#also he was like ‘wait who is Missy?’ ‘Oh yeah Master same person

[wallapology]

Talking with a friend who stopped watching Doctor Who after Matt Smith about Thoschei over the years and was like “Yeah funny that the only time The Master and The Doctor kissed on TV is when they were a straight couple lmao mysogyny” and my friend said “yeah, funny how they only made her vulnerable and needy of the Doctor when she was a woman, too” and my jaw was. On the floor

[yunopouts]

stars on the beach - k. doyoung

-> kim doyoung x reader

-> era: punch!

-> genre: crack, smut (barely)

-> w: smut, alcohol consumption, mentions of food, mentions of eating, swearing, mentions of shitting (SORRY I FELT THE NEED TO MENTION THIS) tell me if i've missed anything

-> taglist: @doieclayed @foreverdy @neomulucased @ncteaxhoe

-> network: @nct-frathouse

-> a/n: here's a shitty blurb that i speed wrote. it's not detailed- definitely is actually very shitty i don't know what happened lmao

Your head rolled back as he kissed down your neck, enjoying the way his hands acted as if your body was the most brittle thing on earth- one sliding down your side while his right hand focused on your chest. His thumb grazed your nipple, making you moan loudly.

“Like that?” he asked, thumb now pressing down on the bud. He let out an arrogant laugh at your whine, enjoying the torture he was putting you through. You gasped when he took your nipple in between his teeth, tongue poking at the tip before sucking on it whole.

“I want you inside.” your voice was strained when it came out.

“If you promise to scream my name so loud we get a complaint, then you’ve got yourself a deal.” His voice was velvet smooth, like the devil. “Can you do that, beautiful?” You nodded eagerly, badly needing him. “Good.” he chuckled, giving you a closed-mouth smile, blinking once at you before feeling your core. “God, you’re so fucking wet.”

As you were about to respond a vibrating noise came from your right, you both looked to the side table- where it was coming from. The man without a name looked back to you, his face now obscuring that you had been interrupted.

He opened his mouth to speak again but his voice was fading out and instead you heard a bang.

Snapping your eyes open at the sound of something hitting the floor, you sat up and looked around your room, searching for what had fallen. They were drawn to the phone that was vibrating on your carpet.

“What do you want, Mark?” You asked, picking up the call.

“Well hello to you too.” He chuckled

“You woke me up.” You grumbled. “Why are you even calling me at this ungodly hour?”

“Y/n, it's three thirty in the afternoon. You’re supposed to be here.”

“Where am I supposed to be? Need I remind you that it’s Saturday?”

“Need I remind you that you’re supposed to be at the house because you’re sleeping over?”

“Crap.” You cursed, scrambling to get out of bed.

“Watch your potty mouth, missy.” You could hear the stupid smirk he was wearing in that moment.

“Shut it, shit face.” You huffed. “I’ll see you in twenty.”

“That’s more like it. Bring your shit for tonight.”

“Watch your potty-” he cut you off as he hung up. You groaned, stalking over to the bathroom, you slumped down onto the counter, resting your head on your arms.

A vibration shot up your leg as someone sent you a text. You pulled your phone out of your pocket to check the notification— it was a text from mark.

-

lee [15:40] get off your counter and get ready, you turd.

you [15:41] tell the boys to clean the bathrooms or else i’ll give all of them swirlies after someone takes a dump

lee [15:42] we already did. and it won't be me getting a swirly cause i cleaned mine

you [15:43] tell hyuck to clean it again

lee [15:44] okay mom

you [15:45] don’t ever call me mom again unless you want me to shit on your pillow

read 15:45 pm

-

After getting ready you grabbed your duffle bag and ran to the front of your apartment, slipping on your shoes and speeding out the door. You were about to jog down the street all the way to the boys house, but stopped when there was a honk behind you.

You were about to tell them off when someone called your name, making you freeze in your tracks.

The voice from your dream.

“What are you doing? Get your ass in the car!” Mark yelled.

Slowly turning on your heel, you moved as slow as a turtle, not even daring to raise your gaze any higher— because if you did, you would be looking straight at the voice from your wet dream just an hour before.

“Hi Y/n,” the familiar velvety smooth voice cooed from the front seat.

“Hey.” you gulped, staring into the capturing eyes of the one person you were dreading to see.

Kim Doyoung.

-

“Oh fuck, my ass hurts.” Johnny groaned as he stretched his long limbs once he stepped out of his car after three hours of driving.

“Comere’ lemme massage it.” Jaehyun held out his hands, to which Johnny jokingly backed up, making Doyoung snort before he walked to the front door of the beach house.

You and Mark hopped out of the back after Jaehyun, and popped the trunk.

“What’s wrong with you?” Mark asked as the two of you unloaded the bags from the trunk of Johnny’s jeep. “You were silent the whole ride, what happened to you?”

“I had a sex dream…” you mumbled, yanking a bag out and swinging it over your shoulder.

“Okay, why would that impact-”

“About Doyoung.” the blond's eyes almost popped out of his head.

“You had a wet dream about- ow!” he winced, rubbing his arm after you punched it. “You had a wet dream about Doyoung?” Mark hissed. “What the fuck?”

“I know.” you whined, also confused as to why you had a lewd dream of Mark’s friend. “I don’t know what’s wrong.” Your head fell back in annoyance.

“What’s wrong?” A deep voice appeared beside you, making you flinch… hard. “Jeez, are you okay?” Jaehyun asked, steadying you out with both his hands on your biceps.

“She had a sensual dream about Doyoung.” Mark explained to the older boy and he gasped, eyes glowing.

“You’re so nasty.” He shimmied his shoulders, feigning a flirtatious tone. You rolled your eyes and groaned loudly.

“Would you guys please-”

“Who had a sensual dream about me?” Once again, you flinched, this time almost falling backwards after stepping on Mark’s foot— who was now yelling in pain.

“Mark did. He said he had a dream and he walked in on you rubbing one off.” Jaehyun lied straight through his teeth, but the man believed it, scrunching his nose.

“Oh, I thought you were talking about Y/n.” Jaehyun wheezed at the comment, nudging you in the ribs. Shooting him a look as you joined in, laughing awkwardly.

“Mark you dirty pig.” He sent you a glare before stabbing you with his own comeback.

“Well at least I didn’t have sex with my ex and moan Jaehyun’s name.”

“You did what?” The 97 liner looked down at you with an incredulous smirk before you turned to Mark, kissing your teeth.

“Shit.” The golden haired boy sprinted and you chased after him, Jaehyun following and taunting you from behind- leaving Doyoung standing alone, confused and surrounded by their luggages.

-

“Okay,” Taeyong clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “We need to figure out who is sleeping with who, and where. There are five bedrooms, so we can split equally.”

“Thank god.” Haechan mumbled. He had arrived earlier, along with Jungwoo, Yuta, Taeyong and Taeil, but they decided to wait for you to come to figure this out in a fair way. “I call Taeil!” He shouted, almost jumping out of his seat.

“I wanted Taeil.” Mark whined as he watched the younger boy sit in the eldests lap, wrapping his arms around his neck before sticking his tongue out at Mark.

“I’ll take Mark since y/n will kill him if she’s alone with him.” Yuta suggested, raising a hand.

“I can be with Taeyong;” Johnny hollered from the kitchen, grabbing a water bottle from the fridge.

“Woo.” Jaehyun patted the knees of the boy who was sitting in his lap.

“Okay so that leaves Doyoung and Y/n.” Mark and Jaehyun both looked at you as if they knew something, because they did. “Y/n are you cool with that

“Y-yeah sure; it’s fine.”

“Are you sure? Cause I can just sleep on the couch.” Doyoung stepped in, to which you shook your head.

“No, no it’s really fine. I bet you Doyoung is a better roommate than all of you.” You stuck out your tongue at the others who were gasping dramatically. “Except for Taeil;” The eldest let out a teasing laugh before someone began speaking again.

“They get the master bedroom.” Jaehyun added and you froze, catching his and Mark’s growing smile.

“Did say masterb-”

“Master room;” Doyoung muttered in your ear. You nodded slowly as tingles went down your spine, sitting back against the couch with a soft ‘oh’ leaving your lips. “Thanks man,” you missed the wink he sent the plotting pair.

“Anything to spare ourselves from her cursing us for taking the comfortable bed.” Hyuck said.

“You know, you guys make me out to be some scary monster that will bite your head off.”

“You bit my arm when I took the last Nanaimo bar!” Mark argued.

“Because I said I didn’t have one! How do you bring someone, who’s never been there, to B.C and not let them try an authentic desert?” You fought back.

“That’s kind of cruel, Mark.” Jungwoo mumbled, the others agreeing with him.

“We were in Coquitlam for another three days, you could have gone to Nanaimo on your own!”

“You were going to let a foreigner travel two and a half hours by herself?” Doyoung’s voice raised as the rest of the boys began to scold him too.

“Shameful.” Taeyong shook his head. Mark got up with a huff and began stomping away. “Get back here you dimwit, we didn’t decide the rooms.”

“I’m gonna go unpack.” Doyoung followed Mark in standing up. “Wanna come?” He asked, holding out a hand.

“Sure.” You took it and the older boy helped you up, leading you to the second floor.

-

Only when you let go to sit on the bed did you realize that you were still holding on to Doyoungs hand when you reached the room. It was nice, had eggshell coloured walls— very much like a beach house. The bed was nice too, white sheets on a king size mattress that sat on a rustic looking post bed. Everything in the room was the same eggshell colour as the walls, and the handles and knobs matched the metal posts of the bed frame.

“Which side do you normally sleep on?” Doyoung asked as he unloaded some of his clothes into a drawer, pulling you out of your thoughts.

“I’m fine with any side.” you replied, hands running over the cool comforter.

“You sure you’re okay with sharing?” The boy turned to look at you, finding you with your back flat against the bed.

“We’re both adults.” Was all you said before he turned back, organizing his shirts as he let out a soft chuckle.

“Is it okay if I sleep on the right side, then?”

“Of course.”

“Cool, thank you.”

“No problem, Doyoung.”

You were about to start a different conversation to make yourself feel a bit more comfortable when Johnny appeared at your door.

“Beach in twenty?”

“It’s seven.” Doyoung stopped his movements and looked at the older boy.

“We’re going to a beach party.”

“Alcohol?” You strained your neck when peeked up at the older boy when he said ‘party’. Johnny laughed, nodding in response to your question.

“I’m a little tired from the drive, so I’m gonna pass.” Johnny nodded and left the room. Doyoung made his way to the bed, latching himself onto a bedpost. “Do you want me to get out?” you shook your head.

“I’m just gonna wear this.” the both of you laughed lightly. “You really not gonna go?” propping yourself up on your elbows, you cocked your head to the side. He pushed up the clear-frame glasses that sat perched on that perfect nose of his, smiling down softly at you.

“Nah, I think I’m just going to chill; I kinda wanna take a nap.” You hummed gratefully when he helped you up again.

Doyoung accidentally pulled you with too much force, forcing you to come crashing into his chest. He grunted as you stumbled back, the boy's arms wrapping around your waist. He was warm and he smelt like an enchanting fabric softener. You stayed that way for a few extra seconds, Doyoung wanting to stay in your grip, and you in his- but it all came to an end when a phone vibrated on the dresser.

You jolted back and picked up the phone, reading the message. “I-I’m gonna go.��

“Y-yeah, yeah. Um… have fun.”

“You too.” you replied awkwardly, practically running out the door.

-

“So, you have a boyfriend?” a random guy next to you raised a brow as he slurred his words.

“No,”

“Do you wanna-” “No, I don’t want to fuck you.” rolling your eyes, you turned on your heel and walked away, towards the group of boys that were on top of each other.

“Y/N!!!!” Haechan raised his hands in the air, spilling his tequila shot on Taeyongs head. “Oh whoops.” he sniggered.

“How’s your grinding going?” you asked, staring at the group of drunken friends- only one, Jungwoo, was completely sober.

“Only Jaehyun and Johnny have gotten somewhere.” Mark, who’s cheeks were a dark red, was pouting.

“As expected.” you sighed, sipping from your beer bottle. “Oh fuck, it’s already two.” you cursed, checking your phone before sliding it in your back pocket again. “I’m gonna go; don’t really want to be hit on by anyone anymore.”

They wished you farewell before you began your short journey back to the house. When you got to the front door, you kicked off your flip flops and entered. Quietly but quickly, you made it up the stairs and opened the door. You did a double take before your eyes zeroed in on the sight in front of you.

There you saw Doyoung, laying on the bed half naked, with his cock in hand, moaning your name. It would be a lie if you said it wasn’t hot- because it most definitely was, your heart might have even skipped a beat.

What are you, a pervert? You scolded yourself and tried to shut the door as discreetly as possible but he called your name again, this time, not in a moan- but in a calm manner.

“Stay.” his voice was raspy before it turned into a soft moan. Locking the room once you entered, you kept your back pressed to the cool wood of the door. “Come.” he ordered and like a trained dog, you obeyed, slowly making your way to the bed.

“Can I…” the words came out as a whisper, but he still heard and agreed.

His hand ghosted over yours, letting you take hold of his member, whimpering at your cold touch. You began by grazing your thumb over the slick slit, pressing down just enough for him to pinch your thigh in annoyance. Smiling, you began to work your wrist, moving your hand in swift motions so good it made Doyoung’s thighs shake.

“Fuck,” his noises left his mouth breathlessly as he bucked his hips into your fist. “Hmm, wait, stop.” you paused, body going still. “Strip, I wanna fuck you.”

You gasped at his words, but removed your clothing with his help. Doyoung held your waist as you mounted him with your knees on either side of his own torso. “Slowly;” he mumbled, bringing you down on his dick.

“Doyoung,” you sighed while he leaned forward to place his lips on yours. They were soft and supple, everything you’ve ever wanted in a pair of lips that had the job of kissing you. Once he bottomed out and made sure you were comfortable, Doyoung held your ass to guide you in moving up and down, all the while he pulled you in close so that his mouth could reach your nipple. Taking the bud in his mouth, his soft tongue grazed over it softly before sucking and pulling on it. Even though it was the simplest of actions, you were being so vocal- and Doyoung loved that. Your whines only egged him on, pushing you further, forcing you to cry out louder.

As your hips rolled with his, Doyoung became harsher with his thrusts, handling you like you were a toy- like you were as light as a feather.

“Not to sound like a creep, but I’ve dreamt of this moment.” he panted out as his cock hit a new length. “I’m pretty sure you have too, if I’m not mistaken.”

You couldn’t say a word, when you tried to, only a grunt of pleasure left you- making the boy under you chuckle. Almost screaming when his thumb reached your clit, rubbing intensely on the nub, like it was a mission of his, like his life depended on it. “Fuck, Doyoung… fuck, Doy-”

“Close?” he asked. He took you letting out a long whine as a hint and started thrusting faster and harder. “Don’t be shy baby,” he tugged you closer by his grip on the back of your neck. “Cum for me.” he whispered in your ear.

When your eyes rolled back, you saw stars; stars one the ceiling, stars on the beach, stars in his eyes- everywhere, there were stars everywhere.

When he felt his cock twitch, he stopped moving you- even though you were at the very end of your high. You watched for yourself- what Doyoung looks like when he comes, and you can now proudly say that it was the hottest thing you’d ever seen. With his lips slightly parted, head tilted back against the wall and fingers digging into your sides, he let go, ropes of white painting your walls.

A few minutes later, once you were clean and laying beside him, you mumbled to Doyoung, “You knew?” cheeks warm with embarrassment.

“Of course I knew, Mark would’ve acted the exact same way you did if he had a wet dream of me.” that didn’t make you feel better. “But, I also had one… of you.” he made sure to say.

“Was it good?”

“It was good, but not as good as this.” he smiled, pecking you softly on the lips.

[caitlyn-winchester]

Pilot Part 1

Disclaimer link in the master list of this story

Cordell Walker x Daughter!reader

word count: 2,180

warning; character death, angst, gunshots, little fluff, comfort

masterlist 

It was a sunny afternoon, a perfect day to be riding around with the windows down jamming out to music with my mom. We were going to meet up with my dad before we headed out to deliver supplies. It was one of those days where my mom let me go with her to drop them off since there was no school. She’s always helping people which is what I admire so much about her. I would love to help people as much as she has, that's why I go with her sometimes so I can learn how to help others.

We pull up on the dirt road and see my dad’s truck approaching. My mom parks the car and gets out. “Well look at you. Did you get your guy?” she smirks at my dad.

“Do you even have to ask?” he states, taking off his hat and putting it on the hood of his truck.

“You get huffy when I don't ask” I chuckle to myself at my mom's response.

“Yeah, I got my guy.” he rolls his eyes and approaches mom more, “You heading out already?”

“Yeah I gotta pick up Geri. she’s got the supplies” she says then dad pulls her into a kiss.

“Ew! Come on guys!” I yell through the car window. “I’m right here.” They pull apart and laugh looking at my direction with their arms still wrapped around each other.

“Its love sweetie, you’ll understand when you’re married one day” mom tell me with a smile

“Which won’t be till your 40!” my dad adds in.

“Really dad” I rolled my eyes and hopped out of the car. I walked toward them crossing my arms, trying to be annoyed but fail and end up smiling. Dad laughs and pulls me into a hug.

“I’m serious Butterbean. No boys” He pulled me tighter in the hug and gave me a kiss on the top of my head. He pulled away smiling, then looked at mom and said “And you’re going to be..”

“On the approved route that you gave me.” she finishes his sentence. He nods and looks over at me again.

“And you little missy will..”

“Stay with mom and listen to her directions.” I replied.

“Okay.” Dad nodded satisfied with our answers.

“Don't worry, Ranger Walker. We’ll be fine” Mom pulled me into a side hug and I leaned my head on her shoulder. “Now get up to the house. Augies waiting on you, with your parents. It’s game night.”

“Right. Uh, how do I play that game again? Every time you tell me the rules I-I black out. And I’ll be at a loss without my usual partner” He says looking to be at the last part. I roll my eyes.

“You’ll be alright, Dad. you might lose every game because I’m usually the reason we win.” I smirk

“Oh really” he said

“Babe.” mom cut us off “just go in there, go have dinner. They're just excited to see you. You could lose every single game and it wouldn't matter”

“Why are you talking about straight to me losing?” he laughed and kissed her again

“Oh for the love of” I grumbled to myself. Jokingly of course, I'm happy that my parents love each other so much.

“Hey. Be safe.” Dad told mom once they pulled away. She nodded and dad looked over at me and said “You too Butterbean”

“Of course daddy.” I said, hugging him one more time before climbing back into the car.

                               »»————-　★　————-««

It all happened so fast. One minute mom, Geri and I were handing out supplies then the next mom was telling me to run. We kept trying to run but the person was still chasing us. I was running right beside my mom but then she told me to run in a different direction.

“What?” I said as best I could while running.

“I need you to run in that direction,” she nods her head to the left, “ and keep running until you reach your dad’s and my spot, you know where that is right?” She asks and I nod my head. “Good and no matter what happens or what you hear, do not turn around.”

“But what about you?” I ask her tears welling up in my eyes.

“Don't worry about me, just keep running alright”

I nodded my head and said “I love you mom.”

“Love you too baby, now go!” she told me but I looked at her hesitantly. “Now Y/n/n!” she yelled and started to pull out her phone.

I took off in the direction she told me to go in. I was so scared, I felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest, my lungs and legs were burning, begging me to stop. I heard the faint sound of a gunshot and scream in the distance. It took everything in me to not turn around and go back to my mom but I kept running. I had to, she told me to not stop “keep going, keep going Y/N, she wouldn't want you to stop running” I kept telling myself. I'm tired, confused, scared and overwhelmed at this point. I tried to wrap my head around every scenario that could have happened a couple of minutes ago. Who got shot? Mom? Geri? Was the shot fatal? Did the shooter miss? If I go back would I have been able to save them? Tears are pressing against my eyes, I just want to go home. Adrenaline is the only thing keeping me going at this point. I don't know how long I’ve been running for but I eventually saw my parent’s the white gazebo at Lady Bird Lake.

                                »»————-　★　————-««

Emily pulled out her phone and called Cordell’s phone, she waited a couple rings before he answered.

“Emily, you alright?” he asked.

“Just had to call you. I told Y/N to go to our spot. Something's not right.” she answered sounding scared

“What do you mean?” Cordell asked, growing concerned for his wife and daughter. Emily didn't respond, Cordell can only hear her panting over the phone. “Emily. Emily.” he says trying to get a response from her. Then he could hear a gunshot and her scream over the phone. His heart dropped and he started to panic, this can't be happening. “Hey.” he said before the line disconnected. He quickly told his family that the call was work stuff. He didn't want to scare them with what he just heard on the phone. He quickly went outside and tried his wife’s phone again. All he got was voice mail. He yelled in frustration and sadness and started crying. The worst thing has happened to him, he lost his wife and possibly his daughter. His daughter! Cordell suddenly remembered that Emily said Y/N would be at their spot. He quickly pulled himself together the best he could and hopped in his truck. He started making his way to Lady Bird Lake praying to God that his daughter will be there. His heart was pounding, Cordell normally doesn't get scared a lot but in this moment he is. Pulling onto the road leading to the gazebo he sees his daughter run out of the trees and collapse. At the sight of her he feels slightly relieved, at least he didn't lose both of girls in the same night.

                                   »»————-　★　————-««

As soon as I reached the white gazebo I collapsed. I start coughing and gasping for air because my burning lungs need it. I flinched away when I felt a hand touch my shoulder, scared it might be the shooter and he might have followed me here.

“Hey, hey, Y/N/N, it's ok.” I heard dad's voice. I looked up and saw him kneeling on the ground to be at the same level as me. He opened his arms out to be and instantly jumped in them and clung for dear life. Dad instantly responded by wrapping his arms tightly around me, stroking my hair and every once and while my back. With the adrenaline worn off my emotions finally caught up with me and I finally burst. I started sobbing, my whole body shaking and I started gasping for air again. “Oh butterbean, you're ok now. It's all over. Take some deep breaths for me.” my dad said the calmest he could while repeating the soothing motions. I could tell he was trying to hide how upset he also is by the shakiness in his voice and I could feel tears drip into my hair. “Are you hurt?” He asked me gently and I shook my head in response.

“M-mom,” I was able to stutter out once calmed down enough “she told me to r-run….then there was a gunshot...I don't know if she’s-” I wasn't able to finish the sentence as I started to cry again. Dad shushed me and continued to keep telling me it's going to be ok…..I’m trying to believe him but I don't know if I can.

                                  »»————-　★　————-««

                                        Eleven Months Later………

It’s dad's homecoming night. He’s returning from an undercover case he was on, I haven't seen him in eleven months and haven't talked to him in three. August and I started living at our grandparents house and Uncle Liam moved in shortly after to help take care of us. Uncle Liam and I got closer as he became my rock during dad’s absence. The whole family and dad’s old ranger partner, now chief, are waiting outside for dad to arrive home. He’s late of course, I am not even surprised at this point, and i’m starting to think he is not even going to show up at this point.

“Let’s just go inside” I told August

“He’s coming” August responded, looking down the road hoping for dad’s truck to pull in. I rolled my eyes.

“Oh, absolutely! Neither hell or high water could keep him away.” I said sarcastically. Then a vehicle pulls up onto the road leading to the house. My heart sped up and I got excited at the sight, I was finally about to see my dad again. That excitement fell when I realized its not dad’s truck but its Stan Morrison’s.

We greeted Stan and all went inside to have dinner. I was quiet for most of the night, not that anyone really paid attention to me. There wasn't really much for me to talk about since this dinner was supposed to be for dad, which he falled to show up too completely. After dinner I just went into my room while the rest of the adults talked. I started drawing in my sketchbook, nothing too detailed I just like doodling really. Tears were pressing against my eyes, I was so excited to see him again but when didn't show up at all I was heart broken. A knock at my door made me quickly wipe my eyes. The door opened to reveal Uncle Liam, he gave me a small smile.

“How are you holding up Y/N/N?” he asked. I just shrugged my shoulders and continued to look at my doodles. “You know I need a better response than that.” He said while walking further into my room and sitting down on the edge of my bed.

“I just...miss him you know? I haven’t seen him so long. I wish he never took that stupid case.” I said.

“Your dad is saving people when he’s on a case, but I understand that you miss him….and that you're mad at him too.” he told me giving a reassuring smile

“Was it that obvious?” I laughed a little and he nodded smiling.

“Get some rest ok. You have school tomorrow.” He told me, walking towards the door but I stopped him before he could leave.

“Do you think he’s mad at me?” I asked.

“Y/N, we talked about this.” he sighed

“ I know Uncle Liam, it's just...think about it, if I went back when the gunshot went off maybe I could have saved mom?” I mumbled.

“The key word in that sentence is maybe. I told you where the wound was there was an unlikely chance you could have saved her. And if you went back there was a more likely chance you would have gotten shot too.” He reassured you.

“Don't tell me you don't think that if mom was alive, dad wouldn't have been on a case for this long” I snapped. “I should have done something! But I didn't!” I cried. Liam quickly sat on the bed next to me and pulled me into a hug.

“Listen here Y/N, you did the right thing. I know you don't think so but you did but trust me when I tell you, you did everything right. You listen to your mom’s instructions and isn't that your dad’s rule anyway? ‘Always listen to mom’?” he comforted and I nodded at his question.

“I just want him here” you sobbed.

“Me too, me too.” he agreed, rubbing your back comfortably.

PILOT PART 2 

[americasass81]

Because You Loved Me

Warnings:- Mentions of Surgery, Mental and Emotional Exhaustion, Very Brief Mention of Drugging, Fluff, M & F Smut (more implied than outright described).  Do not read if any of these warnings are upsetting.  Feedback is welcomed.

By proceeding you are acknowledging that you are over 18 and are consenting to the content below the cut.

Synopsis:- Feeling low from the grind of daily life, your man tries his best to bring a little light back to your life.

A/N:- Though not a sequel, in my mind this can take place in the same AU as my other Brock fic, Peeling Back The Layers.  Yet both can be read independently of each other.  Written with @saiyanprincessswanie in mind but at the same time it is still a pretty generic pile of fluff.  Hope you like Missy.

Word Count:- 3,165

You were exhausted . . . mentally, emotionally, physically.  You ached deep down in places you never knew you could and the more you thought about it, the more exhausted you became.  As the night's respite gave way to morning's light, your first thought always seemed to be 'how do I face another day?'  Yet somehow you always found a way.  Despite the knocks life kept sending your way and the weariness weighing down your soul, you were at heart a positive person and was determined to embrace the good things in life no matter how hard that may be.

With that thought in your head, you dragged your feet out of bed and making your way to the bathroom, used the facilities and showered under the warm, refreshing water before returning to your bedroom to get ready for the day ahead.  Heading to the kitchen to make a quick breakfast you ate in silence as you waited for Brock to show up.  Thinking back on the almost six months since that fateful day he came to your rescue, it had been one adventure after another.

Despite all your health issues and the unpleasant grind of daily life, this gruff looking man had become a balm for your slowly fracturing soul.  Taking you places you never thought you'd see, while telling you he loved you every chance he got, you still wondered what you had done in this life or any other to deserve him.

Finishing up your food, you deposited the bowl in the sink and thought about what you might do for the day, but found you couldn't really find the motivation.  Instead, taking the latest mystery novel you were reading, you headed out to the back garden to hopefully relax and catch up on another chapter.  Getting a few pages in however, you suddenly dropped the book in your lap as tears inexplicably cascaded down your cheeks.

Feeling lower than you had in a really long time, you were shocked to open your eyes to discover yourself nestled against a strong chest as two powerful arms wrapped around you.  "My love, why do these tears stain your beautiful cheeks?" Brock asked and you had to smile a bit at the fact that what should have sounded cheesy actually sounded sweet.  "I hate seeing you like this," he added before you could answer, "please tell me what's wrong."

Looking at the man who had come to mean so much to you in such a short space of time, you snuggled deeper into his chest as you thought about all the negative thoughts weighing on your soul.  Looking up at him eventually as he waited patiently for you to speak, you took a deep breath and thought carefully about what you wanted to say.

"I don't really know Brock, I guess I just feel like one raw, emotional nerve.  The world seems so full of needless hate, my upcoming surgery has me scared and exhausted and sometimes I don't know why you're here with me or what I even have to offer this world." you explained and it hurt him deeply that the girl who saw so much good in him and helped awaken and nurture it, was now questioning her own worth.

Taking time to dry your tears, this powerhouse of a man who never thought he would be worthy of anything waited until he was sure you had talked yourself out before speaking.  "Oh my love, please know that while your feelings are valid and you have every right to be exhausted, you are also a shining light in the darkest night."

Gazing down at you with more love than he ever thought he was capable of feeling, he bent forwards and kissed you tenderly, hoping to convey all the emotion his heart held for you.  Continuing to hold you a while longer, he soon found you fast asleep in his arms and so taking you inside, placed you lovingly on the bed before heading to the bathroom to clean up.  Looking at himself in the mirror he hoped with every fiber of his being he would be able to find his sweet, beautiful girl again and bring her home.

Returning to the bedroom to dress quickly and quietly, he placed a soft kiss against your forehead and whispered he loved you before heading to the living room to make good on his plan.  Knowing that you always put everyone before yourself and that you didn't like to put people out, he also knew that a break back in nature was just what you needed.  Arranging everything with an old friend, all he had to worry about now was moving you from a to b without you objecting.

Hearing you stirring around the bedroom some time later, he hurried in and told you that if you were feeling up to it he'd take you to your favorite restaurant, otherwise he'd happily cook for you and come up with some way to help you relax.  Looking at him like he'd suddenly grown two heads, you blurted out the question on your lips before you could stop yourself.  "Are you telling me you know how to cook?  Something other than tea and toast?"

Smirking at your cheek to cast aspersions on his cooking ability, he swiftly traversed the space between you and taking you gently in his arms, kissed you with a passion that all but took your breath away before speaking as he ran his hands along your back.  "How are you doing baby?  Did the rest help any bit?"

Sinking into his warm and loving embrace, you wondered what you had done right to end up with this loving and thoughtful man.  Sure some people still saw him as a gruff outsider, but to you he was your rock.  Someone you knew in the depths of your soul would gladly take on your suffering if it meant you got to live a life free of pain and worry.  Concerned by your non response, he moved a hand to your chin and cupping it gently, gazed into your ethereal features while he waited for you to find your voice.

"Yeah, some bit." you replied meekly, taking his hand and kissing his palm before bringing your fingers together.  "I don't know.  I just wish I could get away from it all for a while.  Somewhere the stress and worry of being me wouldn't follow.  Crazy right?"

"No baby," he said, walking both of you towards the bed before sitting down and placing you in his lap, "that's not crazy at all.  Your battery's probably running on empty.  What you need is a few days away from the world."

"Yeah right Brock and how can that happen?” you laughed, swatting him playfully on the arm.  “I have doctor's appointments out my ass and you have work commitments.  It's a nice dream, but that's all it is." you sighed, resting your head against his shoulder as he hummed some unknown song against your skin.  "By the way, did you mention something about food?" you asked suddenly and you both laughed as a very unladylike sound rumbled through your stomach.

"I did," Brock answered between snickers, "but something tells me even if I didn't, my girl needs rations."  Then releasing you and walking hand in hand to the kitchen he sat you down at the table and went about preparing a glorious meal.  Finally filling you up with wine, pasta and brownies from your favorite bakery, he coaxed you onto the couch with a good book while he began cleaning the kitchen and by the time he was finished you were once again fast asleep and he could begin implementing his plan.

Moving swiftly and stealthily around the house with the skill only someone in his previous profession could master, he packed a bag of essentials for each of you, threw them in the back seat and then lifting you gently, carried you to the car and secured you in place.  While he had thought about drugging you to make sure you slept through the drive, he knew you wouldn't appreciate that and so offered up a silent plea that you wouldn't wake until morning.  Then setting off into the night, he hoped the next few days would recharge your battery and reignite your dimming light.

🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼

Waking up the next morning to a warm body at your back, which had become the norm since Brock Rumlow entered your life, you worried you had actually lost your mind as you opened your eyes to be greeted by a room that wasn't your own.  Further cementing your out of body experience, you pulled back the covers to reveal that you were currently wearing your favorite comfy sleepwear when your last conscious memory was falling asleep on the couch after dinner.  Looking now between your surroundings and your boyfriend, you quickly realized some major shenanigans were at play and taking a pillow, proceeded to start whacking the sleeping giant beside you.

"Brock?  Hey Brock?  RUMLOW." you eventually shouted while bringing the pillow down with as much force as you could muster.  "What the hell is going on here?" you asked as he opened his eyes and stared up at you.

"Baby, keep it down.  It's still early." he whined, reaching out to pull you down gently against his waiting body.  Kissing every available inch of skin his lips could find, he carefully and easily rolled over you, removed your shorts as he rested between your legs and proceeded to eat you out twice until you were nothing more than a blissed out mess beneath him.  Then leaving the bed to retrieve a cloth, he cleaned you up while you questioned what was to be done with the prominent bulge hidden within his boxers.

"Don't worry your pretty little head about that baby.  This trip is all about helping you unwind.  Now how about we get up, have some breakfast and I can show you around?"

Agreeing half-heartedly as your eyes still lingered on his crotch, he promised he might let you cop a feel at some point.  Laughing at his crass choice of language, having just brought you to two of the most pleasurable orgasms you could ever remember experiencing, he helped you out of bed and handed you a duffle bag before reaching for what you could only assume was his own.  Pulling open the zipper, you were both surprised but not, when you discovered a few days worth of clothes inside.  Taking out some jeans and a t-shirt you dressed in time to see Brock put away his bag and reach out his hand for yours.

Opening up the bedroom door, he explained the bathroom connected to both the bedroom and the living room, while the kitchen made up the rest of the cottage.  Allowing you out the front door while he made a start on breakfast, you discovered the cottage called Daisy Grove, was aptly named given that the cottage was indeed surrounded on either end by the most beautiful patches of wild daisies you had ever seen.

Watching the birds flying and nestling in the trees all around you, you took a few tentative steps off the porch along the scrub lined path and relished the sound of twigs and leaves underfoot as nature sang as far as you could hear.  Totally engrossed in your own world, you were unaware of a keen set of eyes now following you from the door as Brock watched you slip away into a space that brought joy to your heart and a lightness to your spirit.

Hating to drag you away from the one thing that seemed to bring you peace, you turned back sharply towards the door as Brock called your name.  "Breakfast is ready, my love.  Perhaps after we've eaten I can introduce you to the treasures awaiting you out the back door.  Running carefully back to your man, you threw yourself into his strong arms and all but squealed as he picked you up and carried you inside.

Sitting you at the table as he plated up the food, he tried to eat as best he could as you juggled between eating your own breakfast and firing any question you could think of at him.  Enjoying how invested you were in the wonderful property you currently inhabited, you having to take a sip of juice as you nearly choked was enough of a risk for the former soldier.  "Baby please, I say this with the utmost respect, but shut up." he laughed as your breathing returned to normal and you playfully stuck out your tongue at him.  "I promise I'll answer any more questions you have once we finish eating."

Nodding in agreement, the rest of breakfast was eaten in silence until Brock got up to clear the table and your questions began again.  "Where did you find this place?  How long are we staying?  What is there to do around here?"  Oh that last question he answered with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye.

"What we're going to do here is everything and anything that calms your soul, warms your heart and makes your spirit soar.  In short, all the things you've done for me."  Smiling now as he took your hand and led you out the back, your eyes widened when you saw the river waiting before you.  Though totally unsure about the boat Brock pointed to, you placed your trust in him and was pleasantly surprised when a wonderful, relaxing day was had.

Treating you then to a wonderful dinner, the rest of the evening was spent relaxing in front of an open fire with a sappy romantic comedy before Brock carried your tired form back to bed, where allowing his cock to get reacquainted with your pussy, you once again had a gloriously peaceful sleep.

🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼

Facing the world anew at sunrise, the next few days were everything Brock had promised and you couldn't remember when you last felt so well rested.  Feeling so carefree at this moment in your life as a result of the routine your wonderful man had set up, waking you up every morning with his mouth attached to your pussy, your days were then spent leisurely walking through the surrounding area, enjoying boating and Brock fishing on the river along with foot rubs, reading or watching various rom coms.

Then once he had you properly fed on spaghetti with wine and brownies or steak with baked potato and chocolate chip cookies after, he would ensure that one way or another your world was rocked before sleep claimed you.  You even remembered the fun that was had on your last day when Brock had tried unsuccessfully to get you to eat some of the fish the river had provided.

Telling him in no uncertain terms that you would not eat anything you had watched him kill while in the middle of baking brownies and cookies together, half an hour later as a glorious smell filled the cottage and Brock's solid shaft filled your pussy, you finally discovered the real fun that could be had baking together.

When he finally had you satisfied and removed the delicious treats out of the oven, Brock informed you he was going to do a quick sweep of the property before you left in the morning.  Snuggling into the couch with a good book, that was exactly where Brock found you an hour later when he finally returned to the cottage.  "Hey baby, you still where I left you?" Brock called out as he closed the door behind him.

Looking into the living room before you had a chance to answer, he was indeed rewarded with you stretched on the couch bathed in the glow of the firelight.  Swearing that he had never in his life seen anything so heavenly, he sauntered into your presence with a sly smirk on his face and his hands hidden behind his back.  "Hey Brock, you were gone quite a bit.  Is everything alright?"

"Everything's perfect baby.  Everything's tied up or put away as it should be, I just had to pick up something for you," and he couldn't hide the grin that graced his features as you suddenly sat up eager to see what he had for you.  "Now keep in mind it's nothing fancy, but it made me smile and think of you." he continued and with that he produced a beautifully woven circle of daisies.

Looking at him as he sat down beside you and placed it over your head, your eyes then fell on the flowers before speaking.  "It's beautiful Brock, but what is it?"

"It's a daisy chain baby.  Stronger than shackles and chains, it ties you to me forever.  Just like mine ties me to you," and with that he removed the t-shirt to reveal the chest you just now realized he had strategically kept covered since before this trip began.  The reason for this soon seared itself into your memory, when there above his heart was a tattoo of the same daisy chain you now wore, but in its center nestled your name.  Trailing his lips along your neck as they made their way towards your ear, his next words brought you to tears.  “Forgive my lips.” he whispered between pecks.  “They find joy . . . in the most unusual places.”

"Oh my god Brock, you are such a dork." you sniffled as you reached out and ran our fingers over the ink.  Kissing your lips passionately once again before resting his forehead against yours, he knew he would do whatever he had to to maintain the light once more shining in your eyes.

Still watching you play with the daisies, he quickly answered your playful statement before laying you down on the rug beside the fire.  "We both know I may be a dork my love, but I'm only your dork." he said, as he then proceeded to spend the night pulling you apart multiple times on his mouth, fingers and cock.  Thoroughly fucked and covered in sweat, cum and various parts of each other's bodies you closed your eyes and drifted off towards the approaching morning.

Rising before you once again, Brock set about loading everything back into the car before walking into the living room to wake you up.  Helping you from the rug and guiding you into the bathroom, a gloriously hot shower and Brock's skillful hands worked out all the knots sleeping on the floor had given you before breakfast filled the void in your stomach.  Then reluctantly driving away from your little retreat knowing he had to take you home so could face what lay ahead, he drew comfort from the fact that for the past few days you had once again been his beautiful north star, burning bright with the energy needed to conquer whatever your illness and life threw at you.

Tagging: @saiyanprincessswanie

[oswildin]

Don’t You See? {Part One} ~ Dhawan!Master x F!Raeder

~ I KNOW IM BEING REALLY BAD AND WRITING IMAGINES THAT I HAVE STUCK IN MY HEAD BEFORE POSTING THE REQUESTS YA’LL HAVE MADE, I PROMISE ONE IS COMING TODAY! ~

Summary: You’ve known the Master for years. You’ve fought him with the Doctor time and time again, yet he always comes back.

Warnings: Some crude implications hahahaha

Part Two - https://oswildin.tumblr.com/post/610934402369880064/dont-you-see-part-two-dhawanmaster-x

You had known the Doctor a long time. She was your best friend. You were always the one that stood by her. You watched her as she lost her companions one by one. You would feel her pain every time she showed up to your door, defeated once more. It was the curse of living such a long and reckless life.

You’d met her in her tenth form. She’d just lost Rose back then, and was quite withdrawn and lonely. You were there ensuring she was ok. Although you didn’t know it at the time, you would be one of the lucky ones that stuck around. Many died or left the Doctor. You on the other hand decided to keep a healthy balance between life on Earth and life with the Doctor. Maybe that’s how you survived for so long with her.

You also knew the Master. You’d met him when he was Harold Saxon, trying to destroy the Earth. He’d kept tabs on you, knowing you were on the Doctor’s loyalist friends. You were aboard the valiant as Martha travelled the planet below. You had hated the Master, hated what he had done. He was selfish, cruel and most of all cowardly, everything the Doctor taught you not to be.

Of course, he would never admit he was cowardly. But you saw behind the mask, the hard cold exterior. You knew deep down he was just a scared little boy who went mad. You saw what the Doctor could see. Not many humans were able to do that. It interested him, but most of all frustrated him endlessly.

You watched him die in the Doctor’s arms. You watched the Doctor burn his body as you stayed with the Doctor, comforting them as they mourned for their oldest friend. Life was never simple, and neither were the people in it.

You saw the Master again as Gallifrey tried to return into the universe, crushing Earth with it. You watched as the Master finally stood beside the Doctor, sending the Timelords back into the Timelock. You were also there when Missy showed up, trying to stand with the Doctor, but ending up being abandoned. You couldn’t help but somewhat feel for the Timelord. All that torment they had endured, and really all they wanted was their friend back, in their own twisted way of course.

When you were offered a job at MI6 due to your previous work with U.N.I.T, you were shocked, confused and wondered how on Earth they’d even considered you for a job. You weren’t an agent, nor a specialist in any field of any kind, you were a regular person, just with experience of alien life; not that MI6 even believed in any of that. You reluctantly took the position, deciding perhaps it was time for a change within the world of MI6. Perhaps this was a change to reform U.N.I.T or maybe even Torchwood.

Your first day was not what you had expected. You were sat behind a desk, filing paperwork and getting agents their coffees. One small step for mankind, you suppose. You sighed to yourself as you tapped your pen against the paperwork in front of you.

“Hey-“

You jumped slightly at the new voice as you peered up, pretending to look somewhat busy as you saw who the voice belonged to. It was a darker skinned man, with brown eyes and dark hair with slight stubble. He was quite attractive you noted as you gazed up at him. Not quite. Scrap that. Very attractive. What? You were allowed to look weren’t you?

“Sorry! Didn’t mean to make you jump.” He commented as you shrugged, slowly picking your jaw off the floor as you shook your head, waving him off.

“My fault. Daydreaming.” You told him, a small smile on your lips. “Bad habit of mine. I don’t always pay attention to my surroundings.” You muttered as you began to idly move the paper work in front of you about.

“Guessing you’re the newbie?” He asked as you noted he also had a file of paper work in his hands.

“I prefer the term sucker.” You teased as you realised how it had sounded, face palming. “I mean, sucker because I’m getting dumped with the paper work, not because I didn’t anything- You know- To get here.” You awkwardly cleared your throat as you mentally cursed yourself. The man wore a small smile as he stared down at you. “Sorry.” You coughed as you felt your cheeks warm up.

“I understood what you meant.” He laughed lightly, before handing you the file that he was holding. “Sorry. If it helps, I was you a few months ago.” He told you. “Fetching the drinks, doing the work no one wanted to do...” He trailed off as you took the file from him, standing from your desk.

“And now look at you.” You raised a brow. “Giving your unwanted paperwork to the new you.” You joked as he almost awkwardly began to apologise as you waved it off. “I’m joking. Don’t worry.” He instantly relaxed as you gave him a comforting smile. “I’m K.” You held out your free hand for him to shake.

“O.” He told you as he shook your hand.

“Unlucky.” You commented at his name. “So every time something goes wrong, and someone mutters ‘oh for gods sake’, do you think they’re talking to you?” You joked as he almost rolled his eyes at your comment. “Sorry, needed to get it out my system.”

“K.” He nodded sharply as you smirked at him.

“Nicely done.” You laughed lightly at his retort.

You didn’t know why, but something about this man felt oddly familiar, but you couldn’t place it. You would often find yourself glancing at him from across the office as you zoned out. You would have to snap yourself out of it as you tried to press on with your duties.

“K-“ You looked up seeing one of your colleagues staring down at you. Ugh, M. You hated M with a passion. He was cocky, arrogant and just downright irritating. How you wished you could wipe that smile off his face... “I need you to get me a coffee. Black, two sugars.” He went to turn away before turning back. “Oh, and be a doll and grab us a sandwich whilst you’re there. Preferably a BLT.” He added as you forced a tight smile. “Pronto.” You groaned to yourself as the man walked away. He was always sending you on stupid errands. The worst part was, he didn’t even do anything that important. He would just sit there and flirt with as many women around the office as possible, and there wasn’t many women around either, so it was a quick rotation every few hours of rejection.

O watched you closely as you grabbed your coat and bag, seeing the irritation on your features as you huffed to yourself. You’d been there a month and still hadn’t been given anything good to work on. Why bother hiring you if they just wanted a coffee girl? You missed O’s stare as you exited the office.

You returned as quickly as you could, almost out of breath by the time you had reached the office. You walked up to M’s desk as you placed down the coffee and sandwich on his desk. He peered up from his paper work as he looked down in front of him. He sighed as he picked up the sandwich packet.

“I said BLT.” He muttered out as you fought the urge to roll your eyes.

“They didn’t have any left. This was all they had.” You told him sternly as he went to grab the cup, feeling the luke warm coffee through the paper cup.

“Why isn’t this piping hot?” He raised a brow as you bit your tongue. By this point, O had peered up from his desk, watching the interaction.

“Because I had to walk 5 minutes back with it, then up the stairs because the lift is out of order. Plus it’s not exactly summer outside if you hadn’t noticed.” You told him, folding your arms over your chest. You turned away from him, feeling your anger rising.

“No wonder they haven’t given you any assignments yet. You can’t even get a lunch order correct.” M muttered as you stopped in your tracks. That was it. You had had enough. You turned back on your heel, marching up to his desk as you grabbed his coffee from off it, opening the lid as you threw it all over his expensive suit. You crushed the cup, slamming it down on his desk. He looked up in shock, swearing at you as you walked away. By this point, everyone in the room had been watching. The women were smirking as the others looked shocked. O tried to suppress his smile as you took your seat back down at your desk. He liked the fire inside of you.

After that, M never asked you for lunch orders again. You began getting real assignments, and was slowly making your way up the ranks. You hadn’t seen the Doctor for a while. You felt bad, but knew she was with the fam, as she liked to call them. You would occasionally get a WhatsApp message from the traveller, usually a very bad selfie with her wearing a stupid hat. You had to laugh at that. You and O had began to work on assignments together. You didn’t know why they paired you with him. He wasn’t exactly a very experienced agent, no offence to him. Either way, you were thankful. O was lovely. He was kind, funny and even a little bit sexy.

You weren’t field agents, but that was something you wanted to work up to. That adrenaline and adventure, the same things you experienced with the Doctor. You couldn’t stay away from that life forever, normal life was boring.

So when you received a voice note from the Doctor saying there was a crisis, you were happy to drop everything and help. But what you didn’t realise was, O had received a very similar voice note.

“Wait-“ You looked at him confused, hearing him play the voice memo aloud at his desk. “How did you get that?” You inquired, raising a brow.

“It’s from a friend.” He furrowed his brows, looking confused at you.

“Yeah I know. My friend.” You narrowed your eyes.

“What? You know the Doctor?!” He whisper shouted as you widened your eyes in surprise.

“You know the Doctor?!” You asked in return, pointing at him. He quickly stood from his desk as he took you into the corridor, away from all the prying eyes. “How do you know her?”

“I met her once years ago. Never mind that, how do you know her?” He asked, raising a brow. You sighed, rubbing your forehead with your hand.

“I travel with her.” You told him truthfully. No point in hiding it now.

“You what?!” He asked, excitement evident in his eyes as you hushed him, people walking past, giving you both strange looks.

“Yes! I travel with her in her blue box. Have done for years.” You folded your arms. “Why is she messaging you?”

“I don’t know. Something about a crisis and she needs my help?” He shrugged, seemingly as clueless as you. “All I know is, we need to go to Australia.” You furrowed your brows in confusion.

“How does that come into the equation?” You asked quietly.

“I’ve been doing some work on the side... C told me to drop it, but I knew there was something up with it!” You’d never seen him so ecstatic. “I knew it was alien.” He smiled widely as you couldn’t help but smile with him.

“Welcome to my life.” You breathed out. “Right. Come on then. Show me these findings of yours.”

The next thing you knew, you were in the outback. Good old Australia. Luckily O had more tricks up his sleeve. He had told you he’d been on the case for years, even living in the outback, taking trips there to further his research. You were impressed at his commitment to say the least. He was determined.

Then, before you knew it, the Doctor showed up, Graham following behind. The Doctor looked confused as she spotted you behind O, furrowing her brows and scrunching up her face in thought.

“Yeah, so... I kinda work for MI6 now.” You told her shortly as Graham whistled in shock.

“Not bad, eh Doc?” He commented as he grinned at you. “Hey, I bet the pays good ennit?” He joked as you smiled at him. It had been a while since you’d seen her and the fam. It was nice to see them again.

You sat at the computers, trying to trace the signal of the creatures somehow. After your close encounter with multiple of them, you wanted to get to the bottom of where they had come from. But nothing. There was no trace whatsoever. The Doctor was having the same trouble.

“How’s it going?” O asked as you peered up at him, looking somewhat defeated.

“Great. That’s why I’m bouncing off the walls with excitement.” You sarcastically commented as he gave you a small comforting smile.

“So... the Doctor...” He folded his arms, leaning against the table. “How much do you know about her?” He inquired as you raised a brow at his question.

“Enough.” You told him shortly. “More than what those guys do at least.” You nodded to the fam as they chatted with their alien friend. “And I don’t mean that in a ‘I was here first’ kind of way either.” You reassured him as he nodded.

“I may have lied to you... a little bit.” He told you as you looked confused. “See that shelf over there.” You turned to where he was pointing, seeing a shelf stacked full of files. “That’s information, all about the Doctor...” He told you. “Been collecting it for years.” He said as you slowly realised what he was getting at.

“You know who I am.” You told him quietly, turning back to him. “All along, you’ve known who I am.” You looked confused, and somewhat upset.

“It was just coincidence you joined MI6 after I did. You know what they say about a small world...” He told you as you slowly relaxed, laughing slightly.

“Yeah, I suppose.” You hummed. “Or something else is going on...” You thought aloud. “I’ve learnt that people don’t just meet each other without reason... Especially in the situation we met...” You trailed off as he watched you intently. “Oh well!” You exclaimed, getting up from your seat. “Guess we’ll find out eventually!” You forced a smile as you walked back towards the others, missing the dark expression that had made its way onto O’s face.

“Come on, son!” Graham exclaimed as O ran towards the plane that was about to take off. You were just in front as you managed to board the plane, holding your hand out for O. Luckily for you all, he made it in time, being helped up by you and Graham as the Doctor closed the door.

“Sorry. I've never been good at sprinting.” O breathed out, trying to regain his composure as the Doctor furrowed, looking confused.

“What?” She asked as everyone ignored her, trying to move away from the back end of the plane.

“Come on, Doctor. We're about to take off.” Ryan exclaimed as everyone tried to catch their breath.

“In the main cabin!” The Doctor told them all as they made their way through all the seats. You sighed as you threw yourself down on one of the front seats, feeling your chest hurt from your heavy breathing. God, you didn’t realise how long it had been since you had been running into danger.

“Never been good at sprinting?” The Doctor looked over at O as he leant on the seats. He shook his head.

“I was the last one in every race at school.” He huffed out, causing the Doctor to scrunch her face in confusion.

“No, no, no. I read your file. You were a champion sprinter.” She commented as you peered over at the pair, seeing O zone out for a brief moment, before a darker expression replaced his once soft features.

“Mmm. Got me. Well done.” He almost smirked, as his voice even changed, turning darker, more confident.

“What’s going on, Doc?” Graham asked, confused as everyone else. You narrowed your eyes, seeing the utter confusion on the Doctor’s face, something that often happened, but this time it was different. It was like she had a feeling about it all.

“You'd best take a look out of the window.” O said as you gazed at him, before turning towards the window on your left, looking out as you saw the shelter you had called home for the last month or so.

“How's your house out there?” Graham furrowed his brows, turning to look at O for an explantation. Yaz and Ryan stayed quiet as they tried to understand what was happening.

“Bit Wicked Witch of the West, but you get the gist. Maybe. Maybe not.” O said casually, placing a hand on his hip dramatically as he twirled back round to face the humans. You looked over at the Doctor as she shook her head. There it was again. That feeling of familiarity around the man in question. “Oh, come on, Doctor, catch up.” O encouraged, snapping his fingers. “You can do it. Come on.”

“Oh!” The Doctor gasped, her mouth agape as she held onto the seats beside her for balance.

“That's...that's my name, and that is why I chose it.” O grinned, taking a breath. “Oh, so satisfying.” He raised his brows. “Doctor, I did say look for the spymaster. Or should I say spy...” He paused, his smirk falling. “Master?” You felt fear creep up inside of you. It couldn’t be. Could it? “Hi.” He waved at the gang as you furrowed your brows. O was a lie. It was a mask... You had fallen for it... and him. You felt your heart shatter as you tried to clear your mind, but thoughts proceeded to race through it.

“You can't be.” The Doctor said quietly, looking almost annoyed at the fact he had come back into her life.

“Oh, I can be. I very much am.” The Master stepped forwards as you felt fear being in such close proximity of the Timelord. You almost shuffled further away, as far as you could.

“But I met O!” The Doctor exclaimed. “Years ago.” She narrowed her eyes, trying to wrap her head around everything.

“I know!” The Master cried, before manically laughing. There it was, that sound that had haunted you for years. You shivered are the sound. But it was all starting to make sense... Why you were employed by MI6... Assigned to cases with O... or the Master you should say. You held your head in your hands. “And I had so much fun playing O! So much!” He exclaimed, grinning. “Had a helping hand with (Y/N) getting her little job there.” He commented as the Doctor glanced over at you. “Playing the supportive friend.” He continued as you looked up at him, eyes sad. “The nerdy heartthrob.” He smirked, sending you a wink as you shook your head at him in disbelief.

“Why?” The Doctor narrowed her eyes. “You didn’t need to drag her into it!” She exclaimed, feeling protective over her friend.

“Oh but I did Doctor...” He stalked towards the fellow Timelord. “To get to you of course... The easiest way.”

“I need to warn Barton.” The Doctor realised, pushing her way past the Master as he balanced himself on the seats behind him. “He’s not here!” She called back to the others. “Where’s Barton?!” She exclaimed, popping her head back into the main cabin as the Master faked panic, twirling around as he muttered to himself, before throwing himself down next to you.

“Who’s flying the plane?!” Graham asked, furrowed brows.

“Wrong question.” The Master told him, as you looked at him as he sat beside you. “Check the seat.” He told the Doctor as she quickly turned, seeing the bomb that was sat once where Barton was. He looked over at you as you felt your body freeze under his intense stare.

“What have you done?” You asked him quietly, shaking your head. He smirked at you before pushing himself off the seat.

“Cockpit bomb. Short fuse. I can relate to that.” He smiled as the others watched from afar. The Doctor tried to sonic the bomb, much to the Master’s annoyance as he flipped instantly. “Now, do you really think that I would not make that sonic-proof, Doctor?” He exclaimed. “Come on!” He body shook as he shouted, causing your eyes to widen. “Deadlock sealed. And I made sure - no parachutes on board.” He smirked, leaning against the overhead storage.

“But where’s Barton?!” Yaz asked, growing impatient with the Master’s game.

“Called away before takeoff. By me!” He grinned, glancing over his shoulder at the girl. He then turned to look at you as you looked at him from around the seats. “Stick with me (Y/N), cos I control... everything.” He breathed out, relaxing his body. “Even these guys.” He whistled, clicking his fingers as he twirled around, two of the creatures appearing behind him as he smiled madly.

“I can't do it! Get away!” The Doctor’s voice called as she ran back into the main cabin, closing the door behind her as she used her body to shield as much of the blast as possible. She flew forward as it exploded, landing on the ground beside you as you also flew down, with the others.

“Ha!” The Master cried, the chaos around him thrilling him. He looked down at the Doctor, standing over her threateningly. “One last thing. Something you should know in the seconds before you die.” He leaned down to the Doctor, looking her in the eye. “Everything that you think you know... is a lie.” He breathed out, his expression looking tired and saddened for a second before returning to his hard gaze. “Got you, finally.” He smirked, before vanishing, the creatures rushing at the Doctor, leaving the four humans alone on the crashing plane.

~

Taglist: @drapetxmaniia @dannighost @imagine-whatever @yourlocalspacebisexual @the-sweet-space-bi @a--1--1--3 @blamerogertaylor @koschei-taylor @koschei-studies @lostshadow12 @hannahlilyyx @wonders-of-the-multiverse @ettorah @nikey-no-likey @imthedoctorlove @twentysomethingloser92 @startrekkingaroundasgard @sometimes-i-feel-like-falling @hellothedoctorisreal @tragic-and-tried @kind-sober-fullydressed @ateliefloresdaprimavera @chiswicknoble

[brokasteltranslations]

Fate/Requiem: Chapter 4

Several days had passed since I had been relieved of my duties as the Reaper. No more work had come in from my master, Caren Fujimura, since the Kundry case, and I no longer received information on a preferential basis over the municipal network. I had been barred from the critical point where the Akihabara district barrier was located, and my access to Kanda Shrine and Yushima Temple, where multiple ley lines converged, had also been restricted. Stripped of my rank and duties, I was nothing more than another truant – and one dragging a nameless, powerless, useless Servant in tow to boot. A lone wolf not even worth employing as a guard dog.

Fortunately, Akihabara was a prime tourist destination, and as long as I wore my usual swimwear and windbreaker I would more or less blend in with the usual clientele. However, that did nothing to help me feel less out-of-place. Whatever I did, I just felt like running away and hiding in a hole.

I had received no more information on the Command Seal Hunter. It was worrying that the case had not yet been publicly acknowledged. My gut told me that it had not been quietly solved and faded away. It was merely biding its time.

Whispers of the “Woman with the Missing Hand” circulated Shibuya. It had become something of an urban legend among students.

Don't you know better than to cut that out? Keep repeating it and it'll become real, and then who'll have to deal with it? It'll be... actually, I suppose it won't be me. Not any more.

----

As a consequence of my newly-imposed freedom, I had taken to wandering the town aimlessly with Pran on a daily basis. Wherever we went, we found faint traces of Chitose's presence. It crossed my mind more than once to quit Akihabara for one of the other wards.

–

There were many things that seemed to draw Pran's interest, but over time I started to notice a broad pattern. It was live experiences that he seemed to enjoy - street performers, buskers, speed painters and the like were what most often caught his eye.

Thinking back to the episode with Kuchime, I tried taking him along to a shop geared towards those 'otaku'. It was crammed to the rafters with endless figurines of buxom girls, male-oriented toys and all manner of merchandise, to the point where I was almost sick of looking at it. However, none of it particularly seemed to resonate with him.

Maybe it's because they're all manufactured goods. Perhaps it's originality that appeals to him?

He stood by, a little sleepily, gazing into the distance as though squinting into the sun, watching faraway strangers. Only when we passed a shop selling astronomical telescopes did he exhibit a different reaction. He squatted down in front of a poster of the planets – clearly not hand-made – and stayed there for well over a minute.

“Do you know Jupiter?”

“This eye... it follows me.”

“Eye? Oh, you mean the Great Red Spot?”

“This planet's so big. It's so big...”

He shivered, then pulled the goggles resting over his head down over his eyes, and peered at the poster once more.

“A planet, huh? I'm surprised you know that word.” Had he picked it up from when I read The Little Prince to him? He had initially talked about coming from somewhere far away – perhaps he wasn't just making it up? Or maybe... no, was that even possible?

I chose my words carefully. “That's a very old photograph. From before the war. The Great Red Spot on Jupiter isn't there any more. It got smaller and smaller, and then it disappeared.”

He smiled gently at the poster.

“Maybe it went to sleep. I hope someone comes to wake it up.”

–

Before I knew it, the day of the Grail Tournament had arrived. I hadn't exactly been waiting with bated breath, but still I found myself in front of the Colosseum.

The colossal stadium was located on the outskirts of Akihabara, bordering the ocean. Its enormous silhouette threatened to overwhelm the surrounding cityscape. Towering arches, each easily the size of a skyscraper, rose high in three, four levels to form the thick exterior of the cylindrical structure and enclose the arena within.

This was a place of pure competition. The poets once spoke of the ancient Roman emperors giving their people bread and circuses; here was the circus reborn for the modern age, the manifestation of the people's right to entertainment.

–

I had ended up accompanied to the Colosseum by Pran and Karin. Koharu had, to my great chagrin, seen fit to furnish me with not one, not two, but a whole four reserved tickets – two Master-Servant pairs. Technically Servants had no need for tickets – after all, they could just assume their spiritual forms – but no-one willing to come to see the Grail Tournament in person could reasonably be refused a seat, and they were provided in pairs as a matter of course. That being said...

“How long's it been?”

It had been twenty minutes since the stadium had opened, and we were still waiting.

Enormous lines snaked from each and every one of the Colosseum's myriad entrances. At this rate, the tournament would probably have started before we got to our seats. Personally I hardly minded, but it must have bothered Karin, because she suddenly yelled out at the top of her voice.

“All right, fine! Flake out on me, see if I care! We're going in, you hear?”

“You really want to go in? You sure you don't want to wait a bit longer?” I did my best to keep my voice neutral.

“Damn right I'm sure! Never should've invited you anyway, you lousy no-show son of a...”

None of her messages had prompted a response, it seemed.

–

The individual keeping us waiting was the weary-looking guitar player, Kuchime.

Unsure what exactly to do with my four tickets, I had decided to start by offering them to people I knew. Karin herself had snatched the chance with typical zeal, but her partner Kouyou had been reluctant to join us, leaving me with one left over. However, a few days later the two of us had happened to stumble across Kuchime in a side-street in Akihabara, strumming away with his usual gloomy air and being flatly ignored by every passer-by. Karin had called out, probably taking pity on him.

“Hey, Kuchime, was it? Ever thought of checking out the Grail Tournament? Maybe the halftime show'll give you some tips on how not to make your customers run a mile.”

“Ain't got no need for that, little missy. I'm happy as long as I'm getting' through to people with ears to hear.”

“Think you're some kinda auteur, huh? Keep dreaming, idiot. Why don't you just go the whole way and die young while you're at it!”

I had watched blankly as she exploded at him unprovoked. Her tirade had ended with her snatching the ticket from my hands and thrusting it squarely into his unshaven face. Had she done it in a spontaneous surge of pity for this dishevelled musician, or had she been planning it all along? I may have been the Reaper, but even I wasn't so insensitive as to probe any further.

However, in the end, the chance she had taken came to nothing. She stalked towards the arena, fuming. I followed her, leading Pran by the hand.

–

Eventually, we arrived at our designated seats. The interior of the Colosseum was spacious, tall, and delightfully modern.

I now understood why the queues today had been particularly bad: the staff were conducting unusually extensive baggage checks and body searches on all attendees. I had even seen staff members flagging down particular individuals for Command Seal checks, and it was hard not to notice the guns at the hips of a number of security personnel dotted around the stadium.

I'm glad they didn't try to check my Command Seals. Maybe the reservations got us through...

In any case, it was gratifying to see that my warning to Hannibal hadn't gone unheeded. Although there was always the possibility that the organisers had gotten wind of the serial killings themselves, and acted of their own accord.

“Yo! Sorry we took so long.” Karin reappeared with Pran in tow. Both of their arms were piles high with soft drinks, packets of peanuts and other junk food. She tossed me a freshly-grilled hot dog.

“So this is the bread part, huh? Shouldn't be long until the circu- Yeowch! Aah! My tongue!”

“Circus? You mean the halftime show, right? Oh yeah, there was a stall selling some kinda porridge too if you want some. I tapped out though, seemed pretty weird.”

“Porridge, huh? How odd... Hey, who gave you those?!”

I suddenly registered Pran was decked from head to toe in tournament merchandise, complete with a little paper cap and a megaphone. He was ready for the show.

I couldn't stop myself from bursting out laughing, and soon both me and Karin were clutching our sides. She was so engrossed in the tournament now that it was hard to imagine she had been furious not twenty minutes ago. I could probably learn a lot from how quickly she rebounded.

Next to our seats on the very front row was a space to be kept open in case of emergencies. Fortunately, it was just large enough for Kouyou to squeeze in. Accommodating larger Servants was probably half of the reason it was there.

–

After a minute or so, the music playing throughout the stadium increased in volume and a rousing melody began to play. It seemed we'd timed our arrival perfectly.

The music faded away, and for a moment, the entire arena fell silent. Then, as if on cue, a voice rang out across the stadium. Below us, eldritch lights began to dance across the very front row where the patricii would have sat in the original Colosseum. A diminutive figure strode down to the aisle, and unfurled a pair of feathered wings. At the same time, the main screen cut to a close-up of a girl - a woman? - dressed in a plain white Grecian tunic.

“Good evening, my lovely little piglets!” Her greeting echoed around the Colosseum at amplified volume. “Welcome, one and all, to the ocean stage of the Grail Tournament! That's right! We're all setting sail for Okeanos, and I, the great witch Circe, will be your guide!”

She stoked the crowd's excitement, and they answered with a deafening roar… although I did pick up some rather crude jeers mixed in with the cheering.

“Thank you, thank you, my little piglets! I love you too! Now, before we meet all our brave warriors, I'd like to introduce our commentary team!”

Two burly men strode down the aisle to join her, waving to the audience.

“First, for the Ottoman Corsairs, we have a scallywag among scallywags! The Gentleman of the Caribbean! The one and only Blackbeard, Edward Teach!”

“That's me!” Blackbeard was greeted by deafening boos. He did not seem to care a jot.

“Sounds like you know him well! Let's move swiftly on!”

“Wait, that's all I get?!”

“Next, for the Carthaginian Alliance, we have the king of admirals! The man who saved the Roman Empire from the Ptolemaic Dynasty! Friend and advisor to Emperor Augustus, I give you Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa!”

Agrippa! The commander who led the Romans to victory at the Battle of Actium!

I expected him to bask in the applause of the crowd, but instead he rounded on the emcee.

“What is this? I never agreed to this! First you invite me to attend nigh on midnight last night, and now you expect me to commentate?! Explain yourself!”

“About that... Honestly, we wanted Eukleides of Alexandria, but he cancelled at the last moment. What are Foreigners like, right?”

“Some nerve on you, girl! You expect a general of Rome to commentate on the Carthaginians? And you! Yes, you, the Servant with the easel! You think capturing my face is funny, do you?!”

The sight of the irate Agrippa slowly being talked down by the witch emcee, and eventually taking a reluctant seat at the commentator's desk, drew no small amount of laughter from the audience.

“All right, everyone, make sure you have your channels all set to your favourite team! If you're feeling peckish, why not try some delicious kykeon?”

–

“Well, that sure was something.”

Karin was grinning next to me. I, for my part, was aghast. This was grotesque, a vulgar display that made a mockery of Servants' pride and nobility. It was difficult to tell how much was real and how much was acted, but the tastelessness of the ambiguity only made me feel more disgusted. The tournament itself hadn't even begun yet, and I had a feeling it was only going to get worse.

I guess the least I can do is watch it through. I probably won't be getting another chance.

My reasons for being here were twofold. Firstly, I wanted to see what I could learn about Koharu's mysterious Possession ability. I had also been deeply impressed by the way that, despite being aware of her naivety, she disapproved wholeheartedly of any wrongdoing, and the evident admiration with which she viewed her companions.

My second reason was that I wanted to see for myself the incredible power that Servants were permitted to wield here. I felt both awe and terror for Noble Phantasms. It was baffling to me that abilities so destructive might be allowed to be used freely.

The citizens of Mosaic City were different to Masters in the true sense. They were no magi, with magic circuits passed down from previous generations or developed through special training, and it went without saying that none of them possessed a Magic Crest. The mana that powered their magecraft originated from the Holy Grail, and was distributed throughout the city via ley-lines. This mana was more than enough to sustain a Servant in everyday life with no discomfort. However Noble Phantasms, which employed magecraft on a much larger scale and consumed vast amounts of mana, were another matter entirely. Activating them was highly challenging, and they could kill a Master unless attempted with extreme care.

Broadly speaking, the most common foes I encountered in my work were Masters who fought with little regard for their own lives, because they had found something they valued more.

Had the combatants in this Colosseum all reined their latent magical abilities to extraordinary levels? Or had the footage I had seen simply been enhanced in some way after the fact? I had come to determine the truth.

“Oh, there you are, Kouyou.”

In the formerly empty space in the midst of the cheering crowd, the enormous bulk of the Ogress had appeared. She sat with her belly pressed to the ground, trying to make herself as small as possible. Occasionally her eyes glanced sideways to meet with Pran's.

–

Feeling a little relieved, I turned back to the arena. The battlefield was enormous: a huge rectangular arena, two hundred metres on the larger side. Above each of the spectator seats floated semi-transparent screens that provided a closer view of the action.

Finally, the battlefield began to change. Cracks ran across the centre, and the stage began to fold in on itself with mechanical precision, forming a deep, wide basin. Water swirled in to fill it, and rocks rose from beneath its surface to form a maze of crags in the open water. Two galleys burst from the canals at either side of the stage, defying the current. They hung in the air for a second, like salmon poised mid-leap above a waterfall, and then crashed down into the water below with a mighty splash. A host of smaller boats and schooners followed them out, and quickly organised themselves into two fleets.

There was no magic in this, only the most cutting-edge stage equipment... although perhaps it was best not to think about the enormous, ominous shadow circling beneath the water's surface.

–

“Now, my little piglets, I think we've kept you waiting long enough! Let's get this naumachia started! We know you're tired of the same-old same-old, so this year we thought we'd change things up a little with a large-scale team-on-team battle! Which of our brave teams in Akihabara today will be crowned the conquerors of the high seas?

“First, we have the Ottoman Corsairs! For these terrors of the Mediterranean Sea, this man once more takes up the rank of Pasha! Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the great pirate of Barbary, the Redbeard, Heyreddin Barbarossa!

“And that's not all! Next we have his second-in-command! There's not a man west of Austria who doesn't know his name: the Grand Master of the Knights Templar, Jacques de Molay!”

The witch introduced each of the competitors one by one, stoking the crowd's excitement. Illustrious admirals and infamous pirates lined up upon the deck.

“And now, last but not least, someone you know very well! The mightiest commander of the navies of the far east - can you say “Hassou-tobi”? Our favourite natural-born Heike-killer, Minamoto Kurou Yoshitsune!

“Could this samurai be the most dangerous competitor on the field today? I'm sure the other side won't be showing much quarter, so look forward to some spectacular acrobatics!”

–

The pretty young warrior looked a little uncomfortable in responding to chants of “Ushiwaka!”, but eventually gave in and began to wave to the crowd. The sight broke me from my trance, and a young girl standing nearby caught my attention; she hadn't been introduced.

Could that be Yoshitsune's Master?

She was dressed in elegant traditional Japanese robes and heavy facial makeup, matching Yoshitsune, but she herself appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary citizen. Behind or beside the other Servants stood similar unassuming figures. More than a couple of them were wearing masks that obscured their faces.

Eventually, the oriental arrangement of Mozart's Turkish March playing throughout the Colosseum drew to a close, and was replaced with an unsettling, savage, African-style drumbeat. The Grail Tournament was as tasteless as ever.

–

“Now swivel your heads the other way, my adorable piglets! Little corkscrew tails to the east,  and snouts to the west! Please give it up for the mighty heroes of the Carthaginian Alliance!

“Cast your eyes upon Rome's worst nightmare! At his back, the souls of three war elephants with whom he crossed the Pyrenees and the Alps! Ladies and gentlemen, the Lightning Commander, Hannibal Barca!”

The sight of Hannibal, cross-armed on the deck in traditional battle garments, was so wildly different from the garrulous old tourist I had met in Cafe Borges that I could hardly believe it was the same man. The mighty cheer from the crowd put not so much as a crack in his stern expression, and he harboured a menacing aura.

“And not to be outdone, his second-in-command: The Firebrand of Castile, El Cid!”

The witch continued with her introductions, each one punctuated with thunderous applause. I tuned them out. My attention was absorbed by a small figure on the deck, with a white coat draped across her shoulders. I followed her with my augmented vision as she stared keenly into the enemy ranks.

He stood a short distance behind her, head askew, hands on his hips. He seemed devoid of tension, as though this were nothing more than a routine warmup.

“And taking up the rearguard is someone I'm sure you all remember! None other than the warrior who took the Newbie Tournament by storm! Our proud Knight of the Round Table, Sir Galahad!”

–

With the introductions concluded, the galleys began to slip forwards, and each team assembled into their respective formations. Karin rapped on my knee with her megaphone, unable to conceal her excitement.

“I told you it was gonna be awesome! Dunno much about the pirates, but even I know Yoshitsune!”

“You expecting me to be impressed or something? You could hardly call yourself Japanese if you didn’t.”

I could not imagine it would be easy for this collection of pirates, outlaws to the bone that they were, to assimilate cleanly into everyday life in Mosaic City - although, of course, there were exceptions. Perhaps it was for the best that there was a place for them here, where they could put their talents to use while also entertaining the populace. However...

“I know it's just a mock battle, but don't you think this seems really one-sided? The Ottomans are obviously better at sea. Hannibal's famous for his war elephants, but he can't even use them on the water.”

“Haven't been reading up, eh Eri? Here's a flyer for you. See? Says right here the field will change halfway through, and turn into a land battle. There's your Carthaginian advantage.”

“Ah. I get it.” This was never supposed to be a fair battle, but a dramatic turnaround against overwhelming odds. The perfect script to drive the audience wild. I myself had to confess, I was looking forward to seeing Yoshitsune and Galahad face off – so much so that a part of me wished this were a real Holy Grail War.

“Yeah. Now I see.” I gazed around at the nearby spectators with dawning realisation. I felt as though I'd grown a little closer to understanding how these competitors could wield such extraordinary power, and the system that supported them in doing so.

----

“Eh?”

The back of my neck prickled. Someone, somewhere, was watching me.

I slid my gaze slowly around myself, careful not to let my reaction be noticed, but my stalker was impossible to discern through the interference of the crowd around me.

I'm being watched. No doubt about it. There's something else, too. A familiar, maybe?

The Borgia siblings' warning came to mind. Someone I'd previously crossed, out for revenge. As I looked around warily, hoping to forestall some impending attack, I noticed something strange: dotted throughout the crowd were spectators standing motionless, seemingly blind to the excitement around them.

Victims of the Command Seal Hunter? No, that doesn't seem right...

I focused, filtering out the auditory noise, following the sense of wrongness back to its source... and happened to catch a snippet of conversation from the row in front.

“You serious? A fire in Shinjuku?”

“Where? Tsunohazu? Kashiwagi?”

“Seems like it's around Hanazono way.”

Hanazono?

My old house was in Hanazono. Which was to say, Chitose's house was in Hanazono. I leaned forward a little, and stared at the woman in front's phone from over her shoulder.

“Eri, the hell are you doing?”

On the screen was a video someone had uploaded to the municipal network.

“What on earth...?”

A video of a building on fire. In real time.

A row of old wooden houses in Shinjuku wreathed in smoke. A human figure appeared from the billowing grey curtain, aflame from head to toe. However, they did not run or drop to the ground, but continued calmly into the next building, and even as their blood boiled and their skin charred with the flames' caress, began to feed the flames.

The video cut short - interrupted by a new upload of a public train brought to a standstill, flames licking at its roof.

-

As I watched, a buzz of concern began to spread throughout the crowd. It was hardly surprising; there were probably no small number of spectators here from Shinjuku. I turned around to see that Karin, too, was transfixed by her phone.

“What's wrong?”

“They say there's been some kinda 'pedestrian accident' in front of Shibuya station. A tram derailed and went across the cross... Oh. Ew. I'm not looking at that. Trains are stopped too. The hell's going on?”

Simultaneous incidents, all across Mosaic City.

“Ugh...”

I gripped my arm as a dull pain blossomed inside it. The stench of death was agitating the spirits. Black blood oozed out from beneath my hand, as their ire turned on my own body.

Just when I thought I'd gotten them under control...

-

This arena was no longer a place I should be. I was the greatest threat here, to the tens of thousands of spectators present and the partners by their sides. Right now, these simultaneous incidents concerned me.

Security here was tight, and more to the point, greater warriors than I could ever hope to be now thronged the main stage. This was perhaps the safest place in all of Mosaic City. My place was not here – as much as I had wanted to see Koharu fight, I no longer had time to worry about that.

“Eri, wait.”

Karin must have guessed my intentions as soon as I stood up.

“You're going? Just like that? Without me, again?”

“Sorry. I know I invited you out here and everything, but... there's something I need you to do.”

“What is it?”

I stared back at Karin for a moment, then looked down to the boy by her side.

“Kouyou, do you think you could take care of Pran?”

The ogress looked to Karin questioningly, then gave a slow nod.

“Consider it done. Just leave it to us, Eri.” Karin flashed her newly-recovered Command Seals, alongside an irrepressible grin. Just as I made to leave, Karin's phone buzzed with a notification, and she pulled it out.

“Who's texting people at this kinda time?”

She checked the screen and sighed.

“It's that Kuchime asshole. He says “Sorry.””

“That's all?”

“That's all.” She smiled, resignedly and a little sadly.

----

I left the seats behind and made my way to the outer hall. While still indoors, this was an airy, open space, with high arches modelled meticulously after Roman architecture. It extended far away in both directions, curving gently to match the shape of the arena. Shops lined the outer wall, still milling with a fair number of late customers. Here and there people clustered around screens outside the storefronts, drinking as they watched the matches unfold.

What's even the point of coming here?, I thought. You could be doing that at home!

–

As I hurried towards the exit, I organised the idea I'd hit upon earlier in my head: to whit, that the competitors in the Holy Grail Tournament were taking their mana from the crowd itself. Tens of thousands of pseudo-magi, all pouring mana into the Servants doing battle below. That was my hypothesis.

This Colosseum was not a post-war addition to Akihabara. It had been a part of this town since long before the world was restructured, and it was far too large an anomaly to be permitted to exist without a reason. And in ancient Rome, the battles that took place in the colosseums had been sacred acts; offerings made to the gods.

Heroic Spirits take on all of our thoughts, hopes and dreams. They draw power from them.

The greater the mark a Servant had left upon history, and the more fame they had earned, the more power they drew. Such was their nature – and as an unintended and tragic consequence, Servants were occasionally summoned with the strange and cruel skill, “Innocent Monster”.

How much of this do the Riedenflaus family realise, I wonder?

I couldn't help but wonder just to what extent thaumaturgical systems might be entwined with the structure of the Colosseum itself.

-

An unexpected voice called me to a halt.

“Erice, we need to talk. It's important.”

It was the first time I had seen Ms. Fujimura in several days. I wheeled around to find her standing in the dimly-lit outer hall, dressed like a librarian as always.

Why is she here? What could she possibly want to talk about?

I strode towards her, with the intention of grilling her on the events in Shibuya and Shinjuku.

-

As I opened my mouth, I heard an odd sound from the broadcast. As the camera focused on the Carthaginian flagship, the witch performing the commentary had yelped in shock. I spun around to look. Ms. Fujimura, too, focused on the screen.

What I saw defied comprehension.

Regardless of the fact that the enemy was still distant, Hannibal, the Carthaginian commander, whipped his blade from the sheath at his belt, and without a moment's hesitation thrust it deep into the chest of his second-in-command, El Cid.

“Gah!”

El Cid's face froze in an expression of disbelief. His Master rounded on Hannibal in his confusion. The Carthaginian pulled his bloodstained sword from his ally's chest, and without a care for the man's protests, swung his sword crosswise in a vicious slash.

Both El Cid and his master collapsed. Two heads flew from the boat, to splash down unceremoniously into the artificial sea.

[vgckwb]

ML: Isolation Chapter 15: Come Together

Adrien woke up the next morning. He got himself ready and checked his messages. He saw Marinette had dropped him a line. “Alright. I think I will try and make an appearance. Not physically, but we can video chat or something.”

Adrien smiled and messaged back “Sounds good.” He grabbed his things, ate breakfast, and headed off to school.

After school, everyone was packing up. Adrien walked up to Chloe. “Hey Chloe” he said.

“Oh, Adrien,” Chloe said. “I thought you had fencing today.”

“I do,” Adrien replied. “I’m just here to tell you that it’s OK for you to come over before I’m done.”

“Ugh, like I didn’t know that” Chloe said.

“Just making sure” Adrien responded. Chloe walked off. Adrien texted Nathalie “Chloe’s coming over, as well as maybe a new friend. I’m planning on bringing them in on everything.”

Nathalie responded with a simple “Sounds good.” Adrien went off to fencing.

After fencing was over, he changed back into his regular clothes. He then waited for Kagami. “Hey Kagami!”

“Adrien?” Kagami said, confused. “What’s going on?”

Adrien smiled. “I was wondering if you could come over today.”

“Why?” Kagami asked.

“I just thought you might be interested in my secret technique” Adrien inferred.

Kagami understood, smiled, and said “Alright. I’ll call my mom and tell her.”

“Great,” Adrien said. “My driver should be here any minute.”

Kagami got on her phone and Adrien checked his. He got a message from Nathalie. “Chloe is here already. She’s waiting for you in your room.”

“Thanks,” Adrien replied. Adrien’s ride pulled up. “Here we are Kagami.”

“Well then, let’s go,” she said. The two of them entered the car. “I can’t wait to know what your secret is.”

“Believe me, my secret is also exciting,” Adrien said, confusing Kagami. They arrived at Adrien’s. “Hey Nathalie. This is Kagami.”

“Hello, Miss Kagami,” Nathalie said.

Kagami raised her eyebrow. “You call your mom by her name?”

“Oh, no,” Adrien said, slightly embarrassed, along with Nathalie. “Nathalie isn’t my mother. She’s my father’s secretary.”

“Oh. I’m sorry” Kagami said.

“Don’t worry about it,” Nathalie said.

“Thank you,” Kagami said.

“Well, let’s go,” Adrien said. Adrien and Kagami made it to Adrien’s door. “Um, before we enter there might be some complications.”

“Complications how?” Kagami inquired.

“Well, you’ll see,” Adrien said. He opened the door and walked in.

Chloe got up and said “About time.”

“Hey Chole,” Adrien said, walking in with Kagami following behind him.

“Ah. I see” Kagami said.

Chloe was surprised. “What is SHE doing here?” she demanded. “This was supposed to be OUR time!”

“Now now Chloe,” Adrien said. “I invited her for a reason.”

“Well, if she’s here, I’M not going to say anything,” Chloe said.

“Aw, c’mon Chloe” Adrien said. “If you’ll do it, I’ll throw in another secret.”

Chloe’s ear perked. “You have ANOTHER secret? I find that hard to believe.”

“Well, I get that. The secret IS pretty unbelievable” Adrien said, hoping that would do the trick.

Chloe looked at him. “Fine. But if it’s underwhelming, I’ll… Well, I don’t know what I’ll do, but I’ll think of something.”

“I’m sure you will,” Adrien said. “Now, let’s start with you.”

“Oh no” Chloe said. “You know the rules.”

“Chloe… You know I always win” Adrien said.

“Not this time!” Chloe said. “I can feel it.”

“I just wanted to save you the embarrassment” Adrien said. “But fine. Let’s do this.” He held up his fist.

Chloe held up her first. In unison, they chimed “Rock, paper, scissors!” Chloe threw out paper, Adrien threw out scissors.

Chloe was shocked. Adrien smiled “Like I said, I always win.”

“How?” Chloe said.

“I’m just lucky,” Adrien said.

“You shouldn’t lie to your friend like that,” Kagami said. Adrien looked at her. She walked up to Chloe. “The reason he always wins is because you slow down ever so slightly on the one you’re going to choose, and Adrien picked up on that.”

Chloe looked at Adrien. “Is this true?”

“Well, uh, you see…” Adrien stammered

“You cheating fuck!” Chloe said, pounding her fists against him as he tried defending himself.

“Ow. Ow. OK, I’m sorry Chloe” Adrien apologized. Chloe pouted. “If it makes you feel better, I’ll reveal one of the secrets I have first.”

“Fine,” Chloe said.

“Is this the secret you were telling me about?” Kagami asked.

“Not quite,” Adrien said. “But they are related.”

“So, what is it then?” Chloe sneered.

“I think it’s better if I just showed you,” Adrien said. He went to his bag and fished out his costume and put it on. Both of the girls were shocked. “What do you think?”

Chloe blinked. “You’re… You’re Cat Noir?!”

“Mm hm” Adrien replied.

“But how? And why?” Kagami asked.

“Well, that’s the second secret,” Adrien said. He sat down. “But first, I think we need to hear from Chloe.”

“Me?” Chloe said.

Adrien nodded. “Trust me Chloe, me revealing the second secret is all dependent on your answer. So, what do you think of Lila? Honestly.”

Chloe tensed up. Kagami placed her hand on her shoulder. “It’s OK. You’re among friends” she said.

Chloe relaxed a little. She took a deep breath and said “I hate that bitch.”

Kagami was shocked. “Well that was candid.”

“Nah, that’s just Chloe,” Adrien said. “If anything, it might even be restrained.”

“Why do you hate Lila so much?” Kagami asked.

Chloe sighed. “I guess there’s no point in hiding it. I’ve been wary of her since her feud with Marinette started up.”

“But didn't you tell me you had a feud with Marinette?” Adrien asked.

“Well… that’s different,” Chloe answered. “Look, I KNOW I’m not easy to get along with. And… even though Marinette challenged me every time I tried acting like the Queen Bee, I felt myself… changing.” Kagami and Adrien were shocked. “I don’t know what it is, but seeing her actually helping and supporting everyone made me want to be more like her. I could just never figure out how.”

Adrien smiled. “It’s OK Chloe. You’re just unique. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

“Yeah, the fact that you want to change is a good start,” Kagami said.

Chloe clumsily smiled. “Thanks.” She regained her composure. “But Lila… Lila’s like looking in a dark mirror for me. Like, she’s what I would become if I actually didn’t like people.

Which brings us to why I hate her so much. It all started on the day she got Marinette kicked out of school. Earlier in the day, I saw her placing something in Marinette’s locker. I tried confronting her about it, but…”

“What is it Chloe?” Lila said.

“Don’t play innocent with me, missy!” Chloe sassed. “I saw you plant that necklace in Marinette’s locker!”

“You did, did you?” Lila said.

“Yes, and I’m going to tell everyone!” Chloe said.

“Huh” Lila responded. “I wonder who’s going to believe you.” Chloe seemed puzzled. “Let’s look at the facts. I’m friends with everyone else in class, minus that bitch Marinette. Meanwhile, all you would have is Marinette, who nobody likes, and maybe your little friend. But then again, we’ve been getting closer recently, so who knows if she’ll believe me over you.”

Chloe scowled. “Well, I’ll do it anyway! Let’s see what happens.”

“Yes. Let’s” Lila said sadistically. “It’ll only end with you being more of a pariah than you already are. And you'll be missing the only person who would back you up.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” said Chloe, confused.

Lila smirked. She then sniffled. “You don’t believe me Chloe? It’s true though! But, I guess if I’m going to continue getting bullied here, I might as well move to a different school.”

Chloe glared at her. “And that’s a threat how?”

Lila smiled. “Because after I transfer schools, I’m going to request a personal bodyguard. And I’ll choose Sabrina’s dad.”

“What? How?” Chloe said. “You can’t do that!”

“Oh, but I can,” Lila said. “He’s a single father trying to do his best for his daughter. A higher paying position would be beneficial. Plus, I would convince him to move his daughter to the new school. After all, what kind of dad wouldn’t want an excuse to keep an eye on his daughter. Especially one who lost their close friend to jealousy and baseless vitriol.”

Chloe was frozen in fear. Lila came up and whispered in her ear. “Now be a good girl and stay quiet.” Lila started walking off. “Maybe you can make more friends by getting along with me.” She smiled.

In the present, Chloe had just finished up her story. “Holy shit” Kagami said.

“It sucks,” Chloe said. “I couldn’t save myself, let alone Marinette. I hate it! And I hate Lila!”

Chloe was breathing heavily. “Well, I’m glad we’re all on the same page” Adrien said.

Chloe seemed puzzled. “Huh? You don’t like Lila either?”

Adrien shook his head. “And that brings me to the second secret.” He got up and walked over to his computer.

“What are you doing?” Chloe asked.

“I just need to make sure everything’s good to go,” Adrien said. He messaged Marinette. “You ready?”

“Yes.”

“Alright then.” Adrien hit the call button. “Come over here” Adrien said. Chloe and Kagami walked toward the computer. Marinette picked up and she was now on Adrien’s computer screen.

Chloe and Kagami were confused. “Marinette?” Chloe said.

“Ahem” said Adrien. “Presenting the one, the only, Ladybug: Master designer of Paris!”

“Um, hello,” Marinette said nervously.

“WHAT?!” Chloe said. “Marinette is LADYBUG?!”

“Wait…” Kagami said. “So… how?...Huh?”

Adiren smirked. “It’s kind of complicated. See, I had figured out on my own that Ladybug’s name was Marinette.”

“And then he saw me looking at him,” Marinette continued. “When he asked, he heard my name and thought we might be one in the same. Which was confirmed when his father emailed him saying that I had sent him some designs I made when I saw him entering school.”

“And since I wanted to talk to her, I had to figure out how to do that,” Adrien said, continuing on. “But I had no conventional way of doing so. I figured the best method would be to sneak out. But if anyone saw me, my parents would freak out. Hence this getup.”

“He made his way to my place and threw a note up to my balcony,” Marinette said, taking over. I got it, and we started talking. He’d heard what had happened, but didn’t want to believe it because I was Ladybug. After some discussion, we became friends.”

“I see…” Kagami said.

“Marinette, I’m so sorry!” Chloe said.

Marinette was confused “Why?”

“Well, um…” Chloe said. She then blurted “I knew Lila planted the necklace in your locker, but I couldn’t do anything about it!”

“What?” Marinette said.

“Lila had threatened her,” Adrien said.

“Oh. I see” Marinette said.

“So, what’s all this for?” Kagami asked.

“Well, I was thinking,” Adrien said, “now that we’re all on the same page, why don’t we forge a united front against Lila.”

Kagami smiled. “I like the sound of that.”

“I’m on board too!” Chloe said. “It’s about time someone put her in he place!”

“Um, but how?” Marinette asked.

“Well, I haven’t thought it through entirely yet” Adrien admitted. “However, I think for now we could start a group chat.”

“Good idea!” Chloe said. “If we pool our knowledge together, we can hit her where it hurts.”

“Yeah, that might be all we can do in person for now,” Kagami said. “If I don’t start heading home soon, my mom will start to worry.”

“That’s fine,” Adrien said. They exchanged contact info and made a group chat for the purposes of taking down Lila. “And set.”

“I should get going too,” Chloe said. “My dad gets similarly worried if I’m not home by a certain time.”

“Take care,” Adrien said. Kagami and Chloe waved goodbye and left. Adrien sat down at his computer. “So, how are you feeling?”

Marinette chuckled. “Sorry. Can you take the mask off?”

“Oh, sorry” Adrien said. He took the mask off. “But really. Are you doing alright?”

Marinette hesitated for a minute. “Yeah… I think so.”

“Well that’s good,” Adrien replied. “I know that opening up to people is hard for you.”

Marinette blushed. “Well, it’s actually a little easier with you around.”

Adrien returned the blush. “Thanks.”

Marinette calmed down. “But I realized something. As nervous as I might be, and as distant as I’ve made myself, those feelings are nothing compared to letting Lila get away with everything. I can’t afford this pity party anymore.”

Adrien was impressed. “Don’t worry. We’ll get her. Especially now that we have more support.”

Marinette smiled. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Still, none of this wouldn't be happening if it wasn’t for you.”

Adrien grinned. “Nah, it’s all you’re doing.” Marinette was puzzled. “You reached out by making such amazing fashion. Your hand was outreached, waiting for someone to find you. I just decided to do so.”

“Is that so?” Marinette said. She started laughing and crying. Adrien was shocked. “Sorry. I guess I hadn’t thought of it like that.”

Adrien smiled. “Well, I’m glad you seem to be getting your smile back.” Adrien and Marinette spent the rest of the evening talking about random things. Eventually, they both decided to go to bed. Adrien smiled, drifting off to sleep wistfully reminiscing on Marinette’s smile. Marinette fell asleep thinking about Adrien’s kind words.

[mycatshuman]

The Emo Who Stole Christmas

Chapter 1 : Story time!

Word Count: 3,068

Pairings: Pre-established Prinxiety, pre-established Logicality, pre-established Demus

Warnings: Commercialization of Christmas, falling down the mountain, Grinch used as an insult? Small car crash with no harm, brief mention of playing with matches, mentions of messing with mail? Almost getting crushed by a stamp, child being wrapped in wrapping paper, that might be it I'm not sure and I know these sound weird but I'm just being careful.

Remus and Deceit don't come in until the next chapter.

Thank you so so much to @icequeenoriginal !!! You are basically the co-creator to this fic and it really would not be as good as it is without you. And I also have to thank you for coming up with such and ingenious title!!💜💜

Masterlist | Next | More Chapters

❄🎅🎄❄🎅🎄❄🎅🎄❄🎅🎄❄🎅🎄❄

Snowflakes fall through the dark sky. A sparkling flake flies close and then we zoom inside the snowflake, watching sparkling crystals fly by as we start on our journey. 

Storytime! Inside a snowflake, like the one on your sleeve, there happened a story you must see to believe. The clouds break away and we see snow-covered mountains and evergreen trees dotted across the landscape. 

And in that snowflake, way up in the mountains, in the high range of Pontoos, lay the small town of Whoville: the home of the Who's. Ask any Who, And they'll say: "There is no place like Whoville around Christmas Day!" 

Every window was flocked, and every lamppost was dressed and the Whoville band marched in their Christmasy best! Or holiday best if they celebrated a different holiday. Who's run through the town as the snow falls around them, their arms full with bags and gifts and decorations. 

Arbor Day was fine, and Easter was pleasant and every Saint Fizzin's day, they ate a Fizz pheasant. But every Who knew, from their twelve toes to their snout, they loved Christmas (or other winter holidays like Kwanzaa and Hanukkah) the most, without a single Who doubt.

------

A man with dark skin hurriedly says "Farfingle's welcomes you! Thank you! Happy Holidays! Thank you for shopping at Farfingle's!" The man is looking a little pale as he tries to keep up with the sales as people shove money at him to pay for gifts. No one stopping to take their receipts, causing the man to become exhausted and fighting to keep his smile on his face. 

Patton walked around as he stared at his long gift list. "We got a snoozlephone for your brothers Stu and Drew, a muncle for your uncle, fant for your aunt, and a fandpa for your cousin Critic. That means we just need….." Patton paused and looked around, realizing he couldn't find his child. "Emile?" He called out.  "Emile? Honey?" He turned to find a set of legs sticking out from under a square of presents. He crouched and pulled a wrapped gift from the middle and his child's face peered out at him. Their face was pinched slightly and they seemed uncertain about something. "Doesn't this seem like a bit much?" They asked as they glanced at the presents. 

Patton chuckled heartily. "Oh no! This is what Christmas is all about!" Emile scrunched their nose as they looked at their father. "Can't you feel it?"

Emile shook their head and sighed as they left the store getting ready to head to the post office, where Patton worked. In the background, the sound of the store clerk’s increasingly exhausted voice sounded. "Wait! Don't forget your change!!!!!" 

Outside, the loud bell tolled and everyone froze. The Counter shouted, "Another Minute Closer to the Holidays!"

"And now, for the next ten minutes only, 99% off!!" A store owner shouts out into the busy streets and everyone rushed forward to try and get as much as they could from the store. 

-------

Yes, every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot. But the Grinch, who lived just north of Whoville, did not.

-----

Four Who teenagers climbed up the mountain quickly laughing and giggling, on their way to cause mischief. Or so they thought. "Come on! All the good mistletoes at the top! Missy! I'll race you!" Emile's brother Pranks shouted. 

"The last one to the top is a stinky old Grinch!!" Missy shouted as he raced past his brother. 

"Where are we?" One of the teens said as she climbed up alongside her sister. "I think we should go back before something bad happens."

"What? Are you scared of the Grinch?" 

The other sister huffed and grabbed her sister's arm and marched up to the door and hesitated. "Go on! Touch the door!" Pranks cried out. The sister gulped and reached forward only for the door to swing open and a huge ugly purple face with piercing fangs stared at them with malevolent eyes. A thundering growl sounded from the pit of the beasts' throat. The teens screamed and turned around only to tumble down the mountain head over heels. 

"Remy!! Look at them run!! Scared them so bad they fell right off our mountain!!" A deep voice laughed as he picked up an apple. "It serves them right. Those Yuletide-loving sickly-sweet, not-sucking cheer mongers! I don't like them. I really don't." The voice paused as they stopped and a flush spread across their pale face. "Well, most of them."  The voice moved out the door and stood looking down at the town of Whoville. "Remy! Sass master! Get my cloak!" The figure grimaced as he looked down at the town. "I've been too tolerant of these delinquents and their "innocent, victimless pranks." The figure's frown deepened as he glared at the town. If looks could kill. "So, they want to get to know me? Do they really? Want to spend a little quality time with the-" the future's nose scrunched in disgust. "Grinch!" He spat out the name as if it had hurt him. And maybe it had. He huffed and then turned to his cat Remy who sat next to his midnight colored cloak. A wicked grin spread across his face. "I guess I could use a little...social interaction." 

---------

A dark clothed figure walked through the town, A small dark grey cat trotting along beside them. Well, maybe walking wasn't so accurate. The figure seemed to glide and float across the ground as if it was an otherworldly spector. However, none of the Who's seemed to notice this different looking figure. "Happy Holidays!" A person called cheerfully as they walked past the figure. Virgil grimaced. "Yeah, yeah, you bet. Ho, ho, ho, and all that stuff or whatever." If any Who had stopped to peer closer at the hooded figure they might find a weird creepy mask and a lanky body covered in dark purple fur. It was a suit Virgil used to frighten the Whos more. It also to stay warm in the biting cold weather. 

A horn blared as a car crashed into a pole and Virgil gasped overdramatically. "Oh no!" He exclaimed and looked down at Remy. "Someone must have vandalized that vehicle. Don't you see, Remy? This city is a dangerous place!" He snickered after he confirmed his little trick hadn't hurt anyone.

The Grinch hated the holidays. The whole Holiday season. Or maybe he didn't. Maybe it just hurt to remember what the Who's had done to him. But please do not ask why. No one quite knows the reason. Aside from one other.

Virgil stopped two children and handed then a play saw, perfectly harmless but looked very real. "Here's a present for you two! Now be sure to run real fast with it! Double time!" 

Some believe it's because his head wasn't screwed on just right. Or that his shoes were too tight. But they think the most likely reason of all is, maybe his heart is two sizes too small.

As Virgil was walking a man stopped him from moving any further. "Hey, there stranger! Won't let you go until you buy a chapeau!" Virgil lifted his mask and hissed. The salesperson who had stopped him fainted out of sheer terror. Virgil held back a snort and he and Remy were on their way. 

-------

Patton carried presents alongside his child, Emile as they made their way to the post office. "Oh boy! Nothing beats Christmas! Right kiddo?" 

Emile frowned. "I don't-I guess." 

Patton frowned and turned to look at his child. "You guessed?" He asked, concern lacing through his words. 

Emile shrugged as they looked down. "I mean, I look around and see you and Pa getting all kabbabled and doesn't it seem...superfluous?" 

Patton opened his mouth to say something when a loud screaming reached his ears and he froze, turning towards the source of the noise as everyone around them did the same. 

"DAD!!!!" Missy and Pranks raced into the town square as the Mayor came out of his office along with his assistant to see what the commotion was about. 

"What happened to you?!?!" Patton asked panicked. The two boys were covered in frost and snow as they tried to stutter out a response. "It was the Grinch!" 

Virgil looked up. "What do you want?" He froze, "I mean.." He pitched his voice higher. "'Grinch? Oh, no!'"

"Did you say Grinch?" The mayor, Anton Who said as he stalked over to the family. 

Patton froze.“H-Hello Anton, M-Mayor Sir.” Patton said as he moved his children behind him. 

Anton sighed "Patton, I don't think I need to remind all of you that this Christmas marks the one-thousandth Whobilation."

"Whoville's most important celebration!!"

"As you know," the Mayor began as he pulled out a very large and thick book. "The Book of Who says very clearly, 'Every size of Who we can measure knows that Whobilation is a time we must treasure!'" He closed the book, perhaps a bit too quickly. "Now, Patton. Please tell me that your children have not been up on Mount Crumpit provoking one and only creature within a billion bilometers of here who hates the holidays!"

Missy and Pranks began speaking quickly, "But it was the Grinch-" 

Patton stopped them by covering their mouths, terrified of what the consequences may be for them and their family if they kept talking. "No, Mayor. They didn't see no Grinch. They were probably just up on the mountain playing with matches or defacing public property or something…" 

The Mayor let out a sigh of relief as he placed his gloved hand on his chest. "Oh! That is such a relief." He turned his extravagant cape dragging behind him. "All right! You heard the man! There is no Grinch Problem here! Happy Holidays!" The mayor called cheerfully. 

Virgil frowned and raised his mask and stuck a straw between his lips and spit a ball of paper at the Mayor. The mayor frowned and whipped the ball off his face, disgusted. Virgil chuckled as he pulled his mask down and went off again. 

-----

Roman May let out a sigh as he realized he still had four hours until it was dark enough to leave town. So he just rolled his new purchase home, slowly, hoping to kill more time. He paused at the post office however and let out a faint chuckle as he noticed the end of a cape and a cat's tail slipping through the crack in the door as it fell close. He sighed dreamily. "That's my love," he muttered fondly to himself and walked away with a lot more pep in his step than before. 

-----

Emile frowned as they watched their dad walk down a long hallway with envelopes and presents as he stuffed them in small cubes lining one wall that leads into the room on the other side. "Dad, I just- I don't understand something."

"Hhm?" Patton asked as he continued working but made sure to give his child the attention they deserved. 

"Why so everyone so against talking about the Grinch?" 

Patton huffed quietly, a little admirable of his child's fascination. "You kids and the Grinch…” he said softly. "You see, Emile, the Grinch is a Who, who always…." He paused. "Well...he's actually not a Who. He's more a..." 

"A what?" 

Patton nodded. "Yeah, he's more a what who doesn't like Christmas or any other holiday." Emile's face pulled down into a frown as they listened to their dad. "Just take a look at his mailbox. Not a single card, in or out. Not ever!" 

Emile looked at the empty mailbox that had seemingly been empty for so long that cobwebs filled the dead space. "But why?" They asked as they turned to look at their dad, unsure why someone wouldn't have at least been kind enough to try and include him. 

Patton opened his mouth to answer his child only to be cut off by people crowding around the front counter. "Patton! I got the wrong mail!!!" Someone cried out frantically and Patton gave Emile an apologetic smile and walked to the counter. "I'm coming!" He called out. "We can sort this all out!" 

-----

Virgil grinned wickedly as he stood in the mailroom and looking at the mailboxes from the other side. "Oh, this will take them years to sort out!" He began to grab envelopes and switch them around. "This is his and now it’s yours. This is hers and now it’s his!" He giggled gleefully and turned around. Picking up a stack of bright yellow envelopes he spun around. "And for the rest of you!" He flung envelopes into random mailboxes with great force as he chuckled madly to himself. "Jury duty! Jury duty! Jury duty! Blackmail! Pink slip! Chain letter! Eviction notice! Jury duty!" Remy watched unamused as Virgil tried to wreak havoc. He rolled his eyes, as well as a cat could. Virgil may seem threatening but in all actuality, he was just a hurt soul trying to hurt those who hurt him but was too nice to do so. At least he had Remy to keep him in check. 

-----

Patton walked over to Emile and held out a small stack of envelopes. "Hey, Emile, would you mind helping me take this to the mailroom?" Emile nodded and took the envelopes from their father. Patton smiled and ruffled their hair. "Thank you. Now be careful of the sorting machine, alright?" 

Emile nodded with a small smile and turned around and opened the door to the mailroom and glanced over as they watched the conveyor belt drop presents down a hole to have Fragile stamped on the side. They set the mail down and turned to leave only to hear a loud splat. They turned around and frowned as they noticed an ugly, overly happy mask sitting on the floor. They bent over and picked up the mask and inspected it. 

Virgil and Remy stared down below at the small Who child that had entered the mailroom. They were squished into the corner of the ceiling, trying to stay perched where they were until the child left. Then Remy sneezed. "Gesundheit," Virgil muttered. Emile gasped and whirled around, their gaze going to the ceiling. "Whoops."

Emile stuttered as they stared at the purple fur of the Grinch and the dark grey cat and screamed. The Grinch screamed back. Emile screamed again, and as the Grinch let out another scream they slowly composed themselves.  "You're the...the...You're the..."

Virgil jumped down and leaned forward into Emile's face. "The Grinch!" He snarled. Emile screamed and fell back into a pile slowly falling through the hole in the floor leading to the conveyor belt for the sorting machine. Virgil blinked as he tried to calm his racing heart. "Well...I guess that worked out..." He quickly turned towards the door, terrified of getting caught. "Remy, let's go. Our work here is done." 

"Help!! Help me! Please! Somebody!" Emile screamed as their head fell closer to the conveyor belt. Remy stopped just short of the door and gave Virgil a look that said, 'I know you're gonna feel guilty about this. Go help them, gurl.' 

Virgil huffed at being called out despite not actually hearing what Remy said, he was pretty good at telling what his cat was thinking. "All the bleeding hearts of the world unite! Ugh!" Virgil turned around and grabbed a hold of Emile's ankle before pulling the child out and quickly turning them upright. "There!" Virgil exclaimed. Although he turned his voice down at noticing the slightly shocked face of the child. He huffed and yanked the mask from them. "Give me that! Don't you know you're not supposed to take things that don't belong to you?! What are you, some kind of wild animal?!?!?" 

Emile blinked, desperately trying to process what exactly had just happened. They quickly found their voice as they vaguely heard the Grinch say something about leaving to their cat. "Thank you for saving me!" 

Virgil froze and slowly turned around to face the child again. "Saving you?" He asked slowly, carefully. "Is that what you think I was doing?" Emile nodded. Virgil huffed. He couldn't have this getting out, who knows how many teens would come up to bother him then! He grimaced. "Wrong-o!" He glanced to the side and noticed a roll of wrapping paper on a wrapping paper holder. He glanced back at the child. They can't know where I'm going. I have to make sure to stall them. "I simply noticed you weren't properly packaged, dear child." 

Emile stepped back only for the Grinch to began rapidly wrapping them up in the shiny red wrapping paper. "Hold still!" The Grinch exclaimed. Then he turned to his cat. "Remy! Pick out a bow!" Then the Grinch paused. "May I use your finger for a moment?" After a few more moments, Emile felt the Grinch's presence move away. They heard a snap and an "ow" at what, Emile assumed, was the Grinch putting his mask back on. 

Emile stood silent for a few moments after the Grinch left before they began shouting. "Hello! Hello!"  

Patton frowned as he looked for his child. A small "hello" drew him towards the mailroom and he opened the door. "Emile?" 

"Dad! Daddy!" Emile called out as they sensed their father moving closer. 

"What ...?" Patton was speechless as he noticed a figure wrapped in wrapping paper around the size of his child. "Emile? Is that really you?" He asked again and began removing the wrapping paper.

Once Emile's head and torso were uncovered, they grinned excitedly at Patton. "Dad! It was astounding! Th-"

"You have been practicing your Christmas wrapping!" Patton exclaimed, eyes twinkling. "Oh, Emile! I am so so proud of you!! That's the holiday spirit!!" 

"O-oh…" Emile train of thought halted as they took in their father. His black-framed glasses and the grey cardigan pulled tight over his postal uniform. The smile that was wide on his face, beaming with pride. Emile subconsciously rubbed at the grey material of their school uniform. 

Kind little Emile didn't know what to do. In their head, a conflict or two humbled around their brain. 'If The Grinch was so bad, then why did he save me?" They thought. "Maybe he wasn't as bad as they say." Maybe. Just maybe. 

❄🎅🎄❄🎅🎄❄🎅🎄❄🎅🎄❄🎅🎄❄

Everything Taglist: @spxced-oxt @superwholocked-for-life @mirror2thespirit @aroundofapplesauce @lyditist @little-euro-girl @unicornofdarknessstuff @maryann-draws

[thekpopaus]

Corsair

Got7 Jackson x Reader

Chapter One

Word Count: 3543

Warnings: mentions of abuse

I meant to get a Namjoon chapter out but I’m just struggling to start this chapter for some reason. Here’s Pirate!Jackson to make up for my lack of content! I couldn’t find a decent spot to end this so it just kept going and I still don’t like how I ended it but whatever the set up is done so the next chapter should be more exciting. Hope you enjoy! I’m sorry I couldn’t find a more accurate gif. Jackson is the exact opposite most of the time than how I wrote him he’s like smiling in every other gif. I’ll do better next time maybe lol

Summary: You've always been ready for an adventure so of course you jump on the opportunity to join a pirate crew. Most of them accept you immediately. The captain, however, proves to be a tough nut to crack.

Working as a seamstress seemed to be an easy job to most, but the master seamstress was cruel. She wouldn’t hesitate to beat the girls she rarely paid, locking them in rooms with no food or water for days at a time. Such cruel punishments for only sewing a button crooked, or jamming your bobbin and “wasting time” fixing it. 

All the girls at the shop had dreams of getting out, leaving the old woman and finding new jobs and having families. Unfortunately, opportunities like that never came up for poor girls like yourself.

You thought you’d never escape the cruel life you had been exposed to but, just as you had begun to accept your fate, an opportunity arose. The cruel witch of a seamstress had sent you to the harbor in search of “the finest silks you lay your eyes upon”. She had sent you alone, with a bag of silver pieces, to carry as much silk home as you could. 

The silver coins jingled in the pouch at your side, reminding you of a story that’s been whispered between the girls at the shop for years. No one knows whether the story is fact or fiction, everyone knows rumors are often blown out of proportion. The story said that years and years ago, a girl from the same shop you worked at was sent out on the same mission you were on right now. A bag of silver pieces, in search of fine silk. However, it was rumored the girl took the silver and ran, or was taken, and joined a pirate crew. She eventually rose through the ranks and became the captain of the fleets second in command. The captain was captured and hung for treason after many years of stealing and commandeering ships. Rumor says the girl took over the entire fleet, giving birth to a little boy a few months after the captains death. This little boy grew up to be called Jaskson the Vile as named by the townspeople. He was the most well known pirate in all the lands and had the biggest fleet. There is no question he is the most vicious of all the pirates. But, of course, who believes in whispered rumors. Not you that's for sure.

It took much searching to find what you were looking for. Unfortunately it was only three bolts worth but it was better than showing up empty handed. There were two men in front of you, bickering over how much they should pay for a barrel of wine. 

"The captain said we were to pay no more than 30 silver pieces for a barrel!" One of the men said. Their outfits screamed pirate to you, but you stayed quiet and stayed in line. Not bringing silk back to the seamstress would be a worse fate than anything a pirate could do in the marketplace with so many witnesses.

"He said to bring back a barrel or he'd make us walk the plank you idiot! I don't know about you but I don't fancy swimming with the sharks any time soon." The second pirate replied. You hoped they would make up their minds soon, the witch was waiting for you.

"How dare you insult me! Jackson told you to quit doing that!" That piqued your interests. They couldn't be talking about Jackson the Vile?

"Well Jackson isn't around right now is he Yugyeom?" The taller of the two made a fist and looked about ready to swing. You decided to step in, refusing to wait any longer and making your punishment worse.

"Excuse me sirs? If you aren't sure what to purchase could I jump in front of you? I have someone waiting on me at home." You almost gagged on 'home'.

Both men turned to look at you, obviously only noticing your presence at that moment. The shorter of the two responded to you, "Sure little missy, just as long as you aren't purchasing any wine barrels."

"No wine, only silk." They nodded and let you pass them, then immediately went back to bickering.

They hushed their voices at this point and you couldn't make out any words. The old shopkeeper was familiar with all of the girls from the shop and always treated you fairly. Everyone called her Yoyo and no one knew why. She was old Yoyo, a staple in the marketplace for as long as anyone could remember.

"Good afternoon Yoyo, could I please have the three bolts of silk?"

"Of course, dear one, give me just a moment." She turned around to pull the silk down from the shelf, one heavy bolt at a time. She also grabbed a small sack of sweets for you to share with the other girls at the shop. She always tried to help make your lives a little less dim, one bag of candies at a time.

With a twinkle on her eyes she watched the two pirates still arguing behind you. "Those two are always fighting over something. If Jackson isn't around to stop them they'll go on for days like that."

She chuckled and you couldn't help but ask, "Yoyo, are you talking about Captain Jackson? The pirate? He's supposed to be evil, how can you trust those two?"

The chuckle swelled into full on laughter at the bewildered look on your face. "Oh dear, Captain Jackson is nothing like those rumors. I taught him how to knit a few months ago so he could make a sweater for his cat!" She fell into another laughing fit as your expression changed from curiosity to disbelief.

"Are we talking about the same person Yoyo?"

She had finished wrapping your cloth up and you handed her her silver pieces, it only ended up being about half of the bag. Mistress wouldn't be happy. "Yes dear, there is only one Captain Jackson and he is a sweetheart. Those rumors are more for protection. If other pirates hear how ruthless and cunning he is, they'll stay away. The boy may have grown up in the pirate lifestyle, but he's the least pirate like person I know."

"Well okay then. Thank you, Yoyo. Until next time." You grabbed your bundle of fabric and turned to leave, only to feel a small hand grab your elbow.

"I've known you since you were a girl y/n, haven't you ever dreamed of a different life? I know you aren't happy with that old hag. Don't you want out of here?"

Sure, you had always wanted to travel, to leave your sleepy harbor town behind. You just never had an opportunity. At least with the seamstress you had a place to sleep and almost regular meals. "Yoyo, I don't know how to get out of here. I've never had an opportunity to go anywhere. My parents died when I was little. I have no one else but her."

You shook your head, wondering why she had even mentioned anything in the first place. She smiled at you, her eyes twinkling with mischief. "Tell the seamstress I'll have more silk tomorrow. Bring whatever belongings you own and meet me here by noon. I have someone I want you to meet. I can make sure you never go back to that old witch." She let go of your arm and turned to the two pirates that had finally stopped arguing.

You had little doubt that this "someone" was Jackson. You just weren't sure what he had to do with you leaving the shop. You left the old woman to her devices, deciding to follow through with the plan tomorrow, if only to meet the so called "sweetheart" pirate.

On your walk home you thought through your upcoming decision. Could you really leave just like that? You had no family, the seamstress was as horrible as ever, and the girls at the shop really weren't friendly. They had no reason to be of course, but you had no reason to stay here for them. The only person you really trusted was Yoyo. As cryptic as she can be sometimes, you felt like she actually cared about you and the other girls. You trusted her for the most part, she hadn't given you a reason not to anyway. Clinging onto the one sliver of hope that you could actually escape this horrid life, you ran the rest of the way to the shop.

The mistress was not happy with you. She threatened to lock you away until you told her there would be more silk tomorrow. She let you off easy tonight. Tossing and turning all night, thoughts of running away kept you up all night.

You had woken up earlier than usual to gather your few belongings into a bundle and tossed it out of your bedroom window. It landed in the bushes below, safe until you left for good. The seamstress sent you for the silks just after breakfast which was a lucky break. She usually made everyone do chores first thing. Pulling your bundle from the bushes, you said a happy goodbye to the place you'd grown up in.

Skipping along the dirt roads through town seemed so much less tiring today. Even the grouchy old librarian greeted you this morning.

The docks were already teeming with people, some just coming into the docks and others preparing to set sail. 

Weaving through the crowds, you spotted Yoyo speaking to the same two men from yesterday, and a third was standing a bit away, looking at a map. The old shopkeeper saw you making your way towards them and waved.

"Y/n! You made it!" She pulled you towards the pirates. Pointing to the two men you saw yesterday, "This is Bambam and this is Yugyeom, I believe you sort of met yesterday." She then pulled you over to the last pirate, "and I'm sure you've figured this out already but this is Captain Jackson!" He bowed politely.

"Nice to meet you, Yoyo told me you're in an abusive situation and you want out?" He sounded nice enough, his voice was even but didn't have very much emotion in it however.

"Yeah, the seamstress isn't very nice to live with. I'll be honest with you though," you glanced at the old woman, "I don't really know what Yoyo has planned. She just told me to meet her here and she had someone she wanted me to meet."

Yoyo gave you a sly look before she explained herself. "Jackson is always willing to help someone in need and I told him what's going on at the shop. He said he'd be willing to take you on as a crew member until you figure out what you want to do." She smiled fondly at you when your mouth flew open in shock. 

“Oh, no, I can’t ask you to do that. I don’t have much money, just this silver the witch gave me to buy silk. I don’t have enough to make it worth your while to keep me.” You were shaking your head, there was no way you could just rely on someone totally and not even pay them. That wasn’t in your character. 

“Well, if you insist on repaying me somehow, the sails on the ship are constantly tearing and we could use someone with better skills to mend them.” Considering all the possibilities and deciding to throw caution to the wind you nodded at Jackson.

“I don’t have any experience mending sails but I’m sure I could learn quickly. I can clean also and I know how to cook. I’ll make sure I earn my keep, you won’t regret it Captain.” You bowed and Yoyo clapped her hands together, obviously excited over her successful plan. 

“You’ll get to travel the world, dear,” She leaned over and nudged your arm, “Might even find a husband out there somewhere!” She snickered when you scrunched your face up at her. 

“Y/N, we’re just about ready to set sail so make sure you have all of your things. If you forget anything we can’t come back.” Jackson was rolling up his map and stuffing it in his jacket. 

“I’ve got everything right here.” You held up your tiny bundle of clothing and the small sack of silver. 

“That’s all you have? There can’t be but a pair of pants and a shirt in there.” He looked almost annoyed at you, like you just decided to only bring a few of your things. 

“This is all I own. This dress I’m wearing, my mothers necklace and a pair of hand me down pants and an old shirt. It’s all we were allowed to have there. Actually the necklace wasn’t allowed but I hid it behind the radiator in my room. It’s all I have left of my family.” The sadness in your voice must have brought some sense to him. 

“I didn’t mean to be so snippy with you. I didn’t realize it was quite that bad.” He turned to one of the men from yesterday, Bambam. “Bam go with her to get her some clothes. Shirts, shoes, a jacket and some pants. Get some extra bolts of material also. She can make whatever she wants with that.” When you thanked him he merely nodded and turned toward what you assumed was his ship. 

You turned around to say thank you and goodbye for now to the old woman who made this possible. She merely pulled you into a hug, telling you to visit with her next time you were in the port. Her eyes were watering when she finally pushed you away, telling you to hurry or the ship would leave without you. Rushing to catch up with the long legged pirate you glanced back to see Yoyo waving you off on your newest adventure. 

It only took about half an hour for Bambam to find you more than enough clothes. It seemed he knew of every clothing shop in the whole marketplace. You were also able to pick out some different dyed fabrics. There was more than enough to make yourself 10 dresses if you wanted to. Dresses you figured weren’t going to be practical on a ship though.

Bambam had been talking you through all the different outfit combinations you could wear the entire time you’d been walking. “This red shirt you should wear with the grey pants and those blue pants really bring out your eyes so you should wear the black or white top with those.” You were only half listening which you felt bad about, but your whole life was about to change so you were a little preoccupied. 

“Once I start sewing some stuff from that cloth we got you can tell me what styles would look good then right?”

“I am the only one on that ship that can give you style advice. The other guys are hopeless! They think brown and brown are their only color options! It’s insane! This one time I switched all of Jackson’s clothes with red stuff you should have seen how mad he was. His face was a red as the clothes! It was awesome until he threatened to throw me overboard. I don’t think he actually would though you know?” 

You had a hard time figuring out how this guy, a talkative, fashionista got along with stoic, stern Jackson. It’s going to be interesting meeting the rest of the crew you supposed. It was nice that Bambam seemed to accept you right away though. Even if his personality was quite different from yours, he was at least trying to make you comfortable. 

The walk back to the ship seemed to go a lot faster thanks to Bambam’s rambling. In no time at all you were walking up the heavy wooden planks, one step closer to freedom at a time. The bundles in your arms seemed to get lighter with every step you took. 

As soon as your foot stepped on the wooden deck of the ship, it felt like you were home. The gentle rocking of the waves seemed to calm your frazzled nerves, the strong smell of salt was therapeutic in a way. Those rolling waves were your new home, the wind fluttering through the sails your new neighbor. The gulls screeching overhead even seemed to be welcoming you, reassuring you that everything was going to be okay. 

From the front of the ship you heard Jackson’s voice shouting orders to the rest of the crew. Bambam lead you down through the cargo hold to a corner where a makeshift bed had been prepared. 

“It’s not the best but Jackson wanted you to have some privacy and we all share the normal bunk area. We rigged a sheet as like a privacy curtain so you can close that up to change and what not. This corner over here is for you to store your stuff and we have a smaller space on deck for mending sails. Oh! I almost forgot,” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small paper wrapped package,” I snuck off when you were trying on that one shirt and I got you a set of sewing needles and some different colored thread. The stuff we use for the sails is pretty heavy duty and I thought it would probably tear your fabric so these will be better.” He smiled, looking proud of himself. 

You could have cried, just for the fact that someone actually thought about something to make your life easier. It seemed like he cared already and you’d only known the man for an hour tops. 

“Thank you so much Bambam! I’ll make you the first shirt out of whatever fabric you want!” The smile on his face only grew while you inspected your new set of needles. 

“I’m glad you like them, I have to go help the crew get the rest of the cargo in but you can stay down here and organize your stuff awhile. I’ll come get you when we get ready to set sail so you can come up on deck and meet everyone else.” Thanking him again, you started unpacking your new possessions with the utmost care, almost afraid of tearing something. These were the first brand new clothes you’d ever owned. 

With everything stored away properly, you pulled your curtain around your new living space and changed into a new set of clothes. You decided on the red shirt and grey pants, much to Bambam’s delight when he came to get you later. 

“Okay so, don’t let any of them intimidate you, if they do go tell Jackson and he’ll take care if it okay? Jaebum and Jinyoung can be scary and Mark also sometimes. They’re nice once you get to know them. Yugyeom, Youngjae and me are all pretty easy going. You already know how Jackson is. He’ll warm up to you in no time though so don’t worry about him. Mark will be excited that you’re a seamstress, he’s the one that’s been stuck on sewing duty recently. He can’t go a few minutes without pricking his fingers, poor old man.”

“There are old men on board? I thought everyone would be closer to your age?” Laughter filled the hallway you were walking down. 

“No, he’s only a few years older than me but he’s the oldest on the ship so we all joke around that he’s the old man around here.” 

“Oh, okay that makes sense.” Finally reaching the deck you found five other pirates lounging around. You assumed Jackson was at the helm, preparing to steer once the ship set off.   

“Okay everyone come and meet our new crew member!” Bambam yelled across the deck so the others could hear him. 

All five pirates got up and moved closer, standing in a line. 

“Okay so, this is the old man Mark, that’s Jaebum, Jinyoung, Youngjae, Yugyeom and of course you know me and Jackson. This is Y/N you guys! She’s escaping this mean old boss lady of hers so she’s with us until she figures out what she wants to do with her new found freedom.” You bowed politely at the rest of the crew, staying closer to Bambam. You got a chorus of mumbled ‘hellos’ and the crew dispersed again, back to whatever they were doing before. 

Your new friend lead you to the railing of the ship and told you to stay there until he came and got you. He said he wanted to make sure you weren’t in the way of any ropes once they let the sails down. 

You were content, staring down over the edge of the ship, watching the waves float gently against the hull. Jackson’s voice startles you when he yells across the ship to let the sails down. The crew scurries into action, ropes are untied and flung to the side, others are tied as the sails roll down until they are catching the wind and bowing forwards. The ship seems to stall for a moment but jumps forward and starts it’s journey towards the setting sun. 

Where you were headed didn’t matter to you. As long as it was away from this sleepy little port town you were sure it was going to be fine. 

[baldysims]

Strange Legacy 2.1

It’s off to college now with the generation 2 boys, Alpheratz and Betelgeuse, plus Angeline, the girl they constantly fight over.

Who could forget Alpheratz’s three bolt attraction to the woman his brother wants to marry someday? Not Betelgeuse, that’s for sure.

So in hopes of keeping the household as civil as possible for as long as possible, I’ve been making Alpheratz spend plenty of time out on Academie le Tour’s community lots, as well as Downtown.

He strikes out a fair amount with the local women, but he was able to win over the lovely Demi, aka Angeline’s adult downtownie clone.

That’s... really creepy, Alpheratz. She really is almost a perfect clone of Angeline, from the face to the coloring to even her aspiration. You just know he’s doing this because I won’t let him have the real thing back on the home lot.

“Oh, Alpheratz!”

“Oh, Angeline! I mean... Demi!”

Moving on.

Sometimes he runs into his parents downtown. Zaniah, ever the hypocrite, mostly just lectures him about developing worldly ways. But Sharon will actually invite him downtown with her. And she brings... friends?

Apparently by “a few friends” she meant “your brother’s soon-to-be fiance who you are most definitely coveting as we speak.” Great, Sharon, just great. Also, can we talk about your default outfit that I must have forgotten to change when you became an elder? Because it’s hideous.

Okay, one karaoke song! But then it’s off to the poker tables with you, missy.

Subtle, Alph. Reeeeal subtle.

I have to watch these two constantly at home, because it’s not like Angeline exactly discourages him. She’s always swooning over him even when Bete is nearby, and she finds plenty of excuses to put herself in suggestive poses in front of him.

You’d think she’d realize that this has nothing to do with her and everything to do with Alpheratz’ burning desire to one up his brother, but nope. The truth is Betelgeuse doesn’t even have to be into a girl for Alpheratz to swoop her away as soon as she shows the slightest bit of interest in him.

“Oh hey bro, I bet you had a great time last night maximizing your logic skill, didn’t you?”

“Um... yeah, I guess I did.”

“Probably wasn’t as much fun as I had making out with your cheerleader girlfriend, heh heh.”

Yes, making out is right. Unfortunately for Alpheratz, the Stranges are all strictly forbidden from ever woohooing outside the sacred bonds of matrimony, regardless of heirship or aspiration status. The most he can ever do is make out with and fall in love with Betelgeuse’s romantic interests. I’m sure Betelgeuse is thankful for that.

Unlike certain other people.

“Gosh, Alpheratz, you are so... hot! Have you been working out? Congratulations, I really mean it.”

“Do you ever think about what a nice make out spot the top of this pool table could be? Tee hee!”

Okay, that’s it. Socializing is CANCELLED for the next little while. It’s time to go for our first master point.

You see, if you don’t let your Sims socialize for long periods of time, they’ll start spawning social bunnies, which come in yellow, pink and blue. If you get a pink and a blue one at the same time, they’ll start romancing each other, and if I snap a pic of it I get a master point and the ability to choose romance for my legacy teens.

Unfortunately I keep getting yellow-yellow, yellow-pink, yellow-blue, and so on, and it’s really hard to get Alpheratz’ social bar down far enough because his floozies let themselves into the house when I’m not looking. Ugh!

It took almost two whole Maxian-length semesters to get these two to spawn, and almost a full day of waiting around for them to start interacting with each other. You know what they say, it ain’t over until the pink bunny gooses the blue bunny.

By the time this happened, I was more than happy to get Alpheratz back on the dating train. He’s rolled the want to fall in love with 30 Sims, and you know what that means: an impossible want point for me as long as I get it done before graduation. Good thing Alph is no slacker in the dating department.

Playables, NPCs, townies, dormies -- they all fall to his charms.

Including, again, the delectable Demi, who Alpheratz just can’t resist introducing to Angeline.

“Have we met before? I feel like we have, but I just can’t place you.“

“I was just about to ask you that! It’s so odd, I feel like I know you but I know I don’t. You look so familiar.”

Sources say: still creepy.

Alpheratz has also been conducting an extramarital affair with headstrong businesswoman Regan Capulet, which scandalizes Betelgeuse.

“Have you lost your mind? A Capulet, here on our property? Dad’s going to lose his mind. You know how he feels about matriarchal families.”

“Dad can bite me, Bete. And we both know you don’t have the cojones to tell him.”

Harsh but fair. Betelgeuse hasn’t been getting a lot of screentime this chapter because he never does anything remotely interesting. He skills, he flower arranges, he eats, he sleeps and he thinks about Alpheratz angrily. Zzzzz.

Around the time he earns his gold badge, it’s getting close to graduation so it’s time to move in a placeholder to keep the lot handy for the next generation.

I chose Christy, one of the secret society members, because she was friends with all three of them and I naively thought she wouldn’t start any drama. But of course, she immediately senses that Betelgeuse is the weak link and establishes herself above him in the pecking order of the house.

I feel a little sorry for the poor guy, I mean, he is the legacy heir. What does he have to do around here to earn a little respect?

Alpheratz has 29 lovers now, and you know what that means...

Time to reward him for a job well done in the grossest way possible!

Am I a bad person? Yes. Yes, I am. But I’m a bad person with an impossible want point, and that’s consolation enough for me.

“Ma’am, you’re in violation of code 5731-T3, regarding faithfulness to the legacy heir who is the only reason you’re even in this story. Please step into the vehicle.”

I wish. Sadly, all three of these jokers are perfect students who have never gotten in trouble with the law a day in their lives. Although they do sometimes forget to pay their bills.

Sigh. Well, there’s that impossible want point down the drain. But at least we’ll always have the family drama to remember it by.

Speaking of family drama, Betelgeuse has invited the entire family out to the newly renovated Bernard’s Botanical Dining for a fancy dinner. I wonder what his plans could possibly be?

It seems Angeline has made her choice between the brothers.

Zaniah takes a moment to acknowledge, if not exactly congratulate, Bete on this next step toward the continued glory of the legacy. Meanwhile, Alpheratz stews, and Angeline and Sharon avail themselves of the bar.

The next day, Bete and Angeline are surprised to find out that Alpheratz got speedily engaged to Demi, Angeline’s townie clone.

Yessir, it is still very creepy how he clings to his off-brand Angeline.

Bete knows it too, and takes a moment before his graduation party to rub it in Alpheratz’ face that he lost their game of brotherly competition.

...But did he really?

I’ll leave you on this uncharacteristically cute shot of Zaniah and Sharon celebrating their children’s achievements, both familial and educational, with each other. Let’s hope the feeling lasts when Betelgeuse and Angeline move home.

Legacy Scoring: Legacy: 1.5 Money: 0 Family friends: 38x.25 = 9.25 Impossible wants: 1 (Alph 20L) Platinum graves: 0 Ghosts: 0 Business: 2 Seasons: 2 Free Time: 1.5 (Games: Zaniah, Betelgeuse, Alpheratz) Collections: 0 Master: 1 (Social Bunnies Need Love Too) Handicaps: 0 Overflow: 0 Penalties: -1 (bills) Total: 17.25

[the-desolated-quill]

Death In Heaven - Doctor Who blog (Fuck You Moffat)

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)

Remember when I said The Name Of The Doctor was the worst series finale in New Who. Turns out I was wrong. This is the worst series finale in New Who. And I do hope Moffat isn’t interpreting this as a challenge, trying to come up with finales worse than the previous year’s. How about writing some good shit for once in your career?

Dark Water was an incredibly bad episode, but Death In Heaven takes it to new, insulting extremes. It’s utter bollocks from start to finish. It’s a mountain of bullshit so rock hard, not even diamond tipped drills could penetrate it. It’s an entire hurricane of piss. It’s... It’s... I didn’t like it.

Having fucked up the Daleks back in the previous series, it seems Moffat is now determined to ruin the second most popular monsters in the show the Cybermen, and he succeeds with flying colours. Is there anything the Cybermen can’t do now? They can fly, they can convert the dead, they can create clouds of Cyber-pollen, and apparently every atom of a Cyber body contains a program to upgrade the human race. At this stage the Cybermen have become so over-powered that they’ve just become utterly boring, evading anything the Doctor throws at them by pulling another random superpower out of their arses.

Also, like I said in my previous review, why are they converting the dead? Why not convert the living like they usually do? And why, once they’ve been converted, do they just stand around doing bugger all? It’s a bit hard to find Cybermen threatening when they pose no fucking threat whatsoever.

And then, as if you couldn’t undermine the Cybermen anymore than he already has, Moffat decides to go in for the kill with Danny Pink. I’m sorry, but Danny the droopy Cyberman has got to be one of the most pathetic sights I’ve ever seen. He wants to erase his emotions because of Clara (which seems like an overreaction to me) and asks Clara to do it for him even though there’s no reason why he can’t just do it himself. It must be out of spite. That’s the only reason I can think of. Oh, but Moffat still wants us to think that Danny and Clara are the perfect couple as opposed to a highly dysfunctional and toxic pairing that would seem more at home on The Jeremy Kyle Show than Doctor Who. 

Also, even in Cyber form, Danny can’t resist chastising the Doctor even though he’s actually trying to help the ungrateful bastard. In fact there’s a lot of Doctor-blaming going on in this episode and I really don’t get why because, as far as I can see, he hasn’t actually done anything wrong. At this stage I wanted nothing more than for Danny to fuck off and die, and I thankfully got my wish, except it had to take the form of a stupid, heroic self sacrifice. This isn’t the first time the Cybermen have been defeated by the power of love, and it’s always been really stupid every time, but this has got to be the most nonsensical. Danny’s love for Clara reverses the Cyber conditioning? Are you seriously telling me that Danny is the only person in the entire world who has loved someone enough to want to save the world? And if that’s not bad enough, Danny gets not one, but TWO stupid self sacrifices when it’s revealed the Master’s teleport randomly only has enough power for one trip (bit fucking convenient) and so he chooses to save that kid that died in that war zone. A series worth of buildup for this cliched pile of shit? Cheers Moffat!

Since I’ve mentioned the Master (I categorically refuse to call her Missy), let’s talk about her. I didn’t think it was possible to be more annoying than John Simm, but Michelle Gomez somehow managed to pull it off. I utterly detested her in this. I’ve never really liked the Master anyway, but I swear the character never used to be this fucking childish. She’s weird, obnoxious and goofy for no other reason other than she’s ker-RAYzay. (seriously, is that the only way Moffat knows how to write villains? She’s basically Andrew Scott’s shitty version of Moriaty in a dress). What’s worse is that the only way to make her come across as even remotely threatening is by making the characters around her act like fucking morons. UNIT have met the Master before. They know how dangerous she is. Why do the soldiers guarding her not react when she very visibly activates her bracelet, breaks out of her restraints and puts on her lipstick? Why does Osgood, who has apparently read all the dossiers about the Master, get so close to her to listen to her whisper and not scarper when the Master threatens to kill her?

Also, what is the Master’s plan exactly? Why Cybermen? Considering these Cybermen have pretty much nothing in common with actual Cybermen, I can only assume they’re there for rubbish fanservice and that Moffat is too fucking lazy to come up with his own ideas.

Apparently the Master wants to give the Doctor his own army to prove the two aren’t so different. It appears Moffat is going for a Killing Joke vibe, but it doesn’t work because while Batman and the Joker are two sides of the same coin, the Doctor and the Master are so diametrically opposed that this whole plot point becomes fucking laughable. It has the same whiff of bullshit that Journey’s End had with Davros chastising the Doctor for ‘taking ordinary people and fashioning them into weapons.’ Like I said about that episode, there’s a world of difference between turning people into weapons and encouraging people to defend themselves. The Doctor is very much the latter, so spare me the ‘we’re not so different, you and I’ crap. Is the Doctor better than the Master? ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY!

Yes, once again, it turns out this episode is all about the Doctor. That’s all this bastard series has been about. Characters talking relentlessly about whether the Doctor is a good man or not. It’s utterly tedious to sit through because we all already know the bloody answer. Hopefully the Doctor’s speech about how he’s just an idiot in a box with a screwdriver will finally put it to rest. Not that I’m praising the speech mind. Peter Capaldi does his best, but it’s badly written and stupidly over the top, plus it’s hard to really feel the emotional weight of this speech when all it does is state the fucking obvious. The Doctor isn’t a soldier or a hero. He’s just some guy. Yeah. We know. What, have you only just worked that out Moffat? Why are you boring us to death with shit everyone and their mums already fucking know? Can we move on?

If there’s one thing I hate more than Moffat trying to spin the bleeding obvious as surprising revelations, it’s the bullshit lies and fake outs. Why are the Doctor and Clara lying to each other at the end? What purpose does it serve? (Also trust Moffat for coming up with a pretentious bullshit reason why hugs are bad. It couldn’t possibly be as simple as this Doctor just doesn’t like hugs). What was the point of Clara pretending to be the Doctor to trick the Cybermen? That never goes anywhere. Oh no! Danny is going to be Cyberfied... oh wait. He’s okay. Oh no, Kate Stewart has fallen out of the aeroplane... oh wait, she’s fine. OMG, the Doctor is actually going to kill the Master... oh wait, that wasn’t an orange light. It was a blue light, which means she’s teleported, so she’s probably okay. Wow, the Doctor is finally going to find Gallifrey... oh wait. No. The Master was lying.

Like I said in my previous review, keep wrong-footing the audience and eventually we’ll get sick of the bullshit and stop trusting what we see. I mean look at Osgood’s death. That should have been shocking, but not only is she a one dimensional character that I don’t give even a sub-atomic particle of shit about and is clearly too stupid to live, the fact is none of Moffat’s characters ever actually stay dead, do they? Rory. River Song. Strax. Jenny. Clara. Nobody really dies in the Moffat era, so why bother getting upset about Osgood? She’s probably going to come back in the next series.

But the thing that angered me the most about Death In Heaven is the utter contempt and disrespect Moffat shows to classic series fans. And don’t pretend you don’t know what scene I’m referring to.

Cybermen are converting the dead. The Brigadier is dead. Moffat is an insecure, egocentric hack who desperately wants to stand out from the Who rabble. Take a random guess what happens.

I’ve seen bad Doctor Who episodes before. I’ve been pissed off by Doctor Who before. But never before has an episode filled me with such utter rage. Not even Kill The Moon managed that, and you all know how much I despised that load of garbage. I didn’t take the idea of the Brigadier being a Cyberman particularly well, and I’m not exactly proud to say this, but my reaction was quite extreme. I basically had a full blown screaming fit. I was so angry and so upset by this. I couldn’t believe Moffat would do something so fucking crass and so fucking disrespectful. Yes it’s just a TV show, but the Brigadier was one of my favourite characters in Classic Who and indeed one of the most beloved characters in the entire show. And when a talentless, arrogant smartarse like Moffat comes along and tramples all over those happy, nostalgic memories, I think you have every right to take it personally. This has got to be the most insulting thing Moffat has ever done, and if I wasn’t committed to reviewing the rest of these episodes, I think I can safely say I wouldn’t be watching this show anymore after that.

Death In Heaven is a fucking terrible finale to what has been a fucking terrible series. Yes some episodes had decent elements in them, but it’s largely been awful. Series 8′s only saving grace has been Peter Capaldi, who has done an amazing job in the role despite the material he’s had to work with.

Moffat, go flush your head down the fucking toilet.

[cheswirls]

i have so many thoughts and its about 430 am so lets get started before they get scrambled.

i decided to read red potter and the middleground, but because i finished one so early in the morning, i had to hold off on the other for a bit, until this -past, i guess- evening. i had read for sure a chapter of the middleground previously, maybe two, but i’ve read too much now that the recollection isn’t coming to me like it came in small bursts through reading through chapter one again. i think it was another instance when i got extremely busy and had to put it down, maybe tac2 took over, dunno, but i got back to it now bc im still on the post-playthrough-of-white high and anything deep in unova is good and lu is fantastic so i knew this would be fantastic and is was right.

it’s a very dark read? unexpected, then again, its centered around a war, so also i shouldve expected it. the realization hit me around the third chapter, i think, when the nimbasa incident happened. very dark and very good. and emotional, i dunno how many times ive cried tonight but its been a night/twilight. the whole story basis with the center legend of unova and all the olden history is really good, its all really boosting my unova high like this is exactly what ive been needing to find, and all the characters it brings in despite the animeverse of it all -benga, n, touko!!- and the roles they play just really made it better, its kind of shallow but i like it even moreso because of the additions and though the story kept me highly entertained and drawn in there were a couple moments when i wished like oh man i hope the story has n in it bc n man jus n i need n content and then bam mentioned and now hes officially in it sort of i mean yeah he is. in the story. and this was early on like during the first few chapters so i had to hold out but it was worth it like, the story is interesting with the anime characters and i knew it was gonna be aniverse going into it and it was good and fine and still is good and fine. 

i dont remember when i started wishing for touko but man oh man it happened and i was like damn this could happen i wish she was kinda here bc i think i had begun to pick up on something and then later i really picked up on it which i will get to later and them bam another happy revelation and i am still like. touko. shes here. shes a part of the story. this is awesome.

anyway before this gets too long to massively too long, this is basically going to be a big analysis and happy-rant post, so if you have not read the middleground by the amazing @pkmncoordinators, you should do so here but then like leave this post until you do and then come back, that would be good. the rest is under a cut to save peoples dashes, sorry this is mega long already aha.

i played ghetsis’ battle theme through a chapter and it mustve been a shorter one bc it lasted me -30min- near the entire chapter. maybe the one beginning w the drayden and alder talk? or the dragonspiral tower one? or maybe theyre the same, its been a long night of binging this entire work. anyway. it set the mood for whatever chapter like i intentionally was like oh this theme is a little foreboding lets play it. and i had it down so low sometimes i could only hear the percussions to it, but it was still there, setting the tone.

otherwise, i found myself only keeping to n music. maybe there were a couple plays of unova e4, way in the very beginning of the first/second chapters, maybe, but for the most part, i kept with n’s songs. the bridge, some, the castle and battle theme, a lot. some renditions of such in b2w2 style. i tried to play through the music of n’s room in the castle, but i had to stop after a little into it, maybe ten minutes, because it was getting all these feelings out of me and i felt like if i played it all i would ‘tire it out’, so to speak, even though that hasnt happened w any of the tracks thus far, but i really want that to be a special one i  have on to draw inspiration from. later into the night/morning, whenever, i did decide to try out a remix of it via the b2w2 track of the same theme. the tune is in a slightly different pitch, but more than that, it gets distorted, almost corrupted, throughout and differentiates itself that way from the original, so i did end up playing through that no problem. i cant recall now if i ever played a theme back to back, i think i switched after the 30min was over, which, understandable, it’d been looping for half an hour. but i think i did play it again maybe once, which is fine. good.

but enough with music meta. its interesting, maybe thats where the draws of ‘where’s n?’ came from, but its not the focus.

oooh boy lets talk about various things that i will address here bc its 5am now and i need to not lose track. the n thing. um. the touko revelations. remember liberty, because the truth will set you free. the hero of truth. the opening chapter remarks. the possible sourgrapes. the viewpoints thing. there is probably more i will get to later in a different post but these are the current things for the morning.

first i wanna talk abt touko, hilda, whatever. small note so i dont appear brash, to ppl who dont really follow my content, i just dont really like the names hilda and hilbert. hilda is slowly growing on me, but missy always called the protag touko, and it really grew on me, and i live the name now, so thats what i always defer to her as. jus a preference thing.

so, i had no idea and i had every idea. oh my god. lu, you are so good at the foreshadowing stuff, serious. a master at it. i didnt pick up on the nimbasa trainer mention, or maybe i did but its been long ago now and i dont remember it. if she appeared before then i already dont remember the callback to it, oops. anyway. it was after that, for sure, if not before, that i did pick up on the brunette trainer and thought ‘damn if that was touko tho thatd be so rad’. really thinking it was in the electronic store in striaton, but that seems so far away from nimbasa like there mustve been something in between but i dont think so? so that. and then in the next, black city? abt the brunette trainer watching the tv, and i think i had the same thought except it was during ghetsis’ speech so between both moments brunette trainer was mentioned. i think i picked up on the repeated mentions of brunette trainer when she and iris locked eyes to see her also packing to leave the center. it was a thought more along the lines of ‘brunette trainers seem to be standing out to me more or are i guess being detailed more than other trainers’ than out of suspicion. i was picking up the repeated characteristic, but more of the notion that it was being named over and over, instead of anything real behind it. like, okay, there are a lot of brown haired trainers around, that works.

it was maybe in icirrus if that was the next thing, i tried to look and think i confirmed that was the next thing based on the recall conversation, so yes. in icirrus, my memory is really failing me sorry!!, somewhere, the first mention or maybe if that first mention was the brunette trainer across the hall in another room, my mind clicked. and it was like, oh, this brunette trainer might actually be all the same person. and i started to think again, wow, what if that person was touko bc i was really passionate abt it and i couldnt come up with who else bc i didnt have the focus i was still actively reading the store yknow? if was nothing about the being followed, i had to wait for the others to catch on and tell the reader before i got that aha. but i did! get! the touko part. it was when iris woke up from the comatose and all those scenes started playing out, maybe she mentioned not disturbing the others or cilan when they were talking, or georgia when she ran off, or something abt the trainer in another room, or a revelation dawned i guess somewhere in those scenes. and i was like oh my god that has to be touko god wow. im really losing my original train of thought i apologize. still recovering from sickness, and the whole long night thing. so something along that thought, but then it sorta got forgotten bc shit got real w virgil and the truth seekers being there, and i didnt recall again until she approached cilan during the counter sheidl -niiiiice throwback, by the way- training, and i was like !!!!!!!!!!!! that HAS to be touko and then she led him away and the whole scene played out and i remember scanning the page briefly, jus flicking my eyes over to see if i saw the namedrop and didnt, so i got entranced in the scene and then benga was like ‘hilda get the other three’ and TOUKO!!!!! WAS THERE OMG!!!! like confirmed, in the flesh, it was great its great what a great thing to add wow. and then the recall conversation happened and i began to pick up and was like wow they were being followed and didnt even remember the brunette trainer mentioned in nimbasa, barely remembered someone with a samurott led the charge to put out the fires, so that was a surprise. of course, that was such an intense scene, and i remember having a small breakdown around then bc burgundy said something about how she couldve been in one of those rooms and that chilled her and it sent me wild bc it was scary to think about, it really was chilling, this story really is dark che wow. 

so i was proud of myself for picking up on that, the touko thing, but i probably wouldve been in the dark completely had i read it and not recently played through white and mind being constantly on that region and those characters right now. 

that was super long. um. next thing is liberty bc i can remember it. the line is, im pretty sure, just remember liberty, because the truth will/can set you free. and its really only because im so into unova right now, but back at the first chapter today, my mind immediately picked up ‘oh liberty island’. except its not island, its liberty garden-island, thing, but still. the liberty just connected, and i had it, and so like when iris busted out like hey we’re not flying to nimbasa we’re going to liberty garden i was like yh guys cmon take a hint. but i really think it was probably creative and thought-provoking to others, a bit of a twister, to liek other readers like this isnt a callout on an easy riddle, jus a notion i picked up on easily. actually i remember the castelia thing confusing me, but there was also some disconnect because the liberty line want being used, it was just being mentioned that everyone seeking the seekers was heading to castelia, like the two were never paired i dont recall of. and it happened every time. i was like okay yes theyre at libery garden, then castelia was mentioned and i was like okay theyre at castelia. they never really crossed so they never crossed in my mind. it wasnt until the group landed in castelia i think that my mind connected, ah yes, liberty garden is off the coast of the city. i do wonder how plasma figured it out though. i think earlier speculation was on the touko-n relationship compromising the location, though im not sure how that would work in the first place, so it seems more likely someone jus picked up on the insinuation like i did, jus made the connection, tho i dunno who.

really quick hero of truth revelation thing. it took me a couple reads to grasp, like iris realized something cilan didnt but he went away and it took me, i had to read it over a few times because she realized something so therefore the readers have to realize as well, and then i made the connection that cilan was related to the hero of truth therefore making him the hero of truth. that couldve been phrased better unless cress and chili are somehow included which i think not, too many motifs, but the point comes across. i might not have made the connection had i not read earlier in the day about iris slipping cilan reshiram’s pokeball, something i stumbled upon before i started reading the entire thing oops so maybe that was a giveaway that helped me work through it, maybe i just connected based on the ancestor stuff, dunno. 

i still havent figured out whos writing the chapter intros and its getting to me!! i dunno if we’re supposed to know yet, at first i felt like cilan, and then a vague collection of others, maybe trip with the camera capture in black city, and then maybe touko at the end tho i feel like something was mentioned that was confidential and that she wouldn’t have known about. then again i suppose sharing stories and then recounting could come into play, in which case benga could also be writing them.. i dont’ feel like its someone currently irrelevant, tho. like, i don’t think it’s luke, or bianca, or someone kinda disconnected like that. its probably a spoiler for you to say whom, which okay, fair, but i hope someone signs off on the intros in the last chapter, or that theres something to pick up on to discover it ourselves, or maybe its not important, but i really gotta know eventually.

someone mentioned days ago about something like not being into wishfulshipping and then something about sourgrapes was mentioned, i really dont remember that well, but i started to pick up on it throughout, especially with all the camping scenes, and remembering you liked sourgrapes so much, and is it possible to confirm that thats a ship in this fic? or, has a possibility? i think i’m picking up on it, but it could be friendship, im not sure.

these next two are the last two for now i think. first, viewpoints, because this story delves into such a cast of characters and i think the same story told from the viewpoint of others would be so interesting, like told through the eyes of benga or touko, or even elesa possibly, and if you ever like wanna divulge in that or after you get done wouldnt mind someone taking a shot at it and working with for accuracy reasons, that would be pretty cool. and you have your first volunteer.

second and last is the n thing. i think a little is just meta, which i want to make a full post on later in time, so this may or may not tie in not sure. just, real brief, isn’t n such an interesting character? i really just, i dunno if i like him like i like others, but i really find his dynamic interesting. keeping it short, bc meta, the boy really grew up differently than a “normal” human. the proper socialization was there, sort of, because he can walk and speak and was educated like hes a math geniusa nd stuff, but he wasn’t socially educated. a lot of people dont realize the two are different, i didnt until i took an intro to sociology course this past fall semester. anyway tho. he really wasnt socially educated, and you can see that through all representations -cant speak for spe actually i havent read the arc yet- even in the anime, though far less likely than i would have liked, having rewatched the n arc a few days ago. the disconnect from people is there. n had tutors, but other than that he was in a room with his only company being pokemon formerly abused by people. that was it. not even normal pokemon, but those he had to gain the trust of first because they were misled by trainers. he doesn’t really know how to act with people. he talks fast, hes very blunt, he doesnt know the meaning of personal boundaries, et cetera. he was, practically, raised in a cult. led to believe only the cult’s beliefs. and its only through getting out of his room and around unova, at least in the game, that he begins to develop his own thouhgts and ideas and morals, that he begins to doubt what hes been preached his whole life. this is getting a bit like so im gonna cut, but i just, n is such an interesting character. the tie in. already, in the tv announcement, his voice is ethereal and i could picture it, could play the sound in my mind based off the anipoke and the gens voices, because both of those are genuinely how n sounds to me, i can see it perfectly it just works like there is no other voice for him. i could picture that when he spoke. and already, with the dreamy, far-off gaze, and it hardening, i can see his characterization is going to be so great in the middleground, and im so excited. i recently finished a fic where his characterization to me was absolutely perfect, and even as it evolved, that standard didnt diminish, because the evolution was so seamless and good that the changes to him felt right, felt realistic.

im realizing now this sounds like a do-good-or-there-will-be-consequences thing, which is not my intention. im just, i really wanted a story with n, one i knew would be good, and the middleground is it at the moment. and i know youll do a good job because i liked tac so much, which featured n, and already its the little things with middleground!n that are already so good, and this was really just me saying thank you and i cant wait, and so thank you and i cant wait for more. i cant wait to see more of n, no matter how small a role, or how big iunno, he plays, its already so good for such a complex character with such a grey background. morally grey, ethically grey, realistically grey, just grey. 

all in all, the middleground is amazing so far, i love it so so much, and once again, i cant wait for more. thank you for such an amazing piece thus far, lu. its past 6am now so its taken me a bit to get through this post, i hope the majority makes sense. and i cant wait to see what comes next with the story.

[snapadoodlez]

12th Doctor series playlists: series 8 & ‘Last Christmas’

Here is the final playlist I’ve made in my Twelfth Doctor series playlist collection (until the 2017 Christmas Special, that is). This one is for Peter’s very first season as Twelve: Series 8 and ‘Last Christmas’.  Similar to my other playlists, it’s organized so that the listener can (more-or-less) relive the story by listening to it from beginning to end.  

The Spotify link can be found here:  https://open.spotify.com/user/sirenssongs/playlist/3edfNpeuti7HQDR1xcrYCt

As in Series 8, the emotional arcs here are Clara & Twelves’s new dynamic, Clara & Danny’s relationship, Twelve’s self-discovery, and the new Twissy chapter in the on-going doctor/master saga. Fair warning: this is the most heavily“Broadway” out of the Twelve Series playlists, but I think it works for re-telling the story.

I’ve included the full track-list and guide below the “Keep Reading” line. I know I’m going to miss Peter dreadfully, so hopefully this’ll be a nice easy way relive his incredible run as The Doctor. I’ll probably do an embedded version later and a master-post with all the ‘Twelve’ playlists soon:  In the meantime, enjoy!

*Note:  I realize the last song, “When You’re Home”, also starts out the s9 playlist: I thought it bridged the gap between the two really well, and I couldn’t decide where to put it. So both playlists it is! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

1. Sparks - The Who

“Any moment now, he’s a coming… but times change, and so must I.” “I think it’s going to be a whopper.”

2. Why Can’t the English? - My Fair Lady 

“Have you regenerated? I remember you. You're Handles. You used to be a little robot head, and now...you've really let yourself go.”

“Why do you keep talking like that? What's gone wrong with your accent? You sound the same. It's spreading. You all sound all English. Now you've all developed a fault.”

“Oh no, that's good... I'm Scottish… I can complain about things, I can really complain about things.” 

3. Just You Wait - My Fair Lady

“No. Don't. Don't smile. I will smile first and then you know it's safe to smile.” “Are you cross with me?” “I am not cross. But if I was cross it would be your fault and. Yes, I am cross.”

“Nothing is more important than my egomania.”

4. Poor Baby – Company

“Well, if neither of us placed that ad, who placed that ad?”

Missy plays matchmaker. * 

*In my head for this song, she’s droning on and on about the Doctor’s loneliness to Seb. Oh Seb... you sassy Interface... how I miss you.

5. I Don’t Know His Name - She Loves Me

“The Doctor regenerated in your presence. The young man disappeared, the veil lifted. He trusted you. Are you judging him?” “I am not sure who you think you're talking to right now, Madam Vastra, but I have never had the slightest interest in pretty young men... Just because my pretty face has turned your head, do not assume that I am so easily distracted.”

“When did you stop wearing your veil?” “When you stopped seeing it.”

6. Nobody Knows You (When You’re Down and Out) - Leslie Odom Jr.

“You look at me, and you can't see me. Have you any idea what that's like? Please, just see me.”

7. Something There - Beauty and the Beast

“Thank you.” “For what?” “Phoning.”

“I..I don't think that I'm a hugging person now.” “I'm not sure you get a vote.”

8. Roll Away Your Stone - Mumford & Sons

“Clara, be my pal and tell me... am I a good man?”

9. Mix Tape - Avenue Q

“Er… are you going to the leaving thing tonight for Cathy?” 

“Um……No, I'm not.” 

“Oh, okay, never mind.” 

“Good night.” 

“Change your mind…I'm going… I'll give you a lift. Why not?” 

10. Tonight At Eight - She Loves Me

“Are you going to look that terrified when you take me out for a drink?” “I… I absolutely promise I won't.” “Play your cards right and you might.”

11. Tango Tragique - She Loves Me

“I am trying to have a date. A real life, inter-human actual date! It's a normal nice, everyday, meeting-up sort of thing. And I would just like to know, is there any other way you can make this any more surreal than it already is?”

“I made a joke.” “A not-funny joke.” “Yeah, well, do you know what I'm making now?” “A fuss?” “An exit.” 

12. Ice Cream (Reprise) - She Loves Me

“Hello. I'm Clara Oswald. I'm a bit tricky, sometimes a bit up myself, but I think that's basically everything you need to worry about.”

“Hello.  I’m...I’m sorry.”

 “Also, I mouth off when I'm nervous and I've got a mouth on me. Seriously, it's got a mind of its own. I’m really worried it wants to go solo.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t say anything.  Or say something nice.”

13. Valley Forge (Demo) - Lin-Manuel Miranda (The Hamilton Mixtape)

"You loved the army.” "Yep. And then one day I didn't.” 

“When did you get to become so wise?” “Same way as anyone else. I had a really bad day.”

Danny has memories he’d rather forget.

14. An Open Letter (feat. Shockwave) - Watsky (The Hamilton Mixtape)

“Look, take him away. Shut him up, shut him down. Up or down, it doesn't matter to me. I've got a lot of work to do. Again. “ “Will you be okay?” "Why wouldn't I be okay? I was fine till you two blundered in.”

"How stupid do you think I am?” 

"I'm willing to put a number on it.” 

“Well, is there anything I can do?” 

“Yes. Yes, and this is very, very important. Leave us alone!”

“When this is all over, you can finish the job.”  “How do you mean?”  “Well, you've explained me to him. You haven't explained him to me.”

15. Enough - In The Heights

“Now, Time Lords, do you salute those?” “Definitely not...And you can get out of my Tardis!” “Immediately, sir.” “Doctor, this is stupid, this is unfair!”

“Do you love him?”

“No.”

“Really had enough with the lies.”

“Not in that way.”

“If he ever pushes you too far, I want you to tell me, because I know what that's like. You'll tell me if that happens, yeah?” “Yeah, it's a deal.” “No. It's a promise.” “Okay. I promise.” 

Clara is soooo over it.  And so is Danny.

16. Sunrise - In The Heights

“I am so…” 

“I know.” 

“And I just get nervous.” 

“Me too.” 

“I don't even know what I'm nervous of…”

“I'll show you. So, listen. If you listen to nothing else, listen to this...” 

17. Ain’t It Fun – Paramore

“There are moments in every civilization's history in which the whole path of that civilization is decided... Whatever future humanity might have depends upon the choice that is made right here and right now... Kill it. Or let it live. I can't make this decision for you.”

18. Get Gone - Fiona Apple

Don't you dare lump me in with the rest of all the little humans that you think are so tiny and silly and predictable. You walk our Earth, Doctor, you breathe our air. And you can damn well help us when we need it. 

Go on. You can clear off. Get back in your lonely, your lonely bloody Tardis and you don't come back. 

19. There’s a Fine, Fine Line - Avenue Q

“I'm done, I'm done. I am finished with it...It's over. I'm finished with him, and I told him that. What is that face for? Why don't you believe me?” “Because you're still angry. You can never finish with anyone while they can still make you angry.” 

20. A Hymn To Him - My Fair Lady

“No, that was me allowing you to make a choice about your own future. That was me respecting you.” “Oh, my God, really? Was it? Yeah, well, respected is not how I feel.” “Right... Okay...”

“Human emotions are confusing.” - Twelve (probably)*

*Note: for the purposes of this playlist, you can just replace “woman” with “human” and “man” with “timelord” for this song (Henry Higgins’  many issues in My Fair Lady is a discussion for another day);  For all it’s faults,  I can’t think of another song that exemplifies the whole “emotions confuse me” vibe as well as this one ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

21. The Party’s Over - Leslie Odom Jr.

“I just thought this would be a good one to...” 

“To end it. Yeah. It is. It's a good choice. A good one to end on.”

22. Don’t Wait Too Long - Tony Bennett

“To our last hurrah.” “Our last, yeah. I mean, it's not like I'm never going to see you again.” “Isn't it?” “Is it?” “I thought that's what you wanted.”

23. Style - Taylor Swift

“Was that Danny? What did he want?” “He's fine with it.” “Sorry..?” “Danny. He's fine with the idea of me and you knocking about... Oh, to hell with the last hurrah. Let's keep going...I've had a wobble. It's a big wobble, but it's fine... Now, shut up and give me some planets.”

“You can't really tell if something's an addiction till you try and give it up.”

24. You’ll Be Back – Hamilton

“Now, that was surprising. And I love surprises.”

Missy anticipates her return.

25. I Think I’m In Love With You - Jessica Simpson

“Okay, before all of that. Before all of the stuff That I did wrong… I love you.” 

“Danny, I love you. And you are the last person who's ever going to hear me say that.”

26. Without You – Rent

“It's a terrible thing. Just a terrible, terrible thing.” “It wasn't terrible...It was boring.” “Boring?” “It was ordinary. People just kept walking with their iPods and their shopping bags. He was alive, and then he was dead and it was nothing. Like stepping off a bus.” “He deserved better. And so did you.” “I don't deserve anything. Nobody deserves anything. But I am owed better. I am owed.”

27. No Good Deed – Wicked

“Danny Pink. Is dead.” “And?” “And fix it. Change it. Change what happened. Save him. Bring him back.”

“One last chance. And I don't care about the rules, I don't give a damn about paradoxes. Save Danny. Bring him back or I swear you will never step inside your TARDIS again.” 

28. Blank Space - Taylor Swift

“Hello. I hope you're well. How may I assist you with your death?”

“Who are you?” “You know who I am. I told you. You felt it. Surely you did.” “Two hearts.” “And both of them yours.”

“Oh, you know who I am. I'm Missy.” “Who's Missy?” “Please, try to keep up. Short for Mistress. Well, I couldn't very well keep calling myself the Master, now could I?”

29. Coin-Operated Boy - The Dresden Dolls

 “You see, Doctor? The power to slaughter whole worlds at a time, then make them do a safety briefing. Everyone who ever lived, man, woman and child, is now at my command. An indestructible army to rage across the universe. The more they kill, the more they recruit. Happy birthday.”

“All of this. All of it, just to give me an army?” “Well, I don't need one, do I? Armies are for people who think they're right. And nobody thinks they're righter than you. Give a good man firepower, and he'll never run out of people to kill.”

“Why are you doing this?” “I need you to know we're not so different. I need my friend back.” 

30. Who Am I? - Les Misérables

“I really didn't know. I wasn't sure. You lose sight sometimes. Thank you! I am not a good man! I am not a bad man. I am not a hero. And I'm definitely not a president. And no, I'm not an officer. Do you know what I am? I am an idiot, with a box and a screwdriver. Just passing through, helping out, learning. I don't need an army. I never have, because I've got them. Always them. Because love, it's not an emotion. Love is a promise.  And he will never hurt her.” 

31. History Has Its Eyes On You – Hamilton

“This is not a good day. This is Earth's darkest hour. And look at you miserable lot. We are the Fallen. But today, we shall rise. The army of the dead will save the land of the living. This is not the order of a general, nor the whim of a lunatic. This is a promise. The promise of a soldier!”

32. Unworthy of Your Love – Assassins

“Ten zero eleven, zero zero by zero two” “What did you say?” “The current coordinates of Gallifrey. It's returned to it's original location. Didn't you ever think to look?” “You are lying!” “We can, we can go together, just you and me. Just like the old days.” “You'd be clapped in irons.” “If you like.”

“Seriously. Oh, Doctor. To save her soul? But who, my dear, will save yours? Say something nice. Please?” “You win.” “I know.”

33. For Good – Wicked

“Me and Danny, we are going to be fine. Don't you worry. You go home. Go home. Go be a king or something.” “Yeah, I might do that.” “Or queen, you know. Whatever.” “Yeah, queen, that would be good too.”

“Doctor? Travelling with you made me feel really special. Thank you for that. Thank you for making me feel special.” “Thank you for exactly the same.”

Last Christmas

34. Little Saint Nick – The Beach Boys

“Hello? Doctor? You know it can't end like that. What do you want for Christmas?”

Here comes Santa Claus.

35. One Last Time – Hamilton

“Five minutes. You can miss me for five minutes a day. And you'd better do it properly. You'd better be sad. I expect my five. But all the rest of the time, Clara, all the rest of the time, every single second, you just get the hell on with it. Clear?”

“...When I wake up, you won't be there.” 

“Do you know why people get together at Christmas? Because every time they do, it might be the last time. Every Christmas is last Christmas, and this is ours... But now it's time to wake up.” 

36. When You’re Home – In The Heights

“No one ever matched up to Danny, eh?” “There was one other man, but that would never have worked out.” “Why not?” “He was impossible.” 

“The TARDIS is outside.” “So?” “So, all of time and all of space is sitting out there. A big blue box. Please, don't even argue.” 

“Merry Christmas, Doctor.” “Merry Christmas, Clara Oswald.”