#except my father but that man is terminally stupid

[revindicatedbyhistory]

well i think after days of arguing ive managed to made my family members be less pro israel

[fireemblems24]

Fire Emblem Engage 24 - End

Spoilers below the cut. These last chapters aren't as good as the rest of the game because I'm not a fan of the new character.

Alear is meeting evil!Alear. Is she seeing the past or? OMG a random time travel plot 😭 why . . .

And why is evil!Alear giving her life story to regular!Alear? The heroes and villains both act so nonsensical in this game.

Aww, Alfred got to say how badly he worried over Alear.

OMG NOOO. NOT A-FUCKING-GAIN. I'm NOT fighting the 4 wolves AGAIN. Please, no. Please, I'm begging.

Oh, thank God, Alear is sending Zephia away.

I wish Veyle would just shut up.

God, this plot has gone off the deepend though. Alear died twice and came back to life twice. There was a failed Hail Mary to try and get me to care about the Wolves. And not time travel because time travel I guess?

So I saw that Veyle and Alfred both had the blue speech bubbles over their heads and figured the other royals would, but only those two got it. Alfred got a little "official" moment over all the other royals and it makes my shipping heart happy. He's worried about the Alear of 1000 years ago. He's a sweetie.

This level only existed for the chance to talk to the other Alear. I'm not too mad about that. I actually really like Alear.

More Zephia. Why. I guess it gives Sombron someone named to talk too. I'd rather the red!Alear though.

Aww, we get to see Lumera meet Alear. Ok, I more than accept this chapter now. I still think the time travel is stupid as fuck, but I'll accept it anyways because I liked getting to see this stuff.

Bunet wants to lick the boulders to see how they taste. Something is wrong with this man.

Seadall seems low-key into Rosado, as he finds him amazingly attractive lol.

Lumera is a zombie thing, right?

I'm guessing Alear managed to act on her own will as corrupted, but Lumera can't because of who summoned them?

Man, and this game had avoided characters doing stupid shit for the sake of drama, but leave it to Veyle to fuck that up by going off on her own.

If she's on the map by herself, so help me God... she can die

Shoutout to Kagetsu, Goldmary, and especially Alfred for forming a little line and holding out against a million reinforcements. Alfred must've killed like 50 enemies this chapter while I picked off all the buddies around Lumera.

Alfred MVP. Deserved. Boy put in the work.

Lumera is such a Fire Emblem parent she out Fire Emblemed all the others and died - TWICE!

This must be so awkward for Veyle.

I think it's cool Alfred is in this scene. I think he's pushed just a bit over the other royal and does feel the closest to a "cannon" love interest for Alear - though I feel the most "cannon" is probably platonic with Veyle.

I feel proud of myself. I'm down to 0 coins and 0 silver. I used it all up nicely.

The men of Firene are prone to fatal illness - Alfred, his father, and Mauvier's father (per his Ivy support)

Alfred's A support with Veyle fucking hurts knowing what I know, talking about how he KNOWS exercise won't really make the problems go away, that it's just about giving yourself a break to avoid getting crushed by what worries you. It's such a simple conversation, except that it's coming from Alfred. Who we know is actually talking about dealing with his terminal illness and also proves that a lot of his behavior is a conscious choice. I think between this and his crit quotes actually being quite serious means he's not truly an empty-headed guy who's nice because he's just that innocent or dumb, but that's he's more self-aware than characters like this usually are and actively choosing to be friendly and kind to everyone. I think learning that is what launched him to my favorite. It's hard to dislike "human golden retriever" characters that aren't annoying, but it adds such an interesting secondary level when you know characters are purposefully and consciously choosing to act this way, and even MORE great when the characters have actually been through some shit and rather than letting the world turn them bitter are choosing to be gentle. It's also why Lucius was my favorite for so long (though, he's more uber pure rather than hyper loyal/friendly) and honestly Dimitri too since he eventually actively chooses to act as a savior king and let go of hatred. I'm just - such a sucker for characters like this.

The Emblems aren't returning, I'm betting. Yep. Man, I'm going to cry seeing all my old protagonists fading away. If that happens. Why is Alear the exception though?

Kinda cool that Sombron offered to just leave, but Alear said fuck no. We really needed another backstory. /s They should've spaced this out a bit more. I also love how he's just chatting with us about it too.

So, who's his Emblem? This guy is beyond obsessed. (Emblem of Foundations - DLC Wave 2? Who could it be? Alm, Eliwood, Seliph, Elincia, Rhea, and Azura are the key missing characters)

Feels bad. Diamant, Ivy, and Alfred got to show up at the very end of that cut scene, but not Timerra. I feel the Solm royals got shafted.

Do we not get the Emblem rings in the final fight? That would suck. That also seemed anticlimatic as a parting. It is cool that, once again, Alfred got the dialogue to represent the royals.

Seeing all the lords get summoned again did things to me. Not gonna lie. I've loved some of these characters for over half my lifetime and seeing them all just lined up like that. 😭

Alear ended up being a lot cooler than I expected.

Ok, I figured Sombron would do something after taking him down at first because that was too easy.

Luna + Critical is one hell of a drug. Alcryst was going to do a measly 3 damage to Sombron but did 51 instead.

Alfred engaged with Alear did the final hit. Seemed thematic. All the favoritism I poured into him returned ten-fold. I know he's not the best unit in the game, but he was the best unit for my playthrough at least. Maybe the RNG was kind to me too.

It wouldn't be a final Engage chapter if we didn't have something taking forever to die.

I don't want to see all the previous protagonists fade away 😭

Ah, fuck, they're doing it one at a time. Why. 😭😭

Alfred got MVP the most. Followed by Chloe. Alear, Katstsu, and Alcryst also got MVP a good number of times. Though, if I stuck Lyn on Alcryst earlier, he probably would've gotten it way more.

Alright, guys, I finished it!

I'm a bit bummed they didn't list the characters in order of least to most used. It's always fun figuring out who's #1, but oh well.

I also REALLY miss paired endings. The solo endings were fine, but still bummed about that. Cool that Sedall and Yunaka are basically cannon though, with their endings matching and being in the same image. It's also going to be impossible for me to "marry" anyone BUT Alfred because of this. His paired ending is a thousand times better, but I also ship Alear and Alfred pretty hard.

I loved all the art at the end too. Alfred planting flowers was too precious. Hortensia visiting her father's grave, the only sad one, only for the next image for Rosado and Goldmary joining her made me so happy. They were all pretty good and seemed to take the character's personality into account.

So my favorites were: Alfred, Ivy, Alcryst, Celine, Chloe, and Alear. Though, there's a lot of characters I didn't see a lot of supports for and didn't use. Fogado seems like so much fun, that I'll have to use him next time, for example.

The only one I didn't really like was Veyle, but I hate her brand of moe and brainwashing so . . . Louis is also low-key creepy, but IDK if that'll stay if I see more of his supports or not.

I will get the DLC, but not sure when. This game is a lot of fun to play, so I definitely want the extra content.

Overall, the plot is basic and stumbles when it tries to be more complex, the characters are mostly good, and the gameplay is fantastic. I really enjoyed it. Only time will tell where it'll fall.

[jeggsistence]

Emi Jones x Ryan Drummond

When the internet simply cares too much..

Zamn, only one post in and shit’s already devolved into a generic article churning out stupid news about celebrities that never had relevance. I'on even care.

Imagine that you’re like me, ‘doomscrolling’ on twitter like every reasonable Zoomer (slang for Gen Z). Terrifying thought, but you’re also mildly interested in Sonic the Hedgehog. As you’re scrolling through, trying to find something to waste your anger on, you encounter this image:

A meme, they call it. It may be passed off as random flubber, but it’s a sign that your Twitter feed will become unbearable for about a week.

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

So, who is Emi Jones?

Basically, Emi Jones is a semi-popular voice actress in the Sonic community, mostly known for her audio series, “Sonic and Tails R”, conveniently starring a Ryan Drummond.

Who is Ryan Drummond?

He used to be the voice actor for Sonic during the “Adventure era” of Sonic, which is around 1998-2004. He’s important to the… story.

What happened?

Zamn they need to fucking paywall you from asking rhetorical questions—

Basically, Emi Jones had a private Twitter account, which gave away the fact that she and Ryan were having a private relationship.

(Editor’s note: A bunch of private Twitter accounts)

This came out just 3 days ago, which means it’s already dead news, BUT LET ME HAVE MY MOMENT.

(Editor’s note: Apparently, information on this relationship came out in 2020, and actual evidence surfaced recently.)

I’on even know why I’m saying it like this. I’m too broke for an editor-

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

Anyway, this could be considered an example of a celebrity controversy. However, this is the most milquetoast controversy I’ve personally witnessed.

Nothing actually problematic surfaced, such as Justin Roiland being sued for domestic abuse, or most fittingly, Hunnid P, rapper known for the Knuckles tracks in SA2, attempting to extort Emi for money she didn’t have.

It can be boiled down into people complaining about two consenting adults having sex, or people complaining about people complaining about two consenting adults having sex.

Technically speaking, I’m adding fuel to the fire too, except the fuel is already burnt coal and I’m somehow expecting it to undergo nuclear fusion even though that’s not how it works; and the fire is like a candle’s flame.

Poetic. But basically, terminally online people (like me) should find better ways to waste their time. However, at the end of the day, iss funy doe.

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

Aight fuck this shit. It’s fucking boring, so I’m gonna list a Top 5 FUNNIEST EL MEHME from that spawned from this. Unlike how my father de-spawned from my household-

NUMBER 5:

This tweet was posted by the woman herself and ZAMN! It definitely gave a TERRIFYING foreshadowing to what would come out in approximately 2 months and 13 days.

However, I must give it a 6.5/10 because I don’t like Sonic Heroes (2003).

NUMBER 4:

This screenshot is of a Youtube video and Got damh there is so much to analyze. Sonic is characterized to be shrugging as his Sonic Adventure 1 (1998) model, representing Ryan Drummond and how he simply could not resist getting into trouble like the rebel he is!!

The second aspect you would notice is the woman on the right drawn to look somewhat seductive (oooh). However, you’ll be bamboozled to find out that that woman has the manliest voice on the planet. I’m talking full on Dwayne the rock, Tyler, the creator type bass. It’s like if a man and a woman had a child!

The “RANK A” is simply the cherry on top of such a delightful meme!

This would be a 10/10 image, however points must be taken off for informalities as some parts of the image are written in It*lian, so it’s a 6.7/12.

NUMBER 3:

HAHAHHAHA LOOK AT THIS IDIOT! THIS FUCKING DUMBASS WAS TRYING TO CORRECT SOMEONE ON WHETHER RYAN CHEATED ON HIS WIFE WITH EMI, BY CLAIMING THEY WERE DIVORCED IN 2019, BEFORE THE NEWS CAME. BUT TURNS OUT THIS AFFAIR WAS FROM 2015 AND THIS IDIOT WAS SHOT DOWN WITH AN UNRECOVERABLE BLOW!!!

Overall, 7.4/10, it has a little something for everyone.

NUMBER 2:

This one is exceptionally dank!! It uses a snippet from the theme song of Sonic Adventure 2: Live and Learn, but the caption has changed the entire context of the lyric, making it sound sexual, as well as a joke making fun of Emi’s skill in bed!!

8/10.

NUMBER 1:

This cannot continue. The pain is immense

WELL THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY, LIKE AND HIT THAT FOLLOW BUTTON SO YOU CAN IGNORE YOUR TAX EMAILS FOR A CUTIE LIKE ME!

Follow. Now.

[skyahri]

Accent |Peter Parker X Odinson!Reader| HC

Summary: Peter meets Thor's daughter for the first time.

Warnings: Protective dad Thor lol. Peter is like 20 in this and the time line doesn't fully match up so don't look into it.

-----

Despite how often Thor talks about his father and brother, he didn't mention he had a kid until way after he had met the other Avengers.

Not that he was ashamed of you or anything, he had just forgotten to establish who you you're and as time went on he just assumed everyone knew.

He had been spending quite a bit of time at the Stark tower lately and it had come up in casual conversation.

The first memorable instance was with Tony while he was ranting about the stupid shit Peter did.

"Peter just pisses me off in general. Last week I caught him fucking around with his suit again trying to disable the child block I put on it."

"Ah, yes. Teenagers are a handful aren't they? Loki and Y/N are always doing their best to play pranks on me."

Tony thought about questioning who exactly this Y/N person was, but honestly Thor knew hundreds of thousands of people and he couldn't be bothered to learn bout all of them.

So he bit his tongue and pressed on.

Next was with Bruce in his lab.

He was curious on the inner workings of Mjolnir since it was more so magic based than science.

"I'll have to consult Y/N next time in Asgard. She's more knowledgeable on the hammer than I am."

Banner was going to ask who he was referring to, given that somehow another person besides the wielder could possibly know more than Thor himself, but the man left before he could even open his mouth to ask.

So he just assumed whoever he was talking about was some sort of historian and pressed on.

The most recent instance was when he was having a personal conversation with captain Rogers about past love; something neither of them discussed lightly.

"Do you ever regret the past? If you could go back would you change it?" He had asked Thor.

He thought for a moment- not because he didn't know the answer, but because he was unsure of how to phrase it.

Your mother had died shortly after your birth due to complications. It was a high risk pregnancy overall and if it had been terminated, she surely would have lived.

"Gaining the life of someone you've lost means losing the life of another, and I couldn't imagine my life without Y/N."

His answer was clear all except for who he was referring to, but Steve deemed it best not to ask.

Tender moments of weakness was not the time to question it.

It wasn't until Tony and Thor were having yet another conversation in the kitchen one night that you had been brought up again.

It was a simple discussion of tasks they needed to handle, and Thor had mentioned you requesting to see him again soon.

"So who exactly is Y/N? You've brought her up few times but no one knows who you're talking about."

He raised an eyebrow at the science man folded his arms.

"She's my daughter, of course. I thought you knew."

Suddenly their one on one became a group conversation and they were swarmed by the others.

They asked so many questions so fast that Thor couldn't keep up. He settled with just shutting them up.

"Alright, alright, I shall summon her in the morning so you all can make her acquaintance. She's been curious of Midgard, so she should be willing to come."

He did as promised and sent a message through the bifrost asking you to meet in the morning.

You happily agreed, eager to actually meet the people your father speaks of so often instead of just relying on his half assed stories.

By the time morning came around, Thor stood expectantly near the landing pad near Tony's office.

You beamed in, your metal armor and sword coming quickly into view.

He met you with a big hug and insisted you change into some more earth appropriate attire before meeting the others.

He gave you a pair of jean shorts and a white t shirt, nothing too fancy, just casual summer wear.

Once you were ready, he took you to where the others were gathered in the common area.

You scanned the people in the room quickly until your gaze ultimately landed on a boy around your age with curly brown hair and brown eyes.

You sent him a brief wink and smiled when his face started to turn red.

Your thoughts git disrupted when you felt your father's large hands land on your shoulders.

"Eveyone, this is my daughter, Y/N."

To say they swarmed you was an understatement. It seemed as if no one had any concept of personal space and they were willing to poke and prod at you in a heart beat.

They bombarded you with questions about Asgard and Loki and how Thor was as a dad.

Eventually they all fell into their own conversations, so you made your way over to the boy on the couch.

You sat next to him, legs crossed and facing his body.

"How is it you aren't as interested in me as everyone else, hm?"

He was caught off guard by your thick, pretty Asgardian accent.

He should've expected it considering how Thor spoke, but it was much different coming from your mouth.

"What? No! I mean- yes! I am plenty interested... I just thought you'd like some space..."

He was obviously nervous, but you found it cute.

You laughed and pushed his shoulder.

"Relax, Peter, I'm simply trying to be light. There is no need to be anxious around me."

"You know my name?"

"For the longest I thought your name was Spider... but Natasha informed me that you are just a spider man and your name is Peter."

That seemed about right, honestly. Thor had a knack for assigning nick names and never bothering to learn anything else.

"My apologies for my father, he is a bit... dated... when it comes to new age things."

Peter shook his hands in front of his face aggressively, no thanking you to think that he's at all offended by what the man had to say.

"Oh, no, it's perfectly alright! I know that Mr. Thor means no harm!"

You giggled at his demeanor.

It seems that he's a bit of a people pleaser and would be mortified to accidentally disrespect someone.

"Anyways, Peter, I heard you are a man of science? What is it exactly that you do."

And from there the conversation took off.

Peter moved to sit mirrored in front of you, immediately talking about his work with Tony and how much he loves gadgets.

He explained things like proton theories and how he tinkers with anything he can get his hands on.

Of course you knew a lot about not just Asgardian and Earthen studies, but gained knowledge from many of the nine realms.

You eagerly discussed what you knew with him and found that despite his child like personality, he was incredibly smart.

Your new found friendship caught the attention of both dads (Tony and Thor obviously).

"It appears yours has become quite close with my daughter... must I worry?"

"About Peter? Absolutely not. He may be able to legally drink in a few months but I'm still not convinced he even knows what a girl is."

"Excellent. I thought I might have to destroy him for a second."

Thor laughed, making it seem like a joke, but he knew it wasn't.

He'd have to warn Peter later about boundaries.

From that day on, you and Peter were pretty much inseparable.

He introduced you to his favorite movies and music, while you taught him about the wonders of space and Asgard.

Of course this was all on the DL around Thor.

You decided it was best to not show the extent of your relationship with Peter until much later down the road (aka until you couldn't hide it anymore).

You often snuck into his room at night and sometimes even brought him to Asgard for some privacy.

You two were the best of friends up until you were suddenly lovers, sharing kisses and hugs and holding hands when you could.

He understood why you decided to hide him from your dad.

It wasn't about Peter himself, just that Thor was super intense and violent and it was best for his safety.

Over all, you and Peter were inseparable.

[marshmallow-phd]

Book of the Dead

Genre: The Mummy AU

Pairing: Junmyeon x Reader

Summary: After traveling to the fabled city of Hamunaptra, you read from the Book of the Dead and accidentally resurrect an ancient mummy with extraordinary powers and quest for revenge. The only thing to do now is try and convince your less-than-traditional guide to help you save the world. 

Part 1 I Part 2

**

“I just said a few sentences!”

“What did you do that for!”

“Well, I didn’t know that that would happen!”

You stared at the aggravating, self-absorbed, cocky Korean soldier and wondered why on earth you had decided to negotiate for this man’s life. 

Alright, you did know why. You needed him to show you to Hamunuptra - the fabled City of the Dead. 

Too many times you had stood in front of the museum curator with pages and pages of references and evidence that the place existed and just needed a small team of archeologists in order to track it down. He’d shot you down every time. And each time he took the liberty of reminding you that while your father was an exceptional explorer who had many successes under his belt, you were a woman whose life had been spent between the shelves, cataloging. Your adventures consisted of the fictional kind, devouring any novel you could when you weren’t archiving the latest crate of artifacts and texts. 

Then your cousin showed up. Your normally useless, hare-brained, erratic, drunkard cousin showed up at your apartment with a “fun new artifact” he found on his latest trip. And suddenly your luck had completely turned around. 

Or so you thought. 

Now you were standing in the middle of Hamunaptra, feet sinking into the unstable sand, with an empty sarcophagus and everyone blaming you because you did what you did best - read.

It was only a book. Albeit, a very heavy, possibly-made-of-painted-solid-gold book that was written in the dead language of ancient Egypt, but still. What harm had ever come from reading a book?

Kim Junmyeon stared at you as if you were the one who had risen from the dead. You were still stunned at how different he looked from when you had first met him in that smelly prison, minutes away from being hanged. His hair had been long and stringy, clumps of dirt clinging to the dark brown strands that brushed his shoulders. Now it was shorter, cut above his ears and gelled back in the current style that almost made him look like a gentleman. The several days’ stubble was long gone to reveal smooth skin and a sharp jawline. He was actually very handsome - when he was cleaned up. 

Stupid, you hissed at yourself. Now was not the time for this. Because right now there seemed to be a reanimated mummy running around here. And by the looks of Barney’s husk of a body lying deep within the temple underground, it was hungry. 

As it should be, given the three thousand years it spent locked up under piles of sand. 

“Really, you should have been more careful!” your cousin, Baekhyun, scolded. 

You scoffed. “You’re one to talk. You were the one who snatched the key off of Mr. Kim here at one of your seedy bars and then proceeded to lie to me and say that you found it on a dig in Thebes which in turn brought us here!”

Baekhyun opened and closed his mouth as he searched for a possible retort. 

“I think this is more your fault,” Kim Junmyeon’s own cousin and traveling partner, Oh Sehun, said. “You told us to go down a level and dig under the statue, which in turn,” he mocked your tone almost precisely, “caused the mummy to be able to get out of his sarcophagus. If we had dug somewhere else entirely, then he’d still be trapped under the statue of Anubis.”

“Despite the fact that it was two layers deep, nothing would have been able to hold a victim of the Hom-Dai.”

“Would have given poor Barney a chance,” Kim Junmyeon muttered under his breath. You shot him a glare that he hardly noticed. 

“I say that we get out of here and to the safety of the city before the mummy finds us.” Oh Sehun swallowed thickly. “Or worse. The beetles find us.” The supposedly brave soldier who had two pistols hanging under each arm was more terrified of the flesh eating bugs than he was the living mummy that was bringing about the ten plagues of Egypt. You’d already lived through the locust infestation, but that was always the most minor of the plagues. In your opinion. 

“We told you to leave,” Ardeth said in that low, monotone voice that made him seem centuries old. You had only known him for a few hours, but you already feared and respected him. Despite the fact that he had attacked your campsite the night before. “Now you have condemned the whole world to the very monster that we have spent three thousand years keeping hidden.”

Kim Junmyeon finally tore his face away from yours. “I told you. I shot him. He went down.”

“Mortal weapons are useless against this creature. None can kill him.” Stepping up, he stood toe to toe with the soldier who led you here. “A gun is nothing more than a fly to him. He will never eat. He will never sleep. And he will never stop. Not until this world is only sand.”

Though still not completely backing down, Kim Junmyeon took hold of your arm. “Come on. We’re going back to Cairo.”

**

The camel ride back to the city was long, tiring, and a bit painful, if you were honest. The inside of your thighs were sore from keeping you up right on the animal’s back for hours on end under the blazing heat. You were used to the comfortable back seat of a car, even if the roads here tended to be on the bumpier side. Kim Junmyeon stayed at your side the entire time, up until you were back in your hotel room. All your things were still in there. That was nice, even if it was to be expected. The desk clerk had sworn he would keep the room reserved for you until you made it back. And now that you had, you were on to the next fight. 

“We’re not going anywhere!” 

Kim Junmyeon pretended not to hear you as he started emptying the dresser drawers of your clothes and stuffing them in your suitcases lying open on the bed.

“Excuse me! I said we’re not going anywhere!” As soon as he stepped away again, you slammed the suitcase shut. A stray white cat that you didn’t have the heart to remove from your room took advantage of the newly available space and laid down on the surface of the luggage. Unbothered by the argument taking place in its presences, it purred as it curled into a ball and closed its eyes. 

“You keep using the word ‘we’ and I’m not sure why,” he said. “I believe you were the one who woke him up in the first place.”

“Yes, I get it!” you shouted. “Everyone can blame me because I read the damn book, but that is why we need to stop him.”

He closed the empty drawer and turned back around to face you. “And how exactly do you plan on doing that? You heard Ardeth. No mortal weapon can kill this guy.”

“That’s why we’re going to find some immortal ones.”

He pulled a pair of rounded glasses from his pocket, wiped the lenses with his shirt, and stuck them on the bridge of his nose. “There goes that ‘we’ business again.”

You huffed, trying not to focus on the newest version of the soldier now being presented in front of you. “Yes, we. Because this curse will continue to get worse until the whole world is destroyed.”

“And that’s my problem?”

“It is everybody’s problem! You live here, too!”

Kim Junmyeon stepped up until he was mere inches away. “Listen. I appreciate you saving my life and all, but when I agreed to this idiotic mission my objective was to show you the way and then bring you back here. I have done that. End of job. End of story. Contract terminated.”

You tried not to show how his last few words affected you. Though you had been a little intoxicated two nights ago, you still very much remembered how sweet he had been, how he had listened to you go on and on about your parents and how much you wanted to be a famous adventurer like your father. And how you almost kissed him. And how he was going to kiss you back. Stupidly, you had thought that there was something growing between you. Apparently, you had been wrong. 

“Is that all I am to you?” you whispered. “A contract?”

Kim Junmyeon blew out haughtily from his nose. His Adam’s Apple bobbed as he swallowed. He opened his mouth and then closed it. You waited in hopes that he would contradict you. That he would say, no that was not all you were to him. And it really seemed like he would be saying something along those lines. But other words came out instead. 

“Look. You can either come with me or you can try and stay here and save the world. So. What’s it going to be?”

You didn’t even hesitate. “I’m staying.”

“Fine.” He headed for the door. 

“Fine,” you bit back, following him. 

“Fine,” he threw at you again as he barely glanced over his shoulder.

“Fine!”

“Fine!” 

He got the last word in before slamming the door to your room shut. 

You huffed as you crossed your arms. Yet, as angry as you were, you still hoped that he would come back. That he wouldn’t let you take this on alone. But the footsteps on the other faded away and you were alone.

Looking around your room, you didn’t think there was much you could do. So, you did what you were best at. You grabbed all the books you thought could help you and got to reading. 

While sitting in the wicker chair in the corner, you skipped around the books and pages, clinging on to any small word that you thought could lead you to a possible solution. There wasn’t much to be found, unfortunately. Most works spoke of how to perform the Hom-Dai and how it should never be performed due to the curse that awaits should the victim ever be awakened. You already knew that. You needed specifics on what to do after the victim came back. 

“(Y/n)!”

Kim Junmyeon came bursting back into your room. You slammed the book in your hands closed, feeling very high and mighty indeed.

“Ah. Mr. Kim. Have you changed your mind?”

“Doesn’t matter now, he’s here!”

“What!”

He didn’t clarify as he hoisted you up out of the chair and pulled you out of the room, and into the hall. Through the windows, you watched in horror as fire fell from the heavens. The balls of flame engulfed anything it touched when it landed, whether it be plant or human life. Turning a corner, Kim Junmyeon ran into a room you knew was occupied by another one of the Americans that you had ran into on your way to Hamunaptra. You gasped. 

In the chair, now nothing more than dried, husky skin and hollow bones was… oh, dear you couldn’t remember his name. You hadn’t bothered to learn them. You and Baekhyun had simply referred to them as the “Bloody Americans”. You were feeling a bit awful about that at the moment. 

But you didn’t have much time to dwell on that. Standing in front of the fireplace was a new version of the mummy. His skin was starting to come together, though patches were still missing, allowing you to see the gray bone and lack of organs underneath. Kim Junmyeon pulled out both of his guns as the mummy stalked forward. 

“We are in deep trouble,” he murmured before opening fire. The loud pops banged on your poor eardrums. You stumbled back a few steps to try and soften their blows. It didn’t work. 

The bullets passed through the mummy as if they didn’t exist at all. Even when Oh Sehun and the other Americans came running into the room and firing off their own guns, the mummy still kept going. He shoved Kim Junmyeon back into the others as if he were nothing more than old wrappings. Then he turned on you. 

Completely unarmed, you stumbled back until you were betrayed by the bookshelf behind you. There was nowhere to run. Instead of sucking out your liver, however, he spoke. 

“You were the one who saved me from the afterlife.” His words were haunting, echoing as if he was speaking in a cavern. And the language he spoke… ancient Egyptian. You weren’t sure why you expected to speak anything else. Coming in closer, he lowered his voice. “I thank you.” 

He leaned in his head, those very human eyes lowering to your lips. You turned your head away to try and avoid the kiss, confused as to why he was trying to seduce you. 

Sharp, unpleasing notes from the piano pierced through the air. The mummy turned and gasped when he saw the white cat from your room walking across the keys. In a whirl of sand, he fled from the room. 

“Oh, thank god,” you said with a heavy breath.

“No kidding,” Kim Junmyeon groaned as he sat up. 

You ran to his side, fearful that he might have been injured. “Are you alright, Mr. Kim?”

“Yes,” he huffed. With a very odd expression, he added, “And I told you to call me Junmyeon.”

To be honest, after your fight, you didn’t think you would be allowed to anymore. A strange silence settled between you. He was trying to say something with his gaze, but you couldn’t interpret it. So, instead, you helped him to his feet. “Come on. I know who we need to talk to about all of this.”

It took a while to get back to the museum that had employed you for the past year or so. Every street was full of panicking people. Flames no longer fell from the heavens, but little fires still raged on homes and carts. The Americans had declared that they were coming along, so your group was slower in moving. Although you didn’t really want the mummy bait to be anywhere near you, Junmyeon and Sehun decided that it would be better to keep an eye on them and - hopefully - keep them out of the mummy’s grasp. 

“Dr. Bey!” You ran into the museum’s main storage room, happy when you saw the curator. But then you skidded to a stop at the sight that he wasn’t alone. 

Ardeth was talking with him in hushed tones that stopped the second you appeared. Both men turned towards you, the curator wearing a very readable expression. It was one that stunk of “I told you so”. The others were only a few steps behind. As soon they, too, saw the unexpected visitor, Junmyeon, Sehun, and the Americans pulled out their guns while Baekhyun simply squeaked in surprise. 

“Gentlemen,” Dr. Bey greeted as if this were any old meeting on a Tuesday. 

“What is he doing here?” Junmyeon demanded. Even with the black tattoos etched under Ardeth’s eyes, you could tell that he was tired, dark circles from lack of sleep bruising his skin. 

Dr. Bey raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure you want to know? Or perhaps you would prefer to just shoot us?”

“Either sounds good.” Junmyeon cocked back the hammer of one of his guns for emphasis. 

“Stop it,” you hissed. “Bullets won’t do any good here. Besides, you might damage some of the artifacts.”

Junmyeon failed to suppress a laugh over your concern. Despite the present danger, you still didn’t want to see the carriages or sacred jars damaged because someone got trigger happy. So, Junmyeon holstered his guns and the others soon followed suit. “All right. I’ll give a little faith.”

Dr. Bey motioned for the group to follow him in deeper. “We’re part of a secret society-”

“Aren’t they all?” Baekhyun muttered. Both you and Dr. Bey shot him glares that made him snap his mouth shut. 

“For over three thousand years, we have guarded the City of the Dead. Once we reach manhood, we swear an oath to do anything and everything in our power to stop the high priest Imhotep from rising from the grave.”

“And now we have failed. Thanks to you.” Ardeth gave you a particularly pointed look. 

By now, you were getting very irritated with the constant finger pointing. What was done was done. You were not going to show him any cowardice. “And that justifies the murder of innocent people?” 

“Hm. To stop this creature?” Dr. Bey pretended to think for a moment. “Yes.”

Junmyeon, untroubled by that, raised his hand from the golden seat of a dead royal that he had taken over. “I have a question. Why doesn’t he seem to like cats?”

“Cats are the guardians of the underworld. He will fear them until he reaches full regeneration.”

“Then there will be nothing that he fears.” Worry was very much apparent in the soldier’s voice.

“And you know how he gets regenerated?” one of the Americans asked rhetorically. 

The other one finished. “By tracking those of us down who opened the chest and sucking us dry like a nomad in the desert, that’s how!”

It was completely pointless to go over the things that were already known. Now was the time to try and piece the unused parts together. Two particular moments were sticking out in your head. 

“Back in Hamunaptra, the priest - Imhotep - he called me Ack-Su-Namun. And then just now at the hotel, he….” You cringed at the memory, thankful that you didn’t have to feel the decomposed skin against your own. “He tried to kiss me.”

“It’s because of Anck-Su-Namun and his love for her that he was cursed,” Dr. Bey explained, exchanging a look with Ardeth. “Even after all this time….”

“He’s still in love with her?” Sehun finished with a scoff. 

You appreciated the backstory, however - “As romantic as that is, what does that have to do with me?”

“Perhaps he will try to raise her from the dead once again?” Ardeth guessed. 

“Yes,” Dr. Bey agreed solemnly. “And it would seem that he has already chosen his human sacrifice.”

All eyes in the room turned to you. Wonderful. 

Not only were you the one who read from the book and raised him, but you would also be responsible for the return of his beloved, who was the reason he was cursed in the first place. Absolutely beautiful. 

Baekhuyn came up behind you and patted your shoulder. “That is some rotten luck, dear cousin.”

“Actually, this could work in our favor,” Dr. Bey countered. “It could give us time that we desperately need to kill the creature.”

“We’ll need every second, I think,” Sehun said. He pointed towards the ceiling. “I think he’s getting stronger.”

Through the large window high up on the wall, the sun was in clear view. You all watched in horror as the moon moved too quickly across the sky and blocked the light from reaching Earth. 

“I’m guessing this is the plague of darkness?” Baekhyun said ominously. You nodded slowly. 

“Let’s go,” Junmyeon said softly beside you, his hand coming up protectively behind your back. “We’ve got to get back to the hotel and come up with a plan.”

**

“I’m just saying, it seems very stupid to comdem someone to a curse when the result of that would be for them to come back a supernatural creature who is practically unkillable.”

“The ancient Egyptians believed in balance,” you explained to Baekhyun for the hundredth time in your life. “To curse someone so badly in both this life and the next, there has to be a consequence to balance out the scales. If not, then the whole world could still fall apart, in even worse ways!”

“All of this is kind of pointless now, isn’t it?” Sehun sighed from the small table in the antechamber to your room. His feet were up on the polished surface as he leaned back in his seat. A look of irritation was etched on his face as he stared at your cousin. “What’s done is done. Right now, we need to focus on our next step.”

“Well, I know you two,” you pointed to the Americans, “opened the chest. As well as Barney. Was there anyone else?”

“The Egyptologist that was with us,” the shaggier one answered. “Professor Chamberlain. He has a temporary residence a few blocks over.”

“What about my best friend Beni?” Junmyeon asked. You nearly snorted. You knew the two of them were anything but friends.

“No. He ran out before we took the lid off. Ended up saving his own skin.”

“Sounds like Beni,” Junmyeon said dryly. “Okay. We’re going to go get the Professor. You four,” he pointed to all the men, “come with me. You, stay here.”

Oh, no you weren’t. “Excuse me! I am just as capable as any of them are. I will not- What do you think you’re doing!”

Junmyeon marched over to you, picked you up, and carried you over his shoulder until you were in your room. Then he dropped you on the floor, closed the door, and locked it tight. “This door doesn’t open.”

You didn’t know who he said it to, who he left in charge of watching you like an infant. It didn’t matter. You pounded your fist against the solid wood door. “Baekhyun! Junmyeon! Let me out! Baekhyun, you coward! Help me out here!”

“Sorry, cousin!” Baekhyun yelled on the other side of the door. “But… he’s got a gun.”

“Smart choice,” you heard Junmyeon say. Oh, you were going to kill him. Which “him” was yet to be decided. Perhaps both would be most satisfactory. 

Well, now you were stuck here. 

Crossing your arms, you sat on the edge of the bed and contemplated your choices. Not that you had many. 

A yawn forced its way out. You were tired. Over the past few days, you had hardly been able to get any real sleep. And, well, now seemed to be a time. So, you changed into your nightgown and slipped under the covers. The mattress was soft, like a cloud. The pillows were stuffed into freshly cleaned cotton cases. It was barely a few minutes before you drifted off…

And then abruptly woke up to something moving against your mouth. It started out soft but quickly turned ashen and tough. Your eyes flew open and you screamed, the sound muffled by the kiss of Imhotep!

You tried to shove him off, but he didn’t budge. Your touch meant nothing to him as he continued the unwanted kiss. 

The door to your room burst open, finally taking his attention and allowing your scream to be heard at full volume. Imhotep’s face was half rotten away, his lips completely gone, the cheeks held together by thin strips of jerky-like skin. You scrambled out of reach, to try and get as far away as the tiny room would allow. The movement caused you to fall out of the bed and land hard on the wood floor.

Standing up, Imhotep said something in ancient Egyptian, but your jumbled, still half-asleep brain couldn’t translate it. 

“Oh, really?” Junmyeon mocked. “Here’s my answer.” He held up the poor cat who had saved you earlier, the animal hissing threateningly at the mummy. Just like last time, Imhotep fled in a tornado of sand out the window, terrified of the innocent creature. 

“Are you alright?” Junmyeon asked as he let the cat fall from his hands. The cat landed gracefully on its feet and walked over to the bed with more dignity than you’d ever seen a human radiate. 

“Yeah, I’m good,” Baekhyun answered. After a glare from Junmyeon, he cleared his throat. “Oh. You weren’t- that’s fine. Go… check on her.” Junmyeon did just that. 

Kneeling in front of you, he pushed away a few stray hairs that had fallen in your face. Warm, soft brown eyes searched for any sign of harm. The tips of his fingers brushed against your cheek, setting the skin on fire. Or perhaps that was just the blood rushing up to your face in slight embarrassment. This man made you… nervous in a way. He could be dastardly at times, but… also very sweet. 

Clearing your throat, you pushed yourself up to your feet. “I’m fine. A little disgusted, but I’m fine.”

A smirk and knowing gleam flashed on Junmyeon’s face as he rose. “I’m sure mine was better.”

He was referring to the lip-smash he desperately pulled before he was to be dragged to the hangman’s noose. Not exactly the best first impression. 

You snorted. “No. I wouldn’t say that.” His jaw went slack. Sehun and Baekhyun snickered behind him. “Did you find the professor?” you asked in order to change the subject. 

“Yeah. He stayed out in the sun for a little long by the time we found him.”

“What are you-” Oh. Oh. That was why Imhotep was so far along in his regeneration. He’d found another victim to suck dry. 

“And he has the Book of the Dead,” Sehun added. “According to Beni, that’s what he’s going to use to raise Anacsunmum.”

“Anck-Su-Namun,” you corrected. 

“Yeah, her.”

You rolled your eyes. Why did you even bother?

You started pacing the room, trying to figure out what would be the best next move. You couldn’t keep playing hide and seek with the cat for all eternity. There needed to be a way to end this. Before he read from the book and raised-

The book… 

The book! 

You whirled back to the others. “I have an idea!”

“Care to share?”

“The Black book has always been rumored among scholars to be able to bring people back from the dead. Something I had always thought was nonsense,” you added to yourself. “But since that part is true, that means other rumors must be as well. Such as the Gold Book being able to send a soul back to the afterlife.”

“A balance.” Baekhyun looked awfully proud of himself. At least something finally stuck. 

“Exactly. Now all we have to do is find out where it's hidden.”

Junmyeon frowned. “But I thought it was supposed to be hidden with Anubis?”

“Exactly,” you agreed. “It comes from a translation of an ancient text. A stone that’s at the museum here, actually. It also says where the Black book was supposed to be hidden. I think they got their translations mixed up. So, where the scholars who originally translated it said that the golden Book of Amun-Ra was in the statue of Anubis, it's actually wherever they said the black Book of the Dead was supposed to be.”

“And where is that?”

You swallowed. “I don’t remember. We’ll have to go to the museum so I can read it again.”

Letting out a heavy sigh, Junmyeon checked the barrels of his guns, reloaded the revolvers with bullets from his belt. “Then I guess we’re headed back to the museum. Hopefully we don’t run into Ugly Face before we get to the rock.”

“I’m sure we’ll be fine,” you said with the utmost confidence. 

Sehun, who did not share that sentiment, looked up towards the ceiling. “Oh joy. Another book hunt.”

[kaizokuou-ni-naru]

The Voyage So Far: Paramount War (Part Two)

east blue (1 | 2) || alabasta (1 | 2) || skypiea || water 7 || enies lobby || thriller bark || paramount war (1 | 2) || fishman island || punk hazard || dressrosa (1 | 2) || whole cake island || wano (1 | 2)

ace’s execution is, in a way, the exception that proves the rule when it comes to one piece’s themes of blood and family. ace is set up to die for the crimes of a father he never knew and never wanted, and he does die here, but in the end he dies for the family he did choose, in the form of luffy, rather than the one he didn’t. 

god do i wish we knew more about ms portgas d. rouge. with ace’s storyline pretty much wrapped it looks unlikely that we’re going to be learning more about her than what we got, which in my opinion is an absolute tragedy, because what little we do know about her is amazing and she’s an absolute badass. oda give us more female ds please.

whitebeard’s power is so cool. it might be one of the visually coolest devil fruits we’ve ever seen, in my opinion. he he causes earthquakes and tsunamis while far past his prime; he pulls the sky apart with his bare hands. this whole arc is world-shaking, and whitebeard’s power is perfectly appropriate for it. 

doflamingo’s speech on justice and rightness is one of the most well-remembered quotes from this whole saga, and rightly so. i’ve always found it fascinating, myself, because he’s right. he dead-on hits how the one piece world works- the world government and the marines rule the world not because of any inherent actual goodness or justice or right, but because they won a war a very long time ago. 

in a way, this reminds me of blackbeard’s line of “people’s dreams never die” from jaya. i like how oda isn’t afraid of letting his villains be right about the themes of the story, sometimes even having better awareness of them than the protagonists. 

man, if i had to pick a single favorite spread out of the whole manga, it might be luffy’s marineford entrance. it’s so epic, and so completely unexpected for everyone else there. absolutely nobody was expecting strawhat luffy to drop out of the sky with a posse including two former warlords. it just makes me grin!! so much!! 

it also gets followed up by a solid two pages of just people’s reactions, from smoker’s “what the HELL is he doing with CROCODILE” to moria’s immediate incoherent rage, and i just love that the world and cast of one piece is so well-established and built up that we know exactly how all of those people know luffy and why they react the way they do. 

going back to what i mentioned in the last post about marineford being luffy’s conflict of interest arc, i’d say it’s also the only time where he isn’t the future king first and foremost. in this arc, before anything else, he’s a little brother.

there are a lot of what-if moments in marineford. moments where you kind of have to ask “what if this specific thing hadn’t happened, had gone differently?” would things have turned out differently? squard’s betrayal is one of them. does this change the outcome? would whitebeard have been able to survive if not for this injury? there’s no way to know. marineford is a lot of little tragedies, and they just pile up and up.

marineford has just so many incredibly striking spreads. all of the momentous moments (and there’s a lot of them, in this arc) are done full justice. this is such an image heavy post just because marineford is such an incredibly visually strong arc. 

conqueror’s haki is so cool and i love the way it’s set up and built up throughout this saga, with luffy’s constant inadvertent uses of it, from duval’s bull to marigold and sandersonia to the wolves in impel down, all leading up to this moment. 

i’ve heard people complain about conqueror’s as kind of a deus ex machina, but i honestly love it, it’s very cool and honestly i think it just seems to fit luffy as a power. if there was ever gonna be a character who turned willpower into a weapon, it would be monkey d. luffy. 

i’m gonna take this chance to talk about garp, because this sequence of panels is heavily implied to be garp’s thoughts just before luffy punches him down, and it hurts. garp is a flawed person who makes some bad choices, and there’s no arguing that, but i think it’s very obvious he really, really cares about his grandsons, even if he never could understand them as people and that they never would have been happy as marines. and that’s just tragic, really. 

the moment ace gets freed and the brief span of time where he and luffy can fight together feel so triumphant, and i think it’s one of the reasons the final tragedy of marineford hits so hard and feels so cruel, because luffy succeeds, here. he saves ace. he gives absolutely everything he had and makes it, and saves ace. the ultimate failure isn’t his. there was nothing more he could have done. 

the first time i was reading one piece, i hit this page (which is also the last in the volume) and had to put the book away, take the bus downtown, wander around for a few hours, and buy myself some candy and some new books before i started feeling okay again.

the thing about ace’s death, i think, is that it’s a tragedy, but it also feels so completely essential to the story going forwards and luffy’s character growth specifically that it’s really, really hard to imagine one piece without it. there are a lot of (really excellent!) fix-fics out there for marineford, and although those are often really good and their authors super talented, i think it’s really hard for them to ever hit the same way canon does with regards to this. 

i always think of this scene specifically in contrast to zoro and mihawk’s fight, back on baratie. zoro and mihawk are both people who believe in honor in battle, true victory or death, and that’s reflected in their fight, in zoro’s refusal to turn and run even in the face of imminent death, and mihawk’s respect for that resolve. whitebeard, too, is an honorable man. he refuses to turn to run, even when facing certain death. 

the blackbeard pirates, however, are not. 

i do enjoy how, just like roger’s, ace’s execution backfires tremendously on the marines. this was entirely a predictable outcome, too! this exact thing happened twenty years ago! the marines don’t learn. they don’t change. they’re so assured of their own rightness and power that they make stupid mistakes like holding a massive public execution after the last one blew up in their faces. 

(this is why they need coby so badly, for the record, and why it’s important that he still decides to become a marine after witnessing their corruption firsthand in shells town. the marines are long overdue for a reformation, one that orients them towards real justice.)

i really, really enjoy crocodile in this saga. mostly because he hasn’t been redeemed at all, he’s still pretty much the exact same kinda awful person he was in alabasta, he’s just on luffy’s side this time, and it lets us see him in a better light, when he gets angry at whitebeard for nearly dying or when he helps luffy and jinbe escape to keep the marines from getting their way. few of one piece’s characters are truly so one-dimensional as they can seem, and i really appreciate that. 

i really really love all the interactions between luffy, ace and sabo as kids. they’re so fun and bounce off of each other so well. even though we only see them together for a brief time, they really feel like siblings. (which of course only makes later events hurt so much more.

i’ve always been a little fascinated by the fact that it takes us this long to get luffy’s full backstory. it’s almost a fakeout, because we get part of his backstory in the very first chapter, and we’re kind of led to believe that’s all there is. it’s not until ace’s introduction nearly two hundred chapters in that we’re given any indication there’s more.

but at the same time, it makes sense. marineford is luffy’s focus arc, as arlong park to nami or thriller bark to brook. he hasn’t had a focal arc that’s really about him before this, while all his other crewmates have. it makes sense that this would be when he finally gets his flashback. 

i think it’s cool that dragon and the revolutionaries show up at the grey terminal fire, because it’s one of the only looks we’ve gotten so far into what their actual regular operations are like. and, of course, they’re saving people. i really like this about the revolutionaries, that helping people in trouble is basically their modus operandi, when pretty much everyone else in one piece’s world mostly does saving on an incidental basis if at all. 

i think a lot about how the last line of sabo’s letter to ace is also both of their last words to the strawhats. 

death in one piece always feels much realer and more impactful to me than in most other series, and i think this is part of the reason why: in one piece, we are always shown the mourning. nami at bellemere’s grave, carrot grieving pedro, ace and whitebeard’s funeral. 

there are fewer deaths, comparatively, than most other series, but they’re given so much room to echo. we’re still feeling the impacts of ace’s life and death in the most recent chapters of wano. it ties into the theme of inherited will and all the way back to hiriluk’s final speech, of men not being dead so long as they’re remembered. 

the picture of luffy at marineford always kind of strikes me. he looks so young and so solemn, and yet much more himself than he did when we last saw him losing his mind on amazon lily. i really like it. 

sometimes i just think about the sheer depth of trust and love the strawhats must have in each other to separate for two years, far longer than they were ever together, to solely dedicate themselves to improving for the sake of crew and captain. none of them even hesitate, and none of them ever doubt that the crew will be reformed at the end of it.

after all, luffy keeps his promises. 

[cypaira-the-skeleton]

Finally, after a long existence into the void of my mind, I finally brought Raven's grandfather (a.k.a Papá) to life...in a drawing

He was Raven's grandfather when he was still alive. He's her mother's father, and the father-in-law of Raven's original father.

This man was a blessing from the sky. No matter what was thrown to him, no matter how bad people tried to do him wrong, he never got physically hostile, and rarely got himself in fights and arguments.

He wasn't wealthy but he still received a good ammount of money. Alone with his good nature, he used to be very naive. He was married to a woman which turned out to be a ' gold digger ', where she used him just for his money. He noticed his long mistake after Finally opening up his mind and realising that there was never love between them two.

When Raven's mother was growing, she adopted the same behaviour as her mother. Rude, apathetic, gas lighting, and no respect to anyone. Paul eventually divorced his wife, which she proceeded to completely abandon the existence of her own daughter, and he tried to raise his child the best way he could, but the damage was already done.

Even if he was kind, he wasn't stupid (not anymore), he could see the good and bad in the people he knew and met. He tried to keep his daughter away from messing up her own life, and telling her multiple times to be careful at what she does, but she wouldn't listen, leading to her meeting up with a man, doing the deed when she was just 19....and proceed to the existence of Raven.

The neighborhood they lived in was too nosey for him, so he decided to move to a different and more quiet neighborhood in a different village, restarting his life anew while he helped his daughter and future son-in-law to a new life for themselves. He wanted her to finally learn that actions have consequences, and offerd to help take care of his new grandchild when needed.

....as the story might be clear now, due to them becoming early parents cause of their lack of common sense they gave the fault to their new daughter saying that if she didn't exist their life could have been better, cue them feeling forced to take care of a child they carelessly created, not giving her any parental attention or love except when having to give her the vital needs such as nourishment and clothing. The rest, she was treated like a house plant. Give her what she needs, and leave her be.

Now Paul knew what was going on, and he wished he could have taken the whole matter in his hands. Unfortunately, a few years before Raven was born, he was unfortunately made aware of a terminal illness he had, and really couldn't do anything except having a chance to live for a few more years. He wished he would have adopted her, but he knew that once he was gone, she would have went back to her parents, and since no other family members existed, he could only visit them frequently, raise Raven the way he wished his daughter was raised, and be part of her life.

He feared for this little girl to turn for a bad rode, but since he constantly was in her life, she thankfully turned pretty much like him. Kind, generous, appreciative, and a curse to his kindness...Naive.

Raven wouldn't notice that her parents really didn't give a damn of her existence, but he was too glad to see her happy, and let her live in her own innocent and blissful ignorance.

When Raven was 6, his health unfortunately got worse. He had to ask her parents to bring her to his house more frequent, to avoid long travels, and didn't waste a single precious second with his beloved granddaughter. In her eyes, Paul was like a second dad to her, reason why she would call him ' Papá ', and in his, she was the daughter that he regretfully wishes he had.

A few months followed, and his health depleted. Raven somehow managed to go to his house by herself, but he didn't care... he knew his time was coming. It pained him to see Raven confused at why she wasn't gonna spend time with him anymore, still unaware at the concept of death. He gently and patiently explained to her that where he is going now, is not a place she can go to yet. After a few heartfelt " I love you" 's and " I will still look after you ", his soul slipped away from his body, leaving a scared, confused, and heartbroken Raven on his former body.

He watched everything happen, from the day he died, the day of his funeral, the success of her parent's jobs, the news of a new grandchild, the complete neglect of Raven while her baby sister got all the love and attention and the nice things in life, to the day they just left her at an orphanage like a used up object at a Sale shop, and the day Raven was free from her naiveness to realise the dark and sad truth on her life while she sat at a corner at an alleyway.

He wasn't there physically, but spiritually he followed after her every step in life, and he will do so until they get to meet again.

[accidentallyadramablog]

Review: Down With Love (2010)

I felt a little nostalgic this week and decided to rewatch Down With Love, a romcom out of Taiwan featuring Ella Chen (from Hana Kimi) and Jerry Yan (Meteor Garden).

This is more of a brain dump as opposed to a real review. More below the cut.

Let me just start with the fact I love dramas with tomboys, gender benders, and gender non-conforming women and girls in general. I'm a 40 yr old gnc bi-woman, so some of these storylines really resonate with me - despite the trend of making those female characters glaringly stupid and pitiable.

Tags: Nanny, Love Square, Tomboy, Male Chases Female First, Sismance, Rich Man/Poor Woman, Pretends To Be Gay, Single Parent, Sisterhood, Boss/Employee Relationship

Our girl Ella Chen plays tomboy Yang Guo. Yang Guo works, has friends, and a shitty boyfriend of 5 years. She acts naïve, but she actually has a lot of life experience due to a *tragic backstory*. After her mother died, her father ruined the family business. Their family plunged from riches to rags and their father abandoned them. Yang Guo is 6 when this happens and it falls on her older sister Yang Duo to raise them both while homeless, starving, and navigating the homeless camps in the parks of Taipei.

Yang Duo (Kelly Huang) has raised her little sister by herself, beginning from poverty and homelessness to having a house and making a life for themselves. They bicker good-naturedly, but Yang Duo is very protective and supportive of her sister. She's managed to earn a job at a prestigious law firm as an admin assistant with strong accounting skills. She is seen as frugal, clever, and competent. Several characters make comments throughout the series about how it was a shame that she didn't go into certain careers because she's so accomplished despite not having a formal education. It's obvious that Yang Duo has put her own dreams and happiness on hold to make sure that she and Guo have financial security. Yang Duo is my favorite character btw. She is a supporting character that is multi-faceted and has her own character arc. I really like seeing her growth in this drama, and she gets some cute side couple action later in the series. Skip the last episode.

Due to growing up in poverty and scrabbling to lower-middle-class, the two girls work nonstop. After Guo is fired from her job waiting tables, Duo gets Guo a job as a nanny for her boss Xiang Yu Ping by lying and saying Guo is a lesbian.

Xiang Yu Ping (Jerry Yan) owns his own law firm and is seen as cold and overbearing. He is raising his dead brother's kids and none of the nannies he's hired have lasted either due to being chased off by the kids (a la the Sound of Music) or by trying to seduce him because he's a rich handsome lawyer. Relieved to have found a nanny who definitely wouldn't seduce him (because he thinks she's a lesbian), he just pays an unreasonably huge salary to keep her there with the kids despite their abuse.

Supporting characters: Amanda Chu as the best friend Yan Ling with the messy dating life is also delightful, but I've enjoyed all her roles. I may rewatch Lion Pride for her, now that I'm walking down memory lane. The office of 'just some lawyer dudes being dudes' are funny. I love when they gather around to watch drama and place bets on what's happening. They're also slackers. I would love/hate to work with them.

So that's the setup.

Honestly, I hate the 'pretends to be gay' plots. It's typically really offensive and this was no exception in a lot of places. (It's not at the same level as Personal Taste, but it's bad.) One of the cases Yu Ping takes on is unlawful termination and blackmail of a gay teacher and he asks for Yang Guo's advice to help the man. Taiwan was trying in 2010, but it wasn't exactly good representation to have a fake lesbian help an actual gay man faced with employment discrimination and blackmail over his orientation. When I compare this with Love is Science (2021 twdrama) that has two out lgbt characters employed in their office with significant roles, I'm just so happy that lgbtq media representation is still progressing.

I don't care about Yu Ping's best friend Qi Ke Zhong or Yu Ping's ex-girlfriend Ding Hui Fan because they're both terrible people that don't deserve forgiveness and their only purpose was to drag out our leads getting together. Since this was a rewatch, I knew how much I hated their scenes and skipped them as much as I could. You're not missing anything. Someone on YT needs to just make a Yang Duo/Xiang Yu Ping cut, tbh. Also? Go ahead and skip the deadbeat father.

The nanny bit only lasts three episodes (the kids are adorable), but it's long enough for Yu Ping to catch feelings and think his lesbian nanny is cute. He actually is not cold and overbearing as episode 1 makes him out to be. Yu Ping is supportive and tries to be a good friend to Guo. When he thinks her 'girlfriend' is cheating on her, he absolutely flips out because he feels she deserves to be respected and loved in her relationship. He learns about her family. He learns about her friends. He knows where to look for her when she's upset. He knows how to cheer her up and later, he knows how to make the perfect date. When he finds out she lied about being a lesbian, he's not even mad. He admits it was his fault for making certain demands in the employment contract. He's just upset that he's lost chances to flirt and court her.

Listen. It's a dumb premise in this drama and the misunderstandings suck. But it's so refreshing to see male leads be decent to women that are romantically and sexually unavailable to them. The bar is so low, in RL and in dramas, that Yu Ping belongs in the top tier of male drama leads. This dude was just going to continue in a supportive friendship for an undetermined time, both when he thought she was a lesbian and later when his shitty weasel of a best friend dated her under false pretenses. He didn't burden her with a confession until her relationship was over. And whenever she asked for space, he gave it to her. And when she confronted him on instances of jealously, he apologized and gave her space.

Yu Ping never tries to change Guo. He doesn't give her a makeover. She has a makeover scene that is instigated by another character and all he does is try to make her comfortable when she's so obviously uncomfortable. Then he cheers inwardly when he sees her overcome her awkwardness and have confidence. But by the end of the drama, she is still dressing and acting the same as in act 1. It honestly reminded me a little of Coffee Prince in that the fancy male lead is still just as enamored with his gnc woman by the end and the way she presents herself doesn't have an effect on their romantic relationship. Again, this is content catered to me as a bi & gnc woman in a relationship with a cis-het man. I often am mistaken for a man when I go out with my spouse and he's still super into me so let's normalize gnc people with gc people already it's 2021.

Anyway, if you watch romances for kisses, there's really only a couple of pecks and one nice passionate kiss and they're all in basically the last 3 eps of the series.

The last episode sucks. Stop at episode 15. Seriously. Don't watch episode 16. Why oh why do you let terrible people back in your life? Qi Ke Zhong and Ding Hui Fan are toxic and should but cut out of their lives. The end of ep 15 had a happy ending with a family-style breakfast for our two sisters with their boyfriends. Ep 16 threw in some more misunderstanding, jealousy, and separations followed by a time skip for no reason and brought back my two least favorite characters.

Anyway, I will live in my little world with Yang Duo and her sweet lawyer boyfriend Liang Zhi Hao (Ian Yim/Cyran Yan/Yan Yi En yeah, this actor has three stage names) that supports her interests and self-determination while they save money on mass transit by using his motorbike. And they build her dream home that she designs. Perhaps they put aside funds for her to pursue a degree in what she's passionate about.

[djarinsidebitch]

Mandalorian & Flyboy

A/N: yes I know that other Mandalorians can take their helmet off but lets just say that reader cannot  Word count: 3.4k

As the war against the first order dragged on rumors about where the information gained on the first order started to pop up. When communication officers let it loose that there hasn't been any major intelligence missions in over 6 months. Rumors of a spy in such deep cover that the resistance cant even know, others of the information being bought from outside sources, Poe himself is caught listening into the base gossip. When he asks Leia she just shrugs it off going back to the task at hand. If he didnt know how good of a lier the General is he would have just let is slide, he kinda did shaking off anyone who asked the elite Commander what he thought just continuing with missions ‘The information isn't putting us in danger so why think about it’ he remembers remarking to a group of newer pilots when they again were asking about the rumors.

The idea almost completely left his mind when he caught a glimpse of Painted Beskar retreating into the forest from a back entrance of the hangar where he was working on small repairs to his x wing, it took a few seconds for him to process what he saw, or thought he saw; A Mandalorian some of the best warriors in the galaxy but very few are left they have become more of myth some believing that they are all gone. A possible mandalorian sneaking out of the base… the General. “Fuck!” he exclaims shooting up running to the general’s quarters expecting to see the worst he burst in only to see the General looking over a data pad  “poe is there a reason you are bursting into my quarters at this hour?” she asks he sputters “I-I there was someone who left your quarters that i had never seen before” he breathes out putting his hands on his waist “I wanted to make sure you were ok” he nods  now feeling slightly embarrassed “Poe no one was in here, get some sleep you have been working to hard” leia says calmly shooting poe from her quarters.

Poe left to his own quarters even more confused he could have sworn that he saw someone, something, leave from the base but tried to put it to the back of his brain ‘I am just tired’ he repeats in his mind going through the motions to go to sleep; which is just pulling off his clothes throwing them over on a chair in his room then flopping onto his bed. He fell asleep but it was almost like his head just hit the pillow when the morning call came out over the loudspeaker waking him up. He goes through the motions of getting up and ready BB-8 rolling around waiting for Poe, as a commander he was ordered to a mission briefing it was based on new information on trade routes used by the first order. Hearing this poem\ is thinking again about what he saw last night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Poe decided that he wanted to get to the end of this person that has been in his mind, once a week he watched from behind his X-wing when a Mandalorian snuck into base went to where the general’s quarters where for about an hour then would sneak back out. Then the next day he would have a meeting about new information on a different topic. He finally had enough after a month and a half of watching the Mandalorian in there painted and dirty beskar mysteriously come and go in the base he went to the leia to get answers without starting even more rumors not everyone like mandalorians seeing them as brutish or savage like bounty hunters who care on of credits.

After a mission brief he stayed behind as everyone except Leia left “General” he asked, gaining her attention from the holotable “Yes Poe is there something you need?” “Well yes, who is the Mandalorian I keep seeing leave the base” he cringed at himself at being so brash. Leia let out a sigh shaking her head slightly “it seems you met my new opritave” “He is resistance?” “SHE is a bounty hunter and informative as to what is going on in the underworld” leia explains briefly not giving up to much information “Why work with bounty Hunters how do we know she isn't just selling our information to the first order” he responds confused “the first order along with the empire killed off most of the mandalorians and mandalore, those who survived mostly don't want to work for the first order unless they really need the credits. And i know her she may be in a dark line of work but her heart is true” leia turns off the holotable going to leave the conference room also leaving poe with new questions ‘why are you helping the resistance; how much are you getting paid’ the resistance already has low funding so how are you getting paid at all ‘have you done anything else than just gain information for the resistance' poe  could feel himself get frustrated with this and mentaly decides that he is going to talk to the Mandalorian and get some answers.

When it came time for your weekly meeting with Leia you transferred the information into her data terminal while chatting with the general, more like she talked and you listened, nodded or gave small replies. As you leave the hairs on the back of your neck standing up, someone is near, your strides pick up slightly leaving the base of your ship. Taking the long way to your ship you catch a glance of someone following you so hiding behind a tree waiting for the assailant to walk past you, just like baiting a trap he walks past you and in and instant you grab him putting the man into a choke hold while holding your trusted baster to the side of his head.

“Why are you following me” The distorted voice grunts through her helmet, poe puts his hands up in surrender “I just want to talk i've been watching you come and go and i just want to know who you were” he chokes out looking in his peripheral vision and is met with an emotionless visor staring back. You losen the grip on his neck dropping your arm but only to search his body for a blaster “i didnt come armed im not stupid your a madalorian” a dejected sigh is herd through the helmet as you go to sit om a fallen tree and motions with your blaster towards a stump near her. Poe gets the message and sits there is a silence when she finally takes a deep breath “i you are just going to stare i have better things to do”   “Wait not, shit ok, i'll just be straight forward, Why are you helping us, the resistance; bounty hunter normally don't care about any of this just about what keeps their pockets filled”  You are visibly irritated by the off hand comment about bounty hunters “I am not most Bounty hunters, but it seems you are like most flyboys nothing more than moof milkers who think just because they can fly a star fighter they are important” The mandalorian stands holstering her blaster “be glad i didn't put a hole in you fly boy” You growl out stomping away to your ship.

Poe sat there cursing himself he just insulted a mandalorian, not just any a really hot, resistance fighting Mandalorian “leia is going to kill me”

Poe thought it was safest to stop watching you when you came to the base not wanting to anger you more. Until he was asked to meet with Leia on the day you make your drops. He knew it wouldn't be good so when he walked in to see the general and you sitting there you more just leaning against the wall your visor felt like it was staring into his soul “Poe i thought you should properly meet our friend after your stint in the woods” she says almost standing between the two of them “how?”  “I told her moof milker” You snear “(Y/n)” Leia scolds the mandalorian. “If you are going to be so interested in my dealings enough to follow her to her ship you might as well know who she is to the resistance” she continues  “(Y/N) here is a bounty hunter and spy for the resistance her father helped with taking out groups of imperial loyalist shortly after the fall of the empire.” as she started talking about her past briefly he looked over her leaning form her armor had blue grey paint over parts of her helmet, her shoulder pauldron had a mud horn on it, the rest of her armor was silver beskar that was slightly worn from years of use and he can see the top of a pack that matched the silver beskar partially covered but and small cape. “She is here to help us gain information on the first order without having to put our numbers at more risk, she can get more done than a full squad of fighters can and we don't have the numbers anymore.”  “I can also get places you can’t” you grunt out and stands walking over to stand in front of poe looking him up and down behind your helmet and thinking ‘he isn't to bad looking’ “(Y/N) Djarin” you sat curtly “since you are so interested in my work why don't you join the general in my drops” poe can hear the smirk that is placed on your face before you walk out of the room surprisingly quiet for how much armor you are wearing he stared as you left amazing by your voice and thinking over your name in his head “Close your mouth dameron before you catch flies; you are dismissed” she calls out to the dazed pilot shaking her head. Poe just nodded taking a deep breath walking to his quarters BB-8 was waiting outside of the door waiting for his master “Hey buddy” he starts to talk about you to his little buddy “an her name- buddy her name is so pretty” he says dreamyly

Over the next few week he started going to meet the general and (Y/N) he even started to talk to her outside of the meetings walking back to her ship and a few transmissions here and there at first it was just him rambling and you putting your input in here and there but as you got closer you started opening up your family growing up losing your mother at a young age and traveling with your older yet younger brother and father then when he settled down and took off the helmet for good and you put it on changing some things slightly. Talking about visits to your dad and brother between work was the thing that got you really talking, only stopping when you realized you had reached your shipe 5 minutes ago. Poe found out that for a scary bounty hunter you are a dork and he loves it when you realize you have no idea how to truly socialize with anyone that isn't your family or poe. He prides himself on the small chuckles and breathy laughs he can get out of you. If he didn't know better he would think that this flyboy had a shot with this badass woman he has fallen for following her around like a lost dog whenever he could.

You had started to come to base more than just once a week for Poe so when you and him out in the forest surrounding the base and you both hear explosions and the tell tale signs of Tie’s you both jump up running towards the base. It is the First Order they found the base and was able to surprise attack the base X-wings were already scrambling to get in the air. Poe calls for BB-8 while running to his X-wing jumping in getting into the air.

Stormtrooper transport land and whole battalions of troopers unload the battle is in the air and on land You use your two blasters and jet pack to take out hoards of troopers. Once landing you hold out your arm activating your vambrace flamethrower keeping the troopers away from you one shoots you the blaster deflecting off of your shoulder pauldron then you deliver a front kick to another while almost nonchalantly shooting two more troopers. Over the speakers a coded message rings out that was the message to retreat most officers fall back to get onto transports and get hasmany supplies and important information as possible. You try to give as much time as possible to the resistance to get to safety you picks up a larger blaster that one of the dead troopers had and used to to hit more enemies as possible you watch out of the corner of your eye three tie fighters chasing a familiar Black and orange X-wing before the Ties shot it down and it goes down into the forest “No!” you yell, shooting the last troopers she can and take off running towards the towers of smoke rising in the trees.

You run as fast as possible to the crash site hoping Poe is ok. When you get there it is not a pretty sight flames almost cover the entire ship you pull open the cockpit and your eyes widen poe is limp in his seat you pull out your vibro blade form your boot using it to cut him out of his harness pulling him out of the wreckage and presses the button to release his droid pulling him as far from the wreckage right before the ship blows and you cover his body with yours grimacing as shrapnel imbeds itself into the spaces between the plates of armor. Once the explosion stops and it's safe you look down at poe blood blossoming on his abdomen and body “poe” you call out trying to shake him awake; he just shakes limply under your hands you reach to feel a pulse but you can't sense anything “No Poe wake up” you call out tears welling in your eyes blurring your vision “It's not funny poe come on wake up” your voice breaks and you try to do chest compressions anything but nothing changes. BB-8 watches as you try to recestate Poe and responds with sad beeps missing his master. You ripp of the helmet and you feel like it's suffocating you as tears stream down your face mixing with the dirt and sweat on your face. You have felt pain but nothing like this sobs rake your body shaking with pain gripping onto poe “You- You can't do this to be dameron, you can't leave me now” you are blubbering now not caring if any one sees you it feels like a part of you had died.

“You- Fuck- Your so beautiful even- e-even with tears” Poe rasps out barley awake staring at your face contort to confustion then passing back out.

Hearing him makes you jump up grabbing your helmet, slipping it on and then picking up poe running calling out to BB-8 “Come on we gotta get back to my ship!” You  jump over logs, adrenaline coursing through your veins pushing your body to its limits, not caring how much you are gonna hurt in a few hours, just focused on saving power. You see your ship and slow reaching to press the button on your brace to open the cargo door and run up the ramp placing him on the floor knowing it's not the most comfortable but not caring, pulling your helmet back off you rush to grab the box filled with medical supplies and pulling out bacta patches, stim shots, and the emergency cauterizer.  

You pull off his tsttered clothes striping him down to just boxers and looks for the worst wounds on his abdomen and thigh injecting a stim shot then going in with the cauterizer working on shutting the wounds glad that he wasn't awake for this part the smell of blood and burning skin isn't new to you but knowing it's him makes you sick but once you sealed all the major wounds you placed bacta patches on them then using bacta spray on everyone else. You sit there for a second looking over your work then staring at his face it looks calm but it doesn't have the wrinkles from his smiles or the look in his eyes what she watches from behind her visor so seeing it without it is something else. Her com link in her brace goes off and she scrambles to grabs her helmet then connecting, a relieved sigh leaves her mouth it was leia “I'm glad you made it” leia says with somber undertones “(Y/N) i'm sorry to say but we haven't been able to contact dameron he was the only pilot we can't account for he might not have made it” she says sadly he was like another song to her leia was keeping it together for the sake of the resistance “i know he got shot down by three tie i was able to get him and BB-8 out before his ship exploded “ she explained and watched as a new hope filled the general’s eyes “that is amazing how is he’ you sigh looking down at poe now noticing the slight rise and fall of his chest “ he is knocked out now but once he wakes up i will know more” she explains “How did they find you” You ask now no emotion present in your voice back to being a mandalorian  “i don't know we are trying to figure that out but for now get off world and lay low until we can find a new base” Leia says with a sigh “take care of him ok” you nod “always” you sign off and go back to poe looking over him before getting into the cockpit of your own ship and old imperial command ship you had found for cheap and fixed up yourself. Once in hyperspace you come back out to see poe stirring, you quickly kneel down next to him as he opens his eyes “where am i” he looks around frantically until he sees you “(Y/N) he says softly reaching for you “what happened” he asks “you where shot down; i got there just in time before your ship exploded” you explain watching as he grabs onto the bottom of your helmet “i- i saw your face” he says almost unsure “i thought i lost you; you weren't breathing you were gone” your vision went blurry whether that was from tears or the blood loss of your untreated wounds you didn't care and neither did poe as he lifts up your helmet slowly almost waiting for you to stop him… you don't he drops it with a clang and sits up you are quick to help him. He takes your face in his hands staring at you with so much love and emotion in his eyes that he starts crying also “you are so beautiful” he whispers leaning in to kiss you; you meet half way and the kiss is explosive full of passion and sorrow for what could have been lost he moves his hands down the side of your neck to the back pulling you in closer your hands hold onto his cheeksIt is not a pretty kiss it is dirty and sweaty your tears mixing on your cheeks at they are pressed together, the only reason you separate is to breath and even then your foreheads are touching “you are the first person other than my family that has seen my face since i was 11” you whisper out looking deep into his eyes. He smiles rubbing soft circles into the sides of your face “I'm glad you are just so beautiful. I love you so much, i have fora while you are so complex in all the best ways you are anamazing warrior badass in every way but so soft spoken adn dorky i would die a thousand times if it means i can see your face” he confesses tears start filling your eyes again and his voice breaks with emotion “I love you too, your snarky hummor and being dumb enough to follow a mandalorian in the woods; i knew you were the one and as long as  i am arround you are not dying” she responds softly leaning in again to kiss him. Maybe it wasn't horrible that one person saw her face.

[thefreakydeaky]

Call Out My Name

Part Eight Title: The Town

Characters: Negan, Reader, A stupid little prick named Rick Grimes, Garbage pail kid Daryl Dixon, Tanya and Frankie.

Summary: You belonged to him.Try as you might to pretend indifference, Negan’s very presence has awakened feelings in you that you believed had died with the old world.Is the ruthless King of the Sanctuary still human enough to fall in love?

Warnings: Language, Canon Typical Negan BS, Canon Typical Violence, A bit of gore, Angst.

Word Count: 3000

With each step you took your stomach knotted tighter in dread of the big scary u.Dealing with the unknown had always been a problem for you. When something was unknown, you were stuck waiting around to find out and in that time you could not plan for it.Upon reaching the ground floor, you saw that all of the dock doors had been pulled down. Every exit locked and blocked.The hungry rasps of the dead filled you with dread.It sounded like you were surrounded. Your eyes darted nervously about the place, from the worn and teary faces of the scared inhabitants to the hard expressions worn by the invaders.

The pounding of heavy boot steps had you swiveling your head about to find the source.

“Don’t you think of tryin’ anything.” Darryl grated.

“Get down on your knees.” He ordered gruffly.

You and the other two girls knelt on the concrete floor, waiting.

You could hear someone approaching behind you.Your breathing quickened in horrible anticipation.

“Are these his...wives?” A deep voice, asked calmly. “Carl said there were five.”

“I looked all over. Found one dead and these three."

You closed your eyes, wondering briefly who it had been.Your stomach churned.You knew what would happen next.He would hit you.He would hit you and demand to know where Sherri and Amber were.You wouldn’t have an answer, except to say you hadn’t seen them in a couple of hours.

“We’re not here to hurt you.” The man’s gentle tone was reassuring. “We’re here to free you.”

“Where is number five?” He inquired.

You couldn’t bring yourself to look at the man, you couldn’t bare it.

Darryl put a hand on your shoulder and shoved you forward.

“Ask her.This one was leadin’ ‘em.”

A pair of worn leather work boots stopped in front of you.The man inhaled deeply as if to calm himself.

“Are you alright?”He seemed to actually mean it.

You clenched your jaw.

He reached out and brushed his knuckles along your cheek.

You stiffened, hardening your heart for what was to come.

He tipped your face up, his index finger just under your chin.

Your eyes met his clear blue gaze.

The gasp you emitted made Tanya and Frankie turn to look at you.

“Y/n?” He sounded as astonished as you felt, almost hoarse with the shock of this revelation.

His arms were around you and squeezing you in a warm embrace before you could fully process it.

“Oh,” He kissed the top of your head.“You’re alive!”A sigh of relief escaped his throat.

Your lower lip trembled, emotion overtaking you.

Home hadn’t come to mind in a long time.Hugging him, you were transported to a different stage of your life, a different society.

“She doesn’t understand.Much as I wanna be there,I have got to put work first.We talked about this when I joined the force.Lori agreed that she should stay home and take care of Carl, that I would provide for our family. These days, I cover a late shift for another officer, get home and she starts ripping me a new one. Says everytime I’m out late I been drinkin’ with Shane.She accuses me of any wrong thing a husband can do.You name it, according to Her, I’ve done it.”

You frowned a bit at that. Lori wasn’t the best person, but she certainly wasn’t the worst. Neither of you was really in a position to judge her. Not when you were sleeping with her husband.

“Well, I’m sorry that ya’ll are goin’ through a rough patch.”Your voice sounded dejected even to you.

He closed his eyes briefly, his expression contrite.

“I’m...I’m sorry.You shouldn’t have to hear all this.I don’t know what I was thinkin’.” He kissed the top of your head in apology.

You snuggled closer, your head on his bare chest and sighed.

“It’s okay with me for you to talk about your problems.Everybody needs to vent sometime.The thing is, I feel...bad.I feel like I’m part of the problem.”

“You’re not.” He said vehemently. “Lori started accusing me of havin’ an affair long before you and I ever...”

He couldn’t bring himself to say it, his guilt wouldn’t allow it. That sat well with you. It was the least either of you could do.Admit that this temptation you’d both given into wasn’t right.

“How much do we owe you for watchin’ Carl?” He inquired with a softness in his tone that made you melt inside.

“I can’t charge you not when we’re sleeping together.It would feel like-like-“

“I get it.” He ran his hand along your side tenderly. “But I’m gonna have to pay you anyway.”

You winced.Of course he did. She would notice if suddenly there was an extra $80 bucks in their account every week. He could hide the money, save it and use it for something. but that would be one more lie he had to tell Lori. So you accepted the money and put it all in your savings account. Guilt kept you from spending it and as it turned out,you had needed that money to get yourself out of Kentucky.It had gotten you as far as Richmond,Virginia when all hell broke loose. It was there you met Charlie and the gang...

“It’s okay. It’s gonna be okay.” He murmured into your hair.

Darryl cleared his throat. “Are you forgetting somethin’?”

Rick looked to him questioningly.

“She’s married to a sociopath!”

“She’s...a friend” He hedged. “I know her. She would never willingly have married a man like Negan."

“I don’t care if she’s your damn aunt fanny! Her husband murdered Glenn and Abraham!” He growled and spit at your feet.

You jerked back at the insult.

“You’re not the only one that’s lost people to The Saviors.” Your voice shook as you spoke.You couldn’t bring yourself to say that it was Negan who killed Charlie.Negan had done terrible things, but he also made you feel wonderful things, now was not the time to reconcile the two.

“He killed my best friend. My co-leader,Charlie.” You told them.”He forced me to become a wife. You gestured toward Tanya.

“Her mom was terminally sick.She was suffering. He offered to get her some morphine if Tanya would become his wife.”

Rick was listening with wrapped attention, compassion in his gaze.

“Frankie,” You nodded toward the redhead. Her green eyes begged you not to tell.

You took a breath.

“She was attacked by a group of cruel and violent men. Negan and The Saviors, rescued her.The price for his help was marriage.” You hoped Amber had gotten far far away from the Sanctuary.

If your words were revealed to be untrue, you might all be killed. You had no doubt this, Darryl guy would have you strung up in a heartbeat. Quiet followed the sad tale.

“I believe you.” Rick said calmly. “I’m sorry you had to go through this.”

Your eyes filled with tears.Not because you agreed with his insinuation that your marriage to Negan was a form of torture you had undergone, but for all else you had endured since leaving Kentucky.

Darryl huffed loudly.

“What are we gonna do with Negan?” He ground out.

“Now’s not the time or place to discuss this.” Rick inclined his head, peering at Darryl over your shoulder.

“We’ll talk about it once we get them to Alexandria.”

“Fine.” The man responded.Though it didn’t sound as if he were fine with Rick’s decision at all.

Once we get them to Alexandria. He’d said.

Your heart leapt at the possibility that Rick’s them included Negan.

During the three month deliberation of Negan’s sentence, Hilltop’s Doctor Carson had informed you that your dizzy spells and drowsiness were actually pregnancy.You were elated at first, then heartbroken when you realized there was a huge chance your child would never meet it’s father.

It took pride shriveling amounts of begging and sweet talking your ex-boyfriend to get him on your side to save Negan’s life.Rick turned the majority of the council in your favor.Their final decision was that Negan would live.Your relief at hearing this was immense until you were told the terms on which his execution had been stayed.You would be delivering his sentence.

The rustling sound of soft soles walking across the dirty concrete floor reached Negan long before your tear stained face came into focus in the dim light.

“Negan.”

He kept his face blank.

“Y/n.” His voice sounded raspier to you than usual.

Your eyes scanned over him in the dark and caught on the white bandage set across his throat.

“I’m here to-“

“Do I look like I give a shit?” He glared over your shoulder at Darryl.”You people are ridiculous.Five women to choose from and you send the one I regret ever setting eyes on.Nice.”

You glanced over at Darryl.He looked supremely unimpressed.

“That isn’t true and you know it.” You wet your lips with your tongue.

“You get the fuck away from me right fucking now.”

You took a shaking breath and tried to hold back the tears.A sobbing emotional mess was the last thing either of you needed at the moment.

You held your wrists up where he could see the restraints the council demanded you wear at all times.

You felt sorry for him.This was going to hurt both of you immensely, but if you didn’t do as you’d been asked, he would be getting a hell of a lot worse than a life sentence.

He turned away from you, unable to bear the sight.

“You’re wasting your fucking time.I am not fucking talking to you.”

“You don’t have to say anything, just listen.” You inhaled slowly and held it, to steady yourself for the pain to come.

“I’m not married to you.I wasn’t ever married to you.You manipulated, scared, and threatened me into submitting to you.”

He stiffened.

“You are a power hungry, sociopath who took advantage of my weakness and the weaknesses of many others-“

“Weakness? You?” He scoffed.

“-you brain washed us like some kinda deranged cult leader.I don’t love you.I never loved you and neither did any of the other wives.”You spat the word at him.

He laughed bitterly.

“I did what had to be done to keep all of you alive, if that makes me the fucking bad guy then fuck it.”

“Don’t you dare laugh!”You cried glaring at his back. "Do you have any idea how many people had to die because of you?Do you have any remorse for the pain you’ve caused? The lives you’ve taken?”

He turned to look at you then. From Negan’s surprised expression, the tears streaming down your face must really be selling it.

“You know I don’t.”He frowned, uncertainty in his tone.

“I hate you!”

“Hate me? For what?” He huffed.

“For everything you took from me! For everything you did to me!”

“You sure seemed to like what I did to you. Used to beg me to keep doing those things to you...But don’t you worry, Baby. I’m sure you’ll be getting your retribution soon enough.”

He crossed his arms over his chest defensively.

You sniffed, choked down a sob and prepared for the grand finally.You stepped right up to the bars.Eyeing you wearily, he moved slowly towards you.

“Kiss me.” Your voice was a low whisper.

The reluctance in his gold flecked eyes unsettled you, made what was to come that much harder.

He leaned in and through the bars pressed his dry lips to yours. He closed his eyes, reveling in your proximity, the familiar intoxicating taste of you.You fought to keep still, to appear unaffected. It took him longer to realize that you weren’t participating, than you thought it would.

He pressed his forehead to yours.

“I love you, Y/n.” He declared, breathing harshly. “Don’t you forget it.”

You raised one eyebrow attempting to seem aloof.

“You have been sentenced to life imprisonment.You’ll have all the time in the world to reflect on the atrocities you committed.It’s a fitting punishment for what you’ve done. Wouldn’t you say?"

He smiled sadly.

“I would much rather die, but they know that, don’t they?”

“Mhmm..”

He held you as best he could.

“They don’t have any mercy to spare where I’m concerned...Why’d they send you to tell me?”He wondered out loud.

You pulled away, taking a few steps backwards, so he could see you fully.You placed your hands on your stomach in that soft maternal way, the sick fucks had told you to do.

His face fell.

“I’m expecting.”

“No, no no no no.”

“Oh yes...but don’t worry.My baby will have a father.”

His eyes narrowed.

“Do you remember those little chats we used to have?”

He nodded, hanging on your every word.

“I told you about the man I was seeing, the cop with the bright blue eyes...”

Negan shook his head in denial.

“Fate has brought him back into my life. Can you believe that? I mean what were the chances, that the man to take you down, would be the only man that I have ever loved, Rick Grimes?”

Negan dropped to his knees. His eyes were wide pools of vulnerability.

“Have a nice life. I know I will.” You turned away.

Darryl gave you a begrudging nod of approval on your way out.

You’d never hated yourself as much as you did in that moment.

[arcticdementor]

I have to begin this column by admitting that “Biden” (note: when in quotation marks, I refer to the “collective Biden”, not the clearly senile man) surprised me: it appears that my personal rule-of-thumb about US Presidents (each one is even worse than his predecessor) might not necessarily apply in “Biden’s” case. That is not to say that “Biden” won’t end up proving my rule of thumb as still applicable, just that what I am seeing right now is not what I feared or expected.

…

I think that both of these grossly oversimplify a probably much more complex and nuanced reality. In other words, “Biden” surprised many, if not most, Russians. That is very interesting by itself (neither Bush, nor Obama nor Trump ever surprised the Russians – who knew the score about all of them – in any meaningful way).

My strictly personal guess is that there is some very serious infighting currently taking place inside the US ruling class. Furthermore, that serious infighting is not about core principles or even strategy – it is a dispute over tactics only.

We have to keep in mind an old truism about outcomes: John F. Kennedy once said that “victory has a hundred fathers, but defeat is an orphan” and he was right. When any group seizes power and effectively controls its interests, all is well, and everybody is busy consuming the proverbial milk and honey. But when this group suffers a series of humiliating defeats, a typical cascade of events begins:

Finger pointing: everybody blames everybody else (but never himself/herself)

Hindsight wisdom: “if I had been in charge, this would not have happened!”

Infighting over quickly shrinking spoils of war

A collapse of the centralized center of authority/decision-making centers

Generation of subgroups, fighting each other over their sub-interests

In other words, following many years of extremely weak presidential administrations (since Clinton, imho), it is hardly a surprise that infighting would take place (in both parties, by the way). In fact, an apparently chaotic set of uncoordinated, or even contradictory, policies is what one should expect. And that is exactly what we have been observing since 1993 and this dynamic has been getting worse and worse with each passing year).

…

That being said, there are some observations which might be helpful when trying to at least (indirectly) identify who are the main groups fighting each other.

The hardcore, really nutty, russophobes are still here, especially in the US media which seems to be serving not so much “Biden” as much as some “crazies in the basement” kind of cabal. Next to the legacy ziomedia, there is an increasing number of US/NATO/UK military officials who are foaming at the mouth with threats, warnings, complaints and insults, all against Putin and Russia. This is important because:

The “Zone A” media has comprehensively and very effectively concealed the very real risks of war with Russia, China and Iran. And if this was mentioned, the presstitutes always stressed that the US has the “best military in the history of the galaxy” and that Uncle Sam will “kickass” anybody he chooses to. If the people of the USA were informed of the truth of the matter, they would freak out and demand that this path to war be immediately abandoned and replaced with a meaningful dialog.

US/NATO/UK authorities have talked themselves into a corner where they have only two outcomes left: they can do what the US always does, that is to “declare victory and leave”, or they can force Russia to protect her borders on land, air and sea and, thereby, face a major military humiliation delivered by Russia.

Truth be told, during the recent naval exercises UK and US officials made a lot of threats and promises to ignore Russian warnings, but in the end, they quietly packed and left. Smart choice, but it must have been painfully humiliating for them, which is very dangerous by itself.

…

There will be many more NATO exercises in the Black Sea in the future. Ditto for USN operations off the Chinese, Iranian or DPRK coasts. This (always explosive) combo of ignorance, arrogance and incompetence could result in a major war.

LAnother option is the terminally delusional UK government (supported by those Brits who still have phantom pains about their lost empire and, of course, by the largely irrelevant 3B+PU gang) might do something really stupid (say, like this) and trigger a war with the DPRK, Russia, China or Iran and then the US would have to move to defend/save a British Navy which is mostly a joke (at least by Russian or Chinese standards). The main problem here being that the USN is also in a terrible shape and cannot compete against Russian and Chinese standoff weapons (I mean that literally, there are currently no defenses against maneuvering hypersonic missiles! The only exception would be the Russian S-500). The latter two nations, by the way, have joined into an informal and unofficial military alliance for many years already; check out this article and video or this one for a recent update).

But opposite, de-escalatory developments are also taking place. First and foremost, “Biden” seemed to have “farmed out” the “Ukrainian dossier” to the Germans and washed Uncle Shmuel’s hands from it. If so, that was a very slick and smart move (which is something we have not witnessed from any administration in decades!). I highly recommend this translation of a most interesting article by arguably the best Ukraine specialist out there, Rostislav Ishchenko.

Ishchenko goes into a lot of interesting details and explains what “Biden” apparently just did. Frankly, the Germans richly deserve this full-spectrum mess and they will be dealing with the consequences of this disaster for a long time, possibly decades. In fact, the Germans are stuck: they want to be the Big European Leader? Let them. After all, the EU politicians, led by Germany, did all they could to create what is now often called “country 404” – a black hole in the heart of the European continent. Germany is the biggest economic power of the EU? Good, then let the Germans (and the rest of the EU) pay for the eventual reconstruction of the Ukraine (or of the successor-states resulting from the breakup of the country)! Russia simply cannot foot that bill, China most definitely won’t (especially after being cheated several times by the Ukies) and the USA has absolutely no reasons whatsoever to do so. I would even argue that chaos (social, economic, political, cultural. etc.) in Europe is probably seen by the US ruling class as highly desirable since it 1) weakens the EU as a competitor 2) justifies, however hypocritically and mistakenly, a “strong US presence” in Europe and 3) gives NATO a reason (however mistaken, misguided and even immoral) to exist

The US is protected from the fallout (immigrants, violence, extremism, etc.) of the Ukrainian disaster by distance, the Atlantic, a much stronger military (at least compared to anybody else in NATO). The US can print money in any way it wants and has no interests whatsoever in the (dying) Ukraine. If Ishchenko is right, and I agree with him, then there is somebody (possibly a group of somebodies) who is a lot smarter than anybody in the Trump Admin and who figured out that the Nazi-occuppied Ukraine should be an German/EU problem, not one for the US.

There is, of course, also the pessimistic analysis: the US is on the retreat everywhere, but only for the following reasons:

Regroup, reorganize, buy time to develop some kind of coherent strategy

Focus on each adversary separately and prioritize (divide et impera at least!)

Re-analyze, re-plan, re-design, re-develop, re-train, re-equip and re-test pretty much everything in the US armed forces (which have not been shaped by any rational force planning in decades)

Those who believe the strategic retreat theory (I am not personally discounting this version, but I do not see enough evidence – yet – to endorse it either) typically add that “the US only left Afghanistan to hand it over to the Taliban/al-Qaeda and unleash them against “soft underbelly of Russia”. Now, that is utter nonsense, if only because Russia does not have a common border with Afghanistan.

…

Coming back to “Biden’s” great retreat: if “Biden” is smart enough to hang the Ukraine on Germany, “he” is probably too smart to predicate the US foreign policy towards Russia predicated around the “soft underbelly” thingie. As for all the “fire and brimstone” threats of war against Russia, they are not impressing anybody as the Russians, the Chinese and the Iranians know that a confident and powerful country does not need to threaten anybody, if only because the actual capabilities of these country are a very telling “threat” by themselves. But when a former superpower is weak, confused and frightened, it will make many roaring statements about how it can defeat the entire planet if needed (after all, the US military is “the best military in the history of the galaxy”! If you doubt that, just listen to Toby Keith!). In other words, while in the West threats are an instrument of foreign policy, in Russia, and in the rest of Asia, they are inevitably seen as a sign of weakness, doubts and even fear.

Then there seems to be a long list of weapons systems, procurement plans and “defense” monies which have been pulled back, including the (truly awful) LCS and F-35. While it is true that the US is gradually phasing out fantastically expensive weapons systems and platforms which were also more or less useless, this show the ability to at least admit that all that talk about super-dooper US superweapons was just that, talk, and that in reality the US MIC is incapable of producing the kind of superb high quality systems which it used to produce in large quantities in the past (Arleigh Burke, F-15, Jumbo 747, the Willys Jeep, F-16, A-10, Los Angeles SSN, KH satellites, etc.). This is why the F-15X is designed to “augment” the F-35 feet (by itself a very smart move!).

Such an admission, even if indirect and only logically implied, might show a level of maturity, or courage, by “Biden” which his predecessors did not have.

Could it be that the folks at the Pentagon, who do know the reality of the situation (see here for a very good Moon of Alabama article about this), figured out that Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump vastly over extended the Empire and now they need to regroup and “re-everything” to achieve a more sustainable “defense” posture?

Could it be that “Biden” will deliver what Trump promised, i.e. to end the useless (and unwinnable!) wars, stop caring too much about the agonizing EU, silently accept that Russia has no intentions (and no need!) whatsoever to attack anyone and focus on the biggest non-military threat out there: China. Maybe.

As far as I know, many (all?) simulations – by RAND and the US military – and command staff exercises have shown that the US would lose badly to both Russia or China. Could it be that “Biden” wants to put Russia and China on the backburner and “deal” with Iran first? The latest news on the US/Israel vs Iran front is not good, to say the least.

…

So what are we left with?

Frankly, I am not sure.

I think that there is very strong, even if only indirect, evidence which there is some very serious in-fighting taking place in the “Biden” administration and there is also strong, but also indirect, evidence that the military posture of the United States is undergoing what might end up being a major overhaul of the US armed forces.

If true, and that is a big “if”, this is neither good news nor bad news.

But this might be big news.

Why?

Because, objectively, the current US retreat on most fronts might be the “soft landing” (transition from Empire to “normal” country) many Trump voters were hoping for. Or it might not. If it is not, this might be a chaos-induced retreat, indicating that the US state is crumbling and has to urgently “simplify” things to try to survive, thereby generating a lot of factional infighting (at least one Russian observer specialized in “US studies”, Dmitrii Drobnitskii, believes to be the case: see the original article here, and its machine translation here). Finally, the state of decay of the US state might already be so advanced that we can consider it as profoundly dysfunctional and basically collapsing/collapsed. The first option (soft landing) is unlikely, yet highly desirable. The second option (chaos-induced retreat) is more likely, but much less desirable as it is only a single step back to then make several steps forward again. The last option (profoundly dysfunctional and basically collapsing/collapsed) is, alas, the most likely, and it is also, by far, the most perilous one.

For one thing, options #2 and #3 will make US actions very unpredictable and, therefore, potentially extremely dangerous. Unpredictable chaos can also quickly morph into a major war, or even several major ones, so the potential danger here is very real (even if totally unreported in Zone A). This, in turn, means that Russia, China, Iran, the DPRK, Venezuela or Cuba all have to keep their guard up and be ready for anything, even the unthinkable (which is often what total chaos generates).

Right now, the fact that the US has initiated a “great retreat” is undeniable. But the true reasons behind it, and its implications, remain quite obscure, at least to me.

I will conclude by asking you, the readers, for your opinion: do you think that the US is currently in a “contraction phase”? If yes, do you believe that this is a short-term only phenomenon, or will this retreat continue and, if yes, how far?

[one-boring-person]

Okay so!!! Rant on each of these if you want, basically I’m asking for a speed date for them all-

1. Cobra ( i really wanna know about him)

2. B a r n e y - r o s s

3. Uncle bob(from terminator you know?)

Basically, give me every desirable thing about thing according to you

Okokokokok so I'm gonna try and keep this brief, but I can't promise anything 😅I don't think this is what I was supposed to do but ah well

Uncle Bob- And here we have the dorky cyborg who has yet to understand what the hell humans actually do and how they survive. In my opinion, the T-800 is not a particularly efficient machine, and is a bit clunky, but I think that also makes him easier to adapt, because his programming isn't so exact and secure. He's the father John never had, and I think John also likes to teach him stuff, like how to behave like a normal person, whilst Bob protects him. On many occasions (we're pretending the events of T2 didn't happen as they did) Bob has tried to be more human around people, and it just...hasnt worked. The cyborg is just a little too unnatural for smiles or laughter to sound right to other people, but he's still working on it, though he us still a little confused as to why humans actually do half of these things: "why did you smile at that woman? You do not know her in any way." "Its polite, Bob." Sarah initially does nothing to help him out, except the bare minimum so he passes as a person, but eventually she starts to care more for him and his stupid little antics, like the way he insists on wearing sunglasses inside (hah, he and Cobra have that in common). Bob says it's because he doesn't want people to see the scarring on his face (Where his skull is still a bit visible at first) but both Sarah, John and the rest of us know it's actually because he somehow thinks he looks cool - the terminator does have some sense of what good appearance, after all. He's quick to warm up to the idea of human affection, though, as it gives him some positive input, too. Bob is great cuddler, because he's goddamn huge, and he can sit still for hours, so it's always great for anyone who gets to cuddle with him.

Cobra - I don't know how he does it, but the guy makes sunglasses indoors look like it's not such a stupid idea, and the whole look is just *chefs kiss*. He always seems calm and collected, and he's quite laid-back once you get to know him, though he can be snarky as hell if he doesn't like you (like he is with Monte and Sears). Cobretti probably clearly has an obsession with being healthy and keeping somewhat fit, even though he drives everywhere in his flashy car, so I'm not sure how much that holds up, though he does eat pizza by cutting it into small pieces, so I reckon he's probably all about "moderation". But he definitely doesn't touch fast food - I mean look at how he reacted to Ingrid and the ketchup! His aim with a pistol is impeccable, and he's a very good fighter, but Marion definitely has a soft side, and I think he probably keeps up the impassive mask to hide this 😅

Barney Ross- This man is far too self-deprecating for his own good. He cares for everyone he keeps close, and he cares for them strongly, but he somehow forgets to care for himself. I genuinely reckon that the guys, particularly Lee, have to remind him to actually give himself a break and not be too quick to take jobs that are probably gonna send him into a spiral of self-hate again, because they all know how that can end. I'm not sure whether this is ever mentioned or anything, but I also think that he gets tattoos done to hide all of his old scars, because he's probably not proud of them. Apart from this, Barney is definitely one of the sweetest guys out there, even if he is a bit rough around the edges. He can cook, and he cooks well, and he loves to spend nights in with a friend, or friends, because he values friendship highly. He and Lee have frequent competitions to see who has the better and faster aim, with knives and guns, but it's unlikely they're ever conclusive duels.

These are my opinions, and I'm very bad at articulating myself lol

[minervahopebeyond]

Blood Petals.

Hi!! I’ve been dying to write this chapter 💕I hope you like it!

Ps. Sorry if you find any errors (from grammar or vocabulary)

Chapter 15: After the game.

All bad things happen fast. Harry had learned that from a young age. So fast, that one could only stare as they happened before your eyes. The problem was, that bad things were always happening around him. He was cursed.

He took the dive as fast as he could. It was not enough. And he saw it all.

The coughs. The way that Malfoy was grabbing his own throat. The red face from the suffocation. Blood. How fast he fell. How fast he hit the ground... how hard the boy hit the ground.

He got to the floor a few seconds later. But that was the thing with bad things: they only took seconds. It didn’t matter if someone was ‘almost there’ of avoiding them, they didn’t wait for the hero to come in. They happened.

He kneeled next to the blond boy. Something yellow covered in blood was scattered all over his chest. Harry took Malfoy’s face between his hands and tried to wake him up.

“Come on! Don’t do this to me, you competitive git! I told you it was too high!” He knew that he was yelling, but the prat wasn’t waking up.

Suddenly, someone was pulling him away from the boy. As he was fighting to free himself, he heard his father’s voice.

“Stop, Harry. They are going to take him to the hospital wing.” He could feel the arms around him, hugging him. “He is going to be fine, Dumbledore and Snape casted something so that the fall wouldn’t be as-“

“What about the blood?” His voice came out strangled. “There was so much blood on his chest.”

All the professors were around Malfoy, trying to move him without hurting him further. Harry just wished they would let him get near.

Sirius suggested to wait outside of the hospital wing so they walked over there. Harry felt like everyone was moving too fast.

They were the first to get there, then his best friends followed; and lastly Parkinson and Zabini, with Snape by their side.

“Someone from St Mungo’s is coming. They don’t want to move him, and Madam Pomfrey needs help.” Said the potions professor.

Harry just nodded; his best friend, on the other hand, was freaking out.

“But What does he have?”

“Ron, stop. They clearly don’t know yet.” Hermione touched his arm and something in the redhead relaxed.

His dad and Padfoot had guilty expressions on their faces. Harry didn’t like that. Then Padfoot spoke.

“Actually... we know.”

Snape turned to where he was with a wild look on his eyes. His godfather casted a muffliato and kept talking.

“A few months ago, Draco told us what the deal was... He didn’t exactly knew what it meant, but I did. He asked us not to tell.”

“And of course you two listened to a sixteen year old. Because you are unable of thinking about the consequences.” He snarled.

Their faces were full of guilt. They didn’t even tried to argue with the man in front of them. Then, Snape asked them what it was.

“It’s Hanahaki disease.”

Harry saw how fast the face of the man changed, from pure rage to unbearable pain.

At least this time, Harry wasn’t the only one who didn’t know what was going on. Parkinson, Zabini and his friends were all asking questions, demanding to know what this disease was. Snape was the first to speak, voice strangled.

“It’s an awful, rare, disease caused by unrequited love. Flowers grow in the patient's lungs until the roots reach the heart and strangle it to death. Unless the feelings are reciprocated, which almost never happens.”

Harry’s glasses broke right then. He was having problems to control his magic, he could feel it radiating off him. Hermione slowly took off his glasses.

“Oculus Reparo.” She murmured and gave them back to him.

“Thanks.” He said in a low voice.

“We didn’t know it was this bad already. We asked, almost daily... He kept telling us that the was only having the coughing fits.” His dad was worried, he could hear it in his voice.

“Of course he lied, Potter. He knew he would be treated differently.” Snape sighed.

Ron, Zabini and Parkinson were frantic, saying that they should have taken him to the hospital wing by force, while Hermione seemed to try to calm them down a little.

Harry could only stare. He felt so guilty. To think that, at some point, he thought that ‘the deal’ was just a lie that Malfoy had come up with... But, no, it was true: the boy was dying.

Not only was Malfoy dying but he was dying from love itself. The boy loved so desperately that his own feelings were making him sick.

He just kept seeing the boy falling in his head... or lying on the floor, not moving. Fuck.

“Hello, I’m Healer Jones. I need to speak with the family of Draco Malfoy.”

The man looked young. Harry wondered if it wouldn’t be better to have a more experienced professional, since the life of a teenager was at risk.

Snape and Padfoot talked to the healer. Harry could get some things from the conversation and none of them were good news:

1. There wasn’t any treatment, except maybe a potion to ease the burning from his lungs after a coughing fit.

2. With time, everything would get worst.

3. He highly recommended to avoid quidditch. Yes, no shit.

Apparently the most worrying thing right now was the fall. Malfoy’s body had shut down because of the traumatic events, the combination of suffocating and falling from his broom, had taken his brain into the edge of what it could handle... Long story short, the useless healer, couldn’t do anything to wake the boy up, they just had to wait. Harry hated waiting.

“Just wait? Did you see the state that he is in?” He said with a harsh tone. His father was trying to pull him into a hug to calm him down. He pushed his arms away and walked to where the healer was.

“You are telling us that he has a terminal disease and that he is not waking up, all at the same time? With such ease”

“Mate, it’s not his fault...” he heard Ron say behind him. He ignored him.

“Do you have any good news?” The healer was staring at him, dumbfounded, his mouth opened to try to formulate a response but nothing came out.

Harry let out a groan, pushing his hair back with his hands, frustrated. His dad grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him away, so that Sirius and Snape could finish talking with the prick of a healer.

“Harry! Stop, the man is just doing his job!” He turned to look at his father.

“He didn’t do anything!” He yelled. Something in his voice was cracking, breaking “Nobody understands, I saw him fall. I should have been faster. I just keep seeing it in my head over and over-“ He felt the tears coursing down his cheeks, he didn’t care.

Why did bad things always happened around him? The more people he cared about, the more people got hurt. He can’t save them, he is not good enough. He couldn’t save Hermione from getting petrified. He couldn’t catch Petigrew to freed Padfoot. He couldn’t save Cedric from getting killed. He couldn’t save his friends from Umbridge’s torture. He couldn’t catch Malfoy as he fell. He sobbed, tears continued to flow from his eyes.

He felt being pulled into a hug, the familiar smell of nicotine filled his nose as he kept on crying. His godfather kept whispering into his ear ‘It wasn’t your fault’ ‘Breathe,Harry’ ‘We love you so so much’. He could hear his father asking if they were allowed to see Malfoy now. He blinked, clearing his eyes.

“Yes, normally I wouldn’t recommend to be allowed so many visitors but given the situation...” The healer looked at Harry then, guilty expression on his face. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t do more than explaining the situation. The only thing I can tell you is that his magic is still strong, kiddo.” He said with a kind smile. “ He is a powerful young man, his magical core decided to shut him down so he could recover after the trauma. Otherwise he would have lost too much energy trying to stop the coughing episode. When his magic feels that he is healthy again, he is going to wake up. That’s a promise.”

Harry hated promises. They were almost, always, lies that people told to ease bad news. He really hoped that this man was telling him the truth, though.

—————-

Dumbledore said that his dad and Padfoot were welcome to come everyday to see Malfoy if they wished. They tried to get in touch with the boy’s mother but Snape said that it was likely that the letters were being intercepted by Lucius Malfoy. Harry hated that prick.

All of them had to keep attending their classes, which he thought it was bullshit. Who cares about transfiguration? There is a sixteen year old boy in a coma . Parkinson agreed with him; in fact, she got detention for talking back to Snape about the way that they were handling the whole situation.

As soon as the scholar day ended, the five of them would go to the hospital wing and stay until curfew. They ate together there, studied and talk about trivial things... Waiting for the bloody boy to wake up at some point, to call them out on the stupid things they said.

Padfoot and his dad came to the castle everyday, but they stayed outside of the hospital wing when Harry and the rest of them arrived.

It was the fourth day that they were living like this. It felt surreal. Being with the Slytherins, next to Malfoy’s bed...

They heard someone outside, talking with his father and Padfoot. Harry frowned and started walking to where they were. The voices became clearer.

“I just want to see him for a minute. I promise I won’t be long.” It was Nott.

Before he could say anything, the prat was already inside of the hospital wing, walking towards Malfoy bed.

“Where the hell do you think you are going? Leave.” The way he said it caught the attention of the rest. Suddenly the room was filled with yelling, telling the boy that they didn’t want him here, to leave the blond boy in peace. Nott didn’t take the hint, though.

“Nobody wants you here. I don’t even want you near my father or my godfather. After what you said to Malfoy the other day, I don’t want you near him either.”

Nott rolled his eyes and looked directly at him.

“You don’t know shit about Draco and me, Potter. Move or I’ll curse you.”

“If you do something to him, I swear-“ That was Parkinson, high pitched tone and everything.

“I know how this works, Pansy.”

Harry didn’t like it. There was an understanding, apparently. He thought that they all hated each other... But Zabini kept looking at him like he was going to murder him, so maybe he wasn’t so wrong in thinking that.

Parkinson offered Nott a few minutes alone with Malfoy. Ron and him protested, saying that they didn’t trust the git, but Zabini and the girl dragged them away from the infirmary.

“That’s the friend that Draco told us about, right?” Padfoot asked to the Slytherins. “The one that he was fighting with.”

Harry felt a pull on his stomach, he didn’t like that he had talked about Nott with them. The prat didn’t deserve the boy’s friendship. He saw how Malfoy was with Ron or with Parkinson and Zabini. He was sure that Nott didn’t deserve that.

“That’s Theodore Nott. They known each other since they were in diapers.” The girl crossed his arms. “He is probably the worst person on the planet, which of course means that Draco sees the good in him.”

“Of course he does.” Said his father.

Harry rolled his eyes and then he heard something from inside of the room. Malfoy’s voice. He widened his eyes and ran inside.

The blond boy was awake, looking really tired. Soft smile on his face. Harry felt like a weight had been lifted. The rest of people outside followed him and froze. Suddenly, Parkinson was screaming bloody murder.

“ What did you do, you stupid fucker? The doctor said that he had to wake up by himself!”

Malfoy closed tightly his eyes and frowned.

“Pans, stop yelling, my head is killing me.”

His dad and Padfoot stood next to the boy. His godfather put a hand on Malfoy’s forehead to check his temperature.

“How do feel, little cousin?”

“Like I fell from the top of a building, Sirius.” He said with a lazy smile.

Nott chuckled. Harry couldn’t see how he found that funny. Then the grey eyes were on him, tired but happy...

“I won the game.” He said with a huge smile. “It was on my ‘to do’ list, you know? To beat you at a game.”

Harry could feel the rage flowing through his veins. He took a deep breath, restricting himself from yelling at the boy.

“ Are you telling me that you almost died on Saturday for the stupid snitch?” He hissed.

“I’m dying anyway, Potter. I’m sure you heard.”

Something inside the room shattered. He heard bottles breaking and liquid spilling on the floor. Everyone was looking at him, worried eyes on their faces. The only one who didn’t care was Nott, he only arched an eyebrow and returned his eyes to the boy on the bed. Something shattered again. He couldn’t control the magic around him.

“...Okay” His father put his arm around him and started to walk him towards the door. “Let’s go take a walk, Harry. I could use some fresh air.”

He looked over his shoulder to see Malfoy. The boy was frowning at him, confuse look on his face. Harry couldn’t blame him, he didn’t understand half of the things that happened in the last few days.

[pertinax--loculos]

Character Study “Intro”: Natasha

My name is Natasha Garcia, and my best friend is a fucking idiot.

Okay, maybe that’s a bit harsh. TJ has a good heart, but there’s no denying he can be incredibly stupid. Just look at the whole Mackey situation. That’s turned into a bona fide clusterfuck, and it all comes down to Teej thinking the rules don’t apply to him.

Not that I’d ever tell him that. I have absolutely no doubt that he’d call me too uptight, or a goody two shoes, or whatever. And it wouldn’t be malicious — TJ is the least malicious person I know, at least with people he actually likes — but it would still sting. Mostly because he’d be right.

I could blame my upbringing, I guess. You kinda get used to following rules without question when your father is a military man who expects you to go into the ‘family business’. Maybe if I’d had a brother I could’ve avoided it, but being an only child meant I was his only hope of carrying on the tradition. And it’s not like I hated it. Honestly the regimented structure of the military was great for me, especially after three years at college; it brought me back down to earth, taught me discipline and restraint.

It also taught me that your actions have consequences. Something which TJ has yet to learn.

I mean, it’s not hard to follow the rules, y’know? I totally get that some people couldn’t deal with the way that the military teaches what it teaches, but working for Tegotex is hardly comparable. They give us a lot of leeway, as long as we get the job done. There’s really only three or four huge Commandments, those rules where breaking them is grounds for termination. Everything else, if you have a genuine excuse, you can more or less get away with. Sure, they hand out censures, but that doesn’t mean much. A black mark on your record that nobody but Tegotex will ever see.

I guess if you happened to ask them for a reference they might bring it up. I dunno. Not sure that anybody would be willing to put Tegotex on their resume.

Not sure that they’d be allowed.

My father assumed it was something to do with the military, when I told him that I couldn’t give him specifics about my new job. I didn’t see the need to disabuse him of that notion. He was so proud, thinking that I’d moved far enough up the ranks to be given something classified. And really, for all I know, Tegotex is military. They’re certainly secretive enough. And I know for a fact that they have either military or governmental personnel on the payroll, even if they’d never admit it. It’s easy enough to recognise when you’ve been around similar organisations your whole life.

And I did actually stay in the military for a while; three years, actually. Minimum commitment you’re allowed to give, but still. I probably would’ve stayed longer, except that TJ brought this job opportunity to my attention and honestly it sounded more appealing than either shooting or being shot at by what amounts to innocent civilians.

I should’ve known it wouldn’t be that easy.

The work’s fine, and like I said, I’m familiar with all of Tegotex’s shady bullshit. That doesn’t really bother me that much. Even the entrustees aren’t that bad, with all the safeguards Tegotex has in place. That’s not the issue, either.

The issue is that for some reason, TJ finds it fucking impossible to follow simple goddamned rules. Swear to god, if he wasn’t my best friend, I would’ve left him in the lurch ages ago.

Still. Rules are rules for a reason. Just because we’re not privy to the reasons, doesn’t mean they’re not there.

There comes a time when you’ve gotta put your foot down. For his own good.

Whether he realises that or not.

[anika-ann]

Heart Too Cold, but Friends of Gold - Prologue

Just My Luck

Pairing: Steve Rogers x reader     Word count: 1730

Summary: Avenger!reader AU. Part 2 of Melting Hearts series. Part 1 HERE.

Your life ended the moment you gained your powers and then found your way to the Avengers business. It’s a logical move for a villain to hurt your family to get to you – except no one outside your team knows who’s hiding behind the mask of Frostbite and they think you died the day of the lab accident giving you abilities.

Who found out? How? And what is their game? Only if you knew… at least you’re not alone in this. Far from it. You have an amazing boyfriend and a bunch of friends by your side.

Warnings: swearing, mentions of kidnapping, mentions of terminal diseases and experimetal treatment, mention of (sexual) child abuse

Story Masterlist

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Happiness did not last. It was a known fact, clear as day. Yet, you had let yourself believe for a while.

When you opened the envelope, scolding yourself for your naivety was truly the first thing you did. Or rather the second thing, because the first instinct was to curse.

“Fuck.”

Only then came the realization and the flash of anger aimed at yourself.

Happiness was not something to last. When had it ever in your life?

When you had been four years old, you had found the best friend for life or at least you had thought so. Her name was Emma, she had owned the biggest collection of hair-bands and she hadn’t minded sharing them with you.

Her family moved out from your neighbourhood before you turned six.

Few months after your first day at school – where you had loved it, finding a cheery boy with chubby cheeks and long-ish blond hair to sit with, immediately making friends with him and meeting his other friend, this time a girl again – you had started feeling dizzy and weak.

You had been diagnosed with a disease of incidence of 1: 100 000 000 shortly after. Just your luck.

While the headmaster of your elementary school had been promising they would provide you with an individual studying plan, they hadn’t. You had to switch schools and you had lost contact with your friends again.

By the time you turned thirteen, you had been to tens of doctors, but all they had been doing had been slowing down the progress of your disease almost insignificantly. You had been sleeping twelve hours a day, exhausted all the time. Any sort of sport had been out of question except walking – short walks, of course.

Your parents loved you nevertheless, even when you could tell that taking care of you, running from one doctor to another with zero results, had been draining them. They had dealt with your puberty and depressing thoughts. You had never told them you had wanted to kill yourself and that the one time you had actually started gathering pills, you had flushed them down the toilet in the end.

What you had told them was when you had met a guy at your support group. Ian had been a really sweet guy who had been diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Ian had been your biggest love so far and the first serious relationship. You had been going through the hard times of therapy; together, since a new hope for your successful treatment had risen.

Ian had achieved a complete remission and his family had moved three states over to get a fresh start; it had been a heart-breaking goodbye. The goodbye felt even worse when not even two months later, the doctor leading your experimental treatment had gotten inappropriately handsy with his ten-year old son and went to jail, crushing your hopes completely.

You had been almost shocked when the alien invasion of New York hadn’t taken your parents from you considering your luck.

It had been the opposite actually, at least you had thought so – there truly had been some kind of luck, because relatively shortly after the City of New York had got hit, a new doctor had appeared out of nowhere.

Of course you had say yes to the new treatment – maybe rather for your parents than yourself.

Once again, you had learned that happiness never lasted. The experiment had gotten out of the team’s hands and it blew up to their faces. Or rather made their blood run cold. You had.

You dying to protect everyone you ever loved and who had stayed – that only being your parents at that point – had been necessary. You had told to yourself that it had been for the best, ending your parents’ misery. After all, they still could have another child, or adopt at least.

Cutting the ties had been the only option.

You had been lucky in a way – in return, you had gained a bunch of friends who were now as close as family to you, the best bunch of siblings (slash uncles, because really, Tony and Hawkeye were too much of father figures to be considered your brothers) and one amazing man to love.

No matter how crazy it was, you became a hero of some sort – you had become an Avenger and a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Your family was safe, your parents moving to Pennsylvania to start a new life and after a long time, you were truly happy.

It was a stupid mistake to think it could last.

Four months after getting together with Steve, you had received a phone in your fan mail, together with a tiny note in a neat handwriting.

‘Wait for my call, Snowflake’.

“Steve!” you called out for him, dropping the phone as if it burned you. It hit the wooden table with a clank.

You voice shook with fright on the simple syllable. Your heart was fighting its way out of your chest, beating rapidly.

Why would anyone send you a phone? Why would anyone call you a Snowflake? Steve called you that. And no one outside the team knew.

Well, Matt Murdock aka Daredevil knew, but just like everyone else, he knew better than to call you that; Tony had once called you your captain’s nickname jokingly and Steve shot daggers from his eyes so sharp that no one dared to do so ever since. Plus, this handwriting was way too pretty to belong to a blind man.

Not to mention the fact that you were sure as hell that Matt wasn’t just walking around spilling the beans about your privacy.

“You called? You okay? …had anyone asked you out again?” he teased you in the end to light up his concern. You nearly jumped out of your skin at the sound of his voice, snapping your head to him. He was exiting the bathroom, only his sleeping sweats on, his hands busy with drying his hair with a towel. He frowned when seeing your expression. “Snowflake?”

You winced at the addressing, so soft on his lips, yet making your throat tight as the author of the note – a complete stranger – had used the same nickname.

Steve’s brows furrowed as he walked closer, tossing the towel on the bed carelessly. His eyes were examining your face closely.

You couldn’t say a word; all the words, all the panic grew as lump in your throat, tying your tongue.

“May I?” Steve asked quietly as he leaned closer and you nodded, turning back to the desk. Steve glanced over your shoulder, his big palms resting on the table.  

You squeezed your eyes shut, praying the items wouldn’t be there when you opened them again.

Steve’s sharp inhale crushed your hope and told you that you had no such luck.

“Who wrote it?” he demanded, switching from Steve to the Captain in a second. Tears escaped your eyes.

“I don’t know. There’s no address or signature.”

His warm palm touched your shoulder, squeezing lightly. You could sense his inner turmoil, him trying to balance the soothing boyfriend and reliable leader. “We’ll get it to Banner and Stark. Don’t worry. We’ll figure it out.”

His lips kissed the top of your head and then his comforting presence was gone. He pulled a t-shirt over his head, taking both the note and the phone into his handkerchief so he wouldn’t add his fingerprints on the top of yours and the mailer’s.

Except the phone started ringing on the way to the lab.

“Shouldn’t I…?” you squeaked weakly.

You felt like you had never received all the training, all the hours of Natasha and Steve teaching you how to remain calm in stressful situations. It wasn’t like you hadn’t been through worse; yet, there was something extremely wrong with this, something your intuition was nudging you with.

You couldn’t help it – the way this whoever got so close to your intimate life was scaring the shit out of you and your mind was suddenly blank, all experience and training thrown out of the window.

Steve shook his head. “Not until we get to the lab so they could at least trace the call.”

You gulped and followed Steve as he made his way in long strides, in rapid tempo. You were trying your best to ignore the annoying default ringtone, but it was like ringing was coming right from inside your head. It was ringing for eternity.

Steve looked at you with worries as it felt silent. His gaze softened when seeing your face and he slowed down his pace. “Hey. We won’t let anything happen to you. Promise.”

You gave him a tight smile neither of you believed and your shaky legs finally brought you to Tony’s lair.

“Oh, there are my favourite frozen friends. What can I do for you?”

“Not really in mood for joking, Stark.”

Tony’s too-much-caffeine-induced cheerfulness fell just like his smile. “What is it? Why do have these faces?”

You looked at Steve, hoping he would do the talking. He barely opened his mouth when the phone beeped again, this time with a text.

Steve frowned at the screen, his eyes going wide and his shoulders tensing.

“What is it?” you whispered almost soundlessly.

You could see his Adam’s apple bobbing as he raised his gaze to you. His expression was one of horror. You were too scared of what he had seen to check the screen yourself.

“There’s a photo attached to a message,” he announced, his voice strangled. What on Earth could make him sound like that?

“What does it say?” you asked hesitantly, while Tony spoke up at the same time. “Whose phone is that?”

“You better pick up next time if you want them back in one piece,” Steve read out loud and quickly looked away from the phone.

Your heart stopped. Want what back? Want who back? Who the fuck was threatening you and what were they threatening you with?

You cleared your throat while Tony walked to Steve’s side, impatient with the slow progress. He froze too, shooting you an alarmed look.

“What’s in the picture?”

It was a rhetorical question, really. Deep inside, you already knew. There was someone threatening you, most likely with a picture of someone you would want back, and they had somehow got close enough to you to know you were being called Snowflake by the man you loved. There was no doubt they figured out your identity and there weren’t many people they could have targeted.

Steve raised his gaze to you, blue eyes serious and full of sorrow, confirming your suspicion with only two words.

“Your parents.”

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Part 1

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Tags: @mermaidxatxheart​, @murdermornings​, @elisaa-shelby​ @ask-hellbent-tweek @cxptain​

I tagged people who followed the previous part, sorry if you didn’t want that. Rules remain the same - anyone wants in or out, send me a message :)

Thank you for reading!

[thelittlesttimelord]

The Littlest Timelord: The Death of the Doctor Chapter 28

TITLE: The Littlest Timelord: The Death of the Doctor Chapter 28 PAIRING: No Pairing RATING: T CHAPTER: 28/? SUMMARY:  The Doctor’s death is looming on the horizon and Elise is growing every  day. What the Doctor doesn’t know is that he has 200 years to teach Elise all he knows. Amy, Rory, and River let Elise in on their secret,  because River knows she will keep it. What will Elise do when he’s gone?

There was a loud crash and the TARDIS jolted.

Rory ran to the doors and opened them. “Red Waterfall. We made it.”

“Good old us,” the Doctor said.

“How do we know that we're in the same Red Waterfall as Amy?”

“Focus on the positive.”

Rory looked at a topless statue of a lady. It was carved in the Greek style. Elise’s area of expertise was in painting, but she could admire the talents of sculptors.

“We locked onto Amy's time stream. Eyes front, soldier.”

“Right, yes. Sorry.”

“Apalapucians are the great cultural scavengers, Rory. This gallery's a scrapbook of their favorite places.”

There was a copy of the Mona Lisa on a pedestal (or maybe it was the original?). Elise considered asking her father to visit Da Vinci.

“Bit of Earth, bit of alien…” Rory looked at a pillar that was glowing blue and dripping. “…bit of whatever the hell that is.”

The Doctor shed his jacket as Rory looked around. “Where is everyone?”

“Right, Rory, switch the Time Glass on and sonic it. I'm sending a command signal to the screwdriver. Amy's here somewhere, if I can just get a lock on her.”

Rory pulled out the screwdriver and soniced the Time Glass.

“I wonder what happens if we mix the filters?” the Doctor wondered.

Blurry figures of people appeared in the Time Glass.

“Oh, there they are. Forty thousand time streams overlapping. Red Waterfall isn't one time stream, it's thousands.”

“How is that possible?” Elise asked.

“The same way the TARDIS is bigger on the inside.” The Doctor tapped her nose like he did River.

“Are they happy?” Rory asked.

“Oh, Rory. Trust you to think of that. I think they're happy to be alive. Better than the alternative.”

Rory lowered the Time Glass in time to see someone coming towards him with a Samurai sword. He fell backward onto the floor.

The Doctor grabbed Elise around the waist to stop her from running out of the TARDIS to Rory’s aid.

“I come in peace. Peace, peace, peace, peace,” Rory told the person.

“I waited.”

“Sorry, what?”

“I waited for you. I waited for you.”

They raised their helmet to reveal an older Amy. A much older Amy.

“Amy,” Rory breathed, “Doctor, what's going on? Amy.”

“I think the timestream lock might be a bit wobbly.”

Amy raised her sword.

“No, please. Please,” Rory begged.

“Duck,” she told him. Amy stabbed the Handbot in the head and it hit the ground.

The Doctor and Elise watched on shocked. This wasn’t their Amy. Their sweet and kind Amy. She’d hardened.

“Handbots carry a black box in case they go offline. I've changed the cause of termination from hostile to accidental. Easy to re-program. Used my sonic probe.”

“Amy.”

“Rory.”

“Why?”

“Because I've survived this long by making the Handbots think I don't exist. Don't touch the hands. There's anesthetic transfer on the skin. If they touch you, you go to sleep.”

“But you're still here?”

“You didn't save me.” Amy started to walk off, but Rory ran in front of her.

“But, this is the saving. This is the us saving you. The Doctor just got the timing a bit out!”

The Doctor mouthed a “Sorry”, but neither could see it. Elise placed a hand on his back, comforting him in her own silent way.

“I've been on my own here a long, long time. I've had decades to think nice thoughts about him. Got a bit harder to stay charitable once I entered decade four,” Amy told Rory.

“40? Alone?”

“36 years, thanks.”

“No. Right. I mean, you look great. Really, really.” Rory’s eyes wandered.

“Eyes front, soldier.”

“Still can't win then?”

“In fact, I think I can now definitely say I hate him. I hate The Doctor. I hate him more than I've ever hated anyone in my life, and you can hear every word of this through those ridiculous glasses, can't you, Raggedy Man?”

“Er, yes. Putting the speaker phone on.” The Doctor walked over to the console and hit a button. He wouldn’t let it show, but Elise knew his hearts were breaking with that statement.

“You told me to wait, and I did. A lifetime,” Amy told him.

“Amy!”

There was a Handbot coming up behind her.

“You've got nothing to say to me.”

“Amy, behind you!”

There was another one in the room with them.

Amy threw her sword to Rory and touched the hands of the Handbots together. They powered down.

“Feedback. Knocks them out. Learned that trick on my first day,” Amy said. She left the art gallery and Rory followed her.

“Okay, so we just take the TARDIS back to the right time stream, yeah? We can stop any of this happening,” Rory asked the Doctor.

“We locked on to a timestream, Rory. This is it.”

“This is so wrong.”

“I got old, Rory. What did you think was going to happen?” Amy snapped.

Rory grabbed her by the arm and she looked back at him. “Hey, I don't care that you got old. I care that we didn't grow old together. Amy, come on, please.”

Amy pulled her arm out of his grip. “Don't touch me. Don't do that.”

“It's like you're not even her.”

“36 years, 3 months, 4 days of solitary confinement. This facility was built to give people the chance to live. I walked in here and I died. Do you have anything to say? Anything, Doctor?”

“Where did you get a sonic screwdriver?” he asked her.

“I made it. And it's a sonic probe.”

“You made a sonic screwdriver?”

“Probe.”

Rory followed Amy into the section of the facility where Amy had been living for the past 36 years. She had a Handbot with hooks for hands and a smiley face drawn on it.

“Don't worry about him. Sit down, Rory,” Amy said.

Both Rory and the Handbot sat down.

“You named him after me?” Rory asked. That had to mean something, right?

“Needed a bit of company.”

“So he's like your…”

“Pet?”

“Is it safe?”

“Yep. I disarmed it.”

“How?” Rory looked down the robot’s non-existent hands. “Oh, you disarmed it.”

“Oh, don't get sentimental, it's just a robot. You'd have done the same.”

“I don't know that I would have,” the Doctor told her.

“And there he is. The voice of God. Survive, because no one's going to come for you. Number one lesson. You taught me that.”

“Is that really all I taught you?”

“Don't you lecture me, blue-box man flying through time and space on whimsy. With his always faithful daughter by his side.”

Elise tried not to be hurt by that comment. Was she really always faithful? She couldn’t think of time where she’d gone against her father.

“All I've got, all I've had for 36 years, is cold, hard reality. So no, I don't have a sonic screwdriver because I'm not off on a romp. I call it what it is. A probe. And I call my life what it is. Hell.”

“Amy Pond, I am going to put this right. You said you learned from an Interface. Can I speak with it?”

Amy looked down and checked her watch. “Doesn't work in here. 2:23. The garden'll be clear now.” She walked up to Rory. “Stay or go?”

“Sorry, me? No, I'm coming with you.”

“Then try not to get killed. Or do. Whatever.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Amy and Rory made their way to the garden.

“When I first came here, I had to trick the Interface into giving me the information, but I've reprogrammed it now. It'll tell me anything except how to escape,” Amy explained.

“You hacked it? That's genius,” Rory said.

“Sorry to interrupt that beautiful moment, but temporal engines like that have a regulator valve. Has to be kept at a distance from the main reactor or there'd be feedback. Interface, where's the regulator?”

A blueprint appeared on the screens of the TARDIS. “The regulator valve is held within.”

“Oh. Very, very… Interface, I need to run through some technical specifications. Rory, give me to Amy a minute.”

“Here you go,” Rory said and handed them to Amy.

She put them on. “They look ridiculous,” she said.

“That's what I told him. Still, anything beats a fez, eh?”

The two of them smiled and laughed together.

“What is it?” Rory asked.

“I think that's the first time I've laughed in 36 years.”

“I'll just, er, leave you two geniuses alone. I'll be back in a minute.”

“There's still time, Amy. There's still time to fix everything.” As they were discussing the plan, Amy suddenly started running.

A Handbot had gotten to Rory. Amy chopped its head off before it could harm him.

“Rory. Rory?” Amy asked, kneeling by his side.

Rory groaned. “Glasses.”

Amy stood up. “Stupid!”

“Oh! You saved me.”

“Don't get used to it.”

“Have you been crying? A little bit.”

“Shut up, Rory.”

“You have, haven't you?”

“Woman with a sword. Don't push it.”

Elise smiled. There was their Amy.

“Okay. So, here's the plan. Time is always a bit wibbly-wobbly, but in Twostreams it's extra wobbly,” the Doctor said.

Amy took the glasses off and put them back on Rory.

“I've worked out how to hijack the Temporal Engines and use them to fold two points of Amy's timeline together. We're bringing her out of the “then” and into the “now”! Amy, I just need to borrow your brain a minute. It won't hurt, probably. Almost probably and then Amy Pond, I'm going to save you.”

“No!” Amy yelled.

“No? What do you mean no?” Elise asked her, “Amy…”

“Time's up. Handbots coming.”

Rory followed Amy back into the main part of the facility.

“Amy, you've got to help us help you. I need you to think back 36 years ago,” the Doctor told her, “Amy? Amy!”

Amy entered the Temporal Engines room and slammed the door in Rory (and their) faces. There was something on the door.

Rory raised the Time Glass up to the door to read the message. It read “Doctor, I’m waiting.” “You told her to leave us a sign. She did and she waited. Oh Amy.”

Rory entered the Temporal Engines room, going after Amy. “Why won't you help yourself?”

“He wants to rescue past me from 36 years back, which means I'll cease to exist. Everything I've seen and done dissolves. Time is rewritten.”

“That's…that's good, isn't it?”

“I will die. Another Amy will take my place. An Amy who never got trapped at Twostreams, an Amy who grew old with you, and she, in 36 years, won't be me.”

“But you'll die in here!”

“Not if you take me with you. You came to rescue me, so rescue me.”

“Leave her and take you?”

“We could take this Amy with us, easy, but if we do, our Amy has to wait 36 years to be rescued,” the Doctor said.

Rory shook his head. “So I have to choose which wife do I want?”

“She is me. We're both me.”

“You being here is wrong. For a single day, an hour, let alone a lifetime. I swore to protect you. I promised.”

Amy stared at him for a moment and then entered her makeshift home.

“Rory,” the Doctor said.

“This is your fault.”

“I'm so sorry, but, Rory…”

“No, this is your fault! You should look in a history book once in a while, see if there's an outbreak of plague or not.”

“Rory…” Elise said.

“Oh great. Let me guess. You’re going to defend him, aren’t you? Maybe you should grow up and realize that he’s not perfect.”

Elise had had enough. She was not going to stand around and constantly be insulted. “I’ll be in my room.”

“Elise…” The Doctor said, reaching for her.

“No. I…I need to be alone.” She walked away and left her father standing in the control room alone.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

An hour later, there was a knock on her door.

“Elise? It’s me,” Rory said.

Elise wiped her cheeks. “Um, come in.”

The door opened and Rory entered. He walked toward Elise and sat down on her bed. “You’ve been crying.”

“What gave you that impression?” Elise’s voice was hard and Rory could tell she was holding back anger. She very rarely ever got mad.

“I wanted to apologize. For the things Amy and I said.”

Elise sighed. “Rory, I know my father isn’t perfect. He’s responsible for the deaths of our people. He’s impulsive and manipulative and when he gets mad, it’s downright scary. But I love him anyway. He’s the only real father I’ve ever known. I can look past his faults, because he’s done so much for me. I know I put him on a pedestal sometimes, but honestly doesn’t every other little girl do the same with their father?”

“So we’re good?”

Elise smiled and wrapped her arms around Rory. “Of course. I could never be angry at my Uncle Rory.”