#and how things changed from him in that timespan

[le-velo-pour-dru]

I just kinda think it's neat that Die Alone and Love At First Sight are both songs by The Brobecks :) Like you can see that Dallon went from thinking he wasn't gonna find anybody to finding the love of his life by looking at their songs. I just think it's kind of sweet, y'know? 🩷

[nabaath-areng]

A lot can change in 10 years--

[the-broken-truth]

Blot-Mates: Yuu & The Overblots [Part 3]

SEGMENT: AZU

Summary: Seeing Yuu slightly overworked and complaining about his Magicless Body, Azu attempts to trap in him a contract. Will Yuu agree to the contract? What does Azu want? What are the conditions if Yuu doesn't hold up his end of the deal?

[Note: The Yuu Variant is Male with Enma Yuuken's Body Build, Yuuka Hirasaki's Fighting Skills, and Yuuta Mito's Cooking Skills.]

[Note: This Storyline will be written in Script Format.]

Parts: [Prologue] - [Ri] - [Leo] - [Azu] (Here) - [Jami] - [Vi] - [Idi] - [Mal] - [All] - [Epilogue]

[After a rather filling breakfast, Azu lounged in the large bathtub, keeping his sensitive skin and tentacles moist. Well... He was trying to relax, but his mind went to the Prefect of Ramshackle who had been taking care of all the Overblots since they were separated from their Original Bodies. Azu had been noticing how the Overblots reacted to Yuu, mainly Leo & Ri, who were rather clingy and overprotective of the Magicless Prefect. Speaking Yuu's Magicless Trait, Azu noticed how tired Yuu was after the day of attending classes with Grim and doing the Headmage's Work, as well as work around the school for the petty amounts of Madols and Thaumarks that the Headmage was throwing at him. Azu was thinking about how he could use this information to his advantage when the door opened and Yuu walked into the bathroom, covered from shoulders to feet soil and his black hair more messy than it normally was.]

Yuu (Walking over to the sink and grabbing a bar of hand soap): Sorry for coming in unannounced, Azu, but the bathroom is currently being used and I need to get washed up so I can make dinner. (Turns on the water and starts washing his hands)

Azu: That's quite alright, Prefect. It would seem that you were rather...busy. Did the Headmage have you digging new flowerbeds in the Botanical Gardens, again?

Yuu: No, I was doing something else. (Exhales)

Azu (Raises an eyebrow with a small smirk on his face): You see rather tired, Prefect. Are you certain you have enough energy to make dinner for all of us tonight?

Yuu (Drying his face and hands with a towel): Honestly, I am very tired, but I refuse to rest until all my boys are full and relaxed themselves.

Azu: 'Your Boys'? You consider us your boys even though we all tried to kill you?

Yuu: Just as I told Ri and Leo, it's not your fault you guys overblotted in the first place.

Azu (Stares at Yuu for a while): Do you think your life would be easier here if you had magic of your own?

Yuu: (Chuckles): There were so many moments where I thought life would be easier for me if I was from Wonderland or had magic of my own, but I am a simple Magicless Human and I have to deal with it.

Azu: What if you don't have to deal with that? What if you could change that?

Yuu (Looks at Azu): What are you getting at?

Azu (Smiles): Make a deal with me, Prefect.

[Just then: A Golden Contract appears in front of Yuu's face, making him jump slightly back before he looked over at Azu, who was waving a Fishbone Pen in his right hand.]

Yuu (Grabs the Golden Contract and starts reading it before looking over at the Smirking Azu): What is the meaning of this?

Azu: It's clear that you want to be like the rest of us: Magical and Powerful. I can grant you that - A magical core and magic of your own...if you can complete the terms of my contract.

Yuu (Reading the Terms with a raised eyebrow): You want a Saltwater Pool/Pond at least 7 to 8 Feet Deep, with concrete floor and walls, constructed in a timespan of...4 Days?! (Looks at Azu) Digging a hole that deep is going to take at least 2 days!

Azu (Smirking): I am a very impatient man, Prefect. I've been in this small tub for a very long time and I want to be able to swim.

Yuu (Looking at the contract): Failure to do so will result in... (Looking at Azu) Seriously? That's what you want in return if I fail to meet the conditions of the contract? That of all things?

Azu: Yes - that's the one thing I have wanted since coming here. So... (Holding up the Fishbone Pen) Do we have a deal, Prefect?

[Yuu looks at the pen for a moment...before smirking at Azu, grabbing the pen, and signing his name on the bottom of the contract before handing it back to Azu; who looks rather shocked that Yuu signed it.]

Yuu (Smirking): See you soon, Azu. (Walks out of the bathroom)

Azu (Chuckling to himself): Oh... You will give me what I want, Prefect, and once I have it, I won't let anyone else take it away from me.

Ri (Looks at everyone as he lowers his fork from his mouth): Has anyone seen Yuu?

Leo: You're right. He served dinner and left rather quickly. He didn't even want to eat with us...

Idi: Is something wrong with the Prefect? What would have him so panicked?

Mal (Looking at Azu's Smirking Face as he eats): You did something to the Magicless Child, didn't you?

Azu (Sitting in a large clay Octopus Pot that is halfway filled with saltwater): What makes you say that, Mal?

Mal: That devious smirk on your face. What have you done to the Magicless Child?

Azu: I haven't done anything to him... However, we did make a deal.

Ri (Standing up and glaring at Azu): You trapped my brother in a contract with you?! What did you offer him?!

Azu: I offered to make him like us - Magical.

Jami: You can do that?

Azu: Of course. There is nothing the contracts cannot do. I will give him a magic core and magic of his own if he can give me what I want in 4 Days... If not, well... I will get the one thing I wanted since I met him.

Leo: Are you planning to steal Ramshackle away from him, just like you tried to do the first moment you met him?!

Azu: Of course not, I'm no longer interested in Ramshackle. What I want...is something more valuable than Ramshackle or any kind of Unique Magic I could gain.

Jami: What are you after?

Azu: Wouldn't you like to know, Snake?

[Azu sat in the bathtub in his room with a smirk on his face: He just had to wait a few more hours until the contract's time limit expired and the one thing he desired would be his. Sure, he felt wrong tricking the Prefect into signing the contract knowing that he was never going to finish the task in less than 4 days, but he was doing this for his own selfishness...and the Prefect's Well-Being. Yuu wouldn't understand it at first but as time went on, he would understand and forgive him. All he needed was time. Suddenly, the door opened and Yuu walked in with Azu's Octopus Pot on a wheeled cart with a smile on his face.]

Yuu: I have something to show you, Azu.

[Azu didn't have time to question Yuu as the Prefect walked over to him, wrapped his arms around his waist firmly but tenderly, lifted him out of the tub, and placed him in the pot before wheeling him out of the room, down the hall and out the back door that led into the empty field behind Ramshackle... Well, it wasn't empty anymore.]

[There were two pools about 20 Feet wide each that too up the space of the yard and both of there were lined with lights on the concrete surfaces of each pool so people could see even if they were swimming in the dark. There was a sign near the pool on the left that said 'Azu's Pool'. Yuu wheeled Azu over to the pool and lifted him out of the pot before gently placing him in the warm water, leaving Azu shocked; it was everything he asked for but how did Yuu manage to do it with only a few hours to spare.]

Yuu: What do you think?

Azu: It's... It's perfect, but I don't understand. How did you manage to do all of this within 4 days?! I was certain that you were going to fail!

Yuu (Smiles with a raised eyebrow): Oh, you wanted me to fail, just like how you wanted me to the first time I signed a contract with you?

Azu: I... I...

Yuu: Azu, I am not angry with you. When I saw your Failure Condition, I knew that you just wanted to have something with you: Your Failure Condition was me becoming your Blood Brother.

Azu: (Looks at the water)

Yuu (Places his hand on Azu's head): You didn't need a contract for that, My Octopi. If you want me to be your brother, I don't mind. I'll be your little brother. (Smiling at Azu)

Azu: (Looking up at Yuu with wide eyes)

Yuu: Okay, let's get you back in your pot so I can go make dinner. (Puts Azu back into Octopus Pot)

Azu (Looks at Yuu intently):...

Yuu: Why are you looking at me like that?

Ri (Looking around the living room): Where is Yuu?

Leo (Looking in the Kitchen): He's not in the kitchen making dinner. Where could our little brother be?

Yuu (In the Backyard): AHHHHHH!!!

[Ri and Leo run through the house and out the backyard door to see Azu trying to pull Yuu into his Octopus Pot with his tentacles: Yuu's legs are kicking outside the opening of the pot.]

Yuu: PLEASE, SOMEONE HELP! MAKE HIM STOP!

Ri: YUU! HOLD ON!

Leo: WE'RE COMING, LITTLE BROTHER!!!

[Ri and Leo run over and grab each of Yuu's legs and start pulling him out of the pot but Azu is not letting go.]

Ri: Azu, let him go!

Leo: Give me back my brother, You Clingy Octopus!

Azu: No! He's Mine! My Brother! I am not sharing with any of you! He's mine!

Ri & Leo: GIVE HIM TO US! HE WAS OURS FIRST!

Azu: NO!!!

Yuu (Being used as a tug-o-war rope): GREAT SEVEN, HELP ME!!!

[END - TO BE CONTINUED]

[locallixie]

hi! love all of your reactions and scenarios <3 could i request a soft!dom felix x fem!reader? haven't seen each other in a while and felix just praising reader?

how have you been? — felix

> summary. sometimes, life and ambitions just gets in the way of relationship.

> genre. fluff, angst, smut, established relationship, long-distance relationship, boyfriend!felix, soft-dom!felix, fem!reader.

> warnings. praising, general sexual themes, body-worship, pet names, minor language.

(wc) > 2.1k

(taglist) > @jihanlovic

(sunny's note) ☆ it took a good while to come up with a plot, and it was from the most unlikely place ever.

Felix was quite a clingy boyfriend, maybe clingy was an exaggeration, but he loved being around you so much that he would always whines and pouts when you said you needed to leave. Until he left you first, ironic was it? You didn’t hear anything from him when he disappeared out of a sudden, he didn’t text or call, nothing at all.

That wasn’t him, wasn’t the Lee Felix that you knew. He would never, right? He would never do such a thing to you, especially ghosting you even though you two were still technically together. A few days, then a few weeks, then a few months, then a whole entire year of complete silence from him. So…he dumped you? You couldn't believe it, you weren't going to believe. Inside of you, the bottom of your heart, you would never accept the fact that he actually left you like that.

Why didn't you contact him first? You would, you wanted to. But every one of his social media accounts had you blocked for some unknown reason. His number was changed too, it seem. When you called, the line was out of service. And before you knew it, you had stopped trying to reach him all together.

That wasn't until one rainy day in the middle of August, incredible winds, raindrops falling from the sky throughout the entire daytime, all the way into the evening. Your phone rang, sending vibrations on the surface of your desk. Before it got a chance to jump off, you picked it up, just to see an unknown number calling you. Half expecting it to be the company you applied for calling you back with good news, the other half expecting a salesman of which you could easily hang up on.

"Hello?" You spoke first.

"[Y/N], finally!" Almost dropping you phone in utter shock and anger and relief, your hands were shaking as you tried your best not to break down. You could not be mistaking, that was, for a certain, Felix's mellow deep voice.

The other line let out a tired chuckle, "Oh God, I would've called sooner. But I couldn't, for the life of me, remember the digits to your number."

Your ears tuned out all of his rambling, as he went on and on about things you had no clues. A sniffle echoed through the telephone line, momentarily, silencing everything. Except the rain outside kept pouring with no sign of stopping, you wondered if it would rain this whole weekends too, that would be quite a pain. Maybe not as painful as his presence.

Your voice full of long-term anguish, screamed, "You asshole! What took you so long?! Why did you even bother to show up now?!"

Throat tightening, all the unspoken words of the past timespan, the things he had no time to tell you, an apology. He held back his tears, filling in with giggles to dilute the tension which resulted in little to no success. As he listened into your distressed cries, the guilts rising inside of him once more. Felix cried often, many things could easily bring him to tears. Yet, right now he couldn't shed a tear even if he desperately wanted to. Because it wasn't his turn to cry, it was yours.

"[Y/N], I..." His mind was a blank, nothing came up to be spoken as comfort. What should he do now? What could he do now?

Felix paused, then he talked to you again. "Hey, let's meet at the café near your place."

"Are you crazy? The rain will wash me away out there, and besides, how do I know that you're not going to ghost me?" You replied coldly. You were sure that you were not going to survive through this type of weather, a running nose or a cold at the very least. Crazy how that café was still opened all those years, it basically witnessed your complete relationship with Felix, ever since the beginning until this moment.

You had your first date there as well, he asked you out if you remembered correctly. You still owned the same sundress you wore that day, you got tons of compliments from Felix when he saw it. Youth years were absolutely insane, wild and stupidly in love with one another. Each time you initiated affection, each time you told each other your feelings, each time you vowed to live and die for each other. Those years were the happiest, they were dreams, they were the peace between chaos.

Felix simply assured, "I'll come pick you up then, be there in twenty."

Giving you no time to process or protest, the opposite line hung up. Caught in a state of panic and confusion, you quickly scrambled around your room as you were unsure of what to do. You looked like a hot mess, tear stains and disheveled hair, your clothes told the public that you had given up. Despite how mad you were at him, and how the weather being in absolute disorder, you still dolled up yourself for him. Putting on makeup, brushing out your hair, changing your outfit in a time crunch.

You rushed down the stairs as soon as you heard the bell rang, your hurried footsteps echoed throughout the apartment building, possibly disrupting your neighbors who also lived here. For the first time in a long while, you saw him. Holding an umbrella, patiently waiting for you to come, he was dressed in unfamiliar attire—not in his usual style, a huge improvement if you could put it as so.

“[Y/N],” Felix admired your appearance, “you look beautiful.”

You opened your own umbrella, stepping the small puddles towards him and into the rain. The walk was quiet, the air was tensed. Felix was a sociable person, but in this situation you two were in, he couldn’t start a conversation to save his failing relationship. There were so many things to say, yet no one could bring themselves to talk.

Not until you reached your destination, still on the same street, still radiated the same cozy vibes, still brought to you much nostalgia. He said his first 'I love you' here, right in this booth you two were sitting. The usual order of hot chocolate with marshmallows, too sweet but just as hot enough to filed up one's chest. The chocolate ran down its warmth inside to the stomach, grazing each and every ribs, poking at the heart. Felix loved those, he still did, and he would only order them when he is with you. To be honest, you were sweeter and warmer than any hot chocolate he ever had.

"Alright, make it quick, I have an early shift tomorrow." You told as you stirred your cup of tea in annoyance. Actually though, you wanted to stay for as long as the both of you possibly could. At the same time, you didn't want to have this conversation at all since you knew for a fact, he would make you cry.

Felix nodded, understanding your current frustration. He took a sip of hot chocolate, the marshmallow splitting under his teeth. Sweet on top of sweet, the amount of sugar that seeping into his tastebuds. Some of the cream stuck on his top lip, forming a messy mustache. Before he could get rid of it himself, as an act of habit, you were wiping it away with the tissue you had in your hand.

“Ah, um…sorry—”

“Thanks, [Y/N].” The way he spoke your name with his deep tone still stirred you up in ways you had forgotten, awfully sweet yet quite personal at times.

“Anyways,” He smiled gently, gazing up at you with the pure fondness he had since the very beginning, “How have you been?”

Slightly furrowing your brows, not too pleased with how he decided to start this conversation, it felt awkward, which shouldn't happen between two people that known each other for years already. Though there was an endearing undertone about it, first date kind of feel, like getting to know one another all over again. Hobbies, then family, then might as well get into TMI territory.

"Good, you?" You gave a short answer, expressing your bit of refusal to cooperate.

"I...um...sorry that I left so suddenly. I know that was inconsiderate of me, but I had no choice at the time." Felix apologized, running his fingers through his bleached blond hair—used to be a dark brown colour, he has gotten rid of his natural hair.

"Not even one text? I was waiting for you in the rain!" Frustrated, you exclaimed.

"I know, I know! I don't blame you for feeling upset, I swear, I'll make it up to you!" Felix pleaded.

Silence rose upon the two of you once more. He hurt you, now he was trying to mend things. Selfish of him to left you behind as he chased his dreams alone. Felix hated to admit, the fact that he actually forgot about you. Right, how could he possibly? But life just simply gets in the way of relationship, especially when he spent his time being so far away from you. He was touring around the world, the thought of you crying and begging for his return seemed to slipped his mind. Because he was having too much fun out there, fans cheering his name in grand stadiums and arenas, caught up with polishing his skills, performing on elaborate songs on multiple stages with his band members. With all these things happening around him every day and night, he forgot about you. Fame got to him, that was what the professionals would comment.

Felix quietly touched your balled up fist, "Did you do something to your hair? It suits you well."

Who were you kidding? You couldn't stay mad at him forever, your heart was too weak to make a sweetheart like him cry. Your fist loosened, letting him laced his fingers with yours. As if time stopped, everything became slow, allowed you two to savour this moment a bit longer.

"I miss you, I'm such a horrible person." Felix laid on his arm, gazing at your eyes with more admiration than he ever had.

One thing led to another, it happened faster than you expected. You were at the café, and now you two were making out on your bed. His sweet lips bound you to him for life, like a curse so cruel yet so exhilarating. Felix held you in his arms, fearing he might forget you again, therefore he held on tightly to this pure happiness. Foolishly in love, crazily in love, immensely in love with one another.

"You're an amazing person," placing a kiss on your neck, he whispered, "I have never love someone like I love you."

Trailing kisses down your bare figure, he was gentle and handled you as if you were the most delicate thing. As he went lower, his mouth kept dropping praises nonstop. His hands were shaking as they touched your body, scared that he might hurt you like he did before.

You breathed heavily, holding back a moan. Breasts, stomach, hips, thighs, rear, almost no place that could draw lewd sounds from you was left behind. His thumb pushed against your clit, immediately sending a jolt up your body. Heart beating violently against your ribcage, it was going to jump out of your chest at any given minute. With his slender finger inching bit by bit inside you, lubricated nicely by your natural wetness.

Before you know it, there were already two fingers inside of you. Going in and out as it preparing your for the main event. You could not keep your mouth shut, despite knowing your neighbours were most probably sleeping by now. Whining and moaning, you gripped at his shoulders, making marks on his soft skin. Definitely, some scandals and rumours were going to be stirred up after this.

Coming onto his fingers, already quite breathless since you haven’t gotten intimate in a while. Your stamina used to be great, you could go on for hours, but how come you were so worn out just from one round. You didn’t even got to the main part yet!

“I love you, [Y/N].” Felix told, entering you. Your walls hugging his cock, it felt like he had gotten bigger since last time.

Starting slow, then gradually building up to a faster pace that brought both of you to a new state of pleasure. Felix breathed out, “Oh God, you’re so good to me, baby.”

Each thrust told you exactly how much he missed you, how much he loved you, how much special you were to him. Though he might be in a different place every single day, no place will be as amazing as being with you. He must leave by tomorrow morning, however, he wouldn’t make the same mistake like he did earlier.

“I won’t forget how much I love you.” Said as he came into you. Pressing his lips on your forehead, patiently waiting for you to calm down from your high. Guessed you two were back on good terms.

[yoiiwonn]

𝜗𝜚 park sunghoon.

𝜗𝜚 OVERVIEW enemy!sunghoon x gn!reader 𝜗𝜚 GENRE angst, fluff, drabble (a bit of swearing)

𝜗𝜚 MASTERLIST 𝜗𝜚 TAGLIST (open!!) 𝜗𝜚 REQUESTS OPEN

Enemy!sunghoon who always somehow finds a way to get under your skin. It irks you how everytime he says something to you, it makes you go crazy. Only to go home and stay up all night thinking about how he knew all of your secrets.

Enemy!sunghoon who repeatedly stares at you with a cold look on his face. Everytime you confront him he just laughs, and teases you about looking at him, when in reality he’s the one who cast his eyes on you.

Enemy!sunghoon who would do anything to just tease you all day about how much better he is at ice skating than you. Only to cause a fight in where you always end up storming off and not being able to think about anything else because of it.

Enemy!sunghoon who never wants you to talk to any guy other than him. Even though all of the bitter interactions you share together are negative, he doesn’t care. And whenever you do talk to other guys he makes it a point to drive them away from you, doing anything he can to paint you as a bad guy so that he can have you all to himself.

Enemy!sunghoon, who always takes it upon himself to whisper in your ear during practice, usually degrading you, calling you names, or taunting you a bit. It made your blood boil at first, but after some time it became quite attractive, causing your face to appear red everytime he did this “trick” of his, as he called it.

Enemy!sunghoon who blew up, seemingly more than usual when another figure skater suddenly joined your class. Your attention leaving his, and focusing on the “new guy.”

It riled him up, so within the timespan of a month he had the innocent guy kicked out. You had no idea why he got kicked out, but just ignored it. You did find it a bit strange that he hadn’t contacted you after, instead changed his number..? Things had always ended up like this this though, after all. park sunghoon had won too many battles he shouldn’t have been fighting in, he was your enemy… not your boyfriend….

Once he had started going soft around you, it fell odd. As if he had lined up all of this trouble just to taunt you even more. No.. not taunt.. to flirt?

You had finally given up on boys, it’s like you had powered through all of your past situationships with ease.. but you thought you were a decent person, so why?

Park sunghoon is the reason why.

Right towards the end of practice for the finales, you had noticed sunghoon rummaging through your bag. But why? He didn’t notice your sly footsteps approaching behind, and continued to scroll through your phone.

“Sunghoon what the hell.. are you doing..” a voice spoke in a hushed tone behind him, his heart pounding, dropping your phone on the ground and suddenly trying to run off. “GET BACK HERE PARK SUNGHOON!” He couldn’t outrun you forever, so he turned and just decided to face his inevitable fate.

“you fucking creep.. why did you go through my phone.” you speak, hands fidgeting in anxiety, still trying to process the emotions regulating through your head. “I’m not a creep.. well.. um. I just like you okay? A lot.” you shook your head in disbelief.. but you two hated eachother? I mean, you had thought about him in a different light recently, but never actually considered he’d like you.

You and park sunghoon had been skating rivals for almost 7 years straight, right up until this moment.

“yes or yes, idiot.” (park sunghoon)

“wha- what??” (yn)

“i’ll take that as a yes.” (park sunghoon)

before you could react he pulled you in a bit closer, your heart practically about to explode. What were these new feelings? Why were you feeling them for him? For your enemy.

In that moment right there, marked the beginning of a new relationship. A fresh start. Putting the past behind, The both of you started anew.

a bit of a long drabble/short story, but i just couldn’t get hoon out of my head for some reason 😓 ALSO requests are open if you want to request something for me to write <3

THANK YOU FOR READING!

[legend-as-old-as-time]

Bionicle Fic Recommendation List - AO3 Series

I have so many favorites that it makes sense to make several posts for my recommendations.

I'm starting with stories that are part of a larger universe / part of series. To support the authors, I'll add link to their AO3 profiles, tumblr blogs if they are present, and commission posts on tumblr.

Please assume canon-typical violence and the likes for every fic.

Under the cut for length.

----

Random_ag is also active on tumblr as @randomwriteronline and has posted their stories here as well. Here's their commission post, please give them a read! They're a great writer!

They love Pohatu x Kopaka as a couple as well as their friendship, and have written several stories starring them. I definitely recommend to give their stories if you're looking for these two plus interesting plots and intense feelings.

Summary: Pohatu likes the cold and hates the dark. The two things are connected.

Important information and tags: Generation 2015, implied connection to Generation 1, memory loss, fear of the dark, descriptions of a panic attack. Kopaka x Pohatu is tagged as pairing, but can be read as friendship in my opinion.

My thoughts: You know these stories where you slowly realize why a character is behaving as they are, rejecting any connection to the people around them, but the character themself has no context why they do that?

And you realize this character changed from trauma they don't even remember and have no chance of healing from like they are? Only a tiny bit of their previous self remains. Memories they don't realize are memories.

This is Pohatu (and the other toa). It's heartbreaking and I love it. The author wrote this premise based on a headcanon post.

Summary: Sort of sequel to Acluophobia.

Kopaka thinks, thinks, thinks - about things he can't remember, about himself. About Pohatu.

Important information and tags: Generation 2015, memory loss, idolization, implied connection Generation 1.

My thoughts: The reason why Kopaka in Generation 2015 differs from his Generation 1 self is the same as for Pohatu in this AU.

It's heartbreaking that he yearns and has no idea why he focuses on Pohatu or why his behavior breaks his heart, when he doesn't remember how Pohatu used to be. He puts him on a pedestal and doesn't think he could get hurt and be afraid. Until he realizes. Like in the first part, he offers him comfort but this time it's intentional.

Where the first ending offered relief, this one gave that and comfort.

----

Summary of the first entry:

A sudden tremor shakes Spherus Magna: something seems to have impacted the planet from a great altitude, if the unrecognizable wreckage a small party is able to find is anything to go by. More unexpected, however, are the creatures seemingly emerging from it. (a possible ending situation to the epilogue serial "The Powers That Be")

My thoughts: This series happens some time after where Lego ended Bionicle Generation 1 on Spherus Magna. The premise is that the Red Star trasnformed Pohatu and Kopaka into fully organic beings over a timespan implied to be at least several months if not years.

Three entries so far, they focus on the two toa being found after the Red Star crashes. They as well as their friends and families have to deal with the changes and what that means for them. It's gut-wrenching and heart-rending.

I'd like to do explain my thoughts on each entry separately in the future because it's such an amazing series.

----------

MahouMascot is also active on tumblr as @magicalgirlmascot. On top of being a great writer, she's an artist that offers drawing commissions. Her commission post shows samples of her art style, it's really cute!

On AO3, she has posted one on-going series that I'll recommend here, as well as several Bionicle oneshots. She's another author to look into if you like Pohatu and Kopaka as a romantic couple.

This series has two entries so far. It's an AU set on Earth in a contemporary 21st century setting resembling Canada, where most of the characters are humans. Toa and turaga still have powers, but the details differ from canon. A lot of the story happens at the titular school - fully fleshed out as a setting - where most of the current main cast works as teachers or other jobs.

Tip: Magicalgirlmascot shares fun tidbits of the AU on her tumblr.

Summary: Kini Nui P.S. is a gorgeous old K-8 grade school in a small rural town in the middle of nowhere. Students attending KNPS can expect the following:

-extremely competitive sports teams -frequent infighting between the junior and intermediate teachers -oddly prescient administrative staff -wild animals on the school yard -and more!

A very normal elementary school AU.

Important information and tags: The story has several romantic relationships, some with varying degrees of slowburn: Whenua x Nuju, Onewa x Krahka, Lewa x Onua, Gali x Tahu, Nokama x Matau x Vakama, and Pohatu x Kopaka. These are subplots and are affected by the mainplot.

My thoughts: It's recognizable Bionicle and it's own thing at the same time. Makuta is sealed under the school, and Mata Nui rests underground, in a coma because of Makuta. The toa protect people from Makuta's machinations.

I love how the author translates canon elements into a world that is much more familiar to some readers in its mundanity. The Toa Mata as well as every other toa were born and had average childhoods.

They're at the core similar characters to their counterparts. But this change shifts which hurdles and fears they face. At the same time, they're still different to other toa. I'm excited to learn what the Toa Mata's deal here is!

Another thing: All toa have to act in secret because of the same mundane.

Nobody else aside a few confidants have any idea about what lies hidden in Kini Nui. This creates conflict that doesn't exist in canon - the toa lie to many a loved ones, peers, colleagues, etc. where the fantastical aspects were an everyday part of life.

It's a contrast to the island of Mata Nui where everybody knew the danger they lived in, and a parallel to Metru Nui where the matoran didn't know of the danger that had come into the city.

Summary: Vakama's visions began when he was a child, and that was the start of the downward spiral of his life.

Side story for Kini Nui Public School.

The main pairing is Roodaka x Vakama. Vakama has one-sided feelings for Lhikan. And he realizes later that he has feelings for Matau and Nokama, but keeps silent about his revelation.

This story depicts snapshots from pivotal moments in Vakama's life from before Kini Nui Public School, starting with his first vision. It wrenched my heart in several parts. Sometimes because of the unfairness of all that he experienced (like at the hands of his parents); because of the pain it brought him.

Sometimes because he feels so much and he struggles dealing with it. He's outwardly much more vulnerable than his counterpart - even in his thoughts -, so the weight of his feelings hit harder.

Especially the aftermaths of either instances with his relationship to Roodaka broke my heart. He just breaks at the emotional climax of the Hordika arc because he's hurting so much.

Themes and depictions of abuse and neglect appear through the fic so be careful with that.

----------

Inthehouse001 is also active as @byz-was-here here on tumblr. A great author, they have invented a neat AU series on a fascinating premise I've not seen elsewhere. And if you love interesting OCs, I'll double recommend this one.

Series Summary:

AU of Bionicle where some Agori managed to survive on Aqua Magna after the shattering, using living plesiosaur ships, and eventually encounter the Island of Mata Nui sometime after the Great Cataclysm. The Pleisosaur Ships are canon, by the way.

My thoughts: This is the neat premise I promised. Each entry has a different protagonist - each an Agori, with a different story to tell, and all are part of an overarching plot.

I adore the Agori OCs and how their perceptions differ of Mata Nui the island. They're the strongest part of the stories for me.

Imagine that your family and community has been surviving on Aqua Magna for such a long time. There is no land on the planet. They travel across the vast ocean, always looking for food and other resources. They only know each other.

One day, they sight a strange ship - a ship that could've been only made on land. They follow its track, travel through the mist-

and find the first land they've ever seen in their life. Land that wasn't there before.

This is only the beginning / the first story. Because even this seeming paradise has its dangers. Like a certain Makuta who doesn't like factors he can't control.

[holylulusworld]

Nrfth (8) - Leave it all behind

Summary: Betrayal cuts deep. If your heart and trust get damaged. Can you find a way back?

Pairing: Chris Evans x fem!Reader

Warnings: heavy angst, we stan Tracey in this house, Tracey is the best friend ever, hurt & comfort (not Chris), unplanned pregnancy, language 

A/N: Please consider I changed the timeline (timespan between the movies) a little to match my story. We are now in 2013, two years after they met.

No rest for the heartbroken masterlist

<< Part 7

Three months later, …

“Babe, you need to eat something. Anything. Let me order food.” Tracey sits next to you on your couch. “I know, Y/N. I know it feels like your whole body is sore.”

“He didn’t just end things with me for some other girl, Trace.” You wipe your face. “He cut me out of his life.”

She glances at the muted TV, sighing deeply. “Y/N let’s get out of here for a while. We can just…” She drops her eyes to your middle, sighing once again. “Why did you never tell him?”

“Did you not see the news? I bet the bitch taking over the role in the Avengers movie is the one he chose over me. She didn’t do just a cameo. She has at least five scenes with the Avengers. And, they have the audacity to resurrect my character at the show.”

“What?” Tracey gapes at you like she got punched in the face. “But they let you die, Y/N.”

“Yep,” you pop the ‘p’. “They resurrect my character and surprise,” you chuckle humorlessly, “that bitch will take over my role at the show too.”

“You’re fucking with me.”

“I wish,” you choke on your tears once again. “I can’t take a job because of my circumstances while Chris parades his bitch around town, or rather he shows her off in every interview as his new sidekick. They gave her my role, Tracey! MY ROLE!”

“That’s so fucked up,” she grunts. “Breaking up with you was one thing but this is…like he’s not the same person. Maybe this is a serious case of body snatching.”

“Body snatching?” You laugh for the first time in weeks. “Really?”

“Like in the old movie,” she mutters. “Don’t you remember? We watched it when we were kids. You got scared and I had to hold your hand the whole night.”

“Invasion of the Body Snatchers, I remember,” you say with a smile. Tracey was always there for you. Even when she was scared too, she held your hand. “I wish they exchanged Chris, but this is all him. I don’t know how I could not see he’s like that.”

“Hmmm…I don’t understand him. Out of the blue, he breaks up with you and ruins your career.” Tracey knits her brows together. “This is too fishy. Maybe you should try to talk to him one last time. He owes you an explanation.”

“Men are pigs,” you scrunch up your nose. “Please make sure that I never fall for one of them ever again. From now on, I’m cured of men…”

You’re restless tonight. 

No wonder. Tomorrow you should’ve been on set again to film the new season of your show. Now someone else will play your role and you are stuck at your apartment.

“Babe, did you listen? That fandom guy messaged you again on Twitter. He wants to know why you left the show,” Tracey sighs as you look at her. “Why don’t you tell him what happened? Maybe if the fans of the show get to know about the shit Evans and the studio pulled they’ll cancel the show.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore, Trace.” You give her a sad smile. “He made his decision. The studio too. I got to move on. It sucks but there is nothing I can do about it.”

“That bitch stole your role in the movie and the show!” Tracey mutters. She throws her hands up as you turn around to stare out of the window. “Make them pay, Y/N.”

“No.”

“Let me at least scratch his car or use my baseball bat to remodel his face.”

“I thought he loves me too,” you sniff. “Love, such a stupid word for something breaking you down to nothing.”

“Y/N,” Tracey softly says. “Let’s go for a walk or eat ice cream. Just stop hiding at your apartment.”

“He didn’t even try to contact me. I realized a few days ago, that he never gave a shit about me.” You shrug. “I wanted to call Chris to tell him about…”

“Babe, you don’t need that asshole. We’ve got this. If you want me to, I’ll be your baby daddy.”

You snort, and then, you start laughing and crying. “Thank you,” you wrap her in a hug, “Daddy.”

Now Tracey laughs too as you hold each other. “Do you remember the guy giving me STDs? I was so in love that I got a tattoo with his name. I let them tattoo my ass, babe. I’m one stupid bitch too.”

“What’s with men these days? Why are they all assholes?”

Another month later, New Zealand, …

“I like it. What do you say?” Tracey watches you look around the new apartment. You decided to leave Hollywood and turn your back on the film industry in your country. 

This means you have to move out of your old apartment as fast as possible and leave the world you believed you know so well behind.

“I like it too.” You should have a look around the apartment you want to rent, but you can’t focus. You are miles away, still wound tight as you saw an interview with Chris and his new sidekick last night. “I think this is it, Trace.”

“Babe, are you sure? This is going to be your new home.” You can hear the worry in her voice.

Tracey was, once again, your rock. She’s so much more than a friend. 

How would you call the one dragging you out of your bed to make sure you eat? The only person who understands how you function and feel. 

Friend. Ally. Sister. Soulmate. 

“Hmmm…” you take a deep breath. “You’re right.” It’s time to focus on taking your life back in your hands. For almost four months you let the decisions someone else made dictate your life. “Let’s have a closer look, shall we?” 

You hold out your hand for Tracey. She smiles and takes it. “We will get you through this too, Y/N. No man is worth your tears or that you stop living the life you built for yourself.”

You grin as Tracey props her feet onto the coffee table. She just finished carrying one of the last moving boxes into your new home and now, she’s chewing on a slice of pizza. 

“I like it,” you say more to yourself than your friend. “My new job is great too. I always loved working behind the scenes, and this is my chance to do so.”

“How’s the bean today?” She drops her eyes to your swollen belly. “Does the bean want more pizza?”

“Can you not call them bean all the time?” Tracey snorts at your angry expression. “Even though their father is an asshole, I love them.”

“I love them too,” she coos and places her hand on your belly. “Good thing Aunt Tracey will buy them all the things you won’t. I’ll hang out with them and teach them how to mess with bitches.”

Smiling you look at your friend. She moved heaven and hell to help you get where you are now. Tracey even quit her job and moved to New Zealand to help you buy a house which you couldn’t have effort otherwise.

“They will love you too, babe.”

“I know.” She shrugs. “How could they not love me?”

At the other end of the world, Chris stares at a picture of you on his phone. He took it while you were asleep. He sighs and shuts off his phone.

For days he tried to reach out to you. It took him almost five months, but he found the strength to face you after what he did to you only to find you gone.

He missed the chance to tell you the truth, and it breaks his heart…

>> Part 9

Tags in reblog.

[thesugarchanotaku]

So i need to get something out of my system and off of my chest real quick. This post will contain heavy spoilers and is basically my take as to why Satoru Gojo is a very tragic character which isn't really shown in the manga so let's go. (Please ignore spelling mistakes I am basically just ranting. Also this is my personal opinion and opinions may differ but that's alrighty)

Seeing the latest leaks made my cry nearly hysterically and I think a lot of people can understand me here. The reason why is more than just Gojos death. Satoru Gojo was a really beloved character of mine. Not my all time fav but I think I valued the impact he had on the people around him.

Gojo despite often being shown as somewhat ignorant or above everybody else is a truly caring person.

- he cared about riko enough to ignore the order he was given to bring her to tengen what ever it would cost. He would have abandoned that damn mission, if she told him that she wanted to stay alive!

- he cares about Suguru Geto so much that my chest hurts every damn time these two are shown

- he looks after his students! And despite his teaching methods being a little extreme sometimes he knows what they can truly take on.

- he cares about is fellow sorcerers like nanami or yaga.

Just to name some examples. And exactly the people from his teenage years were all shown in his "after life" scene. This shows how much the time with them affected him. And even tho Yaga was with him for a longer time, yaga was drawn in his younger years style. Same goes for nanami

Gojo is basically stuck in this TWO year timespan where he got to know Geto, shoko, yaga, nanami, haibara and even riko and her friend. And you know why? Because this was the only time in his life where he could truly be a teenager, a childe, just satoru!

I imagine that his upbringing was pretty cold and structured. Thanks to the fact that former six eyes user were killed you can understand that they tried to protect gojo at all cost but listen! This kid grew up so damn lonely. Then he finally meets other people, gets friends and even finds a person in Suguru that is strong enough to understand him! everything goes south!

Suguru Geto is Gojos save space. He doesn't need to protect Geto all the time, to play his assigned role as "the strongest". If Satoru and Suguru were together he was just a normal teen, not the god damn "chosen one".

The moment Geto breaks away from him his world shrinks back to what it was from the beginning. He tries to find fulfillment in teaching and protecting his students so that they can have a normal life (like he said in jjk0). He doesn't want them to grow strong but lonely because he himself knows how its like.

In the latest chapter he said it himself how strength makes you lonely. And its true because people assume that you can look after yourself. You don't need friends who have your back but him wishing that Geto would have been there to pat his back just kills me. It shows how deep his feeling for geto were and how highly he thought of him as his "best friend". This man was nearly thirty and had maybe two happy years in his life! It breaks my heart.

He was just a teenager when he had to witness a girl he was supposed to protect, being killed, his friend dying, Geto leaving him and him failing at a mission he was not supposed to fail at.

Gojo Satoru is a man with depth that is not always shown, a man that despite the loneliness he felt tried to change the world for his students and a man risking it all just for them. Just for them to have a small chance to be happy. A chance that neither he nor his soulmate Suguru Geto ever head.

Him not being able to achive this goal (as of now, a girl can dream) makes him truly tragic. Him always trying to do the right thing for the people he cared about and in the end still failing makes him tragic.

And him still being lonely despite so many people around him who look up to him and love him makes him tragic.

Satoru Gojo was truly an amazing character. You will be missed and you deserve the world.

I will go back and cry myself to sleep now.

RIP (if this is final)

[marciaillust]

Thank you so much for Ecdysis. I only got around to read it today and urgh, my heart. Get this poor boy (Kazuma) a hug. But you gave him so much more (Ryuunosuke).

Somewhat chronological things that stood out to me: I loved the little snowman to indicate the change of seasons. And I was very glad to see the chibis in the following scene; it's just something I associate with you ever since The Clockmaster. I know you can draw hands; I think they look so well because you draw the nails. Anyway, this time I paid more attention to the ears though. You mentioned drawing lots of heads in different postition and the ears fit each time.

Again, thank you very much for creating and sharing this.

Hi! Thank you so much for the lovely message, it made me so happy to hear about all the little details you noticed about Ecdysis!

Ever since I started working on it I knew that I wanted the comic to encapsulate the timespan of about one year (leaving out all the flashbacks of course) and I spent some time thinking of quick visual indicators that would communicate the passage of time. The little snowman is one of them, another one would be the cherry tree outside Ryuunosuke's dorm room

from a blooming spring scenery, to slowly losing petals, cherries and in the very last frame of it it loses its final leaf :,)

A big part of all the background work for me was communicating the feeling of "temporariness" that Kazuma is so fixated on. Butterflies famously have week long lifespans. His footsteps in the snow get covered up by the new snow falling, and their footsteps on the beach get washed away by the sea. The foliage wastes away. And when he looks at Ryuunosuke on that final page on the beach there are a few shooting stars, beautiful yet gone in less than a second. All the while the snake stays and only grows in sizeeeee ; 0 ;

Thank you for the compliments about the anatomy! Ears have lowkey become my special point of interest when drawing heads, I feel like over the last year of making this comic I realised how much they can elevate the sense position/rotation of the head. Ears are objects with a lot of intricate details and it's kinda cool to try and capture all of them from an angle. I remember when I started drawing comics half a decade ago my ears had only 3 modes aka full on front ear (just a little C shape on the side of the head), full on side ear (90% of the ears were this ear lol), and the full on back ear ( which tbh is almost nonexistent in real life but gosh manga and anime is right about how it immediately puts a shitty head in perspective lol).

My newly found favourite ear to draw is the 3/4 back view when you can still see the iconic C swirl but also the back of the ear does a little peekaboo

Thank you so so much for reading Ecdysis! I put a lot of love into it and it means the world to me to hear you enjoyed it! :)

[walker-extended-universe]

Walker Season 4 First Look: An Overanalysis of TVLine's Exclusive Sneak Peek

TVLine released this article earlier today and there is SO MUCH to talk about

First off, we have an official premiere date for season 4! 4x01 will be hitting our airwaves on April 3rd! Which leads us to our next point: Walker will now be airing on Wednesdays. Regardless of the network reasons for changing the air day of our beloved show, I do appreciate the alliteration of Walker Wednesdays.

Second, let's talk about the plot that awaits us.

The first episode will cover Cordell's birthday and I am literally BEGGING the powers that be to give us an official birthday for Cordell. If we don't at least get a month timespan to work with, I'll be quite upset.

We also have a few cliffhangers coming off of the season 3 finale but this article spends the most amount of time talking about how the reopened cold case "The Jackal". Jared shares that Larry James will be having a few issues with this case, specifically "past trauma". We know from the season 3 finale that James was obsessed with the case and hearing about it on his wedding day probably didn't help matters. Jared also says he hopes Cordell will get to "get to return the favor and be there for him" during his time of need so I'm looking forward to a lot more Walker & James scenes in the coming season.

Jared also specifically called out Cordell and Geri giving things another try and being a "good tag-team for Stella and Auggie", so it looks like we're looking into some romance mixed with co-parenting.

Now, onto the promo pics!

This picture has a few interesting details in it. First off, where's August???? I know it's entirely possible for him to be in a different room or just out of frame of the picture but literally everyone else is here!

Second, it looks like there's some heated conversation between Larry and Ben. Taking in a lot of surprised and concerned faces on both sides of the table, I'm going with the theory that Ben said something that accidentally ruffled some feathers. Abby and Bonham tactfully staying out of it only reinforces that idea for me.

This photo is also very interesting to me. Based on the chairs and the candles, I'm betting this is also at the ranch house dinner table. But this time, it's dark and Cordell is all alone. The article describes him as "somber and contemplative" and I have to agree. The big question is, why? My current theory is that he just got some bad news relating to the "Jackal" case and this will be our end-of-episode cliffhanger. But there are other options too! @theladywyn posited August's absence in the previous photo may be deeper than it looks and could be contributing. It's also possible that Cordell learned about what happened between Stella and the home invader in 3x18- and that she called Liam for help.

So many possibilities, so little information, and so many questions left to answer. April 3rd (or 4th if you- like me- are stuck watching the episodes online) can't come soon enough!

[skzhocomments]

Mafia Book #2 - PART II - The Withered Rose - Chapter 4 - Ghost from the past

Story masterlist - please consult it for the summary of the story, trigger warnings etc.

General masterlist

PART I - The Black Iris

---

Wattpad | AO3

Chapter 3 | Chapter 4

---

PART II - The Withered Rose

Chapter 4 - Ghost from the past

chapter word count: ~3k words

~third person POV~

The flight lasts a few hours, but it barely feels like enough time for Emilia. In a timespan of a day, she had to pack her whole life away and hop on a plane, back to the one place she hoped to never see again.

It takes 15 hours to get from her house in Italy to the Stray Kids’ mansion. Barely enough to put her thoughts in order, to stop the trembling in her hands that comes and goes whenever she realises she’s going to meet Chris.

Chris.

She glances out the small round window and focuses on the clouds under her. They are puffy, with a slight shade of pastel pink from the sunrays, and they remind her of cotton candy. The thought makes her smile, only she doesn’t do it on the outside.

Her mind and body feel disconnected, aside from the slight trembling, and she is unable to hear the spoken words between Minho, Iris and Wooyoung. She hears distant laughs sometimes and wonders how Wooyoung managed to get this comfortable with the two in just shy of a day. 

The only thing that brings her to the real world is Ivy’s cries every now and then. She inevitably gets bored, tired and stiff, and starts screaming her lungs out just as she did when she was still a baby.

To everyone else, her cries might be annoying, but to Emilia, they do the exact opposite. They calm her. It gives her something to do; a reason to not think about the mansion, Stray Kids or Chris.

Ivy doesn’t understand much. Sure, she knows they’re going to live somewhere far away, and she notices her mother’s reluctance about this trip, but she’s excited, nonetheless. Uncle and aunt are doing a great job in hyping her up.

~

Stray Kids’ mansion is the same as she remembers. Nothing’s changed at all. The gardens are evergreen, the door looks the same, and the inside of it, too. She doesn’t want to take that first step to actually enter the house, but she doesn’t have much of a choice in the matter.

The mansion is filled with child’s laughter as Wooyoung picks Ivy up and kisses her cheeks, and Emilia hugs herself. It feels cold.

“Chris is probably in his office, so… let’s go upstairs.” Minho says, carefully watching Emilia. The woman’s expression stays neutral as she nods and follows him, with Wooyoung, Ivy and Iris closely behind her.

It feels like their formation is strategic. Stuck in-between Lee Know and Iris, there is no chance for the three of them to escape. Not like Emilia believed she could escape. She’s already lost the battle as soon as Iris stepped into her flower shop back in Italy.

“I’ll go in first… talk to him a bit, and then I’ll ask you to come in, okay?” Minho asks with his hand on a handle, and as soon as Emilia nods, he knocks two times.

“Come in.” Chris answers quickly, and hearing his voice, Emilia’s blood runs cold. This is really happening. She must really face him after years of running away.

She wonders how much he’s changed in the past years; being here feels familiar and oddly comforting, because, fuck, even his voice is just as she’s remembered.

She couldn’t ever forget it, even if she’s tried desperately many times, because as soon as she stops thinking about him for a while, he’d pop up in one of her dreams and stir her awake, and she’d wake up breathless, breaking out in cold sweat.

The dreams are often happy ones, where they are both happily living in Italy, raising Ivy together, making love and kissing under the sun’s rays; and seldom nightmares, memories where his gun is pointed at her forehead, where his expression is as cold as ice, or simply inventions of her mind, where he mercilessly murders her, stabs her in cold blood or shoots her repeatedly; where he finds her in Italy and gets revenge on her, killing Ivy and Wooyoung in front of her eyes. Those are the worst.

Still, she waits patiently in front of the door, her breathing becoming ragged, while Iris and Wooyoung are carrying out a pointless conversation. Ivy gets impatient and asks what they are doing, but a few moments later, Minho opens the door and asks her to step in.

~

“Hi. Oh, you’re here too.” Minho speaks in a quiet voice, eyeing the two men in the room.

“Welcome back.” Jeongin says briefly, and Minho answers with a nod of his head.

“Back already? Honeymoon’s over a bit earlier, I see.” Chris greets Lee Know as soon as he comes inside, barely raising his eyes from the laptop on his desk.

“There were some unforeseen circumstances.”

“Yeah?” Chris shuts the laptop’s screen down and carefully watches Minho. “What’s up? Something wrong with the trade that we don’t already know about?”

“No… it’s completely unrelated.”

“Mhm.” Chris nods while tapping an index finger against the desk’s dark brown surface. “Then?”

“It’s… something else. Uhm…” He glances again at I.N and is met with an uninterested demeanour. “Iris and I were in this small town in Italy, and… God, I don’t even know how to say this. You know what? I’ll stop beating around the bush.” With that, Lee Know turns around and opens the door.

“Come… all of you.”

Chris stands confused at his desk, not understanding Minho’s eerie behaviour. He exchanges a look with Jeongin, who simply shrugs, and waits. It is unlike Minho to be so careful with his words, so whatever is behind that door – or rather, whoever – must be incredibly important.

Emilia takes a deep breath in and steps through the door, her gaze stuck on Chris, and his wide eyes stuck right back on hers. It is as if time stood still, and the world stopped spinning as the two of them fought a silent battle with their eyes. As if no time at all has passed since they used to make love on the very desk Chris stands up from, hastily running towards Emilia and kneeling down at her feet grabbing her hands in his and kissing them over and over again.

“Emilia… is this really you?” He cries out.

He cries.

For the first time since that night almost 4 years ago, Chris starts crying in front of Minho and Jeongin. Only this time, it is not due to him being utterly powerless, but due to the extreme heavy weight that disappeared from inside his chest at the sight of the love of his life.

“You… but… how?” He stands up again and lets go of her hands, grabbing her face instead and scanning every centimetre of it. Sure enough, every part of her face looks exactly like he remembers. It is her, no doubt.

She averts her gaze and clenches her fists, and her eyes meet Jeongin’s briefly. A sense of shame overwhelms her, and she decides against making sense of the darkness in his eyes. They still hold compassion for her, at least, even if she is uncertain if there is any love left for her in them.

What Minho said was true, they all changed.

“You lied to me.” Chris states accusatory, but surprisingly calmly, in Jeongin’s direction. The fox eyed man doesn’t say anything in response.

Chris is quick to turn his attention back to Emilia, who still stands silent. It feels as if her mouth is glued shut, but she quickly comes to her senses when Chris releases her and looks bewildered at his carbon copy.

Ivy lets out a small giggle in Wooyoung’s arms and Chris instinctively raises a hand to touch her brown curls, when all the rage in Emilia’s heart bursts out.

“Don’t you dare touch her.” She says, almost in a whisper, and smacks his hand away, moving in front of her protectively.

“Mommy, hug!” Ivy says, trying to wiggle out of Wooyoung’s grasp.

“Oh my fucking God…” Chris whispers in return and looks at Emilia again. “What is this? We have a-”

“No. We don’t have shit. She is my daughter, so don’t you dare lay a single dirty hand on her.”

“Emilia… can we talk? Please.” He replies calmly, but it’s hard for him to keep his composure.

Iris notices his body language immediately: Chris looks tense, and he’s been fidgeting since they stepped in the room, and he’s been breathing faster and faster. Still, he seems to be using some of her calming techniques, as he hasn’t lost his cool, nor has he erupted in any fits of anger or distress.

So far, so good.

Emilia ignores Chris’ pleadings and starts walking towards I.N instead, who opens his arms and embraces her tightly.

She still smells the same, a comforting thought to Jeongin.

“I am so sorry. I had to…” She starts as soon as she’s in his arms, but he just squeezes her tighter.

“I’m so happy to see you again.” He replies. “We have a lot of catching up to do. I tried looking for you, but you didn’t want to be found, did you?”

“No… was it you, in that mountain town three years ago?”

“Mhm. One of my men almost found you, but as always, you were one step ahead.”

“Thought my note would’ve made it clear that I don’t want to be found.”

“Did you think I’d just let you be after a mere ‘I’m sorry’, knowing what state you were in when you left?”

“I hoped you would.” She says and moves away from his grasp. Jeongin chuckles briefly. He knew Emilia did this intentionally to avoid Chris’ request, to test the waters and check how much she could get away with.

And now she knows, for Chris doesn’t say anything; he just waits for them to finish their greetings, and then looks at her expectedly.

Emilia walks back to the door and grabs Ivy from Wooyoung, getting out of the room. In the doorframe, she turns to Chris once more and looks him dead in the eyes.

“I have nothing to say to you.”

~

She walks down the corridor directly into her old room, which looks exactly like it did when she left. Not that she spent that much time in it for her to feel any nostalgia. Her days were spent away on the training field, and her nights always ended up with her tangled up in Chan’s sheets.

“Hey, can you bring me her suitcase?” She asks Wooyoung as she places Ivy down the bed. She figures her daughter is tired, so she soothes her a bit until Wooyoung returns with her clothes, and then they change her together.

“How does it feel to be back?” Wooyoung asks quietly as Ivy drifts off to dreamland.

“Weird. Unbelievable. Abnormal.”

“Damn. Not an ounce of happy feelings.”

“Did you enjoy making new friends at least?” Emilia asks mockingly.

“Come on, what was I supposed to do? Follow your example and sulk the whole way here? If I have to live with them from now on, I should at least give them a chance.”

“Well, you don’t have to do anything. You can walk right through that door and no one would give a flying fuck!” Emilia raises her voice a bit, before realising Ivy might wake up, so she breathes in deeply and tries to control her emotions.

“Like hell I’m leaving my daughter behind.”

“Your daughter?”

“Yeah. In case you didn’t know, she’s my daughter as much as she’s yours. I’m daddy.”

“Ew, I don’t want to hear those words come out of your mouth.” Emilia shudders and they both chuckle slightly.

“Anyway, my point is-”

“I know. I’m sorry, you’re right. Ivy loves you, and you’re the only dad she’s ever known. I’m really happy you decided to stick by us.”

Wooyoung looks away and nods briefly.

“I wanna go get some fresh air.”

“No worries, I got her.” Wooyoung replies, looking fondly at Ivy.

~

The gardens are, like everything else, just as she remembers. It’s like time stopped moving in this mansion; the only missing thing being the loud bickering that used to always be present wherever the members decided to hang out.

Emilia didn’t see anyone else in the house, and the gardens seem to be empty as well. She keeps walking around the once familiar paths, breathing in the scent of roses, and heads to the one place in the garden she used to spend so much time in.

On the way, she spots a familiar figure walking around leisurely and whistling. She contemplates saying something, but instead simply watches the man. Jisung looks good, and hasn't aged a day since she’s last seen him.

He turns his head in her direction and all the colour drains from his cheeks. He lets out the loudest shriek, to the point where Emilia has to cover her ears, and runs away as quickly as his feet can handle it.

Tsk, so much so for being in a mafia. Emilia scoffs with a small chuckle and keeps on walking.

The greenhouse is still beautiful from the outside: well-kept, carefully painted in subtle golden hues, with plants all around the glass walls to still give the impression that there is nothing else but greenery inside of it.

After rummaging through her front left pocket for a bit, Emilia finally finds the small key she’s taken care of so carefully. She was never one to be so attached to her belongings, but there are two things she’s desperately clung to these past years: San’s polaroid picture – reminder of a past long gone and out of reach, of a time when she was carelessly smiling alongside her best friend; and this golden key.

It’s always been painful to look at it after she’s left, because not only did it bring her bad memories and pain, but it also brought her happiness to remember all the time spent here with the love of her life and her other best friends.

Now, she twists the golden key into the lock, making a mental note to return it to Hyunjin later, and steps inside the greenhouse.

Some paintings are unveiled, and she takes her time observing them, thinking of what these may be, and of who painted them. She stops in front of a tree and tries to make sense of it, when she gets distracted by the sound of the door opening.

“Nice painting, huh?” Iris asks with a slight smile.

“What, did Chris send you to spy on me? Psychoanalyse me? See if I somehow have it in me to forgive him?” Emilia mocks.

“No, Chris doesn’t know I’m here.” She shrugs.

“So, is this yours, or are there more new members I’m unaware of?” She points to the tree.

“Yeah, that’s mine.”

“It’s the therapy tree.” Emilia chuckles amused. “What a load of crap. Do you really want me to believe you didn’t conveniently draw every single detail to manipulate everyone into trusting you?”

“Sharp.” Iris grins.

“Tsk.”

“So, how does it feel to be back home? Any nostalgia creeping in? Any long-lost feelings after seeing Chris after so much time?”

“Don’t make me laugh. I loved Chris, and our relationship was fun while it lasted, but I placed highly unrealistic expectations on him, and I didn’t know anything about him after all. It was fun while it lasted, but now, there’s nothing left.”

“Are you sure?”

“Aww, man. Wish I had one of those pretty things on my thighs.” Emilia ignores Iris’ question and points to her holster. “Would make everything more interesting if I had a gun pointed at you, don’t you think?”

“Well, that’s gonna have to wait, I’m afraid. I don’t think anyone here trusts you with any weapons.”

“That’s too bad.” Emilia shrugs. “Where is everyone?”

“Oh, most of them are away on missions, except for Han, whom I assume you’ve seen.”

“Yeah, what’s wrong with him?” Emilia laughs, briefly remembering the small interaction with Jisung and the way he shrieked.

“He was soooo convinced he’s seen a ghost, poor dude. Ran up to me almost crying and screaming that we have to leave the mansion now!”

“No way!”

“Yeah, and that’s not all! He was convinced there’s either a spirit haunting these grounds, or that he’s going crazy, and he wanted us to schedule a therapy appointment immediately!”

They both burst out laughing.

“Honestly, that’s such a Han thing to do. He hasn’t changed one bit.” Emilia wipes away the small tears formed in the corners of her eyes from laughter.

“Hey, I’m sorry we had to bring you back with us-”

“Yeah, that was really uncool of you.” Emilia scolds.

“-however, you and Ivy are safe here. I hope you’re aware of that.”

“Safe? Safe?! Don’t make me laugh. There’s nowhere safe for us, mafia people. We must always be steps ahead in front of our enemies unless we want to be 6 feet under. We are never safe, Iris. Don’t get confused, and don’t let your guard down.”

“What the fuck-” A perplexed Hyunjin exclaims from the doorframe.

He feels like a breath of fresh air for Emilia, and he’s different. He has red hair now, and it suits him well.

“You came back from the dead, I see.” Hyunjin breaks out into a large smile and starts walking towards Emilia. “Come here.”

He embraces her tight and he’s happy. He’s genuinely happy to see her, and his heart is still beating fast from the initial shock and surprise.

“Hyunjinnie, I needed to come back and return something to you.” Emilia rummages through her pockets again and takes out the key.

As she does so, the small polaroid picture falls out, and Iris is quick to bend down to pick it up and hand it back to her.

“Thanks.” She smiles and places the picture back in her pocket, then hands out her hand and opens her palm to reveal the small golden key to Hyunjin. “I believe I don’t need it anymore.”

Hyunjin shakes his head and covers her hand with his, but instead of grabbing the key, he closes back her palm into a fist.

“That’s yours. Come here whenever you feel like it, Emi. That key will always be yours. Welcome back.”

They both smile at each other while Iris analyses the interaction. Sure, she’s heard many times about how they all came to get along, but seeing it happen right in front of her eyes feels unreal. Emilia truly is loved by everyone in this mansion, one way or another, and even though she claimed she hated everyone, it’s crystal clear that she also loves them with all her heart right back.

~

Chapter 3 | Chapter 4

[spookyspaghettisundae]

The Only Thing Unraveling Is You

Reality had shifted again.

Chloe Grant had not dared to ask anybody about any details. The drive home from the inner city was a blur. A dizzying fog of broken memories, offering her no way to glue the shards of her shattered reality back together.

She had rushed straight out of her debriefing at Future Proof’s headquarters. Shrugged everybody and everything off. Someone had even asked if she was alright. Only an hour ago, she didn’t even remember who had asked that. Shrugged that off, too.

She had been feeling sicker and sicker by the minute of spending any time in that glossy tower of glass and computers and steel.

Unlike in the previous timeline she had known, Danielle Bennett no longer worked at Future Proof. She had quit her job a few weeks prior. Rida Singh now filled Danielle’s shoes, heading the communications and IT department in the corporation—as if he had never been imprisoned under suspicion of national treason.

The whole incident in Midland, Texas, must have played out differently somehow. Grant was too confused, reeling with the staggering realization of all that had changed in the timespan of a few minutes, just by having passed through several Anomalies to lure the pterodactyls out of present-day Appalachian woods.

And Max Carter was alive again.

Part of Grant wanted to be happy about that. About all of this.

It was good to know that Singh wouldn’t be rotting in prison, or Carter could still show up to work to be his usual grumpy self. He had shot her a few dirty looks for all her incredulous staring—it wasn’t easy to see him alive again, after having watched him die to bullet wounds in a desert.

On the other hand, it felt like her head was going to explode with all the changes in reality that had occurred. She couldn’t even begin to understand how luring the pterodactyls into some apocalyptic future had caused all… this.

And as if it all hadn’t already felt sickeningly alien, she now returned home to find it looking different, too.

The front door was painted red rather than white. She had double-checked to ensure she parked in the right driveway, at the right address.

Somebody else was inside her house.

Lights were on, and the shadow of a figure moved around in the den.

Grant’s hand, holding her key, hovered in front of the lock. She wasn’t even sure if the key would still fit.

Before another wave of nausea could make her knees buckle, she shoved the key into the lock. The key fit. Clicked into place.

She twisted it and the door yielded.

It made sense, given that she had left her keys at HQ, before even flying out to the Appalachian mountains. If reality had shifted during her time travels—or because of them—then this only made sense. The keys had to fit, because the keys would have shifted along with the rest of reality.

At least something made some semblance of sense.

The only thing that didn’t make sense was…

Herself. It was like Grant herself was out of place. Out of time. Making no sense.

With how hard her heart was pounding, her heart felt like it was a few beats away from breaking free from her chest. The rushing of blood in her ears dampened all noises coming from the stranger in the den, save for the loud monotone sound of a running vacuum cleaner.

Chloe Grant neared the shadow and vacuuming noise.

A feminine shape, a head framed by long, straight hair.

Steeling herself to meet this stranger, Grant rounded the corner and faced the person in her home.

Their home?

Danielle Bennett was busy vacuuming a particular spot on the carpet. She gasped and almost leapt away from Chloe, as if she had seen a ghost. Lids soon fluttered, blinking, as widened eyes normalized, and Dan turned the vacuum cleaner off with the tip of her socked foot.

“Hey! You’re home early,” Danielle said. The expression of shock had given way to something brighter, cheerier. Happy to see Chloe. That sentiment faded fast, turning into visible concern. “Somethin’… happen? Are you okay?”

Chloe Grant wasn’t okay.

It was too much for her.

The last straw to break the camel’s back. The last straw being Chloe Grant’s capacity to interpret how things had changed, and the camel’s back being her ability to cope with it. That last straw carried the weight of the world, because she didn’t know who to talk to about it with.

Or even what to say.

Right there and then, Chloe broke down. She ended up on her hands and knees, turning into a sobbing mess.

It would take a while for her to recover. The next thing that really sank in was them sitting on the couch, with a mug of tea in Chloe’s hand that had turned cold, a pile of used tissues on the coffee table, and Danielle cuddled up to her with a fuzzy blanket.

It was all so alien. So soft.

Some of it felt right. But not remembering how it had all turned out this way—that part felt wrong. Chloe Grant felt like she didn’t belong. Neither in the here nor in the now.

And there was no going back.

Danielle deciphered most of Chloe’s speech and broken thoughts despite her sobbing breakdown. In broad strokes, Chloe had told her what happened, and Dan now shouldered part of the burden again, like she had in the previous timeline, with helping Chloe uncover Ruiz’s espionage for corporate rival Celeva.

All of that was news to Danielle—the Danielle of this new timeline, which would beg the question—had Ruiz even come clean to Grant in this timeline?

Dan did her best to catch Chloe up on what she had missed. They had been in a relationship for the past month, kept secret from their colleagues at the company. Dan had quit Future Proof. She had been trying to convince Chloe to do the same.

The danger was too big. “That place is going to unleash hell on Earth,” was how Dan put it.

Helicopter pilot Sears remained absent from the timeline, and this version of Dan knew about that from Chloe. And, although Future Proof now had ten times the amount of field operatives on the payroll as opposed to what Chloe remembered, a dozen of them had been killed on the job—mauled by prehistoric animals, murdered, EMD malfunctions, and one person was even cleaved in half when an Anomaly closed on them while they were crossing through a Flicker.

Too many deaths for Dan’s taste.

With a shuddering breath, Chloe Grant took stock of the new reality she now occupied.

There was no going back. Deep down, she knew it.

Dan’s eyes sparkled, just shy of tears, holding back from urging Chloe again to quit the job.

Dan sensed this was not the time. And Chloe sensed that she sensed it. This gave rise to a warmer, fuzzier feeling behind the nausea. A welcome reprieve.

Another shuddering sigh escaped Chloe, softly, as Dan gingerly brushed hair from Chloe’s face, and caressed her cheek with a gentle touch.

Chloe let her eyelids fall shut, and leaned her head onto Dan’s.

She had been moments away of celebrating success after ridding their timeline of the pair of aggressive pterodactyls, only to find the timeline completely altered.

The blur continued. The warmth within triumphed, providing some solace, yet the fog remained.

She woke up that night, to a dark room bathed in silver moonlight. Sweating, the blankets were cast aside.

Dan slept peacefully on the bed next to her.

“The only thing unravelling is you.”

Like a whisper outside of reality, those words echoed forwards and backwards through time. Like a sense of déjà vu, Chloe wasn’t sure if she had thought those words before she ever heard them spoken aloud. But she would hear them, eventually, and remember them.

She couldn’t quit Future Proof. Not yet.

She wasn’t even sure about being in a relationship with Dan. It pained her, seeing Dan sleeping so peacefully in the bed, beside her. Like neither of them deserved this—Dan didn’t deserve to be hurt by someone from another timeline replacing the person she liked, and this Chloe hadn’t earned her affection at all.

Chloe felt betrayed—like destiny itself had betrayed her. Like she had never had any choice in the matter. Like it had never been her, like she was some kind of impostor, some alien, just passing as Chloe Grant.

She spent a lot of time staring at her own reflection. She looked the same as ever, though that gaze in every window and mirror had turned vacant, and more alien than ever before.

As morning dawned, she spent time sitting in her car outside the café downtown.

Ruiz was meeting with his red-headed handler from Celeva—the woman named Loretta Corsino.

Chloe took a deep breath, still sorting out how this reality had shifted. Or rather, how she needed to shift her memories to fit into this new reality.

To understand what she even needed to do. It was like she was just going through the motions of whatever she was expected to do in the previous timeline she had come from. While, now, she questioned her motives, and wondered if they deviated from the Chloe that this timeline had known all her life. Her life.

Who was she?

She caught herself staring into her own eyes in the rearview mirror. The sound of Ruiz’s motorcycle engine roaring up served to snap her out of her trance.

She didn’t know what she needed to do. Time, fate—whatever forces were at work in this universe, they had conspired to screw her over. Royally.

Why couldn’t time have changed her memories alongside everything else? Why did she have to remember the timeline that existed before?

Her mind was threatening to splinter.

This all made her think of the very image of the Anomalies themselves—glowing orbs of light, hovering, chiming brightly, like tiny suns, that had exploded into shimmering shards of cosmic glass.

That’s what it felt like now. Shattered.

Another shuddering sigh escaped her throat.

Corsino vanished into a black stretch limousine. Ruiz on his motorcycle was already long gone, likely headed to the office.

Chloe Grant readjusted her rearview mirror, fired up the engine, and did what she thought she was expected to do.

She drove to work. She drove to Future Proof’s HQ.

Her blurry trance took her down into the basement levels, where security systems beeped sharply, and red lights glowed in recognition of her clearance card.

She wandered down the eerie, cold halls of Containment Section, till she reached Doctor Solomon’s laboratory.

The head engineer and Doctor Trémaux stood together in a floating sea of light. They waved around themselves, wearing AR command gloves, pointing at the virtual objects around them, rearranging a…

“What am I looking at, here?” Grant asked.

The sight of this maze of lines and lights, projected as a hologram into the open, three-dimensional space of the room, was so engrossing that it yanked Grant right out of her trance. The fog lifted just enough for her to realize that she was witnessing the two scientists as they wrote a new chapter in human history.

Trémaux whipped her gray mane back, and waved her AR-gloved hands in the air like a sorceress, rearranging some of the floating strands.

“This is our current theory of the Tangle,” said the quantum physicist with the faintest hint of a French accent. Her gaze was locked onto the virtual construct she was busy building with Solomon. She pulled one virtual thread, bringing it closer to another, then fusing them into a glowing node with a double tap of her index and middle fingers. “This, here, for instance, would be an Anomaly.”

Solomon smiled with the excitement of a little boy playing with his favorite toys. The man in his early fifties said, “We have enough data for this model, now. Still some kinks to iron out, but it stands to reason… well, I don’t want to make any false promises. Let’s just say Spencer is bound to be thrilled about this breakthrough.”

“Augy is being modest,” Trémaux said, “because this may very well be a major milestone for Future Proof. If our calculations are right, we will become able to predict the opening of Anomalies before our detection system even pings their locations.”

Grant stared into the maze of threads, mouth agape.

Had she done this somehow? Had her interference in the timeline also somehow caused… this?

She dared not think about it too hard. Dared not dwell on it. She almost felt another wave of nausea, creeping up behind her.

Grant chewed on her lip and let their explanations stew.

Solomon chuckled, misreading Grant’s expression as stunned curiosity.

“Doctor Trémaux, how about you share your theory with Agent Grant? It’s quite the doozy.”

Trémaux ignored Solomon’s prompt. She pointed to another glowing node, fused between floating threads in the 3D-model. With a mid-air tap of index and middle finger, an array of text and data popped up, attached to the node.

Too much at once for Grant to quickly parse.

To Grant, Trémaux said, “This here is probably an Anomaly that occurred in the 200s, A.D., during the time of ancient Rome. What are the odds that people saw a dinosaur back then and… thought it was a dragon? Or a demon?”

Grant reeled. She steeled her stomach. Took another deep breath.

Was there a way to map out the Anomalies? To travel through time and make precise changes?

Where was this research headed?

“This… is… this a lot,” Grant muttered. “What… theory are you talking about, now?”

Solomon chuckled again.

Trémaux frowned.

“When I tried to explain it to your colleague, Mister Carter, he had less flattering words to share about it.”

“More like verbal flatulence,” Solomon said, still chuckling. “Please, Lucille. Your theory. I am certain Miss Grant is more receptive to it.”

Trémaux shook her head, then obliged anyway. She paused from manipulating the network of holographic threads. She turned to face Grant, and her eyes flashed with something fierce, and determined.

“I liken the timeline to a ball of yarn. Time would be like the string of yarn laid out, unraveled from the ball, with a definitive beginning and end. However, the string is not laid out flat nor straight, the yarn is all… balled up.”

Solomon chuckled again.

“Very mature, Augustus,” she said, though the corners of her lips twitched with the hint of a smile. Trémaux pointed to a glowing node in the three-dimensional network of threads—the ball of yarn. “Whenever anybody or anything tugs at different points in the string, the string throughout the ball is subject to friction. And where friction happens, the strings are touching, that is where the Anomalies occur, connecting different points along the string, even if only for a short time.”

Trémaux flicked a node with her AR glove, dissolving it. The thread parted there.

Grant tried to make sense of this. She tried to relate her brief experiences of time travel through the Anomalies, and how that all translated into wiping people or events from existence, or altering the world in other, unpredictable ways.

“What—what about, say, a time paradox? Let’s say we, I dunno, went back in time, killed Hitler before he rose to power, and changed the course of history. How would that fit in with this… uh… would this unravel, the, uh…”

“Yarn ball,” Solomon said with a straight face. He no longer chuckled.

He stared at Grant with burning curiosity.

As if sensed there was more behind her questions.

Doctor Trémaux pursed her lips. She pondered Grant’s question.

“I don’t believe there is a such a thing as ‘paradox’, as such would imply that time itself is an entity that defies change. However, any changes in the past would be cascading, both backwards, and forwards through time.”

The only thing unraveling is you.

“So, to extend your example, let us say you kill Hitler in the 1920s. If you return to your time afterwards, you would find that history played out differently, and only you would remember how it was before you killed Hitler and change the history you knew. You might have never been born as a consequence, therefore nobody would know you, yet you would continue to exist because you were born in a different version of reality. You may call that a paradox, but it is the only logical consequence I can envision, with all that we know. You remember Mister Sears, and you alone.”

“So, what you’re saying is—in theory—it would be possible to wipe out humanity by committing a single mistake in the prehistoric past.”

Trémaux shook her head.

“Not just the past, Miss Grant, even in the future. The ‘Crossroads’ you discovered behind the Anomaly in the Appalachian has shown us this quite clearly. There, Anomalies to past and future were open in close vicinity of one another. It is difficult to grasp, but the future has been affecting the past for longer than we realize. If the future is connected to the past in different ways,” said the physicist, pointing at a glowing node between threads again, “then any change in the future can also affect the past. Cascading. A waterfall of consequences.”

Now Grant shook her head in return.

“I don’t get it, though. What if you stopped whatever… whatever caused all the Anomalies to appear? To even happen in the first place? Do we even have any idea what caused this?”

“Nope,” Solomon said with strange enthusiasm and an energetic shrug. “Not a clue.”

“An interesting thought,” Trémaux said.

Grant asked, “What’s stopping the ball of yarn—what’s stopping time from unraveling?”

“I do not know,” Trémaux said, pursing her lips again. The pause that followed only filled a short beat. “All I know from yours and other previous accounts, such as that of Mister Sears vanishing from time altogether while none of us remember him having ever existed, is that time does not unravel. The thread has a beginning and end, and the Anomalies are persistent. Arguably, the only thing unraveling is you. Witnessing reality change as you travel through Anomalies should be against protocol, in my opinion. And, please forgive me if this sounds, eh… offensive? But perhaps you should check in for psychological counseling. The mental stress you must be undergoing must be quite significant.”

The last word carried the most of Trémaux’s French accent. The rest of her words echoed in Grant’s mind like a deafening series of explosions.

Had she thought them, lying in bed next to Dan, before she ever heard Trémaux say them out loud?

The only thing unraveling is you.

Grant’s blank stare burned through the void. The holographic display of the timeline’s tangled thread glowed in a cold blue, with the Anomalies bright white, all burning themselves into her retinas.

How long had she been staring blankly, rooted in place like a statue, in stunned silence?

Probably more than long enough—long enough for concern to color Trémaux’s tone.

“Not to add to any pressures, my dear, but we must be aware of our responsibility in dealing with the Anomalies. Humanity has only existed for a very short period of time in Earth’s history. It would be very easy to wipe us out entirely by accident. As such, I think it is of utmost importance that you as field operatives are in top physical and mental condition. I think you should see Doctor Chao as soon as possible, for psychotherapy. Again, I mean no offense.”

Chloe Grant wouldn’t remember the rest of their exchange that day. In a daze, she replied to Trémaux, somehow. Saying something.

It all rang hollow.

A ball of yarn.

Seeing Doctor Chao for a long conversation and an unspecific amount of therapy sessions started sounding like a good idea to her. A great idea, even.

The only thing unraveling is you.

[found-wings]

I can’t offer any fluffy fanfiction because writing consistently is incredibly difficult however

Even given the nature of Purgatory, the stakes of it all, would Etoiles and Fit ever really abandon Phil? When the first wave of bloodlust ebbs and the numbers glowing redhot on heavy and unkind metal cuffs dwindle down further- three hours, one hour, forty minutes, thirty- perhaps they would seek each other out in the twilight of their day, when nothing more can be gained and the best they can do is stave off further loss.

Perhaps they skirt Phil’s anxieties, his wariness that, again, Etoiles will kill him. That he and Fit will put Phil back in the split-second abyss of death, that he’ll need to run on a body pushed off-balance without a counterweight- but nothing happens, no sound of metal on sheathe nor metal on flesh and viscera painting it. Instead, with gentleness and soft assurances that he needn’t fear, he is brought into the fold of his flock and a secure embrace. A hand hovers over the haggard crow’s wings, just barely brushing against the dull and marred feathers in question; nothing will happen without permission and, once he gives it, a delicate hand brushes at the onyx plumage and preens, gently… gently.

They share stories about the smaller things, the pieces of purgatory less hellish- less sore and bitter and likely to revive the wellspring of anxious animosity. Phil shares that their flock has gotten all the larger, unsurprisingly, though they had all supposed- maybe took bets- that Cellbit would be there with them eventually.

And it’s okay. It’s soft, safe, even as their time tick-ticks down and twenty-five minutes drains away to fifteen, as the promise of the ice-cold drug that will leave them prone and dead to the world strays ever nearer. Even as Etoiles and Fit leave, fade into the horizon, Phil feels okay.

(It won’t last.)

~ 🐝

Answering this because I have been having so many thoughts surrounding this. I am still by no means caught up to the actual vods so idk how accurate this really will be AJAJA

I love your idea.

The hesitation from Phils side, the obvious growing suspicion he has for Fit and especially Etoiles after everything that has happened within such a short timespan - even when the last time they spoke not too long ago before all of this they were as closer as ever, silent promises of safety and trust.

I want there to be the constant feeling of 'what if?' and yet, as time passes by and they settle down together for a while to talk, nothing happens. Phil is not too sure whether to be relieved by it or not, but he embraces that change either way.

I want Phil to give quiet apologies for the fact that their flock got bigger at the worst time when they couldn’t even be all together, but Fit & Etoiles reassure him it‘s entirely fine and they‘re glad Phil has more of flock to help when they obviously can‘t.

BUT ALSO I‘M SO OBSESSED WITH RED TEAM BEING SO PROTECTIVE OF EACH OTHER????

I want especially Cellbit to absolutely refuse to let Phil go anywhere alone. Especially if it‘s Fit and Etoiles. To tell them off and put himself between these two & Phil as he guides Phil back towards the rest of their team to settle down - he is not letting them anywhere near him or the rest of their team like this.

I want silly red team to go absolutely feral over the thought of losing each other and being so protective & attached to each other RAAAAH

[tnbc-thoughtsandheadcanons]

Megan Shepherd's TNBC Novelization: Review

Here are my thoughts and full review on Megan Shepherd's Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (Novel). Although the book is closely based on the movie, there are a few unique things about it that I deem necessary to hide under a 'Read More', for spoilers to those who wish to avoid them.

Review + my thoughts below!

The book closely follows the movie with descriptives for each scene, except it doesn't contain any of the songs or lyrics, so substitutional dialogue is used instead. Most of these went well to describe/summarize the songs they replaced. I have no complaints with how Megan followed the movie in novel form, it's pretty accurate beyond some...minor things.

One example: Halloween just ended when Jack goes missing and stumbles upon Christmas Town, and when he comes back, he decides to have Halloween Town handle Christmas themselves. It's noteworthy to mention that they manage to do this from only November 1st - December 25th, a timespan of only 2 months. However. In this novel, the timing is changed - and it takes the Town a whole year to manage their own Christmas, and it is stated in the text that they "skipped their first Halloween" in order to do it.

Wouldn't the humans notice something different with Halloween, without the monsters and creatures of the night to scare them? Wouldn't it be kind of lame, and warrant the title of a "bad Halloween"? When Santa Claus and his gifts were missing, the humans nearly brought an end to Christmas. Is Halloween exempt from impacting the humans like this? Wouldn't there be any repercussions? Isn't it the Holiday World's purpose/job to bring the holiday TO the humans??

Anyway!

The text is beautifully written and I loved Megan's portrayal of Jack Skellington's internal struggle and depression, and how Sally related to it. She wrote the two of them wonderfully in the novel and even brought new details into the picture, mentioning Sally had done sewing tasks for him and is the one who recommended putting white stripes on his suit. She also delivered his book of The Scientific Method from the Doctor to him. <3

The novel contains a lot of little details/changes like these. I loved most of them and only had minor issues with a couple choices. One particular recurring mention, that I and other readers have disliked, was the heavy reference and implication to Jack Skellington's death. A few times in the novel, he thinks of his "previous life" and how he died. I share a fandom headcanon that Jack is a special skeleton from a species in Halloween Town itself, rather than him just dying. But this is a personal nitpick and doesn't impact anything, really - it's Megan's choice for his backstory, and I respect that!

Another small nitpick of mine is that I always thought Jack nabbed all the Christmas books from Christmas Town, but in this novel, it says that he got them from Halloween Town's Library. This brings all sorts of confusing questions into my mind...

A couple of my favorite lines from the book:

Also, the MOST interesting part of this novel, for me, is how it follows The Pumpkin King Game's backstory for Oogie Boogie, where he attempted to overthrow Jack Skellington to become Bug King. The novel mentions this a few times, and it's one of my favorite takes of Oogie Boogie - so I was delighted to see canon from my favorite TNBC game implemented into the novel!

Overall, I loved this novelization and the new headcanons it brought to me. It was wonderfully written and stayed close to the movie while also portraying the author's own takes on the characters and their feelings. Beyond my few minor nitpicks, it was great and I can't wait to see what the author will do with Long Live the Pumpkin Queen's sequel.

Check out this novelization if you can!

[man-moth-hook-hand]

Welcome to My Nightmare Ch. 7

A/N: I will be continue this series; however, I will activly be rewriting the previous chapters one at a time. I want this story to be gritty, horrific, and sensual. I don't feel like I've captured that.

I also don't feel like it's fair to take down the series until I decide that I'm happy with it. I want you all to enjoy this, even if it's not how I want it be right now. So I'll leave it up and repost with edited changes, I will note that I've changed/edited the story up top before the new chapter begins. I hope you've enjoyed this series and my writing so far.

Your friend,

Moth

Masterlist

Chapter Seven: Maneater

I wept for over an hour. Not cry, wept. I felt so utterly destroyed. . . crying didn’t feel like anything anymore. My head couldn’t hurt and my nose couldn’t run. I was a shell. I wasn’t me. I was a creature living in the husk of my former self. I was disgusting. 

The four devils brought me back to the cave. I suppose I followed them. It was easier after all, what was I supposed to do, leave? I had nowhere to go. I couldn’t go back. I wasn’t the person that the Emerson's knew. I wasn’t even someone–something, that I knew. I killed someone. I murdered them like a savage animal. I didn’t love Adam, but I had considered us to be friends in the short timespan we knew each other. Well, the timespan that he knew me. 

I began to think about what his sister, Jennifer would do. What am I going to do?

“Don’t feel bad, this is your life now.” David’s sharp voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

How could I not? “David. . .” I wasn't sure how to respond. I sat down on the half-broken fountain. 

“Listen, now you know what you are, now you know what we are. Michael, Star, and Laddie are like us now.” David put his gloved hand upon my thigh. 

“You’re not a bad person,” Paul tried to convince me. He sat next to me, taking my hand in his large palms. “I’m not a bad person, I just need to eat, and that just happens to be people.” 

“Yeah, it’s just a part of our lives, or afterlives.” Marko piped in from the old victorian couch he rested upon.

The boys stared at me. More tears began to fall from my cheeks. Paul began to attempt to comfort me. 

I began to think. Why could I cry? Could the vampires before me cry? I wasn’t sure. Perhaps David would answer me, maybe he wouldn’t. I wasn’t going to ask. 

“Why don’t you stay here for the night? The sun is rising and we’ll die if it reaches us.” Paul said. He and the other boys decided to create a small sleeping area for the night. It was a couple mattresses, assorted blankets, and mismatched pillows. Where these men had accumulated this furniture and decor was a mystery to me. I couldn’t imagine that they went furniture shopping.

The old mattress was comfortable. Anything was comfortable after what I had been through. 

I don’t believe I dreamt. It was one of the only times I hadn’t seen the twisted faces that I learned to be these creatures next to me. I didn’t like it. It was nothing. I laid my head down and awoke. It was like time didn’t exist. It was frightening. I almost felt sensory deprivation if it had been longer than what felt like a few seconds. 

The next morning, night actually, was different. I was a different person–thing. I was at a stand still. I was alone. I began thinking about what happened last night. A part of me didn’t despise what I had done, it yearned for it. Perhaps it was the new virus that plagued me. Was I going to become some bloodthirsty demon raveging and consuming every living creature in sight? The only way to find out was to wait. I felt that I knew the answer already, maybe I just didn’t want to admit it. 

“You awake?” Marko moved the makeshift curtains in the “den.”

“I guess so.” I avoided looking at him. I think I was afraid that if I looked at him I would think he’s normal. That I’m normal. That all of this is normal. 

Marko moved closer, “You’re gonna want to eat.” 

I felt my face make a look of disgust. I think to get rid of this desire to drink blood I’ll have to kill myself. It felt like Marko could sense my thoughts . . . and I his.

“No, no, listen, really. It’s not that bad. Your body will get used to it, ours all did.” He tried to assure me. 

“How? How will I ever get used to killing people?” I almost shouted, “I ripped Adam apart with no remorse. How do you get used to that?” 

“Your body has changed. It’s the same way that you eat human food without thinking about it. Your body understand that blood has the nutrients needed–” 

“No, no it’s not the same!” I cut him off, “the food on a plate doesn’t cry in pain when I bite into it!” 

“Listen to me! It’s really no different than eating a burger, the only difference is that you’re killing it yourself instead of letting someone else do it.” 

A sinister churn infected my body. It was pulling me towards the sharpened canines in my gums. I suppose it was like a cat's claws, retractable to an extent as I could feel the sharp knives in my mouth. 

“Listen to that, that’s what keeps you alive. We don’t just eat people, we’re still partly human.” Marko tried to convince me. 

“Get up,” David’s guttural voice demanded we move, “It’s time to eat. You’ll get sick and die.” He pointed to me. He was right. 

David was chatting up a young, beautiful, blonde haired girl on the boardwalk. It seemed like flirtation. She enjoyed it. I guess he likes blondes.

“He does.” Paul swung his thick arm around my shoulders. 

“Did I say that outloud?” There was no way that I had spoken to any of them. 

“No, we have like this super cool psychic mind link” He grinned. It was alarming how casual Paul was. 

“Stop it,” Dwayne shoved the Twisted Sister reject, “It’s not exactly like it. We have a. . . feeling. Like an instinct.” He was having a difficult time finding a simple explanation for me. 

“So is David going to sleep with that girl?” I asked. I couldn’t imagine he would. David seemed like a prude. 

“No, he’s gonna drain her. Don’t worry we’ll teach you.” Paul tried to assure me. This was a game to him, to all of them, and soon me. 

“. . . Ok.” I said. 

The boys scattered around the maze of carnival rides and weird smells of the boardwalk. Things were different now that I was a vampire. It was corny to say out loud, or to even think it, but it made a difference in my senses. My sense of smell was refined, instead of scents blurring I could pick out each individual source and where it was in relation to me. A woman’s perfume, ten feet away. A popcorn stand right next to her. I could hear the words that David and his meal were exchanging, it was definitely horny. I was a little shocked to see how suave he could be. I could taste the air like a snake dipping its tongue into the surrounding scents. I could taste people most of all. My sight was the most affected by my new body. Colors were duller than before, it was light, someone turned the brightness up to compensate. 

“Hey,” Dwayne, who volunteered to babysit me, nudged my shoulder, “You alright?”

“Not really. Why does everything seem like too much, it wasn’t like this before.” I wiped my forehead, devoid of the usuals sweat.

“Well, you’ll learn to ignore things and hone in on what you want. Hey, David’s coming back.” Dwayne said. David was coming back, but with a guy? 

“He’s for you.” Paul came from nowhere and whispered in my ear. “We’ll go somewhere more private.” I guessed he wasn’t going to use the “super-cool-psychic-mind-link” on me just yet.

I literally had no idea how they boys did it, but they did. They actually convinced this guy to go to the middle of the woods with some random people he just met. I felt genuinely bad for him. I knew that I was going to need to feed the virus in me. The boy was so stupid, he fell right into our trap. I guess he and I weren't so different. I feel right into the vampires trap as well. 

David moved his thumb across his neck in a swift motion. At first, I thought the human boy was moving slowly, but I quickly realized that David was moving so fast that the guy didn’t even have time to see that David was moving. I wondered if I could do that as well. 

Hunger festered inside me. I needed to eat. It occurred to me that I didn’t remember specifically how I had devoured Adam, just flesh tearing and the need to devour. Maybe I would just push him? Bite him?

“Look, it’s an owl.” I pointed at nothing in the distance. As soon as he turned away, I pulled him from behind and bit into his shoulder. I had originally aimed at his neck, but I miscalculated and my teeth sunk into his sweet and savory human flesh.

Once the slightest touch of blood caressed my tastebuds, I fell into a spell. I drank as much of him as I could, then my instinct told me to bite. The soft crunch of moist bones and juicy tendons was intoxicating. His body folded in my grasp. I truly understood how the boys had not tricked me, they saved me. 

Could God provide me with the pleasurable sensations of the flesh? No, no one but these statuesque creatures could. How could I have ever been angry at them? I was naive and uncultured. It was shameful. They cared about me, loved me, and wanted me. I needed them. I am so grateful they showed me this path of purity. 

I let go of my offering to this new way of life. 

“Hungry?” Paul joked.

I nodded. 

“I told you, you’d like it.” Marko said. 

[oddygaul]

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, and also just Scott Pilgrim

-footage from Rebuild of Scott Pilgrim

I watched Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, then realized it had been nearly 15 years since I actually read the comics, so then I re-read all of those. I wish I had just done it in the right order to begin with, because doing it this way really scrambled my thoughts about both works. In my defense, how was I to know Takes Off is actually a sequel? What am I supposed to do, read things?

I was pleased to find that the original Scott Pilgrim honestly holds up pretty well. Takes Off is clearly such a reflective work that I was expecting to find the original story a lot more problematic than I had in high school, but… for the most part, it really knows what it’s doing. Yeah, a lot of the characters are shitbirds, but they’re meant to be shitbirds. The entire point of the book is showing us flawed people who intermittently make shitty decisions, and giving them a chance to grow, reflect, and treat the people around them better.

So generally, I still really liked Scott Pilgrim. All the goofy-ass character art and the surreal, unexplained quasi-fantasy Canada bits that made it tick back then still work. This time around, I really appreciated the writing and dialogue for not only its bevy of solid jokes, but for how fucking weird it is. In the past decade or so, I think a lot of ‘quirky’ humor has homogenized somewhat into a particular tone. Call it Whedonization or globalization or internet brain or whatever you want, but it can sometimes feel like anything aiming to be comedic hits a lot of the same beats.

The Scott Pilgrim comics, however, are a weird time capsule and their own vibe entirely. These fuckers just talk like aliens sometimes. They say random stuff, but it’s not *holds up spork* random, it’s “shit sorry I was kind of half listening but I think the thing I’m about to say is relevant” random. It’s less big swings to try and land a punchline, and more of two people letting loose a stream of consciousness at each other, lending a sense of constant confusion to the proceedings. It’s absolute nonsense sometimes, and I was way into it.

This ties into a slight shift in my read on Scott as a character, too. I always just saw him as a huge asshole - and that led to my biggest issue with the movie, which was that Cera plays him way too meek and doesn’t suck nearly enough. Reading the comics again, though, while Scott absolutely does suck, he’s just so fucking head empty that I warmed up to him a bit more. He’s still an asshole that doesn’t take responsibility for how his actions affect others, absolutely, but also god damn he’s so dumb that it softens the blow sometimes.

There were some little details about characters I’d forgotten that I really love - like the fact that Scott is actually a really good cook, but does it purely through intuition without knowing what anything’s called.

Art-wise, I liked it a lot more than I remembered, too; it definitely starts out a bit rough, but there’s a lot of charm to the characters and their weird gremlin mouths. I also laughed at some of the manga inspiration I didn’t pick up on before; everyone’s got big anime eyes, sure, but the grey screentone Clip Studio pattern fills? The hiring of assistants to do polished background work as the author gets into the later volumes? Ahh, classic.

Takes Off was a lot of fun, too. I gather that a lot of the internet fandom is upset it wasn’t a straight retelling of the original story with killer animation, but man, you gotta let creators create what speaks to them. Bryan Lee O’Malley started Scott Pilgrim twenty years ago. He’s been both married and divorced since then. Surely he’s gone through as much growth and change as we all would in such a timespan - how could you expect someone to just re-tread the exact same ground on such a personal story?

I find it interesting how prevalent this trend has become in the past decade or so - a creator or creative team returning to an old work - seemingly out of necessity, as the IP has become such a juggernaut that it’ll happen with or without them - and refusing to just tell the story again by the numbers. Anno’s Rebuild of Evangelion is the closest spiritually to this, but even recent ‘remakes’/reboots like Final Fantasy VII and God of War 2018 have followed the same path - creators ruminating on the strengths and weaknesses of older work from a more distant lens to create something new. They all seem to have arrived at this methodology independently, too (O’Malley said he only watched the Rebuilds once Takes Off was written and well underway); it’s not about chasing the trend of an altered remake, it seems to just be a natural desire to reckon with the past this way.

Because of this, one of the reasons I really wish I watched the show after re-reading the comics is to have a better sense of the evolution, and the change in tone and message. Due to watching Takes Off while having only a hazy recollection of the original, I made a lot of assumptions about how the original work must have portrayed things, to explain what Takes Off’s themes were a rejection of: that by giving Ramona more agency, she’s less of a damsel in distress/prize to be won, and isn’t defined by her body count… when in fact, neither of those are really the case to begin with. Ramona has plenty of agency in Scott Pilgrim, she fights as much as Scott does, and really is only defined by her body count as narrative framework, not judged in-universe by the other characters* **.

*I think some of these misconceptions may have come from having rewatched the movie more recently than I read the comics, as the movie (if I remember correctly, which this entire blog has established I likely don’t) does tend to treat Ramona as more of an passive object. Her subservience to Gideon in the real world (rather than in her subspace mind prison) comes to mind.

**Also, you could argue that the framework of the story itself being ‘guy fight’s girl’s evil exes in order to earn the right to date her’ is inherently placing importance on Ramona’s body count and someone’s romantic eligibility/desirability being defined by that but like… man that just is clearly not the vibe imo

If anything, I think the real lack that the show was trying to make up for wasn’t Ramona’s lack of agency, exactly, but a lack of screentime. Takes Off simply spends more time inside Ramona’s head, letting us see things from her perspective, and understanding the reasons for why she is the way she is and why she does the things she does. In some volumes of the book, she’s aloof almost to the point of feeling like a trope; it’s clear (especially later on) that there’s a reason for the way she acts, but the story just doesn’t necessarily communicate it very well. In the show, with Scott sidelined, we get to spend a lot of time with Ramona, understanding her thoughts and feelings, which is certainly a welcome change.

Anyway, intentions of the changes aside, I wouldn’t trade Takes Off for a straight remake in a thousand years; the sense of utter surprise I felt while watching the story take a hard left turn was exhilarating***. Plus, if the reason you love a series is the characters you’ve developed a bond with, what could be better than canonized fan fiction written by the original creator, showing your favorite characters interacting in new and novel ways? How could one not be excited to see Gideon and Lucas bro out and watch anime together? How could one not be thrilled to see Wallace Wells enact further chaos upon the whole province? More than righting storytelling wrongs, Takes Off is making space to tell more stories and round out everyone’s favorite supporting characters in a franchise that, due to the inherent density of its plot and setup, simply hasn’t had the real estate to develop all of them and let them breathe.

***Having just played through NieR recently, I almost felt like the show had scanned me, detected I had gotten Scott Pilgrim Ending A before, and was throwing some NG+ bonus content at me lmao

As far as the production goes, I was impressed overall, but thought it did suffer from some awkward timing and pacing issues. It’s stiff competition when your inevitable point of comparison is an Edgar Wright movie - even other live-action movies can seem stiff and slow compared to his frenetic pacing and constant cuts - but it still felt remarkably low energy at times, especially in the back half. Now, this is a problem you see a lot in anime dubs; English and Japanese are two very different languages, with different cadences and construction. Since a cast is typically required to dub over already existing animation, the translated dialogue often ends up being elongated and unnatural when it should be a quick back and forth, or hurried where it should have a little more breathing room. Given, though, that Takes Off was not only recorded in English before Japanese, but actually recorded before animation then animated to the dialogue (exceedingly uncommon), I was surprised the show still had this issue.

Regardless, the boarding in the first 4 episodes or so manages to be bombastic enough that this isn’t a problem; there’s a lot of wild camera angles and perspective shifts that keep things dynamic even when the dialogue itself isn’t moving too quickly. The animation highlight for me personally was the fight in the video store between Ramona and Roxy; great idea, incredible execution.

While Science Saru is the main production studio, I was intrigued to spy a bunch of other studios listed in the credits - WIT, Shaft, Ufotable, Trigger - but upon some further research it looks like they were just doing inbetween work.

Also the music includes slapped - I was jamming hard to Kidnapped by Neptune and Konya wa Hurricane, and then that United States of Whatever drop? unreal.