#forgot how easy it was to multitask...

[rolandkaros]

definitely took for granted having a tv :/

[reysdriver]

Exit Stage Right | R.L

You and your daughter miss Remus while he's performing for a stadium of fans, so much that you have to see him before the concert is over — dad!rockstar!remus x mom!reader fluff

warnings: a little angsty if you squint rlly hard, but nothing else

words: 2.4k

a/n: I promised rockstar!remus a while ago, but I've been to 2 concerts in the last 2 weeks, which just so happens to be finals season, so I've been simultaneously busy as hell and itching to write this. I hope you like how it turned out!

Your daughter Olive was no stranger to loud noises. 

Remus had a room to practise drumming in your house, it’s normal to encounter a chaotic mess of fans and paparazzi when you left the house as a family, and she just about had the loudest uncles in the world. Though you tried to limit the amount of noise she took in, Olive’s little ears had definitely adapted to her hectic little life. 

But all that noise in her daily life was no match for a rock concert in a sold-out stadium. Those decibel levels would for sure be far too high for her little ears to handle.

It wasn’t as easy of a decision on what you should do with her tonight, though. You were getting cabin fever with all the identical hotel rooms you’ve been living in while The Marauders were on their tour, and you suspected Olive was in the same boat. 

So, you decided to go back to the old days when the band first started going on long tours, when you would stay in the dressing room for the length of the performance. You and Remus figured it would be soundproof enough backstage, but you still insisted on pulling out the baby headphones you had bought just in case before she was even born. You were only planning on using them if it got especially loud backstage, yet you tried them on anyway. 

They were massive on her, but they kept her safe and happy. Plus, she was pretty damn adorable with them on—not that she wasn’t all the time, but definitely cuter than normal with those giant headphones. 

Waiting for the show to start, Remus bounced Olive on his lap while you watched the rest of the guys run through their current individual pre-show rituals. 

It had been quite a while since you’ve been backstage with the band right before a show, and you honestly forgot how entertaining it was. 

James was trying to solve the same Rubik’s cube he’s been working on for years to warm up his fingers, Peter was doing the daily crossword in the local newspaper, and Sirius was trying to multitask by doing his vocal warmups and his makeup at the same time. 

It was really a terrible combination of tasks, as Sirius kept on messing up his eyeliner and then trying to suppress his favourite swear words for your daughter’s sake. 

You wanted to tell him off, but it was really too fun to watch for you to intervene.

A minute or so after Sirius finally finished his look, the boys’ manager knocked on the dressing room door and reminded them that they have to go on stage soon. 

Remus thanked him, and the guys all started getting ready to go. He kept Olive in his arms for as long as he could, until it was just the three of you in the room after everyone was already headed to the stage. 

When he finally had to let her go, Remus made sure he gave you both a proper goodbye. 

“I’ll be back soon. Just over 2 hours, then we can all go home.” He kissed you softly, but deeply. He always does this as a way of saying goodbye, kissing you like he might never do it again, but he doesn’t want you to think about it. 

When his lips left yours and he slouched down to blow a raspberry on Olive’s tummy, you sighed quietly. “A hotel, not home.” 

He looked at you sympathetically as he collected his drumsticks from the table beside you and stored them in his back pocket for the time being. 

“Isn’t home anywhere where we’re all together?” He said, trying to lift your spirits. “But we’ll be home home soon enough. And I won’t be on tour again for a while, and we can be all together as much as we want.”

That did make you feel better. Even though you loved that Remus was living his dream with his best friends and giving you and Olive a great life, it did get stressful from time to time. 

Privacy violations by paparazzi and media outlets, insecurity that sometimes got the best of you on both sides of the relationship, and of course, The Marauders going on world tours that were fun, but still somewhat torture. They made it so you had to choose between leaving home for months, or being away from Remus—not that there was any difference between those two. 

You didn’t want to get emotional right when Remus had to go perform, so you smiled and reminded him that it was time for you to part ways for the evening. 

“They’re waiting for you out there.” 

A grin graced your husband’s face. “They can wait a little longer.” 

“They paid to see you.” You reminded him. 

“And I'll personally refund all of them if I don't go out.” 

“Then we'll be out of money, and we'll both have to get new jobs and we'll never have any time with just the three of us.”

Remus pretended to think over your point for a second. “You’re right. I guess I have to go out and perform, then.”

“Put on a good show, honey. We'll see you soon.” 

While saying goodbye to him, you raised Olive’s arm so you could wave at Remus for her as he walked out of the dressing room. Her face was already forming a pout when she watched her dad leave to go do his job, but you wouldn’t let that morph into anything more. 

You turned her around so you could both look at each other, then you pressed a kiss to her chubby cheek.

“None of that, sweetheart. We’ll see him again in no time.” 

Laying her down beside you on the couch, you reach down into the baby bag you never go anywhere without and pick out some of her favourite toys from their specific pocket; hopefully those will keep her distracted and happy. 

◆◇◆◇◆

The toys didn’t work as well as you thought they would. They kept Olive busy for about an hour, but she seemed to snap out of her happy baby daze out of nowhere. 

She started crying and nothing was working to calm her down. She wasn’t hungry, she didn’t need to be changed, and nothing you had brought for this very reason was working. 

You knew the only thing that could quell her upset was outside and on the stage, playing drums for a stadium of fans. But even though she and Remus both wished they could spend all hours of the day together, you just didn’t know how that could work.  

And then you remembered the headphones. 

The sound backstage hadn’t been that loud at all while The Marauders were playing, so you honestly hadn’t thought about them since you and Remus packed them before you left the hotel. 

But this could work. You could use them to help both you and Olive right now. So that’s what you did.

You dug through your bag and pulled the noise-cancelling headphones from the bottom of the bag, where they had sat untouched for the longest time. After picking them up with a tiny ‘aha’, you smiled at your daughter and told her that she would soon be seeing her dad. 

She had calmed down somewhat due to the mere mention of Remus, but she was still wailing in your arms. You bounced her lightly while you walked down the halls of the stadium. 

“It’s okay, honey.” You cooed at Olive, despite the fact that she couldn’t hear a thing. “You’re gonna tire yourself out and fall asleep before you even get to see Daddy. We don’t want that, do we?”

Although, maybe her crying herself to sleep wouldn’t be so bad. 

It still wasn’t an option in your mind. Your daughter wanted to see her dad, so over to Remus you’ll go. 

Once you got to the stage door, a burly security guard gave you a questioning look. You supposed he wasn’t used to a woman and a baby wanting to go into the wings during a rock concert. But he was just there to do his job, not judge, so he let you through when you showed him your ID. 

You kept checking Olive’s face to see her expressions and gauge if everything was too loud for her. Her look didn’t deviate from the bothered expression her face took on when you started walking with her, so you assumed the headphones were cancelling out the noise, just as they were made for. 

Nobody who was working backstage seemed to mind you being there, so you found an extra stool in a dark corner and pulled it so you could sit and watch the band. 

Based just on how Olive was moving in your arms, you knew she had spotted her dad behind the cymbals he was smashing across the stage. Pointing towards Remus, you whispered to her again even though she couldn’t hear you. “Look! Who’s that? Who’s over there?”

She seemed to be cheered up enough just from seeing Remus, so your hypothesis was proven correct. Things were shaping up to be a good night. 

You swayed and headbanged—as lightly as possible—since just because Olive couldn’t enjoy the loud music doesn’t mean you had to ignore it too. 

The current song ended, and James was talking to the crowd while Sirius drank some much-needed water after all that singing. While taking a swig, the two familiar faces in the wings of the stage caught his eye, and he just had to share what he was seeing with the drummer. 

He practically skipped over to Remus, who was also catching his breath from performing and pointed you out. Your husband’s eyes scanned the area until he found you, and his face immediately broke out into a smile—and so did your daughter’s. 

Back in the dressing room, you were hesitant if you should leave at all or if you should just wait out Olive’s tantrum, but the matching looks on your husband and daughter’s faces right now was proof that you made the right decision. 

Olive made grabby hands towards her dad across the stage, and Remus waved right back and blew a kiss in your direction. You weren’t quite sure if it was aimed at you or your little girl, but it made you blush either way. 

He pointed to the setlist taped to the ground beside him and hid his hand behind his bass drum so the audience wouldn’t see his gesture; he held up three fingers to let you know there would be three more songs until he could get up and give you two his full attention. You knew they would most definitely be doing an encore after they finished, but at least they could all have a small break after the main show.  

You nodded to show him you understood, but his attention was already grabbed back by James giving him the sign that it was time to get back into the music. Not even taking more than a second to prepare, Remus was back in the groove and started playing the next song on the list, effortlessly and perfectly. 

The last few songs of the main set were some of your favourites from the band’s discography, but you had to admit that you couldn’t enjoy them as much as you usually would. 

It was mainly because you were somewhat scared of an impending mood swing out of your daughter now that her father’s attention had left her, but also because these three songs were standing in between you and your husband like a brick wall right now. You just had to remind yourself that once they hit that last note and said their goodbyes to the crowd, that wall would be temporarily smashed once more. 

But now, they were at the end of the concert. The crowd was cheering like they just had the best night of their lives—you don’t doubt that they did—and Remus was throwing his sticks into the sea of hands desperate for a morsel of The Marauders. 

His rockstar persona was dropped the second those drumsticks left his hands, and he was rushing to the wings to be with you and Olive, a wide smile strung across his cheeks.

 He pulled you two out into the hall so the crowd’s noise could be in the background. He knew they would be cheering for an encore in a minute; as much as he loved that sound, he would rather hear you. 

“She was getting pretty fussy and I knew you were the only thing that would calm her down.” You explained to Remus before he could even ask. 

You were afraid he would be upset with you bringing her outside of the dressing room, but he didn’t seem fazed at all. He gently took Olive from your arms and cooed over her. 

“You missed me so much you dragged your mum out here so you could see me, huh?” Remus asked her. “You know I missed you too, princess. Both of you.”

“Yeah? Maybe you should get the guys to shorten the setlist so you aren’t away from us for too long, then.”

He didn’t respond, but you know that he had brought up the idea of shorter tours to the others now that he and James were both fathers. 

You watched lovingly as Remus kept moving Olive’s hand away from the glitter on his face that she was so desirous to touch. You wished you all could stay in this moment forever, but the audience’s chants for an encore were getting louder and louder and you knew the scene in front of you couldn’t last much longer. 

Right on schedule, James strutted up and tapped Remus on the shoulder with a brand new pair of drumsticks. 

“We’ve gotta go back out there, mate. Time to part ways with your girls once again.”

Remus wouldn’t put up a fight. He handed Olive back to you and blew one more kiss at you two as a goodbye.

The doors opened and a cacophony of fan cheers hit your ears. It was a lot, but it just reminded you that all those people were waiting for your husband, so you could wait a few more minutes. 

Just two final songs, then you could all go home.

[spencereidluver]

F is for First Date

september 15, 2008

summary: You and Spencer go on your first date to a little coffee shop before work. You convince him to try your coffee, and he finds he enjoys it.

word count: 2.8k

warnings: none. just fluff and spencer being a gentleman

You roll over in your bed, throwing the covers off of your body. It was hot. Why was it so hot? You look over to your alarm cock: 8:03 a.m. You were running late. 45 minutes late, actually. Luckily, your apartment is only a few blocks away from the office, however, you typically left at 8:10. That left you 7 minutes to do your normal hour long routine.

You quickly jump up from your bed, letting the blankets fall wherever they pleased. Honestly, what’s the point in making the bed? You’re just going to tear it apart in your sleep tonight, anyways. You jog slightly to your bathroom, grabbing your hairbrush and multitasking as you did your morning pee. You brushed your teeth in record time, definitely not two minutes, but at least the morning breath was gone.

You went back to your room, slipping off your flannel pajama pants and gray “Harvard” shirt. You didn’t go to Harvard. You just liked the oversized shirt. 

You grabbed a nude-toned bra out of your dresser and clasped it behind your back. You slid a white lace top over your head and threw a tan fuzzy cardigan on. You put a pair of dark tights on and pulled a dark brown leather miniskirt over them, tucking the white top in. You slid on thick white socks on, ones that ended at your mid-shin, and put on a pair of black converse. 

Good enough, you thought to yourself, not bothering to put on makeup. You planned to stay in the office today. No meetings, and pray to god no cases. You just wanted a chill day.

You left your apartment at 8:15, not much later than you normally did, you’d just have to take out the coffee stop this morning. 

______

You nearly drop your bag as you’re rushing through the parking lot, trying desperately to enter the building before 8:30. Not only were you up late this morning, but traffic was a bitch. It wouldn’t be a big deal if you were a few minutes late, however you’ve been petulant in your 9 months and don’t plan to start truancy now. 

Of course, Derek, who 9 times out of 10 is fashionablly late, sees you speed walking through the parking lot.

“Hey Sweetheart, what are you doing in so late?” He jokingly cat-calls you through the lot.

“Slept late,” You respond in a yell, not slowing your step at all.

“Aw, baby needs her beauty sleep?” “Something like that.”

You rush into the building, crossing through the glass doors of the BAU office right as the clock struck 8:30, Derek somehow a full two minutes behind you. You walk over to your desk and place your knitted tote bag filled with personal items on the ground beneath you. Sitting in your chair, you plop the stack of paperwork in front of you, and look at the man across from you.

“Morning, Spence,” You say as you open the file.

“Goodmorning, y/n. How was your morning?” He asks curiously. 

“Well, I overslept and didn’t have time for a coffee stop, but luckily I was having a good hair day so it doesn’t matter. How about you?”

“Well I couldn’t even tell. You look great. My morning was alright. I got my coffee.” He mockingly takes a big sip before standing up and excusing himself. 

You didn’t know where he was going, though you had enough paperwork to let it pass through your mind. You quickly began scribbling through the papers and placing files where they needed to go. You forgot how messy you’d left your desk Friday when you returned from a case. You were in a big hurry to leave and go to dinner with the team, you just threw everything from the case on your desk and scrammed. It wasn’t a big deal though, it was just easy, boring paperwork. 

Spencer returned a few minutes later with a coffee cup in hand. He approached your desk. “Hey, y/n,” he says, you move your attention from the paperwork to him towering over you. “I made you a coffee. I um, I put two sugars in it, I hope that’s alright, I’ve seen you drink it like that before and-”

“It’s perfect, Spence, thank you.” You say, taking the cup as he hands it down to you.

He hurries to his chair and hides his face. You curiously turned the cup around. There, you saw the inscription of his homely handwriting. “y/n: do you want to go out for coffee tomorrow morning before work? -Spence.” 

You smiled, and went to look up at him, but he instinctively scurried away. Though, he’d left his half drank cup of coffee on his desk. You walk over to his, and flop down in his chair, it almost swallowing you whole as the leather back had fitted to his broader shoulders. You grab the coffee and a Sharpie marker from his pencil cup. “Spence: of course I do… 7:30? <3”

You get up and return to your  desk, almost on cue, Spencer returns. You were unsure of where he came from, though it didn’t matter. He sat at his desk, and you nodded your head to the cup. He looked confused for a brief second, before bringing it to his eyes to read it. 

He looked up and smiled at you. “ 7:30 sounds great, I’ll meet you there,” he says.

“Okay! I’m parking here and walking, if you wish to join,” you say, taking a sip of the special made coffee. It was no different than how you normally made it, but it tasted special because of who made it.

“I’ll meet you in the parking lot here, then. How’s that?” “That’s perfect, Spence.”

You return to your paperwork, unable to hide the smile on your face. You’d waited so long for this moment, you couldn’t believe it was finally happening. You caught Spencer smiling a few times as well. You wondered how long he’d wanted to ask you out. You’ve found Spencer attractive since the day you started working here. You were so beyond ecstatic something was finally happening between the two of you. 

You finished your coffee quickly. It was the best coffee you have ever tasted. You thought briefly for a second, before going to the kitchen to clean the styrofoam cup out. You made sure it was no longer sticky or had any coffee residue before drying it completely and taking it back to your desk. You open the small pencil drawer of your desk and pull out four sticky notes. Notes Spencer had left you in the past few weeks. You placed the four notes in the cup and placed a new lid on it. Putting the cup in the side drawer, you smiled to yourself. You’ve kept every note Spencer has ever given you. And you don’t plan on stopping any time soon.

_____

‘7:28,’ the clock on the dash of your car read. You looked in your rearview mirror at the road behind you. There was Spencer in his old man car. You’d been early, nervous about your date, though you knew it would go good. You wore a fitted white turtleneck with a knitted tank top sweater vest of different shades of brown on top. You paired this with a khaki skirt and the same pair of black converse. You realized this was a very Spencer-esque outfit, and it was quite possible you and him could have nearly the exact same outfit on today.

Luckily, Spencer picked from the other side of his closet this morning. He approached you wearing dark brown slacks and black converse as well. He had his satchel pulled over his waist, drawing attention to the way he swayed as he walked. He had a dark, though not as dark as his pants, sweater that was open, and underneath was a collared off-white shirt and a diagonally striped tie. His left hand rested on his satchel, and his right was hidden behind his back. He did his little hoppy jog to your car, you having opened the door, grabbing your knitted tote bag, and beginning to make your way around to him.

“Good morning, y/n,” he says as he reaches you. 

“Hi, Spence,” You didn’t know why, but you were suddenly very shy. Maybe because this was a “formal date,” but you’d been on friend dates with Spencer so many times before. 

Spencer was clearly nervous too, though less than you. His hand from behind his back made itself known, in his fist was a single red rose. “I um, I got this for you. I know it’s only one, but I actually saw a flower patch on my way here and I didn’t want to take them all.” He was rambling.

“I love it, it’s perfect.” You grab the rose from his hand, letting your fingers run over the petals. They were smooth. He could see you were trying not to touch the stem too much, as you were trying not to touch the thorns. 

“I picked all the thorns off so you didn’t hurt yourself. I don’t have any water for it or anything…”

You examined the stem. You saw all the spots where thorns once laid. He was so sweet. Not only did he make a stop to pick you a rose, but he also safety coded it. You were going to keep this rose forever. You knew it. You planned on pressing the flowers once you got home from work that night. Maybe you could keep the petals in the “note drawer,” or maybe you could start a new drawer..

“Spencer, hey, I love it okay. Thank you.” You slid the stem of the rose between two knits of your bag, it poking inside and the flower on the outside like a pin. You saw Spencer smile. He was proud of himself. 

The two of you began to walk through the parking lot. Spencer paid careful attention to your feet, matching his gate exactly with yours. As you neared the end of the parking lot, reaching the sidewalk next to a fairly busy street, you felt a hand gently brush your waist. Spencer switched sides, him now being on the side adjacent to the road. First flowers, and now this? This boy was a true gentleman.

You smiled to yourself. Technically, the date hadn’t even begun yet, but you were already certain you wanted a relationship to blossom from this. You looked to the man to your left, the sun in a position to hit against his face in a way that made him look like an angel. You couldn’t help yourself. You reached over and took hold of his hand. He jumped slightly, before gripping a little too tight. He looked down at you and smiled. 

“You’re so pretty, y/n,” Spencer said. He’d been waiting what seemed like years- though only 9 months- to tell you that. You didn’t know where Spencer learned how to flirt, but frankly you didn’t care. You really liked this side of him.

“I think you’re pretty too, Spence.” You said. He smiled and ran his fingers through his hair, pushing it back from his forehead. Wow.

______

The coffee shop made itself known once you reached the top of a hill. The natural brick on the outside makes it look homey. It was about a 10 minute walk from the parking lot of the BAU, but Spencer and you were agents. You made the walk take a total of eight minutes. Speed walking isn’t a training module for the FBI, though it is definitely learned, and quickly. 

Spencer opened the door and allowed for you to enter first. Yet another gentlemanly move today. The smell of coffee filled your noses. It reminded you of Spencer. He always had coffee breath, yet not the nasty kind. He always seemed to smell so wonderful.

“Hello,” the barista at the counter cheerfully said as you and Spencer entered the small building. The two of you approached her. “What can I get for you guys today?”

You order your regular and Spencer orders a black coffee with a LOT of sugar. You retrieve the coffees from the pick up area and sit at a raised table in the corner next to a window.

“Why do you like black coffee?” you ask him. 

“I’m not sure. I always drank it when I was growing up and throughout college… and honestly, I’ve never tried it any other way.” He responded, taking a sip of his coffee.

“Really?” you said surprised. “With how much coffee you drink, I’m surprised you haven’t ventured into new territory even once.”

“Not once.” He took another sip. You noticed him kicking his feet beneath the table.

“Do you want to try a sip of mine?”

He smiled, crinkling his nose up. “Sure, do you want to try mine?”

“I guess I’ll give it a shot, though I will say I’m not the biggest fan of black coffee, so don’t be mad if I don’t like it.”

“I can’t promise anything, I can’t even say I’m going to like your girly drink.” He was teasing.

“I’ll tell you what Spence. You like my coffee and I’ll buy you a croissant. I like your coffee, you buy me a croissant. Deal?”

“It’s a deal, y/l/n.”

You switched cups. He gave it a sniff before popping open the lid to see inside. Tensley, he took a sip. You saw his eyes bulge. Licking his lips as he brought the cup down, he wrinkled his nose once again. He brought the cup back up, taking another sip. 

“You know what, I think you owe me a croissant.”

You smiled at  him, before taking a sip of his old man coffee, you cocked your head to the side. 

“You don’t like it, do you?” He laughed. 

You quickly sat the cup down and jumped up from your seat. You walked up to the counter, and ordered one regular croissant. Returning to the table with the plastic container in hand, you tossed in down in front of him. 

He opened the container, and tore a piece of the pastry off. He took a bite, and attempted to slide the container to you. In the process, it collided with his cup of coffee which was still situated on your side, causing it to spill all over your blouse. 

“Oh my god, y/n, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay, at least it wasn’t hot anymore.” You reach for the few napkins on the table, trying to dry yourself off despite knowing it wouldn’t do anything.

You were giggling, but Spencer didn’t find this one bit funny. He felt awful. You began to attempt wiping the table with the napkins, but were stopped by Spencer’s hand grabbing your damp-sleeved arm. 

“Hey, don’t worry about the table. I got it.” He gets up to go get napkins from the counter, before stopping in his tracks. He turns around and comes back to you, sitting in the chair using the sleeve of your sweater to stop the liquid from pouring onto your skirt and the ground. “Y/n, do you want to wear my sweater?”

This takes you a bit off guard. For a second, you forget your soaking wet with warm coffee. Your voice catches in your throat as you try to speak, but Spencer is already unbuttoning the two fastened buttons and sliding the sweater off his shoulders.

“You can go to the bathroom and change. I’ve got the mess, okay?” He hands you the sweater and makes room for you to move around him. You rush to the bathroom, trying not to leave a trail of coffee droplets through the lobby.

Turning into a stall, you immediately begin taking your sweater and white shirt off, tossing white one in the small garbage can. There was no way you’d be able to get the coffee stains out, and plus, the shirt was only $4 on sale at WalMart. Only left in your wire bra, you slip the brown sweater on. You button it all the way up, but as it’s a men’s sweater, it’s a little more of a V-neck than you’d like, especially since you were going to work soon. You tucked one side of the sweater into your skirt, letting the other side hang over to create dimension in your outfit and make it less simple. You toss your damp sweater vest over your shoulder and exit the bathroom.

Spencer was waiting for you when you came out. He’d gotten the mess cleaned up and was ready to leave. He grabs your hand, leading you outside the doors to begin your walk back to work. 

_____

next chapter: G is for Girlfriend

other parts: Spencer Reid A-Z Masterlist

view the masterlist in a calendar version! 

_____ BUY ME A COFFEE _____

a/n: sorry it took so long on this chapter, i've been pretty busy. hopefully i can get the next few out quickly as i hope to release part m (the christmas themed) on christmas day.

_____

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[knoepfl]

~The Devil's Jester~

Characters: Clopin Trouillefou, Reader (Evil Jester), Judge Claude Frollo 

Trigger Warnings: Emotional manipulation, distrust, morally gray dynamics. 

Masterlist

Summary:

As Topsy Turvy Day unfolds, Reader—Frollo’s obedient and enigmatic jester—meets Clopin Trouillefou. Suspicion, intrigue, and dangerous sparks fly between the two, leaving Reader questioning her role as Frollo’s most loyal pawn. 

Words: 1157

---

The raucous streets of Paris were a blur of color, music, and laughter, a stark contrast to the weight you carried under your jester’s motley. Bells jingled with every step you took, not to signal merriment but to warn others of your presence. Everyone knew what you were—Judge Frollo’s jester, bound to his will, more an agent of order than joy. 

Your painted smile betrayed none of the wariness you felt as you moved through the festival. The scent of roasting meat and spiced wine filled the air, and the drunken crowd danced around you like waves crashing on a shore. But amidst the noise and laughter, whispers followed wherever you went. You heard the murmurs:  “There goes Frollo’s little puppet.”  “Watch her. She’s trouble.” 

You ignored them, as you always did. You weren’t here for fun; you were here because Frollo commanded it. His orders were simple—watch the festivities, observe the gypsies, and report back. But simple tasks had a way of becoming complicated, especially during Topsy Turvy Day. 

Your gaze drifted toward the center of the square, where performers juggled fire and acrobats flipped through the air. And there, among the swirling chaos, stood the man you were supposed to be watching: Clopin Trouillefou. 

He was unmistakable, his vibrant costume as loud as his laughter, a mask perched jauntily over his face. He conducted the festivities as if he were both king and court fool, his voice carrying over the crowd with ease. For a moment, you forgot yourself, mesmerized by the way he moved, the way he commanded attention without effort. 

He saw you before you could slip back into the crowd. His sharp gaze locked onto yours, and a grin spread across his face—a grin that was both charming and dangerous. He made his way toward you with the easy grace of someone who feared nothing. 

“Well, well,” he said, stopping just close enough that you could smell the faint scent of wine on his breath. “Look who decided to join the festivities. Frollo’s jester, out of her cage. Tell me, little puppet, are you here to dance, or are you here to spy?”

You tilted your head, letting your painted smile stretch a little wider. “Can’t I do both?” 

Clopin’s laugh was warm, but there was something sharp beneath it, like a knife hidden in silk. “Ah, a multitasker. How delightful.” He leaned in closer, his eyes gleaming with mischief. “Tell me, does Frollo know you’re here? Or are you out causing trouble on your own?”

Your heart quickened—not from fear, but from the strange thrill of being seen, truly seen, by someone like Clopin. No one ever looked at you like that, not even Frollo. To him, you were a tool, a weapon to be used and discarded. But Clopin’s gaze was different. It was playful, yes, but also curious, as if he were trying to solve a puzzle only he could see.

“I don’t cause trouble,” you said softly, your voice barely audible over the noise of the crowd. “I follow orders.”

Clopin’s grin faltered for just a moment, replaced by something like pity. “And what a dull life that must be,” he murmured. 

For a moment, you considered telling him the truth—that your life wasn’t dull, but safe. Frollo’s commands gave you structure, purpose. Without them, you were... lost. But you didn’t say any of that. Instead, you shrugged, the bells on your costume jingling with the movement. “It’s not so bad.”

Clopin studied you for a long moment, his gaze flickering over your face as if trying to peel back the layers of paint and pretense. “You’re lying,” he said, not unkindly. “But that’s all right. We all lie to ourselves, now and then.”

Before you could respond, he reached out and tapped the tip of your nose with a gloved finger, the gesture light and playful. “Come, little jester. Let’s see if we can teach you how to dance.”

He spun away, beckoning you to follow, and without thinking, you did. The crowd closed in around you as Clopin led you through the festival, weaving between dancers and acrobats with practiced ease. He twirled you once, twice, and though you stumbled, he caught you with a laugh that felt like sunshine breaking through a storm.

For the first time in years, you let yourself laugh too—really laugh, not the forced, hollow sound Frollo demanded. It was strange and exhilarating, like taking a breath after being underwater for too long.

“See?” Clopin said, his grin wide and infectious. “Not so bad, is it?”

You shook your head, breathless. “No... it’s not.”

The night wore on, and the festival became a blur of music and color. You danced with Clopin until your feet ached, forgetting, for a little while, who you were and what you were supposed to be. But as the bells of Notre Dame tolled midnight, reality crept back in, cold and unforgiving.

Clopin seemed to sense the shift in you. His expression sobered, though his eyes still sparkled with mischief. “So, what will it be, little jester?” he asked quietly. “Will you run back to your master and tell him everything? Or will you stay and dance with us?”

It was a simple question, but the answer felt impossible. You wanted to stay—God, how you wanted to. But you knew that staying meant more than just dancing. It meant defying Frollo, breaking free of the chains he had wrapped around your soul. 

“I can’t,” you whispered, the words tasting like ash on your tongue. 

Clopin’s gaze softened, and for the first time, his smile was sad. “There’s always a choice,” he said gently. “You just have to be brave enough to make it.”

You wanted to believe him. But the weight of Frollo’s control was too heavy, and the fear of what would happen if you disobeyed too great. You shook your head, stepping back, the bells on your costume jingling softly in the night air.

“I’m sorry,” you murmured. 

Clopin gave you a long, searching look, as if trying to memorize every detail of your face. Then he smiled—a quiet, understanding smile that made your heart ache. “Maybe next time,” he said softly.

And with that, he turned and disappeared into the crowd, leaving you standing alone in the square as the festival began to fade.

You watched him go, a strange mix of regret and longing swirling in your chest. You knew you would return to Frollo, just as you always did. But for the first time, the thought of obeying him felt like a prison sentence.

As you made your way back to Frollo’s chambers, the bells of Notre Dame tolled once more, their somber notes echoing through the empty streets. And with every step you took, Clopin’s words followed you, haunting you like a whisper in the dark.

There’s always a choice. You just have to be brave enough to take it.

---

Author’s Note: Thank you for reading! If you have feedback, want a second part or requests for future fanfics, feel free to tell me!

[zanashair]

— your presences

Ran Haitani x F!Reader

master list

fluff | female!reader | ib that one ts scene (im sad now)

warning : you're an idol? none.

A/N: hello, here's an old oneshot that i had uploaded on Wattpad but forgot to upload it here, I've been a little dead and unmotivated when it comes to writing, not that i hate it, it's more of a i started to become a little to aware of my way of writing stories, I'll work on that since i have a fanfic i wanted to finish lol, anw, bye for now

The loud cheers from the sea of crowds were the only thing filling up the enormous stadium, you and your idol members continues to keep their energy shined out from the very beginning of the concert till to this very second, your body moved and keep on track to the right rhythm playing in your 'in ear monitor' moving position's and changing turns for each other own part of the song

As you continue to sings all out to your hearts content, you couldn't helped but looked around through the vip section of the seat, hoping to see a certain tall lanky figure with a purple haired and black streaks dyed men sitting somewhere in the vip crowd's 

You threw a glance to the vip section every once in a while, not wanting to be seen as if you were searching for someone specific in the crowds which could grew suspicion to the fans since there is always cameras pointing at them each second. dating was not something banned in your entertainment company, but they gave out a heads up on how those delusional fans could get a bit too rowdy and wild when it comes out to their lovely idol getting their selves a significant other, and it wasn't something that is easy to control...

For what have felt like ages you've been looking out for the obvious purple colored haired men that should've been easily spotted since the hair color stands out a lot, you didn't found him, your heart dropped a bit by the fact you weren't able to find him in the vip crowd, even with the very few minutes break to interact with your crowd of lovely fans asking how their days have been going so far and if they have been enjoying their selves with the performance your group idol have been giving out to them, you weren't able to find him, your bright smile fall off for a momentarily before a forced out one rise back up to your lips

You weren't sad nor disappointed that he weren't there, he has always been a busy man himself, having to deal with their clubs and other businesses work stuff in hand, it were expected that he wouldn't be able to appear and show support in your idol group performance all the time, but he had given out the most sweetest words and promise's on how he will 100% show up on the vip crowd and cheering you like he's your number one fan, but it seems that he got himself busy or maybe something unavoidable happened that he couldn't cancel the plans out

"Y/n, are you ok?" your friend whispered out to you as she sent you a worried expression, you quickly snapped your head towards the girl and nodded telling her that you were more than fine, which she did not believed in the slightest "you're horrible at lying you know~" "do i?" she only let out a giggle and put her arms around your shoulder and proceeds to close her mouth with the back of her hands 

"You're looking for him, don't you?" the mic that each of the idol members were given were all hand mic which you were thankful about since this conversation that had just started were only between you and the member only to know, you then closed your mouth with the back of your hand too and put the right hand which were the hand you were holding onto the mic fell to the side of your thigh "was it that obvious?" she only nodded and once again let's out another giggle

"We could go and search for him in the crowds if you wanted to?" she whispered again with her mouth covered with the back of her hands "isn't that too risky?" sending her a nervous smile she shrugged at your words "we'll just multitask between searching for him and interact with the fans and read their hilarious board too~" 

And just with that, you agreed and started walking to the other 3 members of your group, had a minute talk before you all decided to go a bit more closer to the vip crowd from the stage, looking and interacting a bit with the fans

You and the previous girl that have had been talking with you were walking at the left side of the stage waving, laughing at those creative and funny board the fans held up for you all to read, flashing them smiles and having a short talk and selfies using their phones, but even with all of the stuff you were doing your best to interact with the fans, your eyes kept on searching for him, silently

You were starting to lose hope before you saw a group of 12 light stick of your f/c glow sticks that flashing right at the corner of your eyes, you turned around and were met with the sight of 3 grown man, in suits, one with horribly bright pink hair and the other two with a short and long purple hair, waving your glow sticks at your way, each one of them had two f/c glow sticks in each hand

And there you were met with his beautiful purple gaze, you couldn't helped but let the wide smile crept upon your lips at the sight of it as a laughter bubble up in your throat, ready to burst out from your lips by the sight of them

Rindou clearly seemed like he were too tired to even be there, sanzu were just confused but has kinda gotten the spirit to wave the stick in the sky aggressively, and then there was ran, ran haitani, his gaze screamed "head over heels" and the soft smile has been plastered on him for as long as he could remembered, watching you shine brighter than you already are up on the tall stage, he couldn't helped but let his heart melt a bit at the sight of it

The next thing you knew, without any hesitation, you blowout a kiss to the crowd of fans which made the row of seat squeal in happiness, thinking it were given to them when clearly it were sent to the purpled haired man, but they didn't need to know thay only the both of you do (and rin and sanzu, but not the point), ran reach out his hands for the blown kiss, grabbed it and dramatically put his balled fist on his chest as if had took the kiss you had gave and kept it inside of his heart

Now knowing that ran were 100% in the crowds, watching over you, you couldn't helped but give out an even MORE outstanding performance even after all of the hours, even after your legs were giving out on you and you were breathing in for air, you wanted to give out 1000% of your all 

After the last song were performed, you and your group of friends send out the thankyou's for the crowds and waving them a goodbye before you and the other 4 members disappeared from the stage

At the backstage, you were each given a bottle of water by the staff as they told to every members that they all have done an outstanding performance today like any other performance, thanking for their words one of the other staff called out for your name, telling you that a certain dude named ran haitani were looking for your presence, and with that being told, you took off and ran

looking around for ran in the long hallway of the backstage, you finally found his figure, both hands in each side of the pockets, he turned his head around towards the rapid foot steps that were running towards his way, realizing that it was only you, he sent out another soft smile and he removed both arms from the pockets

"i thought you didn't came! i got so sad when i couldn't find you" and with that, you wrapped your arms around his neck tightly "really now?" he said with an obvious teasing voice lacing in his tone, with your face buried on the crook of his neck, you nodded your head while still hugging tightly onto him "i thought you had to cancel it and had to do other stuff" your words slightly muffled out but still managed to make sense to his ears "i always keep my promises, i am a man of my words after all..." hugging you back tightly, he kissed the crown of your head and let the side of his face fell on top of yours

"and what's with rindou and sanzu coming too? i thought it was just gonna be you?" you lifted your head to look at his eyes "i can't hold all 12 of your glow sticks all alone you know?" you sweat dropped a bit at his words "12 glows stick? why did you got that much?" "just so i can stand out the most" you could only laughed at his statement and shook your head a bit at it 

"i think the suit and purple hair already stand out quite a lot if you asked me"

please reblog if you enjoy it <3

[sebastianstansqueen]

Lost In The Shadows: Part Nine

/N: Hey guys, been through a lot for a bit, start giving me Ideas for what type of series you want to see next, i'm curious and finished writing this one so lets see if I can start getting parts out more frequently, If you want to be Tagged, either send an ask or comment on this or click on Taglist open.

Wordcount: 2,414

Warnings: slight angst, Sharon, and fluff, if I forgot anything let me know please!

Masterlist // Series Masterlist // Taglist open// 

Tags: @cherryblossomsky - - @babylooneytoonz - @wonderlandfandomkingdom - @miraclesoflove - @amelia-song-pond - @leyannrae - @avengerlex - @pineprincess - @nik2write - @dorothea-hwldr - @rosie-posie08 - @scxrletrecsmarvel - @sebsgirl71479- @missvelvetsstuff - @hadesownhell - @casa-boiardi - @winterslove1917- @hallecarey1 - @ash-craze - @barnesxstan - @unaxv - @bethexo07 - @itsmytimetoodream - @sebastians-love -

Y/n wiggled around the kitchen as she worked on making breakfast, she was no expert when it came to food, but she was trying. She had music playing kinda loud but not so loud that Bucky would hear from the master bedroom. She was trying multitasking on pancakes, eggs, and bacon, her current least favorite of the three was the bacon with grease popping up, freaking her out every so often. So as she moved about listening to the music while making sure the food didn’t burn, she missed Bucky’s initial entrance. “You know how to cook?” He joked tilting his head, with a little laugh, Y/n hadn’t heard his morning voice before but she liked it.

She laughed along with him.“Sort of. I’m trying, and possibly failing.” She looked at the food, removing the pancake that just finished cooking. 

Bucky moved across the room standing near her grabbing one of her cooked pieces of bacon and eating it. “A little over cooked but whatever.” He shrugged off. 

“Blame it for that, the oil kept on popping out at me!” She blamed, soon begging to laugh at her fake whining.

Bucky laughed with her. “When’s your next day off?” He leaned against the counter looking at her as she finished up the food. 

“Sort of whenever I want, but I got to go in today.” She explained as she began dishing up food for both of them. “Why?”

“Well, since we’ve gotten back, I’ve had time to finish my car, and I wanna take you on a drive.” He smiled up at her. Y/n nodded along, liking the idea of it, they sat at the table, continuing to talk for a bit, until Y/n got up to go get ready for work. 

Bucky had been in the middle of working out when Steve texted him. ‘I’m having a barbecue tonight, around six, do you want to come?’ 

Bucky obviously wanted to go, he hadn’t seen Steve since before the wedding, which had been a while ago. Bucky was an instant replay, while Y/n was usually so busy it sometimes took hours to get a reply, and he didn’t want to call because it probably wasn’t important enough. He sighed, deciding to just try and call her, and if she didn’t answer he’d completely understood. The phone rang for a moment, it took a moment for her to pick up but soon her voice rang out through the speaker. “Bucky?”

“Hey, sorry for calling, but um my friend Steve is having a barbecue today around six, I want to go, but I wanted to see if you did too.” He explained in a rush, even though their relationship had gotten better, Y/n still was very much the same when it came to work. 

Y/n’s eyes widened not expecting the sudden invitation, she turned to look through a two way mirror where she could see one of Rumlow’s guys, that Andy had found dealing something on her territory, completely covered in his own blood if he was gonna keep siglent Y/n wouldn’t take it easy. She looked down at the clothes she’d chosen for that day, her white shirt was possibly completely destroyed but it didn’t matter she was going to be burnt later that day, she looked at the time, three hours till it started. “Uh, Yeah I’ll be home soon.” They said bye before ending the call. Y/n walked back into the room where two of her men stood on either side of Rumlows guy. “You two finish this up, if he doesn't talk, by two, chop him up and throw him in the hudson.” She ordered, before marching out of the dimly lit building. 

Y/n made her way out to The SUV, she began texting Andy telling him she’d get her car tomorrow, updating him about Rumlows guy, and explaining she was leaving early, which seemed to have shocked Andy, because his caller ID had popped up. “When do you ever leave early of your free will?” He asked with exaggerated shock, right after Y/n put him on speaker.

“Relax, Bucky’s friend is having a barbecue, he wants me to go, and I need to get cleaned up, before.” She explained shortly, well yes it was that, but she was secretly happy to spend more time with Bucky, she typed away at her phone getting something sorted for later.

“You don’t seem like the type to go to a barbecue, the last however long I’ve known you not once have I ever heard a word about a barbecue till now.” He began teasing her.

She rolled her eyes with a playful smile tugging at her lips. “I’ll talk to you later. Go check on the guys at the warehouse later.” 

“Okay, talk to you tomorrow bye.” He said into the phone before ending the call. 

When Y/n got home, she immediately made her way up to the shower in her bedroom, she used a light purple loofa to help wash away the blood and other grime that might have gotten on her, as she did so soon the bathroom doors opened and her eyes widened, connecting with blue ones. “Sorry!” Bucky said immediately, walking out and closing the door. 

Y/n laughed lightly before calling out. “Bucky, it’s okay, just grab what you need.” There was so much fog around the glass of the shower that she probably looked like a human shaped blob on the other side. 

“When did you get home?” Bucky asked as he opened the door and quickly went to grab a few things. 

“Not that long ago, I needed some time to get ready, work was dirty today.” She shrugged while saying it, continuing to scrub, Bucky made a sound of understanding, before he left.

She wrapped herself in a towel, moving into the bedroom, she found a box sitting neatly on the made bed, she opened it finding exactly what she had expected. Most of her clothes weren’t for being out in the heat for too long, usually she’d be switching from air conditioned building to air conditioned building, being outside wasn’t something she didn’t usually do, save for when she had gone on vacation with Bucky. She pulled out the outfit, first pulling out the plain white shirt, followed by light pink shorts, and lastly white tennis shoes, she blow dried and straightened her hair, before applying some make up. 

Bucky felt still slightly embarrassed after walking into the bathroom while Y/n was showering, as his brain continued to fester on his embarrassment he heard the clearing of a throat, he turned to see Y/n, she looked different, good, but different. For instance she seemed shorter  because of her not wearing her heels, he’d seen her a few times barefoot or in flats on rare occasions but it still took a little getting used to. Then his eyes shifted up to what she was actually wearing, the shirt and shorts were something he couldn’t imagine being in her wardrobe but she still looked gorgeous. “Ready to go?” She asked, looking at him. 

He nodded. “Y-yeah, how do you look better than me and we’re going to my friends barbecue?” He joked as he led the way towards the garage, he wouldn’t miss this chance to take Y/n, in his car. 

Y/n smiled and thanked him for the compliment, she took him in form the moment she saw him, with light blue jeans, a white tank top and a tan verging on white button up shirt over it with the sleeves rolled just above his elbow. As she realized they were making the way towards his car her brows furrowed. “Really?” She asked with a smile.

Bucky nodded with a smile of his own. “Yeah, you ready for speed?” He opened the passenger door for her. 

“I guess.” She shrugged, Bucky soon got into the driver's seat and pulled out of the garage. She’d speed after shoot outs and other work related things, she’s never just done that for fun though. Before Y/n had married Henry, she was a law abiding citizen just like most of New York, and until finding out what her father actually did for a living, she thought she was just an heiress. 

“What happened today that caused you to get dirty?” Bucky asked, knowing it could have been a million different things. 

“Drug stuff.” She said as if it were casual, then she sighed and shook her head. “Brock Rumlow is trying to sneak stuff under my nose.”

“Whos, Brock?” He asked with furrowed brows looking at Y/n swiftly before shifting back to the road. 

“Brock owns a drug cartel, and he wanted to become a partner of mine, but I shut it down, I don’t trust anything he’s got here.” She stated seriously. 

“Is he dangerous?” Bucky asked, Y/n caught the hit of concern in his voice. 

She shook her head. “I don’t think so, possibly just stupid, but if it does turn out to be dangerous, you’ll be like second to know.” She promised.

Soon they pulled up to a set of three story brown stones, her eyes scanned around just for safety, before following Bucky up the steps to the front door, after he knocked, the door opened a few moments later, a blond on the opposite end, Y/n remembered him from the wedding. “Hey.” He greeted Bucky, and then turned to Y/n. “Hello, Mis-”

She cut him off. “Please, if you're a friend of Bucky’s you can call me Y/n.” She smiled, holding out her hand. 

“Okay, uh I’m Steve, it’s nice to officially meet you.” He shook her hand as he spoke, soon letting it go before greeting them both in, first thing he did was introduce them to his girlfriend Sharon. “Sharon, this is Bucky, and his wife Y/n.”

“Bucky, nice to meet you, I’ve heard so much about you from Steve.” She smiled, shaking his hand, then she turned to Y/n.

“Hey, Little sister.” Y/n smirked looking at the woman who looked nothing like her, pulling her into a hug, usually a display of affection but this was anything but. 

“You have a sister?” Bucky, and Steve seemed to have said at the same time. 

Y/n pulled out of the hug first putting on a fake smile, showing Sharon the mood to put on. “Yeah, we’ve been out of touch since mom died.” That wasn’t a lie but it also wasn’t the full truth.  “Well, Steve, now that I know you're dating my sister, I’ve got to know everything about you.” She smiled, leading the blond to his backyard, to talk in private. “So, Steve, what do you do, to afford this beautiful home?” She asked standing beside him at the grill. 

“I’m the captain of a police precinct.” He told her honestly, making her nervous, wondering if this was a trap to arrest her, he clearly knew who she was. “Don’t worry, I have a rule with Bucky’s family, that I’ll follow with you, so long as I don’t see you do anything illegal I won’t arrest you. Is, Sharon, apart of the-”

“No, well, I don’t think so, I haven’t talked to her in a while so your guess is as good as mine.” Y/n shrugged, her eyes soon followed as Sharon and Bucky marched out of the house, Y/n’s eyes were glued on her sister not sure of what she intended. Y/n wasn’t going to be the one to break Steve's heart, but Sharon was certainly very deeply involved in the business, so Y/n didn’t understand why she was here playing a cute little girlfriend wearing a white sundress.

The barbecue went well, Y/n chose to minimally talk to her sister, and Bucky could tell something was up, so he knew to ask  about it later. Y/n stayed until Bucky wanted to go, she could tell he was happy, and comfortable with his friends, and that made her happy to see, and she wouldn’t take it away. A few of them had come up and told Y/n about Bucky being an idiot in high school, while protecting Steve from bullies, some of them making her laugh.

 Steve said bye to Bucky, while Sharon seemed to not want to look Y/n’s way, not wanting to attempt the facade of happy sisters. As Bucky pulled away he looked at Y/n, who looked at ease, and happy. “So what's between you and your sister?” He asked seemingly out of nowhere.  

The question had taken Y/n off guard, she hadn’t realized Bucky had seen through her facade. “We’ve never gotten along.” Y/n rolled her eyes, lulling her head to look at him. “And when mom died when she was eight-teen she ran off, which now looking at it I should have probably done the same thing.” Then she sighed feeling bad, she didn’t want to hurt Bucky or Steve, he genuinely seemed nice. “Look, Bucky, I didn’t want to say anything to Steve because we barely know each other, but I would suggest him try to leave Sharron, I think she is up to something.” She spoke honestly. 

Bucky’s brows furrowed. “She seems nice, what would she be up to?” Y/n looked at him as if he were joking. “You do know what I do to make money right?” She rolled her eyes. “Fine, ignore what your wife is saying about her sister, whom you just met.” She looked out the window, her mood dampening from his dismissal of her warning.

“It’s not that I’m ignoring what you're saying but do you even have proof?” Bucky asked, looking at her for an answer for that. 

“No, but I know my sister, I think better than you.” She rolled her eyes, shaking her head, once again. Then as they continued driving, in a stuffy silence, streets passed by as lights in the dark night and as they pulled to a simple stop at a light, still not even close to home, a low beet began to sound Y/n's brows furrowed as she began to look around the vehicle, for the source of the noise, it soon sped up and as soon as the light turned green and Bucky pressed his foot on the gas everything went black. 

[justanotherspommyfan]

im accidentally turning tumblr into my public journal oops. (feel free to skip, this is just a really long ramble. feel free to skip any of my rambles, honestly any of my posts too, nothings forcing you to give me attention, oh my god i'm already rambling in the warning about rambling)

i now have two spommy art WIPs and three spommy fic WIPs (as well as a LOT of ideas) and i'm spending a lot more time into them than i'd like to admit. it's like growing exponentially i think i should slow down.

i mean, my tutoring classes are off for this month (for finals) but all my finals except two are already over, so i should have enough time right,, (the answer is yes, i believe in my time management skills enough. hashtag positivity)

two of the fic WIPs are 5+1. to me it's an incredibly beginner-friendly trope because there's really no length expectations, and you don't have to worry too much about pacing (unless you're me and wrote twice as many words for the two sections i liked the most and half as many for the others. but honestly who cares about consistency anyways /j)

the worst part for me is probably brainstorming a fifth "5 things" but honestly i just started writing the other four things and then went on a walk. i really like walking. i don't understand how (i forgot which smosh member/s) called it boring it's literally so relaxing. you can even multitask, talk to ur friends, listen to smosh mouth, probably study? anyways that wasn't what i was planning to rant about i need to stay on topic.

also figuring out how to arrange the five things was a struggle but that might be just me (chronologically, to create a coherent plot? or by "intensity?" (ie if they're all angst they're ordered by how angsty they are, etc.) tbh it can just be random too, you can treat it as a collection of 6 short stories that just happen to be similar)

MY POINT IS 5+1 it's a really versatile trope while having a fixed pattern to follow and pretty easy to work with imo

[lulu2992]

Deleted dialog from Far Cry 3’s main story

In this series of posts, I’m sharing all the unreleased content (minus a few duplicates) I found in the oasisstrings text file, even when it wasn’t very interesting, so we have a comprehensive list of the lines that were cut in each Far Cry 3 story mission.

On a side note, the document never says which character is speaking, so every time you see names, it’s either because the corresponding audio files were available and I know who the speaker is, or because the context made it easy to guess their identity.

Part 5: Mushrooms in the Deep

At the beginning of the mission, Jason apparently wanted to try to send a message to the outside world and would briefly interact with a playful local radio operator:

I gotta send a message to the outside.

It's not sending. I bet the island only has a local network.

I'm on my own now. [beat] I'm so sorry, this is all my fault. [beat] But I'll fix it, I'll make it right. I'll find Riley. I'll bring him home. I'll bring them all home. I'm the only one who can do it.

I'm on my own now. I tried calling for help, but I can`t reach anyone outside of the island. [beat] I'm so sorry, this is all my fault. [beat] But I'll fix it, I'll make it right. I'll find Riley. I'll bring him home. I'll bring them all home. I'm the only one who can do it.

The honor is ours, white one. I hear you come from across the seas. Give us news of our Native American cousins. Are they still dancing with the wolves?

I'm just fucking with you. We are isolated, but we're not THAT isolated.

Then, here’s a deleted call:

Jason: Hello? Dennis: Jason! I almost forgot. While you are with the doctor, make sure to ask him to give you recipes for medicine. He has uncovered some very powerful ones. Jason: Thanks. Dennis: Always remember to listen to the jungle. It'll make you stronger, faster. It will take you off the beaten path. Let it and you will be rewarded.

And here’s a cut comment while Jason is on his way to Dr. Earnhardt’s house:

Hey. Radio tower.

Then, he finally finds the doctor, as well as Daisy. At the beginning of the cutscene, before Jason notices that his friend is “burning up”, Dr. Earnhardt had a few reassuring words:

I have been administering to her every hour. Don't worry. I'm more than able to multitask.

Jason then goes to look for the mushrooms in the cave under the house and experiences a few hallucinations during which he imagines or remembers conversations with his friends and family. Some used to be a little longer, and the cut lines are bolded and italicized below:

Liza: The studio called...I got the role! Liza: Yeah! I was super nervous on the phone. Liza: But I'm starting in three days. Jason: What about the rest of our vacation? Liza: [sighs]I thought we could talk about this like grown ups. Jason: Liza. We're in Bangkok, together, and I can't believe how beautiful you are.

Riley: Hey J, you're gonna come to my pilot ceremony next month, right? Jason: Sorry, I'm busy. Riley: You mean, heading to Oliver's cabin in Tahoe to ski? Yeah, I'll trade you.

Grant: What are you afraid of? You're a natural with a gun. Jason: Grant? Grant: Nothing can stop us! We'll take on death.

Then, Jason had two more comments after finding the mushrooms:

They're real.

Finally. I hope it's not too late.

The conversation with Daisy used to be slightly different, but the only difference is this part. Jason’s line was cut; the rest of the scene is identical.

Daisy: Jason. Jason: What is it? Daisy: Whoever did this. Whoever killed Grant. He deserves to die.

After exiting the house, Jason decides to contact Dennis. At the beginning of the call, he would simply say:

I better call Dennis.

Hello?

The rest of their conversation is still in the game.

[beautifulfuckup99]

I NEEEEEEEED A J HOBI IMAGINE! Pls! Anything is fine, as long as its FLUFF OVERLOAD!

Yes! Of course!

Title: My Goofball

Rating: G

Author's Note: Enjoy the "Fluff Overload"!

**********************

"Babe! Stay still!" You whine as your boyfriend, of almost a year, spins happily in his computer chair as you try setting up the rest of your lotions and oils and spray bottles.

"Weee!" Hobi happily cheers as he spins around and around until you stop his chair completely. He playfully pouts as you move his chair back over to yours.

"There. Now stay." You basically order as he smiles at you. "Anyway, sorry about that, guys..." You say as you go back to talking to the fans in your livestream as Hobi waves and does a few finger hearts.

"So, you guys have been begging for a skin care routine and because I can never multitask right, I asked my lovely boyfriend Jung Ho-seok, who you all may know as 'J-Hope', to be my face model for the evening." You say as you motion to him.

Hobi starts posing a bit for the camera as you giggle at his actions, playfully rolling your eyes at him. "And while I do his skin care, we can answer a few couple questions." You explain as you finish getting everything in order.

Hobi smirks slyly at the camera and slowly begins sliding away from you. "Hey! Come closer!" You chuckle as you pull his chair to yours again. He eyes the questions on his phone so you two could answer the first one.

"So, you always have to start with the cleanser." You say as you get a generous amount in your hands. "I always use the La Prairie's foam cleanser..." You say and rub your hands all over your boyfriend's face.

"Mm... Smells good." Hobi nods. "Close your mouth." You chuckle. "And it should. It's about $100 for the bottle." You say casually.

"A HUN-" Hobi is cut off from his exclamation by some cleanser getting in his mouth. You gasp as he moves back fast to start blowing raspberries to get the bit of foam out of his mouth.

"Honey! You have to close your mouth!" You fuss as you hold back a laugh while Hobi makes a big show of gagging and complaining.

"Am I gonna die now?" He asks, completely overdramatic, a hand covering his mouth as if completely serious and fearful. You roll your eyes.

"So dramatic." You mutter. "No, you're not." You assure with a wave of your hand. "Question?" You ask and he gives you a look. You pull his chair back towards you.

"How did we meet?" He asks as he pouts to the camera as if you were holding him hostage now. You grab the next bottle.

"How did we meet..." You trail off as if trying to remember. "You forgot!" Hobi gasps in playful offense.

"No! No, no. I remember now." You say. "We met at a store. We were both their buying something, and at a certain point, you walked over and asked which sweater looked better." You nod as you shake the water mist spray bottle.

"Now, for this step, I use La Mer 'The Mist'-" Hobi cuts you off.

"Baby? Isn't that just water?" He asks as he eyes the small bottle.

"No. It's full of marine botanicals, and some 'cell-renewing Miracle Broth'..." You say. "Now, close your eyes." You order and he hums before squeezing his eyes shut. You smile and spray a generous amount on his face.

"It... it just feels like water." He says as he opens his eyes. "How much was this?" He asks as he grabs the bottle from you.

"It... Not much." You shrug as Hobi sees the comments on the livestream.

"Baby!" He gasps. "They're saying it costs $85!" He says.

"Next question!" You say fast to change the subject. You eye Hobi's phone for question number two. "Who said 'I love you' first? That's easy." You say as you grab the antioxidant serum.

"Me." You and Hobi say at the same time.

"No, you did not!" You laugh as you grab Hobi's face to apply the oil droplets. "Oh! And this is La Mer's 'The Regenerating Serum'." You say to the chat.

"I did say it first!" Hobi argues playfully. letting you work on his face. "Because I told you the night before you told me!" He explains.

"I was sleeping! That doesn't count!" You playfully shout.

"It does count." He says simply.

"No, it doesn't!"

"Yes it does..."

"No!"

"Yup!"

You playfully glare at your boyfriend as he smiles pleasantly. "I did it first." He assures fans as you playfully swat his shoulder as he laughs.

You grab another oil bottle and Hobi pauses. "How much oil do I need?!" He asks.

"Babe. This is the hydrating serum now." You defend as he shakes his head. "And how much was this one?" He asks as you gather the oil in the tube. "Eh..." You mutter.

"Eh?" He mocks as you drip the oil on to his face and rub it in.

"I-It's also from La Mer." You shrug. "How Much-Mm..." He murmurs when you cover his mouth with your hand to rub in the oil.

"Where was our first date?" You ask the third question of the tag to change the subject yet again.

Hobi playfully glares at you before scrunching his nose at the oil being all over his face. "Um... My place for dinner." He says and you grab the eye cream next.

"La Mer again? Honey, I think you have an addiction..." Hobi snorts and you nudge him playfully.

"When..." You trail off as you focus on putting the right amount around Hobi's eyes, all while he's moving more to try and read the next questions.

"Hobi! Stay still!" You complain as you try grabbing his face, but he turns his head to look at himself in the camera.

"Oh my god!" He gasps and you cover your mouth to not laugh.

"I look like a greasy racoon." He laughs. "I look like I was normal, but then I started melting..." He laughs some more as you grab his face.

"Baby! Focus!" You laugh as he throws his head back dramatically.

"I'm melting, I'm melting..." He cries out like the evil witch, and you laugh and playfully shake his shoulders. "Focus!" You plead in an overdramatic and playful way.

Something about Hobi always brought out your more childish side. You couldn't help it. It was so easy to be pulled in by his charm and extroverted behavior. It made you feel safe. Like you'd never be judged when you're around him.

You get him sitting still finally and gently rub in the eye cream under his eyes. "First kiss, was the question..." You say as he keeps his eyes closed, enjoying the way you massaged his face.

"Hasn't happened yet." Hobi mutters with a soft smile as you laugh.

"Not yet? After all this time?" You tease and Hobi chuckles and nods along to the obvious lie.

"Sure, honey..." You snort and then firmly grasp his face. "Almost done!" You cheer and Hobi pouts.

"Already?" He asks and you give him a playful glare.

"Don't act like you're sad about it..." You laugh as you grab the moisturizer. "And look," You hold up the YSL bottle. "I'm not addicted to La Mer." You say with a proud huff.

"This is really good, guys. It's an anti-aging-" Hobi cuts you off.

"Honey, you don't need any of that..." He says as he scrunches his nose.

"There's nothing wrong with wanting flawless skin." You defend and Hobi smirks at you.

"But... You already do." He smiles at you, and you playfully gag at the compliment.

"Last question?" You ask and he hums as he reads while you rub the cream on his face.

"Uh... Do you love me?" Hobi asks as you look at him with a chuckle.

"Yes. Goofball." You snort and tap his forehead lightly. "All done!" You announce and make him look at the camera. "Doesn't he look great, guys?" You ask chat as Hobi goes on posing to show off his newly refreshed face.

You giggle and Hobi sighs as he wheels back in his chair, going back to spinning himself as you playfully face palm. "Honey! Stay still!" You laugh as you move over to try and stop him again.

****************************************

Hope you liked it!

[grinningreaperwrites]

Magical Girl Power! Episode 2: Faking a Ferret

The day after becoming a Magical Girl, Grian has several new problems: 1) he's supposed to report on Magical Girls, 2) most of his team's equipment might have been damaged or lost in the Rogue attack, and 3) there's an entire Spirit in his house now. Items 1 and 2 are more long-term problems, but 3 requires immediate attention. Luckily, said Spirit can shapeshift! Now they just have to agree on what the disguise should be, and defeat the Rogues attacking the shopping center. Should be easy, right?

On AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52012432

It turns out that hiding a Spirit in his bedroom is much easier than Grian expected. The hard part of last night was convincing his sister that he was completely normal and not suffering from magic sickness (or having recently become a Magical Girl). She still insisted on feeding him a lot of soup, but he did sneak some up for Xelqua without being suspicious enough to call out.

Grian also put Scar’s chrysanthemum in a vase he wasn’t aware he owned, and the flower glows brightly to his new sight. Xelqua must have spent a lot of time wrapped around it in the bag for his power to have worn off so strongly.

However, there are other things in his house that glow for reasons he cannot understand: the jacket his brother forgot, a cat mug, and a weird little rock he’d found about a week ago that had looked like an eye. Grian tucks it into his pocket, just in case. They have to make a plan first, before he can get to questions.

Well, actually, they need to eat, but Grian can multitask. Xelqua is having a great time flying around the house and poking things now that Pearl isn’t here, but the scent of cooking food makes for an excellent lure.

“Oooh, what is that called? It smells so nice,” Xelqua asks, landing lightly on Grian’s shoulders.

“Hey! It’s just, ah, it’s eggs and ham? I don’t actually know if you can eat this, I was worried you couldn’t eat the soup last night,” Grian explains, trying not to squirm as Xelqua’s feathers tickle his neck.

“Aw, I was wondering if it had a name like French Toast. One of the scientists liked French Toast. Oh! I can eat almost anything; if I remember correctly, I can eat more things than you!”

Hm. Okay, maybe it is time for some questions.

“From when? Do you remember things from me that were shared?” Grian allows himself to ask, shoving the slices of ham around so they all cook evenly.

Xelqua shakes his head in Grian’s periphery. “The Rift is connected, and it’s also not the only one – you knew that, right? – so we know things about humans! Some Spirits live here full-time, even. I don’t know if any humans live beyond. The scientists in the facility were studying the Rift, but they didn’t know a lot. What do you know?”

This definitely should’ve been a conversation they had last night, but Xelqua looked so peaceful sleeping. Grian bites his lip.

“To put it simply: I don’t think anyone who isn’t a Magical Girl knows that Magical Girls aren’t just some kind of Spirit,” Grian says. He moves to shrug, but remembers something. “Wait, Miss Hawkeye said some people know, but are dangerous. I don’t know who they’d be, since she also said to go back to the Observatory with Cores…”

“Oooooh boooooy…” Xelqua says slowly. He jumps down onto the dishtowel to Grian’s right and pushes his paws up by his face anxiously. “Okay, yeah, that makes sense, you asked what the bond meant and I thought you’d just misheard me…”

Grian and Xelqua look at each other, and have a mutual moment of panic as they both realize how deep of a gulf of understanding spreads between them.

Xelqua is the first to break the silence, jumping into an anxious whirl of white and pink.

“Okay, okay! I didn’t- I guess this is why we were always told to not talk to random humans. Okay. I am Xelqua, I escaped through the Rift because there was a …I don’t know if it’s ever come through the Rift. There was thing I would call a demon, and it wanted to eat me, so I flew until I was in the... The Observatory? I thought it closed from this side, it doesn’t-“

Grian pushes the slices of ham onto a plate with the eggs without interrupting.

“-but the scientists made a weird little house and fed me, so that was good, and I thought they knew more because one of them called me Watcher? Which is what I am, we’re Watchers,” Xelqua says, swirling to a stop and tapping himself in the chest.

“I guess whoever named you is the person we’re supposed to meet,” Grian adds while Xelqua inhales.

He didn’t mean to distract Xelqua, but the Watcher ruffles all his feathers and immediately switches topics.

“Musician! That’s an interesting name for a Spirit, I wonder if they took an English name when they crossed over? Usually we don’t use names that are that… obvious? About what our powers are. The Song of Fate isn’t referenced in my name at all.”

That doesn’t mean that the mysterious Musician has any sound-based powers, then, but Xelqua doesn’t seem to realize this and just jumps up onto Grian’s shoulders again as he turns to cut the eggs and ham into smaller slices. They negotiate portions before Grian walks over to the table, even though Xelqua simply sits on the tabletop instead.

It occurs to Grian, watching Xelqua daintily eat a chunk of egg with his paws, that the Spirit knows just as much about him as he knows about Xelqua.

“So, uh, you had that whole introduction, so. Mine. I’m Grian, you kind of met my sister Pearl but I also have a younger brother named Jimmy, I work for the Hermit Gazette with Mumbo and Scar. Our current assignment – the reason why we were in the Observatory – is to make a documentary on Magical Girls.”

Xelqua’s head peeks over the egg with a wide-eyed delight, and he giggles when Grian pauses.

“Yeah, I dunno how we’ll manage that. Ah, I used to live in another area about seven hours from here named Evo County. I have a college degree – do you know what that is?”

Xelqua nods, swallows, and chirps “You did a lot of school to be very good at something!”

“Yeah, and I swapped around a bit. Oh! Also, I can see glowy auras, but that started happening after Aria, so it’s probably your fault.”

Ruffling his feathers in excitement, Xelqua chirps again and rocks up onto his back paws. He takes a comically deep breath and then explodes into chatter.

“That’s not exactly true! Humans have their own magic capabilities, but they don’t naturally generate magic - usually – so when we linked up, you get to use my magic, but it’s through your powers, that’s so cool!” Xelqua says in a rush, dodging around plates to jump up on Grian’s shoulders again and aimlessly pat him in excitement. “What do the auras look like? Are they all the same color? What has them?”

“Woah, okay,” Grian says, leaning back and raising his hands to catch Xelqua as if the Watcher would fall. “Well, first, uh, I have about twelve more questions, but- okay, so far all living things have auras and some weird objects I think you were interacting with last night, like my bag. They’re all different colors and the humans have different patterns. Oh, your eyespots are visible all the time even though Doctor Plays -  Zedaph? The blonde man we were with? – said that was only under the Rift’s light.”

He also pulls the eye-shaped stone out of his pocket and sets it on the table as Xelqua cheers excitedly.

“This also has an aura, which is kind of funny since I picked it up in Spawntown Square about a week ago.”

Xelqua jumps down onto the table again and scoops up the rock. Then he shuffles over to his plate and plucks another slice of egg to chew on as he turns over the pebble. Grian pops a similarly-sized piece of egg right into his mouth, then nearly tips over his juice glass as his phone vibrates loudly. Xelqua puffs up, startled, and flaps his wings to keep himself from falling off the tabletop.

SCAR: they delivered all the stuff we left at the observatory at my house!

SCAR: we should probably go through it before Jellie knocks something over

MUMBO: oh yeah that’s great

MUMBO: in an hour maybe?

GRIA: how did you wake up early enough to receive that deliviery?

SCAR: I didn’t!!

MUMBO: oh if Grian’s awake we might as well do it now

Grian bites his lip and looks up at Xelqua.

“So, that’s Scar, the stuff we had to leave at the Observatory has been returned and we’re going to meet up.”

He doesn’t know how to ask if Xelqua wants to come along. He also doesn’t know if Xelqua wants to come along, but he feels like Xelqua probably should. Granted, this might be the strange bond they now share, but Grian doesn’t want to leave the childish Watcher alone.

Luckily…

“Ooh, Scar’s house. He’s the one with the cat, right?”

Grian laughs.

“Yes, Jellie. You overheard that entire conversation, huh?” Grian asks, referring to Scar’s enthusiastic monologue yesterday wherein he insisted on showing pictures of his cat to the entire emergency response team and the retrieved scientists. “I don’t know if you’d be able to see her, though. Unless you snuck out of my bag to go wander the house; it’s pretty big.”

Xelqua hums, disappointed, and attempts to scarf down the egg without dropping the pebble. Grian texts the group chat one-handed while returning to his own food.

GRIA: sure? I need to finish eating though

SCAR: you were up late? You???

GRIA: no, I went to bed after getting Pearl to relax

SCAR: I meant that you woke up late!

“Maybe I should be a creature instead. What kind of creature should I turn into?” Xelqua muses, startling Grian.

“A creature? Like how you were a scarf?”

“Yeah! Since I’m a core I can change what I look like, so maybe I should be…” Xelqua zones back out and places the pebble on the table.

Shapeshifting. Shapeshifting could fix a lot of the interaction problems looping through Grian’s head. Xelqua still wouldn’t be able to talk, but maybe he could-

“What, like if you pretended to be a pet? Like a ferret?” he blurts out.

Xelqua whips around to stare at him while biting into a slice of ham. Without speaking, he shimmers, then his feathers flicker out of existence. The pink marks that remain on his body turn brown, and the eyespots only Grian can see blink shut into stripes. Not as immediately necessary, but an interesting side effect nonetheless.

Taking the slice of ham out of his mouth, Xelqua asks, “Did it work?”

“Yes!” Grian cheers. “I don’t know how we’re going to explain me spontaneously acquiring a ferret, but we can work on that later. Maybe you can be a therapy ferret for all of the fights I’ve gotten into.”

He means that as a joke. Xelqua immediately looks at him with huge newly-brown eyes and Grian feels guilty. The he talks, and Grian feels guiltier.

“All of the fights? People fight you often?”

Grian spears another slice of egg so he only has to say something short.

“I used to. Pearl mentioned that at some point, did you overhear her? Jimmy and I would get in fights and she’d end them.”

He chews, but Xelqua continues to look sorrowful.

     Ignoring the continued messages, Grian pops up the internet on his phone and searches ‘therapy ferret’. He clicks the first link that doesn’t look like an ad and places the screen in front of Xelqua.

          “Here. This might have information about therapy ferrets. Does that work?”

     Just like accidentally changing topics earlier, Xelqua pounces on the new information with an excitement rivalled only by hyper toddlers. His little pink pads can even activate the screen, so Grian lets him read out pieces as they get ready to go to Scar’s.

- - - -

By the time they’ve gotten to Scar’s, Grian and Xelqua agree that, at some point today, Grian is going to have to drop by a pet supply store to help sell the idea that he’s acquired a ferret… and also pretend to buy a ferret, but that’s easier. He kind of has a ferret already. That part, at least, will be the easiest lie he’s ever told.

It will be much harder if Xelqua moves around in Grian’s bag in the meanwhile. Grian doesn’t blame him, though – scarf form is far less relaxing now that Xelqua isn’t exhausted from fighting. He pets Xelqua’s head as he presses Scar’s doorbell again. And again. And again.

Mumbo opens Scar’s door this time, while Scar himself holds Jellie down the hall. Mumbo is as neatly put-together as ever, compared to Scar’s indomitable bedhead.

“Hey Grian, nice to see you’ve found the doorbell again,” Mumbo says.

Grian smiles innocently.

Scar lifts Jellie to wave at him as a greeting and coos over how cute she is. He’s right, but Grian is distracted by the glowing markings all over her. Like Scar’s striped blotches, there are soft blue lines tracing every patch of tigerlike patterning on her body. They match. Which Rogue attack was close enough to this house that both of them could’ve been marked by it?

As he follows Mumbo and Scar further in, Grian’s heart sinks further. The house is practically painted with aura-marks, or maybe stained: trails along the ground, against doorframes, windowsills, objects. Something – maybe many somethings – was here recently. Pawing through Scar and Cub’s stuff, holding things long enough that they glow brightly even still.

Scar opens a door, fingers drifting over a bright patch of magical residue, and Grian has a thought: what if the things leaving the marks keep coming back? Is Scar haunted? He hasn’t mentioned anything moving around his house, but with Jellie here and how big it is, Grian usually relies on Scar’s memory to have any idea how it’s supposed to be put together.

This time, Scar leads them in an entirely different direction – as far as Grian can remember – that ends in a living room with several cardboard boxes of recording equipment and lots of green furniture. Grian puts his bag down next to a couch that is hopefully out-of-the-way enough that if Xelqua wiggles out, no one will notice.

To distract from Xelqua possibly escaping on an adventure, Grian dramatically flops across one of the chartreuse couches. It’s not a fainting couch, but he doesn’t care. Pillows fly everywhere and Jellie runs out of the room, to which Scar makes a sad little noise.

Mumbo wanders over and pokes his knee.

“Scoot, I’m sitting here too,” he says.

Grian huffs and refuses move.

Mumbo sighs and catches Grian’s ankle. Grian squawks, but instead of shoving him off the couch, Mumbo only picks his legs up and sits down, letting Grian swing his legs back down into his lap. He looks unbelievably smug under his moustache, dark eyes glittering with mischief. Scar ignores their byplay and pops open one of the boxes.

“I think this one is some of the cameras and uhh…” he begins, audibly rustling.

Mumbo asks something, but Grian is immediately distracted by Xelqua scrabbling under a table near the door. He’s got a perfect sense of timing; Scar holds up a camera and thoroughly distracts Mumbo. Xelqua looks up, waves at Grian, then slides behind another couch with his noodle-y body. Grian nods at him, as subtly as he can, and attempts to refocus on Scar as he takes the card out of the camera and shuffles over to load it into Mumbo’s laptop. Xelqua doesn’t leave any markings where he walked. Is that because he’s hiding his powers right now, or because whatever is haunting Scar is very, very powerful?

“Hey, so do you think these’ll’ve caught anything? Did you leave them on?” Scar asks, as the folder pops up. He settles on the arm of the couch next to Mumbo, instead of any of the other seating options in the very green room.

Grian begrudgingly sits up so he can see the screen. Then he realizes that there might have been cameras – not necessarily their cameras, but cameras – in the hall where he transformed, and the immediate panic gives him a headache. He presses into Mumbo’s shoulder and tries to regulate his breathing, which has the additional effect of drawing Mumbo’s befuddled attention.

“Woah, wait, Grian? Are you-“ Mumbo trails off, wriggling his arm over Grian’s shoulders.

A hand rests on Grian’s head – probably Scar’s, and Grian’s breath hitches audibly. He forces himself to take a deep breath, tears prickling at his face, and scrubs at his cheeks.

“I don’t – I don’t want to see the – if the Wa- the Rogue, I don’t want to see it,” Grian manages to lie, embarrassed at his own emotions. Well, it’s not entirely a lie; he absolutely does not ever want to meet another Warden, but also the sudden sweep of panic at possibly already failing Miss Hawkeye’s advice is far more soul-crushing than it has any right to be.

Did bonding with Xelqua destroy his emotional control? He’s usually so much better at dealing the emotional fallout of fighting, secrets, and secrets about fighting. Sure, it’s been… several years, but he didn’t even have to let himself freak out in the shower! He wishes this logic could keep his body from reacting, but unfortunately it continues to breathe unsteadily.

Scar’s hand on his head ruffles his hair a little, making his fringe fall into his eyes, and then leans over pat Grian’s shoulders, too.

“I didn’t manage to set up a camera before it broke through, I left most of them in the experimental wing,” Mumbo says anxiously. He doesn’t expect that to be as reassuring as it is, and startles in the hug as Grian slumps in relief.

Grian’s still panting, but the crest of the emotional wave has passed. This doesn’t stop his friends from patting him gently, or the soft peeps from Jellie, who is sitting on the floor and staring up at them.

Grian puts his hand over his eyes and tries to regulate his breath.

“Okay, we might – if you check first, I think that’d be okay,” Grian allows, just before the embarrassment rushes back in to the gap left by his panic. He squishes his face in his hands and then catches Jellie as she jumps up, then Mumbo and Scar wriggle into a more comfortable position to look at all the pictures.

Aside from… whatever that was, the meeting goes smoothly. Scar keeps attempting to copy the faces of the Spirits Mumbo took pictures of, and the cameras seem alright. Mumbo is slightly distressed because not all of the lens caps and smaller levers were packed. Grian makes several notes, even, on some of the Spirits that came right up to the glass for Mumbo to take their pictures.

Then Grian remembers that one of the Spirits in the photos is currently hiding somewhere in Scar’s house. He has a moment of dissonance as he simultaneously wants to go collect Xelqua anxiously and also sadness that he can no longer easily slot Xelqua into the documentary. Grian hasn’t seen Xelqua since he squeezed under the other couch, but he hopes the Spirit isn’t in any of the rooms Scar will lead them through as they go to eat.

Or maybe he should, so he can jump back in Grian’s bag without Grian having to make a scene. As it stands, Grian just keeps putting his bag down in hopes Xelqua hears them getting ready. They are probably all going to go in Mumbo’s van, so they’ll also likely come back here, but he still doesn’t want to make Xelqua nervous. They’ve only been friends for a day!

But, at some point between ‘putting the cameras in a different room’ and ‘putting his shoes back on,’ a lot of white fluff has tucked itself neatly into his bag. He pets Xelqua as he stands, and is internally thankful that Mumbo’s van is a refurbished one with weird seats so he again has a decent excuse to hug bagged-Xelqua.

He leans his head against the window for a little while, until he realizes –

“Hey, at some point I kind of want to drop by a pet store or something. I’ve been thinking of getting a ferret,” Grian lies. Hopefully that’s casual enough.

“WHAT!?” Mumbo yells, and the entire van jerks as he hits the breaks. Several things roll across the van’s floor.

At least his first reaction to be startled is to stop driving…?

Scar flails, but manages to remain in his seat.

“No, seriously, what?”

Grian squirms under Scar’s baffled green gaze, then swaps to staring at Xelqua’s markings as Mumbo also attempts to make eye contact in the rear-view mirror.

“I want to get a ferret, maybe…” Grian lies, again. He sounds so unsure. This is so embarrassing.

“Okay, a pet, but why a ferret?” Scar asks. He doesn’t sound judgmental, just intrigued.

“No, no, hold on, how long have you wanted a ferret?” Mumbo insists, slowly speeding up. He is the one who sounds concerned, and Grian is unsettled.

Xelqua rolls over in the bag to hold Grian’s fingertips. Several small objects also roll across the van floor as Mumbo turns left.

“Well, I didn’t think of a ferret at first,” Grian hedges, trying seem more certain than he is. They’ve should’ve planned out this conversation this morning, like Miss Hawkeye had with Aria. “I just wanted something to hang out with, really. But I was looking at things and-“ He struggles for his phone. “Ferrets can be trained and stuff, and they can go in pockets.”

“Awww!” Scar coos.

“Oh, okay,” Mumbo says. “Just making sure you’re not… randomly compelled to collect animals now because of Spirits.”

He means it as a joke. He’s been watching over Scar, of course he’s going to notice anything potentially out of character that could indicate magic sickness.

Grian makes a wheezy noise that sure doesn’t feel like a laugh as Scar chortles, because Mumbo isn’t quite on the money but he’s uncomfortably close. Then Grian imagines a ‘crazy cat lady’ but for flying ferrets and starts laughing for real. A tiny little woman swamped by her shawl, lifting her hand out as Watchers are draped across her arm and shoulders like scarves. He pats Xelqua and returns to reciting all the cool ferret facts Xelqua read out that morning.

- - - -

Lunch is nice and involves the least amount of anxiety Grian’s had all day, which is surprising given that he’s, y’know, Grian. They get a booth because all three of them are shy. Mumbo starts folding napkins into origami as they wait. No one really questions why Grian occasionally slides napkin-wrapped pieces of food into his bag. Scar manages to avoid knocking over his lemonade. It’s nice, peaceful.

In retrospect, Grian could make a joke like ‘the calm before the storm’ or ‘he was having too much fun so the universe got mad’.

Mostly, Grian wants to take a nap. But that’s three hours later, after his second day of being (half of a) Magical Girl.

Instead of immediately returning to the van, the team decides to walk around a little. This isn’t just for Grian, either – Scar wanted to poke around in the specialty shops for his model houses.

Luckily, they didn’t buy anything very delicate, so when everyone’s phones go off and the street rumbles, nothing breaks when Mumbo startles and drops some bags.

“Swarm?” Scar says, high-pitched and panicked.

“What?” Grian asks, crouched over Mumbo’s bag.

Scar whips around, eyes wide, and offers his phone screen.

Grian had already guessed that it was a Rogue Alert; the lockscreen shows the special alert markers. What Grian has never seen before, though, is the words beneath.

ALERT

ROGUE ATTACK IN PROGRESS IN YOUR AREA

SWARM REPORTED, TAKE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY

“A swarm?” Grian repeats, still confused but now fearful.

In the few seconds it took to scoop up Mumbo’s dropped bag and read the alert, it was already too late. ‘A swarm,’ terrifyingly enough, means that a huge number of Rogues have been spotted.

As the pavement shakes again, a writhing wall of darkness crawls over the other end of the road.

It’s not a flat shadow. Unfortunately, it’s a sea of huge spiders.

As they descend to street level, it becomes clear that it’s a single wave, not an endlessly-generating horde. They’re about half the size of the cars – smaller than the Warden - but that’s still too big, and Grian takes a few steps backward as the spiders spot some humans fleeing and start chasing.

Something catches Grian’s shoulder, and he yelps.

“Here, narrow alley!” Scar hisses, tugging.

Despite Scar’s usual clumsiness, he manages to drag Grian down a little access road between a café and a bookshop. Mumbo is pressed up against the wall near the end, panting. Grian stumbles as Scar lets go and tries to open the café’s door.

“Locked,” Mumbo says breathily.

“The spiders can walk on walls, they can come in sideways,” Grian reminds everyone, spinning around to stare back the way they came.

Mumbo makes another attempted noise and Scar bangs on the door. A car careens past the mouth of the alley, but Grian doesn’t hear it crash. The ground shakes again.

“How are spiders making an earthquake?” He grumbles.

He slides his hand into his bag, and Xelqua clings immediately. They can’t transform here, though. There’s a camera on the outside of the bookshop, nestled into some ivy.

Mumbo makes another noise, almost choking, and Grian turns again, afraid a spider somehow teleported in behind them.

No, Mumbo’s hyperventilating. Less deadly, still not great.

“Hey, hey, okay,” Grian begins, desperately attempting to think of something comforting. His own fear is being swallowed by protectiveness, just like when trying to hide his little brother from-

No, thinking about that right now won’t be helpful.

Mumbo keeps covering his mouth and nose in intervals in attempts to forcibly regulate his breathing, so he doesn’t verbally respond to being petted. Scar slams into the door again, which is probably not very helpful. If anyone is in that store, they probably think there’s a spider trying to break in.

Before Grian can say anything, there are a pair of quakes, right on top of each other, and Grian falls into Mumbo’s arm. Something moves at the mouth of the alley-

Amethyst Witch is sliding off the top of a stunned spider. It’s so much larger, this close, and it looks like she’s broken its legs. It’s smoking at the joints, and pops into a core as she turns to look at them. The purple ruffles of her dress and her long, fiery braid defy gravity, drifting down to indicate she’d jumped from the roof. The oversize brim of her hat, however, stays perfectly in place to hide her face.

“Hello there! I apologize for the startle, but it seemed more pertinent to save you first!” She chirps, and Grian nods shakily.

She offers them a little curtsey, then scoops up the core and vanishes it somewhere in her dress. Mumbo slides down to the pavement and takes a heaving breath as most of the tension slides out of Grian’s body. The Wizard spins her wand, and crystals grow up from the ground to block the alley.

“Hi, hello, that’s, yeah!” Scar says in a rush.

Turning back to them, the Wizard flicks her wand towards the ground, and little shards of purple start bouncing together into the beginnings of shapes.

“Here, I’ll call something up for you to ride, let’s get you out of here,” she says, smiling reassuringly. “I think we’ll have to go two-by-two, though.”

Her crystalline constructs fold into draconic forms as she walks between them and extends her hand. She has gem-tipped fingers that Grian is now fascinated by; they’re almost hooflike. Now that he knows Magical Girls are only half-Spirit, he wonders what kind of Spirit is partnered to make her. Scar leans forward to take her hand, and Grian tries to tug Mumbo’s arm over his shoulders after petting Xelqua.

“Where would we go? Just hover in the air?” Grian asks. “Or are the spiders only in a specific area?”

Mumbo takes a full breath as he wavers to his feet, and Grian pats him reassuringly. Scar also pats one of the dragons, but he is more reverent than reassuring.

“They’re moving in a single wave, so they’re easy to spot from the air! We just have to move south or north from here – or east I suppose, back where they came from,” she answers, then swaps to explaining ‘How to Ride a Dragon-Construct’.

It is simultaneously easier and more difficult than Grian thought. He’s ridden horses before, so it’s not unfamiliar, but it is also strange in that – with the wingbeats - the rhythm of the movement is different, and obviously the dragon is made of translucent amethyst. Being able to see through his mount is pretty disconcerting. The Wizard is also sharing with him, which he absolutely cannot giggle aloud about. Two Magical Girls on one magical dragon construct!

The little bubble of happiness carries him into the air, and the Wizard guides the second dragon with her wand while tapping at their dragon’s horns.

Because this day has been nothing but an emotional rollercoaster, it is only now that they discover that the spiders. Can. Jump.

Small spiders can jump! There’s an entire group of spider species notable for being able to jump! And, of course, one of those species is unbelievably large in the Spirit Realm, was somehow transported through the Rift for as-yet-unknown reasons, and then set upon Boatem!

Of course!

And one of them has launched itself at him!

Of course!

Grian processes this while screaming.

The dragon cannot bleed, apparently will attempt to heal when shattered, and has captured the spider’s mandibles and one of its claws in its attempts to stick the lost amethysts back into place. The dragon, sized such that it could take off in an alley, is too small to hold the spider, Grian (and Xelqua), and Amethyst Wizard, and descends far too quickly for Grian’s liking. He kicks the spider in the face while the Wizard whips her wand around and thunks it into an eye.

Her attack is far more effective, magic-powered and all, and more crystals form across its face. It tries to wriggle free as a roof comes up way too fast, and the Wizard wraps her arms around Grian’s middle and topples sideways.

She floats.

The dragon and the spider shatter against the pockmarked concrete of an apartment building with a sound like hail. Grian can’t tell if the shrieking was the spider, himself, or his friends still in the air. The dragon immediately begins reforming as they touch down, and Grian is immediately spun out to arm’s-length so The Wizard can examine him.

“Are you alright? Did it nick your leg?” she asks, and Grian has to take several huge breaths before he’s got enough room in his lungs to speak.

He pats Xelqua in the bag for comfort.

“I’m, I’m fine? Physically? Yeah.”

He can’t even see her face and yet feels the depths of her concern. Can she project her emotions, or did he pick that up as a side effect of his magical senses?

She can’t worry about him for too long, however, because there are Even More Spiders, all honing in on their rooftop. He can see them hopping between rooves. The Wizard tilts her head like she’s looking through her hat at the dragon, then scans over the spidery horizon.

This roof has a little shed to hide the access hatch, too small for a spider to enter. Grian has an idea.

“I think I can hide in there, if you need to-“

He cuts himself off as another spider launches itself at the dragon still in the air, just barely skimming its wing.

“Oh, that would be helpful, I’m sorry,” Amethyst Wizard says, her other dragon launching into the air.

The roof shakes, and Grian skitters across the concrete as the Wizard shoots a bullet of amethyst from her wand before levitating after her dragon. The door opens when Grian falls into it, and he pulls the bag up close.

“Hey Xelqua? If she doesn’t pull them down, I think we should help.”

“Oh absolutely!” Xelqua crawls out of the bag and up his arm, wrapping over his shoulders to watch. “Oh, she’s pretty. Do you know her?”

Grian sits down on the grimy floor and laughs. What kind of question is that? His life is so chaotic. The fear is being wiped out by the sheer craziness of this entire interaction.

“Not before today! Her name is Amethyst Wizard, though. She makes constructs, you might have overheard…” he dissolves into breathy giggles.

A spider is launched by the unencumbered dragon. None have managed to get up to Grian’s friends yet, but every time one jumps, Xelqua’s paws clench in Grian’s sweater. Grian rests a hand on Xelqua and turns to scan the top of the stairwell, just to check for cameras. There is one, but it’s already tilted to look at the far wall. Yeah, that makes sense, with the smell.

Xelqua squeaks, and Grian whips around to see the dragon carrying his friends sink low toward a roof maybe a block away.

“Okay, yeah, let’s do this,” Grian says, wavering to his feet.

Xelqua launches himself into the air, and Grian offers his hands.

Again, Xelqua presses his paws into Grian’s hands, until warmth and light fill Grian’s vision. Before, in the single previous transformation, he’d been too startled to really process. He’d been him, and then vague fuzzy feelings until he was conscious again. This time, he tries to focus on the magic washing over him. He can see it, now, pink bubbles and darker magenta whorls sinking into his skin. Currents of magic around his body spin themselves into the beginnings of a pink dress and white feathers, until the magic washes over his eyes and everything goes bright.

The Song rises again, the feathers fill in solid, and Aria smiles to herself in the stairwell. Gravel and debris kicked up from the dragon and spider crashlanding crunch under her pink boots, then dust the air as she takes off.

Despite the circumstances, the sky is blue and warm. The city spreads out beneath her, patches of roofing and parks, and it is beautiful. She shoots into the sky with ease, the wind twirling around her with a cheerful whistle layering over the Song of Fate. This is wonderful! She allows herself to loop joyfully, just once, before turning to the spiders.

The dragon with Mumbo and Scar has landed atop an apartment building without a convenient shelter. Amethyst Wizard is standing between them and two spiders. Aria hums sharply, eyes blinking into existence in the lee of her wings, and swirls them into a cloud.

They trail after her as she swoops down like a falcon, and slam into the spiders as Aria catches herself just before she crashes. She folds into a curtsey before looking up at the other Magical Girl, who waves.

“Hello, miss! Thank you for the assistance!”

“Anytime,” Aria chirps. Then, before she is given another silly nickname, she adds, “My name is Aria! Anything else I can do to help?” She glances up, at the dragon hiding Scar and Mumbo under its wings.

The Wizard whips her wand around and a handful of butterfly-like shards sail across the sky like bullets. A spider jitters in place, then starts leaking something clear.

“You fly, right? Can you guard the dragon? I was attempting to deliver the civilians outside of the spider’s range, but I-“ she interrupts herself to throw a tridentlike crystal arrangement at another spider.

Aria hums another set of eyes into existence and whirls them into a wall. She closes the gap between herself and Amethyst Wizard so that the tornado of eyes can protect the dragon, too.

“If you can get it to stick with me, I can sing the whole time,” Aria agrees breathlessly. “I can do ranged very well.”

It’s about all she knows how to do at this moment, but the very large pink talons attached to her hands indicate she should be able to perform some kind of close-combat at some point. Amethyst Wizard nods, and gestures with her free hand.

“C’mon, I’ll see if I can get the dragon to go in front of me. I can’t fly by myself very quickly.”

Aria nods, skipping over to the head of the dragon and singing up some new eyes. They keep impacting on spiders as they try to interact, and Aria tries to watch them instead of worrying about being in front of Mumbo and Scar. She doesn’t have a mask or a hat to hide her face, and she doesn’t know how much of her face is affected by Xelqua. It could still be very Grian-shaped. At least she has longer hair? It’s pink at the ends, but the rest remains golden brown.

What do her eyes look like? Are they purple like the eyes she summons?

She twists away to look at a spider impacting with the shield and decides that’s a problem for future her. Possibly as Grian and Xelqua. What matters right now is matching the Song in her head, replenishing the spinning eyes and waiting for Amethyst Wizard to reform another dragon for herself.

They both have to take breaks to smack away spiders, and Scar even grabs a crystal at one point and throws it. The crystal leaves a weird purple mark on his palm as The Wizard attempts to tug it, but the mark fades quickly. Grian didn’t have any marks on him, did he? She’ll have to remember to check Scar for magic sickness.

Right now, though, the dragons are taking off. Again. This time, the spinning shield of eyes will help keep the spiders from weighing them down, and Scar cheers as one bounces off the lower edge. Aria is barely pausing to take breaths, between calling up eyes and attempting to stay just behind both dragons, but she agrees. Flying in the open air hasn’t lost its shine yet, and the desperate escape doesn’t dampen it at all. In the direct sunlight, the eyes reflect like oil. The whole swarm of them is - of course - coordinated, and the spiders still jumping at the ball are kind of like dolphins attacking a school of fish in a documentary.

Aria pushes up, over the shield, and the similarity to fish starts to dissolve with the city as a backdrop instead. That’s alright, though. Aria has an idea. The eyes seem to leap from her feathers and skin when the patterns glow with the Song, so in theory, if she could find or shape them to trail over her hands, she might be able to direct the eyes more, well, directly.

She just has to line it up perfectly as the Song swells again. The shield also has to be replenished, though, so she keeps up her own vocals as she trails the storm. The smaller wings lower down her back shed more eyes than her main flight wings, until she rolls midair like a cat and the violet lines start moving.

Sweeping down to the left of the dragon train, the eye patterns rippling over her body slide up to her palms. A single note, and they blossom into the third dimension. They catch on her talons, and she spins in the air, winding back to throw at the next spider crouched and ready to spring.

These eyes, so recently formed, are more powerful than the eyes maintaining the barrier. The spider she hits shatters like the one Amethyst Wizard landed on in the alley. Aria has to swoop down to snatch the core from the air, where it pulses slightly. The texture is …bad. Like something is attempting to escape a bag made of hair. It is presumably silk, but she hates it anyway.

She is also unsure how to contain the core without holding it. The Wizard simply disappeared the one from the alley, didn’t she? Or did her many layers of skirts hide pockets? Sailing under the eye storm with a whoop from the dragon riders, Aria pats her own skirt carefully. Bingo! She still doesn’t really want the cocoonlike core anywhere near her person, but pocketing it will have to do for now. It weighs down her skirt, but doesn’t fall out when she spirals out of the path of another spider. She hopes it’s not stuck, or eating her clothes somehow.

Several more cores join the first as more spiders are attracted to the movement of the storm, even though they are breaking away from the initial line Aria had noticed. Apparently, whatever drove them to cross the city is less important than inconveniencing her, personally.

On the other hand, Scar is having a great time. He’s yelling unhelpful sentence fragments while Mumbo attempts to get him to shut up and stop attracting attention. Given that they’re riding a purple dragon, followed by a purple dragon, and surrounded by purple orbs, it’s a completely lost cause on Mumbo’s part. Amethyst Wizard is ignoring them both and shooting tridents of crystal out of the shield.

There are so many spiders. Even though they have to actually jump from uneven roof to uneven roof, they are almost as fast as the dragons. It is definitely unfair. Amethyst Wizard is casting heavier and heavier weapons at the spiders to try and weigh them down long enough to let Aria explode them into cores, but they just keep coming. At least the spiders are leaving the rest of the city alone? Wherever the Wizard was planning to land will clearly just be immediately overrun.

Aria slips into the shield to talk to Amethyst Wizard briefly.

“I think that unless we do something complicated with the flight paths, we’re not going to be able to land until they lose interest,” she says in a quiet part of the Song.

The Wizard bares her teeth. The inside of her mouth is also amethyst-colored. “Someone else has to show up soon. I think I can hold them together for another twenty minutes.”

Oh, Aria hadn’t even considered that the constructs might have a time limit like the eyes. That pushes up the timeline considerably.

“The top of the Hermit Gazette has a viewing area that might be unlocked, the eyes and the dragon can cover them until they get through.”

“And then we lead the spiders away again, yes, let’s try that,” the Wizard says, and flicks her staff sharply.

Aria drops back through the cloud of eyes, calling up some replacements for the ones that had gone out while she’d been speaking. She wonders if Xelqua and Grian’s throats will hurt when she separates. That’d be difficult to explain, probably.

With a second target again, the spiders jump more often. Aria tries to lead them away from the wide turn Amethysts Wizard carefully charts and hopes that splitting their attention takes some of the stress off of her. She’s yelling the plan to Mumbo and Scar, who are immediately on board. As employees, they have passes for the roof doors even when they’re closed to the public, but Aria was absolutely not going to share that information. It should be open today, anyway.

They aren’t turning completely around, so they aren’t flying back over the apartment Aria has to remember to return to. Instead, they take a left, where the spider wave used to be before it became a spider pack. The Hermit Gazette isn’t the tallest building in the city, or even the tallest building in its immediate area, but it is perfectly positioned to look out over the old Mycelium District they are currently flying over.

It is also perfectly positioned to frame another coalition of spiders, and the new, statue-like Magical Girl smashing them into pebbles. Resurrection is easily recognizable despite being ringed by as many spiders that are still trailing after the dragons, mostly because she is twice as tall as they are. Also green. The green definitely helps.

Aria feels a little bad for bringing another entire swarm down on her head, but she has an apology forming across her wings as she swoops down just like she had with The Wizard. The eyes slam into the spiders with a terrible crunching noise like many bags of chips being hit with baseball bats, but Resurrection doesn’t flinch.

Instead, she digs her fingers into the chain wrapped around a few spiders and whaps them against the concrete. They crumble into cores, and the chains retract so Resurrection can tuck them away before lassoing another set of spiders. She is the first Magical Girl Aria has encountered who has visible pockets. Her tattered dress highlights each intentional opening with orange, and every single one has at least one core peeking out. It’s very gross and Aria hates it.

“Hello! Sorry to crash the party!” Aria yells.

Tossing one of the spiders off of the roof, Resurrection turns to blink up at her.

“Hello! You’re new,” she says, and starts reeling in the chains attached to her shoulders. “You’re very welcome to do so, though, there’s far too many of these pests for just me.”

Aria can’t immediately respond until she pops a few more eyes into existence to keep the spiders from tackling her, which just proves Resurrection right. Unfortunately, that problem will only be getting worse.

“My name’s Aria, Amethyst Wizard and I are trying to keep some civilians –“ she has to pause to flick a few eyes at another spider, which gives her a moment to reflect on how odd it is to refer to people she knows in such a vague manner. “- we were trying to fly some civilians away from the spiders, but they jump, so we’re trying to hide them now.”

Resurrection looks at her, then up over her head – presumably where the very purple cloud is approaching.

“Well. I’m Resurrection of the Statues. Have the two of you decided how to hide all… that?” Resurrection says conversationally. When she turns to lasso another set of spiders, Aria can see that her chains actually originate from a loop on her back, like a doll on a necklace.

The pace of conversation is slightly awkward since Aria can’t respond until she can take another breath.

“Amethyst Wizard is going to drive the dragons into the Hermit Gazette Tower so they can hide in the viewing area. They work there, apparently,” she explains eventually.

The purple cloud is nearly upon them, and some of the spiders are beginning to notice. Instead of attempting to snatch the dragons from the air, they turn to attacking the grounded prey. Aria has to take off just to have more maneuverability, trying to sing enough eyes to protect herself and rejuvenate the shield as well. Resurrection is unphased as the dragons get into earshot, and Aria can hear Mumbo and Scar screaming at the top of their lungs.

Some of the eyes Aria just summoned to replenish the shield are immediately taken out by the new horde of spiders, stunning them so Resurrection can easily swipe them with her chains. The boys scream again, and Amethyst Wizard tosses a handful of crystals that rapidly grow as they slam into the spider Rogues.

With Resurrection, Aria might actually be able to slow down the horde long enough that their silly plan might work. Her chains might also be able to launch Aria’s eyes, if she could manage to find a spare breath to ask. Looping low over the other Magical Girl’s head, Aria narrowly misses a few spiders with a hand-launched explosion. Luckily, the noise and light stuns and startles many spiders such that Resurrection can lasso them and launch them into each other.

The dragons sharply ascend along the tower, shedding spiders, and Aria hums the note that makes all the remaining shield eyes explode. It’s risky, sure, but it also scares all of the spiders still trailing them, enough that they disappear over the edge. Hopefully that will give them enough time for Mumbo and Scar to hide.

Aria turns to the spiders still bothering Resurrection and times her dive with the next time the markings line up with her hands. With the shield down, she has more power to focus into the explosions, which is wonderful. Unexpected, but wonderful. A few spiders crawl up the tower wall, but only enough to launch themselves over Aria’s head. She has to listen very carefully, both to the Song and to the scratches of the spiders’ feet.

Resurrection’s hits are often bass notes, contrasting with the chains clattering against their own links. Though Aria doubts she can her the Song, the other Magical Girl is rhythmic in her attacks. Snare, tug, reel, and launch, steadily such that Aria can dance in the air as the high notes. Amethyst Wizard descends from the Hermit Gazette, which hopefully means the boys got away safely, and slams down crystals in a perfect crescendo.

The spiders transform into clouds of smoking and pulsing cores.

The three Magical Girls look at each other, panting. Aria sinks back to the ground and settles all of her wings. Resurrection somehow vanishes her chains entirely. Amethyst Wizard brushes down her skirts.

Aria manages to break the silence first.

“Did those men get into the building?”

Amethyst Wizard nods rapidly, slightly startled. The brim of her hat flutters with her movement.

“Yes, it worked perfectly, actually! I was a little concerned that the spiders would break the door open, but… did you do something about it? Or did your orb thingies just run out of time?”

“Oh, I exploded them!” Aria chirps. She doesn’t know if she should elaborate. Do other Magical Girls have something like the Song of Fate? “They react to my voice, actually,” she says, when she decides that her previous declaration sounds unhinged.

The others both nod, humming in understanding. Aria refuses to squirm out of anxiety, but is unsure how she’s supposed to act now that the fighting is over. Typical Grian moment, really – Xelqua is far friendlier than the human.

Before she blurts out something else, Resurrection stretches with a terrible grinding noise, and startles Amethyst Wizard into speech.

“Oh, Aria, right? Have you had to turn in cores before?”

Aria shakes her head, embarrassed. This time, she can’t stop herself from shuffling in place, which only serves to bump the cores in her pockets against her legs. She can’t feel them move, but the knowledge that they are is still enough to creep her out. The Warden’s core had, too, hadn’t it? This better not be a trend.

Resurrection makes a soft hum, and is smiling when Aria peeks though her bangs.

“Well, we’d best show you, then. Musician won’t bite. She’s far more scared of you than you are of her, and she hasn’t even met you yet.”

That sounds kind of ominous, actually. Usually, people say things like that about bears. Aria nods anyway.

The Wizard turns to Resurrection.

“Rezz? Do you want me to carry you?”

“Where are we going?” Aria asks, as if Miss Hawkeye hadn’t told her.

Resurrection nods at Amethyst Wizard, who starts to form another dragon.

“The cores go to Musician, near the Rift,” she says, so Amethyst Wizard can focus. “She takes them in, I think. Better than just bandying them about out here.”

“We have to sneak into a building?” Specifically, the one building she’s already been in. Wait, does that apartment building count? It might. Ah well. Aria isn’t going to mention it.

The Wizard giggles lightly. Resurrection makes a huffy noise instead of a laugh, for plausible deniability and to convey disagreement.

“No. Musician is usually somewhere around the Observatory campus, though. There’s a field, you’ll see when we get there.”

Amethyst Wizard interrupts to ask if Aria has enough energy to fly across half the city, which abruptly reminds Aria that she gets to fly. Really, truly, fly. She nods rapidly, and impatiently rustles all six of her wings as The Wizard and Resurrection mount the dragon. It’s a bigger dragon than the ones she made in the alley – has to be, to carry the giant animate statue – so Amethyst Wizard has to be lifted up.

Then she can tap the dragon’s horns, and Aria and the dragon spread their wings. The roof shakes when they push off, just from the sheer force of displaced air, and Aria is free.

Without the pressure of having to fight a swarm of spiders, Aria can simply fly. There is nothing else to focus on. Just the feeling of wind through feathers, angling into the heat rising from the rooftops, twirling in the air. The Song of Fate is loud and joyous, and Aria cannot help but sing along. She makes no eyes with these notes, no magic is channeled, but her markings swirl and glow anyway.

It might just be her mind trying match patterns, but even the movement of the rest of the world seems to line up with the Song. The distant pulsing sirens of emergency vehicles, the swirling startled birds, even the flaps of Amethyst Wizard’s dragon all match the beat of the Song in her mind. Maybe even her heartbeat.

Returning to the Observatory means turning left, which the dragon takes at a wide angle. Aria takes the time to launch herself into several twirls, just for the hell of it, before diving down to skim along the rooftops as the dragon evens out. Then she sweeps under the dragon and rolls up to coast beside the other Magical Girls.

“So. We’re going near the Rift Observatory? Not… landing on the roof or something?”

Resurrection smiles, revealing teeth the same pale green as her skin. What stone is she supposed to be made of?

“Musician is shy. She’s the only one who seems to keep a territory,” she begins, which is strange.

If Musician is so localized, then why was she not there when Aria first formed? …Were her, hm, components not working that day? The other Magical Girls expect her to be constantly present, though. Very mysterious.

“We land in the field between the back lot and the forest, and she comes to meet us. Usually from one of the small outbuildings. There aren’t cameras that face that way, but I imagine it would not be unreasonable to assume that Magical Girls would be interested in the Rift,” Resurrection continues, almost to herself.

“From the buildings?” Aria asks. “Is she working with them?”

The other Magical Girls hesitate, then look at each other, then at different points in the sky.

“I think her… anchor… might,” Amethyst Wizard answers, after a second.

“But I still say that they don’t know anything, so whoever it is, they’re still hiding it,” Resurrection argues.

Amethyst Wizard has nothing to add to that. They fly quietly for a few minutes, until the Observatory building comes into view and a different instrument joins the Song. It almost sounds like whispering, the odd crackling Aria had thought was the Rift itself. Is its influence strong enough to echo all the way out here? Maybe it is calling out to her since she is thinking about it.

She is also thinking about the field slipping down to the tree line behind the Observatory, one blocked completely from the public view. It is big enough that they simply glide down like a tiny plane, though Aria takes a lap before actually touching down.

In the shadow of an outbuilding, a figure is sliding out from behind a wall. They – she? – is comprised of armor pieces floating around an indistinct body, like layers of glass around ink. Opaque green segments form the visor, chest plate, tasset, and boots, with bright lights flickering at the corners. If this is Musician, she doesn’t look like most other Magical Girls.

She’s probably Musician. The Wizard and Resurrection move toward her and the dragon curls into a catlike loaf, unconcerned. Resurrection even leans in to hug the newcomer, which reassures Aria considerably.

She lands on the dragon’s other side, so her wings don’t kick up dust near them, and then waves when introduced.

“This is Aria, we just picked her up. She’s new,” Amethyst Wizard explains.

It’s such a casual statement that Aria immediately giggles.

“Ah, I’m sorry, I’m just, you introduced me like a new puppy,” she says, wondering if her feathers cover what feels like bright blush. “Yes, I’m new. This is my second time out, actually.”

And her second time on these grounds, but if Musician’s – what did Resurrection say? Anchor? – if Musician’s anchor does work here, then she might know already. Aria swallows, remembering Grian’s panic earlier. Musician might know quite a lot about her.

Musician’s faceplate is emotionless, but she tilts her head like a bird and emits a very synthetic hum.

“Then it’s very nice to meet you, Aria,” she says, and her voice is metallic despite the warmth. “Usually, someone has to go track down the new people. Usually after something silly happens…”

When she shakes herself out of her thoughts, she chimes lightly. Ah, that would be where the Song is getting the noise. Aria wonders if other Magical Girls have specific instruments or sounds she just hasn’t put together yet.

Amethyst Wizard makes an embarrassed noise and Resurrection huffs, tossing her hair. Aria wonders what “silly things” they did that Musician remembers. Musician ignores them and straightens up as she continues.

“My full name is Soulside Musician! My role here is to help dispose of cores, which are the concentrated essence of a Spirit. As a core, a Spirit is very vulnerable, but can regenerate to full form if given enough time. Thus, this is the easiest-“

“Muse,” Resurrection cuts in gently. “We fought a lot of spiders today. Can we give you some while you talk?”

Musician startles, chiming again, and her next sentence is almost panicked.

“Spiders? As in multiple?”

The Wizard starts pulling cores from her skirt and Resurrection simply flips her outer layer over.

Musician gasps, crouching, and doesn’t continue with whatever lecture she had planned.

“This is far more than is usually capable of coming through! How did… how long have they been gathering?”

Aria shrugs and empties her pockets too. How is Musician going to carry them all? She only has armor.

“The alert was different too. They made a ‘swarm’ one,” Resurrection says grimly.

Musician scoops up a core and cradles it with both hands. It sparkles, and Aria’s question is answered: more translucent glass crawls over the core and hovers off of Musician’s palms to orbit her head. She grabs another, and another, and an inverse of Aria’s eye shield forms around the four of them. There are so many spiders that they drop three cores for every one Musician crystalizes.

And, with breaks for Musician to focus on her magic, they explain the fight today. It is a different dynamic than talking with Pearl or medics, closer to Xelqua’s memory of preparing food as a group. Not that he ever ate another Spirit’s core! The spiders’ cores are about the size of cacao pods, though.

And the conversation is much grimmer than family gossip. The Magical Girls occasionally reference a fight or a kind of Spirit Aria is unfamiliar with, but most of the events they compare the spider wave to made its way to human news. This is the first time more than about fifteen Spirits have been out at once, according to Resurrection, and Musician agrees that the specific order in which the spiders were deployed speaks to a plan of some sort. The only real question is… who?

“Has anyone seen any human-shaped Rogues recently?” Amethyst Wizard asks, and Musician jumps.

“No, but that’s weird too,” Resurrection muses. “Maybe this one is capable of long-term planning instead of simply causing chaos.”

“I hate that,” says The Wizard.

“Are ‘human-shaped’ Rogues like Helsknight?” Aria asks. Grian’s team was on the follow-up for that incident, and Xelqua’s knowledge cannot fill in what, exactly, the fiery Rogue was. Resurrection was present, so hopefully she will know.

The other Magical Girls are surprised Aria even thought to ask. …Or they’re debating how to answer. They tip their heads toward each other and Aria can’t read any of their expressions save for Resurrection’s contemplative one.

“I believe so. Helsknight certainly fell into the category, but other kinds sometimes appear. He was a Rogue possessing a human to strengthen his power.”

That’s an upsetting concept! Aria and Xelqua were not aware that Rogues could bodysnatch people! Xelqua has met plenty of Spirits with humanlike appearances, but never any that would admit to having just… done that.

  “Was the human okay after? Did they get some kind of… superpowered magic sickness?” Aria asks, pausing in her attempts to flood Musician with cores.

Again, there are Meaningful Expressions Aria can’t read between The Wizard’s hat and Musician’s face mask. Okay. Maybe Aria is asking some things that tread on someone’s privacy. Resurrection hums, thoughtful once more, but only shrugs.

“Ah, I think that, if I’m remembering right, victims of possession are often unconscious for a while afterward…” Amethyst Wizard explains quietly.

Immediately, Aria attempts to remember everyone Grian had interviewed that had been unconscious after the Helfire Incident, then feels guilty. That person deserves rest, not for her to poke into their life! And Grian may never have met them! They could’ve still been healing at the time, or part of Scar’s interviewees, or-

The sound of her own name diverts her from her theorizing.

“Aria is right, though. The person who set the spiders out so carefully might be hidden, and therefore out of our normal investigative parameters,” Resurrection says. “Unless some sort of… I don’t know, mass scanning ability is hidden away somewhere-” she looks at Musician, who shakes her head. “-then clues it is. I’ll try to catch people and spread the theory around, see if anyone else has seen something acting strangely.”

The more she speaks, the more a specific pattern appears in her speech. It’s as if she is deliberately swapping between accents to confuse someone who might try to identify her voice. Sometimes it is more echoey, too, like The Song has plucked her words to weave into its beat. Aria is focusing on this instead of asking further questions because she has to catch up on dumping cores. It’s not like she can do much to help, unless she stumbles across Miss Hawkeye again.

Musician’s glowing dome of cores is so packed it is practically still, instead of the swirling patterns Aria’s eyes formed. Somehow, she manages to balance it as she stands, the last few cores crystallizing in her arms.

“Is that the last of them?”

Aria smoothes down her skirt, then looks at the other Magical Girls.

“I think so?”

Musician attempts to bow without knocking anything free.

“Then I’ll try to get them all squared away. Ah. Be safe!” She says, toddling with bell-like chimes across the concrete back to the building she first appeared from.

The Wizard, Resurrection, and Aria all share looks. Or kind of tilt their heads at each other. The hat still trips Aria up.

Resurrection sets her hand on Aria’s shoulder.

“You need to go back where you were before, okay? Unless someone else is there. Try not to be seen.”

Aria nods rapidly. “I know!” Then, because that might sound a little rude, she tacks on, “On my first… outing, I met Miss Hawkeye and she told me, too. I think she took the core, but I suppose I can’t ask now.”

The others nod, swallowing the lie easily. Should she have? Telling them that she was here for her first fight really feels like too much information.

“That’s alright then. I’ll take you back to the roof we found you on, right, Rezz?” The Wizard asks.

Aria bids them farewell as Amethyst Wizard wakes her dragon to carry them. Hopefully, she can simply find a hidden area to transform in. She has a feeling that Mumbo and Scar have been texting Grian, and Pearl will be so upset. It has only been a day since Aria’s pact was made!

[miniaturemoonheart]

Calling Hekate:

The Ultimate Goddess of Witchcraft (and Zero Patience for Your Fluff)"

Oh, Hekate. The Queen of Crossroads, Mistress of Majick, Keeper of Keys, and the no-nonsense CEO of the witchy world. If you’re looking for coddles and good vibes, keep walking. But if you’re ready to roll up your sleeves, light some candles, and maybe scare the neighbors, Hekate’s your gal. She doesn’t dabble—she commands. And trust me, you don’t summon her casually unless you enjoy the idea of your candles mysteriously refusing to light.

---

Why Hekate is the Ultimate Witch’s Deity

She’s the CEO of Witchcraft:

Majick? She invented it. Shadow work? Her middle name. Necromancy? Please, she has ghosts on speed dial. If there’s a witchy operation happening, you can bet Hekate signed off on it first.

She’s the Original Multitasker:

Past, present, future? Done. Need help in three realms at once? Easy. Holding torches, managing three faces, and still looking fabulous? Iconic.

She’s Fierce AF:

Hekate isn’t here for your excuses. She’ll light the way, but you better keep up. If you’re lost at the crossroads, it’s not her fault you forgot the map.

---

How to Call Upon Hekate (Without Embarrassing Yourself)

The Ritual: Crossroads of Power

This isn’t your average “let’s light a candle and hope for the best” situation. Calling Hekate requires intention, respect, and maybe a little flair for the dramatic.

---

What You’ll Need:

3 Black Candles:

Because one just doesn’t scream “I’m serious.”

A Key:

Symbolic of wisdom, but also practical because she is the Keeper of Keys.

Honey:

Even goddesses appreciate a sweet treat, and she deserves it.

Garlic or Bay Leaves:

To keep spiritual freeloaders from crashing the ritual.

Torch, Lantern, or Flashlight:

Because Hekate always brings the light, and you should too.

Quiet Space at Night:

Bonus points if you’re at an actual crossroads (and no, your driveway doesn’t count).

---

Steps:

Set the Space:

Arrange your candles in a triangle because witches love geometry. Put the key and honey in the center, then sprinkle some garlic or bay leaves around like you’re seasoning the ritual with witchy vibes.

Light the Candles:

Light each one and say:

“Hekate, Queen of the Crossroads,

Keeper of the Keys,

Illuminate my path

And guide me through the shadows.”

Offer the Honey:

Place the honey in front of the candles (resist the urge to taste it). Say:

“Hekate, I offer this in gratitude and respect.

May your wisdom flow through me

As I walk the path of power.”

Call Her with a Chant:

Chant three times (with conviction, not like you’re reciting a shopping list):

“Hekate, keeper of the keys,

Goddess of night, hear my pleas.

With torches bright and wisdom deep,

Guide my steps, my soul to keep.”

Reflect and Receive:

Hold the key, close your eyes, and visualize Hekate standing at the crossroads. If the candles flicker or you feel a chill, congrats—you’ve got her attention.

Thank Her:

Don’t be that witch who forgets their manners. Say:

“Thank you, Hekate, for your guidance and presence.

I honor you and walk with your light.”

---

Offerings Hekate Actually Likes

Hekate isn’t here for your leftover takeout. If you want to impress her, try these:

Honey:

Classic, sweet, and a definite yes.

Garlic:

Practical, protective, and witch-approved.

Keys:

Symbolic and meaningful—just don’t use your car key unless you enjoy walking.

Torches or Candles:

Black, white, or red. Keep it dramatic.

Eggs:

Life, rebirth, and biodegradable. It’s a win-win.

Wine or Mead:

Because she deserves a toast, not a toast crumb.

---

Where to Leave the Offerings

At a Crossroads:

Her sacred space. And no, the intersection outside Starbucks doesn’t count.

On Your Altar:

Dedicate a spot just for her.

In Nature:

Leave biodegradable offerings like honey or herbs where they won’t harm the environment.

---

Why Hekate is Worth It

Hekate doesn’t show up for just anyone. She’s for witches who are serious about their craft, ready to embrace their shadows, and not afraid of a little (or a lot of) power. If you’re looking for a goddess who will guide you, challenge you, and maybe scare the crap out of you in the best way, Hekate is it.

So light the candles, grab the honey, and show her you mean business. She’s not just a goddess—she’s a force of nature. And trust me, you want her on your side.

The crossroads are waiting—are you ready to answer?

Dark Witchery

[homeappliance11]

Crabtree Smart IR Remote Control: The Ultimate Solution for Home Automation

The concept of home automation has seen tremendous advancements in recent years, and at the core of this transition lies the evolution of device control. Among these innovations, smart IR (infrared) remote controls have emerged as a key player in effortlessly managing multiple devices in intelligent and connected homes. The Crabtree Smart IR Remote Control, with its cutting-edge features, is a game-changer for those aiming to simplify and enhance their home automation experience.

This blog dives into the world of smart infrared remote controls, explores the evolution of remote technology, and highlights the features and benefits of Crabtree's Smart IR Remote Control. By the end, you'll understand how this technology can revolutionize your living spaces and where you can learn more to take the first step toward smarter living.

The Evolution of Remote Control Technology

The concept of universal remotes appeared decades ago, offering the ability to manage multiple devices with a single control. However, their functionality was often limited, requiring complicated setups and line-of-sight positioning. Today's smart remote controls, such as the Crabtree Smart IR Remote Control, leverage the power of modern protocols like Wi-Fi and voice integration to overcome these limitations.

From physically pressing buttons to using voice commands or controlling devices via apps, remote technology has significantly evolved to prioritize user convenience. Whether it's turning on the AC before you reach home or managing your entertainment system from another room, smart IR remotes make multitasking effortless.

Understanding Crabtree's Smart IR Remote Control

Crabtree's smart solution combines innovation and intuitive functionality, making home automation accessible to everyone. Let's explore its key features, benefits, and how they work.

Key Features and How They Work

The Crabtree Smart IR Remote Control is packed with features that make it versatile, easy to use, and practical:

Wi-Fi Protocols: Operating on a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network, the device keeps you connected to your appliances no matter where you are.

360° IR Range: With an effective range of up to 5 meters, the remote offers complete coverage in any direction. It does, however, require line of sight to function seamlessly.

Compact Power Source: Powered by a 5 V DC, 1.0 A micro USB port, it is energy-efficient and easy to set up.

The magic lies in its seamless integration of multiple technologies, allowing users to control IR-based devices like televisions, air conditioners, and more, through a single interface or app.

Advantages of Wi-Fi Protocols and App Control

One standout feature of the Crabtree Smart IR Remote Control is its app-based control, powered by Wi-Fi. Using the dedicated mobile app, users can manage all their IR-enabled appliances from anywhere in the world. Whether you're at home or stepped out for errands, the Crabtree solution ensures that your devices are always within reach.

This functionality is not just convenient for daily operations, but it also brings added benefits:

Centralized Management: Replace multiple remotes cluttering your space with one smart solution.

Remote Control: Forgot to turn off the AC? No problem. Simply use the app to switch it off on the go.

Energy Saving: Efficient control over appliances translates to reduced energy consumption, saving you money in the long term.

The Convenience of Voice Control

The Crabtree Smart IR Remote Control also integrates with leading voice assistants, enabling hands-free operation of devices. Whether you're asking Alexa to turn on the fan or instructing Google Assistant to adjust the room temperature, voice commands make the process smoother and more intuitive.

For users with busy schedules, this feature is a major time-saver. Imagine preparing dinner while instructing your voice assistant to lower the brightness of your smart TV or mute the volume—effortless multitasking!

Range and Effectiveness of Infrared Ray

Another technical highlight is the device's 360° IR coverage within a range of up to 5 meters. This means you can control appliances without having to aim the remote directly at them, as long as they are within line of sight.

For IR-linked devices, the range and broad coverage ensure flexibility and convenience across different room layouts—perfect for modern homes where practical usage matters just as much as style.

The Future of Smart IR Remote Control Systems

How Crabtree's Solution Fits Into the Bigger Picture

The Crabtree Smart IR Remote Control is more than just a gadget; it's a gateway to streamlining your smart home ecosystem. With the potential to connect to a growing range of devices and enhanced user functionalities, it provides long-term value for homeowners.

Potential for Further Advancements

The pace of innovation in smart technology is rapid, and the future of IR remote control systems seems promising. Devices may continue to grow smarter with adaptive intelligence, deeper integrations, and even more effortless user experiences. Smart remotes could incorporate learning algorithms to adjust device settings based on user preferences and habits.

Final Thoughts and Recommendations

With the Crabtree Smart IR Remote Control, managing your appliances has never been easier. Its combination of Wi-Fi connectivity, app-based control, voice command integration, and broad IR range delivers unmatched convenience. Whether you're a tech enthusiast or simply looking for a practical home solution, this device is designed for anyone seeking to simplify their daily routines.

Where to Purchase and Learn More

Interested in upgrading your home automation setup? The Crabtree Smart IR Remote Control is readily available through select online and retail outlets. Visit today to purchase or learn more about its capabilities.

Transform the way you interact with your home today. With Crabtree’s Smart IR Remote Control, the future of simplicity is just a click away!

[aaricwarren]

Bulk URL Opener for Content Creators: How to Manage Your Research More Efficiently

As a content creator, researcher, or even just someone who loves to multitask online, managing multiple web pages at once can feel like a never-ending task. Clicking on one link after another, waiting for them to load—it wastes time and interrupts your flow. That’s where tools like a bulk URL opener come in handy.

In this blog, we’ll explore how a bulk URL opener can make your research process smoother, faster, and more efficient. Whether you’re gathering information for a blog post, creating reports, or simply navigating through your daily web tasks, this tool can be a real time-saver.

What Is a Bulk URL Opener?

Simply put, a bulk URL opener is a tool that lets you open multiple web pages all at once. Instead of clicking each link individually, you can copy and paste a list of URLs into the tool, and with one click, all those pages will open in separate tabs. It’s like a shortcut for your browser, making it easier to jump between different sources and information.

Imagine you’re doing research for a blog. You have 10-20 sources you want to look at. Instead of opening each one individually, you can use an online url opener to open all of them with a single click. It saves time, reduces hassle, and helps you stay focused on your content rather than on the logistics of switching between tabs.

Why Should Content Creators Use a Bulk URL Opener?

1. Saves Time and Effort

Content creators often need to sift through lots of online resources. Whether it’s researching a topic, collecting inspiration, or fact-checking, there’s a lot to read and analyze. Opening each webpage manually can take up valuable time. With a multiple URL opener, you can streamline your process and focus more on what really matters—creating great content.

2. Keeps You Organized

It’s easy to lose track of your sources when you’re working with multiple tabs. A bulk URL opener allows you to open all your links in one go, keeping everything organized in front of you. This makes it easier to compare information, check facts, and ensure your work is accurate. You won’t have to hunt through your browser history trying to find that one link you forgot to bookmark.

3. Better Workflow for Big Projects

For larger projects like eBooks, research papers, or content strategies, a bulk opener can be a lifesaver. When you’re dealing with dozens or even hundreds of links, manually opening each one is simply not practical. A bulk opener url tool lets you open them all at once, so you can scan through the necessary information more quickly and efficiently.

How Does a Bulk URL Opener Work?

Using a bulk URL opener is simple. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

Copy Your URLs: Collect all the URLs you need to open. These could be from a Word document, spreadsheet, or even a simple list you’ve jotted down.

Paste into the Tool: Open your bulk URL opener and paste all the URLs into the provided box. Most tools let you paste up to 100 or more links at once.

Click to Open: With just one click, the tool will open all the links in new tabs. Depending on your browser settings, these tabs will either load immediately or when you click on them.

That’s it! You’ve saved yourself minutes—if not hours—of time you would’ve spent manually clicking on each link.

Who Can Benefit from a Bulk URL Opener?

Though content creators will likely find this tool most useful, anyone who needs to manage multiple links can benefit from a multiple URL opener. Here are just a few examples:

Bloggers and Writers: Open all your research links in one go and streamline your workflow.

Researchers: Whether you’re collecting sources for a paper or reviewing academic journals, this tool helps you access everything faster.

Students: Working on a project? A bulk URL opener makes it easy to gather resources and work more efficiently.

Social Media Managers: When managing multiple social media accounts, you often need to open several analytics pages, articles, or tools. This tool makes it easier.

Common Challenges Without a Bulk URL Opener

When you’re not using a bulk opener URL tool, you might run into a few common frustrations:

Tab Overload: Opening each page manually can quickly lead to a cluttered browser, making it harder to find what you need.

Lost Links: Without a structured way of opening and tracking multiple URLs, it’s easy to lose important pages or forget to open them at all.

Wasted Time: Every time you have to manually click and wait for a page to load, you’re losing valuable time that could be spent on creating or analyzing content.

Best Practices for Using a Bulk URL Opener

Using a bulk URL opener is pretty straightforward, but there are a few tips that can make your experience even smoother:

Limit the Number of Tabs: Opening too many tabs at once can slow down your browser or even cause it to crash. Depending on your computer’s strength, it might be best to open 10-15 tabs at a time.

Check Browser Settings: Some browsers have settings that prevent multiple tabs from opening at once or that block pop-ups. Be sure to check your settings and make adjustments if necessary.

Organize Your URLs: Before you paste your list of URLs, make sure they’re organized. Group related links together so you can easily navigate through them once they’re opened.

Are There Any Downsides?

Like any tool, a bulk URL opener has its limitations. Opening too many tabs at once can slow down your computer or overload your browser. However, as long as you manage the number of tabs and keep your browser and computer updated, these issues should be minimal.

Conclusion: A Small Tool with Big Benefits

In today’s fast-paced world of content creation, efficiency is key. A bulk URL opener can help streamline your workflow, allowing you to focus more on creating quality content and less on managing countless tabs. Whether you’re a blogger, researcher, or student, this tool can make your life easier and your projects more organized.

Tools like URL Lookup offer simple yet powerful ways to manage multiple links without the hassle. In just a few clicks, you can have everything you need right in front of you, improving your productivity and making your research a breeze.

So next time you’re faced with a mountain of URLs, consider using a multiple url opener to get the job done faster and smarter!

[pomrania]

Last night I read this over, to see what was all in it; now I'm doing a detailed pass and writing stuff down.

I really appreciate how you've clearly marked out, which sections are yet to be done.

Typo under 'what you'll need': "digital resourece pack" should be "resource"

First paragraph under 'rolling dice', "rolling on table" feels like it's missing a word, because two paragraphs later it says "rolling on a table".

I don't remember if "generate a total" is used elsewhere here, despite reading through the thing last night; that's what happens when something is just so familiar that I wouldn't register it. ((I don't believe I saw it on this pass, but the timespan over which I was doing this, was long enough that I completely forgot to look out for it.))

Under 'minifig assembly', is there a reason to specify the front base flap under the back base flap, as opposed to the other way around? Or is it a case of "one of them has to go under the other, and it's simpler to just pick one in the instructions".

I really appreciate the shaded text in the glossary; it's so CONVENIENT.

Typo in the glossary under 'damage control', "of from an adjacent station" should be "or from".

Typo in the glossary under 'extravehicular activity", "any may not participate" should be "and".

Probable typo in the glossary under 'hazard, major' and 'hazard, minor', as "if not appropriate mitigated" is missing something.

Typo in the glossary under 'leader', "pushing youreslf" should be "yourself".

Typo in the glossary under 'multitasking', "msy perform" should be "may". And, not a typo, but why the phrasing "exactly one test"; wouldn't "only one test" be more accurate? If it's possible for a space gerbil to be positioned such that they can't participate in any test.

Typo in the glossary under 'success', "if the the chosen result" has an extraneous "the".

I also appreciate the written-out assumptions about the persona.

Under 'mech suit systems', the first paragraph says to roll for what systems you get, while the second paragraph references "the two you rolled or chose"; one of these should be changed.

…and I'm skimming over the 'systems' table because I WILL get caught up in it if I'm not careful, trying to consider what each possible combination might MEAN.

The 'starting upgrades' table looks awkward in the HTML version, with abbreviated names despite plenty of space; I trust an that was done because space is more of a consideration in the other formats.

Typo in the 'starting upgrades' table, "lauch bays" should be "launch".

So, to confirm, Alt Mode does NOT have the otherwise-standard plasma cannon? That would make sense; lose a bit of power in exchange for options.

Not directly related to anything here, but I'm so impressed by how you're able to clearly communicate information with this. I've recently started writing down stuff for a game I want to write, and it's hard to convey my meaning even when I'm just rambling with no requirement of efficiency or formality. It's one of those things that LOOKS easy when it's been done by somebody skilled in the task, but is absolutely NOT in fact that easy when you're just approaching it with zero-to-minimal practice. At least I know that you've a LOT of years of practice on me in that regard, so it doesn't mean that I'm stupid or incompetent; it just means I have a lot of work ahead of me.

'N-Space Corridors' feels like the name is a reference to something; is that a video game thing, a science fiction thing, or what? The closest an comes to mind is "L-Space", from Discworld, but I'm assuming an that was ALSO a reference to… whatever the thing was.

Under 'onboard AI', I really appreciate "the GM should answer honestly, but is not bound by their response if circumstances change".

Typo under 'finishing touches', "repurporse a picture" should be "repurpose".

"Space gerbils are very small, and thus don't have room to fit many rules inside of them", that phrase always makes me grin.

Question: for 'overclock', what happens if all stations ALREADY have a condition, thus there's no possible random station where adding one won't incur Strain?

Typo under 'name, callsign and appearance': "on our crew ID card" should be "your".

I appreciate the box about how there's no situations in the basic rules where an uncrewed station would be considered occupied; that's the kind of "but what if" that my brain automatically considers given a free moment and half an idea, plus it allows for future specific weird things.

Question about the 'reassign' task: if you wish to move to an occupied station, that's ONLY allowed if the other player agrees to swap, yeah?

I also appreciate the "it will almost never be a good idea to actually do this, but it's allowed".

Under 'multitasking', similar to something I mentioned earlier: "each space gerbil must choose one test to contribute to" implies that everyone has to pick one, but I think it's possible for them to be arranged such that a space gerbil isn't connected to either protocol. If that's mechanically impossible, then disregard this; otherwise, I think it should be rephrased.

I love how "threat" and "menace" are two different levels of severity, it implies that J Jonah J???on was actually asking a linguistically meaningful question about Spider-Man.

Under 'menace' and 'threat', it feels odd to have it say "the GM will", when the other complications are written in present tense.

Third paragraph under 'interpreting mixed outcomes', typo: "might eevn end up" should be "even".

I love the bit about an implicit "and escape in one piece" clause; not only is it important, but it also makes me grin.

Typo under 'effects of stress': "keep track of now many" should be "how".

Under 'removing conditions and strain', I think "using Damage Control task" should have a "the" in it.

Typo under 'extravehicular activity': "the acting space geribl" should be "gerbil".

The box in 'returning from extravehicular activity', I think "Action Phase though you'd performed" is missing an "as".

Under 'setting', I think there should be a "to" added into the sentence, as currently there's only one but that's making an infinitive, rather than a directional preposition.

I have questions about what "haunted" is supposed to represent, if not literal ghosts.

I'm noting how "cybernetic limb" is an option on the 'personal gear' table, and nothing about it requires it be ATTACHED to the space gerbil; it's a delightful mental image to just picture one of them lugging around a disconnected cybernetic limb, sometimes using it as a reach-extender….

Typo under number two of 'setting up an engagement': "at least one Obtacle" should be "Obstacle".

In the first bullet point under 'ending an engagement', there's no closing bracket.

Typo under 'moving forward from defeat', "the following table offer" should be "offers".

Under 'obstacle nature and key protocols', "usually default to be behaviour described by its nature" isn't TECHNICALLY wrong, but it feels awkward, and it took me a third read to realize it wasn't necessarily a typo.

Typo under 'very large obstacles', "comletely different Obstacle" should be "completely".

In the box under 'obstacle traits', "may be possible work about" should be "possible to work around".

The note under the 'obstacle traits' table, "cost may doubled" is missing something.

Under 'hazard effects', I'm pretty sure that "any inccurred by the current cycle's tests" is a typo and should be "incurred".

Typo under 'running out the clock', third bullet point, "envirionmental seals" should be "environmental".

I really like the mechanics for taking an interlude in an open mission, and how it means there's a risk of previously-cleared spaces no longer being clear.

Question: if a mission has multiple interludes, can a single "once per mission" upgrade be refreshed multiple times?

Typo under 'away missions', "small teams assising the mech suit" should be "assisting".

Okay, I've gone through it all now; which is good because "gerbil" has stopped seeming like a word to me.

Playtest draft 0.4 of Space Gerbils is up. I wasn't going to cut it here, but then I realised that I'd re-written the same page three times in as many days, which is usually a pretty good sign that I need to pump the brakes and talk to other people about it!

Nearly every part of every chapter has undergone substantial rewrites, so a complete changelog may take some time to prepare, but the highlights include:

Updated character creation, including nearly twice as many mech suit upgrades, and support for random space gerbil proficiencies; also, you now have to draw a picture of your space gerbil

Cleanup of protocol scopes and phase cycle workflow, including the removal of mandatory Threat Clocks and drastically simplified scene-ending triggers

Stress and conditions persisting across scenes deprecated in favour of new mechanics for handling long-term damage

Split downtime and away missions into two separate rules modules

Reorganised supplementary playsheets, and created form-fillable interactive versions where applicable (assuming your PDF reader software supports that kind of thing)

Additional print-and-play minifigs and interior illustrations by @artkaninchenbau (including the one up top!); minifigs now include lineart-only versions in case you want to colour them yourself

New mech suit schematics by @pencilbrony

Finally, by repeated popular request, there is now a Penguin King Games Discord server for submitting support inquiries and playtest feedback. I reserve the right to repost any interesting comments or feedback submitted there to other social media platforms for better visibility – don't say I didn't warn you!

As always, questions, criticisms, and bizarre flames are both welcome and encouraged.

[elcctrified]

"it's not fishing for compliments if i know they're true!" he teases, not hesitating to kiss her back each time. he feels almost giddy and he doesn't care if it shows on his face. out on the ice or in public? maybe. but with lucia? he can be like this without any sort of hesitation. at her following words, he nods and pulls her against his broad chest, grin not leaving his face, "i can cuddle and cater. i'm a multitasker." he promises, "here's the problem, you'd have to grow probably, like, a foot and that's a lot to ask." omar jokes, tightening his hold, more than happy to indulge her snuggling request. he keeps his eyes on her face, memorizing every beautiful inch for probably the millionth time, "forgot how easy this boyfriend stuff is," he chuckles, "i should quit my day job and just be a full-time boyfriend maybe."

can    say    nothing    but    nod    in    agreement    since    words    hold    a    heavy    amount    of    weight    behind    them    ,    needing    time    to    process    prior    emotions    before    seeing    him    again . allowed    head    to    not    be    clouded    with    past    judgement    and    the    ability    to    look    toward    the    future    and    at    this    moment .  . held    no    complaints    about    where    they    were    headed    for    the    second    time . ‘    a    really    charm    overall    ,    yeah    ,    now    don’t    go    fishing    for    compliments . ‘    replicates    the    bits    of    laughter    before    lips    occupy    themselves    by    engaging    in    several    kisses    ,    each    one    digging    femme    deeper    into    the    hole    of    emotions    that    accompanies    male’s    presence . unable    to    shrug    off    male’s    advances    ,    falls    back    into    it    and    him    ,    expression    now    beaming    due    to    –    him . everything    about    omar . ‘    i    ,    for    one    ,    am    in    the    mood    to    be    cuddled    and    catered    for    so    i’d    take    in    the    moment    if    i    were    you .  . ‘    keeps    face    close    to    the    male    to    take    in    features    as    she’s    completely    entertained    by    him    and    his    antics    ,    smile    etched    onto    her    lips . ‘    but    what’s    so    funny    about    me    being    the    bigger    one    ?    i    could    so    pull    it    off . if    you    weren’t    so    tall    but    !    whatever    !      snuggle me ! ’

[ask-healthy-light]

While everyone in the Empire was enjoying their lunch, Nox in particular, knowing Cadance was doing her best to make her feel more welcome there, back in Ponyville, after Rockhoof, Starswirl and Boom left the Palace to purchase groceries for dinner, they realised they knew not what they had to buy, so they knocked on the doors to the Palace again, where Spike gave them Meadowbrook's written list.

Before any of the three Stallions could ask him what they had planned for dinner, the doors closed, and they sighed and shrugged, after which they went to town, where the sweet scent of freshly baked bread and cupcakes filled the air, and they realised they had not eaten lunch, so Boom suggested to Starswirl and Rockhoof to get lunch, after they had bought all the groceries, which they agreed to.

Since Boom was more familiar with the area, especially the market in the town's centre, he took the lead, but he was forced to multitask, focusing on buying the groceries, while keeping an eye on the other two Stallions as well; wandering aimlessly, looking around in awe, they were impressed by the market, as it was unlike any they had visited before, even in the times before their disappearance.

Luckily, Rockhoof was easy to locate at all times, as he towered over every other Pony around, save for Big Macintosh, who Boom noticed unloading multiple barrels of apples and produce at the bakery, where he greeted him and Pinkie on his way; Starswirl, however, was not easy to find, for though he was easily recognisable whenever he wore his cloak and pointy hat, these were drying at the Palace.

To his unpleasant surprise, trying to find the Bearded Wizard in a grand crowd of Ponies, though he expected it to be easy, it turned out quite the opposite, and neither Boom, nor Rockhoof managed to find him; eventually, after returning to the bakery, Boom asked Rockhoof to stay here, while he ran around quickly to buy the groceries before he forgot, after which they could go look for Starswirl.

With a disgruntled snort, Rockhoof begrudgingly agreed to Boom's request, and sat down by the door, where Pinkie appeared out of nowhere, much to his surprise, but he knew this young Bearer, and gave her a smile when she bounced around energetically; still, he wished for Boom to return soon, as his strength was not of mind, but of body, and he knew not how long he could endure her endless energy.

Making his way through the dense crowd of Ponies, Boom went down Meadowbrook's list, running around the market countless times as he tried to find what he had to buy, while searching for Starswirl as well; eventually, breathing heavily, and sweating profusely, Boom had found everything and returned to the bakery, where he found Rockhoof helping Big Mac move more barrels while listening to Pinkie.

When she saw her friend of old slowly drag himself towards them, Pinkie quit bouncing mid-air, and, after a brief moment of confused silence from the others, she flew inside, and popped out of Boom's satchel with a bottle of water and a small bag of freshly baked buns, which she gave to Big Mac and Rockhoof as well, for which they gratefully thanked her, though some using fewer words than others.

After he had taken a minute to catch his breath and rest, Boom said he found everything they needed to purchase, yet he had not managed to find Starswirl, and he was starting to get somewhat worried; for though he knew the Bearded was powerful, he also knew from experience, that even the strongest, cleverest, and sharpest of Ponies, like the Pillars, could be caught off-guard by others, and hurt.

But before his worries and doubts could get out of hoof, Pinkie appeared again, popping up from one of the barrels of produce on the cart, making neither Big Mac nor Rockhoof flinch, and she told him she saw a grey, sad, and bearded Unicorn walking towards the Forest a little while ago, just before Boom returned with Rockhoof; then, Boom dropped his satchel, thanked Pinkie, and ran to the Forest.

When he remembered what Starswirl said about his life, Boom understood.

(Thanks for reading! And if you enjoyed, please reblog! Thanks in advance!)

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Featuring: Boomlord from @thedumbguywithaheart43