#did I make them look too much like teens especially otto

[hebezunet]

also, since i am... 100% certain that the chip twitters aren't coming back, i wanna take a few minutes to talk about my experience as a mod for one of the characters (since i doubt it's any surprise that I was one lol)

firstly, i'm not revealing anybodys identities here other than my own, because everyone has fully moved on from the project and don't wanna be assocciated in any way with it anymore. i'm making this post mostly for myself and maybe 2 other people so even if you have inklings of who the other mods are, don't look for them. they will not be happy

with that out of the way-

if it wasn't supremely god damn obvious by this point, i was the most recent mod for bert. from like... what, may 2020? that whole big arc where he got out of the bertputer, that's when i started. definitely a lot of weight on my shoulders with that one.

despite how much i had fun writing for bert though... this whole project was really a nightmare from beginning to end behind the scenes. before we (the new team) could even start actually posting and writing stuff, there was a whole kerfuffle getting the keys (account log in info) from the old team. had to even get david involved for a few things, which we really hated doing just cuz we didn't like bothering him. the old team was also... well, its own thing. i've kinda blocked out most of what happened regarding that but what i do know was that it was very mentally taxing trying to get rid of the old guys and get us logged into the new accounts.

people also certainly had... mixed feelings about the direction we tried to take things in. we were handed a story that was already extremely jacked up with its own weird baggage attached and had to make do with what we could. the story beats set up by the previous team were really hard to work with and we genuinely just did not agree with some of the characterization that was happening. namely bert and otto, they were... something. so, we tried our best to work with it and find justifications or explainations for certain behaviors and actions. i do know for a fact that there were people that did not like what we did with bert, especially. remember seeing stuff saying that we 'aged up' bert for the sole purpose of shipping him with rotten which... is not at all what happened. he was already a grown up character, in his late teens or early 20s, but the previous team had infantilized him to such a degree and for so long that that was just what people knew. we ended up justifying this by basically diagnosing bert with trauma induced age regression. it's a little complicated and a little fuzzy to recall, but that's the intention we were going with, at least.

we did originally have bigger plans for these characters and their arcs and everything, but the team was losing interest and everything surrounding it was genuinely sending some of us into mental crisis. it made us all distance ourselves really far from the project and not wanting to touch chipspeech as a whole with a 10 ft pole. a lot of this stemmed from the sovereign station server too, it was fine like 80% of the time, but shit got weird in there. if you weren't in there then like, good. you've saved yourself the headache. but overall, pretty much everyone has moved on and is doing their own thing now. there's been a few mods that I don't talk to anymore due to other circumstances, but I'm still good friends with a handful of them. they're doing much better now, too.

long story short, the characters just... aren't gonna be coming back, as far as I can tell. it's been pretty obvious due to the 2+ years of radio silence, but just to put the nail in the coffin. i still believe that the twitters are a great springboard for your own interpretations, and that's kind of another reason why we stopped. these characters can honestly be whatever the hell you want them to be. making a rigid sort of canon to apply to them is a little silly, especially when it's a bunch of young adults roleplaying that canon on twitter dot com. do whatever you want. it was a fun enough ride while it lasted.

that being said though, i personally still hold chip near and dear to me. strong interest has definitely faded, but i still like making covers occasionally and drawing the guys and silly stuff like that. i have a lot of myself to thank for chipspeech, and that's not changing, despite the horrors that we faced. thanks for reading all this if you did lol.

and bert is best boy im DYING ON THIS HILL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[edwardelricsrightarm]

Riza Hawkeye as a child/young teen but she's just this Annie Oakley ass prodigal sharp shooter little shit who cuts her hair off with kitchen scissors and runs absolutely buckwild in the woods on her father's estate terrorizing small animals (humanely hunting I'm just being dramatic)

Roy boy is just this awkward nerdy little cornball who wants to get along, but they also kinda have that dynamic from the Swan Princess when Derek and Odette were kids ya feel me? Just watch the childhood montage from that movie you'll understand- ☠️

They have like nothing in common at the time (so they assume) and yet they end up thick as thieves cause Riza hasn't had many friends that she can see outside of her education and had an extremely isolated upbringing, so this goofy sweet baby faced dork just got her like that, even if he sometimes drives her nuts a little bit.

Riza would get upset fairly often bc her neglected social and emotional upbringing would get to her (bc realistically,,,,we know that was the case), and Roy got extremely good at knowing when she's upset and would often be the one to listen to her air her thoughts out (callback to the phone call scene after her encounter with pride, this lends background to how he knows her so well and reads her stress levels like a book even over the phone)

Mundane headcanons:

Roy would transmute little clay/dirt doves and targets for Riza bc he was worried about her shooting glass bottles and other assorted not necessarily safe objects.

Roy is trans, I can't untrans him that's just who he is to me. Riza is a self declared tomboy who I hc as nonbinary/demigirl. They're also bi4bi it's canon Arakawa told me.

Riza didn't really know good birthdays, and when Roy realized this it broke his heart bc Chris always tried to remember stuff like that for him and she's not even his own biological mother. So, he made an annual routine of gifting her something (often transmuted and unique).

Riza loved being out in nature back then and knew the wooded areas around the estate like the back of her own hand, when she and Roy had warmed up more to one another she made a routine of showing him all the neat little spots she'd found in the area for one reason or another, just for the sake of sharing that with someone. These remain some of their fondest memories.

Riza would be more likely to go out to shoot targets when she was angry or upset, if she was having a good day and had the time she would be more likely to go hunting because she enjoyed the hiking and tracking but couldn't focus on it when internally upset. Roy eventually figured this out as well.

Riza climbed so many trees, rocks, outcroppings, etc- and was always scraped up from something she probably shouldn't have climbed getting the better of her.

Riza used to have a nanny birddog named Otto, but he passed away before Roy came around, so making a new friend in him after that loss was a big comfort to her. She was hesitant to have other dogs until Hayate.

They're both autistic.

Relatedly, Riza would go nonverbal and lock herself in her room sometimes. Roy, concerned, would approach this by slipping little notes under the door offering company if needed, while not pushing her to talk.

Riza would sing/hum while doing chores or out and about exploring and on every occasion Roy overheard this he'd turn red from ear to ear- if she caught it and realized he'd heard she'd be twice as embarrassed.

Riza would take Roy foraging and showed him some useful/edible plants, and safe berries and mushrooms that she knew in the region. He was honestly always pretty impressed, especially considering some mushrooms that are safe have toxic siblings that look identical.

Both of them are varying levels of nerd. Riza is the type who's full of trivia, especially weird facts about her special interests (animal behavior, guns, bushcraft, navigation and tracking stuff, etc), Roy started out neutral to this but over time infosharing kinda became their love language, and he'd start to infodump right back. They'd spend hours like that some days.

Riza knows constellations really well for navigational reasons, and there were times that she showed Roy a way to get onto the roof from the attic and they'd stargaze. She would teach folk names of constellations, regional lore behind them, navigational uses for them etc; Roy would tell her basic facts about space and astronomy that come with understanding of alchemy.

Riza typically stuck to small prey (rabbits, fowl, easy to retrieve misc.), but Roy had an awakening when Riza first killed a whole ass deer (albeit a young one) and came back with it thrown over both shoulders with the determined energy of a small lionness.

Riza is REALLY good at cooking and baking because she had a bit too much free time to fuck around in the kitchen. She also learned how to cure and smoke meats bc of her hunting. It certainly helped them stay well fed.

Roy developed a habit of cooking for the household pretty regularly in a swapped routine with Riza after only a while of being around because he saw how much she had to be self sufficient in almost every way and honestly just wanted to relieve her of the constant responsibility and self parentification. He'd also help with chores constantly.

Roy had major internal conflict even early on because he respected his teacher greatly for his intelligence and brilliance, but also kned that Riza wasn't being raised well, and that no matter what he does, Berthold can only decline mentally. This is the root of his protective and caretaking behavior with her, ultimately.

Roy doodled and sketched a lot back in the day and had a little booklet that he guarded with his life bc it started out random assorted things, but eventually devolved into a book full of cute little doodles of mostly Riza jammed into the last half of the book (She can never know-). He still has it stored away.

Riza could easily pick him up even then, this never changed. She got to show this once when he sprained his ankle on a hike with her and she held half his weight as a crutch with no strain to herself. He never quite recovered from that (but boy did it make his crush worse).

Roy would notice rarely he'd have a shirt go missing and never could figure out why til he'd find Riza wearing an identical shirt. (She told herself it's just cause they're cozy of course- she just likes boys clothes too! They look nice under overalls and are comfortable to sleep in! nothing more /s) They never said a word about it even though it was right in front of them, they couldn't dare.

Roy had a bike, and she'd ride behind him down some of the rural roads and paths that could support it for fun sometimes.

During winter the home would get pretty chilly because of its size and not enough stoves/fireplaces to fully warm the declining estate, so when snowed in on miserably cold winter days they'd usually end up reclined in the study by the space heater or in the loungeroom by the fireplace reading separately, but still occasionally talking back and forth.

Riza stopped hunting post-Ishval. She couldn't bring herself to derive that same innocent pride and appreciation for the circle of life she once had, and felt she no longer deserved to have that respectful exchange with the cycle of life and death after what her skills had been used for. She never stops going to shooting ranges, but it's either for standard upkeep of practice or to vent.

[waystobuild-blog]

Top 7 CN Shows That Would Work Better in Live Action than PPG

So I think everybody’s talked about why CW Powerpuff Girls doesn’t work, whether or not it’s a real thing or not? Who even knows. But while thinking about how this:

is kinda awful for Powerpuff Girls, I got thinking what shows that this style of a reboot would work for. In which it’s live action, the character is depressed and has sort of resentment towards their childhood now and that sort of thing. 

So what are the top 7 shows that I think this

Number 7:

Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends

At Number 7 we have Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends. Seems fitting that we’d start the list with another one of Craig McCracken’s biggest hits. Why do I think the premise of “Oh, life sucks now and I kinda wasted my childhood” would work for Foster’s? For the plain and simple fact that for a few episodes of the show, there was a focus on Mac growing up and whether or not he should leave his friends at Foster’s behind him. You could play a lot with that concept combined with the live action reboot thing. Maybe an older version of the character is dealing with whether or not to let go of both Bloo and the past and move on with his life. Frankie being a young adult during the time of the original show could also be a pretty instrumental character since it was a matter of living there, caring for the friends, having that job and balancing this life with the life that she had outside of the house.

Not quite a coming of age story but a sort of “Hey, my life has gone nowhere and where could I go with this now? Do I keep the friends I loved and cherished as a child or move onto other things? Is there a way to do both?”

Only thing I wouldn’t want though is CGI monstrosity friends. Those would be kinda the worst…

Number 6: 

Okay, let’s actually talk about a real superhero show this time around. Or would this count as a superhero show? Well, they certainly do a lot of cool time travelling so I’m gonna say it’s a superhero show. Of course, I mean Time Squad.

Now if you haven’t guessed, I don’t have the most experience with this show but I know enough to think that this is something that could actually work well. I mean, Otto was a kid who was basically running around all over history protecting the balance of time with a stuck up robot and a dude who is a little too into all of this. Imagine if he just sorta did this for all of his childhood and realizing as a young adult that “Crap, I didn’t really have a childhood.” With the dynamic of the squad, the potential to expand the greater organization as a whole and just all the time travel shenanigans that could happen, I don’t see a reason not to do it.

Plus, CW already has Legends of Tomorrow and that’s awesome so even less likely to screw it up if they’ve already got a model to do it off of right?

Number 5: 

The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack

Yo ho ho, it is a sailor’s life for me. And in this sailor’s life we’re coming in with Number 5: The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack. Now this is a bit of an odd choice, right? But hear me out.

Flapjack as a child kinda had only Bubbie and K’nuckles as guides for his life. While they mostly spent their lives at Stormalong Harbor, they also constantly spent their lives looking for Candied Island. What if they never stopped looking and eventually, little kid Flapjack is a grown up now and he’s like “Oh wow. I wanted adventure but I was kinda manipulated to follow this creepy old man’s dreams of candy.” I think going heavy and hard on this sort of found family between them would be kinda fun. How K’nuckles wasn’t the best role model and how they’ve still only got each other in this world, that sort of thing.

Plus, a live action Stormalong would be sooooooo cool.

Number 4:

Ben 10

As the old saying goes, it started when an alien device did what it did, stuck itself upon his wrist with secrets that it hid, now he’s got superpowers he’s no ordinary kid, it’s Ben 10.

And unfortunately in CW’s Ben 10, he’s not a kid who just wants to have fun. Nah, he’s got a lot of emotional stuff to deal with and all of that depressing stuff. Isn’t it great? Now I do think that this could work especially if you work it in where maybe Ben enlisted into the plumbers after his summer vacation and it just kinda escalated from there to the point where here he is now.

Say what you will, but at least with Ben 10, we’ve seen it hit a more grounded and emotional place with Ben 10 Alien Force and Ultimate Alien so I don’t believe that this would be too far of a stretch with how that show worked and a lot of people happened to really like those iterations of the show.

Granted, I actually do want a CW styled Ben 10, but less edgy Arrow style and more along the lines of The Flash, but I’d still take this too.

And now before we get into the top 3, let’s get into a few honorable mentions.

First up, we’ve got Steven Universe. Now honestly, this could work really well, the only issue with that is that we’ve kinda already seen this story told and that was with Steven Universe Future. Good stuff and a lot of potential, but we’ve seen it and I don’t think we need to see it again with a live action coat of paint.

Next up there’s Codename Kids Next Door. Honestly, I think the only real spinoff we need for Kids Next Door is Galactic. That’s it. Anything else is unnecessary. Still, with this sort of concept an older KND who has been decommissioned and feels like there’s something missing in their lives that they just don’t understand would be really cool. Although maybe that would work as like a movie or special or somethin’ I don’t know.

And finally for the last of the honorable mentions we’ve got Teen Titans. While I am trying to keep this list to CN Originals, I couldn’t help but bring this one up. How Long is Forever is one of my all-time favorite episodes of the 2003 series so I think seeing a series taking place in that timeline or something similar would be a lot of fun maybe for like a miniseries or something. And honestly, anything’s better than Titans.

With those three out of the way, back to the list.

Number 3: 

The Life and Times of Juniper Lee

In a world full of monsters and demons, June is the only one who sees them. This is the Life and Times of Juniper Lee and it makes number three on my list.

Now, like Time Squad, I didn’t watch much of this show. But what I do know about this show is that June is cool and she’s got this whole legacy and destiny by being the newest Te Xaun Ze, which are basically the magical protectors of her town. Only problem, and why I think that this direction for this show would actually be kinda cool, is the whole thing that the Te Xaun Ze is never allowed to leave the town at any point in their lives and oh boy, you could actually go really hard on that with this format since it’s literally built into the show.

Juniper Lee all grown up and just straight up depressed because she’s got the cool powers and grabs all the monsters but everyone around her has moved on in their lives. Friends have gone off to college and started all their lives and she’s got nothing but her family in Orchid Bay. You’d have a story of someone who once was big on their destiny who has accepted it but wishes that it wasn’t theirs anymore. I do know the show dealt with this a bit but with a new continuity and an older version of the character you really could just go in and deep on this.

I stand by that this would actually be pretty cool and kinda want it. Honestly, I like this idea so much that I wasn’t sure whether to put this in the number three or the number two spot, but y’know what? The next show told me a little secret that gave it the edge.

Number 2: 

The Secret Saturdays

That’s right, it’s the Secret Saturdays. 

Zak Saturday went all around the world with his parents discovering ancient cryptids, protecting the world and everything. He got some cool siblings in Fiskerton, Komodo and Zon. And then to add on top of that that he’s also the reincarnation of an ancient cryptid set to rule and control all the cryptids in the world? Yeah, that’ll do it. Definitely not the type of life he asked for and kid went through a lot because of it especially after losing those powers and apparently getting them back if we’re to count the Omniverse crossover TGIS to be canon.

But having parents like Zak’s, everything with the community of Secret Scientists and not really having many friends his own age or well, his own species will do that.

Exploring Zak and maybe Argost coming back for powers he might not want anymore and learning to embrace his destiny while also trying to patch up the Saturday family would be awesome.

Number 1:

Dexter’s Laboratory

Now while I know we already have a live action Dexter and it was an incredible hit, I- Wait, not the same show.

Ahem, Dexter’s Laboratory makes the top of this list. Partially because of it being PPG’s sister series but also partially because of the whole thing of there’s a lot you could do with Dexter’s character in terms of depression. If someone with such a high intellect were to somehow lose it all or just in some way, never really got forward in life, that would do it. Dexter could be a type of character that’s too stuck inside his own head in order to move forward. Alternatively, maybe Dexter is highly successful but has found there’s something missing in life or something. I dunno.

But whichever way you decide to go with Dexter’s character, you could have Dee Dee be pretty much the opposite of that. Maybe she’s found herself a place in life that she’s content with and Dex doesn’t understand why but wants it. I think going deep on this sort of emotional aspect of his life while also having all sorts of fun crazy science stuff would be a good watch.

All in all, gimme a Dexter’s lab show but we gotta make sure he keeps some form of an accent. No accent is a dealbreaker.

Although, I think that at the end of the day, animation should really just stay animated and that we don’t need to go live action for anything. All of these ideas I’ve presented, I’d of course rather prefer as cartoons with a more balanced tone more than anything but I figured with the announcement of a PPG show, this would be a silly but fun idea to talk about rather than ranting about it like most have. Granted, I’ve got some rants of my own since I still think it’s a bad idea. Haha. But you know how it goes.

At any rate those are all the shows I think would make better CW PPG style reboots than CW PPG. When it comes to the edginess and potential for drama, I feel these shows fit the bill better than the innocent, buttkicking action that was the Powerpuff Girls.

But what do you all think? Do you have any shows in mind that I haven’t mentioned? Do you think I’ve opened Pandora’s Box and given The CW more awful ideas? 

Now, this was originally a YouTube video so you can probably see that in the way that this post, especially the ending was written, but I just still don’t really have the energy to edit stuff so have this post instead. It’s something I really wanted to discuss and just decided, hey, why not make it a Tumblr post?

[snippychicke]

Aftermath--Two

Aftermath: An TUA fanfic

Chapter Two

Rating: Teen

Mentions of blood, slight gore, nightmares

Part One

Lorelei had to admit: Otto's pain tolerance was astonishingly high. Sure she had slipped him a couple of the stronger pain pills she had stored away, but Lorelei still expected screams and curses as she tended to the mess of his eye.

Once she realized how severe the damage was, she tried again to persuade him to let them take him to a hospital.

"No."  

"Do you understand what I'm saying?" She all but pleaded, pulling away her bloodied rag to focus on his good eye, wishing she could put her hands on her hips. "Your eye is severely damaged. I don't know what to do other than remove it, and I--"

"Remove it," he interrupted, closing his good eye as if that was the end of the conversation. Lorelei paled, and she was fairly sure Raymond, her unofficial helper, swore under his breath. 

"I've only watched that procedure a few times," she continued, stressing her words. "I am not a surgeon. I am a nurse. Do you really trust me to--"

"Yes."

The short answer floored her, making her stomach twist. Otto opened his grey-blue eye, meeting her's with absolute conviction. He didn't know her. He was about to lose his eye. And yet he seemed barely fazed. 

"Ok. Okay then. Ray, drag that chair closer. I think I have a surgical text upstairs..."

"Lei, you can't…" He protested as she stripped her gloves, muttering to herself about supplies.

"I've done worse," she admitted as she disappeared up the stairs. 

Less than an hour later, she had a surgical text propped on the coffee table to guide her through the procedure of removing the remains of his eye. She expected it not to go well considering her lack of sedatives, but the most he vocalized was a few pained grunts before catching himself and clenching his teeth. She was honestly more worried about Raymond passing out than she was her patient, seeing the dark man pale and waiver more than a few times when she spared him a glance. 

Raymond disappeared into the bathroom as soon as she admitted she didn't need his help anymore followed by the sounds of retching. Lorelei finished wrapping gauze to hold the bandaging in place, sighing once she was done. 

"I have some antibiotics I want you to take," she admitted, stripping off her gloves for the final time. "Do...do you have someone to look after you?" She paused, studying his rather expressionless face, and his blue-grey quickly looked away from her, confirming her fears. 

She offered her hand, slowly helping him sit up. "I have a spare room, so you can stay here until you get your strength back. I know my place isn't much, but it'll let me keep an eye on that too."

He nodded his head slightly, looking rather defeated. Feeling somewhat awkward, Lorelei continued as she tried to straighten up the mess. "And besides, it's like Nanna Chestnut used to say, it's not our place to judge. And, well, you already paid an eye for... whatever."

Raymond reappeared from the bathroom, and Lorelei excused herself as he waved her towards the kitchen. The kitchen was as small and worn as the rest of the house, dingy curtains covering the cracked windows. "Did I just hear you offering a bed to him?" He whispered harshly.

"Well considering I just removed the man's eye, and I'm hardly a surgeon, it seemed prudent."

"Lei, I know you’re trusting to a fault, but that man tried to kill us!"

"And yet you brought him here," she shot back. "What do you expect me to do? He already made it clear he won't go to a hospital. Do you want me to kick him out onto the street? Or do you want me to call the cops and explain that I went ahead and removed his eye and gave him meds I stole from the hospital?"

Raymond gritted his teeth, running a hand through his short hair. On the one hand, he knew she was right. Morally there was nothing else they could do. But on the other hand, he hated to leave the woman he had come to consider as a sister to fend for herself. 

She didn't have any special abilities like Allison, after all. Since childhood, he had known her, the two of them throwing a ball over the picket fence that separated her yard and his grandmother's. Knew she would rather give someone her purse than even think about fighting.

"I-I'll stay here then," he decided, stomach twisting at the thought. He didn't want to, but he had no choice.

"What? No! Go back home to Allie, I can handle myself."

"...Allie went home with her family." He admitted quietly. "I'd feel weird being there without her anyways." 

"Family? I thought she didn't have any around here?" 

"She doesn't. Look, I'd rather not talk about it right now." Not with that man--Otto--likely listening in. Raymond glanced out to the living room, only slightly relieved to see him still rather slumped on the couch. "I'm gonna run home and get a change of clothes. Then I'll be back." 

"Fine," she relented with a sigh. "If you insist."

Raymond left the kitchen, pausing at the front door to look at Otto reclining on the old couch, still unnaturally pale with sweat beading despite the chill of the late November night. "Don't you dare hurt her." He swore, though he highly doubted the man had the energy after everything. Especially when it seemed like an effort just for Otto to lift his head and open his good eye.

"Jag ska inte," he said, his words either slurred from just his accent or the pain meds Lorelei had given him. Granted, Raymond doubted it would have made any difference. He knew a little Spanish, and that was not it.

"One wrong move and I'll finish the job my wife started," Raymond continued anyways, even though he highly doubted he could be so….ruthless. 

Either Otto didn't care or didn't think he would either as he allowed his head to slump back on the back of the couch, not bothering to designate him with a response. Raymond swore under his breath, praying desperately that everything was in one piece when he returned.

                                                      --+--

Otto hadn't moved an inch when Lorelei finished washing her hands and putting things away. "Okay big man," she sighed, and Otto barely stirred in response. "Sleeping like that is not going to do you any good, so come on." She grabbed his lax hand and tugged slightly. 

With a protesting grunt, Otto shifted and did his best to stand, leaning heavily on Lorelei as the room spun. Her head barely came to his shoulder, which made it awkward, but she held on with a fair amount of strength. 

"You are not allowed to fall, understand?" She said as he wavered. "That would knock those clots loose, and I doubt you have much more blood to lose." 

He grunted in agreement (or she assumed) before taking a hesitant step. Then another, and slowly the paired shuffled towards the small bedroom adjacent to the living room. "Besides," she continued mainly to break the silence. "I doubt I'd be able to lift you up off the floor."

A small smile graced her lips as he gave a huff of what she took as laughter. Her smile remained as she helped him ease into the small twin-sized bed, kneeling down as soon as he was settled to pull off the thick leather boots, ignoring his blatant stare as she quickly undid the thin strings with practiced efficiency. 

Habits were hard to kill, after all. 

"Swing your legs over, and get some rest," she commanded as she stood. "I'll allow another dose of the stinger pills, but then it's plain old Tylenol for you."

He nodded as he collapsed back on the bed which looked even tinier with his more substantial frame laying on it. Lorelei didn't like how pale he was, or the sweat beading on his forehead. Out of habit she brushed the pale blonde hair checking for a temp and gave a sigh of relief when she found none.

Yet, at least.

                                                       --+--

Raymond half expected a blood bath to be waiting for him when he returned. Except there was only the small blood stains Lorelei was scrubbing on the splintered wood floor, Otto nowhere to be seen. 

"Did he leave?" He asked hopefully, but the dark look he received answered otherwise. 

"He's resting in my spare room," she still answered, gesturing to the partially closed door with the bristle brush. "So shush." 

Raymond groaned as he sat on the hardwood chair closest to the woman. "You brought him to me, I'm going to take care of him."

"I have a moral dilemma, okay?" He sighed. "I am allowed to have conflicted feelings about saving the life of the man who tried to kill me and my wife."

"Why didn't you call the cops, Ray?" She asked, giving up on the spot and resting on her heels to look at him. “Why didn’t you force him to a hospital or something? Why bring him here?” 

"Yes, Lei," he leaned forwards, arms resting on his knees. "I'm going to call the cops, and tell them what? That I have a vacuum salesman I thought was dead laying rolled up in my best rug with obvious bruises around his neck and missing an eye because my wife stabbed him? How is it going to look with a black man bringing a man like him into a hospital? Especially when that man is me?"

"Why don't you tell me exactly what happened?" She shifted to sit on the couch, and once he had her full attention, Raymond obliged. The craziness of seeing a cop just turn away after a simple whispered command from his wife. Learning of her secret power. Meeting Allison's rather startling brothers. Not just their personalities, but their ethnicities. 

Learning his wife, his perfect wife of an entire year, was from a lot farther than he could imagine. He could see the doubt and concern in Lorelei's face, but her lips stayed pressed together and she listened without a word as he continued his story. Even after he admitted the truly insane moment of yet another brother in law appearing in a flash of light, citing more time travel, and took his wife away. Forever.

"And that's when I brought him to your doorstep," he finished, leaning back in the chair and waited. 

Lorelei pressed her lips together in thought before giving in and asking the question pressing to the forefront: "Having you been dropping acid?"

"Lei!" He protested, jumping to his feet though mentally, he had tried to prepare for this kind of reaction. “Are you seriously asking me that?” 

"What else am I supposed to think?! Time travel? Superpowers? It sounds like science fiction!"

"This is exactly why I couldn't go to the police. Because if my own sister wouldn't believe me, there is no way they would. Lei," he walked over to the couch and sat next to her, drawing her hands into his. "You are the sister of my heart. Do you really think I could ever lie to you? Or take drugs? To ruin my people's reputation like that?"

She looked at where their hands met, her fair skin even paler in comparison with his. Nana Chestnut always called them siblings of heart, because they always understood each other. They nearly always agreed. She knew his motivations and passions as if they were her own, and vice versa.

And no, she couldn't see him lying to her. Or willingly do anything that could be used against the equal rights movement. 

She looked up and studied his face. The worst bit was: he didn't look like someone hallucinating or having any kind of psychotic break. He seemed somehow as calm and collected as always. 

"...shit."

                                                      --+--

Otto woke with a gasp, the fear from his nightmare chasing him as his hands shot to his neck, assuring he was free to gasp for air. He was already sitting on the edge of the bed before his mind fully woke up; the previous day’s events slowly untangling from the nightmare.

Not that there was much difference. 

His throat ached and burned, but it was nothing compared to his eye, or rather its remains. It was disorienting, having half of his sight gone as he studied the small room barely big enough for the bed and a chest of drawers. Early morning light streamed through threadbare curtains, allowing him to see the glass of water and the white pills sitting next to them. 

Part of him wanted to forgo medication. He had trained nearly his whole life to withstand pain. To push it down and compartmentalize it until it was merely an annoyance. 

But he also never had his eye removed either. And he had to admit whatever the woman gave him the night before had dulled his mind enough to temporarily forget feeling like his heart had been ripped from his chest. 

It wasn't Axel. He reminded himself as he carefully stood, the room spinning as he shakily took the few steps to the chest of drawers, leaning on it as he popped the medication into his mouth and drank the lukewarm water. 

They had known the woman had powers. That's why they had tried to neutralize her as quickly as possible. But they had failed. Again. Their near-perfect streak shattered by this family of oddities. 

But where did Axel go? Why had he woken up at the mercy of the woman's husband? Had his brother honestly thought him dead? And just left him? 

Axel was still alive, right? The thought made his stomach turn as much as the medications and the dizziness did as he clenched his fist.

 No, his brother had to be alive. Axel was the best of them. Their older brother (by five minutes to Otto, but even as an adult, Axel had lorded it over him). Axel had to have survived. 

He couldn't be the only one left. He had to find his brother. 

The thought gave him purpose as he pushed off from the dresser and forced his legs to work as he stumbled out of the small room into the living quarters of the house. His focus was on the front door and the light that was streaming through the small window panes. He had to leave. He had to find Axel. 

Why was the world swaying so much? 

"Woah! Hey, no!" He stumbled as his foot met a thick rug and nearly toppled over if it wasn't for the small woman from the night before, (Lori? Lee? Some odd English name) coming to help him regain his balance. "C'mon on buddy, you need to sit your ass down before you fall down."

It bruised his ego how easily she manipulated him to the nearest chair, helping him ease down into it before disappearing once more. He could only close his eyes, trying to will his heart to stop pounding and his to stop lungs burning from the short walk. 

He felt as weak as a newborn kitten. How was he supposed to do anything like this?

"Here, have some tea." A cold glass was placed in his hand, though her hand hesitated to release it until she was sure he wouldn't drop it. "You lost a lot of blood, my friend. I'm surprised you got this far without passing out." 

The drink was cold and sweet, oddly helping both his stomach as well as his head settle. "Thirsty, were we?" She teased as he finished the glass, still knelt by his side. Muddied green eyes smiled up at him softly, the same ones he remembered hazily staring into last night. 

Except then they hadn't been so cheerful. Just… determined. 

Her smile fell as he continued to stare down at her, and she reached up to brush his forehead with her wrist. "No fever, which is good," she muttered after a moment. "How are you feeling?" 

He wasn't even sure if there were words for how he was feeling, let alone what the English equivalent was. The ache of his throat. The burning pain of his eye. The infuriating absence of half his vision. 

The emotional pain in his chest that threatened to consume him.

"Well, I take it that it's not pleasant by the look on your face," she guessed as he stayed silent. "Did you take those pills I left you?"

He gave a slight nod to that, which seemed to appease her. "Good, though they could be hard on the stomach. How about I whip up a light breakfast? We can see how long it takes Mr. Overprotective there to wake up." 

He had to turn to look where she gestured, seeing Allison's husband asleep on the small cramped couch, an old quilt draped over him. 

She stood up and offered her hand, "You want to come with me to the kitchen? I have a fresh pot of coffee just made, if you're a coffee drinker. Also, not easy on the stomach, but the Lord smite me if I ever deny anyone coffee." 

He hesitated for a moment before accepting, and it was embarrassing to have help to stand and then need to lean on her smaller frame as she helped him across to the kitchen. By the time she helped him to the small kitchen table, he felt weak and shaky and all but collapsed into the chair. 

It wasn't long before she had a mug of steaming coffee set before him and a dish each of sugar and creamer. The woman continued to talk cheerfully as she busied herself with breakfast, he only partially paid attention. 

At least the coffee was strong. 

Part Three 

[filthyjanuary]

awtto :)

tbh ngl this meme seems much better suited to fictional ships but alright let’s go

001 | send me a ship and I will tell you:

when I started shipping it if I did: i got into parx in like may 2020 and i was shipping awtto by june-july i think so pretty quick, because i read awsten’s book and it was INSANE and also syd was making Points and NO ONE WAS LISTENING and i was like HOW ARE Y’ALL NOT SEEING THIS.... nearly a year later, awtto nation thrives <3

my thoughts: they are absolutely bonkers. like their history is insane. the way awsten talks about otto irl but ESPECIALLY in his book? INSANE. their personalities and how fucking weird and different they are and yet they get along so well? INSANE. they make me want to gnaw drywall <3

What makes me happy about them: it’s just very fucking cute that they met as teens and are still tight as fuck despite Drama That Very Well Should Have Destroyed Them and now they are in a band doing cool things and they have these completely on paper different personalities but they mesh so well and it’s just like!! i like ‘em! and they like each other!! they put up with so much wack shit from each other like i’d have to love someone a lot to keep making an effort when they were neigh unreachable most of the time and i’d have to love someone a lot if they were Awsten-levels of batshit off the wall obnoxious too and they do! THEY LOVE EACH OTHER

What makes me sad about them: uh well the g**** of it all. bad situation. makes me sick if i think about it for too long.

things done in fanfic that annoys me: tbh awtto nation generally writes incredible fic. i don’t look at wattpad so i don’t know what fuckery goes on there. i guess just like wanting to avoid using their names so you write ‘the heterochromatic boy’ fives times in one fic makes me want to drink bleach but also i do not write fic so like i’m really not in any position to criticize.

things I look for in fanfic: it’s written by sydney @randombubblegum. nah jokes, tbh i’m behind bc i havent rly had fic time lately, and when i have, i’ve been reading DBH fic, but when i do read awtto i kind of read everything in the tag. the fandom is small enough that it’s not like i have room to be choosy. and also most of the stuff ppl are putting on ao3 is really good so i always have a good time.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: i mean they’re real people so it’s not rly my place to be comforted by who they are dating but i do think [redacted] is maybe not the best influence. hmmm maybe they can join geoff’s polycule idk. trawsten is also cute sometimes but i also think awsten should get to make out with all his idols. gotto is cute sometimes and there is also something compelling about otto/dewayne tbh. just wholesome boys.

My happily ever after for them: literally get over yourselves and kiss oh my fucking god if geoff has to look like his soul is leaving his body in one more interview i will kermit on his behalf

who is the big spoon/little spoon: we have a canonical answer to this and it’s otto big spoon awsten little spoon and tbh even without having seen that video i would’ve guessed that anyway

what is their favorite non-sexual activity: i dont know if it’s non-sexual but whatever in the foreplay wrestling shit louisiana hotel was 

send me characters/ships 

[jane-the-zombie]

A Wolf in Thief’s Clothing || Ariana (Megan?) & Jane

TIMING: Present

LOCATION: Store

PARTIES: @letsbenditlikebennett & @jane-the-zombie

SUMMARY: Jane runs into Ariana (Megan????) shoplifting at the store.

While impulse control had never been something Megan had been great at, most of her impulses at least didn’t drastically break any human laws. Sure, hunting seasons were a thing, but who the hell was going to tell a wolf they couldn’t eat a deer? That’s right, no one. Well, except maybe a beast hunter, but fuck most of them. The weird thoughts in her head that didn’t feel entirely like her own paired with the amount of stress she was under made it hard to ignore the temptation to shoplift. At first, she’d been a little appalled with herself, but now it was becoming a bit of a game. Their fridge was already full of steak and herring, so she decided to go for hair products today. She was in a crisis and the purple clearly had to go. The reminder that she wouldn’t ask Winston to do it because she wasn’t ready to see Rio yet stung as she looked over the hair colors. This time she’d go for a color she could actually see. Looking through the blues, she opted for the brightest looking one which was Poseidon by Arctic Fox. She still had a bleach kit at home, so she discreetly shoved the hair dye into the pocket of her leather jacket when she heard someone clear their throat behind her. Had she been that distracted? She whipped her head around to see Jane there. Shit. “Jane, hey, hi, how are you?” Smooth, Megan, smooth.

Jane had her hands on her hips as she stared at Ariana Bennett stuff the hair dye in her jacket. She had originally been planning on saying hi to the young woman, to check in, while she was here getting more salt (for French Fry) and nail polish remover (for herself) and yet… Shoplifting. They had all been there at one point or another. Jane herself had done it when she was a teenager, and Lizzie had done the same far past her teens - specifically from clothing stores. Jane plugged her ears and pretended not to listen as she described how to get magnet tags off swimsuits, before dutifully reminding her little sister that she was in fact a cop. Jane stood, looking at Ariana with the best disappointed face she could muster. How many blood bags can go missing this week before someone notices. Wait, what? Why did she keep having thoughts like that? Crap. Jane shook it off and let out a low sigh. “You want to hand me that hair dye, young lady?” She said, feeling like her father. Oh, weird. She hated that.

Eventually, Megan knew this whole shoplifting thing was going to catch up with her. She’d been trying to get whoever was in her head out, but it seemed to be of no use. At least it seemed to be a somewhat widespread thing and she wasn’t the only one experiencing it. Which hopefully meant it would get solved because she sure as hell didn’t know how to fix it. She was a fighter not a thinker. With a defeated sigh, she handed the hair dye to Jane. “Not really, I can just buy it. I don’t normally do this by the way.” She fidgeted nervously with her hair hoping she wasn’t going to get arrested this close to the full moon. “Kinda have someone else in my head right now, it’s a time and half.” She couldn’t stand still. “The full moon is tonight. Please don’t take me to the station.”

Ah yes. The wolves and their little moon problem. “Lucky for you, I happen to have better things to do than fill out the paperwork taking you in, Ariana,” she said, tucking the hair dye under her arm. Besides, none of the ‘scared straight’ crap worked anyway, and Jane wasn’t about to put Ariana through something that anyway - even without the moon problem. “C’mon, kid. Why don’t we go check out,” Jane said pointedly. She glanced at the blue hair dye. “This is a pretty color,” Jane commented as they started walking towards the self check out. “What sparked Teen Wolf Rebel? Is this some sort of moon thing?”

Megan’s eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. “Wait, who’s Ariana? I mean, thank you for not bringing me in.” Somehow, the adrenaline of being caught brought a satisfying thrill. Fuck, this was not the kind of mind state she needed to be in right now. She had actual problems to take care of. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. I do totally have money with me.” She relaxed a bit when she realized she wasn’t in any real trouble. Jane really was pretty great and she felt bad to have put her in an awkward situation. “Thanks, figured I’d go for a color I can actually see this go round,” she said trying to keep her tone calm. She shrugged and explained, “It’s definitely not a moon thing. I’ve got like… someone else’s thoughts in my head? With how much else I have going on right now, it’s hard to like just ignore whoever the fuck is in there. Apparently like it’s a thing that’s going around though so who knows. This town is wild.”

“Very funny,” Jane replied, looking at Ariana pointedly. “But I have more things to worry about than a little shoplifting…. That gets worse by mind crap.” Jane frowned when she realized that Ariana was having similar mind experiences. Thoughts of hunters and people and blood kept filling her mind, and she was certain that Harsh wasn’t human. He had to be a zombie. Jane shook her head, pushing her hair out of her face as they approached the self check-out line. “I’m actually experiencing something similar. Wouldn’t be fair to bring you in over something like that.” Supernatural related. Her stomach twisted and she let out a low sigh. Supernatural and law didn’t go together, and Jane was still trying to work out what her place was in everything. She glanced at Ariana. The poor girl was so young to be dealing with so much, especially with her sister’s death let alone organ trafficking. Something stirred inside her, and she wasn’t sure what it was. “Let me spot you on the hair dye, hm? And then we can go talk, if you want.”

“I wasn’t joking,” Megan explained as she looked at Jane some incredulously. She didn’t know what her real name, but it definitely wasn’t Ariana. “That makes sense considering well… literally everything that happens in this town.” It wasn’t exactly comforting to know Jane was going through the same thing. While the previous town-wide problems had been taken care of, it always still left her feeling there were things far too powerful for any of them to face. It only further cemented the idea that they needed to stick together. She refused to lose someone else she cared for. “I don’t love that you have someone in your head, too, but I guess there’s not much we can do about it. Trying to see if any of my spellcasting friends know more.” Magic was something that both intrigued and frightened her to an extent, but she trusted the spellcasters she knew. Megan smiled brightly when Jane offered to get the hair dye for her. It wasn’t necessary, but Jane caring and helping was always welcome though she wasn’t too excited to talk about an organ selling ring of all things. “Thanks, Jane. And yeah, we probably should talk. I wish it was better news” She followed her to the checkout counter and offered another thank you as Jane paid for her hair dye. As they made their way out, Megan pointed out a little bench not far off that seemed private enough. “How about here,” she asked.

“What’s your name then, if it isn’t Ariana? Malory?” Jane replied, sarcastically. Kids sure were funny these days, with their memes and their tiktoks “Does everyone in this town have spellcasting friends?” Jane asked, though she wasn’t sure she would call Otto and herself friends. He was more a big thorne in her side. A pain in the ass. She shook her head, running a hand through her hair as they entered self check out. For good measure, Jane grabbed a couple bottles of water and a small bag of potato chips to go along with the hair dye. She could come back for her salt and nail polish remover some other time. She bagged the items, handing Ariana the bag with the hair dye, and walked out with her. “That’ll be fine enough, I think. As they sat down, Jane reached into the bag and handed her one of the bottles of water. She leaned against her knees looking over at Ariana. It was hard - Jane didn’t typically like kids, and she definitely didn’t like interacting with them - though, Ariana was eighteen, and that definitely wasn’t a ‘child’ anymore. Back in Portland, her old partner had always been the one to deal with the child witnesses. But Ariana was so young and had been through so much, and she didn’t have anyone here anymore… Something about that tugged on Jane’s heartstrings. Ugh. “You can start anywhere you want, okay?” Jane told her. “Even if it’s not about what you told me before online.”

“I don’t actually know because my name was stolen, but Ariana doesn’t sound right. You can call me Megan until I get my real name back,” Megan explained even though she realized Jane didn’t quite believe her. It did sound pretty wild if you didn’t know about the supernatural. Hell, she knew about the supernatural and she was shocked to learn that fae could just yoink your name. She shrugged, “I mean, the fellow supernatural folks probably. Humans, I couldn’t tell you. They probably wouldn’t know if they did.” She noted that Jane picked up some chips and waters for them which was a much nicer reaction to being caught shoplifting by an actual cop than she would have ever expected, but she guessed it wasn’t that surprising. In the short time she’d known Jane, she’d always been nothing but kind and understanding to her. It was a warm feeling that reminded her of why she was continuing to push through these days that seemed to grow more and more exhausting. She happily took the bag with the blue hair dye and noted she’d need to message Winston for further hair help. It seemed to be their thing now. “Thanks, Jane,” she said as they walked outside and took a seat on a lone bench. She leaned back and made herself comfortable. She let out a soft sigh, “That’s a tough one… because I don’t want to get the person who’s literally being threatened to do said harvesting in trouble, but I do have a name and was promised more. Kind of started with me sticking my nose literally where it doesn’t belong because I smelled dead werewolves, but apparently it’s not just werewolf organs… ours just happen to be more valuable which like ugh.”

Megan. Jane’s brows furrowed. Name stealing? Not for the first time, Jane thought that White Crest was the bad place. “Megan��� got it.” Somehow, Jane didn’t think it would be all that helpful to tell her that Ariana’s - er, Megan’s name was actually Ariana. Something about that whole nonsense made her think that no matter what she said to Megan, she wouldn’t believe her. Jane glanced at her, leaning on her knees as she stared at the young woman. She had her whole life ahead of her, and she didn’t deserve half the crap that was on her shoulders. Jane could at least help take the burden off her shoulders - that was her job, wasn’t it? The whole reason she wanted this job to begin with. Maybe not here in White Crest, but it was still the same. What was an eighteen year old girl doing dealing with organ trafficking? Jane shook her head. “Aria - Megan, I want you to know that I’m going to do everything I can to help you. I know you don’t want to get anyone in trouble, and I’m not going to push for you to tell me who’s harvesting the organs, but I’d like to be able to help them too.” Especially if they were being threatened. “So think about it for me, at least a little.” Jane considered where to go from there, for just a moment, before she sat up a little straighter and looked at her. “But, for now, let’s start with that name.”

[gravityfissure]

Wildest Dreams : Otto & Ariana

TIMING: Current. PARTIES: Otto & @letsbenditlikebennett​ SUMMARY: Ariana and Otto catch up at Layla and Luke’s birthday but things don’t seem quite right.

By all indications, the party was wildly a success. Ariana had to shake away the creeping concern that Layla could return to her hypnotized self at any moment, but she was having fun. It looked like everyone else was, too-- especially Luke, who more than anyone, deserved to have a blast on his birthday. How many years had gone by celebrating alone because he was in hiding? She’d make sure he never had to do that again. He was loved and she was determined to continue reminding him of this fact. Somehow, something felt off though. She couldn’t quite shake an uneasy feeling and she wasn’t quite sure why the recipes to all the bars cocktails were flying through her mind. She’d never even heard of half of them. She shrugged it off and approached Otto behind the bar. “Any good non alcoholic drinks for your favorite teen wolf,” she joked.

By Otto’s estimations it seemed like things were going well, admittedly by his standards it was a bit of a tame party but those for whom it had been thrown seemed content and at the end of the day it was their happiness that mattered. So he’d contented himself with tormenting Noah and Nate with inappropriately named cocktails for absolutely no other reason beyond he simply could. It was entertaining to watch the blush and bluster that came when the aptly named blow-job was presented with the criteria it be drunk sans hands. Though a pesky thought and concern for Layla kept gnawing at the back of his mind, frustrating considering… well, he didn’t really care about this Layla girl in any true capacity. Not when there were far more enjoyable people to pay attention to… Luke for example. That said, Otto was drawn out of his appreciation by Ari’s approach and he leaned up a little more on the bar considering her for a moment. “Well… Since you helped organise this and the fact no one’s looking…. Maybe I’ll treat you. Just don’t tell anyone I broke the rules hey?” He tilted his head “what do you fancy little wolf?”

For some reason, Ariana was stuck with thoughts of making inappropriate shots for Noah and Nate… which gross. Nate was like old and Noah was like the jock of a big brother she never knew she needed. Her nose scrunched up in disapproval even though her mind was egging the whole thing on. It was odd having her thoughts feel out of place in her own head, but she ended up smirking as she watched them down their blow job shots. Boys. They at least provided a good distraction from staring at Layla who was moping against the wall and chatting with Ulf. Part of her wanted to wish her a happy birthday while a larger part was still fuming. Still, she leaned against the bar and smiled at Otto. There was a devious spark in her eyes when he mentioned turning an eye. She knew better than to try and pull one over on him with her fake, but this worked out even better. “I knew you were pretty cool,” she joked, really Otto was probably cooler than she was, but she didn’t care about that, “Anything citrus-y sounds delicious to me.” She spared a glance over toward Layla again. Frankie was with her now and things seemed to be getting heated. Frankie had every right to be pissed at Layla. Now was just the worst possible time for it. Who knew just how strong the compulsion on Layla was. Last thing she needed was the headache of her turning all bad girl on them again.

Otto couldn’t understand why his thoughts kept going to Layla, who by appearances from what he could see seemed more concerned with staying out of everyone’s way rather than anything else. What was there to worry about after all and why did he feel annoyed whenever he thought about her? It was strange, she’d be one of many people he didn’t know that had been on his mind lately. Namely her sock-smelling ground beef. The memory earned a small wrinkle of his nose. “Just trying to add to my street cred with the pack,” he joked light-heartedly. “Citrusy, coming right up.” It wasn’t hard to fix a drink up and Otto returned after a moment sliding a blueberry lemonade sangria over the counter with one for himself. His eyes drifted over to the pair near the side of the party, lowering his voice to speak to Ariana without drawing too much attention “don’t think we’re going to have trouble are we?”

Everything in her head seemed to be confusing her right now. Ariana knew her concern for Layla was well placed, but every so often feelings or thoughts she didn’t quite relate to slipped in. Maybe the drink Otto was making her would do the trick. She laughed and explained, “I think with this party and that wolfy GPS thing you did, you’ve got plenty of pack street cred, but I’ll still take it.” When he returned with the drink, she felt herself begin to relax a little bit. It smelled like lemons and berries. It tasted even better. The alcohol even made it a bit novel. “Thanks.” Her smile was pretty wide until he mentioned troubles and guessed maybe her concern had been written all over her face. She looked down at the bar momentarily, debating on what to say, before she opted for the truth. She owed Otto more favors than she cared to count at this point. “I mean, probably not. I’m a little worried the compulsion on Layla won’t hold and she’ll go back to being hypnotized and kinda… how do you say psychotic bitch nicely?”

“Well, a little extra never hurts does it?” Otto joked while taking a sip of his drink as he surveyed the people at the party, mingling and chatting and seemingly having a good time. His brows pulled together a fraction with Ari’s admission, “like that probably. But compulsion? What happened there?” Unfortunately any further explanation was cut off as a crashing din from the other side of the party echoed through the space as a redhead he hadn’t admittedly paid much attention to shoved another individual that had been getting in her face over one of the tables that had been set out. “Oi! The fuck? Stop that!” he yelled, pushing up from his leaning perch on the bar. “Pete?” he looked around for the weasley looking demon (who was freakishly strong despite his wayward appearance) that typically sorted most scuffles out, But he couldn’t find him. “That what you mean by psychotic bitch?”

“Before you know it, you’re gonna be an honorary pack member,” Ariana responded playfully before she took another sip of her drink. Somehow hers and Nell’s joke of my wolves, my witches, and my bitches seemed to apply yet again. While she wasn’t keen on explaining, after that she did owe some sort of explanation and Otto looked confused. She shrugged slightly and answered, “She got hypnotized by a cursed fidget spinner. Ulf knows a vampire who compelled her to be like normal so she stops trying to destroy the town until we figure out how to break the hypnosis.” Hearing the crash in the corner, she let out a groan. Her leg was still throbbing and her stitches were still fresh. Judging by Otto’s reaction, she was pretty sure this venue wouldn’t be an option for future parties. “Ugh, yes, that just about covers it. I’ll get her out of here.” So much for a fun evening. She darted across the dance floor and let out a small yelp as a pain shot through her leg. There went her stitches. Dr. Lin-King was going to kill her. “Layla, stop it!” Her shouts seemed to fall of deaf ears. Why were none of the other wolves reacting? Where were Ulf and Miles? Even Luke or Winn would be a huge help right about now.

“Aawh, do I get a badge? I feel like I should get an honorary pack member badge. Tell me you guys have patches or something cool.” Otto’s smile was lopsided as he sipped his drink. “What the fuck? A cursed fidget spinner? Who would… actually scratch that I can think of plenty of people who’d do that…” His eyes returned to the girl for a moment. “Huuuh, and it’s working?” Crash. Oh. Maybe he’d spoken too soon. A single incident was hardly room for barring from future occasions, maybe just this Layla girl until she got her shit together. “I’ll help,” he said hoping that Thierry might be able to cover the bar for the time being while he followed Ariana. Everyone else seemed lost in conversation, paying no attention to the scene unfolding at one side of the room. Otto hated getting into altercations but it felt like it was happening more and more of late. “Come on… There’s no need for this let’s just--” he raised his hands in the hopes of a quick charm, but when he reached for the familiar tethers found there was… nothing there to grasp. “What the??” so perplexed by this development he missed the fist that was being swung straight towards his face cracking as it impacted and knocked him stumbling into the wall grasping his face. “Ow- what the fuck ?”

Normally, Ariana would have had a quip in response to the badge thing, but Layla’s outburst drew her attention. Making sure Layla didn’t hurt anyone was top priority and where the hell did Ulfric go? The other wolves seemed to be pretty content and too drunk to notice the scene Layla was about to cause. “Pie prize contest. Don’t know why they cursted a fucking fidget spinner,” she grumbled as she tried to ignore the sharp pain in her leg. She had to stop Layla, she could already see the claws coming out as she threw one of the tables. Otto was trying to reason with her, but she could hear the snarl coming from the redhead. Fuck, this wasn’t good. They were in a public place. They couldn’t just wolf out here. What if there was a hunter? They’d both get killed. Panic rose in Ariana and she instinctively lunged toward Layla to tackle her to the ground, but ended up on the ground herself as Layla dodged.

Otto could only stare in abject horror as the scene seemed to go into slow motion. The young woman’s features growing more animalistic, jagged rows of teeth belonging to a snarling muzzle turning in their direction, as fur began to sprout forth and a rather charming appearance became something much more terrifying in her apparent rising anger. “Uuuuh Ari?” Where were the other wolves when you needed them? This was not what he needed tonight. It was meant to be a chilled party with no drama. What was so hard about that? He reached again, trying to find some tether of familiarity of his power but again none came. There was a singular moment of isolating paranoia and fear, was this really how it was going to end. Fuck no. Get a grip of yourself. He backed up right at the same point a claw lashed out, his hand instinctively throwing up to try and counter but instead the claws racked over his arm and he recoiled with a pained hiss, “Ari! Get this under control!” because I sure as hell can’t.

Watching Layla transform into a wolf mid party left her both seething in anger and terrified for those around them. “Layla, stop it! Now” Ariana called out. She shifted her focus to trying to change her own form. For some reason, she couldn’t seem to connect with the wolf that was part of her. What was going on? The ginger wolf was charging directly toward her and she was completely defenceless. Not even her instinctive fight or flight seemed to be able to coax her wolf out. What the hell was going on? Panic made her heartbeat race. She squeezed her eyes shut and focused on the feeling the moon always gave her. She pushed herself to transform, but she stood there, unmoving and unable to connect with the animal inside. There was no way she could fist fight a fucking wolf. The other wolf sent her body thudding to the ground and Ariana winced at the fangs bared in her face. If her wolf didn’t come out, she’d be torn to pieces in no time followed by the rest of the bar. Or someone could end up shooting and killing Layla. Each thought left her petrified and as teeth were only centimetres away from her throat, she found her eyes fluttering open as she gasped for her breath. A coat of cold sweat covered her body and there was the tiniest amount of blood coming from her throat. She hugged the covers close to her and decided sleep was out of the question tonight.

If Otto would classify anything as a shitshow, this would certainly be up there in the ranks as he watched the ginger werewolf leap at Ariana. Why wasn’t she turning? It hadn’t seemed too bad the last time they’d seen one another and yet now she just… Wasn’t? None of this made sense and Otto’s sense of self-preservation made him step back, once and then again staring as she was knocked prone by the massive snarling creature. Oh hell no. Nope. Absolutely not. There was a single, last-ditch attempt to reach for his magic as the creature’s head lifted and peered straight at him and in a blur of snarling muscle and flesh leaped, claws lashing out.. And his last thought was is this how it ends?

His eyes snapped open in a blind-panic a sudden flare of energy shunting the nearby furniture a few screeching centimeters out of place. Sheets tangled around his legs as he tumbled out of bed onto the hard floor, breathing hard and clasping a hand to his heart. “What the fuck?” he panted a trickle of blood trailing down his arm as he stared around a dark empty bedroom trying to piece together what just happened but finding no answers in the silence. Perhaps sleep wasn’t a good idea tonight.

[popculturebuffet]

Quack Pack Episode 22 Review: Snow Place to Hide

So as some of you may know, I do weekly reviews of Ducktales ever since the season started. But quite obviously, that only comes once a week and on top of that we have only two weeks left of episodes before a break and given the last few episodes have stoked my wanting to watch other Disney Afternoon shows, after i’ve taken way too long to get around to watching more of them again despite having D+ for almost 6 months now, i’ve decided to branch out into other shows.  If you have an episode of a show, animated or otherwise, on D+ you want me to review, just shoot me a message and for three bucks, i’ll review it asap. Yes I snuck a promo in there but in my defense.. shut up. More babbling under the cut. 

So with Daisy a coming and me starving for Daisy Duck Content, and Disney Plus for SOME REASON STILL NOT HAVING HOUSE OF MOUSE DESPITE HAVING NO REASON NOT TO HAVE IT ON THERE AND HAVING BEEN AROUND 6 MONTHS, YOU ASSHOLES, I was left with a handful of choices to both watch casually and review. I’m not really intrested in the Disney Junior shows, though they aren’t bad, especially roadster racers, just not my speed. And while I DO fully intend to watch legend of the three cablleros, i’ve put it off too long and i’ve heard it’s excellent, it’s not a place to go for Daisy when, by all acccounts and what i’ve seen of the show, that version of her is godawful and not really approraite to celebrate the character going into her big debut.  Hence,  Quack Pack. I’d been meaning to revisit the show anyway, having seen two episodes that weren’t half bad years ago and despite it’s obvious flaws, being curious about the good in it. For the uninitated Quack Pack was disney’s second Duck show for the Disney Afternoon and followed Donald and teen versions of the boys on various misadventures. Along for the ride are Daisy, anchorwoman for globetrotting news program “what in the world?” and her coanchor and Donald’s Boss , as Donald’s the duo’s cameraman, Kent Powers, a smug egotistical human with weird hair. Yup I said human. One of Quack Pack’s more infamous traits was having humans instead of dog faces (the dog like humanoids carl barks used since he coudln’t use humans himself when he didn’t want to use a duck), which is a choice i’m just.. eh about. I don’t LIKE IT but it dosen’t ruin the show for me and the ducks blend well enough with them, I just question why disney did it when they turned down Goof Troop’s request to do the same, which again worked out for the best. As a result of this weird choice the series is less of a direct sequel to Ducktales and more of a spritual sequel:  it’s still barksian in it’s own way, just instead of focusing on scrooge, like the earlier comics in Barks catalogue it focuses on Donald, and thus bounces between slice of life shenanigans and globe trotting adventure, sort of like how the collection of barks stories I bought recently that’s donald centric starts with the all-time classic old castle’s secret about the family visting castle mcduck to find a hidden foruturne, and then segues into a comedy plot about donald trying to put the boys in chimp suits for a society party because he’s kind of an asshole in the old stories and these stories were kinda weird. I”ll probably talk about some of them at some point.  The problem though is that not only are the boys the focus instead of donald and daisy, but that the boys are insufferable here. They speak like otto rocket and act like zack morris, trying to scheme their way out of work and speaking like they just walked out of a commerical for Whale Cancer. 

F-Yeah. the point is, the three of htem just aren’t likeable or intresting, and it also hurts their paired up with Donald, who as usual is. It’s probably why I remember this ep so fondly: it’s mostly donald focused with the boys off to the side and taking slapstick vengance on a deserving target. But that’s quack pack in a nutshell: a wasted opprotunity that got overhyped as bad and whose good title got used for one of Ducktales 2016′s best episodes which classily didn’t take any real pot shots at it and even snuck kent in as one of the humans trying to murder them.  So with all of that out of the way, what’s this episode actually about? Well basically donald, after flying into a jealous rage over what he thought was her sweet talking another guy behind his back but was really just her cuddling her igauna, which sounds dirty for some reason but is entirely wholesome, is chastized by daisy for being a jealous twit. Daisy herself is jetting off for the weekend to a nearbye ski resort to get an interview with action star Jean Claude.. basically a combination of Jean CLaude Van Damme (the accent and onlyt hat) and Steven Segal (his apperance and skeeziness). Sadly the character isn’t wearing a kimiono the entire episode for accuracy, but he’s also not trying to sexually harass daisy for favors like the real steven segal would. No joke there he’s just a creep and deserves to be called out on it. Also the show missed a massive opproutnity to have him be a seagull named “Steven Seagull”. Just saying.  See Kent, being an ass, is trying to scoop daisy on it and get an interview himself, so Daisy’s trying to beat him. Donald says he trusts her but well.. then he starts hallunicnating. Everyone, i’d like you to meet the green eyed monster of jealousy. 

Why yes, that is a sizeable wolf in a green zoot suit representing Donald’s jealousy and insecurity. Why is it a wolf an not ana ctual monster? Why is donald halluicnating? Does he need thereapy.. I can only answer the last one which is yes. The rest I have nothing but I am here for it. And the wolf is one of the best parts of the episode: if this was just donald getting jealous over daisy, he’d be as much of a dick as his nephews are in this series, but the green eyed monster is a neat representation of the ugly feelings we all feel at one time or another. He sounds intellegent, clever... like he’s saying the right things... donald’s inner voice goading him on even though he knows deep down daisy wouldn’t cheat and he shoudln’t be doing what he’s doing.. which in this case is, as the wolf’s suggestion, taking the boys on a ski trip despite hating sking to find out if hsi fears are unfounded or not.  And while what donald’s doing is a MASSIVE dick move... the episode TREATS it as this,a s him being irrational and insecure.. so it’s a lot easier to deal with. Plus as is standard for comedies he keeps running into scenarios that look like Daisy’s having a good time or in romantic situations with kent by concidence, even though again he should know better. But that’s why donald is who he is: a relatable angry asshat whose just like you and me: because like us we all sometimes sink to our lower instincts despite knowing we shouldn’t. We slip and stumble. Does it make donald following her around okay? nope. But it dosen’t make him unsympahetic either, and he does learn his lesson and suffer plenty of slapstick for it. But that’s the basic setup,donald follows daisy around while his new wolfy pal eggs him on. Meanwhile the boys get cut off sking by kent, calling him “Lime Slime”, real clever guys, and only agree to help donald get kent away from daisy, in reality Daisy is merley sticking so close to keep kent from running off.. and that’s not an overreaction, kent hilarious trys to sneak off the second he’s out of her sight every time and is so inepet at his job Daisy wants to stick around to make sure he dosen’t cost them the interview, which he probably would honestly. It’s good comedic timing and that coupled with the slapstick and the wolf whose damn funny and reminds me , along with daisy in her ski outfit that yes I am bi bi bi till the day I die. It’s not bad. Wait what were we talking about? oh right the boys.. they mess with kent a bit, it’s okay, it keeps them out of the main plot.  Eventually things esclate as Daisy does find Jean Claude who unlike kent, whose unitrested in Daisy and is a sleazy dope for other reasons, very intrested in Daisy who rebuffs him.. and donald witnsess it and realizes he was a dickhead and a skunk, with helpful visual cue for the latter if sadly not the former. Donald of course ends up crashing into their table and Daisy realizes what was going on, and the boys quickly cover for him as entering the weekends ski race. Because of course there’s a race to end this this was the 90′s and goof troop had already done this so Quack Pack had to do the same.  But we get a somewhat charming moment as Daisy admits she knows donald was just covering by agreeing with the boys, and that what he did was NOT okay.. but she gets why. And to me, at least, I get it was less him not trusting her and more him .. simply thinking he’s not good neough. As seen above the wolf appears during the race to goad him again, but I think he’s less afraid of her genuinely not loving him and more afraid she’ll see he’s not good enough, he his, and leave him. But ..s he won’t. This si daisy at her best, willing to put donald in his place for being a dickhead, but still having genuine chemstiry with him and understanding the dope. It’s why I prefer this daisy to one who treats him like garbage without letting him explain (Cabs) or cheats on him constantly with Gladstone because he has money even though he’s a massive selfish dick and donald’s a decent if flawed guy. (the comics depending on the writer). Admitley Id on’t think she should be as forgiving as she is, but whatever. Donald gets injured during the race,learns his lesson.. and for real this time as the monster, himself banged up, tries to goad donald on when donald’s handsome doctor shows up but donald instead does the old bit with hospital beds where he has the thing collapse on the guy. That’s also whyi ‘m not too hard on him: again he gets punished, but in addition he LEARNS from it and realizes he was a moron and is genuinely sorry.  Overall the episode is pretty good. The bits with the boys are incidentaly and likely there only so their actresses can get a pay day, not that i’m against that, Pamela Aldon has mouths to feed and at least one of her daughters had to be born by then, but otherwise it’s an enjoyable throwback to the older shorts that showcases donald and daisy at their best and has an intresting and well designed, if werdly named, side character. While I joked about the weird choice of green eyed monster, I still loved the character as his smooth talking, flashy design, and great use of metaphor meant he was a delight and i’d love to see the design show up int he reboot for something else.  Overall not a bad time for 20 something minutes and far better than i’d of expected of quack pack in the past. Who knows maybe the rest won’t be so bad.. MAYBE. Until next time , courage. 

[astraphobe]

[ LAWRENCE “LARS” MALKIN. 40. CISMALE. HE/HIM ] is here! They’ve lived in Silver Lake for [ 20 YEARS ] and are originally from [ OREGON ]. They are a [ MECHANIC ] and in their downtime love [ PLAYING HIS ELECTRIC GUITAR ] and [ WRITING MUSIC ]. They look a lot like [ CHRIS PRATT ] and live [ IN OASIS APTS ]. (ooc: otto, 19, he/him, cst)

hello !! i’m otto and this is my first muse here. he’s garbage but, like, good garbage ?? compost ?? idk. anyway. i hope you guys like your man-children middle aged and with two kids because if you expected anything else you’re gonna be dissapointed.

BASICS.

Name:  Lawrence Malkin. Nickname: Everyone calls him Lars, but his mom and dad used to call him Larry. He hated it. Gender: Cis-male. Sexuality: Gay (homosexual, homoromantic). Race: Caucasian. Age: 40 ( 01/10/1980 ). Zodiac: Capricorn. Hometown: Grants Pass, Oregon. Current residence: Oasis Apartments. Career: Mechanic.

Astra inclinant, sed non obligant !

this is the background bit. i didn’t want it to be long but it ended up being long, so if you don’t wanna read it you don’t have to. i did spend a lot of time on it, though. hopefully it isn’t shit. enjoy ( but only if you want ) !

world, meet lars. lars, meet world. he’s ... going through it right now. not a lot of things have gone right for him.

he’s the youngest of five in a strictly evangelical household. everything was about rules and if he didn’t abide by them, he’d be punished. he remembers getting hit with switches and belts and wires. he’d be locked in prayer closets and forced to confess his sinful thoughts. he recited every word of scripture, was slain in the spirit, proselytized to all of his friends, and he got nothing but fear and anger out of it --- it was all very ... carrie, but without the promises of superpowers.

when he started going to a secular public high school his entire viewpoint shifted. he made friends who snuck him into rated r movies to watch him squirm at things he’d never heard of before. he started smoking cigarettes, smoking grass, failing classes, and playing sinner’s music on his guitar. strict parents make sneaky kids, he used to be able to all of this in his church clothes.

after high school lars stopped talking to the rest of his family. he rented an apartment with his friends for a two year stint at community college ( he was an automotive specialist major ) and started a band with them in silver lake once he graduated. he never really wanted to talk about girls or stare at nudie magazines like the rest of them, no. he just wanted to make music. until he met margo and his life fell apart.

he only started to date her because it felt right and she promised to take care of him. no one else has ever made the effort to take care of him --- he’d been locked in closets and hit with willow tree branches for the duration of his adolescence. he just wanted comfort.

after he met her, she was the only thing on his mind outside of his band. it wasn’t love, though, even if that was what he thought it was. everything seemed perfect. it all seemed like a normal he could get used to. until she got pregnant and they weren’t ready. she was 24, he was 25, they were both fucked. this was the beginning of the end of them.

click ... click ... click ... boom ! shotgun wedding. as soon as he signed that paper he felt that straight man ball and chain around his ankle. he felt regret, he felt guilty, and, at first, an eighteen year weight stacked atop his shoulders. what more could he do other than ... grin and bear it.

he stopped talking to his friends, who were all busy having fun and playing music and doing everything he wanted to do and more. separating himself from the men he loved most, even if he didn’t want to say it, made him bitter. he stopped doing gigs to make more mechanic money. after the birth of his first daughter, yael, his life was boring and monotonous. five years down the line, margo threw out her birth control pills without letting him know. this was how his second kid, ruth, was brought into the world. it was also the straw that broke the camel's back.

the divorce was long and messy --- he’s glad his kids don’t really remember it too much. margo and lars ended up splitting custody with yael but because of the bullshit that came with ruth, she’s all his. he started meeting up with his friends for gigs again, rediscovering his passion for music. and also drugs. he’s reclaiming the youth he lost when he started dating margo, even though it’s a little weird. he’s happy but he’s not fulfilled, and his kids could see that, too.

the process ruined him financially, enough for the bank to foreclose his home only a few months after the split. he filed for bankruptcy, destroyed his credit score, and moved into a seedy two bedroom apartment ( which isn’t cheap in the city of angels ) that managed to be just a few blocks down from where one of his old friend lived. he came out while lars was married and he didn’t know until he saw the flag hanging in the window. he was curious about it, but we all know what that did to the cat.

lars doesn’t want to be gay, but everything he does makes him feel like he is. the way he talks, the way he sits, the way he cries while watching the notebook --- he knows these are all stereotypes now, but what would his younger self think ?? two kids, no money, AND he’s queer ?? he wants to push this all down, and he does, but he knows that it won’t do him any good either. he knows that everything will all implode, but that day isn’t today, and with any luck, it won’t be tomorrow. he’ll sit in his idea of normalcy until he can’t anymore.

Per angusta ad augusta !

bulletpoints and headcanons, baby !

lars loves his kids. like, a lot. when he was with margo he regretted them entirely but he doesn’t feel that way anymore. he wants what’s best for him, and he wants to give them everything his parents couldn’t give him. namely: love. he doesn’t want more kids, though. he’s saving up for a vasectomy.

he’s not a perfect parent, though. i wouldn’t even call him a great one because of how often he has to be away from them and how much he drinks his feelings. at least once a year he’ll go on a bender and he’ll have to pay a babysitter more than he can afford because of how long he’d be out for. now that his kids are old enough to pick up on these things, they’re becoming more and more concerned with his behavior. he can tell, it’s just another thing he’s trying to avoid bringing up. it’s just another thing that pushes him back to drink.

speaking of his kids. i love them. i love them just as much as i love lars. yael is fifteen and she’s a mini version of her father. when lars has the time, he teaches her to play the guitar on his old acoustic. she manages to make a’s and b’s and he could never be prouder, especially because he barely graduated high school himself. ruth, on the other hand, is an enigma and he doesn’t really understand her but he tries her best. she says a lot of things that ten year olds probably shouldn’t say, but he lets it slide because it’s funny. he’s had to raise her mostly by himself which has been a gigantic struggle for him, but it’s proving to be successful thus far. she really wants to be a teenager and she emulates teenagers to the best of her ability, but it’s what a ten year old thinks a teenager should act like, so it’s far from accurate. loves cleaning her room, though. it’s the most pristine part of their house and he has no clue why.

margo was jewish, so both of his kids are being raised jewish. he doesn’t really believe any of it himself, but his kids seem pretty happy. yael had a bat mitzvah and ruth is coming up on hers, but he has no idea how that’s going to work out because margo did 99% of the planning for yael and he doesn’t know how any of that shit works. ruth also decided that she wants to eat kosher now. she’s been like this for, like, a year and lars thought it would be a phase but at this point she’s in it for the long haul and there’s a pretty good chance she’s not going back on it.

when it comes to his sexuality ,,,, he has a lot of feelings. he acknowledges that being gay is a possibility but he’s definitely never thought enough about it to make a decision. at the same time, he’s hyper aware of anything that might make him seem gay so he dresses like a slightly grunge dad redneck and makes sure to never cross his legs when he sits down. despite all of this. he has had sex with men before. especially after margo. he fucked his gay friend, too. he doesn’t think they count because he was desperate. they count. don’t tell him.

he has five different guitars. the bulk of them sit in his closet, but he has names for all of them. they were his babies before his real babies. his first two were dr. jekyll and mr. hyde, an acoustic and an electric that took about six paychecks for him to finally buy. yael plays on dr. jekyll and he’s spent a lot of time thinking about how he wants to make it a family heirloom if she doesn’t smash it first. he got a white strat in college that he named angel because of how gorgeous she sounds. i'm gonna stop here because this bullet would be so fuckin long if i didn’t. i like guitars. he likes guitars. maybe i’m projecting. who knows ! not me.

it’s easy to assume that his band never really went anywhere. cause it didn’t. they play heavy, heavy, heavy rock and that’s incredibly out of the mainstream right now. their band, shit and sugar, did get a little bit of recognition in the local underground scene during the early 2000s. now they’re just older dudes that play in diy venues and bars sometimes. lars is pretty sure he’s been called a geezer a few times by teens yael’s age.

despite never really getting off of the ground in the music industry, he’s very good at what he does. there’s not a lot left for him to learn in terms of technique and his style of playing is very uniquely his. big inspirations for him include the likes of rivers cuomo, jimi hendrix, kirk hammett, and dimebag darrell.

all in all, he’s an extroverted ball of energy most of the time. he’s got a lot of ideas and he’s very goal oriented, even if he doesn’t end up achieving them. not the smartest tool in the shed, either. he’s childlike and playful in the best way possible. again, most of the time. this ends up biting him in the ass a lot. especially because of how impulsive he is.

Ars longa, vita brevis !

wanted connections ! i’m definitely going to put one or two up on the main but here are a few that i think would work nicely.

people he met through music ---- even though people don’t know about shit and sugar you’d definitely recognize him if your character frequents local bars and DIY venues in sketchy basements. from friends to enemies, i think this one has a lot of breathing room for ~ creativity ~ and all that.

neighbors ---- he’s a guitarist. it’s a loud hobby. he’s nice to everyone in the complex, but god, that’s gotta get annoying.

men he fucked that “don’t count” ---- some of these could’ve ended seamlessly. maybe they get beers now. maybe your character hates him. maybe your character pities him for being in so much denial about his own sexuality. maybe your character is trying to help him. this connection has, like, no limit and all of the plots can be different and unique i’m so excited for it. he’s a bottom, if anyone was curious.

unlikely pals ---- this character is probably the exact opposite of a fuckup. god knows why they even associate with lars. but they do, and they want the best for him. hey !! maybe lars can break them out of their shell a bit.

potential romance ??? owo ??? ---- i really want this to happen because i want lars to eventually come to terms with his sexuality. all he wants is mutual love and good sex. safety, stability, all that good stuff. shouldn’t come without hardship, though. if you have a good idea make sure to make it angsty because i live off of that shit.

someone he doesn’t like ---- i thought of this one because it’s incredibly hard for lars to not like someone. he finds amazing qualities in most people, but he’s prone to holding grudges. i want a character who he just can’t see any good in filling this connection. how fun would that be, right ??

a jewish friend that helps him out with his jewish kids ---- i’m the knowledgeable jewish friend in 99.9% of my friend groups. most people don’t have a knowledgeable jewish friend out of necessity, but he definitely needs one because he doesn’t know shit about some of the things his kids talk about. i swear, ruth mentioned how eggs are pareve and he short circuited please help this poor dude out.

ok that’s. that’s it. i’m done running my mouth on main, but if you wanna plot or just hear me run my mouth about dumb and unimportant shit hit me up here or on discord ( deus ex machina #2294 ) !!! i’m more active on discord because i don’t have this acc always up on my phone. i’m so excited to write with you all !!!!

[magic-and-moonlit-wings]

Chapter 42: The Show Must Go On

Becoming The Mask

It felt so good to jump back into his usual routine on Monday morning. Jim hummed as he diced vegetables for omelettes. He'd need to go grocery shopping after school, or maybe shop tomorrow and do coupon clipping today. How much leftover pizza did they have? Enough for dinner?

Maybe dinner for one, he confirmed, checking the fridge, so he really should pick up something more substantial. Unless …

Yes, there were cans of mushroom soup in the cupboards, so if they had that for dinner tonight, Jim could put off grocery shopping for one more day.

He brought Barbara's breakfast upstairs. She'd remembered to take off her own glasses last night. Jim kissed her forehead on reflex, and then froze.

Barbara didn't stir. He let out a whisper-soft sigh.

For the past week, Jim and Toby had been brushing their teeth side-by-side, since the Domzalskis only had one bathroom and there was only so much time in the morning before school. Jim had started checking on Jay-Jay using his cellphone instead, even after Toby learned he was a Changeling. Today, brushing his teeth alone, he spat on the mirror again.

Toby deserved something special for lunch, Jim thought, considering how well he had been handling all the strangeness and stress that Jim dragged into his life. Let's see, there were still more eggs …

Jim went through the first few steps of making French toast, but as soon as one side of the bread was finished and flipped, he put cheese on top to melt. He was frying thin slices of onion and tomato and some diced red peppers as well.

Toby loved Chef Jim's Famous Ultimate Grilled Cheese.

Jim left Barbara's lunch in the fridge, like usual, and left to bike to school with Toby, like usual.

It felt wonderful to cook in his own kitchen again.

+=+ 

Jim seemed chipper, Walt noticed. He hoped that meant the boy was in positive contact with his Familiar's mother again, not that Jim was putting up a façade.

Of course he wanted Jim to be able to hide his feelings well, especially vulnerability. Such thespianism was a vital life skill for any Changeling. But he could hope for Jim to genuinely experience whatever positive emotions the young Changeling expressed as well.

"I've got some worrying news," Jim announced, popping into Walter's office after school. The words were at odds with his tone, grin, and bouncing step. "We have a ticking clock, of sorts? The kids want to tell their families trolls are real. Mom hasn't met them but she knows they exist and she's given us a month to do it before she starts trying. So, they're trying to persuade Vendel it's a good idea. Thoughts?"

Walter just gaped. Jim had barely gotten the door closed before he started bubbling out this very disconcerting information. He was still adjusting the piano stool.

"I suppose the possibility of a troll being photographed or filmed and spread by social media could make it worth attaining human allies who are beyond adolescence."

Mrs Nuñez was a local politician, and Mr Scott was a police officer. The scope of damage control they could truly offer in the event of a secrecy breech was limited but existent. Truly, Dr Lake would probably be the best 'respectable figure' to calm the public, if it came to that, since many humans assumed their politicians and law enforcement were corrupt in any case, but first it would be best to try discrediting the evidence and minimizing its exposure.

"Yeah, Mary pointed out basically every human has a camera at all times now." Jim turned idly side-to-side on the rotating stool. "I'm worried about Enrique, though. If Claire exposes him to their parents … He can't 'stay with a friend' like I did while they cool down. But if they're only letting him stay for appearances and don't get a chance to calm down –" He spun all the way around. "D'you think we can talk her out of it?"

"You know Ms Nuñez better than I. Do you?"

Jim made a whining noise high in his throat and spun the stool again, in the opposite direction this time.

"If it's any comfort," Walter offered, "I've seen Ms Janeth's rehearsal and performance schedule for this week, and I imagine Ms Nuñez will be too thoroughly occupied with the Montague-Capulet feud to want to create additional family strife off-stage."

There was a rehearsal for the first three afternoons that week, with the full dress rehearsal Wednesday, opening night on Thursday, and with Friday and Saturday performances to follow.

He should tell Jim about his own worrying news, his plans to leave Arcadia once he found a deputy who wouldn't be subverted or murdered, but Walter hesitated. Face to face with Jim, he found himself wondering if he ought to leave at all. His presence offered some token protection; Otto knew, even if the Polymorph survived a fight with the Trollhunter, Walter would bring about consequences. But if Walter were gone, Otto would have time to disappear.

But Jim was an excellent fighter in his own right, Walter chided himself. The boy had successfully stabbed Bular and lived to tell the tale! And he'd be safer still if – when – Walter's plan succeeded.

Still, he hadn't found a deputy, so perhaps he needn't add to the boy's worries yet.

+=+

"There's a school play," said Jim, apropos of nothing, at dinner on Tuesday night. "Later this week. I'm not in it, but, do you want to go anyway?"

"That sounds nice," said Barbara. "I'll try to clear my schedule."

"It's three nights. I could get tickets for all three. You know, school fundraisers, they're not going to turn down extra money."

"What's the troll school system like?" Barbara had decided to try to ask this sort of thing casually whenever a conversation seemed like it could flow in that direction, to get Jim used to telling her things about trolls and get herself used to hearing it.

"I have no idea. I've never seen a school in Trollmarket, though, so they might do an apprenticeship instead of general education? I'll ask Blinky. Or you could ask Blinky."

Barbara hesitated. She wasn't sure she had the nerve to go back underground yet. "You should invite him to dinner some time."

Jim laughed. "I don't know if you'd want that if you knew what trolls ate." He gasped at his own words. "I meant garbage! The stuff trolls eat is usually really unappetizing to a human. Smelly socks are tasty snacks. I mean, we've – Changelings – we've found some stuff that tastes good in both forms, but I don't know how good they'd be to an unaltered troll."

+=+

"Where have you been, young lady?"

"Dress rehearsal?" Claire frowned at her parents. "The school play, remember?"

Enrique made a happy noise from his doorway-mounted baby-bouncer. Sometimes that dispelled the tension. Tonight it didn't.

"We're very proud you're keeping your commitment to the school," said Javier. "But you have to call us when you're going to be out late. We were worried."

"I told you when you dropped me off this morning!"

She had. Enrique had been in his car seat right behind her. He hated that thing. It was cushioned, and his Familiar's parents had been very fussy about making sure the straps weren't too tight when they noticed he always cried when they put him in it, but that wasn't the point. He hated not being able to move. He couldn't wait until he got big enough not to need it anymore.

"You at least remembered you promised to come tomorrow, right?" Claire continued, narrowing her eyes.

Ophelia checked her phone. Behind the parents' backs, Enrique winced.

"Of course. For opening night."

+=+

"Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance," said Logan – Mercutio – to Steve.

"Not I, believe me: you have dancing shoes, with nimble soles. I have a soul of lead, so stakes me to the ground I cannot move."

"Steve's a better actor than I thought," Toby whispered to Darci. He and Nana had ended up beside her and her parents. Darci's dad was a huge, muscle-y guy who had given Toby a suspicious look when the teens greeted one another by name, but hadn't tried to stop them from sitting next to each other.

Steve seemed utterly woebegone, being dragged by his friends to a party to make him forget the girl Romeo liked before meeting Juliet. Toby hadn't known Romeo had a past love – he'd never actually seen the play, but he'd thought part of the point of it was that first love made the characters reckless?

Mercutio launched into a speech about some fairy queen creating nightmares until Romeo interrupted him – "Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace! Thou talk'st of nothing!" – and Benevolio pointed out they were missing the party they'd planned to crash – "This wind you talk of blows us from ourselves. Supper is done, and we shall come too late."

Toby had to choke back a laugh, midway through the next act, when Romeo approached his priest friend and Friar Laurence fretted that young people didn't tend to be awake so early, and so Romeo must not have slept.

"The last is true. The sweeter rest was mine."

"God pardon sin! Wast thou with Rosaline?!"

Who knew Shakespeare had snuck so many raunchy and risqué stuff into his work? When Mary, as the Nurse, thought Juliet was simply sleeping in as opposed to faking her death, she teased that Juliet's arranged marriage would be keeping her up late soon and so it was best Juliet got as much sleep as she could before.

"Why, lamb! Why, lady! Fie, you slug-a-bed! Why, love, I say! Madam! Sweet-heart! Why, bride! … What, not a word? You take your pennyworths now. Sleep for a week; for the next night, I warrant, the County Paris hath set up his rest, that you shall rest but little. God forgive me," she added idly, in that way that meant she was only apologizing because it was expected, not because she was truly sorry.

There was a curtain across the stage, dividing Nurse from Juliet's 'bed' while the audience could see both of them.

"Marry and amen, how sound is she asleep! I must needs wake her. Madam, madam, madam!" Mary pulled the curtain back. "What, dressed and in your clothes, and down again? I must needs wake you." She started to shake Juliet, growing increasingly frantic as Claire appeared limp and unresponsive. "Lady? Lady! Lady!"

Mary's last cry was a full-on scream that made everyone jump.

It wasn't really all that different from a soap opera. Even with all the death and tragedy, Toby was quite enjoying the play.

At least, he was, up until the last scene.

"What's here? A cup, closed in my true love's hand? Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end. Oh, churl – drunk all, and left no friendly drop, to help me after? I will kiss thy lips. Haply some poison yet doth hang on them, to make die with a restorative."

Juliet leaned over Romeo. Toby had heard, once, somewhere, that the hardest role in theatre was a dead body, because the actor would feel the urge to move or laugh. Steve let out a brief little "ha!" at the kiss, and then went back to being dead.

"Thy lips are warm … Then I'll be brief. Oh, happy dagger," drawing it from Romeo's scabbard, "this is thy sheath!"

Toby, and several others in the audience, gasped as Claire pressed the prop weapon to her stomach.

"There, rust … and let me die."

"What?" Toby whispered. "Juliet dies in this? No!"

The curtain closed, and Eli came out to deliver the epilogue. "A gloomy peace, this morning with it brings. Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things; for never was a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo!"

The audience applauded, and cheered, and whistled, and Claire and Steve got up and started bowing. But all Toby could see was his friend collapsing from a stab wound.

"Toby?" said Darci, putting her hand on his. "You okay?"

"I can't believe Juliet died …"

Jim kept warning them that troll stuff could get them killed. Toby had tried to take the warnings seriously, he really had. This, though, actually seeing Claire die – even a staged death she got right back up from, like Juliet's first, fake death with sleeping potion – this hit Toby harder than all of those warnings all at once.

He forced himself to his feet, forced a congratulatory smile onto his face, and forced his hands into applause.

+=+

Previous Chapter (Vendel is reluctant to let more humans learn trolls exist)

Table of Contents

Next Chapter (Toby has an emotional breakdown)

Whee, I figured out a way to make Romeo and Juliet plot relevant!

I actually read a transcript of 'Romeo and Juliet' to prepare this chapter. I really wanted Mercutio's Queen Mab speech, but couldn't justify quoting the whole thing, so I just referenced it happening on stage. (No, I didn't study this play in school. The Shakespeare plays we studied were Twelfth Night, Julius Ceaser, Hamlet, and the Scottish play with the cursed name. You know the one.)

Logan is the guy partnered with Mary in the flour babies episode. Darci mentions, "Logan and Mary already killed theirs. They gave Dwight D. Eisen-flour a bath and he turned into mush." Based on screenshots of the classroom, I think Logan is also the unnamed boy seen in the seats at play tryouts.

My high school typically did three performances of the school play, on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Arcadia Oaks High School seems to do only one performance, but I think that's because the first half of the first season ends on opening night and the writers were done with that plotline. The next episode starts a month later, according to Toby's dialogue. That's plenty of time for more performances.

In other news, I’m thinking of doing a podfic for this story. My computer has a decent microphone, but I can’t seem to convert M4A files into MP3s, except by using external websites. I’ve followed the tutorial for doing the conversion with Windows Media Player exactly and it doesn’t work. I need MP3s if I’m going to post podfic on tumblr because tumblr can’t accept M4A uploads.

Apparently I’ll need to have the files hosted on another website, because AO3 can’t accept audio files downloaded directly or works imported from tumblr. SoundCloud sounds like it would work? Do people have recommendations or suggestions? 

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

Me again with a bothersome question. What if Rhaenyra married Aegon II by his father's word (Helaena still too young) when they hear that Daemon went too far in the east and it's either lost or dead and it seemed like he was going to die, only to return when Aegon II already has children by her? Here I am mainly interested in RHAENYRA: she wants her Velaryon-or-i-cut-your-so-lying-tongue children, BUT Daemon will try to use his own, Aegon too (Viserys dies of stroke at hearing news)

Ummmmm…….. your scenario is all kinds of confusing, but first of all, why would Daemon being MIA change anything?

Long before any man had reason to doubt her innocence, the question of selecting a suitable consort for Rhaenyra had been of concern to King Viserys and his council. […] Queen Alicent had her own candidate: her eldest son, Prince Aegon, Rhaenyra’s half brother. But Aegon was a boy, the princess ten years his elder. Moreover, the two half siblings had never gotten on well. “All the more reason to bind them together in marriage,” the queen argued. Viserys did not agree. “The boy is Alicent’s own blood,” he told Lord Strong. “She wants him on the throne.”

[…] The princess knew much and more about Laenor Velaryon and had no wish to be his bride. “My half brothers would be more to his taste,” she told the king (the princess always took care to refer to Queen Alicent’s sons as half brothers, never as brothers). And though His Grace reasoned with her, pleaded with her, shouted at her, and called her an ungrateful daughter, no words of his could budge her … until the king brought up the question of succession. What a king had done, a king could undo, Viserys pointed out. She would wed as he commanded, or he would make her half brother Aegon his heir in place of her.

–The Rogue Prince

Rhaenyra was married to Laenor Velaryon in 113 AC, when her brother Aegon was 6, wayyyy too young for marriage or children. Daemon being reported dead in the Stepstones would change absolutely none of Alicent’s or Viserys’s plans for Rhaenyra’s marriage, since he had nothing to do with it. Well, per some rumors, Daemon had taken Rhaenyra’s virginity two years earlier, and Rhaenyra might have been in love with him… but neither of those points are why Alicent wanted Aegon to marry her (because she wanted him on the throne) or why Viserys didn’t (because he didn’t). Either way Viserys would never insist Rhaenyra marry Aegon.

But, per your last statement, you’re thinking that Viserys would have dropped dead on hearing the news about Daemon’s “death” (he wouldn’t). If this is prior to Rhaenyra’s marriage, say early in 113, what happens is… a very mild version of the Dance, pretty much? Although with a Rhaenyra who’s just reached adulthood and hasn’t had her reputation spoiled by having obvious bastards, and with a very underage Aegon and Aemond… so god knows what kind of support either party can get at this time. (Especially with Lyonel Strong still Hand, and Otto Hightower not near KL.) The Greens and Blacks have only been established for about 2 years, and it’s only 8 years after all the lords of Westeros swore to support Rhaenyra’s claim… so probably she becomes queen? It’s either that or Aegon gets a regency for 10 years.

Maybe, maybe for the situation you want to present, Lyonel Strong (a legal expert) convinces Rhaenyra that the best way to avoid war is for her to marry Aegon and unite the parties, with her as ruling queen until Aegon comes of age. Which she would hate, but meh. (The alternative – a Great Council reaffirming Laenor Velaryon’s right to the throne as the son of the Queen Who Never Was, and Rhaenyra marrying him, would be so vociferously protested by Alicent and the Greens, it’s just not going to happen.) Mind you, with a 16-year-old queen and her 6-year-old king husband… there’s not going to be any succession or marriage consummation for a good long while. 7, 8 years minimum. But Rhaenyra’s far more discreet in her relationship with Harwin Strong here, because while a princess having non-Targ-looking kids and claiming they’re fathered by her gay husband is one thing, a queen claiming they’re fathered by her extremely pre-teen husband is something completely other. (See Margaery and Tommen and Cersei and the whole moon tea thing.) She’s not going to get away with visibly bastard kids here, not even with a “shut your face or lose your tongue” rule, she’d end up facing Aerys-type rebellions, be deposed or executed. So Rhaenyra’s smarter than that, if she messes about with Harwin she uses moon tea, until Aegon’s old enough to consummate and conceive children… and she doesn’t pull a Cersei after that point, either.

Anyway, how long is Daemon supposed to be MIA in your scenario? Say he was imprisoned by Stepstones pirates but manages to escape 10 years along, in 123 AC… Aegon II’s a legal adult now, and he and Rhaenyra have finally had some kids, Viserys and the twins Jaehaerys and Jaehaera. But they’re babies, the eldest 2 years old at most. And Daemon doesn’t have any kids, Laena Velaryon’s gotten married either to that Braavosi douchebag or someone else in the meanwhile. So Daemon can’t “use” any kids against Rhaenyra and Aegon’s kids, and Rhaenyra doesn’t have any Velaryon(/Strong) kids, so I don’t know what you’re talking about? If Daemon tries to make a move against the throne to press his own claim at this point – though after being missing for 10 years, he’s not going to have any supporters at all – he’s certainly not going to do it through children.

Seriously, think about it for a minute. You can’t have Daemon disappear for a decade, Rhaenyra marry Aegon, and then say “but she was all for her Velaryon kids” because these kids and their dubious parentage don’t exist. You can’t say Daemon was for his kids with Rhaenyra because those kids don’t exist either. And if Viserys died when he heard Daemon died, then either Aegon or Rhaenyra (or both, since they’re married) has been ruling the entire time Daemon’s been gone, so as Viserys’s mere younger brother, he’s not going to have any chance at supplanting Viserys’s actual child and heir who’s had all the lords of Westeros sworn to them for 10 years! If you have an AU then the history has branched off in that direction and done all kinds of different things, you can’t bring in stuff from the original timeline again.

Still, I’ll attempt to keep trying to figure out what you’re getting at. Like, are you asking what Daemon would try to do to gain the throne if he got back from being missing and found Aegon and Rhaenyra king and queen, married with kids? (And Laena’s married off and Helaena too.) Well, I said, he’s shit outta luck. Maaaaaybe maybe maybe he might try to seduce Rhaenyra using her old fond memories, maaaaybe he might try to assassinate Aegon and then marry her? (Though he’d be better served getting rid of the Hightowers first.) But even so, Rhaenyra’s kids with Aegon are extremely visibly legitimate, and she’s not going to let her eventual kids with Daemon supplant them. And if Aegon’s been knocked off, then his and Rhaenyra’s eldest son is arguably king already, or Rhaenyra’s definitely queen. (Depending on which party’s arguing.) Daemon can just be regent for Viserys II, king in all but name, if power’s all he’s after.

But honestly, if Daemon’s been MIA for years, imprisoned by pirates, he’d be worse off than Theon-Reek, he’s not going to even want the throne, he’s just going to want to be home ffs. The scheming rogue, the Maegor-like devil of Otto Hightower’s nightmares, just wouldn’t exist anymore. So, sorry for those fantasies of a Dance of the Dragons redux, your scenario has managed to make it vanish. Hope that helps!

[snippychicke]

Aftermath--Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Rating: Everyone

Warnings: Mentions of violence?

Fandom: Umbrella Academy; The Swedes specifically 

Note: slight word difference than the AO3version because I did some minor editing and I’m too lazy to update both. Nothing major, this may just flow better. 

First | Previous

Otto didn't have anywhere to go anywhere, but even if he did, Otto questioned if he would. Not unless he had his family back.

He missed his brothers and thought of them regularly. Oscar would be giving him such a hard time over everything, from struggling to adapt to having just one eye to how fond he was of his new housemate. There were times first thing when he woke to the subtle smells of breakfast that his hazy mind thought Axel was downstairs cooking. Then Lorelei would chasten one of the cats, and reality would crash down on him.

But for the first time since his childhood, he felt protective of someone outside his family. He wasn't used to it, mostly since she was far more outgoing than his brothers. 

Even before The Commission, he had gone through life not caring much about anyone outside his family. All that mattered was family; the rest of the world was not his problem.

Lorelei seemed to think the exact opposite. People drifted to her house for medical advice or just to gossip. Raymond was far from the only person who dropped by just for a cup of coffee on her days off to simply catch up. Despite his uninterest in the gossip, he found himself lingering nearby out of both habit and paranoia. 

Such as the Friday night when the quiet evening was interrupted by pounding on the front door again. Soon the living room was full with three teenage boys and two girls; the girls were huddled together on the couch, their makeup running lightly from tears while two of the boys were barely containing their pent-up energy as they paced the living room. The third was sitting backward in the straight-back hardwood chair as Lorelei carefully stitched up the knife wound to his back. (Too shallow to do any damage, Otto mentally scoffed at whoever attacked him. The wound still healing on his leg from Oscar was deeper.)

"We need to go find those punks," one of the two boys finally broke the tense silence. "I'm sick and tired of them damn white boys thinking they can do whatever they please. No offense," he tacked on as Otto shifted from his place leaning in the doorway to the kitchen, feeling on guard with this many people in <strike>their</strike> the house. Especially when the younger men seemed itching for a fight.

Otto just stared at the young boy. The teen quickly looked away, scratching his head as he turned away and drifted back towards his friends. No. There was no way the child would have the strength or guts to act out revenge. His threats were as empty as the food dish once Poyo finished. 

"The hell you are," Lorelei apparently agreed as she finished the knot and snipped the string free. "You are all going to go home and stay there. And if you see that gang of punks again, you're going to turn the other way and leave."

"You want us to run away?!" The second boy protested, his eye swelling shut from the black eye since he kept taking the frozen bag of peas away from his face. "They'll really have no respect for us if we do that!"

"If you three get in a fight," she countered as she dabbed away the blood with plenty of hydrogen peroxide, not even bothering to look up, "no matter who started it, and no matter who ended it, you three will be painted as the villains. And it won't help the Movement any either," she continued as the boy opened his mouth to protest, glancing up with a strong look. "Sometimes, you have to lose a battle to win a war."  

The teen ground his teeth but kept silent as Lorelei finished her bandage. "Now, all of you, go home. Ask your parents for some aspirin, and then get some sleep. Got it?"

 Otto thought for a short moment  that things would settle back to normalcy for a short moment after the teens shuffled out the door until Lorelei’s fist slammed on the doorframe as soon as it was closed. "I am going to find those damn brats and give them a piece of my mind!" Lorelei seethed as she glared at the old oak. "Stabbing a boy with his back turned! What kind of yellow belly snake does that?"

The mood whiplash caught Otto by surprise. He tilted his head slightly as he watched her storm back to her workspace and angrily picking up the dirtied rags and instruments. "I'd show those brats. I want to say I'd drag them home by their ears and tell their mothers what they did, but knowing this damned town, they'd probably see nothing wrong with it!"

Otto was rather intrigued by the flare of rage; it was his first time seeing Lorelei angry. It was rather cute seeing the snarl on her lips as she continued to mutter to herself, almost as if she had forgotten he was there. 

After a moment, he crossed the room and took the bundle of bloodied rags from her silently. The faint blush on her face as she quietly thanked him proved he had guessed right. She had forgotten he had been watching. 

"...why do people hate each other like that?" She whispered as they worked together to handwash the rags in the kitchen sink a few minutes later. "I never understood why skin color made any difference. Nana Chestnut and her family were so much better than my real kin growing up. But people just hate on them without ever even trying to figure out what kind of person they are."

Otto was silent, unsure if there was a right answer, or even if Lorelei was looking for one. And to be honest, he didn't understand it either. He had seen it through the years but had ignored it as another part of the civilian life he would never understand. A part he had no interest in understanding. "I could hunt them down?" He offered quietly, though he highly doubted that's what she really wanted. 

Sure enough, the dubious expression on her face confirmed his thoughts. All that anger, but she was far too soft to act against another. Or even have someone else do it for her. 

He tried not to think of when he was willing to do something for someone else when there was no benefit for him. Because if Lorelei had said yes, his target wouldn't see the next sunrise.

The frown smoothed away into a slight smile as she shook her head. With her hands covered in red-stained suds, she rested her head against his arm. "...no. But thank you for listening to me crab." 

He was silent, but enjoyed the warmth that soaked through his shirt from the contact. Enjoyed the warmth that bloomed in his chest as she smiled up at him. 

                                                        --+--

"I have so many concerns," Raymond commented the next time he came over and saw not only the cats happily making themselves at home, but Oscar who was once more practicing his aim on the garage, though this time with small hatchets which she wasn't sure where he had found. 

"Hey, you were always worried about me living by myself," Lorelei replied as she busied herself with pouring some tea, hoping to drag Raymond away from the kitchen window where he watched Otto. (Partially so she wouldn't be caught ogling the man, stripped to just a simple cotton shirt despite the early December afternoon, sweat sticking to his muscles….) 

Raymond opened his mouth, closed it, sighed, and ruffled his short hair as he turned and joined her at the kitchen table. "I was thinking more along the lines of a guard dog, Lei. Or maybe an actual husband. Not a dozen cats and a would-be murderer."

"I think I prefer Otto." She grinned at his dark look. "Look, I get you started on the wrong foot…"

"Attempted murder is hardly the wrong foot!"

"But he's a decent guy, I'm telling you," she continued as if she didn't hear him. "He cleans and does a better job than me. How many men you know are willing to split housework?"

"That's what you're focusing on?" He spluttered while gesturing towards the back yard. "Not him throwing hatchets at your garage? Or the fact he barely speaks English? Are you just going to support him?" 

"Just because he's quiet doesn't mean he can't speak our language," she retorted, her eyes narrowing. "And that garage is one good storm away from being a pile of tinder anyways, and it's working on the hand-eye coordination after losing half his vision!" 

Raymond gritted his teeth, forcing himself to take a breath. Getting in a shouting match was not good for either of them. "Look. I just worry about you. Can you blame me for not trusting him? After what he did to Allie and me?" 

The reminder struck her hard. Otto was someone entirely different for her than who Raymond saw. She couldn't exactly blame him for his feelings of mistrust and suspicion. Yet, at the same time, it was getting harder and harder for her to see Otto as the violent man Raymond saw. Not when she's seen him tugging yarn around for the cats to play with. Or relaxing on the couch with a cat curled on his chest and another on his stomach. Or splitting the clean up after their meal. 

Or seen him through the cracked door of his room, holding that milkman hat and looking so absolutely heartbroken. Hearing him waking up from a dead sleep with a shout of fear and grief. 

"There's more to him than that," she finally said quietly, looking away. 

"But it's still a part of him. Do you even know anything about his past? Why did he and his brother attack us? Where is he even from? Why is he staying with you?" 

She stayed silent, eyes focused on her glass of tea. She didn't. She pointedly didn't ask and tried not to wonder. 

Raymond sighed as he stood, the chair scratching against the hardwood floor. "I'll be the first to admit that there was a lot to Allie I didn't know. A lot of questions I should've asked but didn't. I wanted to be happy, so I turned a blind eye. And it cost me a lot more than I expected. Are you willing to pay that same price?" 

Silence hung in the air once more as she refused to lift her gaze from the table. Raymond sighed again. "Look, I know you're a grown woman, and you want to live your own life, but just… think about it, okay?"

She nodded her head, still unable to look up even as he left, the door sticking as it shut behind him, making the whole house rattle as he forced it close. Only then did she move, standing and wrapping her arms around her. For some reason, her feet lead her to the back door, opening it with a hard pull and stepping out into the chilly air. The steady thunk of a blade against wood was oddly soothing as she settled on the cement step, Raymond's words swirling in her mind. 

Who was Otto? Was that even his actual name? What was he doing in Dallas? What was he doing with her? Had she been so lonely that she had just accepted it? 

Where did he get the cats from? 

She was broken from her thoughts as Otto's well-worn leather boots appeared in her vision. She looked up, meeting his silent but understanding gaze. She rubbed her eyes, knowing it looked like she was on the verge of crying. "Sorry, did I break your concentration?" 

He glanced at the improvised target before back to her and offered a hand. She frowned slightly but accepted it, unsurprised about how easily he pulled her to her feet, and more surprised that he led her to where he had the six hatchets laying on an old stump. Wordlessly, he positioned her in the marks in the dead grass made by his boots and put one of the hatchets in her hand. 

"What? You're kidding me, right?" She gave a slight disbelieving laugh as he stepped back. "I-I'm not; I can't…"

"Try," he said as she trailed off weakly. She looked down at the tool in her hand; the wood handle still warm from his grasp, the blade polished and sharpened to a fine point (just like every knife in the house now). She looked back at him, a little lost, but he just tilted his head toward the garage. 

"This is such a bad idea," she muttered before mimicking a baseball player's stance and giving her best. The hatchet made it maybe halfway before falling onto the grass.

"See, I told you…" she trailed off as he picked up the next one and stepped towards her. He placed it in her hand before silently adjusting her stance. She was pretty sure her face was red as he guided her hips and legs before standing behind her and covering her hands with his. 

"Aim like this," he spoke softly, positioning her arm. "Feel how the weapon balances in your hand. Focus it on finding its mark. Inhale," he commanded as he pulled her arm back, and she couldn't help but obey before he gently mimicked a pitch. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she was sure her face was red. She had never heard him talk so much and hadn't quite realized how deep or smooth his voice was until he was all but murmuring in her ear. "And exhale. Now try." 

She missed his warmth as soon as he stepped away and automatically looked back at him. He simply gestured towards the garage wall. Lorelei turned around, trying to focus and remember his words and less of his warmth and gentleness. 

This time, the blade stuck in the ground less than a foot from the garage's foundation. Seeing the metal buried in the grass sent a thrill of pride as she grinned.

And then Otto gave her another hatchet. “Again.”

                                                         ---+---

The sun had set below the horizon by the time Otto allowed her to quit. Her arms were sore, and her fingers stiff as she fell back on the cement step, rolling her shoulders tenderly as he settled beside her. 

But a single hatchet was buried in the faded white paint wood panel. She hadn't felt that much pride in a long time as when she finally made her mark. Or when Otto gave her a proud smile and clapped her on the shoulder.

"Better?" 

"Sorta," she admitted truthfully, though now her body was at rest, her mind started its questions once more. "Can I...Can I ask you a question?"

She hesitantly met his good eye. No matter what they were doing, she inevitably ended up on his good side. Maybe she did it unconsciously, or maybe he planned it that way. Perhaps he didn't trust her enough to leave her in his blind spot. 

There was doubt in his expression, but he shrugged slightly anyways. "Were you...were you really trying to kill Ray and Allie?"

His look quickly darkened, the warmth in his expression disappearing as he looked away from her. "...Yes." 

Even though she knew the answer, it still felt like a sucker-punch to her gut. "Why?"

"It was our job," he answered simply. 

Job? "...Do you still plan on killing them?" She whispered after. A long moment. "Are you...are you just here to try again?" Was she just a pawn? Was she being played like a fiddle after all? 

"No." He answered, his hand finding hers as it clutched at her knee, carefully encouraging her fingers open so he could thread his fingers with hers. "I...have no one." He admitted, and this time he was the one unable to meet her gaze but kept his eye focused on their joined hands. "My brothers are gone. But if you want me to leave, I will."

There were tears in her eyes when he did finally look up at her, the hurt she had seen shadows of once more open and bared for her to see. 

"Please don't. Don't leave me." She said, echoing the expression written so plainly on his face. "I don't have much. This place is a wreck. And I know we barely know each other, but…"

"I'll stay." 

                                                         ---+---

Icy rain tapped on the window, the aged wood of the house occasional creaking from the chill, lulling him to a semi-sleep. Otherwise, the house was silent, with only the occasional whisper of sound as the cats padded in or out of his room. Not the tiny room on the first floor, but one of the ones upstairs. 

It had taken a good couple of days for both of them to sort through the mess of the two spare bedrooms on the second floor, turning one into a proper bedroom and the other an organized storeroom. (Lorelei kept apologizing because of the mess, but he was more distracted by seeing her hair covered by a colorful kerchief, the stray strands sticking to her flushed face, that he barely heard her.) 

He slept better on the slightly larger bed. It felt less like a temporary room and something more permanent, though habits were hard to kick. He had his bag still packed with necessities and sitting underneath his bed. But he allowed himself to set the few pictures he had usually carefully packed away to sit on the nightstand in frames Lorelei had found for him. 

(No questions were asked when she saw the pictures of him and his brothers, though he could see the curiosity on her face. Someday he wanted to be able to talk to her about them. Share his memories of his family. But the pain was still too fresh, so he was thankful she respected his silence.) 

A sharp crack of thunder broke the silence, and the split-second flash of light had given him enough warning not to jump. 

It hadn't prepared him for the ear-splitting scream of terror. He had grabbed the gun beneath his pillow in one quick motion and was running across the hall, breaking the door down to Lorelei's room, eye searching the darkness for an intruder. 

Instead, it was just her hunched in her bed, hands over her head as she flinched away from him; her hazel eyes widened with fear. 

Of him. 

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she gasped as she shook. "I didn't--I didn't…"

He lowered his gun quickly, guilt turning his stomach. "Lorelei," he started, "I--"

"Otto?" She interrupted, relaxing somewhat, the wild look leaving her eyes. "I-I thought…" another flash of light and a crack of thunder, and he watched her turn as stiff and panicked as deer in headlights before shaking herself out of it a moment later with a whimper. '"I'm sorry," she whispered as she turned back to him, "I didn't mean to wake you up." 

Otto hesitated before carefully entering, watching her for any signs of fear. Instead, she shifted in her bed to make room for him. The mattress sunk as he settled next to her, giving her room yet close enough to feel her warmth radiating into the cold room.  

She wasn't as timid as usual, scooting close enough to press against his side. He could feel her tremble as thunder cracked once more. "I am a grown-ass adult scared of thunder," she spat abysmally. "How pathetic is that?"

He was at a loss for what to do. Fear was not something familiar to him; not personally, and he couldn't recall the last time he saw his brothers scared.

How did someone go about comforting another? If it was his brothers, he would have gone after whatever had dared to frighten them. 

Without thinking, he offered the automatic rifle he had brought. She stared at the gun before looking up at him with a quizzical expression. "...I don't think shooting anything is going to help."

"Wouldn't hurt," he countered and earned a slight smile and faint chuckle before she sank into his side. He allowed the gun to rest on the bed and wrapped his arm around her back, holding her to him. They were both quiet as the clock ticked on. Gradually a few of the cats strayed in, looking rather inquisitive. Everytime the thunder cracked and she flinched, his hold would tighten, his thumb rubbing circles on her arm.

"Who were you scared of?" He finally asked the question brewing in his mind. Who had she seen standing in the doorway that terrified her? Who had ingrained in her the need to apologize for screaming out in fear? 

Lorelei was silent, though a glance assured him that she understood what he meant. Her expression was drawn as she soothed Nala's thick orange coat as the kitten settled on her lap. "My dad," she finally answered. "He hated it whenever I woke him up. He's been dead for years now, and I still…." 

"Good." He said after she trailed off. 

"Good?"

He shrugged, "You'd get upset."

She stared at him before realization set in. To his astonishment, she snorted and chuckled. "Is it horrid of me if I said I'd choose you over him?" 

Otto felt something twist in his chest at the admission. Family to him was everything. It was nothing more than a hypothetical statement, but… for her to put him before her father meant a lot to him. 

She meant a lot to him. He thought back to the terror on her face, the sharp pain in his gut when he thought she was scared of him. He had thought most of that guilt and dread was behind him. Granted, most of the ones he had killed were often less than innocent, but…. "Don't...ever be afraid of me." He said softly as he brushed a stray strand away from her face, carefully tucking it behind her ear. 

Her freckled cheeks turned pink as she smiled. "I don't think I could. I know you wouldn't hurt me." 

He had lost count of how many people he had killed. There was no way to total the number of bystanders that ended up as casualties because of him. A trail of blood followed him and his brothers wherever they went.

And yet….

His fingers traced the curve of her face, his gaze drawn to her lips as they shifted from a smile to being slightly parted.  His nose brushed hers as he leaned down, his eye closing before…

A cold water droplet fell right on his nose.

Both of them jumped back, the moment broken. Lorelei cursed another drop of water fell on her forehead before jumping to her feet and dashing off for a bucket, curses following her down the stairs. Otto glared up at the ceiling where the roof was leaking. 

If that wasn't Oscar haunting him, he would eat his boot.

                                                        --+--

Back in the hospital, John Doe sneezed.

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