#and both are 50 now and nobody ever guess their age

[machiavelli]

listen, I get the science and the logic of wearing sunscreen everyday. but honestly? I don’t think that will ever be for me. it’s so hideous. sorry. you are doing so great tho. congrats. truly.

[popcornfairy28]

Writing patterns ✨

rules: share the first line of your last ten published works or as many as you are able and see if there are any patterns!

Tagged by @ligercat, thanks for that! I will also be doing the last line, but a few of these are still ongoing fics so I've just got the current last line lol.

50 Ways to Not Die

First line: Arthur was dead.

Last line *(so far): Well, that went easier than expected. Now just to reveal his magic.

Best Secret Keeper Ever

First line:

(Happy Birthday, Isabella)

Unknown number

hi Stacy, it's me, P the #[ ]"> just thot Id text & see if u had any ?s about what happened

Last line:

Stacy

I guess since Vanessa figured out the accounting error, MM no longer knows the meaning of a budget?

Never Really Fit In

First line: Ealdor was a small, simple farming village nestled along the border of the kingdoms of Camelot and Essetir, where life was interminably consistent. Even when going through tumultuous times, it was predictable.

Last line: They left again after a couple days. The village had well grown accustomed to it. Some people never really fit in, after all.

***This is where I'm skipping over The Crystal of Neahtid because it's first line is from 2020 lol and I'm taking last ten to mean most recent, which this is not I just happened to update it this summer (I say that while being pretty sure that the previous fic's first line was also written in like 2020 😂)***

Perry the Teenage Spy: Extra Scenes

First line: SLAM!

Last line *(so far cuz ho boy this is by no means gonna be the last line lol): Well, Candace better not go into nursing. Limping from the bandage being wrapped so tightly, he hobbled over to the nearest lair entrance and struggled into it. Time to do it properly .

Lightsaber Golf

First line: Perry really should have seen this coming, after he'd started taking Phineas and Ferb to Ben Kenobi's for weekly "Jedi" lessons. He knew they wouldn't quite understand the gravity of the situation, and while they would take it seriously, they were still very young at 7 years of age and utterly innocent. They actually liked living on Tatooine, and nobody liked that! Well, at least nobody that Perry hung around.

Last line: “Oh, yeah, right,��� Stacy said sheepishly. They walked back to where their siblings and their friends were waiting and continued playing, but Perry stayed alert. It would only take one slip-up, and Perry wouldn’t be able to make good on his promise should Candace ever return.

The Chesterton Challenge Prompts

First line: It was the anniversary since the old king and queen of Vesulia had both tragically passed, several years ago, and their children Queen Bridgette, Prince Aden, and Princess Sasha had a tradition to remember their parents. It wasn't a sad tradition, as they didn't want to remember their parents only in their grief, but instead it was a light-hearted one.

Last line *(so far): “Not the kind you're supposed to brag about, apparently,” Sasha laughed at her brother. He scowled back at her. 

Playing Dead

First line: "Okay, so what are we doing?" Stacy asked after Candace dragged her to the living room, where Perry looked like he was trying to take a nap. He must have been tired after his mission. It was sort of hard to reconcile that this adorable napping creature was a butt-kicking sentient secret agent.

Last line: There was her answer.

OWCA's Fools

First line: On April 1st, Perry spied his team loitering about in a random center at HQ, so naturally he had to investigate.

Last line: There was a reason he usually stayed away from HQ, especially on April Fools’.

Baby Brother

First line: On February 29, 2000, it was an overcast day in London, England, and nearly 7 year-old Perry Fletcher was waiting anxiously in his Grandpa and Grandma Fletcher’s cottage. His parents had left him there as his mother was in labor with his baby brother, which was exactly why he was waiting anxiously. He was pretty sure that Grandpa and Grandma were also anxious, but perhaps they were better at masking it. 

Last line: “I think we should call him Ferb.”

The Princess and the Pulverized Pea

First line: Once upon a time there was a princess who had been traveling all over the world, searching for a prince who she could love. She'd met plenty of lovely princes, but none that she could truly love. There was always something about them that was not as it should be.

Last line: Over the next few days, the prince and princess grew rather close as they waited for her company to find her. When she left to return to her kingdom, they started writing letters to each other everyday. Always believing she was a real princess, the prince would eventually take her as his wife, and when they became the king and queen, they swore never to place peas in their guests’ beds.

I guess the common link is that most of the time I like to have boringly informative openers 🤣. And by that I mean I don't usually have dialogue in my openers or endings (with the obvious exception of chat-fics). Idk, you tell me what you feel like the common link is.

6 of them are Phineas and Ferb, 2 are BBC Merlin, one's a fairytale retelling, and one is original work (all on AO3!).

Thanks again for tagging me! Actually kinda encouraging to post this lol, reminding me that I have indeed published things this year haha!

Open tags I guess!

[cycas]

Idk. When I was 8, nobody taught me to type. What we did spend ages and ages learning was how to do joined-up writing. Handwriting was considered vastly important. That, and getting fast at very basic mental arithmetic were the two things we spent most of our primary school lives on.

Important skills! Vital to all aspects of life in the 1970s! (I was really bad at both of these by the way. Almost got held down a year, because really, how would I cope in the modern world???)

I'm in my 50's. Nobody cares about handwriting or times tables any more. Nobody uses Word Perfect, the 'standard' wordprocessor I learned to use when I was 21. The many 'vital-to-employment' WP keyboard shortcuts I memorised are dust on the wind, as so many other tech skills When I was in my late 20s', I had a job for a bit teaching unemployed dockers who had lost their jobs due to mechanisation how to use computers (a skill nobody had ever taught me). They were slow at it, and they didn't know obvious things, like how to make spaces between words, or capital letters.

But the most difficult thing was convincing them that they could, in fact, noodle around and try stuff out. That it was OK to try different ways, OK to ask questions. Nothing was going to break, and even if it did, we could probably fix it. Or start over, which is also fine.

Centering a heading using spaces IS formatting. It may not be the currently-preferred way of doing it (hey! There's a button for that now! Magic!) but formatting things using spaces does teach you interesting things about fonts and how wide different characters are, maybe also what non-latin-standard characters exist, and how you make them.

Save as PDF is one way to copy a web page, but far from the obvious or most useful one for every possible scenario.

I am the same age as email. It's a funny old technology, and one that was never really designed to do all the things we do with it now. It's... kind of fragile. Kind of buggy. Not surprising really, at our age.

I'm not sure people will still be using email - or at least, email in the sense that we use it now - in 20 years. Or 40.

I mean, I see the concern. It's a problem if children don't have enough keyboards, enough tech to noodle around with. It's definitely a problem if children are being reprimanded for doing things 'wrong' or punished for experimenting. But let's not accidentally teach people that there's One True Formatting or One Right Way. 'Wrong' is 'it caught fire'.

Anything else is a convention, which you can adhere to or break, according to what you are trying to do. Maybe that one kid will even be the one that changes it, one day.

The time to learn the conventions is when you are in your late teens to 20's, when it actually matters because you need to impress big organisations handling tons of people: employers, colleges, the government.

If you are collecting information and need it to conform to a convention, accept that people of any age can't guess what convention you want. (I get that people never read instructions, and this is very frustrating. Still, reviewing your help text yet again is one thing you can do that might actually make a difference)

People are probably going to fuck it up, but that's part of the learning process. Aged 18-20, their learning skills should be at their peak. They can make a mistake, be corrected, and do it the 'Accepted Way' next time. Just, you know. Don't reckon on it staying Accepted for the next 30 years. It won't.

seriously, though. i work in higher education, and part of my job is students sending me transcripts. you'd think the ones who have the least idea how to actually do that would be the older ones, and while sure, they definitely struggle with it, i see it most with the younger students. the teens to early 20s crowd.

very, astonishingly often, they don't know how to work with .pdf documents. i get garbage phone screenshots, sometimes inserted into an excel or word file for who knows what reason, but most often it's just a raw .jpg or other image file.

they definitely either don't know how to use a scanner, don't have access to one, or don't even know where they might go for that (staples and other office supply stores sometimes still have these services, but public libraries always have your back, kids.) so when they have a paper transcript and need to send me a copy electronically, it's just terrible photos at bad angles full of thumbs and text-obscuring shadows.

mind bogglingly frequently, i get cell phone photos of computer screens. they don't know how to take a screenshot on a computer. they don't know the function of the Print Screen button on the keyboard. they don't know how to right click a web page, hit "print", and choose "save as PDF" to produce a full and unbroken capture of the entirety of a webpage.

sometimes they'll just copy the text of a transcript and paste it right into the message of an email. that's if they figure out the difference between the body text portion of the email and the subject line, because quite frankly they often don't.

these are people who in most cases have done at least some college work already, but they have absolutely no clue how to utilize the attachment function in an email, and for some reason they don't consider they could google very quickly for instructions or even videos.

i am not taking a shit on gen z/gen alpha here, i'm really not.

what i am is aghast that they've been so massively failed on so many levels. the education system assumed they were "native" to technology and needed to be taught nothing. their parents assumed the same, or assumed the schools would teach them, or don't know how themselves and are too intimidated to figure it out and teach their kids these skills at home.

they spend hours a day on instagram and tiktok and youtube and etc, so they surely know (this is ridiculous to assume!!!) how to draft a formal email and format the text and what part goes where and what all those damn little symbols means, right? SURELY they're already familiar with every file type under the sun and know how to make use of whatever's salient in a pinch, right???

THEY MUST CERTAINLY know, innately, as one knows how to inhale, how to type in business formatting and formal communication style, how to present themselves in a way that gets them taken seriously by formal institutions, how to appear and be competent in basic/standard digital skills. SURELY. Of course. RIGHT!!!!

it's MADDENING, it's insane, and it's frustrating from the receiving end, but even more frustrating knowing they're stumbling blind out there in the digital spaces of grown-up matters, being dismissed, being considered less intelligent, being talked down to, because every adult and system responsible for them just

ASSUMED they should "just know" or "just figure out" these important things no one ever bothered to teach them, or half the time even introduce the concepts of before asking them to do it, on the spot, with high educational or professional stakes.

kids shouldn't have to supplement their own education like this and get sneered and scoffed at if they don't.

[theblognobodyfoundlastyear]

The 2023 Review: Misery until the end of the age

9 grueling months since the last post, huh? And this blog doesn't even show up in Google search results anymore, no less. As the struggle to stay alive and/or be an interesting romantic partner is as real as ever, let's get one thing straight: Times have changed, people have changed, I have not changed.

There, I said it. And this newfangled Tumblr user interface isn't doing any favors. Bleh. Anyhoo, the matter of the fact is that we've only become better at worrying about these !@#%ing "responsibilities" that you're obligated to achieve before you hit 30 otherwise you've officially become a waste of time and space. What do I mean by this specifically? Own a house. Get married. Have kids. Be financially stable enough so that your parents don't have to apply for the pension. Alright, maybe not so much that last one. But I guess we've finally become that boring Strong-Sad-esque person that nobody ever liked, constantly cheesing and choosing and never really achieving anything in life because we're so busy trying to balance the 5 plates that've smashed years ago and forget all about the new plates we're supposed to be juggling now.

Yes, it's a long way to the bottom of the leader board now. Some would even say that I'd be better off doubling down and forget about this whole "becoming a waste of time and space" nonsense and just ill-chay ut-oay. But that's always been the paradox, hasn't it? We're too stressed to relax, and we spend the time that could be used to relax thinking about things that stress us out. Man, how do all those 40-to-50 year old bozos do this? It's like we're supposed to be sad, homeless, unemployed and maidenless before we hit 35 in this era.

One thing that's always bothered me is that we've seen this come around again and again, something which promises purposes but perpetually disappoints every time. From good university grades to getting a jorb, one could say with 60-70% certainty that the aimless pursuits of adulthood are also like chasing the wind. So why is this even a conundrum to begin with? Perhaps it's always been a case of "keeping up with the Joneses", and more so something that everyone keeps pushing onto us at every stage of life - that you must be equal to or greater than your fellow countryman.

Contrarily, your fellow countryman might not reciprocate that same camaraderie and overtake your with or without remorse. So you have no choice but to fight, which should result in victory… hopefully. And so the rat race continues on until one of three things happens: You win, your fellow countryman wins or both of you lose. In all cases, somebody is going to have to become the stepping stone for success, even if that someone wasn't even considered as part of the original scope to begin with.

If one can never win, or more accurately win under a set of specific conditions almost as probable as winning by sheer luck, then why bother at all? Just relax, don't do it. Perhaps we can learn a little something from our fellow gym rats, in that they've accepted that they'll never be as big as they want to be yet they strive for that ideal anyway - almost as though it's in their DNA. What this could mean it's all a matter of perception - the horrors of having to face monstrisities like buying property or not donking up a relationship will always be there, but we can at least choose our approach to them. Do we cower in fear, dragging ourselves to the finish line? Or do we run 'n' gun like there's no tomorrow, seeing success as whatever the road hands to us as our reward? Or maybe we'd rather take a more laid-back approach: Just to the bare minimum necessary to stay alive and pursue whatever we want within good reasoning?

So it seems, as it often is with these blog posts, that nothing is really as straightforward as it seems. Is it truly the way to force oneself to "enjoy" the mundane pursuits of paying taxes and chasing down that career with the better pay grade? Put into perspective, changing the self suddenly becomes an appealing option, but then again, the choice to cry in the shower or drink random chemicals under the sink is as different as it gets. What should we make of them haters who more or less have it all together? As the gym rats do, gaslight 'em and do everything we can to make them feel worse about their life choices and situation. Because remember, you elevate yourself above others by bettering yourself or alternatively by pushing everyone else below. Not that this is useful advice outside of a gym context, but you get the point… I would hope.

'Til next time, young padawan.

Ah, the joys of cinnamon bun ice cream. After 6 months in the freezer, it was hopefully worth the weight.

[angel-z]

Kneel for Your Emperor (Brother Day x Reader) 18+ - Part 2

That coming evening, you put on a nice outfit. It would be your first time dining with the Empire and you wanted to make a good impression. You heard from the staff that they often ate alone and when the maids would bring you food, it was often to your room. You had imagined for years what kind of elaborate dishes that they would have so to have the opportunity eat with them would be quite an experience.

Demerzel knocked on your door and you told her to come in. She walked in and said that she was there to guide you to the dinner. You gave yourself a once over in the mirror before going to stand next to her, ready to head to your destination. She motioned to the guards that they wouldn't be needed and led the way. You walked a little ways behind her because you didn't know which way to go and because you sensed that there was something that she wanted to tell you.

"I have some suggestions to offer you," Demerzel said, still keeping her steady pace.

"Suggestions for what to say at the dinner?" you asked.

She nodded and stopped a little ways away from some large doors, which you assumed had the dining hall on the other side, before turning to face you.

"Brother Dusk will be more critical of you than Brother Day and Brother Dawn," she said.

"I have a good idea why. I'll do my best not to insult either of them, as long as they give me the same respect."

Demerzel looked scanned your face to see if your words held a threat, but it just showed as an air of confidence. She nodded and continued to the doors. As you both made your way inside, you couldn't help but feel your jaw drop. The table, though not very large, held a great array of dishes. Your stomach growled as all the scents made their way to your nostrils. You saw Empire all watching you as you walked to the empty chair.

"Esteemed Empire. Thank you for letting me accompany you for dinner," you said, waiting to be seated.

"The pleasure is all mine," Brother Day said with a smile. "Go on. Sit."

You sat down and with an exchanged look with Brother Day, you began to eat. It was some of the most delicious foods you've ever eaten. 'I guess it pays to be royalty,' you thought.

"As kind also a bit unorthodox it was for my Brother to invite you here, it is quite curious to see the state of you," Brother Dusk remarked.

You stopped eating and put your utensils down. "What do you mean by that?"

"What my Brother means is," Brother Dawn interjected. "You don't seem to have aged a day since you've arrived here."

Brother Dusk gave him a subtle glare but you tried your best to stifle a laugh.

"I mean no disrespect, Empire, but neither have you all."

You felt tension quickly rise in the room. You cleared your throat and tried to rectify the situation.

"You tend to notice a lot especially if you're here for 50 years. As for my looks, the scientists on my planet have come up with what you could call a "potion" that happens to slow down the ageing process by hundreds of years. It's not readily available and nobody outside the planet knows, but now I'm sharing this information with you, Empire."

You tried your best to not come across as smug, especially since Brother Dusk was studying you deeply. He asked if you would excuse them while they talked in private and you agreed. You stepped outside the large doors and Demerzel followed you out. Surprisingly to her, you seemed to have expected this. Even before you walked out, you snagged one more bit of food and gave Brother Day a wink as you walked out.

Brother Dusk looked at Day in visible frustration. He took a swig of his drink before he spoke.

"Your little plaything is an interesting one," Dusk said.

Brother Day frowned. "You will show them some respect. They know better than anyone else what it's like to be in our shoes. Plus they seem to put you in your place," he threw back.

Brother Dawn tried to hide his laughter and Brother Dusk looked like he was on the brink of exploding. Brother Day excused himself and told the guards to escort you to his chambers. He leaned down to whisper in Dusk's ear.

"Don't forget that I have more say than you, Brother. They'll be spending the night in my chambers so you'll do best not to disturb unless it's of utmost importance."

(Author's Note: I'd like to thank you all for being so patient with me. I promise that the next chapter will be quite spicy hehe.")

Tagging: @briefgalaxycat, @dreamyjaguar, @omg-hellgirl

, @snakesofindia-sursesaji, @catz4ever, @curiouswildi, @werewolfhybrid, @thetv-junkie, @moonlarking, @pigilene

, @elvinpin, @bellaoftheforest

[bubbleteaimagines]

age gap

tony stark oneshot

tony x you

swearing, large age gap

in this day and age it shouldn’t have been that big of a deal.

but it was.

y/n l/n and tony stark became trending worldwide, every gossip magazine and newspaper out for whatever information they could get about your relationship.

the relationship by the way, that had a 28 year age gap.

you were 20 and tony was turning 48, though it seemed neither of you cared as much as the world did.

you thought it was perfectly normal, seeing as your parents were years apart and tony simply didn’t give a damn.

‘screw the tabloids’ he always said, but sometimes it wasn’t that easy.

at home, you were able to relax with the idea of your age gap as it was just the two of you being y/n and tony.

but out in public, it was an entirely different deal.

whispers, stares, pictures. you name it and people did it, not even caring or respecting your private time with tony when you went out.

you didn’t expect for it to bother you as much as it did. you thought that maybe with tony by your side you could block out the whispers and the hateful stares but it was nearly impossible as it happened almost everywhere you went.

even if you went grocery shopping for god’s sake, someone still had something negative to say.

of course, tony defended you as much as he could. he tried to shield you from the hateful words and articles but sometimes he wasn’t enough.

sometimes, it did get to you and soon you realized you didn’t know how much more you could take.

you loved tony, but after being constantly called a gold digger and his sugar baby, you began to doubt yourself, and your relationship.

were you really as manipulative as the papers said? were you really just with tony for his money?

of course not. deep down you knew that with or without money you loved tony stark. and he loved you, but it didn’t help that he also loved to spoil you and he was paying almost all of your college tuition.

even though you insisted he didn’t, he did anyways. he reassured you after countless protest that that was just something he did; he took care of everyone he loved.

eventually you were forced to settle with the idea. but it never stopped the running thoughts in your head.

am i really that bad as everyone says?

it was during a christmas party that tony was holding that you finally snapped.

tony had gone all out; getting the most expensive decorations and inviting all of the richest people he knew.

and of course, since it was tony, he also got the best alcohol money could buy, and unfortunately you weren’t allowed to drink a single drop.

all night, you had stood awkwardly by tony’s side in your pretty red dress, holding a cup full of water and laughing uncomfortably as you were forced to listen to drunk rich people tell unamusing stories.

by now, the music was blasting, night had fallen, and you were pretty sure you were only one not drunk at the party, minus tony and steve.

the elegant cup that you pretended to drink from held nothing expect for water and it was only another painful reminder that you were probably the youngest one at the party.

out of respect, tony decided he wasn’t going to drink either but that did nothing to ease you. If anything, you wished that he had been drinking so that he wouldn’t remember the embarrassing conversation you were having with some of the housewives he invited.

“so, y/n, tell me,” a woman name martha kalnins gushed as she sat on one of tony’s luxurious couches, obviously drunk from one of the many glasses of wine she had had. “Is Tony really as amazing in bed as everyone says he is?”

a round of laugher from the other housewives around you made you shift uncomfortably, thankful the dark room didn’t show the frown radiating off of you.

“uh… i uh,” you sounded like a child, struggling to answer her question and you laughed uncomfortably as to not show how disturbed you really were. you shared a look with tony.

“i mean … h-he’s great at everything, honestly. it’s tony stark we’re talking about,” you answered unsurely, and tony squeezed your thigh as the women laughed again.

“oh, i guess you’re right,” martha slurred and took another drink. “that tony is a catch. hell, if i had been twenty years younger like you i would’ve snatched him up, too. with that tight little body of yours it’s no wonder he’s so eager to pay your bills.”

another round of laughter and you could feel tony beginning to tense up beside you. now, it was your turn to squeeze his leg and you turned back to the women with a tight smile.

“oh, tony doesn’t pay my bills,” you tried to assure them but they waved it off.

“oh nonsense. why else would you be with a man that’s almost 50?” another woman asked you and you threw her a sharp glare.

you were starting to heat up, not appreciating their little jabs at your relationship.

“why am i with him?” you pulled out your cold tone and scoffed at her. “i don’t know— maybe because i love him?” you said a little angrily.

how dare they insinuate anything else than the truth: you loved tony and you didn’t give a damn about his age.

the woman snorted. “yeah. that’s what i told myself when i first met howie,” she threw a glance to an older man in the corner. “sure does make the sex a lot easier when you think you love them.”

you couldn’t stop your blood from boiling.

“how dare you!”

in an instant, you were up and out of your seat, the woman’s smile long gone as you angrily got in her face.

“y/n!” tony tried to stop you but you were sick of it. you were sick of it all; the jokes, the jabs, the little comments that nobody had any business making on your relationship.

you were done.

“how dare you talk about my relationship like that when you know nothing about us!” you fumed and suddenly you had everyone’s attention.

“who are you come into our house and as our guest disrespect us? you don’t know a thing about tony and i. not a single damn thing. you don’t know about all of the late nights we have, all of the laughs we share and all of the movies we watch. you don’t know about all the things we have in common besides sex and you damn well don’t know anything about me! you don’t, because if you did then you’d know i’m not with him for the money, or the fame, or whatever else you think is associated with tony stark. i’m not here for any of that. i’m here for him, so why don’t you get your head out of your ass and realize that just because you spread your legs for money, that doesn’t mean the rest of us do!”

by the time you finished you were panting and everyone was in complete shock. it was silent, and the woman in front of you looked as if she didn’t know what the hell to do.

no one did as you stood with your chest moving heavily, your well deserved rant coming off of your consciousness.

you huffed.

“well then. seeing as i’m only 20, i guess it’s past my bedtime,” you rolled your eyes and looked at the clock, noticing it was 1AM.

“i’ll see you all … whenever. goodnight.”

you did a dramatic turn and then proceeded to exit tony stark style. leaving a big commotion behind you and no doubt people that would spread your words everywhere the next morning.

that would be another problem you would have to worry about, but right now you focused on just sleeping the entire night away.

sighing, you changed out of your dress into some shorts and swiftly got under the covers.

you closed your eyes, and you tried to let sleep come to you but it was almost impossible as you were painfully aware the spot next to you was empty.

tony hadn’t come to bed yet and it was like your body refused to let you rest until he did.

sighing again, you peeled your eyes open again and decided to stare up at the blank ceiling, waiting for tony to come to bed.

when he finally did, it was around 3AM in the morning but even the dark you could see his shit-eating grin.

“well, that was quite the performance tonight, miss l/n,” tony teased almost immediately and you groaned.

“sorry if i ruined your party,” you apologized to tony and buried your face in a pillow. “i just got so mad that people kept insinuating i was only with you for that that i just … i just snapped.” you explained.

tony was still grinning and you felt the bed dip as he gently slid in beside you.

“don’t worry about it. i’d say that was more entertaining than mrs. mccoy getting so drunk she admitted she was cheating with garden boy,” tony laughed and you snorted.

“great. i was the biggest scandal of the night,” you sighed.

“biggest one of the century, actually. how long do you think it’s gonna take for people to start talking about it?”

“i’d say it’ll make an appearance in the morning. some magazine talking about how tony stark’s sugar baby finally blew her fuse,” you yawned and tony chuckled.

“yeah well, at lease i don’t have to worry about if it’s true now.”

“worry if what’s true?”

“that you love me,” he said quietly.

you peered up at him in the dark.

“tony? what? of course i love you,” you frowned. you felt the pillow shift as tony shook his head.

“no, yeah, i know,” he said. “but now i don’t have to worry about if it’s tony stark you’re attracted to, or iron man.”

“clearly i wouldn’t be attracted to a piece of metal, tony,” you both rolled your eyes simultaneously.

“yeah, no shit,” tony sighed. “but i mean like— i don’t have to worry about which personality you’re attracted to. now i know for sure that it’s me that you want, and not just my name. or my fortune.”

“well, technically both are still up from grabs,” you smirked in the dark. “haven’t signed a pre-nup yet.”

“oh but you definitely will now,” tony scoffed, but there was humor behind both of your words.

you both found comfort in knowing that you only wanted each other, and not for the reasons everyone else thought.

you weren’t with tony for the money. and he wasn’t with you for the sex.

you both genuinely and honestly loved each other, and now you knew that no ridiculous tabloid or paper was ever gonna make you doubt that again.

[velvetvexations]

human trafficking anon here again people say i am 'cruel' for not having empathy for people who were hurt by men and now hate men. because they're traumatised and scared and whatnot and how dare i not have empathy for them hating all men but the thing is. when i see these people say 'fuck all men' 'all men are monsters' 'kill all men' all i think of is the little boy i grew up with in that trafficking ring (tw for child abuse, and mentions of child death ahead) this boy was my best friend. we were both being trafficked in the same area and at the same time and he was the same age as me. we both wound up spending a lot of time together and he got hurt FAR worse than i did. because he was more disadvantaged than me when i hear these people say 'it's insensitive for you to not understand why i hate all men. they're my oppressors i am allowed to hate them', i think of the little boy who i had to hold while he was wounded and sobbing. or while he limped over to me after being beaten over the most minor misbehaviour. i think about the little boy who grabbed my hand every time an adult came near because he was so fucking scared that they'd kill him this time and i think about the time we coloured in together. and the time we looked up at the stars together. and i think about all the times i hugged him and he hugged me back. i think about how he was so disadvantaged by society that there wasn't even a missing person's report made when he died. i think about how fucking easy it was for our organisation to make him disappear like he'd never existed at all and i think about how this constant 'all men are evil' nonsense spouted in leftist spaces helps absolutely fucking nobody. it is not productive. if your trauma leads you to hate an entire demographic of people so blindly then that is something you need to work on in therapy. hating an entire demographic helps absolutely nobody and when i see people spout this 'men suck. men are all abusive. i hate every man to exist' i just think about my best friend, that terrified little boy who didn't get to grow up because society turned their backs on him. and i can't help but think about how utterly fucking pointless it is to spend so much energy preaching hatred towards others online when there are such bigger things in the world. men existing is not the fucking problem. the patriarchy and misogyny is the problem. why waste your time posting about how much you hate men instead of doing something to help other victims

anon who got trafficked again radfems can bitch and moan at me about how 'erm i have the right to hate all men you're just mean for not sympathising with me for being traumatised' i do not give a fuck. yell at me all you want. it is not going to make me believe that hating an entire group of people for something out of their control is okay or normal. i really don't fucking care that men are given an oppressive position in society i still think it's fucking weird and ultimately unhelpful to hate 50% of the world's population also because! i used to BE the guy who hated men and was terrified of them! guess what changed! i went to therapy! i saw many many psychologists and psychiatrists! i spent time with my friends who were men! and i realised that it's not fair to hate random people for the horrific things that others did to me! it is not the fault of every man in the world that i got trafficked by a man! being cautious around others is understandable and okay. living your life with a vicious seething hatred and terror towards men is unhelpful and will end up damaging your psyche in the long run. the first fucking thing a psychologist ever told me was that living in terror and hatred of others is only going to hurt me in the long run. a life lived in terror and hatred is hardly a life at all

'i have trauma from men so i should be able to [insert cruel thing here]' is low key hilarious to me

i was trafficked as a child. a lot of the people who hurt me were men.

does this mean all men are evil? no. it means that more white rich cis men have the privilege required to get away with abusing children. because there were a significant amount of women who also hurt me

somehow, miraculously, me having trauma caused by men has not led me to hate every single man ever and decide that every single man on the planet is evil and irredeemable. if i can be literally trafficked by men and still not decide that i should be allowed to be as cruel and rude as i want then i think it is genuinely a skill issue when others decide they should be able to be as mean to men as they want

like. random individual men are not the problem. and irrationally hating every man ever is not going to solve anything

you're stronger than any US marine or radfem, anon

[official-weasley]

The Extraordinary Dragon (Part 2/6)

A fluffy story about Charlie training a dragon with a sad and mysterious past.

Warnings: dragon abuse Word Count: 2,266

“Are you ready?” Matthew was standing with me by the gates of the reserve, his arms crossed on his chest and looking like he will burst from excitement any moment now.

It’s been a week since I found out that I am going to work with a 1-year-old Hebridean Black. That, however, has been the only information Matt has given me. He has been awfully secretive about this dragon and no matter how many times I asked him about it he just told me not to worry and that I will have all my questions answered once the dragon arrives.

Today was that day and I couldn’t help but feel nervous. Not only because I didn’t know what to expect and the whole thing seemed to amuse my boss very much but also because this was a Hebridean Black – my favorite breed of dragon.

We don’t have a rule book here in the Sanctuary but we do have a few protocols we have to obey.

Wear your protective gear at work.

If you get injured, stop what you are doing immediately and find a healer.

No matter how vicious the dragon is, try to stay as calm as possible because they sense fear.

We don’t get promoted but are assigned to dragons based on our experience.

In the first year when we arrive here, we work with researchers to observe dragons – learn about their behavior and eating patterns.

In the second and third years, we either get assigned to Common Welsh Greens or Antipodean Opaleyes. If we are doing great with the latter, our superior might assign us to one of the fliers so we can start training to fly on a dragon.

That is a crucial practice for working with dragons later on because part of the daily routine is to take them out for a flight. The training usually lasts for 6 months and then we have to pass the flying exam – which I passed with flying colors on the first try, of course!

Then in year four we usually continue with Opaleyes. I was lucky enough to get a chance to work with two Chinese Fireballs.

In years five and six we are assigned to a new breed, the Swedish Short-Snout, and we train with the healers to learn how to heal and recognize symptoms if the dragon we work with shows any signs of sickness.

For me, that dragon was a Norwegian Ridgeback. I wasn’t experienced enough to work with the breed but due to a shortage of dragonologists, Matthew assigned the dragon to me anyway, and even though it wasn’t the easiest dragon to work with I had a pleasant enough experience with it that I now visit its habitat a few times per month to say hello.

In year eight or nine we can sign up for an exchange program. It means we go and work in one of the other dragon reserves. My wish was to work in the Swedish Reserve for one year and I was over the roof when my application was approved.

My boss wanted me to apply to the Chinese Reserve so that I could work with Fireballs since I have already dealt with them but I heard that even though the Swedish Reserve mostly works with Short-Snouts they had a Peruvian Vipertooth and a Ukrainian Ironbelly.

I know I shouldn’t have gone against my boss and try and work with dragons I wasn’t ready for but I just couldn’t help myself. I knew I would be less monitored there and nobody would tell me I can’t work with a certain dragon so I had to try.

Working with a sick Norwegian Ridgeback was harder than trying to befriend a Ukrainian Ironbelly. The latter looks like it’s going to eat you at any given moment but they are harmless even though they are huge compared to the other dragons.

Because I got a certificate of successfully taming both a Vipertooth and an Ironbelly, Matthew was so impressed that once I got back I was assigned to work with 3 different dragons.

I couldn’t believe that he allowed me to work with a Peruvian Vipertooth and not one but two Romanian Longhorns. I nagged him to assign me to one of those dragons for a year before my year in Sweden and he always said I wasn’t ready. But when I came back with the letter from my Swedish trainer, Matthew couldn’t believe how well I did and decided to give me a chance to work with dragons completely on my own.

I have been working with Hel, Lasair, and Rocker for over a year and I am doing great. All three of them listen to me and I have no trouble going through their daily routines. They trust me and I have learned so much from them in such a short amount of time. And apparently, it shows since my boss assigned me to the Hebridean Black.

“I would love to say that I am ready but the look on your face concerns me.” I lifted an eyebrow at him, my palms getting sweatier.

“Look, for how many years have you been begging me to let you work with a Black? Now you’re trying to chicken out?” He smirked.

“No, of course, not. I am just curious why the sudden change of hearts. Isn’t it too dangerous? Aren’t I unqualified to take care of a Hebridean Black?”

“Asterin.”

“What?” I turned my head to him, with more questions in my head than before.

“The dragon’s name is Asterin.” He explained and nodded toward the gate where 7 wizards appeared along with a big cage with a dragon chained inside.

We hurried to them and helped them unload the dragon. I had so many questions. We have never received a dragon that was chained or that needed so many people escorting it. What was Matthew not telling me?

They told us not to take the beast out of the cage until we reach its assigned habitat. Matt called 4 of my co-workers to help levitate the cage to a secluded area that was going to be Asterin’s home for the next 3 months.

Every time we get a new dragon to live in our reserve, we put it far away from the rest of the dragons so that it can get used to the environment change first before it’s introduced to other dragons. Then we determine if the dragon is capable of living with another of its breed – we never put more than 3 together – or if they’d prefer to have their own habitat. After those 3 months, the proper training can begin.

“I need some answers.” I frowned at my boss when we were left alone with the new dragon.

“Okay, so the dragon was put through a lot. She has trust issues and is very untamed for her age. She doesn’t want to fly and barely eats anything.” He explained.

“That’s why she’s so small for her age?” I leaned to the right to get a glimpse of Asterin behind Matthew.

“Yes.” He nodded.

“But I don’t understand. The dragonologists that brought her here are from the MacFusty clan. They take care of Hebridean Blacks, why was she brought here and where did they get her from?”

“They found her.”

“What do you mean they found her? You don’t simply stumble upon a dragon!” I furrowed my brows.

“But they did – abandoned in the forest close to their reserve. They heard her cries. She had both her wings broken and half of her teeth were missing.” Matthew continued.

“That would explain the not eating and flying part.” I could feel the heat on my face. If she was found like that someone had to hurt her and then just left her. How could someone do something like that to such a beautiful creature? Why would they hurt a dragon?

“They tried taking care of her,” Matt explained further, “but after not making any progress for more than half a year they contacted me.” He locked eyes with mine and it seemed he was trying to read my face.

“What’s with the look?”

“You know that you need 15+ years of experience to work with a Hebridean Black here.”

“I do. That’s why I asked you about 50 times in the last week why did you pick me?” My heart was racing, knowing I will finally get the answer to my question.

“I didn’t.” Matt cleared his throat.

“What?” “I didn’t pick you. They did.”

“Who? The MacFusty family?” I don’t think I was ever this confused – this didn’t make any sense. I knew about the clan. They were famous for taking in Hebridean Blacks and taking care of them before releasing them into the wild but there was no way they could know about me.

“They knew that the dragon needed better care and even though their property is expanding they reckoned it would be better if the dragon is moved to a bigger reserve,” Matthew said. “They contacted the Swedish Dragon Sanctuary and they recommended the dragon to be transported here, into your care.”

“The Swedish Sanctuary?” I said more to myself than to him.

“I guess they were impressed with how a 27-year-old tamed a Ukranian Ironbelly as if it was no big deal. And your trainer, Oskar, found it amusing when you called them extra large Cruppies.” Matthew playfully shook his head.

“Well, they are. Their size is just deceiving.” I defended my statement.

“Charles, you must’ve done something to impress them so much that they thought of you when they found out about Asterin’s situation.” Matthew put his hand on my shoulder and winked at me.

“And you just agreed?” I narrowed my eyes at him. I still couldn’t believe it. They singlehandedly picked me? They thought of me to help the dragon?

I took a deep breath. I was prepared for anything when Matt was keeping all of this a secret from me but I didn’t think that this involved me on such a large scale. This was a great honor, an honor about which I didn’t know how to feel. I am good with dragons but I am not that good, am I?

It rarely happens that a dragonologist is recommended to be assigned to a dragon, especially if they are 28 years old. I’m still learning. I am still observing and studying the dragons and now the MacFusty family knows my name?

I rubbed my eyes thinking I was dreaming. This opportunity won’t only escalate my career and make my day-to-day more fun, it will also make my dream to work with a Hebridean Black come true.

“I don’t know what to say.” Was all I could muster.

“Just enjoy it, Charles. I know how much you like a challenge.” He tapped me twice on the shoulder and walked away.

I swallowed thickly and looked at the dragon who was standing still and being aware of every speck that moved.

“Hi.” I waved slowly. “My name is Charlie and I’ll be your buddy for the foreseeable future.”

The dragon’s tail started to move from left to right and I was pretty sure that if I took a step forward I would get scorched.

“It’s okay. I mean you no harm.” I bowed my head, maintaining eye contact, and then sat on the ground. “See, if you want you can eat me right now.”

I looked at Asterin’s claws which were dug deep into the earth beneath her paws. It meant that she was tense and stressed and didn’t believe a word I said to her.

“I can leave if you want. Just let me come back so I can give you some dinner.” I started to stand up but a roar straight to my face made me sit back down.

“Okay, okay. You do not agree with me leaving. I understand.” I lifted my hands in defense.

I felt like my heart was going to escape my ribcage any moment now. I wasn’t scared. I was thrilled. I could see that this was going to be a tough challenge and I couldn’t wait to see how everything will unfold.

I sat still and had a staring contest with Asterin for the next 3 hours. My bum and back were killing me but I didn’t care. The dragon didn’t move a muscle and her claws were still dug deep into the ground.

“Asterin, it’s time for dinner. How about you let me stand up?” I motioned with my head to the sky – it being dark, that’s how long we sat together in silence.

The dragon didn’t move nor blinked so I inhaled sharply and without exhaling stood up slowly, maintaining eye contact. Asterin let out a silent growl but didn’t roar, which was a good sign. I backed away and once I was out of her sight I hurried to get her food. Hebridean Blacks love venison so that was what I was going to get her.

As I was heading out of the food supply hut, I grabbed a bag of apples just in case Asterin is a vegetarian like Crystal.

The whole way back to the dragon I was debating whether or not I should stay and observe her eating or should I just leave her alone. I wanted to see if she will even want to eat and if it’s painful when she chews the meat.

My decision, however, didn’t matter when I came back with the dinner and Asterin was nowhere to be found.

[zukoscomet]

I realised recently that I never actually collated all the ideas I had about my Zutara kids so here, have some steambabies! Idk I just really like the idea of Katara and Zuko having a big family after all they’ve lost when they were young, and as an only child, I guess I kind of romanticise the idea of having siblings. 

TW: I hc that Katara would have had a miscarriage, so if that is a trigger for you then maybe don’t read on.

Shameless plug but if you wanna read more about this, my series on AO3 is roots and wings.

Their firstborn is a boy who they name Kai after Kya. His full name is Kaito but nobody who knows him ever calls him that, not even when he’s in trouble. I’m not going to go into too much context about like the pregnancy bc you can already find that stuff here. He turns out very much like Zuko physically - tall, golden irises, straight black hair, narrow angular face - but he has mixed tawny skin and his eyes are shaped round and wide like Katara. He’s born on the last day of summer in 109 AG, so because of superstition that firebenders are born in peak summer, there’s some uncertainty about what he’ll bend - if at all - but then when he’s three and a half, he makes a flame. Iroh trains him to firebend until he’s about 16, then he goes off to the Sun Warriors for a year to finish off, and he ends up a very spiritual firebender. Kai is like the dream first child - the softest boy ever to live - and when Katara and Zuko go on to have more children, he’s a really great big brother, like wholeheartedly adores his little sibs even if they drive him completely nuts about 95% of the time. He’s quite a conflicted and confused kid growing up. He’s never quite sure of what he wants in life but finally, when he’s 17, he decides that he realises that he doesn’t want to be Fire Lord and passes along the heir status to his sister. After that he joins the Sun Warriors and eventually marries the chief’s daughter, Himari, and they have two firebender girls, Aiko and Sol. 

Izumi arrives not long after her brother in 110 AG. Katara and Zuko planned to wait but it ends up that there’s barely a year between Kai and Izumi and it comes as an extra shock as Katara didn’t figure out she was pregnant again till like 18 weeks in. Katara goes into labour early at 35 weeks and Izumi is born really small - she never completely catches up either and it’s hilarious because after successive generations of tall male Fire Lords, they get Izumi who’s barely 5 feet - but she’s otherwise fine. She’s physically a mish-mash so overall she resembles nobody especially - Katara’s hair, complexion and big round eyes, Zuko’s irises, Azula’s heart-shaped face and highly arched brow line, Hakoda’s facial features. The superstition about summer births for firebenders peters out real quick when Izumi, born in the autumn, bends blue fire at two and a half and, taught by Jeong Jeong, she grows into a prodigal master. When she’s young, Izumi is the polar opposite of her brother - feisty, stubborn, determined and whip smart - and she’s a heathen teenager but by about 15 she mellows and matures, and part of Kai’s reasoning for abdicating is that Izumi seems a better fit for Fire Lord. Izumi was always kinda apathetic to kids but at 19, she accidentally gets pregnant and has her son, Kazuo, then her daughter, Kira, eleven years later. Izumi becomes Fire Lord at 37 but she only rules for about 14 years before retiring. Since she had Kaz so young, if she stayed on the throne much longer, Kaz would also be an older man when it came time for him to inherit, so she decides to step aside and Kaz is coronated just after his 33rd birthday. 

(Kazuo takes after his Gran Gran in more ways than just his blue eyes; he’s a waterbender so Kaz is the first waterbender Fire Lord)

After a break, Katara and Zuko decide to try for a third addition and Katara gives birth - in the Southern Water Tribe, for the first time - to Bashira, four years after Izumi. Shira looks probably the most like Zuko out of all the children, even more than her elder brother does. They share the same tall and lean physique, the same long black hair, Shira is mixed but still the palest of all the steambabies and their faces are practically identical. They’re characteristically very similar, too - serious, intense and reserved. The only differences is that her hair is curly, her eyes are blue and finally, Katara gets her waterbending child. Both of them suspected that Shira was going to be a waterbender even at the early stages of the pregnancy, but it’s still super exciting when Shira tosses a wave at her elder siblings when she’s two. Katara is teaching her as soon as she possibly can but over time some tension develops between them when Shira turns out to be quite different from her mom in terms of natural bending style. Shira is very fight-oriented, she learns dao swords from Zuko and never shows as much of an interest in the healing arts, but when things blow up and eventually Shira is able to explain that she wants to be able fight like her mom did during the war, things straighten out and Katara guides Shira all the way through to mastery. She eventually moves to the South in her late teens to lead the tribe’s warriors. There, she has three children - waterbender twins Kenzo and Kenji, then a daughter named Kanna who’s a firebender like Grandpa - but the marriage to their father doesn’t last and in her 50s, she ends up in a relationship with Aang and Toph’s daughter, Lin.

Katara gets pregnant for a fourth time - planned - just after Shira turns two, but this time she has a miscarriage. Zuko was overseas when it happened so she went through it alone. Katara is devastated and resents Zuko for not being there. She knows it’s not his fault but she can’t help her emotions and that makes her feel even worse so she just shuts down - stops doing her Fire Lady work, stops spending any more time with Zuko and their children than necessary, won’t let the rest of the family visit them and spends most of the day lying in bed. Zuko doesn’t know how to help her so initially he decides to give her space to grieve however she feels she needs to, but it just deteriorates until one day Zuko suggests that maybe they should both go to therapy or marriage counselling or something because it can’t go on like this. Katara just completely loses it at that and ends up yelling at him all the things that she’d been bottling up over the last couple of months. Katara says some awful things and she’s expecting Zuko to take it poorly, hence why she kept it all inside up till now, but Zuko just accepts every bit of it and after that, she’s finally able to grieve properly and mend.

About six months after they come back together, they decide to try again and Katara eventually falls pregnant. The pregnancy itself goes smoothly but both of them are so stressed about something going wrong like last time and the effect that might have on both of them, then Gran Gran passes away when Katara is in her thirtieth week, so the full ten months were incredibly hard-going. 

It’s a big relief when the baby is finally born on Ember Island, three years after Shira in 117 AG. They name her Lili in honour of their recent losses, since lilies can ease scars and Iroh once referred to them as lights in darkness. From the beginning, Lili is the image of Katara in every way physically and characteristically - kind, patient, gentle, but does have quite a temper if she’s pushed too far. She’s also a waterbender, though it takes her a little longer to manifest her abilities than any of her siblings, first gaining control of the water at the age of six. Lili is incredibly endearing, as both a child and an adult, and she becomes so particularly popular with the Fire Nation public that the firebending qualification to be considered an heir to the throne is reversed, so Shira and Lili are inducted into the succession. Born in the same year, Lili had a long-term relationship with Tenzin, Aang and Toph’s thirdborn, but as they grew older, Tenzin was concerned that if he married her, their children would have heritage of all four elements and degrade the chances of Tenzin producing airbenders and continuing the Air Nation. That concern resulted in a kind of on-again-off-again thing but eventually Lili sent him off with an "I don’t want to be with someone that isn’t even sure he wants me" and went travelling the world for a few years. When they’re both in their thirties though, Lili and Tenzin reconnect and get back together, eventually marrying and producing five children - Jinora, Aya, Hiro, Rohan and Kano, the elder four airbenders and the youngest a waterbender.

A few months after Lili is born, Sokka and Suki have a baby girl and when Katara and Zuko go to visit their new niece, they agree that night on a spur-of-the-moment that they want one more child. The morning after, they talk about it properly and decide it’d be better to wait till Lili was a bit older, but Katara found out six weeks later that that one time had been successful. About halfway through, they find out that they’re expecting a boy and Katara is especially excited since their son had always been more closely attached to her whereas their girls were very firmly Daddy’s girls. Sure enough, when Kallik arrives in 118 AG, he’s a big Mama’s boy and remains so his entire life. Apart from his curly black hair, Kallik is the spitting image of his uncle, to the point that Hakoda says that seeing Lili and Kallik together is like seeing young Katara and Sokka. Kallik is the hardest to handle out of their children - loud, playful, mischievous and an exhausting troublemaker. All of the siblings fight like cat and dog but Kallik and Izumi are by far the worst, on the level of one walks into a room and the other is like “And I took that personally” and they never seem to grow out of it even when they’re both old and grey. Kallik is the only nonbender in the family and initially he struggles with this a bit but he spends a lot of time hanging out with Uncle Sokka, learns dao swords with Shira and Zuko, and by the time he hits his teens, he comes to view it more as something that sets him apart from his siblings. When he’s 18, he goes to join the United Forces and he stays in service till his late thirties, when he meets Ren, another serviceman from the Northern Water Tribe. After beginning a relationship with him, the pair settle in Republic City and end up adopting two daughters, Kirima and Alasie.

About a decade after Kallik is born, it seems like things are kind of slowly drawing to a close as the kids are getting older - Kai is 19 and has left home, Izumi is 18 and living away in Republic City while she studies at university, Shira is 14 and already talking about moving South the first chance she gets, Lili is 11 and wanting to go Northern Water Tribe to train with the healers there, and Kallik is 10 and dreaming of being a great military commander like Grandpa Koda and Uncle Sokka - when suddenly Katara starts to get really, really sick. Zuko is absolutely terrified, thinking that there’s something seriously wrong with his wife, but after some deduction, it turns out that Katara is actually pregnant again. The relief at realising she’s not dying is short-lived and the reaction from both of them is basically holy shit holy fuck we are too old for this our other kids are practically all grown up now we are done with babies we can't seriously have six children what are we going to do. There’s a lot of discussion, especially since Katara is 43 by then and the risks for her to be carrying another child are higher, but they ultimately decide to go through with it. Ironically, it’s the easiest of all her pregnancies and when Katara delivers a baby girl in Republic City in 128 AG, there hadn’t been a single complication to speak of. Iroh had passed away two years earlier, devastating the whole family but Zuko in particular, but the baby is born with his irises - a darker gold - so they name her Ilah. Her eyes are big and round like Katara’s but other than that, Ilah resembles her Grandma Ursa most strongly, with her thick chestnut-coloured hair and slight, delicate facial features. Naturally, Katara and Zuko think all their babies were the cutest baby but Ilah is probably objectively the cutest, with her big honey-coloured eyes, chubby cheeks and soft little curls.

Inevitably, since Kai, Shira, Lili and Kallik had all either left home before she was born or did so when she was still a little girl, Ilah gets a lot more concentrated attention from Katara and Zuko. She’s completely spoiled and doted upon by the whole family, including her elder brothers and sisters who visit her as often as they can manage. Since Izumi still lives in the palace permanently as the Crown Princess, she and Ilah are close, but Ilah ultimately ends up being closest with Izumi’s son, Kaz, who is only a year younger than his aunt. Ilah was even in the room when Kaz was born, though it wasn't an intentional move. Zuko was supposed to be watching Ilah when things got intense with Izumi’s labour but things escalated from 0-100 real fast and Katara didn't have time to hand Ilah off, so she stayed tucked in a sling on her mother’s back as Katara helped her eldest daughter to deliver her own baby, somehow sleeping through all the noise and commotion. Ilah and Kaz end up more like a brother and sister or best friends than an aunt and nephew, though Kaz always calls her Auntie Ilah when he’s teasing her. Ilah is perhaps the shyest around strangers of her siblings, uninterested in celebrity and attention, but she’s the most adventurous, determined and creative, interested in science and invention from an early age. Growing up, Ilah felt a little pressured by the renown of her family, especially when her firebending turned out to be just about average in power, but when she’s 12, Ilah figures out that she can combustionbend. From there, she applies her bending abilities to science and when she leaves home for university, she invents the combustion engine at age 20. The rest of her adult life is spent travelling virtually non-stop, working on innovation projects for the different nations. She never has children, on the account that it would be unfair to expect a kid to move around as much as she does and she’s happy enough with her numerous nieces and nephews, but she eventually marries her long-time girlfriend Li-Mei, an Air Nomad tasked with searching the world for new airbenders. 

[desi-lgbt-fest]

Day 5: Platonic

A story I wrote for today's prompt. It's a story about two middle aged men realising the happiness they want can come in many different forms.

1. 8 k words.

Cw: Mild homophobia. Incorrect language. It's indicative of character's understanding, not mine.

...

When Vikram Kumar first transferred to their branch, Nath wasn't impressed. Theirs was a small transport company, still somehow holding on against the giants of the industry. They were doing well for themselves; they had branches in few neighbouring states where the business was concentrated. And yeah, the company policy does state that employees should get transferred around every 4 years or so. But that never really happened. Nath had been working at Gada transport ltd for more than 25 years now and the only way anybody new ever came in the office was if someone died or retired.

That was what had happened. Another clerk, Nisha Bhagwan, had a heart attack at the computer and in came Vikram Kumar, a transfer from Nagpur. The office people took to him like animals take to the new clown at the circus. Nobody was really sad about Mrs Bhagwan's passing. She was old and in an office full of other old people, they were just waiting for the hat to drop on someone. Better Mrs Bhagwan than us.

They inquired after him, after his family, his mother's family, his neighbour's family, his neighbour's dog's family. When they found out that he was divorced and currently living in a sketchy hotel, they immediately turned to Nath.

Nath, or Adinath, as his name was, owned two flats in his society. Two flats side by side, one in which he lived. He very famously refused to rent it out to families or students or single women. Which meant, he never really rented it out. It actually quite suited to his own solitary silent life. But he regretted boasting about it in the office because here came his perfect rent.

"I- uh. The apartment is very dirty and I'd have to clean it," he started making excuses.

Vikram Kumar shrugged. "I don't mind. Better than listening to the sex noises coming from the side wall." Raucous laughter emerged, unhampered by the fact that their only woman employee wasn't there anymore.

Nath couldn't say no.

Vikram Kumar did turn out to be an ideal renter. He was silent. No guests. Rent, which Nath had kept a little high to dissuade, always on time. Sometimes old hindi songs drifted from his flat but Nath didn't mind. As his novelty wore off and office people stopped fawning over him, Nath did find himself to be quite okay with Vikram Kumar's existence.

A distinct mark in his favour was that he didn't laugh when at their regular chai break (5 minute break that always turned into a 45 minute one) the others made him familiar with Nath's title as the resident Bramhachari.

"Never married, never looks at a woman," Bhosle, their manager remarked.

"Hey you remember that time when that bombshell came in complaining about some lost package? Nath did not even look away from her face."

"Pakka gentleman, I tell you. He's not the customer complaint manager for nothing."

Everybody guffawed. Nath gave his regular pained smile. Vikram Kumar smiled back. For a moment, Nath thought it was a smile of understanding.

Eventually, Nath started offering Vikram Kumar a ride home on his ancient scooter. He obliged. When the ride turned regular, Vikram Kumar started contributing for petrol. Another mark in his favour.

13 months later, Vivek Chand, accountant, retired. In came a new hire, Ashalata Waad.

Suddenly many colleagues started turning up in pressed shirts and oiled hair. Nath merely shook his head and laughed at their preening. It was their colleagues' turn to laugh when Ms. Ashalata, recently widowed, took to Nath. Furtive smiles. Sympathy over dealing with difficult clients. Nath of course did not notice. But the other colleagues did. And out of sympathy for Ms Ashalata's feelings, they gently took her to a side after a week or so and directed her towards someone more likely to respond; the new divorcee, Vikram Kumar.

That, Nath certainly noticed.

That evening, Nath left without offering a ride to him.

Next morning, everyone noticed the distinct coldness between Ms Ashalata and Vikram Kumar. It was a long day too. Some trouble with licensing of a large shipment, everybody had to stay behind. It was well over 8 when people started leaving. Vikram came over to Nath's desk and tapped on it.

"I don't think this late I will find a riksha like yesterday. Will you please give a ride home?"

Nath sighed. He wasn't petty after all. Well, not much.

The streets were near empty. Theirs was a small town. One that eats at 8 and sleeps at 10. Nath's scooter cut through the silence and the sickly orange lights of the streetlamps like an interloper. They were crossing the Hutatma Chauk when Vikram asked him to stop.

"What for?"

"It was a long and stressful day. I wanted us a relax a bit at the park bench before we go home."

"I'm not going-"

"Please yaar."

Nath sighed.

Stopping the scooter at side, they both walked to the circle where statue of some forgotten freedom fighter stood, benches around it. Surprisingly, there were some people ambling around. Old couples taking a rest from nightly walk. A group of youngsters.

After having the sound of scooter in the ears for past five minutes, the sudden silence was deafening.

"I don't think Ms Waad would be talking to me again," Vikram Kumar started without preamble, a laughter in his voice.

Nath sighed and ran a hand through in thin hair. "You didn't do any-"

"No no, oh god no! I just said I'm not interested. I think that was enough for her to be offended."

"She's not your type?" he probed gently, curious.

Vikram was silent for a moment and then burst out with sudden emotion, "Why does it matter? Why one single woman and one single man can not stay without having an affair? Ye saala bollywood-" Nath hushed him, noticing the people around.

"Sorry." Vikram said, taking a deep breath to calm himself down.

"I get it. Years ago, when I told my father I was gay-"

"You're what??"

Nath felt like he made a tremendous mistake in judgement. But he was a grown man dammit, he will hold his ground!

"I said I am gay." Nath held his gaze. Vikram Kumar stared back, unknown range of emotions passing. Eventually he broke the gaze, ran a hand through his own balding hair and sat back.

He shook his head. "I am not gay, if that's why you-"

"That wasn't-"

"I'm NOT. I like women. I- I mean men are good too. I. I don't-"

Nath couldn't help it. He broke into a loud laugh. Like Vikram had performed some excellent comedy sketch.

Vikram punched him lightly on his shoulder, a smile evident on his face.

"I just meant, men, women. All are same to me. Honestly, I didn't mind being married to Sheela. I provided for her, I cared for her wellbeing. Our.. bedroom relations were less ideal but I didn't shut her out. I did my duty."

"I'm guessing she wanted someone who didn't see her as a duty?"

Vikram shrugged. "She was nice about it. Told me plain and simple she found someone else. We didn't have kids. It was easy. Well. As easy as it could be. She told the court I was impotent for swift divorce. I agreed. It caused drama in families though, which is why I asked for a transfer."

"Mrs Bhagwan died at a really opportune moment then."

They both shared a laugh and things fell silent once again.

"So you are... one of those," Vikram tried to say casually.

The elderly couple had left. A newly wed looking one took their place. Nath suddenly felt he was thrown back in time.

"I don't have much family," he started. "Mother died when I was young. Theirs was a love marriage, quite unusual for the times. They had run away and so had lost their families. My father raised me well enough; started pestering me for marriage when I got the job at 22. I kept avoiding for few years. But eventually I had to tell him. I wasn't going to ruin some poor woman's life." Nath looked pointedly at Vikram. Vikram didn't take offence. Just laughed self-consciously. Mark in his favour etc etc.

"Father raged for days. Didn't raise his hand on me, didn't tell anyone else but we fought a lot. It wasn't that he denied my condition. He just wanted a family. On some level we understood each other. I realise it now. I knew he wanted me to marry because he didn't want his hard fought family to die with me. And I guess, he probably knew what it meant to love someone you weren't supposed to.

He died soon after."

"When you were thirty, I remember you telling me."

Nath nodded. "I was free. I had a place of my own. A job. No family to hide myself from. I felt guilty over feeling relieved. I felt angry at being guilty. Then came sadness over being angry. That sadness stayed for a decade."

Vikram asked, "So you never...?

Nath shook out of his trip to memory lane. "Hm?"

"Are you? A bramhachari? Did you ever find-"

"There were some men here and there. Obviously there wasn't going to be a relationship," Nath scoffed. "If you know where to look, you can find release. But after Father died, I don't know, I rarely ever went looking for anybody. I didn't have it in me."

Vikram laughed. "Look at us. Two old men, all on their own, no happy family for us."

"Speak for yourself, I'm barely a day over 40," said the man, almost 50.

Vikram laughed again, looking at him with such fondness in his eyes. Nath felt sharp fear for a moment. Then he decided to be an adult again.

"You look well for your age too."

"Nath..."

Nath shivered at hearing his name. It was an intimate name. People didn't say it much. But it fit in Vikram's mouth.

"I don't want to change anything," Vikram said. "I'm happy as things are. It's ideal. I can't offer anything more."

Nath got up, brushing dust from his pants. It had gotten late. They were alone at the circle. A vehicle passing by to remind them of the world that exists.

"I'll take whatever you can offer," he said, looking away from him.

"Friendship? For as long as I live?" Vikram held out his hand.

Nath looked at it. Big, warm. Hairy. Pale skin where the wedding ring used to sit. He extended his own and took it.

"As long as I live."

... Let me know if you like it enough to see some other prompts involving them... I have so many headcanons for them.

[aestheticsuwu]

4 times Johnny walkin in on someone +1 They walked in on Johnny

( Excuse my terribly writting )

....

1 .

At first he didnt understood Daniels annoyance of walking in on the kids making out or fooling around , They were kids once and by Johnny experience he had babes to makeout 24/7 . He told Daniel always announce to make your presence know .

Johnny didnt think it was necessary for the day he went to pickup his phone that he left behind at the dojo , there wasnt class that day but Daniel wanted to go over some stuff hence his missing phone .

He shouldve seen all the warnings signs but his brain was too tired to notice , it wasnt late but Johnny was tired maybe his age is catching up to him .

First sign was the car that was parked , the lights were on inside the dojo maybe Daniel stayed longer , the duffle bags and cellphones outside . He can blame that on his eyesight .

Sliding the door expecting Daniel inside going over some paperwork

" I left m-- oh God ! Diaz ! "

" Sensei ! What are you doing here ?! "

Why him ? Why , couldnt god just let Daniel suffer , he shouldve known his luck would finish now that he was dating that non stopping talking twink , that he dearly loved his mind supplied quickly .

He was outside waiting for the kids to step out outside to proceed to look for his phone . Diaz and little LaRusso shyly didntt catch his gaze , probably to embarrased getting caught fooling around by their sensei . He cant imagine getting caught making out with Daniel by Kreese , he supressed a shudder .

He tells them that he wont mention what happened if they kept their free time away from him , quickly agreeing little LaRusso hugs him quickly and dashes away with a sorry and Miguel in tow .

He goes back in quickly to find his phone to see if Daniel really had send that picture of him wearing his old Cobra Kai Jacket , wasnt a suprise that it fit him , he was still small .

.....

2 .

The second time, he walks in on  Hawk and Demetri at the Larusso's . Him and Daniel decided to move in together with Sam and Robby , And they had spare room where anthony could sleep when he's isnt staying with Amanda .

When hes not , Daniel lets Demetri stay in the room sometimes when the pale kid mother isnt home . He didnt quite like the kid that much , too much of a nerd he thought but Robby, Sam and Daniel liked him . Later on he sees that the skinny kid isnt that bad after all .

He takes  back his comment soon .

Johnny was bringing in some boxes in , too concetrated on bringing in his stuff he didnt see the motorcycle nor the shoes in the doorway .

What he sees in the living room , he thanks God for saving him from needing to bleach his eye if he had came in few seconds late to see what Hawk was planning to do .

" What the fuck ! "

" shit , shit , shit . "

He quickly cover his eyes and shifts around quickly leaves the house , he hears Demetris sorrys while Hawk laughs  and he does plan to never revisit what had happen but he will make Hawk do 50 extra push ups just for making Johnnys eyes suffer .

..... ..... .....

3 .

He loves Robby , he likes that he isnt like every kid . Robby is smart and kind with a big heart something Johnny wasnt . Although Daniel likes to remind him that Robby gets it from him and he's a good dad . He tries to be , He wants to be a good dad .

He was happy that him being with Daniel wouldnt affect Robby , Johnny was worried he would get mad but once he told him it looked like he told the kid he was giving him 10,000 dollar check .

When Daniel and him talked to Sam and Robby of the idea moving in together , Robby joked about calling Larusso dad now since they would be a family . He could tell Daniel wanted to cry from how happy that he heard those words .

Everything was almost done , mostly all his belongings were at the new house he just needed to pack his last few remaing clothes and some documents .

He does quick look around  his crappy empty aparment that he will soon leave behind , opening his door to his room he hears a noise across the other room . He brushes it off thinking is from the neighbors next door but then he hears something like if someone knocked down a vase . He quickly rushes across the room to open the door to beat the crap out of the intruder , what he sees is the opposite what he was expecting of the other side of the door .

" Robby ?! "

There was his inoccent pup in the lap of a boy on his bed , both without a shirts . He wonders how many years would he get in jail and if Daniel would go visit him .

" Dad ! What are you doing here !? "

Robby flushes , he guess it wasnt ideal to get caught by your parents .

" Im here to pick up whats left , what are you doing here with this guy , Get off his lap will you . Listen kid you got ten seconds to get out of here before Robby has to go visit me in jail . "

Robby quickly slides off  but not before handing a pillow to the guy to put on his lap .

" Dad , he's my boyfriend Doug , he's in our class re-- "

" Rickenberger ! Ok , i want you two to dress up and to step outside , Now ! . "

He didnt get a good look at first but when Robby mentioned it was his boyfriend he recognized the face of the tall kid . He tried to be menacing to scare the boy off and threaten him if he ever thought about hurting Robby . But the kid took it as a champ and did showed up for sunday dinner , and if his son is happy then he guess he will have control not to be an asshole to Doug .

....

4 .

Carmen had told him Yaya needed his help in moving a furniture at the apartment , and even gave him a spare key because she wouldnt be around because of her shifts.

Johnny loved YaYa , she was like a grandmother he never had . She always looked out after him , he was worried he wouldnt see her often now that he was living with Daniel . But soon Amanda announced her and Carmen started dating , soon Carmen , Miguel and Yaya sometimes  would join sunday dinner .

It was saturday morning and he was so comfortable with Daniel in his arms , soft sheets , nice big pillow and did he mention Daniel . It was nice morning especially from having a good night , he thinks they should have sex everynight .

He wanted to sleep more But he was a man of his word ,  well sometime when he tried , so with all his willpower he got up and showered and headed off .

Using the spare key they had given him,  he opens the door and walks in on Amanda and Carmen having some fun time in the couch , if it was another life he wouldve thought it was hot , but all he can think of right now he could've of been sleeping with Daniel .

" Shit ! Im sorry i will come back another time . "

He quickly leaves , the laughter of the two women is left behind while Johnny rushes off to his car .

..... ..... .....

+ 1 .

Nobody was home .

Only him and Daniel , Amanda and Carmen decided to take shannon to the new mall that opened , the kids wanted to go as well . Johnny was thrilled but Daniel was trying to convinced the kids to let the adults go and next time he would take them .

This was his opportunity , so he took it . Now here he was with an empty house with his babe . Johnny waits for Daniel to come out of the restroom , but he was taking way too long and he got hungry waiting for the suprise .

He went downstairs to quickly to get something to eat , opening the fridge he decides to make a sandwich .

" Johnny  , i told you to wait in the room . "

" I know , i just didnt know i was suppose to wait a year for you to come ou-- "

Closing the fridge to look at Daniel , He wasnt expecting for him to look so hot that it made him without words . Ever since he first met Daniel , his eyes were the first thing to catch his eye then his soft plump lips . His eyes were so big that it resembled Bambi , and thats what johnny calls Daniel when their alone .

One day he told Daniel he would look hot in a skirt but this was way better . Daniel had black stockings with one of his shirts that just swallowed Daniels frame and to the final touch he had a headband with antlers . Fuck that sandwich he was hungry for something else .

" You like it ? "

" I think thats an understatement , How about you come sit on my lap and let me show you how much i love it , Bambi . "

...

" Anthony stop that,  Dont bring that in ! "

Amanda yells , getting the keys out of her purse while the kids wait for her to open the door . They had to cut their day early because Anthony's friend got sick , she offered for the rest to stay at the mall but they preferred to go home . And if she knew what she was going to walk in , she would've brought out her phone to take pictures . And she only felt a little bit bad for Daniel but this was blackmail worthy .

" Oh wow , Daniel . "

Covering her sons eyes and making sure the rest eyes are closed , Johnny turns his head at their direction .

" Your back  early . "

Sam , Robby , Miguel are asking for bleach while Hawk and Demetri are laughing , Doug helps Robby go to the backyard as everyone else rushes outside to let Daniel change . Johnny thinks it was time for payback for all times they had to suffer but unfortunately Daniel wont escape Amanda's teasing any time soon .

[anastyartist]

Cilan x Reader Chapter 2 A Fight For Love

This chapter is a bit short but that's because I didn't want to write out the whole battle between Ash and Burgh because that seemed kinda pointless, I've got the next couple of chapters partly done and should be posting those soon but I set myself a typing limit to get these at a decent length for ya'll.

---------

Waking up bright and early ready to go and meet up with Ash, Iris, and Cilan for Ash’s battle against Burgh. You had battled Burgh before, it took you a few tries but you did beat Burgh, and you can’t wait to see if Ash can do the same. Thankfully the day before you all agreed to meet up in the city plaza and head to the gym from there. Excitedly running up to a street vendor for a quick snack you wait and look around trying to see the trio arrived yet. Until a very hyper Ash came out of nowhere quickly followed by Iris and Cilan

“(y/n) aren’t you excited! I can’t wait to get my next badge!” pumping himself up along with Pikachu.

“Yeah Ash, it’s been a while since I’ve seen Burgh battle anybody in a while” When you were first getting your badge you would watch other people’s battle with Burgh to study his moves when you weren’t doing that you helped tend the plants in the gym’s garden.

Quickly you all walked over to the gym, you decided to show them around a little before the battle and also to find Burgh, which you did high up in one of the many trees he sat feeding a sewaddle. Ash called out to him claiming to be ready for their gym battle. Cilan and Iris looked around them at all the plants that surrounded the room.

Hopping down from the tall tree Burgh greeted all of you “welcome to the Castillia Gym” looking pleased as Ash expressed his happiness about the battle ahead.

Everyone followed burgh to the battle arena further inside marveling at all the plants around you especially Cilan “ I’ve never seen so many trees indoors before, it’s amazing!”

“We transplanted the trees from the pinwheel forest, for the bug types benefits of course” helpfully stated “There’s nothing better than lots of greenery for a bug-type pokemon lover,” Burgh said it gives him ‘inspiration’ you just liked it for the plants.

“Why, even (y/n) helps with the plants from time to time” Turning to look at you.

“Oh, so you have a green thumb then (y/n)?” Cilan questioned though Burgh interrupted before you could respond.

“More like a green hand, even when a little flower might not make it they always seem to find a way to make it grow back stronger than ever!” You knew Burgh appreciated your help with the plants, you were proud of it, everyone saw you as rude just because of your personality, sure you had few friends from school but that was it most of your time was either training or helping with the gym. Burgh jumped back from that note to Ash checking to make sure he was ready to battle and with that the gym floor revealed itself. You, Cilan, and Iris took to the sidelines to watch. Burgh and Ash standing on opposite ends of the battlegrounds.

Before anything else happened the referee started his speech about the rules that you’ve heard a hundred times over. Burgh took the liberty of showing his pokemon first before Ash chooses him.

Tossing out his deweeble to start, Iris was a little surprised.

“Look at the rock on deweebles’ back, it’s different from your deweebles’ Cilan” Now you wanted to see CIlan's deweeble it’s always neat to see what rocks deweebels use for armor.

"Oh yeah Burgh's deweeble uses a different rock for its shell so it's faster than normal deweebels" you nonchalantly said, though not helpful for Ash's battle it's a fun fact you remember about Burgh's pokemon. But now the question came to what pokemon Ash would use against it.

Ash chose tepig as his first fighter, you went back a bit to sit on the concrete fencing surrounding the tall trees and plants, it’s where you would normally sit when watching people battle burgh, Cilan and Iris joined you both leaning against it. The referee blew the whistle and the battle began.

Not surprising at all Ash went straight for tackling deweeble trying to knock it over but Burghs’ deweeble is fast to dodge and dig below, getting the jump on tepig. It wasn’t that long of a battle between the pokemon what with ash only trying to get direct hits on deweeble and deweeble dodging quickly because of the light rock material on its back not weighing it down though you will admit ash did get a few good hits on deweeble. But it’s all for not as deweeble quickly knocking tepig out making burgh the winner of the first round.

Cilan commented on Burgh’s technique noting how he used the move rock wrecker so close to tepig.

“Do you think he lured tepig in closer to him?” Iris was quick to pick up on the sneaky move.

“That’s how burgh battles everyone and it helps with how straightforward Ash’s style is on the battlefield makes him easier to get a surprise attack” jumping in on the conversation, after watching so many battles and hundreds of people falling for the same thing you figured ash would too.

“ I take it you’ve seen this a lot (y/n)?” Cilan cocked his head to look at you

“Yeah I’m surprised Ash managed to get that far with tepig” looking over to see Ash call tepig back into his Pokeball, “So Cilan what other pokemon does Ash have, he’s gonna need something good to beat Burgh”

Cilan contemplated it for a moment “ Well he’d either have to go with his oshawott with its water type moves or Pikachu with his iron tail”.

Ash got ready to try fighting deweeble again. The three of you turn back to face the arena only to see Ash call out for his sewaddle, now you have seen a lot of weird combinations in the past but this was crazy enough that you actually fell back on the fence and into the garden behind you out of shock. Thankfully Cilan turned around and hopped over to help you up.

“I guess nobody is ever ready for Ash’s battle style!” Cilan offered as he pulled you back into the concrete fence.

“No kidding, I’ve seen a lot of battles but I think this takes the cake” regaining your balance while holding onto his shoulder to not fall.

With that Ash took direct attacks against deweeble, having far better luck this time, when rocks got thrown his way sewaddle could use its silk to throw them back. Sewaddle was much faster than tepig and got the jump on deweeble knocking its shell off leaving it open to attacks. So with one good tackle deweeble was knocked out. Honestly, this was one of the better battles you’ve seen. Ash was all over the place with his battle style and it was entertaining to watch. The battle went on for a while but to your amazement, Ash won getting his 3rd gym badge and his sewaddle had evolved into a swadloon leaving him more than happy afterward. Though now is when you realized that the three of them would be moving on to the next city soon and the thought of not getting to go out and adventure with them made you sad.

After the battle, you all walked back to their hotel, you got to point out some of your favorite spots and buildings around the city, cilan ask questions about them. Then when you actually got to the hotel Ash and Iris headed in immediately wanting to get a good night’s rest. You and Cilan stayed outside talking.

“So where do you guys think you’ll be going next?” It did matter to you where they went, you just wanted to come with them.

“I’ll take it Ash wants to get to Nambasa city as soon as possible so that’s where will set off to” Cilan remembers how pushy Ash was about getting to Nambasa before, “You know, you could always come with us I’m sure Ash and Iris wouldn’t mind!”

You did consider coming with them, your mom might not be the biggest fan of it. If you could convince her to let you travel but it’s going to take a lot of negotiating with her.

“I might just take you up on that offer, if I’m able to come along I’ll be waiting here for you in the morning” You couldn’t make any promises but you were going to try your best to go.

“Well then I’ll see you in the morning” cilan gave with a soft smiling reaching down to grab your hand bringing it to his lips with a soft kiss “ma chérie”

Your heart stopped for a moment, more out of surprise, this was the most affection anyone had ever shown you outside of your family.

“Well aren’t you mister fancy?” it was honestly the only thing you could think of.

You both shared a laugh and said your good nights before going separate ways. You kept your composure together until you turned the corner and out of sight at which point you ran back to your house with the fattest grin on your face. Mothers anger be damned you were going with them. Besides it isn’t that crazy for someone your age to be traveling the region. Look at Ash, he’s from a different region entirely. When you actually got home your mom was waiting for you, asked how everything went and that's when you told her your idea.

“You want to travel? But what about your dream of being a gym leader surely Burgh could help you with that” putting down her glass of water on the table, she moved the conversation from the living room to the kitchen.

“I know I still want to be a gym leader but how can I be a good gym leader if I don’t see what else the region has to offer?” It was a 50/50 chance of working, and you weren’t that wrong there were still so many pokemon to see.

“I don’t know, after the whole venipede attack the other day I don’t want you to get hurt” a hint of desperation in her voice.

“But mom I handled it! And I had my new friends with me. Cilan had my back that whole time!” You can take care of yourself. You grew up running around the woods facing whatever it had to throw at you and you would be traveling with a group. It couldn't be that bad.

“Stubborn as always huh? Just like your father, okay I’ll cut you a deal you can travel but you have to message me at least once a day so I know you are safe” Giving you a soft smile, things would go either of two ways you would run off in the night without saying anything, or you would stay in the city and pout about it forever.

“Wait really!? Like I can actually go?” Your mom has always been protective of you, you thought for sure that she would never let you.

With a small chuckle, your mom got up from the table walking to her office room down the hall. You followed closely behind. In her office was a little closet that you were told to never open, this was the first time you have ever seen the inside and when she opened it you saw travel packs and sleeping bags,

“Like I said just like your father, we first met while traveling, when we decided to settle down here in Castillia we kept out old packs” Your mom grabbed one of the packs, it was a little worn and made of dark green fabric with patches all over.

“This was your father's and I’m sure he would want you to have it for your adventure” turning to hand it to you.

You ran your fingers across the front and over the many patches scattered across “So dad collected patches too?” You weren’t as close to your dad as you wished, he died when you were young just after giving you your first pokemon, he said he couldn’t wait to see you become a great fighter and have your own gym. At this point you were trying not to cry.

Your mom stepped forward standing in front of you, she raised her hand to caress your cheek and pulled you into a tight hug.

“All he ever wanted was for you to have your own adventure, and that's all I want for you sweetheart, I’m still going to worry about you but that shouldn’t hold you back” hugging you tighter. Whispering ‘I love you’ to each other she handed you the matching sleeping bag. It was starting to get darker out and she wanted you to get enough sleep for tomorrow.

Though you couldn’t get much sleep, you were too excited about getting to travel and see everything. Though after much rolling around and pillow flipping you drifted into a dreamless sleep.

When you woke up it was just before sunrise, your mother came in to get you up and ready with the pack full of everything you would need for a journey even putting an ungodly amount of snacks and a lot of both her and your fathers' old gear. After getting everything ready to go your mom insisted she walks you to the hotel to see you off. You definitely needed it, your nerves were jumbled up and as much as you were excited it was still scary this would be the first time you left Castillia City. Your mom told you stories from her travels with your dad sharing a laugh over the memories. Arriving in front of the hotel you turned towards each other and and shared one last hug, pulling apart she handed you one final object, it was a pocket watch, made out of black metal and a thin silver chain the words ``Time stops for nobody” were carved across, opening the watch showed to be a normal watch though it had blue and white highlights.

“It was a gift your father gave me when we first got together, I want you to have it and take care of it okay?” her voice was quiet and her eyes were glossed over.

"I will mom and thank you for letting me do this" giving a cheeky smile back at her.

Not long after Cilan, Ash, and Iris came out, ready to get back on the road. Cilan was exceptionally happy to see you there waiting.

Hey (y/n) glad to see you could make it" ash ran up to you. Cilan and Iris close behind.

"Ah, so this must be that boy Ash you said was challenging Burgh?" Another reason your mom tagged along to see you off was so she would know what the others looked like, still ever protective.

"That's right ma'am, I even won my battle first try!" Guess Ash was still riding his high from yesterday's battle, pikachu giving a little cheer of its own.

She laughed at his enthusiasm “Well I must say I haven’t seen anyone that excited after a battle! I’ll have to catch up with Burgh and ask”. Your mom turned to face everybody.

“Please watch each other back, I still worry about my little ball of fury here and I want them back safe” she could tell they were just a group of kids, they reminded her of herself when she was younger.

“We’ve had each other back this far, we'll be even stronger with one more to the team!” Cilan stepped up wanting to ease your mothers' nerves.

Giving a hefty sigh your mother let go of you “Okay, make sure you take care of that pocket watch and message me, please? I love you” Kissing your forehead, you hug her and saying ‘i love you’ too.

With that everyone set off to leave, waving goodbye to your mom one last time as you lost sight of her. A new bigger adventure ahead, bigger than you could have ever hoped for.

Iris the tease she was “So, little ball of fury? What's that all about”

“Oh uhh, I use to be a bit of a fighter when I was younger, still kinda am, but I would get in fights because when other kids in school would get picked on I jumped in to help them get away which would end in a fight with the bullies” little bit of a fib, you would jump in without a thought and everyone knew it so people would bait you into fight.

“Wow really? What did your mom think about you getting into fights all the time?” Iris questioned further.

“Eh she wasn’t that happy with me, said I’d get myself into a big mess one of these days if I couldn’t cool my attitude, but around that time is when Burgh let me help in the gym and tend to the plants helped keep me out of trouble” thinking back your mom is probably the one that asked burgh if you could go to the gym, considering you wanted to be a gym leader one day.

“Glad to know that you found a good outlet for your anger, being able to concentrate emotions into a single thing can do wonders!” Cilan chipped in.

It was nice getting to talk about this stuff, everyone started talking about their favorite thing to do, everyone had something different even Pikachu and Axew started making noise no doubt trying to share their thing. It was a great start to the journey and it could only get better.

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

Done and Done, hope ya'll enjoy this. Again if there are any errors in the chapter let me know, I try my best to triple-check but things slip through the cracks sometimes.

[hotchley]

the first christmas

please don’t judge the title or quaity of this, it’s 00:50 and i’ve not proofread it. we’re just going to go with it.

summary: it’s baby hotchner’s first christmas that he’s actually going to remember. it’s mostly pure fluff with like the smallest amount of angst, but the ending is happy and nobody dies or gets hurt so we’re classing it as a win. and fluffy.

trigger warnings: implied/referenced child abuse

read on ao3!

Christmas was fast-approaching, and they still weren’t ready. Initially, Dave had wanted everything to be perfect. Now… he just wanted everything to be ready before Aaron woke up. SSA Hotchner had taken a tumble into a river and emerged from it as an eight-year-old. Well, a sort of eight-year-old. He had memories of being an adult, but they were fuzzy at best. And his speech, the way he did things, and his size were that of an eight-year-old.

Jack seemed to be having the time of his life. Dave was just worried they were going to do something horrifically wrong. Like Christmas. Hotch never really opened up about his plans for the holiday season, and now, every time someone tried to get him to open up about what he wanted to do, he clammed up. Or he’d change the subject.

One time, Spencer had asked, and he’d run out the room before he could even finish the question.

They stopped trying to ask him after that. Jessica had no idea what his Christmas traditions had been growing up as her family had only moved when he was going into his senior year, and after him and Haley got married, she still never really knew what the two of them got up to. Jack had seemed uncomfortable when they asked him. After much prodding and gentle confirmation that there would be no judgement, no matter what he said, Emily managed to pry the information from him.

In the years between the divorce and Haley’s death, Christmas was spent with Haley and Jessica, with Aaron there but not really there because you could cut the tension with a knife. After she died, Hotch had always sent Jack to his grandparents for Christmas because then he could see his cousins and spend time with the family he rarely saw. Which meant Hotch usually spent Christmas as an adult alone and sad.

He couldn’t believe none of them had ever realised, but then JJ and Will would always go and see her mom. Spencer would go down to Las Vegas. Derek and Penelope would go to Chicago and then to visit her parents grave. Dave’s plans varied on who was in the area and Emily usually went as far from her family as was possible. But they had all at least had someone. Hotch had nobody.

Rossi suspected that was how he spent a lot of his childhood too. There was no other reason that he would be so small. Because Rossi remembered Jack and Henry when they were the age Hotch now was. They were both healthy and lively. Hotch seemed far too small and far too nervous for a child that was supposedly safe.

He shook his head and stared at the sight before him. The tree that he had gotten at the last minute was still bare because every time he tried to decorate it, something just wouldn’t look right. Garcia was going to come round with cookies and the rest of the team would also be arriving at various different times with assorted items. He knew that meant presents.

Garcia arrived thirty minutes early. When he opened the door to her, he was greeted by bags. Lots and lots of bags.

“Penelope, what have you done?”

She walked in with the two smallest and lightest bags. He sighed and picked up the rest, following her into the hallway as she toed off her shoes and hung up her coat.

“Well Hotch won’t open up about Christmas so we don’t know what traditions he remembers or did. Which means we need to do all of them. I have decorations, cookie ingredients, stockings, films, books and of course, everything you need for the perfect hot chocolate. And he may still believe in Santa so there are some carrots and mince pies.”

“Wait. Cookie ingredients? I thought you were going to bring them?”

Garcia didn’t respond. She’d walked into the living room whilst she had explained what was in the bags and Rossi suspected it was because she hadn’t heard him. He sighed and followed her in. She was staring at the tree.

“What is that?” she whispered, seemingly horrified.

“Look don’t judge me. I tried to decorate it. Multiple times. But every time, something just didn’t look right and I had to start over. I’m a perfectionist. Sue me.”

She turned and stared at him. “Rossi, I don’t know what planet you’ve been living on, but a Christmas tree isn’t supposed to look perfect. It’s supposed to be fun. And I know you want to surprise bossboy, but I think he should be involved. After all, he probably doesn’t remember a single Christmas fondly.”

Rossi realised she, as always, was right. “I guess I got so caught up in trying to get everything to be perfect for him that I forgot it was meant to be fun.”

“Would you look at that? He’s willing to admit when he’s wrong. Where is baby Hotchner at the moment?”

“Upstairs, napping. I don’t think he slept well last night. I also don’t think he likes being called baby Hotchner given that he’s not actually a baby.”

“Well what am I meant to call him? If I say Hotch, then it sounds like I’m referring to the big, mean to unsubs but sweet to the rest of us, federal agent. And Aaron just feels wrong.”

Rossi smiled at her antics. “Maybe. We’ll come up with a better nickname at some point. Do you want me to get him or will you be okay?”

“Oh I’ll get him! Kids that have just woken up are the cutest thing ever!”

Twenty minutes later, Garcia came down the stairs, her hand being held by Aaron.

He looked tiny, even for a child. His pyjamas, which consisted of a green dinosaur top and matching bottoms (only the bottoms had different dinosaurs all over it whilst the top was a single red one) seemed to swallow him up. His hair was falling in his face and incredibly floppy, only made worse by his recent waking up.

It was an adorable sight, watching him rub one eye to get the sleep out.

Dave crouched down, even as his knees winced. Aaron stared at him with wide eyes.

“How are you feeling little one?” he asked.

Aaron shrugged. “Miss Penny said that we were going to do something fun because of Christmas, so I guess I’m okay.”

It took Rossi a moment to understand what he was saying. He doubted any of them- aside from Will- would actually be able to understand his accent immediately for a long time.

“Yeah. We are going to decorate the Christmas tree that’s over there, and then we’re going to bake some cookies. Then, we can all sit on the couch, drinking hot chocolate and watch a film that you’ll get to pick. And after that, when it’s time to go to sleep, we’ll read a special Christmas story!” Garcia said, more excited than the actual kid.

Aaron turned to stare at her, a little disbelieving. “Really?”

She nodded. “Yeah baby Hotchner. Really.”

He still seemed suspicious. “No catch?”

Garcia’s smile faded and she sat beside him too. “No baby. No catches.”

Hotch regarded her for another moment then turned to Rossi. “Promise Mr David?”

Dave’s heart cracked a little. “I promise.”

“Okay. How do we decorate the tree?” he walked over on little legs to stare at it in awe, before moving onto the bags. He looked at Garcia for permission to look through and when she nodded, he smiled so brightly that Dave wanted to freeze the moment and live in it forever.

Garcia turned to Dave. “Rossi, I-”

“Don’t. Not now. He’s very perceptive. Aaron, we can decorate it however you want. You’re too small to put some of the stuff on, but if you tell us, we’ll do it for you. You can do the branches that are lower down.”

Aaron dropped the tinsel. “However I want?”

Garcia nodded. “It’s your tree.”

Aaron grinned and immediately started dragging all the decorations that he wanted to use towards the tree. Both adults got the hint and stood up, walked over to him and started talking about where the best place to put the various items was.

JJ and Derek came in halfway through the decorating process. Aaron froze momentarily, but when they both smiled and complimented the very hectic tree he relaxed and carried on like nothing had happened.

Morgan lifted him up so he could put the star on and Hotch let out a childish squeal that none of them were ever going to let him forget, and just like that, the tree was done. There was tinsel in all the colours of the rainbow draped over random branches, and baubles hanging off every available surface. The lights were wrapped around each section, going the opposite way to the tinsel and the star at the top was crooked. In Dave’s honest opinion, it looked horrific. But Aaron’s smile and pride in his creation made it beautiful.

When Spencer joined them, right before they started making the cookies, Aaron went into shy mode and hid behind Dave’s legs, peering out from behind him to see Spencer joking with Morgan and Penelope.

“Do you want to go and say hi to Mr Spence?” JJ asked gently.

Aaron shook his head. “Last time he was here, I ran away so I don’t think he wants to be my friend.”

JJ looked shocked. “Of course he wants to be your friend! He gets why you ran away, it’s okay darling. You don’t believe me? Okay. Hold my hand, and I’ll show you how much Spencer wants to be your friend. Come on, let’s go.”

He looked doubtful, but Hotch liked and trusted JJ so he stopped hiding and went over to where Spencer was.

“Hotch! Hi there!” Spencer greeted.

Hotch looked up at JJ who smiled encouragingly.

“Mr Spencer, are you angry at me for running away?” he asked.

Spencer frowned. “No. Of course not. I was a little bit upset, because I thought you didn’t like me, but now I get why you ran away and it’s okay. We’re still best friends forever right?”

Hotch nodded, face very serious. “Forever.”

“Well now that’s been established, lets make some cookies,” Derek said.

“You just want to eat mine,” Garcia scoffed.

“I’d rather eat something else of-”

Garcia hit him. “Not in front of baby Hotchner.”

“Miss Penny? When is Miss Emily going to be here?” he asked.

As if on cue, the door swung open to reveal her. “You really shouldn’t keep the spare key under your doormat. Anyone could just waltz in.”

Hotch threw himself into her arms and she stumbled back slightly. “Oh hello child.”

He looked up at her, cheeks slightly flushed. “Hello Miss Emmy. We’re going to make cookies.”

She smiled. “I love cookies. Do you?”

He nodded. “Miss Penny made some a week ago, but these are going to be special because they’re Christmas cookies. She decorated the tree as well, but I got to tell her what to do. Come and see it!” he said without breathing before dragging her to see it.

The others just shrugged, not willing to dampen his spirits.

“I love him as a kid,” Derek commented as they watched him explain the tree in extensive detail.

Baking cookies consisted of Garcia telling the others what to do and then doing it for them because they couldn’t do it right and Aaron giggling at all of them for being silly. His eyes lit up when Garcia gave him the bowls and a spoon before telling him to eat the cookie dough.

He watched the oven very intently. Reid sat beside him, and before anyone knew what was happening, Hotch was running over to them and asking if they wanted to hear what Dr Spencer- not Mr- had taught him.

Garcia let him decorate a whole batch. More icing ended up on his poor countertops and Aaron’s clothes than on the actual cookie, but if you didn’t look too closely, his reindeer and snowman actually looked like they were the things they were meant to be. And then Derek let him have two, which led to Spencer chasing him all over the mansion- not the house- to burn off the energy.

After several hours, they both collapsed on the couch. Aaron climbed into Garcia’s lap, eyes bright and cheeks red.

“I had so much fun Miss Penny!” he exclaimed.

“I’m so happy for you. Do you want a hot chocolate? We can put… marshmallows and cream and cinnamon in it,” she said.

He smiled. “Please Miss Penny.”

“Okay kiddo. One hot chocolate coming right up.”

He settled onto the couch, nestled in between Dave and Penelope when she came back and handed him the mug, full to the brim with cream and other assorted toppings that were definitely going to ruin his teeth.

“This is the best thing I’ve ever had,” he whispered to her, as though it was a very important secret.

“Even better than Mr David’s spaghetti?” she teased.

Aaron paled and seriously considered her question for a few moments before giving the slightest nod. Garcia squealed then went silent when Dave shot her a strange look. It was halfway through Nativity! that Aaron drifted off, the events of the day finally catching up to him.

Derek was the only one able to carry him up without waking him, so the moment they all realised he was indeed sleeping, they switched the film off. Whilst Derek took the sleeping Hotch to Dave’s guest room that they were going to redecorate as soon as possible, Emily grabbed the first book off the pile and followed. The rest stayed downstairs to wrap the presents that Garcia had left in her car, just in case.

Upstairs, Derek and Emily were watching Aaron sleep. Emily read him Stick Man, deciding it was the best story they could have picked.

“He’s so small,” she whispered.

“He shouldn’t be,” Derek said, switching Aaron’s nightlight on before stepping out the room, leaving the door slightly open.

Emily sighed. “Why are we so full of sadness on Christmas Eve?”

Derek wrapped an arm around her. “It’ll all be fine. There. Optimism.”

She rolled her eyes but smiled at him fondly. “Let’s just go help the others wrap, and by that I mean eat the mince pies meant for Santa.”

It was Derek’s turn to roll his eyes.

Dave woke Aaron up slightly later than normal, deeming the events of the previous night reason enough to let him sleep in.

“Merry Christmas little one,” Dave said.

“It’s Christmas?” Aaron said.

Dave nodded. “And I want you to come and see something. You don’t need to get dressed or anything like that. Actually, do you need to pee?”

Aaron nodded, so Dave let him go.

When he came back, Dave stood, ready to just go downstairs when he picked up on Aaron’s hesitance.

“What is it?”

Aaron stared at the carpet for a few moments.

“Little one, you can tell me.”

Aaron didn’t say anything but made grabby hands.

Dave smiled. “Of course.” He picked Aaron up, regretting it almost immediately but only setting him down when they were about to go into the living room.

“Close your eyes. I promise you it’s a good surprise.”

He only hesitated for a moment before complying and walking in, both hands covering his eyes that were almost certainly squeezed shut.

“Open your eyes,” he said, flicking the light on at the same moment that Aaron did.

“Merry Christmas baby Hotchner!” Garcia shouted.

The others chimed in with their own festive greetings.

Aaron seemed overwhelmed, so Spencer went and knelt beside him, explaining exactly what they were going to do, which calmed him down as he started smiling and seemed very excited for all the presents that were under the tree and addressed to him.

Hours later, when Aaron was resting his head on Spencer’s lap so his hair would be played with, Jessica and Jack arrived, having left her dad’s house early. They watched the scene play out from the doorway, smiling when Dave walked over. He nodded in acknowledgement, not wanting to disturb the scene they were all watching.

“He looks so relaxed,” Jack said.

“I still can’t get over how well you’re taking this,” Jessica admitted.

He shrugged. “I’m just trying to not think about it too much. If it means Dad is going to smile and have some better memories, then I’ll choose to focus on that instead.”

Dave smiled at that. They would worry about the cure later. For now, they would give Aaron some better memories.

When they were winding down for the day, Aaron went up to Dave and Penelope, Spencer holding his hand as the two of them were Best Friends Forever and had to do everything together- Aaron’s words.

“Mr David? Miss Penny?”

They paused in their washing/drying duties and turned to face him so he knew he had their full attention.

“Yes?” Penelope said.

“This was the best Christmas ever.”

Penelope scooped her into his arms, and when the others realised they were hugging a definitely touch-starved Aaron, they all came running over and in that moment, there was no evil or bad in the world because for the first time, child Aaron Hotchner felt completely and utterly safe.

[prancing-uboot]

Satsuma Dads Timeline

You know how Golden Kamuy is an awesome manga full of amazing (and super-hot) characters and a great main storyline? So what do I do with it? Naturally I obsess over those two old gremlins: Koito Heiji and Hanazawa Koujirou the fathers of Second Lieutenant Koito and Ogata.

It's probably the most niche pairing ever, and I thought it was just me fixating on that one panel where Tsurumi mentioned they were close friends from Satsuma. But the more I read about the history of Satsuma and the times they lived in, the more I’m becoming convinced that there’s so much of their story written between the lines and that their relationship and tumultuous past is what actually caused and keeps together most of the GK plot. But nobody else seems to see it!

So what do I do with that? I spent my nights in front of my crazywall of historical research, trying to recreate an entire universe of events 50-years before the gold plot starts, just to be able to present to you:

The Satsuma Dads Timeline 

or

Why you Should Care for Heiji and Koujirou

~1850

Koujirou and Heiji* were born around 1850** in Kagoshima.

Heiji might have been older then Koujirou, but not more then 5 years. They were both sons of high ranking samurai (noble bloodline), serving the Shimazu clan.

* Most likely they went by other names in their youth and then changed them a bazillion times to make stuff confusing, but let's skip that.

** That would make them around the same age as Tougou Heihachiro and Nogi Maresuke ** - the chief players in the Russo-Japanese war for the navy and army. Both share a lot of biographical motives with Koujirou and Heiji and Noda might have modeled them a bit after them so I'll include the parallels where possible. I'm not sure Nogi even exists in the GK universe or was he replaced by Koujirou completely. Tougou was recently confirmed to exist. He was also a Kagoshima-boy, and grew up in the same circles so it's impossible that he and Heiji didn't know each other from childhood. 

1856-65

Koujirou and Heiji train in the same gochu in Kajiya-cho*. Gochu was a Satsuma-specific education system, relying on small neighborhood study groups in which the older samurai spent a part of their time teaching the younger everything they knew. Starting from penmanship and Confucian doctrines and ending with swordsmanship, and the unstoppable Jigen-ryu.

Teenage Heiji develops a Koito-crush*. on Saigo Takamori (20 years his senior) and follows him around like a lost puppy. Koujirou makes fun of him, but in reality he feels a bit jealous.

* Kajya-cho was a Kagoshima district known now as "Home town of Revitalization" as most of the influential Satsuma leaders of the Meiji Revolution came from there. That also meant that they directly taught the younger generations as part of the gochu. For example Tougou also came from that area. I'm not that sure Heiji and Koujirou were actually from Kajiya-cho, but it being 3km downhill from the Nanshu Cemetary would fit in nicely to the place where Tsurumi and Otonoshin first met so it's likely.

** Gochu was a completely male oriented environment, so homoerotic relations bloomed and were even encouraged (think ancient Greece), hence the term "Satsuma habit" was later used as the synonym of homosexuality in Japan. But for them then it was just a natural thing they sometimes did, and not really an orientation. Koito Otonoshin crushing on Tsurumi might be a bit old fashioned but it's just a Satsuma thing, so of course his dad is cool with that.

1866-67

Both go to Kyoto to serve Hisamitsu Shimazu and there they experience the tension of the Bakumatsu period first hand. They soak up the patriotic moods of the Sonno-Joi fraction, they hear of the the assassinations by the Shinsengumi, they feel a revolution brewing. Being a hot-headed youth in those times made keeping out of trouble very difficult.

1868-69

The Boshin War breaks out. Satsuma, Choshu and Tosa fight to abolish the Tokugawa shogunate. Heiji and Koujirou join up and dispite their young age are given officer commissions*. Coming from a long line of Satsuma’s military commanders it is what they were raised up to do. This war however is nothing like the stories they grew up on. Instead of swords it relies more on modern weapons guns and artillery. What was supposed to be a short battle with the Shogun's forces, turns into a lengthy nationwide campaign of crashing shogunate loyalists long after the Shogun himself resigned. Koujiro and Heiji fight side by side and survive all the way to see the end of it in Hakodate. 

* Only the oficers wore the super cool Satsuma black koguma wigs and I definitely do need fanart of that.

1870

Heiji and Koujiro come out of the war victorious. Most of the positions in the new government are taken by Satsuma and Choshu men, so practically any career path is open to them. Koujiro stays with the Imperial Guard while Heiji joins the Imperial Naval Academy in Tsukiji, Tokyo. They compete for the most ridiculous facial hair* and spend their off nights “drinking green liqueurs under red lanterns”

Ogata's grandfather fought** on the other side for the Mito clan (the last shogun was from the Mito-Tokugawa branch). After the defeat his family falls into poverty. They sell their daughter to an okiya because they cannot support her ***.

* The Haitourei edict from 1871 allowed samurai to cut of their chonmage and encouraged them to experiment with western haircuts.

** I’m guessing he was active in the Boshin by the fact that he had an old gun lying around.

*** This "Ogata's mom comes from a fallen samurai family" theory has been going around but I'm not super sure about the time frame here. Usually maiko get promoted to geisha when they're 20-21. That means to already be a geisha when she gave birth to Hyakunosuke she must have been at least 12 when she was sold. That's quite late for a geisha to start her education. Or I might be wrong about Hyakunosuke's birth date, but I'd really like it to be 1879, so I'm in a pickle here.

1873

Heiji finally finds the guts to propose to Yuki, his Kagoshima sweetheart. They marry and a son is born to them - Heinojou *.

Koujirou's family chooses a wife for him **. She's from a good family, likely Choshu to have some useful connections. Heiji comes to their wedding in his fancy navy uniform to congratulate them and say goodbye. He'll be going to study abroad in the France ***. Koujirou feels like it's his funeral wake.

* Heinojou's birthdate is the first solid date we have for them from the canon, so I'm basing the whole “born in the 1850s” on the fact that the expected age of a man to marry was their early 20s.

** Arranged marriage was the most commonplace in Japan then. The families picked the brides because they were most likely to spend more time with her then the husband, taking care of the house and such. 

*** In 1871 Tougou went to study abroad with 14 other cadets to Greenwich Naval Collage and that would fit so nicely. The problem is that they went 1871-1878 and Heinojou was born in 1873 *shakes fist*. There were also individual exchange programs though and since in canon Heiji is mentioned to have some french friends I figured he was sent to France.

~1876

Koujirou is stationed in Tokyo, while his wife stays in Kagoshima, taking care of the family home. He begins an affair* with Tome**, a geisha from Asaskusa. With Heiji gone she's the only person he can open his heart to.

After abolisment of the clan system and privileges of the samurai, the dissatisfied Satsuma samurai quit the Imperial Guard en-masse and go back to Kagoshima to gather around Saigo Takamori and brew a rebelion. Koujiro - by then a major - is faced with a choice: to go back with his childhood friends, or to stay loyal to the government. He chooses his career.  

* I'm guessing he must have been married already when the thing started, because marrying a geisha wasn't that unheard of and wouldn't really cause a scandal or hinder his career. All three of the Meiji prime ministers Hirobumi Ito, Taro Katsura and Yamagata Aritomo ended up marrying geisha. So Tome being a geisha was not a problem - Koujiro already having a wife was.

** Tome is a random name that Ogata used in his Sugimoto self insert fic. I love the headcanon that it's his mom's name. Because of course he makes everything personal.

1877

In January the Seinan War breaks out. Koujirou fights against his clansmen and his former war comrades *. By September most of them are dead. He is there at Shiroyama where Saigo makes his last stand. Heiji is never going to forgive him that.

When he comes back to Tokyo, Tome doesn't ask, she understands and prepares him angler nabe while he sulks.

* Koujirou's situation is by no means an unusual one. Many of the Satsuma samurai landed lucrative jobs under the new administration and didn't share the dissatisfaction of their disenfranchised clansmen. Even Saigo's own younger brother Judo stayed as a lieutenant-general in the Imperial Guard.

1878

In May, Okubou Toshimichi, the lord of home affairs, who took personal command of surpressing  Saigo's rebelion is assasinated, branded in Satsuma as traitor.

Koujiro is not welcome in Kagoshima anymore*. His wife moves to Tokyo to avoid harassment. Keeping his affair with Tome is becoming more difficult. Especially when he learns that Tome is pregnant **

In December Heiji comes back to pick up the pieces.

* Both Okubo and Saigo Judo moved their families to Tokyo because of this situation, so I'm guessing that was a thing. They received some backlash from their compatriots but eventually things normalized (for Judo at least, because Okubo was, you know, slashed up dead in an alley). By 1898 Saigo was acknowledged by the government as a tragic hero and bygones were bygones. Yet Heiji still talks with the Satsuma dialect, while Koujiro doesn’t even have a trace of it left.I wonder if he still used it when talking to Heiji.

** Geisha were not supposed to have sex with their patrons. The fact that she chose to give birth to Koujirou's son tells that she dared to hope that he'll at least acknowledge him.

1879

In January Hyakunosuke is born*

* Ogata's birthdate is a shot in the dark. He could be anywhere between 1878 and 1883. I just really like the idea that he was born right into the middle of such a chaos.

EDIT: GoldenKamuyHunting pointed out that Ogata had to be born after 1881, since Noda placed him as Older than Usami. This ruins the timeline a bit, and I’ll have to think of the way to reorder it to fit. For now, treat the 1879 as canon-defying :(

~1881

After pressure from his parents and from Heiji, Koujirou comes clean and learns to make his official family work. Koujirou's legitimate son, Yuusaku is born*. 

From now on he effectively ghosts Tome. Her mental health** begins to waver. Tome quits being a geisha and moves back to her parents in Ibaraki ***. 

* Also a shot in the dark. This would make him 23 when he died and 2 years younger than Ogata.

** Before the 20th century the white makeup geisha wore was made out of lead, making them more likely to develop lead poisoning, the first symptom of which is the decline of intelectual ability. Fun fact: lead gets passed down in breastmilk in quantities super-harmful for the baby, so if we go with the theory "Tome went crazy because of lead poisoning" than that would explain so much about Ogata...

*** This is likely due to her health, not due to giving birth. She could have just sent Hyakunosuke to her parents and kept working. God knows how they made ends meet after that. Before they were be so poor that they had to sell their daughter. Now they were much older, she was sick and unable to work, and her child was another mouth to feed. Not to mention the cost geisha education was worse then US collage loans so she most likely had a large debt she barely started to repay. Was Koujiro at least decent enough to pay child-support? Oh god *realises* it was Heiji who was paying them, wasn’t it? *heart breaks*

1886

Heiji and Yuki's second son, Otonoshin is born, 13 years after the first. What's up with that, Heiji?

1887

Koujirou goes to Germany* to study military tactics.

Hyakunosuke (8) feeds his mother rat poison. Koujirou doesn't come to the funeral.

As a result Hyakunosuke is brought up by his grandparents alone. He likes his grandma. They might instill in him the same kind of dislike for the new government as in the case of Kadokura. They definitely install a dislike for his deadbeat dad.

* Japan sent most of the promising officers abroad to soak up the knowledge how to run a modern nation. The army was mostly modeled after Germany (the Japanese were impressed by their recent victory against France) so it's the safest bet that Koujirou went to study there sometime in his life. In 1887-88 Nogi and Soroku Kawakami were sent to Germany. So it still depends if Nogi exists in GK universe and Koujirou just tagged along with them, or are they completely interchangeable.

1888

A new division is formed in Hokkaido. Tasked with guarding the north and developing the land.

1889

Heinojou (16) passes the Naval Academy entry exams with highest marks, determined to follow the footsteps of his father.

1894-95

The first Sino-Japanese war breaks out.

Heiji and Heinojou take part in the Battle of Yalu River. Heinojou is stationed on the flagship Matsushima under admiral Ito Sukeyuki. Matsushima gets badly damaged. 57 men die (including three officers) and 54 more are wounded.

Heiji silently watches his son burning from his ship. Comes back a wreck of a man. Gets awarded a title of Baron under the kazoku system *.

No clue what Koujirou could have been doing then. It’s likely that he was part of the army that conquered Port Arthur (back than still called Lushunkou) the first time around in only 3 days **.

* I need to double-check that with the raws since I'm not sure Tsurumi calling him "lord" is meant to imply he had a noble title, or if it's just a honorific. Many of admirals had titles so it would be highly likely someone with a lineage and a service record like Heiji also got one.

** this experiance would make him a pefect choice for later leading the operation in 1904 so this would make a lot of sense, but it would also be a pretty heavy take, since that would mean he was present during the Port Arthur masacre. And as a senior officer too, so it’s hard to find any excuses for him if that was the case. Did witnessing the atrocities there influence his later opposition to the Japanese expansion into Manchuria? Was his instruction for Yuusaku not to kill anyone motivated by trying to protect his son from sharing his guilt?

1895

Tsurumi comes back from the war and joins the 7th (actually more like he’s demoted out of the 2nd). By then Koujirou is the head of the division *

* I’m guessing Tsurumi had to have enough time to work on him, to be able to learn all about the Koito family troubles and come up with the plan how to use them. Did he get into Koujirou’s confidence? Or was he just reading his private letters?

1900

Heiji stays in Kagoshima and spoils/neglects his second son. Tsurumi "accidentally" meets Otonoshin and they visit Saigo's and Heinojou's graves.

Later that year the whole Koito family moves to Hakodate and Heiji takes control of the Ominato torpedo division *.

* The Ikazuki was a new class of light destroyers specifically made not to repeat the tragedy of too large and too slow Matsushima. No wonder Heiji was willing to move across the country for that.There were 6 of them made in total. Cool factoid: One of those destroyers sunk after a crash with a civilian steamship off the coast of Hokkaido in 1909.

1902

Ogata (24) joins the army and specifically volunteers for the 7th division planning god-knows-what. By conscription he would have landed in the 2nd (Kantou region). 

Koujirou doesn't acknowledge him. Tsurumi does.

The Great Hakodate kidnapping takes place. Koujiro sends his best intelligence officer from Tsukisappu to help his friend and keep things discreet. Afterwards Heiji learns to appreciate the son he has left.

Later that year Otonoshin passes the exam to join the Army acedemy.

Fresh out of the academy Yuusaku (21) joins the 7th division. His father, plagued with guilt and bad life choices instructs him not to kill people and not to sleep around.

Yuusaku meets Hyakunosuke. Hyakunosuke tries to get him to kill people and sleep around.

1904-05

The Russo-Japanese war.

In February the war starts with Japan launching night torpedo attacks on the Russian fleet stationed inside Port Arthur. Heiji leads the third destroyer squadron aboard the Sazanami*. They continue the attacks over the next months trying to impose a blockade. After the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the victorious Japanese Combined Fleet effectively traps the remaining Russian warships inside Port Arthur. The Russians can't get out, the Japanese can't get in. Heiji can only wait and watch as the Japanese Army struggles to capture Port Arthur by land.

Koujirou leaves the 7th division behind when he is promoted to a member of staff of General Nogi’s 3rd Army. They land in Incheon in April and reach Port Arthur in August to start the siege. It is a drawn out blood bath. After wasting tons of lives in pointless assaults, the Japanese realize quite late that the key to victory lies in capturing the 203 Hill overlooking the harbor. Koujirou is made chief of staff for this operation.

In October they get the news that the Russian Baltic Fleet has left Tallinn and is on its way to reinforce the besieged Pacific Fleet. The race starts. If Koujirou fails to capture the hill before the Baltic Fleet arrives, the Japanese Fleet will be annihilated, and Heiji along with it.

In November the 7th division arrives in Port Arthur. They don’t get special treatment from their former commander and they’re sent head first to the 203 Hill. They capture it on 5th December, only after the artillery stopped caring weather they hit their own or not**. From their new position they destroy the whole Pacific fleet.

The death toll is 80 000 soldiers. More than half of the 7th is gone. Among the fallen are second lieutenants Hanazawa Yuusaku and Nogi Yasusuke - general Nogi's only remaining son (the first one died earlier in the same war).***

Hyakunosuke thinks that the losses wouldn't have to be this high if they just had more snipers like him. But nobody listened.

*  All of the Ikazuki-class destroyers were quite active during the war. I placed Heiji on the Sazanami just because there’s the most info about what she did and when.

** The winning strategy was implemented by Kodama Gentarou. He was sent to Port Arthur with the authority to replace Nogi. He had enough guts to sacrifice soldiers falling to friendly fire in one coordinated assault instead of bleeding them out by continuous suicidal frontal assaults. He didn't officially replace Nogi though, and he let him take the credit for the victory, because they were friends. It's a really cool story.

*** Interesingly enough Yasusuke, was also shot in the back of his head. His father when he saw his body asked only “Was it after he had completed his task, or was it before?”

1905

The 7th move on to Mukden. Koujirou and Nogi along with them. 

In May the Baltic Fleet arrives. Without Port Arthur, they try to get to Vladivostok to resupply. Tougou's fleet intercepts them in the Tsushima strait and despite their smaller number, crushes them decisively. Heiji's destroyer Sazanami, captures the destroyer Buyini with the wounded admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky **. 

In September the Treaty of Portsmouth is signed. The Trans-Manchurian Railway gets handed off to the Japanese. Later Koujirou strongly opposes the plan to develop it ***.

** Heiji's torpedo division was also responsible to delivering the finishing blow to the flagship Knyaz Suarov. Later this was written on Knyaz Suarov's last moments "While she had a gun above water she fired, and not a man survived her of all that crew, to whose stubborn gallantry no words can do justice. If there is immortality in naval memory it is hers and theirs". Gives me the chills.

*** Did he see that it would lead to more war? Mantetsu was the reason behind the Manchurian Incident in 1931 and later for the breakout of the second Sino-Japanese war, where a really ugly face of Japanese imperialism saw the light of day. So, was Koujirou a good guy all along? This I hope will be explained in the manga.

1906

In January Nogi returns to give a victory report to the Emperor *.

Koujirou "commits seppuku" by his son's hand. "Writes" a sappy goodbye letter to Heiji (probably also by Ogata's hand).

Heiji gets seduced by his son's dashing young commander and does some stupid-treasonous things for him, convinced that Central Command was to blame for pushing Koujirou to suicide.

In November Mantetsu is established.

* Nogi breaks down while making the report and asks to be allowed to commit seppuku for allowing such high casualties. The Emperor forbids him. Nogi waits 7 years until the Emperor dies and commits seppuku on the day of his funeral.

Disclaimers

I would say half of this consists of what already is in GK canon (even if it’s written between the lines) or history. The other half are my free guesses for what I personally think would make a better story ;)

I tried and tried to do thorough research, but in the end I’m just a humble fangirl, and not a historian, so if there’s something I got wrong, missed or misinterpreted please correct me - learning history is a never-ending story.

Sorry for linking directly to the scanlations. Support the manga by buying the volumes if you can.

This list will most likely be growing since I will eventually figure out what Koujirou did during the Sino-Japanese war, and I’m only starting digging in to the details of the Boshin War, so I’m sure I’ll expand upon that.

If anyone ever wants to use this information for a fic, please do. Copy it all if you want to. I don’t mind the slightest. I’ll love you to pieces for writing anything for them at all!

[earbuds-and-hightops]

An Open Letter to Supernatural

[ Spoiler warning for 15x20, obviously ]

I understand that a well-contemplated complaint about this ending cannot be made without first reading the original, pre-COVID, script of 15x20, but in the long run, the initial plan is not what will be remembered. 

What will be remembered is what this show created. What it became beyond two brothers driving around the country, hunting monsters. Characters were introduced and developed, and in that, Sam and Dean Winchester become so much more than two kids living on the road. In the past 15 years, the cast, and thus the family, grew to something that would be unimaginable to those who started this project back in 2005. Not only did the characters and their stories become meaningful, but the show itself grew into, well, a family. The fans who have kept this show alive since Day 1 have come together to form what I believe is the greatest community in pop culture. 

What hurts the most is that this finale did not do any of that development justice. 

The finale (and consequently the episodes leading up to it) reverts back to the story between only Sam and Dean. While some see this as an ode to who they are--their brotherhood and familial bond being the heart of their values and the root of their characters--I cannot help but see this as a rejection of their experiences this past decade and a half. 

What’s worse, episode 15x18 confirmed one of the most pure and powerful and goddamn beautiful romances that television will ever see. This story of an angel who abandoned his family and the only beings he’s known for thousands of years, all for one person. I knew from the instant the screen faded to black on November 5 that the story of Castiel will always be remembered, even if his feelings were unrequited. Castiel will always be remembered. 

And then there’s Destiel. I was genuinely impressed that this show would even grow to include a queer angel, more importantly, a queer character in a leading role. The queer-baiting and the “bury your gays” trope both make this confession and its lack of acknowledgement that much worse (and is worthy of an entirely separate open letter for another night). It matters less if Dean does or doesn’t reciprocate these feelings and more that it’s wrong that he completely ignores it. Cas’s love confession, this beautifully tragic and tragically beautiful emotion coming from a being who wasn’t supposed to feel emotions at all, is something that, unfortunately, will become a secret that dies with Dean Winchester. 

It’s truly a shame that the writers of this show let that happen. 

We haven’t even touched the fact that Castiel’s death was an act of sacrifice to save Dean. Dean’s limited reaction and lack of mourning* tears apart this phrase that has become pivotal to the entire show and fanbase: “Family don’t end in blood.” While it would be a lot to ask that Dean rescue Cas from the Empty and resume their cycle of rescue and resurrection, I think it’s only fair that Dean take the time to fully accept Castiel’s actions and words for what they mean instead of simply moving forward as if they never happened.

What’s more, Misha Collins is one of the greatest and kindest people in this world, and he’s poured his heart and soul into Supernatural, just like everybody else. He’s spent 12 years on this project, and the final two episodes hardly mentioned his character. He didn’t deserve this. It’s heartbreaking that his last credit on this show will be a prank call from someone trying to impersonate him, and not something that pays tribute to such an important character and important actor**

The most devastating part of this ending is what happened in 15x19. Pardon my French when I say that that episode, the ultimate climax of the season and latter half of the series, was a piece of dog shit. It’s incredibly frustrating to invest in 15 years worth of television and look forward to this ultimate battle between two average boys and God the Almighty Himself and to instead watch a 6-minute long fist fight on the beach with the only dialogue being variations of “seriously guys, stay down.” 

My issues with 15x19 lie less in the storyline that was chosen and more in how they were presented. I am completely on board with Jack taking God’s power and eventually becoming the new God, but the episode was far too quick to have any real meaning, and, as stated before, Castiel’s sacrifice, which allows Sam, Dean, and Jack to do what they do in 15x19, is hardly mentioned.

Most fans agree that 15x19 was far too quickly paced. The plot with Michael and Lucifer was questionable to begin with, but should have been an episode on its own if it were to be perused at all. Michael’s story in particular could have been fleshed out to reiterate this theme of overly loyal sons and their fathers, as well as their relationships with less loyal siblings, but was instead reduced to about 20 minutes of screen time. 

Though this is less important, Lucifer’s plan to make a new Death felt like a cheap cop-out just to close the storyline with Death’s book, but we can finish that discussion another day. 

The general fan reaction to this atrocity of an episode was that this was meta, and according to Becky, the ending was supposed to be dog shit. This, along with the untouched storyline started when Cas died, gave fans so much hope that the finale would be this amazing piece of art that puts Supernatural in the history books. 

While it’s obvious that an hour cannot perfectly tie up every single event and arc with a pretty little bow, it can at least...try. Any finale should, at minimum, pay tribute to what the show started as (which 15x20 did well) and what it became (which 15x20 failed to do miserably). 

In addition, a reference to character back in season 1 is incredibly frustrating when recurring characters with actual, well, character go unnoticed. I mostly reference Eileen here, but this also applies to Jody and Donna. Nobody even mentions the other wonderful friends who have helped Sam and Dean along their journey to Heaven. If family doesn’t end in blood, then why doesn’t it extend to include Castiel, Jack, Mary, Rowena, Charlie, Kevin, Jody and her girls, Donna, and so many others?

Dean’s death was sad, I’ll give them that (and honestly, I was expecting it). However, considering that this man has defeated apocalypses, killed Death, and taken down God, his death via nail in the wall was incredibly anticlimactic, and something that could literally have happened at any point over the 15 seasons. While Dean’s death was obviously not my ideal ending, I think it could have worked if it were done properly, and in this case, it was not. That said, I do appreciate that Sam did not try to bring Dean back, as that would indicate literally no growth at all.

Dean’s funeral was...pathetic, to say the least. Sam being the only person there was depressing considering that Dean had lots of other close friends (and you’d think that Jack would pay his respects, but apparently not), however, this is likely a scene that was impacted by COVID and the availability of some of the cast, so I will not dwell on that scene.

Dean’s time in Heaven complicates matters even more. Firstly, Bobby confirms that Castiel is no longer in the Empty and has been in contact with Jack. I would have loved to see this reunion; Cas is essentially Jack’s father, and I would have loved to see how their upgrading/remodeling of Heaven brought them closer together. I understand that the writers were trying to focus this finale story on the brothers, this goes back to my earlier point that you cannot simply ignore everything that that this show has grown to include. Bobby’s explanation also begs the question of why Dean had no intention of seeing Cas (or Jack, for that matter) again now that he has the opportunity.

Secondly, Dean’s instinct to go directly for the Impala was very in-character, however, the editing implied that driving was all Dean did until Sam died. As we know, Sam dies of old age, likely (completely guessing here) upwards of 40-50 years from Dean’s death, and that is a very, very long time for Dean to simply driving around the mountains. It would have been nice to see Dean reunite with other family and friends who are also in Heaven, however, again, COVID restraints.

Sam’s ending was similar to what I and a lot of other fans imagined (not necessarily wanted, but predicted) it to be: kids and a wife, living a normal, monster-free, life. I hate to believe that he doesn’t end up with Eileen (to my recollection, his wife was a blur in the background, and it is unclear if she was meant to be Eileen) however that might just be my bias and appreciation of Shoshannah Stern. While I’m glad that this storyline gave Sam the room to grow and develop without his brother, it also completely ignores everything that he’s been through this past decade and a half, and that is something that should not happen. Sam grew and changed so much since he left Stanford and leaving that life, the life of a hunter, behind feels very counterintuitive.

Let’s not even discuss the wig that Jared wore. It reminded me of the Cain wig that Rob wore in the Hillywood parody.

What shocked me the most at the beginning of this episode was the lack of a “The Road So Far” compilation. I hoped for the full song with a recap of all 15 seasons, or, at minimum, the typical single-season recap. “Carry On My Wayward Son” is such an important part of the show and the culture of the fan base, that it seems almost sacrilegious that the season finale not begin with this song and a memorial to the events in the past season (or series).*** I’m very happy that it was included at all, but I was shocked when Neoni’s cover took over.

No disrespect to Neoni; those girls are incredibly talented and I love their music, however, a series finale of a 15 season long show does not feel like the place for a cover when they already have the rights to the original, and the original is so iconic.

Lastly, I want to acknowledge Jensen Ackles’s reaction to this conclusion. At a con panel about a year ago, he said that he needed to be talked into agreeing to this script by Erik Kripke himself, because the ending just wasn’t sitting right with him. So many fans took this to believe that he was homophobic and afraid that of Destiel becoming fully canon, and he got so much more hate than he deserved, because ultimately, he was right in his first opinion. This isn’t the way this story should have ended. Jensen explained that he had been “too close” to the story, and that it took a more holistic view from a step backwards (the audience’s perspective, as he puts it) to agree on this ending, but honestly, nobody knows Dean Winchester better than Jensen, and he knows what’s best and what would be the best way to finish this character’s arc. I think fans and Jensen alike agree that this wasn’t it.

I sympathize with all of the cast and crew members who disagree with how this show ended but are bounded by contract to support this show no matter what. Especially Misha and Jensen.

Over all, I believe that Supernatural will go down in history (in internet communities, at least) as one of the greatest shows ever. While I do agree that the writing quality in terms of both dialogue and plot declined as years passed, the community, the family, that this show created cannot be ignored because of a poorly written/planned ending. I think that the fandom will collectively let go of this disaster of an ending that we were given and will, just like Sam and Dean, write our own stories. I have full faith and confidence that Supernatural will not be represented by this finale episode, but by the beautiful stories, amazing characters, and the family that this show created and what the fans have chosen to do with it.

Sincerely,

A Fiercely Frustrated but Fiercely Loyal Fan

* I do not count that last clip of Dean crying on the floor as mourning. In my mind, that was a reaction, not an emotional healing and overcoming, if that makes sense. I argue that if Dean were to fully mourn and process everything (like Sam did in 15x20) we would have seen at least a bit of that on screen. 

** This is where I would have loved to see some of the original scripts. I hope that the writers initial intentions were to have Misha more involved in these last two episodes than what was likely a voice memo created in 10 minutes tops at Misha’s house.

*** The strange montage at the end of 15x19 makes so much more sense. I still would have preferred that montage at the beginning of 15x20. This also shines light on the video that Misha posted. What would we do without him :)

[etraytin]

Quarantine, Day 194

September 21

So I didn't get done anything that involved leaving the house today, which is not great. It was just kind of a failure to launch day, I guess. I did get stuff done inside the house though; folded the laundry, made an enormous pot of spaghetti and meatballs, dewormed the kittens, etc. I will definitely have to leave the house tomorrow because when the kiddo realized tomorrow is going to be gorgeous all day, he was sad until I told him we could try doing school outside by hotspotting off my phone. (unlimited data on the family plan ftw!) He has now come up with an elaborate plan that also involves snacks and drinks, so I may have to get up a bit earlier than usual to set stuff up. I'm nobody's Pinterest Mom, but it's nice to do something a little different and fun sometimes. 

I realized I've been falling a little behind on watering my garden because I got so used to the rain, so I gave everything a good drink and perked it up today. I also harvested some more lemongrass and some ginger leaves and made a very nice tea from them. I learned today that lemongrass is perennial, so there is a possibility it might live through the winter and come back next year. It's not certain because I planted it in the most ridiculous possible spot, one of the side pockets in a strawberry pot, but it apparently liked it there well enough to grow like crazy all through the late summer. It and the lavender both survived, the cilantro grew and flowered and died, and the dill apparently didn't like being there. I did not put any strawberries in the strawberry pot this year because the plants I bought were too big. I think we may have explored this topic in the early early days of this journal but that was a thousand years ago and I do not remember. The ginger leaves just came from some ginger root that I forgot to use and stuck in an unused pot of dirt when it got all wrinkly. It grew beautifully! (Here's the strawberry pot early this summer on its trip to North Carolina. I got it in Laredo and it is one of my favorite things.)

I explained to the kiddo that today was the autumnal equinox, the day of the year where day and night are balanced, just before the nights start getting longer. He sighed and wished it was the other way around, so I also explained the vernal equinox. He was not impressed. He spent more time outdoors today and also a lot of time in with the kittens. They are at an extremely fun age right now, though apparently Audiva nearly got him chat banned on his minecraft server for typing gibberish. I can empathize, Sebell nearly installed the Harris Teeter app on my phone this evening by sitting on it. The biggest problem with the kiddo's current kitten preoccupation is definitely his allergies, poor kid. At least we have allergy meds for him. I also gave the kittens their second dewormer this evening, to take care of any nasty little roundworms. It's only Pyrantel though, so they'll probably need Drontal as well to take care of any tapeworms. Any kitten who has had fleas might have tapeworms, yucky. Better to take care of it while they are young and in foster! 

I keep telling myself that it is almost the end of the month, but it really is not. I can put off shopping for a few more days, but not ten full days till payday. The good news is I did get paid for some mystery shops I did a few weeks ago, so that's 70 dollars in pay any reimbursement that can go towards groceries. I already told my shopping people that I'm not doing any more restaurant shops this month because I'm out of money. They understand, they don't exactly have glamorous high-paying jobs themselves. I may, I suppose, do a couple of grocery store shops because I have to get groceries anyway, may as well take the edge off by getting a little bit paid for, right? If only it weren't the most expensive grocery stores hiring mystery shoppers! I have an extensive list by now that just keeps growing and growing, but the only thing I bought today was another pack of 50 disposable masks. They're cheap on Amazon if you don't mind waiting a month for them to ship, so I have just been ordering a new pack (about six dollars) every few weeks and assuming I will be ready for them by the time they arrive. 

In the meantime, I made a huge pot of spaghetti tonight so that we will have several meals worth of leftovers. I also pulled a ham out of the freezer (buy your ham after the ham holidays, so cheap!) and by the time the spaghetti is gone, the ham should be ready to cook. My husband doesn't like ham by itself much, but ham is incredibly versatile and can go into a million things. Plus ham salad is one of my favorite lunch foods ever. Anyway, I chopped up an onion and cooked it in a little butter till it was just starting to go a little golden, then threw in garlic and a pound of ground beef and a bunch of Penzey's Pasta Sprinkle. I used my Dutch oven because I wanted to make _lots._ When the meat was cooked I sponged off some of the grease with paper towels, then added an undrained can of diced tomatoes, a couple spoonsful of sugar, some salt and pepper, and three cans of the cheapest brand of spaghetti sauce. You really can't beat the convenience and volume of just oomphing up the kind of sauce that's 88 cents for a 20 ounce can. I threw in a bunch of frozen meatballs and simmered it for twenty minutes, then added a few big handfuls of mozzarella cheese and served it over angel hair. Very popular, and so many leftovers! I am the best at dinner. 

This day’s entry is already getting long, but I really ought to remember the Punching Mattress for posterity as well. The kiddo is now happy in his new bed on his new mattress, which means the old bed is kaput. I sold the twin frame in less than a day on Facebook Marketplace for 25 dollars. I paid 90 for it in 2013, so it was a good deal for both parties.  The mattress is only about a year old, but the kiddo has had a few destructive-feelings days and kind of severely messed up the fabric on one end. So it's not likely we're going to be able to do anything with that mattress and for now it is leaning against the wall in our entrance hallway like we're expecting a human cannonball over for dinner. I don't even remember who started it now, but it has become a good place to let off some excess energy by pretending you are a superhero or a championship martial artist. Yelling "punch, punch, punch!" while punching the mattress is optional but encouraged unless somebody is in a Zoom class. It's good exercise, and cathartic, too! I'm kind of melancholy about the idea of getting rid of it already.