubborn. She had grown used to it, not in a way where she took it all for granted, noone with her scars could, but it had started feeling normal nonetheless.

There was an underlying current of excitement in their relationship as well, even when they were caught up in the routine of domesticity. It was ever present, and exciting all on its own. They had been together for so long now, going on ten years, retirement on their minds even, and it had not abated in the least. Just lying there with her head in his lap was exciting in its own way. Merely talking to him was exciting. The prospect of going out and sharing him with his grandchildren was exciting. More intimate moments were just as exciting. Touching him. Anticipating his reciprocating touch. A look. A hug. A kiss. A night tangled with each other in their bed sheets.

“Sharon?” Andy’s question put an end to her distracted thoughts, and she realized she had reached out a hand, running her fingers gently along his jawline.

She kept it there, and simply smiled. “Just get us the tickets,” she told him softly, “and I’ll make sure we’re off work no matter what.”

Oh, and there was that one more thing that never failed to weaken her in the knees. His eyebrows lifted in delight, and his lips spread into a lazy, happy half-smile. And then he had to add a touch of smugness. “I knew you couldn’t say no to me.”

She rubbed a thumb against his cheek, and grinned. If only he knew the extent of that truth. Knowing he wasn’t exactly immune to her either sent another rush of excitement through her. “Never.”

He grinned back, then leaned down to kiss her. He meant it as a quick, light, ‘it’s a deal’ kind of brush of lips, but on a disagreeing moan, her head lifted to follow when he drew back, and her hand reached the back of his head, pulling him close again. It was an uncomfortable angle for them, him bent like that and her neck strained, but aside from a slightly surprised noise in the back of his throat, Andy made no protest and eagerly complied.

Yes, their kisses were yet to become even fractionally less exciting. A quick peck they took as a quiet everyday reassurance, a casual reminder of their shared affection for one another. Hard, hungry kisses left them light-headed, heavy-breathing, aroused and desperate to all but consume each other. Slow, languid, moan-inducing kisses like now were a combination of the two, not quite as domestic, not quite as desperate, but a perfect little outpour of emotion and promises for more they were in no rush to make good on. Above all, they made Sharon feel cherished, and allowing herself to recognize, experience and accept that feeling again, had taken her nearly three decades to do. More importantly, she had allowed herself to hold on to it without the salt of grain that had marked her last long-term relationship. Perhaps that was why their kisses felt liberating as well—Andy never gave her reason to doubt his intentions, and there was an absolute, maybe still naive, certainty in her that he never would.

When finally her hand slipped out of his hair, and on a sigh she dropped her head back onto her pillow, all the while smiling at him, he asked, sounding genuinely curious, but also quite pleased with himself, “What was that for?” He rubbed his lips together, only a smack missing to show he was enjoying the lingering taste of her.

She sucked in her lips, her teeth momentarily biting into her bottom lip. “Nothing,” she said much too innocently.

A low hum that sounded way too knowing for Sharon’s liking rumbled in his throat. “Wouldn’t have anything to do with you zoning out on me,” he pointed a finger at her accusatory, “there for a second?”

Her teeth proceeded to worry just the corner of her bottom lip. Damn him for being so perceptive. But then again, wasn’t that another thing that absolutely drew her to him? “I was just thinking,” she finally said, with an air of casualness.

“About me?” he asked smugly, lowering his hand to thread his fingers through her hair again.

One of her eyebrows briefly bobbed up and down. “Mhm,” she confirmed mysteriously. It took a bit of willpower not to let a smile give away her actual thoughts, but this teasing thing was one more exciting thing she loved about him, about them.

“What about me?” he added, and this time he brushed a thumb across her forehead, getting the few stray strands of her hair out of his way. He sounded less smug now, more curious, and a tad playful.

“A lot of things.” A shrug accompanied her answer.

A smirk appeared on his face, a prodding, “Oh, yeah?” on his lips.

Her tone dipped to that nearly sultry note she knew did things to him. “Oh, yeah.”

“So...” he narrowed his eyes, his patience for her teasing waning, but he spoke just as teasingly, “you were really just ogling me?” It was more of a statement than a question.

Sharon laughed, throwing her head back as much as that was possible with a pillow and a pair of solid thighs under it. “A little,” she admitted, gravely underplaying the reality of it. “And I was also thinking,” she took his hand when he pulled it away and pressed her cheek into his palm, “how utterly-”

“Smitten you are with me?” Andy quickly interjected, then barked out a laugh at his own wittiness.

She didn’t laugh. She smiled and leveled him with a steady gaze. “Very much so.” She was still affected by her earlier musings, and without much thought, more as if having just had the epiphany, she added, sounding rather random, “More than I even know to describe.”

His unexpected reaction told her she didn’t tell him this often enough, and the sudden shift in mood was practically palpable. Oh, he knew she loved him, that she made sure he heard enough, and their wedding bands alone attested to that, but she wasn’t one to linger on sharing with him just how deeply her affection for him ran. That he could just look at her, or flash her a smile, or brush a hand against hers, and a warm, fuzzy feeling would settle contently in her chest. Or that there were times when she would be so overwhelmed by his love for her that it caused blood to rush to her ears and cheeks, and that a torturous, but delicious sort of tingle shot through her, from head to toe. Or that she loved him so much that sometimes she wished they could melt into one another, blend or morph into one creature that was bound together in all imaginable and unimaginable ways. And that the fact that they unfortunately couldn’t, try as they both might, caused a physical ache she both wanted to get rid of and couldn’t get enough of. 

That wasn’t to say he didn’t know all that, but Andy… he was more prone to dote on her to this degree and to remind her of the depth of his love for her. He always wore his feelings on a sleeve, while she kept hers closer to the vest. It was another thing she loved about him, but also one aspect she often fell short on in their relationship. Not that he ever complained, but his face just then had her making a mental note to put more of an effort into telling him she matched his feelings for her in every possible way.

He was at first rendered mute, his eyes momentarily widening, before his brows lowered, and they returned to their more relaxed shape. He opened his mouth with a soft expression on his face, but when no sound came forth, he smiled instead, that dopey, lopsided smile she thought ought to be illegal, because that did things to her.

Guilty over surprising him quite this much and adding this sudden gravity to their otherwise light banter, she turned her head and kissed the palm of his hand. “You do know that?” she asked, feeling even guiltier for having to ask, and after all this time at that. It was ridiculous how her earlier certainty suddenly, ever so slightly, faltered. “How very much I love you?”

He picked up on her misgivings instantly, his eyebrows instantly flew up, and his ability to speak returned with it. “Yes, absolutely, I know,” he assured her with emphasis. “It’s just...” he grazed her cheek gently with the back of his hand, and smiled softly, “it’s just nice hearing you say it like that.” Jokingly, he added, “Makes me feel special.”

She sighed at his attempt at humor. Once, years ago, he had told her he had no idea what made her care so much about him, and how he didn’t know what he did to deserve her. She thought they were past that particular insecurity of his, but perhaps she had been wrong. “You are special to me. So, so,” she kissed his palm again, “special.” When he smiled, she returned it, but momentarily averted her gaze and rather lamely said, “Next time you see me,” she looked up at him on half an eye roll, “ogling you, that’s why, okay?”

He shrugged a single shoulder. “I knew that, too,” he quipped.

Add infuriating to the list. He drove her crazy, too, but for some even crazier reason, she adored that as well. “Good,” she said, nuzzling briefly into his palm, but still promised herself to show him that more often.

He dropped a kiss to her forehead, then switched gears. “So should I rewind the movie, or,” he eyed her smugly, “do you need another fill of,” he waved a hand at himself and let the sentence end on that.

Even as she laughed, she sat up so she could snuggle into his side. Neither one of them liked giving up on a movie they started, even if it wasn’t quite as captivating as they liked it to be. Waving a hand at the TV, she said, “Please.”

He chuckled, but did as told.

If the movie was still too boring to keep her attention, and she instead stole glances at him as if she were a shy teenager on her first date ever… Well, then, it was all part of keeping her earlier promise.

And if he happened to look at the TV unseeing, and with a palpable air of smugness about him…

Well, that just meant she was doing a good job of it.

[killerxqween]

Waking Up In Vegas- Ben Hardy x Reader One-Shot

Summary: It’s you’re 21st birthday and to celebrate, you, you’re boyfriend Ben, and you’re closest friends all go to Las Vegas to celebrate. You know that this trip is going to be a wild ride full of surprises, but you were not prepared for the surprises you would wake up to the day after your birthday. 

Warnings: FILTHY SMUT (wrap up before you shack up!), CUTE ASS FLUFF THAT’LL MAKE YOUR HEART MELT, VERY LONG FIC BUT SO MUCH ADORABLE CONTENT

I haven't edited this lol so sorry if there is any spelling errors, etc...This was a long one guys! I hope you guys enjoy this one! It’s everything from fluffy to funny to incredibly filthy. This idea came to me right now, with the help of a bunch of friends of course! I’ll be tagging them at the end of this, so make sure to give them a follow if you don't already. Make sure to follow me for more one-shots, fits, and posts about Queen, BoRhap cast, and other rock and roll artists! Besitos, my lovelies ❤️ -Dani 👑

Twenty-one. Holy shit. You’ve been alive for twenty-one years now.

Celebrating your 21st birthday has always been a major milestone, and now it was your turn. You finally get to drink without worrying about being underage, you get to go to clubs, and of course you get to go to casinos. And that’s exactly how you would be spending the next week; in clubs, casinos, and bars, drinking and partying until you fell to the floor. Yes, you would be going to the booziest of boozy places; you were going to Las Vegas with your boyfriend of 2 years, Ben Hardy and your best friends. 

But it’s not like you hadn’t drank and partied before. You were just celebrating that you could now drink in your home country. Since your wonderful boyfriend was from the UK, that meant that you spent most of your time there with him, drinking and partying the weekends away. But now, you would be doing that in Vegas, and you were really excited for what the week would hold. Especially after Ben told you that he had a very big surprise for you. 

---------After arriving in Vegas---------

You and your group of friends were in the lobby of the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, waiting to get to your rooms as quick as possible so you could start your birthday adventures. 

You were holding Ben’s hand while both of you looked around, until one of your best friend’s (and practically Ben’s other lover) Joe Mazzello walked up to you both. 

“Guys this place is so cool, I’m actually shocked I never stayed here before! It’s quite fitting actually, that we’re staying in this place. There’s no one more hard rock then us.” Joe said excitedly. He really did look like an excited puppy sometimes. You saw Ben visibly cringe at Joe’s final comment, though and you laughed lightly. 

“That was the cheesiest and stupidest thing I've ever heard, Joe.” Ben said.

“You just hate me ‘cuz you can’t be me” Joe sassed back, with mock attitude and flipped his non-existent hair over his shoulder while walking away. 

“Awwww Ben look, you just made your boyfriend mad” you said, mocking him even more. You adored Ben and Joe’s relationship, they truly were the perfect definition of best friends. You were so glad to consider them all best friends. 

Soon enough the rooms were ready. You knew that everyone had went all out for your birthday, but you didn't know that they had rented out the most expensive suite in the hotel, the Penthouse Real World Suite. 

Everyone walked into the room before you. First, Rami and Lucy, then Gwil followed by Joe, then Allen and your childhood best friend Victoria, your boyfriend Ben, and finally you, with guidance from Ben since he had put a blindfold on you. 

You walked in slowly while Ben held your hand and guided you in the direction towards the room. 

“Ben I swear, if I bump into anything, I’m suing.”

“Babe, never in a million years would I let you get hurt.” he replied sweetly. You smiled and heard Joe scoff mockingly towards you two, playing along with the ‘jealous boyfriend’ role that he had taken upon himself of playing. Everyone in the room laughed at Joe’s reaction, making you and Ben smile, even if you couldn’t see him. 

“alright, love. Im going to take your blindfold off in 3... 2...”

Everyone shouts “ONE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY (Y/N)!!!” 

You look around and tears prickled at the rim of your eyes. The suite had been decorated with banners congratulating you, table decor that said happy birthday, and much more. These people had went out of their way to give you an amazing birthday and you couldn’t be happier. 

Gwilym saw your tears start to fall before anyone else, since Ben had went around thanking everyone for coming and for helping. Gwil came over to you and gave you a heartwarming hug. 

“Ben went out of his way for your birthday. He got all of us and some staff to come and decorate while you and Victoria were at the lounge. He really loves you, we all do. Happy birthday, kiddo.” Gwil gave you a small peck on your forehead. He truly was one of the sweetest men you had ever met in your life.

“Thank you Gwilly, this means so much. You all mean so much. I don’t know what I’d do without you all. I love you guys” You said as tears fell while giving Gwil another embrace. 

Ben finally came up to you and smiled at Gwil while mouthing a “thank you” to him. Ben wrapped his arms around you and you took in his scent. He really was the love of your life. 

“I hope you like it, baby. This is only the beginning, but I worked really hard to make sure everyth-”

You cut him off with a passionate kiss on the lips. He kissed back and wrapped his arms around your waist, holding you close. Your hands were around his neck, bringing his head closer to your own. He was like a drug, and you could never stop taking him in. You adored this man with a burning passion. You worshiped him. 

Everyone ‘awed’ at you both, admiring how adorable you both were. Even Joe couldn't help but smile at how happy his best friend was, no matter how much the messed with him. You both pulled apart and you snuggled into his chest.

You looked at everyone and said “Thank you everyone for coming, really. I couldn’t be anymore thankful than I am right now. This means so much you guys. I love you all.” Everyone cheered and shouted “I love you’s” back.

You let go of Ben so he could go speak to the boys while Lucy approached you. 

“Hey girl. Everyone is going to go to their rooms to start unpacking and getting ready for tonight. You better go and start getting dressed. I’ll help you too, I want you to look perfect, being the birthday girl and all.” Lucy said with a beautiful smile on her face.

You hugged Lucy and thanked her. “What would I do without you, Luce?”

“Probably perish. Now get your butt into your room and start getting ready for a week’s worth of festivities!!!”

-----THAT NIGHT (WEDNESDAY)-----

You all went to the casino and ordered a shit ton of drinks. You all got extremely wasted while gambling. You also hit a jackpot, call it birthday luck or whatever the sort, but you were so happy.

-----THURSDAY NIGHT-----

You and Lucy went to see Magic Mike Live. You were both flustered by the amount of good-looking men giving you a show but, no one compared to Ben in your eyes. He was perfect.

Afterwards, you all went around Vegas, looking for places to go and see and for places that seemed intriguing. Joe had found a place that sold giant burgers and forced everyone to go in there. You didn’t mind though, you were happy. 

-----FRIDAY NIGHT-----

You all went to the Wet Republic Pool Party at MGM Grand. It was extremely crowded but fun. You all got wasted again and swam around like there was no tomorrow. 

That night you also went to see Lady Gaga in concert during her Enigma show. You and Ben sang along to LoveGame while making out for most of the concert while everyone else was dancing to the music and singing along.

-----SATURDAY NIGHT, YOUR BIRTHDAY (shit gets good now)-----

It was finally the weekend, and as great as the the rest of the week had been, you were excited about tonight. 

Ben had gotten everyone VIP Passes into XS Las Vegas, a very exclusive nightclub that was very difficult to get into. 

When it wast time to leave, you checked your appearance in the mirror one more time. 

You had put on a black chain backless dress that was very low-cut. It accentuated every curve and every nook on your body, making you feel sexy. You had put on a diamond choker to match and some silver heels. You knew that your outfit would drive Ben crazy, and you were excited. 

“Girl you look amazing as always” Said Vicky, she had always been there for you since you were little girls.

“Thanks Vic, you look gorgeous too.” You said back 

Ben was already waiting in the car with Gwilym and Joe because Allen had taken  a shower later than everyone else, while Rami and Lucy had went to go get ready together. But the moans you heard from their room said otherwise. 

Once you finally left the hotel and got to the car, the driver opened the door for you. The door opened to reveal a very dapper looking Ben, wearing a sheer shirt, similar to the one he wore to the Bohemian Rhapsody Premiere, except in a instead of it being a solid black color, it had patterns on it, bringing more attention to your boyfriend’s rock hard abs. You gulped, and Ben just examined your body from head to toe and smirked.  

(for Ben’s outfit: https://goo.gl/images/DqDYD8 )

(for your outfit: https://goo.gl/images/4nyRhf )

---at the club---

Once you got to the club, the driver opened the door and Ben took your hand to help you out of the car. You and the gang all went to the VIP entrance and got in fairly quickly. 

And from that point on, that night had become the craziest night of your life. 

The minute everyone stepped foot in the club, they all disappeared to different places in the room. Gwil and Allen went to the bar, Rami and Lucy went to a corner of the room to have some more ‘privacy’, and Joe decided to embody Disco Deaky by going straight onto the dance floor. 

Ben took your head and lead you to the private booth that had been reserved for your group. You sat with him and he ordered you both drinks. As you sat there, Ben looked into your eyes, sending love from his soul to yours. 

“How are you enjoying your birthday so far, love?” He asked. There was love in his eyes, but they were mixed with something a bit darker.  

“It’s been incredible Ben! It’s been the most fun I’ve had in a long time. I'm so happy you did this all for me. I love you.” You said sincerely. He smiled and brought you in for a kiss. 

As the kiss progressed though, you felt his emotions change from one of love to one of hunger. He added more intensity into the kiss, making it feel more passionate and more lustful. Soon after he pushed his tongue into your mouth.You both fought for dominance in a war of passion and love that resided in your mouth. He won of course, and explored your mouth with his tongue. You felt yourself get warmer. That feeling was like a snake that traveled from the top until it came down to your core. 

You felt yourself get wetter under Ben’s touch. His kiss was a spell that you couldn’t break. His lips detached from yours and attacked your neck, leaving sweet kisses and marks. You sighed, enjoying the feeling of being close to him. Soon, his fingers slowly moved from your waist down to your thighs. He moved his hands up you thighs slowly, making sure you were comfortable. You said nothing, but instead put a kiss to his lips as a confirmation. 

He moved his hand stealthily towards your core, moving his hand under the dress. He pushed the lacy thong you wore to the side and slid his fingers into your core. You felt his fingers move up and down each of your folds, until he rested his pointer finger on your clit. He moved his finger in such a way so you could feel every pleasurable sensation. You moaned softly, since you were in a club and you didn’t want people to see what you two were up to. Soon after, he used both his pointer and middle finger to rub you. He moved his fingers around at a pleasurable pace, making you moan even more. Then he moved those fingers down, and pushed his fingers into you. He pumped them in and out and a slow pace first, then moving to a quicker pace. He added his ring finger shortly after, and you gasped. Ben then attached his lips to yours, in order to keep you quiet. 

While the booth you were in was private, it was kind of thrilling knowing that your boyfriend was finger fucking you in a public place. But you were also slightly paranoid that someone would walk in on you both. 

“Fuck Ben.. y-you need to stop. Someone could walk in” You said, still moaning due to him pumping his fingers in and out of you. 

But instead of stopping, he used his other hand to rub your clit once again. This made you moan even louder. 

“Let someone walk in, let them see how fucking hot you are under my touch” he whispered in your ear, growling the words at the end of his sentence. This just made you moan more. 

“You’re so wet, babe” He said in your ear again. He kissed you roughly, getting aroused by your reactions to his touch. 

But suddenly, he stopped and pulled his fingers away. And now you were confused, and slightly angry because you were just about to reach your high. 

“Why the fuck did you-” 

“Hello, I’m sorry about the delay, there was a mixup with drink orders. Here are your shots of tequila and your Margaritas” The waiter said, interrupting you. You understood why Ben had stopped, but it also made you giggle a bit considering what he said earlier. 

“That’s why I stopped.” Ben said, taking a sip of the margarita. You laughed even more. 

“Why is that funny?” Ben asked.

“What happened to ‘let them walk in on me finger fucking you’?” You asked laughing more. 

“Heat of the moment I guess. But keep laughing at me and I won’t give you something to to look forward to later.” That sentence immediately made you stop laughing. You smirked instead and said “sorry, baby”, giving Ben a chaste kiss. 

You both downed all the alcohol on the table and thats when you fucked up. You wouldn't remember most of the events following the drinks you took.

Gwilym, Joe, and Allen came to the table arguing loudly about who was the best member of Queen. You and Ben left to go to the dance floor. You grinded on him to the beat of the music, as he grabbed your waist and pulled you close. Eventually, you did find Rami and Lucy, who were making out in the middle of the dance floor. They soon left to join the table. Vicky was chatting up a guy she met. 

Even more drinks later, you felt the need to go to the bathroom. You stumbled into the stalls and did your business. You walked out, still completely shit-faced, and washed your hands. You stared into the mirror and laughed at yourself due to how bad your makeup had smudged. But you stopped laughing when you heard the bathroom door open. 

There, in the women’s bathroom, stood your boyfriend Ben Hardy, accompanied by a drunk Joe Mazzello and Gwilym Lee. Ben stumbled into the bathroom, giggling along with the other two boys. 

Be walked right up to you and gave you a kiss on the lips. You kissed him back and laughed. The boys that stood behind Ben laughed as well, knowing something that you didn't. 

“B-ben... what the f-uck are you doin’” you asked, slurring and messing up your words. 

Ben giggles some more. “(Y/N) I-I FUCKING LOVE YOU AND I W-WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT.” He yelled loudly into the bathroom. You covered your ears and yelled “ow!” Ben stopped yelling and replied with “sorry, baby”.

“Anyways.. what was I saying? Oh r-right.... (y/n), I fuckin’ love you and I want to be with you forever, baby. I was gonna do this t-tomorrow but I couldn’t wait so... (y/f/n)... Will you m-marry me-e?” Ben asked, getting down on one knee, but almost failing to do so from how drunk he was. 

Yes, you’re boyfriend just asked you to marry him in the middle of the bathroom while being completely wasted. And how did you reply? 

You started ugly crying “oh-oh my god Ben yes I will baby I lo-love you so much” you said, stumbling towards him to hug him. You saw Joe and Gwil clap sloppily, Joe slightly leaning on Gwil because he was about to pass out.

“WAIT!” He said, putting his hand out to stop you from coming closer. 

“What is it?” You asked, afraid that his drunk ass might be joking.

“I forgot to give you your ring” He said, in an obvious tone, rolling his eyes dramatically. Ben shoved his fingers into his pockets looking around for a ring. 

And the ring he gave you was the best ring drunk you could ever receive. 

He gave you a ring pop with a blue candy diamond in the center. 

You squealed after he put it on you and hugged him. Then you gasped loudly, coming up with a wonderful idea. 

“Ben! Why don’t we get married right now!!!”

“OH MY GOD YES”

So you, Ben, and Joe left the club at 2 in the morning, got in a cab, and went to the nearest chapel go get you and Ben married. Joe had decided to tag along because he wanted to be best man. So you bought a $5 wedding veil from the chapel gift shop and got married. 

-----SUNDAY/The Next Day-----

You woke up naked with your head pounding, unaware of where you were. You looked around and your eyes widened.

You were in your suite at Hard Rock but there were balloons that said “Congratulations Newlyweds!”, “Bride and Groom”, and other phrases related to the subject. There was a veil that had the $5 price tag still stuck to it, a bouquet of roses scattered on the floor that looked like they were in desperate need of water, and of course, the half eaten ring pop on your ring finger which had lint and other small particles stuck to it. 

You frantically looked for your phone to see if you could confirm your suspicions, and when you found it, you opened your phone to see 34 unread messages. The older ones were from your friends congratulating you on your engagement. The newer ones were congratulating you on your marriage to Ben. Then there was a whole essay from a drunk Joe, congratulating you both but also saying he was mad you stole his boyfriend. You sucked in a breath and widened your eyes.

“oh my god, I got married on my birthday in Vegas” you whispered.

You turned your head to look at Ben, who was deep asleep and also naked. He was snoring lightly and looked so peaceful.

“Ben is my husband.” you said, still in shock.

You opened your phone and checked your picture gallery. You had over 20 videos, all filmed by either Joe or Gwilym, from your engagement in the bathroom to your wedding at the chapel. You watched each one and cringed at how drunk everyone was.

You really did get engaged and married. 

You didn’t mind the idea of getting married to Ben though, you just hate that it was while drunk in Vegas.

Soon Ben started waking up, slightly stirring around until he fully turned his body towards you and opened your eyes. 

“Hello beautiful, my head hurts.” He said, looking like the Greek God that he is. He then saw the worry in your face and asked what was wrong. He ten saw he was naked and asked “Did we fuck last night?” You laughed.

“Yeah, babe that wasn’t the only thing we did last night.” You said with shock still present in your voice.

“What did we kill someone? Did we have a little Bonnie and Clyde moment?” He asked and smirked while leaning up to kiss you. 

“Ben, look around.” You said seriously this time. 

He looked around at the balloons, veil, bouquet, and ring. Apparently he was somehow still drunk because he still didn't understand. He looked at you in confusion.

“Oh my god, Ben we got engaged and we got married last night” you said, showing him the video of him proposing in the bathroom. His jaw dropped and his eyes widened. Then you scrolled to the next video, showing him the one of you in the chapel. His jaw dropped even further and you laughed. 

“Oh my god. Yo-you’re my wife?” He asked with a tone of fear.

“Yeah I am, is being married to me that bad?” You said with a laugh. He didn’t laugh though, instead he ran a hand through his hair then down his face, signaling that he was stressed. 

“Babe, I know that this is stupid but I didn't think it was that ba-” 

“It’s not bad babe, its just...” He sighed again. You were afraid that maybe he didn’t want to take the next step into marriage with you, and was mad that you both did while intoxicated. 

“I guess I just have to say it. (Y/N), I was going to ask for your hand in marriage during you Birthday celebration, in fact, I was going to do it today during our date. But the fact that we already were engaged and are now married put my whole plan out of the loop” Ben said, disappointed since his plan has been ruined. You on the other hand, were happy. He was going to ask you to marry him, today in fact. 

You kissed him deeply. “Ben, baby. Don’t let our stupid actions get in the way of your plans. I love you. I would get engaged to you and marry you a million times. We can still get married and get engaged, we just do it properly this time, and not while drunk.” You said laughing. 

“You’re right” He said as he got up. “But my big birthday surprise for you was going to be over dinner. But that plan has been spoiled, and so has the surprise. So I'm going to say this right here, right now.”

Ben got out a little black jewelry box from his coat pocket and got down on one knee while still naked. 

“(Y/N), I love you. From the minute I saw you I loved you. I don’t know where I would be without your love and support. You make my grey skies a vibrant blue. You are the brightest star in my sky. I love you to the moon and back and I always will. That is why I was so fussy about getting married. Because you deserve the best. So I know this setting isn't perfect but, I feel the timing is perfect so” Ben opened the box to reveal the most beautiful ring. 

“Will you (y/f/n), make me the happiest man alive and be my wife...even though you technically already are my wife?”

You felt tears sting your eyes. 

“Yes” you said wholeheartedly.

Ben put the ring on your finger and kissed you passionately. His hands cupped your cheek while yours wrapped around his muscular back. Soon the kiss became needier, hungrier. 

His tongue swirled around with yours, reminding you of last night’s very lustful agenda which was one of the few things that you could remember clearly. The thought of it got you hot and bothered. His hands moved from your face down to your waist, where he started gripping roughly with his hands, making you moan into the kiss. He then brought his hands down to your bare ass and gave it a squeeze. He then started kissing your neck, this time leaving actual marks and bruises compared to the ones from last night. You sighed and moaned, letting yourself expose your neck more so he could have more access. 

Hands still on your ass, Ben pushed you even closer to him, your bodies molding together like clay. His head started moving down from your neck to your collarbone, then down to your breasts. He started kissing around the beautiful mounds of flesh until he took a nipple into his mouth and started sucking and biting. You moaned louder this time at the action, which made him grab the other nipple and he started pinching and squeezing. 

“I love you, wife” He said against your breast. 

“I love you too, husband” you breathlessly replied back. He got back up, gave you a kiss and started pushing you back towards the bed. Once your legs made contact with the bed frame, he lightly pushed you back so you were laying on your back. 

“Let me show you how much I love you” He whispered lovingly into your ear, leaving a small kiss on your earlobe, then on your cheek, then on your forehead, on your nose, and on your lips.

He moved his head down, kissing your body as he went. He kissed your collarbone, the valley between your breasts, your stomach and then your hip bones. Once he was almost face to face with your center, he kissed your thighs and bit lightly as he got closer. He then moved his mouth a kissed your soaking center. He moved his tongue strategically through your folds, feeling every beautiful sensation. He swirled his tongue around your center, making you moan. Your breathing was jagged and your lips were parted as he flicked your clit around with his tongue. You moaned an even more pornographic sound when he started sucking and lightly biting the little ball of nerves. 

You felt like you were on cloud nine, he held your waist in such a delicate manner, as if you were a flower that was about to fall apart in his hands. He used the other hand to pump his fingers into you; starting with one, then two, then three fingers, and that’s when you felt the rush. You spread your legs as wide as you could, one hand gripping his hair, while the other was intertwined with the hand on your waist. You grinded into his touch to get more friction. 

“oh Ben, fuck” you moaned at the feeling. 

Ben hummed a bit to add even more vibrations and thats when you felt your orgasm washing over you. He pumped his fingers even more to help you. You arched your back as he kept eating you out like you were his holy feast and felt your orgasm hit. You moaned his name loudly and your body started to spasm. Ben kept his arm around you to help you stop spasming and brought his lips up to yours. 

He kissed you with a love and desire, and you tasted yourself on his tongue, making you want him more. 

“I'm so happy that you’re my wife right now. I love you so much. I can’t wait to get remarried” Ben said. You smiled at him and give him a light peck.

“I love you too, you’re my one and only, Ben.” You whispered lightly to him. 

“Let me make love to you then” he whispered in your ear.

“You already are” You said to him. He kissed you with passion and forcefulness and started to position himself at your entrance. He started teasing you with his dick, and you just whined. 

“If you keep being impatient then we’re going to have to play a different game” He said seductively. Usually you were one to love Ben’s ‘games’, but right now you just wanted him. 

“Ben please, I need you, love” you said desperately. His eyes changed from one of mischief and lust to one of love just from hearing that sentence. So he carefully pushed himself into you, making sure to not hurt you in any way. 

“Is this alright” He said in his beautiful English accent that you adore.

“Yes, its more than alright” you replied back. Slowly, he started pulling out and pushing back in. He kept doing this until he kept up a good thrusting rhythm. 

“Fuck” Ben groaned making you moan.

He kept doing that until he lifted your leg and put it on his shoulder to get deeper into you.

“Oh fuck baby, thats so good” you moaned loudly. Ben kept thrusting in that position, getting quicker while groaning in the process. 

You felt your second orgasm of the day wash over you, and you felt it come closer when Ben started rubbing your clit with his fingers. 

“I-I’m so close babe” you said, moaning breathlessly. You were a sweaty, hot mess but you enjoyed every second. You soon hit your orgasm, arching your back and grabbing the bed sheets in the process. 

Ben kept going and soon hit his orgasm shortly after you. He moaned your named while riding out his high and kept thrusting until he felt he had come back down to earth. 

He slowly pulled out of you and laid down next to you.He wrapped his arm around your body so carefully, so he wouldn't hurt you. He kissed your lips and said “sweet dreams, my love”.

“goodnight, darling.”

-----two months later-----

You had been feeling a bit under the weather but you were excited.  Today you would be going shopping for your wedding dress. 

You and Ben had decided to get married in 5-6 months since no ceremony had to be held because you were both technically married already. So you both had decided to have a little ceremony with a friend as the wedding minister instead of having a full ceremony at a church. The big event that you were both planning was the wedding party. 

You, Lucy, and Vicky walked into a little bridal shop in London, looking around at each dress. You knew you wanted something extravagant and you were excited to try them on.

Once you had found ones you liked with the help of Mindy and Alice, the wedding planner and the bridal shop employee, you grabbed your size in the dresses and went to try them on.

“Luce, Vic, come help me!” You said to the girls who were drinking champagne. 

“What’s up?” Lucy asked. 

“Can you help me tie the dress, its really difficult for me to do it by myself.” You said. 

“Sure” Lucy said, trying to tie the dress but it didn't work. 

“Honey, I think its too tight for you.”

“That’s weird since its my size. All the dresses I've tried on are in my size and they don't fit. Maybe the sizes run small?”

“No, our sizes usually fit true to size, miss. No offense but maybe, you’ve gained weight?” Alice said.

“No, I've been working out and eating more healthier than ever just for this.I really don’t know why the hell it doesn't fit if it’s my size.” You said truthfully.

Alice looked down, feeling guilty for commenting, while Mindy’s eyes lit up and she smirked. 

“(y/n), have you thought about the fact that you may not be the only one wearing that dress?” Mindy said while smirking.

“What does that mean” You sighed, annoyed that things weren’t working out. 

“Maybe... you’re pregnant?” She asked trying to be as polite as possible. Lucy widened her eyes, Vicky smiled brightly and you choked on the water you were drinking. 

That would explain the illness, you’re dictates for alcoholic beverages, and you’re cravings lately. It would also explain why you haven’t had your period yet. 

“I’m gonna run to the shop to get something, ill be back soon” you said, frantically trying to go and see if you are pregnant or not.

---One Hour Later---

“Oh my god I'm pregnant” you say freaking out. You knew Ben would freak out, but hopefully in a good way. He had always said he wanted a family of his own. And now its happening. 

---3 months later---

You were sitting with your now official husband, Ben, at your wedding party. You’re bump had grown and you were happy to show it. 

You had told Ben about the pregnancy the night you found out over dinner. He was over the moon and the next day he invited everyone over to share the news. The first question that was asked was 

“When did that happen” by of course, none other then Joe Mazzello.

Ben simply replied with “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, pal”.

Now you were sitting there, eating cake with the love of your life and your unborn daughter. You were going to name her Meaddows Mercury, in honor of Roger Taylor for being there not only for Ben, but for you too during everything from the start of your relationship to your pregnancy. Roger had also mentioned it.

He had said “You should name your baby after me” as a joke. But Ben took it seriously and decided to do it in honor of one of his best friends and hero’s. Of course Mercury was in honor of Freddie and Queen, because without him and them, he wouldn’t be where he is today. And you were fine with the name because you love Queen a lot, too. 

Ben wrapped his arm around your shoulders and placed his arm protectively on your baby bump. 

“My two girls” He said into your ear and sighed in content. He rested his head on top of yours and you smiled. Everything was perfect.

“I love you husband”

“I love you wife”

The End 

@hystericallyqueen @har-rison-s @okqueenie

[wildmanbumi]

I think I’ve always loved you more than myself. No, I know for certain I have.

“Iroh.” His arms tightened around his fiancee’s shoulders, flushing their bodies closer together.

It was only a matter of minutes- fifteen at the most, Shiko had said, glaring at the two of them knowingly, well aware of their penchant to misbehave. Fifteen minutes and I’m dragging you out in whichever state you are, the little girl threatened, and hurried away before she started tearing up again. He’d seen her though, how her bright eyes brimmed with emotion.

Bright golden eyes as the ones of the man he was holding, and watery and happy as his own. Fifteen minutes and counting, and they’d no longer be boyfriends, or fiancees, but husbands. A part of Bumi still believed this was a dream. The most wonderful dream he’d ever had in his life, and more, because he’d never dared to dream this high. Never thought he’d get to hold Iroh like this, kiss him, hear those ridiculously heartwarming words come out of his lips.

“You’re being silly.” Bumi’s fingers carded through Iroh’s hair, down to the nape of his neck, making their way back tracing over the line of his jaw, to pull his chin up. To meet his gaze from where he was resting on Bumi’s chest. Gods, he could die in those eyes.

The room they were in was wonderful, he was sure. Luxurious, vast, nothing like the shoddy hotel rooms they used to share when they happened to have a leave together. He’d counted at least ten couches and chairs upon entering, and the bed could fit at least four people. They also had a table with some fruits and whatnot, should they want to eat or drink something. Shiko had seen to everything, excitement and her usual excess of energy put into overdrive with the wedding.

They had ignored everything but them. Everything but the simple white shirts, and tan pants, and each other’s arms in the tiniest chaise in the whole suite. It was all that mattered after all. It was all they had ever been, had it not? Just the two of them, messy, and happy; a heap of limbs in a much too tight spot, even before either dared to think beyond the lines of friendship.

“You’re so beautiful. If only you could see yourself through my eyes.” If his chest swelled any more with the amount of feelings cursing through his body this very instant, Bumi would explode, of that he was certain. And yet with each passing second he felt happier, and lighter. His heart coming and going from beating far to fast, and skipping several beats at once with every realization that this was really happening.

“Thank you for saying yes to that dance.” His lips brushed Iroh’s. Brief, soft, just enough so that he would not lose what little composure he had left. So that he could still get up and walk the short way to the hotel’s private beach, where their little sisters were waiting. Were the sea was waiting, for them to embark in this new journey together. “And for every moment after.

“I’ll make my vows out there, but-” His fingers trembled where he was still holding the man of his life, the biggest love he’d ever had, and would ever have. Bumi’s throat closed with affection. “I want you to know- no, I need you to know- should anything happen, no matter what, you’ll always have this. You’ll always have me, and whatever small place we might find at the moment. I’ve been only yours for years now, and I’ll be yours forever, no matter where the tide takes us.

“Always, everywhere, anywhere. Forever.”

[wiresandstarlings]

boats ease into the harbor, bearing real suspicious cargo

1. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 131,200 people employed as writers and authors in the United States in 2016. If you assume writers work an average of 8 hours a day, that writing is 10% efficient, and that 5% of writers are worth reading, the United States produces 131,200 * 8 * 0.1 * 0.05 / 24 / 365 * 12 ~ 7.2 months of quality reading material each day. Even if you assume that only 0.1% of writers are worth reading, then that's still 4.4 days of reading per day of writing in just the United States. It's physically impossible to keep up with all the good writing being produced, even without sleeping, and setting aside catching up on the centuries of backlog.

When you look at even more popular and efficient media like streaming and YouTube content, the numbers are even scarier. The world is producing more information than even the world can reasonably consume.

Writing in the face of that knowledge feels wasteful, like driving an SUV or golfing. At the same time, writing has a fundamental urgency to it.

When I write, I'm forced to vocalize and confront my beliefs. I've written essays where, having finished, I don't agree with anything that I’ve said. It's like I've built up this latent energy by reading and thinking and watching, and I need to write to convert that energy, a muddy fuel of insights and exaltations and fears, into action and belief.

Reading good writing, I feel this total connection to humanity, on a primal and ineffable level. And trying to write well, I feel that connection again.

So, I guess, to whoever's reading this, I’m grateful you've chosen to share your time with me, and I hope you get whatever you need and whatever you're missing out of it.

2. On a practical note, I've been spending a lot of time reading about personal finance lately and want to summarize what I’ve learned. I've been fortunate enough not to have to worry about my finances for most of my life, but I realized a couple months ago that having my entire net worth parked in a Citi savings account was blatantly irresponsible. Panicking, I overcompensated.

Fortunately, the most prevalent and reliable personal finance advice is all straightforward. Still, given that I wasn't familiar with it, and apparently my parents weren't either, I figure there's value here. If you already have your life in order, feel free to skip this section.

Re: banks, don't use banks with physical locations. Physical locations are expensive, and you pay for them with the interest on your savings and the premiums on your loans. Online banks like Ally and Alliant Credit Union offer much better rates and services and also have better digital infrastructure.

There are a lot of online banks with various costs and benefits, but Ally and Alliant seem to be the most popular and reliable. I have some money in both right now, but I've mostly been using Ally because it has better integration with other online platforms.

Re: brokerages, that logic still applies. Use Vanguard, not Fidelity.

Re: investing, put all your money in a U.S. market index fund, ideally VTSAX, and forget about it until retirement. Services like Betterment or Wealthfront, which algorithmically invest your savings, are a reasonable alternative. However, they charge $25 per $10,000 they manage for you, and it's unclear whether they outperform plain index funds by enough to justify their price. They do provide some tax optimization services which likely cover their cost for accounts with $100,000 or more.

I'm currently using Betterment because my friend sent me a referral link with the first 3 months free, so I figured I might as well try it and reevaluate after the trial. I'm happy so far. I like that it's less involved than using a brokerage, and my account has almost enough to appropriately benefit from tax-loss harvesting.

This is my referral link, if that sounds interesting to you.

Re: credit cards, they're not worth learning about unless you inherently enjoy solving complicated systems. Personally, my ultimate plan is to get a 2% cash back card, the Amazon Prime card (for 5% back on Amazon purchases), the Uber Visa (for 4% back on restaurants and 3% back on travel), and the Amex Blue Cash (for 3% back on groceries). Cash back isn't as rewarding as travel points or signing bonuses, in terms returns per dollar spent, but those games are much more complicated for just an additional 2-4% back.

If you're having trouble getting approved for credit lines, it will likely be worthwhile to learn everything: about credit scores, secured cards, how to efficiently build a credit profile, etc. A lot of why I'm not interested in travel points and signing bonuses is that the additional 2-4% back I'd get from them could only be spent on things I don't care much about, like fancy flights and hotels. But the difference between getting a 2+% discount on everything and not is enormous.

3. I've spent an unhealthy amount of time watching YouTube lately. YouTube has been seductive substitute for games because it isn't obviously useless. When I watch videos on fashion, personal finance, self-improvement, and so on, I feel like I'm making progress even if the information in the videos is useless. There's something inherently satisfying and exhilarating about watching videos at 2x speed.

As a result, I've incidentally learned about the economics of YouTube, which are fascinating. Like, the idea of even a single media company focused entirely on YouTube content is wild to me. Yet there they are, the young thousands. There's just a tremendous amount of money in YouTube, such that it’s almost difficult to comprehend the scale.

Like, a video with 12 million views @ 1/3 a cent per view represents $40k, a respectable annual income. 12 million views is a lot, but it's a small fraction of the attention that YouTube commands. Like, there are random tours of capsule hotels in Japan with that many views. The music video for Gangnam Style must have made almost 100 million dollars.

In a real twist of late capitalism, content creators get paid more or less based on their primary demographics. Like younger women are less likely to use an ad blocker than 20-something men, so a greater fraction of their views get monetized. Views from wealthier countries like the U.S. and Canada are worth more than views from poorer ones.

There's so much at stake in getting us to click around these websites. And it's not just recommender systems. Whole content companies are fighting for even a couple minutes of our attention.

4. In Lineup, by a Seattle company called Cut Media, hosts are tasked to sort a lineup of strangers into different categories. In one video, for example, the hosts need to guess the lineup's sexual orientations. In another, they need to match people to their outfits. The general idea, of course, is to demonstrate how limited stereotypes are. The hosts typically don't take their task seriously, and their inability to perform it is humorous, heartwarming, enlightening, etc.

Ironically, from a purely statistical standpoint, the series makes a much stronger case for stereotypes than against them. For example, in the video about guessing occupations, a host choosing at random would get an average of 1 person right and would get 3 or more matches only 8% of the time. Yet every one of the 4 hosts got at least 1 match, they managed an average of 2.25 matches altogether, and 2 of the hosts got 3 or more. Those numbers look like failures on the surface, but stereotypes actually led the hosts to perform significantly better than chance.

Better than chance is, of course, not the strictest criterion.

5. Two series I’ve found helpful are Glamour's How One Woman Spends Her $N Salary and CNBC's Living On $N A Year in Location. I've been struggling lately to figure out how I should spend my income and the insight into how other people relate to money was valuable.

I feel like I'm making enough money now that I should buy whatever happiness is available to me, but I have no idea what to buy. The things I really want – like reading more, being healthier, having better self-discipline – aren't readily for sale. I used to think it was ridiculous that people spent thousands of dollars on life coaches, gym memberships, logos, and so on, but I'm starting to understand why. At this point, I'd happily spend hundreds of dollars on a guarantee that my life would even marginally improve.

At the same time, I guess opportunities to trade money for happiness will inevitably present themselves over time, and maybe there’s no need to seek them out.

6. I feel that, as a society, we're far too private about our finances. If we talked openly our income, for example, the prevalence and severity of the gender pay gap would have become obvious decades earlier. Everyone with credit card debt would have someone in the life to tell them how stupid credit card debt and how important living within our means is. Maybe economists and sociologists could even determine what purchases actually make us happier, and what we only think makes us happy.

I think we've adapted to obscure our finances because we have this like limbic compulsion to organize ourselves into hierarchies and fight based on where we land, and income is a very natural hierarchy. But if we just resist that compulsion, we'd collectively benefit from greater knowledge.

Like, in decision theory, more information is inherently good. We can only interpret it badly.

7. At the same time, I guess I have little interest in writing about my own finances. Not out of any desire to hide them, I just don't find the topic particularly compelling. But if you'd like to know, contact me through whatever channel and I'd be happy to share my accounting sheet and answer whatever questions you have.

Not that I have any great wisdom to share, clearly.

8. There's a “5 Minute Rule” in self-help theory that instructs people to complete tasks will take less than 5 minutes as soon as they think of them and are able to. I'm a fan of the 5 Minute Rule and have made a similar rule for myself where if I need something and it costs less than $20, I'll buy it without hesitation or deliberation.

Like, I was opening a box with scissors a couple weeks ago and I couldn’t cleanly cut the threads in the packing tape. My hands hurt trying to push the scissors through. So I bought an utility knife for $3 and opening boxes has been far more pleasant since it arrived. I noticed my wrist was hurting at work, so I bought a better mousepad for $8. And so on.

Overall, one thing I have learned is to buy the things I need and the things I know will make me happier. Maybe that should have been obvious.

9. Yield and overcome; Bend and be straight; Empty and be full; Wear out and be new; Have little and gain; Have much and be confused. Be truly whole, and all things will come to you.

[riluu]

Supernova

For @magemg for the Ignoct White Day exchange. I’m sorry it’s late, I don’t know if you got my message about it being late, but I’ve been having horrific computer troubles lately.

I hope you like it enough to make up for the tardiness. <3 It’s older Ignoct with kittens and fluff and seriously I think I got a cavity writing it.

Ignis was blind, but he wasn’t stupid.

He knew when there was a creature in the citadel halls that shouldn’t be there- especially when said creature nearly sent him tumbling face down on the marble floors. He managed to recover without meeting that fate, though, even with a furry obstacle now winding around his ankles and purring like a motor.

He certainly wasn’t stupid enough to think that a cat could get in the citadel unaided. He sighed, and then turned around and went back the way he’d come, to where he could hear Noctis still putting away a few dishes in the cabinets of their private kitchen.

“Noct, care to tell me why I was nearly toppled by a cat in the hallway just now?” he asked, and he heard Noctis hesitate. He could practically hear the excuses being formed in his head; probably could have recited them himself, had he been feeling particularly smug. As it was, he let Noctis speak them instead.

“It’s going to rain tonight,” Noctis said, his voice some unique mix of pitiful and pleading. “It’s only for the night. Please?”

Ignis sighed in exasperation. The last thing they needed right now was a pet. And that was what would undoubtedly happen if Ignis allowed the cat to stay for the night; it would stay forever. He had no illusions that Noctis would boot the cat out as soon as the rain stopped.

He could come up with any number of reasons this was a bad idea. Cats were prone to destruction; scratching furniture, knocking glasses off tables, and generally being pests. He and Noctis were far too busy with the reconstruction to indulge an animal with the attention and care it would need.

But he could hear the need in Noctis’ voice. The desire for something simple to come home to, an animal with clear wants and needs, affection in the worst of times, none of the uncertainty that lay outside their citadel apartment.

He’d never been good at saying no to his king.

“Fine. Just for the night,” he finally said, even though he knew full well that he was signing up for years of dealing with a shedding, pesky animal in his home. And Noctis surely knew it too, given the arm that wrapped around Ignis’ waist, and the lips that ghosted across his cheek.

“Thanks, Iggy.”

“It’s not sleeping on the bed. I won’t be sharing bed space with a stray.”

“Cat stays off the bed. Got it.”

Ignis, of course, woke up the next morning to a heavy weight curled up on his chest. Somewhere beyond the irritation, he wondered just where this stray was finding enough food to have this much weight on her bones.

Life went on mostly as normal for the next few days, despite the feline addition to the household. Ignis shooed her away from his work and off the bed, and like a boomerang, she came back minutes later to make herself comfortable. Ignis drew the line at having sex with the cat around, forcing Noctis to banish her outside the bedroom with the door closed before he would indulge in anything of that sort.

Solstice had certainly made herself at home by the fourth night, when Ignis woke to hear a strange mewling sound. He reached out to find Noctis’ side of the bed empty and rather cold, which was alarming in and of itself; even when Noctis had nightmares, which was nearly every night, he didn’t flee the bed. He only attached himself to Ignis like some sort of baby kraken, drawing enough comfort from that to get back to sleep.

“Noct?” Ignis said softly, his voice still thick with sleep. He couldn’t sense any light through their window, so it must have been before sunrise.

He heard Noctis curse softly. “It’s nothing, Igs. Go back to sleep,” he said, and Ignis snorted as he sat up.

“Not bloody likely. What’s going on? Is Solstice alright?”

Not that he was truly worried about the cat. That was just a very strange, high pitched, squeak-like meow he was hearing. It didn’t sound like her, really. It sounded like…well, no. That wasn’t possible.

“Um. So, I didn’t really tell you everything. About the cat.”

Well, this didn’t bode well. Ignis took in a deep breath, pinched the bridge of his nose, and let it out slowly. “Noctis, don’t tell me…”

Noctis coughed a little. “Well, she wasn’t fat. She was, um…pregnant.”

“Noctis Caelum.”

“I couldn’t leave a pregnant cat out in the rain!” Noctis immediately protested, and Ignis felt the bed dip with his weight as the king sat down beside him. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I knew you wouldn’t let her stay if you knew-“

“You’re damned right about that one.”

“But we don’t have to keep the kittens! Just…let her raise them here, and then we’ll find homes for them. I’m sure Iris would take one. Maybe Prompto and Gladio, too. Please,” Noctis begged, and Ignis felt a warm hand close around his own. “Come on, they’r e just babies. I can’t dump them on the street.”

Oh, how Ignis wished they had a functioning animal shelter in the city. Perhaps that should be next on his infrastructure list.

“They’re gone the moment they’ve outgrown their need of her. I mean it, Noctis. We barely have time to properly look after one, let alone three or four.”

“Um…actually, she had seven.”

“…Astrals preserve me.”

At first, it wasn’t so bad, really. The kittens were too small and helpless to do much of anything than crawl all over their mother in the small nest-like box Noctis had set up for them in the living room. And Ignis had to admit, it was heartwarming to come home with Noctis after a long day of work and have him go straight to that box, checking on each kitten in turn and showering them in affection whilst Ignis got dinner ready.

He supposed he could have been jealous, but he was too busy being relieved that Noctis had found something that made him so happy.

He made sure to describe the kittens to Ignis, despite Ignis feigning zero interest in the creatures. Evidently the calico-colored Solstice had a paramour who was a tabby of some kind, since the kittens were a mix of both, some mottled calico colors, and some striped in greys and blacks.

Noctis made sure to get Ignis’ help in continuing the naming theme, even- which was how they ended up with Comet, Eclipse, Equinox, Meteor, Nebula, Nova, and Zenith. Ignis hardly cared when he couldn’t even tell the difference, and ended up calling them ‘pest’ and ‘no, stop that’ more often than not once they started venturing out of the box.

Though one of them did begin to grow on him a bit. Noctis said it was one of the little grey and black tabbies, the runt of the litter that they’d named Nova. Ignis didn’t mind that one so much; she seemed to get all her energy out playing with her siblings, and then come to sit on Ignis’ lap while he worked. He supposed that one wasn’t so bad.

And to Ignis’ surprise, Noctis stayed true to his word. He worked to find homes for the kittens, convincing Iris to take two home to be company to her young child while she was working as captain of the guard and her husband worked from home for the construction planning committee. Prompto evidently gave Gladio the puppy eyes until he agreed to take one. A couple of other Crownsguard members agreed to take the others- though on the day that it was time for them all to go to their new homes, Ignis found himself more melancholy about the whole affair than he would have liked.

He had to admit, their quarters in the citadel had been livelier in the past two months. Noctis had been noticeably happier, especially when his favorite of the kittens, a calico boy named Meteor, was causing havoc in the household.

They were down to two kittens left, and the living room was already noticeably quieter as Ignis sat on the couch reading a book, graceful fingers tracing across the Braille. His other hand was set on Nova’s back, stroking her soft fur gently as she purred, curled up in a ball on his lap.

“Here, let me see her for a second,” Noctis said, and Ignis reluctantly lifted his hand and allowed Noctis to pick up the kitten from his lap. He assumed the new owners must be on their way, and he tried to force down any disappointment that tried to rear up in him.

“Who’s taking her?” he asked, trying not to sound too interested, too invested. He heard Noctis fussing with the kitten a little, and then he set her back on Ignis’ lap, taking hold of his hand.

“Here,” he said, and he guided Ignis’ hand to the kitten’s neck, where a thin leather collar with a breakaway clasp now sat. But the leather wasn’t smooth; as he dragged his fingers across it, he could feel the Braille letters NOVA take shape under his fingertips.

“Noct…”

“Come on, you’re not fooling anyone, Iggy. Besides, I already got matching ones for Solstice and Meteor,” Noctis said, and Ignis paused for a moment before he shook his head and laughed.

“You presumptuous little minx.”

“Like I would give away your cat. Because she totally is, come on. She adores you.”

Ignis reached out to slide a hand around the back of Noctis’ neck, tugging him in for a slow, gentle kiss. “Not nearly as much as I adore you, which is very lucky for you right now.”

“I could have kept all seven.”

“Then you’d be out in the hallway with the cats instead of in the bedroom with me.”

“Do I really have to chase down three cats and lock them out anytime I want to sex you up?”

“Absolutely. Part of the price of pet ownership, Noct.”

Noctis kissed him again, and Ignis could feel him smiling into it. “I think I can deal with that,” Noctis said- just as Meteor leapt across Ignis’ lap to attack his sleepy sister.

It was a new normal, and perhaps not the kind of normalcy Ignis would have chosen, but…it made Noctis happy.

And that was more than enough.

[dragonlady1919]

Cute Alphabet: Ignis Scientia

Thank you to @padfootagain​ for giving me permission to post this! I will be doing more of these with requests. Right now I’m debating between Prompto and Noctis to do next. These are my headcannons for how good ol’ Iggy would act in a relationship. These are my own beliefs so you may disagree, feel free to let me know your opinion! Each letter of the alphabet represents a different category of the relationship. Anyways! Let’s get this started!

Affection: What are those little things they do to show you they love you?

 Ignis is not very expressive of his personal feelings when there other people present, however there are little things he will do for you to show his love for you. He will always listen and remember every detail of anything you have to say which often carries over in dishes, gifts, and dates. You will always catch him staring at you and often stay close to you. He may often ask for your opinion because he trusts you greatly.

 In private, he is much more open about his feelings for you and shows it through his actions. He will do anything to make you smile because he loves how beautiful you are when you do. He will make you your favorite meals without asking. He will surprise you by pulling you in for a small dance without music, and when you both are about to fall asleep together, he’ll grab you from behind, kiss your neck or shoulder (whatever is closest) and whisper affectionate words in your ear.

 Birthday: What do they do to celebrate your birthday? What is the thing you need to do to make them happy on their birthday? Are they good at giving gifts?

 He will never forget your birthday for the world. On the day, when you wake up, you’ll notice he’s not there by your side. When you search around, you catch him in the middle of making breakfast where he guides you back to bed and makes you lie back down. When breakfast is ready. He comes in to serve you breakfast in bed with a proud face. The breakfast includes a collection of your favorite food items with chocolate syrup lettering on the side wishing you a Happy Birthday. After breakfast, he will take you out on a date which would usually just be a walk at a very beautiful location (depending on where you guys are). If you guys are in Altissia, he may just take you through a tour of the city and try to impress you with his knowledge. After he’ll take you to fancy dinner and crack open a bottle of wine to celebrate the day the love of his life was born.

 He may actually forget his own birthday or not think too much of it. If you want him to do anything special on his birthday, you have to act like it’s not for his birthday or he could get embarrassed. Noctis and the other bros are going to try and join in on any plans you have. While he’s away from camp, all four of you try to make crude decorations and a very poorly decorated (but still pretty good) cake. You have to hide whatever present you have for him from them or else they may try to add their names to it. When he returns, he’s overly modest, but he secretly is very happy they all remembered, especially you when he finds out you coordinated the whole thing. When there’s a moment of private, that’s when you give him his present, a pair of black gloves. He treasures the gift greatly and will always prefer to wear these gloves over all the other pairs he owns.

 Ignis likes to act cool and calm when it comes to serving other people, but when it comes to getting you a present he thinks you’ll enjoy he overthinks it way too much. Most likely he had been planning on the present for weeks, searching around each town you all visit to find the perfect present. If he is unsure, he may try to take you out to a shopping area as a ”date” to see if there’s something you like. No matter what it is he gives you, it’s usually very thought out and specialized for you, so the smile you give him in the end makes it all worth it.

 Cuddles: Do they like to cuddle? Big spoon? Little spoon?

 He doesn’t mind cuddling. Only in private when no one will see you both (mainly because Prompto and Gladio have been constantly teasing him to the ends of the earth about you two). He often sneaks up behind you when you’re doing activities and he’ll kiss you all over your face. His favorite thing is watching you sleep in his arms. He enjoys mainly being the big spoon since it gives him the sense that he’s protecting you. When you hug him from behind to spoon him, he will more than likely turn to hold you close to him, facing him.

 Dating: What are they like on their first date? And those after that?

 The first date, he will take you to a nice dinner date so that the both of you could really talk and get to know each other. Except when you try and have a conversation he’s extremely stiff and uncomfortable. It’s super awkward for Ignis and for you. It’s really difficult for him to communicate how he feels and he hasn’t done this with anyone in quite a while. You may actually decide that he isn’t the one for you until one or all of the bros pushes you to give him another chance. 

 After the train wreck of a first date, he will decide to take a different approach by taking you somewhere where they don’t have to be forced to talk as much, like to see a movie or to watch a live performance. During the second date, he really tries his hardest to make sure you’re enjoying yourself. Of course he keeps a cool face and pretends to be unaffected by any awkward moments, but inside he’s stressing out. He complains to himself that he didn’t remember dating to be this stressful. It will take a while for him to get comfortable on the dates. You actually noticed when you don’t call it a date, he’s a lot calmer. So he might just invite you to help him on his daily routine and you both are happier that way.

 Evolution: How fast does your relationship evolve? Weeks, months, years?

 Ignis’ main priority is his duty to Noctis. You may feel as if you’re competing with Noctis for Ignis’ time which could actually cause serious problems early in your relationship. He will often ignore his feelings for you, confused as to why he keeps thinking about you so much. However, when he realizes he’s developing a crush on you, he will become stressed out and try to keep distance from you. However, should something happen, like you need to leave the group for a personal mission or you two part ways due to a fight, he will realize he misses you and want’s to be with you. When he confesses his feelings, it’s usually after at least a few months of knowing you, and it’s not easy. The confession is almost painful, but you accept it with a smile. In the first month of the relationship, he is awkward and stressed out as mentioned before, but Gladio or Prompto will pull him side and tell him to calm down and just relax. That’s when he’ll stop focusing on trying to impress you and instead on just trying to make you smile. He begins noticing your little quirks and the tone when you say things. He remembers the details you love and dislike, making sure to spoil you whatever chance he gets with the things you love. He falls in love with you quickly and vows to himself that he will always try to make you happy.

 Flirting: Do they flirt a lot?

 Not intentionally. His flirting is more a series of compliments that he blurts out to you in private. He’s not an active flirt because he doesn’t know how. Gladio, Prompto, or sometimes Noct, will give him flirting advice but it’s often just a jumble of pick-up lines that he will never use on you to save himself the embarrassment. Even when you both are closer, his actions speak louder than his words since he doesn’t actively flirt.

He will give a look that communicates his hidden desire for you, a look that absolutely makes your heart melt. That look communicates over a thousand words that show you how much he enjoys being with you. He will sneakily place a hand on your waist, just to touch you. He grabs your hand whatever chance he gets when no one else is looking. 

 Generosity: When they’re with you, is it about you or them?

 Ignis is naturally serving and caring so obviously he’s trying to make you happy. He often stresses himself out to make you happy and remembers everything you say or do that will help him make you smile. For him, knowing your safe and seeing your beautiful smile is all he ever wants.  

 Honey: Do they use pet names? What’s their favorite for you and them?

 He will call you ‘dear’ or ‘dearest’.  At some point you received a nickname from the group so he will often call you by that rather than your real name. When your relationship is very far in, he will call you ‘love’ or ‘my love’. He may also call you by food food related names when he’s extremely comfortable such as ‘Strawberry’, ‘Cupcake’, and the name he only calls you in intimate moments, ‘My heart’.

 As for names he likes to be called, he has his obvious nickname ‘Iggy’. That isn’t one he would define as pet names however. He actually likes it when you call him ‘Babe’ or ‘Baby’ more than he thought he would. Another one enjoys being called is ‘Honey’ or ‘my sweet’. He also finds it completely heartwarming when you call him names like ‘my heart’ or ‘my soul’ during intimate moments. 

 Isolation: How do they react when they are away from you? 

 He tries to stay distracted with his countless activities when you’re away. He works harder and often seems more serious. The longer apart the two of you are, the more upset he starts to become and slightly brooding. When the bros are fed up with the lonely Iggy, they will set out to bring you back to him. When you do finally come back, he is overjoyed and more affectionate than he normally is. When he acts like this, it reminds you of a puppy.  

 Jealousy: Are they jealous? How do they react if you are jealous?

 Iggy already tries his hardest to make sure you’re happy, even if he doesn’t need to. So if he feels competition for you, he will get slightly more possessive when they’re around. Whenever that person tries to talk to you, he will often respond with passive aggressive comments to signal you’re taken by him. You find it odd at first but then realize what’s actually happening. You comfort him in private, show him how much you love him to reassure him that he has nothing to worry about. After that, he’s a lot calmer and only gives a sharp glare when your not looking to any people who try to flirt with you. 

 If he finds out that you’re jealous, he’s rather surprised. He wouldn’t have taken you for the jealous type. You get extremely embarrassed when you realize there was no need to be jealous at all. He reassures you that you have nothing to worry about and that you’re all his by kissing you all over and holding you close to him. 

 Kisses: Lots of them? Peppering ones? Languid ones...? What about your first kiss?

 Every kiss from him is filled with love. When in private, he will not stop kissing you if he’s happy. He loves to kiss your face. His kisses on your lips feel like magic. Your heart races whenever he kisses you and it’s like you fall in love with him all over again. 

 Your first kiss happened while on a date. You were in a quiet, fairly private area when you both were leaning on each other, unaware of how close you two were. You both caught each other’s eyes and held that moment. Being his uncertain, awkward self, he leaned in and hesitantly asked if he could kiss you. You found it adorable and pressed your lips against his. It was the most sweetest and gentle kiss you ever felt and you didn’t let him go for at least thirty minutes.

 Light Up: What do they do to make you feel better after a rough day? How can you lighten their mood?

 If he notices you’re upset, he will ask if you’re feeling alright or try to comfort you. If you deny anything is wrong at first, he’ll back off, obviously knowing you’re not telling the truth. Instead, when you return to your private quarters, you’ll find him there with your favorite food made by him and a cracked open bottle of wine. He also set the lights dim, and placed candles everywhere. Usually, it opens you up enough to talk about what is bothering you and he just sits there and listens. 

 When you notice he’s upset, he’ll hide it much better than you. You’ll notice it clearly but pointing it out will only make him more reluctant to speak up. Instead what you have to do is just do affectionate things to him for ‘no reason’. Hugs behind his back while he’s cooking , reminding him that you love him, pulling him in for a loving kiss. That’s usually always enough to make him smile. When he smiles, then you can ask him what’s wrong which will make him talk. All he wants you to do is listen without interruption like he would do for you.

 Mommy: How Do they react to parenthood?

 Both of you will more than likely be very hesitant about this. Neither of you expected this to happen and were shocked that the measures you guys took to prevent getting pregnant didn’t work. But now there is a new person growing. He swears to provide for both you and the baby and to always stay at your side. 

 He starts taking care of you more, giving you massages, making all your meals for you, constantly checking up with you. He may pick up a book to help him better understand everything that is happening with you and what to expect when the baby is born. Many of the stuff in the book may or may not be accurate which often cause many humorous scenes of confusion. As you grow larger he becomes more excitable and jumpy whenever you mention anything about the baby. The slightest movement or reaction makes Iggy absolutely overjoyed. He starts to talk to the baby and placing his hand over your stomach. You both start buying toys and books for when the baby comes. Whenever you’re relaxing, he often reads to the baby which is also enough to lull you to sleep.

 When the baby is finally born, it’s the happiest day of his life. The best feeling in the world for him is when he holds it for the first time and recognizing everything that was beautiful on you is now carried over on their bundle of joy. On the day of the birth, while you’re asleep from having to give birth, he holds the baby in his arms softly, speaking softly to it, making promises that he will be the best father he can be and that he will make their world a happy one. While you’re home with the baby, he often works and longs to be back with you two. He rushes home and immediately scoops you into his arms while you’re holding the baby. He lays back on the couch, while you’re resting on his chest, along with the baby. 

On days where he has the baby for himself, he spends the whole day reading to it, playing games with it, and rambling on and on to it about stuff on his mind and his daily curiosities. The baby, not understanding a word of what he’s saying, simply laughs at how he says words and babbles back at him. When you come home, you’ll find him fast asleep on the bed with the baby cradled in his arms.

 Nurse: How do they take care of you when you’re sick? How do they behave when they’re sick?

 Ignis takes on the complete mother hen role. He forces you to sleep and constantly keeps you in bed. He makes tea and soup for you and never lets you out of bed until he knows your okay. He has plenty of practice nursing people after having to care for Noct.

 When he’s the one who’s sick, he tries to fight through it and pretend he’s fine but you know better and force him to rest. You treat him the same as he would treat you and you give him comforting kisses. At a point, he becomes to exhausted to argue against your treatment and just accepts it.

 Objects: Are there any object, song, place that have a particular meaning for them or you two as a couple?

 Ignis doesn’t have any items he hold special attachment so when you two start falling in love, he starts to enjoy anything he knows you enjoy. One thing in particular is any present you give him, such as a new pair of gloves or a pendant, something wearable. He will always prefer to wear those over everything else he has because they remind him of you when he has to be away from you.

 Partners: Are they looking for flings, one-night stands, partners to be with until their last breath? What makes them fall for you?

 Finding love was the last thing on his mind when he first met you, but alas it couldn’t be helped. He personally isn’t fond of flings or one night stands since it takes away from the intimacy of the actions they do. If he does enter a relationship with you, he deeply wants it to last forever. 

 He first will start crushing on you if you compliment each other’s personality. He is a very passive person and you would be a very excitable and passionate person. He will find you adorable but what makes him truly fall for you is how you manage to bring his walls down and listen to him. As mentioned earlier though, getting him to admit he’s in love requires patience.

 Quarrels: How is it to have to fight with them? What do they do to make you forgive them? What do you need to do to make them forgive you?

 One issue that may often come up a lot is how Iggy has to split his time with Noct and you, though it often will feel he gives more time to Noct. It is his sworn duty to look after Noct an he often feels that he has to baby him since he is often irresponsible. He would rather not fight but if he feels he’s being falsely accused he will snap back and use logical arguments to defend himself which often doesn’t really connect with you. 

 If Iggy becomes angry in an argument, it’s usually because you pushed him over the edge with accusations. However, if he realizes the truth in your statements he feels guilty for snapping. The day after an argument, if he feels he was at fault, he will be at your doorstep with a boquete of your favorite flowers and he gives the most sincere apology which is usually enough for you to forgive him. If it isn’t though, he will give you plenty of space. However, if you continue to force him away, he will give up and decide it’s best if you two stay apart.

 Same goes the other way as well. He will forgive you if you apologize sincerely. If you start crying while apologizing he will forgive you and kiss your tears away. But if you’re too stubborn and refuse to admit you were wrong, he will call it off. 

 Rings: How do they propose? The wedding? The honeymoon?

 The proposal will be the most romantic thing he can think of. He will tell the bros about it first and they will insist on helping in anyway though he denies their help out of fear they’ll give it away. He will invite you in a date to a special place in which you notice immediately Gladio and Noctis are escorting Prompto away as he’s gushing too much. You don’t think too much about it. On the day of the date, which ever boy you’re closet with will approach you and tell you how happy Iggy has been ever since he’s met you. At the date, Iggy leads you to a picnic in the woods by a lake while the sun is setting. When the moment is right, that’s when he will pop the question with a ring he had been working hard to afford. You accept happily and the moment is quickly ruined by a camera flash. 

 The wedding will be at Galdin Quay where you both invite your family. The bros are there. After intense fighting between the three of them, Noctis came out to be Ignis’ best man. It’s a wonderful ceremony with a fun after party with all the families together, a nice distraction from their mission. 

 Although, the roadtrip makes you both too busy to actually go on a honeymoon at that time, you both plan on exploring Eos together when everything has settled down.

 Secrets: Do they keep secrets from you and how do they react when they learn that you’ve been hiding one from them?

 Ignis doesn’t share much about his personal feelings even to those he trusts. You would have to pry for him to admit what he feels about something. However, he won’t keep major secrets that will hurt you or anyone else he cares about. 

 If he finds out you’ve been keeping a secret from him, he may feel insulted but he would understand why you did (so long as it isn’t anything that you did wrong against him like an affair). He will never forget if you keep a secret from him. 

 Tease: Do they like to tease you? How much humor is there in the relationship?

 Teasing is very subtle as if comes out more in his sarcasm. He will call you out if you’re doing or did something dumb or embarrassing and he will make a few remarks about it. To your teasing, he often just gives you a playful eye roll and smiles. 

 U-Turns: What can transform your relationship in a good or bad way? (What makes them confess their feelings or scare them off?)

 What will make him start falling for you is when he reaches a low point and you’re right there beside him. He will remember how you care for him in a way unique to everyone else. What will make him confess his love to you is if he thinks he lost you or you’ve gone away from. When you’re away, he realizes how he’s become helpless without you and that without you in his life, it’s miserable. When you return to him, he confesses his true feelings to you. 

 What will scare him off is if you’re not honest to him about what you feel or if you become manipulative. Ignis struggles with reading people and often wont understand why you’re upset with him. He needs you to say directly what is wrong or he won’t know what to do. He will remember every time you’ve frustrated him like that and if that piles up enough, he will leave.

 Voicing: How hard is it for them to talk to you about their feelings? How do they tell you that they love you for the first time?

 Ignis struggles to communicate his personal feelings, especially about you. Mainly it’s because he doesn’t understand them himself. He also fears that if you don’t return the same feelings, he will humiliate himself. He won’t confess until he feels he has no choice. He will confess his love to you after you return from a long absence where he realizes without you, his world is incomplete. He pulls you aside and simply says it, holding his breath afterwards. After you return his confession with your own, he embraces you warmly and starts making mental plans for a first date.

 Waking up: What is it like to wake up by their side?

 After sleeping with Ignis for a while, you both have adjust to each other’s sleeping schedule. You both wake up around the same time where he tries to get up but you will often beg him tiredly for five more minutes. He’ll give in, cradling you into his arms and dozing back off. You both wake up again, seeing the sun had risen a little higher and deciding it was best to start cooking breakfast. Both of you get up and work together on the morning routine.

 Yielding: What do you have to do to convince them to do what you want?

 He’s willing to do anything you ask. He loves you after all. However, if he’s hesitant to do something, acting cute and affectionate tends to make him give in.

 Of course if the request is more serious, you will have to convince him with logic.

 Zoo: Could they have a pet with you? What kind of pet?

 He probably wouldn’t enjoy having a pet. If he did have a pet with you, it would have to be something low-maintenance and clean like a cat. 

[pyrrthea]

I really have no excuse for this, I just wanted to see if I could brighten up the days of people who really brighten up mine

@crowndefiant cassie, you are literally my best friend in the entire world and i love you a lot. thank you so much for always being there for me, even when i probably didn’t deserve it, and for brightening up my day by literally just putting up with me. i love you so so much and you mean the entire world to me.  as for your writing, you already know i think it’s phenomenal. be it some dumb crack on this hell site, or your gorgeous novel that’s going to turn you into a new york times best selling author, you could write about a cardboard box and i would die for it <3 your dumb jokes, your kindness, your willingness to always be there for me by my side all makes me so happy to have you in my life, and i want you to know that i’m always going to be here for you no matter what.

@anorablespark josie!! you’re about 95% of the reason why this blog exists and probably why i still roleplay at all. you following me all the way back on p//bg was a shock because you seemed like such a high quality blogs and back then i was a total mess (i still am. that is beside the point). despite my total lack of confidence in any of my abilities, you were nothing but kind and caring to me in a time where i was considering giving up writing all together, and you made me a lot less nervous joining this fandom by introducing me to some of the most amazing people here that i love and admire, you are one of them. you’re nora is one of my favourite muses ever on this fucking hellsite, and even though we say we have to plot and we never do, what little we’ve done with nora and pyrrha’s relationship makes me smile, and your nora makes pyrrha smile a lot too. your backstory for her has so much though, love and care put into it, and i want you to know that i love it, and i love you, and all of your muses and headcanons. don’t forget that.

@starsetdiva maaaaaayyyy~ as someone who has tried, struggled, and failed to take a background character with like five lines of dialogue, and turn them into my own, let me tell you this, you have done a phenomenal job, with both neon and arslan. the care and effort into everything you do for your muses makes me so happy that there are people like you, who are willing to do all that for a character they love, and i respect you so so much for that. you’re always there to make me laugh, be it ooc or ic, and i’m glad we live in the land of fucked up timezones, because being able to see you on my dash, and talk to you, makes me so happy. i know how self-conscious you are about your writing, and i know exactly how you feel, but i want you to know that i genuinely love and enjoy all of your writing, and i would so so so so soooo love to write/plot with you some more, i just,,,, need to come up with some plot ideas <3 i’d follow you on any muse to the end of the fucking earth, and rest assured, i will always be around to icon whoever or whatever you need lmao

@mirrornium chloe, you’re pretty okay for someone who shits on my lawn. nO BUT REALLY, in all seriousness, i was really sad when you just sort of disappeared off my dash a while back, because you always made me laugh a lot with your drake bell icons buT NOW YOU AND YOUR DRAKE AND JOSH SHITPOSTING IS BACK AS WELL, and i could not be happier. we haven’t talked a lot one on one but everytime we speak, be in privately or in a group of people, you never fail to make me laugh until i’m in tears, and i couldn’t ask for anything more from you. 

@bloomess stELLA WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU SO NICE TO ME. you’re literally the best, like god damn woman, you are so kind and funny and you’re always doing nice things for me and saying nice things to me, which i don’t???? deserve??????? like dang man what’d i do to deserve you, like, what the fuck. ad you!!!! put up with me sending you memes that make me think of you/ur ruby, who is the absolute cutest think i lov okay. i lov you, and uhhh i love ur ruby, and pyrr lovse rooby 2, her lil cowgirl gf yeehaw. wE HAVEN’T HAD A PROPER THREAD YET BUT UHH I RLLY WANT 2 WRITE WITH YOU BECAUSE I LOVE HOW YOU WRITE RUBY IT GIVES ME A REASON TO LIVE LIKE DAMN WOMAN. but yes i love you a lot and i would die 4 u but u already know that so okAY BYE NOW Y’ALL

@saecris meh.  NO I’M KIDDING I LIKE YOU A LOT MORE THAN JUST meh. you better full well know how much i love you and how much i love your ren. you are so kind and funny that it like genuinely confuses me like how is??? that possible like dang. i really really really enjoy talking to you ooc so much, and our ic interactions are a lot of fun too, even if it’s just pyrrha and ren acting like children and also that one time they were being nerds about books or something. speaking of, i love your ren. so so so sos os sosososoooos o soooooo sooooooo much. your headcanons and backstory are so well thought out and genuinely interesting and make me want to care about him so much more and i just  👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏

@nctdamsel how and why do you even put up with me mack. you let me yell at you about greek fire and it means so much to me that you care about these two nerds as much as i do lmA O. all of your headcanons and oc’s are so well thought out and all the care and detail you put into them shines through and makes me smile. you’re always kind and sweet and just in general way too good to me???? i love all the cute threads we do together and it makes me so happy to see you on my dash, to talk to you, write with you, plot with you, waTCH YOUR FUCKING SNAPCHAT STORY I’M LOV U MAC K

@kingdommark helL O HUSBAND <3 we’ve known each other like what, two weeks and we’re already married. i haven’t known you for nearly as long as a lot of other people, but you’ve never been anything but kind and caring to me, and it really means a lot to me that you take time out of your day to talk to me and be a nice person???? and seeing you be a nice person to other people makes me so happy, because i think we both know that this website is a place filled with unnecessary toxicity, so to see people like you who are always doing their best to be kind is so heartwarming to me. obviously i don’t know shit about KH but your sora is a massive cutie who i love a lot and enjoy seeing on my dash so much, and you can bet your ass i cannot wait for sora/pyrrha interactions

@saintlyhilt aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA??????? hello yes, shi did you know that you’re an absolute blessing and idk how we haven’t interacted much outside of crack/dash comm, because i’m pretty sure our first ooc interaction was just me telling you how thirsty i am for jaune so. i lov seeing u be gay on my dash and the rare times we talk make me happy because you’re so kind and caring and i don’t know if you know it but you never fail to make me smile all the gosh darn time, and i literally cannot thank you enough. your writing and headcanons for both sun and jaune are so well thought out, interesting, and so much fun to read. i just want you to know that you’re really important to me and i appreciate you a lot.

@adornedscars jhuwan, you may be one sassy fucking piece of shit, but you know what? i wouldn’t have it any other way, because you make me laugh and smile a lot, especially when i need it most, and our stupid running joke of fox calling pyrrha a bitch is one of my favourite stupid thing to happen on this blog. you’ve literally taken a character with nothing and made him your own in a way that literally just???? makes me forget that he doesn’t even have a canon fucking voice actor. you are one of the most important people i see on my dash, and one of the funniest too, and even though we don’t talk a lot, i’m glad we’re friends.

@baddrunkcharm hEY ASHE DID U KNOW THAT UR LIKE MY FAVOURITE QROW AND I’M LOV U AND THE WAY U WRITE SO MUCH AND U HAVE TO SHARE THOSE COOKIES WITH ME. no but seriously you’re another person who i just??? haven’t talked to a lot because i’m a nervous bean and you’re just super cool and i love your writing and characterization so fucking much man like dang. and!!! i super hope we can interact more, both ic and ooc, because!!! i’m going to fight you either way!!! but with hugs, and puppies, and love, because,,,, i love seeing you on my dash, and talking to you, and just knowing that you exist.

@miragesque heLLO YES WE HAVE LIKE NEVER SPOKEN BEFORE BUT LIKEDANG SEEING YOU ON MY DASH MAKES ME REALLY HAPPY DA N G. seeing how much you love and care about blake makes me so happy because i 101% absolutely know how you feel to be absolutely in love with your muse, and to see other people that just care so much makes me get all emotional, and it all really shows through in your writing because like????? you’re probably one of the most stand out blakes i’ve ever seen on this god forsaken hell site and it makes me all giddy and smiley and happy to see on my dash because you’re an amazing writer, and i am just a small bean, hoping that one day i’ll build up some more courage to sAY HE L L O.

[burndownthehousetonight]

((This was absolutely not how @tinyredartist and I originally drafted this part of the recovery narrative and I don’t care one bit I like it anyways:) ))

Of course Aria and Terra couldn't stay at their old apartment, not after what had happened. The room had already been searched when they came to find Aria, what if they came back? And of course, the many wilting flower bouquets didn't help make the place seem any more appealing. All they had do to was find a new house, and they would be fine.

Easier said than done. With Manic living with Scourge, the only places the couple could crash were the castle and Fiona's loft. Not bad places by any means, but tense locations. Fiona was still seeing the king from time to time, leaving several relationships in the house up in the air to some degree. The only person out of this battlefield of emotions was Faolán, who could make anyone's presence happier, as long as he wasn't complaining.

Usually.

"Ariaaaaa," he said as he ran into her, a loud handheld system in his left paw. "Can you take me to the video game store? I can't find mom." His normal pep seemed diminished, as hard as the beeping music tried to make things upbeat and exciting.

Aria dried off her hands after washing them clean of paint. “Sure thing sweetie. What are you going to get while we are there?” She asked, grabbing her purse and checking for cash. Fiona usually repaid her after she took Faolán anywhere. "There's- There's that Hishiko game! I've got the new moon, not the full moon version... but! But, there's a new one! The eclipse version!" He was getting a little more of his energy back as he spoke about something he loved. "Mom said I could get it if I got an A in my math class, and I did! I got it!"

Satisfied with the money, she helped the little boy get his shoes and coat on. She knew Terra was at work, and Fiona was… Well… Either working or with the king. Neither warranted any more than a brief text to let her know where they were going. But the child concerned her

“What’s up buttercup? You’re not as cheery today” Even his energy had to run out, and when it did, the little fox wore his emotions on his sleeve. "It's been a week and she's always too busy. She promised me...!" He did everything short of stomping his paws on the ground, but his voice never got to a yell. A tinge of regret flashed over his face, and he looked away with a grumpy face. "Sorry," he said, meaning it but no less annoyed with his mother. For his age, he seemed well behaved. Whatever leash Fiona kept him on must have been very short. “It's okay sweetie. You’re allowed to be mad. I’ll talk to her, see what I can do. As for the video game store, I want proof of that A in math mister. Go get me your report card”

As she sent him off, she sighed. Things had changed badly from before. She was more panicky, nervous. Terra was too. But Faolán was taking this worse than them, because Fiona was too busy with the king. Aria pulled out her phone

{Fao got an A in math. I’m taking him to get that game he wanted like you promised.)

{I don’t know what you’re going through right now, but maybe you should come home and play with your son for a bit. He misses you a lot) The fox had made herself busier just to distract from everything that had happened, and much of her spare time was spend with the king. She was indeed busy then, and the few other people she spoke to in private were just as invested in figuring out Fiona's normal business. "Police presence is getting stronger near the old bread factory," she said to another pinned location on a map. She thought for a moment, taking a marker and X-ing out a few locations on the other edge of town. "Bits, stir up trouble over here Thursday night. Get as much attention as you can. Get most of them to leave the area, then we'll push the rest out. We can't let them get any ideas-" The quiet buzz was massively out of place in an otherwise serious environment. She reached into her pocket, expecting another spam text... "You're staring." Someone pointed out. She wasn't expecting such a heartwarming message. "Something come up?" "...No, it's nothing." Fiona lied. She'd handle that soon enough. But for now, the 'read' receipt was left on Aria's phone. It was going to be a while before she could talk with Fiona, but not before she could talk to Faolán, running back down the stairs with a slightly crumpled, slightly torn report card. Sure enough, there was a low A in math, barely edging up to the grade. A list of skills a student should have for a class, with progress denoted by a letter grade. Sure enough, most of the math section was filled with As, leaving him with a big shiny A and a smiley face drawn on by his teacher. Aria inspected the card, humming and pretending to think, clearly teasing Faolán. She couldn’t stay serious for long around him, and giggled.

“Welllll okay. Because you’ve been so good. You all set to go munchkin?” She asked the tiny child, scooping him up and nuzzling his face.

She also sent a text off to her mate, asking if she needed her to pick any games up for her gamer wife. At least Terra understood Faolán’s obsession with games. Aria a little less so, but she had grown fond of it when her mate and the pup had constantly spoke about them.

She opened a warp and grabbed her purse. ◇        ◇        ◇        ◇ All afternoon, the little wolf had been playing his game with a passion. New places, animals, everything! He sat huddled up in a throw blanket with the volume up, late into the evening. So late, in fact, he ended up falling asleep where he said, music still playing from the device. When her warp back was opened, Fiona went to investigate the noise. "Fao... how are you, Fao? Are you liking the-" He was asleep. Fiona sighed. Too late to talk to him again. She turned back to the king who opened the warp, closing the device. "Your... people have been giving Fao his medicine, right? When Aria's not here?" Not something she needed an answer to, just something less depressing to talk about. “Yes, of course. Rosy is a mother herself, she knows exactly what to do, and so do the other four or five guards that rotate.”

He bent over, lowering the volume on the device and plugging it in to the wall to charge so the boy wouldn’t lose his save data.

“You should take him to bed,” was all the king could say. It wasn’t his place to tuck Faolán in, but he strongly implied it. Fiona knew, first handing her phone over to the king. "Can you type something," she asked as she picked up the little boy in her arms. Surprisingly strong, given how she looked. "I need to send a message to Aria..." {It's hard to make the time. I miss him too.) She seemed totally used to carrying the wolf, as though she'd carried him to bed many times before. "His doctor says he shouldn't go near those forests, he shouldn't be near poison ivy." The words were spoken in a hushed voice as she draped the blanket over the sleeping child. She rubbed her temples. "Make sure he doesn't leave the castle alone. He doesn't get how dangerous immunodeficiency really is..." She leaned against the wall outside the room, sighing and looking like a massive weight was taken off her shoulders. "Long day," she said. Those texts from Aria sure didn't make her feel better, either. Scourge did as he was told, and listened intently to Fiona’s orders about Faolán.

“I already told the guards he’s not to go near the forest, I wouldn’t want him getting lost. Don’t worry. He’s safe here… It sounds like he’s missing you a lot. Maybe take tomorrow or the day afterwards off? Spend some time with him? Fiona I guarantee that one night won’t hurt anybody.”

He wanted to hold her, but the lines of their relationship were blurry. Was he allowed to touch her when they weren’t hidden behind closed doors? He put his hand on her shoulder. Close enough. "I know," was all she said. she didn't protest the hand on her shoulder, onto rubbing her temples as she tried to calm down from her day. "He's been angry at me a lot lately, too. I don't blame him." What was she supposed to say from there? It was just a depressing situation to be in. All she wanted was some kind of comfort. She stopped rubbing her head to look up at the king. "Do you have any of that amaretto left?" She asked, not particularly caring if anyone saw them being close. "I need to forget today for a while." “Of course. But only one glass for you then bed, okay? Sleeping it off may help, he insisted, leading her by the hand back down to the living room and pouring them a glass each before putting the bottle away.

“A glass for the lady,” he joked. Making a fool of himself again to lighten the mood. He didn’t know what else to do for her, so he sat and waited for her to start talking. When the silence grew too unbearable, he prompted her.

“Did you wanna talk about today? It might make you feel better.” "You don't want to hear about it," she promised him. But he was making that begging, almost puppy dog face, and she knew she wasn't getting out of it. "Ugh. I've been trying to handle some stuff with an old factory and some new stores popping up, but I kept getting called for all kinds of problems. There was a university smartass trying to count cards who wasn't confessing, then some thugs trying to break into the nightclub under the building, then a... ..." Problems piled and piled on top of each other, with the smooth drink loosening her up a bit more. Maybe the king was making an ass of himself, but he was making her laugh, and she was at least starting to look more fondly on this stuff in hindsight. "...it turns out they WEREN'T from a gang I hadn't heard of." Fiona chuckled as she put her glass down. "They were just some college kids spray painting some internet meme thing on random walls." He laughed at the story, the two leaning on each other to support themselves. He loved the sound of her laugh and the fact that he could make her happy.

“Kids. I swear sometimes there's just no understanding them. But at least that’s a little less of something to worry about”

He didn’t want to mention the last time they had been drinking in this room. They had created a tangled mess of emotions for them to sort through. And the king was doing his best to straighten himself out. Fiona was similarly concerned, but not as much as the king. Her emotions had leveled out again, and she was enjoying being with the king. And this didn't really count as drinking, right? Just one glass of relatively weak alcohol? It was a kind of warmth she didn't often get the chance to feel. But all things had to come to an end, and even after sipping it as slowly as possible, her empty glass was placed down on the table again. "I should get some rest," she said, "I need plenty of it." Yet they sat. Companionship was more than rare for her, and it almost felt like a waste to end a friendly chat then and there. “We should. It's late. And you have some university punks to teach a lesson or two in the morning.”

He didn’t move either, just enjoying her company. They hadn’t spent much time together as of late, not any kind of time that would matter anyways. He truly had missed her, but it wasn’t something he knew how to explain. He almost pressed closer, just to see how she would react. But he didn’t want to push her too far. She saw the subtle movements, so subtle that it didn't even seem like he knew them. Was he trying to get closer...? No, she could go further with him tonight, she was too exhausted. Legs uncrossed as she stood up, carrying her glass over to the bar and looking at the king. "Good night, your highness." And Fiona was gone once again. Would they get to talk again the next day? Maybe not. Her son missed her too much, and was too young to have the same understanding Scourge could have, but that didn't necessarily mean she couldn't see them both. ◇        ◇        ◇        ◇ "Are you going to play your game the whole walk over?" Fiona asked. It wasn't really supposed to be a long walk, just through the castle rose gardens with Scourge and Faolán. But the wolf was too enamored with his game to stop playing, even then. Scourge reached out and lifted a branch that Faolán was about to run into, chuckling. “Careful kiddo. We don’t want you getting hurt.”

The king leaned back a little to whisper to Fiona. “Maybe we should stop and let him sit to play for a bit. After all, as much as he wanted to see you, he doesn’t care for sharing the time I don’t think. Maybe talk about the game with him?”

The king shrugged as he gave suggestions and idly inspected a wilted rose or two, sighing. “The heat is killing these flowers.” Fiona put her hands on Fao's shoulders, starting to redirect the child as they changed course. Just enough to move them towards a gazebo near the center of the area. Faolán quickly hopped up onto the bench inside, with Fiona sitting down next to him shortly after. "I've never played one of these games," she started. "What exactly is it about?" She could almost see the stars in his eyes. "Well... Well, you're a guy called a skyglider, and you're on this quest to find someone called Eris, and... ...!" He was excited to talk about his game, for sure. But it definitely wasn't what Scourge was planning on talking about. It seemed like what one of them liked, the other wasn't interested in. 'This was a terrible idea,' she thought silently. Scourge did his best to give Faolán time with his mother, while also trying to follow the conversation. He also tried to avoid acting like Faolan was his child. It wasn’t easy. The little one seemed upset that his mom’s attention was being diverted between the king and himself.

Yet he still listened and asked questions as Faolán explained the game, trying his best to make the other boy comfortable. It was nice seeing Faolán chipper though. Lately they all needed to spend time with him, his unwavering source of innocence and purity was a break of fresh air. For just a few moment, Fiona truly did relax. She forgot about her many stresses, and just focused on enjoying this time with the two- All of the bleeping music was joined by an inharmonious buzzing sound. Not long after starting her break, Fiona had already gotten a message she was quick to reply to. {Card counting punk from yesterday snuck a gun in, holding him in the cell. Says he wants to sue the owner, need you to scare him.) {Can't you handle it?) {He's serious, only wants to talk to you.) She let out a heavy sigh as she weighted her options. "I'm sorry... Fao, I've gotta go, there's some stuff at work." She said, patting the child on the head. She looked at Scourge, annoyed. "We can talk tonight, can you watch Fao before Aria gets back?" “Sure, not a problem. Guess its just the two of us, right kiddo?” He nodded at Fiona and turned to Faolán, trying to make light of it all.

The kid didn’t like him. Maybe he thought he was stealing Fiona’s attention? Or trying to replace Castillo? He certainly saw the fox more, but that wasn’t his intention at all.

“So what’s new kid? How’s school?” "School's done," he said simply. Perhaps summer break hadn't started there yet? His normal excitement when talking to people was gone, but at least he wasn't ignoring the king. He hadn't done anything REALLY wrong. And it was back to his game. Without Fiona there to talk to them individually, all that was left was an awkward quiet that left them to come to their own conclusions. Fiona had already rushed into the castle and out of sight. Scourge was stuck with the child. "Why haven't you let dad and Manic come back?" He asked, but he didn't seem to blame the king, or even sound angry. All that was left in his voice was acceptant sadness. “Wow, already with the big questions? I’m not surprised… Well, it’s kind of complicated. Let’s just say that your father and Aria got into a really big fight before… Well… Before that thing happened to Aria and Terra. They need time to readjust and cope with it. Your father being around her might make it worse. But when she’s not here, that’s up to your parents to decide, not me. Listen, you’re lucky to have a dad like Castillo. I promise when everything gets better, that you and Castillo and everyone can come over whenever you want. Deal?”

A sudden paused, then he looked back over at the pup. “This isn’t anyone’s fault. I don’t want you getting mad at Aria or either of your parents, okay?” "I won't," the boy promised, sounding no less sad. It wasn't the answer he wanted, but it was the one he was stuck with. Those tall ears flicked a little while he mulled over what the king had said. "Manic's my dad, too. But I won't get angry at him, either." That hadn't helped the way Scourge had hoped, he wasn't any less sad. He still missed his dads. He missed his mom. He even missed Aria a little. But instead, he was stuck waiting. Stuck with this king, who only felt like some cold tease. "Can I go get a sod- a juice?" All he had to do was distract Scourge, and then he could run somewhere else in the castle. Somewhere alone! Yeah, that could work, right? “I really am sorry kid. I can’t even begin to imagine how this feels. But I promise, it’ll get better”

When the other requested a drink, the king saw right though his plan. “Sure kid. Let’s go back inside, get you a drink, and then you can call your dad and see if he’s busy. Aria won’t be home until late.”

The king got up and tilted his head, motioning to the pup for him to follow. “I know you don’t wanna spend much time with me, but you can’t run off. Your mother would not be happy with either of us”

From behind Scourge, the ghost Fiona appeared. She pressed a finger to her lips and motioned for the little boy to follow the king. It took all of the manners Fiona had tried to teach not to stuck his tongue out at the ghost and run away anyways. But he didn't really have a choice. Every step back towards the kitchen was grumpy, but he was moving. Making Fiona angry at him sounded good, though so did talking to dad, and that's what he really wanted. That and a cola, but that was a different kind of want. "Where do you keep the soda?" He asked, maybe just a little curious in case he wanted any late night snacks. When they reached the kitchen, Scourge pulled two colas out of the fridge and handed one to Faolán.

“In the fridge, where else?” He seemed a little confused until he realized that Fao was used to having junk food hidden from him.

“Imma go get my phone. Please stay here? I don’t want you to run off and get hurt.” The king ran out of the room as fast as possible, only leaving a slight breeze.

Ghost Fiona appeared and sat on the counter. “Hello again little one. So, what’s bothering you?” How long would he have to talk? He didn't particularly want to talk anyways, and spent a good few seconds just puffing his cheeks and looking down. "Everyone's fighting again." Not entirely accurate, but it was succient enough. "I just wanna see mom and my dads, not just..." This was the same thing. Sure, she was fun and liked to go on adventures. But she just felt like another carrot dangling in front of him, taunting him. Cheeks puffed out again in frustration, and he shut his mouth. “I'm sorry. But the king is trying his best. I don't know what else to do to help sweetie. I can only imagine how awful this feels for you. If I could help, I would but… The king can’t see me. And your mom… She would only get scared. I don’t want to do that. But I promise everyone loves you sweetie. A lot.” She kissed his forehead and the king returned with his cell, already talking to Castillo. “Yeah, here he is.” The phone was given to the child, and Scourge could have sworn he had seen someone else in the kitchen. But it was empty. Maybe he should go to the optometrist. The little paws fumbling to hold the phone were totally audible to Castillo, who was relieved to finally get a call in. "Kid! Buddy, how you doing?" He said, trying not to sound desperate to talk to him, but it was still his son. "You hear there's some kinda... what's the word, eclipse version of-" "Yeah, I got a copy!" Already, the child's tail was swaying a little even as he clung to his crabbiness. "It's fun. ..." For once, he didn't really want to talk about it. "When are you coming back?" All he could do was give a heavy sigh. "I hope soon, kid. But if mom don't want me picking you up, I can't do nothing. Uh, we could always... ..." The words evaded him. "Gimme that" was said in the background in Manic's voice, and he reached forward for the phone. "Hey, brumby! I got Scourge a copy of that game! Hey, maybe you could play over the internet? Would that work?" The surprise of him having that game was enough to stun him out of the mood he was trying to force. "What...?! What, really?" The phone was handed back to Scourge, who only stopped listening to his son's overexcited babbling when Manic leaned in to whisper something. "I think I have buy you a video game now. And a console." He admitted, scurrying out the door in a moment. Scourge merely laughed and smiled at the kid’s tail thumping against the counter top. He was glad that Faolán seemed to feel better.

Fiona clapped, excited for the boy as well. “See, told you so!”

Scourge looked over at the child’s enjoyment and thought about talking to his mother. The fox didn’t trust Castillo, but she trusted him, didn’t she? When she arrived in the evening, she was in a hurry to see how her son was doing. And she was thrilled at seeing how excited he was. She even let Fao stay up a little later than usual, just to make him happy. "Whatever you said, remember it. He doesn't always get this happy." It was a fiddly process that involved Fao talking on the phone with his dad, his dad making a character, and the two sending some communications stuff back and forth. But they were on the internet, in this little game, able to interact from miles away. That didn't mean he dropped the phone, of course. No, they were playing this live with each other. It was so many of the things he enjoyed at once... it was too perfect. They didn't want to interrupt, so Fiona and Scourge sat at a distance, letting them make sure he wasn't doing anything bad but give him space. "Maybe you should babysit instead of Aria?" Fiona teased at Scourge. "You're great with kids." “I said nothing, just gave him the phone. Ah, I’m not half as good as she is. She helped raised her little siblings, and there is a lot. She was pseudo adopted by a woman who had 19 kids and she helped raise them all. My first contact with other kids was when I was 13 and the kingdom demanded a ball for me. It was horribly awkward.”

He clearly was uncomfortable with the compliment but smiled all the same. “So how was work? Lemme guess, that guy isn’t bothering you anymore?” He teased back, playfully.

Ghost Fiona floated around the two and rolled her eyes. Her dorky husband was still just as awkward now. Fiona just laughed and leaned forward. "Well, he wasn't lying. His daddy really was a lawyer," she started. "A lawyer who specializes in inheritance disputes. I asked one of my guards to crack his knuckles in front of him; You could watch him turn to jelly!" This time, she didn't even have to drink to get to laughing with Scourge. Putting a dumb kid in their place and seeing her own kid this delighted was more than great, it was stellar. It just felt good. Good in the simple way, in the deep emotional way. It was a thoroughly warm moment that she just wanted to revel in for a while longer. A rare happiness. "But you still didn't tell me what it took!" She said, not wanting his little subject change to distract her too much. "What's making him so happy?" “Fiona, all I did was give him the phone. Castillo did the rest. Well, Manic mostly, but Castillo for sure. I can’t say anything that wouldn't be more effective coming from them. Hell, Faolán doesn’t even really like me, and then I can’t blame him! Just…” The king paused to collect himself. “Look. I’ve been in something similar to Faolán’s situation before. I was raised by one person and I never got to see my mom. Well, she was dead, but you get the point. And while it’s not exactly the same, I can see why being with Castillo makes him so happy. Maybe you could let him come over here to hang out with Castillo every once in a while? Just to have a neutral ground?” Fiona's hand swirled around, but she wasn't making her normal disgusted face at the news. That was a good sign. "If he's had fights like those, he'll have fights like that again." Fiona said. Yet she was still in thought. "When is Aria coming back to babysit? They shouldn't be in the same house together." “I don’t know. She’s doing something with Terra and they didn’t say when they would be back. I agree, but maybe after all of this settles down it wouldn’t be a bad idea? Faolán would like it a lot I bet. It would be nice to see him this chipper more often.”

He looked over to her, studying her expression. He never could understand what she was thinking. Maybe this time her face would give it away. All it belied was sadness and deep thought. "I don't know why he looks up to him." She grumbled, but not sounding as angry as she normally would. "He needs more friends in general, not just adults. He just needs company." But then again, Aria and Terra needed all the support they could get, and even Manic and Scourge leaned on each other. "We all need company, I guess." She held her head in her hands. "It's hard to meet new people who can look past my job. It gets sickening." “I can’t say anything to that. He needs to find friends on his own. There isn’t anything you can do. And yeah, we all need company, you’re right.”

He brushed his hand against hers with a soft smile, trying to stay within his boundaries. “I get it. I do. I’m the nations favorite punching bag, it's not easy. People get intimidated or scared off or they try to use you… I've been lucky, managed to pick those ones out right away. But still…” "We've all had that, but fuck me if we don't have it worse than most." The line had a short laugh, that kind when she was still warming up to something uncomfortable. Namely, her own betrayals. "I don't want that to happen to Fao..." She just looked on, at her ecstatic child poking away at his device and getting absorbed into the fights alongside his dad. A lingering, longing kind of look. A look that just for a few seconds, wondered if this was in a way her betraying her child's needs. "...Fine. You win." She admitted, quieter than usual. "But keep him under close watch, you know how he runs off, I don't want him to get hurt." Her own hand patted Scourge's, a thank you without needing the humility to say the words. He blushed, and kissed the back of her hand gently. Luckily Faolán didn’t notice, far too absorbed in his game. “It's good for all of them… But I don’t know if I can control Faolán all that much. When we were in the garden he was gonna book it until I mentioned how disappointed Castillo and you would be. I think we need to set Aria and Castillo up for a talk or two. This needs to be worked out.” "If they can," Fiona said. "He's too stubborn. If I was in her place..." For once she couldn't finish the thought. Fao was so genuinely happy to be with him. She wanted to bash him to hell and back, but not if it meant hurting her kid. Her emotions tumbled between anger and sadness at a moment's notice. There wasn't a way out of this without a little sacrifice. “Aria is her own creature. We can’t control her or decide anything for her. We just need to get him and Manic in a room with her and let them talk it out.” The sound of a grandfather clock chiming played in the background, but became more apparent in her mind. Eight chimes. This was normally his bed time, but he was so happy...! "Hey... hey, Fao?" Fiona walked up to her son, hoping to juice this happiness as much as she could. "If you promise not to be too loud, I'll let you stay up tonight. I'll let you have the room and the TV all to yourself!" Scourge wouldn't be able to hurt him through a phone call, right? She knew she was going to regret it immediately, but she forced herself to say them through her own emotions.

He was presently surprised when she offered Faolán a later bedtime, and the whole room to himself. She was sacrificing just a bit to make Faolán happy and Scourge was relieved. At least she was giving in a little.

But where was she going to sleep? Fao couldn't have been more excited in that moment. Sure, he hugged his mom and told her and Scourge goodnight, but both hurried rushes were followed with him rushing to get back to the room... only to run back downstairs after his father suggested he raid the kitchen for snacks. Fiona didn't stop him, thinking he was only going to take a soda. Seeing him like this was genuinely heartwarming for her. "You have a lot of guest rooms, right?" She said, rubbing her temples. "I'll just use one of those, or maybe warp back to my home. I don't know." Their relationship had draped a sexual tension over everything they did. Fiona wanted Scourge to say it himself, but she knew he was probably not going to want to say it himself. "You... don't believe that, do you?" She said, giving a bit of a smirk and a laugh. “I mean… The offer is always open Fiona. I wouldn’t mind.”

He was blushing. Sexual tension wasn’t something he knew how to deal with, and certainly not with a child in the room. His hand found hers again. and if nothing else, he gave her a cheesy and awkward smile to laugh at. Getting up, he made his way over to the bar.

“Did you want the usual?” He asked, mixing a nightcap for himself and holding the fox’s favorite booze up. He didn’t have any preference for it, bit he knew that she did. "Absolutely," she said with a smile. Yeah, a little alcohol would put her nerves at rest, and the sound of her son scampering up the steps with crinkling bags of chips just said that they wouldn't have to worry too much about him. For now. Because he did have a blast, flipping through channels and going even farther in the game, but he was used to falling asleep around eight. Eleven was a new record for him, and just about then, even he had to admit his exhaustion, closing his device to charge and flopping onto the bed, bloated and tired from many types of chips and junk food. Exhaustion only meant that he was going to go into a deeper sleep with more vivid dreams. This was a familiar place, a dreamscape he had seen before plenty of times. It was a fake home, resembling the architectures he'd seen but with rooms at strange angles in strange shapes, and details that were always shifting just a little. He once again started walking through this house as though he'd been there many times before, straight to where he somehow knew the kitchen would be. Two faces greeted him there. One was familiar, his mother, eating another strange food he'd seen but couldn't identify. But the other wasn't anyone he knew. It wasn't really anyone. More of a vague, mouthless mass of a being, an anthropomorphic body seemingly controlled by robotic parts. It tilted it's head to look at the child, but there were no features on its translucent blue flesh. Surreal was the perfect word to describe the scene. The child took a wide circle around the… Thing that sat in the kitchen and hopped up onto a seat next to his mother.

“Mom? What’s going on? What is that thing? What are you eating? Where are we?”

The dream Fiona laughed, but it sounded hollow, artificial. “Full of silly questions aren’t you?” The house was a mishmash of rooms he had seen before, distorted in his imperfect memory and further by the normal distortion of a dream. It felt familiar, like it was almost home. Almost.But Fiona was important to home, and this wasn't her. It was more like a caricature of the two Fionas he knew scrambled together and stretched. She wasn't ugly by any means, but everything about this room and this person felt like they shouldn't have existed. And that blue thing was just looming, watching with a blank face from a distance. In his normal style, Faolán ran. Ran into some kind of adjacent long hall he somehow knew his way through - an amalgam of the castle halls. What wasn't familiar was a quiet clacking, squishing sound, and through that door he had just left, there was that thing. Peaking it's head out and slowly walking forward, in a totally natural yet entirely unnatural gait. He ran as fast as his little paws could take him, but fear was starting to distort whatever this was even further. Did it get bigger? Was it taller, maybe a little faster? This was like nothing he'd seen before, and he dearly wished he hadn't. Out of nowhere, his mother called from far away.

“Faolán ~ Faolán why are you running? Don’t you wanna say hello? Faolán~ Faolán ~ FAOLÁN!!”

The last shout was the ghost Fiona who had woken him up once she saw he was having a nightmare. She hugged him as best she could.

“Shhh… Its okay… I’m here.. It was just a bad dream.” Right then, the wolf was running on a mix of adrenaline and fear. It wasn't scary in a normal sense, instead leaving him completely unnerved, on edge. The ghost was trying to hug him, and it was clear that she was trying to comfort him. But her faint embrace would only make things worse. "No... No!" He yelled, jumping away from the ghost and stumbling towards the door in a fit of confused anger. "You're not my mom! You're NOT!!!" Where was his mom?! She always stayed up late, maybe downstairs? Maybe it was in that living room again? The steps pattering along the cold stone floor and his nervous panting were lost on the sleeping castle residents, yet he could swear he heard a step that wasn't there! Was it that- No, it couldn't be! But the fear was there, list there was something following him, and he sped up. Speeding down the stairs, making a beeline right for that living room they always spoke in. The door creaked open, letting out no light. "M-mom?" He said, stepping in nervously. His eyes were adjusting to the dark, and he couldn't see anything. He was just left alone in a dark room, with the unshaking feeling something was chasing him. Scourge and Fiona had vacated the room long before, leaving the fox’s cell phone behind in their haste. The ghost knew Faolán would panic even more, so she flew upstairs into the bedroom where the two had fallen asleep.

The ghost shook Fiona a little, but when that didn’t work she was hesitant to … Well she had no choice.

The ghost shook Fiona awake. “Wake up! Wake up! Can’t you hear your own son calling for you?” She hissed, trying to make the form that Fiona could see less person-like and more of a vague spirit. She wasn't awake enough for words to even register, and swatted away whatever was in front of her. Through tired vision, the blur of a specter just turned into a mass of colors that could be mistaken for some kind of groggy delusion. "Can't you hear your son calling..." Those words finally started to register. Was he in danger? She hurried to get out of bed, grabbing her clothes quickly and stepping out into the hall. "Faolán?" She asked. But the long hall didn't sound of anything, aside thequiet sound of some kind of television. It sure sounded fine. "Fao, are you alright?" When the door was opened, she had to take a moment for it to sink in. Faolán was gone. Scourge didn’t hear anything, but he felt his bedmate leave and got up as well, throwing on pants.

“He’s probably gone for a snack, come on,” he insisted, walking down to the kitchen. The ghost followed, finding Faolán covering in a corner of the living room. They wouldn’t see him on their way to the kitchen!

She faded completely, even Faolán unable to see her, and started knocking bottles off of the bar shelf.

“The bar?” Scourge asked, allowing Fiona to lead the way. He couldn't help but duck and cry. Whatever was following him was clearly trying to attack him, and he had no way to fight back. He was trapped. He was trapped. The light flicking on was a major scare for him, but seeing his mom rushing towards him relieved him just a little. Just enough to run up to her and cry into his mom's hug. She didn't even know what to say to him. "You're safe, Faolán, no one is going to hurt you." This didn't seem to null his fears. All Fiona could think to do was pick up her son and sit on the couch, letting him cry as much as he needed. "What happened, Fao?" "I- I had a dream, and-" He sniffled and cried the whole while, not able to say more than a few words at a time. "And then they were chasing me, and I woke up, and they were- they were still chasing me!" The king, still exhausted from his earlier ‘exercise’ with the fox, rubbed his face. The poor kid much have been terrified to have run behind the bar.

He walked over to the mess and started cleaning the glass away, them mopping up the alcohol. Odd. If Faolán had run back here, wouldn’t he have had to step in the liqueur? But the floor was clean.

The king looked over at the shaking child and grew concerned, but merely snapped a photo on his phone of the spill and then cleaned it all up.

From the shadows, the ghost queen cried, upset with herself for scaring him more. "Buddy, there isn't... that might have been us." Fiona said, comforting the child. "There's no one here who can hurt you, I wouldn't let anyone get that close to you." But the child was still crying. "I wanna- I wanna see dad...!" The more quiet ways Fiona protected him didn't stick in his mind as firmly as the brute force Scourge tended to scare people away with. It took Fiona a moment to think of what to say. "Baby, he's not here right now." She told him, doing her best not to sound desperate. "But the king is here, and we can always call your dad." "I don't want the king here..." The words came out of nowhere, slapping Fiona in the face with their bluntness. "I'm sorry?" "I don't WANT HIM HERE! He's not my dad, I hate him!!!" The king couldn’t stop his ears from flicking back as the child screamed he feelings out to the world. The ghost queen grew angry and the room grew cold.

The king quietly left the room, stopping at the door. “I’ll call Castillo and see what I can do.”

The alternate was called and Scourge fiddled with a warp ring. “Hey, Faolán had a nightmare and he’s not calming down. He wants to see you.” "Huh?" The alternate sounded groggy. "Fuckin' hell... Alright, get the warp here." He didn't waste a second, running straight into the room as soon as he passed through the warp. Fiona was too stressed out to feel anything more than annoyed at Scourge's entrance, but it was what Fao wanted. "I'm here, kid, it's me." The wolf had barely turned his head when Scourge was already sitting down. If it weren't such a stressful night, he would have been thrilled. But all this meant was he had someone else to cry with and keep him safe. "Dad, there's- There's someone following me through the castle, and I woke up, and they were still-!!" "Hey, no one's gonna hurt you." Scourge told him. He was actually hugging the little boy, not caring about looking soft for once. His crying was slowing down, but he was far from comfortable. "You wanna watch some TV, kid? Stop thinking about this crap?" With a nod of the little wolf's head, Fiona was already searching for whatever channel would be playing kids cartoons past midnight. The king left them to their bonding, feeling just a little bit hurt. He didn’t know why. Fiona would always choose Faolán over him, and could respect that. But he had been nothing but nice to the wolf, and he was still hated.

The ghost queen, still quite upset, followed her husband out. She couldn’t let him see her, but that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t try to help.

Scourge cleaned up his room, folding Fiona’s clothes and returning them to the bedroom she and Faolán shared. He shut and locked his door for the night and thought back to his own wife and child.

“Maybe it was for the best… I would be a shitty dad,” he thought aloud and then rolled over to get some sleep. The little boy was starting to calm down as he clung to his dad and watched some young children's show. The normal silence of the castle felt even quieter somehow late at night, almost eerily so. The scared little boy had two parents to help him through a rough night, and he was starting to calm down. Slowly, bit by bit. Until he was sleeping against his father, Scourge himself dozing off not soon after. She wanted to move him so Scourge couldn't hurt him, but his unconscious arm around the child swatted her off in his sleep. All she could do was drape a blanket over the kid and turn off the lights. "Good night," she murmured. The king's door was locked from the inside, and faint snoring could be heard through the door. So much to talk about, and no one to talk to. In her tired state, she went to her room to get a piece of paper, and slipped a note beneath the king's door. "3rd floor balcony walkway - 9 AM - We should talk" At 9 am the next morning, the balcony walkway was much chillier than usual. The king had grabbed them both a coffee and waited for Fiona to arrive

Of course, Ghost Fiona was there as well, and several other ancient ghosts, who had been watching it all unfold.

He half expected the living Fiona to ditch him, leaving him waiting on the balcony alone while she went to work or fought with Castillo. He hid his surprise when she shows up, and merely offered her the coffee. A small container of milk, cream and pot of sugar were left for her. The coffee itself was untouched. His own little payback, he knew how she liked her java, but he was still a little resentful for no good reason. "I'll get Fao to apologize for what he said," she started. Only a small amount of cream was poured in - she didn't seem to mind, she felt more in control this way. "He's... just a kid. He's a kid who was scared, I don't think he really knows what that means. Scourge is eating breakfast with him, but he's still scared." But that wasn't what she brought him up there to talk about. If she had known there was a small number of ghosts watching, maybe she wouldn't have spoken, but it was a question that needed to be asked. "You've been different." Chilled breezes only made the warm coffee in her hands more comfortable to hold. "You've been kissing and hugging me more lately. You remember what you said last night before we fell asleep?" He probably did, but just in case. "You called me beautiful. I could feel your heartbeat getting faster, too." The cup was slowly put down back on the table. "Do you... need to tell me something?" “Don’t. Faolán needs to learn that while outbursts aren’t productive, they need to happen. It just doesn’t feel good when a little kid doesn’t like you, you know? Makes me wonder what kind of person I am, if a little kid thinks I’m awful.”

Her sudden change in topic surprised him, and but shrugged slightly. They weren’t quite ready for that deep of a talk. Not after the most important person in her life made it clear he despised the king.

“Just looking for a little attention is all. You don’t usually instigate. And of course I remember, I meant it. I mean, its not like you didn’t already know.”

Clearly there was more to be said, but the king didn’t know where the line was. Where did she want him to stop, what statement would make her shut down? He didn’t know. Didn’t want to push it. He was growing closer. Much closer than Fiona had planned on. Spending time with the king was always nice, but this wasn't the way she cared about him. And what would Scourge do if he ever heard what she thought the king felt? Fiona didn't know either, and she didn't want to get an answer. She didn't even want to keep talking about it. Another long sip of coffee. "We're driving him mad," Fiona admitted. "He needs to see his dad more... and you less. But Scourge has lashed out before, I don't know how to keep him safe. And he sure can't be near Aria, whenever she comes back." If her nose was any more scrunched at that line, it would fold into her face. She put her hand on the king's shoulder, careful not to graze him with her claws. "You're a good guy. But we shouldn't sleep together for a while. It's for Faolán, alright? It's the best we can do for him." “I completely understand. Faolán is still young, he needs you two more than anyone else right now.”

He drew closer physically and stole a kiss on her mouth. A quick one, and his blush afterwards was bright.

"Sorry… Figured I’d grab one for the road." he joked, trying to bring some humor into the conversation. The tone was too serious. He had to pretend it didn’t hurt as much.

“Yeah… Well her and Terra got back from their honeymoon two nights ago. Maybe we should have her talk to Castillo tonight. Maybe you can take Faolán to a movie? I don’t think you want him around those two right now.” She didn't react too much to the kiss. She was barely surprised, and almost seemed to brush it off like she was annoyed. "Let me see what I have on my schedule." While Scourge couldn't see what Fiona was reading, how much she was scrolling through her messages said that it wasn't a negligible amount, and a tense expression as she got further down the list only hammered in that point. "I'll see who I can get to cover for me," Fiona said. not making any promises. Words had gone cold again, her face back to her default sternness. She tilted her head. Even with her eyes closed, it seemed like she was gazing into Scourge and silently judging. "And how are you going to restrain Scourge tonight?" “He’s not going to attack Aria. And even if he does, she’s going to cut him into ribbons. Manic and Terra and I will be around to control him somewhat. And if you can’t get the night off, we can always have Terra or Manic watch him.”

His ears flicked back, ashamed of himself, and he shifted away from her. He was always fucking up around her. She was always annoyed with him. It was a plan. His common sense had put together a solid plan, but Fiona wasn't totally convinced. She didn't have the time to dwell too much on it, her phone immediately getting a text. And another. A few shot back at her in fact, and she ran down the list of names. "...I've dropped most of my tasks for the day." She said. Her body deflated in the chair. This only left club maintenance and orders, legals on the hotels, and auditioning entertainers. A very easy day. "I need to- spend time with him anyways." This judgement towards Scourge was gone from her eyes. "I'll send someone to help protect you anyways," she said, "I don't want any of you to get hurt." She didn't give that a moment to sink in, immediately standing and walking for the door. "Thanks for the coffee." She was gone again, down to do whatever business she had. Later that evening, Aria and Terra had come to the castle for dinner. Castillo was an unexpected surprise, and Aria's jovial mannerisms dimmed.

However you couldn’t be sad for long when Faolán showed up. The ball of innocence and joy was scooped up into a hug. “Oh I missed you munchkin!"

Terra laughed, ruffling the pup’s hair and then turning cold when Castillo tried to say something to Aria. "Hey." Nothing more, just hey. He tried to put on a smile seeing his son like this, but he couldn't even look up at Aria. Whatever was going to happen to him, it was going to hurt. "Ariaaaa!" He pretended to be annoyed, pushing her hands from ruffling his orange fur. "We're gonna go see 'Princess Rosella's Magic Whirlpool!'" Fiona was standing in the doorway, happy but slightly dreading a movie that looked like it was animated on a budget of about five dollars. "He's been missing you both," Fiona said, pointing the words straight for Castillo. The girls set him down and Aria gave the boy a wrapped box.

“We were on vacation all over the place, and found this for you.” In fact, everyone received a gift. Faolán got a region exclusive case for his handheld, Manic got a pair of drumsticks, with a design of musical notes and scores hand carved into them. Fiona received a necklace, her favorite jewel the accent on the golden pendant depicting a F. The king received a locked titanium briefcase and a hug. Castillo, the only one left. He was given a leather jacket, made of quality but lightweight material.

“For the summer.” Was all Terra said, clearly still glaring at the hedgehog, but only subtly. She didn’t want to make a scene around Faolán.

The king took the case and left the room with Sergio. They returned a few minutes later without the case. The jacket hurt more than any insult could. The sheer humility of it was enough to make Scourge's guts twist. "Thanks," was all he could say, the words carrying new meaning as the gesture ripped away his pride for a short while. "You shouldn't have," Fiona said, graciously accepting the gift. Perhaps not her taste exactly, but she always needed new clothes anyways. Manic and Faolán seemed like they were having a contest to see who was more excited about their particular gift, and each was happy to give Aria a hug. Or in Faolán's case, her legs a hug. "What, you buttering us up to get you REALLY good weddin' presents?" Manic teased. "Nah, really man, you're too nice, thanks a ton." The hug was more to give Scourge time to fold the jacket and leave it on the side table. Looking at it was only going to remind him of his own failures, and Manic needed to give him space. The jacket was meant well, and Terra was reprimanded by Aria, mumbled in a quiet, rushed tone. It wasn’t supposed to be something vicious. It was all kept quiet, and Faolán was unaware of it all, too distracted by Manic.

Manic's statement made Aria roll her eyes. “Haha. No. Why bother with wedding presents?” She shrugged.

Time passed quickly and soon it was time for Fiona and Faolán to leave. Aria gave Faolán a tight hug goodbye. She really had missed him, and she wasn’t sure if Castillo would allow her anywhere near him if he was so pissed off about a present. Pissed off... it certainly looked that way, maybe even dismissive of the gift, but he seemed just as ashamed at his place at the table. Anger wasn't there - or at least, not as much as she first thought. Manic sat down next to his husband. The king and Manic were on either side of Scourge, and he was sitting directly across from Aria. There was no doubt why they were there now. "I think it's time you guys figure this mess out," Manic said, patting his husbands hand. Scourge just stared back, his face creeping towards anger. And a blush. Actually, he looked downright pissed as he held his head in his hands, looking down at the table in total shame. This wasn't an anger focused at Aria, this was entirely pointed right at himself. He mumbled something, but the words were illegible. “What is there to say?” Was all the hedgie asked, curious to see what the two green hedgehogs thought was going to happen.

“I mean really. He destroyed my home, and then his actions got your -” she pointed at the king, “- reputation ruined. And you think flowers I’m allergic to and a heartfelt apology are gonna make up for that? Because you couldn’t let Fiona go, because you had to have her fixate on you, you put yourself in the spotlight and almost got me and my wife killed. You’re real fucking stupid Castillo. And so are the two of you if you think that an apology is worth my time.”

Dinner was served and Aria pushed her plate away. Suddenly losing her appetite. His heart rate increased, his breathing got tense. Everything about Castillo implied that he was getting worse and worse the more Aria said, pounding home points that he had already nailed into his skull. Regret was just multiplying, and Scourge was doing everything he could to stop it from turning into anger. "What's it gonna take." The words would have sounded pissed if he wasn't so visible terrified. He looked up, clearly restraining himself. "What the hell else was I supposed to do, nothing? I wanted to save your life, kid, I just- I couldn't!" Anger only fueled desperation. "There was fucking nothing I could do! I tried investigating and coming in to get those assholes, I'm trying everything over here! What's it supposed to take?!" One fist slammed on the table as he tried to hold back horrified frustration. "I don’t know what’s its gonna take, maybe we need to physically fight, who knows? I sure as hell don’t! Hell, I don’t even understand the logic that got us to this point? All I know is that I’m not going to forgive you just like that. It's going to take time. And fuck you two for thinking anything different. I’ll be civil for the sake of Faolán but that is it.”

She got up from the table and left the room, headed for the back garden. Terra followed her wife, glaring at Castillo.

“Well… That wasn’t totally useless.” Was all the king said, thinking. “I mean… Maybe duking it out would help you both. If we get Damian on standby maybe you two can relieve some stress.” Castillo was just cringing in fear. He sure as hell didn't want to fight Aria, there was no good scenario there. But Manic was thinking differently. Far, far from how these two were. "She thinks this all comes from... from you needing attention," Manic said. "Like, the kidnapping, I mean." "Don't remind me..." "That's not what I'm saying." He held his head in thought. "Yeah, Radon joined in, but wasn't he just there as like a last minute change? And like, he wanted to trade out Aria for him, right?" He was spinning his spare hand around as he spoke to keep him thinking. "But like... Aria wasn't even brought up in those tabloids. How the hell did Chrissy and Bobtail know where to look for Aria?" “… Didn’t Chrissy work for Rosolio? Aria's employee information would have been on file… But those files are sealed. And how did she know to get to Fiona?”

The room was silent again. The three boys thinking. The king thought of something, but didn’t dare speak it aloud. Fiona… Fiona couldn’t be involved, could she? No. She cared for Aria too much and wouldn’t put Faolán in danger. But then again, she was an amazing actress. Regardless the king stayed silent. Thinking.

Aria and Terra were in the garden, snuggling on a bench as they looked up at the stars. Oblivious to the men inside and their conversation. If they knew their stars, maybe they could identify a few constellations. The lily, the cannon, the nautilus all twinkled invisibly above them. But to them, it was just a wide field of stars to relax and contemplate under, not that they wanted to contemplate. They wanted to stop thinking. Stop thinking about Scourge and live their lives. Manic and Castillo were definitely trying to think at that moment, Manic speaking through their dinner before it got cold. "I'm just saying," Castillo said, "Fiona's men are ace with security, I don't think it'd be that easy to get in. Not to mention getting old Rosie's files." "Bobtail screwed up the emergency stairs security, he carried one of 'em back down, and Chrissy took the other out the window." Manic was toying with his fork while he tried to speak. "We already heard all that. But how'd they even know she was at Fiona's place?" "We saw 'em on camera, they broke into her place and tried to talk to you." Scourge said. "Someone had to be giving them info!" “Aria mentioned a bull that was waiting at the bus stop. She said that she assumed it was security of Fiona’s but what if it wasn’t? What if that guy told those two?”

It was worth looking into and the king started a small investigation into the matter. Very quiet. A two man job. For now though, the king drank his wine and swirled it in his glass. Not thinking. Trying not to think.

No one wanted to think. No one wanted to try anything of the sort. Not Aria, not Terra, and not Scourge. They did their best to eat. Do something, stay happy, try not to get too somber. There was one thing they could count on to bring them a little joy, and they could hear his tiny footsteps clopping down the hallway. "Hey, squirt." Scourge said, trying to act casual but silently thrilled to see the little boy. He was still clutching to an oversized cup of orange soda. Even with his orange fur, they could just tell he'd spilled plenty on himself. "So come on, kid, tell me about it." Scourge said. He peaked over, watching Fiona leave to get something at the bar before whispering. "And tell me if you took my advice." He didn't even need to explain. Faolán silently reached into his jacket, pulling out two boxes of sour gummies and one box of chocolate caramels he absolutely did not pay for. "Atta boy." He wasn't worried about the king or Manic seeing, as they were silently distracted by something on Manic's laptop. An IM chat with Damian, as a matter of fact. "The orange boy returned, can you think about it some more? You said you recognized her, anything you can remember would help." Damian’s respond was short. Nothing about the bull at the bus stop made any sense to him. He suggested asking Fiona and Aria. Maybe even Faolán. Soon, Aria and Terra rushed into the room laughing like children, drenched from head to toe.

“Okay, so who turned the sprinklers on outside?” Aria said with a laugh, clearly not angry. Terra left and reappeared with some towels for them to dry off with.

“Oh hi there munchkin! How was the movie?” She asked, bending down to Faolán’s eye level for a hug. "It was great!" Fao said. He was sitting around so many people who he cared about at once, he couldn't help but wear a massive smile. "It was really pretty, and the songs were really nice, and...!" Fiona plopped down in a chair next to the king. She had a glass of wine in her hand, and looked as though she had survived a war. "You could count the frames of animation," she groaned to him so Fao wouldn't hear. "...and there was a cool town with bright colors and a really funny dog, and...!" "I couldn't tell you where the jokes stopped and the convoluted plot began." She took a long gulp. She was going to need more than one glass. The boxes were safely stashed with Scourge, but he couldn't help opening one box of sour gummies right there. "You wanna candy?" He asked Fiona and Terra, holding out the box after cramming a few in his mouth. “You had leftover candy? That’s not like you at all munchkin, are you feeling okay?”

She checked him for a fever and politely declined the candy. However she noticed that there was no ‘proof of purchase’ sticker on the box. The theaters liked to slap those on any candy that was bought to show it was their product. And they never forgot.

“Faolán sweetie. Did your mom buy those for you?” She asked, using a slightly more inquisitive tone than usual. Terra stopped what she was doing and looked nervously over at Fiona, who was already being poured a second glass of wine by the king. Then the bat glared at the two green hedgehogs. "That was all me," Scourge said, not missing a beat. "Thought things'd be tense, went out and bought him a little something to distract him." Not something that could really be proven wrong, especially since he'd never admit he sat in the van and yelled at himself in anger after dinner. He reached under his jacket and pulled out the second box of gummies, leaving the chocolates right where they were. "Figured he'd be pumped full of sugar anyways, what's a little extra gonna hurt?" Aria didn't look like she was buying it. Manic didn't look like he even realized what was going on, too caught up in looking up reviews to see just how bad that movie was. Faolán ate a few more gummies, just rolling with the lie. "Can we get some- some 'poison sludge' next time?" Not a request for a lethal poison, but for some sour candy. Scourge just grinned and pointed his thumb behind him. "We can get some right now, if you're up for getting outta here." I.E., 'Please, for the love of all that is good and holy, give me an excuse to leave before Aria casts her unholy vengeance on my soul.' Aria looked over at Scourge. Then at Manic. Then at Faolán. Then at her wife. Then at Fiona, who was eyeing the bottle of wine again. Then back to Faolán.

Oh she wasn’t buying it. Not at all.

“Faolán sweetie. Look at me. Where did you really get those candies?” She asked, seemingly calm. But Scourge could see the glare she shot at him and the tenseness of her shoulders. Faolán would not be yelled at. But Castillo was not as lucky.

It was all riding on Faolán right now. And Aria hoped she was wrong.

If Terra wasn’t blocking the door, he would have ran.

"Guys..."

The voice that spoke up wasn't Scourge or Faolán. Manic was looking over, head in his hand and looking exhausted at the news. "Scourge is an ass, but he's just trying to protect him, y'know?" Manic said with a grimace, genuinely believing what he was saying. "If he's picking this stuff up off of anyone, it's me. I know it. You know it."

The little wolf's ears were lowered in shame, knowing what he did was wrong. Rather, knowing being caught felt bad. Scourge's heart may as well have broken at the sight.

"Don't protect me," He said, "We know what's up here." Scourge resigned himself to his fate, if it was for his child's well being. "I went out and lifted this crap for him, he didn't do anything."

But Faolán's face belied all. Scourge leaned up to give his son comfort, knowing Aria would not give him another chance any time soon.

Thank the stars Fiona had downed half the bottle. The king had carried her off to bed so she wouldn’t skin Castillo alive. Aria rubbed the bridge of her nose and sat down. “Okay Faolán. Come here for a second. I’ve got a story for you.”

The child walked over and Aria sat him in her lap. “I shouldn’t have to tell you stealing is wrong. You can hurt a lot of people like that honey. Maybe not with candy but I don’t want to see you get caught up in things that will get you in serious trouble. When I was 10, I stole some things too. I admit it. But Faolán I was living on my own and unable to afford food. I needed that stuff to survive. And I got caught. And I got in a lot of trouble. And I was almost sent to jail. Granted I was in a very slummy area of a less developed city and they didn’t always follow the law, but that’s beside the point. I don’t want you stealing again, okay? And I don’t want you to steal just because your fathers or anyone else asks you to. Not unless its life or death. Do you understand munchkin?”

Faolán nodded, and Aria continued, petting him gently and trying to be stern but gentle.

“Now. I won’t tell your mother, because I know you aren’t going to do it again. But if it ever happens again, I will. I don’t want you to feel the need to steal things either. If you want something, ask one of us, okay?” Faolán was sheepishly holding his hands together. "I'm sorry" was all he could say. "I just... I really wanted some, and mom didn't want me to have 'em, and-" "You don't gotta explain anything," Manic assured the child. "We understand." ◇        ◇        ◇        ◇ "You don't understand." Scourge was definitely angry at Aria, but he was restraining himself. Thankfully, they were out at the van, and Fao was safely inside and out of earshot. "I already taught him- He's learning guitar already. I wanna teach him something, and this is all the crap I know! I can't teach him bartending and I can't have him doing anything violent, that's all I've got to teach him!" “And breaking the law is a better option?!? I understand wanting to bond with Faolán but come on!! Use your brain! Did you want Fiona to take him away? You need to think ahead!”

She scolded him, eternally more pissed off than he was.

“Do you want Faolán to be where I was? He’s the son of a major crime boss and a scourge, the cops will NOT go easy on him if he gets arrested. Kids like him get shot all the time because the world sees them as carbon copies of their fathers or their mothers.” "I KNOW!" Scourge's attempts to hide the intensity had failed, but he wasn't yelling at Aria. His screams were more generalized, mostly aimed at his own stupidity. "I know, I know! I'm tying to teach this crap so he knows how NOT to get caught! I don't want him to be a big thief, I want him to- to know how to hide, and-! I'm just an asshole who doesn't know what to do!" At this point, most of his masculine facade had decayed, leaving him looking like he was going to fall into a kneel and scream. Manic silently took him and dragged him away, opening the back of the van and leading him in before anything happened to him. His husband left to his self loathing in the van, Manic leaned against the side of the van facing the still fuming Aria. "He doesn't like people seeing him cry." What else could he say? To distract from himself, distract from what his nephew did? "I don't want him doing this stuff either, but... you don't see how much Scourge hates himself for not doing more for him. It's... pathetic." Aria rubbed at her temples, squinting her eyes shut.

“Listen… Scourge and I are fighting. I get that. He’s not happy with anything about the scenario and I am not either. But he needs to think ahead Manic, what if Faolán gets caught one day? The justice system is not kind. Not to children, and not to sons of crime bosses and thieves. Faolán could be put in a lot of danger. If he wanted to do something for Faolán, he can try literally anything. Even if he learns some new skill, just to teach Faolán. But this is not the way you do it. He’s far too young for that sort of thing” Manic could only nod and think. He knew all this. He knew hearing it was going to hurt. All he could do was sit and accept the awful sting, cringing at some of the lines. "You're totally right, man." His whole body deflated in an instant. "We're all scared for him. We're just... We're just dealing with it in a real stupid way." He could only throw his head back. "He doesn't deserve that kind of life. He ain't done anything wrong." “Tell… Tell Scourge I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. I’m just worried and stressed…”

She curled into herself, shoulders huddled. She couldn’t say anything more, so she turned around and left. The bat waited on the castle steps and slowly kissed her wife, hugging her close.

“It’ll be fine… I promise.” Two people uttered those words in that house. The second being Fiona, sitting with her son and the king. Faolán was suddenly racked with guilt, his face red and looking like he was on the verge of tears. "You admitted it and promised to stop. That's more than your dads ever did." The little wolf was being coddled close to her chest, hoping he wasn't going to burst into tears. "I'll look past punishment just this once, alright?" He nodded, happy but still scared. "Bu- but what if the police come and... and take me to jail?!" Another coddle to the child. "The police won't come after you. I promise." In reality, Fiona wasn't too surprised by this. She's seen her son sneaking around the house and 'stealing' things, but it was never anything more than maybe a few pieces of candy or loose change, small things that she really wasn't concerned about losing. It was no doubt where he picked it up from. The idea of them teaching Fao was definitely planted in her head, but even she found it a bit ridiculous. They wouldn't be dumb enough to do that to her kid, right? Oooh they most surely were dumb enough. Scourge knew it. However he valued Manic's life and Faolán's happiness so he said nothing about it.

As the king, he could make it all go away. But Faolán was only 6, far too young to be charged with anything. He sat there, feeling awkward and useless. "But you aren't getting away this easily," Fiona warned her son, stern but not angry. "You still have someone you need to apologize to." He looked confused for a moment, until his mother motioned for the king. For something he said days ago? But he wasn't in any position to argue. He did feel like he really didn't like the king, those words were all true to him. So why did he feel so guilty? "I'm sorry," he said. "And what are you sorry for?" "I'm sorry I said I didn't like you." He looked ashamed. Maybe it seemed mean, but he needed to learn the consequences of his actions. "It was mean." Scourge patted the kid on the head. “It's okay buddy. If I were you I wouldn’t like me either. However I’m pretty sure its past both of your bedtimes.”

He was teasing Fiona and joking with Faolán, clearly trying to a laugh out of either. Its was late and he knew the drowsiness from the wine would hit Fiona like a truck. He got up and gave a little mock bow to Fiona.

“Sweet dreams the both of you.” Scourge was totally understanding. It was almost suspicious how calm he was about Faolán's actions, but Fiona was a cautious woman. Faolán didn't read that deep, only seeing the good of what he said. "Good night." The little wolf was the first to say it, mostly to end this uncomfortable talk sooner. The evening had been horribly tense. Everyone needed a rest. But even as angry as Aria was, she didn't need a rest as much as Scourge did. "Babe, we'll figure this mess out." A kiss on Scourge's lips and closeness was the best think Manic felt he could give to his husband. "Maybe if he's still here tomorrow, you could take him to a different movie. Or to the park or whatever. If someone else comes along, I mean." That was a very big 'if,' they both knew that, but there was still a chance, right? Maybe Scourge would have to come along, maybe Fiona would put him in handcuffs while he was out, but the sooner he could resolve this mess, the better. The fact they were sleeping in the van so Aria wouldn't have to see them didn't make quick forgiveness seem likely. "Maybe," Scourge replied, clinging to something. Aria was leaning on Terra. Everything was tense and awful. She hated it. The bat kissed her ears gently and cooed, trying to make her mate smile. It didn’t work. Not even rambling about the perfect house they had created in their minds would calm her.

In the morning, someone knocked at the van door. Surprisingly it was Aria. Even though it was rather early (and least for them) she still looked like she had been up for hours.

“Can we try… Making up again?” She asked quietly. Embarrassed and upset. The sight of Aria made his guts wrench, even through groggy eyes. Scourge was wearing some old tank top that was clearly just worn when he was sleeping. Was she honestly offering some form of forgiveness? Not without work, but still, he was almost handed the chance to make things right somehow. "...where we gonna talk?" Scourge said, stretching his arms. "Let's make it somewhere with coffee." He was a good actor, sure. But even still, nervousness flickered on the edge of every motion. Manic smirked in his 'sleep.' Let them think they were alone, and let them patch things up. There was hope. She held up the takeout cups she had brought with her. “Figured you’d say that… How about a walk in the garden? It's quiet there.”

She was just as nervous and actually looked a little off color. Slightly green, but she only seemed nervous, not sick.

“I’m.. I’m sorry.” "For what?" A pause was left so he could throw on his leather jacket. He didn't seem to care about grabbing his shoes, hopping off the van onto his paws. "I was an ass. I mean... everything. Everything I did was the worst." Attempts to stave off total self hate mostly worked, but his attempts to make the brush of his quills casual didn't look it at all. He happily took the cup meant for him and started throwing it back, before they had even begun their walk through the garden. "Where do I even fuckin' start...?" The grumble was low and strangely small for something out of his mouth. "You... got your old place fixed up. Right?" “Yeah, we’ve mostly packed. I’m going to miss that place… I’ve lived there since I was really young. The landlord rented to me at a reduced rate when I was a kid and saved my life. And now its just… Sad. But Terra and I can’t live there together, it was time for an upgrade… Thank you for all the flowers, by the way…”

It was silent but peaceful. In the morning light, everything was damp with dew and quiet. Tranquil.

“None of this was your fault you know…” "Pretty much is." Scourge didn't seem to buy that more a second. "All of it. Your home, the king's shit, And now all this crap with the kidnapping and-" He had to stop himself. It sounded like he was fishing for compliments now, and he didn't want to be too whiny. "I don't know how you don't want to punch me. I wanna punch myself." “I do want to hit you, but what good will it do? Other than make me feel slightly better. We need to talk this out because Faolán is suffering because of it…” The silence was awkward as Aria lasped off.

“Maybe we can just pretend we weren’t fighting at all?” She offered as a suggestion, clearly out of ideas. Scourge wanted to say yes and have it be done. Oh, he wanted everything to be better. But... "Around him, yeah. But we can't pretend crap's alright, it'll never work." He admitted. "You guys deserve better than some punk who pulls this crap, but you're... trying to make it up anyways." He pushed his quills back in humbled surprise. "If you're willing to do that, don't think we need to fake anything." It wasn't a major gesture, or wouldn't be from anyone else. But a hug from Scourge was rare. "I ain't soft," he told her, hoping that would somehow gloss over him acting completely soft. She hugged him anyways, laughing. “Bitch please. You’re a marshmallow.” Of course she was joking with him, and maybe wasn’t at 100% forgiveness, but it was better.

The atmosphere was less tense by the time everyone woke up. Terra had stolen her mate away for a bit, and the king looked over at Castillo.

“Did you two talk it out?” "I think, yeah." He was propping his head in his hand, looking quite tired. This was more an emotional exhaustion than anything physical, but his short, remorseful sleep sure wasn't helping things. He took a long sip of his coffee, contemplating everything. "If I hadn't run that chick over, we probably wouldn't be here." Remorse out of Scourge was always a flash or a spark that faded as soon as it appeared, never anything this long lasting. "Can't believe she even wanted to talk to me." "About that..." Manic was fiddling with his fingers. What he was nervous about was anyone's guess. "Radon's wife, Gamma? She had- there were two autopsies due to some kinda crap department stuff. The second guy was barred from practicing a few months back for forging results in other cases. Like, he was bribed to say results that weren't there. The first dude..." He swallowed. "The first dude said she died of a fall, and the car accident was after that. You... you were a patsy, man." Manic fidgeted and looked at the king. "Do you wanna tell him about the cat, or...?" “I checked Chrissy and Bobtail's finances. About three weeks before all of this started, they were paid a large sum of money, one of many transactions from different account for the same amount. Offshore accounts. But then, Bobtail started looking around for Aria and her file was lifted from Rosolio's belongings. They didn’t want Aria as a trophy. Whoever this is wants her dead.”

He sighed and looked up at the ceiling. “Someones trying to kill Aria and we have no idea who they are.” "Bobs was an assassin." Scourge said quietly, closing his eyes and leaning his head back in thought. After what he did to Radon, he couldn't be too surprised, but the thought that Aria came so close to dying... "None of this is your fault, babe." Manic sat down next to him, putting one arm around his side. "It ain't even totally those two, either. There's something even worse going on than we thought." It looked like Scourge had suddenly been given a bolt of energy. "That's how I'll make it up to her," he said with pissed determination. "I'll find 'em and wring their neck." “More like you’ll find them and hold them down while she makes mince meat of them.” The king joked, trying to lighten the mood.

“Out first plan is to track those accounts. Manic, you handle that. For now I’ll see if I can find anyone Bobtail had contact with who had the money to pull this off. And who would want Aria dead… It’s a short list”

The three set to work, rummaging through files, and throwing theory’s out for consideration. Aria pressed herself closer to the door frame for support, and Terra pulled her in closer.

“Don’t worry. I’ll keep you safe,” she whispered. This work was going to take a while. A long while, in fact, as they tried to find data on accounts that weren't supposed to have any data linked to them. And with Fiona out of the house, that left a little wolf up to his normal troublemaking ways. It usually would. But there was something different in the air this time. Things were still tense, but in a more unified way, as if they were fighting the same enemy rather than each other. As though a crushing pressure in the house was suddenly gone. Who was this enemy, no one knew. But Faolán heard just enough to want to fight whoever they were. "I will, too!" The little wolf seemed to show up behind them out of nowhere. His hands were already out, tiny claws extended. "I can fight them off for you!" Aria paled a bit as Terra laughed. The thought of endangering him was not something she wanted to have to think about. She scooped up the little one and snuggled him tightly. “Thank you sweetie. But I think your mom would have a problem with that.”

Inside, the king looked over the suspect list and grew confused over a question mark “Hey Manic? Who’s the question mark supposed to be?” He asked, holding up the list.

Aria snuggled into Terras hug, the two squishing Faolán a little bit. Aria laughed at his protests and kissed his forehead. “Faolán sandwich!” "I dunno, I was thinking..." Manic swiveled in his chair to face the king. "I'm thinking that like, there were already people that found Aria's family, right?" The polite way of putting what happened. "But we still don't know who they are... and we don't know how they found them, neither. That's kinda supposed to be a catch all for them." And then they heard the child's embarrassed giggling from outside. Scourge looked up, his paternal instincts triggered at the sound of his son laughing. "What's going on...?" He god up and rushed to the door, grinning at the sound. "Hey, you put him down!" Scourge said, only to immediately scoop his son up again. "He's mine to squish." This only got another laugh from the child, and a goofy ruffle of his hair from Scourge. Manic looked back from the open door towards the king. "I don't think a short break's gonna hurt," Manic said with a goofy, cheeky grin. “Hmmm… Good point. They weren’t ever caught so… But don’t tell her were looking into this. I wanna avoid the trauma resurfacing… You go take a break. I’ll keep at it.”

Aria protested the lack of Faolán squishies she was getting. "But that’s not fair," she pouted playfully, to which Terra stole a quick kiss.

"Stop being so cute,” the bat mumbled, clearly teasing her wife. Manic eventually joined them but the king just kept working. Everyone needed a chance to calm down after everything that had happened. The emotions still stung, and having someone like Fao around who was so innocent and happy was something they all needed. Even if Scourge and Manic would get back to work soon. Even if the stress of whoever was after Aria was still heavy in the air. Hell, especially because of the stress. But ever brake had to end, and they were soon back to their work. "Uuuuhg." Manic made a noise of total annoyance and sunk into his chair. "I'm trying to find anything on Aria's people for any hints on like, who did that to her, and like- there's nothing. We can't really peek into the past or anything, either..." "We can’t ask anyone either. We can’t bring it up to her, and Damian wasn’t even in the country when it happened… Why would someone want to kill all of those people? What makes someone order a genocide? What did they do to warrant this kind of treatment?”

The king grew frustrated, rubbing his temples. “Let’s have Fao ask to go back to the forest. Maybe there’s clues there. He can distract Aria, while we snoop around.”

He looked at the empty list of suspects and felt horrible. "Yeah, we'll go and..." Manic stopped mid sentence. The same awkward thought was shared through the room. "Uh, maybe Scourge should stay away from there?" He was missing a chance to see his son, but lord knows what would happen to him or his son if they went to her homeland after what he did. "I'll keep looking up these last few guys here..." He didn't give any blatant signs he was sad, but this newfound anger was more than enough to tell them what was going on. Manic huffed and walked up to his husband, hugging the grump from behind and giving a half goofy glare over Scourge's shoulder. "We'll get him out with you sometime, alright? Tomorrow, if this stuff goes well?" Scourge said nothing, but was definitely moved by the statement at least a little. Manic backed away and strolled back towards the door, whispering to the king, "he's always asking to go outside, this'll be a cakewalk." With very little bribing, Faolán followed the plan to the dot, begging Aria to go see the forest again. He even used the puppy dog eyes. Terra escaped as she had to go to work, leaving Aria to fight his adorableness alone.

“Oh fine! We can go! Just stop the eyes please!” She faked flopping onto her bed dramatically. Aria packed up her things, told Fiona where they were going and they were off.

“What else is there here?” Fao asked, holding Aria's hand and looking around the trees.

“Well there’s some flowers, the river… Some cool rocks.” She listed things that might interest him, but they came across of field of poppies and geraniums. For some reason Aria paled and stopped, choosing instead to lead Fao around the flowerbed quickly. His gazed focused on those flowers for a couple of seconds, but there was so much to see in the forest that he was easily distracted from it. Once again, he was rushing through the woods to look at whatever interesting thing Aria would show him next. Following behind were Manic and Scourge, walking at a slower pace and falling behind Aria intentionally. "Where should we start?" Manic said. "I mean the graveyard's obvious, but she's acting kinda weird with these flowers, right?" “This is a good place I think…” He walked around the flower bed and into some trees, returning seconds later after inspecting their surroundings.

“Okay, so I know that the giant field over there was where they lived. And the graveyard is to the west. But something doesn’t make sense, why are these flowers here? They don’t grow in this area, the soil is too acidic. Most soil is. Rosy loves geraniums so Glare tried to grow some for her, but it didn’t work.”

He picked a flower, one of the poppies, and inspected it. Something wasn’t sitting right. Manic squatted down, looking closely at the soil. He couldn't see anything on the surface. "Look, talking here as a criminal... dead things release some kinda gasses or something that switch up the soil." The exact science well eluded him, but he knew the very basics. "It might be a dead mole or whatever, but it kinda looks like a body dump to me." The moment hung, as well as the implications. "Aria's not the type," Manic said. "May just be some kinda dead animal or whatever... I dunno, maybe I'm dead wrong. What are you thinking?" “I don’t think so… I mean, this is a big field. How many bodies would it take? I mean at least a hundred, maybe more-”

The king stopped for a second and looked out onto the field, suddenly disgusted in its beauty. Dropping the flower in disgust.

“Aria mentioned her family was celebrating when the attack happened. This is near a river, and I bet that when night falls this area is right under a constellation of some kind. This is where they were killed. All of them.”

The blood of culture stained the ground beneath their feet, and the kings quills fluffed slightly, in the same way they did when he was angry. Their companions were too far ahead for them to hear. All that left was a view of a large field and a cold silence. Striking cold. Like the spirits were sitting right there, chilling the air with every haunting motion. Maninc stepped on the grass, but not where these flowers grew. Careful, silent tiptoes around the trees where the grass was lighter, shorter, less vibrant. "I don't think Aria could handle coming back here too much. Especially not if no one else comes back here." It felt like stomping there would be sacrilege, but if it would help them, maybe they could forgive. "You think there might be something left behind? A remnant of the festival, an... anything?" “No. In fact, I don’t think the forest wants us here… Does that make sense?” The king asked, backing away from the field.

Manic could see something shining in the middle of the field. Something metallic. While he creeped around the edges of the flower patch, the king sat down to think on a large rock.

“Maybe the graveyard. Maybe… And I’m hoping I don’t get attacked by a tree for this, maybe it was an inside job?”

The trees stood quiet. It was just a theory worth considering. "I guess it's like... has this place always been so protected?" Manic couldn't help but ask. His gaze over the field yielded very few rocks and pebbles. "If yeah, then that's probably true."

Before he could get an answer, his head rolled around to crack his neck. "Alright, tree guys, I'm not trying to disrespect you or anything, it's for your own good... I'll be quick, promise!"

Thieving skills weren't all specialized. His footsteps were virtually silent as he hopped over the field of grass and flowers, careful to step on the very few rocks when he could, and touching the grass as little as possible. Whatever that object in the field was, he had to grab it quick and back out of there.

“The way Aria explains it, it’s like the graveyard always was protected but the rest of the land wasn’t. She told me a story about how her brother got shot in the shoulder by poachers. And she used the word "poachers”. Maybe it was their land and people just didn’t notice? But that answers no questions, and raises more. I think the graveyard will explain some things. What did you find?“

It was a simple bracelet, covered in dirt but otherwise free from rust. Three charms were pristine, and once washed in the river, shone brightly. The fourth was black. Tarnished. Clearly damaged on purpose.

"I’ve seen one of those before. Aria has one. I don’t know what it means though, we have to ask her.” The king shrugged. Manic didn't even look at the bracelet until he was next to the king, and off of the bloody field. He wasn't dead. That was good. But once he saw the bracelet, he was distracted from that little fear. "Uh... This is really nice. Like, REALLY nice." Manic dangled the bracelet in the air and watched it sparkle. "This is silver... not sterling purity or anything, but it's still pretty nice. And look at these charms..." The charms were distinctly shaped and carefully crafted by some kind of expert. A ginkgo leaf with a round blue stone - "blue agate," Manic said in a second. He could also recognize the tiny rose quartz stones on the lotus and dandelion charms. The fourth charm, the blackened charm, was a sunflower with it's gem removed. "This one ain't tarnished, it's all scratched up, too." Whatever this was, it must have meant something, as a nearby tree was starting to move, yet didn't seem angry. Manic immediately chucked the bracelet back to the field, back to the grass, and watched the tree slowly revert to it's old position. "It's gotta mean something if the trees are keeping it safe..." Manic said. "I mean, it's kind of a big hint, right? That's really nice, so it must've been someone rich. And one blue stone, two pink, I'm guessing they had two daughters and a son. And I mean... Aria's kinda left a gallery of everyone who's lived here, right?" "Right… And judging by that fourth charm, we are looking for a fourth child too. They had big families here, according to Aria. Four is smaller than average. We should be able to find them, but we still need Arias help. There’s a lot of people”

Aria and Faolán return to the field to look for the two, and Faolán ran up to the two men. “Aria just showed me the coolest tree! Come and see it!” He insisted, pulling on his step-father’s hand. The stopped and spotted the shiny bracelet in the field, rushing into the field and grabbing it, presenting it to Aria. The aforementioned tree stood still, silent.

“What’s this? Is it yours?” He asked, and Aria bent down to inspect it.

“Well sweetie, its a bracelet. Usually they’re made of silver or gold, and usually ones like this are given to mothers. Each charm is a child. My mother had one just like it.” Manic had to act like he didn't know what the field was about, for Aria's sake. Faolán's discovery was the perfect excuse. He ran over the flowers, still careful not to trample any and looked at the little bracelet. This was too perfect. "Wooooah, man, that's sweet!" Manic said, looking at the bracelet with genuine looking wonder. "But maybe we should leave it. Y'know, someone's mom might want it back." Not necessarily untrue. Lord knows what tree beast might want to hurt Manic for that. "Oh, look, it's a weird leaf!" He loved seeing new types of plants. The various flowers he could vaguely recognize, but the fan shaped leaf was totally new to him. "Who was the weird leaf kid?" Aria sat down on the ground to inspect the charms, thinking. Which family was this? There were so many friends she had lost it was tough to find a name.

"Tonic. His name was Tonic. I didn’t know him very well. But of what I remember he had a crush on my oldest sister. Then again, everyone had a crush on my older sister… The sisters are Milia and Erro, they were constantly in the water. Makes sense, they are all otters… ”

She looked intently at the forth charm, sighing. “This one was Leo. He was… Well. A little odd. But he used to babysit me so I can’t be too mean about him,” she shrugged, giving it back to Faolán.

“Why don’t we go find Miriam, that’s their mother, and give this back?” That was better news than they could have ever hoped for. She actually knew the family? And was even willing to walk them to the gravesite, at that? This had to come with some kind of catch. It was a catch Manic was quick to catch on to, digging out some paternal instincts as usual. Manic motioned to hand the bracelet back to the wolf, and spoke quietly to Aria. "You sure we should show him that place?" Manic asked. "He's still super young, dude." "He’s already figured it out. Fiona told him when he asked her.” She scooped up the little one and they walked over to the tree that had been shaking earlier. Aria bowed to the gorgeous birch which twisted at an odd angle, and took the bracelet from Faolán.

“Here’s your bracelet back,” the child squeaked, and Aria slid the charm onto a bough of the tree. The tree herself straightened out. Bright blue eyes shimmered in delight at watching the tree almost make peace as it's bracelet was returned. There were so many cool trees in this forest, Faolán couldn't help but feel delighted at seeing another!

"Guys! Guys, there's this beach, and- And there's a bunch of trees in a row, and two of them are next to each other and growing together!" The things that could happen in his life felt limitless. This just seemed like another fascinating thing about the world. "Wooooah, really?" Manic said, acting like he hadn't seen the gravesite on the beach before. "You go running there, we'll catch up." They weren't lying. The three were walking down the paths he ran down, but the real purpose was to get Faolán far enough ahead that he couldn't hear Manic's question. "Hey, you notice that one really jank charm?" Manic asked. "You know what's up with that?" "Yeah. Leo was exiled. His father was on his deathbed, and he tried to sell the land that we were still living on at the time. The girls were never the same, and Tonic took up the ownership of the land instead. Then when all to this happened I was the only one left, so the land fell to me... Miriam died of a broken heart.”

Aria caught up to her nephew of sorts, scooping Faolán up as he rambled on about the tree to his step father. The king fell behind, texting the information to Castillo.

As they approached the trees, several rustled their leaves, clearly displeased with the conversation. Aria stopped talking. Manic turned around and walked backwards, doing his best to look apologetic for the trees. "Sorry, guys," he whispered, "we'll stop." Once out on the beach, Manic knelt by his stepson, listening intently as the child pointed out all kinds of details, from tiny scratches to totally obvious observations. His talking constantly brought up climbing the tree, something Manic was quick to shoot down, not wanting to be the victim of a tree spirit attack. Silently, a messaged buzzed back to the king. {Get me a last name, I'll look him up)

{I don’t know if I can. Trying to keep Aria out of this.)

"Please don’t climb the trees sweetie, you could get hurt.” Aria insisted, listening just as intently as Manic and answering all of the questions the little boy had. One of the trees was a peach tree, and she harvested a few, washing them in the river and giving one to the boys.

She used her claws to peel and cut the peach, happily eating it. The tree that Faolán had taken an interest in rustled its leaves. Clearly enjoying attention. "I think it likes you," Manic joked. Fao was the only one who didn't realize that this was exactly the case, but he was young. He was allowed to be naive about the supernatural trees. "Why didn't you show me this earlier...?" He said in a half whiny tone, not really angry at all. "Oh yeah, dad! There's a really cool place we found camping! It was- There's a place in the forest over- in there, and there are all kinds of fruit on the ground, and- and there are a bunch of beetle bugs eating them all!" They were certainly distinct types of beetles. Also the type that had a tenancy to fly straight towards people's faces. "Aria, can we go to the beetle place?" "Alright. But if the beetles wanna say hi to your face, that’s all on you munchkin.” She got up and walked with Faolán over to the beetle area.

“Hey, maybe in the fall when all the trees are making fruit , you can come and help me pick them all? We can make some jam from it all” she offered Fao and Manic.

Scourge pulled Manic aside. “We need a last name. But none of these trees are labelled… How on earth are we gonna find this guy? I don’t wanna ask Aria but…” Faolán and Aria were distracted enough to have a quick few words. The beetle patch could be heard chirping and making noises from a short distance, and already, a beetle with a metallic purple shine was flying straight at Fao's face. Rather than Aria's disgust, he was delighted at getting to see a bug up close, trying to catch it into his little paws and examine all the tiny details of the bug. "You go back and check that bracelet, maybe it's carved in there or something." Manic shrugged. "That's his mom, right? Maybe see if you can get her to write the name in the dirt with their roots or something? Uh... Just play along, act like you're gonna be noble and head back for me. I wanna stick with the little dude for a bit." Immediately, he was patting his head, down to his vest. "Craaaap, I think my earring came off." Manic said. Sure enough, the post in his ear was now empty. "I mean... I had it by the tree, I know! Uh, I'm gonna head back there and-" Aria raised a brow at the conversation, but at Manics statement about looking for an earring, she relaxed and watch Faolán try to catch a bug.

"I’ll get it dude, no worries” the king offered and walked back to the tree. He bowed to her, formally.

“My lady, could you help us? We think that Aria may be in danger. In fact, your son may be in danger too and he may not know it. We need to find him but we can’t without his full name.” The tree ruffled her leaves and pointed at her husband’s tree. An apple tree. The king looked a little confused.

An apple was thrown at his head.

“Okay! Guess its Apple?” More leaves rustling, another apple thrown. “Ow! Or… Wait a minute you guys don’t speak English… Okay, thank you!” Not English... what were all these names derived from again? Latin? The message was sent off to Castillo, and his search with this new information began again. Someone had to be out there, right? In a way, the king had to be thankful he didn't stay with the child, as there weren't any beetles curious about the random passersby approaching him. When he'd come back, Manic had had enough insects pelting his face, and the sight of Scourge running back was a more than welcomed sign. "You find it?" He asked casually, standing in front of Scourge so Aria couldn't see him passing off the earring to him. "Yeah, here. Man, Lady Miriam has some good aim.” He tossed Aria an apple and “gave back” the earring.

“The bugs must like you,” he joked, receiving a text from Castillo.

{I can’t find it. Try asking her what apple actually is)

“Hey Faolán, did you know Aria has her own language?” He started, motioning for Manic to play along. Fao seemed interested. "Riiight!" Manic perked up like he had just remembered. "Yeah, that's why we can't talk to like, the spirits here or whatever, they don't understand us talking. But they can understand Aria!" "Woooah, is it like a secret code?" Fao said. He was holding onto one particularly large bug, a gold-hued beetle with a long horn he wanted to keep. "What's the word for beetle bug?" "Its just a language sweetie. Just like English. Bug is cimex. And apple is malum. And adorable is venerandum”

She booped his nose playfully, clearly thinking nothing of the king’s sudden texting to Castillo. Hopefully that name would give them a hit in the national database.

As Aria rambled on, some of the trees rustled their leaves, clearly happy to hear her speak in that native tongue. They technically had what they came here for, but Manic's husband WAS on the case right then. They could definitely take a quick break to stop investigating and enjoy time with Faolán, who was not holding the golden beetle in his hands and petting it with one finger like it was a very small dog. "Oooooh, look at that little dude!" Manic said excitedly, kneeling down to look at the beetle. "You're trying to keep him, ain't you? Sweet, man, you got a cage for it?" "I can just- I can put it in a box!" He said, as though that was much of an answer to the problem. "And I'll give it water, and- what do they eat? Leaves?" Manic tilted his head to look at Scourge with a smile that belied he had absolutely no idea what beetles ate, and was desperately hoping Scourge had some kind of an answer. Aria stepped in. "Fao sweetie, I don’t think its a good idea. He’s probably got a little beetle family to take care of. It might be best for you to leave him here. We can always come back and visit him!”

The look she gave the boys hinted that something about the beetle made it a bad pet. Faolán put it down reluctantly.

“Okay aria… Bye beetle!” He waved and the bug burrowed into the soil at the base of a tree. Aria shivered a little. "Tell you what, buddy." Manic knelt down, pulling out his phone and pointing it at some of the beetles nearby. "I'll go to all kinds of pet stores, and see if I can't find any of these dudes for sale." Golden horned beetles. Shimmering metallic beetles. Beetles that almost seemed pearlescent. For a bug lover like Faolán, this was paradise. Even to a casual observer like Manic, this was a vaguely pretty assortment of screeching disgusting bugs. Faolán's little journey through the area was joined by all the other travel companions, having gotten what they came for. Anything that warranted anything from a "woah" to a "look!" was stopped at to satisfy his curiosity. Fao didn't need to be caught in all their drama, he was happy doing what he was going. And they were happy to be along for the ride. ◇        ◇        ◇        ◇ The results of Scourge's search had been laid out plainly for the other two hedgehog. "Nothing." Head in hand, Scourge sat, not sure what to say. "He appeared in the city when Ari would've been young, then his name never comes up again." "Did you search everywhere? Social media, job application websites, marriage certificates, name changing forms, death certificates?” The king asked, rubbing his chin. Where was this guy? You don’t just drop off the face of the planet.

Aria had carried Faolán upstairs and they thought she was still up there. Really she was hiding in the hall, listening to the boys talk. Why were they looking into a disowned teenager? What could he have done wrong?

“Don’t give up. We need to find this guy. Either he’s the cause of all this or he’s in danger.” Scourge huffed, looking at the computer screen again. "Didn't see any name changes from his last sighting, but someone was still paying rent on his old place." Manic and him were thieves, and they knew enough about these kinds of disappearances. "No deaths or marriages or nothing, neither. You ask me, he's going under a fake name." "Greeeeat." It was all Manic could think to say. "I mean... Alright, he was paying rent, so he was still in town, right? Maybe... Okay, this could be a long shot, but can you look up names that just appeared? He's a newbie at this stuff, he had to leave some kinda paper trail." His eyes sparked up. "Who was still paying rent? Who was living in that place after he 'left'?" Castillo checked and raised a brow. "Just one name. Insignis Satis… What does that mean?”

Aria stepped out from behind the wall. “It means "very noticeable”… What’s going on? Why are you guys looking into someone I think is dead?“

Terra was behind her, holding her waist. It looked comforting but it was for the boys' protection. There were many looks shared between the three of them. Looks of confusion, questioning, fear. The kinds of looks that only told Aria she wasn't going to like the answer. Manic only had to step forward for Castillo to interject with a "Wait, Manic." Manic wasn't deterred, she was worth learning the truth. "There's kinda a lot there. We've been looking at- Bobtail's an assassin. He was hired to kill you, but changed his mind for his own reasons." The words would hurt, but she deserved an honestly explanation. "We're looking at, like... We think he might know who hired Bobtail, but we can't find him." Not a dishonest answer, just not the full story. Manic's specialty. “Leo? You think a kid who probably doesn’t even remember me tried to have me killed? Why would he do that? I have nothing of value.”

Terra made a move to scold her wife but aria help her hand up for silence. “You know what I mean.” Whoops. Half lies had only gotten them so far, it was time to break out the big lies. "Look... We know when businesses are just crime fronts," Manic told her. "And before he just dropped off the map, he was hitting up a lot of them. Like... a LOT. It looks like he accidentally got caught in some illegal stuff, and didn't really have a way out of it." "Kid gets exiled, he's talking with criminals, and weeks later your people get attacked." Scourge leaned forward. "Don't seem like a coincidence to me." “Why… I knew he was mad at his dad but why on earth would he try and kill me… ” She paused, seemingly concerned. “Wait… He was banished for a reason he… His dad was dying and he wanted his inheritance early… He would have inherited the land I own now…” Aria mind was running faster than anyone could keep up as she chose to switch to mumble in her native tongue to herself. "We aren't saying he wants you dead, man." Manic comforted her. There were many explanations, but that wasn't the one he was thinking of. "We doubt he'd wanna see you all dead, especially if he was friendly to y'all. We're saying, he must have let something slip. He probably knows who's responsible for this crap, they'd be the people who hired Bobtail." Scourge wasn't assuming the same innocence, not for a second. This was pure malice in his own mind. He didn't dare say a word, not wanting to be on the receiving end of Aria's fury. “He tried to sell the land we were living on. He had a multi million dollar deal in the works but Tonic found out about it and their father banished him before he died. The company he tried to sell to also tried to claim the land as theirs, but I managed to win that case because they woke up the guardians… If Leo… If he killed me and Terra, he would inherit the land according to customs…”

She wrapped herself in her mates embrace and the bat hugged her tightly, trying to comfort. She wasn’t listening to Manic. Another round of looks, before a concise statement. "I'll find that case," Scourge said, "Gotta find that company." Where on the spectrum of fear and anger did Aria fall, Manic couldn't tell. But she definitely needed some comfort, and anything he could offer could at least be progress. "Woah, Ari... Ari, you want us to get you like, a drink or anything?" His attempt at acting businesslike was over, shifting straight back into being a friend. "You gonna be okay?" “I… I don’t know…” She stuttered out, clinging tightly to her wife. Terra tried to calm her with little kisses, and it worked, at least slightly.

“We should call Damian… He shouldn’t be a target but I wanna tell him.” Aria insisted as the king and Castillo got to work.

It took a while but they found a clipping from a newspaper about a bunch of businessmen attacked by a monster in the woods, and a tiny Aria stating that the monster would only listen to her or anyone she deemed worthy of control. "We've got people with connections to him, we've got a name, we've got a description, we've got everything a criminal's supposed to hide." Manic was satisfied with this information. "That's a hell of a lot to start a search with." The search, of course, could be held out by field officers, random schlubs from the police, it didn't quite matter who was asking the questions. What did matter was who was talking to Aria, and there was one person who knew exactly what to say to Aria. Nothing. Faolán saw the blubbering eyes, and sat down in Aria's lap for her comfort. Aria snuggled him close, cooing at him. “Shouldn’t you be in bed cutie pie?” She was thankful for him thought, and made sure he knew it. She hated having to lean on him for support. He was a child. He didn’t need to see any of her trauma. She wiped her tears quickly and tried to hide it. “You’ve got school tomorrow pup.” "It's summer!" He said with a laugh. Or were the adults just playing a joke on him at this point. The laughing was the least he could do. There were many ways to approach trauma, and he got his own way from his father; keep the mood light, no matter what. His gaming device was left sitting next to Aria, but if she didn't want to play, it was staying off. Manic creaked the door open, balking immediately when he saw Aria sitting with his son. They did look peaceful, but it was getting late. "Sorry, buddy, you've gotta get to sleep, don't wanna be tired for school." "Guuuys!" He said with an amused, annoyed groan. Aria giggled, faking it. He didn’t need to know that though, as she scooped him up and nuzzled him, purring.

“Still, pups have bedtimes. Off to bed you go." She gave him his game and ushered him to his father for him to be put to bed.

She was tired, and laid on the couch, rubbing her eyes. "Hey." Long after Manic had left, there was a voice from the door. Castillo creaked it open wider, stepping in slowly. Things were still far too tense for anything like this, but Scourge didn't feel like he had a choice. He at least had experience with these kinds of emotions. "Thought you'd wanna talk to someone" was all he could think to say. He sat in a chair a short distance from Aria, the awkward air hanging for a few more seconds after that. But he tried being patient, waiting for Aria to say something, even if it was just 'get the hell out.' “Everyone keeps getting hurt because of me.” She started, an almost random thought. She reached to play with her wedding ring, and only felt guilty.

“Terra has almost died so many times because of me… And you and Scourge and Manic and Fiona aren’t safe either… Maybe I should look for Leo on my own. It would be safer. No one would get hurt.” "I don't know what those trees were," Scourge admitted, "but those hings were some kinda supernatural beast. They couldn't kill me, some asshole with an inheritance ain't gonna get me. So I'm searching." It wasn't an option in his mind, after how much he'd screwed up. "Ain't your fault what some moth or some kid you didn't know did. You were closer to most of that pain than any of us, don't blame yourself for being a victim." “Well those trees were my family, and they almost killed you, and they could and would have if I hadn’t said not to. And all of this is just stemming from me. Literally everything is my fault.”

She buried her face in a pillow, wanting all of the pain and stress to go away. She just wanted a normal life, a normal family. Scourge had heard these kinds of thoughts many times before. From Manic, from himself, even from Fiona years before. So he knew what to say. "Yeah, your actions are gonna cause pain. That's life." As blunt as the words were, he didn't condescend on Aria. "And if you're trying to do good, you're gonna do good. And you've already done a lot for all of us." This was punctuated with Scourge leaning forward, resting his arms on his knees and looking at Aria. "Can't save the world, kid. I've done shit worse than anything you think you've done. You're trying to be a good guy. You're doing fine." “I put you, Manic, Fiona, Faolán, even my WIFE in danger. I can’t forgive myself for that.”

She sighed as he his speech did what it was supposed to. Covering her face she groaned. “I hate that your right. It doesn’t make the mood go away though.”

Well, that was as close as he was gonna get. "Sleep on it, Ari." Scourge assured her. "We forgive you. Your the only one holding out." The sound of the door clicking shut was immediately followed by both hedgehogs sighing. Scourge bucked up and marched onward. He had a criminal to catch. What he instead ended up catching was Faolán as he rocketed down the hall, the king watching from the door with a thinking look on his face. "Dad, dad!" He squealed, holding up Manic's phone and showing Scourge his photos of the beetles. "I put them on that bug site I like, and- And I told them about them, and no one knows what they are! What any of them are! They said they want me to catch some!" "That's... real neat, kid." The beetles didn't look normal to him. The colors on their backs were all bright, ranging from metallics to smooth patterns to even backs that almost looked crystaline. Faolán saw the momentary interest in his eyes and immediately tried milking that opportunity. "Now I HAVE to have a pet bug! It's super rare and they'd all be jealous!" The king followed and gave Castillo a look that showed his son's plan was a bad idea.

“I don’t know about that buddy, but we have to ask Aria once she gets up. She would know more about the beetles than anyone.” The king stated, and the three returned to the main room where the search for the criminal was underway.

“They eat magical rotting flesh. I doubt anyone wants to try and find a source of that," the king whispered to his alternate. "Magical flesh...." The words dangled there, and Scourge immediately knew the answers to all the questions he didn't want to ask. "Sure looks pretty for a flesh-eating bug mutant." There were many angles of attack on this. Who was there they could ask, what might give them information, what could they do? Fao's photos gave his dad an idea the more he looked over just how bizarre these bugs were. "These beetles look real magical. Seems like you'd need a hell of a lot of magic to do this." He could only guess, but something like this had to be hard to do. "A lot of people'd wanna use that kinda magic themselves." “That doesn’t help us… We need to find this guy and we need specifics. There’s no other properties with his name, so he isn’t paying rent on the books… Is anyone else here thinking that he couldn’t have done this on his own?”

With Faolán in the room, his word choice was limited, but he heavily implied the genocide was more than a one man job.

“That land is steeped in magic. Heavily steeped. The forest is leeching off of it, and it's the reason those bugs are rare. Aria said they started showing up when she was younger, just after that thing happened.” "What if..." Manic stood up, looking down in thought and moving his hands in circles as he tried to find the words. "So, after all that, a bunch of magic was released into the forest, right? And now there are magic bugs and plants and stuff, right? Could magic have gotten into whoever did this?" "And we're looking for Ari's clan. She said the family's otters, right?" For once, he started to grin, finally having a solution. "We're looking for an otter with claws an' some kind of magic powers. If they did that, they've probably got a police record under some other name." “Well, yeah, but how do we find him? That record could be from years ago. He could have left the country. He could be anywhere…” The king mused.

“What about facial recognition software? If Aria has a photo we can use it, age him and put it through!” Terra suggested.

“How long would that take?” The king asked, skeptical. "Aging the photo?" Manic huffed, humored. "No time at all. It'd take few minutes to comb local records if we know his species, we'd just gotta compare the photo to those. But like, if he could be anywhere in the kingdom, I dunno..." Castillo stood up, a plan already in his mind. "Get every station to find every record of otter arrests we can, send up anyone who'd be in the age range. And get that photo aged." Manic leaned back, smug as he thought up another part to the plan. "Maybe... I mean, we don't wanna dig up more bad memories for Ari, right? Maybe Damian'd have a photo instead? Or maybe Aria's sketched him already?" The king bit his lip. “We would have to go through her things. She wouldn’t let us… Unless…”

Everyone collectively looked at Terra who sighed. “I’ll try my best.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Wake up beautiful,” the bat cooed as Aria got up. Kissing her gently and making the hedgie purr.

“Morning sweetheart.” Aria sighed, pulling the bat down on top of her, content.

“I was thinking… With all this stuff going on about your family… Maybe we should go look at that trunk of your mom’s things? It might make you feel better.” She brushed her hair back and smiled. Aria nodded, snuggling up to her. The trunk itself was an old, well organized stash of memories, bitter and horrifying and warm alike. The fabrics were ones Aria knew like the back of her hands, lovingly handcrafted patters with tiny mistakes in the patterns from the delicate hand crafting process. Even just the strange smell of them carried the air of the forest, a nostalgic kind of scent that has never quite been replicated since. And there was even her mother's own bracelet. All mothers had their own ways of representing their children, some literal, some more figurative, some with wishes for the child. But none of them could mean the same as little trinkets Aria could remember playing with as a little girl. And there it was. By a mass of letters and photos. Aria, maybe seven or eight, with two male otters older than her. It didn't directly say that these were Tonic and Leo, but for as small as Aria's homeland was, it was hard to believe there would be two sets of similarly aged otter brothers in her clan. Though maybe asking would be best... Aria opened a separate box, which contained a bracelet like her mother’s, devoid of charms.

“This one is supposed to be mine.” She told her wife, who smiled fondly at her and kissed her cheek. The promise of ‘someday’ hung in the air. Aria grabbed the stack of photos and started going through them.

“This one is of me and my baby sister, Carrissimi. She’s was so small when she was born. So delicate. She would have been as beautiful as our oldest sister.” Aria held out a photo of a herself with a gapped tooth smile, holding a baby .

She noticed Terra's fixation on the otters in the photo and sighed. “Yes, that’s them. The shorter one is Leo. The guy whose shoulders I’m sitting on is Tonic… Its a shame really. They were so nice to me.” She gave her mate the photo with a sad smile.

“I know this is what you were looking for. You can go bring it to Manic now.” She implied that her mate didn’t want to hear about her family. The bat wasn’t happy about that and set the photo aside, snuggling up to her mate.

“So who is the old man?” She asked, about the next photo in the pile. It would be at least an hour before they finished going through the chest. And in that hour, they had managed to get all the records they needed. Arrests of otters with a broad range of birthdates, collected from most every city they could contact. Sorting through the files was going to be a long process, but with facial recognition software and a photo of the suspect, they would easily be able to find him if he was in any of those records. They just needed that photo. Terra would come back with it eventually, and Scourge reached out for it impatiently. "Perfect," he said, handing it over to the king. "She getting suspicious?" “She figured it out. There’s no use hiding it from her. The guy you want is the short one.” She motioned to the photo, and the king scanned in a picture of him for Manic and Scourge to edit and search for.

It wasn’t a surprise to anyone that Aria figured it out. She was smart. These were also her people. She knew then better that anyone.

Of course, that didn’t stop Terra from calling Damian and asking him to warp over to the castle in order to keep him and his family safe. Manic did all the hard work with programs, compiling data and photos, figuring out settings for the facial recognition software. Castillo mostly watched and did any grunt work Manic needed immediately, which wasn't much. "Hey, Scourge." It took Manic a moment to wave his hands and clarify "no, no, not you, the king." His gold eyes were full of hope. Fear and worry, but glimmering hope that they almost had some answers. "What do you wanna tell Ari? If we find him, I mean?" “Keep his location a secret. If she knows where he is she’s gonna walk right into his trap. Instead, we wait until we have a team of operatives sent out. And then we tell her. Keeps her safe and involved.”

Terra nodded. It was a solid plan. Aria wouldn’t be happy, but she would understand. “She says he’s got tracking powers, but they’re limited. No offensive magic”

“Good. That might help. Write down everything she told you. It’ll help the task force.” Maybe Aria could help the task force, but they were going to have to wait for the results to arrive. So until the results came through, they anxiously waited and waited... ding A tiny noise from the large projection screen caught everyone's attention. There was a match. And Manic couldn't have been faster to check out the results. "We've- we've got it! Four years ago- yeah, this is him!" The huddled crowd around the computer say a photo of someone. Name general face as the otter in the photo, just older. And it appeared he was using a pseudonym. "So he's going under "Milia Malum..." ding Another one? Manic didn't know what to make of it, but after a few moments of confusion, rushed to open the second case file. "Tonic Malum," he announced. "One month ago, it looks like, just an overnight stay for some bar fight." Malum, malum, he'd heard that name before... "He's using his sisters and brother's names as pseudonyms," he said. "Erro! Erro Malum, we're looking for someone with the name Erro Malum!"

"I’ve got an address! It’s apartments for a corporate building. And it seems like he’s been there this whole time! Every few years he cycles through names. Looks like the next cycle is gonna happen soon.” The king called out, dialing a number and sending out a tactical team to apprehend him. A video feed was brought up from a camera on an officers helmet.

“Go get Aria. This is it.” He told Terra, and the bat ran off. Seconds later she returned with her wife who was seeping with anger. She gripped the table with white knuckles and looked at the group of friends.

“Let’s do this.”

[little-lion-rampant-blog]

Autobiography by Alexander Hamilton

“My Dear Sir

Some days since I received with great pleasure your letter of the 10th. of March. The mark, it affords, of your kind attention, and the particular account it gives me of so many relations in Scotland are extremely gratifying to me. You no doubt have understood that my fathers affairs at a very early day went to wreck; so as to have rendered his situation during the greatest part of his life far from eligible. This state of things occasionned a separation between him and me, when I was very young, and threw me upon the bounty of my mothers relations, some of whom were then wealthy, though by vicissitudes to which human affairs are so liable, they have been since much reduced and broken up. Myself at about sixteen came to this Country. Having always had a strong propensity to literary pursuits, by a course of steady and laborious exertion, I was able, by the age of Ninteen to qualify myself for the degree of Batchelor of Arts in the College of New York, and to lay a foundation, by preparatory study, for the future profession of the law.

The American Revolution supervened. My principles led me to take part in it. At nineteen I entered into the American army as Captain of Artillery. Shortly after, I became by his invitation Aide De Camp to General Washington, in which station, I served till the commencement of that Campaign which ended with the seige of York, in Virginia, and the Capture of Cornwallis’s Army. This Campaign I made at the head of a corps of light infantry, with which I was present at the seige of York and engaged in some interesting operations.

At the period of the peace with Great Britain, I found myself a member of Congress by appointment of the legislature of this state.

After the peace, I settled in the City of New York in the practice of the law; and was in a very lucrative course of practice, when the derangement of our public affairs, by the feebleness of the general confederation, drew me again reluctantly into public life. I became a member of the Convention which framed the present Constitution of the U States; and having taken part in this measure, I conceived myself to be under an obligation to lend my aid towards putting the machine in some regular motion. Hence I did not hesitate to accept the offer of President Washington to undertake the office of Secretary of the Treasury.

In that office, I met with many intrinsic difficulties, and many artificial ones proceeding from passions, not very worthy, common to human nature, and which act with peculiar force in republics. The object, however, was effected, of establishing public credit and introducing order into the finances.

Public Office in this Country has few attractions. The pecuniary emolument is so inconsiderable as too amount to a sacrifice to any man who can employ his time with advantage in any liberal profession. The opportunity of doing good, from the jealousy of power and the spirit of faction, is too small in any station to warrant a long continuance of private sacrifices. The enterprises of party had so far succeeded as materially to weaken the necessary influence and energy of the Executive Authority, and so far diminish the power of doing good in that department as greatly to take the motives which a virtuous man might have for making sacrifices. The prospect was even bad for gratifying in future the love of Fame, if that passion was to be the spring of action.

The Union of these motives, with the reflections of prudence in relation to a growing family, determined me as soon as my plan had attained a certain maturity to withdraw from Office. This I did by a resignation about two years since; when I resumed the profession of the law in the City of New York under every advantage I could desire.

It is a pleasing reflection to me that since the commencement of my connection with General Washington to the present time, I have possessed a flattering share of his confidence and friendship.

Having given you a brief sketch of my political career, I proceed to some further family details.

In the year 1780 I married the second daughter of General Schuyler, a Gentleman of one of the best families of this Country; of large fortune and no less personal and public consequence. It is impossible to be happier than I am in a wife and I have five Children, four sons and a daughter, the eldest a son somewhat passed fifteen, who all promise well, as far as their years permit and yield me much satisfaction. Though I have been too much in public life to be wealthy, my situation is extremely comfortable and leaves me nothing to wish but a continuance of health. With this blessing, the profits of my profession and other prospects authorise an expectation of such addition to my resources as will render the eve of life, easy and agreeable; so far as may depend on this consideration.

It is now several months since I have heared from my father who continued at the Island of St Vincents. My anxiety at this silence would be greater than it is, were it not for the considerable interruption and precariousness of intercourse, which is produced by the War.

I have strongly pressed the old Gentleman to come to reside with me, which would afford him every enjoyment of which his advanced age is capable. But he has declined it on the ground that the advice of his Physicians leads him to fear that the change of Climate would be fatal to him. The next thing for me is, in proportion to my means to endeavour to increase his comforts where he is.

It will give me the greatest pleasure to receive your son Robert at my house in New York and still more to be of use to him; to which end my recommendation and interest will not be wanting, and, I hope, not unavailing. It is my intention to embrace the Opening which your letter affords me to extend intercourse with my relations in your Country, which will be a new source of satisfaction to me.”

- Alexander Hamilton to William Hamilton, May 2, 1797 (Founders Online)

So, this is probably the closest thing we'll have to an autobiography from Alexander Hamilton.

Some highlights and my thoughts:

- Hamilton, for Christ’s sake, stop excusing your deadbeat father. He. Abandoned. Your. Family! No excuse in the world for that. - It’s a wonder why he even bothers with the Hamilton family. He’s actually better off taking his mother’s surname instead for all the good his father and his family has done him. - Although, it’s cute that he refers to his father as the “Old Gentleman” (18th century equivalent of “old man”?). - Hamilton complaining about his low salary rate during his stint as the Secretary of Treasury. - Also, holding an office in the government? Don’t do it unless you’re stinkin’ rich. It will bankrupt you otherwise. - His actual daddies (George Washington and Philip Schuyler, not that useless waste of oxygen James Hamilton) also get glowing reviews in this letter. Good to see him finally thawing towards G. Wash as he's describing his relationship with him (or possibly name dropping. IDK). - His absolute joy about being the pater familias (“It is impossible to be happier than I am in a wife and I have five Children…”) is just so heartwarming <3.<br> - TBH, this reads like more like a resume rather than a short autobiography. Like, you don’t have to try too hard, Hammy! They heard all about you over there in Scotland, why do you think your uncle wrote your letter asking for a favor from you in the first place?? They never even attempted to contact you until you got famous, you know.

[63824peace]

Saturday, 29th of october 2005

Nasu has a foul temper this morning. The weather is awful.

Rain wasn't supposed to fall today according to the weather forecast, but it did anyway.

All of my conference meetings have ended at last. I finally have time to enjoy the day's recreational events. The Autumn Leaves of Nasu Festival happens today. We could have used some better weather for it.

Fog obscures and blanches the autumn leaves' colors. White leaves overlap the red leaves, and only white remains.

We salvaged the Rice Cake Making Event by moving it to a new location. We're all supposed to participate in this event and make rice cakes according to the traditional methods.

Hideo participated too! I tried to keep a steady pace while pounding rice cakes out of steamed rice. It's pretty tough keeping up with professional rice cake makers though.

We finished the rice cakes.

"Let's eat this with our favorite toppings: ground black sesame seeds, kinako, bean jam, grated Japanese radish, and natto."

My attention was so immersed in making rice cakes that I hadn't noticed the appearance of several new stalls. I saw that stalls had been prepared for Ramen, Oden, and Kenchin-jiru.

Kenichiro and Okamura slept deeply while I enjoyed these festivities. They didn’t budge from the karaoke machines last night! I had parted from them and returned to my room earlier in the evening. It looks like I made the right choice.

I exercised a little bit of self-control and omitted a certain photograph from this blog entry.

Rice cake making resumed once again! Everyone joined the pounding.

Nasu's weather returned to a better mood around noon. The world returned to its former beauty when the rain cleared. The sky smiled only moments after it had stopped weeping. Nasu became a newborn infant.

I decided to walk around some of the nearby areas when my stomach got full. Mr. Muraoka and Okamura joined me.

The three-day conference concluded with a horseback archery event.

I owe a large amount of gratitude to many people as usual: the administration, the management department, and the campus staff. Thank you so much everyone. I appreciate everything greatly.

A game developer's true work lies in entertaining people. In that sense, we are accustomed to making people happy. Our position reverses every time we come to Nasu though. We are always the ones made happier.

They really treat us with heartfelt care and ensure our satisfaction.

Nasu's Autumn Leaves Festival captivated us with its beauty, yet the event staff's attention to service also dazzled us. They were superb ; an excellent support staff. They slipped in and out of events without calling attention to their presence. They became as slick and inconspicuous as the shadows of those who they supported. Suffice to say, all this is easier said than done.

No one has a universal manual with directions that explain how to ease a person's heart and mind. People are genuinely hard to please and entertain. Everyone is different, including the audiences who we face when developing our games. Tastes, hobbies, and preferences differ between each person. We all react with different emotions. Our work must meet the gamut of personalities.

I am always impressed by the environment and procedure of this conference. Today's event was especially marvelous though. They acted with excellent speed, decisiveness, and flexibility, but their heartwarming hospitality stuck out the most.

The unfortunate weather didn't even faze them. They moved forward with a back-up plan that still succeeded to surprise and entertain us. We were greatly pleased. Their hospitality was most evident through their magic shows, balloon art, and cosplay performances. That was real entertainment.

I enjoyed myself fully despite the rain. In fact, I believe that I owe even the rain a bit of thanks too. It caused the things that pleased me most: what it revealed about our hosts' abilities, and Nasu's transformation from rain to shine.

The event staff waved after us while our bus left for the train station. They waved until we couldn't see each other anymore. They truly reminded me of the value of true hospitality. They provided irreplaceable, priceless support.

A video game is a type of service too. We offer our gaming audience a digital variant of hospitality.

I swore an oath as I left Nasu. "I must make a good game!" I swore my oath so that I would remember these feelings.

A thought occurred to me on the bus. Nasu's event staff was more entertaining and hospitable than my development staff! Perhaps I could make a game with the event staff instead. I bet that we could make something good and entertaining.

I slept soundly as the bus arrived at the Nasu-Shibara station. We really were in the thick of the tourist season. People packed the station, and many cars filled the rotary.

I looked toward the station's souvenir shop when I exited the bus. I saw something sparkle inside. How surprising! Sparkle-Badges were displayed in the shop, even though they hadn't been there two days earlier!

The stock was smaller than the number on sale three weeks ago. Still, there's no doubting that these were the same items. The tourists coming into town to see the autumn leaves must have bought out the store's stock before. I couldn't miss this opportunity.

I chose a white guitar model out of the many Sparkles available.

"I'll take this please!"

A young woman working in the store said, "All right! Let me check and make sure that it works correctly.

She pulled one from the inventory. She thoroughly and kindly explained how to change the batteries, how to make it sparkle, and how to wear the badge. She even wore it on her jacket as a demonstration before she was through.

I was really glad that someone took such care to explain something thoroughly and carefully. Hardly anyone takes time these days to explain a product's operation like she did, not even in high-tech electronics stores. Those clerks won't give a decent answer even if they're asked directly.

A shopkeeper's spirit penetrates a customer's thoughts. Herein lies the charm of a small business. They take the time to explain even cheap merchandise thoroughly. I could intuit the pleasure that she received from selling goods, and in this way I could share her work's pleasure. This is another variant of hospitality.

I felt good about the whole experience.

"Is she the same saleswoman who I saw three weeks ago?" I asked myself. She certainly showed a similar passion for her work. I checked my diary notes to read what I had written three weeks ago.

I noticed that I had written this: "I stared at the badges and then my eyes connected with those of an old woman who worked in the shop. She explained that dead batteries could be replaced with new ones in this particular model."

An old woman? Wait a second!

Let me correct something: she is not an old lady, but rather a young woman. I had observed and remembered people through a private veil of negativity that day. I consequently recorded the saleswoman as an old lady. Yet she appeared as a young woman today because I received such warm hospitality.

I finally had my hands on Nasu's local specialty, the Sparkle-Badge! I triumphantly mounted the train platform. Matsuhanan had been watching me while I was in the souvenir shop. He called me to his side.

"You bought one of those badges too, Director?"

"Matsuhanan . . . you have one?"

"Yes, I bought mine in Roppongi Hills."

What!? So this means that they can be purchased anywhere!

We took the Nasuno248 train back to Tokyo.

I switched on my Sparkle-Badge inside the Shinkansen bullet train. The Sparkler bought in Nasu lit up our little traveling Nasu ; the Nasuno248.

I passed the time in the Shinkansen listening to HIM's album And Love Said No: Greatest Hits 1997-2004. I almost cried when I listened to the track titled In Joy and Sorrow.

Something occurred to me as I listened to the track's lyrics. Both the title and the lyrics could serve as a theme song for the relationship between The Boss (Joy) and The Sorrow.

Night had fallen when we arrived at the Hills. Everything was totally dark. The Subsistence and MGA2 teams are peaceful and calm, which is typical for the final development phase.

They seem OK, but I can't let them relax just yet. We'll have trouble if our staff members start flitting away like autumn leaves. Okamura is passing out large sized poporon (only available in Nasu) to the team members.

I took care of documents pending my approval and other paperwork. I had left these items alone when I put priority on my conference in Nasu.

I took my luggage for three days and two nights home. I'll head there to sleep early tonight.

[tvserieshub]

Bing bang boom, bye-bye Fiona. Just like that, we have ourselves a finale. Tonight’s finale is dedicated to Emmy Rossum as she departs from Shameless after playing the lead, Fiona, for 9 years. As we say goodbye to Fiona, the family deal with their own issues, cementing Fiona’s realization that they don’t need her anymore and it is time for her to leave.

The episode kicks off with Fiona staring at the $100 000 check that Max wrote for buying her out of the zoning deal. She’s quit her job at the gas station and uses some the money to pay the fine for for assaulting her neighbor, and also leaves a check for half of it for the family. The check is made out to Debbie, as Fiona knows Debbie will be the one to step up and care for the household, much like she has been doing in the last few episodes.

As much as this episode is a good-bye, it seems a bit out of place. The title “Found” speaks to Fiona finally finding her peace and the episode follows in such, having a very calm tone. For the first time in her life, nothing is turbulent. She knows the right thing for her to do is leave, start anew, even she doesn’t know exactly where and what to do yet.

None of the drama and chaos of the previous episodes of trying to keep the household together exists in this episode, and everyone seems completely and immediately on board with Fiona leaving. As Fiona observes the family around her, she notices how much none of them need her. This has been the case for a long time but seems especially set up to encourage her to leave. That being said, the show could have done a lot more with Fiona’s goodbye, as they’ve known for a long time that Emmy Rossum was going to leave. The episode “Lost” and Found could have been a two-parter instead of having her good-bye set up as a lucky break at the end of the last episode.

Frank, confined to couch and driving everyone crazy, is still trying to get oxy, his intake of which is being carefully monitored by Debbie. The family take turns caring for him and eventually make plans to find him a healthcare worker. As for Frank and Fiona, they share very few words. After an entire episode of Frank mentoring Fiona, and after 9 years of Fiona constantly trying to kick Frank to the curb, I was expecting him to say more about his eldest leaving. Frank tells Fiona that she did a good job, stepping in where Monica couldn’t, but Fiona says she didn’t just step in – she did everything. Although at a lack for words, we can see that Frank is affected by her leaving – she did the job which he could never, picked up the slack and raised an entire family and now she has grown up and is about to get out of the South Side with a fresh start.

In this episode, Liam is discovering just how different he is from his family and what that means. When Debbie finds him at Todd’s house, he tells her he is feeling a disconnect from his cultural identity and knows nothing about his racial heritage. The Gallagher’s have always accepted Liam regardless of the fact that he looks a little different than the rest of him because he is their family and they accept and support him. However, Liam’s struggles with his identity goes hand-in-hand with feeling unnoticed and marginalized in the Gallagher household, as he doesn’t feel like he fits in. He tells Debbie he has moved out and that he is denouncing his Gallagher name.

What does not seem at all right though, is Fiona leaving without checking on Liam. Liam is still in her legal care, and she has in all regards raised him since he was a baby. Out of all the Gallagher’s, Liam is the only one not working, dealing with relationship drama, or trying to figure out what to do with his life next. Having received some really good private school education and always staying out of trouble, Liam is the only Gallagher on the genuine straight and narrow, with a really good prospects of doing great things in his future.

Fiona has raised the entire Gallagher family, but the difference between raising Liam and the others is that they were all old enough to understand Frank and Monica were deadbeat parents who could never be around to depend on. Liam has only ever known Fiona as a parental figure, and no matter what is going on, everyone always made sure to take care of the youngest, most impressionable Gallagher.

When Fiona visits Ian in prison, she tells him Liam might be missing, as casually as mentioning what drama’s the other Gallagher’s have been up to. Liam has never been the one to get into any trouble, so him suddenly missing should be a big worry. She doesn’t make an effort to find him – this instead is a role which Debbie assumes throughout the episode, which is a set-up for her to take charge of the family.

After so much of Fiona’s criminal life being related to Liam – her going to prison and for leaving cocaine out on which he overdosed and punching the woman who was racist toward him – one would think we would have seen more of a goodbye with Liam.

Our favorite ginger makes an appearance when Fiona goes to visit Ian in prison, and I could not be happier! Cameron Monaghan’s guest role in the finale was no surprise, as the show wouldn’t send Fiona off without seeing Ian. Ian tells Fiona to leave, to get as far away from the South Side as she can, and of all the characters, this seems like the most genuine reaction. Ian has been the only Gallagher who has been close to actually leaving – back in season 7 when he almost left with Mickey to go to Mexico. He is the only one who knows what it feels like to actually have the opportunity, the freedom to feel as if he could just leave.

Prison doesn’t seem like it’s been treating Ian too awful. As far as we can tell, him and Mickey are still an item (don’t worry Gallavich stans), which leaves the door open for Mickey’s return as well. While we do absolutely adore Gallavich and love Mickey, his return is not confirmed. Noel Fisher has not mentioned anything, and neither has Shameless showrunners. However, we absolutely adore Ian and couldn’t be more excited to see what’s in store for Ian now that Cameron Monaghan’s return in season 10 is confirmed.

Carl, still feeling heart-broken and rejected, is completely demotivated and has no idea what to do next in his life. He decides to quit military school, after feeling like his life has amounted to nothing – he tells Debbie that he is a loser with terrible education and has a family history of drug and alcohol abuse that is bound to catch up with him at some point. Carl has given up and completely doubts himself. He feels like the best life will ever get for him is having his job at Captain Bob’s – this coming after Captain Bob offers him an assistant manager job with good pay.

This time, it is Debbie who sets aside her feelings and helps Carl. She confronts Kelly for breaking Carl’s heart and blames her rejecting him for Carl’s decision to quit military school.  Kelly arrives at Captain Bobs’ and full on tackles Carl, announcing that he quits working there. She convinces Carl to go back to school, and the two make up when she tells him she still has feelings for him.

Lip and Tammi continue their back-and-forth fight as to what will happen with their baby. While Lip is clearly pushing for Tammi to have the child, she pushes back even harder. After learning that she does have the breast cancer gene that her mother had, albeit the ‘baby good’ kind in which having a child can diminish her chances of having a child, Tammi is even more conflicted as to what to do. She doesn’t want to die when the child is young, just like her mother did, and isn’t comforted by the thought of Lip raising a child either. With his struggles with alcoholism and smoking, Tammi doubts that Lip could live very long either to be the best kind of father.

Eventually Tammi tells Lip that she has decided to carry the baby to term but wants to give it up for adoption – a decision which doesn’t sit well with Lip, and the two are back to square one. Lip and Tammi aren’t in love with each other, and the fate of their relationship seems dependent on what happens with the baby.

When the family discover Fiona is leaving, they decide it is a necessity to throw her a party and take off to get supplies. Fiona, however, decides to leave before they return. When Lip returns to find her gone, he smiles and we can see he is happy for her – she’s finally committed to going, to finding her own happiness. Along with the check Fiona left was a note, saying simply, “Love you”, and everyone enjoys the party in celebration for her. Even Ian, from the prison basketball grounds, stares up at a plane – presumably the one Fiona boards with her one tiny suitcase – which is taking off and smiles.

“Take care of ’em for me, will you?”

All in all, although not the best execution, this episode was very heartfelt. To see Fiona move on with her life after all that she has been through, and to watch the family be happy for was very heartwarming. Fiona deserves to be happy, and after 9 season’s we say goodbye and thank you to Emmy Rossum for playing such an incredible character so well. With Fiona gone, Ian set to return, Lip facing possible fatherhood and Liam learning more about his culture, I am very excited to see what season 10 will bring.

#gallery-0-4 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-4 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-4 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-4 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

Hi there, thanks for reading! Watch this space for show updates and more, and we’ll see you in fall for season 10!

Shameless Season 9 Finale (S09E14) “Found” Bing bang boom, bye-bye Fiona. Just like that, we have ourselves a finale. Tonight’s finale is dedicated to Emmy Rossum as she departs from Shameless after playing the lead, Fiona, for 9 years. 1,703 more words