#and he still does stuff w the gun-ho-guns

[soapgraves]

Might make?? My own vash au?? Where he actually?? Looks like all vashs?? At one point?? (Hair & jackets..)

Givrs him fluffy hair. Purely on a bad hair day. Sometimes he switches his coats depending on what hes feeling... His hair does go black at the end... So many possibilities..

I hit tag limit. The rest is a secret. 💗💗

[dia-reads]

I WANT TO HEAR ABT THE LOST SISTER. smth is going on w it i can’t identify

the importance of the lost sister in the stranger things narrative

okay so i got one like on that post. this is happening now.

the lost sister has always had one of my favourite plot lines in the entire series, and i'm tired of people saying it was useless or that they skip it on rewatches. especially in the byler fandom, where everyone seems to be insanely gung-ho on the idea of el getting independence from a break up with mike.

el may have started out as someone with very little freedom, but she's still a very independent character in her own right. you could argue that her independence wasn't there during the entire series, however, a key moment in gaining that power over herself was in the lost sister.

so by skipping it, avoiding it or not posting about it in general, we miss out on one of the best parts of el's arc in stranger things.

the most obvious and easily analysable part of this episode is el's relationship with kali.

kali prasad is el's narrative foil. they come from similar circumstances but have contrasting personalities and values. kali's view on their childhood is simple. she wants revenge against those who wronged her family, and attempt to hurt her friends. el's motive is practically identical, but this is where the 'morals' and 'values' come into play.

kali is willing to kill without thought or remorse. el is not.

and before you say "but dia, el has killed people! she doesn't hate it!" i feel the need to point out that el has never felt like she's ever had a choice. she kills because she's in danger, she kills because she has never felt safe her entire life, she kills because it is what she was trained for. she kills, because it is all she knows how to do.

but with kali, el is offered that choice. kali gives her the gun, and tells her to kill a man. people say kali is manipulative, but i don't see this at all. she gives el every bit of information she has on this man, his views, his crimes. she never threatens to punish her whether el follows through with the deed, or not. she is the first person who says el is her family, and does not hurt her.

that's crazy. just saying.

so we see el, dressed in black and makeup a mess. she is playing pretend again, trying to fit in somewhere at last. she holds the gun, feels rage and anger and thoughts of 'he deserves it'. but, ever our heroine, el hesitates.

she grants him mercy. she lets him go.

regardless of how the rest of the mission went, this is a very important moment for el. she makes this decision, not influenced by anyone around her. she takes control of her fate, her destiny, and she didn't need to sacrifice anything to do that.

i could continue with points like the entire power training thing, the meaning of family, the advancement of the plot. but that's obvious stuff, it doesn't take much effort to figure that out.

there is so much good in the lost sister. all you have to do is dig a little deeper and take off your shipper goggles to see it.

[businessbois]

undefined

Random Business Bay Compilation (i am going to make people care about them okay)

i am so very content to pretend that it’s still winter 2019-2020 and that smpearth is in full swing and business bay is thriving (or at least not burning)

timestamps+transcripts:

2:17:38 Bedwars w/ SMPEarth Crew

Techno: “¡AY CARAMBA! ¿DÓNDE ESTÁ LA BIBLIOTECAAA?

35:31 The New Businessman

Wisp: "Keep looking, okay? Alright? Yep, alright?” Tommy: “Okay.” Wisp: “I just need you to— Tommy, you can turn around now, the second you said Business Bay, I thought ‘You know what?’” Tommy: “OHHH! OHHHHH! OHHHH!” Wisp: “‘This makes a lot of sense.’ It does, it does make a lot of sense."

2:21:46 The Dumb War

LukeOrSomething fell from a high place. Bitzel: “Oh my god. It’s happened again.” Tommy: “He just does that for hours, man. It’s his only source of income.” LukeOrSomething fell from a high place.

57:06 War against Admins

Tommy: “Deo!” Luke: “I think he just wants some food.” Tommy: (with echo mic) “DEOOO!” Deo: “Kill? Kill? Tommy: (normal voice) “Kill. Come with me, Deo.”

3:59:18 World War

Tommy: “Bitzel really— He really do be vibing though.”

52:24 The Grand Betrayal

Tommy: “Me and Wisp, we can bow spam pvp, comba— strafe, you know what I’m saying? They can’t do that. They just can’t do that.” Wisp: “And Luke can animate it.” Tommy: “Yeah.” Luke: “Yes! No, it’ll be awesome.”

1:33:54 War against Admins

Tommy: “For the love of Business Bay, leave that man alone.” Deo: “Can I start a war? Can we start a war against the admins?” Tommy: “No! Stop! Stop! We are already aga—” Bitzel: (in the background) “Can we start a war?” Deo: Can we start a war against the admins?” Tommy: (in an American accent) “‘Tommy, if I started a war would you be mad?’”

53:26 The Grand Betrayal

Wisp: (singing) Luke: (to Tommy’s chat) “’Sup guys? I have an idea. It’ll be funny.” Wisp: (singing) “There. Out in the darkness...” (normal voice) “Oh yeah, let’s see if the lava works.” Luke: (laughing) “No, no.” Wisp laughs.

22:47 War against Admins

Tommy: “Alright, claps in chat. Claps in chat.” Bitzel: (background) “Guys, I don’t have any blocks. Tommy: “Why am I...?” Bitzel: (background) “Is there a ‘/f home’? No.” Luke: “Yeah, let’s jump.” Tommy: “No, I’m not pressing my spacebar.” Luke: “Who cares?” Tommy: “Okay, it stopped.” Luke: “Oh.” (laughs) Tommy: “That was weird.” Deo: “Hi Bit.” (laughs) Bit: “Hi, I need a rescue team.” Tommy: “Bit, you want some— Bit, here you are, man.” (throws blocks) “Oh, that was awesome. Did you see it, like, bounced off the side wall? That— Well, anyway, welcome aboard.” Bitzel: “Wow, that was kinda Dude Perfect right there.” Tommy: (laughing) “Shut up.”

20:28 SMPEarth: The Finale

(Giorno’s Theme plays) Tommy: “Where is Foot?”

50:00 The Map is Down Uh Oh

Tommy: (laughing) “Wisp, you’re really drunk. You’re saying—” Wisp: “Tommy, anyone that touches you fucks with me. I’m going to fuck him up. Tommy, do you know what I realized? I’m being way too passive, I was trying to be the nice guy. Fuck the World Peace Treaty, I’m gonna to end this planet.” Kyle: “He’s had a drink.” Tommy: (laughing) “I can tell.” Wisp: “I’m gonna— I’m going to destroy this planet and bring everyone down with me if I have to.” Paul: “[?]... it means nothing.” Tommy: “Wisp, you gotta—” Wisp: (reading chat) “‘DO NOT CALL TOMMY A BOOMER, CHAT, DO NOT!”

1:34:58 War against Admins

Icebomb: “Tommy’s stupid and poop.” Chip: “Yeah.” Tommy: “Icebomb, I will kill you. I—” Chip: “Uh oh.” Icebomb: “Okay, come on. Do it right—” Tommy: (switching VCs) “We’re going to kill Icebomb. Get in my plane.” Luke: “Actually? Okay.” Deo: “Where?” Bitzel: “Okay, geez.” Deo: “Kill.” Tommy: “He just called me stupid and poop. Deo get in.” All laugh. Deo: “I’m using— I’m using Brody’s stuff.” Luke: “Okay, this is my plane. Here, I’ll drive.”

58:29 The Grand Betrayal

Tommy: “Don’t betray the business. We are a team and we’ll stay as a team. We’ll lose as a team or we’ll win as a team.”

47:48 War against Admins

Tommy: (stares at hoed square in disappointment) “Was this you, Bit?” Bitzel: “It wasn’t me.” Tommy: (turning to Deo) “Was it—” Bitzel: “No, it was—” Tommy: “WAHHH! WHAT?” Bitzel: “What the— He has a gun!” Tommy: “What the heck!”

3:08:32 Starting a Casino

Tommy: “Oh, I don’t like anything. Except you, Deo, you’re so great.” Deo: “Tommy, you should really have armor on. You know what just happened.” Tommy: “No, I’m trying to be peaceful, man. I’m a pacifist. I’m a feminist.” Phil: “‘Trying to be peaceful.’”

27:46 War against Admins

Deo: (laughing) “Bit stole his plane. Bit, leave. Go. Go. Steal it.” Tommy: “Bit, don’t steal his plane. He can de— What the—” (All laugh as Bitzel flies away.) Bitzel: (laughing) “Yes.” Tommy: “What the hell?!”

1:11:14 War against Admins

Tommy: (mouth trumpets to Super Mario 3D Land) Bitzel: (mouth trumpets in reply) Tommy and Bitzel mouth trumpet together. Luke: “What is happening here?”

[teacup-baphomet]

G/t Drabble (Crash landed on a hostile planet trope but NOT via the a tiny vulnerable human in a planet of mean powerful alien bigs route)

tw: a bit of censored cursing. Uh. I’m not sure what else. Maybe broaching of sensitive tops such as sexuality and religion. But not really. Mostly it’s just rlly dumb word play/lame humor and a confused alien being confused (and kinda freaked/troubled due to the confusion? you’ll see if you read it i guess). there is some sad lorg boi times. idk. no romantic relationships. just a shaky friendship is forming between a crash-landed big-arse alien (a human! *gasp*  i woulda never guessed something as vile as that o: ) and one of the much smaller, very much not human locals. most want to kill the poor dude who got stuck on this planet of hostile lil guys who think he’s a monster and immediately decide they much off him asap. so like having this one ally is kinda important to him. But it’s hard. because. lots reasons rlly. culture differences. the language tech can only do so much. the size diff creates definite issues because trust is hard in general. and trusting a big being that could easily cause havoc on your planet mostly just cuz he /seems/ nice is not a very good foundation... there is much to learn between the two before they can be truly good frens. so uh good luck to them lol *raises glass* I mean. I don’t think I’ll ever write these two again. but I’m sure they’ll end up good friends. probably.

Anyway without further adieu, here have a disappointment (read: attempt to be creative but i’m kinda lazy tbh and still kinda bitter I can’t draw for more than like 10 minutes before I start spacing out :/ )

"We are called humans or the scientific name is homo sapiens" spoke the large alien, Lyle.

"Homo sapiens? That is rather long, is it not? Why is a "scientific name" even a thing? Why would that be necessary? Scientific name versus what kinda name? Emotional name? Why are these science names two words? Seems annoying. What is wrong with just calling yourselves simply homos? Or something else just as nice and concise. Straight to the point if you will. Probably. I... Uh.. I obviously don't know what exactly is the purpose of a scientific name as i already implied... Sooo..." The much shorter – and much scalier- native being (called Torrynts) awkwardly looked off the side to stare at the plain, blank, siding of their dilapidated, isolated house as if it were the most interesting thing in the entire vicinity. Which it wasn’t of course. There was a f***ing alien 15 times their size only a few them-sized lengths way…

 Lyle gave his new comrade – and only friend on this gawdforsaken planet that mostly wants him dead- th pondering, and possibly ironically, rather colourfully scaled Torrynt by the name of Kyvlar a bemused look, bordering on coy.

"Huh. 'Straight' to the point you say?" He paused with a small snort. "Well, my not-so-statuesque friend, do I got news for you~"

Kyvlar suddenly blanched, giving a Lyle a look that was like a knife to the heart while blurting out. "Wait, wait, wait! Hold up! We? There are more than one of you? Here? On this planet? Were you just a distraction the whole time. Oh... Oh no.... Have we really been victim a secret homo invasion this whole time! I-"

 Their panicked monologue was interrupted by a most horrendous noise. Like a slowly dying tornado with the hiccups or something.

"STOP. Stop I-I can't. I can't. This is too much much!" Spoke Lyle with his hand covering the bottom half of his  and his eyes scrunched shut.

 'Welp,' thought the Torrynt, 'This is the end. This is when I die. I should have known better than to immediately put my trust in such an enormous obviously dangerous specimen. Ho-'

 Kyvlar’s dramatic internal speech was interrupted when the alien surprised them by uncovering the his face, revealing a huge grin. ‘They weren't upset? Huh?’ The Torrynt blinked owlishly at the human in confusion.

 "Sh*t, bite-size (Kyvlar noticeably paled at the impromptu nickname not 100% the foreign joking tone, well it would have been noticeable to someone their size at least), I know you don't mean to, context-wise, but you reminded me of my great aunt Karen when my Uncle Todd and Uncle Copper decide to have their friends over along with relatives for a gatherin'."

Plastering on a faux distraught look and blatantly mocking tone, he  continue with exaggerated hand gestures. "Oh no, it's the...the...," he paused with snort, "... the homo invasion... No, no, no... Not here... not in this... this good, Christian neighborhood. Aren't just two of them enough? Oh woe is me!" The alien dropped the mocking tone and smirked towards the smaller being. "Heh. Good ol' great aunt Karen could never remember Uncle Todd was Jewish and so was the majority of that neighborhood.... It’s where my Uncle Todd was raised actually…"

 The said smaller being just stared blankly at the homo-no-human they supposed as just “homo” meant something else, they weren’t sure what else, beyond just something else.

 "Uhhm. Wh-what? U-Uhm, so what exactly is “homo” then? And what’s Christian? And Jewish too. What’s that? Are... Are those other types of -uh- intelligent, sentient creatures on your planet? Y-you know, b-beside hom-er-h-humans? Or are these subtypes of humans? What kinda are you? What is a great aunt? or Uncle? Does the great indicate a larger size? Oh gawd, a-aren't you humans b-big enough regularly? Oh... W-wait. O-or are you a great- uhm- great aunt, was it? E-er, g-great something? Ohhh. Zyntall (Torrynt swear). I'm sooo confused r-right now... " The timid tiny being, sighed in frustration before their eyes snapped open wide in a panic, and they did an immediate one-eighty with their behavior, and it was off all their previously trust, as wavering as it was, vanished in an instant, squeaking out a quick "sorry. oh, Z-zyntall... I'm so-so-sooo sorry. I-I hope I d-didn't offend y-you or anyth-thing... p-please, oh please, don't hurt me" while gazing everywhere except towards the much larger alien, hoping desperately the 'bite-size' nickname was just a bad joke...

 Clearly they not only didn't get what so hilarious about the whole thing but also thought he was a monster prone to violence – still. Lyle sighed, all the mirth that was previously in his expression draining out of him leaving him with an uncomfortable grimace on their face. How disappointing... They really wish there was another human here to share in the jesting. But alas, that was not meant to be. At least as far as they knew there was no "homo invasion" in the making. Lyle wasn’t naïve. He knew humans were easy to slip into a gray moral state, at best. The role of villains at worst. And many of his kind would likely take advantage of a planet full of tiny, vulnerable people. Lyle couldn’t help but inwardly cringe at the thought, getting nervous about something that wasn’t an issue. At least now. Currently, human-wise, it was just him on this distant planet. And as far as he knew, no one - well, no other human at least- had any clue where they were. It probably just seemed he simply disappeared. Never to be seen again most likely. Trapped on this random alien planet in scenario that is akin to some sort of a personal hell of sorts.

'Wow. Hello, major depressive episode that’s making me overly dramatic. I haven't seen you since I was - what - eighteen?' thought Lyle regretfully. Calling this planet a personal hell was probably a bit over the top. But still, he couldn’t even seem to keep the trust of his single native ally. It only adds to his feelings of lonely isolation. And he feared his lonely angst will only get worse and worse. But only time will tell.

Giving a small sigh, he mentally prepped himself to try and get back his small friend’s trust. At least he was able to laugh for a wee bit earlier. It had been so long since he had done such. It was nice. Hopefully next time it will not lead to a backtracking in his attempted friendly ships with an open local, or even worse, a hostile local. The little laser guns that native being had stung like a b*tch. It reminded him when he got bit a couple times by some fire ants during a vacation as a child.

-----------

So yeah these were rando improvised characters made on the spot.

But Lyle is a guy (he/him. He’d be chill with they/them too)

And Kyvlar is… a Torrynt. So like they/them I guess. Torrynts don’t have genders. Like at all. I guess they hermaphroditic (intersex if talking by human terms but not really as they are capable of reproduction and they aren’t human so… I dunno… Not even sure if hermaphrodite is a useful term. As idk if hermaphroditic animals, in nature, are capable of reproduction… I don’t think so? But I’m not sure tbh…). There is no variants like there are with human “sex”. And male/female concepts are 200+% foreign to these wee reptile-like aliens (albeit warm-blooded minded, so perhaps more draconian than reptilian idk. Also aliens being described as reptilian gives me hives due to a conspiracy theory that is like super bigoted actually n’ stuff. Very yikes. Don’t want to talk it about it rlly…). Their reaction would def be “wtf. That’s the weirdest sh*t ever” to such a thought as male n female binary dynamics & whatnot. No exceptions. They’d be like why a lot of you guys limiting yourself because of whether or not you are a potential offspring vessel or not. I don’t understand.

So Yeah. Uh. Anyways.

Their conversation about this prolly (or close to this):

Lyle: Hi. I’m Lyle. Just some random dude form Earth I guess.

Kyvlar: a random dude what?

Lyle: uh. I’m a dude. I guess I meant that I’m a boy though dudes don’t really have to be boys I think. But not to derail too much… Yeah. I’m a man/guy/boy/brosef, whatever you wanna call the male gender. Please not by brosef actually, heh. Anyway. Yep. A boy. That is what I am. Uh. How about you. I can just tell… you ….you have uhm two legs. Oh damn. Wait. That sounded so stupid. I wouldn’t assume your gender or anything. I just… You don’t look exactly human so..uh. UGH. Nevermind. I don’t even know where I was going with that... Heh. ANYWAY, so yeah what’s your gender is what I’m trying to say. Sorry I’m awkward as f***. I’m not used to socializing much. Been doing deep space sh** on my own for a few years now and.. uh.. yeahhhh….

Kyvlar: *stares blankly*

Lyle: Uh. Yeah. So. A Gender? Do you, uhm, have one? Or…????

Kyvlar: Uh. I think so? I mean I’m mostly a day-by-day I’ll figure it out then type but I, I really want be able to fix my home up. I want to learn to cook. Kinda suck at it now. Uhm. I guess… Uh. I should probably help you get on good terms with my people so they stop trying to kill you. You seem nice n’ stuff… so yeah. There’s that. I could use a little more purpose in my life. Not to-

Lyle: wait. Huh? What are you talking about? Are you talking about an agenda?

Kyvlar: Yes????

Lyle: *snorts* I didn’t say an agenda. I said a gender. As in A. Gen. Durr. Like are male or female or maybe something off the typical binary track??

Kyvlar: Uh. Er. Huh??? I, I’m so confused right now…

Lyle: Hooo boy. I’m so not prepared for this discussion at all.

-----------

One of these days I’m gonna have a character that’s silver-tongue and smooth af and not some bumbling awkward doofus (*cough* like I am *cough*).

[drawbauchery]

Search, Rescue, Pizza

fic by cartoons-tothemoon 

It wasn’t like Private was incompetent. He was a genuinely good agent, and as capable as anyone really expected a “new” recruit to be. There were even times where he was able to get the best of everybody else just because of his own understanding of their expectations of him and the skill he had when it came to reading his compatriots.

However, skill, experience, expectations didn’t determine how far removed from danger anyone could really be. If Skipper could be captured, even if it was during some off days, what does that say about the safety of everyone else?

Not the best of things to say the least.

———

Skipper didn’t know when Private was taken, but it had to be some time between walking home from a mission that left them overall in high spirits, and arriving at home only to realize something was off. Skipper generally lead the charge anyhow, and had been planning a movie night to celebrate the successful mission, but as he jammed his needlessly large bag of miscellaneous tools into the closet, he watched as Kowalski followed him to go to his lab for a quick five minute touch-up, and Rico walking as casually as he could so he didn’t look so whipped to Julien despite everyone knowing otherwise, but no Private.

Skipper peered through the doorway and glanced around their hall. Nothing. Nobody.

Maybe he got stuck talking to Marlene in the lobby? He was the one who delivered rent to her every month, he might just be getting a stern talking to right now, but it was nowhere near the end of the month just yet, and it’s not as if any noise complaints were reasonable at this point given that they practically had the floor to themselves.

“Hey, Rico. Private was behind you, right?” He asked, trying to sound casual, catching Rico seconds away from bolting to Julien’s room.

He shrugged. “Sh-should’ve been.”

“Should’ve been? Was he?”

“I d-don’t know, I w-wasn’t real-really thinking about it.” Rico sounded slightly a bit more terse at this, but he could tell that there was something about Skipper that seemed just a little off. Skipper wasn’t an inherently anxious person, but he was rather paranoid, and those two aspects tended to be a thin line to walk across. His bravado and confidence usually lead to him being perceived as more paranoid than anything else, but the tightrope he walked seemed to sway in the anxiety direction just then as Skipper began to tug at his lip, a nervous habit he must’ve picked up from SOMEONE, but Rico didn’t know who, though it did explain why Skipper seemed to be always sporting a split and bloody lip from a “recent scuffle,” something that seemed to make Private dote on him more than usual.

“L-Look,” Rico sighed. “He pr-probably got s-sidetrack-ked on the walk ho-home. He p-probably s-saw one of those dre-dresses or horse d-dolls that he l-liked and stop-stopped by a sh-shop. Sim-simple as that. Wouldn’t be the f-first time” On some level, Rico thought that statement was a lie, a reasonable lie, but still a lie nonetheless. However, the statement calmed Skipper down somewhat, worrying or speculating about where Private was, wherever he may be, didn’t find him. If he calmed down and remained rational, or at least, rational for him, he’d be able to plan from there, and find where he might be.

The question at this point was more to see if Skipper would take the bait for it and understand the hidden meaning. It’s not like Skipper looked to Rico for emotional guidance, and communicating with him was always far more difficult than someone as direct and open as Julien.

It seemed as if he did, at least, as he blinked once or twice and pulled his hand away from his mouth, opening and closing his fist a few times before digging through his pockets muttering, “he better have charged his phone this time around…”

Rico watched as Skipper nervously navigated his phone to contact Private, the only reason he did so was due to the fact he wasn’t sure if he was dismissed yet, and the last thing he really wanted to do was leave Skipper unstable like this as well as alone at a time like this.

Skipper pressed a button to put the phone on speaker, and listened as it rang.

RING….RING….RING…

Skipper felt his hand shake with minor violent tremors as he waited in anticipation. On some level, he knew it was stupid to be this worried. Rico was probably right. Hell, maybe Private even stopped by the theatre for some popcorn, you know, the authentic stuff for their movie night, and they were all going to have a good laugh about this as Skipper worried over nothing, before he’d make them run wind sprints and-

“Hello, you have reached the mailbox of the cutest cadet in your little cavalry. I’m afraid he can’t answer the phone at the moment, as he’s a little tied up at the moment, but please feel free to give me your message at the beep. I’m sure he would LOVE hearing it…

…BEEP.”

———

Savio was a unique sort of force to be dealing with in the first place, rather distant from the field that the task force played in, as well as being a threat they acquired as a team, rather than somebody’s illustrious past coming back to haunt them.

Which, being honest, was a breath of fresh air for Skipper.

However, it meant a new level of Hell for Private. Maybe it was because of how kind and innocent and unassuming he was back before they knew of Savio’s true cannibalistic, drug dealing, hitmen hiring nature, but he seemed to take a liking to him, and that’s quite honestly the last thing most people would want in the first place. The fact that he’d send him love letters and dead rats made the process all the more creepy, and Skipper knew this.

“D-Did he r-really r-record a v-voicem-mail mes-message in 2020?” Rico murmured. “The excess.” It was a withdrawn way of making light of the situation that they seemed to be stuck in, not in a mean, disrespectful way, just as a way to bring Skipper down from the state that he seemed to be in now, which rendered him as an irritable wreck, the littlest thing could set him off.

Skipper’s knuckles clutched his phone in his hands hard until they turned white, and Skipper eyed Rico. Rico didn’t know what he was looking for, advice? Consultation? Something? Anything? He was the wrong person for all these things and both of them knew it. So he gave him something he could work with. That’s all he could do, really.

“Y-you’ll be f-faster alone.”

That seemed to relax Skipper immensely. His grip loosened, he let out the breath he was holding, and he resolved to grab his coat and headed out the door. He gave a solemn nod to Rico, which was his way of saying, “hey, thanks for that back there,” and Rico returned it with a finger gun that said “no problem.”

It wasn’t very communicative, and it reeked of a weird machismo that didn’t permeate the group dynamic of anyone else in the group, but it was theirs, and it worked.

Skipper slammed the door and could be heard running down the hall, and Rico, a little shaken at the events that had occurred, simply watched the closed door with a blank expression on his face.

Skipper seemed off as of late. More secretive or less, he couldn’t even be certain of that. But, regardless, it wasn’t his place, and he was sure Private could handle it anyhow, so why try?

If Skipper really wanted to talk to him, he would. Not that Rico thought he was one of those people people talked to about things anyhow.

Rico pondered such a thing for a time, but shrugged it off to go see his lovely boyfriend.  There was only so much he could really do anyhow, so why stress? Was he worried if Skipper could handle it on his own? Maybe slightly, but it was also Skipper he was talking about. If he was the group’s Swiss army knife, Skipper was something else entirely. Not only capable of wielding the multi-tool, but so many other trades and tricks and hats that Rico was certain he didn’t know them all. That’s fine, he had some skills he hadn’t demonstrated to Skipper either. It’s not like he needed to know anyhow, that applied to him and Skipper. And besides, getting back to the matter at hand, If Julien was taken from him, he’d want to handle matters on his own, too. Nothing wrong with that.

Nothing wrong with keeping it in the family, so to speak.

———

If there was one sort of unsavory character Private loathed outside of your general garden variety thug and the occasional badger, it had to be Savio. If Skipper and Hans gave off the vibes of feuding ex-lovers, Private was sure he and Savio gave off the vibe of a drunk guy flirting with a girl at the bar who’s clearly uninterested. That’s because that’s basically what those two relationships were, especially since Savio had cracked open the wine coolers.

Unlike most of their “visits,” Savio wasn’t so much as present. Private figured he had to be somewhere, but, as far as he knew, three random rough-looking guys had pulled him down an alley, put a bag over his head, tied him up, and were dangling him over a dangerous pit that Private figured was filled with the usual dangerous pit things - spikes, alligators, just being really deep and dark in general - but such items couldn’t be seen in the darkness of the warehouse.

Private figured it was Savio the minute the bag was removed from his head. Savio always picked seedy warehouses for kidnapping, considering he usually owned the companies that held the wares in the first place, so he didn’t have to resort to abandoned factories and the ilk like every other kingpin in the criminal underworld did, but, it’s not like knowing this really helped him. If anything, it reminded him of the dire straits he was in.

Savio was fond of him. It was a creepy sort of fondness that never brought him any sort of comfort, but, that just meant that the warehouse men had no predilections about roughing him up before dangling over the pit, and boy, could he really feel it. Especially in his head, if he wasn’t so aware of the dangers of concussions, he’d be trying less hard to stay awake in the hopes that sleep would dull the pain on its own.

He didn’t know what Savio was looking for, or even if these guys were working for Savio at all. But he wish he did. Ransom, victim, damsel…If he knew his role, it’d be all the better for him to understand what was going on, and his fate.

If only he hadn’t dawdled so much, maybe he wouldn’t be in this situation. Maybe if he wasn’t just regarded as slow and silly and cute, he wouldn’t have been captured at all. It wasn’t like Skipper or Rico were kidnapped. They were regarded as too dangerous to risk such a thing. Even Kowalski was considered far more capable than he was worth.

And that just left Private.

Poor, sweet, innocent, naive, helpless Private.

If he loosened the ropes around his wrists, he’d fall into the pit. If he fell into the pit, he has no idea what was lurking for him down there, or if the fall would be enough to kill him alone. And it’s not like he could swing to avoid the pit entirely given that the idiot henchmen never removed the bag from his head, honestly, how unprofessional…

Though, given his lack of sight, he was able to focus more on what he could feel, and at the moment, he could feel the tension on the rope getting more taught as something seemed to put a weight on the rope. It made his heart stutter in his chest from the fear of the whole ordeal, but there was no point in making a sound outside of the startled gasp that was muffled by the canvas bag over his head.

He felt whoever was climbing down the rope climb down to his level, based on how they hung on the rope. They wrapped their legs around them, and seemed to have one hand on the rope, and the other…sawing away at the rope that held his tied-up wrists. Private felt the rope becoming looser with each methodical swing of the blade, but it didn’t make him any more certain that he’d be safe. He could still fall, and he had no idea who this really was either. He supposed he HAD to trust them, if only because of what the alternative would mean for him.

He felt the rope loosen at last, and even though he tried to swallow it, he couldn’t help but give out a short scream before the figure had caught his wrist, which alerted the henchmen based on their muttering.

“Well, well, well, looks like we got some unfinished business to tend to.”

“Skipper?”

The figure, now better known as Skipper, swung on the rope with Private in one hand and the rope in the other, landing on the other side on his feet, even if Private didn’t do the same, and seemed to charge forward to fight the henchmen. That’s how Private was able to recall the events anyhow, given that he was only able to get the bag off after Skipper had already had the one of the other henchman in a sleeper choke, and the other was down, leaving only one to go. As soon as the henchman fell to the ground, Skipper was able to avoid a swing from a pipe by moving in close, landing a kick to the stomach, a knee to the groin, and an uppercut to the chin to take the guy out for good.

Skipper shook his knuckles distastefully as he breathed a sigh of relief.

“That’s always a good way to blow off some steam,” he muttered, and turned around to be met with Private running into his arms for a hug, almost knocking him off his feet. There seemed to be something very poetic about the idea that he was able to take down men twice his size in practically an instant, but Private could knock him out, and he’d fall apart. Of course, Skipper wasn’t really a poet, so such a concept kind of eluded him.

After a few moments of holding him close, Skipper pulled back. Private’s injuries were luckily, rather mild. A split lip here, a large bruise on his forehead there, and some tears in his eye. All things rather easily fixed, though, despite this, Private avoided eye contact.

“Let’s get out of here.”

———

On their way home, they got sidetracked. The whole atmosphere seemed to be off since they left the place, with Private refusing to even look at Skipper, though holding on to his shirt with a wrought-iron grip and Skipper feeling the need to fidget in a way that didn’t register as suspicious. Private wasn’t a fan of when Kowalski began picking at his nails as a nervous tic, and worked hard to break him of the habit. He was sure that Private wouldn’t be a fan of something that actually caused him to bleed.

They stopped by a pizzeria. To clean their wounds, to decompress, and to grab a bite, considering that they were both rather certain that Kowalski, Rico, and Julien were probably all asleep on the couch right now, even if they didn’t mention it to the other. Private sat down at a booth and after Skipper ordered two slices of pizza for the two of them and a lemonade for Private, he returned to the table with a small first aid kit to care for their wounds.

Private seemed tired. He seemed distant. This seemed very unlike him. He usually bounced back from kidnappings and similar incidents no problem, but tonight…felt different. Hurt differently. Skipper dabbed at Private’s forehead with more hesitance than he had before. Private sipped his drink.

“Are you alright?” Skipper asked, pulling back.

Private looked at him for the first time that night and nodded slightly.

“Are you sure?” He asked with more hesitance. These were very hard questions for him to ask in the first place, but the last thing he wanted was to neglect Private at a time like this, even if he considered this whole thing to be outside of his wheelhouse.

Private hesitated, but nodded again.

Skipper took a stab at the issues. “Kidnapping gotcha’ down?”

Private mumbled something before slumping onto the table.

“What was that?”

“I’m not worth this!” He said, a little louder than necessary before returning to his position at the table and crying. Skipper jumped at the loud response, but felt his heart go out to Private when he realized what was going on.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not worth ki-kidnapping…I’m not WORTH rescuing…This all happened because I was slow and distracted and, and-“

Skipper carefully lifted his face off the table, in a compassionate move that surprised even him.

“You should be worrying about yourself! Not me!” Private accused. “You look like you got totaled in that fight, your knuckles are bruised, your lip is split, your face is scratched, and it’s all my fault!” Private leaned back and continued to sob into his hands. Skipper brought his finger to his lip in a self-soothing motion. He didn’t know what to say, he didn’t know what to do…What would Private do if this was him? Would he ever be in a scenario where this would be him? Would he even be able to face him like that…

Skipper sighed, quietly. He got up from his side of the booth, and moved to Private’s side, where he had himself pressed up against the wall. Skipper bumped his shoulder against Private’s to make his presence known, but that didn’t stop the crying. What could he say to comfort him? That if he wasn’t taken a civilian would be? That would be comparing him to a civilian instead of a fully trained soldier in his own right…he wouldn’t dream of demeaning him like that…he pondered more.

“I saved you because I wanted to,” was what he settled on after an agonizing set of minutes. He stared straight ahead as he said it, not trusting himself to look at Private. This got Private to lower his hands and sniffle, not cry.

Skipper continued on. “If I really thought you weren’t worth it, I wouldn’t have rescued you the first time that this happened. But you are worth it, so I-we do.”

Private wiped his eyes.

“You’re valuable to the team in ways we don’t often acknowledge. You’re people smart, you know what people are thinking when I myself…can be a tad insensitive. You think outside of the box, I can’t think of how many missions were saved because you think so differently from us. You’re artistic. You’re sensitive. You’re compassionate.”

Skipper turned to Private then, seeing him staring at him with big blue eyes so filled with…something for him. “Quite frankly, why wouldn’t I want to save you?”

Private blinked a few times, and Skipper was nervous that he was going to cry again, but he simply rested his head on Skipper’s shoulder and closed his eyes.

“Thank you.”

Skipper himself, once he realized the situation he was in, contemplated things. He grabbed a sip of the lemonade, wincing when he remembered the cuts on his lips. He was going to have to get used to that. Private didn’t seem to respond in the slightest to the stinging sensation. He must’ve been tired.

Skipper sighed. What a night. What a town. What a place for them to be.

A few minutes later, some greasy teen who was clearly giving Skipper a look that read something Skipper didn’t understand, or didn’t trust, dropped off two paper plates with some greasy pizza on them, and walked back to the counter.

He was perceived. He was perceived and he was known. He didn’t know what he was perceived or known as, but he was nonetheless. It didn’t matter what they were or who or their situation or anything because this teen clearly had their own their own ideas. Surely, they must. And yet, the world didn’t stop.

The world didn’t end. Sure, the world seemed to be holding its breath, but that was purely because it was dawn. What about the world didn’t seem to be at a standstill at dawn?

Well, if the teen had their own ideas about who they were and who they must be, then was it so wrong for Skipper to allow himself to follow such roles? To conform to the ideals of a single member of the masses just once?

Of course, that was the justification he gave himself in order to allow himself to stroke Private’s head in a soothing, comforting sort of way, after he had long since fallen asleep.

The city that never slept seemed to be allowing them to have their moment, just this once. Skipper never felt more tired, and yet more awake at the same time, as he made a silent vow to make sure that Private never felt that he wasn’t worth saving ever again.

(Gosh, I’m so sorry this took so long! This was supposed to be for Valentine’s day believe it or not. I’m glad I got to show Rico and Skipper being buds, in which their dynamic is like they’re straight dudebros, but also gay which makes them more aware that they’re doing this machismo thing on some level? Like they clearly care, but they also don’t want it to look like they care due to some baggage they have surrounding masculinity or something? I don’t know how to describe it, I think that might be a fun dynamic to play with.  Also it’s MY fanfic and I get to project the nervous tics! As well as applying stuff from my Tae Kwon Do class! Also this was supposed to be way less…sad? I dunno. I don’t know much at all.)

(Also! Apparently I’ve written 15,000 words of pining penguins? Wow…So this is my life now, huh? Could be worse.)

[disappointingyet]

Da 5 Bloods

Director Spike Lee Stars Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Isiah Whitlock Jr, Norm Lewis, Chadwick Boseman, Jonathan Majors USA 2020 Language English, Vietnamese, French (with English subtitles) 2hrs 34mins Colour (mostly)

Spike Lee goes up river

It’s funny to think now how adrift Spike Lee seemed a few years ago. Let’s go back only as far as 2016, when Chi-raq, after a token release in the US, took a whole year to make it to British cinemas. But then he hadn’t been big news since his triumphant 2006, when he made both a splendid mainstream thriller (Inside Man) and an epic TV documentary (When The Levees Broke). After that, though, little seemed to work, so he got equally critically trashed for a small-scale neighbourhood pic (Red Hook Summer) and unwanted English-language remake of the classic Korean revenge thriller Oldboy.

But Chi-raq turned out to the start of a revival. He updated She’s Gotta Have It as a TV show, and while it has had the odd dud moments, mostly it proved that Lee was aware of the changing times. Then came BlacKKKlansman, a good movie with a great story behind it, and Spike was truly back. And now here’s Da 5 Bloods, surfing in on great reviews and I’m feeling late to the party because I only watched it on the Sunday after its Friday release, and all my friends had already seen it and been asking me what I thought…

…and I have lots of thoughts, appropriately, because this is a long movie that is trying to do a big bunch of things at once, and one that nods to so many things, and – not least – is a movie coming out in June 2020 that features the Black Lives Matter movement. As with Chi-raq, Lee seems determined that no one could accuse him of being under-ambitious.

And yet, after the expected context-setting barrage of documentary footage, we get what could seem the start for a low-key movie: four former GIs return to Vietnam for the first time since the war. This could be an African-American (and hopefully far superior) version of Last Flag Flying, a tale of old friends gathering a final time to share jokes and reluctantly confront their psychic wounds. I think it would be fair to describe that as just one of the movies Lee is making here.  

The Bloods are Paul (Delroy Lindo), Otis (Clarke Peters), Melvin (Isiah Whitlock Jr) and Eddie (Norm Lewis). Temptations fans among you will be asking: where’s David? That’s Paul’s son, played by Jonathan Majors (who was in last year’s The Last Black Man In San Francisco), who invites himself along for the ride. The fifth Blood, though, is Stormin’ Norman (Chadwick Boseman), the one who never came back, and whose remains they are hoping to retrieve. 

The film hops between the present day, as the guys explore neon-drenched Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon back in the day) and then head up river,  and the war, as Norman leads them on a high-risk mission. The river trip is partly played as gentle spoof on Apocalypse Now, with the gun boat replaced by a brightly painted pleasure boat. But any sense of cheery tourism is undercut by Paul’s unchecked PTSD and his tendency to treat Vietnamese people as if the war was still raging (which it is, in his head).

Which makes this a good moment to say that this is one of the least balanced ensemble movies ever. This is Paul’s show all the way: of the other Bloods, Otis gets a chunk of the story, but not much character development, and Melvin and Eddie are strictly in supporting roles. Paul has all the rage, and all the contradictions: although his obsession with Norman, who was a political radical, remains as vivid after half a century, Paul is now a Trump voter. The journey we are on is his as he is forced to deal with all the pain that’s never really left him. 

It’s fortunate, then, that Delroy Lindo is up to the task, and increasingly magnetic as the film reaches crisis point deep in country. I had been wondering if the movie was going to pick up momentum as the film ambled past the hour mark, but it does, both in terms of the action but more importantly emotional kick.

Norman is also not a rounded character, but I think that’s deliberate, because what we are seeing is not a real person, but the memory of a fallen leader. The Norman his friends and comrades remember is a super-solidier, a martyr and a political visionary: he sits out in the wild in a palm version of Huey Newton’s chair.* In the battle scenes, the other four are their 2020 versions: I wasn’t entirely sure whether this was deliberate or ineffective de-ageing, but at the end of film they are shown as they would have been back in 1968.

Lee, who has always been a visually minded director, gives us a clear prompt as to which decade we’re in. The flashbacks are in the squarish 1:33:1 aspect ratio (presumably to look like a war most Americans watched on TV) and shot on 16mm film with saturated colours, while the modern day stuff in Ho Chi Minh City is in ultra-widescreen and in crisp digital, and then the jungle scenes are less letterboxy. (There’s also some Super 8). (And, as I mentioned, there’s loads of B&W archive at the start of the film, and some more along the way). 

As we get to see him do both here, I’ll say this reinforces my feeling that Lee is better with dancing scenes than gunfights. (I also suspect the war scenes were done on a fairly low budget. It made me think of Werner Herzog’s Rescue Dawn). And he’s always great with solo rants, and good with guys hanging out. The individual Bloods may be underdrawn, but they work as a collective, give the sense that they have shared a lot of intense times together.

There’s a lot of talk, a lot of debate, a lot of information. For all those people who seem suddenly hungry to educate themselves via the medium of cinema, this is a three-course meal, taking in not just race relations in the US but American imperialism, French colonialism, US-French relations, and Vietnam’s capitalist boom time under Communist Party control.

 And, of course, the fact that it was the Vietnamese who suffered the most during the war. However, I feel while that’s the message the movie’s dialogue gives us, it’s undercut by the way that the film is shot and the story unfolds, which does (as academics say) ‘Other’ the Vietnamese. Maybe that’s because Paul is so much the centre of the movie, and he never feels safe out here, and as it happens…

Three Vietnamese characters who get more than a line or two: Vinh (Johnny Nguyen), the old men’s guide, and Tiên Luu (Lê Y Lan), a former sex worker who Otis knew back in the day and is now prosperous, and wartime North Vietnamese propaganda broadcaster Hanoi Hannah (Van Veronica Ngo). And there are a handful of other Westerners: Jean Reno (as often) barely even trying as a dodgy Frenchman and three privileged NGO types (Mélanie Thierry plays the one who actually gets to say stuff): they exist for the dual purposes of plot and debate points, rather than being anything approximating human beings.

But this is not their story, it’s Paul’s, and on those terms this is a grand, satifsying piece of cinema, filled with incident and discussion and music, one both bursting with things to say and inventively shot, and built around a towering central performance from Delroy Lindo. You won’t feel short-changed. 

*’They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old…’ etc

(PS: there’s a whole bunch of films this reminded me of, but mentioning many of them would amount to spoilers, so I’m holding off. Feel free to ask).

[underneaththesurface]

The Martinez Murder

Omi: Good Evening Riverdale! I’m Omi Klyde

Estelle: And I'm Estelle

Omi: And this is Underneath The Surface, where we dive into the history of our town, Riverdale.

Today, we’ll be discussing the Martinez Murder

Estelle: And since this is a special occasion, we've decided to switch it up.

Why, you ask?

Omi: because I’m nosy

no, because I got to do the research this week. Lemme tell you. There’s some stuff that might get us in trouble if we reveal too much

Estelle: Luckily, we like living on the edge.

Omi: Yesss

a lot of this information I actually got from my older sister, who reported on this case at the time

Estelle: So we know this is going to be gooooood.

Omi: Adelfa knows her shit

Estelle: Can you say shit on a podcast?

Omi: Well I just did so, I mean, we’re not sponsored-are we sponsored???

Omi: Abe! Are we sponsored??

Estelle: I- I don't think so.

Abe: How the hell should I know? I just joined y'all!

Omi: alright, so, as we all know, the Serpents and Ghoulies have been in opposition since their creation, basically. Well, this whole thing was started by the waterboarding of Abdiel Martinez’s -the leader of the Ghoulies at the time- teenage son

sometime around 2009

Estelle: Wait-

They waterboarded a teenager?

Abe: what the-

Omi: the serpents weren’t as soft as they are now. The ghoulies were actually a lot less rowdy in the 90s/2000s

Estelle: I see.

Abe: Why, though?

Omi: Honestly, because of a simple wrong place wrong time misunderstanding. the leader of the serpents at the time was actually apologetic to Abdiel because apparently it really messed the kid up

Estelle: That's-

Abe: How you do accidentally waterboard the wrong person?

Estelle: But you said the leader of the Serpents actually apologized?

Omi: yes! 

Actually, he even paid for some therapy. 

The two groups had a truce

Estelle: Wow!

What happened to that guy?

Omi: oh, the leader? 

Not 100% sure. 

Think he died in combat or something

Estelle: huh. 

Omi: But...

Estelle: That’s pretty tragic

Abe: I knew there’d be a but

Omi: it is. And he seemed nice too, from what Adelfa told me 

yup, there’s always a but. 

Well, not long after that, the ghoulies went after the leader’s kid

Estelle: Of course.

I mean- why actually accept the truce if you just- you know-  go after the kid.

Abe: You said "kid", does that mean he was younger than the boy who was waterboarded?

Omi: eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. 

 the ghoulies might’ve been soft, but they still had some wild members from the 80s there advising 

yeah, he would’ve been about our age then 

the age of the boy who got waterboarded was 16 I think?

Estelle: Oh. That's-

Abe: NINE OR TEN????

Estelle: That’s just horrible 

Omi: nine or ten...poor kid

Estelle: But what did they exactly do to the 9/10-year-old?

Omi: they jumped him. 

Kid came out with cuts and bruises according to medical reports

Who the heck jumps a literal child??

Estelle: Ghoulies, apparently.

Abe: Didn't they do something like that to someone from our school?

The beanie guy.

Estelle: (wheezes) the beanie guy...

Omi: Nuggethead? Yes

a serpent himself

Estelle: I- I want to correct both of you, but-

His own name isn't that much better.

(whispers) Is that mean?

Omi: am I wrong??? I’ve seen him eat the entire menu at pops in one sitting

Abe: He's why you left the Blue & Gold.

That guy eats everything.

Omi: ok one more bash and I’ll get on with the story- 

but I have seen him eat a burger off the floor

Estelle: That's not just Jughead...

Abe: Yeah I'm pretty sure Mark's done that, too.

Estelle: No, I thought it was Brian.

Omi: wouldn’t put it past either of them

Estelle: Pretty sure Jonathan would do it too, if it wasn't for me.

Omi: teenage boys are something else, aren’t they? Like little creatures

anyways I should definitely go back to the topic because you’re usually the one who reigns me in

Estelle: The struggle is real.

Abe: Can't relate.

Estelle: (laughs) Let's save this for another time, yes. Please continue.

Omi: So, of course, the serpent leader was not happy bout this.

therapy stopped for the Martinez boy

Estelle: My respect would be gone if he didn't.

Omi: in fact, he was so angry about this, the serpents captured both Abdiel and his wife

the truce was over

which, is understandable

Abe: Oh no, not the wife.

Omi: the wife. But, the kids were left out of this part

Abe: Oh good, he has some morals.

Estelle: (wheezes) Better than the Ghoulies.

Omi: i don’t think the ghoulies ever had morals, minus maybe a few members. those young ghoulies scare me-they had the whole town scared of clowns for a year, remember that?

Estelle: Oh yeah.

Abe: Not a violent person but I was this close to buying a gun, yes.

Omi: those were some times 

Anyways, what is known about what happened next is the following: the couple was taken, reported missing for a few days, and Mrs. Martinez returned blind and widowed. Information was either redacted or they were unable to attain the exact details of the murder

Abe: Wh-

Estelle: Oh, that-

Abe: Blind??

Omi: blind

Estelle: I have to say, that is an effective way to lead

Abe: Are you seriously condoning this?

Omi: she stumbled into the south side emergency room, bleeding, and sobbing hysterically

no I get what you’re saying

Estelle: I mean, he was pretty chill and they abused that and now they paid.

Omi: makes sense to me

Abe: Y-yeah but-

Omi: y’all wanna hear something interesting tho?

Estelle: Oh Yes.

Abe: Oh No. 

Omi: Guess who’s kid runs the ghoulies now

Estelle: I- shut the fuck up.

Abe: Estelle-

Estelle: It all makes total sense now.

Omi: does this mean I can say fuck on this podcast

Estelle: We'll take the fine, should we get one.

Omi: daddy can pay for it we’re fine

Abe: Okay, but let's not overdo it please.

Omi: yes his son is now the leader and that is why the ghoulies are reclaiming their 80s wild child glory

also thats why they seem especially brutal towards the serpents

oh, want to hear another thing?

Estelle: Yes.

Always.

Omi: law enforcement never found the body, BUT

there are rumors

Estelle: Not surprised, honestly.

Abe: What rumors?

Omi: well, supposedly, there was a scavenger hunt

set by the serpents, for the ghoulies

Estelle: Oh.

Fun.

Abe: (laughs)

Omi: the body hasn’t been discovered to this day, as far as we know. But, that’s why there are so many random holes in fox forest

allegedly

and here I was, thinking we had massive gophers

Abe: Oh my god.

Estelle: Maybe they helped.

Omi: who knows, there’s lots of shit in that forest, especially that creepy funeral home and crematorium, which is also supposedly linked to the ghoulies but law enforcement hasn’t found proof of that

Estelle: How?

Omi: also we’re close to greendale and that town has lots of weird happenings. I suspect radiation

They searched the place

Abe: Yeah I believe that.

Estelle: See this is why I don't go to that forest.

Name one good thing that's happened there.

Omi: Absolutely nothing. 

too many kids go missing on the paths through it no way am I stepping foot in it

Abe: But y'all are dragging me to that house on Wabash Avenue?

Omi: its not in the forest. Free range baby

Abe: I don't wanna run into an angry man as we wander around his house.

Estelle: I'll get you some holy water, you'll be fine.

Omi: we’ll be fine. ill do a crazy dance to distract him

Estelle: If Omi screams, we'll run.

Omi: and I’ve never screamed

because we will be fine and if not I will ask Queenie for her bat

do you think ghosts like 90s r&b?

Estelle: I'd go for EDM.

Abe: Oh yeah.

Omi: so you have nothing to worry about my dear sweet Abe

theyll be dancing

Estelle: Now, some of you might have been wondering why it's the three of us.

You wanna introduce yourself?

Abe: Hello everyone! I'm Audrey Lincoln. Last time, Omi and Estelle decided to investigate the case of Wabash Avenue, and they've been thinking about turning it into a vlog.

Estelle: And of course, our lovely friend Abe came to mind.

Abe: So, the following weeks, I'll be part of the team.

Omi: shes talented, beautiful, stunning, spectacular, amazing, wonderful

Abe: Omi-

Estelle: And if our talented, beautiful, stunning, spectacular, amazing, wonderful friend likes it, she's more than welcome to stay part of the team.

Omi: i’d definitely like her to be apart of it, then we’d see you more!

well, I think that wraps up this week

Estelle: Feeling a little more unsafe in this town.

Omi: wait, you’ve felt safe in this town?

Estelle: When I was a little girl, yes.

Abe: Before History class.

Estelle: Or before I started following the news.

Omi: Valid points.

Well, I’m Omi 

Estelle: I'm Estelle.

Abe: And I'm Audrey.

Omi: Don’t forget to tune in next week for: The Truth Behind Pickens Day!

Estelle: See y’all then!

Abe: And sweet dreams

[rockingthegraveyard]

Anyone want to read my borderline erratic, obviously I’ve already had cold medicine, notes on an LoK fic I want to do????

I’m really attached to the idea and hopefully will still be when this cold is gone jasdkdhgfahsdfkjg

Kuvira wins!  And possibly more evil than canon but what fucking ever. 

The spirit portal opens only Kuvira is pushed out while Korra disappears. Air kids get away but Mako, Bolin, Asmai, Tenzin, Varrick and Zuh-Li are captured by Kuvira’s army.  (Lin and Su barely get away since they were in the discarded arm.)

Mako loses his arm. He is the one that blew the Colossus to shit and he doesn’t shy away from that fact. Especially concerning that Kuvira is out for blood because of it and he’d much rather take the brunt of the punishment despite everyone being involved. And Mako has the hurt arm to prove it. So she does him a “favor” and removes the damage for it and cauterizes the wound with hot metal. 

Mako, Bolin and Asami share a cell where they fucking break down because what else do you do in that situation. Mako is obviously dying.

Asami is called to Kuvira to explain her and Varrick’s erratic ‘Hummingbird” designs since they whipped them up in a hurry and it was only just the core concept of them. She refuses until Mako gets medical attention.

 What the fuck Kya isn’t in season 4??? Rando Waterbender heals Mako as much as they can (mostly clean the infection he obviously would have gotten and properly close the wound). Yada yada all three have a talk. Mako says hope is stupid ‘cause hope didn’t keep them fed. Asami says it doesn’t hurt to hope, especially that Korra is okay. 

Kuvira says Mako and Bolin (along with Tinzen, Varrick and Zhu-Li) are being sent to one of her camps or w/e they were called. Bolin explains what little he knows of them, he tells Asami he is afraid Mako won’t make it in there. Asami makes herself difficult and succeeds in being sent with them. They’re being delivered by train. 

Lin, Su (and maybe some others idfk) infiltrate the train. They’re undercover! Hair dyed, makeup covering scars and contouring all that good business. They’re all like whoooaaa. Except Asami of course, girl knows how to use makeup magic. 

They all escape, taking the whole back cart of the train with even more prisoners, in for a penny in for a pound. And they all form this sort of resistance in and outside of Republic City. 

END SCENE or prologue … act?? 

A YEAR PASSES or maybe more idk. KORRA IS BACK! The spirit canon really messed up her spirit or something??? And the whole time she was in the spirit world in a spirit coma, spirit healing or what have you.

She has no concept of how much time has gone by and is very confused when she pops out and there is Earth Empire soldiers and emblems/flags everywhere. Commence chase scene! Only mid chance she’s yanked to an alley by a member of the resistance who has infiltrated the military and guides her to the base.

Hooray reunion! Hugs and tears and Korra is confused af but she’s still happy. Whoop, where is Mako tho? Aw he was captured and hasn’t been seen in around 6 to 4 months (who  knows how trime is going along in this fic). Korra is of course all gun ho but then she’s like way how much fucking time has passed???

She doesn’t get over how long she’s been away but she’s trying to push past that because Mako is still missing. But it’s not like they haven’t been looking. Bolin and Asami especially. They haven’t figured out where he was shipped off to yet. 

[THINGS HAPPEN HERE BUT I HAVEN’T FIGURED IT OUT YET OKAY!?]

A group of them are all in a meeting with Lin or something when a messenger bursts in and say a lightning plant in the city had exploded! Oh no, how tragic. None of them expect Lin to crumbled up her metal desk like a fucking paper ball and toss it accross the room.

Turns out Lin knew where Mako waaaaaaas.

/cue flashback to what the hickity heck Mako’s been up to/

Mako was captured and was told he better know how to generate lightning and was sent off to the plant. Mako does know how but has a hard time with one arm but that’s enough to make him useful which makes it enough to save his life. 

The Lightning plants are sort of made into prisons (with the aid of some sold earth/metal bending to create places to store people) where fire benders are locked up and forced to bend lightning day in and day out because they have yet to implement spirit vines throughout the city. That and it’s still a volatile source of energy and they’re using it lightly until they can figure out a safer way to use it.

Mako ends up standing up to the guards to aid a young fire bender, who is, like, the youngest there. (He’s like idk, 14/15? Skilled but rough around the edges and makes mistakes not to mention his attitude.) That puts him in good favor with several of the other prisoners who start looking up to him. (Him being in the Avatar’s circle doesn't hurt either.)

He gets closest to the kid, who comes from Fire Nation parents, and a man who is mixed heritage, Fire and Water, raised by his Water Tribe mother and step father. Boasts how no one can redirect lightning like he can. (Names uuuuuuhhhhh Min for the kid and maybe Hahn for the guy???? Maybeeeeeee) ((((possibly a romance between Mako and Hahn because I’m already attached that for some fucking reason, weird????)))))

They all get to know each other, become friends, learn to support each other among many of the other benders. They all work together but there are sort of groups and Mako is told he’s sort of the leader of theirs (He doesn’t like that, he’s like, no, no that’s no good but they don’t give him much of a choice.)

Well one of the groups decide they want to try and overload a generator which will take a lot of fucking effort and possibly more than one. Mako tries to argue that the guards would never let that happen but they’ve all been watching, keeping time with how the guards move and observe them they think they can pull it off until it’s too late. He tries to argue that they’re going to get themselves killed but they’re fine with that, better die fighting then die used or something like that. They say that should it explode there were more than enough firebenders to protect the rest of them from the blast. Mako can’t argue that. 

It happens, a bunch of people die but they escape and the groups sort of all split off. Mako leading his way through the city he knows like the back of his hand. 

[FUCK, somewhere in there Lin had found Mako and was like, come one kid lets  blow this joint. But he’s like naw I’m good I got ppl here and I need to look after n’ stuff. And she’s like ….wat?? And he’s like this is all Korra’s fault, she made me care about more than my inner circle, blame her. Peace out. And then she left them there with a promise not to tell Bolin cause he’d understand but Mako doesn’t want him doing anything reckless and Mako will figure something out, he always does. He hopes af.]

Reunion tiiiiime everyone is sooooo happy, yay the krew is back together and Bo is happy he has a new little brother to add to the mix. ((because of course Bolin would be like, guess Min is out new little brother and I love him, that boy loves obtaining family))

other things happen, idk, that’s all i got so far, i’ve just been listening to sad music and laying in bed trying to ignore my cold and that’s what’s going on in mah brain

[kikyozoldyck]

i. catch me if you can

PAIRING: diego hargreeves x reader SUMMARY: you’re really going to put the Kraken behind bars. you mean it this time.  WARNINGS: mentions of shooting people, also diego being a fuckboi extreme

-- “I will shoot you, you know.” You say with only half a sigh, pointing your pistol at The Kraken. The alley you’re in is secluded, the only possible witness being the two deceased crime bosses whose blood is staining your shoes, you could kill the Kraken now and finally put a permanent end to this hair-pulling cat and mouse game you’re always playing.

“You say that every time officer.” He laughs, and he actually sounds fond.

“Well, maybe tonight is your lucky night.” You reply, making a show of clicking off the safety. You line the barrel to his head; you could very easily shoot him in the forehead and get a medal from the city.

The Kraken does not look impressed.

“I’ll dodge.” He informs you like this is the first time you’ve ever tried to shoot him. You can almost see him winking at you from behind his tacky tuxedo mask.

“I’ve got seven bullets left.” You say, and the Kraken grins. He’s got a very nice mouth, you think for a moment, all lush lips, white teeth, and wickedness. It’s pretty enough to carry romcoms and sell Colgate, and you’re not sure why he wastes it on vigilante justice. And you’re pretty sure that it just gets prettier every time you see it, which is far too often. “You can’t dodge them all.”

“You’d be surprised.” The Kraken remarks casually, and it’s your turn to grin. He yanks one of his knives out of a victim, gently wiping it clean of blood before stashing it in his breast pocket, “I’m very nimble.”

“You’re such a douche.” You huff, as he dislodges his blade from the second crime boss’s sternum, “Hubris. Pride cometh before a fall.”

“Hubris.” The Kraken muses, “look at you, Detective Dictionary.”

“Don’t call me that.” You snap, firing a warning shot to the left of his head. The bastard doesn’t even flinch, “we’re not friends.”

“What would you call us then officer?” The Kraken asks, and for a moment you swear he sounds offended. “I mean, we see each other all the time, I know your coffee order, and I bring you gifts.” He nods towards the dead kingpins, “we sure sound like friends, unless, of course, this is more of a booty call situation.” You choke on air, and it seems to please the Kraken immensely because his grin widens. Sadistic bastard.

“I hate you.” You say with feeling. “And, for the record, I would call us a trigger-happy criminal,” you point towards him, “and the cop who’s going to bust his sorry ass.” You touch your thumb to your chest. “Because that’s all we are to each other.”

“Don’t act like I don’t catch you checking my ass out every time I run away.” He replies, tipping an eyebrow at you from over his mask.

“Fuck you.” When the Kraken opens his mouth, you hurry to add, “Don’t you dare make a joke about that, or I swear on my life I will shoot you!” You glare. And this seems to tickle the bastard pink. He actually bounces on the balls of his feet.

“You already said that part.” He teases.

“This time I mean it.” You warn. “Seriously, hands up.” The Kraken tucks them behind his back. “What are you, five? Stop being so immature.” The Kraken sticks his tongue out. “Dick.” The Kraken nods agreeably.

“So I’ve been told.”

You’re about to say something to the effect of ‘go to Hell,’ probably accompanied by a bullet in his toned ass because you’re going to do it this time, you are. You’re going to stop the Kraken, and it only took you two years, three months and twelve days (but who’s counting?). 

You don’t even have to shoot fatally, although you’re pretty sure everyone in your department would want you to. You can aim for one of the Kraken’s very muscular arms, or maybe his long, lithe legs. It will be fine, and the Kraken really deserves it for all the trouble he’s put you through over the years.

Only, you can’t make yourself pull the trigger.

You hear the sirens, and watch as the Kraken pulls his hands out slowly from behind his back. He’s already scaling the side of the building, and this is the shooting part, this is where you suck it up and do your fucking job, where you catch a criminal.

“Catch you later.” You say instead, cocking the safety back on and shoving your gun back into your pants.

The Kraken laughs and disappears into the night.

*

The thing is, you’re a good cop. You’re amazing at your job, and you’re the youngest ever to make detective in your precinct. You’ve got dozens of successful arrests under your belt, some of them pretty high-profile stuff.

You’re a good cop, but you’re a little slow on one case, and no one can seem to forget it.

It’s mostly teasing, and you can take it because the majority of it is good-natured. Friendly ribbing is just a part of being an officer, and you know when it comes down to it these guys will have your back. It’s not the teasing that gets you.

It’s the sympathy.

“C’mon hun, don’t look so down,” Flo from reception tells you, plopping a chocolate covered pity donut on your desk, “you’ll get the son of a bitch next time.”

“Yeah,” agrees Eudora, not bothering to look up from her pile of booking reports, the same way she has a million times before this, “you’ll get the bastard.”

And you don’t tell them that you  already got the bastard. That you’ve had him completely cornered a dozen times, but the Kraken’s always close enough to getting away that you would have to shoot him to stop him. And you can’t do it. You can never do it.

And you don’t tell them that the Kraken always laughs when you tell him you’ll shoot him or that he sounds so delighted when he does. It’s like he thinks it’s a game. Maybe he does—the asshole’s crazy.

“Yeah, sure.” You say tepidly, mostly to wipe that sad smile off of Flo’s face and take a large bite of your pity donut. 

After an hour, you realize you’re too disappointed in yourself to get any actual work done and go home early to wallow in privacy. It takes all the strength in your body not to scream when your captain tells you that “you’re getting close” to catching the Kraken on your way out.

--

Your apartment is still a disaster from last night. You’d had your sister over for dinner, which quickly turned into her talking about the hot new CPA at work, and drinking a dent into your surplus of boxed wine.

You were only half interested honestly, the rest of your focus going to psyching yourself up to put a bullet in the Kraken the next time you saw him (a plan that clearly failed). You did offer to break the lady’s kneecaps if she hurts her, but your sister just giggled and told you in a syrupy voice that she can do that herself, thank you very much. You laughed, although you know she hadn’t been joking. You honestly think you might have to cover up a murder for her in the future.

You toss your bulky Police Department coat on a chair and check your answering machine. One from your mom, one from your neighbor, and one from your sister. That is the extent of your social life at the moment —your family calling to see if you've met a nice boy and your senile neighbor asking if you’ve seen her cat.

“So, I talked to Donna.” Your sister drawls from the machine. Donna, the hot new CPA at work. “And she has got a friend that is an honest to god millionaire. Told him all about you. You call me; you get his number. Take him to that one club you like, show him all your moves. He’ll marry you like, tomorrow.” She laughs. “And then, you’ll be able to afford better wine.”

“I didn’t know you liked to dance.”

“Holy mother of god.” you yelp, going for the light switch.

The Kraken is sitting in your favorite armchair, his long legs crossed on your new ottoman and his annoyingly perfect lips formed into a smug smile.

“Hi.” The Kraken waves and you reach for the gun on your belt. “No, come on. I haven’t committed a crime this time!”

“You’re breaking and entering!” you exclaim, gesturing wildly to your darkened apartment, “you are committing a crime right now, and anyway, you have been committing crimes for the past two years!”

“Your window was unlocked. I thought it was an invitation.” The Kraken says easily, reclining in your armchair, “Simple misunderstanding.”

“My window is triple-bolted.” you grit out, and go to check, “You—actually, how did you do that?” You can’t help but be a little curious, because all of the bolts are still in perfect condition, open, and they were on the inside of the window. You turn back to stare at the Kraken accusingly, just in time to see him shrug.

“Secret of the trade.” He chirps, grabbing your remote control off of your coffee table, “So, as long as I’m here, how has your day been?”

“Did you seriously pick three locks and wait in my dark apartment for who knows how long just to ask how my day has been?” The Kraken nods easily. You laugh a little hysterically. “Awful. My day has been awful because no one can stop talking about what a failure I am for not bringing you in.”

“Hey, you’re not a failure.” The Kraken tells you earnestly. And you’re still not reaching for your gun. You tell yourself it’s just because you don’t want to get blood on your new ottoman. It’s a lie. “You’re a great detective.”

“How do you know that?” you ask bitterly. “Your only contact with me has been when I’ve failed to capture you.”

“No, your arrest records are amazing.” The Kraken argues sincerely. “Seriously, I mean, you took down the entire Corelli crime family by yourself.”

You take a deep breath, close your eyes for a moment and clench your fists. The information about the Corelli family has been under tight wraps in the police department, and the only people who know who arrested them are the other officers in your precinct.

And there’s no way the Kraken could be one of the officers you trust your life with. No way in Hell.

“Have you been stalking me?” You ask, narrowing your eyes at him.

There is a long silence.

“No?” The Kraken  says unsurely, flipping idly through the channels of your television, “does Google count?”

“Just Google?” you press, suspicious. Google wouldn’t tell him about the Corellis and it sure as hell wouldn’t tell him your address.

Another long silence.

“Maybe the police database too...” He admits, sounding a little sheepish. He turns the volume down on the television and turns towards you with a little shrug, “know your enemy?”

“Right.” you sigh, running a hand through your tangled hair, “Fan-fucking-tastic. I’ll just add stalking to the list of crimes I’ll eventually need to arrest you for. It’s a pretty long list. You actually have your own drawer in my filing cabinet.”

“Wow, uh, thanks.” The Kraken says, and he doesn’t even sound like he’s being facetious. He sounds honestly thrilled at the thought. “So, want to sit and talk?” He gestures grandly towards your other chair like he’s doing you a huge favor by allowing you to sit on your own furniture.

“I need food.” you mutter, shuffling towards your fridge. “Leftovers. I need wine and cold pizza.” You glance over your shoulder at The Kraken. “Do you want some cold pizza?”

For the first time since he’s arrived, the Kraken actually looks a little surprised.

“Uh.” He says, shifting a little in his chair. “That, that sounds good. Thank you.”

“You’re not a vegetarian, are you?” you ask distrustfully, carrying the various boxes over to the coffee table before collapsing on the free, though marginally less comfortable than the armchair, loveseat. “Because this is pepperoni.”

“Pepperoni’s fine.” The Kraken says, with this weird little laugh. You nod and take a slice before handing the plate over.

“So, that’s it? We’re just going to sit and eat?” He asks as you pour yourself a hefty glass of wine. He doesn’t sound disappointed, exactly—more confused, and little… no, that’s not hope. It’s not, because that would be crazy.

“Well, I’m not going to shoot you because I’m a wuss when it comes to you, apparently.” You shrug, taking an ungraceful gulp of wine, “Plus, I’ve seen the way you move, so I probably couldn’t even move to get to my gun without you breaking my hand, or throwing one of your knives at me.”

“I left my knives in my other crime-fighting pants.” The Kraken  frowns, biting into his pizza slice, “and anyway, I would never hurt you.” He actually sounds serious. You consider, you’ve met each other at least fifty times before now, and the Kraken hasn’t attacked you once, even when you’ve pulled your gun on him. He just dances out of the way, and laughs, and disappears.

And you’re not sure why. Especially, when you think about the damage, the Kraken’s done to the others that cross his path. Most of the people he hurts are criminals—no, all of them are. They’re all criminals, and they’re always left hogtied somewhere you or another officer can find them, like wrapped presents on Christmas morning. The Kraken doesn’t hurt people who haven’t committed a crime, but that doesn’t mean he’s not going to start doing it in the future. You would be a prime candidate, considering all the time you spend together, and the fact that he knows where you live.

“Fine, you would neutralize me effectively without causing extensive harm using your awesome ninja skills” You amend, and the smile he’s wearing warms a few degrees, “Still doesn’t sound like a fun time. Besides, I don’t want my apartment to become a crime scene. The second I see you out on the streets though—bang bang, I swear.”

“I wouldn’t mind you banging me.” The Kraken chirps, and you gape at him for a second.

“Please, I’d destroy you, like, sexually.” You say over the lip of your wine glass once you’ve recovered, “You’re not prepared for this. Not to brag.”

“Is that a challenge?” The Kraken asks thoughtfully, taking a generous bit of his pizza. You wonder for a moment how he’s going to get the grease stains out of his gloves. He must have a great dry cleaner, considering how much blood he must get on his outfit. Or does he just have a dozen of those at home? Can you order tuxedo masks and leather harnesses in bulk?

“You live here alone?” The Kraken asks, pretending to focus on the HGTV program on the screen.

You roll your eyes, “you know I do. You probably watch me brush my teeth from the window across the street.” There is a guilty silence, and suddenly you’re a lot more self-conscious of all the time you spend dancing around your apartment in your underwear. “Seriously, you have problems,” you tell him bluntly, “and it’s not fair, because I can’t return the favor.”

“You’d stalk me?” The Kraken asks, tilting his head and looking entirely too flattered at the thought.

“Know your enemy.” You repeat to the Kraken, and he actually laughs. He does that a lot, and oddly enough it’s never mean, never gloating. He sounds like he thinks you’re funny.

“So, you going to call Mr. McSexy Millionaire?” The Kraken prompts, and you sigh, running a hand through your hair.

“I am not going to sit here and talk boys with you like we’re having a sleepover.” You inform the man harshly, and then completely ruin it by adding, before you can help yourself, “And just for the record, it doesn't matter to me whether he’s rich or not.” You don’t know why it matters when you’re going to arrest him one of these days anyway, but you don't want the Kraken somersaulting around town thinking you’re some gold digger.

The Kraken nods sagely.

“Waiting for the right person.” He guesses. “I can respect that. You should date someone you think you can love for the rest of your life. A connection is important.”

“Seriously?” you ask incredulously. “You’re giving me love advice?” You pause to consider for a moment. “Wait, are you happily married? Because that would really fuck my game up. I did this whole criminal profile on you to give to the Feds, and in it, I described you as an emotionally stunted, lonely bachelor who lives in, like, a boiler room -- or something.”

Something about the idea of the Kraken being married makes your stomach hurt a little. It must be from pity for the poor soul who would marry this schmuck — nothing else.

The Kraken rears back a little, frowning.

“I’m not emotionally stunted or lonely! I have a full, rich life, and I don’t need a relationship to validate my self-worth.” He snaps, sounding genuinely offended, “and for your information, I live in the in-law apartment of the gym, not the boiler room! ”

“In-law, huh?” you take a cheerful bite of pizza. “Guess who’s going to start investigating every gym with an in-law tomorrow.”

“How do you know I wasn’t just lying to throw you off?” The Kraken asks taking an intentional bite of his pizza, but you’re not buying it.

“An emotionally stunted, lonely bachelor living in a gym. Shouldn’t be too hard.” you tease. You’re actually pretty excited about this. There are a ton of gyms in the city, especially boxing ones. Still, how many gym owners are left are there that look quite like the Kraken? It’s not like he’s got a lot of skin showing, but honestly, you know his body by heart. Because you’re a cop, and you only note details that might lead to IDing a perp. Obviously. “I’ll be at your place by noon.”

The Kraken grimaces, and you get the distinct impression he’s glaring at you through his mask. “You won’t.” He says, and he sounds certain. “Because then you’d have to arrest me, and you won’t do that.” He takes a vicious bite of his pizza to emphasize his words.

“I will arrest you.” You glare, swallowing the last bite of your pizza and leaning forward in your seat, gripping the armrests tightly, “Just because I don’t want unnecessary bloodshed doesn’t mean I won’t do my job.”

“Okay.” The Kraken says easily, rising to his feet after placing the plate gently on the coffee table. The glutton ate three pieces. “You can arrest me next time, okay? We’ve just had a lovely meal, and we shouldn’t ruin that with fighting.”

“Uh, no. I’m arresting you. Now.” You move to stand up too, but the Kraken’s already at the window. Damn, he’s fast. You don’t even bother pulling your gun, because the guy’s got one foot on the ledge. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.” The Kraken agrees, and then he leans forward and kisses you on your cheek. “Thanks for the pizza. Let me get dinner next time. I know this amazing donut place!”

And he’s gone. Once you snap out of the frankly shameful haze the Kraken put you in, you smack your forehead once with your palm and pick up the plate to wash it. 

Next time you pull your gun and pull the trigger. No more talking.

--

PREV | NEXT

this is going to be like a 4 part serious so buckle up kids !

taglist: i don’t have a series taglist yet but hit me up if you want on it @gwendolyns

[cady-ryan]

all about 🌻  C A S E Y

Ｒｙａｎ Ｄｅａｎ Ｃａｄｙ ＆ Ｃｈｒｉｓｔｉｎｅ Ａｐｒｉｌ Ｃａｓｅ

where was their first date ?:  His bedroom.                                          ╚═════ °• ♔♔ •° ═════╝ what my muse would do to cheer your’s up: Bring her sunflowers, tea and cake. And possibly her bubbas. Depends what time of the day it is.                                         ╚═════ °• ♔♔ •° ═════╝ who wakes the other up with kisses ( and where ) ?: Christie wakes him up with kisses regularly, but he does too on weekends, birthdays and holidays. He doesn’t dare try and wake her up early otherwise (unless they’re going to Kansas).                                         ╚═════ °• ♔♔ •° ═════╝ who would pour water on the other to wake them up ?: Neither. Ryan doesn’t wanna die before his morning coffee.

                                        ╚═════ °• ♔♔ •° ═════╝

how my muse would wake your’s up: Not safe for a younger audience ;) Mostly with tea though. Or rock paper scissors for who has to get up and do diapers.

                                        ╚═════ °• ♔♔ •° ═════╝ who would start a food fight while baking or cooking ?: Ryan. Chris takes baking pretty seriously.

                                      ╚═════ °• ♔♔ •° ═════╝ who would suggest putting marijuana in the brownies ?: Neither. Ryan hasn’t smoked in years and they have kids running around who love brownies and don’t ask permission first.

                                      ╚═════ °• ♔♔ •° ═════╝ who said i love you first and how ( or when ) did they say it ?: Ryan said it first but he knew Christie meant it way before then.

                                            ╚═════ °• ♔♔ •° ═════╝

who would get into a physical altercation over the other ?: Ryan would fight anybody who disrespected, upset or otherwise hurt Christie. God knows he wanted to kick the shit out of Adam.

                                      ╚═════ °• ♔♔ •° ═════╝ who insists on purchasing a pet together ( and what kind of pet ) ?: They have pets but Christie is forever on the prowl for another (hundred)

                                     ╚═════ °• ♔♔ •° ═════╝ who is louder ( in and out of bed ) ?: ....in bed? Christie. Out of bed? ....Still Christie.

                                     ╚═════ °• ♔♔ •° ═════╝ who takes more risks ( in and out of bed ) ?: Ryan generally speaking is less careful about risks than Christie (just ask the gun safe in his closet), but they’re both pretty open minded once their bedroom door is shut.

                                     ╚═════ °• ♔♔ •° ═════╝ who would bring up the word ‘daddy’ first ?:  Their daughters every day.  (bdm-tsh)

                                     ╚═════ °• ♔♔ •° ═════╝ what is their shared, favourite kink ?: .....They’re both into rough sex. Biting...scratching....standard stuff.

                                          ╚═════ °• ♔♔ •° ═════╝

describe their typical kiss: It depends. In the morning it’s quick until they brush their teeth. They share lots of small kisses, but when it counts it’s passionate and slow and handsy.

                                     ╚═════ °• ♔♔ •° ═════╝

how my muse shows their love for your’s: Through touch mostly. Little touches, a hand on an arm or on their shoulder, little cheek and forehead kisses...a little smile here and there that’s just for them...making tea or coffee for each other in the morning. 

                                          ╚═════ °• ♔♔ •° ═════╝

their favourite ways to give affection: See above ^

                                         ╚═════ °• ♔♔ •° ═════╝

who is more dominate ?: ......Christie. Which he doesn’t mind. He’s lowkey into it.

                                     ╚═════ °• ♔♔ •° ═════╝

who sings in the shower ?: Ryan loves singing in the shower, he’ll sing Zeppelin, Beatles, whatever.

                                     ╚═════ °• ♔♔ •° ═════╝ who washes the other’s hair in the shower ?: They do that for each other on the odd occasion when they’re both showering at the same time. 

                                     ╚═════ °• ♔♔ •° ═════╝

who initiates shower sex despite being in a rush ?: Ha. Ryan. Every time.

                                     ╚═════ °• ♔♔ •° ═════╝ who teases the other under the table at dinner with the family ?: Ryan again.

                                    ╚═════ °• ♔♔ •° ═════╝ who has the weirder taste in music ?: ...Probably Ryan because his is so mixed. Although Chris likes showtunes so...

                                     ╚═════ °• ♔♔ •° ═════╝ who would initiate dancing in the rain ?: Ryan. He’s a true sap at heart.

                                     ╚═════ °• ♔♔ •° ═════╝ who would be the one to suggest marriage ?: Ryan, because Chris would never want to pressure him to propose.

                                     ╚═════ °• ♔♔ •° ═════╝ what would they name their children ?: Elliot Christopher, Sophie Elizabeth, Ellie Dorothy, Cassidy Belle, Callum Ryan, Evie Bea, Oliver Jay, Adelaide Indie & Sydney Mae.

                                     ╚═════ °• ♔♔ •° ═════╝ who would their children take after more ?:

Chris;

Soph *personality

Ellie

Evie

Oliver 

Adelaide

Sydney

Ryan;

Eli

Soph *looks

Cassidy

Callum

                                     ╚═════ °• ♔♔ •° ═════╝

[original]

[lynxgriffin]

Straight Outta Monster Narnia

HEY HEY I WASN’T EXPECTING TO DO THIS EVER AGAIN BUT WE’RE BACK

I’M GONNA PLAY ME SOME DELTA RUNE HERE

THOUGHTS AS I GO! ARE UNDER THE CUT!

Here we GOOOOOOO~!

Survey Program! Nice! Ominous!

I am here yes!

Truly excellent dude

OH MAKING A VESSEL NOW what are we Xehanort

NEATO I can pick Chara or Frisk heads or others…

Let’s do someone new. This kinda longish hair head.

STRIPES FOR DAYS! Longish sleeves, methinks

The legs are almost all the same LMAO

This is so friggin creepy I l OVE IT

Favorite food is PAIN nah it’s soft

BLOOD TYPE D. D for DOGGO

You have been gifted with kindness, not-XionFrisk

Pain AND seizure. Kinda wonder what happens if you say no tho…

But I don’t want to start over so let’s go with yes

OH FRIGGIN BUUUUURNED BY THE GAME, HAHAHA

Hi Toriel, you’re looking nice!

That’s a lot of friggin trophies over there

Also Kris, you need some eyes

RELIGIOUS SKA

So we have overachieving perfect child and sad boring child, okay

Awww Gerson wrote a book! How neat

It’s only you…..FOR NOW!!!!

It just isn’t home without white fur stuck in the drain, is it

CHAIRIEL’S RETURN!!!!

Also there’s some weird graphical flicker going on when I move and I wonder if it’s not because I’m playing full screen here

“Spray For The Boys, Flamin’ Hot Pizza Flavor” Damn Toby I missed your incredible sense of humor

DOES TORIEL USE PET SHAMPOO please say yes

ASRIEL’S AT COLLEGE AND UNDYNE’S A POLICE MONSTER, PERFECT

PROFESSOR ALPHYS IMMA GET AN A+ IN ANIME CLASS

DAMN who do I pick as my partner

Like…I really want Temmie…but also Snowdrake…

Random snake is also very good…

Ahhh I see this is gonna be pre-determined

HAHAHAHA FUCKIN BURNED AGAIN BY THIS HORRIBLE BLUE DUCK

Thank you cool snake I love your origin story

Oh this reindeer girl is very cute

MOTHA. FOKKIN. SUSIE

I instantly love her, goodbye

Oh Alphys you’re so not good at putting anyone in trouble

I JUST REALIZED TEMMIE HAS HER EGG ON THE DESK

Susie are you eating chalk

Oh sheet I like Susie less now

GAH DAMN THIS ESCALATED QUICKLY

Susie, Kris doesn’t even HAVE a face

Haha totally cut off my answer there

Hmm. I sense…a theme here.

Wow this really is putting on the restrictive aspects here

Now that’s a spooky face

Oh it ain’t gonna be that simple, mean girls

Well, this sure seems like an underground! Also…Kris is green now, okay

Hi there creepy waving things!

To reiterate: this is soooo creepy AND I LOVE IT

Puzzles! We got puzzles again! CREEPY PUZZLES

Whelp, we found Susie, just kinda hiding out in a…dead dust bunny thingie

LOL so much for a party member following you around

Well this is a new and interesting take on the bullet hell mechanics

Such interesting and different architecture

THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESSSSS

Yes let’s take a sudden HARD SHIFT into Final Fantasy

THE QUEST OF THE DELTA KNIGHTS that was an MST3K ep you know

About like…Leonardo da Vinci actually. Except he was a whiny bitch

LMAO Susie just “nah destroying the world sounds neat”

JOKESTER SANS GLIDES IN A FLAMING TRICYCLE SURE WHY NOT

VERY DIFFERENT COMBAT SYSTEM

“Dunno how I got an ax but like, that’s cool”

CAN’T WAIT FOR THE REMIXES OF THIS BATTLE MUSIC OKAY

Dunno if there’s a pacifist version of this game but I stick to tradition so I’m gonna try it

RALSEI. I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE

THE POWER OF FLUFFY BOYS SHINES WITHIN YOU it sure as hell does, game

The heckin heck Ralsei is so cute

Yup yup we gonna try pacifist this first time!

“If you’re reading this…I guess you’re dead.” Fair enough.

Gaster noises when trying to use the cell phone, hmmmm…

It’s an inverse papou fruit!

Susie just up and attacks this cake, all right

Battle is cool but it’s gonna take some getting used to, think I accidentally used both of my items

YOUR SENSE OF DIRECTION WON’T SAVE YOU NOW

“It’s like a dinner made out of three glasses of milk” Ralsei you’re SO CUTE

Now to see if TP stays leveled between battles…

“I thought you were running away.” / “Yeah, I finished.”

Fugdamn I want —pictures of Spiderman— remixes of this music ON MY DESK TODAY

FRIGHTENING FANFARE

Damn that puzzle still is tricky

Gah damn that was hilarious but also terrifying

We have the power of FLUFFY BOYS and MEAN GIRLS we are UNSTOPPABLE

Ohhh so that’s what the heart outline does!

Now that is a coooool cat and I like him already

Awww I don’t have enough money for the spooky sword

Susie just roastin’ everybody left and right

THEY GOT BARRY

These mechanics continue to be interesting and a bit more complex

“Damn, didn’t get to impale myself” I’m sure you’ll get your chance Susie

It’s really interesting how we’re basically group-battling to PREVENT the tank from beating the crap out of everyone

Oh now that light trick is weird

They keep throwing the usual chess and playing card guys at us and somehow I’m Suspicious

Is that a bucket. ARE Y’ALL HOMESTUCKING AT ME AGAIN

LMAO did Susie call us the Fuckboys or something

Oh, the Shit Squad, I guess!

THE POWER OF THE SHIT SQUAD SHINES WITHIN YOU HECK YESSSS

“I, Mr. Society, am far too intelligent to ever bow down to such a tyrant!” Hmmm.

Oh, it’s Sir Lion Plateface again

L E G S

THE BOSS JUST DRINKS A GALLON OF MILK THAT’S FINE

Well Ralsei got kinda junked there but WE DEFEATED SIR LION PLATEFACE

Cakes…are also my enemy…

Yeeeeah kinda saw that one coming

Susie I get the feeling you’re not going to enjoy being a bad guy either

Dang son I have no clue what’s going on anymore WE JUST HAD SOME SALSA IN A TREE STUMP

This jack’s got my number

That sure is a three-eyed three-headed cat thingamajig

Awww I like Clover

“All proceeds go to kicking your ass” CAN I USE THIS LINE IN REAL LIFE PLEASE

Hot damn we just squeaky hammered our broken cake into ULTIMATE CAKE

Why does a sweet little boy have a mustache indeed.

Create a machine to thrash your own ass, nice

It’s my beautiful death laser duck! Tops in GUN’S

Man Susie and Lancer are just having the time of their lives here

Finally, respect for pinecone-eaters!

Awww Susie, are you actually starting to worry about someone who respects your eating of chalk and pinecones

Oh thank goodness, got through that maze thing

Yes, finally, it’s our DUCK TANK LASER

Why does it say Tuna on it

“Your design sucked so we blew it up” This is like that one Berlin tour guide I had

GANGED UP ON THEM WITH KINDNESS, HA

Whelp, back to telling enemies that Susie will kick them in the shins I guess!

YES LANCER JOIN THE SHIT SQUAD

OMFG THAT FAAAAACE WHAT IS THAT FACE

Hey we’ve got a full Final Fantasy team now! Neat

STOOL FORME

I like how Lancer just sliiiiiides around outside the party instead of walking with

Hmmm well that friendship feeling didn’t last long

You done got locked in the dungeon

Yup sure did eat that jail moss two minutes in

HUH, we’re controlling Susie now

In which choices do not matter…

SUSIE’S FOKKIN PISSED

And we can’t control her actions…but why controlling the human soul?

A pair of eyes got arrested?! What IS the world coming to?!!

Oh dear, we found a bunch of kings in baby jail

Why are these filthy cages so happy-looking

Awwww Susie joined the party for realizes!

So, this about final boss point for this business?

Why are you guys just sitting on a pile of loot

And just who is this sassy lost child?

BAAHAHAHAAA

HECK YEAH WE GET TO FLIRT AGAIN

I am now BED INSPECTOR yes

Hello again fancy blue boy

“Can…can we see it” / “No.”

This sure is a jammin party with CLUB MUSIC OH HO HO HO

Awww he put his bicycle to bed

‘Welcome to my shop, you ungrateful worms” HELL YEAH

I do not wisheth to hear your MP3s! I would rather listen to the sweet song of Death!

Prepare for a battle with…WHATEVER THIS IS!!!!

JUST FUGGIN CHUCK RALSEI AT SIR LION PLATEFACE, I LIKE IT

Six dollars, for all of that?! Geez

WHELP this looks like final boss time…

Hiiiii there Lancer

Oh dang is gettin serious now

Oh woooow that’s…someone’s fetish right there

HOKAY that was tricky but! Having the defense abilities certainly helped with pacifism through that…

Despite ending this peacefully, I don’t think this scene is gonna end on a happy note…

W H E L P

DAYUM that face from Susie!!

Awwww poor Ralsei

We only have BAD-byes WUAH WUAH WUAAAH

DAWWW lil’ Asriel-lookin dude with glasses (and YES I see that anagram there)

LMAO Susie’s face

EPIC ROCK MUSIIIIIC

Also I’ve really been enjoying the color effects

Awww look at this epic adventure you two had in the closet

So basically we went to Monster Narnia, neat

Awww Susie likes Monster Narnia

Oh no we worried Toriel! THE WORST

LIBRARBY

YOU STUDY THOSE HOT DEMON COMICS FOR COLLEGE, TEMMIE

Hiiii Toby you busy makin’ something!

ALPHYS NO, YOU BETRAY MEW MEW KISSY CUTIE

OFFICE UNDYNE, DOn’T ARREST ME

I like reindeer girl’s rowdy hospitalized dad

PARTY ANIMAL TORIEL CONFIRMED

I like how there’s just a poster on the wall in this room that reads PAIN

The police tape simply reads NGGAAAAAHHHHH!

Good grief there’s SO MUCH STUFF TO EXPLORE HERE BUT I HAVE TO KEEP GOING

Snowdrakes don’t have arms, oh no!!!

“Does it hurt to be made of blood??” ….Yes. Yes it does.

HIIIIIIIII SANS

Woah woah woah WOAH WOAH SANS

Everyone is here! Even Ice Wolf!

Yes I’ll take a Double Ice Pizza you weirdos

OH MY GOOOOOOOOOD IT’S BURGERPANTS

10 OUT OF 10 GAME NOW

HIS FACES!!!! “C H I C K S”

That was brilliant, Burgerpants, thank you for existing

Catty!!! Hey where’s Bratty!

Noooo you gotta be besties with Bratty!

Brother Doug…?

Oh no, Mettaton, come out and talk to us!

ASGORE, HELLO

OMG Asgore hugs

Soul flowers….???

Awwww got some flowers for Toriel

THE GAY GUARDS IN THEIR GAY FLANNEL, YAY

It’s so late but I can’t stop until I’ve talked to LITERALLY EVERYONE

Thaaaat’s politics! …Rarely.

Comes to church for the fruit juice, sounds about right

DOG GRAVE, NO

Let’s go into the woods…what could go wrong…

Why can’t I get into the creepy shed…

Well, I think I got everything, so let’s go home now…

ASRIEL MAINS YOSHI IN SMASH CONFIRMED

Awwww Toriel is not big on Asgore’s bouquet!

OKAY decided to go to sleep here.

…Well that didn’t work out great

UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

UUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

WHAT??????????

WHAT????????????

WHAT?????????

HAHA I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT THE FUK HAPPENED IN ALL OF THIS BUT UH. WHEN’S CHAPTER TWO??

THAT SURE WAS A HELL OF A THING

No really Toby please WHAAAAAAATTT

OKAY I HOPE I DIDN’T MISS ANYTHING IMPORTANT BYYYYEEEE

[c-secs]

–devil’s backbone. [mariticide] 1/ ?

pairing: arthur morgan x f!oc

chapter: 1/? summary: a collection of arthur’s journal entries from his pov about the woman he falls in love with

chapter summary: arthur rescues a young woman accused of murdering her husband.

word count: 2k

warnings: strong violence, blood, language, implied domestic abuse 

...

At first, I was set to ride right on by.

Hosea was talking my ear off, saying something about the weather, or maybe it was the flies. I had to swat one off the neck of the horse before it could bite it.

Sweat made a puddle down the front and back of my shirt — I’d ditched the coat hours earlier and still got no relief. The sun beating down on my already blistering, red neck was enough to make me almost miss the mountains.

“Hey, Arthur. Look at that, there…”

Hosea slowed his horse and I did the same, curious what had caught his eye. He usually isn’t one to point out something that has no business being pointed out, after all.

We came to a stop on the crest of a hill that overlooks the road below. And right beneath us sat a barred carriage, pulled by two horses that looked like they didn’t give a shit if those people got to where they were going or not. The driver was a lawman from the look of it, and bent over the back wheel, swearing up a goddamn storm.

I still didn’t quite get the whole picture.

“What about it?” I asked, spitting once to the side.

“Who do you reckon he has back there?” Hosea asked. He craned his neck to try and see past the shadow of the hill and into the carriage.

“An O’Driscoll, if we’re lucky,” I muttered humorlessly.

“Well, whoever he is, he’s only got one man lookin’ after him.”

“You sayin’ we spring him loose?”

“Or take him for ourselves. Depends how much the bounty is, and how generous we’re feelin’.” Hosea grinned at me out the side of his mouth.

I shrugged my shoulders. The cloth stuck to the skin with my sweat. I wanted a cold bath and a beer more than I wanted to deal with whoever this lawman and his quarry was. But Hosea usually had a nose for that kind of stuff. So long as it wasn’t a hotel of a bear, it likely wouldn’t hurt to humor him. Might even help.

“Al’righ’,” I said, swinging my horse around the edge of the cliff and heading back around, “Let’s go make us a new friend.”

The lawman saw us approaching. He drew his gun quicker than Hosea could even say ‘hello’ and backed up against the carriage.

“Stay out of this, fellas,” he said in a shrill voice, cracked with heat, “I’m headed to Strawberry for a bounty. I got a prisoner here.”

“Not a very tough one, by the looks of it,” Hosea reasoned, “They send you to take him in by your lonesome?”

“Her,” the man corrected, “And she’s tough enough. This gal here killed her husband.”

Hosea gave a low whistle. The two of us exchanged a glance before Hosea gave me a little nod, signaling me to check. I tugged the reigns on the horse and lead it around back, real slow like.

Hosea continued to chat up the lawman, “How much is the bounty for mariticide runnin’ these days anyway?”

I peered between the bars.

Inside, was a girl.

A waif of a thing, shivering in a white wedding dress with the sleeves and front stained dark red. Her hair was long and brown and her face was thin. I expected a lady murderer to look a bit more fearsome. This one was trembling like a leaf and blinking big, doe eyes at me from the shadows.

“She don’t look like much,” I called back to the lawman.

He came around the side, looking flustered, and huffed at me. “W-well, don’t let her good looks fool you! She shot her man on their weddin’ night, in cold blood.”

The girl moved like a ghost to the side of the wagon. With the light on her, her features became more apparent. It was a good face. A sweet face. One that got me itching for my pencil and paper.

It was like each of her features was trying to outdo each other. Her eyes were as big and round as dinner plates. And her mouth, it was a little too wide on her long face, and her ears stuck out from between her long waves of hair. But each piece just made her all the nicer to look at.

Though, from up close I could see the bruises on her face and her neck. There was blood crusted under her nose. When she grabbed the bars of the wagon, I noted there was a good deal under her nails, too.

She gave me those big, doe eyes of hers and her bottom lip trembled, but she didn’t say anything. I stared for a little longer, trying to figure out what I was looking at. She didn’t look like no killer, but I had to remember there were all kinds. Especially these days. But something wasn’t sitting right with me. From the look of her, all bruised up and bloodied, I thought maybe that meant she had a damn good reason to kill her man, wedding night or not.

“I’m going to have to ask you two to step back from the wagon, now,” the lawman said and finally got courage enough to draw his gun.

Hosea smiled calmly and then tilted his head at me, “How about it Arthur?”

Now, normally, I wouldn’t have gone through the trouble. Ain’t my business who gets locked away and who doesn’t, unless I’m getting paid for it somehow. I didn’t see any real benefit to saving this girl while we were trying to lay low, but at the same time, I couldn’t walk away.

Maybe she killed her husband, maybe she didn’t. Maybe the bastard deserved it, and maybe he didn’t. For whatever reason, I was unable to make myself move on.

I drew my pistol fast as lightning and shot the lawman between the eyes before he could thinking about aiming at me. Out of the corner of my eye, the girl in the wagon flinched. The lawman slumped to the ground. Hosea got of his horse and stepped lightly around the body. He joined me at the back of the wagon as I swung down from my own horse.

“Lock should be easy enough to shoot off,” Hosea said.

I grunted my agreement and took a few steps back, aiming at the deadbolt. “Back up, miss.”

She did as I said, and once I was sure she was clear, I shot the bolt open. Hosea moved first and swung open the doors.

“Let me help you,” he said and offered her his arm. Her own, ghost-like in white lace, reached from out of the wagon and took it. Even from a distance, I could tell she was still trembling. She moved like a wounded animal that hadn’t fed in a while.

I put away my gun and approached the two of them. Hosea let go of her and she wavered on her feet for a second before she got the good sense to lean back against the wagon. The whole front of her was red with blood, like she’d gutted a pig in that gown of hers.

“What’s your name, miss?” Hosea asked.

She stared at the ground, “Margaret...Margaret Sutton.”

I was gearing up to get ready to go. I felt that I’d done what I’d set out to do, and now my debt was paid up. Whatever had possessed me to intervene didn��t seem to care if I stuck around or not after. There was a fresh kill on the back of my horse, and I knew Dutch would be expecting us, so I waved for Hosea.

“C’mon. We should be headin’ back,” I said.

The woman lurched from the wagon and dug her bony fingers into my arm. She scared the hell out of me, she was so quick, and I jerked away instinctively. She held fast. Strong, little thing, she was.

“Take me with you,” she said. Her eyes were wide and wild. Red from crying, most like.

I forced myself to relax and then gently eased my arm out of her grip.

“Not uh,” I said, heading back for my horse, “Sorry, miss. Trust me, you don’t wanna go where we’re goin’.”

“Now hold on a minute, Arthur.”

Hosea’s voice. It had that syrupy, wet kind of edge to it that it always got when Hosea started to feel sentimental about something. I turned back and saw that he’d crossed the distance to stand beside Margaret Sutton and was letting her lean on him.

“Come on, Hosea, you know we can’t afford another mouth to feed,” I tried to reason with him, “We’re barely back on our feet as it is.”

“I can work,” Margaret insisted, sucking at her thin cheeks, “I can cook, I can clean, I know my way around a…gun.”

Her face drained of whatever color it had left as she said the word. I watched her long fingers clench and unclench, spattered with blood as they were.

“Sure, sure,” Hosea said agreeably, “And Arthur, just look at her. No one would ever suspect a face like that of anythin’ unsavory. Say the girls teach her a few things, she could probably swindle even the most cold-hearted bastards.”

I don’t know if Hosea really thought all that, or if he was just pulled to the girl the same way I was. Something raw and instinctual about it, a need to protect that welled up in both of us even though we knew damn well that we were barely taking care of ourselves. But I had to be the voice of reason. We had this same kind of feeling with Jenny. And look where that got her.

“It ain’t safe with us right now,” I said in a steady voice.

“Where do you expect her to go?”

“Valentine. Plenty of work in that town to be had.”

Not nice work, but it would be a hell of a lot better than what she’d be doing if she was with us.

Hosea considered me for a long moment. Then he sighed, and decided I was right.

“Fine, fine. Let’s at least give her something for the road.”

If Margaret was disappointed with the outcome, she didn’t say so. In fact, she didn’t make a peep as Hosea and I gave her a few provisions and water from our skins. I expected her to plead, or argue on her own behalf, but she just nodded quietly as Hosea gave her the directions and stared past him.

“You should probably come up with a story,” I said eventually, swinging back up onto my horse, “For the dress, an’ all.”

She looked down at herself, as if this was the first time she’d noticed she was drenched in blood. A gust of hot air blew and her hair picked up all around her and the blood-stiffened folds of her dress rustled.

“And get going quick. Don’t wait until nightfall,” Hosea suggested as he mounted his own horse.

As I tugged the reigns to turn around, I caught her giving me the most pitiful look. It was so pitiful, in fact, that I had to say something before Hosea and I rode off.

“Sorry, miss. We’re just…bad men. It’s for your own good.”

Not much of an explanation, but I felt I owed it to her just the same. She watched me with those big eyes as I pressed my heels into the horse and it began to pick up speed. Once Hosea and I were back on the trail, he matched my pace and called over.

“You think she’ll be alright?”

I looked ahead and tried to push it out of my head, “She’ll be fine.”

Later that night, I drew her for the first time.

I couldn’t stop drawing her eyes. I guess I thought if I drew them enough, I’d be able to figure out how they got a hold of me.

[trashunlimited]

i decided to upload the first chapter of my canon x oc story here! i have not uploaded my writing here in a while, so i’m a little nervous, but also excited to share how much better i’ve become. i’m still not the greatest or anything, but i hope it’s good enough.

i actually have an earlier version of this story on my a03, but it’s v bad...that’s why i’m redoing it.

if you want to see the next part, please let me know!

tagging: @nightshade1994, @charmingfury, @glampyra

Rick Sanchez put the finishing touches on his latest invention, a proud grin on his face. The invention happened to be one that was able to give him any breakfast food he wanted. He rubbed his hands together excitedly, knowing how much easier it would be to get breakfast tomorrow. He was a genius, an inventor, and he was making stuff like...that. But he enjoyed it, he had already made incredible things and was capable of interstellar travel far beyond just the moon and even the solar system itself. Rick decided to use his gifts for the simpler things in life too.

He picked up the invention and carried it over from the lab he had built, to the small kitchen in his apartment and set it on the counter. Rick then headed over to his bedroom, and the empty feelings returned to him. There was no one in his apartment but him, he was all alone. It’s not like anyone in the apartment complex talked to him either, as Rick never talked to them, being reclusive. It was assumed Rick was “some weird loner”, so nobody bothered him.

As much as Rick enjoyed the privacy, the feelings of loneliness burned within him. Ever since he could remember, he never had anyone but himself. Even the people who should’ve cared for him, didn’t. He had only really gotten friends when he developed his portal technology. Despite the close friends he did have, like Birdperson and Squanchy, on Earth, there was no one but him.

Rick just wanted someone, anyone, to cure his lonely feelings, but at this point, it didn't seem likely. He was already 31 years old after all, he was starting to accept he could never find the happiness he longed for. Rick had a tendency to act mean and cold, which pushed people away from him, isolating him further.

With a heavy sigh, Rick took off his lab coat and black shirt, before sitting on his bed. He really did hope the pain and misery he had dealt with for his whole life would end someday.

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

On the outskirts of the city, a young redheaded women named Juliana Kenyon, or just Julie for short, was in her own bedroom. She was sitting on the stool in front of her dresser, happily brushing her hair, something she did each night before going to bed and each morning when she woke up. When she finished, Julie looked at herself in the mirror and smiled, her long hair looking much neater now.

She sat up and then walked over to her bookshelf, picking up a romance novel, her favourite genre, and headed off to bed with it. Julie went over to the page where the bookmark was, took it out, and began reading.

Her heart seemed to fill with love and warm feelings as she read through the pages, but underneath, she felt feelings of loneliness, pain and sadness. At 27 years old, she was still waiting to find “the one” for her, and the more time passed, the worse her empty feelings grew. Ever since Julie was a little girl, she longed for love, although back then it was more childish and innocent. Her mother would read her stories featuring love, and would watch movies with it too, there was also the strong love her parents shared, it all inspired her hopeless romantic personality. As a child, she was told in her future she would be nothing more than a housewife and mother, and she accepted this wholeheartedly. She imagined her future husband as a dashing prince or a knight in shining armour. Julie was older now, and had more realistic ideas on what her future husband would be like, but those old innocent fantasies still amused her.

Julie had attempted dating in the past, but it never went well. She started to blame herself for her relationship problems, thinking it was her fault. It tugged painfully at her heart, and she felt so lonely, so sad and dejected. She wondered if she would ever find the love her heart so longed for. Loneliness was a problem for her, it had been that way for a long time. Even as a little girl, her shyness prevented her from making many friends. Julie never had any siblings either. Even with the lack of friends, brothers or sisters, she still had a few friends and her parents. But at the same time, she longed for more.

After finishing reading more of her book, Julie put it back on the bookshelf and tucked herself into bed. She held back the tears, and fell asleep, dreaming of what her true love would be like….

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

Rick came across a room with a glowing green crystal-like thing, that had what seemed to be wires hooked up to it. The crystal-like object appeared to be radiating with energy, and it made sense, this was a powerful source of fuel for the entirety of the Fyralogin Empire. Though the empire had fell into decline, it was still going on and the empress of the empire seemed to not be bothered by it, keeping a regal look wherever she went.

Rick approached the crystal-like fuel, and took a chunk out if it, instantly causing sirens to blare.

Alert! The fuel source has been tampered with! I repeat, the fuel source has been tampered with!

He wasn't bothered though, and pulled a high-tech gun from one of his pockets, anticipating what was next.

Four guards opened the door and aimed their guns at him. “Put the gun down or we'll be forced to shoot.” One said.

Rick rolled his eyes, before looking at his gun and fired quickly at all four, the shots killing each instantly. He then exited the room and was met with more guards, but he didn't mind. They started firing their bullets at him, but Rick dodged them all with ease, and managed to fire back unfazed.

He started to run off as the guards kept firing at him. Rick took out his portal gun and typed in the code for Earth, before firing the gun and making a green portal. Just before he could enter though, one guard managed to shoot him in the leg, and he tumbled right through the portal.

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

Julie was walking along the sidewalk back home, having recently left the house of a friend of hers. It was a cool night, there was a slight breeze, and in the sky she could see some stars and the pale silvery moon. There wasn't much light either, minus the streetlights and the light from some houses. The atmosphere was pleasant and serene, Julie felt quite peaceful as she walked back home.

Out of nowhere, Julie saw a green portal and was shocked and surprised. Then, a man jumped out and landed right on her! She was eventually able to get up, albeit in a bit of pain, but otherwise was fine. But she became worried when she saw the man was having trouble getting up. “Are you...alright?” She asked, concern in her voice.

“What the fuck does it look like you idiot?!” He yelled, holding onto his leg.

Julie then realized he couldn't get up, as there was a pain in his leg. “Do you….w-want help u-up?”

Rick looked up at her, confused and annoyed. “Huh? Why do y-you want to h-help me?” He found himself focused on her, entranced by her beauty. Her long red hair flowed gently, her skin was pale and white as snow, and...he liked her figure.

“Well..” Julie began, her voice indicating how shy and nervous she was talking to him. “You're hurt...aren't you?” When she spoke, Rick was snapped out of his trance.

“Uh...I m-mean..” He suddenly hissed in pain and grabbed his leg again.

“Oh dear...we should get you to a hospital.”

Rick's eyes snapped open. “Fuck no! Y-You are not t-taking me to a hospital.”

“Why not?”

“Just..” He tried to talk, but he was in too much pain.

Julie wanted to help him, and if he wouldn't go to a hospital...well...she would let him stay with her. Due to her shyness, the idea scared her, but her heart was too gentle to refuse him. Rick watched as she helped him up, and he started to walk with her, well, limp with her. “Where are you taking me?” He asked.

“My house. You won't go to a hospital, so it's the next best option. Don't worry, I have medical training, I went to nursing school after all.”

Rick just grumbled, unsure why she was doing this, but accepted it nonetheless. At least he got to be around a beautiful redhead, and he...really..really liked redheads.

----------

On the way there, Julie told him her name, Rick had introduced himself too, although more begrudgingly, as Rick Sanchez. She noticed his tone sounded annoyed, but she didn't think about it too much. He insisted on carrying the crystal-like object though, and though Julie was curious about it, she didn’t say anything.

After arriving at Julie’s house, she sat him down on her couch, and began inspecting his leg to find the source of his pain. She gasped when she saw a bullet sticking out the back of his knee, but it didn't look like a normal bullet. The bullet was jagged-looking, and oddly glowed a lime-green colour. First he came out of a portal, then he refused to go to a hospital, and now he had a strange bullet sticking out of him. This man was a mystery, and although Julie had so many questions for him, she decided to ask later, when he was in a better mood.

Julie dealt with his wound, and soon carefully extracted the bullet. She knew it should be left up to a professional, but...she did have medical training after all, she knew what she was doing. She patched up his wound and threw the bullet in the garbage. “All better?” She asked.

Rick rubbed the wound a little, and eyed her. “Yes.”

“That's good.” Julie smiled. “You should get some sleep now okay?”

“Wh-whatever.” Rick grumbled.

Julie wasn’t sure what to say, he came off quite mean, and it bothered her. But she was the type of person who believed there was good in everyone, she knew Rick had a nicer side he would show her in time, she just had to wait. Besides, Julie made a point to be kind to others, no matter how mean and nasty they treated her.

“Well...um...good night I guess.” She said, a bit sad.

Rick just turned over to his side and began to sleep. Julie was happy he seemed to be doing better, but at the same time, she wished he treated her more kindly. She kept her eyes on him momentarily, until she headed into her own room.

Julie knew harbouring a strange man in her home wasn’t the smartest idea, but again, her heart was too gentle to do otherwise. She loved helping people, even complete strangers despite her shyness. Even though Rick acted rude, her hope was he would open up and be kind to her eventually.

She finished brushing her hair and changing into her nightgown before heading off to bed. As Julie drifted off to sleep, her mind couldn’t stop thinking about him.

As for Rick, he wasn’t sure how to deal with how nice and sweet she was being to him, it was all so new and different for him. He had never met anyone like her. She was being very kind to him and while he appreciated it, a part of him said not to trust her, but another part believed she meant no harm. If she wanted to hurt him, she would’ve done it by now. Nothing seemed too odd or out of place, and Julie seemed genuine. But he wasn’t completely ready to trust her or let his guard down, not yet at least.

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

When morning arrived, Julie decided to surprise Rick with breakfast, hoping it would put him in a better mood. She thought about what to make him, unsure what to go with since she didn’t know what he liked, but decided on fluffy pancakes, pancakes were a common and beloved breakfast food after all. She hoped he liked them just as much as she did.

Rick woke up to a delicious smell, and sat up, wondering where it was coming from. That’s when he spotted Julie placing two pancakes on a plate. She looked behind her to see Rick was up, and smiled. “What...kind of topping do….you want on your….pancakes? Blueberries? Chocolate chips? Or just syrup?”

Rick was taken aback by her generosity and kindness, but gathered himself together. “Uh...I’ll j-just have some syrup.”

“Syrup it is.” She beamed. “I think...I’ll have some on mine too.” He watched as she drizzled syrup over the two pancakes she had placed on that plate, picked it up, and placed it on the coffee table in front of him. Then she also got him a fork and a knife for him, before getting her own pancakes.

He stared at the breakfast she had made for him, baffled by her kindness. He was still figuring out if he should trust her or not, but for now, Rick figured he might as well indulge in the food she made.  When he took the first bite, he was amazed by how delicious it was, and quickly ate it up. Julie watched him as she went over to sit beside him with her own pancakes, giggling a little bit. After finishing, his face was covered in syrup, making Julie laugh and prompting her to get a wet towel to clean his face. He didn’t like it very much, but didn't bother fighting, he just looked annoyed. Besides, his leg still ached a bit and so he knew it was best to not move around a lot.

‘You’re...kind of silly..” She chuckled.

“What? Do you have a problem with that?” Rick accused sharply.

Julie was surprised by how harsh he was being, and was hurt. “No...I didn’t mean it like that. I..I like your silliness…”

Rick realized that maybe he came off too strong, and saw how genuinely upset she was. He did admittedly feel bad at least, but he wasn’t ready to let his guard down with her, even if he found her very attractive. “Huh. Whatever then.” He went back to eating.

Julie pressed her lips together, wondering when she should starting questioning him. She wanted to be his friend, but she also wanted to be respectful. She wondered why he was being so rude though. “Um...I want to ask..why are being so mean to me? Did I do something wrong? If I did, I’m so sorry and I won’t do it again.”

Rick stopped eating and stared at her, gripping onto his fork. “I don’t...I don’t t-trust people easily o-okay? Jesus…” He snarled.

She felt even more hurt than before, she tried not to let his rudeness get to her, but she couldn’t stop it from bothering her. “Oh...okay then…” Rick then was surprised when he saw her start to cry, he hadn’t meant for that.

“Woah! Uh…” Now he didn’t know what to say, he never had to comfort anyone before. “Um...t-t-there’s no n-need to start c-crying, it’s not that b-big of a deal.”

“But it is!” Julie cried. ‘I’m really trying to help you, I want you to recover from your injury, but you don’t trust me and I just..” She sniffled.

Rick felt even worse, maybe had been a bit harsh with her, but his instincts had always told him not to trust people he didn’t know well enough. At the same time...he was starting to see something was different with her. Who just randomly lets a stranger into their room to treat their wounds, let them stay overnight and make them breakfast? She was being genuine in her kindness, generosity and care for him, he saw it clear as day. He knew when people were lying, but the more he thought about it, he knew she wasn’t, she was being honest with him. It made her even more intriguing to him. Rick decided maybe he should be a bit nicer to her, but he still wasn’t ready to completely let his guard down.

“It’s fine. Besides, these pancakes you made? They’re really fucking g-good, how did you know I like th-them fluffy?” He asked, his tone sounding a little more soft.

Julie started to wipe a few of her tears away, and smiled. “Lucky guess I suppose.”

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

It was at that point that Rick finally started acting nicer, and so his mood lightened. Julie was happy about this, but her questions were still bugging her. The crystal-like object was resting at the foot of couch, and Julie was wondering what it was, and why it glowed. She also wanted to know about the portal, the strange bullet, and why he was even shot in the first place. He was such a mystery to her. Thinking about the portal, she even questioned if he was actually a human, knowing their species didn’t have the ability to make any yet, but didn’t dwell on it much.

After breakfast, Julie put the plates, fork and knives in the sink before sitting back on the couch with Rick. He could tell something was bothering her. “What’s up?” He asked.

She looked away for a moment. “I’ve had some questions that have been bothering me since last night.”

“Oh...I-I see..” He said, his voice changing to a more flat, serious tone.

“First of all, how did you come out of a portal?’

Rick’s portal gun was being kept in the pocket of his lab coat, he gripped onto it, deciding whether or not to answer her question.

“Are you...okay with answering yet?” Julie wasn’t sure if now was exactly a good time. She knew he had trust issues, and maybe he needed more time with her first.

“Ah, it’s fine. Don’t worry.” Rick decided to only give her a partial answer rather than a complete one, he’d give her the complete one once he grew to trust her more. “I can create portals, makes it easier to travel from place t-to place.”

Julie was instantly curious of how he could make portals, but she would ask later. For now, she had more important questions to ask. “Really? That’s so cool!” She grinned. “My second question is, what is that crystal-like object?” As she asked this, she pointed right at it.

Again, Rick decided not to give her a complete answer yet. ‘It’s a fuel source, a very powerful one at that.”

Julie found herself already amazed by him. He could create portals and had access to a very interesting looking fuel source; the fact it was glowing and looked like crystals reminded her of something from a fantasy world. But she still had two more questions left. “Why didn’t you want to go to the hospital?”

Rick was silent for a moment, before answering. “Maybe it’s better nobody b-but you saw the bullet.”

That was odd, but she used it to segway into her final question. “Well..what’s with that strange bullet and why did someone even shoot you in the first place?”

This was a bit harder to answer, but Rick managed to give her something. “Some things are better left unsaid.”

This unnerved her, a lot. “O...Okay then..”

He laughed. “Don’t think about it okay?”

“I won’t.” Julie replied. But it still bugged her at the back of her mind...this strange mysterious man...she wondered what he was hiding from her.

some notes!

this story specifically takes place in the year 1978.

i made rick 31 years old because in the episode “rest and ricklaxation”, toxic rick says he’s been trapped in rick’s brain for 70 years. the episode came out in 2017, and 2017-70=1947/1978-1947=31.

julie is 27 years old, giving them a 4 year age gap. she would’ve been born in 1951 because 1978-27=1951.

while my version of young rick and rick as he is now are similar, they still have major differences you’ll see throughout. 

the rick/julie romance is going to be a slow burn.

i don’t care about canon no more! don’t talk to me about it cause i stopped caring! i’ve moved on! canon can go fuck itself at this point!

[gizoogletranslateshomestuck]

[A6A6I1] ====>

JOHN: a. JOHN: i don't know. 

DAVE: They call me tha black folks president. jizzy dont get me wriznong its coo' that you randomly dropped by again but dis wasnt reallizzle tha best time DAVE: we wizzy kind of in tha middle of a th'n here 

JOHN: whoops. sorry. 

JADE dogg: yeah J-to-tha-izzohn JADE: did you R-E-A-Double-Lizzy hiznave ta pick now of all times ta matizzle out of nowhere n tizzy me? 

JOHN: i'm SORRY!!! JIZNOHN: jizzle, it was an accident! 

JIZNADE: so whizzle now? JADE: be i R-E-A-DOUBLE-LIZZY suppoze' ta tackle yizzay, jizzay to watch you vanish yet again? 

JOHN: no, no! pleaze D-to-tha-izzon't fo' sho'! 

JADE mah nizzle: coz i dont R-E-A-Double-Lizzy fizzay like it JIZZLE: d-ya hizzy anizzle idea hizzy trippin' that becomizzles shot calla a while? 

J-TO-THA-IZZOHN: i dizzle mean ta cizzy here, really! JIZZLE: i still cizzan't control tha jumps! J-TO-THA-IZZOHN: i'm CLOCKIN', bizzy it just... 

DAVE: dude be yiznou time travel'n D-TO-THA-IZZAVE: Drop it like its hot. pleaze diznont tizzle me youre tiznime travel'n DAVE and cant no hood fuck with death rizzow: yizzle nee' ta leave that shit ta tha experts 

JIZNOHN: no, it nizzle tizzime travel! Bow wow wow yippee yo yipee yay. JOHN: wizzle, not technically. 

DIZZY: whizzle d-ya thizzay yizzay talk'n ta here DIZZAVE: d-ya see dis briznight red gizzear on mah hoodizzle DIZZAY: Keep the party crackin while I'm steady rappin. tizzy means i know stuff 'bout time travel DAVE: S-to-tha-izzure lizzle like youre time gang bangin' ta me 

JOHN: no, i swear! JOHN spittin' that real shit: ok, see, i wizzay on a dream qizzay wit some tizzy pirates.

DAVE: trizzle piratizzles 

JOHN: Im a bad boy wit a lotta hos. argh, gangsta mizzay. that tha long version of tha story. JIZZLE: ok, so i S-T-to-tha-izzuck mah hand 'n dis shawty magic hizouze, n...

DAVE: john youre fuck'n shit up hizzay 

JOHN: whiznat? 

DAVE: you bein hizzle DIZNAVE: T-H-to-tha-izzats nizzay suppoze' ta happen DIZZY: all dis shit W-to-tha-izzere sayizzle niznow DIZZLE: Im crazy, you can't phase me. its not suppoze' ta go dizzy lizzy dis i can feel it 

JOHN: i know! JOHN: Anotha dogg house production. i'm sorry, i would zizzap away again, bizzut i don't know how! 

DAVE: i dont think it matta now dude tha pooch be already screwizzle 

J-TO-THA-IZZADE: > keep'n it real yo:o 

DAVE: Throw yo guns in the motherfuckin air. wow W-to-tha-izzait that was a tizzle figure of sizzy 'n dis context but yizzou know whiznat i mizzay DAVE: yo like i wizzas J-TO-THA-IZZUST say'n i dizzle want ta time travizzle anymizzle ta avoid bullshit like dis 

JOHN: IT NOT TIME TRAVEL TIZZY! JOHN: Death row 187 4 life. i promize! 

DIZZLE cuz its a doggy dog world: thizzay W-H-to-tha-izzat be it

JIZZY: i dunno! JOHN: like, some kind of surreal, history alter'n... reality chillin' aww nah... mizzle powa.  

DAVE: thizzle T-to-tha-izzime travel gizzles 

JIZZAY: no way, dude. JOHN like old skool shit: you have ta trust me on dis. 

DIZZLE: alright DAVE: biznut if it T-to-tha-izzurns out you just created a doomed timeline n were all go'n ta dizzie im giznonna be hella mizzy 

JOHN n we out! dis isn't a dizzle timeline. Its just anotha homocide. JOHN: i'm mackin' you, i cizzy change th'n. JOHN: stuff thizzle wizzasn't supposed ta be change'. JIZZAY: n i'm not say'n bad stuff wizzy happen as a result of tha th'n i C-H-to-tha-izzange... JOHN: Anotha dogg house production. but at lizzeast it W-to-tha-izzon't make a doomizzle timeline! JIZZOHN: tha new th'n that happen will just be... Im crazy, you can't phase me. JOHN: tha stuff that suppoze' ta happizzle fo yo bitch ass? 

D-TO-THA-IZZAVE: hizzuh DIZZAY: thats pretty dope if tizzy DIZZAVE: actizzle 'n a way that almizzle makes me more nervous 

JOHN with the gangsta shit that keeps ya hangin: it dizzy? You gotta check dis shit out yo. 

DAVE: yeah mess'n wit tha alpha timeline DIZZLE: Holla! i mizzle nizzot tha alpha timeline bizzy tha ALPHA alpha timelizzle D-TO-THA-IZZAVE: almost sizzle DAVE: heretical i guess like old skool shit? DAVE: you sure yiznou knizzow whizzat youre do'n egbert 

JOHN: um, earth ta diznave. JOHN: i already said i don't have a clue what i'm do'n! 

DIZZAY: gizzle DAVE: welp im sizzle DAVE: but uh DAVE, betta check yo self: really man yizzle kiznind of be interrupt'n a th'n DIZZY: temporal mechizzles not even witstanding 

J-TO-THA-IZZOHN: what wizzay i interrupt'n? 

DAVE: i thizzink dis was go'n ta be a serious conversation hiznere DAVE droppin hits: i have a crack-a-lackin` J-to-tha-izzade n i wizzy go'n ta git all heavy wizzay our relatizzle issues or whateva 

JOHN: Bow wow wow yippee yo yipee yay. yizzy wizzy? 

JADE: sigh JADE like a motha fucka: yes, unfortunately thats probably where dis was go'n 

J-TO-THA-IZZOHN: aw man, i'm sorry. i be fuck'n dis up so biznad. Im a bad boy wit a lotta hos. JOHN: see, dis be what i'm worry 'bout like this and like that and like this and uh. JOHN aww nah: even thizzay mah random jumps be supposizzle ta be a "safe" F-to-tha-izzorm of time travel, i'm still nizzles that i might be ruin'n important events anyway but real niggaz don't give a fuck. JOHN: like, there was all tizzy crazy stuff that happened ta git us here, whetha it was G-to-tha-izzood or bizzay. JOHN: Its just anotha homocide. and if i fiznumble around like dis accidentally chang'n all that stiznuff, then i wizzon't even know what go'n on anymizzle. Im crazy, you can't phase me. JOHN: maybe no one will! 

DAVE: uh DIZNAVE: does anyone evizzle know whats go'n on NIZZOW? 

JOHN cuz its a G thang: that what i'm say'n in tha hood! JOHN: trippin' be complicated enough as it be now pass the glock!!! 

DIZNAVE: truth 

JIZZLE: ok, look... JOHN: I'm a mutha fuckin 2-time felon. mizzy we can trizny ta minimize mah impact on tha cizzle situation. Bow wow wow yippee yo yipee yay. JOHN with the gangsta shit that keeps ya hangin: if i fly away, d-ya think you can do whateva you were go'n ta do 'n tha F-to-tha-izzirst place? Hollaz to the East Side. JOHN: d-ya know wizzy you were go'n to do now pass the glock? 

JADE: yes J-TO-THA-IZZADE: i was doggy stylin' to kick tha mayor into thizzle L-to-tha-izzava 

DAVE: Im a bad boy wit a lotta hos. whizzat?? DAVE: hizzle S-H-to-tha-izzit so uncoo' 

JIZZADE: i was messin' to make it clear i was serious 'bout cappin' someone you cared 'bout JADE: so you would stop bein a baby n start us'n yo' powa and swordfight wit me you dumb jerk  keep'n it real yo:p 

DAVE: wizzy DIZZY cuz its a doggy dog world: jade i thizzay yizzy might be a shawty tizzoo gizzle at bein a villain its kind of worry'n 

JIZZLE: thizzle you :) 

DAVE: so tha mayizzle would be D-to-tha-izzead if john didnt shizzow up? 

JADE: oh yes absolutely JADE: he would be burnt ta a crisp riznight now i be siznure of it

DAVE: god damn jizzle DAVE: whizzy would yizzy do thizzat you know eventuallizzle id probably stizzay us'n mah powa n reluctantly start embrac'n mah role as a reluctant hizzero DAVE: that shiznit always happens 

JIZZLE: no you wizzouldnt yizzou were just go'n ta argue wit me crazy ass nigga fo yo bitch ass! 

DAVE: yeah maybe DIZZAY: Real niggas recognize the realness. but tha point be youre not go'n to poser cappin' tha mayor anymore be you 

JIZZY: i gizzle nizzle JADE: he be a verizzle skanky mayor afta all 

DAVE so you betta run and grab yo glock: sizzle john yo' fizzle time travel shizzit be already pay'n off DIZZAVE: you saved tha mayor congratulations 

JIZZLE: ok, i'm glad tha mayor is alive n wiznell. You'se a flea and I'm the big dogg. JOHN droppin hits: but dis be exizzle W-H-to-tha-izzat i wanted ta avoid! Anotha dogg house production. JOHN: Listen to how a motherfucker flow shit. isn't thizzle S-to-tha-izzome wizzle you C-to-tha-izzould just... JOHN: prizzle i neva showizzle up, n lizzle dis play out tha way it wizzy suppoze' ta? 

JADE: sorry jizzle JADE: whateva dave and i wizzle go'n ta argue 'bout JIZNADE with the S-N-double-O-P: i thizzle tha momizzle has pasze' JADE n shit: tha whole mobbin' be kind of ruined ta be honest 

JOHN: DAMN IT cuz its a doggy dog world! 

DIZZY: ok all yizzy sizzettle down im hatin' a tiznext D-TO-THA-IZZAVE: Snoop heffner mixed with a little bit of doggy flint. ... DAVE: i cizzant fuck'n read dis

> [A6A6I1] ====>

[shyloft]

18 Questions about Music

i was tagged by @slampoety !!

1. Which bands/artist do you own the most albums by? physical albums? infinite i think lmao bc it was like Cool to get the physcial kpop albums bc they came with like?? cards with the members on them? and posters? but i dont know if thats still cool to do im assuming so. nobody really does album packages like korean bands tho lemme tell u 2. What was the last song you listened to? rn i’m listening to the rab version of holding on to you which is like....the fourth time ever in my life hearing it probably like i know this is the og but this is wrong. good but still wrong 3. What’s in your CD/Record player right now? well my copy of electra heart by marina and the diamonds is sitting right on top of it so im assuming it was that. from like. 4 years ago. 4. What was the last show you attended? twenty one pilots in north little rock just this month!!! my mom and my sister drove up there with me and @sweaterdun and it was so fun i’ve never traveled to see a band OR seen a band twice on the same tour like that before it was such a great opportunity this band has been so good to me i love them 5. What was the greatest show you’ve been to? TWENTY ONE PILOTS ERS2016 ST LOUIS 8/2 god. God it was so good i cried twice and i went with my best friend it was the best night of my life so far? like? i cried in the middle of guns for hands because i just couldnt believe i was there and it was so good and i barely stopped crying enough to enjoy tyler flopping around in the hamster ball. and i cried during goner and planned crying through trees but then tyler started talking about waffle crisp 6. What was the worst show you’ve ever been to? gosh idk like? probably some bands i had to go see for my sister like. i remember at blink 182 they were just so piss drunk they didn’t even know the words to their own songs? but like i saw fall out boy right before that so it was still amazing and i didnt mind? like i had to really think about this 7. What is the most musically involved you have ever been? not 100% sure what this is asking but like. i used to play piano and bell instruments like the xylophone and like aux percussion and Some drums....but never a drum set. uh. but like idk i’ve never met a band if this is like about bands? so probably just recently when i skipped school to go see twenty one pilots like 6 hrs away. and like i’m hoping to see them in ohio and i Probably plan on uhhhhhhhhhhgettingoneormoretattoosdedicatedtothem which is a new thing for me i’ve never been this in love with a band in my whole life 8. What show are you looking forward to? i have two shows that i’m forsure going to soonish! in a couple weeks im going to see state champs with my friends and my sister and her friend which will be fun even tho i barely listen to them! and in early june im gonna prob go see bad suns! also idr when but HALL AND OATES omg. and im not gonna jinx myself so i wont go on about prospective shows. this has been an amazing show year ugh 9. What is your favorite band shirt ? the shirt i got at the last foo fighters show i got is sooooo cute its got like ufos and stuff on it and its primary colors on black i love it!! and my ers tank thats like the tank top w the skull that says clique is like the cutest thing top has put out in a Long time 10. What musician would you like to hang out with for a day? ........................twenty one pilots 11. Who is one musician or group you wish would make a comeback? HOZIER! HO!ZI!ER! H O Z I E R 12. Who is one band/ artist you’ve never seen live but always wanted to? florence + the machine ohhhhhhhhhhh my goooooddd i want to see her so bad shes got like.....an orchestra.....or at LEAST a woman playing the harp on stage like i would DIE to see her live i love her its just been so long since shes come to st louis and i didnt know the last time!!! 13. Name four or more flawless albums some really throghout solid albums? vessel - twenty one pilots * ceremonials - florence + the machine * wiped out! - the neighbourhood * hozier - hozier * infinity on high - fall out boy * pure heroine - lorde

14. How many concerts have you been to, total? GOD you see like. u know how every family that can afford to has that one thing that they always make room in their budgets for? like some families go out to eat a lot or go to the movie theater or travel or have tons of pets? i’ve always gone to concerts since i was like rly little

i had to write it all down but i came up with 18 so far not including the 3 im going to soon 15. Who have you seen the most live? fall out boy for sure! once in like fourth grade w a brendon urie acoustic set because panic just like. broke up. the second time was that time with blink 182. the third time was the save rock and roll tour (BEFORE THEY ADDED TOP AND PANIC) where i nearly passed out and got sick from the heat. and then the most recent was the boyz of zummer with wiz khalifa where i officially learned to associate the smell of weed with like. weed. but since 2 of those were for my sister TECHNICALLY? the neighbourhood. i saw them 3x at the same venue they’re sooooo good live 16. What is your favorite movie soundtrack? the great gatsby (2013) holy shit dude

17. What was your last musical ‘phase’ before you wisened up? kpop was my Thing from ages 12 to like 15 then i got depressed and lost interest completely and not to be corny but 21p pulled me out of that :/ 18. What is your ‘guilty pleasure’ that you hate to admit liking? my entire music library is an embarrassment but i really hate getting caught listening to stuff i used to listen to in late elementary school and the beginning of middle school like....the really hard but still corny rock and metal. like. fun fact i know Every single word to bring me to life by evanescence bc that was straight up my fave band. so any time im listening to 2000s rock music or japanese vk in the hallway i make sure i dont let ppl see my screen

hhhmmhmhm so i guess i’ll tag @sweaterdun @chalupacabras @friedlettuce (enlighten me on what people who Aren’t emo fuckers listen to) and ik he just got tagged but @wdbwotv bc if u havent already....i wanna see it. if all y’all want to. sorry u had to read all this WOW

[dylan-hague]

Chapter 32

Titans Tower, Jump City. April 25th, 2018. 2:14 AM.

Damian sat at his desk, pouring over everything he could find on Eddie Nashton. He’d been at this for the past hour, trying to prepare himself for anything Riddler could through at them, familiarizing himself with all his past schemes to see if there were a pattern to his riddles. He pushed his sunglasses up on his eyes as he scanned the words on the screen; he’d taken to wearing sunglasses as he did desk work in order to ease the strain on his eyes. Jon thought it was dumb, but it seemed like it was working.

As he looked over everything he could find, he found his mind drifting back to the false Red X he’d encountered in the library. It didn’t take much to figure out she was from the League of Assassins; he figured everyone must have scattered when his mother disbanded it, but he never expected any of them to come after him… or, for that matter, where to even find him. She was obviously League, but something was different… even his personal Guard weren’t that skilled. Where had he met her before…?

His train of thought was interrupted by a knock on his window. He turned to see Raven and Jon floating outside. Lord above, what are they up to now? Rolling his eyes, Damian pushed himself up to his feet and shuffled over to his window, pushing it open. He was greeted by a gust of warm morning air as Jon quickly scooped him up in his arms, a cheek-to-cheek grin across his face.

“Jonathan Samuel Kent, you put me back down right now!” Damian whispered fiercely. “I have a Kryptonite ring, and I swear, I am not afraid to use–”

“Oh calm down, grumpy gills!” Jon teased, rubbing his cheek against Damian’s. “We just wanted to take you out and have a little fun before work today!” Ugh, why was he so happy? It was two in the morning, nobody is supposed to be this happy after two in the morning!

“Jon, I’m always working. You know that…” Damian groaned, rubbing his eyes. “What do you think I’m doing up this late on a night when we’re not out on patrol?”

“I dunno. Videogames, I guess?” The hybrid tossed Damian over to Raven, who caught him with her magic. “Rae, does Damian like videogames?”

“I’ve never seen him play one, so I couldn’t say,” the mage replied, her hands up to maintain the speed holding Damian in the air. “Do you, Damian?”

“Never tried one, so…” the powerless Titan paused for a moment. “Hey, wait a minute. Why did you agree to this? You know I have work that needs to get done!”

“Yeah, but I also know that you’re going to work yourself to death,” Raven said with a half-smile. “And I don’t want you doing that, because I actually like you.”

“God only knows why,” Damian quipped in reply, his lips curling into a smirk. “If you actually like someone like me, they oughta lock you up in Arkham. You’re a psychopath.”

“I like you too, what does that make me?” Jon asked, an eyebrow raised.

Damian looked over his shoulder, grinning cheekily. “An imbecile.”

“Rude,” Raven muttered, smacking Damian in the back of his head. “Come on, let’s go out for a bit.”

“Alright… but only because I like you two.” Damian sighed, smiling and taking Raven’s hand as they drifting out away from the Tower. “Can we try to be back by sunrise?”

Raven smiled. “I think we can make that work.”

…

“Put your hands in the air, Harkness!” The sirens all around the Bank of Perez wailed as  a swarm of policemen held up their guns at the entryway, where Digger Harkness stood just inside with a knife pressed to a young woman’s throat.

“Ha! Yeh, like you buggers got anything you can pull on me!” the perp shouted, grinning wildly as he jerked his hostage about. “Now here’s how we gonna do this: you lot drop ya pea shooters, me an’ my boys in here head out without anyone gettin’ any ideas about tailin’ us, and the pretty lady here gets ta keep her jugulah! Ya hear me?”

“We can’t let you go, Harkness! Not with all that cash,” the police captain called, wrinkles forming on his weathered forehead. “Let the woman go and give yourself up, and I promise no harm will come to you!”

“Yeh, nah,” Harkness called out with a wink. “Time’s up, mate! We got plen'y more nice folks in here, so I’ll be takin’ this o–w-what the–?”

Digger looked down to see his whole arm, along with the blade in his hand, enveloped in darkness, like a shadow had stretched right over it, and pulled slowly to the side as the hostage in his arm was engulfed in the same inexplicable darkness, drifting into the air away from him and touching down to the ground behind the fleet of squad cars.

“Captain Boomerang… you have to be joking.”

Harkness whipped around to see three kids inside the building behind him. He let out a grunt of agitation when he saw each one wearing a cape of sort, and two of them hovering just off the ground.

“You gotta be kiddin’ me,” Boomerang complained. “I skipped town outta Central City tryin’ ta get away from you hero-freaks, and now yer tellin’ me I gotta deal with the juniors!?”

“You know you can’t take all three of us, Harkness,” Raven said, her voice wishing through the air like a vapor. “Surrender now, and we won’t hurt you…”

“Or better yet, try to fight back.” Red X grinned as he cracked his knuckles. “I wanna have some fun with you.”

“Don’t listen to X here, he’s got issues.” Superboy smirked, one hand on Damian’s shoulder. “Just put the knives and… boomerangs… down, so we can turn you in.”

“Hmmm… sorry, mate,” Digger replied, his irritation plain to hear in his tone. “I ain’t got time for yer little play-date, I got places to be. Let’s get this goin’.”

Damian cocked an eyebrow as he crossed his arms. “Alright, Titans. Show this idiot how we do.”

Harkness flung his switchblade straight for Damian as he reached for a boomerang on his belt. The Son of Batman caught the weapon with minimal effort, and Boomerang found his whole body covered in shadow before Raven flung him against the wall on the left side of the room, several bricks busting loose as he collapsed to the floor. As the crook slowly wobbled back to his feet amongst the debris, Jon rushed forward and shot his fist right into Harkness’ gut, knocking him back into the wall a second time and leaving noticeably more damage to its surface as Boomerang fell back to the cold bank floor, completely unconscious. Red X dropped the switchblade, letting it clatter to the ground.

“Well that was lame,” Damian said with a smirk. “I didn’t even get to do anything.”

Just as the words left his lips, a great red blur rocketed through the bank, sending papers and capes whirling about in the wind. When the air settled, there before them stood a man who looked to be about Nightwing’s age, wearing a red suit with a white lightning bolt across his chest. His red hair poked out from the top of his mask, and sparks of static electricity bound to and fro around him for a moment before dying down. Damian immediately recognized him from the hospital when Tommy was born.

“Kid Flash,” Red X called out, crossing his arms. “I believe this is your crook?”

The man turned to Damian with a smile. “Actually, it’s just Flash now…” he replied. “But yeah, thanks for taking care of him! Woulda done it myself, but I’ve got other stuff going on. I’ll go ahead and take him back to Central, think you could say hey to Kori for me?”

“Will do, Wally,” Raven said with a smile and a nod. “It’s good to see you again.”

“Well thanks, Little Miss Sunshine!” Wally said grinning. “By the way, did I congratulate you two yet? ‘Cuz I meant to when we were all in Blüdhaven, but I can’t remember.”

“Thanks, West.” Damian took Raven by the hand and smiled back at the veteran Titan. “It’s good to finally not hear the whole 'you’re taking things too fast’ routine.”

“Oh please, Little D. I’m a Flash…” Wally replied with a wink as his body began to crackle with static. “To me, there’s no such thing as 'too fast.'” Just as he said this, he turned into a red streak once more, whizzing his way out the door and taking Harkness along with him.

“Umm… who was that?” Jon said, a confused look on his face.

“That, Jon, was Wally West,” Damian turned to Jon with a raised eyebrow. “formerly known as Kid Flash. He was a founding member of the Teen Titans, back when my brother Richard was still Robin.”

“Whoa… that’s awesome, man!” Jon grinned excitedly as he strolled towards his companions. “Ain’t ya glad ya came out with us tonight?”

“Well, I’ll admit that was… mildly entertaining,” Damian mused. “But now that that’s over with, we should head off to–”

“Helloooo? Testing, testing… is thing on?”

Damian froze for a moment. That voice was coming from his communicator. He whipped out the handheld com, and what he saw on the screen aroused an anger in him that nearly caused him to crush the device: on the screen was a green question mark.

“Riddler…” Damian growled into the device.

“Awwwww, the baby birdie remembers me!” Riddler taunted from the other end of the com. “Well, if you remember my name, perhaps that means you also remember my game: proving my intellectual superiority to the world, and demonstrating that no matter how intelligent your friend Batman might claim to be, I’ll always, ALWAYS be one step ahead of him!”

“If you’re so hellbent on proving you’re smarter than Batman,” Red X barked into his device, “then what are you doing on the other side of the country, in my city?”

“Ho ho! Someone’s not asking the right questions! You’ll never get anywhere with that mindset, my aggressively simpleton street-scrapping friend.” The villain chortled heartily through the speaker. “But if you must know, I’ll put it in terms you’re hopefully smart enough to understand: I’m aware that Batman invested a substantial amount of time in grooming all of his past and present protégés to try and attain his level of competence, in their physical capabilities as well as their far more important mental capacities. I’m simply doing my rounds to ensure that he knows that this endeavor was a resounding failure. And that starts with you, my little friend; you’re not nearly bright enough to track me down, that much is obvious! So after I utterly humiliate you for all the world to see, I’ll move on to the other poor saps that Batman has tried so hard to educate. Maybe once he sees how pathetic his attempts at teaching you all have been, he’ll finally come to his senses and admit that I, the Riddler, am truly the smartest man in Gotham!”

“And while you’re at it, you make off with a cool 150 billion dollars’ worth of gold, is that right?” Damian said through grit teeth, seething at his adversary’s unbearably pompous attitude.

“Well, proving myself the intellectual pinnacle of the world is an expensive undertaking!” Riddler taunted. “It seems a fair settlement to me. Think of it as a spontaneous, non-optional crowdfunding event! And I’d like to thank aaaaall my generous benefactors for doing their part to help me achieve my dream!”

“Laugh while you can, you egotistical windbag,” Damian’s eyes squinted as he growled into his communicator. “Because when I find you, I’ll take my time beating that smug smile off your face.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll try your best, my young friend! But as you’ll see, you’re wits are nothing compared to mine,” the crook on the other end said. “Au revois!” With that, Damian’s communicator went dead.

“… Maybe we should take a step back…” Jon said, putting his hands up as he floated towards the door.

“This still doesn’t give us any answers…” Damian sighed, slipping his communicator back into his belt. “This didn’t give us anything.”

“Damian…” Raven gently put her hand to Damian’s chest. “If you want to go home, we can do that. Just say the word.”

Damian shook his head. “No… let’s stay out for awhile. I wanna keep it off my mind for a little bit.”

…

“This is a pretty nice place you found out here, Rae.”

“I didn’t find it, Jon. Kori showed it to me.”

Damian sat underneath the inexplicably-placed pine tree beside the little body of water he’d decided in his mind to call “Rachel’s Pond”. (At first he called it Raven’s Pond, but he figured that was bound to confuse people, start rumors that didn’t need to be started. Using her legal name would be much more appropriate, considering that’s what everyone would probably be calling her once her joining the Wayne family became public information.) Beside him sat Raven herself, who leaned her head on his shoulder as she let out a yawn, and Jonathan leaned up against the tree on the other side of him, having flown back to the Tower to retrieve his guitar. Truth be told, he was glad Raven and Jon had called him out for this; he needed the break from his work. He hadn’t stopped his research for the past eight days, and he even had begun to see double as a result of staring at his confounded computer screen for so long. And if he really had to take a break, Damian was glad it was with these two; Damian felt like he didn’t say it enough, but Raven and Jon really were his two best friends. Sure, they were his Best Man and fiancée, but he still felt like he should spend more time expressing his appreciation for them. Just… y'know, let them know he cared. That’s why he came out with them tonight; they didn’t spend enough time together as just their group.

“Man… what a year, huh?” Jon grinned down at his friends as he pushed off of the pine, dropping to the ground and resting his head in Damian’s lap. “Think about last April. Where we all were. You two had just gotten together, man. How crazy is that to think about?”

“What’s crazier is how long it took us to get together,” Raven said with a soft smile as she nestled her head gently into Damian’s neck. “Two years ago, I think, was when we first realized we liked each other…”

“Two years, three weeks, four days, and…” Damian checked his watch. 4:30 AM. “about eight and a half hours... For me, anyways. We were on the Ferris wheel…”

“I don’t know how we ended up on that thing together…” Raven sighed. “Or why Garfield and Jaime kept cheering. Ferris wheels aren’t that exciting.” Damian couldn’t not laugh at that; she had a REALLY good point.

“So wait… March 30th 2016, you guys first started liking each other…” Jon looked up at the two of them with an eyebrow cocked. “March 30th 2017, you started dating… and then March 30th 2018, you got engaged? That settles it, you have to get married on March 30th.”

“I dunno…” Damian smiled, looking down contently at Raven’s hand in his. “I kinda like the idea of a May wedding. Richard and Barbara got me into it.”

“Oh, right… they wanted to get married next month, didn’t they?” Raven lifted her head up, turning to look at Damian with sleepy eyes.

“They did… but all things considered, it was worth putting off,” the Son of Batman replied. “This way, Tommy can actually be at his parents’ wedding. He may not remember it when he grows up, but it’ll be good to have him there.”

“I agree…” Raven rubbed her eyes wearily. “Ugh, man… at this rate, I won’t make it to sunrise…”

“Wait, noooooo, you can’t go to sleep!” Jon picked his head up and put his guitar aside. “I can’t carry both of you and my guitar back home!”

“Shhhhh, Jonno, juss…” Raven’s eyelids drooped low as he sleepily pawed at Damian’s chest. “Jussemme… wuh, whoa boy…”

Damian watched with a soft smile as his Raven fought back as best she could at the craving for slumber. “Come on, let’s head back home. I’ll carry you on foot, that sound alright?” The boy’s cheeks went rosy as the sleepy witch nodded her head, leaning into his arms as he lifted her up.

“Aww, aren’t you two just precious?” Jon snickered as he picked up his instrument and strapped it to his back. Raven curled in closer to Damian’s chest as they started the long walk back to Titans Tower.

By the time they reached home, it was almost 6 o'clock. Just as the three heroes went to open the front door, the first beams of sunlight peered out over the river, making the flowing waters dance with a light that looked almost alive. Damian smiled at the sight, holding Raven to him just a little tighter as he and Jon watched the yellow ball of light emerge from below the horizon, illuminating the world around them. It was a new day… but they were tired. It was time to turn in. Damian pressed his lips to Raven’s forehead as he turned and carried her inside.