#back to our normally scheduled programming soon

[hazyaltcare]

Tumblr user syunkiss, we never said you don't have DID. I literally have no idea what userbox you are talking about. We have only made one for someone who was Madness Combat kin. Sorry if you are getting hateful anons, but they aren't us. We haven't interacted with you at all except to address the lies you're spreading and to answer the random ask you sent us. Also, no one here ever sent you an ask in general, that is a blatant lie. You interacted with us first.

The only thing I'm guessing by this point is that you're starting drama for no reason, or someone sent you an ask pretending to be us to start drama for no reason. If it's the latter, I apologize that someone would do something so stupid. If it's the former, frankly? Get a life.

This will be the last time we address this. You were blocked for a reason, but I won't let people blatantly lie about this blog without addressing it.

Mod Haze

[andypantsx3]

IF YOU LET ME : TODOROKI SHOUTO x READER

SUMMARY: Disguised as a eunuch in the imperial palace, a mistake on your part leads to your unmasking before the prince. By rights it should mean your death, but Prince Shouto seems to have another plan in mind... CONTENT: Prince Shouto, AFAB fem reader, identity reveal, class differences, slight gender fuckery, historical sexism, implications of past sexual threats, vaguely Heian-era historical Japanese setting, deep historical inaccuracy, SFW (2.2k) NOTES: This was a barely-edited unplanned little thought demon I had to exorcise lol, thank you for being patient with me. Back to our regularly scheduled programming soon.

Your breast bindings were missing.

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.

You flipped your sleeping mat again, clawing through your blankets frantically, hoping you’d somehow missed them the first time. But only the tatami floor stared back up at you—strands of woven rice straw pale and bare.

You muttered a curse under your breath—you’d definitely forgotten to extract your bindings from where you’d shucked off yesterday’s robes, forgotten to squirrel them away before sinking into bed. And now they’d been whisked away by a palace maid to be laundered. Or worse, discovered.

Your eyes darted through your small sleeping chamber frantically, seeking a solution. You were already late for Prince Shouto’s first lesson of the day, and you needed all the time you could get with him today. You’d promised the Minister of Rites that you’d have a word with the prince, to try to persuade Shouto to accept the wife he was so persistently putting his advisors off on.

You were, after all, the prince’s closest confidant—his personal secretary and calligraphy tutor, an unthreatening eunuch from the lower classes with whom Shouto was clearly most at ease. And at least most of that was true—you did have Prince Shouto’s trust, friendship, and respect, as much as a member of the imperial family could bestow on a commoner, anyway.

If he was going to listen to anyone on the subject of taking a wife—at the very least one concubine, if not his future empress—it would be his trusted friend the eunuch.

There was just one very important detail that everyone, even His Highness, was mistaken about on that account.

One blasted detail that could get you killed at best were anyone to figure it out.

Your eyes fell back to your blankets, and you immediately grabbed two fistfuls, yanking as hard as you could until you felt the fabric give, the rip and tear echoing in the small space of your sleeping chamber. You kept ripping until a strip came free, a little smaller than what you usually had to work with.

But you were not about to complain, not at a time like this.

You flung the strip down to scrabble with the tie of your underrobe, unknotting it with fumbling fingers. You were just about to fling it off of you when there was a careful knock against the screen of your door.

You didn’t manage to stifle your reflexive scream, stumbling through a half-executed turn towards the door. The screen was suddenly thrown back with alarming force, Prince Shouto’s figure filling the doorway.

You yanked your shirt closed again, panicking, as you caught sight of the concern on his handsome face. You barely registered the other details, mind tripping over excuses, unable to appreciate the way his shoulders looked all the broader in his sokutai the way you normally did.

“Are you well?” Shouto demanded, his normally soft tone a little ragged. You watched his mismatched eyes dart quickly around your chambers, as if seeking a threat, only to drop back to you when there was none.

“Your Highness,” you said, lost for anything else.

“I heard—there was a scream,” he said, his eyebrows scrunching the tiniest bit.

He always looked his most beautiful when he was confused, you thought, focusing hard on a particular problem. Not that a common woman had any business thinking anything about the crown prince, never mind a woman masquerading as a man. But it was hard to ignore a face that beautiful, the way his gaze sharpened with focus, full mouth pursing as he thought through a problem.

He looked like that now as his gaze darted over you. And then suddenly his eyes dipped to your collarbone, and his features went perfectly, horribly still.

An elegant hand reached back, and he immediately drew the screen closed behind him, eyes never leaving you as he took another step into the room.

You stumbled back, almost tripping over your bedding. You did not dare to turn towards him or away, scuttling sideways instead like a nervous crab.

“Your Highness,” you began again, heart shooting into your mouth when Shouto’s long fingers tangled in your undershirt.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, his tone softening. You gripped your shirt closed as hard as you could against the tug of his fingers. “Did something happen?”

“N-nothing,” you stammered, not liking the way it made him clearly more suspicious. “I was just changing.”

But Shouto’s beautiful, cursed eyes dipped to your bedding, where the torn strip lay across your blankets in plain sight. You could almost see the calculation as his eyes widened the tiniest fraction, and his grip tightened on your robes. Of course he’d seen it, and of course it looked like a wound dressing you’d just been about to apply.

He took another step closer, too close, until you could feel the heat of him through your sleeve, smell the sweet blend of dried herbs the servants kept his clothing stored with.

You tried to twist out of Shouto’s grip without rucking up your shirt, but his hold was too strong.

“Let me see,” he ordered in his soft, low tone. Your heartbeat kicked up higher, hammering in your chest so hard it could have broken a rib.

It was a death sentence to ignore an order from a member of the imperial family. It was also a death sentence to reveal what you’d been these many years. You hoped Prince Shouto, something of a friend to you, would let you off lightly for ignoring him.

“Please, Your Highness,” you said, clinging even harder to the closure of your shirt. “I will be ready in just a moment, I am simply running late. I beg your forgiveness.”

But if there was one thing about the crown prince, it was that he was stubborn, bullheaded when it came to the ideas and goals he took seriously. And he had always made it clear he took your friendship seriously.

That perfect mouth shifted into a frown. “I order you to let me see,” he said, his tone still soft but firm. “You will let me.”

You froze under his hands, muscles locking up in panic. Shouto was still between you and the door, and your chambers were not wide enough for you to slip around him without him being able to easily catch you. He was also, unfortunately, extremely quick with sharp reflexes honed by years of swordsmanship. There would be no escaping this situation.

Fuck. Fuck, you were out of ideas.

“Hold still,” Shouto commanded gently, long fingers prying your stiff ones away from the shirt ties. You watched his face in mute panic, not wanting to see the flash of betrayal and disgust, but unable to look away as he prised your robes aside. Shame heated your cheeks.

Shouto’s long eyelashes dipped, before his gaze froze on your chest. For a second, he went as stiff as you. Then he was yanking your robes closed again, a watercolor of pink washing across the bridge of his nose and those high cheekbones.

His eyes darted back to yours, his expression perfectly still though his face was flushed. “You never told me,” he said accusingly.

The right thing to do in this situation was to go to your knees in a kowtow and beg for his mercy, but Shouto still had a grip on your robes and did not look like he meant to let go. You ducked your head in as much of a bow as you could manage, your face warm. “Your Highness, I have no excuse. I have betrayed you.”

When you had concocted this scheme, you had wanted to put yourself beyond the reach of a local official back in your home village. His advances were becoming increasingly aggressive, and as a common woman, you had no recourse. You could only escape into a place where his rule was circumvented by a superior one, where no man would think to have an interest in you.

You had not intended to become Prince Shouto’s tutor, had not anticipated the true risk of your gambit until it was already too late. But you would still rather die than be returned into the hands of your village’s preceptor.

If this is how it ended…

“I have compromised you,” Shouto’s voice startled you out of your memories.

You glanced up at him, befuddled.

Shouto’s fingers twisted in your robes. “Just now, and—all the many times we have been alone until now. I did not know.”

Honor and compromise were the least of your concerns right now, and would matter even less in the event of your death. You did not know where the prince meant to go with this.

“Your Highness, you were not expected to know,” you said, shame coiling in your belly. You would make the same choices you had made over again, if given the chance, but you had never meant to betray Shouto. You had genuinely liked him, and you would regret losing the chance to be by his side in the years to come.

Shouto’s eyes flicked over you in some kind of assessment. He lifted one hand from your shirt, gasping your scholar’s cap and tugging it free from your hair. You felt his fingers tangle so very gently in the strands of your hair, seeking out the ties and pins.

Your own eyes traced over him as he did, drinking in the firm planes of his chest in his sokutai, the dark blue a beautiful contrast with his pale skin. You heard pins dropping to the ground beside you, as Shouto rubbed a strand of your hair between his fingers. He seemed to be evaluating you in a new light, relearning your appearance though a clearer lens.

Disgust and betrayal were not evident in how delicately he was handling you. You did not know what this meant.

“They will put you to death if they know,” Shouto said, eyes slowly moving from the hair between his fingers to your face again. “You cannot hide like this forever.”

You did not know what other choice was to be had. If Shouto did not plan to put you to death himself, then what other choice did you have than to go on pretending?

Shouto’s gaze dropped to your mouth and you realized you’d spoken the thought aloud.

“There is one other way to put you beyond the reach of the court,” he said slowly.

You felt your eyebrows raise in question. “I cannot think of it, Your Highness.”

Shouto absently curled the strand of your hair about his fingers, the little crease between his perfect eyebrows appearing again. He looked the way he did when he played games with his strategy tutor, or when he was thinking hard on a new sword form.

“The ministers wish for me to take a wife,” Shouto said softly. “My household is mine to manage alone.”

Outside the laws of the court, he meant. A strange flutter went through you, heat spotting your cheeks again. Shouto’s presence before you was suddenly magnified a hundred fold, and you became singularly aware of the breadth and height of him, the heat of him almost against you.

“You do not want a wife,” you said, well aware of the many years he’d spent bullheadedly resisting the idea.

“I do not want any the ministers have selected for me,” Shouto corrected.

Your whole body felt flushed again. He meant he was amenable to you.

You had never let yourself think it but he was more than amenable to you as well.

“I would keep you safe,” he promised.

You almost slumped to the floor in relief, only Shouto’s grip on you keeping you upright. You would not die. You would not be returned to your village. You would, through all of this, it seemed, keep Shouto’s friendship.

“I know you would,” you said.

Shouto understood your acceptance. Slowly his fingers untwined themselves from your hair, and he drew your robes more firmly around you. Your body burned hot, still, stomach fluttering under his renewed brand of regard.

“I will arrange it quickly,” Shouto said. “You must stay here. I will send someone for you.”

You nodded.

Shouto looked regretful as he stepped back from you. “We will do it properly, later,” he said. “I will pay my respects to your family.”

You waved a hand frantically, shocked by the idea of the future emperor making his bows in your family’s rundown hut. It was not as though you would be his first-ranked wife or empress! He did not need to pay any respects to the family of a concubine out of a common family!

“There is no need,” you insisted, but Shouto was already turning towards the door. You could see by the set of his shoulders this was another thing he meant to be stubborn about.

“I will honor my first and only wife,” he said, turning to pin you with that heterochromatic gaze.

Your mouth dropped open in shock, but you had no time to reply before he was sliding the door closed behind him again, leaving you alone with the sudden weight of the statement. It had all happened so quickly, you had never expected that Shouto meant what he did.

You wondered what it meant that Shouto had made such a promise so readily, when he had known the truth about you for only minutes.

And you wondered if, like your original entry into the palace, you were getting yourself into something far beyond what you initially understood.

[cherrrydragon]

➤ find something worth saving (it's all for the taking)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: BACK TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING

← back to chapter list

SUMMARY ↳ Not everybody takes time to appreciate the holidays, it seems. Damian’s brow furrows as he inspects your arm. “You were…” “Awesome?” “Reckless.” pairing: jon kent x gn!reader x damian wayne warnings: nada wc: 3.2k

totally forgot to mention this last chapter, but this fic now has an official playlist!

It takes some convincing from Damian and Jon for them to let you go back to work. Jon says you shouldn’t be back so soon after getting shot. You tell him that your body is fine and ready to go, and also remind him that one of the first things you did when you were better was spar with the whole damn Batfamily. He looks properly sheepish after being chastised.

Damian says that you don’t need the job anymore, since you live with his family now. You tease him, asking if you technically classify as his sugar baby. He scoffs, turning away. It gets him off your case.

Sam damn near jumps over the counter to get to you when they see you walk in. “[Name]!”

At Sam’s shout, Carrie and Garrett pop their heads out from the back. Carrie’s face lights up, smile lines showing as she rushes over to join you and Sam’s hug. Garrett lets one of his rare smiles show, patting your head.

“You shouldn’t be back so soon,” frowns Carrie, pulling back.

You would lift up your shirt to show that you were fine, but she’s right, you shouldn’t be back so soon. A bullet wound on a normal person wouldn’t be completely healed just yet, but, you know, super healing. You’ve been left with a very faint scar. Jon spent his time tracing it, eyes hard and lidded. It gave you goosebumps when his fingers would pass over it.

You wave them off, laughing softly at their concern. "I'm fine, guys, really. It's good to be back."

Sam eyes you skeptically, arms crossed. "You better take it easy, though. We can handle things here."

Carrie nods in agreement, though she's smiling. "Just don't overdo it. We were worried sick about you."

Garrett gives you a nod of approval, his expression serious yet supportive. "Glad to see you're up and about, [Name]. Take care of yourself."

You promise them you will, appreciating their concern and warmth. Sam ushers you behind the counter, immediately putting you to (light) work, much to your amusement.

"So, spill," Sam insists, leaning in conspiratorially. "What happened?”

“What do you mean?” you ask as you organize some sugar packets.

“Dude, Robin and Superboy literally hauled your ass out of here.”

“They just took me to the hospital, Sam,” you sigh. “I got shot, it was pretty urgent.” Shoving a pastry in Sam's mouth, you push past them to ready the coffee makers. “In other news, I moved in with my future rich spouse.” It’s a way to distract them from questioning too much.

Predictably, Sam chokes on the bun. “What!? Hold on, back up a minute, when did you start dating somebody?”

“It was a joke, we’re just friends,” you chuckle. “He’s a huge worrywart and refused to let me go back to my apartment. Could barely walk out of the front door this morning. Said I didn’t even need this job anymore, basically said he’d take care of me.” He didn’t really, but whatever. “Isn’t he sweet?”

“So you’re telling me he basically said you can be the rich trophy partner? Why the hell are you here then?” Sam deadpans.

You match their expression. “Wow. Nice to know I was missed.”

Sam rolls their eyes. “You’re impossible. Who’s the guy anyway?”

“Damian Wayne.”

Sam blinks. Once. Twice. “Can you repeat that? I could’ve sworn you said Damian Wayne. Son of Bruce Wayne. Heir to Wayne Enterprises.”

You huff, placing a hand on your hip as their brain fumbles. “Dude, you bagged the big one. Holy shit, I didn’t know you could pull like that.”

“I told you, we’re just friends.”

“I thought he was, like, stuck up, or something. Cold ice prince type.”

You feel the need to defend Damian’s honor, even if Sam has no true ire towards him. “He’s nice. A good friend. He’s just… awkward.”

Sam takes time to look at you, a brow raised. You hope they're not doing that thing when they just look at you and know all of your secrets. Eventually they hum, dropping it.

“...You think you can ask his dad to pay my tuition–”

Tonight marks your first official patrol with the Batfamily. You're already suited up, crouched on the ledge of a rooftop with Damian. His cape billows in the wind. The city below is alive with lights and sounds, a symphony of Gotham’s nighttime pulse. You adjust your stance, feeling the adrenaline start to course through your veins. Damian is focused, his eyes scanning the streets for any sign of trouble.

"Keep your eyes sharp," Damian says, his voice a low murmur. "Gotham's quiet tonight, but that can change in an instant."

You nod, your own senses heightened, every sound amplified in the quiet of the rooftop. The tension in the air is palpable, a reminder of the city's ever-present dangers.

Damian glances at you, a hint of a smile playing on his lips. "You ready for this?"

“Been ready, are you?” you challenge with a smile.

Suddenly, a voice speaks into your ear. It's Barbara. "We've got a situation near downtown. Reports of a robbery in progress."

Damian tenses, his eyes narrowing. "Let's move."

You both leap from the rooftop, descending into the city's shadows. The thrill of the chase ignites your senses as you navigate the rooftops with practiced ease. Damian is a blur of motion beside you, his movements precise and controlled.

Your arm muscles tense and release with every web swing. You take time to twirl and flip around Damian in an elegant dance as he swings with his grappling hook. The two of you move around each other in synchronized harmony.

As you near the location of the robbery, you spot the scene from above. A group of masked men are trying to break into a high-end jewelry store. The glass is shattered, and the alarm is blaring. Damian signals for you to flank them from opposite sides.

You land silently behind a dumpster, observing the thieves as they hurriedly shove jewelry into bags. Damian moves in from the other side, his presence a shadow in the night. You wait for his signal, your muscles coiled like springs.

With a sharp nod from Damian, you spring into action. You leap out, webbing one of the thugs to the ground before he even realizes what’s happening. Damian disarms another with a swift kick, his movements fluid and efficient.

The remaining thieves scramble, but they're no match for the two of you. You dart between them, your webbing and acrobatics keeping them off balance. Damian is a blur of motion, his strikes precise and powerful. Within moments, the robbers are subdued, webbed up and disarmed.

Damian steps back, catching his breath. "Nice work," he says, his tone grudgingly approving.

"Were you practicing those moves to impress me?” you ask cheekily.

“Why, were you watching me?”

“I just can’t take my eyes off of you,” you sigh dramatically.”

“Stop flirting, losers,” Stephanie teases on the comms.

Just as you're about to talk back, a low rumble echoes through the alley. The ground shakes slightly, and you exchange a wary glance with Damian. A nearby manhole cover bursts open, and a hulking figure emerges from the sewers. It's Killer Croc, his massive form towering over you both. What the hell.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Croc growls, his eyes gleaming with malicious intent.

You throw up your hands. “Come on man, I wanted an easy night.”

Croc advances with heavy footsteps, his massive claws glinting in the dim light. Guess he’s not in the mood for chit-chat. Croc chuckles, the sound sending a chill down your spine. "Think you can stop me, little bats?" His voice reverberates through the space, filling the space with menace.

“I am not a bat,” you mutter. “Only in spirit I guess." Killer Croc has a similar demeanor to that of Rhino, at least in terms of size. You’ve dealt with more than enough of them to be well equipped to deal with this situation.

You exchange a quick nod with Damian, silently communicating your plan. "Let's do this," he says, his voice low but determined.

Without hesitation, you both spring into action. Damian charges forward, engaging Croc head-on with a series of lightning-fast strikes and evasive maneuvers. Meanwhile, you use your agility and webs to dart around Croc, aiming to distract and disorient him.

Croc swings a massive fist, aiming for Damian, who narrowly dodges and counters with a precise kick to the knee. You take advantage of the opening, firing webbing at Croc's arms, aiming to restrict his movements. The webs hold momentarily before Croc tears through them with brute force. Boo.

"Keep him distracted!" Damian calls out, his voice cutting through the chaos.

You nod, focusing on keeping Croc off balance while Damian assesses the situation. With each move, you gauge Croc's reactions, looking for vulnerabilities to exploit. His strength is immense, and you start to hope this won’t take long. You’d like to get a decent rest tonight.

Damian maneuvers around Croc, striking with calculated precision. His training and experience shine through as he lands blows with pinpoint accuracy, each one aimed at weakening Croc's defenses. You watch in awe, both of Damian's skill and the sheer determination in his eyes.

As the fight wears on, Croc becomes more aggressive, his attacks growing wilder and more unpredictable. You dart in and out, using the environment to your advantage, hoping to find an opening. It's a dangerous dance, the alley echoing with the sounds of combat and the occasional growl from Croc.

Croc is getting overwhelmed, which means he’ll get desperate. His eyes keep darting to the window. He’s gonna try to escape, shit.

He shoves Damian to the side with his arm. For a split second, you want to make sure he’s alright, but you know he is. Trust that he is. You seize an opportunity to leap onto Croc's back as he charges out of the alley and onto the street. The sudden movement sends pedestrians scattering, and cars screech to a halt to avoid the monstrous figure rampaging through the city. You wrap his shoulders, providing you some extra distance from him as he tries to reach for you. He bucks and twists as he runs, trying to shake you off.

Croc flips up cars as he runs. Your claws dig into his shoulders as you steer him out of people's way the best you can, while simultaneously trying not to get thrown off. People scream and flee as cars swerve to avoid the chaos. With each passing moment, your muscles strain under the weight and movement of the monstrous villain.

“Should you be on vacation or something? It’s the holidays! Take a day off, Christ,” you grumble.

Croc chuckles dangerously. “Hang on tight, not-bat.”

It’s your only warning (aside from your senses screaming at you to get out of the way. Too bad you can’t) as Croc makes a superhuman leap, crashing straight through a window of Gotham Mall. Your suit protects you from the glass as it crashes down around you. Shoppers scream and scatter as the massive creature barrels through the aisles, sending displays and merchandise flying.

“Do you have any non-destructive hobbies?” you huff, dodging his grabby hands. Croc cuts a corner narrowly, slamming you slightly into a wall.

“Swimming. In the sewers.”

“Well, of course, where else?” Oh shit, there’s a baby in the way! You throw a web from each wrist, pulling yourself over to the stroller. You pick it up and narrowly move it out of Killer Croc’s way, putting it down next to the mother and quickly webbing yourself back onto Croc.

“Thank you!” the mother cries.

“You’re welcome!” is all you can say before your web pulls you back onto Croc. You curl your hand into a tight fist and hit him right in his head as you return. Croc staggers from the force of your punch, shaking his head as he attempts to regain his bearings. His momentum slows, giving you a moment to catch your breath.

“Spinnerette, report,” Bruce asserts in your ear.

“Uh, Killer Croc’s rampaging in Gotham Mall. Trying to minimize the damage,” you breathe, dodging another swipe from Croc. 

The noise of glass shattering and displays being knocked over is deafening. You hear Damian's voice cut through the chaos over the comms, “I’m en route. Hang tight.”

You cling tighter to Croc, using your agility to stay out of his reach as he wreaks havoc through the mall. “Yeah, hanging tight is kind of the plan,” you mutter, half to yourself.

You web his face, causing him to growl in frustration. Croc has a thick hide as protection, so your fangs won’t be able to pierce him. Your venom is useless here, which sucks because it would’ve been really nice to have in this situation.

Okay, you’re on the third floor of the mall, since the bastard jumped real high. How can you trap him? His advantage is his strength, so you need to restrain him so that he can’t use it. The whirring of a grappling hook catches your attention. Looking behind you, you see Damian swinging over to you, surprisingly gaining speed.

You spray a web towards him, catching him by the chest. Damian grips it as you pull him towards you. He lands with ease on top of Croc’s back. Croc's roar of frustration reverberates through the mall as Damian joins you.

“Fancy seeing you here,” you quip.

"Thought you could use a hand," Damian replies, his eyes never leaving Croc.

You grab his hands and wrap them around the makeshift web reins you had attached to Croc. “She–” you tap the ring you gifted him you know is under his glove, “–will tell you what to do. Don’t let him hurt anybody.”

Damian tries to catch your hand as you swing away, but you’re too quick for him. You gain speed, swinging ahead and away from Croc. “Tell me where a big glass window I can crash through is, K.”

“Take a left here.”

You swerve to the left. You can hear the commotion behind you as Croc thrashes and roars, but you focus on finding an exit point.

“Straight ahead.”

There. A large window overlooking the city. You see other buildings sparking with lights. Bracing yourself, you send yourself hurling into it. The glass shatters as you crash through it, arms out in front of you to protect yourself. Screams of people fade away behind you as you fall into the air. You’re lucky, there’s an intersection below you.

You swing onto a nearby lightpost. “I need the biggest and stickiest web you got, K.” You launch off and aim your hands in the middle of the intersection.

“Certainly, but it won’t be big enough for Killer Croc,” she says as a good and proper spider web slinks out and attaches to nearby light posts and buildings. The spiral pattern doesn’t extend to the radius of the web. “You’ll need to spin the rest of the web yourself.”

Bouncing off the center of the web, you start spinning the web across the intersection. The web begins to take shape, forming a large, intricate net that spans the entire intersection. Civilians look up in awe at your work. 

“Spinner!”

You look over as you hop across the web to see Nightwing grappling over. “Get the civvies out of here!”

He pauses, then nods. He swings down, quickly directing people away from the intersection to safety. He enforces power into his words, arms gesturing for them to go.

“Robin and Killer Croc are approaching.”

Using the web as momentum, you launch yourself and spray a web onto the ledge from which you jumped off. Climbing up, you stare down the large hallway of the mall. Croc is running straight towards you. He hasn’t thrown Damian off yet, so that’s good.

“Come on! I’m right here!”

“What are you doing–” hisses Damian in the comms.

Killer Croc growls, charging at you. His steps are thundering, echoing in the mall.

You brace yourself, waiting for the right moment. Croc lunges forward with a roar, his massive form barreling towards you. You time your move perfectly, leaping to the side just as Croc lunges out of the window space. You grip Damian’s cape, tugging him off of Croc as he begins to fall. The web bounces up and down as he lands in the center, trapped.

You pat Damian’s shoulder before jumping off the ledge after him. More webs spray from your wrist as you restrain Crocs arms to the web. You ignore his curses and yells as you struggles against your trap. It’s no use, the web holds firm.

“Holy cow,” whistles Dick, walking over. He reaches out to poke the web, but you snatch his hand away.

“Do that and we’d have to amputate you. It’s really sticky,” you frown solemnly. You’re joking of course.

Dick pulls his hand away, holding both of them up and a surrender gesture. “Okay, okay, I won't touch it,” Dick says with a grin, clearly amused. He looks around at the chaos in the mall, where people are cautiously peeking out from hiding places or rushing to leave.

“You know, you’ve certainly made a mess,” he comments, gesturing to the shattered glass and displaced merchandise around you.

“Actually, I think I’ve done worse.”

“Guess you’re fitting right in,” Dick remarks, his tone light but approving.

“Have I earned my rite of passage?” you smirk.

“Maybe if you can survive a month without causing a city-wide panic,” he teases, flashing you a grin.

Damian lands gracefully behind you, his cape billowing dramatically behind him. He surveys the scene with a critical eye, his expression serious and focused. You can tell he eyes Croc’s trapped form before he hurries over to you.

You hear the sirens of Gotham’s police force wail closer. “Always late to the party, it seems,” you hum, pursing your lips. You groan and flex your shoulder, still tingling from your little wall slam earlier.

“I’ll take it from here,” Dick reassures as the cop cars come to a stop near the scene. “You crazy kids go.”

Damian seems to have no qualms about that, since he grabs your hand and tugs you away. You let him drag you around, swinging with him as he grapples away. You swing through the night with Damian, adrenaline still coursing through your veins.

Coming to a stop on a rooftop, Damian’s hand runs down your arm, squeezing gently. “Are you hurt?” he asks gently.

“A little bruised, but I’ll be okay.” Your arm tingles under his touch. You chalk it off as pain.

Damian’s brow furrows as he inspects your arm. “You were…”

“Awesome?”

“Reckless.”

You catch his hand in yours, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “I knew what I was doing, birdie.” He sighs, a mixture of relief and frustration evident in his voice. “I know, I know,” you reply softly, bringing his hand to your lips and pressing a kiss to his knuckles. “But I’m here, and I’m fine.”

He meets your gaze, a small smile tugging at his lips. “You handled yourself well back there.” The moment lingers between you, the adrenaline of the night’s events slowly fading into a quiet calm. Damian’s thumb strokes over your hand, a silent gesture of reassurance and gratitude.

Damian holds your hand tight as he guides you home.

The next day, Spinnerette is trending.

notes: short chapter because its really just a filler but next one is gonna pop off i PROMISe

also, i hope i captured killer croc correctly? have literally never watched or read anything with him in it so im SO sorry if he is nothing like how he is supposed to be

also i straight up yoinked this scene from Spider-Man: Miles Morales, just replaced rhino with croc.

[cocoakrispis-blog]

✭ 1. ADMITTING YOU’RE A HOMOSEXUAL ✭

pairing ~ ellie williams x fem! reader

summary ~ (y/n) finally comes to terms with the fact that she may not be as normal as she thought.

warnings ~ homophobia, tones of a little bit of religious trauma, cat, ellie being a bit of a meanie

wc ~ 3.2k words

SERIES MASTERLIST

you followed close behind maria while still trying your best to take note of your surroundings.

despite the fact that this what you assumed was maria’s home everything in it seemed almost fake.

it was like you were walking on an untouched movie set and it seriously creeped you out.

the walk wasn’t very long and soon you and maria entered a small room that resembled an office.

you silently sat in the chair facing the desk while maria seated herself across from you.

“okay (y/n) once again welcome to true directions and allow me to go a little bit more into depth about how this camp will work. the others that are going to be staying here with you have already had the run down so i’m just going to get you caught up.” you nodded at her words and she continued.

“the true direction camp is a two month rehabilitation program that helps misguided girls straighten themselves out, more specifically correct their imaginary beliefs on sexuality. we use an easy five step program to reeducate and help our campers get back on the right path.” maria pointed to a black sign behind her that displayed all of the steps.

“for now we are going to focus on the first step which is admitting that you are a lesbian.” your brows slightly furrowed at her statement and you reach up to your neck to fidget with your cross necklace anxiously.

“i’m not a lesbian.” you mumble to yourself quietly.

maria ignores your quiet retaliation and doubles down.

“so you’re telling me that when you find yourself in the bathroom before class with one of your friends and you’re watching your friends apply their cherry red lipstick to their plump lips, or maybe you’re cheering and you glance at your teammates in their short frilly skirts using their strong thighs to jump into the air giving you a glance at their round butt, or when your team is showering in the locker room after a long sweaty practice and they’re lathering their perky breasts with the slippery soap your body doesn’t begin to react in unnatural ways and your mind begin to wonder to forbidden places.”

you gulp at maria’s over the top descriptions but can’t help but clench your thighs together to keep yourself grounded.

“no.” you croak out a pathetic response.

maria sighs at your reply and shakes her head in disappointment.

“(y/n) you will not be able to make any progress if you can’t complete the first step of admittance.”maria goes behind her desk and drops a pair of ugly grey scrubs on her desk. “until you are able to get past the first step you will be wearing these.”

you reluctantly grab the clothes from her desk and silently look at her to resume.

“for now i would like you to meet one of our other friends here at true directions, dina.”

as soon as she finishes her statement you turn to your right and watch as a tall tan girl with long black hair walks into the office with an almost sickly pink shirt and skirt combo.

“dina here will be showing you around our facilities and doing her best to help you feel welcome.”

you continue to stare at the beautiful girl as she stares ahead silently before maria clears her throat and shoes you two off out of her office.

as soon as you two make it out of the house dina let’s out a sigh of relief and sends you a small smile.

“sorry i was so quiet back there that lady totally gives me the creeps she’s like an evil barbie.” dina says her first words in ice you met her.

you giggle at her words and reassure her that you feel the same way.

“okay so i’m gonna be completely honest with you the schedule is a little bit nuts. we have to be up at 7:30 and then breakfast starts at 8 after that we have group therapy until lunchtime then in the afternoon we’re finally given a little bit of room to breathe and left alone to do whatever we want and then finally we come back inside to do some reorienting exercises oh and family therapy is on the weekends.” you nod along while listening to your new schedule for the next two months while dina leads you to another building with a pink door.

“do you have any questions so far?” dina turns around fully to look at you.

“no nothing so far.” you send her a smile.

with that dina turns back around to open up the pink door to the building.

“and then this is the pink prison where we sleep.” you follow dina into a very pink room with five beds.

“hey i think it’s cute i like the color pink.” you give her a playful nudge.

as you survey the room you seee an auburn haired girl with a tattoo on her forearm lying on one of the beds while smoking a joint.

you almost didn’t notice her because of how well her pink uniform blended into the pink bed.

dina doesn’t say anything to acknowledge the girl and continues her explanation.

“everyone has already claimed a bed so you’ll sleep there” dina points to one of the beds in the corner.

“you don’t really look like you’ll need this warning since you look about as innocent as can be but we are under no circumstances allowed to engage in any inappropriate behavior.” dina sends you a wink.

“but she’s smoking over there.” you cover your mouth with your hand and whisper to dina as quietly as possible.

dina laughs out loud at your confusion and looks at the other girl to explain.

“by inappropriate behavior she means fucking other girls.” the auburn haired girl speaks up for the first time since you’ve entered the room to defend herrself.

your cheeks warm at her vulgar language and the sultry nature of her voice.

dina laughs even harder at your flustered reaction and walks out of the bedroom while still snickering.

you quickly turn around to follow after her but forget that the scrubs you were given did almost nothing to cover your nether region.

“cute panties newbie.”

you squeak at her comment and quickly shut the back of you scrubs closed before rushing out of the room and making sure to shut the door behind you.

once you made it out of that embarrassing situation you look up to see a chart with you and dina’s name on it as well as three other unfamiliar names.

“sorry about ellie she’s kind of a bitchy wannabe bad boy don’t mind her i’m pretty sure she’s actually a softie deep down.”

you nod silently at dina’s words and make sure to remember the name of the girl who left you feeling extremity embarrassed.

“so this chart is kind of meant to like show our progress through the five steps.” you observe the chart and see that everyone already has a check next to their name and under the first step except for you.

“i promise it’s not really that hard you just need to say it out loud ‘i’m a lesbian!” dina giggles slightly as she repeats the phrase her and the other girls were required to say the day before.

you let out a breathe and grab the cross necklace dangling from your neck tightly.

“sounds easy enough.”

after the tour was over it was time for the group therapy so dina leads you back into the house to a room that already held ellie two other unfamiliar faces and maria.

dina very quietly makes her way to the other side of the room to take a seat in her empty chair while you stand awkwardly at the doorway.

“why don’t you have a seat and join us (y/n)” maria gives you a bright smile and motions to the seat facing everyone else with a bright pink bow wrapped around it.

you stare at the chair and bow in confusion and look at maria for further explanation.

“go ahead unwrap it!”

you fight the urge to roll your eyes at how extra the whole thing is and grab one end of the hot pink bow to unravel it.

once you unravel it maria bursts into applause and urges the other girls to do so.

you awkwardly give everyone a crooked smile before finally taking a seat.

“well everyone why don’t you introduce yourself.” maria turns to the girls.

a sweet looking girl with brown skin and dark brown curls is the first to stand up and introduce herself.

“hi i’m riley i like to play softball and i’m a lesbian.” she smoothly gets out her introduction without any mess ups.

once she finishes everyone begins clapping again which catches you by surprise but you quickly begin to catch on just as the applause is dying down.

next dina decides to stand up to introduce herself.

“hello my name is dina which you already know i’m a very loyal friend to all and i’m a lesbian.”

everyone begins clapping again a before the next girl stands up to introduce herself.

the girl that goes after dina is an asian girl with a very grunge aesthetic despite being in all pink and a mean look on her face.

“i go by cat i like pain and i’m a lesbian.”

you slightly wince at the girls kind of scary introduction but make sure to clap like you did for the rest of the girls.

you turn to look at ellie to introduce herself but she stays seated.

“you already know me.” ellie sighs slumps even further into her seat.

“ellie.” maria gives the freckle faces girl a stern look which makes her roll her eyes.

“hello fellow lesbians my name is ellie williams and i really really really like girls like a lot.”

everyone slightly snickers at ellie’s goofy introduction but awards her with the same applause.

once the clapping stops maria turns to you.

“okay (y/n) now it’s your turn.” maria asks you to introduce yourself.

you nod and stand up to face the group.

“hi my name is (y/n) i like cheerleading and uh yeah.”you quickly sit down when you realize you’re still not exactly ready to say the words out loud.

“okay well um how about i start with a question to jumpstart this discussion.”

“so (y/n) when was the first time you realized you may be a lesbian?” maria sends you what you consider a very inappropriate and uncomfortable question.

“oh no i’m not a lesbian everyone just thinks that i am. i’m really just here to prove my friends and family back home that i’m not” you clear your throat and shift in your seat awkwardly.

the room goes very very quiet and you feel your palms start to sweat at everyone’s eyes being on you.

“that is a perfectly fine place to start (y/n) may i ask about the issues that were brought up in your intervention.” maria tries her best to keep the bright smile on her face despite your lackluster answer.

you think to yourself for a second before recalling all of them.

“well i recently decided to become vegetarian to stay more in shape for cheer i have some pictures of women’s round my room and locker-”

riley speaks up to cut you off.

“do you think that’s normal” she asks he question everyone in the room was probably thinking.

“i mean yeah i think it’s pretty uh normal….. i don’t know i haven’t really thought about it too hard i just hang up pictures that make me happy.” you look down at your lap in shame.

“how about we move onto my next question have you ever had a boyfriend before or do you have any experience with boys?” maria asks you plainly.

“well yes of course i have a boyfriend whom i love ver much back at home he loves football and well me!” you finally give a response that sounds good in your head.

“oh wow he sounds extremely interesting.”ellie snickers at your lackluster description.

“h-he is very interesting.” you cross your arms defensively.

“have you guys done the deed before?” dina gives you a curious look.

“no of course not i’m a christian!” you gasp at the implication of even going further than kissing with your boyfriend.

“well does he at least make you a little bit hot and bothered?” cat follows up dina’s previous question.

you frown at the question and give her a weird look.

“i mean do you think of him when you’re like touching yourself and stuff.” cat rolls her eyes at your obliviousness.

your jaw drops to the floor and you have trouble picking it up to even formulate a response.

“well i ever- t-that’s just not- i don’t t-think that.” you cut yourself of and take a deep breath to find some composure.

“listen no offense to any of you guys but i’m just not like you.” you give them all a sorry look.

“i get good grades, i go to church, i’m a cheerleader!” you exclaim proudly.

everyone in the room gives you almost a stare of pity causing you to get even more frustrated.

“i’m normal guys everyone reads magazines, likes receiving compliments from other girls, and enjoys staring at their fellow girls to admire their beauty all the time.” you hero your hands up in the air in exasperation.”

“yeah you do all of that and assume that they want to do the same thing as you but they don’t” ellie finally puts her two cents into the conversation.

you feel yourself freeze in your tracks at ellie’s statement and you stare at the room almost mortified.

“i-i thought everyone thought the same way i did i thought i was n-normal.” you reach up to grab onto the cross necklace you wore.

“so you admit you’re not normal then.” maria rises from her chair to softly pat your shoulder.

you gasp as the sudden realization hits you and immediately feel tears start to well up in your eyes.

“i’m a lesbian!”

you begin to sob as you finally say the phrase out loud and repeat the phrase over and over still in disbelief.

“you did it (y/n) you completed your first step at true direction!” maria gives you a gleeful look.

all the girls in the room rush up to you to give you a big hug to comfort you.

unfortunately the hug doesn’t work and you continue to cry harder than you ever had before.

maria gently pulls you to the side to give you some comforting words.

“it’s all gonna be okay (y/n) don’t you worry.”

maria hands you an identical pink uniform to the rest of the girls in the room and sends you a smile. “here put these on you’re making progress.”

eventually everyone files out of the room to leave you alone to continue to cry it out.

“i can’t believe everyone was right.” you clutch your new uniform close to your chest.

you don’t know how long you were in the group therapy room crying but after a while dina comes in there with a concerned look.

“i know this can all be very shocking you i promise it gets easier why don’t you go change so we can head to dinner.” dina leads you out of the room as gently as possible.

soon after you find yourself in the corridor grabbing dinner with the rest of the girls.

you notice ellie was siting with cat while dina and riley sat at another table.

as you walk past her table she gives you a smirk.“congrats on making your first big step in this place pom-pom.” she snickers at her own nickname while cat chuckles alongside her.

you give them a look before beelining it towards the table where dina and riley were sitting.

once you make it to the other table. ilya don dina send you a sympathetic look.

“don’t worry about them we are genuinely proud of you (y/n) we both know what you did today was very difficult.” riley gives you a genuine smile while dina nods in agreement.

“thank you guys.” you return the smile before beginning to eat your surprisingly good meal.

after you all finish dinner you head back to your shared bedroom to get ready for bed.

everyone was pretty quiet most likely due to their exhaustion and before you know it you’re tucked away in your soft pink bed.

it was a little bit difficult to fall asleep in such an unfamiliar atmosphere but eventually you find yourself in a light sleep.

much to your dismay your light sleep is disturbed when your ears pick up an annoying continuous buzzing sound.

you pry open your eyes to see cat’s bedsheets high over her head and a red light emitting from underneath the covers.

you realize this is where the buzzing is coming from nd you quietly rise from your bed to go investigate.

“hey cat what are you doing are you okay?” you lightly tap on her moving form form under the sheets.

you wince when you see how roughly she rips the sheets from her head and do your best to calm her.

“sorry i didn’t mean to scare you i just wanted to check on you.”

cat rolls her eyes and gives you a half ass response. “i’m doing AV now leave me be.”

“what’s AV?” you questions yhe unfamiliar abbreviation curiously.

“its aversion therapy you use it to help you stop having inappropriate thoughts about other girls.” cat further explains herself. “you shock yourself whenever you start to have those naughty thoughts.

“sounds painful.” you frown.

“no pain no gain.” cat shrugs her shoulders casually.

you glance down and realize you see an item that looks extremely out of place in her sheets.

“hey is that ellie’s sock?” you question cat cautiously.

“fuck off.” she gives you a glare before throwing the covers back over her head.

as soon as you make it back into bed the door the the room opens and mary flashes a bright flashlight into your face.

“(y/n) you have a phone call.” she sighs plainly.

you rise from your bed and follow mary into her house where she leads you to her phone.

“hi sweetie!” you hear the familiar voice of your mother on the other side of the phone.

“hi mom.” you smile to yourself softly.

“sorry we’re calling s late honey we just had to make sure you were doing okay.” you then hear your dad.

“hi dad and yeah i’m doing okay miss you guys a lot.” you fiddle with the phone line.

“well that’s all we needed to hear we won’t keep you long we know it’s late.” your mom hums.

“we can’t wait until you’re normal sweetie sleep well and remember we love you.” your dad brings a swift end to the conversation.

“love you guys too!” you respond softly before ending the call.

maria then dismisses you and you walk back to the bed room in silence.

“yeah normal.” you sigh to yourself quietly.

a/n: this took way too long my head hurts so ad and i am so tired will come back and edit in th morning. this took forever to write but i think it came out a little bit better than the last chapter. if ou didn’t already notice i am not going to be asking in any of the gay guys because i couldn’t think of enough male tlou characters to fill the role hope that doesn’t;t irk anyone too bad. anyways i hope you guys enjoyed!

taglist: @st4r-b3rries @dollyvuu @lvlymicha @jellyfishrnice @machetegirl109 @smiths-fan--13 @elliewilliamssrealgf @ravyaryn @yuhgetintoonit @nelzooo @luvmily @dearestdolly444 @venuzasmuse

[a-couple-of-notes]

What are your thoughts on poly coven and if you do have have any what would the dynamic be?

You folks really want that Agatha All Along fic about all the different dynamics, don't you? 😂😂😂 (Referencing this ask--although I suppose I have no way of knowing whether this is the same anon. Thank you for the ask regardless!)

I enjoy poly coven, although I haven't read much of it! In my mind, there are two general ways to approach this: one where Billy functions as their non-romantic glue (the Billy-has-seven-moms approach) and one (more interesting imo) where we nix Billy altogether and let it be a true dumpster fire.

Billy Has Seven Moms:

The single thing they all agree on (no one believes Agatha when she equivocates, and Rio doesn't snarl about it, which is as close to agreement as they'll get) is that the kid comes first.

Agatha and Jen both provide a practical kind of mentorship: technical magical study, potion-making, spells. They snark at each other during lessons ("What happened to 'presenting a united front'?" says Agatha) and if Jen doesn't back off, Alice, Billy, or Lilia step in to stop it from going all the way downhill. Agatha and Jen fuck it out later.

Lilia mentors Billy in history, tarot, and witch culture--all the soft skills that Agatha and Jen aren't proficient in. She enjoys the quiet respect that all of the coven, but especially Billy and Alice, holds for her. She and Alice trade off nights cooking; Lilia's go-to recipes are old Sicilian favorites.

Alice is Billy's Normal Stable Person (TM), a fact that at one point sends Alice into a panic spiral that Agatha and Jen have to drag her out of. She's the one Billy comes to when he needs someone who understands what it's like to be a kid on your own--when he's having a tough time with someone else in the coven, when he's feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of mothers in his life. Alice teaches him guitar, and then, very hesitantly, protection spells passed down to her from Lorna.

Rio mopes around like a disgruntled housecat, never quite looking at Billy. The only time she does is when Billy announces he wants to make a Sharon Davis memorial garden. She doesn't help, of course, not in any way that Billy sees. But she does watch.

Of course, this well-oiled mentorship program works only as long as Billy is with them on the timeshare schedule. As soon as he's gone, it's like a ghost house with five roommates who hate each other's guts. If they still have separate places of residence, they all leave (except for the times when Jen is so annoyed with Agatha they bang first). If they actually do live in the same house, they all go into their separate rooms.

Then they seek each other out in pairs or trios, depending on what they want. Alice and Jen seek each other out when they want a normal date night; Rio seeks Lilia when she wants to talk shop about the old days; Agatha seeks Alice when it's been a hard day and she wants someone to be quiet about it. (Although let's be real: if Agatha's seeking someone out, it's also usually to fuck.)

Sometimes these pairs have a good time together; other times it turns into a fight that someone else cleans up. Lilia keeps count.

The only time the whole coven joins together sans Billy is when there's a threat. Usually to Agatha. Sometimes (futilely) to Rio. It always ends in massive property damage and murder, and there's an 80% chance the five of them have messy wow-we're-all-still-our-version-of-alive-sex afterward.

Agatha makes lots of divorce jokes.

No Billy, Just Chaos:

It's worse.

You know, I'm not even gonna bulletpoint this out because it's slowly growing into its own fic idea, but--in a poly coven where there's no Billy, everything happens a lot quicker and dirtier. (This is also because it veers wildly off-canon, and we're dealing with these characters before they've arced out. You know, the nasty, messy versions of them.)

Of course there's still got to be something forcing them together--soulmarks! Billy dies in episode 4 and leaves them in a crumbling Road illusion! The Salem Seven invade Westview and they all pick the same hiding spot!--but the thing keeping them together would not then be a kid. It would not be someone with a good heart they all care about. It would be one of Agatha's freakishly charismatic cons, utter fear, or a combination of both. Thus, everyone would spiral toward their most feral selves fast.

To wit: Jen and Agatha skip straight to the hate sex, Rio gets amused and jealous and jumps in. Alice, having no kid to protect, focuses her efforts on Lilia (the coven's elder) and Agatha (the coven's leader). This brings Alice directly into the snare that is Rio/Agatha/Jen, becoming--if we're being kind--their right hand and--if we're being truthful--their pet. Lilia considers herself above this weird fucked-up power tangle, but she and Rio have centuries of history, and Rio is almost as good as Agatha at annoying people into making bad decisions. It would be terrible. It would be glorious.

[yourlewdlover]

already been mia for a while n i'm not exactly sure when i'll be back to normal so i just wanted to pop in and apologize, but hopefully we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming soon <3

sending my love, thanks for sticking around even with how sporadic i can be lol

[rageprufrock]

Sneak Peak: MLC Fanfic

I have so many chores to do so instead I am on tumblr posting this little snippet instead because adulthood is a SCAM.

Anyway, please have some in-progress modern AU where Jiao Liqiao hits Di Feisheng with a car.

The whole thing starts when Jiao Liqiao hits Di Feisheng with an orange Hummer outside of the Alliance Security headquarters while he's on the phone with Li Lianhua.

***

Six hours later, Li Lianhua is sitting around in Di Feisheng's hospital room dressed like someone's dad's dirty uncle best friend: beat up pajama pants, a shirt he'd grabbed at random hearing the shriek of tires through the phone line, and a pair of Fang Duobing's fucking sky blue Adidas slides he'd stolen as he'd bolted out the door.

"It's not that I want to criticize you, lao-Di," Li Lianhua says, critically, "but I told you to run that woman out of town as soon as humanly possible at least five times."

Di Feisheng, who's been provided pain medication and is angry about it, busies himself with glaring at the ceiling. 

"Now look at you," Li Lianhua goes on, like a bastard, "you've got a hairline fracture in your foot, you've got a broken leg, three cracked ribs, a low grade concussion, and also you're the top four trending tags on Weibo." 

That these are factual statements does not make Li Lianhua's continued, unwanted presence in Di Feisheng's hospital room any less insufferable. 

"Alliance Security CEO accident," Li Lianhua reads off his phone. "Alliance CEO car crash. Alliance CEO crazy girlfriend. Alliance CEO handsome." 

Di Feisheng's head lolls around so he can center a wild-eyed glare at Li Lianhua.

"Why are you here?" he asks through gritted teeth.

Li Lianhua squints at him. "Can you be considered human?" he demands. "There I was, enjoying my Saturday morning like a normal person—"

"You were calling me to complain that our CDN felt 'kind of slow,' like an asshole," Di Feisheng corrects.

"—and then I hear you yelling and the sounds of vehicular violence," Li Lianhua goes on. "Any person with a heart would be concerned."

"Fang Duobing made you come," Di Feisheng says.

"Fang Duobing made me come," Li Lianhua agrees.

"Well I'm not dead, so you can leave now," Di Feisheng mutters.

"'As someone who has also wanted to hit their boss with a car, but never truly had the courage, I respectfully acknowledge Jiao Liqiao as my master and will endeavor to serve her as a faithful student in all things,'" Li Lianhua reads, going back to scrolling through Weibo. "'I never want to know the truth or any details about why she did it. Just that she hit this beautiful mean-faced millionaire with a car is enough. I would die for her.'"  

Di Feisheng goes back to staring at the ceiling and begins to systematically reflect on the wrongs that have led to specific terrible moment. This begins with lingering resentment over college scheduling that had put him in a 9:30 programming basics class with Li Xiangyi and concludes with admitting that perhaps Fang Duobing had been right when he'd said, two years ago, "A'Fei, you can't just tell a woman it's fine if she's in love with you and that you guys can keep working together but that it's none of your business." But at that point, Fang Duobing was still the infant Li Xiangyi was fucking as some kind of weird post mental breakdown enrichment activity, and seemed like a poor source of professional counseling. In the years since, Di Feisheng can admit that while Fang Duobing continues to be an infant Li Xiangyi is fucking as a weird post mental breakdown enrichment activity, he has a sharp and nuanced emotional intelligence—as long as it has nothing to do with his profoundly repulsive attachment to Li Xiangyi. 

"Miss Jiao is going to get some truly staggering letters in jail," Li Lianhua observes with audible admiration in his voice. For not the first and likely not the last time, Di Feisheng swears never to answer another phone call or text message from this bastard again.  

"If you like her so much, you should hire her once she's served her time," he mutters through gritted teeth. The sharp edge of pain is starting to break through the drugs, but he feels clearer, sharper, less like he's trying to hear shouting through the rush of a flowing river. "Is there a reason you're still hanging around here?" 

Li Lianhua slants him a look, beaming with charity. "Now don't get shy, A'Fei—"

"Stop calling me A'Fei," Di Feisheng snaps.

"—I came in a DiDi, so Xiaobao is coming to pick me up," Li Lianhua finishes. "You'll be back to your peace and blessed quiet soon." 

Which is of course the precise moment that little treasure of Li Lianhua's pokes his abominably sunny little face into the doorway of the sickroom and declares, all smiles:

"Okay! I just finished with the nursing jiejies! They’re wrapping up your discharge paperwork and we should be able to take you home with us this afternoon.” 

“What,” Di Feisheng and Li Lianhua say.

[intothepast9]

museum part 3

written for @pandalilymicrofics prompt for April 30th "cruelty"--wc 738

part i

part ii

So Pandora took a deep breath. “My family are all evangelical Christians. Well, not my brother Evan, not anymore. He and I are still close. But growing up it was… you know. Not just church on Sundays. Homeschooling, young Earth creationism, all of it,” she watched Lily’s face carefully, but she didn’t seem too put off from hearing what Pandora was saying. “So when we went to science museums when I was a kid, it was to prove that evolution wasn’t true.”

“Oh my god,” Lily said. “How did that go?”

“I mean, if you’re so far entrenched in it, it’s easy to think that you’re bringing this clear manifest truth to people who are simply unwilling to hear it. We’d be supposed to ask these questions that would make the museum workers reconsider their positions and then offer them these pamphlets and bibles.”

“I do enjoy a good pamphlet sometimes,” Lily mused.

“Even step by step guides on how to give your life to Republican Jesus?”

“He never seemed that Republican to me,” Lily said. “But I’m Jewish, and no one in my close family is even practicing.”

“I think he can only really seem Republican if you assume he has to be.”

“Can I ask you got to where you are today? That can’t have been easy.”

“Well, I went to a public university. I sent them my test scores and application, made a throwaway email address that my parents wouldn’t know about for it, and I got a full ride, so I got my brother to drive me.” Pandora had hardly ever admitted this to anyone. 

“I can’t really imagine making a decision like that when I was 17 or 18,” Lily said, and Pandora felt seen. It had been insane, what she'd done. But she was glad of it every day. “My parents were fine with my plans—I did an environmental science and prelaw double major; that’s not the sort of thing most parents object to. But I guess yours would have.”

Pandora nodded. “I was still pretty devout then, so I don’t know if I could have even articulated why I wanted to leave. But Evan encouraged me to do it, and then I found this program that let me move into the dorms during the summer—I spent that summer painting the dorms that were being renovated. But it was all well and good, and it let me get out… it let me start socializing with others; I was still very bad at it. I hope I’ve improved, but thankfully no one expects STEM grad students to be perfectly socially adept.”

“You seem fine at it to me. I guess sometimes you seem shy, and that’s cute, but I don’t know if that was just because we were at the museum for our first date.” Lily paused. “Do you still talk to your family?”

“Evan, every day, almost. But other than him… a few cousins. Anyone who’s fine with my being a queer grad student in the most satanic field.”

“I’m sorry a lot of them aren’t all right with that,” Lily said. “That sounds hard.”

“It’s ok,” Pandora said. “I get to live authentically now.” She squeezed Lily’s hand. “Or something like that; I don’t know what authenticity means in all circumstances.”

It was pure cruelty on the part of fate that Pandora saw that it was after nine at this point; they’d been talking for hours. She regretted scheduling a date the night before one of her early mornings in the lab; normally they didn’t go well enough that that would be much of an issue, but god she wanted to invite Lily over for the night.

Lily seemed to have the same idea. “A bit awkward to ask this in the middle of a conversation, but would you like to head back to mine?” she asked.

And fuck it. She’d sleep the next night. “I’d love to, if you don’t mind me leaving for the lab at like 5.”

“…we could do this another time, if that would be better.”

“I’m free the rest of this week,” Pandora said, perhaps too quickly. “And I won’t have to be anywhere that early any other day.”

“Let’s do dinner again tomorrow,” Lily said, and Pandora grinned at the thought of seeing Lily again so soon. They kissed good night, and Pandora biked back to her apartment happier than she’d been in months.

[theitgirlnetwork]

Better

Chapter 10: I Want Her

Charlotte's Club Outfit:

Charlotte's Baseball Outfit (Except Pretend it's a Cubs Jersey:

A Pic of People Being Subjected to Charlotte and Lip PDA:

Note: Hiii! This took longer than I thought, apologies, but here it is! It's a little shorter but when I'm less busy we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming. Thank you so much for all of the love I've been receiving on this, it means the world. I hope you all continue to enjoy reading :) <3 Also hopefully I got this damn tag list right this time. Let me know if you wanna be added!

Taglist: @comeonatmebruh @heavenly1927 @th3h0nkz @yezzyyae

“So, you don’t think he’d like a flask with a drunk Mickey Mouse on it?”

Lip chuckles as he balances his phone between his shoulder and his ear. His hands are busy jotting down a string algorithm for one of his bosses that he’d figured out and memorized earlier that morning. “I think Mickey would like us to buy him some shots while we’re out tonight. And I think Mickey deserves nothing but us showing the fuck up.”

“Aww,” Charlotte whines on the other line, Lip can basically hear the pout he knows is on her face. “I wanna give him something to open. Knowing you Gallaghers Ian’s probably just giving him dick for his birthday. He can’t unwrap that. Unless I pick up a bow for him to put on it.”

“Uh, really don’t want to think about you helpin’ my brother put a bow on his dick for his boyfriend, babe.” Lip sniffs, curling his lip up in distaste.

“Such a prude.” she chirps. 

Lip ignores her, finishing up what he’s doing and ripping it from the notepad, going back to his computer to check his work. Suddenly, there’s a knock at his office door. It’s so weird for him to say, his office. Well, it's his and the other paid intern’s office to share. All of the poor fucks working for free share cubicles downstairs and the real employees get their own offices on Lip’s floor. But it’s mostly his, the other guy’s uncle is one of the big bosses and he rarely actually comes to work and normally when he does, it’s to play foosball with the other trust fund babies before going to happy hour. “Yeah?”

The door swings open and Eric comes strolling in, tossing a foam stress ball back and forth between his hands, the same douchebag look he always has is painted on his face. “Hey, Gallagher, you got time for a quick favor?”

“Uh, yeah. One sec,” Lip brings one hand to the phone, holding it sturdily against his ear. “Charlotte, I gotta go.” He tries to ignore the immediate irritation at the way Eric straightens when he hears Charlotte’s name.

“Ooh, Charlotte, huh? Someone important must be in the room.” she jokes.

“Oh, shit, the girlfriend. Put her on speaker.”

“I’m,” the blond tries and achieves, albeit poorly, to contain his temper. “I’m not putting her on speaker, man.” 

“No, bubba, it’s okay, I’ll say hi.” her sweet voice intercedes. Lip curses under his breath before putting the phone on speaker. “Hi, I’m Phillip’s girlfriend, Charlotte.”

Eric pulls up one of the extra seats of the room, leaning into the phone rested on Lip’s desk. “Nice to meet you, I’m Eric, Gallagher’s boss.”

Lip scoffs disbelievingly, shaking his head, looking away. He could tolerate shitheads like Eric all day, but with his girlfriend watching? It was a whole new ball game. “Aye-”

“For now,” Charlotte hums on the other side of the line. “But my baby is a genius, he’ll be running that place soon.”

Both Eric and Lip go silent for a moment, the latter trying to work away the smug smile that starts to spread on his face. Eric blinks before schooling an easy look on his own face and offering a laugh that’s a little too loud. “Yeah, I believe it.”

There’s an awkward silence where Lip just watches Eric rock between his two feet, staring at the phone on the desk, waiting for Charlotte to take back what she said, compliment him to even things out, or just politely hang up. He smirks, ducking his head at the fact that this dickhead just doesn’t know his girl. Charlotte would ride an awkward silence until the wheels fell off. Simply because she doesn’t think to fill it. That’s just who she is, she doesn’t fill silence, she doesn’t laugh at jokes she doesn’t think are funny and her fake smile looks more like an awkward grimace. 

After a minute passes Lip decides to take mercy on the poor guy and hang up. “Uh, bunny, I gotta get back to work, alright? I’ll meet you at the house when I get off.”

“‘Kay!” she chirps. “Love you.”

“Yeah, love you too.” Lip leans on the small wooden desk and waits for Eric to recover from the uncomfortable moment. “You, uh, needed something?”

“Right! Right, I did. Do. I need you to run some diagnostics on a program my dad sent over, I’d do it, but there’s so much on my desk right now, and you’re the only one who's as fast as me.” 

“Sure,” Lip shrugs. “Send it over.” 

Eric claps his hands together, a wider smile on his face as he turns to leave. The man stops mid-step, turning to face the blond again. “Hey, Gallagher, what’re you doing this weekend?”

“It’s my brother’s boyfriend’s birthday tonight so I’m gonna go to that. After that, I'll probably just find something to do with my girl, why?”

“You like baseball?” Eric asks. “Cubs are playing, me and some of the guys are going. You should come.”

Lip tries to look disinterested. He knows however much the tickets are he couldn’t pay it unless he dipped into the money he and Charlotte had been saving, and even then, it wouldn’t be enough to sit where these rich pricks sit unless he emptied the damn jar. “I dunno.”

“C’mon man, my dad already bought the tickets. It’s team bonding and shit.” Eric continues, leaning against the door frame. “It’s on Sunday, there’ll be beer and baseball, what more do you need to know? You can even bring your girl, everyone else does when we go. Except the ugly fuckers who don’t have one.”

“Alright, I’ll uh, talk to Charlotte.” Lip says noncommittally, eyeing the other man as he nods, turning away and exiting the office. “‘Fuckin’ weirdo.”

Ian used to worry about his brother a lot. Really. See, Lip is the oldest brother, and he’s never stepped out of that role. Despite coming off as a pretentious, narcissistic asshole, his big brother was actually a decent person. He cares about his family. When they were younger and Monica and Frank were in and out, Fiona and Lip had to grow up quickly. Everyone always talks about how Fiona stepped up. How she became their mom, but no one talks about how even though he was only a couple years older than Ian, Lip became their dad. For the younger kids, Lip is the only steady father figure they know. 

And being real, the kid has fuckin’ issues with women. Probably Monica’s fault, and all of their mommy issues manifested in different ways, Lip and Carl just have the misfortune of being straight. Between that raging bitch Karen who literally got off on fucking shit up for him, that old bag he was fucking at school, that one rich crazy bitch, and Mandy, Lip had been through the ringer. Not that most of that chaos wasn’t self-made. Ian wasn’t blind, he knows his brother is a slut. 

So, when sweet, prissy, little Charlotte Fisher rolled into town with her big innocent brown eyes, wide smile and soft hands that would tell anyone she’s never worked a day in her life, Ian had been nervous. She’s nice, their little siblings love her, and he thought his brother would absolutely ruin her. Sometimes he still does think that. 

But as time goes on, his mind has started to change. Lip has never called a girl his girlfriend outside of trying to get her into bed before. He’s never walked around with a polaroid picture of a girl in his wallet. He’s never tried this hard. This shit might be for real and Ian is happy about it. 

Now, he and Mickey have an actual couple to hang out with.

“Last one.” Lip takes a deep drag from the blunt between his fingers, turning his head in the direction away from Charlotte as he blows out the smoke. He passes the blunt back to Mickey before walking a couple steps away where his girlfriend stands, wrapping his arms around her to share the warmth as she shivers. “Told you you’d be cold. Gonna catch fuckin’ pneumonia.”

“The cold doesn’t make p-people sick. G-germs do.” she sasses, leaning into him, letting out a small sneeze. “Don’t say anything.”

“Too worried about being cute. Should’ve made you put some fuckin’ clothes on.”

“Nah,” Mickey says, flicking the burnt leftovers of the blunt to the ground, walking over. “Princess here is our ticket to free drinks, she’s dressed the part.” 

“We’re not pimpin’ my fuckin’ girlfriend, Mickey.”

“Isn’t she gonna start strippin’ like, next week? What’s the difference?”

“Oh-kay.” Ian interrupts, throwing his arm around Mickey’s shoulder, pulling him closer to him, “Let’s go in.”

“Wait,” Charlotte pauses, before they can start walking up the street to the bar. “Is, um, is Mandy coming? Because, you’re her brother and I don’t wanna, like,” she gestures between her and Lip, “rub it in, you know?”

“Nah, you’re good. M’seein’ her tomorrow, shithead has to work tonight.” Mickey shrugs. “Now, I’m sick of standin’ here talkin’, it’s my fuckin’ birthday and I’m fuckin’ sober, it’s ridiculous.”

The group makes their way into the busy bar. It was one of the few nights they had a DJ instead of a live band which was likely the reason it was so busy. Mickey and Ian shove their way through the crowd, Charlotte right behind them with Lip’s arm around her waist, hand resting on her stomach, holding her to him. 

Once they find a spot with a little space, Mickey turns around and nudges Charlotte. “C’mon princess, this pussy already said he’s not drinkin’ cause he thinks he needs to watch me or somethin’, go shot for shot with me.”

Before the woman can even answer her boyfriend’s free hand is cupping her jaw, guiding her to look back at him, pulling her into a kiss. The word ‘no’ mumbled against her lips. She pouts, and the pair mumble amongst themselves as Ian and Mickey watch. After a few moments Lip rolls his eyes and nods, kissing her lips again before letting her go. 

Charlotte bounces excitedly, grinning at Mickey. “Kay, you wanna see something cool?” Without letting him answer, she straightens, rolling her shoulders back and putting an arch in her back as she walks a little ways away to the bar where a couple of guys are standing. She leans forward on the bar, poking her butt out a little as she looks around, appearing bored.

It’s not long before one of the guys turns to her and starts talking, leaning down to whisper in her ear as his friends behind him stare at her ass. Ian turns his head to look at Lip, who is looking away from his girlfriend, the muscle in his jaw working overtime. 

A couple moments later, Charlotte was coming shuffling back with three shots and a beer balanced in her hands, a bright smile on her face. “Drinks on me gentlemen.” she says, passing two shots to Ian, one for him, one for Mickey and handing Lip the beer. Lip’s finger slips through her back belt loop, tugging the girl to him again as he locks eyes with the guys who've purchased them over her head, sipping the beer they’d just paid for. 

“Bottoms up, princess.” Mickey says, bring his glass to Charlotte’s before tossing it back. The men chuckle as the girl sputters and gags at the taste, one eye twitching with discomfort.  Lip runs his hand along her side soothingly.

“Yuck, I don’t want any more of those.”

Charlotte had several more. Three and a half. She didn’t get a chance to finish the last shot before Lip wrestled it from her hands, slamming it down on the bar and pulling her away from it. 

She, Mickey and Ian had done their fair share of dancing. It mostly consisted of Ian and Charlotte taking turns grinding on Mickey to irritate him and the two men occasionally stepping away to dance with each other, only pausing to scare off whatever guy that was trying to get Charlotte to give them the time of day. Lip lingered at the bar, offering them supportive nods and nursing his beer. He’d chosen not to drink too much considering he’d already smoked and his girlfriend was currently slurring her words together as she stumbled her way over to him.

“Hi, bubba.” she hums over the loud music, swaying to the side a little as Lip’s arm shoots out to balance her, pulling her to him. He nudges her nose with his before looking at her wide smile and lidded eyes.

“Hi, baby. Havin’ fun?” He smiles.

“Yeah.” she tosses her arms around his neck leaning into him. “Stop laughin’ at me.”

“M’not, c’mon.”

“You haven’t danced with me at all, let’s go over there.” she whines, pulling at him and pouting.

Lip taps her lightly on the back of the thigh, “Stop whining” he murmurs in her ear before turning her so her back is against his front. Lip slides his hands down Charlotte’s sides to her hips, pulling her close to him. “I don’t dance.”

The woman in front of him rolls her eyes, placing one hand over his and the other going to the back of his head, burying in the hair at his nape. She turns her head so she can look at him with a sleepy smile. “You do with me.”

Lip leans back on the bar, wetting his lips as he watches Charlotte roll her ass back against him, grinding on his dick. His blue eyes shift between her ass and trying to get a glimpse of her face, one of his hands moving to the gap in the back of her jeans, grabbing the space there to guide her movements, biting back a groan when she bends in further, arching in front of him. 

“Gettin’ sick of this place, ready to go birthday boy?” Ian asks as Mickey yawns. His mission was accomplished, he’d taken his boyfriend out, showed him a good time for his birthday. Tomorrow they’d do the family vibe, with cake, streamers, and his one sane sibling. He slings his arm around him and goes to guide him over to his brother and his girlfriend. The last he’d seen the pair they’d been basically fucking through their clothes against the bar.

The redhead pauses in his steps, laughing disbelievingly at the sight in front of him.

A couple feet away is his brother, his girlfriend in his arms. The pair are quietly laughing and leaning back and forth to whisper in each other’s ears. His brother’s stance is relaxed, the only thing tense on him is his grip on his swaying drunk girlfriend, an easy smile that Ian hasn’t seen in a long time on Lip’s face. If he didn’t know better he’d say he seemed happy. Charlotte’s hands cup his face as she drunkenly presses kisses all over his face, leaving pink lip stains all over his mouth, cheeks and neck. 

Ian didn’t want to break up the scene but he’d really needed to get Mickey home. Once he’s rounded up the group, he and Lip guide their drunken partners to the car, ushering them in, and shushing Mickey’s slurred curses. After he drives Ian and Mickey to Mickey’s home Lip pulls off with a still very drunk but now a lot less rowdy Charlotte in the passenger seat, promising to return the car the next day. 

Ian watches as his older brother climbs into the driver’s seat of the car, checking the girl’s seatbelt and brushing the hair out of her face tenderly before the drive into the night. As much as he’d felt bad for Mandy he’d known that she and his brother would never work. Ian loves her, but Lip didn’t. Not the way she wanted. He couldn’t convince her of that. But Ian almost wishes that she’d seen Lip tonight. He was a different person when he was with Charlotte, not so bitter. Not acting like he was walking around with the weight of the world on his shoulders. As crazy and fucked up he is, Ian knows Mickey is what’s best for him. He’s starting to think Charlotte is what’s best for Lip.

“Fuckin’ Frank.” Fiona huffs, ripping her covers off at the sound of her front door opening. She’d bet all of the dollars she doesn’t fucking have that it’s him. Either way, him or whatever idiot decided to try to rob them were gonna get a bat to the face. She eases down the stairs, wooden weapon in her hand as she flicks the light on. “Jesus, Lip!”

“Shut the fuck up!” he whisper-yells. Slung over his shoulder is a giggling, very likely drunk Charlotte. 

“Shit, is Lottie drunk? Good going genius she’s not supposed to drink ‘til her birthday.” Fiona hisses, running a hand over her hair and dropping the bat onto the couch.

“Well, Mickey decided they’d share today.” Lip grumbles, adjusting his girlfriend on his shoulder before pushing past his sister and going up the stairs, rolling his eyes as he feels her following closely behind. 

Lip rests Charlotte softly on the bed, looking sighing as she flops backward. “No baby,” he pulls her up by her arms. “Up.”

Fiona leans in the doorway and watches in shock as her little brother cares for the girl on the bed in front of him. She’d never seen him be so gentle with anyone they weren’t related to. He chuckles lightly as he encourages the still giggling girl to lift her arms, tugging her tight t-shirt up and over her head, reaching around and unhooking her bra before digging in his drawer and pulling out one of his bigger shirts to pull over her head. “Pass me one of your wipes if you’re gonna stand there.” 

“Oh-” Fiona had forgotten herself, so shocked by the scene, she quickly walks over to the bathroom, grabbing her pack of makeup wipes and handing them to her brother. 

Lip takes the wipes and crouches in front of the girl, resting his hands on her knees. “Wanna go wash your face or are wipes good for now. Can you get up?” Charlotte’s eyes are clearly heavy, she leans her forehead against his, giggling as she shakes her head no, rubbing their heads together. “No? Okay, eyes closed, bunny, or it’ll burn.” The woman whimpers and struggles drunkenly as he drags the cold wipe across her face. Blue eyes sharp with focus as he tries to get every bit off. When he’s satisfied that he’d gotten all he could he kisses her lips before pushing off of the floor and reaching under his pillow, producing a light pink scarf. “Stay still, you know m’not good at this part.”

“Don’t wan’it.” she whines.

“You’re drunk, and you’re gonna be pissed tomorrow, if I don’t put this shit on you. Sit still.” Lip cups her jaw, giving her a serious look, only to be met with a wide grin. Fiona chuckles behind them, shrugging when her brother cuts his eyes at her.

“She’s gonna need aspirin and water for tomorrow.” Fiona offers.

“Yeah, I fuckin’ know, I’ve had her chugging water since the bar-ow!” 

Both Gallagher siblings look down to a now half asleep Charlotte, clean faced with her scarf tied as neatly as Lip could manage on her head, hanging slightly to one side. Her hand is up, offending fingers suspended in the air after pinching Lip’s arm roughly. “Ow.” she mocks, her eyes closing. “Be nice. She’s helping, trying to help me.” she slurs.

Lip rolls his eyes, offering a gruff, ‘sorry’ to his sister, as he nudges his girlfriend to lie down in the bed, kissing her forehead. “‘M’fuckin’ helpin’ you, brat.”

Another hand reaches out, this time to roughly tap him on the cheek. “Thank you, bubba.”

Fiona snickers again. “Bubba?”

Lip huffs, now starting to get himself ready for bed, flicking his sister off as a cue for her to exit. Fiona quietly closes the door behind her and returns to her room. 

As she climbs into bed, she thinks to herself about all of the times she’d been embarrassed about her brothers’ behavior with women and men alike. They were sluts, the both of them, minus Liam and Carl. And often selfish, rude and disrespectful. But now they’d both found people who made them better. Who taught them how to care for people the right way, outside of the family. She was happy to watch them experience young love, no catches, no conditions, no reason to be hard all the time. They’d found people who looked at them like they were worth something. Worth everything. Fiona resolves to herself that she would find that for herself and hope her remaining siblings would do the same. She hated not being able to chat with V about the extent of Lip and Charlotte’s relationship. But maybe it was worth it. Maybe Charlotte and Mickey were. Even if they are extra mouths to feed. 

Eric takes a sip of his beer and nods along with another dull conversation with his coworkers that he was forced to pretend he was friends with. They’d been here for fifteen minutes and thus far, two of them had disappeared to do coke in the bathroom, several of them had fought with their girlfriends/wives/fiancés and the rest had been droning on and on about the stock exchange, something that he truly knows nothing about. His fucking accountant handles that shit for him. He was bored and annoyed to say the least. The game hadn’t started yet and Rebecca had been a bitch all morning. She was mad because she didn’t feel like coming to sit through a baseball game, despite the fact that they’d not only have a box but an open bar pre-paid for. The only thing that got her dressed was a promise to take her out for sushi after. Eric fucking hates sushi. 

Really, he was waiting on Gallagher. He’d actually been surprised with how much he liked Lip. He figured they’d have nothing to talk about, but the guy was pretty quiet in general. He was a great listener, and when he did say shit, it was actually important. Sure he seemed a little wound-up but he’d heard from his dad that their family friend, Ms. Helene helped him get this job because he’s broke and has got like, a family of 9 or something. Eric found the little snippets of Lip’s life he shared interesting. Like…well…his hot sister who’d stopped by for lunch one day. And his even hotter girlfriend he has a picture of on his desk, next to the picture of the 5,000 kids he lives with. 

Lip shows up with Charlotte fifteen minutes before the game is about to start. The pair walk up, hand in hand, matching pace with his easy strides and her peppy steps. When they approach one of the guys from legal (Eric thinks) says what they’re all thinking under his breath. “Goddamn.”

The woman is wearing a cropped, long sleeved black top with low hanging black pants, her sparkling belly button ring on display. Over top is a button down jersey she’s left open and on her head is a matching Cubs hat, her long, silky black hair hanging down over her shoulders. 

Lip is wearing a similar outfit, but with a black fitted sweater, his larger fingers intertwined with her smaller manicured ones. 

Eric forces himself to stop ogling the girl, clapping his hands together and welcoming them over. “Gallagher! You made it, glad you came.”

“Uh, thanks for having us.” he pulls the girl closer by her waist, obviously noticing the eyes on her. “This is my girlfriend, Charlotte.”

“Hi, nice to meet you.” The girl says sweetly, offering him a smile as she leans into her boyfriend. 

Eric urges his eyes to stay on her face, and off of their body language. But the way Lip’s thumb is rubbing along the skin on the girl’s waist, the way she’s staring up at him so adoringly, Eric felt like he was being excluded from something, despite fully being part of this conversation. 

He doesn’t realize he hadn’t spoken until Lip takes it upon himself to introduce him. “Bunny, this is Eric.”

“Oh, uh yeah, I’m Eric, I uh-” he remembers her negative reaction to him referring to himself as Lip’s boss and flounders for an alternative. “I work with Lip.” 

“Yeah, he told me.” she chirps, rocking on her feet a little. “Thanks for inviting us. I’ve never gone to a baseball game. I’m gonna try my best to keep up, Phillip tried his best to explain to me on the way here.” 

“Aw really? Well, my girlfriend Becca is an old pro, I drag her here all the time, she’ll teach you the ropes of how to keep occupied while we watch the game. Go join the ladies, she’s the one looking like she didn’t know she was coming here in slacks.” Eric smiles. His smile drops slightly as he watches the couple exchange a look. 

Lip tilts his head downward, lowering his voice to a murmur Eric strains his ears to hear. “Do you wanna go?”

Charlotte mulls it over for a second before shrugging and patting his chest. “Yeah, it’s fine, hang with the guys, I’ll come back over if you miss me too much.”

“Yeah, whatever, brat, go make nice.” The blond banters back, patting his girlfriend’s ass as he kisses her before playfully shoving her in the direction of the women gathered around the drinks. Lip sidesteps a little, blocking the crowd of men staring at the woman’s ass as she makes her way over to the other girls. “You, uh, guys make bets already?”

Trevor, some guy from…marketing (Eric swears he’s seen him on that floor) sighs, “No, thank God you brought it up-”

Suddenly, they’re a very lively bunch, placing bets that Lip is apparently calling, pulling off his own hat and placing the money in it. Eric tries to focus on the fun and Lip’s apparent godlike memory that allows him to remember who said what, but his eyes keep drifting. He watches as every couple of minutes, Charlotte and Lip look at each other, checking in without saying a word before returning to their respective groups. Once, Charlotte had come over to bring Lip a beer once she’d noticed all the other guys had one. The only time Rebecca had come over was when she wanted money for a fresh pretzel and even then, Charlotte had been in tow. Apparently, the two women had been getting along well. Becca had demanded enough money to get Charlotte a pretzel too, to which Gallagher immediately reached in his wallet and produced money Eric knew he didn’t have to spare, and gave it to the woman. When they’d come back, Eric’s girlfriend had a pretzel she was already eating and Lip’s had chicken tenders and fries for them to share. 

As the game got more interesting and the men started shouting and getting excited, the women grew antsy, Charlotte included. Seth’s girlfriend was really intrigued by the game, but that may have also been because she’s into baseball players. Becca was posted up in the corner, on the phone with the restaurant she wanted to go to and Charlotte was standing behind Lip’s chair, hands on his shoulders. 

“Come sit, baby.” he says, patting his lap. Charlotte huffs as she makes her way around the front, plopping down in his lap and resting her cheek against his. “Lemme hear it.”

“I’m bored.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah and this game is long and you didn’t mention that.”

“You done?”

“No, and it’s cold.” Charlotte sighs. “Now, I’m done.”

“Now you’re done. Cool, I can go back to watchin’ now or what?”

Oof. Eric thinks, waiting for her to start yelling, throwing a fit until Lip offers her something to calm down. That’s what they all want, he thinks. Instead, her brows furrow and she glances at Eric before grabbing the color of Lip’s shirt, tugging his ear to her lips to whisper into it.

Blue eyes go wide for a moment before a ‘uh, fuck yeah, I wanna do that.’ is murmured and she’s hopping off of his lap. “Uh, hey man, we’ll be right back, do we need a code to get back in or…”

“Oh, no, man you’re good. You guys okay? If you need something they’ll bring it in here if we call down-”

“I left something I need in the car.” Charlotte intercepts, pulling at Lip again, leading him out of the suite. Moments later Rebecca sits down in Lip’s seat next to Eric, letting out a sigh.

“So, Phillip’s girlfriend gets to leave and I don’t?”

30 minutes later and the pair comes back, looking relatively the same, despite being slightly disheveled and what appears to be a fresh hickey blooming on Charlotte’s neck. The game is almost over and immediately Lip gets back into wheeling and dealing. He starts settling up on bets while Charlotte collects the numbers of the other girls.

“No seriously, we need to keep in touch.” Rebecca smiles, hugging the girl tightly.

“Yeah, girl, I’d love that, we should hang out soon.” Charlotte hugs back. “Maybe we’ll even let Phillip and Eric come on our date.”

“Maybe, but we’re gonna have to hang out without prying ears too. I’ve been watching you two, you’ve got to tell me what type of shit you’re pulling in the bedroom, you’ve got blondie wrapped around your finger. Eric told me you’ve only known each other a couple of months and at this rate you’ll end up with a ring before me.”

“I…I’m sure that’s not true.” Charlotte says quietly, letting her eyes travel over to her man, unsurprised that he looks over to her as soon as she reaches him, eyes locking. They’ve been in sync like that a lot lately. “How long have you two been together?”

“Since high school,” The girl huffs. “He’s dragging his feet as all men do. I mean, I’ve played my part, even got mommy and daddy’s approval. On both sides. We’re all fucking waiting on him. You’re smart, getting in on the ground up, not picking one that was born with a golden spoon shoved down his throat. But my parents wouldn’t settle for less. Guess yours are trusting the process.”

“Um, exc-” Before Charlotte can finish, Eric gestures Rebecca over and the girl pats her arm one more time before going to her boyfriend. Charlotte makes her way over to Lip, thoughts heavy. They are getting more serious. Despite being together for a short amount of time, she can’t imagine her life without him now. She’d been dodging the concept of introducing him to her parents for a while because she knew how’d they’d act. She’d seen a live demo of it with Kev. They’d treat him like white trash, the last thing Charlotte thought of him as. They’d be condescending, and mean. But it’d happen eventually, because…well she doesn’t plan on going anywhere, and she hopes he doesn’t plan to either. 

After everyone gets separated in the crowd of people leaving the game, Eric waits on the sidewalk for the car he’d called for him and Rebecca. She was babbling about something or another he didn’t care about when he saw Charlotte and Lip. The woman is giggling loudly as the man tickles her, the two of them damn near bumping people every few seconds as if no one else was here. 

“I’m never going to a game with you again” the girl breathes, gasping in air as he stops tickling and starts holding her hand. 

Eric watches as Lip rolls his eyes, pulling her into him as he walks her to the passenger side of some old, beat up truck. “Yeah, okay,” he laughs, opening the door for her, “I can hear you now when I try to go without you, ‘bubba, please, take me with you, I’ll be bored without you,’” he mocks.

“I don’t sound like that.”

“No?” he snorts, closing her door and going around to the driver’s side. 

As he watches them interact Eric can’t help but think, he wants what they have. There’s a small pang of jealousy that rings in his chest. But it isn’t until he watches Charlotte lean over to manually unlock the door on the driver’s side so Lip can get in that an even more intrusive thought enters his mind.

I want her.

[tiny-tf-faces]

We'll soon return to our regularly scheduled programming of tiny faces

My deepes apologies to @anirlcryptid99, @bwans-art, @homosexualhomestuck, @pacicidal, @nix-tea, @anyth1ng772 and @mr-playlist for the false adveritising. You were tricked! This blog is normally not about Soundwave in places, but about screenshots tiny transformers faces. However, stick around, because this doesn't have to be the end of Soundwave locations.

I came up with this idea on a whim after a discord server I'm in renamed itself to "League of Legends Central" and I realised I hadn't done anything for April fools. I wanted it to be something fun and not upsetting, but in the end the concept ended up being too good to just throw away.

That's why soundwave-location will soon get its own dedicated sideblog! I'm not sure how soon, but I'll announce it here when it's up, and until then this blog will continue accepting Soundwave location reports!

For now, bird time is back! (yeecaw)

[novankenn]

Ah, come on!?!

FOUR

Jaune and Wolfie sat dejectedly off to the side while a moving company, dropped off all the salvageable equipment in the waterfront warehouse that was to become the new home of the Grimm Development Department. Jaune was despondent due to the hours it was going to take to reconnect everything… Wolfie because he/she met her/his “donor”.

Saphron Arc was a piece of work, and while she did present Wolfie with a proper set of attire, she was entirely TOO handsy in helping him/her put it on. Memories of that encounter caused the humanoid grimm to shiver in fear, particularly because Saphron Arc made a point of saying she would be coming back for another visit, with more cute outfits for her little “sister”.

Wolfie: This is bullshit.

Jaune: You think this is bad? Wait until we have to attend the emergency BoD meeting and explain the added expenses… my budget is going to be decimated!

Wolfie: Seriously, dude? How do you get anything done?

Jaune: I don’t. I’m lucky I get a paycheck each week… which reminds me I have to take you to Human Resources, soon.

Wolfie: Why?

Jaune: You need identification, and your Social Insurance Number, plus you have a TD-1V to complete. Then we need to go to the bank and set up an account.

Wolfie:Uh, again. Why?

Jaune: You are an employee, and as such you need to have the proper documentation, plus the Inner Circle refuses to get nailed for tax evasion so we need to pay you as well as take the proper hold backs for governmental remittance.

Wolfie: Huh? But I’m a monster?

Jaune: You are… or will be a valued employee.

Wolfie: But you built me for combat?

Jaune: Yes, I did, and you will be most likely listed as an active combatant member of our PMC forces.

Wolfie: PMC?

Jaune: Private Military Contractor.

Wolfie: Seriously? I thought we’re supposed to be trying to dominate the world?

Jaune: Well to rule the world we need to be able to provide for security or our people, as well as have sources of income to provide needed social welfare programs, in addition to collecting taxes, etc…

Wolfie: This sucks.

Jaune: Tell me about it. At least you’ll be lucky, once your paperwork is done you’ll be transferred to the PMC division… which Saphron is in charge of by the way…

Wolfie: WHAT?!? SERIOUSLY!?!

Jaune: Yes, anyway, once you’re transferred you’ll be free of this mess and can enjoy yourself…

/==/ 72 Hours Later /==/

After working basically around the clock, Wolfie and Jaune finished reassembling the lab into something that was functional. A day before the scheduled meeting with the Board of Directors. Though, neither, due to sleep, deprivation, noticed the blinking lights on one of the bio-pods.

/==/ 24 Hours Later /==/

Jasmine Arc (Director of Finances): So as a result of the repairs required and the need to relocate Grimm Development, plus the rental of said location… I’m sorry to say Jaune your operating budget is going to be lowered by sixty percent.

Jaune: How am I supposed to get ANY work done? 

Jasmine Arc (Director of Finance): Well, fifteen percent of your budget is just your salary, and ten percent is overhead expenses like utilities. So you still on paper have fifteen percent to allocate towards project development.

Jaune: I was barely able to complete Wolfie under my normal budget! How do I…

Oleander Arc (Executive of Espionage): As important as this is to you, dear brother, I feel we have much more pressing matters. In particular, the assault on one of our SECRET and secure facilities, by the Red Huntress at that. We have a leak.

Saphron Arc (Director of PMC Operations): I can direct my teams to start searching for the leak. Though I would need some assistance from the Security Department.

Azalea Arc (Director of Internal Security): My department has already started to searching, with a focus on former employees.

Tyrian (Director of Legal): IF the leak is an employee, then we do not need to use the PMC forces to “black bag” the perpetrator. All our employees sign an iron clade NDA, and as such if YOU can give my department proof of their actions I can have my department bury them… legally.

Saphron Arc (Director of PMC Operations) Phooey, that’s no fun.

Salem: Be that as it may. We must be vigilant, and protective of our image, and as such we can not afford any rumors of misconduct on our behalf. What of the plan to infiltrate Beacon?

Oleander Arc (Executive of Espionage): We have contracted the Strategic Development Department, and they have drafted a report, for our consideration. Director Watts, if you please.

Arthur Watts (Director of Strategic Development): Upon closer examination of the proposal, we have come to the conclusion that it is inadvisable to sens Doctor Arc in as applicant. His lack of combat training, coupled with his aura not being unlocked, makes it a potentially hazardous work environment for him and as such after consulting with the Legal Department would give him grounds to sue.

Salem: I see. You wouldn’t do that to us, would you, Jaune?

Jaune: I… um… I…

Salem: Jaune?

Arthur Watts (Director of Strategic Development): If I may continue my Lady.

Salem: My apologies. Please, the floor is yours.

Arthur Watts (Director of Strategic Development): Upon further consideration, we have submitted adjustments to the proposal. Namely, that if the operation to get a more insightful information as to the nature of Beacon’s training practices, Jaune should attend as a member of an established team.

Oleander Arc (Executive of Espionage): We have already begun the process to screen potential applicants, though only needing two makes the process easier.

Jaune: Wait a second? Two? Aren’t teams made of four?

Oleander Arc (Executive of Espionage): They are, but as you and Wolfe Bete are both employees of Grimm Development

Wolfie: Since when?!?

Oleander Arc (Executive of Espionage): And this is a project for your department, of course you will both be members of the operation.

(== Table of Contents ==)

[vanillabat99]

Longpost Life Update!!

Queue is empty, haven't had much on the dash that I felt like putting in there lately!! It's probably time for a dash cleanup, unfollowing inactive blogs and such. That's something I will do on desktop soon!!

I've been spending my days sleeping and watching shows with my Beautiful Wife, sometimes playing games. Whenever I try to put my sleep schedule back to normal there's something I have to be up early for and it throws it all off again. Very frustrating. Things have been fairly uneventful otherwise! I'm still experiencing the heart thing, but as I have exhausted my healthcare possibilities and the conclusion was that it is psychological, I am simply dealing with it ._.

I have a meeting coming up to go over AISH paperwork before I submit anything, which is very exciting!! I will likely have to apply again since my social worker, doctor, and therapist have told me they almost always deny the first one. Medications and therapy are very expensive, and I'm still trying to find funding assistance for a proper wheelchair.

Monday I have an intake for community support groups/activities (I have to be up at 8AM which is hellish for me) and I hope to get into their art program!! I really want to spend more time making art, and I would love to meet some people and get out of the house more often.

I have lots of art projects in the works, and many of them require skills and materials I do not currently have, so I have plenty of work to do!! My current priority is finishing up a card for my Beautiful Wife and finally sending it to them!! My other projects are quite large and will require consulting with various people in my life on how to best approach and execute my visions :3

Choir starts up again in the fall and I am so excited to go back!! Weekly rehearsals gave me so much structure, and it's at night which works great for my sleep schedule!! We got a preview of our setlists at our director's dinner party last month. Most of them are good but there's a couple that are so bad they're funny and I really hope we can convince her to maybe put those ones back on the shelf >_<

I'm preparing to go on a trip in either December or May (depends on finances) to see my Beautiful Wife!! It will be my first time traveling on my own, so I have lots to sort out. My first hurdle is making a plan for the airport!! I have lots of people helping me, and I am so so so determined to make this happen!!!

Haven't been blogging much due to all of the above, but I am still here :3 A family friend is going through some mental health stuff right now, so my attention is primarily focused on that. Thanks for reading this wall of text, and for sticking around so long!! Hope you're all doing well 💕💕💕

[belongsinthetrash]

What interesting things have you gotten interested in, in these past few interesting months, my interesting friend

Well, well-well-well-well, welllllll, a few thing-a-ma-bobs. But it's mainly been 4 fandoms that have come and intergrained themselves in my grey matterspace.

Disco Elysium is pretty obvious with some of my recent posts, BUT I've really only gotten 5 or so hours into my first playthrough so far and from what I can guess, it is nowhere near the end for me. I'm gonna try and get back to it sometime soon, but it's just been a case of notyet getting into the mindset to play a deeply written detective-human psychology-political story novel, to the surprise of myself. It's highly enjoyable, don't miscontrue my words, but it's an undertaking.

Speaking of politics, guess which underwater, steampunk, civil war simulator franchise I've played and has shot to the top of favorite games of all time? Yeah, Bioshock 1 and 2 had knocked my socks off with their presentation and story than I had first expected. I knew the games were classics, but I had just thought they wouldn't interest me since I'm kinda lukewarm on the steampunk genre admittedly. But Rapture as a whole had made me engrossed with every inner working and system in the sunken city, not withstanding the competing and aggressive interactions between the personification of political stances called Andrew Ryan, Sofia Lamb, and Frank Fontaine. Lovely games and my heart is sent to every Big Daddy and Little Sister down there, specially Delta.

Oh, and Infinite? ...i-it's fine. Like, I liked looking at the grim alternate history of Columbia (which is another reason Rapture had grabbed me) and I got used to the gameplay and feeling of being akin to Half-Life 2, but the ending kinda fell super flat on me and I wasn't a fan of how they intergrated parallel worlds into the story. And less said about Burial at Sea, I'll give you as many sugardoodles as need be.

Now back to our normal scheduled program, and by normal, I mean bizarre. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Good segueway, I know. But yeah, Jojo has occupied a lot of brainspace in me too recently, which is rare for an anime to do so for me. But fuck me, did the story grip me by Part 2. I had felt like it had finally start to get it's narrative grip by the time I had seen the Pillar Men emerge to be cool, strong, honorific yet bastard vampire dudes. It may have also been the gay talking and Joseph being iconic. But what sucks about my situation is that I'm not far into Part 3 because I've been watching through it on a friend's behalf and her schedule hasn't aligned for it for the past month, so I'm stuck in a purgatory of waiting to get the full context of scenes through the actual story while I tiptoe around spoilers when watching content made by Jojo fans, and it kills me more when I slowly feel like I'll fucking ADORE Parts 5, 6, and 7 when I get to it! Basille, you bitch (affectionate), WATCH JOJO WITH ME!

Ahem, sorry bout that, let me get to the last thing right quick. Risk of Rain was yet another thing recommended to me by a friend and I've had my fair share of enjoyment playing through both of the games. The first game's style is wonderfully Terraria feeling for a guy that knows that Terraria is not my speed in the slightest, and I had a fair bit in fun in completing the game with every survivor. Risk of Rain 2 has been even more fun but also more infuriating as another result, since I really like the transition into 3d and how the game feels much more smoother to play, but I've grinded myself at trying to beat the game even once after 30+ attempts that it has burned me out even when I get a good run. Maybe it's just because I complete stages too slowly, but I can't help but wanting to complete shit. I've gotten to Mithrix once and have been waiting to taste that wonderful feeling again. And what is another kick in the pants is how RIsk of Rain Returns has released but isn't on consoles beside the Switch and I want it!

Oh, and I don't know if I had said this outright, but I had seen Ultrakill about a year ago and have been still into that, but even moreso now, soooo I guess that counts?

[pbandjesse]

I am laying in a bed at camp. Feel wildly lonely in the most bizarre way. It's like feeling completely alone in a busy room. I don't know what to do with the feeling. It was a busy day.

I slept alright. I had fun hanging out with James and watching shows and just being happy. Now looking back is feels like it was forever ago. I miss my James very much.

When I woke up this morning James was there. And was very sweet. We were joking about who will make my bed at camp?? Who will take care of me??

They would go to the car to find my sandals. And I would finish gathering my things. I said good morning to Sweetp and checked on Crabcake. Who seems a lot happier with his metal warming area. For sure need to keep an eye on it but it seems to have been a good move.

I kept hugging James. I didn't want to go yet. I was feeling some kind of way. But I knew I had to go.

They would see me off. And I would drive through the city to go pick up Jeniya. It was really nice to see her. And we had a pretty nice drive to camp. But my GPS would take me a very strange way to get to 83. Apparently there was a very bad accident. Lots of people who drove from that direction got stuck in it. But we lucked out and we're able to go around it. We got to camp at 9. And I parked up at art. I told her I would meet her at the lodge.

I would work on taking things inside. I accidently dumped a bunch of my metal stamps on the gravel. Annoying. I would fix that later.

I went down to the lodge soon though. It was nice to see Callie and eventually Lindsay. I am really excited she's back. I would say good morning to people but there was a surprising amount of people I didn't know! Or vaguely knew. It was fun.

We would get started at 930 but I pretty quickly left. I would check in with Alexi and let her know I would go work on setting things up for programs. And I did but I was surprised when more of the materials and boxes hadn't come yet. Annoying.

I would do what I could for an hour. Rechecking the eyrie. But then went back to the lodge to see what they were all doing. Name games and such. I would participate a little but mainly I wanted to go away.

I would stay for a while though. Participated a bit. I was trying to learn names. I have more name tags to make for sure.

And I would go do that. I would go to the office to work on name tags and laminating. This would be multiple times today. Where I was in the office printing and laminating things. There was a lot to do.

I would bring all the specialty staff together during lunch. To go over the schedules and and answer questions. It was the most in charge I have felt. I had gotten my feelings hurt when Alexi introduced all the senior staff and she didn't say me. Like even Heather was like ?? Why didn't she say you? And it hurt my feelings. But everyone was treating me as the authority and that was nice. I want to be that authority. I don't want to come across as wishy washy like some people have in this role in the past. I want to be a resource.

Lunch was really good. The new kitchen staff is really nice and I really appreciated how they kept checking with us about how things tasted and everything was well labeled and it was just really good.

But this is when my over powering loneliness started. I don't know why. I just feel so alone.

I would finish my lunch and would go for a walk to try and shake it off.

But I failed. I would take a break and hung in my hammock for a half hour. I had collected more materials and was just so sweaty and gross. I needed to sit down and work on some research for program questions. I had walked with SarahMarie, the new cooking class teacher, over to the fire pit shes using and then we went to Yukon together so I could show her the materials we currently had. I am excited to see what she comes up with.

I spent a little time with Callie in our block house. Talking and venting and trying to feel normal. It was nice to sit with her. She isn't staying tonight and I'm a little sad about it. But I understand. And we would go back to work a little cooler (from the AC) and a little more normal.

I would spend the next couple hours in the office printing, organizing, laminating, and getting as many lessons and things ready as possible. I would chat with Heather and it was nice to hang out with Louisa and Kenny, who were excellent helpers. Louisa helped me out all the name tags together and she would take them to the lodge for me. She's the best.

At 5 I was finishing up printing and would go over to have dinner. I made a stop at stockade and learned about more drama about these block houses. So while I am sleeping in here tonight, there is drama about who will get the block houses in the end. Because people have moved in when the rooms were earmarked for others. But now Alexi is staying no one was assigned any of them but that was not my understanding. So now I'm confused. And if I'm not staying in here it's fine. But I also will probably just go home every day. Which isn't what I wanted but if it comes down to it it's fine. I just hate how disruptive it's been. If decisions were made before people came, before we were all sleeping here, there would be a whole lot less stress.

I would eat a whole lot of orange slices and a beautiful cinnamon cake for dinner. There was also cheesy potatoes and corn but the cake and oranges was my favorite part.

I sat with Kenny and Heather. And it made me feel a little less alone. But the lonely ess persisted.

I went for a walk. Eventually ended up at arts and crafts where Kamal would come inside to help me mix all the tyedye liquid for tomorrow for camp all in's art project. It was really nice of him to help and we had a nice conversation about travel. I showed him pictures from Uganda. I got dye on my shirt which made me a little sad but it's fine. I'll fix it later.

I really appreciated his help. It made a very tedious task take a lot less time. And once we were done he went to find one of the walking tours for the new staff and I went to the office.

I would talk with Heather for a while. About the projects for camp all in. We would also just vent about stuff going around and it was good. I love Heather. She's the best, such a good ear.

I went get some of the boys to take my little pile of materials over to the art building. And I would walk to homestead to chat with Aaron and Antonio. Told them they can store their tools, they were worried about, in the art building in the cabinets. Just have to take the bins out of them. Hopefully that will help some of the issues we are having about putting the tools behind lock and key.

After making a stop at the council run to see the bins fire (and see the boys try and jump over the fire), I decided that I wouldn't join everyone for smores. I would go get cleaned up and just rest.

I would go to the arts building to gather a few things. And then to the block house to get my shower stuff together. And then over to the upper barracks to shower.

And it was a nice shower. It was nice to be clean again. I said hello to some girls in the barracks. And then back to our little room.

I hung up my string lights. And hung up a curtain for the one window. And now I am just enjoying laying down. I am tired. My whole body aches. Thankfully the powerful loneliness is lessening. I don't feel as bad. I think being in the AC helps. I am going to take a little walk. Go use the bathroom . Brush my teeth. And try and go to sleep early. Tomorrow is going to be a very long day.

I hope that tomorrow I can feel more connected. I hope it's a good day.

Sleep well everyone. I love you all. Goodnight

[shadowfromthestarlight]

I had such a first-world-problem-filled day. 

I woke up at 6AM from a stress dream. I’ve lived such a privileged life that has afforded me so many opportunities to travel that my default stress dream is running around an airport like a chicken with its head cut off. 

I somewhat enjoyed my early morning scrolling through my phone, showering, and making breakfast. I had a great banana waffle. I also tried to fix an issue with my printer before I left (I didn’t, and got annoyed, but I had to leave for work). I took a late-ish train to try to avoid crowds. I stopped to get something at the Juice Press in the station before getting on the subway. While waiting for the subway, I thought there was no rush, so I waited for the next train to come rather than try to shove in with a bunch of other people. It occurred to me at 9:08, when I was on the subway downtown, that I was supposed to be in a continued hearing. I’d completely spaced on it. I checked my email to see if the hearing officer was demanding to know where I was. Instead, I found out that the hearing had started a bit late anyway, and I emailed to say I was so sorry and would be logging on shortly. I signed on as soon as I got into the office at 9:15, to find that the hearing officer and opposing counsel were having a leisurely conversation, which lasted several more minutes before I was asked to call my next witness. The hearing went forward without incident.

Later, I went uptown to take a tour of a school I work with and meet with the program director, and did work on the subway. When I got back, I submitted one brief due by 5PM. Then I stepped out to try to pick up my box of farm products (raw milk, eggs, etc.) that I pick up on Wednesdays. I missed the dropoff by a minute, called the dropoff team, and had them leave it at their next location. Not the end of the world, but it meant that I’d wasted a bit of time trying to pick it up, and I had to scramble to finish my next brief that was due that night, then leave the office to get the box and bring it home so that I didn’t leave the products outside for too long. After submitting the brief, I left the office, took the subway to the location in midtown, and found the box. It started drizzling. I had to then walk between stations when I got off the subway as I was on a different line than I normally take. Which was dumb, because it started raining harder as I was walking. And I had to walk through Times Square, which is a headache on a good day. By the time I got to Grand Central, the train I was scheduled to take should have been at the platform, but it wasn’t. So I waited along with everyone else on the hot, noisy platform, until we got an announcement that our track had changed. So I had to haul my box to a different platform, and squish in next to someone else with my box and backpack and everything. When I got off the train, it felt like March outside, not May. 

But! then I got to go home and bump noses with my cat and open up my box! So the day was not a total loss, I just felt like a fool for much of it.

[theplaneswalkernarrator]

The Equestrian Eugenics Program (part 11)

Sweetie Bell’s sentencing had been scheduled as soon as possible, that meant it was only three days after her last operation. She stared at herself in the mirror, the scars on her stomach. She'd be seeing Pipsqueak for the first time since this had all happened. She was excited for that, nervous, but excited. Though she knew Rarity wouldn't likely let her talk to him. It'd still be nice to see him, to know he was doing ok. Silver Spoon was there too, a show of moral support and their blossoming friendship. They'd tried a myriad of things on the quest to find her special talent, mostly around the boutique as Rarity wouldn't let her go outside until she was fully healed. Crochet, needle work, knitting, sewing, modeling, gem identification, plushie making. None of it seemed to stick. Sweetie had been thinking about what that silver spoon on her flank might mean. Maybe food related? Maybe silver work? She'd have to find ways to test it all, though she was confident in her abilities to do so. Twilight sat on a judge’s throne in against the back wall. Mayor Mare to her left and Rainbow Dash to her right. Rarity smiled and nodded at her. Sweetie heard the door open and saw Pipsqueak and his father enter. She waved, he smiled back at her, but Rarity glared daggers at them both. Sweetie Bell put her hoof down nervously. She looked up at Twilight as she cleared her throat.

“Sweetie Bell and Pipsqueak, you are accused of having an illegal pregnancy and attempting to flee with the apple road. How do you plead?” 

“Guilty.” Pipsqueak didn't hesitate. Sweetie Bell did.

She looked at the floor “Guilty…”

“Very well.” Twilight turned to Rainbow, who stood up to speak.

“You've already gone through the termination and sterilization process, and we're cooperative. With that in mind, you did contact the apple road.”

Pipsqueak held up a hoof “they contacted us.”

Rainbow glared daggers at him for interrupting her, but continued on “for these violations you'll be put in separate re-education facilities for the next four weeks.”

“No!” Rarity stood up “no, you can't do that! Sweetie has learned her lesson.”

Twilight sighed “Rarity, please try to be professional…” 

“But- Sweetie, tell her.”

“I… I have. I won't do it again.” Sweetie was still looking at the floor. She heard a small laugh but didn't know who it came from.

“You can't.”

“Twilight, Rainbow, please…” Rarity was trying to plead with them.

“Please understand, this is a lenient punishment. A normal sentencing would be for much longer.” 

Rarity sighed in defeat and sat back down. Twilight looked sternly at the two fillies, they both nodded in recognition of their punishment.

Sweetie looked back at Rarity “it's only four weeks. I'll be fine.” She tried to muster a reassuring smile.

They were taken in separate carriages. Sweetie was being sent to a facility in the crystal kingdom, it was a several hour ride. She simply sat in silence. When they arrived she was taken out and presented with a sparkling pastel building. She got out of the carriage herself, but the guard still pushed her. They walked into the facility. There was a cyan crystal pony. She smiled and shook Sweetie Bell's hoof. 

“I'm Hushed Words, I'm the facility manager. You're Sweetie Bell, right?” Sweetie nodded “wonderful. Please follow me.” she lead Sweetie down the hall. She was pleased to get away from the guard. “Here we have several public spaces. But: public spaces are a privilege. Access to them can be taken away.” Sweetie looked through one of the door windows into a dark room with a large projection screen on one wall and a rectangle of chairs that took up most of the room. “That's our theatre, we have weekly movie nights. Here is our lunch hall, group therapy room, study room,” and indicated down a long hallway “and these our the private rooms. Each one of our residents has their own.” She indicated for Sweetie to follow her down the hall. She went maybe seven doors down before pulling out a set of keys and opening the door. Sweetie noticed slots and the lack of windows which were unique to these doors. Hushed Words opened the door. Sweetie walked in. The room was sparse, only a bed and a bookshelf. “Group therapy starts in two hours.” She said it with a smile. Sweetie turned around, but was met with a closed door. She heard it lock.

There were a lot of Apple family ponies on the cooking team. Pinky figured that made sense. She wondered why the apple family in particular had made this small resistance. Maybe they were simply the only ones with enough members and loyalty to make it work. She was used to making friends easily, but it seemed like most ponies here weren't the biggest fans of her's. She had been part of the council that made this whole thing happen. She figured a few cupcakes could make it up to everyone. Quite a few, since there were more ponies here than she had first imagined. She knew she wasn't supposed to ask questions, and she understood why, but she couldn't help but wonder who made this place. Her best guess right now was Princess Luna. She had been in opposition from the program when it started. But the magical upkeep required, how could she keep it a secret? Pinkie did have a few friends. Apple Bloom and Applejack were happy to have her, but they were busy most days. So Pinky ended up spending most of her time with SpiritStar. She said she was an astronomer in canterlot, her cutie mark was a book with magical stars spiraling around it. The safe zone did have it's own fake day night cycle. She told Pinkie than she knew the entire thing was fake and not just a one way portal or projection of the real sky because the stars were in the same exact place every night. Pinkie was handing out cupcakes when she saw her exit the medical center and hopped over to say hello. She seemed caught off guard by the energy of the party pony. 

“Spirit! How's it going?”

She smiled quietly “it's alright.”

“How was the appointment?” Pinkie suddenly turned to concern “is something wrong?!”

SpiritStar shook her head “nope. Just learning the gender.”

Pinkie switch back to excitement very quickly, though slightly confused “I thought you were further along than that?”

“Well it's not like I could be checked by any doctor in Canterlot…”

Pinkie smiled “you should have a party!”

She seemed confused “a party?”

“Yeah! Like a gender reveal! It was super popular back in Ponyville. Basically just an excuse to throw a party about having a baby, but I think any excuse to throw a party is a good one!”

“Plus, throwing a party for everyone might be a way to make a good impression.” She knocked into Pinkie gently with her hip “for bolth of us.”

Pinkie smiled “so is that a yes?”

“Only if you'll plan it.”

Pinkie's smile grew to overtake her face “yes! Yes yes yes! I will not let you down!” She raised a hoof to her forehead in solute. Spiritstar laughed. She wanted to start on the party prep right away, but she had something else to do first. In the playground there was a group of foals and their parents celebrating having a cute-ceanera. According to Apple Bloom one of the kids had begged her to get Pinkie and Cheese to entertain. She showed up with cupcakes in hand and her array of party show supplies in her small pocket dimension. Cheese was already there. He smiled and waved when he saw Pinkie. One of the kids noticed and ran over to her excitedly. He was around twelve or thirteen, born long before the program went into place. 

“Is it true you guys are the ones who defeated Crystals? And evil Luna? And Discord?”

Pinkie smiled “yep”

He jumped with excitement “that's so cool! I'm so happy you guys are here.” 

Pinkie looked at that, a smile so genuine. Someday she'd see that on her own kids. But for some people, that'd never happen. Because of a program she supported… she shook it off, no bad thoughts allowed at the party. She looked at the colt’s flank. It was a simplified picture of a manticore. “That's a really nice Cutie Mark! What's your special talent?” 

“Monster fighting!” he made a pose like he was mid combat.

“How'd you discover that?” 

He looked down “uh- me and some friends snuck into the mines and we got jumped by a giant scorpion…”

Pinkie's eyes went wide “you fought a giant scorpion?” 

He smiled “I got it to sting itself in the head.”

“That's impressive.” Pinkie looked over at Cheese and saw him juggling. He looked to her and indicated for her to join. Their combo juggling performance was good… “we should head over to the party, yeah?”

“Yeah!”

Silver Spoon sat and watched as Rarity sewed. She wasn't working on any particular project, thankfully since she was making more mistakes than usual. She was nervous and trying to calm herself down. Silver Spoon was too, to be fair. She sat on the new couch cover looking through the donor list. She'd already decided she didn't want to meet them in person. Twilight said that was perfectly fine. The profiles they had filled out had a ton of information on them. Occupation, special talent and cutie mark, what age they got their cutie mark, family history of special talents, education level, age, whether they were married or had kids of their own, children’s cutie marks and special talents if the previous was true. All of them were earth ponies, that made sense. A lot of them had special talents in agriculture or gardening. Some in mining. She saw one that caught her eye, a light blue pony with a white mane and gold eyes. That could match well with her own colors… she wanted to make sure the kids actually looked like they were hers. He had a cutie mark of the blueprint to a castle, and it said he got it when he was 6. That's earlier than average. That's another thing she'd been looking for, she figured the experiment was more likely to be successful the younger the donor was when they got their cutie mark. His name was Golden Eye. a bit on the nose, but she couldn’t judge. 

“Rarity?” she called out. Rarity looked up from her sewing project and walked over.

“Yes dear?” 

“What do you think of this one?” she handed the profile over. Rarity picked it up with her magic and examined it. 

She smiled “I think he’s a good choice.”

“Really?” Silverspoon wasn’t so sure.

“Of course darling.” Rarity could tell SIlverspoon wasn’t convinced, and so sat down next to her “you know, it doesn’t really matter who you pick.”

“It feels like it does.”

“Oh I know dear.” she put her hoof on her shoulder “but these are your foals, you’re the one raising them. At the end of the day who they turn out to be is dependant on you, not their father.” father was said with extra air quotes. “Unless of course you’ve decided to set them out for adoption?”

Silver spoon shook her head “no. no, I- I think I’ll keep them.”

Rarity smiled “you’ll make a lovely mother.”

Silver spoon leaned into her comfort but didn’t reply. She wasn’t so sure about that.

Sweetie Bell woke up fairly early. The lights turned on at 6 A.M. and the best wasn’t particularly comfortable so nothing was keeping her in bed. She passed back and forth for those few hours, trying not to worry or speculate. There were five other ponies in the facility with her, all mares. One unicorn, one earth pony, and three pegasi. It could be noted that none of them were crystal ponies, and had likely all been sent here from outside of the empire. She assumed the geldings were kept at a separate facility. There were several facility staff members, but none of them talked much aside from Hushed Words. She acted as the director and the group therapist. Breakfast was at 8 A.M., then free time in public areas, followed by group therapy, lunch, study hour, more group therapy, and either movie night or “alone time” where you were permitted to take a book with you to your room as a reward for good behavior that day. Breakfast was oats with peanut butter and fruit juice. Sweetie Bell tended to stay alone during public time. She'd sit in the corner reading one of the “approved” books. Most of them were recent history talking about the breeding program, one was an analysis of cutie mark genetics, another was an autobiography from a rainbow factory worker. “The balance of magic between pony types.” That's what she was reading right now. It told the story of Hearth’s Warming Eve and how unity between the unicorns, Pegasi, and earth ponies drove away the Great winter. It talked about how each pony type has unique magics and strengths, how important it was to keep them separate. “Separate but equal” that's what the book said. It made sense, a little bit at least. She understood why Rarity was so upset about her relationship with Pipsqueak. Earth pony magic was present in physical strength and connection to nature. Unicorn magic was far more powerful and versatile. To mix unicorn and earth pony magic would be a waste. Public time was only a few hours long, she'd have to bring this book back to her room to finish it. She looked up at the other mares. Two were playing checkers, two doing word puzzles together, and one other sitting on her own. Sweetie Bell looked over at her. She was holding a book in her hooves, but didn't appear to be reading it. Instead just staring at it intently without moving her eyes to follow the words. She was a Pegasus, a bit younger than Sweetie Bell, with a videogame remote for a cutie mark, and a large scar on the side of her stomach. Her name was Game Over, Sweetie knew that much. She'd been here a pretty long time, that's what the other ponies said. Her sentence kept getting extended. She didn't talk much during the group therapy sessions. Sweetie Bell put down her book, she'd have plenty of time to finish it later. She walked up to Game Over and sat on the couch beside her. She looked up from her book, shocked. Sweetie held out a hoof.

“I'm Sweetie Bell.”

“I know.” Her response was short and to the point. 

Sweetie smiled nervously “y-yeah… but we hadn't been formally introduced.”

She shook Sweetie’s hoof “I'm Game Over.”

“So… whatcha reading about?”

“You probably shouldn't talk to me.”

Sweetie was taken aback “why?”

“Mares that talk to me tend to end up in isolation.” She saw Sweetie Bell’s face of confusion and sighed “you're here to be re-educated. I'm no good for that. Go talk to the other girls.”

Sweetie frowned “is that why you don't talk much during group therapy?”

“They don't like me to.”

Sweetie sat there in silence for a moment. Game Over had gone back to pretend reading. “why don't they want you talking?”

She sighed “it hasn't worked on me. All of…” she spun her hoof in the air “this. 

“What do you mean?”

“Doesn't matter. It should work on you. I hope it does, you'll be happier that way.”

Sweetie wanted to ask more questions but the conversation had been clearly cut. She went back over to her own seat and began reading again. She was caught off guard by the staff pony calling out time for group therapy. 

They sat in a circle of fold out chairs. Everyone did a check in where they said their names and ages. They'd also each answer a question. The question was different every time. This time it was “what is your special talent?”. They went around the room, talking about their talents. Eventually everyone had said there's and the conversation had landed back with Hushed Words. She smiled “now we're going to do an exercise. We'll go through everyone's talents one by one and vote as to wether or not they are beneficial to society. Let's start with Lunar Heart.” She indicated to the light green Pegasus on her left “who thinks moth migration is beneficial to society?”

A yellow pony with an apple slice for a cutie mark raised her hand. Hushed Words indicated for her to speak. “Well… it's like the natural world right? Keeping it in balance?”

Hushed Words smiled “Can anyone tell Sunny Day why she's wrong?” 

Game Over raised her hand and Hushed Words indicated towards her “moth’s aren't agriculturally or ecologically nessisary.”

Hushed Words smiled “very good. Now about about Sweetie Bell.” She felt a pit in her stomach “She said her talent is helping others find their cutie marks, can anyone tell me why that doesn't benefit society?”

Game Over raised her hoof again “because the program eliminates the need for searching. Cutie marks are predetermined by their parents.” Sweetie Bell felt her heart sink. She had heard it before from Rarity, but not so bluntly, not in front of so many people. Hushed Words seemed pleased and moved on to the next pony. She kept Game Over to talk for a moment after the session had ended and Sweetie couldn't help but overhear.

“You've shown incredible progress in the last few sessions.”

“Happy to hear it.” Game Over sounded thoroughly monotone. 

“You're so good at remembering and understanding the material. I just wish you'd take it to heart more.” Hushed Words put her hoof on Game Over’s shoulder.

She nudged it off “yeah.”

Hushed Words sighed “well, I'm glad you seem to be improving. I'd love it if you could continue.”

She ushered her away to the study group. 

Silver spoon moved around in her chair uncomfortably. Twilight had just finished the insemination and she wasn't sure what she was supposed to be feeling. Twilight looked over her notes happily. 

“Well, you will see one of the nurses for regular check ups and then I will see you in about 10 months.”

“Thankyou.” She stared at the floor.

I'm her way home she noticed a group of fillies playing. She sat down to watch them. They were young, most of them didn't have their cutie marks yet. The one that did had a cupcake with a blue sugar sphere on top. She was the clear leader of the group, but she wasn't coarse or demanding. A mother sat beside her, a purple and blue Pegasus.

“Wich one is yours?”

“Oh- uh,” she suddenly realized it wasn't the most normal thing to watch other people's fillies play. “N-none of them actually… I'm just, thinking.”

The mother pony smiled at her “that one's mine.” She pointed to a blue and orange pegasus. Silver Spoon must have made a face because the mother laughed “doesn't look much like me, does she?”

Silver Spoon looked at the ground “sorry…”

“There's nothing to apologize for dear, it's perfectly alright.” The mother sat, watching the kids play “she's not actually mine.” Silver Spoon looked up at her, shocked “the surrogate was a good friend of ours.” She looked back at Silver Spoon “it's ok, you know. It's nothing to be ashamed of.”

Silver Spoon realized what she was saying and shook her head “no- no I'm not, that's not-” she desperately wanted to change the subject “why did you say was?”

The mother sighed “she died during child birth.” Silver Spoon’s eyes went wide. She didn't even know that still happened “we named her after her.” The Pegasus pointed to her daughter “Sun Chaser.”

Silver Spoon smiled “that's a nice name.” 

She heard the bell ring as she went into the the boutique. Rarity looked up from her current prodject, but quickly returned her focus once she knew it was Silver Spoon and not a customer. 

“How did it go?”

“Good. I think.” Silver Spoon sat down on the couch. She thought about the blood stains under the new cover. 

Rarity made a face and walked over. She sat down on the couch beside her. “what’s wrong sugar cube?”

“Does it ever feel weird? Being around people who got sterilized? I feel… guilty. That I can have kids and they can't.”

“It does.” Rarity looked into the distance “but the system is the way it is for a reason.”

“What makes me better than someone who can't have kids? The fact I was born with my cutie mark? What does that matter?!”

Rarity sighed and put her hoof on Silver Spoon's shoulder “for you it's different. You were approved for this prodject, yes, but if not for that you likely wouldn't be.”

“So there is no difference. Just that I have something Princess Twilight wants to experiment with.” her face hardened.

Rarity looked down at her, then up again into the distance “the system is the way it is for a reason.”

Pinkie felt good. Good to be trusted with something. She happily bounced down the short safe zone street to the cooking crew area. Just like everything else, it was bigger on the inside, featuring a bakery, full kitchen, cider making station. Truly you could cook anything here. Today she was alone, it wasn't a cooking crew day. But she had some important baking to do. A multi-teared vanilla cake colored blue on the inside. She smiled down at it. She hadn't made a party cake since she got here, not by herself at least. It was fun, to get back into the rhythm of things. For a moment she could almost imagine herself back at sugarcube corner. She looked out the window at her good friend Twilight. She saw her talking to someone. They were crying. She shook her head. No bad thoughts, it would get into the cake. She smiled.

“Hope I'm not late!” She walked into SpiritStar's apartment, where Cheese had been decorating. A few guests had begun to arrive.

SpiritStar ran over to her with a smile. “Nope! Just on time.” She took the cake with her magic and levitated it onto the table. 

The guests included Applejack and Apple Bloom, who waved ecstatically at Pinkie. They'd become closer, her and Applejack, with the help of Apple Bloom. Mended old fences. Applejack told her about forming the road. Finding the red sand mining family and setting up the safe zone. She still hadn't told her where the magic came from, and Pinkie didn't ask. She just listened. Listened to all the stories of the people on the road. People were more than happy to tell her, once she stopped asking. Saddle Sword, the colt with the manticore cutie mark, his parents were pregnant with their second child when the program was announced. They were late into the pregnancy, but the program demanded they go through the tests anyways. They failed. They were required to get a termination, but they refused. Ran away together with Saddle Sword and stayed in the house of some family friends a few towns away. Those friends happened to be Apples. They were some of the first people on the road, and they'd lived here for four odd years. Saddle Sword had spent nearly half of his life here. His younger sister Leather Armor was born here. Aparently the safe zone wasn't as well crafted back then. It took years to perfect and build it. This wasn't the first safe zone either. Before the apples met the red sand miners they had holed up in an abandoned town on the west end of Equestria. It got raided by enforcers after just a few months. Then they lived on the move, those small encampments the enforcers advertised. Once they found the mines their “benefactor”, they didn't know who provided the magic either, began making small pocket dimensions for them to live in. Then they got bigger as the project grew. Expanded to grow and provide food, gave way for education once it was needed, and medical care. There were nearly six hundred ponies living here, maybe forty or so children born after the program went into place. Applejack said it wasn't much, that they were trying to expand to above Equestria so they could help more folks in the north, but Pinkie found it awe inspiring. 

Fluttershy rushed out of her office and into the waiting room when she heard the commotion. A younger fillie, maybe five or six, was crying loudly as she tried to escape. The nurses held her back.

“You're lieing! She's back there, I saw her go back there!” 

“Please calm down.” Teddy spoke gently, holding the small fillie back with all her might. 

“What's going on?” Fluttershy budge her way into the middle of this fight between her staff and the fillie. 

Teddy turned to her, appreciative of the help “her mother came in with a late stage accidental pregnancy. The termination didn't go well.”

“Let me see her!” The child begged.

Fluttershy grabbed her shoulders and spun her to look at her face. She was pastel yellow and orange with small, feathery wings. “Everything is going to be ok.” the screams settled into gentler cries. Fluttershy turned to Teddy. “Where is her mother?” Teddy looked down at the floor nervously and she instantly understood what had happened “who was the doctor?” 

“Cherry.” The blue pony spoke nervously, staring at the floor “she’s being questioned in a private office. The enforcers are on their way.”

“Ok.” Fluttershy sighed and looked back at the pastel phillie “do you have a dad? Or another mother maybe?” She shook her head “anyone that takes care of you?”

“Mom takes care of me. I want to see her, why won't they let me see her.”

Fluttershy sighed “do you know why your mom was here?” 

Another negative shake. “The enforcers took her while I was at school. My neighbors told me. Please let me see her.”

Her heart sank “I'm sorry, I can't do that.”

The childish sadness turned to anger “why not?! Why won't any of you let me see her?!”

Fluttershy kept her hoof on the fillie’s shoulder. “You're mom had to have an operation done. It was an emergency, they didn't have time to get you from school.”

“An emergency?”

“Yes. Very urgent.” 

“But she's ok now, right?” Their eyes met.

“No. I'm sorry.” The sobbing started up again. 

“I've been reading this book.” Sweetie Bell sat in the group therapy circle. “It talk about why different pony types can't cross breed.”

“And you have thoughts?” Hushed Words looked at her closely.

“I- I guess I just hadn't ever considered it like that before. Me and pipsqueak, we loved each other. And it felt like all we should need was love, but there's so much more than that.” Hushed Words smiled.

“Precisely. When we think about our relationships we need to consider not only how they effect us but how they effect future generations. Crossbreeding can be very dangerous and selfish.” The other ponies in the circle nervously nodded in agreement. Then it was time for lunch. Sweetie had made friends with Sunny Day and Lunar Heart. Sunny Day was an apple family member, though very loosely. Her family had been contacted by the road and were hiding a pregnant couple for them while they tried to get a chayote. Her, her mother, her sister, and her father had all been captured by enforcers. And all sent to different Red education facilities. Kept separate to make the process go smoother.