#HE STOLE THE NAME. RORY. CARRIE.

[innytoes]

JATP Gilmore Girls AU

Because apparently sooner or later I create a Gilmore Girls au for every fandom I am in... All the blame goes to @hawkguyhasstarbucks who sent me ‘emily patterson 🤝 emily gilmore’ and I have not known peace since.

-When Luke has Rory, he decides to name her Lorelai after himself. That way, there will still be a Lorelai in the family after he transitions so everyone can suck it.

-Luke is constantly baffled by his daughter being like, the opposite of him in every way. Except really she isn’t. He is all about music, she is all about books. He loves and supports her even if he doesn’t really get it.

-Luke still runs away to work at the Independence Inn. But besides cleaning rooms, he also mans the piano or guitar during dinner. If you tip well enough, he will play requests. If he thinks your request sucks, he will keep your money and play something better. If you want him to play Piano Man, it’s 100 bucks.

-Bobby, Rory’s father, did not run away with them even though Luke asked him to. When Luke is cleaning rooms several years later, he hears a very familiar song on the radio.

-It’s said to be by Trevor Wilson, but Luke knows that voice.

-Let’s just say that for the sake of their kid, Luke doesn’t sue the pants off of Bobby. He’s been dealing with his shitty broken promises to Rory for years and trying to keep from badmouthing her other dad. But this is one bridge too far and it’s burnt.

-He lets Bobby know if he ever tries to steal another song of Luke’s, Luke will not only sue the pants off of him, he will tell Rory everything. Rory who at eight is already smarter than both of them put together and the most fair-minded child in the universe.

-Bobby takes this threat very seriously and indeed never steals another song of Luke’s. His first album is a hit, but all his next ones are kind of flops. He does pay Luke some money, so he can move and get a house for him and Rory.

-Luke moves to his own place in Stars Hollow with Rory and they are quickly adopted by the town. They have breakfast almost every morning at Reggie’s, the diner in town. It’s run by Reggie, who is just a ray of sunshine, and Alex, who complains about how much coffee he and Rory drink but also always pours it for them anyway.

-Luke and Rory move next door to the Molinas, who are pretty awesome and have a daughter about Rory’s age. Julie and Rory are best friends and Luke is so thankful to have some Adultier Adults nearby when he has parenting questions like ‘how young is too young for a child to read Russian literature’ and ‘how did I explode the microwave trying to make soup for my daughter, no it’s fine it’s not on fire... anymore’.

-Okay and also maybe Luke looked up to Ray a little about how to be a Proper Father because he was just winging it by going ‘how about I take everything my parents did and do Not That’.

-When Ray realises he makes sure to tell Luke that he’s doing everything right and Rory seems like a well-adjusted, happy kid. Luke manages to keep it together until he’s home and only then cries about it, because that’s all he’s ever wanted, was for Rory to be happy.

-Reggie inherited the hardware store from his dad and turned it into a diner. He immediately invited Alex to join him because 1) Alex knows coffee better than Reggie ever will and 2) they were best friends and Alex was on the verge of either being cut off from the family or forced into a marriage with a Girl, Any Girl.

-Yes the Mercers did cut him off because he started living with a man and they were both like: lol but we aren’t even dating.

-They lasted like, 2 or 3 years of ‘we’re totally not dating we’re best buds’ before finally confessing they were totally in love.

-The next morning while opening the diner, Miss Patty and Babette took one look at the two of them and exchanged money. (Babette thought it would take them at least another six months and was hoping for a Dramatic Christmas Confession instead of a ‘dramatic random March confession.’)

-Tía Victoria is 100% Miss Patty’s right hand woman. Together (when Taylor isn’t looking) they rule Stars Hollow. She had her money on New Years.

-Yes Reggie baked Rory a coffee cake for her birthday. Alex is the one that grumpily informed her she was sitting at the wrong table, before nodding to the table he and Reggie decorated with balloons.

-When Rose died Luke and Rory were devastated and they did their best to help. Even if that meant ‘we know better than to try and make you a casserole but we did buy one of everything you like at Reggie’s so here you go.’

-Luke has 100% covered for the Molinas with Victoria. No no that extra plate is totally for me Victoria I promise. You know I just freaking love Ray’s spaghetti so much.

-Rory gets into Chilton and they have a small party before Luke realises that they aren’t eligible for the scholarship money. Ray offers to loan him the money but he just can’t. Ray’s fighting to keep Julie in her own music school, he doesn’t need the extra stress.

-So he goes back to his parents.

-Can you imagine how fucking painfully awkward Friday Night Dinners are. Just sit with that a moment. On the one hand Luke has Unsaid Emily running through his mind, on the other, Emily is scolding him for not wearing sleeves and trying to talk Rory out of going to Harvard and go to Yale instead and all he wants to do is run away and hide at Reggie’s diner or possibly the Molina’s studio.

[lindyloosims]

So I was inspired by the Sugar Valentine and Chasing ghosts posts by @stargazer-sims to revisit my own Sims bands because I miss them, so here is the first. Sweet Cacophony, the literal first band I created with The Sims! Their 3 and 4 versions are pictured above! They are from my story Love Drunk which I wrote back in 2013 on Blogger and illustrated with The Sims 3, I did a sequel too called Love Drunk 2.0 which followed the lives of the band and their partners two decades later, along with their children who were all mostly grown up and making questionable life decisions of their own. I eventually rebooted it with The Sims 4 but it was getting pretty dark so I kinda shelved it for a while. I might go back to it but we’ll see, I might even start fresh and try to be more cheery and upbeat lol. Anyway, a bit about the band!

So the rock band Sweet Cacophony was originally called Deadly Nightshade. It comprised of four young men who had been friends since high school; Dexter Maloney (lead vocals/guitar), Ashton Maloney (drums), Andrew Mitchell (backing vocals/guitar/bass) and Jeremy Price (piano/keyboard). Jeremy shockingly quit one day and left them without a keyboard player, Dexter could play so he took it on as well as being the lead singer and guitarist but it was a strain for him as he also wrote their songs. Also it has to be noted that the boys at this point still had day jobs; Ash was a firefighter, Dexy was an artist and Drew was basically a mad scientist who invented things for clients and sold them for a fortune. When Jeremy left, he took their name with him, Dexter was furious as they had gigs booked all over as Deadly Nightshade which Jeremy also stole leaving them in a crappy situation where they would turn up for a gig and were turned away because the “real band” with Jeremy as the front man had already arrived. It was the girl Dexy was madly in love with, Evelyn “Lainie” Robertson, who coined the phrase “sweet cacophony” when describing their practice sessions in their tiny flat and Dexy loved it so much that he made it their new name. Eventually, and by complete accident, the band took on Lainie’s best friend Roxanne Harmon as their new keyboard player and their rise to fame was almost instantaneous! Within months they were a global sensation and toured the world, had number one albums every time they were released and had their name in lights all over.

Music runs in the family as Dexter and Lainie’s youngest son Damon formed a band of his own called Fallen Angels with his cousin (Ashton’s son) James and Roxanne’s son Rory Hayes. Dexter and Lainie’s granddaughter Jazmine, affectionately known by her grandpa Dexy as Jazzy, becomes a solo artist to rival Taylor Swift using the stage name Jazzy in honour of her favourite grandfather, but that’s just a story in my head as I never got there in the real story. Jazzy is the daughter of Keira Maloney (Dexter & Lainie’s eldest child) and Joshua Hayes (Roxanne & Matthew Hayes’ eldest child) who only fell in love when they were twenty and eighteen respectively. Josh had loved Keira all of his life but she teased him for being a little bit overweight as a child, calling him “chubby chops” which upset him. Keira meant it affectionately and never realised until they got together just how much it had hurt Josh, she never called him that again.

So that’s just a little bit about the band, they are very dear to me and I have carried them for ten years, Dexter is probably my favourite OC ever!

[wiypt-writes]

What The Stark Spangled F**k?

A Stark Spangled Forever Drabble-The Crap Book

Summary: Rori’s cutting and sticking habits wind the boys in the house up, but for very different reasons.

Warnings: Bad language words…

A/N: We all know the tale of the IKEA pineapple bowl Katie buys Steve in SSM…well, something popped up on my Facebook ads which reminded me of this and as a result this came from mine and @icanfeelastormbrewing​ ‘s very odd WhatsApp ramblings…enjoy!

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Stark Spangled Forever Masterlist // Main Masterlist

 “Momma!" 

Katie looked up as Rori walked into the room, clutching the Magazine that she had been cutting pictures out of in her hands.

"Yes baby?” she asked, pausing the TV and  looking at her daughter.

“Look!”

Katie waited whilst Rori hopped up onto the couch, showing her the photo she was clearly excited about. She looked down to where her daughter’s finger was pointing and had to bite back a snort. She was looking at a frankly hideous white and yellow ring, the band of which contained multiple gold pineapples along with bands of diamonds and yellow stones.

“It’s like Daddy’s bowl!” she grinned.

“Sure is…you gonna put it in your Scrapbook?”

Rori nodded, and then she smiled “I want one.” Katie raised an eyebrow, deciding not to question her little Diva’s taste “Do you?” She nodded "Shall I ask Daddy? He got you your rings.”

Katie smiled and kissed Rori’s head “Yeah, you do that” “Ok…” she grinned, hopping down and skipping out of the room. Once she was gone, Katie glanced at Harry who was sat playing with his trucks on the rug, before she pressed play on the programme she was watching, glad of some peace and quiet for half an hour before she had to start dinner. But it was short lived. A loud yell hit her ears from the den and cursing she paused her programme again, picking Harry up, before heading into the room. “What is going on?” She demanded placing Harry down. He tottered over to where Rori was stood, her arms folded as she glared at Jamie.

“He stole my scrapbook!” she yelled.

“I only wanted a look!” Jamie scoffed, tossing it back down on the floor.

“Jamie,” Katie looked at him, “what did I tell you before about winding her up?”

amie rolled his eyes, making him look even more ridiculously like his father. “I just borrowed it…”

“Did she say you could?” “No.” “Then you stole it.” Katie said, simply, folding her arms. “Stop irritating her and leave her alone, she’s doing no harm.”

Jamie glared at his mother “Define harm.” Katie raised her eyebrows. “Don’t make me call your father.”

At that Jamie instantly pale and his eyes cast to the floor. “Sorry.” “So you should be, now apologise to your sister.” “Sorry Rori.”

Rori looked at him. “Fine.” she shrugged, sitting down and grabbing her safety scissors, returning to her activity.

World War Three prevented, Katie decided to scrap the attempts to watch TV and headed into the kitchen after telling Jamie to keep an eye on Harry whilst he was in the den. Half an hour later she called the kids in for dinner and had settled them down at the Table, the precious book placed by Rori as she tucked into her spaghetti.

“Why have you brought the crapbook to the table?” Jamie asked. Katie’s head shot up from where she had been supervising Harry who was finishing feeding himself and was about to tell her eldest son off again when Rori started to argue back.

“You’re a crapbook Jamie." 

"That makes no sense!” Jamie scoffed.

“Neither does your face.” Rori glared at him. At that Katie had to turn away, the laughter threatening to burst from her chest at Rori’s reply was really hard to keep down but somehow she managed it. Composing herself she turned to them both and gave them her best mom glare.

“Enough! Jamie, if you use that word again there’ll be big trouble.” “But it wasn’t me that-..” “I don’t care who did what” Katie shook her head, standing up to collect their empty dishes. “Keep pushing it pal and Seb won’t be coming over tomorrow after school.” Jamie let out a frustrated groan but he fell silent and Katie could only imagine the daggers he was throwing at her back as she turned away.

“Suck it up, loser.” She heard Rori say, another phrases she had picked up from Jamie and with a sigh she dropped the dishes in the sink before she spun round. 

“I heard that little Missy.” she shot Rori a glare and the young girl held her stare back, before she glanced down at the table. “Now I’m telling you both. One more angry word or argument from either of you and you’ll be straight up to bed.” “But Daddy isn’t home yet!” Rori said, horrified.

“Do I look like I care?” Katie asked. Rori looked at her before her eyes once more returned to the table and she sighed. “Now, can I trust you both to behave whilst I clean up?” “Yes momma.” they both chanted.

“Okay, then you can leave the table.” They both jumped down from their seats, and Katie watched them leave the kitchen, hands on her hips, shaking her head.

****** “The crap book?” Steve fought to keep his face straight as Katie shook her head, chuckling slightly.

“Yeah, I mean he isn’t wrong…it is full of crap but it was Rori’s response that got me. She told him he was the crap book and when he replied that makes no sense she goes `neither does your face’!" 

Steve choked on his mouthful of food, fighting hard to swallow it before he looked at his wife, grinning. Katie shook her head again and their conversation turned to more mundane topics, namely his latest intake of students and their plans for the weekend which consisted of heading out to see Pepper and Morgan.

Sensing that his wife had dealt with the kids moaning enough that day, Steve took over bedtime duties or the eldest two, Harry going down a good hour before them with no fuss as usual. Jamie headed off for a shower whilst he ran Rori a bath, and once they were settled in their pyjamas the usual mugs of hot milk for Rori and cocoa for Jamie were dished out along with the customary ten minutes at the piano with Katie, and true to form, once the final note of the last song was done, the usual griping began. One stern look at both of them and Steve shut down their complaints immediately and at his instruction they bid their mom goodnight and headed up the stairs. Steve told Rori to get in bed and he would be back in a moment for their story, and he headed over to Jamie’s room, tucking him in and telling him he had twenty minutes of TV time before lights were out.

When he walked back into Rori’s room she was busy, he brightly coloured Scrap Book lay open on her lap as she sat propped up by her mountain of pillows.

Not the crap book...he inwardly groaned, shaking his head. If Katie ever found out he was the reason Jamie called it that, he was a dead man. That was probably another twenty dollar bribe he was going to have to shell out to keep him quiet…

"Did you bring that up with you?” Steve asked, resigned to his fate as he dropped onto the bed besides Rori as she snuggled into him, his arm falling around her and he kissed the top of her head.

“No, I hided it up here before.” she said. “So Jamie couldn’t steal it again.” “Wise move.” Steve grinned. “So we looking at what dresses you’re gonna buy tonight instead of a story or…” “Please can you buy me a pineapple ring?” Rori looked up at him and Steve looked down at her blinking.

“A pineapple ring? I’m sure momma has a tin of them…” “Not the eating ones! One I can wear on my finger, look…” She pointed down at the book and Steve looked down, his mouth dropping open at the garish item of jewellery she had stuck on the page, which was surrounded by liberal amounts of glitter that was falling all over her bed spread and his jeans.

“You want one of those?” he looked at her.

Rori nodded.

“I don’t think those are made anymore.” Steve shook his head. “It must have been in the magazine as some kind of old article.”

That was such a lame-ass attempt at a get out, but thankfully Rori seemed to buy it.

“Oh, okay.” she mused. “But when I grow up, I want to be provoked to with one of these.”

"Provoked to?” Steve looked at her “What do you mean princess?” “You know when my boyfriend asks me to marry him.” “Oh, you mean proposed.” he smiled before he suddenly realised what she had said. “Hang on, you have a boyfriend?” “I have five.” Rori replied casually, flipping the page over. “One for each day I’m at school.”

Steve frowned, and once that had sunk in he scoffed and shook his head.  “No…I’m sorry but I can’t allow that. No boyfriends till you’re thirty. At least.” “I can’t help it if they love me!” Rori looked up at her dad.

He snorted and narrowed his eyes “You better not be kissing any of those boys young lady!” “Daddy, that’s gross!” Rori giggled “I don’t let them kiss me, I just make them carry my school bag like Momma makes you carry her bags”

Steve raised an eyebrow. “Okay, that’s…I can live with that.” “And I let them look at me.” She shrugged. “Because you say I look like momma, and you say momma is the prettiest girl in the world so that means I’m pretty so they should be happy to look at me.” Steve looked at his daughter, once more lost for words at the stuff that was coming out of her mouth. Stuff that should really be nonsense, but when you looked at it from the logic of a five year old then he really couldn’t fault it. 

With a soft smile he kissed her head again and nodded to the book. “Show me the page on the animals in clothes again, Princess. I like that one.”

 **Original Posting**

[pagingevilspawn]

Would you please write a fic about alex and jo help their daughter with her homework, they would be kinds cute help them study

cross my heart, hope to die, please stick this pencil in my eye

there’s a reason this took me forever. reason number one, two, and three; proofs. i was unable to write this because of proofs. i got this ask and LIKE A CHILD decided that i wanted to make my fictional characters suffer as much as i did. so once i was done with proofs, i had to write something about proofs, which made me exhausted because i hate even talking about proofs

that made no sense, but here’s this thing that i made. lots of it was my real life monologue, screaming at my computer bc of fucking proofs. enjoy. (also, let’s appreciate the fact that i updated three whole days in a row)

(also, another installment of the “payton loves evan peters too much” series, where i name jolex babies after his AHS characters)

Alex Karev sat in the drivers side of his SUV, making a right onto the upcoming street as he listened to the song playing on the radio. He drummed his fingers along the steering wheel absentmindedly, pulling up to the curbside of James Madison Middle School, waiting patiently in his seat until he heard the five minute warning bell ring.

When the loud bell goes off, he exits the car and makes his way to the other side, learning against the door so his kids would know it was him. Too many parent’s owned black range rovers, and the last thing Alex needed was for either one of his kids to climb into the back seat of some stranger's car. 

He didn’t need to wait long for children to start piling out of the school in large crowds. Middle school was so different from elementary, for his kids at least. He remembers when they would come sprinting out of the building as if their lives depended on it, but now they just casually strolled, no matter how much they liked or disliked school. 

A few minutes later he catches sight of his daughter, who’s eyes light up when she sees him. He wasn’t supposed to pick them up today, the nanny was. But he had gotten off of work early and had insisted with Jo that he be the one to pick up the kids. It was a task he wished he got to do more often. 

“Hey.” his daughter greets him with a smile on her face. He steps aside and lets her enter the side door, where she flops her black backpack on the floor and settles into the seat, pulling out her phone and begins to start scrolling through it. 

“Dad!” he hears another voice exclaim, quickly tracing it to his son, who was currently running to the car, backpack bouncing up and down behind him. The sixth grader moved across the property quickly, greeting his dad with a fist bump before sliding into the back seat.

He closes both of his kids doors before making his way into the driver's side, revving up the car’s engine before he drives down the long block, whatever music his daughter decided on playing through the radio. 

Alex winces when the music begins to blare through the car, “Brynn, turn that crap down would you?”

Brynn’s face looks scandalized. “It’s not crap. It’s art.” she emphasizes, turning it up even louder and screaming the words. (Poor Brynn couldn’t sing, and she knew it)

“I came in like a wreeckingggg ballll I never hit so harddd in loveeee all i wanted was to break your walls all you ever did wre-e-e-ck meee.” she yells, using her phone as a microphone, hair flying around wildly as she moved up and down, side to side in her seat.  

Alex rolls his eyes, unable to hide the smile on his lips. His wife and daughter were too much alike sometimes. He turns the knob himself, sending his daughter a look, silently telling her not to do it again. 

“I think it’s crap. Just like how I think you sound like a dying cat whenever you sing.” his son pipes in from the back, a signature Karev smirk plastered on his lips as he keeps his gaze locked on his phone. 

“Shut up Rory,” she sneers, “Nobody likes you.” 

Rory fakes a laugh, looking back to his phone, and then to the scenery outside his window. They passed house after house until they finally reached their destination, John Quincy Adams Elementary School.

“Wait here,” Alex instructs the two kids, who murmurs their we know’s, more focused on the devices in their hand to the words coming out of his mouth. 

He makes his way to the ‘log cabin’ that sat at the front of the school, giving a friendly smile to the woman sitting at the sign out table, a crappy fold out plastic table that had definitely seen better days. “Faye and Bridgette Karev.” 

The woman slides the forms across the table, handing him a pen. “Sign here and here. I’ll go get them right now.” She stands up from her seat and heads inside to tell the two girls that their father had arrived.

Alex sprawls his messy signature onto the page, huffing before leaning up against the gate. His girls could take anywhere from thirty seconds to five minutes to pack up their things. Luckily today didn’t seem to be the latter, because before he knew it, the two youngest Karev’s came bouncing towards him. 

“Daddy!” “Daddy!” 

The seven year olds gave him a large hug, showing him matching toothless smiles. When Jo and him found out that she was pregnant for a third time, they were overjoyed. They had always wanted more than two kids, but hadn’t really been actively trying. They were excited to expand their family of four into a family of five. When they discovered that she was not carrying not one, but two babies, they were shocked. Jo wasn’t expecting to get pregnant at thirty-nine, much less with twins. Brynn was seven at the time, and Rory was five, so they were worried about how their kids would react when they found out two new babies would be joining the Karev household. 

Rory --surprisingly-- took the news really well. He was excited with the fact that he could have baby brothers. (Oh well. Alex Karev only seemed to make girls, Rory being the one exception.) 

Brynn was a bit more reluctant. She had heard from her friends at school how much babies cried and stole all the attention. She loved both her parent’s equally, but she was a Daddy’s girl through and through. The thought of losing both of her parent’s focus was terrifying. What if her Daddy called her new siblings names like Bug or Princess? Those were her names, and her names only. She couldn’t let the new babies steal her names. 

It took a while, but after multiple long talks and countless acts of reassurance, but Brynn eventually came around to the idea. Before they knew it, Brynn was just as excited for the upcoming babies as they were. Jo was worried throughout her whole pregnancy. Since she was almost forty, she was now considered to have a geriatric pregnancy. Just the word ‘geriatric’ did nothing to soothe any woman’s nerves, but add that to the fact that Jo was a surgeon and knew all the risks of pregnancy, and she was practically a mess the first few months. As it turned out, the twins ended up being her easiest pregnancy, since Brynn decided to make her entrance into the world four weeks early and while she was carrying Rory she had the occasional spotting that terrified her to her core every time, worried that she was miscarrying. 

The twins ended up being born at thirty-five weeks, perfectly healthy. The only thing that gave Jo any trouble at all was the severe morning sickness, which turned out to be all day sickness. 

But in the end it was way more than worth it. Faye was pretty much Jo reincarnated, just like Brynn. Every aspect about her was exactly like her mom. Her hair, her eyes, her face shape, chin. The only thing that she inherited was the Karev crooked grin, which all of their children had. (She didn’t even have a big Karev head when she was born!) 

Bridgette on the other hand, was all Alex, except for the eye color. Between her potty mouth, sassy attitude, and overall appearance, she was the female mini evil-spawn. 

The Evil Spawn Jr, title belonged to Rory, who was basically the male version of Bridgette. Same spunk, same mischievous smirk. Jo was always telling him that she didn’t know what she did to deserve three devil’s in her house. Alex always found that one really funny. 

“You guys got everything?” he questions the two, who nod their heads up and down enthusiastically, skipping to the car and greeting their siblings. 

He drives the twenty-five minutes back to his house, the twins chattering about in the back seat. 

“And then Julie showed her her math problems, and I tried to tell her they were wrong, but she just wouldn’t listen!”

“Tommy was sooo annoying. I kept telling him to stop making noises with his pencil, but he just rolled it back and forth so many times!”

Alex laughs under his breath, listening partially to the twins’s conversation. They sounded exactly like how Cristina and Mer used to rant about completely different things to each other, so it never failed to make him think back to the ‘olden days’ as he and Meredith liked to call them. 

If someone were to tell cocky, intern Alex that he would be happily married to the love of his life for (legally) fifteen years, father of four kids, and lived in a house that literally had a white picket fence on the outside of it, he would’ve sent them to a long term psychiatric care facility, because there was no way he would ever have that life. (A life he always secretly wanted, tucked into the very tiniest corner of his brain so it could never venture farther than a fleeting thought here or there). 

“--We’re here,” he calls out, shutting off the engine as he parks in the driveway, the kids unbuckling their seatbelts and scrambling out of the car, eager to escape the confines of the vehicle and enjoy the peace of their rooms. 

Once all five were inside, he watched as the four children parted ways. “Faye, Bridge, you have thirty minutes of reading down here. Ror, you have that history test you need to study for, and Brynn, you know what you need to do.” he says, his two oldest tromping up the stairs as the twins take their place in the living room on separate seats, already engrossed in the books they needed to read as part of their daily homework assignments. 

Alex lets out a tired sigh as he flops onto the couch, more than tempted to grab the remote from the side table and flick on ESPN, but knew that he couldn’t. As much as the girls loved reading, they got distracted from books really easily. Loud horns, cheers, and buzzers wouldn’t be the way to go if he wanted any work to get done. Instead, he plucks the iPad from the coffee table, picking up where he left off that morning with an online medical article.

Before he knew it, Faye and Bridgette’s timer had rung out and they started on their math homework on the kitchen island, something that they finished with ease. Another trait Alex was grateful the children inherited from Jo, her smarts. (Specifically in math)

“Ugh!” he hears a loud exclaim from upstairs, causing him to look up from the device in his hands and glance towards the steps, half expecting an angry looking Brynn to come storming out at any moment. He huffs, focusing his attention back to the iPad in hand when no mini Jo comes down. 

“No! There are no other ways!”

Another loud groan of frustration. 

“Son of a butthead! There are NO more ways! None! I don't know how the frick to prove that the freakin angle is congruent!”

Alex debates ignoring it and letting his daughter figure it out on his own, that is until he hears something hit a wall. He quickly makes his way up the stairs and to Brynn’s bedroom, standing in the doorway for a few seconds, trying to observe the scene. 

Brynn’s normally pristine room had books scattered on the ground, blankets thrown to the side, and an open notebooks posed at an awkward angle on the floor. 

Well, at least he knew what hit the wall.  

Brynn sat on her bed, literally glaring at her computer screen, partially debating whether or not to throw the expensive device across the room. She didn’t break eye contact, as if she was in a staring contest. Alex wanted to laugh, but he knew a deathly glare would be sent his way if he did. 

He knocks on the wood door, sending a questioning glance Brynn’s way as she finally breaks her stare with the inanimate object. “Everything okay?”

The brunette huffs loudly, bouncing back onto the bed as she lets out a groan. 

“I hate proofs.” she turns her head to look at her dad, Jo’s signature puppy dog face plastered on her features. He couldn’t help but chuckle. It was crazy how much Brynn looked like Jo. Add that onto the fact that she too shared a love for flannels and jeans, she was pretty much what he imagined a fourteen year old Jo to look like. When he first found out that Brynn was going to be a girl, he said to Jo, ‘I’m gonna need a gun.’ 

Luckily, that never happened, partially because of the fact that Alex hated guns and Brynn had yet to have a boyfriend. He was more than thankful for that. Especially since he’d seen couples at Brynn’s school canoodling in what they thought was private, even though they were in full view of everyone. He’d be fine with his not-so-little little girl dating when she was twenty-five, no earlier. Any man before that would not be very fortunate. 

“I’ll help,” Alex says, taking a spot next to her and Brynn begins to show he dad the problems on her screen, going on about how she was struggling to figure it out. 

Shouldn’t be too hard, right?

____

Jo Karev was thrilled when Bailey offered to take over her service for the rest of the day. Her husband had gotten off early, and Bailey knew how much of a struggle it was to spend quality time with family as a surgeon. 

She thanked Bailey so many times she lost count, all while boasting a large smile. She couldn’t remember the last time both she and Alex had been home before five o’clock. All she wanted was to go home, snuggle with her babies, and spend time with her husband. Well, her babies weren’t technically babies anymore, Brynn was fourteen, Rory was nearly twelve, and the twins were seven, but nevertheless, they would always be her babies. (Who cared if Rory was five foot three and already almost as tall as her? He was still such a mommy’s boy.)

She drove home with a smile on her face, humming along to the songs on the radio. She was so happy. She wanted to take her kids in her arms, and watch action movies on the couch while they pigged out on pizza together. 

When she pulls up in the drive she practically bounces up the steps to the house, swinging open the door and dropping her coat carelessly onto the rack. She hadn’t texted Alex to let him know she was coming home early, in hopes to make it a joyful surprise. 

Her heart stopped momentarily at the sound of yelling coming from upstairs. Arguments between Brynn and Alex were few and far between, but when they did happen, they were nasty. Alex always felt like crap for days afterward and Brynn stayed quiet, both at home and at school. 

“Do the reflexive property again!”

“Dad we already did that!”

“Well do it again!”

“Why?!”

“Do you see any other way to do it?”

“How is that going to help!”

“It just is!”

“Dad, we've done the reflexive property five times now!”

“You think I don’t know that!”

“Say that segment DA is congruent to AD.”

“But-”

“There are literally no other fucking ways to do it! It’s fucking shit! Thats what it is!”

“You act as if I didn’t already freakin know that!”

A loud groan. 

“What the fuck even is this one! We’ve managed to do three of them already. Try proving the triangles congruent now. Push random ones, like Side-Angle-Side.” 

“This is crap! ‘You don’t have enough proof to show that the blah blah blah.’ Stupid freaking thing! Freaking worthless!”

Jo is unable to suppress her giggle, clasping a hand over her mouth, trying not to make too much noise. It was a relief to know that the current screaming match going on wasn’t an argument. 

“They’ve been at that for an hour and a half now.” she hears her son pipe in, drawing her attention to where he sat on the couch. 

Jo sets her bag down on the table, greeting her son with a large hug, “Hi bubs.” she mumbles into his hair, feeling his arms wrap back around her. In private, Rory was the biggest cuddler, touchy-feely person you’d ever met, but in front of his friends he tried way too hard to show he was ‘too cool’ for hugging his mom, so Jo took in these moments and held them close to her heart.

“An hour and a half huh?” she chuckles, running a hand through her son’s gelled hair. 

Rory snickers, hazel eyes shining with mischief, “Yeah, dad won’t stop cursing and Tissy just keeps screaming alongside him,” he sits back onto the couch. “I’m surprised neither one of them had lost their voice yet.” he smirks his crooked Karev smirk, focusing his attention on the TV where he had opened up netflix, where he was currently binging Bates Motel. The name ‘Tissy’ came from when he was younger and couldn’t for the life of him say either Brynn nor Sissy. It seemed to have stuck all these years, and he was the only one who ever called his older sister that, even ten years later.

She sees him cringe, “I never called you mother right?” he asks, eyes not leaving the screen, where a certain Norman Bates is practically spooning his own mother in the bed, claiming that he couldn’t sleep. 

Jo snorts, ruffling his hair fondly, “Definitely not. And if you ever do, you’re dead Ror, hear me?”

Rory rolls his eyes playfully, giving his mom a grin. “I won’t. Promise.”

Jo heads up the stairs, the loud yells continuing to echo through the halls, which she chooses to ignore. 

“Dad for the fiftieth freaking time-”

“--What’s going on here?” Jo questions, causing both her husband and daughter to break away their concentration from the computer screen. 

Brynn’s face lights up at the sight of her mom standing in the doorway, more than thankful to have someone who actually knew stuff help her with her math. “Mom!” she exclaims, getting up from her place on the bed to give her mother a hug. 

“Hey baby. Care to explain to me why the second I walk through the door I'm greeted with screaming?” She questions, eyebrows raised as she sees Alex sheepishly avoid eye contact, suddenly finding the pictures that hung on the wall very interesting. 

Brynn smirks, “Well, Dad sucks at math so-”

“--Hey!” Alex interrupts, crossing his arms over his chest. “I haven’t done this crap in like thirty years!” He defends himself.

Jo rolls her eyes and smiles of her own gracing her lips as she reaches the bed and takes a look at the problems on the computer. “Proofs?” she asks from confirmation, earning a nod from her husband and daughter. 

She hums, “Given: segment CA bisects angle BAD and segment CA bisects BCD. Prove: triangle ABC is congruent to triangle ADC.” she murmurs to herself.

The brunette laughs when she sees the fact that the pair had put down some form of the ‘reflexive property’ not one, not two, but seven times.

She grins triumphantly as she remembers how to do the problem, the skills seemingly coming back to her after years of them being dormant. “Next statement is angle BCA is congruent to DCA because…” she scrolls through the possible options the box provided, smirking when she found the right one. “An angle bisector divides an angle into two congruent angles.”  

She watches as an angle pops up on the screen, only encouraging her to continue, “Then… angle DAC is congruent to angle BAC because an angle bisector divides an angle into two congruent angles.” 

Another angle comes up. 

“Finally,” she smirks, glancing to the side of for a brief second to take in the draw dropped stares of the two behind her. Brynn was a whiz at math like her mom, but proofs was something she’d been struggling with since they’d started learning them yesterday. Geometry was no joke. Her and her dad had already gotten almost all of the problems done, but it had taken so long to do a few measly problems that they’d lost track of just how long they'd been sitting in the room, arguing back and forth over different possibilities to try. 

“Triangle ABC is congruent to triangle ADC, reason being Angle-Side-Angle.” 

She grins, wiping her hands together as she hits the submit button, a large green check with a correct! floating on the screen, going over the ways to solve the problem. 

Alex glares at her. He’d been working on these fucking proofs for so long now, and Jo just comes in and completes it in less than a minute?

“I hate you.” he gruffs, still glaring at both his wife and the computer. 

Jo giggles, leaning over and pecking her husband’s lips. “Love you too.” 

She begins to walk out of the room, stopping and calling out over her shoulder as she reaches the doorway, “Now you just need to make sure the twins did their homework!”

[singledarkshade]

Magical Mix Up

Summary: When Constantine uses a spell to locate Rip, it leads them to a hospital and a nurse called Rory Williams. Taking him back to the Waverider they try to get him to remember who he really is. While Rory's wife Amy is searching for him with the Doctor, they come across an unconscious man in a long brown duster. Author’s Note: I had a small idea and shared it with the Discord Ripchat group, which sent it from a small possible one-shot to a larger story. This is a birthday present for @riphuntertimemasterlegend. Happy Birthday, I hope you enjoy. Chapter One

 “I have one more patient for you, Rory,” Davy on the desk said, handing him a chart, “Some kind of burn.”

Rory Williams took the chart and scanned it quickly, “Okay. What’s open?”

“Curtain three,” Davy replied giving him a smile.

Nodding to the other man, Rory headed out to the waiting room which wasn’t too bad for a Sunday afternoon in the middle of the summer.

“Mr Constantine,” Rory called. His patient stood and Rory frowned in surprise to see the man wearing a trench coat, white shirt and a red tie, his dyed blond hair was a mess, and he had the look that he had just rolled out of bed, “Please come with me.”

As a blonde woman stood to join them, Rory shook his head, “Sorry, you’ll have to wait here for the moment.”

Rory’s patient turned to the blonde woman, had a quick, annoyed whispered discussion before she sat down and he turned to Rory with a charming smile, “Lead on, mate.”

Walking the man through the security doors, Rory motioned him to take a seat on the bed and pulled up the stool.

“Okay,” Rory told him, “Looking over your information it says that you burned your arm. I’ll do an exam to check the area, and if required I will get one of the doctors to take over, or I will clean it up.”

Constantine shrugged, “Really sorry about this, mate but I lied a little bit.”

Confused Rory heard a strange noise behind him, turning he saw the blonde woman from the waiting room walking through a portal to what looked like a ship or space station. Spinning off his stool, Rory grabbed a scalpel out the kit to defend himself.

“I know you’re confused, Rip,” the blonde woman said, “But we’re your friends and we’re taking you home.”

Gripping the scalpel and letting the Centurion in his head free, Rory replied, “No idea who you are and I’m going nowhere.”

Constantine shrugged, “Sorry, mate,” he pulled a strange looking silver device from his pocket and a flash of light filled Rory’s vision before everything went black.

Sara Lance sighed as she watched Rip fall to the ground, “That could have gone better.”

John frowned at her while crouching down to relieve the unconscious man of the scalpel before pulling him off the ground and onto his back in a fireman’s lift, “You’re not kidding.”

“Let’s get back to the ship before anyone comes looking for him,” Sara motioned John back onto the Waverider.

Carrying the unconscious form of his amnesiac friend, John was relieved when they entered the ship and Sara closed the portal. Resting Rip on the medical couch Sara slid the cuff onto his arm and checked the readouts. They now had to wait until he woke up to see if he remembered anything now that he was onboard the ship once more.

“Well?” John asked.

“As far as I can tell he’s healthy,” Sara noted before frowning at him, “It would be easier with Gideon.”

“That wasn’t my fault,” John defended himself, “I had no idea that the idol would react with the spell in that way.”

Sara rolled her eyes, “Now we have no AI because she’s suddenly human, unconscious and in Star Labs.”

John frowned, “From everything the doc told us, she’ll be fine and she’s sleeping just now. It’s probably a lot to assimilate going from an AI to human. If we give her time, I’m sure she’ll wake up soon just like Dr Snow told us.”

“Until then we can’t really go anywhere,” Sara sighed. She looked down at the man on the bed before her, “He looks different.”

John shrugged, “Well you said this is a camouflage. He’s bound to look different.”

“I mean the last time I saw him without the beard he looked odd, but it seems to suit him now,” Sara mused, shaking herself she turned back to John, “Do you have any ideas how to return his memories to him? Because I only know of one way and, without Gideon, it’s not possible.”

John mused, “There are a few spells and rituals I can try but since this was caused by the time drive and not a spell or curse then it becomes tricky.”

“Well, the last time this happened ‘Phil’ was writing about us,” Sara said, “So it was slightly easier for him to accept his movie was basically real. But this time he’s a nurse? It’s the last thing I expected.”

John shook his head sadly, “Rip is a lot more compassionate than you give him credit for, Sara. He just knows how to hide it because he was raised to believe it was a bad thing.”

She pinned him with a sharp look, “I didn’t know you two were such good friends.”

“Spend some time almost getting eaten alive by a demon,” John noted with a shrug, “You tend to bond.”

Sara checked the screen again, “Let’s leave him to rest. I’ve set the alarm to let us know when he wakes up and put up a forcefield so he can’t leave this room. We don’t want him getting anywhere near the time drive.”

John nodded, “You can say that again.”

 Ray, Jax and Zari looked up when Sara and John entered the bridge, Mick was lounging in a chair with a beer in his hand, but the tilt of his head let Sara know he was paying attention. Ava was sitting stiffly on the chair in the parlour, with Nate not far from her both looking annoyed as they had been voted down when Constantine said he could possibly locate Rip.

“How is he?” Ray demanded instantly.

Sara gave a slight wince, “He has no memory of us.”

“So, he’s Phil again?” Jax asked.

Sara stole one of Mick’s beers and took a seat on the stairs, “No.”

“Then who does he think he is?” Ray and Jax demanded in unison.

“Rory Williams,” John spoke up, “A nurse working in London.”

Mick let out a snort of amusement while Jax said, “At least he’s still English this time.”

“Once he wakes up John is going to try to retrieve his memories,” Sara told them, “But as with Phil, we just have to remind him we’re his friends, that his memories are fake, and he belongs here.”

A snort from Nate made Sara turn to him and Ava, “Neither you nor Ava need talk to him at all but if you do remember at the moment, he isn’t Rip.”

Ava shrugged, “We’ll try.”

 Rory’s head was killing him. Pressing a hand to his forehead, he slowly opened his eyes before slamming them shut when the light jabbed through them like a knife. Trying to get his bearings, Rory wondered what happened because he was sure he had been at the hospital. If the Doctor had kidnapped him from work, he was going to kill the Time Lord.

“Amy?” he murmured, letting her know he was awake because he knew she would be at his side if he was hurt or sick. Especially if the Doctor had picked them up. He was confused and saddened when his wife wasn’t there sliding her fingers through his hair and telling him to stop being lazy.

Finally, he forced his eyes open and frowned as he looked around a medical bay, realising he was on a ship, a space station or just a good bit in the future. Suddenly Rory remembered the last patient he had.

“Son of a…” he breathed, looking around properly.

He was still in his scrubs which meant whatever they’d done to him had been while at work.

“You’re awake,” a voice came from behind him making Rory turn to find a blonde woman walk in. She was a good bit smaller than him, but Rory could see from her bare arms she was extremely fit, and from her stance, the Centurion part of his brain noted she was a warrior.

“Who are you?” Rory demanded, “Where am I? And what do you want?”

She stepped forward trying to look unthreatening, “My name is Sara Lance and, I know how confusing this will be for you, but I promise it’s the truth.”

Rory folded his arms waiting for the explanation.

“Your name is Rip Hunter,” Sara told him, “You were stopping a Time Demon and used the core of this ship. It sent you through time and changed your memories as a camouflage. I understand you think you’re someone else but you’re not. We’re your friends and we’re going to help you recall who you really are.”

Staring at her, Rory finally managed to say sharply, “I know exactly who I am, Miss Lance. And I’m going home.”

“There,” she smiled, “That was the real you for a moment. Hold onto that and we’ll get you back.”

Shaking his head in bemusement, Rory stared at her, “What is wrong with you?”

“I know this is strange,” Sara said, “But this is for your own good. I made a promise to a friend of ours that if I found you then I wouldn’t let you leave again.”

Rory remained silent trying to work out his next move but began to pace so he could get closer to the door, hopefully without her realising.

“Your room is still here,” Sara said, moving so she was the same distance from him as he walked, “It was locked until recently so all your things are there for you to go through, which will hopefully help you remember who you are.”

Rory reached the door and shook his head, “No, thanks.” Hitting the button to open the door he ran into the corridor and chose a direction at random. Running through the corridor he saw a tall man with dark hair coming towards him.

“Rip?” the man grinned at him, “It’s so good to see you.”

Letting the Centurion take control, Rory ducked and caught the man in his stomach throwing the man over his shoulder and onto the floor. The man let out a loud oomph as he hit the ground, and although the nurse part of his mind wanted to check the other man was alright, thankfully the Centurion part was in control. Turning a corner Rory stalled finding the man, John, who had been his supposed patient standing there.

“I know you’re confused, mate,” John said, “But this is your home, Rip.”

“What is wrong with you people,” Rory snapped, “Why can’t any of you listen to what I’m saying. I am not this Rip guy. My name is Rory Williams, I have never met any of you before today and no matter what you say or do, I’m not going to remember a life that wasn’t mine.”

Just as he finished talking, something thudded across the back of his head and Rory dropped to the ground unconscious again.

 “Did you have to hit him?” the annoyed voice of Sara came as Rory swam towards consciousness with yet another headache.

A man grunted, “Seemed quickest way to stop him after what he did to haircut.”

Rory heard Sara let out a sigh before she said, “Let’s not give him any more brain damage, Mick.”

“Whatever,” the man grumbled.

Forcing his eyes open Rory realised he was not in the medical bay this time but, from the looks of things, a cell. Slowing sitting up he found Sara standing on the other side of the glass with concern on her face.

“Are you okay?”

Rory glared at her, “Well I’ve been abducted by a bunch of lunatics who keep knocking me out, while trying to convince me I’m someone I’m not. How do you think I am?”

She gave a slight smile, “There are some painkillers and water just down in the corner, and something to eat if you’re hungry.”

“Or you can let me go and I’ll get something at home,” Rory shot back at her while he found the painkillers.

Sara winced, “I know this seems harsh, Rip but it’s for your own protection. The last time this happened I let Thawne and his Legion of Doom take you, and I can’t let that happen again.”

Rory sat on the bench again, “So your logic for keeping me captive is so someone else doesn’t? That makes complete sense.”

“I left you some books and a few of your diaries to read through,” Sara told him, “We’ll talk a little later once you’ve had some time.”

Rory watched her leave and sighed. He listened to the Doctor every day, but this was true nonsense. Finding the small stack of books, Rory lifted the top one opening to the first page finding it was handwritten and realised this was the diary of the man they thought he was. A part of him wanted to read it a little but he didn’t want to invade the person they thought he was privacy. Closing it and putting it carefully to one side, Rory checked what else was sitting there and found Treasure Island, one of his favourites.

Putting the blanket and pillows they’d given him on the floor to sit on, Rory started to read.

 John sat watching the security feed of the cells as Sara spoke with Rip, or Rory as he was calling himself these days. It was odd watching his friend like this, he truly believed he was this Rory Williams and there wasn’t even a hint of recognition of any of them.

If they had Gideon, it was possible she would be able to get through to him, but currently Gideon wasn’t an option.

“Well?” Sara appeared at his side.

“He looked at the diary then put it down,” John told her, “I don’t think he’s going to read it. We need to try something else.”

Sara frowned, “What about your spell?”

“I need some supplies,” John said, “I’ll go pick them up in the morning,” adding before she could argue, “A night-time trip isn’t a good idea.”

Dropping into the seat beside him, Sara stared at the man on the screen, “Rip was always close to Jax, and Ray gets along with basically everyone. Maybe I should get one of them to try get through to him.”

John shrugged, “Why not? Or you could try your girlfriend.”

Sara frowned at him, before ignoring the jibe, “I’ll ask Ray to try first. Jax still has some issues from evil Rip.”

                                 *********************************************

 Rory drank the tea he’d been given with his breakfast as he continued to read the book. He’d been fed and managed to get some sleep but was still in a cell. Rory wondered what Amy thought happened to him and hoped that the Doctor would be able to track him down somehow. He smiled slightly imagining Amy walking in, with River at her side, taking out anyone between her and him.

The door to the room outside the glass opening interrupted Rory in the middle of a chapter. He let out an annoyed sigh, marking his place with the handy bookmark that was already inside the novel, placing it to one side before looking up at whoever had come in to annoy him some more.

“You’re the one I hit yesterday,” Rory noted seeing the tall man with perfect coiffed dark hair, looking like he stepped off the page of a magazine, “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

The other man gave a shrug, “I’m okay. I’m Ray,” he introduced himself, “And you’re using the name Rory just now, right?”

“I’m not using it,” Rory replied sharply, “It’s my name.”

Ray winced for a moment before he pulled a chair over and sat, “It’s not. Your name is Rip Hunter, although that’s not the name you had as a kid. You were originally called Michael but in order to become a Time Master, you had to change it, so you chose Rip.” He paused, for a moment before explaining, “Time Masters were at one point the supposed guardians of time. They raised you and until a few years ago you worked for them.”

Rory rolled his eyes but held his tongue for the moment knowing the more information he had the better.

“You saved a lot of lives making and stopping alterations to the timeline,” Ray continued, “Then your wife Miranda and son Jonas were killed by a man called Vandal Savage who it turned out was working with the Time Masters. You recruited us to stop them, which we managed to do, and we protect the timeline now.”

“My wife’s name is Amy,” Rory said softly, “And my daughter is called Melody. Both are perfectly fine. I have never heard of Time Masters and I have no idea who any of you are.”

Ray sighed annoyed but Rory was beginning to go over and over the idea of Time Masters. If these people had access to time travel, that would allow Rory a possible way to contact the Doctor.

“Rip,” Ray sighed, “I know things were bad between us all for a while, but you sacrificed yourself for us. The fact you survived is incredible and I can understand why you want to hide in this life you created for yourself after everything but it’s time to come home.”

Rory shook his head, “It’s a nice sentiment but no matter what you say, I am not and have never been Rip Hunter.”

Ray grimaced before he stood, for a moment Rory thought he was about to say something else before he simply walked out.

 “We can’t keep him locked in the cell,” Zari said as the team gathered in the library, “It’s not fair.”

“Don’t see why not,” Nate muttered.

“Because he isn’t a danger to us,” Zari reminded him sharply.

Ava frowned, “Tell that to Ray.”

“I’m fine,” Ray spoke up, “But he’s insistent he’s not Rip, and I think he’ll try to get off the ship any way he can.”

Sara sighed softly, “John is getting supplies to try the spell for returning Rip’s memories, until then he stays in the cell. I don’t like it either,” she stopped Zari arguing, “But it’s for his own protection and our safety. Rip, no matter what memories he holds, is still very smart and he could cause problems for us.”

“How long till John does the spell?” Jax asked.

Sara shrugged, “He said he had to collect some ingredients. I’m hoping he’ll be back soon.”

“What about Gideon?” Ray changed the subject, “Have we heard from Star Labs?”

With a smile, Sara replied, “Barry called earlier. Gideon is not only awake but is in good health and Dr Snow is just keeping her under observation for a few days.”

“That’s good,” Jax sighed in relief.

“For now,” Sara said, “We’re stuck here in Star City. So, you may as well visit family and friends or pick up some supplies you want. I will stay on the ship and keep an eye on Rip.”

“Are you sure?” Ava asked, “One of…”

“I’m sure,” Sara cut her off, “He’s my responsibility.”

 Rory looked round when the door opened again, wondering who was coming to persuade him he was someone else this time. A different blonde woman walked in, taller than Sara, and looked at him with distaste.

“I don’t know what your game is this time, Rip,” she said sharply, “But I know you’re making sure they let their guard down before you do whatever you’re planning.”

Rory stared at her for a minute before laughing, “You are crazier than the rest of them.”

“After what you did to me,” she snarled, “I know how untrustworthy you are.”

Letting out a sigh, Rory stood and moved to face her, “Look, whoever you are.”

“You know who I am,” she snapped.

“Whoever you are,” Rory repeated, “Your people abducted me. You all keep telling me I’m someone I’m not while holding me prisoner. Whatever issues you have with that guy, I know nothing about them and have nothing to do with them. Though I can offer the number of a good therapist for you to talk through whatever you need to.”

Anger flashing in her eyes, the woman leaned in and she stated darkly, “Even when you ‘get your memories back’” she put in the air quotes, “I will make sure you stay in this cell.”

With that said she turned, her hair flipping over her shoulder as she marched out. Just before the door closed, he clearly heard Sara’s voice demanding, “Ava, what are you doing?”

Sighing Rory sat and picked up his book again, he’d been here a day and as they’d used some kind of portal technology then Rory was sure the Doctor would be able to find him.

At least that was what he was telling himself.

[what-is-your-plan-today]

What The Stark Spangled F**k?

One Shot- The Crap Book

Summary: Rori’s cutting and sticking habits wind the boys in the house up, but for very different reasons.

Warnings: Bad language words…

A/N: We all know the tale of the IKEA pineapple bowl Katie buys Steve in SSM...well, something popped up on my Facebook ads which reminded me of this and as a result this came from mine and @icanfeelastormbrewing​ ‘s very odd WhatsApp ramblings...enjoy!

WTSSF Masterlist // WIYPT Masterlist

"Momma!" 

Katie looked up as Rori walked into the room, clutching the Magazine that she had been cutting pictures out of in her hands.

"Yes baby?" she asked, pausing the TV and  looking at her daughter.

"Look!"

Katie waited whilst Rori hopped up onto the couch, showing her the photo she was clearly excited about. She looked down to where her daughter's finger was pointing and had to bite back a snort. She was looking at a frankly hideous white and yellow ring, the band of which contained multiple gold pineapples along with bands of diamonds and yellow stones.

"It's like Daddy's bowl!" she grinned.

"Sure is...you gonna put it in your Scrapbook?"

Rori nodded, and then she smiled "I want one." Katie raised an eyebrow, deciding not to question her little Diva's taste "Do you?” She nodded "Shall I ask Daddy? He got you your rings."

Katie smiled and kissed Rori's head "Yeah, you do that" "Ok..." she grinned, hopping down and skipping out of the room. Once she was gone, Katie glanced at Harry who was sat playing with his trucks on the rug, before she pressed play on the programme she was watching, glad of some peace and quiet for half an hour before she had to start dinner. But it was short lived. A loud yell hit her ears from the den and cursing she paused her programme again, picking Harry up, before heading into the room. "What is going on?" she demanded placing Harry down. He tottered over to where Rori was stood, her arms folded as she glared at Jamie.

"He stole my scrapbook!" she yelled.

"I only wanted a look!" Jamie scoffed, tossing it back down on the floor.

"Jamie..." Katie looked at him "What did I tell you before about winding her up?"

amie rolled his eyes, making him look even more ridiculously like his father. "I just borrowed it..."

"Did she say you could?" "No..." "Then you stole it." Katie said, simply, folding her arms. "Stop irritating her and leave her alone, she's doing no harm..."

Jamie glared at his mother “Define harm.” Katie raised her eyebrows "Don't make me call your father."

At that Jamie instantly pale and his eyes cast to the floor "Sorry." "So you should be, now apologise to your sister." "Sorry Rori." he said.

Rori looked at him, "Fine." she said, sitting down and grabbing her safety scissors, returning to her activity.

World War 3 prevented, Katie decided to scrap the attempts to watch TV and headed into the kitchen after telling Jamie to keep an eye on Harry whilst he was in the den. Half an hour later she called the kids in for dinner and had settled them down at the Table, the precious book placed by Rori as she tucked into her spaghetti.

"Why have you brought the crapbook to the table?" Jamie asked. Katie's head shot up from where she had been supervising Harry who was finishing feeding himself and was about to tell her eldest son off again when Rori started to argue back.

"You're a crapbook Jamie." 

"That makes no sense!" Jamie scoffed.

"Neither does your face..." Rori glared at him. At that Katie had to turn away, the laughter threatening to burst from her chest at Rori's reply was really hard to keep down but somehow she managed it. Composing herself she turned to them both and gave them her best mom glare.

"Enough!" she said, sternly "Jamie, if you use that word again there'll be big trouble." "But it wasn't me that-.." "I don't care who did what" Katie shook her head, standing up to collect their empty dishes. "Keep pushing it pal and Seb won't be coming over tomorrow after school." Jamie let out a frustrated groan but he fell silent and Katie could only imagine the daggers he was throwing at her back as she turned away.

"Suck it up, loser..." she heard Rori say, another phrases she had picked up from Jamie and with a sigh she dropped the dishes in the sink before she spun round. 

"I heard that little Missy." she shot Rori a glare and the young girl held her stare back, before she glanced down at the table. "Now I'm telling you both. One more bad word or argument from either of you and you'll be straight up to bed." "But Daddy isn't home yet!" Rori said, horrified.

"Do I look like I care?" Katie asked. Rori looked at her before her eyes once more returned to the table and she sighed. "Now, can I trust you both to behave whilst I clean up?" "Yes momma..." they both chanted.

"Ok, then you can leave the table." They both jumped down from their seats, and Katie watched them leave the kitchen, hands on her hips, shaking her head.

****** "The crap book?" Steve fought to keep his face straight as Katie shook her head, chuckling slightly.

"Yeah, I mean he isn't wrong...it is full of crap but it was Rori's response that got me. She told him he was the crap book and when he replied that makes no sense she goes `neither does your face'!" 

Steve choked on his mouthful of food, fighting hard to swallow it before he looked at his wife, grinning. Katie shook her head again and their conversation turned to more mundane topics, namely his latest intake of students and their plans for the weekend which consisted of heading out to see Pepper and Morgan.

Sensing that his wife had dealt with the kids moaning enough that day, Steve took over bedtime duties or the eldest two, Harry going down a good hour before them with no fuss as usual. Jamie headed off for a shower whilst he ran Rori a bath, and once they were settled in their pyjamas the usual mugs of hot milk for Rori and cocoa for Jamie were dished out along with the customary 10 minutes at the piano with Katie, and true to form, once the final note of the last, last song was done, the usual griping began. One stern look at both of them and Steve shut down their complaints immediately and at his instruction they bid their mom goodnight and headed up the stairs. Steve told Rori to get in bed and he would be back in a moment for their story, and he headed over to Jamie's room, tucking him in and telling him he had 20 minutes of TV time before lights were out. When he walked back into Rori's room she was busy, he brightly coloured Scrap Book lay open on her lap as she sat propped up by her mountain of pillows.

Not the crap book...he inwardly groaned, shaking his head. If Katie ever found out he was the reason Jamie called it that, he was a dead man. That was probably another twenty dollar bribe he was going to have to shell out to keep him quiet...

"Did you bring that up with you?" Steve asked, resigned to his fate as he dropped onto the bed besides Rori as she snuggled into him, his arm falling around her and he kissed the top of her head.

"No, I hided it up here before..." she said  "So Jamie couldn't steal it again." "Wise move..." Steve grinned. "So we looking at what dresses you're gonna buy tonight instead of a story or..." "Please can you buy me a pineapple ring?" Rori looked up at him and Steve looked down at her blinking.

"A pineapple ring? I'm sure momma has a tin of them..." "Not the eating ones!" she laughed, "But one I can wear on my finger, look..." She pointed down at the book and Steve looked down, his mouth dropping open at the garish item of jewellery she had stuck on the page, which was surrounded by liberal amounts of glitter that was falling all over her bed spread and his jeans.

"You want one of those?" he looked at her.

Rori nodded.

"I don't think those are made anymore..." Steve shook his head "It must have been in the magazine as some kind of...old article..."

That was such a lame-ass attempt at a get out, but thankfully she seemed to buy it.

"Oh, ok..." she mused "But when I grow up, I want to be provoked to with one of these.”

"Provoked to?" Steve looked at her "What do you mean princess?" "You know when my boyfriend asks me to marry him." "Oh, you mean proposed." he smiled before he suddenly realised what she had said "Hang on, you have a boyfriend?" "I have 5." Rori replied casually, flipping the page over "One for each day I'm at school."

Steve frowned, and once that had sunk in he scoffed and shook his head.  "No...I'm sorry but I can't allow that. No boyfriends till you’re 30..." "I can't help it if they love me!" Rori looked up at her dad.

He snorted and narrowed his eyes "You better not be kissing any of those boys young lady!" "Eugh, that's gross!" Rori giggled "I don't let them kiss me...I just make them carry my school bag like Momma makes you carry her bags"

Steve raised an eyebrow."Ok, that's...I can live with that." "And I let them look at me." she shrugged. "Because you say I look like momma, and you say momma is the prettiest girl in the world so that means I'm pretty so they should be happy to look at me." Steve looked at his daughter, once more lost for words at the stuff that was coming out of her mouth. Stuff that should really be nonsense, but when you looked at it from the logic of a 5 year old then he really couldn't fault it. 

With a soft smile he kissed her head again and nodded to the book. "Show me the page on the animals in clothes again Princess, I like that one."

[longitudinalwaveme]

Cold As Ice

The Flash Captain Cold stars in: Cold As Ice

Dramatis Personae

Captain Cold, the pragmatic, constantly grumpy leader of the Rogues, alias Leonard Snart

Pied Piper, a Robin Hood-esque thief, alias Hartley Rathaway

Heat Wave, the dimwitted but surprisingly friendly pyromaniac, alias Mick Rory

Iris Allen, the daredevil reporter who is also the wife of Barry Allen

Mirror Master II, an extremely odd, extremely Scottish criminal, alias Evan McCulloch

Script

Act I

(Captain Cold is onstage. Enter Heat Wave)

Heat Wave: Captain Cold! It’s so good to see ya! (Hugs Cold)  

Captain Cold: Two words, Mick: Personal. Space.

Heat Wave: Oh. Sorry, boss. I just got excited. (Releases Cold)  It’s been so long since I’ve seen you. Are you okay, buddy? Where’ve you been?

Captain Cold: Mainly, the prison infirmary. Got double pneumonia, and somethin’ called septic shock along with it, so I was in there for like a month. And then my ulcer started actin’ up again, so I was there for even longer. And THEN I had appendicitis on top of everything else. So, long story short, I was stuck in there until last week, and I only escaped two days ago.

Heat Wave: Oh, so THAT’s why I couldn’t find you!

Captain Cold: Yeah, that would probably be why. (Pause) What happened while I was out? I spent most of my time in the infirmary coughing, vomiting, or unconscious, so I wasn’t able to keep track of nothing.

Heat Wave: Well, the Trickster’s back in town, Captain Boomerang’s broken leg is healed, and your sister and the Top are in Hawaii for the fifth anniversary of their first date.

Captain Cold: WHAT? Heat Wave: Don’t worry, boss. I’m sure they’ll be back soon.

Captain Cold: That’s not what I’m worried about.

Heat Wave: Then what are you worried about? It’s not like they’re chasing tornadoes or anything.

Captain Cold: I’m worried about what that stuck-up snob might do to my baby sister when I’m not there to protect her. He thinks people like us are trash, and it would be just like him to decide that she’s not worthy of his affections and dump her. I don’t want her to get hurt like that.

(Enter Pied Piper)

Heat Wave: Boss, the Top wouldn’t do that. He’s our friend.

Captain Cold: No, he ain’t. He’s an arrogant creep who thinks he’s better than us.

Heat Wave: If you say so, boss. (Notices Piper) Boss, look who’s here! It’s the Pied Piper! I’ve been trying to find him for weeks! (To Piper) Hiya, little buddy!

Pied Piper: (Slightly surprised) Hello, Mick. It’s a pleasure to see you.

Heat Wave: How are you? Pied Piper: Homeless. Again. You see, I was going to get a nice little cottage in the suburbs somewhere, but then I ran into a very pregnant woman whose husband had just lost his job, so I had to give her some money, and then I met a poor little boy who really wanted a football, so I bought it for him, and then I stumbled upon a youth center that was about to close for lack of funds, so I gave them some money, and then I met a really nice old lady who needed an operation that she couldn’t afford, so I gave her some money, and then I heard about a flood in India, and so I had to donate some money to that cause, and then I met a family with a little girl who needed a wheelchair, so I gave her some money, and then I was broke, so I couldn’t buy the cottage.

Heat Wave: I can give you some money, little buddy.

Captain Cold: Don’t bother. He’ll just give that away, too. (To Piper) Kid, how many times do we have to go over this? You ain’t rich no more. If you don’t wanna be homeless, you have to keep some of the money you steal for  yourself.

Pied Piper: I can’t do that! I spent the first twenty years of my life in palatial luxury. If I’m going without now, it’s only fair. My family has utterly ignored the plight of the poor in this city, and if I have to be homeless to make things right, so be it!

Captain Cold: You’re crazy. (Pause) When was the last time you ate, kid? You’re so thin I can see your ribs!

Pied Piper: Um ...three days ago? I think?

Captain Cold: Three days ago? Are you tryin’ to kill yourself? You ain’t used to bein’ cold and hungry. If you keep this up, one of these days the Flash is gonna be arresting your corpse!

Heat Wave: The boss is right, little buddy. It ain’t healthy to starve yourself to help people.

Pied Piper: I wasn’t planning to not eat for three days. It just happened.

Captain Cold: Then plan better, you idiot!

Heat Wave: (pulls out granola bar) Here, little buddy.

Pied Piper: Thank you, Mick. (Takes bar, eats ravenously) Do you have more? Heat Wave: No...but I can take you to lunch with me.

Pied Piper: That would be nice….

Heat Wave: Okay! Then let’s go eat! I’ve found a really great new barbeque chicken place!

Captain Cold: And by really great, you mean “full of chicken so spicy that no normal person can eat it”.

Heat Wave: Oh, yeah. I didn’t think about that. (Pause) Okay, how about we go to Steak ‘n’ Shake? I love their sandwiches.  

Captain Cold: After three months of eating the stuff they give you in the infirmary? That’d be good. They have some great milkshakes.

Pied Piper: Right now, I’m so hungry that I could probably eat dog food. I’m happy with anything that won’t make my mouth catch on fire.

Heat Wave: Okay, then let’s go! I can’t wait to talk with you guys and catch you up on what you’ve missed while you were gone!

Act II

(Iris is onstage)

Iris: I’ll say this for being a superhero’s wife-it gets you the best stories! Unless I miss my guess, the information Animal Man gave me will get me on the front page. Why, this is the biggest government cover-up since Watergate! Just wait until Barry hears about this! He’ll be so proud! Maybe it’ll even cheer him up a bit. (Pause) Poor Barry. He just hasn’t been the same since Abra Kadabra stole his super speed. I hope Wally’s mission to get it back is successful, because he feels so bad about not being able to help people as the Flash. (Pause) Oh, well. Worrying about it won’t help, so I’ll just go back to my investigation. Watch out, bad guys-Iris Allen is on your case!

(Enter Evan McCulloch, the second Mirror Master)

Evan McCulloch: Howzitgoan, Mrs. Allen?

Iris: (Spins around) Who are you? And how did you get in here?

Evan McCulloch: My name is Evan; Evan McCulloch. As for your second question: well, I’ll give you a wee hint: it’s all done with mirrors.

Iris: With mirrors? (Pause) You’re a Mirror Master, aren’t you?

Evan McCulloch: Mirror Master? That’s a well good name, but up until now it wasnae mine.

Iris: But you can use mirrors as weapons or for transportation?

Evan McCulloch: Aye. Wasnae aware doing that came with a title.

Iris: My husband’s a superhero, and he fights a criminal named Sam Scudder, who calls himself the Mirror Master. By all appearances, you’re using his tech, but the only people who have access to any of it-besides Scudder himself, unfortunately-work for the government.

Evan McCulloch: Aye. How do ye think I got ahold of it?

Iris: You work for the government?

Evan McCulloch: Officially, nae. They’ve made it well clear that if I get lifted, they’ll deny that they had anything tae do with me.

Iris: So you’re working for the government.

Evan McCulloch: They’re paying me, aye. Ye see, in Glasgow, I had a reputation for making people's ...problems… disappear, and apparently your government decided that I’d be useful in making their problems disappear.

Iris: And I’m a problem? Evan McCulloch: Aye. Certain members of your government will be in big trouble if ye reveal what they’ve been up tae, so they told me to make sure that ye cannae tell anyone about what ye’ve found.

Iris: My husband and nephew are superheroes. If anything happens to me, you’ll answer for it.

Evan McCulloch: Calmy doony. I’m nae here tae kill ye. I’m nae saint, but I’m nae going to kill a woman, especially nae tae keep a secret that will come out anyway.

Iris: Then why are you here?

Evan McCulloch: Tae warn ye. I’m nae the only dangerous man on their payroll. They need ye silenced, so when I refused to kill ye, they sent another man.

Iris : Forgive me if I’m less than convinced that your intentions are benevolent.  

Evan McCulloch: Nae danger. But I’d still advise ye tae come with me.

Iris: I’m licensed to carry a gun. I think that I can handle myself now that I’m forewarned.

Evan McCulloch: Not against the man they’re sending. I’m nae the only one they gave well dangerous technology, ye ken?

Iris: Is that so? Then I think I’ll borrow this! (Grabs mirror and disappears)

Evan McCulloch: Jings! She’s clever, isnae she? (Shakes head) I’d better follow her. She’s brave, but she does nae ken what’s after her.

(Exit Evan)

Act III

(Pied Piper, Heat Wave, and Captain Cold are onstage)

Heat Wave: Are you feeling better, little buddy?

Pied Piper: Yes, and thank you.

Heat Wave: You’re welcome. (Pause) By the way, do you know when Golden Glider and the Top are coming back from their vacation?

Pied Piper: Wait. You didn’t hear?

Heat Wave: Hear what?

Pied Piper: The Top and Golden Glider never went on vacation. They’ve been in Central City the whole time. James even told me that he, Sam, and Mark did a heist with the Top.

Heat Wave: They’re still in Central City?

Pied Piper: It seems that way, yes.

Captain Cold: Then where’s my sister?

Pied Piper: That’s the thing: no one knows. James said that he never saw her-although he does think that the Top knows where she is.

Captain Cold: If he’s hurt her, I’ll kill him!

Pied Piper: Captain Cold, the Top worships your sister. He would never hurt her.

Captain Cold: Then where is she, and why isn’t she with him?

Heat Wave: You know, boss, just because your sister’s not in our immediate line of sight doesn’t mean that she’s in trouble. She can take care of herself. After all, up until a few years ago, we only saw her a few times a year.

Captain Cold: She wasn’t dating the Top or a member of the Rogues until a few years ago either.

Heat Wave: So, uh, why don’t you just call her if you’re that worried about her, boss?

Captain Cold: Don’t be stupid, Mick. (Long pause) Hey, I’ve got it! I can just call Lisa and make sure she’s okay!

Heat Wave: You’re so smart, boss.

Pied Piper: Wait...didn’t you just say that Mick was being stupid for suggesting that idea?

Captain Cold: We’ll talk about it later. (Pulls out phone, dials number. Pause) Lisa! Hi! It’s so good to hear from you! (Pause) I was in the prison infirmary. I had double pneumonia, septic shock, and appendicitis. Oh, and my ulcer acted up some, too. What have you been doing? (Pause) You’re doing what? Why? (Pause) He’s sick, too? What are the odds? Do you know what his problem is? Mmm-hmm. Uh-huh. Yes, I’m sure you’ll get whatever it is he needs to get better. (Pause) No, I don’t want him dead. I hate his guts, but for some mysterious reason he makes you happy, so I want him to stay alive. (Pause) Have you been feeling all right? Has anyone tried to hurt you? No? Good. (Pause) Are you sure ? (Pause) Okay, okay, I’ll stop asking. Good luck, little sis. I love you. Good-bye. (Puts phone away) My little sister’s a genius.

Heat Wave: Where’s she been?

Captain Cold: Apparently, her snob of a boyfriend is dying, and the only cure is at CCPD headquarters, so she’s posing as a police scientist named Patty Spivot in order to steal it. She’s even befriended Barry Allen! I’m so proud of her.

Heat Wave: Aww, that’s adorable! I always knew that little Lisa was one smart cookie.

(Iris appears in the background, then disappears again)

Pied Piper: So, um, now that we’ve finished eating, are we going to do something, or are we just going to go our separate ways?

Captain Cold: I’m not going to lead a heist today, if that’s what you’re asking. I’m still too far behind on recent events right now.

(Enter Evan McCulloch)

Evan McCulloch: Have any of ye seen a bonny woman with red hair around here?

Captain Cold: Who are you? And where did you come from?

Evan McCulloch: I dinnae have time for that right now! I need tae make sure that a hitman does nae kill a woman named Iris Allen!

Pied Piper: Iris Allen? The wife of the Flash?

Evan McCulloch: Aye, that’s the one.

Captain Cold: AGGH! (Collapses)

Heat Wave: Boss, what’s wrong?

Captain Cold: I ...I think it’s my ulcer. My stomach is-ARGH!-killing me!

Heat Wave: Bros befores wives of heroes, random guy! I’ve gotta get my boss to the hospital, so we can’t help you save Iris. Sorry. I’ll buy you dinner later to make up for it if you want.

Captain Cold: I’m-UGH!-fine, Heat Wave!

Heat Wave: No, you’re not, boss. You just collapsed, and you’re obviously in pain. We are going to the hospital.

Pied Piper: Can you get him to the hospital without me?

Heat Wave: Yeah. Why?

Pied Piper: Because Iris Allen is an amazing woman who definitely deserves my help.

Heat Wave: I guess I can get Captain Cold to the hospital on my own. So yeah, if you wanna go help the Flash’s wife, I guess you can.

Pied Piper: Great. (To Evan) I’ll help you.

Evan McCulloch: Ah’m glad for your help, wee man in green. Now brace yourself. Traveling through Wonderland is well tricky at first.

Pied Piper: What’s Wonderla-AAAH!

(Evan McCulloch and Pied Piper disappear)

Heat Wave: (Pulls out phone and dials) Hello? Operator? My friend needs an ambulance…

Act IV

(Enter Pied Piper and Evan McCulloch)

Pied Piper: Could you give me a little warning the next time you pull me through the Mirror Realm?

Evan McCulloch: The Mirror Realm? Is that what ye call Wonderland?

Pied Piper: No, it’s what the Mirror Master calls “Wonderland”. How did you get ahold of his  technology, anyway? And who are you?

Evan McCulloch: Evan. Evan McCulloch. I was given the tech by members of the US Government who are buried so deep in a scandal they’ll do anything tae keep it covered. They hired me tae kill Iris Allen, but I refused, so I dinnae think they’re still paying me. In fact, if I’m nae careful, they might try tae off me tae cover all their loose ends. Who are ye?

Pied Piper: I’m the Pied Piper, one of the Rogues. The other two men you saw with me are Heat Wave, another member of the group, and Captain Cold, our leader.

Evan McCulloch: Rogues?

Pied Piper: Yes. We’re a group of thieves who work together to fight the Flash.

Evan McCulloch: What sort of thieves are so concerned about each others’ health that they’ll call ambulances for each other?

Pied Piper: I don’t know. What sort of hired gun refuses to kill a target and then goes out of his way to warn her about the planned assassination?

Evan McCulloch: Point taken, laddie. I’d like tae be in a group like that. I have nae been able tae trust anyone since I left Mrs. McCulloch, and it’d be nice tae not have tae watch my back all the time, ye ken?

Pied Piper: You abandoned your wife?

Evan McCulloch: I dinnae have a wife. Mrs. McCulloch ran the orphanage where I grew up. She’s the closest thing I have tae a mother.

Pied Piper: My apologies.

Evan McCulloch: Nae danger. Ye didn’t ken.

Pied Piper: Well, if you really want to join the Rogues, you’ll probably have to ask Captain Cold. He’s the one who makes the final decisions about who becomes a member of the group. (Pause) Oh, and you’ll also have to come up with a supervillain name.

Evan McCulloch: Oh, I’ve already got one. I can be the Mirror Master.

Pied Piper: I don’t think Sam will like that. It’s bad enough that you’re using his gear. I don’t think he’d take very kindly to you taking his name, too.

Evan McCulloch: Then I’ll call myself Mirror Master II.

Pied Piper: That would probably just make him angrier.

Evan McCulloch: Well, if he makes a fuss aboot it, I’ll just punch him.

Pied Piper: (Aside) If nothing else, he’ll fit in well. (To Evan) Why don’t we talk more about potential names later?

Evan McCulloch: That would be fine, aye.

Pied Piper: Good. So where do you think Iris is going?

(Enter Iris)

Iris: Hello, Evan. Hello, Pied Piper. What are you doing here?

Pied Piper: I’m helping Evan rescue you, I think.

Iris: That’s sweet of you, Hartley, but I don’t need rescuing. Thanks to the Mirror Gun, I took out my would-be assassin, and Jay’s taking him to jail right now. Now I just need to finish writing my article, and I can put this whole mess behind me.

Pied Piper: Well, I’m very glad you’re alright, Mrs. Allen. Good luck with your expose. I’m sure it will have the high quality of all your work.

Iris: Thanks, Piper.

Evan McCulloch: (Aside) If she defeated that assassin, we’d better get oot of here before she defeats us, tae. After all, we aren’t exactly innocent ourselves. (Aloud) In that case, my work here is doon. Ta! (Evan grabs the Mirror Gun, then grabs Piper, and both disappear)

Iris: Looks like I’d better tell Barry, Wally, and Jay that the Rogues have a new member. Hmmm ...that could actually be a story all on its own! If I play my cards right, I could have two award winning stories and help defeat two separate groups of bad guys all from one investigation. This is awesome! I love it when I help my loved ones bring justice. (Pause) I should probably get back home, though. Those stories aren’t going to write themselves!

 (Exit Iris)

Act V

(Captain Cold is lying down onstage; Heat Wave is standing by him)

Heat Wave: You feeling better, boss?

Captain Cold: A little. I can’t believe that my stupid ulcer put me in the hospital twice in less than three months!

Heat Wave: Maybe it’s all the stress in your life. I’ve heard that stress makes ulcers worse, and your job is really stressful. Maybe you should take a vacation.

Captain Cold: And let the Top run the Rogues into the ground? Not a chance.

Heat Wave: It wouldn’t have to be for very long ...just a couple of days, maybe.

Captain Cold: I’m not taking a vacation, and that’s final!

Heat Wave: I guess you know best, boss. If you don’t want to take a vacation, you don’t have to.

(Enter Evan McCulloch and Pied Piper)

Pied Piper: Hello, Mick. Hello, Captain Cold.

Heat Wave: Hi, little buddy! How’d the rescue go?

Pied Piper: As it turned out, she rescued herself, so our presence turned out to be completely superfluous. That being said, I think I did find us a potential new member of the Rogues. His name is Evan McCulloch, and he wants to be part of a group that he knows will have his back.

Evan McCulloch: Howzitgoan?

Heat Wave: Hi, Evan! I’m Heat Wave, but you can call me Mick Rory. Where are you from?

Evan McCulloch: Glasgow, Scotland. The city of culture!

Heat Wave: Oh, so that’s why you sound so funny. (To Captain Cold) Can he stay, Captain Cold? Please? He’s funny sounding, and I like him.

Captain Cold: I can see that you have Mirror Master’s gear. The original is one of my best friends, and I don’t think he’d like you using his tech. That being said, my health hasn’t been great lately, so we could probably use another guy with his powers in the case of an emergency. (Pause) All right, Scostman, you’re in…...but you’re on probation until I say otherwise.

Evan McCulloch: That’s good eno for me, Captain Cold.

Captain Cold: In that case, your first job is to help me find the other Rogues. When we face the Flashes next, I want to be as well prepared as possible.

Pied Piper: Well, if everything is all right here, then I will be going. You know where to find me if you need me, and this city has a lot of people who need my help.

[dato-potato]

The Lost Son pt. 6

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Seven

Part Eight

——————————

Janet carried a tray of mugs with tea and a pot of coffee over to the dining room table where Bruce Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth sat, both of them looking rather out of place compared to the room around them.

“I'm not sure if this'll suit your tastes,” she said as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

Bruce Wayne smiled kindly at her, “I’m sure it’s fine,” he reassured her, taking a mug and pouring his own coffee.

Janet felt her nerves rise as her thoughts ran tirelessly through her mind. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure of another visit? Looking to adopt another child, Mr. Wayne?” Janet asked, only half-joking.

Mr. Wayne chuckled and took a sip of coffee. “Well, I’m not sure,” he said, his voice taking on a hard edge. “I was wondering if you could answer a few questions.”

Janet felt her body tense automatically at his change in tone, the warning laying just underneath his words. Janet didn’t let her unease show as she nodded and leaned back in her chair. “Of course, Mr. Wayne, I will answer your questions to the best of my ability.”

The man nodded, his face was much more guarded than she had seen from him in the news and when he'd visited. It was more than a little unnerving for Janet to see, but perhaps that was what Damian had seen and that's why he seemed to be so wary around the large man.

Bruce Wayne nodded in understanding. "I had some questions about Damian Alistair if you wouldn't mind." He wasn't asking Janet. She was expected to answer his questions, which only had her worries worsening. When Janet didn't drop his gaze, the billionaire continued, "I was hoping you might have some insight into his past."

Janet cursed at herself, shifting uncomfortably under the scrutinizing gaze of both men. "He arrived on my doorstep on November 13th, nearly eight years ago, no one around, no papers, no clothes other than the ones he wore. I asked him what he was doing outside, alone, and he'd told me his mother instructed him to wait there until she returned." Janet was well aware that that wasn't what Bruce Wayne was asking, but she wasn't about to spill what had taken so long to come out of that stubborn boy's mouth. To her surprise, the man listened with rapt attention, startling Janet a bit.

When Janet hadn't said anything, Bruce Wayne sat back in the small chair. "Go on," he prompted her, more gently than he had spoken earlier.

She took a deep breath, she just couldn't get a handle on the man in front of her. Janet glanced at the butler but he appeared to be entirely enthralled with Janet's less than mediocre tea. "Well, of course, I took him inside, gave him something warm to drink and asked him his name. He told me, and I asked him for his mother's name which he didn't give me." When Bruce Wayne raised an eyebrow, Janet shrugged, "He said he didn't know, I wasn't about to push it."

"And now?" he asked without missing a beat. Janet furrowed her brows at him and Bruce Wayne huffed, his patience no doubt running thin. "Has he told you who his mother is?" he asked before quickly adding, "Or his father?"

Janet's brows lowered further, her eyes narrowing as she looked the man over. She was not fond of the way he asked questions, as if he were interrogating her. "He's never met nor was told about his father, as for his mother," she thought for only a moment, "he's said he doesn't remember anymore. He was quite young and much has happened since then, it's no surprise he doesn't have any memories around that time." It was clear that she hadn't convinced either man in front of her, but neither pressed the question any further.

After a long moment of silence between the three of them, Janet crossed her arms against her chest, eyes still narrowed. "May I ask why you're inquiring about the boy?" she challenged.

Janet's heart raced when there appeared to be some kind of silent exchange between the butler and Bruce Wayne. Finally, the younger man seemed to concede. He sighed heavily as he reached into his suit jacket pocket, pulling out a folded piece of paper. As Bruce Wayne slid the paper across the table, Janet was tempted to simply take a lighter to it and watch whatever it was burn. She was almost certain that she had absolutely zero desire to see what was written on the paper. Whatever it was would not be good news for anyone.

The longer Janet waited, staring the paper down as if it personally offended her, which she could decide after she opened it, the more uncomfortable Bruce Wayne became. He had definitely been weird the whole fifteen minutes he'd been inside Janet's home but he was getting worse. She sat forward to take the paper in her hands, still wanting to just burn it, she carefully unfolded it, her eyes scanning the words. Janet read it over again. And again. And then once more, just in case she had misread it. She hadn't.

Janet's gaze flickered between the words on the paper and Bruce Wayne's face, studying both with an open look of resentment. She tucked the piece of paper into her own pocket, daring either man to speak as she did. "I am going to ignore how exactly you even acquired Damian's DNA because I can assure you, he would not have given it willingly. And, if he finds out you somehow stole it, I guarantee you, you will never see him again." She looked pointedly at both Mr. Pennyworth and Bruce Wayne. Janet dropped the man's gaze in favour of the window, her thoughts now spinning around her in a frenzy of anger and the need to protect the boy. He had been through more than enough, would this billionaire end up doing more harm than good? Janet shook that question away, taking a calming breath in. It wasn't her decision to make. He was old enough he would understand the situation. He had a right to know.

“I do apologize for that.” Mr. Pennyworth bowed his head slightly.

Janet's eyes met Bruce Wayne's, the man startling slightly. She took in his face and the more she looked, the more she could see Damian. Most of the boy's features certainly came from Bruce Wayne, but his green eyes, darker complexion and thicker lips obviously came from his mother's side. Janet let her mind drift briefly to Damian's mother, Talia al Ghul , he had called her, not a common name by any stretch. At the thought of her, Janet's rage returned in full force as she glared at Bruce Wayne who responded to her glare with a look of confusion.

"And?" Janet spoke finally, her voice tight as she forced the word out and she crossed her arms again.

Bruce Wayne glanced at Mr. Pennyworth who looked equally puzzled. "And what?"

Janet's hands tightened their hold on her arms, glaring at Bruce Wayne. "Just because you’re his biological father, you think you have any right after you left him with someone like that ?"

Mr. Pennyworth turned his gaze to his tea once again as Bruce Wayne searched for an answer that would satisfy the older woman. "I didn't know," he said simply, defeated.

Janet scoffed, not caring about the looks she received from the man. "You didn't know ? As if that just makes the hell he went through ok because you didn't know? She was more than abusive, causing him to suffer trauma no one should have to deal with and at such a young age," Janet's voice took on a dangerous tone as she continued. Bruce Wayne visibly winced at her words and Janet placed her hands on her temples. She took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself. "You slept with the woman, you must have known," she concluded.

Bruce Wayne gave her a sheepish look as his eyes averted hers. Janet shut her eyes tightly and sighed, feeling like she was dealing with one of the smaller, trouble-making children. "You don't know who she is, do you?" she breathed. The man nodded his head. "Honestly, I'm aware the tabloids paint you as a playboy but I never thought you really are one," she said under her breath. Mr. Pennyworth hid a small smirk behind his mug as he took a sip.

——————————

Aurora listened carefully from around the corner, holding Giraffery close. Mr. Bruce Wayne was Dami's dad? Was he going to take Dami away? A frown found its way to her small lips, would Dami leave her to go with his dad ? Aurora's vision blurred as she rounded the corner, planting her feet in the entryway to the dining room.

"Are you going to take Dami away?" she asked, her gaze directed to the larger man sitting at the table.

Everyone turned their attention to the little girl who had just intruded, distracting them from their conversation. Janet sent her a small smile, "What're you doing, Rory? I thought your tummy was hurting?"

Aurora completely ignored Janet's words, her gaze never leaving Mr. Bruce Wayne. The man got up and kneeled in front of Aurora. "I have no intention of taking him away from you," he told her seriously.

She watched Mr. Bruce Wayne as he sat, waiting. She nodded, finally, and he smiled gently at her.

"Will you hurt Dami like his mom did?" Mr. Bruce Wayne frowned at her question. He glanced behind himself at Janet, and then the grandpa at the table, but neither offered any assistance.

The big man sighed and took Arora's hand not holding Giraffery and returned to his previous sincere gaze. "I would never hurt him like that, or in any way. My only desire is to keep him safe and happy."

Aurora's dark eyes scanned Mr. Bruce Wayne's face. When she found nothing but truth in his words, she nodded again.

——————————

Bruce stood up, pushing off from his knees and turned back to the table. With the child present, he didn't want to risk setting the director off again. He was once again reminded how bad of an idea it was to anger a mother, even if she wasn't the kid's biological mother. Bruce knew not to ask Janet about Damian's biological mother, she would most likely deny even knowing and if she did admit it, she would refuse to tell him, demanding he ask the boy instead. Which wasn't totally wrong, he should have a conversation with the boy.

"Well," he started, glancing between Alfred and Janet, "We should probably head out now, wouldn't want to be a bother," he said with a Brucie Wayne smile.

"Yes, that'd be best," her voice devoid of the softness it held when she spoke to the small girl.

Alfred stood and thanked Janet for the tea. "If you could ask Damian to stop by the manor tomorrow, it’d be greatly appreciated," he said with a nod.

Janet hesitated before nodding back, "Yeah, I'll send him over tomorrow."

Bruce paused, examining the older woman's expression. "If you could, maybe, not tell him yet? I think it'd be best if I did it myself."

She nodded again and followed them to the entranceway, closing the door behind them. Next to Bruce, Alfred huffed a breath. "I daresay that went well," he said cheerfully with a smile.

Bruce groaned as they started towards the car, "Except we still don't know who his mother is and his surrogate mother hates me."

Alfred chuckled as they got into the car, "Well, the girl seemed to approve."

"Yes, after she accused me of planning to kidnap the boy," Bruce commented, rolling his eyes. Alfred chuckled again and they left the orphanage. Bruce couldn't help feeling it had been a very unproductive visit. He was hoping he would get some sort of information from the woman as to who Damian's mother was. He was concerned that the boy wouldn't want to tell him, even more so after finding out that he's Bruce's child and Bruce had essentially abandoned him, even if he had no idea he was actually conceived.

——————————

Damian returned, two of the four kids hanging off of his arms as he held them up, the other two latched onto his pant legs. Janet laughed until she was red in the face, pointing her finger at Damian whose clothes were now thoroughly stretched out from the kids.

"Yes, yes, it's incredibly entertaining to watch me struggle. Perhaps we can get rid of the TV and simply use me as your personal jester," Damian deadpanned while Janet recomposed herself.

"That's not a bad idea," she mused and Damian gave her a disgusted look and groaned.

Grace smiled slyly over at Janet and Damian knew that look wasn’t anything good. "I may have managed to snap a few photos," she whispered conspiratorially over to Janet, winking at Damian as he made a distressed noise.

Janet crowded Grace as they fought for the phone, bickering. Damian scoffed but couldn't fight the smile that found its way to his lips. He trudged up the stairs, his muscles aching from playing with the kids after being bedridden for so long. When he reached the top of the stairs, he was immediately barreled over, toppling to the side to avoid the stairs.

Damian looked down, seeing Aurora's small arms snaking around his waist. "Rory, that could've been really dangerous," he chided her. He waited for her to let go, but Aurora didn’t even move from her spot, head down and clutching him tightly. He placed a hand on her shoulder to gently push her off, "Little one, what's wrong?"

She finally looked up at him, lips trembling and tears welling in her dark eyes. Damian moved quickly, pulling the small girl into his lap as they sat just off the side of the top of the stairs, and cradled her. He cooed softly, waiting until the small shuddering of her shoulders subsided and only soft sniffles remained. Damian forgot too often that Aurora was still young. She acted a lot older than most of the kids her age, making it easy to forget, but holding her while she sobbed quietly was a violent reminder.

Finally, Aurora lifted her head, her face a complete mess and Damian had to stifle a laugh. "What happened, little one?"

She sniffled hard as Damian brought his hands to her face and wiped away the excess tears. “Dami, are you gonna leave?”

Damian furrowed his brows, shifting Aurora in his lap so she was facing him, “Aurora, what would make you think I’m going to leave you?” he asked seriously.

Aurora shrugged and wiped her nose with her sleeve. “Dunno, maybe your dad wants to take you away,” she spoke quietly, Damian wasn’t sure if he had actually heard her. His dad? Taking him away? Damian was more than confused.

“Little one, I don’t understand why you’d think that,” he held her hands firmly to reassure her of his words.

“But wouldn’t you want to go with him?” she squeaked out.

Damian firmly shook his head, “Rory, no, I wouldn’t. You guys are my family.”

Aurora looked away from Damian, her brows furrowed. “Even though it’s Mr. Bruce Wayne?”

Damian’s heart stopped, he was sure. The blood in his body drained, sweat forming on his temples as he attempted to wrap his head around what Aurora had just said. He chuckled softly, nervously, “Rory, why would you say that?”

Aurora shifted back from Damian’s lap, still avoiding his gaze. “Aurora,” he tried again, his voice harsh as he spoke, “Why would you say that Bruce Wayne is my father?”

Aurora fidgeted in front of him, only meeting his eyes for a few seconds before flitting away. “‘Cause I heard Janet and them talking…” she trailed off, wringing her hands.

Damian felt sick. “Aurora, who is ‘them’?”

“Mr. Bruce Wayne, that grandpa and Janet,” she told him quietly.

Damian felt like all of the blood in his body drained in those fifteen seconds. “Dami?” He could hear Aurora but he couldn’t even focus on what she was trying to say. His thoughts were a mess in his head, making anything nearly impossible.

The more he sat and thought about it, the more frustrated he felt. Bruce Wayne knew that he was his father, yet he hadn’t told Damian, nor ever tried to get him back from his mother. If Bruce Wayne was indeed his father, then he had to know who Damian’s mother was. He had to know what kind of person she was.

Damian felt his blood boil, Bruce Wayne went to Janet for god knows what . More than that, Janet knew, she knew , and she hadn’t told Damian immediately.

He took a sharp breath in and stood abruptly, startling Aurora.

“Dami?” She called again. He looked down at her but he didn’t know what he was supposed to say to her. Instead, he turned and rushed down the stairs.

He made it to the kitchen entrance where Janet now stood alone, tidying up. Janet turned and saw Damian, “Oh, Damian,” she started. Please, tell me , he silently begged. If she had just told him, he could forgive that she hadn’t said anything until then. “I was thinking of pizza, what do you think?”

Damian’s heart sank. “You know.”

The hard edge to his voice startled Janet and her eyes widened slightly. “Damian? What are you--”

“You know. You know who my father is.” Damian was doing his best to compose himself but it was becoming increasingly more difficult to do so.

Janet’s face fell and she paled, “Damian, I only found out today, he didn’t want me to tell you, he wanted to--”

“So?” He interrupted her again, “Just because he didn’t want to tell me, you, of all people, you kept that from me?” The pain in his own voice made him wince. He was being weak, he knew that, but he couldn’t stop it. He had to look away from Janet when he saw her eyes glistening with tears, his own eyes threatening to overflow. He blamed Janet and Grace and the kids for making him feel safe enough that he could feel his emotions.

“Damian, I’m sorry, I just…” Janet trailed off when she focused on something behind Damian. He looked, Aurora watching them with wide eyes, flowing with tears again. He wanted nothing more than to take her into his arms and tell her it was ok, that he was just surprised, but his emotions were too high.

“Proof,” he choked out. Clearing his voice, he tried again, “Is there proof?”

Janet blanked for a moment and then blinked away the tears that gathered, “Yes, here,” she reached in her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to Damian.

He took it, his chest still heaving. Damian unfolded it and stared at the words. His mind was barely working at that point, emotions taking over completely. He slammed a fist on the door frame, hearing it splinter and smelling the blood but he didn’t feel the pain. He shoved the paper in his pocket and moved quickly past Aurora who tried reaching for him as he left.

When Damian got outside, he looked up at the darkening sky and wanted to scream. Bruce Wayne was his father. Out of every other man on Earth, it had to be that one. It was like some kind of sick joke. Damian felt like throwing up, bile rising the more he thought about his mother and father.  

He clenched his fists, a small stinging sensation radiating from his left hand but he continued to ignore it as he grabbed his bike and headed into the city.

Damian abandoned his bike in an alley and left, walking through the city. The bike ride did a little to calm his emotions, but not nearly enough. He needed a release. So, he walked. It didn’t take long. Some thug choosing to rough up a seemingly unassuming kid. Damian didn’t waste time dealing with him before continuing on his walk.

Damian ran into a number of thugs on his way to, well, he didn’t know where. They were all easy enough to deal with, when he got rid of one, another seemed to come and take their place.

The sun had long set and Damian could feel it, someone watching him . He whipped around, not seeing anyone as his emotions rose, “Come out,” he commanded them. He expected a vigilante, specifically the one who sired him, especially after the bloody trail Damian had left.

Someone stepped from the shadows, moving swiftly, not like the thugs and too hostile to be one of the vigilantes. They wielded a weapon, Damian already at quite a disadvantage. He wouldn’t let that show. “Who are you.”

His opponent remained silent, making a show of whipping the bo staff around their body. Damian sighed, hoping that maybe this would help him release. Either that or maybe Batman would finally appear and Damian could take it out on him.

Damian was pulled from his thoughts as something sharp lodged into his right leg. His opponent moved towards Damian with a bo staff and sent small, solid swings in quick succession while Damian was distracted by the pain in his leg. He didn’t have time to dodge, only being able to block with his forearms.

He managed to grab ahold of the staff, ripping it from their grasp. Before his opponent could attack again, Damian swung the staff at their temple, knocking them out.

He hissed at his forearms and leg, feeling the pain now that the fight was over.

Cold metal collided with the back of his head, giving Damian the feeling of déjà vu. He fell to his stomach, trying to push himself up by his arms before they gave out beneath him. He glanced behind him to see the staff he dropped in another person’s grasp, coming down to greet him. This person was the same as the last, shrouded in darkness making it difficult to make out any features.

Damian threw a hand out, grabbing their foot and pulling with all his strength. The person toppled to the ground and Damian scrambled very ungracefully on top of them, his hands going to their throat as he squeezed. Their arms and legs flailed, but Damian held tight, ignoring any other pain that came from their flailing until he counted ten seconds after they stopped moving to make sure they were out.

When he was sure, Damian stood and got up off them. He wobbled on his feet, cursing himself for being stupid, he should have just stayed at home and talked with Janet. This was why emotions were a nuisance.

Just as Damian decided he’d head back home, he heard that telltale whoosh behind him. He turned around, swaying as he did. “Damian,” the gravelly voice spoke, making Damian’s quickly fogging brain hurt.

Damian shook his head in an attempt to focus, “What,” he spoke, the word slightly slurred. The large man moved toward him, gently taking his arm before Damian fell over.

“What happened here?” Batman’s voice was gentler but Damian remembered why he’d been out in the first place.

He snatched his arm back, glaring at the man before him. “You,” he started, with a wavering finger pointed in Batman’s general direction, “You knew, but you didn’t tell me. Why?”

“Knew what?” He asked, obviously confused.

Damian sighed, “I know now, it’s no use hiding. I know you’re my father.”

The man seemed to stand in shock for a moment, “How did you know that I’m-- wait, who told you I’m your father?”

Damian scoffed, swaying on his feet, “Does that really matter?”

Batman held his hands out in front of him, ready to catch Damian if he fell. “No, I suppose not,” he said, taking hold of Damian’s arm again.

Damian didn’t fight it this time, he could feel his brain growing fuzzier as the minutes passed and somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew it wasn’t something he could handle on his own.

“Why’d you leave me alone,” Damian started, feeling the Bat guide him through the alley, “Why’d you leave me alone with her?”

The Bat glanced down at the boy, not sure how to answer. “I’m sorry,” he said simply. Damian frowned at the words. They weren’t what he wanted to hear, not that he knew what he wanted to hear anyway. “I don’t remember, no matter how much I think about it, I can’t remember.”

“Are you saying you don’t remember my mother?” Damian’s words were slurring more.

The man shook his head as they reached his vehicle, carefully placing Damian inside. Damian tried to focus as the pain radiating behind his eyes and in his forearms and his leg and his entire body, in general, became stronger with nothing else to focus on. The lights outside the car only made it worse. Damian closed his eyes, feeling a rush of calm come over him as he did.

Slowly, he slipped into unconsciousness.

——————————

Aurora stared out the door, waiting. Janet tried to get her to come inside, with pizza and other treats, but she wouldn’t budge. She sat down beside Aurora after putting the rest of the kids to bed. “He’ll come back,” she told her. Even after saying it, Janet wasn’t sure of her own words.

“It’s my fault,” Aurora spoke softly.

Janet shook her head, “It most certainly is not.”

Aurora looked up at Janet with teary eyes, “He left because of me.”

“Oh, Rory,” Jannet pulled the girl into a hug, “He didn’t leave because of you. When he gets back, you’ll see. If you keep saying it’s your fault, he won’t be happy.”

Aurora squeaked, “I’m sorry, Janet.”

“Hush, it’s ok,” Janet consoled her, glancing at the cellphone beside her. She was hoping it’d ring by now, letting her know that Damian was ok but it hadn’t. She couldn’t help the anxiety that swelled in her chest. Where was that boy?

Her phone started ringing as if on cue and she snatched it to answer, "Hello?"

"Hello, Mrs. Norwell," the voice greeted on the other end. Janet's stomach twisted into knots, it was a voice she had heard not even 24 hours ago, one that couldn't mean anything good.

——————————

Thanks for reading, more to come...

[kurtty-drabbles]

Lara Croft au (part 8)

N/A: Is tempting to make this an intermission where LK and Kitty FUCK, but, I´ll save this for later. Look, Amanda is not very bright and I think those tiaras are only maguffins. Ok, let´s see what I can do here.

@dannybagpipesarecalling @djinmer4 @bamfoftheundead @muninandhugin

Count Mordo´s action must be secretive and fly under everyone´s radar. Especially, considering Dr. Strange is one of his foes and the man-if ignoring his tendency of dating his students- make a blood pact to solve crack all Mordo´s crimes and make him pay. "And now his wife/student is out of the picture...I´m the focus of the so-called hero" Mordo chimed to himself. One of his servants joins his chambers carrying a letter with the royal seal of Ruritania.

"My lord, Ruritania has a new Queen now." noticing the confusion on his lord´s face. The servant is quick to explain. "Apparently, Queen Victoria had two children, but, one of them was a product of an affair and she hides the children and the lover away...as they lived in the US for all their lives...when you took down the original heir to the throne...Queen Victoria used the other child, now a grown-up woman...to ascend to the throne of Ruritania" the servants concludes his explanation and handle the letter.

Mordo makes a loud tsk with his mouth. "So, Queen Victoria wasn´t so pure as she claimed to be?! What a surprise" his laconic way left no room for arguing. "Well, the King and Queen were married by convenience...not love, and he had his affairs...I know, I used that in the past...still, I confess" he pauses reading some lines of the letter. "I didn´t see that one coming"

And the servant adds. "My lord, the coronation, a symbolic one as the legal one was held in private, will count with King Magneto, King Doom and X-men and Avengers"

"I see...and we´re also invited as well...it seems I´ll meet this Judith Walters..." and his eyes gaze upon his servant who already has some answers.

"Me and the others did some dig. Nothing out of the orders about her. I mean, no criminal record, no scandals in her name. And appears to be 100% human" and then the man adds snapping his fingers remembering something. "Oh, yes, she did slept with Kurt Wagner in the past...There´s an alleged accusation of helping him...forging some stole items from England back to Egypt. Sadly, is all speculation...there´s no proof"

"Uhm, is something, thank you, Jarvis. You´d an excellent job. As always, you may leave!" Count Mordo assented and Jarvis bows and leaves. Mordo has to plan.

I need those tiaras. Can I trust Amanda to complete the job?

Let´s think for a moment if she fails...I can´t go there to retrieve the tiaras without as many heroes are so near me and will cause a scene...and Magneto wants those tiaras as well...

"I was a fool in trust in Amanda...but, now, she´s my only pawn for now" Mordo bemoaned as his hands caress his forehead - Amanda´s annoying voice still plagues on his mind- "Oh, I should have contact, Miss Pryde..." He laments and sighs dejectedly.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

The chimera licks everyone else-only after Dr. Moira is properly "unfrozen"- everyone is free from the spell and can move just fine. And everyone has questions. Logan, being the older guy that travels around the world can explain who the hell is Dr. Rory-thankfully, using small words and sentences- to the others who are baffled by what just happened.

"In a few shorts words, Dr. Rory works for Zephyr and is a big figure here. People trust this man a lot and well, now we see they shouldn´t" Logan replies grumpily. A part of him is grateful for the chimera- he thumbs up to the creature and thank him/her- but the other part hates that he was licked by a monster. "You messed with my hair"

Doug is talking with the Chimera. Equal to equal and is thanking them- "the Chimera has no real gender." and Logan admits that while Doug´s power is not useful for a battle is still a pretty valuable one- and the Chimera is happy to have someone to talk in its own language.

Kitty looks at Kurt completely and utterly suspicious. Tapping her foot on the ground- not refusing a convenient towel Dr. Moira offers so conveniently- and looks at him almost unnerving. "Who is she?" sneered the question as Kurt is with his towel as well.

"I have no idea" is his sincere reply. Sadly, Kitty is not buying.

"Is she one of your exes? Do you like tall, blonde and bouncy?" Kitty asked again and Kurt raises his hand in total defeat.

"I so happen to like women that can kick my ass...You do look more than ready to kick mine. But I have a strong dislike for women that want to kill me...is an oddity, I know"

Kitty is staring at his eyes. "I can´t trust you." and she calls Doug-who only now stops talking with the Chimera- to go with her. "We´ll get the tiaras...no more partnership" and she leaves without letting the man speak.

"Kitty?" Doug tries to speak but Kitty´s eyes held a different type of fire and Doug can read between the lines...better not ask ...now.

Kurt watches as Kitty enters the temple. Logan puts a hand on his shoulder and asks. "She is not one of your exes, right?"

"No..."

"Ok, let´s go...Stay here looking like a kicked puppy is not part of our job" and Kurt has no time to ask what Logan means by that as Logan is also entering the temple.

Kurt sighs. He has work to do. And he can think about Kitty Pryde later...

Dr. Moira decides to stay on land as she and the Chimera have more time to talk. "So, now you see the mortals...we´re very much into dramas" and looks up to see a red hair woman with a playfully smile. "Aren´t we, Venus?"

"And that´s what makes things so funny for me and for my boss!"

[clownsgobeepbeep]

Nasturtium

I’ll tag @post-itpenny and @grotesquegabby because some of your characters would have been in the next part of my story after A Pair of Daisies uwu

After the conversation with Conllium, Ula awakens from the “dream”, relieved to see Atlas still there as well as Logium. The latter has to leave for they sense something off

Somehow, Ula feels better and attempts to get up from bed because it’s urgent.

Atlas helps her up, the two going over to the tent where he knows Jelly and Lennie must be. Once there they of course see the two who just finished talking with Zeta

Ula tells them that they need to gather up all the children and take them somewhere considerably safe because of what’s going on with Cosmos

As it turns out, Cantarella possessed Pepper’s body in order to create chaos by angering Cosmos by bring up their past problems

Jelly, Lennie, and Ula decide to leave, getting Davey and Cordelia

Before being able to leave, ‘James’ comes to ‘help’

Long story short, they know it’s Ryder who attempts to attack the children but surprise, surprise: Schrader to the rescue

While the adults and Ula stay, Schrader takes them someplace safe and she of course isn’t surprised to see him again

Since Ryder is being a creeper and even reminds Jelly of a certain time in their lives, she leaves and goes with Schrader+the kids(or at least those are her intentions)

Lennie and Ula are left, and together they kick Ryder’s ass as well as managed to kick him out of James’ body(thankfully, Ula made it so that James has at least one of Ryder’s lights so that he can continue living). Ryder, the coward, flees.

Elsewhere, Jelly is looking for Schrader+the kids but instead finds Cuckoo with their family(except Clara who has been sent with Zeta)

While they attempt to do something, Jelly goes out to see if maybe she can find a way but instead runs into none other than someone who kind of looks like her

This is Evie who says something about Jelly ruining her life, and Jelly is nothing but confused, merely asks who she even is

After some ‘explaining’, Jelly is the tiniest bit angered(but also not really because of course, she’s got a wonderful hubby and kids) so she goes ahead and beats the hell out of Evie who kind of thought she had a chance. Really, Jelly just gracefully smacked her with her baton like a staff.

Back with Calliope, she is still with Cuckoo who doesn’t recognize her

Soon enough, Jelly brings the culprit and throws her at Calliope and Rory’s feet. Rory takes Cuckoo away; now it’s Calliope’s turn to kick ass. In conclusion: Evie is once again dead.

Back with Atlas, he’s been keeping an eye on Basil and Flora who are surprisingly the tiniest better

However, he soon switches places with Schrader who tells him to take Davey and Cordelia to Walter’s place, because that is literally one of the safest places(of course, address is given)

Meanwhile, Flora is overjoyed to see Schrader and she follows him as he carries Basil away

He however crashes into Ula and Lennie, the latter saying he’ll be going with Jelly

Lennie finds Jelly and they go to find Cosmos+Pepper since the former is quite angry and uncontrollable, not even Vespers or their kids can calm him down

With Schrader, Ula, and the siblings, they are stopped by a very tall figure who makes sure they remain in the tent they are, but they make it into a whole other realm

Lennie and Jelly reach her brothers who have been fighting for a while, already knowing that it’s Cantarella possessing Pepper

Jelly tries to fight her but is unsuccessful because now Risus is making sure she doesn’t interrupt. They even taunt her, briefly calling her Mecor.

However, Risus didn’t expect Conllium to also interfere

The latter has granted a momentary ability to a certain ghost who possesses poor Pepper, thus kicking out Cantarella. Again.

Of course, this ghost is Uncle Lucky who even goes as far as grabbing Cosmos’ head to change his emotions(like Jelly can do), and he is put to rest(his family tries to take him away)

With their plan foiled once again, Risus escapes and quite angrily takes Cantarella with them

Just in time, Belinda comes and takes care of Pepper who is a little exhausted from everything. Jelly and Lennie decide to go look for Davey and Cordelia.

Back with Schrader and Ula, they try to take care of Basil and Flora while they stare at this tall figure who attempts to introduce themselves, but Schrader tells them to fuck off and unfortunately gets pushed away by an invisible force.

Ula is angry at this, seeing that her yelling has made the figure step away in the slightest bit.

They tell her that they are not there to harm her, but to keep her safe from Schrader. They even offer to completely heal Basil if she just hands him over to them.

Flora however, tells Ula not to do it, that this thing is very bad and is too good at fooling people.

Now, the figure demands that Ula hand Basil over.

Ula demands to know who they are and why they consider Schrader to be so bad. 

The figure says that they are Schrader’s parent, but they see a power in Schrader that could destroy everybody, including his possible children.

Ula doesn’t believe them and even takes Basil’s knife, now this really making the figure back away.

Schrader comes back, for he was thrown down quite harshly, and he tells Ula that this is indeed his parent who has always hurt him at every given chance, and they are the reason he had to leave.

Schrader explains that they forced him, even threatened to kill everybody Ula loved to then make it seem like Schrader had done it.

The figure then admits that it would have worked, and the main reason is that they wanted Schrader away from Ula so that they would not conceive.

Flora adds on, saying that Schrader does indeed have a certain “power” and that that combined with Ula’s would create dangerous children. She says that this figure has always been terrified of Basil because he ends up being extremely powerful no matter how he’s born. 

Schrader then adds on that there is a power Ula has or would have unless she passes it onto her future kids, and it’s that she is strong enough to kill beings such as elders.

Now his parent admits that the only reason Schrader was born was to protect Ula from those like Cantarella, because they wanted to use that power to kill Risus, even after the latter literally made a deal with them and gave them the other time piece they stole from Logium

However, their plan didn’t go as they thought it would. They somehow did not see Schrader and Ula falling in love, so they looked into the future to see how powerful Basil would turn out to be, which was why they made them break up.

His parent continues on with the insults, saying that Schrader’s other brother would have been a much better option to guard Ula.

His parent finally reveals themselves as Trema the Astute One, and that Schrader is not exactly who he think he is. 

As it turns out, Trema used a human form to go to Earth. They attempted to find a suitable human partner who would birth at least one child who they would use to protect someone, and their chosen human was a young woman named Sherry.

Trema courted Sherry for a long while until they admitted they had to leave to some far-off place. The night before, the two left a party held by Sherry’s father; nine months later, Sherry birthed triplets.

These triplets were named Walter, Archer...and the third had no name, for he was unfortunately taken away by Trema.

Of course, Schrader is the missing triplet, but he aged in a different dimension which made him much younger than his brother Walter.

Walter and Archer grew up before meeting their parent, not knowing who they were. Trema offered them a deal, all they had to do was make sure a certain person was kept alive.

This person was Uncle Lucky.

In this other dimension, however, deadlights were being hunted down often and someone eventually found out that the carnival/circus Lucky lived at was filled with deadlights. So, many were massacred, Lucky included.

Walter and Archer attempted to protect him as well as others, but Lucky was killed before they could reach him, and Archer eventually had his throat slit before he burned with everyone else.

Walter was one of the only survivors, not able to find his mother who had actually been taken to safety by none other than the elder Sionis.

Walter was met up with Trema who showed disappointment.

Trema then erased Walter’s memories and brought him into the dimension where his remaining brother was in. Trema revealed who they were to Walter, even introduced him to an infant Schrader who went by Trema’s choice of name.

Years later, Walter found the chance to steal his brother away and attempt to raise him on his own after learning that Trema treated him in some of the worst ways possible.

Back to the present, Trema also reveals that the crow who had been following Schrader around for years is actually Sherry in a form Zeta granted for her, so that she could always be with her missing son.

After everything, Ula is both angered and saddened for Schrader who is left in shock because he himself had no idea he had a mother, especially so close to him the entire time.

Ula’s emotions are felt by Basil who gathers them up, as well as the little bit of strength he has, swinging and plunging down his knife at a terrified Trema who is now realizing that what they attempted to prevent is now happening. 

Trema eventually disintegrates into Basil’s knife as he rests up again

Somehow, a portal is created so that everyone can leave. However, the crow from before eventually comes into sight, landing in front of Schrader.

Waiting for this moment, the crow now transforms into Sherry who says sweet words to Schrader, apologizing for not being able to do anything for him.

The two share a long moment, even Ula having a few words while Sherry is able to admire two of her grandchildren.

Unfortunately, Sherry can not remain as she is and either must leave or turn back into a crow, somehow disappearing so that Schrader may make a choice.

After years of holding it all in, Schradder breaks down and shares an embrace with Ula as she attempts to soothe him.

[bitch-banshee]

Dangerous Games

Prompt: Rory wants to play, and Theo isn’t ready to lose

Word count: 1865

Characters: Theo x AU!Beta Rory

Warnings: Smut y’all, hot sexy smutty goodness. DOM!Theo..kinda? Orgasm denial. Small exhibitionism. And ya know..sexy times

A/N: this is my first smut......

Today was a day when i woke up sexually frustrated, for no reason. I was laid next to the sexiest man alive, the love of my life.

Theo was wrapped around me like a sin, his soft fingers trailing over the slope of my hip. It felt so good, and he knew it. I squirmed in his arms, the soft touch sending a fire licking through my body, and settling in the middle of my thighs.

"Mmm theo" I whispered to him, my hips rolling on their own accord. His sleepy fingers skimmed over my bare tummy as his lips ran over my shoulder, up to where he'd marked me. His treacherous tongue shooting out to lick the moon shaped scar. My moan was involuntary, everything I did with him was, Theo was everything to me.

"Morning Rory, we have to go to school" he kissed the side of my head and peeled his warm body from mine. Theo and I had an apartment together, my parents had both died and left me a healthy trust fund for when I turned 18.

"Theo Raeken, you better get back here and finish what you started!" I yelled after him before I heard the shower turn on. He peeked his head back in our bed room.

"Mrs.Raeken, whatever are you talking about" his eyes glinted with mischief. I scowled at him, my other half. We'd gotten married after high school. With no one to tell us no but Derek. We didn't really have a reason not to, he'd marked me as his. What was a human marriage really gonna change in comparison?

He showered with the door locked, much to my disappointment. I'd showered last night after work, so i went to our closet and pulled out an outfit. We were in the middle of winter so it was pretty cold out. I pulled off theos boxers i stole and pulled on a pair of red lace panties with a matching bra. I was going to tease him until he combusted today.

I pulled on a low cut black long sleeve and a brown leather mini skirt. To combat the cold i pulled out a fluffy black scarf, I heard the water turn off and started to rush. I pulled on a pair of brown thigh high socks and a pair of over the knee heeled boots.

He was whistling down the hall, the bastard. I pulled my hair away from my neck up into a ponytail, the dark tresses grazing my ass. I was zipping up my boots when he walked in.

"Baby..." His breath caught, he was only in a towel, which dropped unceremoniously to the floor. He stood gloriously naked in front of me, his eyes blazing with lust. "You should get back in bed" the husk in his voice speaking directly to my core.

"We need to go, Stiles, Lydia, Malia, and Scott will be waiting on campus for us." I ignored the call to obey my husband and went to my bedside table picking up my phone.

"Aurora, now" his voice dropped into that panty melting octave and I shivered.

"Theo, get dressed, we can get breakfast on the way" I purred out as I strode passed him, my lips catching his shoulder.

He growled softly and I matched it. We were both betas, equals.

I felt liberated when I got to the kitchen. He bounded down the stairs, his long sleeve stretching deliciously over his chest, my mouth watered for him. He went for all black today, his hair still wet from his shower.

I sauntered up to him and slid my fingers through his hair, his eyes fluttered closed, "Rory, what game are you playing" he whispered, his warm minty breath floated over my face.

"One you're going to lose" I nipped his ear and he groaned. "Let's go" I cheerfully called swiping the keys from the hook.

He trudged behind me, opening the passenger door for me, his hand stilling me, gripping my hip."careful kitten, you're in some dangerous water" his voice hadn't come out of that deep depth that always sent me to the stars.

"Yes sir" I moaned out in return, his grip tightened at the name.

When we got to campus theo wrapped his arms around me and i reciprocated. My touch delicate as I curled my fingers into the flesh of his back. His breath caught as my cold fingers. "Stop it Rory" but he didn't want me to, I could see it in his eyes. A dangerous game yes, but he loved playing.

"Morning guys" Scott called to us and Stiles and Lydia.

Lydia was wrapped around Stiles like she was afraid he'd disappear, i understood, so did stiles his lips pressed against her head in reassurance. They were nothing like theo and i.

His arm was wrapped around me too tightly because i was teasing him. My small hand had slinked its way into his front pocket, light fingers caressing the tip of my favorite part of his anatomy. His face was twisted into a mix of a scowl and a groan.

"You ok theo?" Malia called, she was always the most observant. He said nothing just nodding to her.

"We should go or we will be late" the laugh in my voice was prominent. I was winning, and I'd pay for it later, but I didn't care I wanted the punishment.

Throughout the entire day I'd been discreetly nipping at theo, caressing him, bending over in front of him, and whispering nasty things into his ear.

More than once he'd growled to silence me but it only spurred me on, I was dripping wet for him, my mind swirling through all the things i knew he'd do to me if i went far enough.

It had warmed outside just enough and I took off my scarf. We'd all been sitting outside eating together. Scott and stiles both sniffed the air and theo stiffly growled at the both of them.

"Rory you smell like sex" Malia bluntly said aloud and i laughed.

"Yeah well, you offering to help, my husband is refusing to teach me a lesson" the words left my lips and Theo swiftly stood and threw me over his shoulder.

"Bye Rory!" Malia and Lydia called laughing.

He carried me out of the open square and set me down behind a pillar. My eyes were gold, alight with lust. His hand closed around my neck.

"That's enough!" He whisper yelled to me.

"Mm, you sure?" I smiled at him. I pushed my hips into his.

"aurora, knock it off" he wasn't playing anymore, but I was, and I couldn't wait for my prize. I rolled my hips against his tent.

"Take me sir, here" that was all it took for him to slip into his role.

"Little exibitionist, you want to be seen hmm? You want me to take you out in the open, such a little slut." He licked across my ear. "I'm taking you home, but before" his hand jerked into my skirt, passed my panties and into my sopping core. I bit down on my lip harshly. "So ready for me hmm?" I mewled when his expert digits sank into my heat.

He wasted no time, pumping inside me, his fingers unforgiving. The all too familiar quicken came and he stopped. Denial. "You want this, you wait" he pulled his hand from where I needed him most, his other hand still securely on my throat. He slipped his fingers into his mouth and I rubbed my thighs together. "No, you wait, okay kitten" he tongue slid over my mark and I whimpered. "You'll wait right here while I go get our stuff" I nodded immediately.

When we got home, we were both tongues and thumbs. Pulling off clothing and leaving a trail from the door to the bed. He tossed me effortlessly to the middle. "Open" my legs spread easily for him. He groaned, "so beautiful" his praise was soft on my ears. He dipped his tongue in slowly, feeling and swirling around. My moan was loud and disgusting. "Be quiet, this is what you wanted" he slapped my spread and sensitive pussy. My body hopped and his arm curled around my leg. Soft lips latched onto my clit, he sucked and lapped over the bunch of nerves.

My heart was beating quickly as i neared the edge, my scream on the tip of my tongue but he pulled away. The hollow feeling replaced my euphoria. "Theo!" I yelled. He shoved his fingers deep inside and i yelped out of pleasure.

"You wanted this kitten, don't act like you didn't" he spoke to my opening and pulled my clit between his teeth, his fingers curling up inside me.

"Please theo, please" i whined, tugging at my nipples, desperate for something to put me over the edge. His fingers were only moving the slightest bit, my clit trapped softly between his teeth. I grunted and twisted my hips to get him to move. I was on the verge of tears, the pit in my stomach demanding to be let loose.

"Okay kitten, okay" he rubbed that spot, so quick and so hard I was cumming in seconds. Screaming as my orgasm tore apart my body. He wasted no time pulling his fingers out and sinking his length directly into me.

His pace was quick, punishing, bruising. I loved it. "Yes theo, God, please, fuck me, harder" i rushed the words passed my lips, my body shaking from my release but i needed more, i needed him.

He snapped his hips to mine, the loud slap of skin and moans the only sounds in the room. "You want to cum again kitten, you're so greedy, cum again" he demanded of me, and my body complied. Shattering yet again around him, pulling and sucking on his cock bringing him closer to his undoing. He didn't stop, he hit that special place inside me over and over, prolonging my orgasm until i was crying.

Hot tears streaming down my face, I loved him, I loved this. "Please theo, cum inside me, please, i need it, i need you" I whispered to him, gripping at his shoulders, pulling him to me, catching his lips with mine. I wrapped my heavy legs around his back urging him on.

"You've been playing with me all day kitten, do you even deserve it" he nipped and tugged on the skin of my neck.

"Theo! Please" my voice breaking, my mind unable to say anything but please and his name. He pushed himself off of me, his hand finding my throat and squeezing, i was cumming again and taking him with me. The pace he set was slowing, shortening, and i felt him coat me with his cum. He kissed me so hard, riding his wave.

"I love you Rory" he palmed my cheek his blue eyes filled with love. He pulled gently out of me, and I winced, sore already.

"Sorry baby, you ok" he asked with his voice full of concern. Theo was big in aftercare, always my sweet man. He pulled me gently into his arms, I hummed, already falling out of consciousness. He kissed up my arm and pulled the blanket up over us.

Game over.

———————————————————

Taking requests ALWAYS, you want it, I’ll write it 😉

~ Alaina

[innytoes]

Hey Inny. I've had a stressful week so for your AU 5+ ask please hit me with some JATP Gilmore Girls. Also does Rory = Carrie yes/yes??

I'm sorry you had a stressful week have many wholesome headcanons.

-Okay so if Bobby is Christopher, that means Carrie is GiGi and can you imagine that whole freakout like: HE STOLE THE FREAKING NAME. COME ON. ROR-RY. CAR-RIE. It's not the first thing he's stolen, Rory!!!!1! Also why are the stupid balloons green yes I know gender is a construct Rory your dad is literally trans in case you forgot but the baby can't reveal their gender until they at least learn to talk so the whole point of a gender reveal is stupid and...

-Jess' antics frustrate the shit out of Alex, but Reggie finds most of them very amusing. He does steal back the gnome Jess stole and returns it with like, an envelope full of photographs of the gnome having a wander around town and grabbing a bite to eat at the diner and stuff.

But the fake dead body? He loves it. He asks Taylor all wide-eyed if the town is safe or not. Taylor it happened right in front of your store. Taylor are you secretly a serial killer????

-So nobody is more surprised than Reggie when Jess finally needles him so much that he pushes the kid into a lake. Listen, he shouldn't have said those things about Alex but also Reggie is an adult.

-He goes straight to the Molinas and barges in like: RAY HELP I'M A TERRIBLE FATHER FIGURE.

-Luke and the town troubadour are frenemies.

-Imagine Rory's college friends being so confused about her three dads. Rory is like: No? I have... two dads?

Oh okay so who is your dad dating, Reggie or Alex?

Rory: ... I mean neither of them yet but also my other dad is named Trevor.

[ravenpufff]

Title: You Freed Me

Who: Emma Seo x Clyde ‘Rory’ Daviau ( @malcolmbrights​ )

Rating: teen? idk how to do ratings lol

TW: drugs

Word Count: 1,026

Emma hadn’t risked flying with drugs, but Nevada was a beautiful state where adults were allowed to smoke weed legally. Naturally, she dragged Rory to a dispensary as soon as their luggages were taken up to one of the swankiest rooms in the hotel. To her surprise, Rory decided to partake with her, and he responsibly decided they should taken an Uber around town.

They stopped to grab foodtruck tacos and to go shopping. As she often did with Rory’s credit card, Emma emerged from the shopping spree with an ungodly amount of bags from various stores. She had drooled over a pair of vintage Levi’s and decided to change into them. She switched out her top for a summery blouse too before they hopped onto a tour bus last minute.

Once they returned to the hotel, Emma rolled and lit another joint while taking advantage of the mini bar. She dozed off while Rory took a few business calls. Rory caught up on emails and worked for a few hours, and Emma took a bath and got ready for dinner.

While Rory was showering and getting ready, Emma smoked some more. She picked out Rory’s outfit from their assortment of shopping bags: a pair of bright pink knee-length shorts, a button down shirt, and a oversized blazer with chunky sneakers that matched the one’s Emma wore. She had on a black, lacey bralette; oversized, hot pink blazer; and a bodycon mini skirt.

“I love us,” Emma squealed while taking photos of Rory’s outfit. She fussed over his hair for a few more seconds before giving him a kiss on the cheek. It left a perfectly red lip print on his face, but he didn’t move to wipe it off and grinned instead.

When they arrived at the restaurant, the hostess looked hesitant to greet them. The other guests were dressed more formally, but they clearly just had bad taste. Emma nearly stuck her tongue out at the hostess but resisted for Rory’s sake. He was taking her out somewhere nice, and it seemed like dropping his name for their reservation suddenly invigorated the hostess to treat them with more urgency.

By the time the third course had arrived, and Emma was bored of the food and at the polite low murmurs of conversations around her. She downed half of her wine glass and asked the waiter for more. She then grinned at Rory while she ran her foot up his leg. He blushed slightly, and he smiled as he pretended not to notice and continued to eat.

“Rooooory,” she whispered, “Let’s get married.”

He looked confused by her suggestion, but his hands stilled. He took a sip of his water and paused while looking at Emma. There was a look that he got when he was turning over ideas in his head.

He eventually shrugged, “Sure.”

--

They arrived at the run-down chapel hand in hand. They were still in the same clothes from dinner and Emma would normally protest that a monumental moment like this was not celebrated with a proper dress, but she was flying high and feeling good.

Just before they stepped up to the altar for their turn, the bored-looking Elvis was switched out for a gleeful rabbi.

Emma smiled at the man. “No, fucking way! Are you like a real rabbi?”

He smiled back at her, “Yes, now are you here to marry this man here?”

She nodded. She turned to look at Rory and whispered although not quietly enough, “He’s a real rabbi! Aren’t you part Jewish? This is fate!”

Rory couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, baby. I am.” His high from the afternoon was long gone, but he was on cloud nine around Emma.

The rabbi chuckled with Rory and began to proceed with a the brief ceremony. Emma meant no offense and the rabbi didn’t seem to care, but when the rabbi spoke Hebrew, she giggled uncontrollably. The ceremony was extremely unorthodox, but they were still given a glass to break at the end. The couple signed the marriage certificate, and Emma grabbed her husband’s face for a kiss.

“Mazel tov!” the rabbi waved at them as another couple stepped up.

--

Emma wobbled on her heels, and she swatted away Rory’s hands when he tried to catch her. She immediately fell, but she seemed unbothered by her sprained ankle. She undid the clasps and tossed her shoes away from her with a dazed smile on her face.

Rory dutifully picked them up and tried not to hover over Emma.

“Oww...” she cried out when she tried to stand up. She pouted and lifted her arms up at Rory like a child.

He laughed as he crouched down. He turned so she could wrap her arms around him, and he stood up with her on his back. “I was trying to help you before you did that.”

“I just wanted you to carry me,” she lied.

“I would carry you any time,” he replied.

“I fucked up,” she sighed. It was a small apology. She sleepily placed kiss on his neck, leaving another red lip print on him. She was glad that he was smiling as he walked towards their room.

“How does it feel to be a married man? Do you feel like I stole your freedom?” she teased.

“Nah, you freed me.”

“You’re gonna make me cry.”

“I’m serious, dead serious.”

“Asshole.” She punched him lightly on his back and wiped away the tears from her eyes. “Making your new wife cry -- a real asshole.”

He chuckled as he struggled to grab the room key.

She impressively contorted her body around to grab his wallet while she remained attached to him and handed him the room key.

Once the door was open, he swung her around to hold her in front of him. Surprised, she gasped.

He tucked her into bed and kissed her head.

“사랑해,” she murmured with her eyes closed.

“I don’t know what that means,” he replied as he brushed her hair.

“I said, ‘I love you.’” She blindly reached her hand out for his, and he grabbed it and squeezed it.

“I love you too.”

[robininthelabyrinth]

Fic prompt: as a kid, Len inherited his maternal grandfather's books. Old, valuable books. When things started getting worse, he would seek refuge among their pages, reading things meant for far older, wiser men - such as instructions in how to make a golem... Many years later he still hasn't found a way to tell Mick the truth...

for the magical creature bingo board, square: author’s choice :)

——————————————————————————————

He shouldn’t have done it.

Len knows he shouldn’t have, and feels almost bad about it, almost, and he doesn’t feel bad about anything anymore. Hasn’t for years, ever since he started helping Dad out at age five and got his ass kicked for asking about why stealing wasn’t wrong like they said on the TV.

He doesn’t really regret doing it, but that doesn’t change that he shouldn’t have done it.

He shouldn’t have stolen his grandfather’s books, to start with. They weren’t his to have: his grandfather would never have given it to him. Not the grandfather he spent most of his time with when he could, his father’s father, the kindly old man with the ice cream truck and the sad eyes and the deluded hope that his angry son would be content with his father and his wife and so spare his son, but the other one.

He called him grandfather, but he was Len’s mother’s uncle, since her father was long dead; the tall, stern Rav Eleazar, who smiled rarely and did not approve of Len’s mother but insisted on teaching her son Hebrew and the little scraps of Jewish faith he could fit into the one week a year he spent in Central. The one who Len worked so very hard to please, learning Hebrew even on his own time in the library. The one who, when Len read out a whole prayer by himself for the first time and beamed from the sheer pride of it, laughed softly and said, “You remind me of her.”

“Her?” Len asks.

“The Golem of the trenches,” Rav Eleazar said, and his gaze was distant and soft. “I met her in the Great War, where she stood tall among the men, with stars on her brow and truth on her tongue. She fought with honor and with love for all mankind, and walked freely through No Man’s Land where bullets could not touch her.”

It took some time for Len to put it together, the rumors and the stories and the legends, before –

“You met Wonder Woman?” he marveled. “For real?”

“Oh, yes,” Rav Eleazar says. “She is one of our own, you know – a long-wandering Jew taught her mother the tricks of it and stood by her as she formed her out of clay, wrote the shem of God in her mouth and on her brow, and now she is the guardian of mankind.”

“You met Wonder Woman! The superhero! She’s a legend! Tell me about her!”

And Rav Eleazer did.

But he told his tales too well, to a growing thief like Len, because Len couldn’t help but want to know more.

So Len stole his grandfather’s oldest diary.

The one with the stories of his time in the war.

The one with the secrets.

He meant to give it back, he really did, but his mother died a few months later and his grandfather never again returned to Central.

So he carried it with him.

Carried it when his father beat him for questioning his judgment about a job.

Carried it when that job went south and his father hung it all on him.

Carried it through the trial, which no one came to watch.

Carried it to juvie, where no one stood by his side.

Carried it to the hospital, a stab wound bleeding in his side from a shiv no one was there to defend him from.

Carried it through his stay there, with indifferent nurses and doctors barely even looking at him.

Carried it back to juvie, teeth gritted and eyes burning red with hate and hurt and loneliness, to be beaten again and again and again, for the color of his skin and the tenor of his faith and even just because, until he just couldn’t take it anymore

And he pulled out that book and he went to work.

The juvie catered to both of the Gem Cities, but it was located in a far off suburb of Keystone, where the streets had all but faded to rural fields and there weren’t enough people to complain and keep the juvie out, so it was Keystone soil Len went for, thick and strong, warm between his fingers and filled with life already.

He built himself a man, big and tall and strong, with a back strong enough to take the hurts of the world.

He shaped fingers to be clever and quick, shoulders to help support him, strong legs to brace himself against any onrushing force.

For his brain, he put a scrap of lettuce from lunch, to represent growth, and stolen lighter, to represent destruction.

For his heart, Len worried at his own lip until it bled, and he spat that blood into the mud that he mixes with the last few tears he has within him.

Defend me and be by my side, he wishes, with all of his cold little heart. Be mine always.

And he carves the name of God, the shem, into his man’s rib, where it will be safe, and puts the name of truth upon his brow.

And then Len sits back, fury spent, energy gone, nothing left, and closes his eyes.

Please work, he thinks.

He won’t be able to take another disappointment.

If his grandfather lied, if his grandfather’s stories were no more than stories –

It would break his heart.

Please work.

Please.

A warm hand touches his elbow and Len sighs, an exhale of breath. He’d hope to escape notice long enough to complete his task, but apparently that wasn’t to be.

“Hey, kid,” a gruff voice he doesn’t recognize. “You okay?”

Len opens his eyes.

His man of clay looks back at him, open concern in his gaze.

It’s been so long since Len has seen anyone look at him kindly, look at him with concern, that he’s almost forgotten how looks.

“Hi,” Len whispers, unaccountably shy, and smiles, just a little.

And his man of clay smiles back.

Len can’t bring himself to regret that much. Michael, Len called him, named him, and the system recognized him as Michael “Mick” Rory when he followed Len back in – a boy with no family, no home, a pyromaniac whose family burned in a freak accident that he blames himself for.

Len has no idea if Mick Rory actually existed before his Mick walked back into juvie with him, and honestly, he’s too scared to look.

That’s not what he regrets.

What he regrets –

What he regrets is never having damn well explained any of this to Mick.

He should’ve done it from the start, he knows that, but he was scared. That’s explanation, not excuse; he played dumb when Mick asked him what he recalled about Mick’s past, pointed to the story the institutions gave them, avoided any reliance on proof, let Mick learn it and re-learn it until even he thought that was his real past, until he woke up at night dreaming of faces of sisters and brothers he never had.

Or maybe he did; what does Len know of golems? Maybe those dreams are of faces of other golems – Prague, Vilna, Themiscyra – far away.

Maybe Len’s been keeping that from him, too.

Fuck, Len’s fucked this one right up.

And now it’s too late.

Now Mick knows.

It was the fire that had revealed everything.

Len crafted Mick with a lighter in the center of his brain, a pulsing, beating core that thrummed with a remembrance of its love of fire, and it manifested as pyromania. Len was able to help Mick manage it well enough most of the time, but then - the job in Shreveport.

The whole room went up in a rush of flame.

Len scarcely escaped.

Mick, trapped by his love of fire, did not, and the flames consumed him.

But Mick is no mortal man, and fire cannot kill him. He is a golem, made of clay, and you know what fire does to clay?

It hardens it.

Len goes and finds those that turned the warehouse into a trap and kills them, only crumbling after the deed is done, falling to his knees and bowing his head in sorrow and regret.

That is how Mick finds him. His skin is glossy from the heat of the flames, but his face is cold.

“You knew,” he says. It is not a question.

“Yes,” Len whispers.

“Tell me everything.”

Len tells him all of it.

Not just the beginning, born of pain and desperation and a terrible fear that no one would ever love him, but the rest of it, the sickening pangs of guilt, the growth of love, the wrench of knowing that he should speak but finding he cannot, the understanding that he betrayed Mick every day with his silence -

Mick listens, his face closed, his body uninviting.

When Len finishes, cracked open and empty, Mick says nothing.

There is nothing but silence.

Finally, Len can take it no more. “Mick,” he says - more a plea than anything else - but finds his well of words has run dry. “Mick -”

“I need to think about this,” Mick says, and his voice is flat and unfeeling.

Len nods, numbly. That makes sense. That’s reasonable. Mick can think as long as he likes, as long as -

“Alone.”

Len bows his head, the little spark of hope that had been kindling in his chest abruptly extinguished.

It’s only just that this be the result. It doesn’t mean he likes it, it doesn’t mean it isn’t ripping him apart, gutting him, but he understands it.

It is fair.

It is awful, terrible, all-destroying, but it’s fair.

Len brought this on himself.

On them both.

Mick leaves.

After a while, Len leaves, too.

The next year goes by in a terrible blur. Len runs heists, same as always, going through the motions with a dull heart and an empty mind. He gets money and dumps it into bank accounts and turns around and keeps going. He has to keep going.

He knows if he stops, he will fall apart.

He goes - and goes - and goes -

It’s all nothing without Mick.

Len worries about him.

Oh, he knows it’s ridiculous. He knows Mick is all but invulnerable - bullets, knives, blunt force, fire, water, it’s all the same to him. But he has one vulnerability - that mark of truth on his forehead, right between the eyes where it can be mistaken for the wrinkles of stress.

If anyone changes a single stoke of that mark - erases truth and makes it death, a mere letter apart in the original Hebrew - then that’s it.

Dust to dust, ash to ash - clay to clay.

Len wakes up in a cold sweat on a regular basis to images of Mick, his beautiful Mick, dissolving into clay. He’d always known of this risk, but somehow it had not terrified him quite so much, in such a bone-deep manner, as it did now, with Mick gone who-knows-where. Gone where Len cannot protect him.

Even finding a superhero wasn’t really enough to break Len’s apathy. Oh, it’s nice; it’s a challenge. Len spends the whole time thinking wistfully of how he would enjoy this, if he remembered how to enjoy things without Mick.

His heart is gone.

He adds the heat gun to the pile of gifts for Mick that he has no opportunity to give.

He starts planning the next heist - either Keystone or Coast City, since it’s all the same for him right now - when there’s a knock on his door.

Len’s heart throbs for the first time in a year. Anticipation.

He knows that knock.

Len wants to dash over to the door, but his body is seized up. He walks to the door, slowly and surely, and opens it.

It’s Mick.

He looks good.

“Mick,” Len whispers.

“Len,” Mick says, and smiles.

Len suddenly needs to sit down.

Mick catches him as he falls, luckily, and guides him to the couch.

“What the fuck,” Len says groggily.

“Sorry,” Mick says. “My fault. I didn’t realize - you never said - about the distance. You should’ve said.”

“Distance? What about it?” Len asks.

Mick rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling. “Of course you didn’t know; that’s why you didn’t tell me. I should’ve known. Len, to make a golem, you have to put your heart and soul into the making or it doesn’t work.”

“Okay..?”

Mick taps his chest. “My heart beats with your heartbeat. When I go away from you, your heart is gone as well. But I’m back, now.”

Everything is in color. Len hadn’t noticed how dull it was the last year, how everything was dull, how even his lovely, sparkling Lisa seemed flat and uninteresting, though he loved her just as much as ever.

“I think I know what you mean,” Len says. “But you don’t have to stay just because of that.”

“I don’t have to stay,” Mick agrees, and there’s a stabbing feeling in Len’s chest. “I want to.”

The feeling fades, replaced by a steadily growing glow of irrepressible joy.

“I’ve learned a lot,” Mick says. “About golems, about humanity, about life, but most of all, I learned that I don’t want to be apart from you.”

Len smiles.

He gives Mick the heat gun – he gives Mick all the gifts he saved for him, anything he thought Mick might like – and they go together on a heist, then on a supervillain spree, because they’re back together, and no one can stop them.

They even go travelling in time, but it doesn’t suit them, and they try to pull out of it. Len has a strict code, so they have to finish the mission first, but they want out. They want out.

Out doesn’t come the way they would have wished.

“The Oculus explosion will kill even you,” Len hisses to Mick’s ear. “This isn’t a fire. This is a nuke!”

“I know,” Mick says, and his face is beauteous in its calm. “But that’s my duty, in the end. I’m here to protect you. I will do it.”

“You will not,” Len says, and takes his place.

Sara carries Mick away, surprised by how light he is for his strength. She does not know that he is clay, and Len does not tell her. Mick’s secret will die with him.

Len braces himself, and wishes Mick well.

A glowing gold rope wraps around his arms.

“What,” Len says, a second before he’s quite literally lassoed into a glowing portal that appears right by his side.

He stumbles out onto a beach, surrounded by a lot of women.

Very tall, very scary women.

“Um,” Len says. “Hi?”

“Welcome,” one of them says, stepping forward.

Len’s never met her before, but he knows her on sight.

“Holy crap, you’re Wonder Woman,” Len blurts out.

She smiles. “Call me Diana,” she says. “After all, you are my brother-in-law.”

Len opens his mouth, then closes it, then opens it, then closes it again. He feebly gestures his lack of understanding.

“Mick is a golem,” Diana clarifies. “As am I; and so he is my brother. And you have married him, which makes us kin.”

Len tries to say something and fails.

“He speaks very highly of you,” she says.

“Well, Mick’s the best,” Len finally says. “None better.”

There are approving smiles all around him, which is a surprise – Len never makes a good impression on anyone – until Len realizes he’s still wrapped in Diana’s famous lasso of truth.

Well.

Mick is the best.

“Unfortunately, I cannot find him right now,” Diana says apologetically. “Will you stay here until I can?”

“Sure,” Len says, a little dazed.

He was expecting a few weeks.

It’s a whole year.

Not that it’s bad – Len doesn’t mind being on an island entirely composed of women, even if his movements are somewhat limited for religious reasons. He finds enough to keep him busy, though they do make him give back everything he steals. They don’t mind that he steals, mind you – they seem to think of it as a very clever game, and that he’s remarkably good at it – but they like the way they’ve distributed things and he doesn’t get to rearrange that at will.

Actually, he ends up becoming rather good friends with Hippolyta, who created Diana all those years ago out of clay with the help of some wandering sailor, and who is the only person who understands why Len’s vitality dims and his world goes grey the longer he’s away from Mick. Diana carries her heart with her; Mick has Len’s own.

“He knows you live,” Hippolyta assures Len. “He knows, deep inside, though perhaps not consciously – do not worry. You will be reunited, in time.”

Len waits, and waits, and waits, even when he sees cracks in the timeline – helpfully laid out in the every-shifting tapestry of Arachne hung up next to but not inside the temple of Athena for obvious reasons – and worries about Mick.

Even when he collapses as his thread is plucked out of its line in the tapestry, and wakes a few weeks later with a new set of memories and a newly intensified hatred of brainwashing.

At least he can assure himself that he only shot Mick through the heart, which would not have killed him, and at any rate, that future was averted.

Still. That was awful.

“I really need to find him,” he says to Hippolyta, Diana having gone out on mission. “I really need to find him. He’s suffering.”

“You’re suffering, too,” she says. “Soon.”

“I’d really appreciate a timeline,” Len grouses. “You’re literally centuries old. Your ‘soon’ and my ‘soon’ are not the same ‘soon’.”

Luckily, it turns out to be closer to Len’s ‘soon’ than Hippolyta’s.

In fact, it turns out to be during a massive universe-crossing invasion.

Diana makes an appearance.

“Ohmigodohmigodohmigod,” Cisco hyperventilates. “It’s Wonder Woman.”

Barry is vibrating with excitement, quite literally. Iris is just making squeaking noises and waving her hands frantically. Caitlin is frozen in place and attempting to communicate her excitement through blinks.

Even Oliver Queen, master of the unimpressed face, has stars in his eyes. “It’s an honor, ma’am,” he says, shaking her hand. “I mean – that is –”

“Diana is fine,” she says, and smiles, and Oliver looks like he needs to sit down.

Len gets that. He’s amused, watching; he’s not expecting to be recognized, what with the armor he’s currently wearing while the resupply lines go and grab his gear from Thermyscia. He’d been training when the call came, and at any rate, you can’t wear a leather jacket or a parka in a Mediterranean island.

Not even if you have a theme.

But his heart is beating strong and the world is in vivid color once more.

The Legends have arrived.

Sara is out first, flanked by Ray and Firestorm.

“Oh my god, it’s Wonder Woman,” Firestorm says. “I mean. Wow. I idolized you growing up. We did. Both of us. I mean – wow, this is embarrassing.”

“Think nothing of it,” Diana says, laughing. “I am honored.”

“Ditto to what he said,” Ray says, looking dazed. “Wow – like, so much ditto. Wow.”

Sara looks like she’s been hit by a truck. It’s not uncommon when people meet Diana. “Yeah,” she says. “Seriously. Wow. And you and your Amazons will be working with us on this? Wow. Now that’s an honor.”

The other Legends follow – Nate and Amaya and Zari, which Len has seen in the tapestry, and Mick.

Mick.

Len would go to him, but his feet are frozen in place.

(Karma for being amused at Caitlin’s plight, no doubt.)

“This is so cool,” Nate says, while both Zari and Amaya seem to be bouncing up and down in a fit of excitement too intense to actually permit them to speak. “I’m going to go say – Mick, what are you doing?”

Mick ignores him and continues walking straight up to a distracted Diana, reaching out for her.

“Mick!” Sara squawks, echoed by Ray and Firestorm. “Stop!”

Diana turns, sees him, and embraces him warmly. “My brother,” she says warmly. “I hope you are well. I have him for you.”

“You’d better,” Mick says, looking relieved.

Nate attempts to insert himself between the two of them. “You’re just amazing,” he gushes, ignoring Mick entirely despite the way they’re intertwined. “I mean, you’re Wonder Woman – Mick, let me talk to her, you had your moment –”

“Buzz off, Pretty,” Mick says, pulling back and making a face at his crewmate. “I wanna talk to my sister.”

“Mick,” Nate hisses.

“Perhaps we can speak later, Mr. Heywood,” Diana says politely, her kind smile unaffected. “I have not seen Mick for quite some time.”

“Wait, you guys have met before?” Ray asks, looking between them. “For real?”

“Did you miss the whole brother-sister thing?” Mick asks dryly.

“We didn’t miss it, we were just stunned,” Firestorm says. “Man, Mick, why didn’t you tell us you’d met Wonder Woman?”

“Didn’t seem relevant.”

“How is that not relevant?” Sara asks, then shakes her head. “Don’t answer that. Really cool, Mick. How did you two meet? And what did you do to get called Wonder Woman’s brother?”

Diana laughs. “He did not have to do anything,” she says, squeezing Mick’s hand. “He was born. Is that not the typical way of it, with brothers?”

“She’s older,” Mick says. “In case it wasn’t obvious.”

“Wait,” Cisco says. “Wait, wait, wait. You’re literally siblings? Mick’s from Thermiscyia?”

“How?” Ray asks. “I thought they were women only.”

“I’m from Keystone, idiots,” Mick says. “She’s still my sister. Listen, we’ve got something really important to discuss – more questions later.”

“Agreed,” Diana says. “If you will be so kind as to excuse us…?”

The crowd parts like the Red Sea, and lets them pass, Diana leading Mick back towards the Amazons. Of course, as soon as they’ve left the group, and the Amazons have close ranks around them, blocking them from view, frantic whispers and gestures erupt in the group left behind.

Len would normally be wallowing in amusement, but his focus is elsewhere.

Mick.

He pulls off his helmet.

“You,” Mick growls, and lunges forward.

Len is moving at the same time, and they crash together, arms around each other, holding each other close. Len feels the wave of dizziness, the feeling of heat burning in his chest, and he knows enough now to let it flow through him, from Mick into the rest of his body, and when he regains his ability to stand, Mick still has him held tight.

“I won’t do that again,” Len promises.

“You’d better,” Mick says. “I won’t let you.”

They stand in silence for a few more minutes.

After a few minutes, Len says, “How do you feel about threesomes? There’s a list of interested Amazons I’ve been collecting.”

“Yeah, I’m in,” Mick says, rolling his eyes but unable to keep the smile off his face. “Maybe after the current crisis?”

“If you insist.”

“I think I do.”

They grin at each other.

“Cisco rebuilt your gun, you know,” Mick says. “Caitlin’s been using it.”

“Trust me, I know,” Len says. “I’ve been watching Arachne’s tapestry.”

Mick blinks at him.

“Long story.”

“No, I know what it is, but it’s only supposed to be readable to – you know what, never mind. Let’s go fight.”

“You can’t leave it at that!”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’m happy you’ve developed a functional form of immortality by becoming an Amazonian prince –”

“Don’t be absurd!”

“Technically, my dear, you did marry the brother of the princess,” Hippolyta says mildly. “You qualify. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.”

Len’s reintroduction to the Legends and the Flash turns out to involve some unattractive gaping on his part, because his friends are all awful people, but it still works out somehow. He only has to punch a half-dozen of them or so.

Besides, he has a new job.

Namely, protecting Mick from avid fans trying to convince him to get Diana to give out autographs.

Len minds exactly not at all, as long as Mick’s by his side.

And in the end, they go back to where they ought to be.

The Gem Cities just aren’t the same without their golem.

[singledarkshade]

Mistaken Identity

Rip Hunter is on the run from the agency he created, despite not only being right about the danger he warned them about but also helping them defeat it.

In 1941 Rory Williams is grabbed by the Time Bureau off the streets of New York while in the future, on another world, Rip meets a madman with a blue box.

Confused by the fact Rip Hunter isn't where he should be, the Doctor decides to investigate finding things and people he didn’t expect.

  Part One

  New York was cold.

December had brought snow and ice with biting winds that cut through the thin jacket he was wearing. Unfortunately their funds were not exactly great here in the 1940s and they had to make certain sacrifices, like warm coats for food, but they were together which was all that mattered.

Shivering while he walked back to their small apartment from the hospital he worked in, Rory Williams tried to think what to get his wife for Christmas this year. They’d been trapped in the past for three years now and, as much as they both missed home, they had made the best of it.

Rory became aware of three men walking near him. Not exactly unusual as it was New York City and there were a lot of people on the streets but they had been following him for several blocks now.

The Centurion, hidden deep in his subconscious, began to stir for the first time in years sensing danger nearby. Rory began to walk slightly faster keeping an eye on his new friends, grimacing that they followed him. Turning into an alley Rory climbed up a fire escape, tucking his body behind several plants, watching the three men look around confused that he had disappeared.

The men talked for a few moments before one tapped on the watch he was wearing and a portal opened. Rory’s eyes widened in amazement, this could be a way home. Climbing back down to the street Rory started home again, grimacing when three different men wearing identical suits appeared all pointing weapons at him.

“Mr Hunter,” the one in the centre stated, “You will surrender yourself to us.”

Rory’s right hand twitched slightly for his sword, “I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else.”

“Nice try,” the man continued, “But we’re not your idiot Legends. You will surrender or we will take you back by force.”

Rory took a step back, “I have no idea who you people are so I’m going to have to decline.”

The man on the left attacked suddenly. The Centurion took over and Rory dodged, instinctively slamming his elbow into the face of the second man. Turning to run the third man appeared before him and white light filled Rory’s vision then there was nothing.

Rory’s head felt like it was going to explode when he opened his eyes. Looking around he frowned seeing the cell he was in as it meant he was definitely no longer in the 1940s. Amy was going to be pissed.

“I was surprised by how careless you were,” an older man stated sternly from outside the cell, “Being caught in the background of a photograph in a newspaper.”

Standing Rory glared at the man on the other side of the barrier, “Who the hell are you and who do you think I am?”

“This pretence of ignorance is not going to work, Rip,” the man stated sharply, “You know how escaping would sit with the board. I tried to warn you where your obsession would lead but you never listened.”

Fisting his hands to force the Centurion down Rory kept his voice steady, “I have no idea what you’re talking about. My name is Rory Williams. I have never heard of this Rip or Hunter or whoever you seem to think I am.”

The man let out a snort of laughter, “Good try but DNA doesn’t lie.”

“Apparently it does,” Rory retorted.

“I had hoped you would face everything, acknowledge the damage you did to this agency, your agency and finally make amends,” the man stated, “But it looks as though you’re still deluding yourself that you are the victim. I’m sorry, Rip but get used to these four walls.”

Turning away the man disappeared leaving Rory wondering who he’d been mistaken for and how his DNA matched the man they thought he was.

                                  *********************************************

  Three days had passed since Rory had woken up in the cell and he knew there was no way they were going to realise they’d made a mistake and let him go. This meant he had to take matters into his own hands.

Rory had grown up wanting to help people so he had chosen to be a nurse. However his IQ tests had shown he could do anything he wanted. When the Doctor had appeared in their adult lives, after being a fairytale and game for their childhoods, Rory began to read up on everything that could be connected to the man. He studied and when the Doctor had brought him onboard the TARDIS he learned all he could from the other man.

People never really saw him.

Rory had always faded into the background mostly due to the fact Amy was there. She was bright, brilliant and sparkling so no one noticed him at her side which was something he’d learned to use to his advantage over time.

They thankfully, along with his three meals, gave him books to fill his days along with the paper and a pencil he asked for. Not a pen because they seemed to think he would be able to do something with that.

They didn’t know he could do things with paper and pencil. All he needed to do was remember the origami class Amy had dragged him to then let the Centurion loose.

  Rory looked up at the camera in the corner as he made some more folds on the square of paper he had in front of him. He’d spent most of the previous night sharpening the pencil while they would assume he was sleeping. It wasn’t the greatest plan in the world but right now it was all he had. He knew there was no way the Doctor would save him, considering the Time Lord thought he was trapped somewhere the TARDIS would never be able to return to.

Finished making his box Rory slipped it over the camera, using the pencil to hold it on, standing to the side waiting for the guard to appear. The moment the man stepped inside Rory released the Centurion who quickly incapacitated the guard. Creeping through the corridors Rory grimaced when alarms started to sound. He was screwed.

Taking a quick breath he allowed the Centurion to remain in control because right now being a nurse wasn’t going to help him.

Choosing a direction Rory began to run, dodging the people who came at him. He noticed a few of them were wearing the same watch thing as the men who had been following him in New York. Knocking one of his pursuers out Rory stole the device knowing he could work out how to use it once he got somewhere safe. Throwing himself round a corner and attaching it to his wrist to make it easier to carry Rory was surprised when the device suddenly activated.

“What the...” he murmured staring at the device which instantly requested an order, “Why are you letting me access you?”

He tapped the menu and found an emergency exit command. Hearing people coming towards him again Rory shrugged, “What other choice do I have?”

A portal opened beside him showing what appeared to be a bedroom, with no indication of where it was. Rory decided that, considering it was noted as emergency exit, it had to be safer for him than here. He dived through relieved when the portal closed before anyone could see where he went.

  Rory sat on the ground of the room he was suddenly in taking a few deep breaths.

“You are not Captain Hunter,” a woman’s voice came from around him.

Rory let out an annoyed sigh, “Thank you. At least you believe me, whoever you are.”

“I am Gideon,” the woman stated, “I am the AI for the Waverider. Please identify yourself.”

“I’m Rory Williams,” he replied before asking interested, “You’re an AI? So you control the ship I presume I’m on?”

“I do,” Gideon replied, “Please advise how you were able to use Captain Hunter’s emergency exit protocol? It is activated on by his DNA profile only.”

Rory shrugged, “I have no idea. Everyone seems to think I am this Hunter guy. Wherever I was before, some Bureau they said something about our DNA matching.”

There was a pause before Gideon came back on.

“I will need you to come to the Medical Suite in order to confirm that,” Gideon told him, “However the crew are currently awake and I do not believe they will react well to someone who looks like Captain Hunter.”

“That makes me feel safe,” Rory sighed.

“You are safer here than you were in the Time Bureau,” Gideon assured him, “Are you hungry or thirsty?”

“A little thirsty,” Rory replied.

“If you go to the cabinet beside the bed you will find some canteens of water and several protein bars,” Gideon told him, “This room is locked. None of the crew will try to enter as I have never allowed them access.”

Rory sat on the bed before he opened the cabinet finding the supplies Gideon had told him were there. He hesitated when he went to open the water.

“Can I trust you, Gideon?”

He waited for a moment before she replied, “Captain Hunter is my priority. At the moment you appear in many ways to be him. I want to examine the evidence before I decide what the next step is.”

“So I can trust you until you realise I’m definitely not your Captain?”

“I already know you are not Captain Hunter,” Gideon told him amusement in her voice, “I need evidence before I can inform the crew who will help you return to your own time. They will require proof.”

Rory took a drink before he let out a long sigh and lay back on the bed, “Brilliant.”

  “I have noticed you are restless,” Gideon spoke up about two hours later.

Rory looked up at the ceiling where he guessed the cameras she used would be hidden, “Did my continual pacing give it away?”

“I can provide you with some entertainment,” Gideon told him, “If you wish?”

Rory nodded, “I could use something to read.”

“You can use the tablet on the desk to access the library,” Gideon told him, “I will provide you with books from your era if you advise when that is.”

Rory grimaced, “I was living in 1941 but I was born in 1989.”

“You are a time traveller?” Gideon asked in surprise.

“I was,” Rory nodded, “It’s a long story.”

Gideon was silent for several moments before stating, “Then this is not unusual for you.”

Rory chuckled, “This is pretty run of the mill. Finding out I grew up with my daughter as one of my best friends, now that was weird.”

“I have uploaded books and films for you from the era you are originally from,” Gideon told him, “If you feel the need then you should use the shower. You can also borrow some of Captain Hunter’s clothes.”

“Thank you, Gideon,” Rory sighed, “You have been very accommodating.”

“It is clear you have a connection to my Captain in some way,” Gideon advised, “He will want you to be safe until I am able to return you to your home.”

Rory nodded in appreciation, “All I want is to get back to my wife.”

Part Two

[zippdementia]

Part 26 Alignment May Vary: A Not-So-Random Encounter

Today's post will discuss when and how to use random encounters. It's a topic I've covered before, but the session we played highlights some of the key points. 

First of all, to catch us up... after successfully defeating the Giant Crabs and making it to Twyin’s Vengeance, the party sets sail for their final destination, the long lost island of Rori Rama. After a week or two of uneventful travel, they come to a narrow island blocking the passage forward. The island is shaped like a crescent, with its horns pointing away from the ship. It slopes upward from the beach to a massive cliff that fills the entire ring, creating the impression of a great curved wall protecting something beyond it. Making shore here, the party explores the island only briefly before being greeted by a fat, tanned, islander with a key around his neck. He seems to be a simpleton, but he introduces himself as “Den Den” and offers to take them to the village chief.

The chief tells them that beyond this reef lies the island of Rori Rama but that no one ever returns from it, save one. Karinna guesses this one is Raiden, her old commander who betrayed her during the War of Seven Sorrows, and the entire point of her quest. The chief confirms this, but tells her cryptically that the man who returned from Rori Rama was both Raiden and not Raiden anymore, that the jungle burned away what he once was. Slowly the clues dawn on Karinna: a man calling himself Den Den, a silver key around his neck, the glowing of the pendant Zennatos gave her to find Raiden... the simpleton that greeted them at the island’s gates was Raiden, or what is left of him. His mind has been burnt away by jungle fever and the answers she seeks as to why he betrayed her may be forever lost in that mind.

Karinna has to decide what to do. As GM, I expect there are two options: either kill Den Den, knowing that he was once the man who betrayed her, or move on—unsatisfied, but perhaps empowered by knowing that satisfication is not required, that Karinna could allow herself to let go of something without resolution. Instead, Karinna creates a third option: find the truth no matter what, even if it means tracking Raiden’s steps in the jungles of Rori Rama. And since I strongly believe that a GM should listen to their players and think about the kind of game their players want to be in, I decide to run with it and start working on a way for her to access Raiden’s memories.

Karina, Abenthy, and Tyrion head into the jungle, leaving most of the crew back on the Gate Island. They do take Tywin’s old shipwrecked companions, Xaviee, Samuel, and Biggs, and Verrick of course refuses to leave Karina. Several days of travel ensue, with some encounters I’ll describe later.

Then, a little ways into the jungle, Karina decides to make use of an item I invented a while back and added to the Pit of Thudd treasures. It is like a crystal ball, only it shows events from the past as ghostly re-enactments of these events (if the emanations of the event are strong enough, ie. they have a strong emotional significance attached to them AKA I’ve got some history to share on that area or some story to tell there). I don’t actually have anything planned where Karina uses the item, in the middle of a large lake fed by two jungle rivers, but I decide to make up something on the spot to push forward the Raiden plot. So she sees a ghostly boat manned by Raiden and a strangely dressed man. The image makes no sound, but it looks like Raiden and the man have a fight and Raiden cuts the man’s throat and drops the body in the lake before rowing to the far shore.

This is meant to set them up to find Raiden’s camp (which I’ve just invented), a journal he’s left there (also just made up), and a special hand crossbow for Karina (spoiler: improvised on the spot) which will let her use her reaction to shoot projectiles out of the air as they come. But what I don’t expect is that Abenthy will leap off of their raft and dive into the water to search for the corpse and loot it.

Random made Reasonable

Random encounters are best used to either break up monotony or force the team to action. Instead of using "random" encounters, I suggest DMs make a list of monsters that they would be alrite using in their environment (and based on the level of difficulty they wish to present). If you are using a campaign module, like I often do, and it has random monster tables, then half the work is done for you: pick and choose from that table what seems most interesting. You don't have to use every encounter. If you can't decide, roll a few times on the table and use the results. Stat these encounters out as "just in case" encounters, then use them as you best see fit. 

In our session, we had several. The first day on the river, I throw some  Stirges at them. I knew they wouldn't be too difficult of an encounter, but I liked the way it fit with the theme of the jungle and would break up the monotony of travel. I make it a little more exciting by having them carry disease, jungle fever that gets contracted when they bite.

Next up is a T-Rex encounter, occurring when they try to ford a waterfall. The T-Rex encounter I knew was probably going to be a tough fight. But it was listed on the random encounter table for the campaign and I thought it too cool to pass up, so I worked it in as an escapable combat. In this case, the players hid under their boat and the T-Rex, on the prowl for big game, overlooked them. They didn’t end up fighting, but they didn’t have to to leave an impression. It was one of those "what the hell are you going to do?" situations where I genuinely did not know how the players would respond. If they had a good plan and good rolls, they could escape notice. If not, they would fight. And who knows? Maybe Tyrion would use his animal control spell to make it his pet for a while, ride it into combat or something. In general, I keep my eyes open for encounters that I, as a player, would like to be a part of. If I see one, I usually mark it for inclusion in the game. And in addition to the fun of meeting a T-Rex, the monster serves as a great way to push players forward. If they rest too long, or don't seem to want to move forward, I can have the T-Rex show up to nudge them in the right direction. It's in the category of Big-Frickin'-Monster. They are useful tools.

Lastly, when Abenthy decided to unexpectedly dive to the bottom of the lake to search for treasure, I felt there had to be a guardian. So a Giant Alligator shows up, tracking him through the water, pulling him into the lake just as he reaches shore, and forcing the players to deal with trying to free their friend in an environment (the water) that they are not accustomed to. The Alligator was also on the random encounter table supplied with the campaign and simply made the most sense for the situation. I had thought it a cool encounter, so I’d stated it out before the session just in case I needed it. Didn’t know I would, yet out of it came one of the cooler fights of the session. Unplanned, but prepared. That's the key to a good random encounter. They are set pieces you can throw in to make your game better at key moments.

In the last case, Abenthy is pulled under water by the alligator and has a difficult struggle ahead of him. Tactically, he is grappled and drowning and without his armor (which he left in the raft). Breaking the grapple means he still has to swim to the surface of the lake to breath, and that gives the alligator a chance to use an opportunity attack—which, if it hits, reinstates the grapple. Abenthy is a tough son of a gun, so he can take the hits, but he can’t survive drowning. Meanwhile, his companions on shore cannot do much. The alligator keeps diving underwater to hold Abenthy down, and that means Karina’s arrows won’t hit it and Tyrion can’t target it to cast most of his spells.

Eventually, Abenthy manages to break the surface of the water just long enough to attract the Aligator within line of sight of Tyrion, who quickly casts Hypnotic pattern, freezing the alligator long enough for Abenthy to power swim towards shore and for the party to flee before the spell wears off.

Abenthy surfaced, spluttering and thanking the gods (chief among them his father) for blessing his body with a resistance to disease. He had no idea what sort of filth or amoebas he had swallowed during his battle in the lake and he didn’t like to think long on it.

“Well, fucking hell!” Tyrion exclaimed. The halfing had become more excitable since the monastery and much of his music had been replaced by shrieks and curses, though the magic of his voice still seemed to have the desired effect on his enemies. “I hope that was worth the little side trek.”

Opening his hand, Abenthy looked down at the strange circular device he had retrieved from the bottom of the lake, where he had found the body they had seen in the vision. “We shall see,” he said.

Raiden’s Demise

Beyond the lake lies an abandoned camp. A quick search among it surprises a young lizardman, who cries out in fear and goes racing off into the jungle. Karina and Abenthy give chase and after a short time succeed in rolling high enough to cut the lizardman off, tackling him to the dirt and threatening to kill him if he does not tell them what he was doing there. Fortunately, Karina has comprehend languages as a spell, and casts it.

The lizardman (naming himself as “Small Threat”) doesn’t know what happened at the camp, but he is surprisingly forthcoming about his tribe, who lives in the jungle by a second lake and knows the true paths of the jungle. He offers to take them there, and they agree, setting us up for the Next Session: Tinkering.

He also gives them a backpack he stole from the campsite. In it is Raiden’s journal, and as Karina studies it over the next few days, it tells the following tale of Raiden’s fall, filling in the gaps of what he did before his mind was burned away, leaving him the witless Den Den on Gate Island:

“I will take the job, for Karina’s sake.”

Raiden’s diary begins with a summons to Zennatos, his old comrade during the war of Seven Sorrows. Zennatos tells him roughly the same story he will later tell Abenthy, Karina, and Tywin—of his search for the Tomb of Haggemoth—but also elaborates on the curse that will kill him if it is not found. Raiden agrees to take on the job. He does not elaborate on what he means when he writes he will do it for Karina. He also writes of another woman, Monita, but briefly and sadly. Though the name seems familiar to Karina, she cannot place it.

Raiden’s journey mirrors the players’ in intent, if not in content. He does not go to the oracle. Instead, he heads straight for the monastery, Zennatos having told him that he stole the book about Haggemoth from the monastery. There he disguises himself as a scholar, gets access to the library, hides until eveningfall, and breaks into the secret room, getting the location of Rori Rama and of the Pit of Thudd, which he realizes contains the key to the tomb.

His trip to Frezerazov is also one of secrecy and stealth, and he manages to find the back way into the giant’s cave and catch a look at the star map while the lord of the snow snores in his chambers. Raiden also manages to hire on three dwarven adventurers here, enticing them with tales of Haggemoth’s tombs and discovering their ancestor’s riches.

Next is the Pit of Thudd, which he clears and gets the key to the tomb—but unlike Karina, he does not take the Rod of Storms, leaving it in place and thus keeping the desert as it was. Owing the leader of the Oasis a large sum of money as part of his ploy to get into the desert, Raiden pretends he has perished—sneaking away at night with his Dwarven companions by enticing a merchant ship to his cause.

With the last of his money, Raiden pays the merchant ship to take him to Rori Rama. He also takes on the services of a tinkerer who is traveling on the ship. The tinkerer claims he can make periapts of health, which will protect against any disease that may lie in the jungles of Rori Rama. Raiden sets him to work making the devices. During the voyage, Raiden has nightmares, always of Karina, that she has returned to murder him for his crimes against her.

At Rori Rama, Raiden and his men are attacked by Stirges and one of the men falls ill, despite his periapt of health. The Tinkerer saves his life, but the dwarf’s mind is gone, burned away by the fever. The Tinkerer claims he can save him and designs the circular device Abenthy found on the bottom of the lake. The Tinkerer proposes that through blood magic the device, which he calls an Essence Recaller, will let them enter the man’s essence and free him from his trapped mind. Raiden, fearing the dwarves will turn on him if he does not try to save their nephew, agrees and they all participate in the blood ritual. Nonetheless, the device is flawed and the ritual fails. Shortly after, the other dwarves fall ill.

One of the dwarves catches the Tinkerer at work on the device and realizes that when he said blood magic, he literally was taking blood from the sick man and mingling it in the rations of everyone. When confronted, he says that they all had to imbibe the man’s blood to enter his essence, but the dwarves are furious, knowing this is how they have contracted the fever. They mutiny, and Raiden and the Tinkerer flee on board a raft, heading out to the lake and leaving the dwarves to die in the jungle.

Here, the tinkerer admits he is only an apprentice, and that he never knew how to build the periapts of health properly. Raiden, in a fit of anger, murders him and throws him into the lake with his final, flawed device. Rowing to shore, he sets up camp and plans to head back to civilization, hire a new crew, and try again. He thanks the gods he has not caught the fever.

Alas, he gives thanks too soon. The next morning he wakes up ill and realizes that while his took longer to gestate, he is nonetheless sick as the dwarves were. He begins to hallucinate and his entries become more erratic and less precise, many of them describing events as if they are still in the War of the Seven Sorrows, and he often speaks of Karina coming for him through the Jungle. His final entry regains some clarity:

“How fitting, that I have been abandoned here, the same way I abandoned her. I would tell her everything, if only I could see her again.”