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Call of the Ocean Chapter 26: Secrets

Pairing: CEO!Mechanic!Dean Winchester x Mermaid!Reader

Word count: 7280

Chapter summary: Where everything goes well… kind of. Thasman and Roan hit another bump in their road. Y/N celebrates her birthday in a fashion she finally enjoys, but her celebrations are cut short by an unexpected guest at Dean’s door.

Series summary: CEO of Winchester Auto Dean Winchester has had enough of the office life. With his father keeping him from what he wants to do, which is work on the plant floor, Dean decides to leave for a quiet life. In Matagorda, Texas, he finds something he never thought he would, a chance encounter with a mythical creature.

Call of the Ocean Masterlist

A/N: We are soooooo close to catching up! Literally two chapters! This series is a collaboration with @flamencodiva . Text dividers were made by the awesome @talesmaniac89

Next chapter will be posted on Saturday, November 14th

It’s funny, Thasman thought to himself, how things change so quickly. One moment, you think everything will be fine, that there’s a chance, and the next, that can be crushed to pieces.

If this was how Y/N felt after she listened to him speak about the dangers of loving a human, he was in for a lifetime of begging for forgiveness.

Less than a week ago, the door he was standing in front of was just the door that had led to his room in Ellen’s house. Less than a week ago, he thought Roan hated him. Just two days or so ago, he thought they were given another chance… and just like that, it had vanished, and he was thinking of what in the shells could he say to at least get into the room and get some blankets to sleep on one of Ellen’s couches.

Roan had broken them up again. Thasman owed him, at the very least respect, his privacy while he thought of ways to prove he could change, could listen.

His knuckles were hovering on the door and his hand was trembling, all of him was trembling.

He mustered enough courage to do it in the end. “Ro?” he called softly as he knocked on the door. “I was– I’m going to sleep on the couch… Can I come in? Just to get the pajama things and some blankets, I promise.”

The door opened up only for Thasman to be hit in the face with what he requested before the door closed again. With a heavy sigh, he grabbed his pajamas, and blanket as they were thrown at him and made his way downstairs to the couch. Placing the blankets so that he knew he would be comfortable, he grabbed the pajamas and made his way to the bathroom to change. Ellen had given him a simple pair of pants and socks to sleep in. He quickly put them on and froze when his eyes caught sight of the scar on his back.

“Poseidon’s fury,” Thasman whispered.

The scar looked red and angry as it continued to heal. He closed his eyes as visions of that day began to filter through, the voices calling out. In his darkened state, he could hear Roan’s scared voice calling to him, could hear Y/N begging for him to be okay. Opening his eyes, he turned away from the ugly scar and sighed. There had to be a way he could make things right. Running his fingers through his long hair, he wondered what he could do. Walking out of the bathroom he made his way to the couch, head hung low.

“Bavverissi Baveras,” he whispered in a prayer. “Please help me make things right.”

Lifting the blanket, he crawled onto the couch and placed his head on the small pillow. He hadn’t realized it, but he had begun to cry as he slept. His dreams were always the same, Y/N and Roan both angry at him, and he was left alone as darkness consumed him.

Ellen had taken it upon herself to check on the two mermen once the house had quieted down. Making her way to the room that Roan was occupying, she quietly opened the door to find the merman sleeping on the bed curled into a ball. The blankets had fallen off him. She picked them up gently so as to not wake him and placed them back over him. She sighed as she noticed the tear streaks on his face and ran her fingers along his short hair.

“Oh, honey,” she whispered sadly. “You and Thasman have a lot to go through. But don’t give up on him,” she prayed. Giving him a gentle kiss on his temple, she backed out quietly and made her way down the stairs.

As she got closer to the couch she noticed it was empty. The covers seemed to be thrown off and the sliding glass door leading to the back yard was open. Making her way towards it, she watched Thasman in the moonlight, doing what looked like martial arts. But Ellen could tell it was very different. He seemed to stumble with some of the moves, if she had to guess it was because he was used to doing them in the water. She watched as his shoulders slumped and he placed his hands on his waist letting out a small grunt of frustration.

“If you stay out here like that,” Ellen called to him, “you’re going to catch a cold.”

The merman nodded with his back still at Ellen. “I’ll go to sleep in a minute, I promise.”

“What happened between you and Roan?” Ellen walked down to the sandy backyard and stopped next to him. “You two seemed like you were able to talk things through.”

“I thought so as well, but it seems I have committed too many mistakes to get another chance.”

“What do you mean?” Ellen tilted her head at what he said. “What mistakes have you made?”

“I entered the duels without letting him know. I almost made Y/N give up on the green eyed man,” He let out a huff and shook his head before kicking at the sand. “I couldn’t defend myself when Michael attacked. I was too stubborn to see that I was hurting the ones I love. And even now, when it is so clear that Y/N wants to stay, or rather, will stay,” He turned to Ellen and let out a frustrated laugh. “I can only think of getting her back home so she can at least let her father know of her decision. Gah, I also told Dean’s friends she would probably leave again! What is wrong with me?”

“Calm down, Thas,” Ellen reached for his hand. “A couple of things: One, you were literally slashed in the back, not sure how you can defend yourself from that,” She moved her hand to his cheek. “Two, you fixed what you did with Y/N and Dean. You put them back together. Three, maybe if you can explain to Y/N and Roan why you want her to go back, I’m sure they would understand.” She moved her face so that he was looking into her eyes. “Having her tell her father what she has decided is a good move. Better than letting him think the worst happened.”

“That’s what I thought… But if Michael succeeded, we won’t really have a home to go back to… Ellen, what if things have gotten worse since we left? What if Liara needs my help? What if she got caught after she came here? What will happen if Y/N’s father died?”

Elen placed her hands on the merman’s shoulders. “Take a deep breath, sugar,” she said, hoping to calm him down. “Those are a lot of what ifs. So, for now, let’s be positive. You said Liara sent over a message from the king, right?”

“She did… A letter for Y/N.”

“Okay, well”--Ellen smiled at him--“when Y/N comes home, the three of you can sit at the table, let her read the letter, and then figure out what to do,” Ellen shifted her position and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “Now, I want to know something.”

“What about?”

“You said your mom died in childbirth?” Ellen asked as she led him to the small stairs leading to the deck back to the house. “Did anyone ever describe her to you? Or show you a picture? That is if you guys have those.”

“It would vary, depending on who you ask.” Thasman let out a slow breath. “Most of the merfolk back home have no idea who my mother is and assume I just appeared at the castle gates… Liara told me my mother died when I was born… or was it that she just knew I was born? The answers tend to get mushed together at this point.”

“Huh,” Ellen said thoughtfully. “So this Liara is the one who raised you. Did she ever describe your mother to you? Or even give you a hint on who your father could be?”

“The subject was too painful for her to talk about most of the time,” he whispered before sitting on one of the steps with Ellen next to him. He looked up at the stars before he continued. “And no matter how much I wanted to know, my mother is gone. There’s no use in imagining a phantom…” He stopped to swallow the lump in his throat. “Liara only ever said that they took a trip here, and apparently stayed long enough to explore. Seems like there is a chance I have a human father, and if I do, he’s probably better off not knowing about me.”

Ellen gave him a smack upside his head, “I don’t ever want to hear you say that again. You hear me boy?” she hissed at him. “Anyone would be lucky to call you their son! You are loyal, kind, strong. Hell, I wish I could adopt you and keep you with me.”

Thasman’s heart gave a small leap at the woman’s words. Knowing that she thought of him somewhat as a son made him very happy. His mind drifted back to Liara, and well, considering the circumstances, having two guardians as his maternal figures didn’t sound bad at all. “Thank you…” he mumbled, threading a hand through his hair as he considered his options. “But, Ellen, he may not even be alive. Maybe he doesn’t know about mermaids. Maybe he’s not even in Matagorda anymore.”

Ellen let out a chuckle, “There are so many things you need to know about us humans.” She leaned on her knees and sighed. “We have been able to map out our genetic coding. We call it DNA matching. A bit of hair from you, or saliva and it can be matched to anyone on the planet.”

“I can’t do that. I’m not risking exposure to the human world. You and Bobby knowing is more than enough.”

Ellen lifted up her hands, “It’s just an option, but I would keep the details very private,” she said before looking over at him. “Say, when was the last time you cut your hair? It’s almost to the middle of your back.”

“You didn’t comment on it before, I thought it didn’t bother you.”

“Don’t get me wrong, kiddo. It looks great. Resisting the urge to braid it is what I’ve been doing. Keeping it in that bun of yours makes it seem way shorter than it actually is.”

“I’ve had long hair ever since I could remember,” Thasman ran his fingers through it. “I don’t know what I would look like if I cut it.”

“How often do you let it out of that bun?”

“Well…Not very often,” Thasman rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not sure. In the ocean, it just flows behind me when I let it loose. Sometimes it gets in my face and I’m just used to picking it up by now. ”

“I think you are overdue for a haircut,” Ellen said as she leaned back on her arms.

The merman took hold of a couple of strands, raking his fingers through them. “But I do like it long…”

Ellen hummed in consideration and leaned in to move his hair over one of his shoulders. She took in the length of it, thinking. “How about we cut it just below…” she placed her fingers a little over Thasman’s chest. “Here? Not too long, not too short, and you can still put it in your classic bun.”

Thasman nodded, “I guess it would be a change,” he admitted. “Liara never liked anyone cutting my hair. She got very upset with me when I was just a guppy,” He laughed sadly at the memory. “I was tired of the other guppies laughing at my long hair and I grabbed the sharpest sea glass we had and I cut it really short.” He placed his fingers to where he had cut it. “It was almost the same cut that Dean has, but a lot messier. I cut myself on the back of my neck and shaved too short.”

Thasman took that moment to turn to Ellen and smiled fondly.

“That was the first time I ever saw Liara really upset with me. She put a bandaid on the nape of my neck and kept me from seeing Y/N for a week.”

“That sounds excessive for a kid who just wanted the other children to leave him alone.”

Thasman shrugged, “Maybe. But there was something about the way she disciplined me. I… I started to think of her as my mother. I never really told her that I did.” He closed his eyes thinking back to the merwoman who raised him. “I should have told her. I’ve told her many times how I wished she was my mother. But to me…. she is.”

“I’m sure,” -- Ellen hugged him close -- “Deep down inside, she knows.”

The merman smiled fondly at the idea. “Yeah… Yeah, she probably does.”

“Well then, let’s talk about that hair cut of yours,” Ellen smiled.

Before they knew it, they had agreed to wake up early the next morning to cut Thasman’s hair. Until then, Ellen pushed Thasman back inside the house to sleep. She watched as he settled into the couch before tucking him in and heading back to her bed.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Back in Dean’s home, Y/N stayed back as Dean crossed his arms and barred the people from coming in.

“You two need to go,” Dean growled. “Now.”

The last thing he wanted was for his parents to see Y/N and start asking questions. Especially his dad.

“Look, son--” John began, but stopped when Dean let out a laugh.

“Son?” he hissed. “I’m son now? What happened to and I quote ‘if you don’t call me back you can kiss coming home goodbye!’” Dean crossed his arms and glared at his father. “Pretty sure I remember NOT calling you back.”

The older Winchester closed his eyes at the reminder of one of his, by now, many mistakes.“I was an ass to say that to you, I know.”

“Yeah, that’s one word for it. You are not welcome here. Leave.”

“Dean,” Mary said softly. “Please listen to him? For me?”

“For what? He’s sorry? Good. But that’s too little, too late. I’ll go get Sammy. He’ll take you to wherever you’re staying. I don’t have enough room.”

Before John could say anything else, Sam made his appearance.

“What’s going on?” Sam looked at the scene and ran a hand across his face. “Really? Couldn’t you guys have waited until Jess and I came back to Kansas to talk to you?”

Sam rushed over to the door and closed it behind him. Dean could hear Sam talking to his parents, but took the time to walk out to the back deck. He had been leaning on the railing when he felt the familiar pair of arms wrap around him.

“Are you okay?”

Her voice seemed to sooth him a bit. He closed his eyes letting the sea air wash over them as she placed her head on his shoulder. Her lips left a small kiss on it before she laid her head on there. Her fingers played with his bare chest as she hugged him from behind. For just a moment, Dean felt as if he and Y/N were in a different place, in a different time. Just the two of them and no one else.

When the little fantasy was broken, a sense of shame came over him. She’d just seen him with his parents, and what a scene she’d witnessed. “I forgot you were here, sweetheart. I’m sorry. I really am.”

“You were stressed. Who are they?” she whispered and moved to stand next to him.

“That was my mom and dad, Mary and John Campbell.”

“Oh,” she nodded in understanding. “The dad who was trying to make you something you’re not.”

“That would be him, yeah. Apparently, he came to apologize.�� Dean pushed away from the banister and made his way to the side of the patio to sit on the steps leading to the small beach at the back of the house.

“I take it you are still angry with him,” Y/N said as she sat next to him. “You can talk to me about it if you want. I know all about being forced to do something you don’t want to do.”

“Where do I start?”

“The beginning is always good,” she smiled and gently nudged him. “I know that when I found out about the trials I was thirteen.” She hugged her knees and sighed. “When I asked if there was a way out of it, our scrollkeeper said there was no other person to take over my position.” She took in a shaky breath. “Ever since then, I felt trapped as if the tides and currents were just pulling me deeper and deeper into the darkest parts of the ocean.”

“I can see that. Kind of like you’re drowning in responsibility,” he muttered and pulled her closer to him.

“After that,” she closed her eyes and smiled. “I found myself going to my favorite spot. A nice cave where I could play and swim and just pretend I wasn’t a princess.”

“That’s a nice thing to have. I guess you can say Sam and I used to just try and hide out from time to time to escape our responsibilities,” Dean reminisced.

“Well, what about you?” She leaned back against her hands. “When did he start trying to force you to be something you didn’t want to be?”

“A few years ago. I was on one of my last semesters of college, and he got it in his head that my place wasn’t under the hood of a car... We butted heads. Constantly. I tried to avoid the business and going home as much as I could.”

Y/N listened as Dean told his story. How his father had started out loving that Dean was smart and could fix cars. How Dean loved going to the plant and working with his grandfather and father from time to time. Until his father was moved to the office. He wasn't sure what changed, but once his father started wearing suits, his attitude about mechanics changed, even though he was one.

“Would talking to him help? If he came all this way”--Y/N ran her fingers across his hair--“maybe he really is sorry.”

“I don’t think so, Y/N,” Dean ran a hand across his face. “He started to tell me that I should do a minor in business, and suddenly my time home was spent learning the ropes of– I don’t know, being an office dude or something,” he turned to her. “I just think he is hiding something.”

“What could he be hiding?” she wondered.

“I don’t know. But whatever it is… it really just strained our relationship and I don’t think it can ever be fixed.” He closed his eyes thinking about how best to phrase what he wanted to ask. “I did some searching while you went home and…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “All I found was this mystic shop named Sindarta. Nothing came up about your home or customs, or even where your home is.”

“Sindarta a shop?” Y/N giggled. “I guess it’s fair since we just acquired a few new things since our visit. But I can assure you we are an island.”

“Then why hasn’t anyone heard of it?” Dean huffed and gave her a slight glare. “How come no one knows about your island? Or where it is? Or what your customs are?” Dean had begun to raise his voice. “Your world is a mystery, Y/N, and I feel like you are hiding something from me.”

“What? Dean I--” Y/N closed her mouth and nodded. “Maybe we moved too fast.”

“Y/N, wait!” Dean called but she was already darting down the steps.

She walked towards the beach and stopped to stand on a sand dune. She knew lying to him would make him suspicious. Thasman was right in a way, it was dangerous to get close to the human. But what could she do? She had fallen for the human fast and hard. It was to the point that she had given him her heart. She hadn’t realized he had followed her until his green eyes came into her view. She closed her eyes and let the sounds of the waves crashing along the shore wash over her. She hadn’t realized she let the tears flow until she felt the familiar calloused fingers wiping them off.

“Y/N,” he whispered.

“It’s not my fault that my island is not known,” she whispered. “It’s also not my fault that not a lot of people know about it.” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I can’t give you a straight answer, but it seems that it doesn’t matter. I think maybe a few days apart would be--”

She was silenced by his lips on hers. She closed her eyes as he kissed her slow and long. Their tongues meeting, drinking each other in. She loathed that she had to lie to him and hide and fake so much about where she came from. He deserved to know the truth, he trusted her with his issues, he was always so good with her

“Dean,” Y/N whispered sadly.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I’m curious, that’s all. I want to know more about you and where you live and I’m sorry I keep pushing–“

“You don’t have to apologize,” Y/N sniffled. “It’s just… there are things about myself that I can’t tell you…” She closed her eyes, “I’m not ready to tell you.”

“I get it… will you tell me someday at least?”

“I can’t… Dean, please understand that there are things about where I come from that I can’t tell you,” she pleaded with him. Her princess voice seeped through. “If you cannot understand that… then I’m afraid we should part ways. I am not budging on this, Dean. You have your secrets and I have mine.”

Dean closed his eyes as her words sunk in. She was right in a way. Everyone did have their secrets. Hell, he hadn’t really mentioned he was a CEO, if she even knew what that was.

“Okay, sweetheart,” Dean conceded. “I won’t push it anymore.”

“Can we please talk about you?” she wrapped her arms around herself. “I just really want you to fix what you have with your family, please.”

“You think there is a way to fix my family?” he offered her a smile as he held her hand and led her back to the house. “Because right now… it feels like you’re becoming my family, Y/N.”

The last part of the admission made her heart flutter and swell. She preferred to let it be for now and gave Dean a little smile as she shrugged, as if her words were the most logical thing in the world. “I do. Family is family, after all.”

“Let’s get back inside, finish eating, and go to bed,” Dean said as he caressed her cheek. “When you’re ready, I know you’ll talk to me. Anything you have to say, Y/N, I want you to know that you can tell me anything,” he assured her before kissing her one more time. “I know we moved fast, but let's take this as a chance to get to know each other.”

“Alright,” she agreed, returning the kiss and even going as far as to bite Dean’s lower lip.

They walked into the house and made their way up to Dean’s room. Snuggling into each other’s arms, Dean looked down at Y/N as soon as he felt her breath even out and she fell asleep. There was a mystery to her, and he was going to figure it out. But until then, he was going to make sure he didn’t hurt her in any way.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Roan groaned and pulled the covers over his face as the sun hit his eyes. He thought back to what he said to Thasman at the birthday party. He could feel his heart ache as the conversation flashed in his mind. But what could he do? It was better this way. He had to protect his heart from being shattered again. With a deep breath, he pulled the covers off and stayed laying on the bed, looking at the ceiling. After a few moments, he reluctantly got up and walked out of the room and down the stairs. What he saw made him freeze at the bottom of them.

“Thasman! What is she doing to your hair?” Roan cried as he watched Ellen measure and cut Thasman’s long locks.

“Cutting it. It’s not going to be too short, but… Apparently, I was due for a cut,” Thasman closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

The merman watched horrified as another snap resounded in the living room and another piece of hair fell to the floor. “But it was fine the way it was!”

“Time for a change, Ro,” Thasman said. “It won’t be too short, just short enough to not reach my back.”

“Technically, it’s staying a little bit lower than the shoulders. We’re going for mid-pec here,” Ellen chipped in, putting some strands on a clip and placing it on top of the merman’s head so it wouldn’t be in the way. “You’re going to look as handsome as always, hun, don’t worry.”

Roan shook his head and got out of his shocked state. “Where is the princess? Did she come back last night?”

Ellen shook her head as she continued to measure and snap the scissors, then stopped for a moment to point outside. “She’s with her Prince Charming over there.”

“And you’re okay with that, Thasman?” Roan wondered. He knew deep down Thasman wanted to go back to marry the princess. He never wavered from that plan.

He tried to turn and look Roan in the eye, but grunted as Ellen made him look straight to the kitchen again with a mumble of ‘don’t move’. “Well, yes. I promised I would not be the one that came between her and her happiness and I got the chance to somewhat know Dean. She’ll be fine. And she would still be with him whether I had to say something about it or not.”

“Got to somewhat know him,” Ellen repeated a hint of amusement in her voice. “If I remember correctly, you beat him to a pulp to make sure he wouldn’t hurt her.”

Thasman scoffed in feigned indignation. “I healed him! And it worked out in the end!”

Roan walked to where he would be in Thasman’s line of sight, “You fought with a human? What happened?”

“Not much,” he shrugged slightly. “I punched him, he punched me, he bled… It is very weird to try and fight the way I usually do with these things instead of my tail.” Thasman patted his legs.

“Oh, Poseidon.” Roan groaned, letting himself fall and sit on the ground. “What else did you do while you were here? Thasman, you could’ve exposed yourself to the human!”

“But I didn’t,” Thasman pointed out. “Hey, Ellen? You should probably show him the movies we saw when Dean and Y/N went to that thing of theirs while I go and give Bobby a visit.”

“Lemme finish with your hair first, boy. And you’ll be watching them with us.”

Roan took in everything that Thasman had said. Movies? Whatever that was, he was sure it was something the humans made. So far, everything was wonderful, and everything seemed like a dream. But he reminded himself he had to keep his distance. Eventually, Thasman would make the same mistakes, would make a decision without any regard for those around him.

“Thasman,” Roan sighed. “What would Liara say if she saw this? Last time you cut your hair--”

“I know, I know,” Thasman let out a chuckle. “She confined me to the quarters and didn’t let me out until my hair had grown back a bit.” Thasman sighed. “It’s funny. I don’t remember feeling as though I cut myself. I know that I did shave too close to the nape of my neck. But I never felt any kind of gash on my skin.”

“Maybe it was just that, you didn’t feel it. But, Thasman, you– at some point Liara will find out about this. What is she gonna say?”

Thasman cleared his throat, “How dare you cut your hair without my permission,” he said in his best high pitched voice. “Poseidon mighty, why would you do such a thing!” He cleared his throat once more and smiled at Roan. “Something like that, probably.”

Roan tried to stifle his laugh, but he couldn’t hold it in. “That’s exactly what she would say. And then she would probably confine you, or scare you to death with her scolding again.”

Ellen smiled as the two mermen continued to talk. It was a step, but they had a long way to go. As she was sectioning off Thasmans hair, she noticed something along the nape of his neck under his hairline. It seemed to be a mark but she couldn’t make it out.

“Do mermaids have birthmarks?” Ellen asked out of the blue.

The mermen shared a look of confusion at the question. “Only members of royal families,” Thasman began. “There’s this lineage, and each kingdom’s royal family, as far as I know, has marks of their own. Why do you ask that?”

“Oh nothing,” Ellen nodded. “Humans all have birthmarks on them. It’s just a patch of darker skin.” she shrugged. “What does the royal birthmark look like anyway?”

Roan placed his finger to his chin as he thought about it. “In our kingdom, I guess it’s Neptune’s mark.” He shrugged. “A trident… right, Thasman? You’ve seen it on the king and princess, haven’t you?”

“They both have it at the nape of their necks,” Thasman confirmed. “King Nereus never lets his hair grow out so his mark is visible to whoever is swimming behind him. I’ve only seen Y/N’s mark a few times. Her hair tends to cover it but it is perfectly visible once she picks it up.”

“And only royals have these marks?” Ellen asked again, slightly confused.

Roan’s confused expression grew. “Yes… is something wrong, Miss Ellen?”

Ellen nodded, “Sorry, just curious. I have seen Y/N’s mark before and I remembered it as I was cutting Thas’s hair.”

“I haven’t seen it lately…” Thasman mused. “Guess I’ve been distracted.”

Ellen hummed as she continued to cut Thasman’s hair. She closed her eyes for a moment at the revelation. Thasman was a royal, but why would his guardian keed this a secret? She kept the urge to shave the nape of his to reveal the mark. Taking the scissors, she proceeded to cut his hair as she had told him she would. She had to tell Bobby what she found on Thasman’s neck. If this wasn’t proof enough, she wasn’t sure what would be.

“Ellen,” Roan broke her out of her thoughts. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, sweetie. Jus’ thinking what movies we could show you.”

Roan bit his lip, “If it’s not too much trouble. I’m worried about the princess and our need to go to the ocean. We need to keep track of how long we are away. From what Y/N said, she needs a month, but you and I can only be out at most three days.”

“We are going to have to plan a few things. This is your second day technically, right?” Ellen looked between Thasman and Roan.

Thasman’s eyes widened as the realisation began to set in. “Oh yeah…”

“I think so. I believe it’s only been two days,” Roan thought. “We should talk to Y/N and see if all three of us can go to the cave to swim and then keep track.”

Roan had hoped to catch Y/N, he didn’t want to be alone with Thasman in the cave. The last time he was alone with the guard, they had almost kissed. The last thing Roan wanted was to fall down that trap again. He felt his stomach grumble and he blushed when he looked up at Ellen.

“What food should I eat this morning?” Roan got up and walked away from them. Mostly trying to get as far from Thasman as possible.

Thasman cleared his throat and smiled. “You could eat cereal. It’s delicious. You grab a bowl and then a box and milk!”

“Yes, thank you,” Roan said, almost dismissing Thasman.

The tone in which Roan spoke to him made Thasman’s heart clench. He took in a shaky breath as he heard the movement in the kitchen of Roan getting everything he needed with Ellen’s instruction. He hadn't realized he was staring off into space when Ellen shook him.

“Thasman, you okay, sugar?” she shook him a bit.

“Sorry, Ellen, I’m fine,” Thasman tried to cover. “Are you almost done?”

"All done," she dusted him off. "You should take a shower to wash off all the hair. Good thing you only need salt water to turn back into a merman," Ellen said.

“That is true,” Thasman said as he remembered when they needed salt when they put Y/N in the bathtub.

“Well, you go on ahead and take a shower, wash the hair out,” Ellen said.

The rest of that morning was uneventful. Roan had opted to head to the diner with Ellen driving him while Thasman was dropped off at Bobby’s once again.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

With Dean and Y/N, the morning was filled with Sam and Jess saying their goodbyes and apologizing for cutting their time short because they had to take Dean’s parents back to Kansas. Y/N and Dean bid them a safe trip before Dean taught Y/N how to make waffles with the waffle iron.

“Okay, now, you are going to grab the ladle,” Dean instructed as he helped Y/N from behind. “And we put it on the iron like this,” He guided her hand. “Close the lid, turn it, and wait for the beep.” He laughed when she gasped at the excess batter flowing from the sides.

“This is too much fun,” she giggled.

The sound filled his ears making his heart swell. “Just wait until we make pancakes,” Dean said with a smile before kissing the top of her head. “Think you can handle the rest?”

“Absolutely,” Y/N beamed.

“Okay, cuz I’m going to start frying the bacon. Do you want eggs and toast?” Dean said as he grabbed what he needed from the fridge.

“That sounds good. After last night, I developed an appetite,” Y/N chuckled with a blush.

“Oh?” Dean questioned. He put down what he needed on the counter next to the stove and walked back to stand behind Y/N. “So, I take it you want a lot of food to help give you back some energy?” Dean flirted as he began leaving a trail of kisses along her neck, nibbling softly on the meat of her neck where it met her shoulder.

Y/N let out a soft moan and instinctually arched her back pushing her ass to meet his growing erection. “If we’re not careful we could ruin breakfast,” she whispered as his hands found their way under his shirt she was wearing.

“But, I could always have you for breakfast,” Dean growled in her ear before nibbling on her lobe making her shiver.

“You know, I don’t think it’s very sanitary for you to do that if you’re making breakfast,” Cas’s voice made the two lovers jump.

“Shut up, Cas,” Dean grumbled, giving Y/N a kiss on her cheek before washing his hands and going back to preparing the eggs, bacon, and toast.

Y/N gave Cas a questioning stare as she checked the time. “You’re back early,” she pointed out. “We didn’t think you’d be here until lunch.”

“I came here for a change of clothes,” the man shrugged. “Couldn’t exactly go to work on this.”

Dean’s eyes widened as he caught on to what his friend was referring to. “Shit, the garage!” He set his spatula down and dashed to the toaster, disconnecting it, then hurried back to the stove to kill the flames on the eggs and bacon. As he ran out of the kitchen, he shouted, “I’ll be ready in a minute, Cas!”

“What happened to the garage?” Y/N asked worriedly.

“Nothing, we have to get back and finish some last minute details is all,” Castiel assured, taking a seat at the kitchen table and picking up one of the waffles.

Y/N bit her lip as she pulled another finished waffle out. “I’m sorry. I’ve been distracting him.”

The man shook his head in a dismissive manner, “Don’t be. Before you came back, all he did was work. It’s nice to watch him let loose again.”

Y/N nodded, putting in the batter for another waffle.

“You’re gonna have to share him with us from time to time, though.”

“You’re right,” she turned to Cas. “I should help Ellen in the diner tonight.”

“That’s not what I meant, Y/N. We love having you around. Dean especially.”

“But I shouldn’t distract him from his work,” Y/N insisted. “It’s important and you all worked hard for it.”

“Work isn’t everything that matters, Y/N. We all have lives outside of it. Dean’s been very happy since you came back, and he deserved a break. Now, it’s just time to work and finish what we started. You are not a distraction. More like… fuck it, more like a home to him.”

Y/N blushed and brushed her hair behind her ear, “Except…” She bit her lip.

“Except… what?”

“He seemed angry last night,” she whispered. “I know where I come from is very secluded and strange but… I have my own secrets that I can’t tell him. Sindarta has its mysteries. Things that as it’s princess I need to keep to protect it.” She walked over to the table and sat down with her own food on her plate. “I promise you the island exists.”

“I’m going to be honest with you, Y/N. We all have our doubts regarding the existence of your home… But, you had to pop up from somewhere… and that language that you, Roan, and Thas speak is something I have never heard. The benefit of the doubt is the best I can offer.”

Dean had come down the stairs and kept hidden as Cas and Y/N talked. He cursed at himself for yelling at her last night and making her feel bad about keeping her secret. She was right, her own secrets were hers to tell. And his curiosity at knowing who she is made him doubt her. Clearing his throat, he walked over and grabbed the laptop.

“Dean,” Y/N whispered sadly. She took a look at his face and could tell he heard her.

As he made room on the table for the device, he smiled reassuringly at her. “It’ll be quick, I promise. We’re already running late, aren’t we, Cas?”

“Should I go?” Cas asked.

“No,” Y/N and Dean answered at the same time.

“I just want to try and search again,” Dean said. “I could have spelled it wrong the first time I searched for all I know.”

Cas dragged his hands on his thighs, bracing himself for whatever was going to happen if they came up empty handed again as he watched Dean turn on the device and log into his account.

“Is it Sinadarta or Sindarta?” his friend questioned.

“Sindarta, S - I - N - D - A - R - T - A.” Y/N spelled out.

The sound of Dean typing out the name echoed through the house. Dean nodded at each letter, typing it down in the search engine.

Y/N watched anxiously as the results of the search loaded. From what Ellen had told her, Bobby had made an arrangement so the ‘island’ would show up if someone looked for it. What if it wasn’t done yet? What would she do if Dean found nothing in a second and what would she tell him–

“There it is,” Dean stated, surprised. “Huh,” he tilted his head. “Says here that the island is remote and off the southern coast of Cuba.” He let out a small smile. “Well, that is nice to know if I want to visit,” he smiled at her.

Castiel frowned as he took a look at the results. “We must’ve typed the wrong thing.”

“I guess so,” Dean gave a soft smile. “Says here your language can be traced back to a very old and ancient one and you guys just started to branch out after years of isolation.”

“My father was very cautious when I said I wanted to explore outside of Sindarta. We are very protective of our traditions and our ways. I was also just looking for a way to escape,” she whispered.

Dean grabbed her hand slowly, smiling shyly because, well, he was feeling a little bit foolish for not finding Sindarta before. “Would you like to come to the garage soon? I– I asked a friend to do a thing for me and I think you’ll like how it turned out.”

Y/N offered him a small smile before kissing him, “I need to check in with Ellen but I’ll stop by with lunch?”

“Sounds great,” he agreed. “Alright, Cas, we really need to go now.”

“I should head to Ellen’s,” Y/N chuckled. “I’ll make sure Ash makes you your bacon burger and get you a slice of pie.” She caressed his cheek.

“You might want to get dressed first,” Cas reminded her, pointing to the fact that she was only wearing Dean’s shirt.

Y/N blushed, “I should go back upstairs and get dressed.” She rushed up the stairs to get dressed.

As Y/N left the dining room, Cas looked at Dean.

“I guess we misspelled it the first time,” he scratched his head.

“I think so too. But something’s bugging me, Cas. Something’s missing.”

Cas looked at Dean, “What do you mean?”

“The island exists, and that’s great. I feel better knowing that. I just… I don’t know, Cas. Something is telling me that we still don’t have the full picture.” Dean said as he ran a hand across his face. “But you heard her. There are a lot of things that her people are very secretive about. She won’t just turn her back on them because we’re having our doubts.”

“Are you saying she’s hiding something more on the surface?” Cas wondered. “I mean, I don’t doubt that she does have secrets. But an island off the coast of Cuba not knowing about anything that we do?”

Before Dean could answer, the sound of Y/N coming down the stairs made them hush their voices. Y/N skipped towards Dean and gave him one last kiss.

“See you later?” she confirmed.

“Count on it, Y/N/N.”

She gave him a bright smile, “Okay.” She turned to Cas, “Bye Cas, I’ll let Meg know she didn't leave any marks this time.”

With that she walked out, leaving the two men in silence.

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halothenthehorns · 3 years

Text

TLTNL- PERCY AND PADFOOT

Lily did not take the book with any amount of happiness. She couldn't stand the idea of just casually going on about Harry's life while that tyrant was torturing her son on a weekly basis now. The only remote bright spot she could picture was the end of the year where hopefully she'd sustain something far worse than having to leave the job. She took the book from Remus very grudgingly and trudged back to her spot next to James in a heavy silence, only Harry still seemed anxious to try and pretend like that part of his life was no big deal.

Harry was first to wake up in his dormitory next morning.

"That's a surprise," Remus said conversationally enough, he could still be angry and keep things light for Harry's sake. "I'd think you'd have to be dragged out of bed with all your sleepless nights from before."

"Guess my brain was still wired for school," Harry shrugged with a smile at him for the attempt.

He lay in his bed and savored for a moment it was finally Saturday, the first week had dragged on as if one long History of Magic class.

"Gah, can you imagine the horror," Sirius shuddered.

"Sounds nice actually," James snorted, "one nice long week to nap."

He collected himself and went down into the dormitory with his school bag, finding it much tidier than when he'd went to bed amongst the candy wrappers and loose scraps of parchment, along with Hermione's hats. He only vaguely wondered how many house-elves had been set free whether they wanted to be or not. *

"Really Harry? You didn't realize the problem with Hermione's plan? You were the one who had to trick Dobby into getting that sock instead of just giving it to him yourself," Lily frowned at him in confusion.

"I honestly thought Hermione had found a way around that, and hadn't questioned her. Thought she really knew what she was doing," Harry shrugged.

"Well it's nice to know she's not infallible in her logic sometimes I guess," James snorted.

Harry uncorked a bottle of ink and stretched out a fresh sheet of parchment, but hesitated over what to put down, suddenly appreciating his friends vague letters over the summer.

They all perked up with interest at that, they'd been assuming Harry had just been fixing to start on some homework or some such, but this was even better! Sirius was full blown smiling now that Harry really was going to write to him about anything!

He wanted to write to Sirius about everything that had been going on this week, but not in so many words anyone would know what he was talking about. But how to do so without anyone else knowing?

"Very carefully," Remus smiled.

"Or you could charm it so that it only shows you the words when you give it a very vague command," James grinned.

Harry looked a bit disappointed he'd never thought of that, he really wished he had asked his Marauders how they'd charmed their map to do that.

Finally he began with dear Snuffles, and began with a pleasant enough greeting before going into detail about the new Defense teacher, who was about as nice as Snuffles' mum.

Sirius snorted violently before full blown laughing. Then he couldn't seem to stop for a moment. Lily looked on at him with a touch of concern for this reaction, Umbridge's horrid ways set her mind racing with every foul spell she knew to use on that woman for what she'd done to Harry. Just what on earth had Walburga Black done to Sirius for him to clearly be agreeing with Harry like this? She longed to ask, but respected it was his right to tell her if he ever wanted to.

Harry then got to the point, saying he was sending along this letter because what had happened two summers ago happened the other night in detention with Umbridge.

"That was incredibly vague," Remus beamed with pride.

"So, goal met then?" Harry smiled sheepishly, he'd been a little worried they were all going to tell him off for contacting Sirius considering how worried they'd all been about him joining him at the train.

"Absolutely," James nodded, "you're already a natural at this."

They were all missing their biggest friend and hoped to hear from him soon,

"That was a little on the nose," Lily giggled.

"Still credit for trying," Sirius chuckled.

then he signed off. He reread this letter several times, trying his best to find a hole an outsider could find, but he was sure no one could detect anything about the contents or certainly who it was meant for.

"Definitely not, you're safe on all counts," they all agreed, causing Harry his first real smile since he'd been back at school.

Harry hoped Sirius would pick up most of all on the mention of Hagrid, but did not want to ask directly in case it drew attention to his absence.

"I'm sure he'll be back in no time," Lily said with more confidence than she really felt. She was very worried about Hagrid as well, what was taking him so long?

Considering how short the letter was, it had taken him some time to do it. By now others were arriving downstairs, and Harry hastened out of the common room off for the Owlery. He ran into Nick on the way, warning him against going his current path as Peeves was planning a joke involved the bust of Paracelsus.

Harry asked if this involved the bust falling on his head?

"A classic then," James smirked.

Nick agreed in a bored voice that was the funny part.

"How on earth could he be bored by such a thing?" Remus drawled.

Pointing out subtlety had never been Peeves' strong point.

"Well that's fair enough," Sirius agreed.

Nick was off to find the Barron to put a stop to this, and he'd see Harry around.

"Merlin, doesn't anyone let people have some fun in that place," James sighed.

Harry ended up taking a longer but safer route up to the Owlery, and only came across Mrs. Norris. The cat gazed at him for a moment before darting off, Harry calling after her he hadn't done anything wrong, though the hike of her tail was one of going to fetch her boss.

"Maybe she was just mad you stopped her heading that way as well," Sirius snorted, "I've caught her a fair few times trying to go up there pestering the owls."

Ignoring the instance he found the straw strewn floor covered with the usual owl droppings and regurgitated meals, spotting his snowy white owl up in the rafters. Once she'd perched on his shoulder so he could tie his note to her, he instructed for her ears alone that though this was addressed to Snuffles, Harry urged his owl to find Sirius.

"You didn't bother calling me that last year, why start now?" Sirius chuckled.

"Now I actually felt the need for it," Harry muttered, shifting just a bit with unease as the safety of his godfather came into question.

She gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze before taking flight, and Harry watched her fly off with the most calm he'd felt in a while. The grounds were still and at peace in the morning light, the trees of the Forbidden Forest only swaying gently. It was as he gazed at these though that one of the skeletal horses from before came swooping out chasing a bird and when it missed, dived right back down out of sight. The whole instance happened so quickly Harry swore he could have imagined it.

"Can you imagine how many times that happens a day and no one sees it," Sirius looked a bit amused.

"Imagine if they roamed the grounds more than the forest," James agreed. "People would be constantly knocking into them, and seeing things happen because of those and no one would be able to figure out why except those that saw them."

"You lot are enjoying this idea far too much," Lily tried to repress a smile at the idea by telling them.

"What can we say, we have a certain fondness for invisibility," Remus smirked.

The Owlery door opened behind him. He leapt in shock and, turning quickly, saw Cho Chang holding a letter and a parcel in her hands.

"Hey, look who finally gets a moment alone with his crush," Sirius threw his hands up in victory.

"I don't find the owlery the most romantic setting," James smirked.

"Let's see if Harry can get through with this one without making a fool of himself," Remus snickered, "or this time it'll be entirely his fault."

"Your encouragement is the limit," Harry grumbled.

They both stammered a greeting to each other at once, Cho quickly explaining her end she was coming up here to deliver a birthday present to her mum.

Harry couldn't think of anything to say to that, his brain had jammed. He wanted to say something funny and interesting,

"Harry, you have yet to say that, ever," Sirius smirked, achieving his goal in getting a rise out of Harry who simply scowled at him for now.

but the memory of that horse now fresh had his mind struggling speech at all.

What came out was a gesture to the clear blue sky, and his pointing out how nice this was. Then he felt like crawling under the nearest rat skeleton and never coming out. He was talking about the weather!

"Considering you've never had a proper conversation, starting casual is probably best," James said fairly.

"Could have asked something more direct, like what she'd gotten her mother," Lily objected.

"Or I could go read this in another room without you lot," Harry huffed to try and get them to stop.

"You wouldn't dare," Sirius gasped.

"And miss out on our brilliant commentary?" Remus looked a touch offended.

Lily started giggling a bit when Harry didn't back down from his threat as she turned back anyways.

Cho at once agreed this made perfect Quidditch conditions.

"Well I like her," James beamed at once.

"A very good point she managed to steer right into that sport," Sirius agreed, which Harry supposed was better than them picking on him, so he let it go.

Then she asked if Gryffindor had a new Keeper yet?

Harry agreed it was his friend Ron, whom Cho remembered as the Tornado hater.

"I'm sure he doesn't hate the team," Remus said fairly, "just the fans who suddenly like them."

"Entirely not the point," Lily rolled her eyes at him.

She asked how his tryout had gone, and Harry confessed he hadn't been there because of his detention.

Cho met his eyes then, only half way done attaching her parcel to her owl, as she stated how foul that Umbridge woman was, putting him in detention for telling the truth about...of how he died.

"Oh look, another supporter," Sirius said quickly rather than letting Harry dwell on that again for a moment, "that's three to two."

"Are you going to keep a tally of everyone in the school?" Harry asked with some bemusement.

"Don't tempt him," James sighed.

"He's already not doing a good job anyways, it's five to two counting Ron and Hermione," Remus reminded.

"Those were given," Sirius brushed him off.

"Not if you're going to do a complete poll of all 500 something students-"** Remus began disagreeing, but Lily finally cut through the lot of them.

She kept Harry's eyes as she told how brave it was of him to stand up to her like that.

Harry felt his insides inflating so much he was sure he was suddenly floating off the ground a bit.

"That'd be a sight," James snickered at the idea.

Who cared about a stupid flying horse; Cho thought he'd been brave.

"Priorities," Remus agreed lightly.

For a moment, he considered accidentally-on-purpose showing her his cut hand as he helped her tie her parcel on to her owl . . .

"I'm not sure of the reaction you were hoping to get with that one," Lily said in disgust.

"I certainly wouldn't find that braver, but stupid on your part for not saying something about it before now," James agreed with a hard look at Harry who chose now to check to see if his shoelace was still tied.

Before he could act on the impulse, the door burst open, with Filch marching into the room on a mission. He locked eyes on Harry at once and demanded his mail from him, saying he'd been given a tip about the order of Dungbombs he was to be placing.

Lily puffed up her cheeks before letting the air out slowly to make sure her voice came out neutral as she asked, "why would he think that?"

"Maybe it was someone playing a prank?" Harry brushed off, not wanting to think much of it as he was still caught on his Cho interactions with a smile.

"Harry, you don't find it just a bit concerning someone was trying to take your mail from you?" Remus wheedled to try and keep him on track while everyone's eyes were still narrowed with dislike over this.

Harry did rethink things over, and he certainly felt a ball of anxiety forming in him at the thought now, but he was finally enjoying just a bit of his time remembering school again and don't want them to keep ruining it with suspicions, so he just shrugged again.

Lily hoped that meant nothing did come of this moment, rather than worrying at her lip for the implications of something she did not like.

Harry crossed his arms in defiance at once as he demanded who'd told that, and Filch just brushed him off saying that wasn't the point and to hand over his mail now. Harry was entirely grateful he hadn't dawdled in sending Hedwig off, as he told Filch as much.

His eyes narrowed with further suspicion, as he demanded if Harry still had it on his person in hiding.

"What's he going to do if you had?" James snorted, his old joy of tormenting Filch quickly rising to the top.

"Surely, it'll involve whipping or something," Sirius snickered, "that'll make the clothes come right off."

"Urgh," Lily grumbled, she'd never taken Filch's threats so lightly as the lot of them, but then she supposed, she'd never had to suffer a detention with him either so she could see why they played this off as a joke.

Cho jumped in then saying she'd been here when he did send it off.

"Are you sure she's not a Keeper?" James threw his head back with laughter, "because I think she is."

"And you say I come up with bad puns," Sirius snickered along.

Filch glared between the two before turning back to the door, but he froze with his hand on it and still angry eyes on Harry as he began to threaten if he got one whiff of a Dungbomb from him...

"You'll what? Come on man, finish your threats, it's far healthier," Remus said almost encouragingly.

He stomped out of sight then, Harry waiting till he was long gone before thanking Cho for backing him up. She said she didn't mind at all, before asking if he really had been up here ordering those?

"She asks after defending you," Lily giggled.

"Proper timing," James agreed.

Harry said no, and she at once went on to say why Filch had thought so then.

The two remained in silence then as Cho finally sent off her things and they left, waiting until they hit their departing corridor before Cho said she'd see Harry around.

He agreed at once, and the two departed both smiling.

"Lookie there, finally making some progress," Sirius couldn't quite keep the mocking tone out of his voice even as he applauded Harry.

"Looks like third time's his charm, he's beaten Prongs out by a mile," Remus agreed.

"Come on, 394 really isn't that bad in comparison," Sirius put on James' voice in a fair impression.

James chucked a pillow at him while Lily kept going.

Harry went all the way down to the Great Hall, for once ignoring any lingering stares or whispers as he kept remembering her saying how brave she thought he was...

He greeted his friends with the cheeriest morning he had all week.

"Is that all it takes putting you in a good mood?" James huffed, still giving his two friends the stink eye. "Chatting with a pretty girl? Maybe we should try and convince Andromeda to come over next time you're in a bad mood."

"I don't think the prelude to that conversation would be worth it," Harry rolled his eyes.

Ron eyed Harry with surprise for this mood.

"It's sad he's surprised to see you happy," Sirius snorted.

Harry fibbed it was the idea of Quidditch, which Ron only reluctantly agreed to, as he asked Harry if he'd go out with him even earlier than practice so that Ron could have a warm up before even then.

"He wants to train before training, Merlin I want to cry just thinking about it," Remus groaned.

"Don't know what you're talking about Moony, I'll take some hits with the ground over the pummeling my brain took over homework," Sirius shrugged.

Harry agreed at once, but Hermione cut in she seriously didn't think they should.

"I would never say any such thing, why would Hermione imply otherwise?" Sirius demanded while Harry chuckled fully again at that joke.

They were both really behind on homework as is- the two boys were thankfully saved anymore by the morning owl arriving, and Ron tried to delay further by asking if there was anything interesting in there.

"I'm sure the removal of Fudge from his Minister position wouldn't keep her from talking about that," James rolled his eyes.

She flipped through a few pages while saying there was nothing of note, before reaching a ways into it and whispering a sudden concern for Sirius.

Lily choked hard as she spat the name out in surprise, and James wasn't going to sit around and wait for her to get her breath back as he lunged forward and took the book away from her, reading out in a fevered haste-

Harry moved so fast he tore the paper in half, leaving the piece Hermione had been reading still in her hand, which she practically ignored as she read out the content for the boys that the Ministry had received a tip-off that notorious mass murderer Sirius Black may be here in London.

His face was going red, he had yet to take a breath, so Lily reached forward and placed her hand on the back of his neck, using as calm a voice as she could manage, "breath James, he's still fine."

"Right, yeah," he said jerkily, some normal color returning to his face as he studied the words and then glared up at his best mate.

To his infuriation, Sirius just shrugged with a bland look in place, saying, "look at it this way Prongs, even if I do, I'll know how not to get caught that way."

Remus' hands twitched, he really was going to start strangling him here in a moment if he didn't stop playing this off as a joke.

"Sirius, this really isn't the time for jokes," Harry stunned them all by snapping, his face bone white as he watched him. "How do you think I'll feel when-" his vision blurred white before he could say anymore, beginning to convulse and clearly suffering for trying to remember something.

Even beginning to guess what that could be had all of them breathless with fear, but Sirius rounded himself back enough, talking earnestly but softly to Harry now, "alright pup, you got it. No more making fun of Prongs no matter how dramatic he's being."

Harry's vision swam as he focused back on Sirius, something dark in him warning he didn't want to remember the warning he'd almost given. He believed that feeling, because the first option it meant just couldn't be true, he couldn't lose Sirius. So, it must be something else, Sirius just got really hurt or something...

It was the only conclusion any of them could comprehend, the alternative wasn't bearable. Lily had to gently pry the book from James' death grip as she went back to her spot, ignoring her own shaking voice for that heart stopping moment.

Harry began muttering furiously about how Lucius must have done this, he had seen Sirius at the platform.

Ron began in surprise when this had happened,

Remus forced himself to roll his eyes, to focus on this detail that Ron really hadn't noticed any such thing.

Sirius was also restraining himself from saying he didn't even blame Ron for not focusing on such a stupid little detail, but he didn't think that would be well received right now considering his last throwaway comment.

but the other two shushed him as Hermione read out the rest of the article about what would await him when he was found. She concluded then that he just couldn't leave the house again period,

Sirius turned as white as Harry had just been. If that rat was never caught...he couldn't do it, he couldn't go back to prison again, one that was somehow conceivably on par with Azkaban...

Dumbledore had warned him not to after all.

"I don't give a damn what Dumbledore said," Sirius snarled with absolute conviction. "I'd rather die outside that house than be a prisoner inside it again."

He crossed his arms defiantly, waiting for someone to argue with him, but not even Harry could bolster himself to do this. If he'd had to go back to living at the Dursley's full time, even for his own safety...he'd be doing something desperate as well.

Harry stared morosely down at the bit of paper he'd ripped off, his mind on other things besides the add for Madam Malkin's in his hand, but then tucked in a miniature article right below that was something else that caught Harry's attention.

"Not more on-" Remus pleaded, having to resist the urge to grab Sirius and not let go until those thoughts of his were no longer an issue.

"No, no," Harry murmured, still not back to his normal color, "something other than Sirius caught my attention, if you can imagine."

Sirius managed a giggle that didn't quite hit normal, but if Harry was forcing himself to move past the moment than clearly, they'd over read his reaction, something else must be going on...not that Harry just couldn't bear to understand his own thought, that wasn't an option.

He at once laid this out for the others to see, to which Ron instantly said he was good on robes.

James managed only a semi hysterical giggle for that.

Harry ignored him and read out the bit that was barely four sentences long about how Sturgis Podmore had been arrested for trespassing at the Ministry. He'd been caught trying to break into a high security door. The man had refused to speak in his own defense and was to spend the next six months in Azkaban.

No one spoke while Lily read out the charges, but by the time she'd finished and looked up in stunned disbelief, she found them all slack jawed. What they were hearing wasn't possible. Not the Sturgis who'd just been inducted into the Order, had gone to Dumbledore and begged the man to let him help in any way possible after he'd witnessed a muggle child beaten in the street. So how on Earth had he somehow managed to get himself tangled up into stealing from the Ministry? Sent to Azkaban? Why had he even wound up there, that bit about refusing to speak for himself stuck out more than anything, as surely Dumbledore would have stepped in. If he had for Harry than they couldn't imagine he wouldn't have for a faithful Order member as well...but then again, they also already knew of at least one instance where he'd let an Order member go to Azkaban without speaking a word for him. If he could do that to Sirius, they'd believe he could do that to anyone.

Harry was less following that train of thought and more trying to understand how someone from the Order had done that, but his first thought was a frame up. The man had been conned into it somehow... then he went cross-eyed in pain. He'd already suffered one memory blast a second ago for something far more precious to him regarding his godfather, he wasn't going to be pressing on this.

Lily was still waiting for someone to say something about this, but it was clear no one really could, this was too much happening back to back and they needed a minute to process, so Lily was hoping reading about Harry go through this would help.

Ron recalled him as a recently absent member of the Order-

Hermione quickly shushed him before he could go on about that, while Harry hissed he'd been given his stint just for trying to get through a door?

"Oh, that part wasn't so surprising," Lily murmured, "the Ministry takes their breaking and entering very-" she broke off with a nasty glare at Sirius, who managed a real smile and almost a pout for Lily not slipping up.

Hermione told him not to be silly, it wasn't just because of the door. What had he even been doing at the ministry at the time?

"I'm sure if they knew they'd put that in the story," Remus frowned.

"Maybe not," James disagreed, "could be something very secret and important, don't want word spreading around about it."

Ron muttered if this happened on orders from the Order?

"I, could be I guess," Sirius struggled, though he really had a problem understanding what the Order would have to do with the Ministry when they were so at odds.

"If so, then him being in Azkaban is all the fouler," James snarled in outrage.

Harry recalled that it didn't seem likely, as Sturgis had been absent when they were all headed to King's cross, he didn't seem to be doing much work for them lately.

"Perhaps he just wasn't doing this at that time, I'm positive he came around and explained himself before going on for more work," Remus reasoned out.

Ron instead offered up the idea it was all a frame up. What if the Ministry had lured him there, and then set a trap for him to get caught so they could pin this on him.

They all considered the idea for a moment, but not everyone was entirely convinced. Lily at least hoped the Ministry would never fall that far, but she still also held out hope there was something else going on they just couldn't get information from that about. Harry also wouldn't know, leaving them in the dark on this.

James and Sirius seemed to liken to the idea, in fact it explained a lot of his past behavior if he was now regularly being conned up there and then didn't explain this until after the fact to the Order for security reasons.

Remus found it plausible enough, though still a bit too underhanded for the Ministry at this stage. From all accounts, they were still working on discrediting Dumbledore, and though making one of his associates into this light was a next step, why make the piece so small then? They'd have made this front headline news if they were pushing for this tactic, yet it seemed a miracle the piece was in the paper at all. No, he still thought something else was going on here.

Harry found this too far fetched, but Hermione was impressed at this and found it plausible.

Then she folded the paper up and moved on to saying they should start with their Herbology homework.

"How on Earth does she flip from that to homework?" Remus demanded, absolutely derailed from his train of thought.

"I'm sure Hermione can manage to switch any topic to essays," James scowled for this subject being brought up and then cut off so quickly, he wanted to know what was really going on with someone he considered a friend.

If they were lucky they could start practicing McGonagall's Inanimate Conjures Spells before lunch.

Sirius tisked at once, caught at once from his own speculation. "Don't know what she's on about, they're going to play Quidditch."

Harry felt a small twinge of guilt as he watched her go through their list of work, but that blue sky outside really was exhilarating, and he hadn't been on his Firebolt in ages...

"So, you'll be heading down to the pitch soon," Sirius waved impatiently to get there.

Ron reassured Harry that they could go through all that tonight, while the two headed down brooms over their shoulders, Hermione's dire words about how they were going to fail every one of their OWL's still fresh in their ears.

Remus started snickering while nobody bothered acting surprised, even if Lily's mouth did thin just a bit in disapproval of this.

Plus they had all day tomorrow...then he asked if she'd really meant it about them not being allowed to copy from her?

"Did she ever actually let you?" Lily asked astounded, as she hadn't at all picked up on this.

"Sometimes she 'accidentally' left her work out while she ran off to the Library for something," Harry chuckled, "but she never just pushed it over for us."

Harry said she'd meant it alright, but Quidditch was important to them to, they had to stay on top for the team.

"Priorities," James agreed without a drop of sarcasm.

Ron agreed at once, they had time to do it all.

"I hope you remember that when you're up studying until Sunday," Remus winced in pity at the idea.

Harry refused to let his gaze linger on the Forest as they took to the grounds, that flying horse wasn't hurting anything and he had more important things to think about.

"That's fair honestly," James agreed, he hated lingering on things that weren't of importance as well, though he was still trying to pick apart that bit about Sturgis even while half listening to his sons Quidditch prows.

Ron did quite well on his solo practice with Harry, and both boys were heartened as they returned to lunch and more of Hermione's commentary on how irresponsible they were.

"I'd be more worried if she didn't honestly," Lily said fondly.

This time when they went back down, everyone else was waiting for them in the locker room, Fred and George greeting Ron by asking if the Ickle Prefect was going to show them all up.

"If they were making cracks at him like that, it's no wonder he got a little frazzled during tryouts," Remus said in sympathy.

"Ron really shouldn't be letting those light things get to him," James scoffed in disbelief, "not only have the twins said far worse to him before, but the buildup to a game is brutal. Ron's got to have better nerves to keep up."

Ron snapped at them to shut up as Angelina entered, warning them before they got started that they had some visitors in the stands but they were to be ignored while they did this.

It was easier said than done, as the moment the Slytherin team caught sight of them, they began catcalling.

"Did we ever establish what the rules are for spectators at practice?" Harry grumped.

"Nope," James popped the p for emphasis. "Sadly, the pitch stands are open at all times, they hardly have a guard up after all. If you call off practice to go find a teacher to complain to, then you get the same end results of having practice cut up and your time will run out for the next person anyways."

Harry grumbled something but admitted he could do nothing more about this.

Malfoy at once began a list of insults, starting with what Weasley was riding, an old log?

Harry told Ron to ignore the jab, they wouldn't be laughing when they were the ones losing next game.

'Says the one on the Firebolt,' Remus thought in sympathy for Ron at that comment.

Angelina had them all in the air and began with the simple practice of tossing the Quaffle around. Each team member had lobbed it to a random other, before Harry passed it to Ron, who fumbled and had to dive to the ground to get it.

The Slytherin's laughter doubled up at once, and Ron came up as red faced as the ball now. The twins exchanged a look, but uncharacteristically did not say anything themselves.

"It's nice even they have their limits," Sirius frowned in sympathy for Ron.

"I'm positive they'd never have a go at their brother in front of spectators," James said at once, "family boundaries and all that. They can pick on him all they like, but if someone else does it, then there's going to be a problem. Mocking him while they are being the opposite of that."

Sirius nodded in absolute agreement while Lily grinned at him before going on.

Angelina brushed past the moment as if it hadn't happened, telling him to pass it on already, and the routine began again before Malfoy's next comment floated up about how Potter's head was feeling? Did he need a lie down in the Hospital wing? It had been a whole week since he'd been in there after all.

"I wish that one was more of a joke," Lily groaned, considering her son had successfully woken up in there all four years.

On his next pass through Ron did catch his ball with skill, but then overenthusiastically lobbed it off to Katie which smacked her right in the face. Fred flew over at once and offered her a purple bit of candy, promising this would stop the problem.***

"Ooph," all five of them winced for that pain, though James tried to bolster, "least that one wasn't entirely his fault, Katie's got to work on her reflexes as well."

"He speaks from experience of one to many Quaffles in the face," Sirius agreed.

Angelina seemed to decide that was enough of that practice as the team broke up into their usual positions then, but Ron wasn't having much better luck this way. Harry wasn't paying much attention to anyone else as he weaved in and around looking for the Snitch, so stopped in surprise when Angelina blew her whistle and called at Ron he needed to be covering all of his posts, he was only hovering in front of the one.

"Well he was only used to playing with one post, back at home," Harry defended lightly.

"Guess there is room for adjustment time," James agreed.

Ron apologized at once while he tried to lengthen his field, Angelina coaching that he should be circling them all, or he'd let in more than the last three.

Lily winced upon the word three. She wasn't even much of a Quidditch fan and she was starting to feel bad for Ron, the boys were past that and starting to shift with unease at this poor display. They liked Ron a lot, but maybe he wasn't cut out for this game on such a level, not everyone was.

Before she went back to training she asked wasn't Katie's nose getting any better, but Katie said it was only getting worse. Fred eyed another piece of candy he'd apparently just given to her, and suddenly looked horror struck.

"Well that can't be good," Remus yipped at once in concern.

"Just what did the twins do?" Sirius agreed in a sudden surge. "I remember them saying they hadn't perfected the nosebleed one yet, but I thought by giving her that it would at least stem the flow, not make it worse!"

"They gave her the purple pill," James soothed, though his own twitching showed he wasn't entirely okay with this either, "surely they're not just using her for a test dummy."

Not long after, Katie had to be escorted off the field, face pure white from blood loss, by the twins who had accidentally given her a Blood Blister pod.

"What does he mean by mistake?" Lily demanded dangerously. "Thought they were color coded for a reason, how could he give her the wrong one?"

They really had no answer for this, it wasn't like the twins to be so careless with their own products.

Angelina gave in on practice for the day and slumped off amongst the Slytherin's most recent chant of 'Gryffindors are losers!' They made their way back to the common room where Hermione asked in a frosty voice how it had gone. Ron at once said it had been lousy, and Hermione's voice cooled in sympathy it was only his first after all.

"It's nice she thaws on them when it counts," Remus chuckled.

Ron snapped who'd said it had been him that made it lousy?

Sirius couldn't help but snort lightly for his snap, she had made the presumption, even if it was right.

Then he marched off to go get his book bag, while Hermione leaned in and whispered for Harry alone if it had been him.

Harry said no with loyalty.

"There's my little Gryffindor," James beamed for the response he'd have given.

When Hermione kept staring, he conceded it hadn't been the best, but this really had been his first crack.

No more was said as the two spent the evening going through all their work, made extra difficult as Harry could still hear the echo of the Slytherin's cruel chant.

"Oh Harry, don't let yourself get so psyched out as well," Sirius tried to comfort, "that won't help Ron."

"Malfoy really has this way of sticking in my head," Harry huffed.

They spent the rest of the night and the whole of Sunday pushing through their mountain of work, by Sunday night Harry was feeling as if his brain was smashing its way out of his skull.

"Lovely mental imagery," Remus winced in sympathy.

Harry muttered for Ron they really should be doing more of this over the week.

"Well it's not as if you had much of a choice," James said fairly, "what with being physically tortured and all," his voice finishing with flat ice.

Harry winced and hid his hand from sight again, knowing they weren't letting that one go anytime soon.

Hermione had spent her time relaxing, making more elf hats, and chatting with other friends the whole time, but as the night wore on and most of the common room emptied out for their early morning tomorrow, she took pity and wandered over, glancing at Ron's current Astronomy essay and corrected Jupiter's biggest moon was Ganymede, and Lo had the volcanoes.

"Exactly what text was he using to be swapping all those?" Remus asked in sympathy.

"The book was upside down, he didn't even seem to notice he was as exhausted as I was," Harry sighed. "I probably would have noticed soon, I was almost done with mine."

Ron began scratching out the wrong information without a word, while Hermione began apologizing.

"Why's she apologizing, I thought she always critiqued your homework," Lily said in surprise.

"Ron looked ready to make her eat that quill as he was using it," Harry winced, his best mate not in the mood for Hermione to be doing this over his shoulder in that way.

Ron snapped he didn't want to hear it if she was just going to criticize.

"I was under the impression she always criticized him," Sirius said lightly.

"I'm still convinced that's their form of flirting," Remus snorted, thinking Ron was looking for a good row to let off some steam, and Hermione was more than likely his usual go to with that.

Hermione spotted something else, but when Ron tried to cut her off he didn't want to hear it, Hermione pointed at Hermes in the window.

"Not Percy's owl?" James yelped in shock as he leaned over Lily's shoulder to read that one.

"Why do you even remember that detail?" Sirius asked as he certainly hadn't.

Lily shushed them both while reading with an honest touch of hope, maybe Percy was trying to come around and apologize? Hopefully that letter was for all his siblings and he'd made up with his parents?

Ron went to the window at once and wrenched it open, Percy's owl swooping in and landing on Ron's moon of Io.

"I'm sure the Professor will appreciate the attention to detail," James muttered as he was still trying to peek over Lily's shoulder and see what this was about, while she was just as effectively ignoring him.

Ron tore open the envelope curiously and began reading, but his expression quickly flipped to disgust the longer he read.

"That was not an encouraging start," Remus began without much surprise, though he still couldn't imagine what this was about, while Lily sighed with disappointment and couldn't bother clinging to her hope anymore as she got it out.

He wordlessly thrusted the letter to his friends, apparently to appalled for words, as they began reading to themselves about Percy's beginning stating he'd heard from the Minister of Magic himself,

"That was entirely unnecessary," James huffed.

"As was that," Lily snipped at him.

that Ron had become a Prefect. This was excellent news, as Percy had always feared Ron would take the 'Fred and George' route, but now he was elated to hear his youngest brother had decided to take on some responsibility.

"He didn't decide anything," Sirius threw his hands up in exasperation for people continually saying that. No one put their name down, no one did anything to become Prefect, it was entirely the decision of the Heads of Houses and ultimately Dumbledore.

He was sending this letter with as much warning as anything though, for if he expected to go further in life with this achievement, he should be warned of his continued fraternization with Harry Potter, which he'd gathered Ron was still hanging around again from word of the Minister.

Remus frowned in confusion, wondering what Umbridge had passed along that involved Ron at all? He supposed he wasn't too surprised if that thing was keeping tabs on Harry's friends as well though.

Percy put in the simple fact that Ron could quickly lose his badge if this kept up.

Harry spluttered with absolute indignation. What had he done to deserve that from anyone, let alone a person he'd gotten to know on at least some level? He'd never taken a liking to Percy, but he'd never thought he'd done anything to deserve him telling his own brother to drop him? Ron was Harry's first friend, his best friend, and more family than he'd ever had in his life before he met Sirius.

James fired up at once, snapping, "what does Percy want, for Ron to be an outcast and no one to like him like Percy is?"

The sad truth was, yes Lily did believe that. Percy may have heard this news and immediately hoped that he could reconnect with some member of his family, because he likely was lonely. That didn't excuse what he'd just told to do to her son.

Percy expected Ron to read this with some surprise, no doubt Ron would say that Potter was Dumbledore's favorite,

"Why would that be his response?" Sirius scowled with anger as well as confusion for that one. Harry never once asked for that treatment.

but Dumbledore may not be in charge around school much longer anyways if those in charge had a more accurate account of Potter's behavior had things settled as Percy expected them to.

With every line Percy had written Remus continued growing more confused and angry, this one in particular caught him off guard. What did he mean Dumbledore wouldn't be in charge of the school anymore? That was an oddity in itself, he'd been the headmaster for generations already and in a most likely biased opinion the most reputable of them all. That didn't quite knock out the anger of the second part, more accurate his arse. Ron was Harry's best friend for years, he'd have the most accurate portrayal of Harry more than anyone, shouldn't this be his say so.

Percy wouldn't enlighten this statement further, but Ron should check out the Daily Prophet tomorrow for more details to see where the wind was blowing, and to spot himself along the way.

"Why am I not surprised this whole letter was planned out just to brag about himself winding up in the paper somehow," Sirius snarled.

Percy persisted, seriously Ron

"He doesn't get to use my name," Sirius huffed, to which he was ignored by all this time.

did not want to be on the same branch with Potter anymore or it would damage his future, and this was speaking of life after school. Ron surely knew of Potters disciplinary hearing, and he had not come out of it looking good. He'd gotten off on a technicality, and many of the Wizengamot still found him guilty.

"Guilt of what!?" James thundered. "He saved his own damn life plus his useless cousin! What were they even trying to prove during that shame of a trial? That he cast a Patronus Charm for shits and giggles!"

"You should never argue with a stupid person, they'll just drag you down to their level and beat you with experience." Remus snipped.

It was best for Ron to sever ties with Potter, the earlier the better, even if he did become violent. If Ron had any worries he was encouraged to go see Umbridge, a delightful woman who would be happy to help.

Lily did not get that out as if an intelligible person had said it, more like repeating the words of someone hit with a babbling curse. It made no sense in or out of context.

This led into his next bit of advice, which he'd hinted at above,

"Hinted implies subtly," James snorted with disgust.

that Dumbledore would not remain in charge at school long, and Ron should be thinking of his future with the Ministry. So far Umbridge had been getting very little cooperation from the staff and the Ministry was striving to fix this, again see the Prophet tomorrow, and those who were on Umbridge's side could be well placed for Head Boy ship not long later.

"Climb as far up her brown nose as you can and make a comfy nest with the rest of her eggs," Sirius mocked.

Percy did tack in an apology about how he was sorry he couldn't see Ron over the summer,

"Bet he wouldn't care one bit if he didn't know you were a Prefect," Sirius snapped.

and it did pain in how he disliked criticizing his parents, but what with the riff raff they kept up with like Sturgis Podmore, and other petty criminals, he was lucky the Minister didn't see him in the same light.

James looked ready to light the book on fire any moment now. Percy had successfully insulted three people he cared about in one go! It took a lot of restraint on his part to remind himself Percy was still a child right now who shouldn't be transfigured into a pumpkin.

He was very gracious he'd disassociated himself with the likes of Dumbledore's crowd and promised Ron could still do the same and not to let family ties blind him. He'd be ready to accept their apology whenever they were ready and realized their mistakes.

"If both sides keep standing around waiting for an apology instead of doing something, this war is going to be harder than I was thinking," Sirius grumbled as he remembered his own words.

He signed off with the plea to think this all over, particularly the bit about Potter, and congratulated him one last time on becoming a prefect.

"Burn that Harry. Burn that and shove the sod right up that Humongous Big Heads nose." James said at once with conviction.

"It's Ron's letter," Harry sighed, "I think he should get the right."

"That's fair," Sirius acknowledged.

When Harry was done, he reread one bit to make sure he got it right, before turning to Ron and said if he wanted to sever ties with him, he promised he wouldn't get violent.

The boys at least garnered a laugh for Harry's sarcasm at that, while Lily sighed deeply. She wished that hadn't been played off as a joke, but she supposed it was better than Harry getting mad at Ron's brother, and taking it out on Ron, which with his temper lately she wouldn't have even been surprised.

Ron jerked the letter away nastily at once, calling him the biggest prat on earth as he ripped the parchment up into tiny little scraps and tossed it into the fire.

"Less satisfying than up the nose," James sighed.

"But a proper in the moment response," Remus smiled.

Then he turned dismissively back to their homework.

Lily managed almost a happy giggle for this display, thinking Percy should send Ron more stupid letters if that's what got him to focus on his homework more.

Remus almost agreed, finding his utter dismissal of this perfect.

Hermione was looking at Ron with an odd expression on her face.

"What kind of odd look?" Lily asked with a torn expression, she really hoped Hermione wasn't going to try and give Ron a pep talk or something, it wouldn't do him any good right now.

"I think it was something close to surprise, maybe admiration," Harry tried to smile. "Ron wouldn't ever show it, but what Percy did cut all his siblings as bad as his parents, and so when Hermione saw Ron just turn right back to homework after what Ron considered further spurn must have gotten to her."

Lily couldn't help a small smile now as she kept going. It didn't make that letter feel any better, but it was nice to see Hermione acting like their friend rather than mother for a change.

Then she stunned them both by demanding their homework from them so she could correct what they'd done.

"Doesn't she usually do that anyways when you're done?" Sirius chuckled.

"She'd certainly been threatening not to do it enough lately we were starting to believe her," Harry smiled in relief.

He asked if she was serious?

"No, I am," Sirius reminded as if anyone had forgotten.

Then he began thanking her at once, calling her a life saver and what could he say to-

She said he could say he wouldn't wait to do all his homework till the last minute ever again, while looking on in amusement.

"They're not even done with them though," James reminded.

"Still better to get her help while she was in a good mood, half the work done," Harry cheered, though the smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

Harry thanked her as well as he pushed his away in relief, letting himself sink down and gaze at the fire quietly for a moment with a sick feeling resting in him as the remains of Percy's letter curled away in the fire.

They all frowned as they realized Harry had taken that much more personally than they'd realized, he'd even played off the moment in here well enough they'd thought he'd just completely brushed it off, but clearly not.

Somehow reading all that in Percy's writing pressed in on him for the first time his standing with the majority of the Wizarding World. He'd known Percy for years, had spent summers at his house and shared a tent with him at the World Cup, Percy had been the one to award him full marks during the second task last year, but now the same guy found him unbalanced and violent.

"This is the same guy who went sobbing out into the freezing lake to check on his kid brother," Remus huffed in agreement. "How did he go from that to dismissing his whole family in so little time?"

"You've got me?" James sighed deeply.

Harry felt sudden empathy for his godfather, whom the whole world also believed had done something he'd had no part of.

Sirius hummed in agreement with that, even if he couldn't be there for Harry in the ways he wanted to be, he found comfort even the idea he could relate to Harry made him feel better.

Then Harry sat up straight in his chair as he gazed at the fire in confusion, surely he'd imagined it because he was thinking of his godfather.

"Oh, is Sirius making another appearance in the common room?" James asked as if confirming the date.

"Now he even has a safe place to do it from," Remus agreed almost as if bored at the idea.

Truth be told it made both of them smile and more anxious at the same time. They couldn't easily forget where Sirius was in Harry's time and found him talking to Harry face to face would surely make him feel better for even a moment.

Hermione was done with both homeworks, haven written out a draft for Ron to use as his conclusion,

"Okay, that was blatantly doing homework for you," Lily snorted.

"I guess she truly was taking pity on us," Harry chuckled.

Ron insisted she was the most wonderful person he'd ever met,

"I think this is the most he's complimented her in their entire friendship, she may be falling over from shock," Sirius chuckled.

and if he was ever rude to her again-

She'd know he'd gone back to normal, Hermione finished for him with a smile.

"There's the proper response," James snickered.

Then she turned on Harry's, saying he must have heard Sinestra wrong, as Europa was covered in ice, not mice.

"Sometimes I really can't tell when Hermione's being sarcastic," Remus smirked, "she must know that was a slip of the quill."

Harry just grinned and didn't reply.

Harry was no longer listening as he crouched down in front of the fireplace, watching it steadily now as he told his friends what he'd just seen. It wasn't that surprising, as Sirius had appeared her once before to talk to him, but Hermione was concerned at once at the idea, saying it would be too- Sirius?!

"But I'm always serious, how could I be anything else?" Sirius cackled.

"She was actually saying your name you twit," Lily ground out, cursing that man's parents for cursing their child and everyone else in his life with this never-ending gag.

She gasped his name in surprise as Sirius' face sat among the logs, grinning at them.

"You already sound so pleased with yourself," James snickered.

"I honestly believe I've been looking forward to this all week, Harry's letter just happened around the same time," Sirius grinned.

He began to say he'd been worried this wouldn't work, he'd been checking every hour and there'd always been someone else in here.

Harry half laughed that he'd been popping his head in here once an hour? Hermione anxiously demanded what if someone had seen him.

"I'm sure you'd have heard about it, and the twins would have helped to laugh the whole thing off by saying they'd slipped something in there, or any number of things." Remus rolled his eyes at her paranoia.

Sirius shrugged off that some first year may have gotten a start from him, but she'd probably just thought he was a funny shaped log.

"Honestly, in a school full of magic, a funny shaped log wouldn't have lingered in her mind in the time it took for her to get to the stairs," James agreed.

Hermione still said this was too big a risk for him to be-

Sirius cut her off by telling her to stop sounding like Molly, Sirius was just trying to respond to Harry's letter.

Hermione turned her accusing voice on Harry now, as he hadn't told them about this.

"And that's exactly why he didn't," Sirius scoffed at Hermione's never ending complaints.

Harry admitted he'd forgotten, as the instance with Cho had pushed the rest of that morning from his mind, before turning back to Sirius and saying no one could have gotten anything from that letter anyways.

"She doesn't believe anyone can do anything without her help," James rolled his eyes.

Sirius agreed at once it had been very good, beginning on that with Harry's scar.

Ron tried to ask what that meant, but Hermione shushed him and they'd tell later.

"I understand the need for the haste, but why hadn't you told Ron about this already?" Lily asked.

"Same reason I'd yet to tell Hermione about my detentions," Harry shrugged uneasily as he brought this back up himself but still explained, "hadn't come up until I was caught at it."

"You have that philosophy far too often," Remus huffed.

Sirius agreed he understood this couldn't be fun for Harry, but it had hurt like this before now.

Harry agreed it had just concerned him it had been extra bad around that Umbridge woman, but Sirius had no delusions she was a Death Eater.

Harry said she was foul enough to be one, while Sirius gave a wry smile and said the world wasn't split into good people and Death Eaters.

"I always want to faint in surprise when you pass on such words of wisdom," Lily smiled at him while Sirius grinned and Harry took a moment to register the truth of those words he'd never considered before.

Sirius did agree that he already knew of her reputation though, Remus went on enough about her.

That caught their attention with surprise, Lily going on eagerly to see what that foul woman had been saying about her friend, and hopefully some colorful recanting of what Remus had to say about it.

Harry asked in surprise how Lupin knew her, remembering Umbridge's comments about half-breeds during their first class.

James's mouth dried considerably as he did remember this. She hadn't been subtle in taking a shot at Remus, and he already felt a nasty fear of where this was going.

Sirius explained not personally, but she'd drafted some anti-werewolf legislation two years ago that made it impossible for him to get a job.

Lily spluttered with indignation nearly before she'd gotten that out, and that had nothing on his two friends. They already had every reason in the world wanting that sherbet-reject to shrivel up and die, turns out they should have been going for her head all those years ago. Was this in fact finally the reason Remus had left his post? That would have happened right around the time he left Hogwarts, when Snape had released his name as working at Hogwarts!

Instead of shrinking away whenever this topic came up, Remus looked a tad concerned for this news, and not just for himself. It was very rare to find any other werewolves who even tried to maintain a normal lifestyle with a job and such, but with this bit of legislation being passed it was as if they were being told not to even bother with that. He'd never complained of the restrictions of the jobs they could get because he recognized the danger in his own kind, but was the Ministry moving even further away in trying to phase out his whole kind, truly turn them into no more than animals that needed to be killed. How could they ever show how normal they could be if no one gave them a chance? Then he reminded himself what he'd long since came to the conclusion of, no one cared.

Harry remembered how much shabbier Lupin looked these days and his dislike of Umbridge deepened even further.

Remus blinked in a bit of surprise for that. From what he'd gathered, Harry hadn't much to do with him in his own time, so the fact that he had such a strong reaction like that really did warm him up a bit. He really hadn't thought it possible for a long time anyone outside his friends could see him as any more than a monster, but first Lily and now Harry...

Hermione demanded what that woman had against werewolves, and Sirius said it was all part-humans, she'd even tried to round up all merpeople and have them tagged a few years back, imagine wasting the energy on such things when toe rags like Kreacher were about.

"I'm sure she doesn't like them any better," Remus scoffed to try and lighten back up the mood, at least trying to pretend as he always did he hadn't heard a word about this. "House-elves do have a certain human shape but aren't, so they're in the-"

Sirius elbowed him in the ribs to get him to shut up, no one wanted to hear him play this off right now.

Ron laughed but Hermione looked offended, trying to tell Sirius if he'd just make an attempt, she was sure Kreacher would respond.

Sirius knew he'd rather lose his dessert privileges than indulge in any such nonsense, and wished Hermione would quit harping on that.

Harry thought the same, if only because it left such a tight feeling of unease in him he felt the urge to cry and refused to understand why.

Dumbledore did say-

Sirius blatantly ignored her and asked what Umbridge's lessons were like, was she training them to kill half-breeds?

"No, that would actually be useful," Remus snorted lightly, before wincing and wishing he hadn't spoken at all for the nasty look his friends gave him for that.

Harry said no while Hermione looked affronted her defense had been cut off.

"You'd really think at some point she'd realize, no one cares!" James threw his hands up in exasperation.

She wasn't letting them use magic at all.

This didn't surprise Sirius though, as he'd heard that the Minister was growing more paranoid by the day and no longer wanted the students trained in combat.

Harry was stunned, asking why, did she think they were forming their own army?

Sirius agreed that was exactly what his delusions feared, the man thought Dumbledore was amassing his own force to overthrow the Ministry.

"I've never heard something so idiotic in my life," James deadpanned, "and I've lived with these two for seven years."

"I, really wish Sirius was making a joke right now," Lily agreed.

There was a pause before Ron stated that was the stupidest thing he'd heard in his life, and he'd been around Luna Lovegood.

"Was that supposed to be a compliment, or-" Sirius began in confusion before Remus shushed him.

Hermione was outraged this was the reason behind their lack of education, while Sirius elaborated Fudge was convinced Dumbledore would do anything to get power, it's only a matter of time before he has the man arrested at this point.

"That'll be the day," Remus scoffed while Harry frowned at the idea, he really didn't like the sound of that.

Harry asked if he knew anything about this big deal that was supposed to be in the Prophet tomorrow Percy had dropped hints about, but Sirius said he hadn't a clue, no one had actually been around all week.

Lily's voice shook with pity there, to which Sirius was both grateful for, and wanted to make some snide comment at her for. Thankfully she kept going loudly before he could act on either.

Sirius' voice had quickly turned bitter as he said this, so Harry instead asked about Hagrid.

Sirius didn't seem too concerned, saying while he was supposed to be back by now and they weren't sure why he wasn't,

"Tactless as ever," Lily grumbled at him, ignoring her own increasing worry at those confirmed fears. Surely if this was a real problem though Sirius would be more concerned, he at least had a like for Hagrid even without knowing what all he'd done for Harry. This wasn't necessarily a death sentence if someone didn't come back from a mission on schedule...

but upon seeing their stricken faces Sirius quickly said Dumbledore wasn't worried about it, so everything was surely fine. Maxime had gone with him, and she'd arrived back on schedule and simply said they'd split up on the journey home, there was no reason to suggest a real problem.

"I think we need to have a refresher course on those talks about reassuring people Sirius," Remus groaned, as that had helped no one at any point it seemed.

The three exchanged a still anxious look, but Sirius insisted for them not to go around asking questions and drawing attention to this.

"We haven't been," Harry said just a touch indignantly, "you were the only one I'd asked."

"Well I know that now," Sirius rolled his eyes in exasperation, causing Harry to back down.

Then Sirius flipped topics to asking when their next Hogsmeade weekend was, he wanted to show up and-

"And just why would you think that would cheer them up?" Lily began anxiously as she fought the compulsion to stick a muzzle on Sirius. "You were already spotted once, what makes you think it a good idea to have another go?"

"Stop being such a worry wart Lily," James scoffed at once. "He needs out of that place more, even if it is at sporadic times like Hogsmeade weekends."

"Where was this attitude last year?" Remus demanded uneasily, this conversation just kept getting worse with everything his last best friend said.

"Last year Sirius was on the run, getting all the air he needed, so I was just worried about him covering his tail," James scowled at Remus for the lack of backup. "Now I'm worried what he'll do if he doesn't get out more."

Sirius longed for the time where he could have basked in having a whole conversation about him, now he just looked miserable and didn't account for anyone, he just wanted to forget about the existence of that house and his whole damn future.

Harry and Hermione shouted no at once, Hermione quickly saying the article they'd found this morning. Sirius brushed this off, saying they were always guessing something and it never panned out.

"I mean, I suppose so long as Kingsley is still pushing for Australia or something, whatever Malfoy said could be brushed off easily enough," Remus tried to say with some encouragement that fell flat to all worried parties.

Harry insisted Lucius had spotted him near that train, and what if Draco did in Hogsmeade?

"Then don't go near Malfoy," James scoffed. "Honestly, Padfoot knows every hole of that area better than the local cats."

"Doesn't make the risk any less," Lily sighed without too much of a fight, recognizing whatever Sirius wanted to do, he'd do it with or without anyone's support.

Sirius scowled at them before saying he wouldn't, he'd just thought they'd like to get together.

"You really are breaking my heart here pup," Sirius tried for a flippant tone while Harry eyed his godfather with great worry. Ever since he'd left that platform, Harry had an ever growing fear of the next time Sirius left that house, leaving his tongue paralyzed and unable to respond...

Harry insisted he just didn't want to see him back in Azkaban!

Sirius' face went flat blank as he said Harry was less like his father than Sirius had thought, the risk would have been what made it fun for James.

Sirius actually recoiled, suddenly looking ready to burst into tears any moment as he had concrete proof. Merlin's sake, he really had lost his mind if he thought even for a moment he'd been talking to James-

Lily had just huffed and rolled her eyes at the stupid comment, she didn't even seem to realize Sirius had taken it so personally while James kept his eyes firmly on his best mate now.

Remus reacted on instinct by smacking Sirius upside the head for that, muttering, "would you rather him be like you, not thinking before you speak."

Sirius hardly seemed to realize what had been spoken as he whispered back, "that hurt you know."

Remus wasn't sure if he meant the comment, or the blow, as he rolled his eyes and said, "I didn't damage anything important."

"All of me is important!" He shot back with almost a pout, managing to keep himself distracted at least for a few seconds while Lily finished.

Harry tried to say something else, but Sirius said he'd write again whenever Harry could stand the risk, and then he was gone.

Remus was looking from James to Sirius uneasily, as Lily looked up to indicate she was done and seemed to realize for the first time that had bothered the two, so Remus began ardently, "wonder if we should take a quick break again. I'm sure someone should check on the baby's dipper, and I-"

"Yeah, that's great Moony. Padfoot, can I borrow you for a moment," James snapped, not waiting for any preamble as he made his way for the stairs and Sirius followed reluctantly.

HPHPHPHPHPHP

* This one gets under my skin out of confusion. Either Harry has completely forgotten the fact that he was the one who had to trick Malfoy into giving Dobby that sock, otherwise he could have just done it himself and set Dobby free if that was his intentions, or he really thought Hermione found a way around this law and it's just never addressed. This is a real problem with the narrative between two and five that is never brought up.

**I know that's a really subjective number, considering by most math there would only be about 300, but JK has said there were actually almost a thousand. I personally more invasion somewhere in the middle, though I imagine the population slump from the war and other variables actually makes the number fluctuate between those two numbers throughout the years, so who really knows.

*** This moment genuinely annoys me for two reasons. The twins specifically say the purple half is the 'cure' pill for their works, and this is proven in the very last chapter where they gave purple pills to the first years to wake them up, so they did indeed give the right pill. Problem two with this, is then, what do you mean you gave her the wrong pill? Either you color swapped a batch in which case you lot are far more idiotic than I thought for all your hard work doing this, or this is just some serious (shut up Sirius!) errors with the flowing work. Twice in one chapter man...

#Harry Potter #fanfiction #reading the books #HP #Marauders #OotP #James Potter #Remus Lupin #Sirius Black #Lily Potter #The LIfe that Never LIved

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shannygoatgruff · 4 years

Photo

Stay Safe, Stay Home Writing Challenge - (Call me if you need anything) @waiting4inspiration

Genre: Romance

Pairing: Modern Ivar x OC

Warning: Language, sexual conversation, insecurity

Rating: M

Chapter 4 || Chapter 6

Chapter 5

Hvitserk watched in silence as his brother stalked into their suite, slamming the door behind him. “You’re back early, brother,” he called from the sofa, where watched a rerun of a classic Austria vs Germany soccer match.

Ivar was going through it. His legs were hurting and so were his feelings. He wanted to still be kissing Cash and possibly doing more but, he needed to talk to Ubbe. Gah.. why wasn't going like how he had rehearsed it in his head?

Sitting on the side of the bed, he removed his leg braces before reaching over to gather the leather binding straps. As he secured the straps around his calves, he hit the speed dial number on his phone again and listened to it ring. Refusing to leave another voice message, he slid off the bed and crawled into the living room.

“I need to talk to Bubbe but, he’s not answering his phone.” Ivar sat beside the coffee table and uncapped a beer from Hvitserk’s pack, “I can’t find Bjorn, so you will have to do. But, I swear if you interrupt me or make fun of me, I will kill you.”

Hvitserk turned the volume down on his game and tilted his bottle in his brother's direction. For once in his life, he would try to remain quiet.

“I want to have sex with Cash.” There he said it. Ivar had bared his soul. So, why was Hvitserk just looking at him like that? Where was all the brotherly advice that he was supposed to be giving?

Hvitserk’s eyes looked around the room in confusion while he waited for Ivar to finish. After a few seconds, he realized his brother had stopped talking. “Okay. So?”

“So? So, that’s the problem. I can’t.”

“Of course you can.” Hvitserk took a long swallow from his beer before picking up the remote and increasing the volume. This was a stupid conversation, and even though he had seen this game before he would much rather keep watching it than have Ivar go into detail about any erectile dysfunctions he'd experienced. “You know where to stick your pecker. Just put it in there and move it around.”

Ivar looked at his brother in disgust. “I hate you.” He set his beer on the table and crawled out onto the balcony. At the rate he was going, he would be smoking two packs a day if he didn’t get his anxiety under control soon. As soon as he made it to the chairs, he hoisted himself onto one and lit a cigarette. He looked back into the living room, wishing he could have brought his beer with him, but refused to ask Hvitserk for help. Instead, he took his hair down from its bun, placed the band on his wrist, and began to rub his temples.

This was not Hvitserk’s wheelhouse. Being all big brotherly to Ivar was not something he had ever been good at. Hvitserk liked to live by the 3 F’s of life – food, fucking and fun. Having a deep, personal conversation about anyone's problems be them physical, mental, or sexual didn’t exactly fit into any of those categories. He loved his little brother, that wasn’t even a question. But this…this was Ubbe’s deal. Hvitserk had always been the brother that would fight for Ivar if needed. He was the one that would drive him to the store in the middle of the night when they smoked pot and they got the munchies. Hvitserk was the brother that always tried to hook Ivar up with the friends and relatives of girls that he dated. But talking about his feelings and shit? Damn Ubbe for being busy.

Reluctantly, Hvitserk turned off the television. He grabbed the beer and Ivar’s phone before walking out to the balcony. He placed the bottle in front of his brother and took his pack of cigarettes in return for his trouble. Once he lit up, he took a seat and put his feet on the railing. "Here,” he said, sliding the phone over to Ivar.

Ivar dialed Ubbe’s number for the fourth time since leaving Cash’s hotel room. Resting his thumb against the bridge of his nose, he let the smoke escape his mouth. He left his shoulders drooped when Ubbe’s voice message answered, “Hey, Boob, it’s Ivy again. Call me when you have a chance. I need advice and Serk’s an ass that knows nothing,” he rolled his eyes at Hvitserk, then looked back at the ground. “Thanks. Bye.”

“Okay, Ivy…What’s up?” Hvitserk blew the smoke from his nose just before swallowing his beer. “Why can’t you fuck this girl?” He scratched his patchy beard with his thumb, “She likes you, no?” He watched Ivar nod. “So, what’s the problem?”

Ivar let out a frustrated sigh. Did he really want to go down this road with Hvitserk? If he talked to him now, he was going to be made fun of for the rest of his life. But, then again, Hvitserk did have almost as many women as Bjorn, and he didn’t have to marry them. Maybe he actually knew something about women. It was doubtful, but how much could it hurt?

“I really like her. A lot. But, I can’t…I’m not…I haven’t.” Ivar stuttered. His lips vibrated as he exhaled in frustration.

“What?” Hvitserk fought with everything he had not to smile. He pressed his beer bottle to his lips and held it there, so he could concentrate on something else besides the corners of his lips turning up.

Ivar looked over the balcony at the city lights and took a deep breath. “I have trouble with sex, Serk. It hasn’t gone so well before.” He took another deep drag of his cigarette. “When I was with Freydis, we tried a few times, but I couldn’t…you know.

Hvitserk wouldn’t let that damn beer bottle go from his lips. He held it to his mouth for dear life. Instead, his eyes just grew wide as he looked around the balcony, feigning ignorance. He raised his brows to signal that he had no idea what Ivar was referring to.

“I’ve never had an orgasm.” There he said it. Ivar paused and looked at Hvitserk for a reaction. He even waited for a second for him to laugh or get all of his jokes out, but he didn’t. Instead, Hvitserk cleared his throat and shook his head as if he was shocked.

Finishing the rest of his beer in a few swallows, Hvitserk reached over to grab another. If this talk was going to continue, he was going to need a lot more alcohol. He opened the top, took a pull off of his cigarette, and leaned his elbows on his legs. “Do you jerk off?”

“What?”

“Jerk off? Do you?”

“No,” Ivar could feel his cheeks starting to burn hot with embarrassment.

Hvitserk squared his brother with an incredulous look. “Oh, come on, Ivy. You’re not 13 anymore. It’s not like the time I walked in on you with your pecker in your hand and you said you were just checking it out because you thought you might have broken another bone.” He laughed out loud at that memory, “I didn’t believe you then and I don’t believe you now.”

Ivar was sure his face was as red as Hvitserk's socks, by now.

“It’s your meat, you can beat it.” Hvitserk laid a hand on his brother’s trying to seem compassionate. “Do you finish yourself off when you do it?”

If Ivar could run, he would have. If he could fly, he would have jumped off the balcony and flown home. Talking to Ubbe was never this embarrassing. Why wasn't he answering his phone, damn him?

Reluctantly, Ivar shrugged, neither confirming or denying Hvitserk's question.

“Oh, Ivy…you're looking at this all wrong. This is a great problem to have!” Hvitserk sat his beer down and slapped his brother on the thigh. He watched as Ivar’s eyebrows raised. “My dear, brother, do you know how many women want a man that can go all night? You’ve heard of the Kama Sutra? Tantric sex? You should be fucking all the time. Tell me, my little Padawan,” he sat back in his seat with an interested look on his face, “what do you know about orgasm denial?”

Ivar grabbed his phone and stuffed it in his pocket. He looked at his brother with disgust, “Stay away from me.” He slid off the chair and started to make his way to the door to go back into the living room before he turned around to glare at Hvitserk one last time, "Don’t talk to me. Ever.”

“What?” Hvitserk turned around in his chair, “I thought it was a good talk!”

“I did not wake you up, did I?’’ Ivar rolled over in the bed and faced the window. He had yet to turn the lamp off, but leaving the light on would alert Hvitserk that he was still awake. The last thing he wanted was to talk to him anymore ever again. “I am not used to sleeping without speaking to you first.”

Cash retucked the ends of her silk scarf around her head as she balanced the phone on her shoulder, “No. I was just getting ready for bed. I had the best shower. I twisted my hair...”

“What are you wearing?” Ivar smiled into the phone.

“A night shirt and boxers.”

“A shirt and boxers - nothing sexier?” Ivar smiled thinking about what she smelled like fresh from the shower. What scent soap did she use? She looked like she would use something soft like peony and chamomile, but he couldn’t be sure.

“Maybe if I reason to...Oooh,” she laughed light-heartedly, “shots fired.”

Ivar laughed with her. “So much for being a gentleman, huh?”

“A gentleman? You’re a choir boy.” She smiled and picked at her nail polish. Unfolding her legs from beneath her, she placed her feet on the floor feeling for her slippers. “I mean, I thought I was shy.”

He pulled the covers over his legs and hummed. “Now you know my secret. I have always been shy. I can talk when no one is around. But in my face, I cannot. I get embarrassed.” He extended his arm and watched himself open and close his hand. “There is so much I wish I could say to you.”

“Like what?” She got off the couch and made her way to the bedroom.

His voice was soft when he answered her, “I’d tell you that I did not want to leave tonight. Or that I wish we could sleep in one another’s arms, finally. Oh wait, hang on.” Ivar rolled toward the door when he heard Hvitserk knock, “What?” He asked impatiently. When the door opened, Ivar’s eyes grew to the size of saucers. “What are you doing here?”

She was wearing a mid-thigh length baseball jersey nightshirt, and what wasn't covered by the jersey was hidden beneath a pair of boxer shorts. She also wore a colorful headwrap that was tied almost like a turban. It wasn’t a look that he would classify as sexy, but the way she was standing there, smiling around that bottom lip in between her teeth. It was enough to take his breath away.

“Your brother texted me. He said you wanted me to come over.” She stood in the doorway trying to formulate another sentence, but the words were escaping her. Should she not have come? Did he want her there? She couldn't tell from his face if he was happy to see her or not.

Besides that, he was wearing a tank top. Though most of his torso was still covered, she could see the large tattoo piece he had described to her running across his back, shoulders and across his chest. And what a back, chest, pair of shoulders and arms it was. It was a sight to behold.

He was at a loss for words. Hvitserk texted her? How did he get her phone number? When did he have a chance to text her? “Hvitserk?!”

Ivar yelled, sitting on the bed, unsure what else to do at that moment. Part of him wanted to invite Cash into his room, while the other half of him wanted to crawl away and hide. However, the biggest part of him wanted to find his brother and kick his ass.

Ivar waited not making eye contact with her, instead choosing to look out into the empty hallway for this asshole to appear.

“Yeah?” Hvitserk answered casually, walking to Ivar’s door peeling his orange. He looked genuinely clueless as to why Ivar was yelling for him this time of night. When he looked over at his brother, who raised his shoulder and gave him a WTF look, he simply popped an orange slice in his mouth. “I took her number before I gave you the phone,” he replied in English, chewing loudly, before swallowing. “You need to talk to her – not me, not Boob.” With that, Hvitserk smiled at them both, nodded goodnight, and pulled the bedroom door behind him. “You are welcome.”

Cash and Ivar were silent for a few seconds more before Cash cleared her throat and stepped further into the room. As she approached the bed, she looked at Ivar for permission. “You still wanna have a sleepover?"

Reluctantly, he touched the edge of the covers. He started to tell her what to expect when it came to his legs but figured since he wearing pajama bottoms he wouldn’t have to. Not tonight, anyway. It’s not like they were going to be naked, even though he wanted them to be, he wouldn’t let it get that far. “I told you I crawl without my…”

“Do you plan on us having a sleepwalking race tonight?” Ivar shook his head. “Then you don’t need to explain anything to me. Just be you.” She took a seat on the bed and pulled the covers over her legs.

She couldn’t believe it. After all this time, she was finally next to Ivar. This was surreal on so many levels. She didn’t care about the fact that he didn’t disclose all of his secrets to her, nor did she care that he couldn’t walk. The only thing she did care about was that he was real and he was gentle and amazing and smelled good.

She couldn’t quite place what products he’d used but his damp hair smelled like fruit and his body had that woodsy men’s body wash smell. It wasn’t as sexy as the cologne he’d had on earlier, but those pheromone undertones of his were still putting her ovaries in an uproar.

Ivar laid back on his pillows and extended his arm, inviting her into his personal space. He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to ask or not, but making the gesture seemed like a good start. When her head found the space between his chest and shoulder, and he closed his arm around her body, all felt right with the world. “I just need a little bit of time, okay?”

“For what?” she asked wrapping her arm around his waist.

Ivar closed his eyes and breathed in her scent. Coconuts. "To be what you expected.”

“You already are.”

Taglist: @oddsnendsfanfics @a-mess-of-fandoms @waiting4inspiration@simsadventures @chipster-21 @tgrrose @alicedopey @ariesxslytherin @laketaj24 @we-are-only-halfway-home93 @thelastemzy @becacosta27 @naaladareia @alexa4040 @absolutelynotanidiot @pokeasleepingsmaug @blackcoffeeandgreenteaforme @skadithegoddess @dina-m16 @tiyetiye @synnersaint @lostinthoughtsandfeelings @moonlightsspirit @the-jess-life @geekandbooknerd @dreamlesswonder86 @inforapound @youbloodymadgenius @cruelfvckingsummer @mummybear @flowers-in-your-hayr @honestsycrets @thatendymion @jzr201

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whumphoarder · 4 years

Text

Flying Blind

Summary: Tony’s never been one to turn down a mission. Even when he can’t see shit.

Word count: 2,194

Genre: light whump, humor

A/N: Happy birthday @awesomesockes!! Hope you enjoy! Thanks @xxx-cat-xxx & @sallyidss for beta-reading and ideas!

Link to read on Ao3

It starts, as bad things in life so often do, with a series of headaches.

Having been prone to migraines since adolescence, Tony doesn’t think much of them at first. As long as the pain in his head and the slight blur to his vision are content to stay ‘irritating’ rather than ‘debilitating,’ he doesn’t complain. He pops some Advil and chugs a few glasses of water, which doesn’t exactly help, but doesn’t not help either. Pepper’s always harping on him about being chronically dehydrated anyway.

Truth is, headaches are so common for Tony that it takes an embarrassingly long time for a man of his intelligence to connect them with all the squinting he’s been doing lately. Or how he’s having to stand a little further back from his holographic images than usual so that he can make out the letters. Or how he’s had FRIDAY increase his screen font size from eleven to twelve. And then thirteen.

It’s simple: Tony’s going blind.

Well, alright, fine—not blind. But old, which is arguably worse. Vision is the first to go after all, and then it’ll be his six-pack, and his memory, and his hair, and before he knows it he’ll be tuning in every afternoon for a new episode of Jeopardy and soaking his pearly whites in a cup of Polident.

Anyway, that’s why, when Tony realizes he might possibly need glasses, he doesn’t request an appointment with SHIELD’s in-house optometrist, nor does he ask Happy to drive him to the unassuming private office downtown that he contacts instead. He just drives himself—which seems like a fantastic idea until he steps out of the office into the blinding brightness of the spring afternoon to find that he cannot, in fact, see shit.

“Well this sucks,” he mutters, blinking multiple times in an effort to clear his watery, stinging, freshly dilated eyes. His vision is so blurred that he trips over an unexpected half-step and only barely manages to avoid face planting onto the sidewalk. He slips on his high tech sunglasses. “Up the tint by fifty percent,” he commands under his breath. The glasses darken immediately and Tony sighs in relief as the strain on his eyes eases marginally. “Now where’s the damn car?”

A route to the parking lot illuminates before Tony’s eyes. He grunts sharply, squeezing his eyes shut against the flash of pain. “Verbal, FRI!” he hisses. “No visuals, just words.”

“Sorry, boss,” she says, and the lenses revert to dark. “Fifteen paces straight ahead, then a sharp right.” Tony starts moving cautiously forward, eyes focused on what he can make out of the ground. “Would you like me to contact Mr. Hogan or Ms. Potts to pick you up?”

Tony pauses. On one hand, he can barely see—there’s no way he should be driving. But on the other hand, the Audi has so many upgrades and added safety features that it basically drives itself. Not to mention, he’s pretty sure that if he calls Happy or Pepper at the moment, he’s never going to hear the end of this.

“...Or perhaps an Uber?” FRIDAY suggests helpfully.

“Nah,” Tony decides. He taps the housing unit on his chest and the nanotech instantly encases him. “Just keep feeding the meter. I’ll take the Iron Express.”

There’s a hint of disapproval in FRIDAY’s voice. “Given your current condition, I would strongly advise against operating any sort of heavy machinery.”

“That’s why I’m not operating it,” he retorts. “You are.”

“Still, I must caution you—” The AI’s voice cuts out abruptly. “I have just received an urgent incoming message from Captain Rogers,” she informs.

Tony’s heart sinks. There’s only one reason that Steve ever uses the emergency override channel, and it’s definitely not to shoot the breeze. “How bad is it?”

“A wormhole has just opened up over Staten Island. Scronquad are invading as we speak,” she reports. “All the Avengers have been ordered to assemble.”

“Fantastic,” Tony groans. He briefly considers sending an empty suit from the Iron Legion in his stead, but then nixes that idea when he remembers that none of his spare suits have the exact same color scheme as the current model. Steve is nothing if not detail-oriented—probably the artist in him. He’ll notice in a heartbeat.

He heaves out a sigh. “Alright, set the coordinates, FRI.”

“Boss—” the AI begins to protest, but Tony interrupts with, “Override code: 6673.”

FRIDAY goes silent. The helmet materializes around him, the HUD lighting up automatically.

“Gah!” Tony yelps, squeezing his burning eyes shut tightly. “What’d I just say about the lights?” he complains. “No lights!”

“Sorry, boss.” The display goes dark, leaving only a heavily tinted view of the fuzzy world around him.

Tony engages autopilot and blasts off before he has time to change his mind.

As far as hostile aliens go, Scronquad are about as annoying as they come. They’re anywhere from eight to twelve feet tall, their scales are a hideous shade of maroon and green, and each one of their ten writhing tentacles oozes a gelatinous slime that somehow manages to smell simultaneously of rotten eggs and expired tuna fish. When they move, there’s an ugly squelching sound as their bodies glide across the ground, similar to the sound of pulling one’s boots out of the mud. They’re nefarious, destructive, repulsive creatures, and never in a million years would Tony have dreamed there’d come a day when he missed seeing their fugly little faces.

First time for everything, he supposes.

“Six o’clock,” FRIDAY chirps. Tony whirls around, head pounding, and catches sight of the blurry outline of a massive purple figure. He fires his repulsor at his best guess of where its head is located and receives a garbled roar of fury in exchange.

“Too low,” FRIDAY corrects. “You’ve taken out his seventh and eighth tentacles.”

“Seventh and— what?” Tony sputters. He fires again, a little higher. “Starting where? He’s a fucking cylinder!”

“Starting at his navel—which is located above his middle eyebrow—and moving clockwise,” FRIDAY clarifies. “Duck, boss.”

Tony drops to the ground a split second before one of the alien’s remaining two-hundred-pound tentacles swings overhead.

“Roll left,” the AI continues. Tony barrel rolls to the side, narrowly missing the appendage’s backhand. “Scronquad at ten o’clock.”

Switching gauntlets, Tony shoots a repulsor beam at the blob approaching on his front left side. The alien blasts backwards. He spins back around and spies another blurry moving purple shape—smaller this time—and instinctively raises his gauntlet towards it.

“Hold fire.” Power to his repulsor instantly cuts out. “That’s Barton, boss,” FRIDAY informs as the figure darts across the street.

“Ah.” Tony winces. “Yeah, good call. That would’ve been a lot of paperwork.”

FRIDAY continues rattling off directions, which Tony follows more or less blindly—firing, charging, and evading as instructed. Every blast of the repulsor results in an explosion of light that shoots daggers of pain through his head. The only thing Tony is seeing at the moment is stars.

Tony keeps the team comms channel playing low in the background under FRIDAY’s verbal directions, and they seem to be making headway. According to Cap’s last update, the wormhole has been closed. Only two of the initial six Scronquad remain, and from the sounds of it, Natasha is close to taking down another.

“Overhead,” FRIDAY warns.

Tony shoots directly upwards, but this time the Scronquad is ready. The repulsor blast ricochets off the protective forcefield that the alien throws up at the last possible second. Tony barely even has time to register what’s happening before he’s blasted backwards and collides with the brick wall of the Wells Fargo office across the street.

Then it’s lights out for real.

The next thing Tony is aware of is his helmet being retracted. Then someone is tapping the side of his face and speaking to him. It takes a few seconds before the garbled words clear into intelligible speech.

“...with me? Hey? Tony?” a voice—Steve’s, he thinks—asks worriedly. “Can you open your eyes for us?”

That sounds like a terrible idea to Tony. He expresses this with a low groan of displeasure.

“Anyone have eyes on Banner?” Steve demands.

“I see him—he’s coming down the side street,” Natasha calls back. She sounds further away—maybe a few yards to Tony’s left. “Still looking a little green, though.”

Aw, fuck. Tony hates to bother the guy when he’s coming down off a transformation. He should really say something. Or at least open his eyes. He makes an attempt to flutter his eyelids open, but they seem to weigh at least a thousand pounds each and he only succeeds in letting out a small moan.

“It’s okay. You’re gonna be alright, Tony,” Steve reassures, patting his shoulder with a heavy hand. “Bruce is coming now.”

Rapid footsteps approach. “I got him, Steve,” Bruce says, his voice a little ragged. Poor guy. From what Tony heard over the comms, Hulk really put him through the wringer today. But Tony’s sympathy instantly dissolves when the doctor pries his eyelids open and shines a penlight into them, causing fresh pain to explode through Tony’s already throbbing skull.

“Gah! Fuck!” he gasps out, squirming away from Bruce’s fingers and clenching his eyes shut again.

“Both pupils are blown,” Bruce says grimly. “The concussion must be worse than we thought. How far out is the Medevac?”

“ETA seven minutes,” Natasha reports. “But there’s no space to land in the alley here.”

“Should we move him?” Clint suggests.

“No, definitely not,” Bruce answers immediately. “FRIDAY was obviously wrong about the concussion—I don’t trust her assessment that he hasn’t sustained any spinal damage either. We’ll have to wait for a backboard and neck brace.”

Well, that’s totally unnecessary. Sure there’s a goose egg on the back of Tony’s skull somewhere and he definitely got the wind knocked out of him when he fell, but he doesn’t need a whole evac —that’s ridiculous. To prove it, he starts to push himself up, but is quickly stopped by a strong hand on his chest.

“Stay still, Tony,” Steve commands, his voice grave. “Don’t try to move yet—we don’t know how badly you’re hurt.”

“Nah, ‘m fine…” Tony groans. He forces himself to open his eyes again and squints up at his worried looking teammates hovering over him.

“Jesus…” Clint whispers, peering down at Tony from above. “He looks like the dolls in that horror film Lila loves. The one with the creepy mother who replaces everyone’s eyes with black buttons.”

“Coraline?” Natasha asks, raising an eyebrow. “That’s a children’s movie, Barton.”

Clint shudders. “It was terrifying.”

“Hey, guys? Keep it down, alright?” Steve reprimands. “He’s concussed.”

Tony would roll his eyes if they weren’t currently drilling holes into his skull. “I’m not concussed,” he mutters.

Steve scoffs. “Sure, Tony.”

“I’m not,” Tony insists. He props himself up on his elbows and this time Steve doesn’t stop him. “My eyes are just dilated. It’s not a concussion.”

Bruce’s expression knits into a worried frown. He leans in closer to Tony. “Wait, does that mean you, uh…”—he lowers his voice—“fell off the wagon?”

“What? No!” Tony retorts, sitting up straighter. “I’m not high, and I’m not concussed! I had an eye exam, but I must be allergic to those stupid drops or something because I can’t see shit right now, alright?”

A collective snort of disbelief issues from the little group around him, but Tony just continues to glare at them. Well, it’s more of an annoyed squint, really. Then all at once, they all start talking over one another:

“Are you telling me you just flew a mission blind?!” Steve demands.

“Tony!” Bruce admonishes, looking somehow personally hurt by this. “What the hell were you thinking?”

Nat crosses her arms and fixes him with a blank expression. “That’s insane, even for you.”

Clint scoffs. “Is that why you were briefly planning on barbecuing me back there?”

“Well, you shouldn’t wear purple shirts on Scronquad days!” Tony retorts hotly. “Everyone knows that!”

“Why don’t you tell me how many fingers I’m holding up right now, Stark?” Clint says, making a rather rude gesture.

“Alright, that’s enough!” Steve declares over the squabble. He turns toward Clint and fixes him with a stern look. “Barton, from now on, you need to avoid color coordinating with the homicidal aliens.”

“What?” Clint balks. “You’re taking his side?”

“And as for you,” Steve goes on sharply, glaring straight into Tony’s blown pupils. “No more flying blind.”

Tony snorts. “Isn’t that the whole job?”

Natasha smirks. “He’s got a point there, Cap,” she says, eliciting a small chuckle from Bruce.

Steve looks unamused. He grabs hold of one of Tony’s arms and hoists him to his feet.

The change in elevation does nothing to help Tony’s swimming vision. He blinks several times, feeling suddenly dizzy and sick. “You know, on second thought...” Tony mumbles, swaying a bit. “I might be a bit concussed after all.”

Steve sighs and adjusts his grip to bear more of Tony’s weight. “Alright old man, let’s just get you home…”

Link to all my fics

#hurt tony stark #tony stark whump #humor #banter #team as family #blindness #concussions #headaches #shining the light in the eyes #ima make that a tag for ya bro #my fic #happy birthday cecily!

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whitleyschn33 · 5 years

Text

Ozpin and Ruby: Hypocrisy (Probably a Rant)

Yeah, you probably knew this was coming - as a fan of Ozpin that was very much not happy with how he was treated during the later half of V6, you can probably guess that I had a very bitter taste in my mouth when only 2 episodes in, Ruby told the exact same lies for the exact same reasons as Oz and the FNDM started trying to find every possible way that that wasn’t true, that obviously “Ruby is far more justified and has far better reasons to do so” than Ozpin did, and therefore not being hypocritical.

Yeah, that’s a crock of BS, and I will go on to explain why in a bit, but first, got to make something clear.

As of right now, this isn’t necessarily an example of hypocrisy yet (stressing that yet there). As of now, there hasn’t been any episodes out to follow up on the thought process of Ruby in this and no chance for her to explain why she did it, so there is a chance that she will connect her reasons for doing this to Oz’s reasons to what he did, and realize that Ozpin was right (or at least justified) in not letting them in on every detail, which would mark this a sign of growth in Ruby’s worldview and a step towards reconciliation with Ozpin, rather than hypocrisy at its finest.

However - the way that the stolen ship was handled (which I’m also itching to rant about) and the fact that there was no set-up to Ruby learning that Ozpin had reasons to do what he did (no talking with him, no example of trust backfiring in her face, nothing that would indicate her perspective of “we deserve to know everything involved” has flipped to “sometimes it’s necessary to be cautious with information”) makes me pessimistic on how this is going to be handled. The track record of the show so far makes me feel like this going to be played as an “It’s okay when we do it, and it’s totally justified cause we’re the protagonists” moment rather than a “Okay, we now see why it would feel necessary to lie or hold back information” moment of growth, and that makes my blood boil. I could be wrong, I hope I’m wrong, but as of writing this, I don’t have a lot of faith.

That being said, let’s get into the arguments (and if I miss one or you have another one, lay it on me).

The main one I’ve seen is that “The gang can’t trust Ironwood, so that makes them lying to him justified, but Oz should trust RWBY, so him lying is wrong and inexcusable.” That’s bull, though - Ozpin has no reason to trust RWBY whatsoever. We know that they’re (theoretically) trustworthy since they’re the protagonists, but from Oz’s point of view, these are just a bunch of random teenagers that Qrow dragged to his safe house and expected him to explain everything to, despite Ozpin not bringing any of them into the loop himself. With Team RNJR, he’s only familiar with Ruby’s background, and only met her at the beginning of the school year - JNR are all complete strangers he’s had no chance to vet. Weiss, Yang, and Blake literally just show up and attach themselves to the party - they all volunteer or invite themselves into the inner circle, and then expect Ozpin to trust them completely when he has no reason to. That’s what I think a lot of people forget - they volunteered for this. Ozpin didn’t seek them out; they showed up with Qrow and volunteered to help - volunteering before they could possibly know everything there is to know. Ozpin doesn’t trust them, and he has every right not to. We’ve seen firsthand that Oz is constantly betrayed, even by people he does come to trust and bring in. Lionheart is someone that Oz has known for decades, but still betrayed him the moment Salem came for him - while coming off the sting of that, why would he do something so foolish as to put his faith in these random teenagers? JNR and Blake in particular are people that he knows next to nothing about, and all have gaps in their pasts or faked records - any one of them could been an agent of Salem. RWBY and Co may not be able to trust Ironwood for good reasons, but Oz has equally good reasons for not trusting them.

Another one I’ve seen is that “Team RWBY is risking their lives doing this - they deserve to know everything”. To which my response would be, well, that’s not entirely true. Ozpin has never actually lead them into a conflict zone. Haven was meant to be a safe place to recover and begin rebuilding defenses, I’ve already explained why the Grimm attack isn’t Ozpin’s fault, and everything that goes down in Argus is on tRWBY. The only thing Ozpin haves them do is continue training and hang around while they make sure the lantern is secure - Lionheart was supposed to be an ally, Haven was meant to be a haven. Ozpin has never asked them to head into the line of fire - all he’s asked is they learn and play defense while at Haven.

But alright, though, I’ll play that game. Assuming that them risking their lives is true, then doesn’t Ironwood deserve to know everything? He’s not only risked his own life all this time, but as the head of the Atlesian military and currently concocting a plan that will draw the lives of all of Remnant into this conflict, shouldn’t he be told everything they know that could possibly be pertinent? Before Ruby lies to him, Ironwood has just laid out a plan that will throw Remnant into chaos and panic and result in many deaths, all for the end goal of finally mustering enough strength to destroy Salem - phrased another way, his entire plan hinges on the idea that whatever consequences that happen will be worth it when they destroy Salem. Ruby then proceeds to lie and not tell him about the part where them learning that, for all intents and purposes at this moment, Salem can not be destroyed is what drove Ozpin away. That is extremely important information that Ironwood, if for no other reason, needs to know since it’s the motivation behind everything he’s doing. At this moment, Ironwood has far more need to know this information than tRWBY ever has since he’s actually about to put himself, his military, and all the people of Remnant in the line of fire and the chaos of panic, but Ruby doesn’t tell him because.... why? She doesn’t trust him because of what’s happening in Mantle, which is being fueled by Ironwood’s current plan which she has the information to dissuade him from? Then telling him would be the right choice, and it wouldn’t come of as massively hypocritical. Gah, this entire situation is dumb.

Then there’s the fact that the first thing she lies about isn’t about the Relic, isn’t about what they’ve learned - it’s about why Oz isn’t there. Ironwood wants to speak with Oz, and Ruby lies about why that isn’t possible. You can make the argument that she’s lying to protect the last Relic question, or protect the information that Salem isn’t able to be destroyed, but that’s not what she’s directly lying about, those are a few steps down the line. What she initially lies about is why Ozpin isn’t present, and she practically cuts Oscar off to do so - and that comes off so much like her trying to hide what they did to Ozpin, and honestly? That’s what really makes me mad, because they have no right to hide that. If they’re so certain that what they did was right and justified, why hide it? Why cover it up? Is it possible you realize using the Relic against his will to dig into his past and trauma and then, when he was on the ground and crying after you forced him to relieve his own deaths and the death of his children, attacking him about it was a shitty thing to do? It feels so much like trying to hide what they did so they won’t face the consequences, and after all they did to Opzin for not telling them all of his mistakes and trauma? It’s so insanely hypocritical that I want to scream.

Speaking of the Relic - lying about the Relic now, are you, Ruby? But I thought that was a no-no - after all, you all freaked out when you realized that Ozpin lied about the number of questions left and that was the driving motive for you to use the Relic on him. Why is it okay for you to do that when it wasn’t okay for Oz? “Well, we can’t trust Ironwood to not waste it/use it poorly -” Great! You just realized why Ozpin didn’t tell you! He couldn’t trust you all either, especially when the first thing y’all did after learning what it was was start trying to come up with questions to ask. So, same reason!

As I’m sure you can tell, the more I talk about this, the more ticked I get. All the justifications Ruby could have for lying to Ironwood are the same reasons Ozpin would have, but honestly worse, since it comes off as them not giving Ironwood the information he would need to stop his disastrous plan and hiding their own sins. It all seems so incredibly hypocritical, and if we don’t some kind of follow-up discussion of all of this, it will be. I want to think that CRWBY will find a way to make this a moment of growth and understanding, but they failed to properly set that up when Ruby switches from “we deserve to know everything” to “it’s okay to lie to people you don’t trust” without any reason that she may have come to change her mind on this between those two actions, and so far, the show hasn’t been batting a hundred with showing any consequences for the team doing something stupid. I want to be hopeful, but for now, it’s just left me feeling incredibly bitter.

Probably a poor way to end this, but I’m technically in class, and I feel like if I rant any longer, it will devolve into incoherent rambling, so - let’s just end it here.

#rwby7 #rwby7 spoilers #ozpin #ruby rose #james ironwood #hypocrisy

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ryuukia · 5 years

Text

[Translation] Ikebukuro Tsukineko Monogatari Track 1: This is Ikebukuro Block 1!

It felt like I’ve been working on text translations too much lately, so here’s some audio translations! And with this I am also reminded I’m missing 3 cats in tsukipara, Hajime being one of them.....

Anyway, many thanks to Ryota again for helping me proof this! Please don’t repost/reuse my translations. Reblogs and likes are appreciated.

Track 1 | Track 2 | Track 3 | Track 4 | Track 5

-cars passing by and paws steps are heard in the background-

Kakeru: -humming- Haaaa! Today’s also a nice day! With so many people and cars here, Ikebukuro’s as lively as always. Hm?

-meowing in the distance-

Koi: Kaaakeruuu!

Kakeru: Hm?

Koi: So it really was you, Kakeru-san! What a coincidence.

Kakeru: Koi! We haven’t seen each other in a long time, haven’t we?

Koi: Yeah, around a week. My owners went on a trip outside the city and they took me with them.

Kakeru: Ah, is that so? Where did you go?

Koi: I’m pretty sure it was a hot spring in Tochigi. There was also a river close by, the fish was delicious!

Kakeru: Eeeh, so you went out too. How nice. My owner has a lot of part-time jobs, so we don’t really get to go out.

Koi: Aah, I can imagine him being the working type.

Kakeru: Yeah, he is. It’s not like he’s penniless, it’s just that one of the shops where he works part-time is remodelling and they’re out of people. The rest of them are purely hobbies.

Koi: …Hobbies?

Kakeru: Yeah, hobbies! It seems he likes to work.

Koi: Ugh... he must be a strange guy if working is his hobby.

-more meowing-

Koi: At least cats have it better... Ah wait, Kakeru is the same type of guy. You pick up sparkling things for your collection of shiny objects. And pretty often at that.

Kakeru: Time feels like flying when I stare at them.

Koi: You’re just like your owner.

Kakeru: Even if you say that, Koi’s the same, right? You love fashion. Isn’t that decoration around your neck a new one?

Koi: Ah, did you notice☆? Did you? Fufu, it’s a crape decoration from a souvenir shop! Since I liked it, they gave it to me. It also has a small bell! -clink-

Kakeru: -laughs- You seem happy.

-meow sounds getting closer-

Aoi: Ah, Koi and Kakeru?

Kakeru: Oh, Aoi-san!

Arata: Eh, Pink and Kakeru?

Koi: Ugh, Arata!

Arata: Hey, hey, Pink? What’s with that attitude?

Koi: Sorry, sorry, I said that without realizing. That was the honest voice of my heart.

Arata: Hmm, hmm, did you want to meet me that badly? It can’t be helped, you three lonely hearts.

Koi: Gah! Don’t involve me in this!

Aoi: Your relationship is as good as always.

Kakeru: Your relationship is as good as always.

Arata & Koi: How exactly!?

Aoi: You two are not honest at all…

Kakeru: Uhm, are Aoi-san and Arata-san on a walk together?

Aoi: Yes. Since our owners are also free today and don’t have school, they said we could play in Ikebukuro so we all headed out. After that we started to talk about where we could wander. We haven’t explored the back alleys in awhile.

Arata: That’s right. The restaurants in this zone have dishes from various countries and a lot of ramen flavours, so we’re happy even with sniffing the scents. It’s worth exploring.

Aoi: Enjoying the scents is one thing, but the fact that Arata is ready to eat any unknown dish or thing we’re given terrifies me.

Koi: He’s a greedy one. I see.

Arata: You’re wrong. It’s more like that moment when a cute, young lady tells me ‘eat this’ and hands me this X object. As a man, there’s no way I can refuse her.

Koi: That’s just you being openly perverted and an idiot!

Kakeru: Even if the one serving you is a cute, young lady, please don’t eat anything that looks like an X object.

Aoi: I don’t know if he’s manly or just simply reckless. Personally I’m happy with only being petted gently, there’s no need to give me pet food.

Koi: From my perspective as a fellow cat, Aoi-san is innately a really pretty cat with really slick fur. Even the other party must be happy from just touching him. As expected from the prince.

Aoi: My owner only likes to brush me.

Kakeru: Aoi-san and Arata-san’s owners are childhood friends, right?

Arata: Exactly. And since Aoi and me were bought at around the same time, you could call us childhood friends too.

Koi: If I remember well, Aoi-san’s owner is a veterinarian, and among the abandoned cats brought to him, Arata’s owner happened to pick him-

Arata: Then since Aoi’s owner was envious of him, he went to a pet shop and bought Aoi. And according to the shop owner, Aoi’s of a really honorable pedigree type of cat, so he’s a prince in that sense.

Aoi: It’s not like I’m an actual prince. Whether I’m pure-bred doesn’t have any influence on my daily life.

Koi: That’s for sure. Ah, but still, I’d easily believe it if I was told he's a pure-bred. He has a really high class aura around him, after all. C’mon, take Hajime-san for example.

All: Aah!

Arata: Wasn’t Hajime-san from a very appealing and valuable race?

Kakeru: It seems like it. He’s so valuable that for a cat lover, it would be impossible to put a price on him. It makes one wonder whether he’s a walking premium king.

Aoi: It seems Hajime-san goes out freely in that area though… I wonder if it’s alright.

Kakeru: Hmm, his owner seems like the type that doesn’t really mind it. I was told he’s allowed to do as he wishes.

Koi: Hajime-san’s owner is the spitting image of Hajime-san himself. Whenever he has the time, he comes to play with me. He’s a good person.

Kakeru: Speaking of which, there was a time when you got so absorbed into playing that you bit his finger, Koi.

Arata: ...Why would you do something so terrible…?

Koi: I j-just… lost myself. But I apologized properly! Both Hajime-san and Hajime-san’s owner forgave me!

Kakeru: Otherwise, Koi wouldn’t be here with us now. -sparkles-

Koi: Why do you say such scary things with a smiling face!

Arata: Well, Hajime-san himself isn’t the quiet house cat type anyway, so isn’t it a good thing that his owner is such a foolish person? I’m not allowed to stay indoors only either. When the weather is nice, I take naps in sunny places. When the weather is bad, I want to go on adventures.

Kakeru: You end up going out either way.

Arata: The ancient wild blood inside me is boiling.

Aoi: I don’t think those with wild blood sleep soundly with their full stomachs exposed.

Arata: Shut up, Aoi. That was just… me drying in the sun. I was sitting on the futon on a sunny day like this... -sits down and turns around- and drying my belly fur.

Aoi: Yes, yes. Today’s also a good day to take naps and walk around, but having met everyone like this in particular makes me want to go and say hi to Hajime-san and Haru-san too.

Kakeru: I agree! But both of them might be out already.

Arata: Who knows. On such a nice day, maybe Hajime-san and the others are also basking in the sun.

Koi: For now let’s go look for them. At this time they’re most likely in that park with the owl statue.

Kakeru: Okay, let’s go.

If you like my work and you want to support me, you can now buy me a coffee by clicking right [here]. I also started taking commissions, more details are right [here]. Thank you~

#tsukiuta #Audio Translation #english translation #ikebukuro tsukineko monogatari #shiwasu kakeru #kisaragi koi #uduki arata #satsuki aoi #track 1 #kaji yuki #masuda toshiki #hosoya yoshimasa #kenn

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koiandjelly · 4 years

Text

So Fila’s actual past isn’t very detailed, because she’s not a main OC, and I haven’t spent a ton of time actually thinking about her as a character lol. 98% of my Creativity goes to my original content characters, cuz someday when I finish actually crafting my worlds, I’m gonna write a book. I’m aiming for the lofty goals of making a full, fleshed out, intricate— just fuckin’... a whole ass Multiverse system comparable to the Lore content of Tolkien’s works, or The Elder Scrolls— gah fuck y’know what, I’m changing this post from being about my Fantasy Life OC to being about my creation baby, the effort of about 6 years (I am 20 years old, and although I didn’t know it at the time I started, I was 14 when I made the shitty Fire Emblem Manakete rip-off race that I’m gonna actually now talk about, because holy fuck this ain’t gonna fit in a parenthesis “btw have some info” bubble)

A’ight so I have a hard time keeping track of time, especially in a large scale across years. Apparently it’s related to being severely depressed without medication (communication error on my part, my parents are very lovely and helped me ASAP when I spilled the beans) while also having moderate to severe ADD. So, ya know, keep in mind that I was yet another terribly depressed 8th grader when I talk about my creation’s early days. I wouldn’t experience that time of my life for any sort of payment ever. It was goddamn miserable, because when I was midway through the age of 14, not only did the aforementioned depression spring up, but I also realized I was bisexual (And I live in the infamous state of Alabama, for reference. Don’t fear for me though, I was too unnoticeable to be bullied if anyone did know, and my wonderful mother, whom I love and cherish with all of my heart, is one of the few Christians that actually... like... do what their own God tells em to. That is, Jesus. I’m an atheist and have a general discomfort about the idea of super powerful entities actually existing irl, but I do agree with the stuff I’ve heard and remember from a decade ago in Church about Jesus. Good guy. But yeah my mom not only accepted me and reassured me when I came out, but she’s gone even further and is of the opinion/fact that lgbt folks are, really, good and normal and that God created them, so she really genuinely just... loves and accepts me. There’s no “I love you despite of this” in the equation and I am so grateful. But again. I digress)

Pause after that sidetrack, to recap, all of my medical issues began to emerge about 6 months before I turned 15. Including what I hate most, the emergence of my Fibromyalgia and Sjogren’s Syndrome, and for an added kick to the flesh, an undifferentiated connective tissue disorder. Meaning, as what I understand it to be, a nameless chimaera of many symptoms in a way that the disorder either is it’s own thing, or just can’t easily be recognized as any one disorder. And I had anxiety. If I recall correctly on *that*, forgive me cuz it’s been a while since it’s been diagnosed/brought up in a significant way, I have or had either general anxiety *and* social anxiety, or just lightweight versions of both, or something, but at the time I was horribly shy and I couldn’t even talk to the teacher after class about schoolwork, even though I tried rationalizing it to hell and back that I shouldn’t be scared— as you’ll guess, shit didn’t work out til I got medicine for it, because no amount of logic and rational thought will change the fact that I was struggling because of a literal disorder, an error of the brain, and as with that walking with two shattered femurs ain’t gonna work, trying to talk when the talk machine broke... ain’t going to goddamn work.

God. I am rambling a lot. But anyway, shit fucking sucked as a teen for me, because I got that wombo combo, prepare for trouble, make it double, precision strike at my existence as a person during fucking already difficult puberty— I am rambling. It’s 4:55am as of this sentence lmao. I had a nasty cocktail of both mental illness and physical disorders pop up once puberty hit me, so I, through many events starting from loving to draw as a toddler, to play pretend stories of heartbreak, betrayal, and death as best an 8 year old could understand via playing with Polly Pockets, and all the creative power I inherited from my Dad, plus the motivation borne through a need to escape, I started making my own characters.

So, to return to the present state of my creations, which will now be referred to as Bounding Beyond the Stars, or BBtS, I’m gonna get some things out of the way. Just to clarify, yeah? I have created my worlds in a way that is specifically meant to stand apart from the irl universe as we know it. I’m certainly not a knowledgeable researcher with any level of comprehension on Spacial law and quantum physics and shit like that. So hey, if something ever seems... like, off, or wrong? Unless it’s pretty obviously wrong in the “hey you just googled how a thing works, and misunderstood it, and made a detail based on a failure to understand stuff and that’s dumb in a catastrophic way that even a high school level viewer would notice...” kind of mistake, then hey, shoot me a message. But if some sort of universal rule seems fucky in the way that it doesn’t make sense, but isn’t a catastrophic structural error... well, Imma use that sentence to start a better one. For an example of a catastrophic error, perhaps... this: “This planet has no seasons cuz of its shape and axis! And it is also like twice as big as Earth!” That would be catastrophic alone because anyone with a grasp on planetary gravity or something, may go and think “if it’s that big, gravity’s gonna be way more intense”. And you’d be right! Which is why I usually account for those things with... *Magic*.

Before I split this post for Length reasons, and I’m sorry the majority of this was me rambling about how my general experience with life sucked from ages 14-17, I’mma state something very important about all my creations.

Magic, which will be explained in depth at a later point, is a fundamental, essential, and omnipresent force of not just any one universe in my Multiversal Trio. It is a key piece of Reality itself, as magic is the flow of many multiples of millions of unique and mysterious energies, concepts, and laws existing anywhere that Is.

To end this post, I’m going to put a quick summary and explanation why I’m rambling about any of this: The rant about my age and circumstances at the start are relevant because it’s necessary context for the tone and type of writing my creations are built upon. The foundations of BBtS are borne from a sometimes angsty, sometimes genuinely upset 14 year old who found escape in the art of Creation. There have been many, many, many heavy edits, rewrites, scrapped info and ideas, and even more info built upon it. It used to be pretty pointlessly edgy in a lot of ways, and redundant in grimdark, morphing into *grimderp* plot devices and character traits. The way it’s written today, I like to think the lore of my many high fantasy-alien societies, and all its denizens and creators and whatever else, are still written to be dark, be dangerous, even angsty... but more skillfully so, with the sort of nuance a 14 year old wouldn’t really even begin to understand. Cuz I still like high stakes stories with real consequences and character deaths when appropriate. And I enjoy characters who have tragic pasts, but now that I’m older and I’ve seen and read about and done so much more— I can write that stuff *better*. And more over, what I’m most satisfied with, is that I’m more in touch with myself as a person, and I’ve evolved many of my personal beliefs and ideals and all the things of the world I can have opinions on. But most of all, I’ve reached a point where I have consumed enough content from others to where I have figured out how to write something that should be interesting, and maybe a bit new, because I put a looot of Damn focus on identifying, and understanding, writing structure, cliches, plot holes to avoid, character traits to handle differently, and just generally making something that’ll appeal to both me, and my audience, should I get that far.

#original content #ramble #long ramble #worldbuilding #personal history #long post #fantasy #sci-fi #science fiction #it’s currently 5:24am as i think of appropriate tags lol #sleep deprived #late night/early morning thoughts

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glasskaleidoscopes · 5 years

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Chapter 10 - Saturday, December 19th, 2009

Carolyn woke up at the sound of violent retching. She got up quickly and went into the hallway to see who was vomiting. She turned and saw Sallie standing in Vera’s doorway in her pajamas, with a severe case of bed head.

“Who’s in there?” Carolyn asked emphatically.

“Vera. She got up about 10 minutes ago and ran to the bathroom. It’s weird, you don’t remember her feeling sick or complaining about anything last night, do you?” Sallie responded.

“No, she didn’t say anything. Weird how it came up all of the sudden. I wonder if she ate something bad?” Carolyn responded.

“Hmm, maybe. Although we ate most of the stuff she ate. But she definitely eats food when it’s borderline-expired, probably as a product of having so many brothers.” Sallie pondered.

“Yeah that is so true. Let me go get Janet.” Carolyn said, then headed downstairs and knocked on Janet’s door. Janet emerged from her bedroom, already dressed for the day, as usual.

“What’s wrong honey?” Janet asked. Carolyn explained what was going on with Vera. “Oh yeah, I think there was something bad on the pizza we ordered last night. Brad, Andrew, and Jaret are all doubled over as well. Poor guys.” Janet explained, then Carolyn heard retching coming from Janet and Brad’s bathroom. Carolyn nodded, then headed back upstairs to check on Sam. Thankfully he was still sleeping and did not seem sick.

Sallie got changed and then her dad picked her up a little later. Carolyn changed, saving the shower for later, as naturally all of the bathrooms were occupied. She then went into the kitchen and grabbed a bowl of cereal. Carolyn then walked into the dining room and was surprised to see Adrian sitting at the dining room table on his phone, sitting with an empty bowl. Adrian looked up and smiled.

“Good morning. Took you long enough to get down here.” He said as he set his phone down.

“What do you mean?” Carolyn said, slightly confused.

“I figured all of the puking would have woken you up earlier.” Adrian explained.

“Oh, yeah I woke up when I heard Vera run to the bathroom. I guess I just didn’t hear what was going on on the boy’s end.”

“Yeah I guess so...lucky. There were sounds I could’ve gone my whole life without hearing again.” Adrian joked. “Anyways, where’s Sallie?”

“Her dad picked her up about 10 minutes ago.”

“Oh, cool. I mean, not actually cool, I like Sallie. She’s fun.” Adrian tried to cover for himself. “I like you better though.”

Carolyn felt her face heating up, “Thanks.” She said bashfully.

“No need to thank me.” Adrian smiled. “Anyways, what are you doing today?”

“Mmm I don’t know. Maybe play some Sims, maybe read some of my book.” Carolyn said nonchalantly.

“Oh I think that we could do better than that.” Adrian smiled, then he said, “Join me in the basement?” Carolyn got a little nervous and felt beads of sweat at what she thought Adrian was implying.

“Uh, I don’t know. I mean, everyone is still here in the house…” Carolyn explained.

“Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t mean any of that. I mean, of course I would love to spend time with you, that way. But no, I meant we could pull out the PlayStation and maybe I could help you get better at Spyro.” Adrian explained.

“Oh great! That sounds like a ton of fun!” Carolyn smiled excitedly.

“Awesome. I’ll meet you downstairs then.” Adrian said. Carolyn watched as Adrian put his bowl away, then turned the wrong way. Carolyn was perplexed, then she realized that he was heading upstairs rather than downstairs. Her stomach flopped in her chest as she thought of why he would go upstairs. She only hoped that he didn’t put a shirt on, but then again he probably should. Carolyn finished her cereal, put her bowl away, then went downstairs. She looked at the couch and thought about where she should sit. She decided to sit at the edge of the couch, where she could stretch her feet out, and also where Adrian could decide how far or close he wanted to sit to her.

About five minutes later, Carolyn heard Adrian coming down the stairs and into the basement. Carolyn turned her head; he had put a shirt on. Adrian got the PlayStation set up and handed Carolyn a controller, then he sat next to her on the couch. Then, Adrian turned to Carolyn and asked, “What kind of music do you like?”

A little caught off guard at the relatively platonic question, Carolyn took a moment to answer the question, then said, “Well, I love the Beatles, but I also really like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, that kind of thing. I know it’s pretty girly stuff.”

“Well I’m not really into Katy Perry, but the Beatles are awesome.” Adrian explained.

“Really? I mean, how could you not? The Beatles are the best band ever.” Carolyn agreed.

“Yeah they really are. Here, give me a second before we start playing.” Adrian grabbed his phone and connected it to a speaker. Soon afterwards, Dig a Pony started floating through the room.

“Ooh great song.” Carolyn said enthusiastically. Soon enough, they were playing Spyro and Adrian was gently teaching her how to play. They spent the next hour or so playing Spyro, and Carolyn was finally starting to get the hang of it.

“Yes! Finally! Gah, I have never been able to get past that level!” Carolyn cheered at the accomplishment. Adrian laughed along with Carolyn’s cheering. Adrian sat his controller down and then turned towards Carolyn.

“Hey, can I ask you a question?” Adrian abruptly got serious.

“Umm, yeah, sure.” Carolyn said, caught off guard again.

“What happened with your mom?” Adrian asked cautiously.

“Oh, umm.” Carolyn paused, unsure what to say.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up something sensitive. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” Adrian reassured Carolyn, then he grabbed her hand and held it in his.

“Oh, no. It’s okay, I can talk about it.” Carolyn said, then she took a deep breath and continued, “Umm. So I’ll start at the beginning, it’ll be easier that way... Ever since I could remember, my mom would just randomly disappear. I remember riding in the backseat of the car countless times while my dad drove us through the neighborhood trying to find her. Eventually he’d find her, usually barefoot, running through the park or climbing on the ledge of a bridge. He would get her back and then I’d just start counting the days until she would do something else crazy. One time she went to the airport, bought a ticket to Vegas, and maxed 14 credit cards at a casino. Another time I remember her climbing onto the roof and threatening that she would jump.” Carolyn paused and looked at Adrian to see how freaked out he was. He was looking back at Carolyn, with his full attention focused on her, but didn’t look anything but caring.

“When she home she would hole up in her bedroom and stay in bed for days. I remember walking into her bedroom, and I saw her laying in bed completely still. I would try to talk to her, shake her to try and arouse her, but she would just sit there. It didn’t matter what we would do, she just wouldn’t move. It was like my mom had two speeds: either 100% go, or just completely shut down. My dad never knew how to handle it. He spent his whole life trying to make sure she was okay. When he wasn’t at work, he was taking care of her.

“So that left Sam and I to fend for ourselves for the most part. We learned pretty quickly how to handle things on our own. We would walk to the bus stop and go to the grocery store to get food, because there would be nothing in the house. We had to steal cash from my dad’s wallet to get the money to do so. Then, about 2 and a half years ago, my mom left for good.

“I knew something was up when she left because my dad didn’t go after her. After she left, he totally broke down. He would say nothing for weeks on end. He would just go to work, then come home and go straight to his room. And you pretty much know the story from there. I haven’t heard from my mom since she left; I have no idea where she is, no idea how to even contact her, and honestly, I don’t even know if she’s alive.” Carolyn hadn’t even realized the tears that were streaming down her face. She had never told anyone details about her mom.

Adrian bent over and wrapped his arms around Carolyn, pulling her close. She buried her head in Adrian’s chest and sobbed. She felt so safe in his arms. Adrian tucked his head on Carolyn’s shoulder, then he placed his large hand on her back. A few minutes later, Carolyn sniffled and slowly pulled her head up to look up at Adrian. Her eyes were puffy and red. Adrian reached his hand to Carolyn’s face and tucked her hair behind her ear.

“Thank you for telling me. I can’t imagine what you’ve been through, and I am so sorry.” Adrian looked deep into Carolyn’s eyes and Carolyn noticed that Adrian’s eyes were glassy with tears.

“Thank you for listening. I’ve never told anyone any of that. It feels so good to have told someone.” Carolyn meant it, it was like there was a heaviness inside her that had lifted. The Beatles were still playing in the background, but much softer than before. Soon, the song ‘Julia’ came on.

When the chorus started, Adrian started softly singing along, “Julia, Julia, ocean child, calls me/ So I sing a song of love, Julia.” Carolyn smiled and rested her head on Adrian’s shoulder, listening to him sing the song John Lennon wrote for his mother. They spent the next hour or so listening to the Beatles with Carolyn’s head on Adrian’s shoulder, holding hands.

Carolyn heard footsteps coming down the staircase and she basically jumped out of her skin. She pushed Adrian off of her and turned around to see Sam coming down the stairs. Adrian scooted over on the couch and pulled his phone out quickly.

“Hey Sam! How’s it going? Are you still feeling okay?” Carolyn asked quickly.

“It’s good, I feel fine. I was just wondering where you were. Trixie, Brittany, and I were going to play a game of Monopoly and I didn’t know if you wanted to play too.” Sam asked.

“I’m in.” Carolyn quipped.

“Yay! Adrian, do you want to play?” Sam asked.

“Sure, I’ll play.” Adrian said coolly.

“Awesome!” Sam turned and ran upstairs. Carolyn exhaled deeply.

“Oh my god. That was too close. What if that had been your mom or Vera?” Carolyn said, shocked. Ever since last night, she was thinking that maybe this could actually work. Now she remembered why she was so hesitant.

“It wasn’t too bad. You can hear someone coming down the stairs with enough notice.” Adrian explained.

“You say this like you’ve had experience with this.” Carolyn said, with a little jealousy.

“Well, yeah, a little. All I can say is that the safest place in this house is the basement.” Adrian explained, trying to change the subject.

“I gotcha. Let’s go upstairs.” Carolyn said, feeling Adrian’s resistance. The two of them went upstairs and played Monopoly with the younger kids at the dining room table. They played for hours and had a ton of fun. There was one near-incident where Brittany didn’t want to foreclose a property to pay rent, so she started getting upset, but Adrian was able to calm her down. They came up with an idea that if you went bankrupt, you could be the banker. The game ended up being a battle between Trixie and Carolyn, with Adrian staying along to play banker. Sam and Brittany had retired to bed when they both became bankrupt.

Around midnight Trixie was declared the winner and the trio went upstairs to go to bed. Trixie closed her door, and Carolyn was just about to open her door when Adrian pulled her hand. He pulled her into his room and brought Carolyn near him. He gave her a quick kiss, then said “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” Carolyn said breathlessly. She walked out of Adrian’s room and into her own, then quickly drifted to sleep with a smile on her face.

Tag list: @the-mockingbird-of-neverland

#writeblr #original writing #young adult #fluff #WIP #new adult #writing #writblr #writers of tumblr #writeblr community #writers #glass kaleidoscopes

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maychorian · 6 years

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Weekly Voltron Fic Recs #57

Rules: You can find past weekly rec lists here, and non-list recs in my general fic rec tag. Also follow @maychorianrecs for individually tagged posts, the easier to search and reblog. This is stuff I like, and I have a huge bias toward Lance, hurt/comfort, and general fluff, in that order. Gen unless otherwise noted. Please comment on the fics if you read and enjoy them!

Sweet Poison by Eastofthemoon Words: 3,046 Author’s Summary: If there was one thing Hunk almost felt was worth becoming a paladin for, it was the kitchen in the castle. My Comments: Sequel to a previously recced fic, and this one is just as lovely. It’s wonderful to see the team coming together and Hunk settling into his new role and finding acceptance and pleasure in his new accommodations. Lance was particularly lovely, too.

find me in the drift by ghiblitears Words: 2,038 Author’s Summary: He puts a hand on Keith’s shoulder and it’s startling to note that it feels almost like nothing, though the weight of Shiro’s hand is usually a comfort. Instead a slight warmth lingers in the spot he touches, insubstantial as a beam of light.Keith blinks, and looks back at him. “I can’t feel anything.”“Me either.” Shiro frowns. “It’s like a memory, or…” “A dream.” *** (Keith and Shiro meet in the astral plane during and after the events of season 4) My Comments: Intriguing concept, very well done. I love the idea of Keith and Shiro connecting like this even when they are far away from each other, and I would love to see the show bring back the Astral Plane too.

Resting? Who’s She? by Cinnamean Words: 1,914 Author’s Summary: When Lance woke up that morning, he could already tell he was sick. Or in other words, when Lance wakes up and doesn’t feel well, but instead of resting like he should, he instead decides that sparring is a great idea. Cause that makes a lot of sense. Good thing everyone else is there to look after him. My Comments: Nice little Lance sickfic with a protective team. Hits the spot.

we move lightly by eatjamfast Words: 2,539 Author’s Summary: In space, thousands of miles away from home, love and forgiveness are the only things that can keep you going. My Comments: Lovely and warm and just a little heartbreaking. I love the tenderness between Lance and Hunk here and how well they understand each other and want to take care of each other. Just lovely. Hance.

Voices by YukiSetsu Words: 4,812 Author’s Summary: When Lance gets captured by the Galra during a rescue mission gone awry, he’s sure he can hold out until the others arrive and get him out. The Galra, however, have other plans. My Comments: Wonderful finale to the all of the hurt!Lance fics this author has been giving us lately. The emotions are intense, and the ending was cathartic and satisfying. It nice to get some aftermath after one of the worst ways to whump Lance yet. Shiro was perfect, too, offering support afterward. I really, really like this one.

Little Green Hat by YukiSetsu Words: 4,012 Author’s Summary: In hindsight, Lance knew that walking around in the cold when he was that sick was a bad idea. My Comments: This is everything I could want in a Lance sickfic, plus Lance with a cute little kid. Just perfection.

Nothing Makes Sense by fandomsnstuff Words: 2,003 Author’s Summary: Everyone had a mark. Some had more than one. They were images meant to reveal the future of a person. Some images had different meanings than what’s expected, such as a heart could mean a person falls in love or they touch the hearts of many, but the marks always make sense. My Comments: Nice little bit of fluff, not complicated, fun to read. Good way to round out a day of reading sickfics, if you’re me.

Just a Touch by AssortedGeekery Words: 15,926 Author’s Summary: In which a particularly tenacious bug gets loose among the Paladins, prompting a full halt for recuperation. Too bad Shiro’s system didn’t get the message about this being a non-emergency. My Comments: Fantastic, indulgent, super detailed sickfic in which everyone gets hit, but Shiro gets hit the hardest. It totally has a plot, too, which is unusal for sickfics, but also there is So. Much. Cuddling. And I loved every single bit of it. Warnings for copious amounts of vomit–I actually felt a little sick to my stomach myself at times reading it, though not enough to make me stop reading. Hint of future Sheith at the end.

Feeling Down by codevassie for gdesertsand Words: 4,130 Author’s Summary: Lance is undeniably sick and it’s possibly the worst day for it. He and his friends had been planning this day for months! Now he feels like he’s ruined it all… My Comments: Really sweet and enjoyable modern AU sickfic. Everyone is adorable, and Lance gets lots of love, and that’s what I want, always, every day, forever.

in your hands i fold these cards by prettyshiroic (AnalystProductions) Words: 5,093 Author’s Summary: Pidge shares some thoughts, Lance shares his skincare routine. Keith shares so much more than he planned to. My Comments: Unexpectedly profound. I went in expecting fluffy shenanigans, and I got those, but also a whole bunch of EMOTION. It was awesome.

Reaching Out a Daring Hand by wingedflower Words: 3,320 Author’s Summary: Keith and Shiro visit a very sick Lance at the infirmary. Keith is extremely uncomfortable with the whole situation, but at the end he manages to learn a thing or two about being a good friend. My Comments: Perfect little sickfic, everything I could ask for. It made me so happy. I love it.

hold on to you by valkyriered Words: 1,129 Author’s Summary: A New Years ficlet crossposted from my blog. Lance reflects on his found family as they enter the New Year together. My Comments: Warm and soft, and all of the descriptions are crisp and vivid. I love this vision of the team after the war, safe and at home with their world and with each other.

Coming Up For Air by crumpetz Words: 15,636 (2/?) Author’s Summary: “Sometimes Keith wondered if with every new person he let past his walls, maybe the walls got weaker, came down quicker, more eager to let people in. Maybe Shiro had been the beginning of the end on that front. It was all so freaking scary.” The team must recover in more ways than one after a mission gone wrong leaves Keith with brain damage. AKA, the fic where Lance and Keith (accidentally?) become bff’s. My Comments: This is everything I love, and it’s being written fantastically well. The characters all feel like themselves, and they are so very supportive and protective of each other already, with a promise of MUCH more to come. It’s very realistic, too, in the way the injuries are treated and the reactions afterward, and gah, I just can’t recommend this highly enough. Favorite, favorite, favorite. Kudos, follow, subscribe, comment, bookmark. I love this so much.

The Best Medicine In Space by bouquetofwhoopsiedaisies Words: 5,327 Author’s Summary: “Sorry,” Keith sighed, pushing his hair away from his sweaty forehead. “I woke up feeling sick this morning, and I thought I could power through it, but I guess it got worse.” The Blades exchanged confused looks. “Sick?” “Yeah. Sick, you know, ill. Unwell. The opposite of a healthy state.” Keith looked around at all of them, taking in their puzzled looks. “When there’s, like, a foreign virus or bacteria that gets into the body and attacks the immune system, and the body has to fight it off.” Confused and awed murmuring broke out among the Blades, who wondered aloud if this was true. “This has been known to happen to certain species of aliens.” Ulaz said slowly. “But Galra do not ‘get sick’.” “Well, humans do.” Keith said. “Guess I didn’t inherit a Galra immune system.” He broke off to cough a few times into the crook of his arm. (After Keith collapses in the middle of sparring, the Blades learn that humans can get sick and what that means. Taking care of their sick youngest member brings out some of the Blades’ protective sides.) My Comments: Suuuuuper cute. I love how befuddled and concerned the Blades are, and Kolivan was especially endearing. Fluffy and fuzzy and sweet as sugar pie.

Failsafe by VelkynKarma Words: 49,930 Author’s Summary: In the aftermath of Shiro’s rescue and recovery, he and the team start to figure out how exactly to incorporate Ryou into their dynamic, while Ryou takes some time to try and determine who he is. But when Ryou starts acting out of sorts, Shiro and the others realize they might not have as much time as they’d like. My Comments: Really, really wonderful sequel to a previously recced fic. Fics where “Kuron” get hurt or injured always hit me really hard, maybe because he never asked for this. He’s a total innocent, and seeing him suffering because of what Haggar did to him is never not gonna pierce my heart. As always, VelkynKarma’s plot is out of this world, and the hurt/comfort, both physical and emotional, is absolutely pitch perfect. This story does get VERY depressing early on when Ryou’s illness causes some terribly severe symptoms, so be sure to read the tags and notes and know what you’re getting into. But it’s absolutely worth it to keep going, I promise. The payoff is wonderful and cathartic and so, so satisfying.

Home Is Where The Heart Is by wingedflower Words: 9,834 Author’s Summary: Five times Lance’s big brother instincts have kicked in, and one time Pidge has returned the favor. (platonic Pidgance, sibling relationship) My Comments: Absolutely adorable, so warm and fluffy I’m gonna die. I love these two forming a sibling bond. Protective Lance is awesome, and protective Pidge (at the end) just as much.

Obverse (History is Written By the Victors) by Spazzcat Words: 4,685 Author’s Summary: Obverse noun 1. the side of a coin or medal bearing the head or principal design. 2. the opposite or counterpart of a fact or truth. The first time Sam Holt hears the word Voltron is in the hushed whispers of the guards as he’s dragged on board a ship and they nervously scan the sky. A sick feeling settles into his gut as he realizes that there is something out there that even the Galra fear. My Comments: Well-written, but hard to read, if that makes sense. It’s hard to think about the other side of an all-out war, but this story does a great job of showing it, showing the horrors of war.

I Hope You Dance by hufflepirate Words: 2,282 Author’s Summary: Inspired by ggracee’s art on tumblr (link inside) When the paladins start learning to dance, Allura remembers Coran teaching her - and they both remember that it’s supposed to be fun. My Comments: This made me smile so much. It’s warm and soft and made me nostalgic for things I’ve never done and sights I’ve never seen.

Voltron Whump Week 2k17 Day 2: Hypothermia by carefulren Words: 2,399 Author’s Summary: a different take on what happened in season 3 episode 5– the one where long-haired Shiro is travelling alone on that ice planet My Comments: Alternate take with Shiro getting lots of love and comforting. I am such a sucker for hypothermic characters, like for real, this made me super happy.

Stand by Bandity Words: 13,800 Author’s Summary: Lance writes letters to help with his homesickness. After an injury, his letters become a source of solace during a difficult time. Based on a prompt from tumblr. My Comments: Another absolute homerun from Bandity. She is SO good at taking us (and Lance) down to the depths of despair before slowly building us back up to where things are okay. This is a smorgasbord of suffering: physical, emotional, you name it. And an endlessly supportive team makes it all okay eventually.

Day 6: Presents by BluePlanetTrash Words: 6,663 Author’s Summary: The paladins wanted to exchange presents for Christmas and they were excited to do so. When they went to the Space Mall they quickly picked something for everyone. It wasn’t until they got back that they realize they all forgot to get something for one person. The same person. My Comments: A little OTT, a touch OOC, but very sweet. This author has a BUNCH of other short little Lance-centric hurt/comfort fics, too, if you’d like to go on a spree.

A Little Taste of What Should Have Been by hailqiqi for Engineer104 Words: 2,340 Author’s Summary: Despite the persistent begging, Samuel Holt had forbade his daughter from getting her ears pierced until she was sixteen. Fast-forward four years and ‘missing out on getting my ears pierced’ was just another reason to be angry at the Galra. Pidge was only mildly bitter about it - there were bigger reasons to be angry, after all - but it still hurt to think about.Then the topic of 'what would be different if we were still on Earth?’ comes up, and her friends realise that this one’s something they can rectify. My Comments: Very sweet and cute and just a little achy. It hurts that Pidge wasn’t able to cross this milestone with her family at her side, but Hunk and Lance and Allura were all very kind and eager to help. Just adorable.

Bright And Bright by YukiSetsu Words: 3,493 Author’s Summary: A migraine hits Lance at a bad time, and threatens to ruin a new alliance if he doesn’t face due punishment. Unfortunately, in his current state, mere isolation is enough to hurt Lance in more ways than one. My Comments: This one gave me that good sweet ache in my chest, a little bit. Perfect mix of angst and whump and hurt/comfort.

Inner Workings by MoonlitWaterSunnyRiver for Mikiri Words: 2,439 Author’s Summary: Denial was a powerful drug, thought Hunk dizzily as he stared down at the rebar puncturing a hole through his gut. So powerful, really, that he could almost pretend he wasn’t seeing it. Almost. Or, Hunk is injured in an accident and trapped in his lion while floating in space, waiting for Keith to get there. My Comments: Really, REALLY good whump, a little graphic, but worth it. The yellow lion tries so hard, and Keith is great, too. Poor Hunk.

(Not) A Competition by beloved_key Words: 4,494 Author’s Summary: Normally, Lance is pretty good at letting Shiro know he’s not feeling his best. Better than the other paladins, anyway. But when Keith issues a challenge on the morning Lance wakes up with a bitch of a cold, before Lance can go to Shiro, well… It’s not like Lance can just back down, right? Besides, he’s not even that sick. He’ll be fine. Definitely. Based on a prompt by whumpcity on Tumblr My Comments: I loved how in-character this sickfic is. Lance makes a dumb decision and suffers for it, and there’s some teasing and jokes along with the pain. Great read.

If It Ain’t Broke by overlymetaromantic Words: 13,642 Author’s Summary: A 5 plus 1: Five times Lance takes a hit for the team, and one time the team takes a hit back. My Comments: A new one for my favorites. Everyone was in-character, and the whump was great, but that last chapter, mmm. So satisfying. This tickled my h/c itch magnificently, though I could have done with a liiiiitttle more comfort after the individual whump scenes. Lance should definitely have some PTSD, honestly. I would make grabby hands at a sequel.

Anathema by kitsune13tamlin Words: 2,088 Author’s Summary: he’s know all along that something was wrong. He just - never knew how wrong it really was. Shiro from season 3 and 4. Takes place after Shadow and day 4 of Black Paladin Week. My Comments: Really, really cool use of the clone!Shiro theory, just fantastic, and the descriptions were stunning. I would happily read much more of this concept.

Protect Your Own by ambivalentlangst Words: 2,810 Author’s Summary: Lance loves his lion, but sometimes love is not enough to stop fear from taking root. My Comments: Chilling and compelling little spot of horror, but do mind the tags. It’s intense, and far from a happy tale, but intriguing. We really don’t know ANYTHING about the lions, and I could definitely see them being capable of something like this.

Previously Recced Fics That Updated:

Back from the Edge (7605 words) Beacon (35665 words) As Color Fades Away (261938 words) The Purity of Sin (80960 words) Shadows of Stars (143678 words) Turn Back the Clock (14766 words) Blue and Bruised (25025 words) Fusion Confusion (23062 words) Truce (194329 words)

#voltron legendary defender #weekly voltron fic recs #fic rec #vldgen

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its-love-u-asshole · 7 years

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Fic Writers Week Day 3: Small But Mighty

Shine a spotlight on the new/underrated fics you’ve read or written.

Yeeessss it’s rec time! I know there’s also the last day to rec fics in general, but I love the idea behind this day a lot too! There’s so many beautiful fics that I’ve read which don’t receive the amount of recognition/kudos that they deserve! I can’t wait to spread the word about them! Since this might be a longer post, I’m putting it under a read more! Enjoy <3

Also, I want to encourage people to try reading new fics as much as possible! While fic rec lists are a good source to start and get ideas about what to read, often times people rely on them too much, and then overlook newer fics which are just as amazing! So every once in a while, remember to check the ship tags on ao3 for newly posted works, that way you don’t miss any hidden gems!

Alright, let’s get into it!

in a flash (ao3) -- Kurotsuki, G

He sees a red beanie covering messy black hair, a soft and boyish smile lit up by the sunlight, and a gray cat.

Click.

Okay so this kurotsuki fic definitely needs twice as many kudos/comments, because the writing was downright phenomenal! It was so beautiful and made me feel warm inside all throughout reading it, I couldn’t get enough! The characterizations are excellent, and the whole mood of the fic is so cozy and wonderful. Please check it out if you love kurotsuki! Also make sure to follow @cawnvictofmurder on tumblr!

a haunting in tokyo (ao3) -- Daisuga, G

This wasn’t the first time Suga had claimed their apartment had been haunted. However, it was the first time he tried to do something about it. Daichi, as always, is nothing but supportive.

This fic was short, but unbelievably sweet! I loved the mix of domestic daisuga fluff with paranormal shenanigans lmao, it was just a super enjoyable fic which had me giggling constantly. I don’t read much daisuga, but it was definitely a treat, and I’d recommend the fic to all! Please also make sure to follow @bishounen-curious <3

Starved (ao3) -- Kurotsuki, T

Kei can’t make it this week. Next week, maybe, he’ll be here but Tetsurou is all out of patience.

Prompt: “I’m tired of being your secret.”

@ivyfics has too many amazing fics which deserve more attention, but this one I feel especially needs to be read. The writing and emotions are just...incredible, I reread this fic so much because I’m in awe of how well it’s written. It’s the perfect mix of angst and relationship development, and I super appreciate that it’s from Kuroo’s POV! Please check it out if you love kurotsuki! It’s worth the read (and reread lol) ^^

Where to Start (ao3) -- TeruShira, G

It's the second date Kenjirou has been on and he can feel Yuuji already figuring him out. He wants to be the boyfriend he wants Yuuji to have, but he doesn't know where to start.

Alright so this author in general just needs more love, yeah TeruShira (or any Shirabu ship really lol) is a rarepair, but gah trust me, after you read this fic you’ll be hopping onto the shipping train so damn fast. The characterizations are so realistic and interesting, and the interactions between the pair are so fun and touching. Please check this fic out, as well as all of SilverAmoebasquid‘s other works!

A God for Every Season (ao3) -- Matsuhana, T

Mortals have all kinds of foolish tales, like how Hades and Persephone's annual reunion causes the seasons. Matsukawa knows better.

Alright, I don’t have time to get into this because for this fic, I can honestly write a 10 page essay about how much I love it. So lemme just say, the writing and the romance is top notch, like...wow, words cannot describe how beautiful the writing is. You seriously need to read it in order to understand. I also love mythology aus, and this delivered! The retelling of Hades/Persephone reuniting was so creative and enjoyable, I want to reread it all again just from typing this lol. @90stimkon did an incredible job with this fic and all their fics, so please check them all out! <3

Waiting for Spring (ao3) -- Kurotsuki, NR

Kuroo had only ever been enamored with a person in his lifetime once. And then "The Dream" happened. Everyday, he dreamt of the neighborhood where he lived, and he always saw a stranger with short blond hair, a tall stature, and black-framed glasses in his dreams. He didn't know who he was, but he was determined to find out.

Kuroo had only ever been enamored with a person in his lifetime once. And then "The Dream" happened. That was the second time.

This fic isn’t exactly recent but I’ll never stop reccing it until it’s been read by everyone lmao I swear! It’s a bit on the angstier side, and there’s a warning for mental illness mentions, but it’s a gorgeous fic. It explores Tsukishima’s emotions and character so well, Kuroo’s too! The details about mental health and Kuroo’s feelings/situation are great, it’s definitely a dream fic which flows into reality so well! I loved the ending, I loved the whole fic, so please give it a shot!

24 Hours (ao3) -- Iwaoi, E

Iwaizumi, a special investigations agent, finds himself falling in love with someone who may already be dead.

@serviceace is an amazing writer, and this crime au has got me so hooked! If you like crime mysteries and detective!Iwaizumi, this is the fic for you! It’s ongoing, but each chapter is so interesting and fun to read, and the questions keep me on the edge of my seat! Please go read this fic if you’re a sucker for iwaoi and police aus, as I am ;)

To The Skies (ao3) -- Kacchako, M

It was supposed to be a typical evening for Bakugou Katsuki. A masquerade ball, a night of serving the royal family as he always did. But when the party goes horribly wrong it's up to servant boy Bakugou to rescue the princess, Uraraka Ochako. His rescue mission is about to change both of their lives completely, and eventually Uraraka will want to reclaim her throne.

Now, older, the two reunite, realizing their lives have gone in very different directions. Ochako, part of the Resistance against the horrible Academy, and Bakugou, a famed sky pirate, traveling the island clusters to find various bounties. Together, they fight to take back the home they once knew and loved.

Okay y’all, lemme tell you, if you love Kacchako, you need to read this! The idea is so damn original, and Rache’s writing is A++ as always. The world she builds and the character relationships that she crafts are so well done. This fic seriously deserves more attention, so please go read! <3 Also follow her writing blog on tumblr @emeraldwaves ! You won’t be disappointed!

Tacky Shoes and Movie Tickets (ao3) -- Bokuaka, T

Akaashi deals with a lot of stupid people.

He isn't yet certain if Bokuto falls into that category.

In which Akaashi is the manager of a movie theater, Bokuto is the new hire at the shoe store downstairs, and the two of them get along much better than Akaashi could have anticipated.

Okay so I was super surprised that this fic didn’t have more kudos! It’s so light hearted and funny, not to mention perfectly sweet! It’s ongoing, but I can’t wait for more. @worthlesspride writes some of the best bokuaka out there, it’s so fluffy and heartwarming, not to mention the writing flows so well! Please read and support it!

Alright, so I’m going to do some self promo because why not? This day is for fic writers too after all lmao.

Perfectly Aligned (ao3) -- Kurotsuki, T

Kuroo didn’t know how he’d made it back here, standing beneath the glistening war machines known as Jaegers. He was the definite outsider, not just at the Shatterdome, but in this world. The world of Jaeger pilots had long since closed its door on him, and now here he was, knocking once again. However, maybe this time, he wouldn’t be alone.

Just a good ol’ Pacific Rim AU. I really loved playing with this universe, and tbh it’s probably some of my best writing?? It didn’t get much attention because I posted it during a busy exchange week, but I’m definitely proud of it and hope more people can read it!

Ceaseless (ao3) -- Kiyoyachi, E

The life of an assassin isn't an easy one. Devoid of morals and full of the criminal underworld's grime , it's a job Kiyoko has always been weirdly perfect at. She's long stopped thinking about why, but just because she kills without remorse, doesn't mean she doesn't have her own attachments.

I’m including this one because f/f ships do not get nearly enough attention as they should. I live for f/f content, and I hope I can read a lot more in the future and introduce ppl to it through fics like this! This fic did not get many kudos, but I think it was actually pretty good writing/smut, so please give it a try if you like kiyoyachi!

Let My Love (ao3) -- Kurotsuki, T

For Kuroo, finding love was all about patience. He had no problem with waiting for the right person to come along, no matter how many awkward dinners or weddings he had to endure as a single man until they did. Regardless, meeting Tsukishima was something he’d never been prepared for. The feelings were overwhelming and intoxicating, ones he was sure he’d do anything for. However, it seemed his endless waiting wasn’t over.

While this fic isn’t short on kudos, I feel like it gets overlooked when compared to my siren au for kurotsuki. While this fic is a bit angstier than Slipping Underneath, it’s one of my most favorite that I’ve ever written. Writing slow burn is a challenge, but I think so far I’m doing well lol?? I love writing this fic, so if you want, I hope you can also enjoy reading it! <3

I Search Through the Crowd (ao3) -- Iwaoi, T

It wasn't uncommon to believe in reincarnation, most people did, but it wasn't some flippant thing. Only people with the strongest of bonds were reincarnated, or so legend put it. Hajime could be dense sometimes, but he didn't miss the meaning Tooru was trying to convey.

"I'll find you."

Lastly, this was my first iwaoi fic, and I was really proud of it even though it didn’t get much attention. It was a struggle to write, but overall, I’m super happy with the result, so I hope you guys can get the chance to read it! I hope I get to write even more iwaoi in the future too!

#ficwritersweek #haikyuu!!#reccing stuff is so fun lol #fic recs #kurotsuki #kacchako

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rantsaboutponies · 7 years

Text

My Little Pony: The Movie

Yes, this is the 2017 one I’m talking about. I’m not going to pull a switcheroo and review the 1986 one. Like I said, bad title.

If you want to read along while watching the movie, you may do so as long as you’re not in a theater. DO NOT LOOK AT YOUR PHONE IN THE THEATER. I don’t care if you turned the brightness down or if you hold it in your lap; EVERYONE CAN STILL SEE IT. YOU’RE BEING AN ASSHOLE.

Anyway, on with the review! Spoilers abound, so fair warning!

Oh, and this movie is rated PG for “mild action”. What the hell is wrong with you, MPAA?

Good lord, the absolute grandiosity of the title logo... All right, all right, I’m not going to nitpick something as minor as the logo. Calm down.

My thought process: “Hey, this synth bit sounds kinda like the intro to ‘We Got the Beat’ by The Go-Go’s. I wonder if they realize that.”

Two seconds later: “OH, FUCK, IT IS. IT IS THAT SONG. NO. STOP. STOP RIGHT NOW. RRRRRGGGGGHHHH.”

Well, THAT threw me for a loop! Holy shit, am I glad the show’s budget isn’t large enough to include covers of popular songs.

Ah, we’re showcasing the new animation with a flyover/through of Canterlot. I’m not going to be mentioning the animation quality every other paragraph (even though I could), so instead I’ll just say everything up front. I mentioned in an earlier post that it looked like the animators were suddenly unaware of how to use the program, as though they had all traded jobs or something. It turns out that wasn’t far off! According to sources, the animation software being used on this movie is Toon Boom Harmony, not Flash, so the animators working on this movie are either 1. the same animators using an unfamiliar program, or 2. different animators who are used to working with Harmony but are not used to animating this show. And if you look at the stuff they’ve worked on, they’re all either just 2D (The Simpsons, The Congress) or just 3D (The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water), not anything that has attempted to integrate both. The opening shot of the ponies flying through the clouds and through Canterlot looks like 2D assets trying to move through a 3D environment! It doesn’t help that the 3D assets (like the buildings and the landscape) are all really, really cheap-looking, like they were resources saved from a movie from 10-20 years ago and never updated. Also, the 3D assets tend to move fluidly (like 3D assets do), whereas the 2D assets attached to the same figure move with a lower framerate (like 2D assets do), which is a little jarring.

And holy crap, look at those two characters walk towards the screen! That’s some first-year animation student work right there!

Okay, okay, I said I wasn’t going to harp on the animation the whole time. Fine. Instead, here’s a complaint I’m sure will sound familiar to regular readers: Wow, you really like your exposition dumps right out of the gate, don’t you, writers? Except this time, you don’t have the excuse of “Well, we only had 22 minutes, so we had to get all the information out there quickly!” This movie is 99 minutes long! That’s four-and-a-half times the length! At this point, it’s just sloppy!

Random pony: Princess Twilight is great under pressure!

Twilight: Oh, my goodness, I can’t handle this!

Trombone: Wah-wah!

Oh, goddamnit, are we bringing back the wah-wah jokes? Son of a...

GAH! That closeup shot of Twilight is just creepy! Adding more details just because you’re closer to a subject isn’t always the best idea!

“What’chu talkin’ ‘bout?” FUCK STOP FUCK STOP FUCK STOP FUCK

Still creepy! Why do her eyes look like that? This is unsettling! Please stop focusing on her face!

Ha, Pinkie Pie was blowing a balloon into the camera, and then she turned and revealed it’s actually a really long balloon, but we couldn’t see that because of the angle we were watching from! Ha ha ha! ...Was...was that meant to be a joke? Because I really can’t figure out what other reason you would have to show it that way. These new animators are bizarre.

Oh, hey, she was making Discord! He’s not actually in the movie, but, you know, fanservice!

All right, Angel dressed as a parrot made me chuckle, but why the hell would Fluttershy force him to do that?

“Faster if I do my Sonic Rainboom!” How? How would that help you complete this task any faster? What sense does that make? Oh, wait, don’t tell me...fanservice.

“Raised in a barn!” Yes, thank you. You have beaten that joke thoroughly into the ground by now. Please move on.

Ah, good, Pinkie Pie is continuing her trend of being loud, irritating, and making things worse by opening her stupid face. Some things haven’t changed.

Okay, this is two songs in the first eight minutes. Just how many are there?

“Eeyup!” HE SAID IT.

Yeah, you can show me Cheese Sandwich all you want. I know “Weird Al” isn’t in this movie.

Security guard #1: “Do you have visual on the buttercream?”

Security guard #2: “Visual confirmed, go for cleanup.”

...

Audience: *cough*

I mean, they left in a pause for laughter and everything. They were expecting that to get a laugh.

Balloon: *gets squished*

Random background pony: Bryan! Noooooo!

Me:

I don’t...I’m not...are these...jokes? I’m...I...

You’d think they’d have heard of this villain. He seems like he has a wide sphere of influence.

“There’s one of you! And hundreds of us!” Yes, Luna, I’m sure they brought that giant airship because there’s only one of them. This is why you’re not in charge.

Wow, the, uh...the crystals forming over Cadence are, um...am I allowed to say anything more about the animation?

DURR HURR IT’S FUNNY BECAUSE THEY THOUGHT THEY GOT TWILIGHT BUT IT WAS ACTUALLY DERPY AND ANYTHING INVOLVING DERPY IS FUNNY. FAAAAAAANSERRRRRRVIIIIIIIIIICE.

Every word out of this minion’s mouth makes me want to punch him. It’s Michael Peña’s best role since CHiPs! Apparently he ad-libbed most of his dialogue. It shows.

“Yay.” SHE SAID IT.

“Boingy boingy boingy boingy!” UGH.

Pinkie Pie: “Anypony up for a game of I Spy?”

Everypony else: “UGH.”

See? SEE?! I’m not the only one! She’s even starting to annoy the other main characters by this point! What are you even doing?

So Tempest got...a phone call...except it’s not a phone call, it’s a potion that you pour into a brazier...but it still has a ringtone...and it sounds like a dial-up connection... How do they use it more than once? Also, FUCK YOU WITH YOUR STUPID FUCKING

Why does the Storm King’s emblem look like the Starcraft II logo?

“Sorry, bad spell service.” FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Meanwhile, in the town from Assassin’s Creed...

“Hmm. Interesting.” Well, I know someone who’s getting a lot of furry fetish fanart made of him!

“I’ll take the picture of your sister!” Heh. Okay, movie. That’s two.

Wow, Taye Diggs’s voice does not fit that character design.

“...parts will fall off.” Did the guy immediately grab for his crotch when he said that? Wow, movie! Where’s your PG for “mild rude humor”?

Someone should tell the animators that Spike isn’t pursuing Rarity anymore. Since, like, Season 2.

Oh, god, don’t sing! I was kind of starting to like you, Capper! This doesn’t really seem in-character!

Why does it seem like this character would have been Discord if they hadn’t “redeemed” him like three times by this point?

Yes, Fluttershy is afraid of bats. Great knowledge of the character there, movie.

“Ooh! So many fun breakables!” Fuck you, Pinkie.

Good lord, Emily Blunt really could be intimidating if she weren’t undercut by Michael Peña at every fucking TURN! It’s the slugs from Epic all over again!

Yes, “The Girl from Ipanema”. A common song all throughout Equestria or the Badlands or whatever. The random popular songs interspersed throughout a movie (based on a show that does not HAVE them) that also has its own original songs really do not fit! They really don’t! Just because you can afford it now doesn’t mean you have to do it.

“WAIT!” *random cat noise* That...might have made sense if you didn’t play those two sounds at the same time. I’m not sure how he could talk and yowl simultaneously. Come on, sound editors.

Boy, how convenient that Tempest found them at that exact point, huh?

Y’know, showing Pinkie Pie grinning like an idiot as they’re all running for their lives doesn’t exactly endear me to her, animators.

Oh, no! Pinkie fell! What a tragedy! Maybe if you let her die, she wouldn’t keep fucking up your shit!

GOD, I HATE THIS FUCKING MINION.

Bird Guy: “We scar ‘em...”

Rarity: *gasp*

Bird Guy: “...emotionally!”

Fluttershy: *cries*

Pff... All right, you got me! That one was actually worth an audible laugh! That makes you three for...I don’t know, fifty?

I have a serious question. Was this supposed to be released in 3D, but then they dropped that for some reason? There seems to be a lot of “stuff coming straight toward the camera” action.

Are we seriously still doing the “people trying to kill each other stop when the shift whistle blows” joke? That was old 50 years ago!

I’m not sure I’ve seen a musical with songs this...out of nowhere. I mean, I’m sure worse examples exist, but none that I’m familiar with.

Are these pirates supposed to be...giant parrots (because, y’know, pirates and parrots)? Why does this world have giant parrots? Everything in the entire series is the size it is in the real world. Including the parrots we saw earlier in the movie! Why giant parrots?

Ah, good, Rainbow Dash is still a FUCKING IDIOT. Glad you’re keeping that change from the show, too!

So let me get this straight. Storm King is concerned about projecting an image of fearsomeness and strength...but he sells bobbleheads of himself as merchandise? You know, you don’t have to be this stupid, movie! You don’t! You really don’t!

GOD, they need to stop showing closeups of their faces. THEY’RE. SO. CREEPY.

“Oh, this is inteeeeeense!” WELL, IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN IF YOU HADN’T SAID THAT. LET A MOMENT LAND, MOVIE. LET. A MOMENT. FUCKING. LAND.

Oh, good, here’s where that terrifying shot from the trailer comes in.

And Rarity stopped to look at herself in the mirror while falling to her death. HURR HURR HURR.

Oh, look! Pinkie is about to get them killed again! GET RID OF HER.

“That’s it! I simply cannot even!” Oh, fuck off. Whoever wrote that line, fuck off.

“I hate epic adventures!” I’m sure starting to.

Wow, Twilight, you held your breath for, like, 10 seconds. Good job.

Well, here it is. We knew it was coming. Seaponies. Honestly, even though I should be annoyed (because FANSERVICE), they actually fit this world pretty well (way better than giant anthropomorphic cats or whatever the hell the inhabitants of that Badlands city were).

But then they turn the Mane Six into seaponies.

And I’m reminded of “The Crystal Empire (Part 2)”.

And you only introduced these characters to sell new toys of the Mane Six, didn’t you?

And fuck you.

“Yay.” SHE SAID IT. AGAIN.

Don’t sing. Please don’t sing. I think what makes these songs even more out-of-nowhere is the fact that all the other non-pony characters are immediately in on the song, no matter how they were feeling or what they were doing right before it started.

Um...Twilight’s not wrong, you guys! Everyone you’ve come across so far has tried to fuck you over! Including the seaponies! Why wouldn’t she just try to steal the thing?

But, of course, she wouldn’t get captured if everyone else didn’t leave her all alone to mark the act break. The rest of them are even seen sitting on a gray and dismal seashore afterwards! Jesus Christ, it’s like all the tropes from Scriptwriting for Children’s Movies 101 are in this thing! You are allowed to try harder than this, you know!

Twilight: Why are you doing this? You’re a pony, like me!

Me: I’m nothing like you!

Tempest: I’m nothing like you!

Me: Come on!

Oh, god, don’t sing. I can hear the lead-in. I can see you want to express your emotions and fill in your backstory so badly! Please don’t! Please don’t please don’t please don’t AGGGGGHHHHH

Man, I bet when the Ursa Major scratched her face, Tempest bled so! Ha! ...I’m sorry.

Are you kidding me? She has the same character motivation as Starlight Glimmer? Her friends (all two of them) left her in one particular incident, so now she’s sworn off friendship forever (instead of just, I don’t know, finding new friends? You had to have had more than two.)

Hold on, did Tempest...beam that flashback into Twilight’s head? Because otherwise, I don’t know how she would have gathered that information.

“Well, look what the cat dragged in! Himself!” Um...burn?

NO. BULLSHIT. HOW DID THEY ESCAPE? HOW? IT DOESN’T COUNT IF YOU DON’T SHOW IT. WHY WOULD YOU CUT OUT A POTENTIALLY AWESOME ACTION SCENE FOR THIS SHIT? NO. FUCK YOU.

Then again, there are only five pirates left. I guess the rest were slaughtered.

Honestly, the Storm King just looks like Tirek. They might as well have reused him.

Boy, I haven’t seen Liev Schreiber play such an nonthreatening villain since X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Blast from the past! I’m glad he’s been in the movie so much up to this point so that I actually give a shit about him being the main bad guy for the last 20 minutes!

Uh-huh. And where were the other two pirates hiding? Only three jumped out of that cake.

The guard was taken down by...cupcakes. Do you even care anymore?

HOLY FUCK PINKIE’S FACE IS TERRIFYING. NEVER SHOW ANYTHING LIKE THAT AGAIN. YOU ARE SERIOUSLY GOING TO GIVE CHILDREN NIGHTMARES.

And he’s using Spike like a flamethrower. He can’t...oh, whatever.

Why does she even need her horn restored? She seems pretty powerful as she is.

“Why are you saving me?” “Because this is what friends do.” No, this is what decent fucking people do! if you’re about to watch someone die and you can do something to prevent it, you don’t have to be their friend to do so! You just have to be not a sociopath!

Oh, no! Twilight flew off with the main villain! She’s dead for sure! Oh, what? She’s not? What a shock. Nice heavy-handed angelic imagery, by the way.

Couldn’t she have blasted the XBOX rock out of the way or grabbed it or something instead of letting it hit her?

“So...now what?” “Now we rebuild.” No, wait, that’s the ending from San Andreas. A much better movie, I might add.

OH, THE FIRST ONE THEY DECALCIFIED WAS DERPY. EVERYTHING IS DERPY. DERPY DERPY DERPY.

Okay, who the hell was the “Way to go, guys!” pony? That was very obviously supposed to be someone specific, but I am unaware of this behind-the-scenes tidbit.

So they unfroze everypony, but they still didn’t fix Tempest’s horn? What a bunch of dicks!

“You know, your horn is pretty powerful, just like the pony it belongs to.” Didn’t I say that? What the hell was the conflict here?

That’s what you end the movie on, eh? Pinkie Pie’s squealing? Okey dokey then.

AND DERPY’S IN THE CREDITS TOO HERF DERF WERF LERF

And, of course, no kids’ movie would be complete without LUKAS GRAAAAAAAHAM.

Wait, Rachel Platten sang that cover of “We Got the Beat”? The singer who gave us “Fight Song”? Well, no wonder it sucked!

Rating: 1/4 stars.

This movie had a review embargo on it on Rotten Tomatoes until the release date. That’s never a good sign.

I think maybe they thought that, by making the movie darker, it would make it more suitable for theatrical viewing. It doesn’t. It’s just...odd. Especially when they add really stupid jokes to lighten the tone.

I can say that you can probably see the movie without having seen the show, which is a positive. There aren’t any plot details that require outside information to understand, but WOW is there enough fanservice if that’s what you’re looking for. In fact, it might be better if you haven’t seen the show because boy, oh, boy, do they introduce a lot of characters that the ponies on the show would definitely be aware of if this made any sense. On that note, if this is set in the canon Equestria from the show, then holy shit are the ponies the most callous and/or oblivious sociopaths I’ve ever seen in a children’s program. Not only are they all apparently completely unaware of the fact that everything outside of Equestria is complete shit (aside from the fact that everywhere seems to be impoverished, they’re all totally oblivious to the fact that the Storm King has taken over THE REST OF THE WORLD), but they don’t actually fix that by the end! I guess the hippogriffs can come out of hiding now, and the Storm King’s faceless henchmen all seem to be good guys at the end since they’re all at the party, but for all we know, the badlands are still inhabited entirely by goblin monster things and their shady black market shit! We never saw what happened to them! And if the parrots are now all pirates instead of merchants, does that mean they’re going to start robbing everyone? Congratulations, Rainbow Dash! You’ve significantly increased the amount of crime across the entire world! Good job, you fucking idiot!

Twilight is ridiculously selfish, which is really odd considering we know she knows better by this point. Her moral in this movie is that she has to learn to rely on her friends and not just try to do everything based on her own effort and ideas. Y’know, AGAIN. How many fucking times has Twilight had to learn this lesson over and over and over again? And people say that Fluttershy’s episodes are repetitive.

I was hoping that at some point I would become used to the animation. For comparison, Fantastic Mr. Fox has a really ugly animation style, but you don’t really think anything of it after the first 20-30 minutes. That never happened with this movie. Every time I thought I was getting used to the animation style, someone would turn or move or make a face, and it would just look creepy or just plain awful again.

You know what’s kind of sad, though? Emily Blunt is really good in this. She’s really putting in a lot of effort for this character, and the design is pretty good, too! She’s actually kind of awesome, especially compared to Liev Schreiber (who so could not have given less of a shit about his role) and Michael Fucking Peña, who are just terrible. Even if I didn’t entirely understand her nonsensical motivation, Tempest was honestly the best part of the movie.

Boy, between this and Leap!, if an animated movie advertises that it “features an original song by Sia”, run!

#my little pony: friendship is magic #my little pony friendship is magic #my little pony: the movie #my little pony the movie #my little pony #friendship is magic #mlp fim #mlp #fim #my little pony the movie spoilers #my little pony spoilers #spoilers

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