#brotp: the clue crew

[queen-of-the-garage]

Triple Open Starter: Modifications

“Like, I don’t get why you wanted me here,” Heather’s saying, sitting at Lily’s workbench.

“Improvisation with tools if I’m missing something,” Oliver answers as they climb into the van to start on the interior.

“Typically, Sammy just passes me the stuff I point to,” Lily adds as she pops the hood.

“Great. Glorified mechanic secretary,” Heather says sarcastically as she crosses her legs.

“Y’know we love ya, lass,” Lily looks over with a smile.

“Sure,” Heather agrees, rolling her eyes and laughing. “And you know I don’t really mind it.”

“Yep,” Oliver answers with a laugh.

Heather giggles and rolls her eyes to herself when she notices someone walk into the garage from the open door. “Hiya!”

[dx-yxu-believe-in-ghxsts]

Double Open Starter: Ghost Buisness

“Okay. You know what? It’s weird,” Grayson tells Nancy as he sits down with her. “I have yet to figure out how I’m supposed to respond to the dead here at AP.”

Nancy wrinkles her nose. “Fantastic way to tell me there’s ghosts here at AP.”

“I mean, the non-student ones, specifically, yeah, there’s more than a few at any given time. The thing is, I don’t think they get what the family business technically is. Like, my dad and I are kinda hunters in a way? Except instead of full-blown banishment, we put them in a thermos long enough to toss them back through the ghost zone portal. And I don’t think I’m supposed to do that here? But it’s...”

“Your usual work, right?” Nancy chuckles. “Got it. Amateur detective, I have to remind myself constantly I don’t need to snoop on everyone at school and find out if they have any dirty secrets I could apply to a case.”

Grayson coughs. “Nancy!”

“Seriously, I’m too observant for my own good. Speaking of, how’s it going over there?” Nancy glances down the table at the student listening in to the pair. Not that the two of them had been necessarily quiet, but the other was trying to act like they weren’t listening, so. “We don’t bite.”

[nxtmyweird]

Septuple Solo Para: I’m Awake and I’m Alive

She finds Nancy sitting on top a table in the library.

Sylvia sighs and reaches out a hand to her closest friend, shivering slightly when she slips into her nightmare. Finding herself in the Jones family home. “Nance? Nancy.”

Hearing a soft whimper, her head turns and she sighs softly. Nancy had a lofted bed that she hung curtains off of to hide her computer and workspace from the world from. Usually, she kept them pulled back... unless she needed to cry.

Walking over, she pulls back the curtains, seeing Nancy curled up under her desk. “Hey. Hey, little one. What is it, what happened?”

Nancy sobs, peaking up from where her head was curled up against her knees and launching over, hugging her. “Dad and-- and Mama Daphne said-- said I wasn’t any good, that I was letting them down and letting my mom down and-- and-- and--”

Sylvia sighs and gently runs her fingers through Nancy’s hair, shaking her head. “Hey, hey, that’s not true, okay?”

“B-b-but, but--”

“Shh, no. No buts, Nancy Kate Jones. You’re one of the best in the business. People request you by name and for good reason. You know your stuff and you know what you’re doing. You know that, and I know that. And your dad and Daphne know that, too.”

“But they said, they said--”

“You’re dreaming, little one,” Sylvia brushes some of her hair back up, wiping her tears gently. “You’re just having a nightmare. There’s another evil takeover in Auradon, whoever started it cast a sleeping curse over everyone that’s been trapping them in their nightmares. It’s just a bad dream, and I’m here to help you wake up.”

Nancy sniffles, lip quivering. “How?”

“You just need to face your fears, little one. You’re just scared your dad and Daphne don’t think you’re enough but you know they do, they think you’re more than enough, and they’re so proud of you, aren’t they?”

Nancy sniffles, trembling against her, her lip quivering.

“Your dad helped you build those shelves you keep all your trophies from your cases on, right?”

Nancy sniffles and nods.

“He wouldn’t do that if he wasn’t proud of your accomplishments, little one. It’s okay, Nance, we all know how good you are.”

Nancy sniffles, but nods slowly...

And in a blink she’s in the library as Nancy sits up, rubbing her neck... turning to Sylvia and hugging her tightly with a sniffle. “Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me yet. We gotta find the others. Where would Sammy be?”

And that’s how they find themselves heading for Sammy’s room, and Sylvia tries the door. “It’s locked.”

“Not for long,” Nancy answers, getting into her bag and grabbing her lockpicking set.

In a moment, the two are in, finding Sammy asleep with part of her closet on her bed. Coordinating that week’s outfits, of course. Sylvia sighs, walking over and brushing Sammy’s hair from her face...

Finding herself... once again in Sammy’s room, but without the closet spread on her bed. Turning to Sammy’s makeshift vanity, Sylvia suppresses a laugh. Of course it’s something like this. “Hey, bug.”

Sammy whips around, tears rolling down her face and trying to cover her head. “No, no, don’t look at me, it’s awful!”

“Sammy,” Sylvia can’t help the chuckle that escapes her. “It’s not that bad.”

“It is!” Sammy whines. “Nothing is working on it!! Sylvia, it’s awful. I can’t do it!”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, you’re just having a nightmare.” Walking over, Sylvia picks up a hair brush from Sammy’s vanity and pulls up a chair, brushing it for the sake of keeping her hands busy more than for the sake of trying to fix anything. “Someone cast a sleeping curse over Auradon. It’s just a bad dream, bug, not a real bad hair day. I promise.”

Sammy sniffles, peaking at her in the mirror. “...yeah?”

“Yeah,” Sylvia chuckles softly. “Your hair is fine. It’s just a bad dream. Everyone’s been trapped in their worst nightmares, from what I’ve seen. The only way to wake up has been to face them, or internalize that things aren’t as bad as they seem or you’ve imagined.”

“...how many of these have you seen?”

“A few. I woke up my friends Sam and Melinda, and Lillian of all people, then I got Nancy and we came to find you.”

“...this is just embarrassing for me, isn’t it?”

“A little,” Sylvia chuckles. “It’s okay, bug. I kinda had it figured your nightmare might be something along these lines.”

Reaching out, she boops Sammy’s nose, making her laugh weakly. Smiling, Sylvia sighs, getting the mess of red hair to lay flat at least. “So. Facing your nightmare.”

“...wait,” Sammy pouts, picking up a hat off her vanity and pulling it on, which only barely covers the damage. She frowns in the mirror... but sighs, nodding, grabbing her bag and forcing herself out the door...

Sylvia blinks and smiles, finishing brushing Sammy’s hair back from her face as the girl wakes up, mumbling, rubbing her eyes.

“Tell no one,” she warns, and Sylvia nods with a laugh, smiling.

“C’mon, bug. We’ve got some friends to find.”

In the garage, if it weren’t for the sleeping curse, Sylvia would have a hard time believing anyone was asleep. Lily had been blasting rock music and was sound asleep in front of her toolbox-- probably grabbing something when the curse hit.

Sylvia walks over and kneels down gently, reaching up and grabbing her shoulder...

She’s... in a park? Sylvia turns and finds Lily sitting blankly on the swings. Going over, she drops into the swing beside her. “Hiya.”

Lily looks up and looks at her, and that’s how Sylvia sees that the girl has definitely been crying, though she isn’t now, and just looks... angry, which is normal. “Mind telling me what’s going on? Where are we, peanut?”

There’s a pause as Lily eyeballs her before sighing. “Park near my house. No one really uses it at this hour.”

“Why are we here?” Sylvia cocks her head.

“My stepmother kicked me out of the house,” Lily looks away from her and chucks the pebble she’d picked up at the dirt. “I don’t know what’s going on. She just went off on me about how terrible and ungrateful I am and threw me out. Said I’ll never see my dad again.”

Sylvia nods. “Well, peanut, the good news is, this is a nightmare. It’s not real. You’re in a sleeping curse. The bad news is, I’m not sure which part you’re actually afraid of, because the way to wake up is to face your fears.”

Lily looks at her, raising an eyebrow. Sylvia nods. Lily sighs and shrugs. “Well, isn’t it obvious? It’s about Audrey being evil, how’m I supposed to face that?”

“Well, yes and no,” Sylvia shakes her head. “I know you pretty well, Lily, and I... don’t think you’re actually scared of Audrey being evil. I think you’d find that easier, because then hating her makes sense.”

“What else would it be?” Lily snarks.

“You’re afraid of losing your dad,” Sylvia answers simply. “He’s your entire life, anybody who knows you knows that. You’re... peanut, you wanna be scared of your stepmother being evil, but that’s not what bothers you about her. You just wanna know she’s not gonna take your dad from you.”

Lily sniffles, tearing up again. “Shut up-- no! No, it’s just her being evil, it’s just my stepmother being a real monster, it’s--”

“Aw, Lily,” Sylvia reaches out, pulling their swings together just to hug her. “It’s okay, it’s okay.”

Lily sniffles, burrowing into her. “I just don’t know where I’d be without him, I don’t know what I’d do, I-- I--”

“Shh, I know, I know. But listen to me. You know no one’s going to take him from you, right? Not even her. She’s been in your life for, what, 15 years now? Peanut, you have every right to choose not to like her, but I just need you to know she’s never gonna take him from you. Your dad wouldn’t let her. You’re as much his world as he is yours. He’ll never ever leave you. Okay? He’ll leave her before he leaves you.”

Lily sniffles, nodding, crying harder...

And Sylvia blinks, registering the loud rock music again and wincing, smiling as Lily wakes up, though.

Sammy skids over and hugs her best friend, and Lily sniffles, clearing her throat, laughing. “You don’t wanna do that, I was working before I passed out, I’m probably greasy.”

“I don’t care,” Sammy says, hugging her.

Sylvia smiles softly, and then addresses Lily. “Can you keep these two safe? I gotta find the others.

“Aye, I can do that,” Lily nods, motioning Nancy over. “Keep in touch, let us know if you’re in danger.”

“Will do,” Sylvia smiles and hurries out of the garage.

Sylvia finds Grayson in the cafeteria. Probably looking for a snack to get through his studying, knowing him. She sighs as she reaches out to him...

And is surprised to find herself in what she assumes must be his family home, heading for-- “WHAT are you DOING?”

Grayson yelps, looking back from the old portal to the ghost zone and blinking. “Sylvia? How did you find me?”

“You’re asleep, pumpkin, you’re having a nightmare, you’re still on campus at Auradon Pr-- no, you don’t get to distract me right now, what are you about to do?” Sylvia grabs his arm and pulls him away.

“Nightmare?” He bites his lip. “...promise?”

“I promise,” Sylvia squeezes his hands. “Did you see the sky go dark before whatever happened to you happened?”

He nods. She nods. “Someone cast a sleeping curse over Auradon. I opened my eyes and found myself at the kitchen counter of my family home like Auradon didn’t exist. You’re just having a nightmare, pumpkin, but I ask again, what the hell were you doing?”

Grayson sniffles and rubs his eyes, pulling uncomfortably at the suit his grandparents had made him to explore the ghost zone. “I... I thought my ghost side was... gone. I couldn’t go ghost and-- and you guys all left me, and my dad gave up on me and stopped spending time with me and my grandparents didn’t care about me anymore and--”

He sniffles, motioning to the ghost zone. “I thought if I stepped through I might... might end up like dad. More half-dead than quarter-dead but... but then everyone would... would come back...”

Sylvia sighs and hugs him tightly. “Aw, pumpkin. You know we don’t care about that, right? Not us, not the Clue Crew. You’re ours, we don’t care at all about that, you’re still our friend and a great detective even without being part-ghost.”

“...yeah?”

“Yeah,” Sylvia smiles at him. “And your parents don’t care. They don’t. You have to remember how much of a miracle it is that someone who’s half-dead could even conceive. There’s no way they would love you any less if you lost your ghost powers. Your mom’s not part-ghost, did she have any trouble helping your dad?”

He shakes his head. She nods with a smile. “Exactly. No one cares about the ghost aspect. We love you, pumpkin, as you are.”

He nods, hugging her tightly...

...and blinks slowly reaching back to the back of his head as he sits up. Sylvia pulls back and smiles. “You okay?”

“I think I hit my head,” he admits... before turning to his shadowy form and back again, smiling. “But I’m okay.”

Sylvia nods, helping him up. “Still gotta find Heather and Oliver.”

“I think I know where Heather is,” he says, and she nods, motioning for him to lead the way.

And, he’s right, they find Heather asleep by her locker with the door open. Thank god WOOHP hadn’t gone looking for her. Sylvia sighs and kneels down, gently brushing Heather’s hand out of her face...

...blinking in confusion as she looks around the unfamiliar bedroom. Hearing rustling in the closet, she steps over to it but it opens quickly before she has the chance to open it herself, finding Heather in a frenzy as she slings a bag over her shoulder. “Sylvia? Nevermind, we gotta go, like, now--” the blonde grabs her arm and drags her to the window.

“Heather, what’s going on?”

“What’s going on is I lost my clearance, and we gotta go before WOOHP catches up with me to erase my memories, Sylvia, please, c’mon!” Heather opens her window and half climbs out it.

Sylvia sighs as she follows after her. “Oh, baby, you’re okay--”

“Not for long!”

“No, I mean-- this isn’t real. Heather, you’re having a nightmare. Someone cast a sleeping curse over Auradon--”

“Explain on the run!” Heather grabs her arm and pulls her out the window, running over to her car. Sylvia sighs and follows after her.

As they’re heading down the road, Heather holds up a hand. “Okay, so like, you say this isn’t real?”

“About as real as me waking up at the kitchen counter at home and finding Auradon didn’t exist, yeah. You’re asleep, baby, this isn’t real.”

“Okay, but like-- but like, what if, like, you’re wrong? I can’t, I totally just, this is my life, I can’t just, like, let it go.”

“Heather, baby, I promise. I found you asleep in front of your locker with Grayson, and when I grabbed your arm, I found myself in your dream. You’re asleep, you really are,” she sighs. “You have to face your fears to wake up. So you’re afraid of losing your clearance, losing your memories of your spy work?”

“Yeah...” She sniffles. “I love being a spy, I love how things are, I know that’s stupid but it’s just-- it’s like, really fun and I just, like, if I’m not that then I’m just...”

“Another dumb blonde,” Sylvia realizes, and Heather nods, sniffling, crying. “Baby, pull over. I don’t wanna find out if we can get hurt in dreams like this.”

Heather sniffles but nods and complies, pulling off to the side of the road and sobbing. “Sylvia, I’m scared. I don’t wanna just be some ditz from Beverly Hills like everyone thinks. I’m so much more but like, if this happens...”

Sylvia sighs, reaching over and playing with her hair. “It’s okay, baby, it’s okay. I know, you’re scared, but you know something? You are so much smarter than you realize, even without the spy stuff. You know what? That’s just like Sammy. She’s not a detective, she’s not some kickass badass fighter. She’s just a diva, and we love her, and we love you. You are more than a spy, Heather, you always have been, I promise.”

Heather sniffles, shaking her head. “But-- but-- but, I’m not, I’m--”

Sylvia sighs, rubbing her arm. “Shh, you are, you always have been. You haven’t always been a spy, but you’ve always been Heather, and you are loved just as Heather. You can still be so much even if you weren’t a spy. I know you could be, because I know you, Heather. I know you.”

Heather sniffles, sobbing leaning over to hug her...

And Sylvia smiles down at the girl as she wakes up in front of her locker, sitting up, blinking and rubbing her eyes. “Like, ow.”

“Yeah, figures,” Sylvia chuckles, helping her up.

“Ohmygod, like, Sammy--”

“Actually, she’s okay. I woke Sammy, Nancy, and Lily, and they’re in the garage. We’re gonna get Oliver and head to join them and come up with something, okay?” Sylvia smiles.

Heather sighs and nods as Grayson helps her up, taking deep breaths. “Okay. So, like, let’s do this.”

Oliver is shockingly difficult to find, but when they manage to locate them, Sylvia chuckles softly, seeing they’d fallen asleep replaying a certain song. Of course. Walking over, she gently sets a hand on their shoulder.

Oh. Oh this is... yeah, she’d call this one a nightmare. “What in the hell?”

Someone grabs her arm and pulls her down. Sylvia squeaks and looks over at... “Oliver? Jinkies, sunshine, you scared me. What’s going on?”

“You should be scared,” is all he mutters, looking up and watching the sky. “I don’t know what happened, but someone altered history again, and someone went against my grandpa’s wishes.”

“What do you mean?” Sylvia sighs. Easier to resolve a fear if she strikes at the core of it, unfortunately.

“It’s complicated--? Come on,” and Oliver pulls her along quickly to an alleyway. “So, my grandfather, in one version of the timeline, created a robotic bowler hat that was supposed to help someone get ready in the mornings, but, the original variant became... sentient, and evil. DOR15 was supposed to be shut down and locked up as another failure, but... wasn’t off, and escaped. She planned to destroy my grandfather for abandoning her, humanity for existing and my family just to make my grandpa suffer, but... when he was a kid, my dad went back in time, found my grandpa as a kid, brought him back to fix things, and... eventually, my grandpa as a kid, vowed to never invent the hat and fixed the timeline entirely. DOR15′s evil plans never came to be, which meant my family was spared from her mind control based wrath. Except. Somehow. The timeline was altered again. And this is the result.”

He pulls her into a very abandoned looking building. Probably condemned, if she had to guess. “How did you escape? Are you okay?”

“Well... that’s just it,” Sylvia sighs. “This isn’t real. You’re asleep, you’re having a nightmare. Auradon’s under a sleeping curse, sunshine, I promise this isn’t real.”

Oliver blinks, looking at her, then at the door, shaking his head. “I don’t believe you.”

“Hey, sunshine, it’s me,” Sylvia takes his hand. “It’s me. I promise. You’re just asleep. Everything’s fine-- well, evil takeover, sleeping curse, everyone’s trapped in their nightmares-- but everything’s fine. This isn’t real.” She shakes her head softly as she says that, smiling at him.

They bite their lip and look at the door again. Reaching up, Sylvia turns their head away. “It’s okay, it’s okay. You just want your family to be okay, right? I know, I know. But I promise you it’s just a nightmare. It’s not real, your family is fine. You’re safe. You’re safe.”

They sniffle and hug her tightly. Sylvia smiles, hugging them back, rubbing their back. “Come on, realistically, who’s ever gonna look at your grandpa’s story and try to make that hat again? Who’s ever gonna take that story and go, ‘I’m sure it’ll be fine, I can do it and this won’t happen’? Nobody, sunshine, nobody is gonna do that, is gonna do this. I promise. I promise.”

Oliver sighs, nodding slowly, smiling weakly...

...Sylvia chuckles when they jolt awake. “Morning. Well, afternoon. If you can even believe that. C’mon, we’d better get back to the garage. Nancy, Sammy, and Lily are already there. We’ll work something out from th--”

“Eretria,” he interrupts, looking around between the three and shaking his head anxiously. “No, no, I gotta-- I gotta wake Eretria first. I’ll meet you, okay? The garage? I’ll meet you. Go on back, I’ll be there, just go.” He gets his stuff together quickly.

“Oliver--” Sylvia starts.

“Go! I’ll join you, it’ll be fine,” they smile at their friends before heading out abruptly.

Sylvia sighs, flinging a hand at the door, shaking her head. Heather rubs her shoulders. “He’ll be okay.”

“Yeah, it’s Oliver,” Grayson agrees. “They’ll probably come back with snacks and half a dozen unfinished plans they borrowed from their sister. C’mon, we should meet up with the girls.”

Sylvia sighs and nods, worried.

[its-lxcked]

Septuple Solo Para: Well, Gang...

“Sammy, I mean it, I don’t care that we’re in Auradon. There’s no way in hell you’re gonna convince me a place is really haunted,” Sylvia is saying as Nancy walks over to sit with them at lunch.

“Look, I’m just sharing the rumor. Oh, hang on-- Heather!! Over here!!” Sammy waves to her new friend, gesturing to the seat she’d saved, smiling at her sister as well. “Hey, Nance. I was just telling Sylvia about the thing I texted you about.”

“The haunted, condemned house?” Nancy asks, because Sammy texts her about literally everything.

“Like, the what?” Heather asks as she sits down with Sammy, before remembering her manners. “Oh, right, like, I’m Heather, so totally nice to meet you. What’s up with the haunted house?”

“Nancy, Sam’s older sister, and that’s Sylvia. Sylvia and I are part-time amateur detectives, so when thinks get wonky, they usually get swung our way.” Nancy nods a bit with a half-hearted wave with a soda in her hand, before taking a swig.

“She’s also leaving out that neither of us believe in ghosts,” Sylvia adds on.

A tall boy walking by catches himself and staggers backwards at that comment. “Sorry, couldn’t help but overhear. You don’t believe in ghosts?”

“Uh, no, I really don’t,” Sylvia shrugs. “It’s always someone faking terrifying stuff just to keep nosy people away or to get insurance money for something. At the end of the day, Nancy and I unmask the bad guys and they go to jail.”

“Well, that’s not very fun. Mind if I pull up a seat?” He’s asking, but he swings his legs around a seat anyways with the girls. “I’m Grayson Fenton. 1/4 ghost myself.”

Nancy chokes on her soda, coughing for a moment. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Yeah, it’s a bit of a story, but the long story short is that an accident in my ghost-obsessed grandparents’ lab half-killed my dad. He and I can both transform between a solid form and...”

Grayson suddenly turns into a shadowy figure of himself, reaching out and passing his arm through the table before switching back and bringing his arm back up to rest on the table. “...well, my dad’s ghost form looks more humanoid than mine does, but you get the picture. Our job is to keep ghosts from wreaking havoc on the mortal world by making sure they stay confined to the ghost zone.”

Sylvia is sitting there, open-mouthed and looking completely and utterly horrified. Finally, finally, she chokes out a simple, “What?”

Grayson shrugs as Lily sits down across from Sammy, reading the looks on the other four girls’ faces. “What happened?”

“He’s a ghost,” Sammy points to Grayson.

Lily pauses and shrugs. “That’s Auradon for you, I guess.”

“One-quarter,” Grayson corrects. “And my job is to catch actual ghosts. Our gear for that is more than a little... unconventional. Like, check this out.” He pulls his Fenton Thermos out of his backpack. “This actually is meant to pull in ghosts and trap them for later release in the ghost zone. I’m... obviously not in the position to demonstrate it, as the only nearby even slightly ghostly entity.”

“That’s ingenious inventing,” says a boy looking over Grayson’s shoulder, forgetting that boundaries are a thing.

Grayson jumps. “Whoa! Do you mind?”

“Huh? Oh, sorry, my bad. Oliver Robinson,” is the response, extending his hand to Grayson.

“...Grayson Fenton,” he finally meets, shaking the other’s hand, glancing at the girls, who all shrug simultaneously.

Nancy nods to the last open seat at their table. “You’re welcome to join us, Oliver. We just go severely off topic. We were on the haunted house.”

Oliver raises an eyebrow as he sits down. “We were on the what now?”

“I’m with him, but you have my interest,” Lily offers, sitting up a bit.

“Oh, there’s this rumor about some super haunted building on the outskirts of the city, guess the building got condemned but they weren’t able to tear it down because something kept stopping them whenever they tried. The theory goes it was the house’s original builder and owner,” Sammy explains.

“Okay, no, yeah, I am definitely in camp ‘random homeless man living in a condemned space and trying to keep people from tearing down his home’,” Sylvia instantly says, before munching on a carrot stick.

“That’s just it, they can’t find any evidence at all that there’s anyone in the house,” Sammy says. “I just thought it was cool.”

Nancy shrugs a bit. “I mean, I haven’t had a good mystery in a while. Or adventure as a whole.”

“Told you should’ve come to Annapolis,” Sylvia grumbles under her breath.

“Like, what happened in Annapolis?” Heather looks at Sylvia innocently.

Sylvia chokes on her carrot stick, holding up a hand and coughing and sputtering for a minute. “Absolutely nothing major, but it was a change of scenery.”

Nancy rolls her eyes. “What I’m trying to say is...”

...and that’s how, hours later, seven kids pile out of the van Sylvia had driven them over in, walking up the overgrown path as the sun sets behind them to an empty house.

“Okay, just because I brought it up doesn’t mean I wanted to tag along,” Sammy is grumbling a bit as Nancy passes out flashlights to the rest of them.

Heather nods. “Like, could we have at least come out here during the day?”

“Well, last I checked, we’re all going to school, so, not really, no,” Nancy points out. “C’mon, where’s your sense of adventure?”

“Nonexistent,” Sammy points out, still grumbling as her sister pushes the flashlight into her hands.

“C’mon, it’ll be quick,” Grayson shrugs. “I have a ghost sense. I get a specific chill when there’s a ghost nearby. You’ll even be able to see my breath. Then after this I think we can pester Sylvia enough to stop for ice cream.”

Sylvia rolls her eyes, clicking her flashlight on and pushing on the front door, shining her light in as it creaks open, not locked. “Ooh, that’s a sign. I don’t like that.”

Though it does lean more towards her theory that someone’s been coming and going. She presses on in and the others follow after her, with Heather taking up the rear of the group and taking a moment as the others fan out inside to look back over her shoulder and around outside to make sure there’s no threats out there before she follows them in.

Lily holds up a stick she’d grabbed from outside on her way up to the porch, using it to gather up some cobwebs and pull them out of the way. “This place does look pretty empty, I have to say.”

“Huh, that’s odd,” Nancy’s saying from another corner, poking her head around the corner of a doorway and then looking back in.

“What’s odd?” Sammy jumps at every little creak and casts a panicked look to her sister.

“The proportions of the rooms here. Almost like...”

Oliver walks over, knocking against the wall Nancy’s staring at and getting back a hollow thunk. “Oh, definitely a hidden passageway. Welcome to Auradon, older builds are bound to have them.”

“Yeah, but that’s like, castles and stuff, isn’t it?” Heather looks curious.

“Well, there’s gotta be a way to open it from here,” Sylvia takes charge. “Fan out, start pulling on things, especially things that would normally look like solid fixtures on the wall.”

Grayson pauses, then swaps to his ghost form and walks through the wall. After a second, the wall slides open slowly, and Grayson shines his flashlight out at them, his hand pressed against a button on the wall. “...found the trigger.”

Nancy laughs. “Score! All the rewards, half the effort. I like you. Let’s go.”

Sylvia grumbles under her breath. Sammy shines her flashlight in and squeals. “Ew!!! Ew, ew, ew, I am absolutely not going in there!”

Nancy sighs. “Fine, then we’ll split up. I’ll take Grayson and Lily and we’ll see where the tunnel leads. The rest of you can search the rest of the house. Sound good?”

The others nod, and Sylvia immediately starts to the stairs as Nancy presses onward. Heather sighs and sets a hand on Sammy’s shoulder. “I totally get it, don’t worry. Thank you for saying something, I didn’t wanna look like a wuss in front of a bunch of people who don’t know me.”

Sammy shrugs and heads towards a door on her right, underneath the stairs. Heather follows after her as Oliver heads up after Sylvia.

Sylvia had found an old bedroom and was just about to walk out when her foot nudges a floorboard, popping it right off. Glancing down, she blinks at the sigh of a box inside, kneeling down and picking it up, opening it up and gasping in shock. “Jinkies!”

“What?” Oliver walks over, peering over her shoulder at the box and letting out a low whistle. “Woooooow.”

“So, what do you think is going to be at the end of this?” Grayson asks, from the back of the pack.

“Could just be an emergency exit from the house,” Lily says in the middle, shining her light along the walls.

“I doubt that, though,” Nancy says, hanging a right with the tunnel and coming to a set of stairs leading down. “Oh, I definitely doubt it now.”

Carefully, she presses her foot on the first step, testing her weight against it and then stepping down. “They seem safe.”

“That’s reassuring,” Lily remarks dryly, but follows behind her nonetheless.

At the bottom of the stairs, they come upon a locked door. Nancy glances to Grayson, who passes through the door but then comes right back. “Nope. That’s actually a really, really complicated looking lock on the other side. More like a puzzle than a lock.”

Nancy nods and gets into her bag, producing her lockpicking tools. “Then this calls for plan B.”

“So, how often do you do this stuff?” Lily asks as she keeps her light balanced on the lock when Nancy kneels to break in the old fashioned way.

“I’ve been on cases since I was a little kid. It’s fairly regular work, I guess. You’re the mechanic, right?”

“Aye, that’s me,” Lily notes with pride, smiling a bit. “Your sister speaks highly of you, y’know.”

“She talks about you a lot, too,” Nancy remarks, pausing when she hears a click. “There we go.”

Pushing the door open, she gasps. “Oh, my, god.”

Sammy sighs as she runs her fingers over the desk in the study she and Heather had found. “I know the place is condemned and stuff, but if Sylvia and Nance are right and the problem is just a squatter, you’d think they’d do a little better job cleaning up the place. This is just gross.”

“Hey, like, take a look at this,” Heather responds, turning around with a paper in her hands that she’d picked up from an end table beside an armchair. “These are, like, financial records. And they’re, like, recent, too. The name’s torn off.”

“What? Let me see,” Sammy walks over, taking the paper from her friend and reading over them by the light of her flashlight. “Yikes. Whoever these belong to, they’re not doing so well. Wonder how these got here.”

Both girls share a look when they hear some floorboards creak behind them. A hand on her shoulder causes Heather to whip around and deck the strange man who’d grabbed her, and Sammy screams.

Sylvia and Oliver’s heads shoot up at the scream downstairs, and Sylvia frantically shoves the box they’d found into her bag as they tear back downstairs to find the girls, discovering Heather holding down a guy who’s grumbling beneath her heel.

“Who the hell are you?!” Sylvia snaps, now very suspicious given what she and Oliver found upstairs. He glares at them and doesn’t answer. Sylvia rolls her eyes. “I’m gonna see if I can get reception outside.”

“No need,” Oliver says, holding up a finger.

“Do you have cell service in here?” Sylvia raises an eyebrow.

“No, but I’m a Robinson. I don’t need cell service.” They come back with a small metal sphere from their pocket, hitting some buttons on the screen part and causing it to let out a soft, steady beep. “My dad’ll pick up on that and call the police and give them our location. We should check on the others, though. We can’t be sure this guy’s alone.”

“I’ve got him contained,” Heather says, pressing her heel into his back further to drive the point home. “Go.”

Sylvia and Oliver nod, and Oliver hands the small ball to Sammy before he and Sylvia head back to the secret passageway.

Nancy stares in shock at the bodies before them. Probably other people like the kids, nosy about the alleged haunting, who got too close to something. Though she’s not sure how to judge what would be considered “too close”. Grayson stays back in the doorway to make sure no one can sneak up on them from the tunnel or shut them in, but she and Lily press onward into the room. “I...”

“Nancy, I’m not the detective, but I don’t think that all of these bodies have come from just the past few months since the building was condemned,” Lily murmurs.

Nancy looks over to where Lily’s pointing her flashlight, at the skeletized remains beyond the first three they’d seen upon walking in. “I think you’re right.”

“We need to get out of here,” Lily says. “Before we’re next.”

“I concur with that one,” Grayson says from the door, but then looks up. “Someone’s coming.”

The girls look up and rush to join him at the doorway, relaxing when they see the two people who descend the stairs. Sylvia sighs. “Hey, there you guys are. Everyone okay?”

“We are. What happened up there?”

“Some guy tried to attack Heather and Sammy. Not sure exactly what happened, but Heather had him ground with a foot against his back. We came down here to get you. What’s in there?” Sylvia stretches up on her toes to peer over.

“We need to get back up there. NOW.” Nancy says, shoving through the group and taking the stairs two at a time back up the tunnel.

Oliver’s about to ask questions when he sees the bodies at the same moment as Sylvia, the two taking off after Nancy with Lily on their heels. Grayson glances back one last time before going ghost and shooting straight back up into the main house and then follows the sounds of a scuffle to find Sammy and Heather, Heather grappling with the girls’ would-be assailant.

As the others skid in, Sylvia draws her taser, trying to get a good lock on the guy. Heather seems to notice this and flips them into a position that only seems unfavorable to her for a moment. Sylvia nods and fires, locking the guy up and givine Heather a shot to properly restrain him.

Sammy still looks entirely stressed out. “This is why I hate the mystery business.”

“Okay, what is going on around here?” Oliver asks, not noticing Nancy over at the desk.

“That’s an excellent question, kid,” comes a voice, and the seven look over at the new person in the door. He holds up a badge. “Auradon PD. We got a call from one Wilbur Robinson regarding his son and some kind of emergency beacon?”

“That’d be me,” Oliver holds up his hand, reaching out and reclaiming the beacon from Sammy to deactivate it. “Oliver Robinson. I alerted my dad to our location when we caught this guy after he tried to attack Heather and Sammy.”

Sylvia looks up from where she’s been reading over Nancy’s shoulder. “Officer, I think I’ve just about got it all figured out.”

He and the others turn their lights to her. Nancy holds up the journal she’d been reading from. “This was left here by the original homeowner. He was a private man, and he had every reason to be. He was a cat burglar. Most of the money and jewels he stole were sunk into building his private residence, with a room to hide some of his bigger pieces hidden from any prying eyes. He even writes he plans to allow himself to die in there to throw off anyone daring hunt for his treasures. That’s the skeleton Lily and I found in the basement.”

“But he didn’t hide the most precious pieces with them,” Sylvia picks up. “Those were kept separate, somewhere he chose not to write down. I’m talking a minor fortune for any kingdom or any individual in jewels. He wrote of them, but not where they were hidden. Our new friend here was sabotaging the efforts of the city to tear down this house for fear the jewels would be lost forever, or unearthed by city workers and given to the museum. What I can’t figure out is why--”

“The financial slip!” Sammy exclaims, picking up that paper from where she’d dropped it. “Heather and I found this before the guy snuck up on us. The name’s missing, but whoever it belongs to is in financial ruins. Finding any of the original owner’s treasure would bail him out from a debt he could never ever escape otherwise.”

The officer looks impressed. “You kids are pretty good at this thing. But, I do have one last question. Where’s the missing jewelry?”

“I found it,” Sylvia says, reaching into her bag and pulling out the box she and Oliver had found upstairs. “I knocked into a loose floorboard in one of the bedrooms upstairs and this was under it.”

She opens it up, revealing the jewelry inside it to the group under the light of a collection of flashlights. Sylvia adds, “Like I said, minor fortune. Enough to buy your way out of debt, or... disappear and never be seen again.”

“Well, now, that’s impressive,” he says, in shock, but not really moving for anything else, staring at the box in Sylvia’s hands.

Nancy notices, instantly getting a bad feeling. “Officer, where’s your backup?”

The instant Nancy asks that question, he scowls, and that’s all Sylvia needs. She slams the box shut and tosses it to Grayson, who grips it tightly and focuses, turning both it and himself into a ghost and shooting outside the house with it towards the van.

Heather yelps as the guy breaks loose from her at last and ducks his swing, scowling. “I’ve just about had it with this.”

“I hate detective work!” Sammy yells as Lily brushes in front of her, trying to get them both out the door.

Sylvia scowls when the fake officer bears down on her. “Oh, hell no, I did not just survive Annapolis for a dirty cop and a wannabe crook to beat me.” She kicks him right between the legs and then shoves him over as Heather knocks aside the crook, and the rest of the group flees out the front door to the van.

Lily slides into the driver’s seat without even debating it, barely giving them time to all get in before she’s backing out, and Oliver slams the door shut behind him as they get into the road and screech off towards the police station.

As they get away from the house, Sylvia gets into a call in the backseat to get on with the station properly, saying something quieter at first and then speaking up rapidly as she looks behind them and sees the police car coming in hot after them, flying through a rushed explanation of the situation at hand.

Heather suddenly pulls out a star-shaped bottle of perfume, and Nancy notices. “IS NOW THE TIME FOR A PICK-ME-UP TO YOUR BEAUTY ROUTINE?!”

“Not at all,” Heather answers, reaching back and opening the back door and aiming outwards at the way-too-close cop car, spraying at it. The liquid that comes out immediately freezes the car, including the tires, and the two occupants are thrust forward at their windshield in the abrupt stop. Heather reaches out and slams the van door back shut, taking a deep breath. “I knew that one would come in handy.”

She looks back at her fellow passengers, who are no longer staring, and there are 5 and a half (Lily mainly keeps her eyes on the road) pairs of eyes on her. “I’ll tell the story once this is over with.”

When Lily pulls them up to the station, Grayson hands the jewelry box back to Sylvia and the gang heads inside, meeting up with officers who were appraised of the situation and giving them the rundown on everything they had uncovered and discovered at the house. It takes a while to get everyone’s individual statements, but soon, the kids are let go... after getting to see their two would-be attackers brought into the station in cuffs, anyways.

Back in the van, Sylvia reclaims the keys to drive them back to the school, but everyone else is looking at Heather, who sighs.

“Okay. So, like... I’m a spy. I work for an agency called the World Organization of Human Protection, or WOOHP for short. Our mission is to keep the world safe from crazy supervillains with convoluted evil world domination plans, and we also work in security details for world leaders. WOOHP is trying to establish ties here in Auradon, and one of the ways they did that was by sending an agent undercover into the country to help keep everyone at home appraised of things that are happening here so we can offer aid in the biggest situations. What you saw in action back there was the Ice Queen Perfume, which is just liquid nitrogen in a bottle, essentially, that instantly freezes whatever it comes into contact with when sprayed. All my gadgets are made to look like typical teenage girl stuff so that, like, if someone found my spy stuff, they wouldn’t know what they found.”

Sylvia casts a glance at Heather in the mirror. WOOHP. She’d run into them in Annapolis, too, and they’d tried recruiting her before. But she wasn’t interested in that.

Though she wonders if Heather might have been the agent they met in Annapolis. Just briefly. Then, she pulls the van into a parking spot at the school, killing the engine and... sitting there.

They all do, for a minute. Nobody moves to get out, and nobody says anything for a long minute.

Then, Nancy clears her throat. “We made a great team back there.”

“Yeah,” Grayson says. “I mean... it was actually kinda...”

“Fun,” Oliver finishes the thought, and the others all nod in agreement.

Sammy bites her lip, then closes her eyes and clears her throat. “I’m gonna hate saying this, but... let’s do this again, guys. I hate the mystery business, but that was... fun.”

“I’m in if you’re in,” Heather says instantly.

Lily nods. “Aye. Count me in, too.”

“I’m down,” Nancy says, as Oliver and Sylvia both nod in agreement as well. All heads turn to Grayson, who sighs, and sticks his hand out into the center of the group.

“Let’s do this.”

The others pile their hands in on top of his quickly. Sammy pauses. “Okay, but guys, we need a name.”

“Can’t be Mystery Inc.,” Sylvia jokes. “That’s kinda taken.”

“Mystery Gang?” Oliver volunteers.

Nancy wrinkles her nose. “Nah, too similar to our parents. The Clue Gang?”

“No, no, wait,” Heather says. “Like, what about... The Clue Crew?”

The others look at each other at that and nod. Sylvia laughs. “On three. One... two...”

On three, they all break with a dorky exclamation of, “The Clew Crew!”

[dxxrs-xpen]

Double Open Starter: Here We Go Again

Sammy sighs and huffs a bit, blowing some hair out of her face. “Y’know what? I still can’t believe I’m doing this.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Sylvia chuckles. “Got it, bug?”

“Got it,” Sammy says, stapling up the poster advertising the Clue Crew’s services. They were starting on campus since they’d gotten permission before they headed out to town. Lily had wanted to do a service check on the van Sylvia had gotten them, so it was a way to kill time.

“But, seriously, I’ve always hated detective work. Remind me why I’m here?” Sammy frowns as she looks back at Sylvia.

“Because you love your sister,” Sylvia answers, smiling. “C’mon, one last bulletin board on-campus and we’re gonna go check in on how Lily’s doing.”

But as the girls turn, Sylvia jumps in surprise and Sammy gasps with a squeak at the person who’d come up behind them without their noticing. “You startled us,” Sammy laughs. “Can we help you?”

[txtally-heather]

Open Starter: Getting Started

“So, what do you think?” Nancy asks the group of the poster sitting on the table in front of all of them.

“I mean, it looks nice,” Sammy answers.

Nancy wrinkles her nose. “I sense a ‘but’.”

“But, you don’t really expect posters hanging around a school campus to attract cases to us, do you?” Sammy shrugs. “I mean, what we did was great, even I’ll admit it, I just think...”

“I have to agree. It’s not like people with serious mysteries to resolve are looking for their detectives on the campus of a prep school,” Sylvia admits. “Nancy, I get called to consult on things all the time. Maybe we can get things that way instead.”

“You guys are such pessimists. The only way to know if something will work or not is by giving it a shot,” Oliver looks at the rest of them. “I say it doesn’t hurt to try.”

“Excuse me,” Heather turns to a student who’d been watching the debate. “Like, we need an outside opinion regarding a group business matter, do you think you could, like, maybe help settle a debate?”

[nxttheendxfthestxryarch2]

Closed Starter: Happy Haunts (Clue Crew/Aoife)

“FINALLY!” Grayson’s practically vibrating as the Clue Crew gets in line.

Sylvia smiles to herself and reaches out to him. “Well, come on, pumpkin.”

He laughs and jogs up to her, following them in... bouncing off at the entrance and frowning to himself. “Huh. Let me try that again.”

Walking up carefully this time, he starts to walk through... and bounces back again. “Hmm.”

As he’s trying again, Sylvia frowns to herself, softly turning to a cast member. “Excuse me. Do you sage or do any form of warding to keep... er,” she pauses. Have to word this right, Disney magic and all. “To keep your residents protected from the less friendly spirits?”

@bxrn-thc-pxgcs​

[thedetectivessay]

Highlights from the Fan Meeting

(took longer than planned. sorry..)

So, there were definitely A LOT of people watching during the event. At one point, it reached 26k viewers - but it could have been higher than that. They were also broadcasting through VLive so there were more. 

There was an earlier interview thing that was reposted later on on Instagram. I’m not sure if that was something exclusive to SK viewers or if it really was just a private interview (saw a news outlet’s watermark somewhere; Yonhap News’, I think). 

Either way, in that interview, Cho PD participated. He wasn’t there for the international fan meet, though.

Anyway, here are the highlights in a (mostly) chronological order:

• During the opening, the cast were introduced. Jaesuk or the MC did mention straight off the bat that this will be the final season. 

• Sejeong roasted Kwangsoo because of his hair 😂 It’s currently very long because he and Sehun had been filming for Pirates 2; Sehun’s hair was long-ish as well. But yeah - he got the most teasing because his hair is as long as Sejeong’s now lol

•  Okay, I gotta mention this: Jongmin was DRESSED TO THE T. He looked so nice, but it was so cute! He was just so determined to impress the international fans present. It just showed how much he cared about us and about how we felt about him. 

So yes: if you haven’t yet, give Jongmin some love. 

He was also asked at one point who he felt the closest to among the cast members, and y’all - he hesitated 😭😭 It was obvious he wanted to say he felt the closest to Sejeong, but he got scared because he thought the fans who were there might get mad at him 😭

But Sejeong, being the sweetheart that she is, kept encouraging him to pick her anyway by throwing hearts at him 🥰

Y’all, what are we gonna do once this show is over? This brOTP is the best when it came to roasting people! And they act like fr siblings 😭😭

• On the same question, after Jongmin did pick Sejeong, Kwangsoo made a remark, saying that he thought Jongmin was going to choose him. He looked hurt 😂

Side note: are we finally getting more Jongmin and Kwangsoo scenes this season?? 😃

• Not that long after, they played a game. Three of the cast members were chosen prior to the meet to draw a picture summarizing an episode. The rest had to guess where it was from. 

Kwangsoo was the first to go, and his clue - drawn nicely - pointed to S1EP5, The Last Vampire. Jaesuk was the first one to solve it, mentioning that it was the episode Park Hae-jin was in.

Seunggi was next, and it took the cast a while to figure out which episode it is. Can’t remember who solved it or if Seunggi just gave them the answer, but it was depicting one of the final scenes in S2EP10, The Flower of Death. It was that part where they were in Flower Killer’s hideout, when he finally told them who he really was while standing over Minjae. 

Kwangsoo afterwards said he was surprised by how terrible(?) Seunggi’s drawing skills were. Seunggi just laughed. 

Sejeong was next. She drew the detective team (beautifully, btw), and underneath the picture were the words versus + seven silhouettes with question marks on their faces. 

Kwangsoo praised Sejeong for her great drawing skills, and the cast agreed. 

The cast eventually figured out which episode, but they were hesitant to really speak of it.

It was then revealed that it’s an episode/case where the detective team faces off with a copycat team. We will see this and find out who the copycat seven are in S3. 

• Afterwards, they did this thing where a roulette chooses one of the members, the MC reads the messages written to them by fellow cast members, and they guess who they think it’s from. 

I’ll probably make another post later for this if you guys want since I can’t remember everything that was said, but basically...

> Jaesuk received messages from Sehun and Seunggi. Can’t remember what Seunggi said, but Sehun pretty much just thanked Jaesuk for teaching him 10% of what he needed to know about variety (he said the other 90% he learned himself lol) 

> Seunggi received messages from Sehun and Minyoung.

> Kwangsoo received messages from Jaesuk and Sejeong. Jaesuk said in his message that he highly valued him and Jongmin - and he asked them to stay with him forever (😭)

Meanwhile, Sejeong said that she’s thankful and sorry to Kwangsoo. When asked what she was sorry about, she said it was because she knew there were moments when it needed to be funny, and Kwangsoo would make a fool of himself to make that happen. 

(Side note: she interacted a lot with Kwangsoo this fan meet, too, so I have hope that I will also get the Kwangsoo and Sejeong brOTP scenes I’ve been asking for 🙌🏼)

> Minyoung received messages from Jaesuk and Jongmin.

> Jongmin received messages from Kwangsoo and Sejeong (my other brOT3 😭❤️)

> Sehun received messages from Jongmin and Minyoung. Jongmin said in his message that he was sorry to Sehun because he didn’t (couldn’t?) take care of him better. 

> Sejeong received messages from Jaesuk and Minyoung. Minyoung asked somewhere in her message for them to have a drink together some time, while Jaesuk asked Sejeong if she could help Kwangsoo land a role in her current drama 😂

Kwangsoo then revealed that Jaesuk always does that: whenever he meets with his friends and other celebrities, he always asks them to cast Kwangsoo in their drama or movie. The cast laughed. 

Seunggi then mentioned afterwards that he’s currently working on a new drama or movie (not sure which one), and he offered Kwangsoo the role of a mouse lol

• That was then followed by the Thank You messages from the fans. Some of you may be aware of this, but about a week and a half ago, on IG, the Busted Netflix official account asked fans to submit a 10 second video of themselves saying “Thank you, Team Busted!” in their native language. 

It was so cute, you guys! It just showed how much the cast and crew were loved by many all over the world. 

Although: there was one fan from Sweden or Norway who had a whole PROJECT D MARK HANGING ON HIS WALL. THE SAME ONE HANGING OUTSIDE THE MAZE IN C’S LAIR IN THE SERIES PREMIERE.

Where did he get that?? I want one, I’m so jealous!! ☹️

•  The fan meeting closed with messages from the cast. Most of them seemed so tired at this point, but Jaesuk proved to be the best leader the cast/team could ask for even in the end. 

I mentioned this on the first update, but he said he felt sad that the series was coming to an end especially since the cast had such great chemistry. It was heartwarming to hear because it personally gave me a sense of closure. 

To hear a cast member address the feelings a number of us feel is comforting, you know?

• The fan meet ended with bouquets of flowers (non-threatening kind 😏😉) and gift bags for the cast! They were all so pleasantly surprised, and it was so cute. 

Netflix seemed to be aware that the awards season just finished in SK, so they gave each of the members their own trophies bearing personalized awards! It was a weighty trophy, too; the cast commented on it.

I don’t know what the other members received, but Sejeong, I think, got the Bright Future Award. 

Myuk PD later posted on his IG pictures of this big gift bag that Netflix apparently gave him and the other PDs. One of the gifts they received contained a pair of wine glasses with an electric bottle opener in the middle. It was so classy and nice.

Bro - no one can say that Netflix didn’t love the detective team and the creators of the show. They threw all kind of love and attention on them, and they didn’t skimp on the gifts and ads either. 

There are other points from that earlier interview I was talking about, but I’ll put that on a separate post if you’re interested :) 

Detective Fam! There’s literally only two days before the final season drops! For those of you who live on the Eastern hemisphere, it’s just one day and some change! 

Season 3!! Are you guys excited??!

[just-another-hhazbin]

Character ask: That guy at the beginning of the pilot who fell down and said "I'm Alive!" before getting run over.

sexuality headcanon 

bi

OTP 

him x fate

brotp 

honestly, I think he and Husk would vibe. Or him and uh what’s his face... oh, Travis.

notp 

him x any of the hotel crew

first headcanon that pops into my head 

Are there headcanons for him?

He’s not double dead, just regenerating in a ditch somewhere.

favorite line from this character 

“I’m alive!” *is immediately run over*

one way in which I relate to this character 

Living embodiments of the “’ Please, God, can I have just one good day?’ ‘Ugh, you again? Give it a rest, buddy! It’s never gonna happen,’” vine.

the thing that gives me second-hand embarrassment about this character 

Karma’d

Everyone knows what his intestines look like now.

cinnamon roll or problematic fave?

No fuckin clue

[docholligay]

Let it Lie

This is for the anon that asked for “Ruka and Mina brotp angst” I HOPE THIS IS SERVING. 2053 words, part of the Talismans rewrite, which is right here. OH YEAH IT’S THIS PART. BEEN WAITING FOR THIS

By all accounts, Minako Aino was having a bad day. Her shift got cut at work, the washing machine wasn’t working, she had no clue where the hell Haruka was, the fridge was empty because both of them had totally neglected to go to the grocery store, and now it was fucking raining, and she was being called to battle. 

A quick transformation, and then nothing but grumbling as she went to fight over another person, who would not be holding a talisman, which meant that the princess was never going to be fucking revealed which meant they were never going to finish what the moon had started all those years ago, which meant they’d never be rid of the burden that was having her jump from roof to roof across Tokyo. 

It was a huge, imposing building, and it seemed to be unsure itself what it was being built for, strange, twisted columns sharpening to points at the ends of them, like a castle built to a fairytale that was never going to be. What was Haruka doing here in the first place? This was the outskirts of Tokyo, not near anything she did on any regular basis. Had the enemy lured her out here with a car or something? 

Mina sighed huffily. She was going to go in, answer Haruka’s beacon, and tell her to get her ass to the grocery store like she said she was going to do, and fix their washing machine. And then, Mina was going to go get a drink. 

She crept in through a back door, quietly, but heard nothing. No fighting, no yelling (and if Haruka was fighting, there was always yelling), no nothing. She crept closer and closer, hand at her chain, and then her ears perked as she heard something. 

“Michiru, Michiru, c’mon, you can’t--”

MIna rounded the corner quickly. Haruka was on her knees in from of Michiru’s body, begging her not to die, not to be dead, both of Haruka’s hands around one of Michiru’s. She placed Michiru’s hand at her cheek. 

“Please don’t leave me here, Michi. You can’t just, you can’t do this, why didn’t--” 

“Uranus.” Mina stepped into the colored patchwork quilt of light. 

Haruka looked back at her, looking so much younger than she was in that moment, hair tossed around her circlet, eyes gleaming with frustration and tears. She just stared at Mina for a moment, allowing her to take in the scene. Michiru was dead. Whenever someone said a dead person looked like they were sleeping, mIna knew they had never seen one who wasn’t made up. Dead people looked dead, and Michiru was dead, a wine dark red spiling across her chest. Bad vintage, Mina thought darkly. Her fuku had vanished, and all trace of her senshi self was gone, replaced only with an heiress in fine Italian shoes and a neat black pencil skirt.

Mina’s eyebrow ticked upward in interest, just for one moment. We revert to human when we die. The power is a fairweather friend, I see. 

A sob from Haruka broke her out of the line of thought. 

Above her body, just a foot or two, was the talisman. Mina didn’t know how she knew it was the talisman, but the small whisper in her soul, the frightening one who was Venus, whispered it to her, and she knew that it was true. They had found one. They had one, in Pluto’s staff. Now they needed one more. 

There was a gun by Haruka’s side, some sort of creation that must belong to Crow and the entire crew who had been working so hard to stop the rise of the princess. 

“She saved me,” Haruka’s voice was cracking, “She died to save me. She said she wouldn’t….that she wouldn’t let me die.” 

Mina reached her hand out toward the mirror above Michiru. “The Aqua Mirror. It was her.” 

“Don’t touch it!” Haruka broke into tears. “I--she didn’t love me--she doesn’t, I’m so confused, and--” 

“Okay, okay,” Mina knelt by her side, keeping her voice measured. Haruka was starting to spiral, and she could see it happening in real time “This is a lot, I know. You two didn’t, “ she placed her hand on Haruka’s shoulder, “end on the best of terms--” 

“--Why did she do this?? I--she hated me--she thought I was stupid, and then she--I don’t get it!” 

“Buddy, hey, take a breath here, just take a breath.” But her eyes continued to be drawn to the talisman, the thing they had been searching for, fighting for, and it had been here the whole time, “Now we just gotta find--” 

“The Space Sword.” Haruka’s voice came curt, cutting off her tears immediately, “Let me help you. It’s in me.” 

“What?” Mina looked over at her, taking her eyes off the unearthly glow of the talisman. 

“Crow told me,” she gave a weak chuckle, “Uranus and Neptune were traitors, and cowards, so they were punished. Just like...candy wrappers, that’s all we are.” 

Mina rocked back on her heels and sighed. What a fucking day. 

“Okay, we gotta talk to Plu, I mean--” 

Haruka picked up the gun. “No. I can help. I can at least do this.” 

“Hey, no, just stop,” Mina took her by the shoulders, “Let’s at least ask, right? We’ve got time, and you can, you know, always kill yourself later. Let’s calm down first, I know--” 

She shook her head. “It’s the only way. Queen Serenity made it so we had to die.” She nodded. “I can die.” 

“You’re just fucking saying that because you’re upset about Neptune.” She made a grab for the gun, but Haruka wsa too fast, “Knock it off.” 

Why weren’t the others here? They could all stop her together, no problem. She made a mental note to express the need for haste when it came to this shit at her next meeting. 

“Uranus, we can find a way to do this, I know we can,” Mina touched her hand, “Pluto’s great at this kind of moon thing, we can do it without having to kill you. Just please, please put it down, okay?” 

“I liked living with you,” Haruka said calmly, “Thank you for being my friend.” 

She aimed the gun at her chest, and Mina took the moment to tackle her, wrestling against her. She was so tall, and it was hard to get away from her, wrangling together, but MIna wasn’t about to give up. She felt for the gun, fighting, wrenching, struggling, trying so hard to save Haruka while Haruka was trying so hard to destroy herself. It wasn’t the last time she’d feel that way, but it would certainly be the mst physical time. She felt for it, and she put her hands on it, and Haruka began to lose her grip, just a little. Mina closed her eyes and began to focus her power. It was going to hurt Haruka, but just for a second, and then she’d--

Her focus was shattered with a stiff punch to her jaw that set her reeling backwards, her face aflame with the heat of the hit. She was angry and scared and so many things she had little chance to organize as she looked at Haruka, who was sitting with the gun, a small, peaceful smile on her face. 

“I know you can do it, Mina. Get the princess, save the world,” she nodded. “Sorry.” 

“HARU--” 

She put the gun to her chest and pulled the trigger, the whole room streaming with light and a great crash. When Mina opened her eyes, there was the sword, wavering above Haruka, who was still in her fuku, but breathing hard, blood pouring out of her. 

Mina scrambled across the floor to her side. 

“Haruka, you’re so stupid, I told you not to do that, GODDAMNIT HARUKA I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU.” Tears began to prick her eyes, and she sniffled. 

“I don’t--” She gasped, “You won’t--” 

“Yeah I get it, you saved me the trouble.” She took Haruka’s hand, “Just fucking like you to do this, who the hell is gonna fix the washing machine now? Me? Be serious, Ru.” 

She tried to keep her voice lighthearted. There wasn’t much she could do for Haruka, now, having accomplished the terrible task Mina had tried to keep her from, but at the very least she could try to give her a little bit of happiness to carry with her, something to light her way on the dark road to Hades. Something to comfort her. 

Haruka coughed out a little blood, eyes wide, and took a wet, rumbling breath. 

“You know what?” Mina settled in beside her, and brushed at her hair with her other hand, “I’ve got some money laid away. I was gonna go to Los Angeles, ask if you wanted to come. So, I’m gonna pay for your funeral, and get you just, the biggest, gaudiest headstone, and anyone who ever sees it will be like, ‘wow what the shit, she must have been awesome’ and no one will ever forget you, okay? Because I won’t, because I really--” she gave a troubled sigh, the tears falling down her cheeks, “--I really do love you, you know? So, don’t ever think no one did. I do. I’m gonna miss you, so much, and I love you. You dumb bitch.” 

Haruka couldn’t speak, but looked up at her, and Mina thought, and hoped, that she understood, that she felt loved at least for one moment in her life, and just let herself feel it. Her breaths were getting shorter now. It couldn’t have been long, but it stretched out like a shadow along the floor, and Mina wondered if she had gone through this with Michiru, if she had watched her struggle and die in this horrible place. 

“It’s okay now. I’m not mad at you.” MIna rubbed at her shoulder. “No one’s mad at you. It’s okay. Just let go, Bud. Just go on. We had a lot of good times, didn’t we? Even though it wasn’t very long.”

She was talking to keep Haruka comfortable, she was talking because it was the only way to drown out the horrible sound of those terrible, struggling breaths, she was talking for reasons she didn’t even understand. 

“When we had pancakes for Christmas? I want to tell you that was my favorite Christmas of all, you and me. We could have done it ever better, if we got another chance. But it was good. All the time we spent at that shitty bar down the street?” Mina gave a weak laugh, “Trying to take home girls? You’d have done a better job if you weren’t afraid of anyone flirting back. It was fun. I had fun.” 

MIna looked off for a moment. “I promise you. I promise you, that’ll I’ll find the princess. I’ll be the one to carry the sword, and I’ll find her. She’ll know how to make all this right. She’s supposedly got messiah-like power. She’ll make it all better.” 

MIna wasn’t sure she believed any of that, but she wasn’t sure it mattered. Not now.

“And when,” the gaze in Haruka’s eyes was faraway now, her breaths so shallow that Mina wasn’t sure how she was still alive, “when that happens, I’ll make sure they build a big statue to you, and I’ll..make up some version of this story that makes it clear you died a hero. No question. I’ve been a liar all my life, and I don’t mind doing it for you. No one has to know it was just like this. You know what? You saved Michiru. That’s the truth, because I said it is. No one has to know.”

Mina clasped her hand in both of hers, and squeezed it. “So go on, Ruka. I got this.” 

And then Haruka Tenoh, a friend Mina had never expected, her own personal diamond in the rough, took one more hitched breath, relaxed, and died. The fuku fell away, and there was only Haruka, in her soft grey sweater and her little red tennis shoes, dead on the floor of a half-constructed palace for the princess that was coming, a cathedral to the gods of heartache. 

MInako Aino was having a bad day. 

[atamascolily]

lily liveblogs: star trek: tng, 1x02 “The Naked Now“

Okay, so I have no idea what the title of this episode is actually supposed to mean, but combined with the summary, I was expecting a Stupid Medical Mystery crossed with an orgy and I was... surprisingly on point there.

The Enterprise pulls up to a rendezvous at a dying star and a female voice says over the intercom "I hope you have a lot of pretty boys aboard the Enterprise because I'm willing... and waiting..." THE CREWS' FACES HERE ARE PRICELESS

picard asking data if he's certain and saying "of course you are"

this is the second episode involving people getting frosted, only this time everybody's dead.

love Deanna Troi's hair in this episode!!

their quarantine protocol is so half-assed, I'm screaming. Pretty sure Picard did not order Dr. Crusher to be IN THE SAME ROOM AS THE AWAY TEAM

Wait, Dr. Crusher didn't lock the door and an infected Geordi just wanders out?? WHAT DID YOU EXPECT AAAAAAH.

why does Riker have to always be right?

What the hell is Wesley doing to the chair? ohhhhh, I'm sure his genius inventions will be used ONLY for good. right.

why is geordi the only one sick, there was a whole team on the other ship? Oh, wait, he touched that one woman, that's it. I think?

wow, their quarantine protocol is AWFUL. Everyone fails forever.

oh no, geordi just touched Tasha's face, so now she's going to get it...

ahahahaha, reference to James T. Kirk encountering something similar.

apparently shifting gravity makes you drunk? *shrugs*

picard assumes that's the answer, but the episode is only half over, so I'm pretty sure we're not done

an infected Tasha breaks into Troi's quarters and starts trying on her clothes. I think the show just passed the Bechdel test, though!

Literally the only reason they haven't left is because of slow data download speed... like, I feel you bros, I feel you.

Chekhov's gun dictates that star is gonna explode at the most dramatic possible moment

orgy on the enterprise!! (well, okay, a PG version: more like cuddles and make-outs in the hallway)

Oh, an infected Wesley uses his inventions to take control of the Enterprise to Picard's consternation. (This is NOT going to help their relationship).

Worf and Data commiserating about not understanding human humor gives me LIFE. Here is the BROTP I actually need, not the one the show keeps trying to set up between Riker and Data!!

A drunk Tasha in a bare-your-midriff outfit explains her background trauma (and it's a doozy) to a confused Data and seduces him after a discussion of Data's capabilities and I... actually kinda ship it? (no clue if Tasha will regret it later, but there's something both sad and sweet about her craving love and gentleness, and asking a robot rather than a human being given her childhood... but also dubcon because they’re both drunk on what it basically sex pollen right now)

A drunk Deanna hits on Riker, and he carries her to sickbay as she implores him, "Wouldn't you rather be alone? With me in your mind?" and I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THEIR PAST RELATIONSHIP.

love picard's voice overs.

AHAHAHA DATA GOT SOME AND IT SHOWS. His swagger when he gets back to the bridge, lololol. Apparently, he's human enough to be drunk, too!!

Dr. Crusher's hitting on Picard AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

Worf is literally the only one on the bridge still functioning, lololol

So it's Worf and MacDougal (the female chief engineering officer helping Riker try to sabotage Wesley's inventions) and Riker's been infected, so it's only a matter of time before he and MacDougal start making out? Hahaha, j/k, Riker would *never* lose control like that because he's Always Right and In Control and he didn't even make out with his ex when she gave him a chance, because he’s just that disciplined.

Oh, wait, Riker runs up to the bridge just as the star explodes.

the infected engineer is playing jenga with the control chips so they can't leave

Wes has the smart idea of making the android put 'em back

I like how Picard stabs MacDougal with the hypo for the cure even though she's one of the few who haven't shown signs of infection (but she was in close quarters with Riker, so...)

Wes helps to save the day even though it was his own fault they were in this particular mess in the first place, so I guess it cancels out?

Oh, no, Tasha has regrets now... awkward looks across the bridge... "I'm only going to tell you this once - it never happened." Poor Data. Understandable, but he won't get it. THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD AVOID HOOKUPS WITH COWORKERS IF YOU ARE AN ANDROID.  

"I think we shall have a fine crew if we avoid temptation," Picard moralizes. ....Okay, then. Whatever that means.

I thought this episode was going to be terrible, but I take it back - it's actually pretty enjoyable. Their quarantine procedures still suck, and it was a stupid situation for them to be in, but I enjoyed all of the character interactions and relationship drama that ensued.

[easyobsession]

litg tag

I’m a thief! I’m a thief! Also I’m that girl who enjoys participating in things she wasn’t tagged in. So thanks @mrsrennellx​ ;D Also sorry if some of our answers are the same- I guess we share a brain!

1. Tim or Bobby?

This might get me some hate but I choose Tim. I stayed on the Gary track the entire season, and while Bobby was amazing there’s just something about Timye and his rap crew/stripper Spanish tours/wrestling career that I can’t forget. Both are brotp but Tim takes it for me.

2. Choose two Islanders (from any season) to be quarantined with, and why? 

Aside from my LIs, I’d say Chelsea and Priya, because they’re my two BFFs. All of the other girls either had some sort of hidden agenda or seemed sketchy at various points. That was a big issue I had with season 1- MC really had no super strong girlfriends. As much as I loved Jen at the end, I took the Levi route and things started off super rough between us. Priya and Chelsea were the only two genuine females I’ve played with.

3. How/when did you discover the game?

Literally like 2-3 weeks ago lmao

4. If you could rewrite a scene, what scene would you rewrite? 

Aside from, like, no Cherrygate because I was with Levi, I think I’d like in season 2 to have a bigger reunion with Gary when I return from Casa Amor. For me, I was with Henrick and Gary was with Chelsea and I stayed loyal (for Gary), and I would’ve liked for them to have a bigger reunion. I get why it was so subtle, but I would’ve liked a hug or something. I also would’ve liked the family phone interactions to be less cheesy and lame. And I would prefer more time with my LI at the reunion in season 1. 

5. Favourite challenge?

I liked the one near the end of season 2 where the couples were guessing answers about their future. I still call bullshit that Lottie and Bobby beat us, btw. Gary and I crushed it.

(Idk where 6 is, lol)

7. Describe your ideal S3 LI.

Well, I had Levi season 1, Gary s2, so maybe a ginger this time? Lmao. I have no clue. Whoever it is better be ready to win, because I want my 3-peat.

8. New or old Hannah? 

Um, new Hannah went after my man. Old Hannah at least waited until we weren’t coupled up anymore. Bitch can back right on off.

9. Who was dumped too soon? 

Priya. She’s a good soul, that one.

10. Jakub or Felix?

Do I have to choose? I don’t like either of them. 

11. Henrik or Lucas? 

I was actually in to Lucas and was sad when he left early, but once he came back he was way too forward and disrespectful of my relationship with Gary. Henrick was always kind to me. I didn’t hold any resentment when he brought back Blake because we were a friendship couple, I was just mad he chose me at all when I could’ve coupled back up with Gary. But yeah, my answer is Henrick because he seems less full of himself. 

12. Jo or Hope? 

I’m not Hope’s biggest fan, but Jo was dull as a pair of white socks. Nice enough, but I’ll pass.

13. Lottie or Priya?

I was all for Lottie and girl code at the start until she fucked that up ten times over. Queen Priya always.

14. What originally drew you to your LI?

I’ll be honest- I first picked Gary because he was the cutest. I like a big buff guy, and he looked like a sweetheart. (I was right.)

15. Favorite LI of all time (both seasons)?

Gary. Because my other LI was Levi and he fucked up a lot. Gary did too, but only at the start. Levi continued to fuck up as time passed. Gary only got sweeter and, thus, more attractive. Plus, Gary very much has no clue how amazing he is, which is also attractive. He thinks he’s just an average guy that doesn’t deserve much, which is why I (and my MC) like him so much.

16. Favourite scene/day?

I know I said I wanted more from it, but when Gary walks out and sees MC didn’t bring anyone back from Casa Amor, I just lose it every time. TOO CUTE.

17. Who had the best character development?

Hard to say. I wanted to say Priya, but really she was just misunderstood at first. Cherry came a ways as well, though I’ll never be her top supporter after Cherrygate. Gary evolved a lot- he found some confidence and really came into his own. By the end of the season he was a strong and equal partner for MC, which says a lot.

18. One thing that irked you about the game?

Mine loads too slow lmfao. Also Hannah never apologized for being a hoebag and going after my man. She just moved on to Henrick and acted like everything was normal and we were besties. Like HELLO? 

19. Season 1 reunion or Season 2 wedding?

Season 2. Season 1 we got literally a single scene with our LI and I was pissed. 

20. Describe domestic life or a head-canon about/with your LI.

MC playing her instrument for Gary and him being super duper heart eyes. Maybe even performing something for him at the wedding reception, or that night- on the beach maybe? It might have to be somewhere private because I can totally see Gary jumping her as soon as she’s done.

21. Guess some of the Islanders surnames?

No. ;D

[wanderingthroughwickford]

2, 3, 5, 26 for ND and DW!

Hey! Thanks to everyone who submitted these! I started with this one since it specified both numbers and fandoms, so it’s easier to do. 

2.  Are there any popular fandom OTPs you only BroTP?

Nancy Drew: Francy. Sorry guys. I’m not that into ND shipping in general, tbh.

Doctor Who: Hmm ... well, I basically BroTP the Doctor with most of their companions, rather than shipping them romantically, but I think most people do, too. I don’t know how popular Amy/Eleven is, but that’s one I can only see platonically; same with Clara/Eleven and Clara/Twelve... Donna/Ten is my #1 DW BroTP, but I don’t think many people see that romantically.

3. Have you ever unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion?

I don’t ... think so, for either fandom? Definitely not for Doctor Who, since I’m relatively new to the fandom and I don’t think I’ve even followed any DW blogs. Possibly for Nancy Drew, way back in my early days on this site (when I exclusively followed Clue Crew-ers) but I can’t remember any instances. 

5. Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?

Nancy Drew: I don’t think so. Like I said, I’m not really involved in ND shipping. And the fandom tends to be pretty good-natured in general, so I can’t really see anyone there ruining a pairing. 

Doctor Who: In a way, the fandom *kind of* ruined a pairing for me before it even happened? Long story short, I watched all the Martha and Donna episodes of Doctor Who before any of the Rose ones, and hearing how Martha got hated on so much by the fandom for ‘ruining’ Ten/Rose (though, lbr, because racism) kind of gave me a bit of annoyance with the Doctor/Rose ship? But once I actually watched Seasons 1 and 2 (I’m partway through the latter), it grew on me. It’s not OTP level, but it’s cute and likeable enough. :) 

26. Most shippable character?

Nancy Drew: I mean ... I guess Nancy herself? Given that she’s the only character who’s in every game, and she has by far the most amount of interactions with different characters. On the other hand, though, she’s, like, an 18-year-old girl, and I only really ship her with Ned. 

Doctor Who: This is another case where, like, the protagonist is obviously the most shippable but I also don’t really ship them with anyone, other than canon ships? Jack Harkness also definitely qualifies. 

Thanks for asking! 

[sapphireswimming]

ship asks: lyle/anew, neil/tieria, allemarie

... omg this is going to get long XD

oKAY STARTING WITH LYLE AND ANEW

explain why do/don’t ship [pairing]

I very much ship Lyle/Anew because I think the two of them not only work well together, compliment each other, have chemistry, etc, but I think they’re really really /good/ for each other.

Lyle’s been compared to his seemingly perfect twin brother for his entire life and that’s been the cause of literally all of his problems. He finally got away from the comparisons on Earth after Neil disappeared and Lyle took up with Klaus and co., but then he voluntarily agreed to join Celestial Being where he immediately became the ghost-like spitting image of literally everyone’s favorite person and for him to walk into that knowing what would happen? BOY HOWDY I LOVE LYLE OKAY HE”S SUCH A FUNDAMENTALLY GOOD PERSON EVEN IF HE COMES ACROSS AS ROUGH AROUND THE EDGES.

But then they meet up with Anew at Krung Thep and she’s a really gorgeous, extremely talented, very kind young woman who never knew Neil and seems to like him as a person to boot. No one in Celestial Being seems to really know what to do with the whole like, human relations thing, let alone how-to-flirt, but Lyle hits it off with Anew and they spend some time together and when they’re about to leave, he regrets that he won’t be able to spend more time with her and then she’s like wELL ACTUALLY I”M COMING TOO and they both just seem so genuinely happy that they will be able to spend more time together and get to know each other better??

And there isn’t too much explicitly shown of their relationship aboard the Ptolemy after that, but we do know that they end up spending nights together in the same cabin and what I love is that what we see of it in show is them fully clothed, arms around each other, /talking/. About deeply emotional personal things and insecurities. Things that Lyle has probably never spoken about to anyone else in his life but he does so freely with Anew because he is comfortable around her and they trust each other and he wants her to understand him. And it doesn’t seem like an unusual occurrence for them to just share that space and hold each other and /talk/ and I love it okay??

And on Anew’s side, it’s so good for someone to get to know her as a person. The returning crew from season 1 is a really tight knit group given what they’ve been through and for Anew to have been the only one brought aboard that wasn’t family or close friend of another person on the Ptolemy must have been a really hard thing to try to fit into, but Lyle, who’s the other new guy on the crew, goes out of his way to make her feel comfortable and get to know her. And at the time, he doesn’t have a clue how important it is for someone to get to know her for who she truly is. Anew has no clue she’s an innovade at this point. I mean Lyle finds out before she does. He is the only one close enough to her to see that something is up as she’s blanking out and he puts together the pieces as they find out more about Ribbons’ group but he doesn’t say anything to alienate her or make them mistrust her or to make her feel bad about who and what she is or the fact that she’s technically the enemy. He just keeps on waiting and watching and falling further in love with her (to the point that he’ll even come out and say the words “I love you” over the comms, and while she gets all blushy and stuff as the bridge reacts, she’s genuinely pleased so even though I personally hate things like that, it was clear to me that it isn’t some random creepy public coercion, it’s Lyle making an emotional leap and being completely open about it, knowing that it’s going to be received okay).

When she finally gets flipped, Lyle does everything in his power to keep her from going without hurting her. His offer to go with her strikes a chord even /while she’s being mind-controlled/ like even a flipped Anew who is /holding Milaina hostage at gunpoint/ thinks that they could be together and lets down her guard at the possibility of making it a reality. And when it’s clear to everyone else that she’s their enemy (Setsuna even offers to kill her since he knows Lyle won’t), Lyle abandons the rest of the fight in order to bring her back from Ribbon’s control because she doesn’t belong to him damn it she is her own person and she loved /him/ and he /does/ even if it’s too late. But they loved each other. They /understood each other/ - Lyle’s past and present and both sides of Anew. And Lyle’s breakdown afterward makes me want to cry like omgggggg

And then he /adds her name to his family’s memorial/ like she is right up there with his mom and dad and Amy and /Neil/ she is is as important to him as they were and she was as much a part of his family as they were and this kills me. Like this wasn’t just a fling. He’s still sad and thinking of her in Trailblazer because Anew meant /a lot/ to him and even with the other romantic things happening in the movie, Lyle was still holding onto Anew in his heart and??????? I”M LOVE THEM

(other answers under the read more)

how did you start shipping [pairing]?

I mean this pairing is actually explicitly canon in the show so the relationship was there on screen. The more that was revealed and the more I thought through how they must interact to get to the point we see sort of solidified that not only was I okay with it, but I actually /liked it/ and let me tell you that was a surprise haha

do you prefer [pairing] as an otp, brotp, or notp?

They are actually an otp (which sounds suuuuuper weird to say what is this how do I have otps)

why do you think [pairing] is so popular?

I don’t actually know if they are a popular pairing? Are they? I think most of the others seem more popular haha

why do you think [pairing] isn’t popular?

I mean most things involving Lyle are pretty overshadowed and Anew is not around for a full season so?

rate [pairing] from 1-10 and explain why

9/10 THEY DESERVED A BETTER ENDING

what’s your favorite headcanon of [pairing]?

I cannot for the life of me think of a headcanon for them right now haha

But at the end of season 2, the crowd scenes included shots of other sleeper cell innovades, one of whom was the Anew type. And given Lyle’s ties to both Katharon and Celestial Being, I think that in his world traveling pro-peace efforts, he’d definitely run into someone who was the splitting image of Anew. And I think that that first encounter would be /rough/

Ironically so, given Celestial Being’s reaction to him when he joined hOLY COW I HAD NOT THOUGHT OF THIS PARTICULAR PARALLEL BEFORE D8

what’s your favorite canon moment of [pairing]?

I actually really love the moment when Anew tells Lyle that she’s going to join them on the Ptolemy because at that point it’s not anything romantic, it’s just the two of them being very happy and relieved that they get to spend more time together and get to know each other and have someone else they’re comfortable with on this ship full of relative strangers and it’s such a subtle shift in /everything/ and such a gooooood moment

favorite AU ideas for [pairing]?

HOW ABOUT THEY ARE ALIVE AND TOGETHER AND VERY VERY HAPPY FOR ALL TIME

rant about [pairing]

I think I did that earlier haha

what’s a meme/quote that reminds you of [pairing]?

I can’t think of any off the top of my head?

what song(s) remind you of [pairing]?

WELL I”M GLAD YOU ASKED! There’s a whole /playlist of songs/ that remind me of Lyle and Anew right here: https://open.spotify.com/user/laoraa2/playlist/32l0M4BHefI9yi3mCgOzcD

what kind of dates do you think [pairing] would go on?

I think they’d be happy going out about town, walking down streets together and people watching over coffee, going through museums and cool buildings, or having casual meals at restaurants. Not so much going out for fancy dates, or even specifically going out on “dates” but just being places together while enjoying each other’s company

have you ever written fanfiction/drawn fanart of [pairing]? would you consider it?

You know, I haven’t actually written anything with them yet but I would 100% consider it yesssss

.

And I think the other two parts of this ask are going to need to wait for their own posts because thisssssssss got long XD

[glompcat]

Hera Syndulla

general opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would bang |hogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuffbest quality: Her strong belief in the Rebellion’s cause, her commitment to always doing what is right no matter how hard it may be.worst quality: Ok so like, I am putting this here but I honestly love this and think it is a good thing and a wonderful thing to have a female character have as a trait. I love love love this is part of who she is. But when it comes to things that create the conflict within her life, it really is her refusal to ever prioritize her personal life over her cause and career.ship them with: Kananbrotp them with: Chopper? She’s more of a mom to everyone else than like… a sibling figure. Even though she is younger then Zeb by like 20 years and less then a decade older than the rest of the Ghost crew.needs to stay away from: Thrawn. Governor Pryce can stay the fuck away from her forever too.misc. thoughts: In the short story Mercy Mission, when she thinks about how Human hair reminds her of a ruffled bird’s feathers? At the time I loved it for how great a reminder it was that she is an Alien, but now in retrospect I look at that and think about how much Jacen’s hair must confuse the shit out of her, how she wouldn’t have any clue what to do with it, like her child has this stuff growing out of his head???? Where Lekku should be???? HOW DO YOU TAKE CARE OF AND MAINTAIN THIS STUFF PROPERLY??? It really amuses me a whole lot, like imagine Sabine having to show her how to shampoo his head, because like yeah she showered with Kanan before in the past but she was kinda sorta not paying attention to what kind of products he was putting in his hair when they were in there together, you know?

[saiyuri-dahlia]

Ash and/or Gou

Thank you for sending in an ask! I actually haven’t seen the Journeys anime yet so I can’t really say much on Gou. I do like his design and he’s a cute kid. Like, the anime needs a character like him because Ash isn’t really traveling to anywhere new most of the time. It’s getting to the point that Ash can’t really be seen as a newcomer trainer anymore, so Gou is filling that role.

Anyway, I can still answer these questions with Ash.

Why I like them: I like his genuineness—what you see is what you get with him. He’s curious, ready for adventure, and what the boy lacks in brains, he makes up for in heart. Even when he has no clue what he’s doing, he’s always sure that everything will turn out okay in the end. His optimism is infectious, and his determination is admirable. I usually find myself smiling at his gags and cute moments he has with his team or really every pokemon he interacts with.

Why I don’t: He is just kinda there, isn’t he? I mean, I get it. He’s the protagonist, the stand-in for every 10 year old. The bland vanilla oatmeal default human boy from Pokemon. And it is frustrating when there’s so many other characters we meet and love through his journeys that we’ll more than likely never see again, but we’ve always got Ash. Don’t get me wrong: I like Ash, but he’s far from my favorite Pokemon character. I do like him a lot more now than I used to, and honestly, I can’t see the series without him.

My problem with Ash is that...well, he’s not that memorable for me. Like some of my later answers in this are pretty generic because Ash isn’t a standout character for me. He’s a good character and fun to watch. I like seeing him with his friends, humans and pokemon, but my attention on him halves when the battles start and that’s like, 80% of his character and screen time.

Favorite episode (scene if movie): This was a lot harder to answer than I thought it would be since despite how many Ash-centric episodes there are, none that are truly just about Ash come to mind. I tend to like his moments with his pokemon than whole episodes because those are mostly battle related. I always find the one where Ash and his team are snowed in and they all huddle together for warmth very touching.

I also always cry when he gets turned to stone in the first movie, but I wasn’t sure if that could be listed as a favorite scene about Ash. What does it say about a person when their favorite scene about a character is the one where they died (or almost died), lol

Favorite season/movie: I’m a bit torn between him being a competent battler and big brother figure to Bonnie in Kalos and seeing him get to be a kid in a slice of life anime he was in Alola.

Favorite line: For the life of me, I can’t think of anything right off the bat. If anything, I’m sure it’s a pep talk he gave Serena.

Favorite outfit: Maybe it’s my age showing, but I have a soft spot for his original outfit. But I really like it whenever the anime changes up his outfit for anything else.

OTP: I don’t really think too much about shipping in Pokemon, especially with Ash being Forever 10. Serena/Ash is cute though.

Brotp: I’ve never been a big fan of this term for various reasons. But I like his jock/nerd dynamic with Clemont. I like how Brock was a big brother to him back in the day, and how Ash in turn was a big brother to Bonnie.He’s kind of getting that kind of brotherly mentor role to the newcomer trainers he meets and I like seeing that.

Head Canon: I think that he does keep in touch with all the companions and friends he’s made along the way.

Unpopular opinion: While I’m glad that Ash won and I cheered when I found out, his win in Alola feels….underwhelming to me after I started thinking on it more. Ash is a League battling vet at this point, and while I love the Alola kids, most of them didn’t have more than one pokemon to begin with. Ash’s only competition was Gladion and Kukui, the latter being an exhibition match after his title win. Looking back, it’s not that surprising that Ash won the league, given that a kid that just came to the region wins the League is also the plot of the Sun/Moon games.

A wish: I want the anime to show him keeping in touch or reuniting with past companions and pokemon. Like when I found out that Journeys was about returning to past regions, I was expecting more reunions with his friends. I know that the Alola crew comes back but the series just left that region.

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: As much as I like the Serena/Ash ship and I think their story makes for a cute first young love romance, I also don’t really want Ash to have a permanent love interest. Like, just let him be a ten year old.

5 words to best describe them: Curious, lucky, energetic, foolhardy, competitive

My nickname for them: I don’t have enough affection for Ash to give him a nickname. Again, I like him but it’s a neutral affection.