#heres to another year of being a lantern fan that will most probably land me in solitary confinement

[emeraldwarriors]

told myself id finish this before 2023 ends and i did it. applause

[catboymingi]

wish

navi/masterlist

pairing: hongjoong x reader

genre: some angst if you try really hard, fluff

word count: 4k

warnings: mingi being bad at halloween (this is FLUFF and fluff ONLY)

a/n: would you believe this, something that’s not mingi... who would’ve thought this day would ever come

six years and three months have passed since you last talked to hongjoong. five years and ten months have passed since you moved in with mingi. five years and seven months have passed since you gave birth to your daughter. not even a day has passed since you last missed the man that had once been your everything.

this was your first halloween with your daughter, and it had been neither your nor her idea to celebrate, actually. instead, ‘the best uncle on earth’ (as mingi commonly called himself) had insisted that she now was big enough and that she deserved the candy. you knew, though, that he wanted to dress up more than her, and that he’d most definitely steal your candy, at least. he had a massive sweet spot for your child, so her candy might be safe. might. or you might just have to lock it away. 

you couldn’t be mad at him, though - he was the only one that had been there for you when you got pregnant, that had been there when you’d given birth, that had made it possible, through rigid scheduling and his parents’ money, for you to finish your degree even though you had a daughter at home. it was weird because you hadn’t even really been close before your world came crashing down, but he proved himself to be the biggest help you could ever have asked for. so maybe, he was actually the best uncle on earth.

“are you ready?” of course it was mingi screaming, not your daughter. you’d insisted that she wouldn’t get to go trick-or-treating until she was five, because you knew not everyone was sensible enough to remember that there were small children outside that would get deadly scared at the kind of decoration some people found to be appropriate, and you wanted to prevent her from getting traumatised by random severed hands. but that had also meant that mingi had had to wait for five years to get to have a good excuse for why he got dressed up and excited like this.

“you look ridiculous”, you laughed at the tall man who had proudly told you he’d be a werewolf but looked more like a werepuppy.

“i don’t need your approval when i have toive’s!”, he told you, sticking his tongue out at you despite being 27 years of age. “and she said i look very scary and that she trusts me to protect her from all the bad and evil vampires! now get ready, we want to go!”

you smiled contentedly as you put on your black lipstick, the last little touch needed for your witch costume. you really were glad to have mingi, to have someone that could at least somewhat fill in the role of toive’s father. he made sure that your daughter never lacked anything and, admittedly, spoiled her a little much sometimes, but it was okay because it was done with love.

“done. let’s go?” both the werepuppy and the little piratess that barely reached up to mingi’s waist nodded enthusiastically, and you grabbed the big plastic bags that you’d spent the day painting to look more halloween-y and less grocery store-y.

going trick-or-treating was more fun than you’d expected it to be, your daughter scoring more candy than mingi and you combined by threatening every single person on whose doorbell you rang with having them go on the plank if they didn’t hand over all their candy.

“it’s unfair”, your best friend whined out when toive had once more scored twice the amount of candy as him and you combined, “when she threatens people it’s cute but if i threaten people i bet they’d call the police!”

“that’s because you’re a giant that could break my arm without effort”, you explained to him, laughing at his exasperation. it was just candy, but you knew he had a sweet tooth - she’d probably gotten it from him, even though they weren’t even related. bad influence. but it was cute, too, how happy and excited they both were, the excitement carrying over to you even though you’d insisted you weren’t a fan of halloween at all. but how could you not get excited when both of them were near vibrating with joy? your two favourite people were having so much fun and seeing them happy was all you needed to be happy yourself.

that happiness didn’t last long, however, when you rang on another doorbell, not thinking much of the surname ‘kim’ - near half of south korea’s population was called kim, so it didn’t even occur to you that it might be a very specific kim, a kim whose condom had ripped six years ago and had subsequently caused you not only the hardest time in your life but also more happiness than you’d ever thought possible once your little darling was born. a kim whom you’d never even told, because he’d had to move away before you even found out you were pregnant, and whom you didn’t want to hold back from his dream, so you just broke things off with him instead, claiming you were going back to finland. but it was this very specific kim, it was kim hong joong who opened the door for you and sent your heart into a frenzy.

“shit!”, you cursed out as soon as you saw his face, recognised him even behind his eye patch and fake beard, momentarily forgetting that your daughter very much should not be hearing curses yet, but luckily mingi got your back.

“shiny lights!”, he chimed in as soon as he heard the first few letters of the inappropriate word leaving your lips, successfully distracting toive from the fact that you were incredibly out of it, pointing to all the little lanterns in hongjoong’s garden. her eyes lit up, admiring the pumpkins he’d carved, and you were grateful that he’d put so much effort into decorating his lawn because it distracted her enough for you to have a few moments to collect yourself.

“y/n?” of course he’d recognised you, too, it would’ve been too good to be true if he hadn’t. and then his eyes went to mingi and toive, and you started panicking. he couldn’t accurately guess how old she was, but your reaction and the way you’d broken things off without ever even having hinted at you wanting to go back to europe back then made him suspect that she was his.

“your daughter?”, he asked, and you thanked the heavens that he had enough common sense to be silent so she’d not hear. you just nodded, not trusting your voice right now, and his next question sent even more panic jolting through your body.

“mine?”

now you had to talk, because she was here and mingi wouldn’t be able to distract her forever, and you couldn’t sort all this now. you couldn’t.

“not now. i’ll give you my number and you can text me, and we’ll meet tomorrow or something, but please, for her, not now.” and because he was still as kind and understanding as he’d always been he nodded, getting out his phone and saving your contact before getting your darling’s attention, pretending he didn’t have any kind of connection to you or her.

“hey, little pirate! have you found a treasure yet?” she turned around with so much energy that she’d have landed on her butt if mingi hadn’t caught her, then she came back to where you were still standing at the door.

“you’re a pirate, too!” she admired his big hat and the plastic sword dangling from his side, and he nodded.

“the scariest pirate in all of the seven seas. i have so many treasures i don’t even know what to do with them all. would you do me a favour and take a little gold from me, mate?” and he leaned down with a smile, holding the bowl filled with chocolate gold coins out to her.

“can i?” she looked up at you with the biggest puppy eyes and you couldn’t help the smile spreading on your face. and hongjoong noticed it, too, noticed the fond expression and his heart hurt a little at the thought that this precious little gem might be his daughter, and at the memory of the heartbreak he’d gone through back then.

“but you need to ask the captain how much you can take”, you told her and her little head bobbed up and down as she nodded enthusiastically.

“captain, sir, how much gold may i take?” and she was so precious that he was about to just hand her the entire bowl. but the last little bit of reason left in him told him that then he’d not have anything for the other kids that would inevitably come, so he had to restrain himself.

“how about you two swordfight and the winner decides?”, mingi suggested, mainly just wanting to buy you some time to check up on you. he knew that hongjoong was the father, of course he knew, and he knew that the man didn’t know. so this situation had to be really hard on you.

he didn’t know if it was because hongjoong sensed what he wanted to do or if he really just wanted to play more with toive, but he immediately agreed, getting out his sword to fight the little piratess, ‘arg’s and ‘urg’s to be heard from them while mingi put his hand on your shoulder before pulling you into a hug.

“you okay?”, he asked quietly, and you nodded, even though you weren’t sure if you actually were.

“he didn’t make me talk it out now, so that’s all i could ask for. i’ll probably have to tell him tomorrow”, you all but whispered into his shoulder, holding his biceps tightly to ground yourself a little as you felt the panic hit you again.

“you know he’s nice. and if he isn’t, i’ll beat his ass.” and had it been anyone else you’d thought this threat was just to make you feel better, but because you’d lived with this man for so long now you knew that he absolutely would.

“thanks”, you said before disattaching yourself, walking back to where the two pirates were still fighting. but when hongjoong saw you come back he took the final blow, sinking to the ground as if he’d received a deadly hit.

“you were a worthy opponent, little pirate. now it is up to you how much gold you will take from me.” and toive’s eyes shone brighter than the lamps surrounding you and the fake gold in his bowl as she put both her little hands in and grabbed as much as she could take - which, admittedly, wasn’t much, so mingi decided to help out because his hands were about as big as your head.

“you won, you deserve the reward”, he told your daughter as he scooped an entire handfull into her bag. he glared at hongjoong as he did so, a warning to not fuck up, and suddenly he did look like a werewolf rather than an adorable werepuppy. but his expression softened as soon as he looked at your darling that was his darling just as much, and the other man could tell that he cared. so at least the girl hadn’t had to miss out on anything.

you left for the next house soon after, your daughter and her costume twin ‘arrr mate’ing at each other, and again the tall man proved to be your hero as he pointed at another decoration to get her attention away from you and your ex-love for a little so you could decently say goodbye, because he could tell you needed that.

“i’ll text you soon”, hongjoong told you, and you nodded.

“thank you.” he knew for what. for not causing a scene even though he had all right to, technically, because your daughter didn’t have to see that. shouldn’t have to see that. and then you left, again, and he felt his heart break just a little as your form disappeared.

it was thanks to the werewolf that the night continued to go smoothly until it was time to head home, and he tucked toive into bed while you took a moment to yourself in the bathroom, wiping off your makeup as you tried to calm your rapid heartbeat. then you joined the two of them in her room, pressing a little kiss onto her forehead and promising that you’d hexed all the bad dreams so they couldn’t haunt her, and mingi promised her that he’d bite any vampire that tried to come close.

once she’d fallen asleep you left for the living room, him staying by your side as you grabbed your phone, knuckles white from the force you used as you gripped it. he put a hand on your leg in comfort as you unlocked it, and of course hongjoong had already messaged.

[unknown]: this is hongjoong

[unknown]: tomorrow, 10am, playground?

[unknown]: /location/

you sighed, then replied.

[y/n]: you know im not bringing toive

and his message appeared almost immediately after, as if he’d been staring at his phone ever since he first texted you.

[unknown]: yeah

[unknown]: but i remember you liked them. said they were calm

he was right. even before your daughter had lit up the playground with her bright smile you’d loved spending time there, sitting on the swings and staring up at the sky whenever you had something to talk about. that feeling had never left, even though you now had yet another reason to love playgrounds.

[y/n]: ill be there

and even though hongjoong wanted nothing more in that moment than to tell you that he missed you he knew he shouldn’t, so he left you on read instead, though both his thoughts and his heart were racing.

while he hadn’t been able to await the next day it came all too soon for you, and mingi once more promised that if hongjoong pulled any shit he’d beat his ass into next week. he was babysitting toive today, had promised her a movie and candy day so she wouldn’t miss you, and you couldn’t be more grateful to have him. maybe she didn’t have a father, and you didn’t have a partner, but the two of you had him, and he more than made up for it, even though it had cost him several dates. you were his priority, and you loved him for that.

the man was already waiting at the playground when you arrived, early as always and beautiful as always. he wasn’t wearing the pirate costume today, but neither were you dressed up as a witch, both of you looking casual but differently so. he looked purposefully casual, while you looked like you’d rolled out of bed and just put on whatever, dressed just to not be naked. and that was a pretty good representation of your emotional state - you just came here completely unprepared, you came because you had to. and you were scared.

“hey”, he greeted you quietly, but instead of greeting back you just burst out: “she’s yours.”

there was a moment of tense silence before he replied.

“i already guessed so. from the way you were acting.” you nodded; there wasn’t really anything to say to that, anyway.

“you’re doing alright? mingi’s taking care of you?” of course he remembered mingi, the goofy tall guy that you’d spent quite some time with, but he knew you hadn’t been as close to him back then as you obviously were now. he got an explanation though when you began talking.

“yeah, he’s been there ever since i found out. big scary guy, threatening aura, keeping me from the worst when i couldn’t really hide it anymore. he let me move in right away and he’s basically like a dad for toive now.”

it was a lot of information to take in at once, so he tried to find something small to focus on.

“her name’s toive?”

“it means ‘wish’”, you elaborated. “i was horrified as shit the entire pregnancy, so i hadn’t even come up with a name yet when i delivered. but as soon as i saw her i knew she was a wish come true. so i just called her that.”

“it’s a beautiful name.” you knew it was. it reminded you of the home you’d left behind to build yourself a new one, and it reminded you that sometimes the most unexpected things could be what your heart wished for. it reminded you to keep going, because you wanted to make her every wish come true. it was a very fitting name.

“she’s a beautiful girl.”

you saw him smile at that, smile at the memory of the little piratess he’d fought with the night before. but then he asked the question you’d dreaded most.

“why didn’t you ever tell me? you know i would’ve been there for you.”

a sigh left your lips, because of course you knew. and that was exactly why you hadn’t told him.

“when i found out you’d already moved. you were thriving and i couldn’t bring myself to hold you back like this. you deserved to live your life as you wanted to without having to worry about a family you never asked for.”

“did you ask for it?”, he asked you, and you shook your head. as much as you loved the little family you’d built with mingi, you hadn’t asked for this to happen.

“and would you want to go back to change this?” you shook your head again, and he grabbed your hand.

“so why do you think i would’ve regretted it? would’ve not wanted to know?”

you had no answer to that. maybe because back then you’d still been convinced the pregnancy would ruin your life, so it didn’t occur to you that he might not feel the same way. that he genuinely might want to be there.

“can i be there now?”

“you can get to know her, if you want to. but she doesn’t know you, doesn’t know who you are, and i’ll have to figure out how to tell her. so you can’t be there as her dad, not yet and maybe never, if she doesn’t want you in her life. if you can’t accept that, if you can’t put her first, i don’t want you there.”

he took in your words and nodded. he’d last seen you six years ago, so obviously she’d spent quite some time without knowing about him at all, and he knew he couldn’t just barge in and act like he’d been there all her life. he was a stranger, even though that hurt a little.

“does she have a dad?” and even though his phrasing was a little weird you understood what he meant. he wanted to know if mingi was her father, if not legally or physically then emotionally.

“she has an uncle that would lay down the world for her. and that won’t hesitate to break a few bones if she gets hurt, just so you know.” but you were smiling, finally starting to relax a little.

“i don’t doubt it for a second”, he chuckled, “he seemed about ready to kill me at the door. he really cares about you two, doesn’t he?”

you nodded, smile growing bigger at the mention of the taller man, and hongjoong felt a small sting when you told him how you’d never want to miss him, how mingi was as much a part of your life as toive was, how it was so clear that you belonged together.

“do you love him?” he didn’t know why he asked. he didn’t know why he hoped you’d say no. he didn’t know why he cared and he didn’t know why the thought of you being with mingi made his chest feel tight. he hadn’t seen or talked to you in years, so why did he hope that he still held a place in your heart? why did you still hold a place in his?

“i do, of course i do”, you told him, at least as surprised at his question as he was. “he’s like a brother, he’s been there all this time and it’s only thanks to him that i’m where i am today. but i don’t love him the way i loved you, if that’s what you meant.”

“you loved me?”

you didn’t understand why he sounded so startled about that. the two of you had gotten together pretty much right after you started university, and you’d been together for more than a year when he moved, planning to stay together for many more until life decided that it had other plans. of course you’d loved him. part of you still did.

“you were the first person i ever wanted a future with like that. of course i loved you. you meant everything to me.”

“i wish you’d never left.” his voice was very quiet, pained, made you want to hold him and apologise, but you didn’t know if that’d be okay with him.

“i missed you everyday. even yesterday, i still missed you. it’s dumb, but even though it’s been six years i still hoped you’d somehow come back into my life. and here you are, so maybe it’s not that dumb.”

now there was no stopping your arms from going around his waist, your face pressed to that one spot between his neck and his shoulder that had always felt like it was made for this purpose only, as you quietly told him you’d missed him too.

“it was so hard to watch toive grow up to be more and more like you but not having you there to see it, too. when she’d start asking about her dad and i could only tell her stories even though i knew she wanted a real dad, like all the other kids. and all the stories i told, they kept me from ever getting over you, but i knew it wouldn’t be fair to keep even that from her just because i was hurting.”

hongjoong was holding you tightly, a hand in your hair and the other pressing you against his chest because he didn’t want you to go again.

“let me be a dad. and let me be there for you too.”

his words made you look up at him in surprise, because they sounded so soft and gentle and full of an emotion you didn’t think you’d ever get from him again, not directed towards you, at least.

“for me?”

and he was looking at you, eyes wandering from your forehead to your chin, not leaving out a single detail. you’d matured, but you were still just as beautiful.

“i didn’t stop loving you. still haven’t.”

his words surprised you, even though you hadn’t stopped loving him either. you didn’t know what to make of them, what he wanted you to do now. what he’d expected to happen now that he’d said this.

“can i kiss you?” of course he asked. he was still the same hongjoong, the same gentleman, the same man that always made sure whatever he was doing was okay with you before he tried, and he still caused the same butterflies to fly around in your stomach. but now you had someone else to put first, you couldn’t risk falling back in love with him, hopelessly so, only for it to end badly. you couldn’t risk that when you had a child.

“only if you mean it. and not just now, but every single day. only if you can promise that you won’t hurt me and, most importantly, that whatever happens between us won’t ever hurt my daughter. our daughter. can you promise that?”

“i promise.” and he’d never been more sure of anything.

“then kiss me.”

he did. he kissed you like you were the most precious thing in the world and he kissed you as if he wanted to prove that he meant it, that he loved you and had already fallen in love with his daughter and that he’d even learn to love mingi as part of his family. he kissed you as if to make up for the past six years when he couldn’t, and you kissed him back as if to make up for every moment you’d kept his daughter from him. you kissed each other like you were in love, and you were.

and finally, you got the happy ending you’d been wishing for ever since you first saw the positive pregnancy test. finally, you got a family with the love of your life. and finally, he got to stay with you.

[trusting-in-his-love]

maple, harvest, jack-o-lantern, bonfire, and cinnamon.

@jwclapton Thanks for the asks, but ooooo, asking the hard questions here, I see....

Maple- is there a hobby / skill that you’ve always wanted to try but never did?

There are a couple. Horseback riding is one. However, my lower back gives me trouble on and off again, out of the blue always, and because of that, I don't think it would be very good for me to ride horses. Ice skating... again, this because I have really messed up my right ankle, and I'm nervous to give ice skating much of a shot. I tried it ONCE and loved it! I used to Rollerblade and roller skate when I was young, so I found that one time really easy. I only fell once, and funny story... I fell because there was another rink next door, and as I passed the swing doors to that rink, I caught a glimpse through the window of a hockey goalie... my head stayed stationary but my feet kept going... so I landed flat on my back. Yeah.... hockey players will distract me something terrible...

Harvest - what fictional character do you most identify with? Why?

I had to rack my brain on every book I've ever read (that I could think of!). Have I ever identified with any fictional character??? Ok, I guess it doesn't have to be from literature alone- … the character comes from a film series which was derived from a book series (which I've decided I'll never read). In The Thin Man films there are two main characters, and they're a married couple (my favourite cinematic couple!). I think I would have to say I more or less identify with Mrs. Charles. (Disclaimer: Only thing is I don't drink, and these two are always drinking in major excess- so ignore that part, ha!) I generally identify with Nora's overall attitude and behavioral tendencies. (There are probably a few other characters from older films I could choose from... this is off the cuff.)

jack-o-lantern - if you could look like any celebrity, who would you choose?

Ok, I'm gonna go on the premise that it's only for a day, or a week, not forever! Hmmmm... There are a lot of ones to choose from... Janet Leigh, Jennifer Jones, Olivia De Havilland (guess I should say Joan as well), Maureen O'Sullivan, Paulette Goddard, etc....... I think I'd go with Paulette- she had a fantastic smile! -And she was overall lovely looking.

Bonfire - describe your dream house.

Haha, this is difficult because I have soooo many different tastes!

But here's a style of house I can envision living in- (basic layout) A kitchen with a breakfast area, a separate dining room, living room separated from both the kitchen and dining room (not the biggest fan of open concept), half bathroom downstairs, all bedrooms upstairs, one bathroom or one and then a master bathroom as well, a finished third floor with two conjoined rooms so there could be something up there as well as storage space- front porch, back patio, and a sun room also in the back or on the side. A sizable yard... [EDIT: OH AND A STUDY/LIBRARY!!! Duuuuh....]

I've never lived in a big place, so this is extravagant sounding to me, but it's a 'dream' house. I'd be happy with anything I could call my own... and especially if it were a single home, not attached (been there, done that).

Cinnamon - if you had to live in a time period different than the present, which would you choose and where?

There's a lot to that Bible verse that says: “Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these? For it is not wise to ask such questions.” So I wouldn't really want to live in another time-- because they all had their troubles. BUT as the question goes... if I HAD to choose,... I would choose 1940s USA, and my preference would be to have been in my late teens/20s in 1940s. If that could be done, the 1920s would have to be when I was born... 1930s had the great depression... would have lived under FDR presidency, 1940s world war II... Not the happiest of times... so why choose it? Silliest of reasons I suppose, the aesthetic.... some commonplace practices of the time- more interaction with people, less with technology. More people believed that at least there is a God. Modernism wouldn't be so rampage in the majority of churches. People would want to marry and not just hook up, more respect- better chance of finding someone decent. Now, don't get me started on the clothes! Clothes were terrific in the 1930s and '40s,... (and in my 30s it would be the 1950s! I'd take that too! Even 1960s clothes would be nice in my 40s... )... and I'd probably be dead before that dreadful year of 2020 (and I don't refer to only the world wide bug). But man, my oh my... I'd have been subjected to nearly every kind of change..... from cars becoming not so commonplace for every household to a lot of households having 2+, 'operator, could you get me rosemarie 2929?' to cell phones, libraries to google, movie palaces to dvds, and records to mp3s, aeroplanes being relatively new- suddenly we're exploring outer space(!!!) ... a lot of changes, a lot of wars worldwide...

I'm such a mix of a realist and a dreamer, this is the only type of answer I can give. Ha! Terrible of me, I know! =P

Thanks again!

One question for you, why James Cagney?

[charlieliqueur]

Mark X Camper!Reader (Unus Annus)

Camp Days - Part One

Summary/Warnings: Unus Annus spoilers? Takes place during Camp Unus Annus, includes some of Camp Unus Annus fan stuff like the camp cabins and etc, and some of my own variations. Reader is 18+ years old, and part of cabin Taser Fire, since it seems decreed that Mark is the head counselor for that cabin. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, go to the Camp Unus Annus posts and you'll find the stuff pretty quick.

---

You didn't remember signing up for this camp. Probably because you didn't, you couldn't have. Oddly enough, you barely remember anything before waking up on a bus, a bag packed and other 'campers' waiting to arrive. This felt off, the bus ride, the look of it, how isolated and almost abandoned it felt. It had all the wrong feelings.

But you were still here. Almost immediately after stepping off the bus a blond man and brunette woman held out stacks of shirts. One stack white, one black. You carefully picked one, and the woman kindly said "Welcome campers! This isn't our official welcome, but we wanted to make sure you had a uniform for initiation! I'm one of the counselors here, my name is Amy! And this is Evan!" They both waved happily.

What were you doing at a summer camp again?

Why would you be here-

Suddenly you all were being ushered away to a grassy clearing with a bonfire pit. Near a roaring fire were two men, wearing semi-matching black and white clothes. One in white, one in black. They turned towards the group of several, beyond several, dozen campers of varying ages, looks, and personalities.

"Welcome to your first day of Camp Unus Annus! In just a few moments you'll be directed to your cabin!" Said the short haired one. The longer haired man said "Don't forget, Camp Unus Annus and officials are not responsible for any harm or death caused here."

"Death??" Asked a few, they also seemed to have no idea how they ended up here.

"Um, excuse me, but I don't remember signing up for this camp," said one girl.

"Me neither!"

"I don't remember too!"

"Uh, me either!"

They two men looked at one another and began laughing. It seemed almost fake. They looked back at the group of confused people. "Of course you didn't sign up, that's not how Camp works here. Now come on! And-" the man in the white shirt looked to the man in black and they said in unison looking over the group, "Don't forget the Buddy System!!"

---

You had been sorted to your cabin. You stood among a group of confused and concerned campers, as they tried to find buddies before your counselor arrived. You got paired up with a man named Gerald, mainly because he had no one else and seemed distant enough not to bother you too much. Though he seemed a little incompetent.

You all looked at the still-packed collection of supplies, when suddenly a rushing of footsteps and a loud voice boomed, "Heeeeey campeeers!!"

You all looked to see Mark. He adjusted his white shirt briefly before smiling and saying "I bet you're all thrilled to be here, and-- What's this? You don't have your tents up yet?? Well hurry! Nightfall is coming soon and the bears will be out, and the bats, and deer, and snakes-- Just, chop chop!"

The group looked among each other hesitantly. "B-Bears?" Asked a girl.

"Yeah!! And not just the animals. Bear Cabin is... well, we won't talk about them."

"Aren't you betraying the buddy system?" Asked a young man. He seemed rather upset. Probably didn't like being at a summer camp he didn't sign up for. Neither did you.

"Yeah, you've broken your own rule!" Added another boy, the first one's buddy.

"Do you wanna talk to me about rules or do you wanna listen and live??" Mark demanded strongly. Most of the younger teens immediately started opening the tent bags, pulling out the plastic structures and beginning to set them up. Gerald and yourself began setting up your tent as well. The older group members glared and hesitated, before joining in as well.

Soon tents were set up, and as Counselor Mark was inspecting them, a large portion of Taser Fire gathered around a fire pit. "What are we supposed to do?" Asked one boy, his name was Daniel. "What do you mean?" Asked Lizzy, a twenty-something girl.

"Like, the fuck are we supposed to do?? Just play along to this summer camp BS? Hasn't anyone realized we've been kidnapped??"

"Speak for yourselves," said Mickey, a thirteen year old boy. "My home fuckin' sucks, I'd rather be here getting covered in mosquito bites than have another drunk fight with my dad," he said openly. It seemed he felt safe here. What was this place doing to you all? Some now anxious, some now comfortable? And what were you feeling?

"Okay campers, it seems dusk has begun. Why don't we get a fire started for a little meal before night, eh?" Asked Mark, gesturing with an open smile. You all looked around at each other and sheepishly nodded. He gave off vibes. Vibes you weren't sure how to feel about.

"And tomorrow, we start the fun!" He assured, before gathering some wood from a pile and making a firepit. You yawned and looked around. "Hey, where's Gerald?" You asked, when suddenly the man stepped beside you, zipping his fly. "Sorry, just stepped away to-"

Suddenly Mark seized him by the collar of his shirt. "Remember... the buddy system. Nobody leaves the group without their buddy!! Understood??" This was directed at the whole group, who nervously agreed, fearing what their counselor would do if they disobeyed. You stumbled back a bit from the muscles man who practically held your buddy a foot off the ground. He lowered Gerald to the ground and stepped away, refocusing on his fire.

It started up in no time, and the campers gathered around it. You looked off into the distance and could see a few other distant lights. Fires or lanterns. There were five cabins in total.

Thicc Water, near the lake.

Breaking Wind, in a clearing.

Earth Girth, near a river.

The Bears, near a cave system.

Taser Fire, on a rocky area near the forest.

You were studying a map that had come with the supplies. Your fingers traced paths and memorized some bigger details. This place felt off, and you wanted to know where to go if you needed to run somewhere. Either away from something... or someone...

Your nervous eyes glanced up at Counselor Mark, a guitar in his hands while he strummed a tune and hummed a song no one knew. He gave off an ill aura. Ted Bundy mixed with Jigsaw and maybe a cult leader or two. Suddenly Counselor Mark saw you watching, and after your eyes met briefly, you looked back down at the map.

"So tell me all your names," he requested, and you looked up with only your eyes, to see his looking across everyone.

People answered, some more reluctant than others. What worried you most is how some who had been very upset being here were suddenly laughing and sharing past stories and tales. Once more that feeling hit you, a feeling it seemed only a few others realized. This place, these people, it was wrong. At least... at least Mark was...

---

You were lying awake in your tent, your buddy Gerald asleep beside you. He wasn't exceedingly friendly, or strong, or smart, but least he didn't snore. You were propped on your arm, a zippo lighter in your hands, lit to provide enough light to read the map. Then you noticed something in the corner. You brought the lighter closer, and it revealed words, full National Treasure style.

Near the logs whom fell, find the stories they tell. A land of old, of death and cold...

What... the... fuck? What was this about?

You suddenly heard footsteps. You clicked the lighter shut, stuffed the map under your bag, and pulled the covers of the sleeping bag over your head. You were nearly silent, but not suspiciously so. You heard them get close to the tent, and heard whispering, but you couldn't identify who.

"Such a shame..."

"Can't follow the rules, can't stay in camp..."

"It is day one, Annus, give them time."

"Life is not fair, nor is death. Time will march ever forward, my friend. Lessons must be learnt in the time they have. Momento Mori."

"Yes, that is true... which tent was it?"

"This way..."

You covered your mouth, hoping they couldn't hear your ragged and terrified breaths. You listened to the footsteps leave. It took you hours to fall asleep, and even then you were plagued by nightmares. Of two men, one in a white suit, one in black, they were familiar but you couldn't place them, their faces just out of sight.

---

"UNUS ANNUS! UNUS ANNUS! UNUS ANNUS!" A chant erupted through a speaker system you hadn't noticed existed, the sound of distorted male voices. You sprung upright, hearing someone rustle the tents and say "Time to get up campers!"

Counselor Mark.

You groaned, and suddenly went still, remembering last night. You waited for Gerald to step out so you could change. You left the tent as well, seeing a fire already started. A majority of the group was gathered round, laughing and joking and making food.

"Where's Jake?" Asked a voice, one that sounded pained and scared.

"Who?" Asked one girl.

"JAKE!" Said the boy, as if we should know. But you did, you actually remembered. Jake and this boy were the two who pointed out Mark breaking the rules. Mark simply laughed it off and said "Jake has been removed from Camp Unus Annus, should've followed the rules. Now, who wants bacon??"

"Me!!" Cheered some, holding out their plates. You stuck farther back, pulling your map from your pocket. You saw a circle appeared around a spot on the map. You couldn't leave alone. Buddy System. Didn't wanna end up like Jake...

"Hey Gerald?"

"Yeah?"

"We're going somewhere, come on."

"But what about-"

"You'll live. Besides, that bacon seems... off..."

"What do you-"

"Just shut up and follow."

"Okaaaay."

He followed you as the both of you headed towards the marking on the map. "Gonna let me know what this is about?" He asked, walking lazily, not even concerned on wild animals in the woods or poisonous plants and crazy counselors.

You yawned deeply, restless from last night's sleep. You didn't have a lot of time. Then you saw it. Stuck under a log that seemed like it had fallen decades ago, poking out, was a journal. "Help me move this," you demanded of you buddy, trying to force the log to roll.

"Y/n, you sure? It's all damp and rotted, there might be like slugs or-"

"Dammit Gerald push the log!!"

He whined again before pushing against it with you, and it rolled over enough for you to kick the journal free.

"All this way for a notebook? Pfft..."

"Yeah, a notebook. One you won't mention or you'll have more than just Mark to worry about," you warned darkly.

What was wrong with you? Would you normally say that? Yes, no? You couldn't remember. There had to be something about this place. A toxic material waste, brain fucking everyone.

Gerald hesitantly agreed to secrecy, then began his journey back, you following close behind.

"Hey, look, Taser Bitches!" Shouted an unfamiliar voice. You both looked around, before seeing a small group of kids, wearing matching bandanas. Thicc Water.

"Alright guys, pelt 'em!!!" Shouted someone, and they raised water balloons.

"What the fuc-??"

You urged Gerald to run and you both began sprinting, water balloons crashing and splatting all around you, the water seemed oddly thicc.

However you escaped with your lives, and luckily it seemed counselor Mark was gone. Good. You pulled the journal out in front of you and read the first entry.

I don't know what day it is. Not what they say. They think today is tomorrow and is also yesterday. I've been here weeks and they're saying day three. This place is wrong, so fucking wrong. But I can't leave. My buddy started the idea of cabins. He seems to be leaving me. I can't escape without help...

You entered your tent and exhaled shakily. You took a seat on the polyurethane floor. Was this from the beginning of the camp? It had to be a while ago, these cabins and all had been here for a long time, the signs and everything super old. Like, decades old. That's when what you read next horrified you.

Counselor Mark and Ethan are up to something. Kids keep going missing and it's only ones in their cabins. I have to get the fuck out of here...

How old are they? What the fuck was this?? Was this real, what did this even mean, that Counselor Mark and Ethan are-

Suddenly there was a rustling on the tent, like knocking, and a scary familiar voice asked "Hey y/n right?"

To be Continued...

A/N: Woo!! I hope to finish this story, or at least get a good few parts out. What's going on? Spoooooky. Anyways, things will obviously get more dramatic as it continues. Hope you enjoyed!

[theladyofdeath]

Rags & Riches {1}

Summary: An A Court of Thorns and Roses Fanfiction. 19th century AU.Based on the prompt sent in by @cat5313​All characters belong to SJM, I am just a fan with a plot.

Warning: Mature content strung throughout.

A/N: Shoutout to @throne-of-ashes-and-beauty​ for helping me with chapter 1! I hope you all enjoy. Let me know what you think & comment if you wanna be tagged. :)

Elain had always loved the rain.

It was necessary for the life cycle of her precious flowers. They had to brave the storm to embrace their beauty. She watched the thick droplets pour down, hitting the glass of the window with a soft pitter-patter.

“Miss Elain?”

Elain jumped, peering over her shoulder from where she sat near the windowpane in the library. Nesta was across the room, sitting by the fireplace with her nose in a book, as she usually was. She wasn’t sure where Feyre had gone. Their younger sister had claimed to go to bed just after supper, but they both knew she wasn’t in her bedchamber. 

Elain rose as Alis approached.

“Your father wishes to see you in his study,” she said.

Elain nodded her head in thanks before Alis curtsied and scurried away. 

She stood frozen, watching her leave. 

Nesta, eyes still on the pages before her, asked, “Well? Are you going?”

Elain nodded, unable to move. 

She knew what was coming and she surely wasn’t ready for it. Of course, it was time. It was her duty. She was of age and of a noble household.

Nesta said nothing more, but Elain knew her older sister’s eyes were now on her. 

Elain nodded, once more, and hurried out of the library and down the hall to her father’s study. He was seated behind his large mahogany desk, writing a letter by the candlelight. Elain stepped inside and gave a gentle knock against the doorframe.

He looked up and blinked a few times before smiling. “Ah. Darling, come in, please.”

Elain did as she was told, sitting across from him in one of his guest chairs.

“It’s late,” was all she said. “I was planning on going to bed soon.”

Lord Archeron smiled. “Don’t worry, I won’t be long. I only wanted to say that there is a man that wishes to court you. He has written, saying that he saw you at the Hale’s ball last month and thought you were of the utmost beauty. He will join us here, on Friday, to introduce himself.”

Elain was not surprised. She cleared her throat before asking, “And may I ask his name?”

“Lucien Vanserra,” Lord Archeron replied. “The Vanserra’s are well known for their business. Perhaps you’ve heard of his father, Beron.”

Elain had. She had heard many things about Beron Vanserra, none of them pleasant. 

He must have seen the change in her features, because he then said, “Do not worry, my dear. Lucien is a great man with a great reputation. He will be a good match for you.”

Elain nodded, nibbling on her lip - a habit in which her mother would have instantly chastised, if she were still alive. 

“That’s all, dear,” Lord Archeron said, dipping his quill back into his ink. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, father,” Elain said, rising to her feet, although it was hardly more than a whisper. Once she turned, she soon halted, finding who stood just inside the doorway. She hadn’t even heard him come in. He must’ve heard every word.

Elain’s heart sank even further into the pit of her stomach. 

“Ah, Azriel, come in,” Lord Archeron said from behind Elain. 

“Sorry to interrupt, my Lord,” Azriel said, voice low as he approached his Lord’s desk. “A letter arrived for you.”

Azriel handed her father a sealed envelope with his white-gloved hand before bowing to him, then to Elain, and excusing himself. 

Elain watched him walk away before she collected herself. “Goodnight, father,” she said, once more, before excusing herself.

Lord Archeron mumbled a goodnight after she had walked out of the door. 

The house was quiet as Elain made her way down the hallway. She passed the library, where Nesta was still sitting by the fire with her novel, and toward the proper sitting room that remained lifeless.

Since her mother’s passing, their house seemed smaller. It was one thing when they had guests over, but when they didn’t, it was only the four of them. Her father spent most of his time in his study, Nesta spent most of hers in the library, and no one truly knew what Feyre spent her time doing.

Elain couldn’t scold her younger sister, though. She had a secret of her own.

He was standing in the corner of the room, close to a floor-length window covered in heavy gold-trimmed curtains. She approached him, quietly, and when she stood within a breaths-width, she reached up to place her palm gently against his smooth cheek.

He melted into her touch, eyes closing.

Neither of them said a word. 

There was not much to say.

They knew their love affair couldn’t last, if it could even be called that. It had been mild flirtations, sneaking innocent kisses, and attempting to meet one another’s eyes from across the room for nearly a year.

But she was crazy about him, although no one would ever, could ever, know. 

And now she was of the age in which she would have to be married.

To a rich man, of course. Anyone else would be considered shameful.

“I have to go,” he whispered, pressing a gentle kiss to her brow. “Alis is expecting me downstairs.”

Elain nodded, attempting a smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he replied. “Goodnight, Elain.”

“Goodnight, Azriel,” she said, in return.

He slipped away, out of her embrace and through the doorway before she could form another thought. 

She didn’t watch him go.

Every time he left, it hurt too much.

For every time he walked away, it could be the last time.

~~~~~~

Nesta hated brushing her own hair.

Her mother brushed it for her when she was young, then her lady’s maid before they had to let the ladies’ maids go after their father’s gambling addiction had caused them to reevaluate their household budget.

But as her hair grew long, as she was able to braid into more beautiful and elegant twists and knots, it’s constant upkeep frustrated her to no limits.

After she finally was able to pull the brush through with no snags or tangles, she left it to hang loose around her shoulders and opened her balcony doors, letting the cool night air sweep in. The rain had recently subsided, but the scent lingered. She stepped out, breathing in the smell of their manor house, though her room, unfortunately, was above the stables.

It wasn’t overwhelming, thanks to the mild summer they were having, but it still was a smell she had taken years to become accustomed to. She looked out into the dark expanse of their land, trying to find a bit of movement she wasn’t sure if she should be expecting.

There was a lantern still lit in the stables and Nesta could see a form of a shadow moving against the wall, but she paid the stable boy no mind. He often worked late hours, and it wasn’t uncommon for his lantern to be lit well after Nesta fell asleep.

She heard the rustling of leaves and twigs and turned to the south side of the manor, seeing him emerge from a small garden Elain had planted by the fountains.

Her stomach both dropped and tightened in anticipation. Anticipation of the pleasure she would soon be feeling, but also of the pain. There was almost certainly always a little bit of pain. But after she endured the pain, she got to bask in the numbness, relish in the glorious in between of sleep and consciousness.

Tomas Mandray had been claiming for almost two years that at the next ball he attended, he’d make the proclamation for her hand. Nesta wasn’t sure if she was frustrated by the fact that he’d been dragging his feet or relieved. But as he climbed the lattice beneath her window, crushing Elain’s gorgeous roses she’d painstakingly tended to, she had to wonder if his delay was a curse or if it were secretly a blessing.

Nesta wasn’t even sure if she wanted to be married, she had never met anyone who made her excited at the thought. The idea of spending the rest of your life with the same man, a man who thought you were nothing more than a pretty face or an arm ornament…

No, Nesta wasn’t sure about marriage, but it was expected of her. 

Although, everyone knew Elain would be the one to marry first. She was charming and beautiful, kind and welcoming...and had always wanted to be a wife.

Nesta loved her sisters, but they were all so different she had no idea how they had been born to the same set of parents. 

Tomas crept along the shadows of the garden until he reached the side of the house. He kept along it until he reached the spot he was able to climb. She watched as he climbed, watched to make sure no one was around to witness. The stable boy didn’t seem to notice, thankfully. 

He hopped down onto her balcony with a thud before examining Nesta in her nightdress. She didn’t back down from his hungry gaze. 

~~~~~~

Cassian was exhausted.

He had been working as a stable boy for a week, but it felt like much longer. He liked it, though. He liked being outside, working with the horses. They were beautiful creatures. He admired them. 

“Goodnight, Marigold,” he said, locking up the mare’s gate. “I’ll see you tomorrow, beautiful.”

The horse huffed in reply, making Cassian chuckle. “Yeah, I love you, too.”

He grabbed his lantern from where it hung and walked out of the stable for the night. The night was foggy, the air brisk. Cassian loved this weather. He loved it even more at night. 

As he was about to head back around to the servant’s entrance, Cassian halted. He could see directly into Lady Nesta’s bedchamber, and she wasn’t alone.

A man, probably around Cassian’s age, had his hands wandering up her thighs, and his mouth pressed roughly against hers. Cassian wasn’t familiar with living the noble life, but he was pretty sure she was doing it wrong. 

He didn’t realize he was staring until a set of gray-blue eyes met his own.

Cassian hurried away, hoping she didn’t catch him, but knowing full well that she did. 

~~~~~~

Feyre felt invincible with a handful of cards. Especially as she sat at a table full of men.

Women shouldn’t gamble. They claimed it was because it was “unladylike”, but Feyre knew it was because women were smarter than men. If women began to gamble, men would be out of the sport.

Which is why she always wore trousers and a loose tunic when she visited the gambling den, why she always wore a cap, with her hair tied back.

She mostly observed, not speaking, not playing her hand. Every once in a while, she’d make a play, only betting when she knew she’d win. Only upping the pot by a little at a time, so she could stay under the radar.

She’d just won a hand, taking the pot of over $600, and began scraping it into her pouch. She nodded to the rest of the men at her table and slunk back into the darkness, ready to disappear into the night. She slipped out the side door, as she always did, and paused, weighing the heft of her bag on her hip.

She had done well.

She suddenly wished she had someone to brag to.

As she took a step toward the street, the door swung open behind her and a tall brute came stumbling out.

His green eyes grazed over her, a wicked smile contorting his lips.

“You are no man,” he said in way of greeting, his voice deep and slurred and coated with rum.

Feyre turned her back to him, taking another step toward the street. She didn’t want to run, didn’t want to seem panicked, but there was one thing she knew - drunk men who followed ladies into allies were not to be trusted.

“Nor are you,” she said, her chin lifted high. “If you’ll excuse me.”

As soon as she began to move, his hand grasped hers, pulling her back.

Feyre was strong, intelligent. But, she was no match for a man twice her size and built with pure muscle.

He held her close to him, his head bent down, lips close to her neck. She could feel the warmth of his breath against her skin.

“Let me go,” she demanded, hoping her voice sounded as intimidating as she wanted it to.

“But I haven’t had my fun yet,” he whispered, pushing her up against the brick wall of the gambling den. She could hear the ruckus from inside, could hear the laughter of those winning and the regret of those who have lost.

Feyre tried to move, tried to lift her knee to his balls, but couldn’t move a muscle as his giant body pinned hers into stillness. 

“You’re quite lovely,” he slurred, lips soft on her neck. “Even in men’s clothing.”

Feyre squeezed her eyes closed. She prayed to whoever was listening that he’d drop dead before his hands could explore any further. 

“I promise this will all be worth your while,” he said, his tongue grazing her neck.

“Is this how you get all your women?”

Feyre’s eyes shot open as her attacker released his grip. Those green eyes were infuriated as they shot toward the end of the alley. 

The newcomer wore a fine suit. His dark hair was swept back, his lavender eyes bright in the shadows of the lanterns. 

“I have to admit, Tamlin,” he began, his hands shoved into his pockets as he meandered closer to the pair. “Your standards in women seemed to have lowered.”

He was close enough now that when Feyre spat, it landed directly on his expensive shoes.

He blinked, lifting his brows, humored. “He’s the one that tries to take a bite of you and I’m the one you spit on?”

“Get out, Rhysand,” her attacker, Tamlin, hissed. “This do-doesn’t concern you.”

“I’m sure your father will be pleased to find you’ve spent your night out drinking and whoring around,” Rhysand grinned, “again. Now, if you’ll move, I’ll be escorting this lovely woman, with an interesting fashion sense, home.”

As he reached his hand toward her, Feyre took a step back toward the door. “I can take care of myself. Thanks.” 

“You’re not going anywhere,” Tamlin scowled, then looked to Rhysand. “You, however-”

Rhysand’s fist made contact with Tamlin’s jaw, instantly knocking him down, unconscious. 

“I hate that guy,” he muttered, bright eyes reconnecting with Feyre’s own. “Now, where were we?”

“I was going home,” Feyre said, brushing past him. 

“You know, it’s not safe for a woman out here, alone, at night,” Rhysand crooned, following her, hands back into his pockets. 

“Ah,” Feyre sighed, “you’ve cracked the code of why I’m dressed as a man.”

Rhysand snorted. “More like a boy.”

Feyre spun around as she reached the street. “Don’t you have better things to do?”

Rhysand took a moment to think about it. “No… No, not really.” 

With a roll of her eyes, Feyre continued on, back toward the way of her home. 

“I believe a ‘thank you’ is in order,” Rhysand said, jogging until he was in front of her, walking backward so that he could watch her reaction.

“Thank you? For what?”

“For saving you from that prick,” he said, grinning. “Oh, sorry, your clothing made me forget I was talking to a woman. How dare I use such language?”

“You talk too much,” Feyre scowled. 

His grin widened. “Come on. Let me take you home. Live nearby?”

Feyre had to admit the thought was tempting. She was exhausted. “No.”

“All the more reason for me to take you home,” he said, suddenly coming to a halt next to a horse. He patted the brown mare’s side. “Come on.”

“You wear a suit that fine to ride a horse into town?” Feyre asked, lifting a brow.

“I’m not so self-entitled that I would ask my driver to stay awake for half the night to take me into town when I’m perfectly capable of riding my horse,” he said, hauling himself up onto the saddle. “Now, are you going to walk or join me?”

Feyre hesitated, which only seemed to please him. 

“That’s what I thought.” He held out his hand. “Come on. I promise I won’t bite.”

The walk back to the manor was long and all Feyre longed for was to quickly be back home in her bed before the servants woke up for their early morning chores.

She sighed, taking his hand. He helped her onto the horse, and when the mare slowly began to walk, he grinned as her arms went flying around his waist. 

“I don’t know where I’m taking you,” he said.

“Archeron Manor,” she replied.

“Whoaaa,” he said, bringing his horse to a halt. “You’re a Lady? One of Lord Isaac’s daughters?”

“Feyre,” was all she said.

He kicked the horse in her sides, moving once more. 

He cursed under his breath. “What the hell are you doing out here? Gambling? Are you insane?”

Feyre lifted a brow. “I can’t give you all my secrets, can I? We’ve only just met and I don’t trust you for a second.”

A soft laugh shook his sturdy frame. “Fair enough. Don’t worry. I’ll ask again on Friday.”

“Friday?”

“Isn’t your family hosting a ball on Friday? I was invited.” Feyre’s mind went blank at his words, as she tried to quickly run through the guest list she’d glanced at weeks ago, when the invitations were going out. All the names she’d recognized were insignificant men she’d known for years and the ones she didn’t were mostly older lords from surrounding lands.

This man, who exuded grace and danger in such a simple gesture as slipping his hand into his pocket, there was no way he was some lowly lord from her territory.

He confirmed exactly that as he glanced at her over his shoulder, lavender eyes locking with hers, and said, “I’m Lord of Velaris, but you, Feyre, darling, can call me Rhysand.”

_________________________________________________

@throne-of-ashes-and-beauty​ @mariamuses​ @a-happybird​ @amusicalbookworm​ @manoncrochanblackbeak​ @alifletcher2012​ @candid-confetti​ @fandoms-everywhere-united​ @mis-lil-red​ @littlehoneyybee @abillionlittlepieces​ @impossiblescissorspeachpaper​ @awesomelena555​ @theoverlyenthusiasticwriter​ @tswaney17​ @jemma-nessian-and-elriel​ @rhysandsrightknee​ @gendryaforthemasses​ @dayanna-hatter​ @thebluemartini​ @welcometothespeaknowworldtour​ @julemmaes​ @christiashadows​ @sleeping-and-books​ @itsme-malin​ @agnez312 @cat5313​ @amren-courtofdreams​ @chemica @empress-ofbloodshed​ @islamonna​ @illyrianbeauty​ 

[onebourbon-oneshot-onetear]

Aquatica

Chapter 10- Injustice for All

I do not own D.C Comics, and I only own my OC and my versions of the plots.

"I'm just saying! If Luthor has that much money, then why doesn't he live somewhere nicer?"

"Evie, is now really the time for this conversation?"

"I'm only thinking out loud, Bats."

One whole hour. That's how long Batman, Green Lantern and I had been hiding outside of the room Luthor was using while he interrogated 'Superman'. An hour is a long time to wait while your only company is a guy dressed in green who isn't your biggest fan, and a guy dressed as a bat who you may or may not know their secret identity. So I did what I always do when I'm nervous and in a position I don't want to be in…I ramble.

"Could both of you shut up? I'm trying to listen," Lantern snapped. Well, isn't he being grumpy today? I opened my mouth to say something else but Batman nudged me in the ribs and shook his head. I rolled my eyes. Of course, it would come down to Batman to make sure I didn't get in trouble.

"So, this is how it ends. You know, I've carried this around for years waiting for just the right moment but now that it's here, I almost feel a little…let down," Lex said.

"Okay, so he's been in there an hour already and he's just now starting his monologue? What kind of villain is he? Usually these things start right off the bat." I grumbled, crossing my arms and trying to move into a more comfortable position.

Lantern glared at me and I glared right back. After about five seconds we both turned towards the door in order to hear a little better.

"Any last requests?" Luthor asked Superman.

"Luthor, I have to know. Those weapons you sold to the terrorists, how—"

"How did I get them through customs?" Luthor interrupted. "A gift here, a bribe there. When money talks, people listen." We heard footsteps heading towards the door, before they stopped. "Like Stafrose of the shipping company. Or Schneider, the Interpol agent who looked the other way."

"Well gentlemen, that sounds like enough evidence to put him behind bars for a couple years, don't you think?" I said, standing up and shaking my legs out. Beside me, Lantern and Batman both got ready to go in the room and arrest Luthor.

"Sounds like you're going to have company in prison." We heard 'Superman' say. Well, there's our cue.

"Are we ready?" I asked, grabbing my staff off my waist and extending it.

"Just another minute," Batman said.

We heard rushing footsteps and then Lex exclaim, "It can't be! The Kryptonite—"

"Won't protect you any longer." The deep and accented voice of J'onn said.

"Now can we go?" I asked, itching to put Luthor in a jail cell where he belongs.

Batman opened the door and we all stepped in. "You're usually more careful, Lex," Batman said. "You slipped up."

"And you're going down hard." Lantern said. He used his ring to wrench the Kryptonite out of Luthor's hands. It flew across the room and into Batman's hands. The annoying green, pulsing light disappeared when he put it in a compartment of his belt and we could all actually see again.

"Mission accomplished," Batman said, speaking into his communicator.

Luthor backed up towards his desk, and I had a bad feeling about this whole thing. This just seemed too easy. Luthor was a genius and probably had a million different escape routes planned. I stepped forward and walked to Luthor's right side.

"So much for your image as the benevolent businessman," J'onn said. Lantern and Batman walked over so that we were all surrounding Luthor. "This is the end of an era."

I tensed as Luthor reached into his jacket pocket. "The end of your era, maybe," He said pulling out a remote from his pocket and pressing the button on it. Outside the window I saw a flash of gray and recognized one of the flying ships that Lexcorp frequently made.

"Watch out!" I yelled but it was too late. The ship had already sent a beam directly at the three other men in the room. I threw a wall of ice up in front of them to try and block the beam, but it barely slowed it down. All my ice did was shatter everywhere. More beams flew in the room and we all had to duck and dodge in order to avoid being hit.

I had just rolled out of the way of a beam that came very close to taking six inches off my hair, when I looked up at the ship and saw that Luthor was hanging off the sides. He jumped in and not even a second later, two rockets flew through the window and hit the ceiling.

I was too far away from everyone else to try and help them, and I hoped that Lantern was fast enough to get a shield over them. Instead I threw my arms up and made a wall of ice, about six inches thick to form a dome around me and block the fire and falling debris that was now raining down on all of us.

After a few seconds of silence, I figured that the damage had been done and it was safe to come out, at least without getting blown up. I melted the ice and stored the water back into my staff. All around me was small fires and debris, but no sign of the boys.

"Guys?" I yelled out, automatically fearing the worse. I could feel my heart quicken and a cold sweat had enveloped me. There was a loud noise behind me, like a shifting of the ceiling that had fallen on the floor. The debris was lifted and I saw that Lantern had made a shield to cover them in.

I let myself relax, seeing that they were all perfectly okay. I walked over to the shattered window and looked out, seeing absolutely no sign of Lex anywhere.

"Why do they always run?" Lantern asked.

"Who knows?" I said, brushing some dirt off my leggings, "But Superman is out there. Lex will be in custody in a few minutes and this whole situation will be over."

"Yeah, for now. Soon we'll have the media asking us a billion questions, the media following us around, and even the government will want answers about Lexcorp. We won't ever get any rest!" Lantern exclaimed.

"Oh, stop being so dramatic green bean. Everything will be just fine." I said, patting his shoulder just as I passed him.

I was halfway to the door when we heard Superman through the coms system. "We have a problem. Lex is hurt."

I turned back to the others and saw the same look of confusion on everyone's face. "What happened?" I asked.

"I don't know. I'm taking him to the hospital now," Superman said. "Go back and regroup at the Watch Tower. I'll let you know if anything changes." A beep sounded, and the coms unit shut off.

"So much for everything being fine," Lantern grumbled. I rolled my eyes and headed out the door and up to the roof where the Batjet was parked.

"Bats, am I riding with you?" I called over my shoulder. The only answer I got was a grunt as he walked past me. Alrighty then, I guess that's how this is going to be. I climbed into the jet and we took off, heading for the Watch Tower.

Let me tell you, it was the most uncomfortable silence I have ever experienced. The tension was so thick you could practically cut it with a batarang. I assume it's because Bat's regretting the way he has been acting outside of work, as Bruce I mean. He can't seriously blame me for that though. I mean, he isn't being too secretive about his secret identity with me. He might as well be holding a neon blinking sign saying "I'm both Batman and Bruce Wayne!".

"So, you're being quiet today," I said, trying to break the tension a little big. After a few moments he didn't say anything. At first I thought he was thinking of some really long, heartfelt answer about how he trusts me with his identity and how much I mean to him. That is, until I heard his actual answer.

"I'm always quiet."

Wow, thanks Bats. Way to get a girl's hopes up. Thankfully we arrived at the Watch Tower before any more embarrassing conversations could occur.

Once he landed, Bats stepped out and practically ran out of the hangar, all before I could even undo my seatbelt. This should be a nice couple of days until he loses this attitude. I jumped down from the jet and headed to the information center where everyone else was. Lantern was just finishing explaining what happened to Flash when Superman appeared on the screen.

"What's going on?" Diana asked him.

"Lex has a rare form of blood poisoning. The doctors believe it was from the Kryptonite that he carried around for so long." Superman said, looking down.

"Can they fix it or something?" Flash asked.

"No. It's terminal."

I raised my eyebrows. Well that was unexpected. The whole room went dead silent as we all processed this information. It was completely obvious that Superman felt guilty over the whole thing.

"Superman, it isn't your fault," I softly said. Everyone looked at me, and I looked back at them. "Well it isn't! Nobody could have known that this would happen. Luthor kept the kryptonite near him so it could be used as a weapon. As terrible as it is, it's his own fault. Not yours." I finished, looking at the screen.

Superman looked a little relieved. "Thanks Evie. I'll still stay here until he wakes up."

"Alright. We'll see you soon," Diana said, cutting off the transmission. After a few seconds of silence everyone started to disperse from the room. Flash ran off, I'm assuming to the kitchen, Batman slunk into the shadows and disappeared, and Lantern seemed to be going off on another rant that I didn't feel like listening to.

"Can someone take me home? I have a patrol tonight," I asked the rest of the people in the room.

"Sure, I would not mind," to my surprise Diana spoke up.

I only nodded my head and we walked side by side to the hangar. We walked into her jet and she sat in the driver's seat. I'm not gonna lie, it was a little uncomfortable. I mean, we obviously don't have the best relationship and we certainly aren't friends. Oh well, why would I question a nice gesture from her?

"Evie, is everything alright between you and Batman?" Diana nonchalantly asked me.

"Um, I guess so. Why do you ask?"

"No reason, it just seemed a little awkward between the two of you, that's all."

I mentally sighed. Is this how my day was going to be? Really awkward conversations with different superheroes in their jets? I decided not to say much else, mostly because I didn't even know what was going on between Bats and I. If I didn't know, then there certainly wasn't any reason that she should know either. A couple minutes of awkward silence filled the air before Diana broke it.

"Here we are, right back in Gotham."

I stood up and headed towards the back of the plane. "Thanks for the ride."

"Your welcome."

She lowered the hatch and I jumped out and onto an ice disc. It was night time, meaning I had a full seven hours of circling Gotham, stopping crime, and trying to clean up all of the muddled thoughts that were circling my brain.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"Evie, you can go. I'll take it from here," J'onn told me as he walked into the monitor room.

"Are you sure?" I asked, looking away from the monitors that lined the wall.

"Of course, you've been here all day so far."

I smiled and stretched my arms above my head as I stood up. "Thanks J'onn."

He smiled back at me and took a seat in the chair I had just been occupying. I wandered around for a little bit, deciding on where I wanted to go. I spotted a very familiar hallway and turned down it, deciding to head to the pool. I figured I might as well try and work on my powers a bit more. I knew how to manipulate ice and water perfectly. Now I wanted to learn how to use my powers with snow. It could be useful, blinding someone with a sudden flurry sounded fun. Plus it would help when I had to shovel the snow outside my apartment.

I sat next to the pool and closed my eyes, concentrating on what I wanted to do. All I had to do was freeze the water vapor in the air a little bit, but not so much that it automatically became ice. I pictured snow in my head, then all around me. I opened my eyes and saw that little white flakes were just hovering in the air. I smiled and jumped up, so excited that I had almost gotten it. Unfortunately I lost my concentration, and the flakes melted and a giant sheet of rain fell on me instead.

I laughed for a minute before evaporating it off me and sitting down to try again. I had only sat down for a few seconds when my coms unit went off. "Evie!" the angry voice of Green Lantern rang through my ears, "Get to the hangar now! Humanite and Luthor escaped."

Shit, I thought. I raced through the hallways and made it to the hanger in less than a minute. Shayera was already preparing a jet so we left immediately. Through the coms, I could hear Batman was at the scene of a building explosion. In minutes we had made it to the city and we could see the burning building.

"Shay, let me out here." I said, already standing at the hatch. She opened up the door and I jumped out, practically diving into a hole that was created from the flames climbing through the roof. "Bats!" I yelled, but I doubted he would hear me over the roar of the flames.

I heard a loud crash and decided to head that way, figuring that was where Batman would be. I rounded a corner just in time to see the stairs give way, leaving him and the little girl he was holding trapped on the landing.

I shot water around them, trying to clear up some of the flames that were beginning to rise up, but the building was just too hot, the water was evaporating before I could even make a difference. Batman must have noticed me and my water because he looked up at me. Just as we made eye contact a loud boom sounded behind me, throwing enough force to knock me off my ice disc and cause me to fall.

My face was inches away from being burnt off when I was able to create another disc to catch me. I laid on the disc for a second catching my breath before I heard a loud scream. I looked up to see Bats and the girl were freefalling directly into the flames.

"NO!" I yelled, throwing my arm out and shooting a sheet of ice directly under them. They landed on it for only a second before it completely melted and they kept falling. I flew down after them, and managed to catch Batman's arm right before they went completely in the flames. Another set of hands helped me steady them, and I looked up to see it was Shayera.

She took Batman while I went around and took the girl out of his arms and carried her outside. "Sweetie, are you okay?" I asked her as I set her gently on the ground.

"Yeah, but where's my…Daddy!" She exclaimed after looking around herself. She tore herself from my grasp and ran into her father's outstretched arms. I stood up and couldn't fight he smile that was on my face.

"We're used to being thanked when we save someone," Shayera said gesturing to herself and me, while looking at Bats.

"I'm not used to being saved," Bats said. I scoffed at that and looked back at the little girl who was till hugging her father.

In the distance I could see two red figures speeding towards us, and within seconds Flash and Superman stood in front of all of us.

"Where are Luthor and the Humanite?" Batman asked them.

"We couldn't pick up their trail," Superman said.

"No biggie. It's just two guys," Flash said, "How much trouble can they give us?" We all looked at Flash like he was crazy. I reached forward and punched his shoulder. "Hey!" Flash said, rubbing it. I only pointed at the burning building for him to get the point. "Oh."

"Let's go back to the Watch Tower and see what we can find," Superman suggested. I agreed with him. There wasn't much we could do on the ground here, Luthor and Humanite were long gone.

"Hawkgirl, where did you park the jet?" I asked her. She looked a bit startled at the question, but she answered anyway.

"Up on the roof a few buildings over," She said.

"Alright. Flash, you need a ride up?" I turned and asked him.

"Sure thing, Ice Queen," He said throwing his arm around my shoulder. I chuckled and shook my head.

"Alright then." I formed a disc under our feet and headed up towards the rooftops.

"So, what's going on with you and Prince of Darkness nowadays?" Flash asked once we got to the rooftop.

"What do you mean?" I asked. I must have sounded a little annoyed, but that's because I was. This is the second person in the last few days to ask me about this.

"Well, before, you two were joined at the hip. Now, you barely talk to each other except when you have to," Flash said. "Did something happen?"

I looked over and saw that he looked a little concerned. Deciding I shouldn't tell him everything, I went with a half-truth. "No, everything's fine. He just mentioned something to me before and now I think he regrets it a little bit," I said, opening up the hatch of the jet and waling in.

"Do you want me to punch him for you?" Flash asked, now back to his usual joking demeanor.

I let out a loud laugh. "No, don't do that. I don't think you'd survive if you did that, and what would we do without you?"

Flash laughed and we both sat down, starting the jet up so that as soon as Shay came back we could leave.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

As soon as we had gone back to the Tower, Bats had occupied the computer looking for where Luthor and Humanite could be. I went to the kitchen to grab a mug of coffee, and when I came back, Flash and Shay were talking.

"And I had those flames out before the firemen could even step off their trucks," Flash was saying, obviously bragging to try and get some attention from her.

"That's fast," Shay said, but she didn't sound like she was impressed. I smirked into my coffee mug, knowing where this conversation was probably heading.

"Fastest man alive," Flash said, rubbing his knuckles against his uniform.

"Which might explain why you can't get a date," Shayera said. I snorted into my coffee mug and shook my head, knowing that Flash had walked right into that one. I figured I should walk away before Flash realizes what she meant by that. I walked over and sat in the unoccupied chair next to Batman. I sipped on my coffee while watching the screen.

Batman was typing for a few minutes before the news popped up with a breaking news story. "A dangerous hostage situation developing at the federal building. So far, the Ultra-Humanite has refused to speak with negotiators." The camera panned to the front of the Metropolis Federal Building where dozens of police and swat teams were lined up. A picture of Humanite appeared on the screen. "A freak of science, the Humanite is reportedly a genius who is also extremely dangerous."

"No biggie, right?" Batman asked Flash.

"Looks like we found our convicts. I'm sure Luthor has something to do with this too." I said, putting down my coffee mug. Batman stood up and walked away, probably heading towards the hangar. Shay, Flash and I all looked at each other for a moment before I stepped forward. "Come on, we should probably follow him."

A few minutes later we had arrived at the building. "Green Lantern and I will take the front, then Batman will grab the hostage. The rest of you, go inside once the front is clear," Superman told us through our com sets.

I waited until Superman pushed Humanite through the front doors before we all dropped into the building. Besides Superman fighting Humanite, the building seemed to be silent, which was really strange. I walked over to a door with Green Lantern. "I've got a bad feeling about this," I said, pulling my staff out.

Before he could respond, the door that we were in front of burst open and Grundy charged out. Lantern and I were thrown back onto the ground. I rolled out of the way and stood up, looking at Grundy. He ignored me and focused on Lantern, throwing him through the ground onto the level below.

I turned around when I heard Superman cry out, and I saw that Star Sapphire had blasted him. "Surprised?" She asked? I glanced over and saw that Batman was fighting with, was that a cheetah? I couldn't worry about him as I looked back at Humanite and Sapphire. I pointed my staff at her and encased her in a block of ice, causing her to slam down to the ground.

Humanite looked at her and then back to me. "Easy there big fella," I said, walking backwards a little as he advanced on me. "Don't do anything stupid."

"With my intellect, that's impossible." Before I could move he had grabbed my leg and tossed me aside like a rag doll. I hit a wall and slumped down, holding my head.

I shook the pain off and stood up, seeing Grundy whaling on Superman, Batman fighting the cat girl and Copperhead. "I'm going to enjoy this." I heard a voice above me say. I looked up and saw Lex standing there watching Superman get beaten to a pulp.

I shot a beam of ice up onto the balcony he was standing on, but he must have seen me, because he dodged it just in time. I looked around and saw that everyone else had arrived, and we seemed to have the situation under control. Flash ran past me and I saw a dark shadow sliding off the wall.

That's weird, shadows don't slide, I thought. A pale man wearing dark glasses, a black top hat and black suit walked out of the shadows. I raised an eyebrow as I looked over him and he looked at me.

"Dude, why do you look like a rejected Dracula?" I asked. He only sneered at me and raised his staff up, but instead of pointing it at me, he pointed it at Flash. I can't even describe what came out of his staff, other than blackness. Whatever it was, it enveloped Flash and slammed him into the wall.

I looked back at him and he raised his staff up to me, but I rushed forward kicked his arm down. He tried fighting back, but it was obvious that he was a terrible fighter. When he realized he was seriously outmatched, he backed up but I landed a few punches on him. He tripped and laid on the ground, groaning in pain. "Stay down," I said. I jogged off to go help some of the others, but before I could reach any of them, blackness enveloped me.

Now, I'm not scared of the dark at all, I mean I work at night all the time. But this wasn't even dark. It was nothing. It was cold and lonely. I couldn't move or see, and the dark seemed to be suffocating me. I could feel my body being raised up, but there was nothing I could do to stop it.

As suddenly as it came, the blackness left and I was blinded by the light. I felt my body falling but I couldn't move in time to break my fall. I landed on my back on what appeared to be the balcony that Luthor was on before. I groaned, rolling over to my stomach, trying to get the pounding in my head to go away. I looked over the wall and saw that Batman had just punched rejected Dracula, causing him to stay down.

Star Sapphire decided to start shooting everywhere, causing a beam from the ceiling to fall. Wonder Woman took care of it before it caused any real damage. I looked around and saw that Luthor was on the upper level right across from me. I picked up my staff and started running towards him when I heard footsteps behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw that Batman was right behind me.

Of course he would be. God forbid he lets me do anything by myself, I grumbled in my head. In seconds we were right in front of Lex. Lex grabbed his gun from his holster, and Bats seemed to freeze up for a second before he completely tackled Luthor to the ground. Batman pulled him up, but Lex head butted him, then gave him a quick punch which pushed Bats into me. We were both on the ground and Lex grabbed the gun.

He leveled hit at us, a super creepy supervillain grin forming on his face. Bats pushed me behind him, shielding me.

Do you know how in movies, when someone shoots a gun, it's always in slow motion? That wasn't the case. Lex pulled the trigger and it seemed like the world sped up. Instinctively, I threw my arms up and made an ice shield about a foot thick, but it wasn't in front of me, it was in front of Bats.

It's a good thing it was in front of him too, because encased in the ice was a bullet, literally inches away from where his chest was. I let out a shaky breath, thanking whatever God was up there that I had gotten my arms up in time.

Except now, Lex looked pissed. He leveled the gun at me, but before he could do anything, out of the corner of my eye I saw a bright pink light headed straight for us. Batman grabbed my arm and pulled me back, not a moment too soon, because the beam hit exactly where we had been sitting. The balcony crumbled and we saw Lex fall through the hole that was made.

"Are you okay?" I asked Bats, slightly out of breath. He didn't say anything. All he did was stare at me. "Bats?" I asked again. Bats reached out and grabbed my arm, hauling me away from him.

Before I could protest, I saw why. Copperhead had made his way up the wall and was now on Batman's back. Wait, was he biting him?

Batman grunted and fell to the ground from the sudden weight of Copperhead on him. A green beam of light threw Copperhead off of him. Lantern flew down and hovered above both of us. "Are you alright?" He asked Batman.

"Don't worry about me," He said, rubbing his shoulder. "Stop them," He said, looking down below at the rest of the villains. Lantern flew off and Bats sunk to his knees. I ran over to him and kneeled in front of him.

"Shit, you were bit," I said, looking at his shoulder. "I don't know how to fix this. Is he venomous or poisonous? I don't know how mutant snake people work. I've heard of people sucking the poison out of wounds before but I don't know how to do that. J'onn will have to take a look at it, but we have to hurry," I rambled off a mile a minute. "What if we don't get back in time?"

"Evie."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Evie!"

"If you don't make it, can I have the batmobile?"

"Evelyn!"

"What?!" I yelled

"I'm going to be fine," Bats said looking at me. "Just calm down." I noticed the sweat that was starting to gather on his forehead. That certainly isn't a good sign.

"Okay. Calm. I can do calm." I said, putting my hand on the shoulder that wasn't bit. "Just stay awake for me okay?" I said when I noticed he was having a hard time keeping his eyes open. "Bats. Eyes. Open. Now," I said, shaking his shoulder.

One second I was looking at Batman, when the next second there was nothing but blackness all around us. Great, Dracula is at it again.

After a few seconds, the blackness disappeared and the room was eerily quiet. I looked over at Batman and saw he was lying completely on the ground.

"I need help up here!" I yelled. Superman and Flash were the first ones over. Flash saw Copperhead lying on the ground, still out cold.

"We've still got one of them," He said.

"Yeah, but they got one of us," Superman said. We both rolled Batman over and saw that the sweating was worse and now he felt cold.

"We need to get him up to J'onn. Now!" I said when I saw that nobody was moving.

"I"ll take him," Lantern said. He put both of us in his green sphere and we flew up towards the Watch Tower.

When we got there J'onn was already waiting in the hangar and he rushed Batman to the medical wing. I ran after them, hoping that J'onn would easily be able to fix him. I walked in the med bay and looked for them. At the end of the room J'onn already had Batman attached to a heart monitor, and was injecting him with fluids.

"Is there anything I can do?" I asked walking towards them.

"Not right now. I injected him with the anti-venom. Now his body just needs rest."

I nodded and sat in a chair that was next to the bed. "Do you mind if I stay here?"

J'onn smiled at me. "Of course not. Stay as long as you need to. The others have just arrived. I'll let them know what is going on." He turned around and walked out the swinging doors of the med bay. I looked over at Batman.

I put my head in my hands and let my mind wander. This was all my fault. It should have been me. Batman pulled me out of the way so I didn't get bit. Idiot. He should have let me. I heal much faster than he does. I shook my head and looked at him again. Moron.

I don't know how much time had passed, but J'onn and Superman walked in. "He's getting ready to wake," J'onn said. I sat up, looking at Batman and sure enough he was beginning to wake up.

"The venom antidote, it's working," J'onn said when Batman opened his eyes.

"Welcome back. We were afraid we'd lost you," Superman gently said.

"Luthor and the others, what happened?" Batman asked. I rolled my eyes. He literally almost died and he is still worried about everything else.

"They got away, all but Copperhead," J'onn told him.

"I'm headed down to Striker's to interrogate him," Superman said.

"Alright. Let's go." Wait, what?

Batman sat up, very slowly. This idiot is still hurt. He shouldn't be leaving this bed at all. "Are you insane?" I said, standing up and finally making my presence known. "You shouldn't be leaving that bed for another day, let alone going to interrogate some weirdo in a snake suit." He only looked at me, and kept trying to sit up.

"She's right. You're staying here," Superman said gently pushing him back down. "That venom almost killed you."

"So?" I swear I might kill this man.

"So, you're staying here."

I could practically feel the glare that Batman was giving him, but Superman gave one right back. Superman walked out of the room. Looks like he had the last word.

Before he was even out the door, Batman was already unhooking his IV and standing up. I rolled my eyes at his stubbornness. Who were we kidding? He wasn't going to just sit this one out. I shared a look with J'onn and we both followed Batman out the doors silently.

Batman went straight for the computers and started furiously typing. I decided to stay silent. There was no use in trying to change his mind so I might as well just go with it.

"You really should be resting," J'onn said. Apparently he thought that he could change his mind. "I know this must be hard for you, feeling vulnerable." Oh no. J'onn please don't bring this up. "You're the only one of us without special powers," Oh dear lord. "But you don't need to prove yourself." Batman must have the most patience in the world, or he is simply ignoring him. "You're a valued member of this team and we're only trying to-"

Batman finally stood up and looked at him. "I'm taking the shuttle. Unless you want to try and stop me." He challenged.

I let out a sigh at the ridiculousness of this situation.

"No." was the only thing J'onn said before moving out of his way. Batman walked out of the room and headed towards the hangar.

"We need to work on your people skills," I said to J'onn as I followed Batman. I jogged down the hallway to catch up to him.

"Are you going to stop me?" He asked me without stopping.

"Nope," I said, popping the 'p'. "I'm just coming with you." Batman stopped walking and gave me a look. "If you think for one second that I am letting you go down there and start fighting by yourself, then you're insane. All I'm going to do is make sure you don't collapse and die." I said, adding a slightly sarcastic smile.

Batman let out a huff, but didn't object. We walked to the hangar and got in the shuttle. We started it up and made our descent down to Earth. "So, where are we going?" I asked.

"We're following the tracker I put on Luthor. He's at an abandoned building."

"Oh. When did you put a tracker on him?" I asked, thinking back to the fight. He never got anywhere near Lex, except when he tackled him. Of course, I was met with silence.

The ride was fairly short and we arrived there in no time. Bats parked the shuttle and stepped out, with me behind him. We walked across the rooftop to an open window on ceiling. Batman outstretched his arm. "Hold on."

I walked over to him and grabbed his arm, but he only pulled me closer to him. He wrapped one of his grappling hooks across the beam and slowly lowered us down, him holding onto me, and I was tucked into his chest.

We quietly landed and looked around. Lining the one side of the wall were giant animals, at least 10 feet tall and they were all staring at us. I shuddered as I looked at them. "That is so creepy," I whispered.

Batman pulled out his tracking locater and looked at it. We walked over to where the signal was coming from. We looked over the ledge and saw all 6 of the bad guys playing poker down below.

"Well they don't seem busy," I said. I turned my head when I thought I heard something, and saw a blur of purple behind me. "Hey-"I started to say, but something hit my head. Hard. I saw stars in front of my eyes as I hit the floor. I heard another thud next to me but my head hurt too much for me to see what it was. The last thing I remembered before everything went black, was the sound of a cold, high pitched laugh that sent shivers down my spine.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I could hear voices. That's a good sign, right? It meant my brain wasn't squished. I mean, the voiced were muddled, but I could still hear them. I opened my eyes a fraction and I saw an orange light. I closed them again and tried to remember what happened.

Bats and I had left the Watch Tower and we followed the tracker to the abandoned building. I tried to remember what was after that, but all I remember is getting hit.

"Ah, I see pretty girl is waking up," I heard a high voice say. A hand reached under my head and wrenched it up, so that I was looking at the person in front of me. When I saw the face, my blood went cold.

"Joker," I whispered. I had never encountered him face to face before, but I had seen some of his work. No wonder Batman was never too happy. If I had a crazy clown wanting to kill me all the time, I wouldn't be happy either.

"Oh, so she knows who I am," He said walking behind me. I looked down and saw that my body was strapped to a metal slab, and the orange light was surrounding me. "But I know who she is. Miss Aquatica, is it not?" He said right next to my ear.

I turned my head away from him. "Don't touch me," I growled.

His high pitched laugh filled the room, "Oh, she is a feisty one."

"Enough Joker," Lex called out. I looked past Joker and saw that Lex, Humanite, and the others were gathered around as well. Oh great, we must be having a party. Joker walked back to where Luthor was standing.

"You're not going to leave them like this, are you?" Joker asked him, gesturing to the two of us. I glanced over at Batman and saw that he was in the same contraption as I was, except the light surrounding him was blue.

"Why?" He asked, catching my attention once more.

"Helloo? Their still alive," Joker growled. Um, excuse me? What is this 'they' you are speaking of? I've never done anything to you.

"And they are going to stay that way until I say we don't need them anymore." Luthor argued back.

"Lex, Lex, listen to someone who knows. Don't wait," He whispered in his ear and reached down to stroke the handle of Luthor's gun. "Do it now."

"You don't like my decisions? Leave!" Lex said, elbowing Joker in the ribs.

Joker rubbed his chest and walked away. "And they say, I'm crazy," He muttered. The rest of the villains all stared at Luthor.

"What? Those restraints are pure titanium!" He yelled, pointing at us. "They'll never get loose. And that stasis field around them will prevent the Martian from finding them. Plus the girl has a heat field around her, her powers are useless." Ah, so that's what the orange was. I was wondering why it was so warm in here.

Luthor stood in front of Batman. "Now Batman, you must have some kind of pass key or access code I can use against your friends. Where is it?" He asked, leaning very close to him.

"Guess," he said with a smirk. I looked him over and noticed that his belt was gone. Oh, the morons don't know what their getting themselves into, I thought.

"Grundy?" Luthor called. Grundy walked over holding Batman's belt. He tried sticking his fingers inside one of the compartments. Here we go. Electricity zapped him for a good thirty seconds, and when it was done, Grundy fell to the floor, his fingers twitching and smoke rolling off of him. Good thing he wasn't fully human, it probably would have killed him.

"I told you…" Joker sang.

"Shut up!" Luthor snapped. Wait, why weren't any of them asking me if I had a code?

"Ahem. Am I chop liver or something? How come nobody is asking me if I have a code or not?" I called out, a little annoyed that they didn't think I was that important.

Luthor turned around and gave me a smirk. "Don't worry. We already searched you," He said walking towards the doors. I felt a bit of a chill run up my body. Who the hell had touched me when I was unconscious? It better not have been Dracula reject over there, I'll hit him so hard I'll send him back to his castle. Luthor pointed at the belt, "Bring that upstairs. I'll get it open."

Star Sapphire carried the belt with her pink beam and everyone except Humanite and Grundy walked towards the elevator. "Humanite, Grundy," Luthor called out. "Watch them."

The doors to the elevator closed and it was only the four of us down in this basement. I squirmed a little bit, trying to get free but Luthor was right. These restraints must have been made of pure titanium because I could hardly move. Plus, the heat was making me feel a little weak. Not enough to actually hurt me, but enough that there was no way I could easily access my powers.

Grundy stood in front of Batman while Humanite stood in front of me, the both of them staring at us which was a little uncomfortable.

"Grundy, what's Luthor paying you for this?" Batman asked him.

"Money. Lots of it." He said. Oh poor Grundy. I did actually hate how people treated him. Sure he was a little stupid, but I feel like people use him just for his strength. It wasn't right. Or I just have a bleeding heart. I mean, what am I doing caring if supervillains were being treated nicely? I shook the thoughts out of my head and tuned back into the conversation.

"As much as he's getting?" Batman asked, turning his head towards Humanite.

"I don't know," Grundy said.

"Look at all you've had to put up with. You should be getting more." Batman told him.

"More than me? Preposterous." Humanite scoffed.

"Yeah, he needs all the money he can get to fix that giant head of his," I grumbled. Apparently he heard me because he gave me a rather nasty look.

Grundy must have realized that Batman was making some sense. Humanite had walked over to the desk and sat reading the newspaper. Grundy looked over at him and growled. He marched over and tackled Humanite onto the ground and started beating the crap out of each other. The two idiots rolled around on the floor, beating each other up, not realizing they had just been played.

"You are so brilliant," I said over to Batman. The fighting went on for another couple of minutes before the doors to the elevator opened and Luthor, Cheetah, Star Sapphire, and Dracula got off. Humanite and Grundy were still rolling around on the floor when Luthor yelled at them.

"Stop it, right now!"

Grundy got one last hit in before the two got off of each other. "You imbeciles are killing me faster than the kryptonite," He said walking over to them.

"Sorry," they both said and walked back to the back of the room, leaving Luthor to stand in front of us.

"You did this, didn't you?" Luthor asked Batman.

"How come he gets all the credit?" I scoff.

"Oh, I'm sure you had something to do with it too, don't kid yourself," Luthor said. "Well, it won't happen again. Cheetah!" Luthor called over his shoulder.

Cheetah walked over to us. "Take control over here. If our friends cause any more trouble, gag them!" Luthor said as he walked away. Cheetah took out her claws and hissed at us.

"Down kitty," I sneered. She only glared at me before walking over to sit at the desk that Humanite had been occupying. I closed my eyes and focused on a way to get us out of here. Not only is my head still throbbing, but these restraints are completely cutting off the circulation to my hands. I felt out to see if I could sense any water in the room, but I got nothing. Probably because of this heat shield they got me under.

Figuring that Bats would have to get us a way out of this, I closed my eyes and decided to doze for a few minutes. I opened my eyes when my brain finally registered that people around me were talking.

"And then what happened?" Batman said. I looked up and saw that he was talking to Cheetah, who had hopped off the desk and was now pacing.

"My research opened whole new worlds. There was so much to do."

"But so little funding."

"You know about that?" She asked him. I snorted, of course not. He probably has just as much money as Luthor does.

"You didn't have enough for research subjects so you used yourself."

"And now I'm a freak," she said, gesturing to her hair covered body. Yeah, just a little bit.

"That's not what I see." Wait, what? "I see someone who was willing to give up everything for a cause she believed in." Well if this isn't the biggest bunch of crap I had ever heard. Except it seemed that Cheetah was buying every word of it.

"How do you know so much about me?" She asked him.

"Let's just say cats aren't the only ones who are curious." I just threw up in my mouth a little bit, I'm serious.

She walked up and pressed herself against him, running her arm up his body. "Too much curiosity can be dangerous," She purred, putting her finger under his chin.

"Maybe…I like danger." Batman. What are you doing? Your voice isn't supposed to sound that sexy. It's supposed to be rough and scary.

"Do you?" she asked.

"Try me," Batman whispered. Now I was really worried, I had never heard his voice this gentle, at least when he was Batman and not Bruce.

Cheetah glanced over my way. "Think Ice Pop over there will mind?" Ice Pop? Who does this cat think she is?!

Bats glanced over at me, but didn't meet my eyes. "Why should she?" Apparently that was all Cheetah needed to hear, because the words had hardly left his mouth before they were lip locked. My jaw fell open and my stomach felt like it dropped out of my body. At first I was shocked, I mean who wouldn't be? Batman is kissing a girl covered in fur! It's a weird sight.

But then I noticed that the shock was being replaced with something else. Was it…was it jealousy? Judging by the way I was seeing red, and it wasn't from the heat field around me, and the way I wanted to rip her face off, I assumed it was jealousy. If my hands weren't locked into place, I'm pretty sure I could have ripped the metal off me and then beat the crap out of her.

I finally looked away and stared at the elevator doors, ignoring the both of them. I bit my lip and tried to calm myself down. Why was I this worked up? It shouldn't bother me. He's a grown man, he can kiss who he wants, I certainly don't have a say in it.

But you don't want him kissing other girls, the little voice in my head said. You want him kissing you. Did I? When did I start wanting that? When did I lose control of this whole situation? Of course I shouldn't care if he kisses other girls. I'm not his and he isn't mine, even though I kind of wanted him to be.

Where are these thoughts coming from?! I cannot like Batman. That is a biiiig no-no.

But look at how he treats you differently than the others. Think back to all the times he's helped you, and had those heart to heart conversations with you. You're special.

Shut up little voice! I opened my eyes and realized that the little voice was right. I thought I had been special. I wanted to be special, at least to him. I had no idea when these feelings started, but now I just knew they were there. And here he was, still kissing a cheetah girl.

I looked over to see her still attached to him when I finally cleared my throat. "Can you two stop sucking each other's faces off please? I would like not to have to puke everywhere."

The kissing noises stopped and I looked over. At least she was off of him now, although she was batting her eyelashes excessively at him. "No need to get so jealous sweetie," she purred. I narrowed my eyes, knowing that she was only trying to get a rise out of me.

"Oh, go play with a ball of string." I scoffed. Now it was her turn for her eyes to narrow at me. She stepped forward, releasing her claw, but before she could do any damage the elevator doors opened and Humanite stepped through.

"Luthor wants the girl upstairs. Then I'm relieving you of guard duty," He told Cheetah. He walked towards me and unlatched the wheels that were at the bottom of my restraints that I hadn't noticed before.

"This thing has wheels?" I asked him. Of course he ignored me. It seems that everyone does. He wheeled me over to the elevator and pressed the button. He didn't even have the decency to turn me around so I was facing the doors, instead I was facing the back wall. "What an interesting wall. Great quality." I sarcastically said. Again, no response.

The bell dinged and the elevator stopped. Humanite wheeled me over in front of a table in the middle of the room, then he walked away. Joker was sitting on top of a roll chair, wheeling himself around the room, smiling to himself. Good lord that man is creepy.

"As much as I like the change of scenery Lex, why did you bring me up here?" I asked him, trying to sound at least a little bored.

"How do you get into the Watch Tower?" He asked me. I rolled my eyes. Did he really think I was going to tell him?

"You know what Lex, I think I'll wait to give you that answer. But I better not wait too long, or else I'll only be talking to your headstone." I mocked. His eyes widened and I knew that I had officially pissed him off. Good.

"Ooooh, I like her," Joker cackled.

"Shut it!" Luthor said. "Fine, I'll find a way myself."

Luthor walked over to a panel and pressed some buttons. The lights in the room dimmed and the table that Batman's belt was sitting on sparked to life. The sparking got louder and louder until is suddenly stopped. At first I thought the shock to the belt didn't do anything, until there were some clicking noises and the compartments opened up.

"Finally," Luthor said. I was a little shocked that actually worked.

"Well Lex, I guess you aren't as dumb as you look," I said, trying to hide the fact that now I was a little nervous.

Both he and Joker rushed over to the table and shook the belt out. Tons of batarangs and bombs fell out, and I winced a little bit. Did they not realize that these were explosives?

"What are you looking for?" Joker asked him. "Bat-car keys, bat-breath mints?" Joker picked up a batarang and threw it at a nearby crate. Lex and I both looked at him, then at the batarang which began to spark. I smirked, knowing that it was one of the ones that gave off an electric charge. The batarang exploded, causing Joker to spin around in his chair and Lex to duck behind the counter.

"Careful you idiot!" He turned back to the belt. "Wait. This is it." He pulled out something from one of the smallest compartments.

"What?" Joker asked him, wheeling over to look at it.

"The key to our victory."

Or the key to the Watch Tower. That's what it actually is. And now these two have it. Great, just great. Lex looked up at me.

"Looks like we didn't need you after all, Aquatica."

"No, I guess you didn't. You might as well just let me go now. Sorry to bother you!" I said.

"Ah ah ah, we aren't done with you yet my dear," Joker said, rolling around behind me. He stood up and pulled a blade out from his jacket and pressed it up against my neck. "What else can you tell us?" He asked. I felt the bit of the blade pierce my neck, not causing any real damage, just enough to make a trickle of blood fall.

"Enough. I'll have someone take her back downstairs. We need to think of a plan." Luthor said.

Joker looked like he wanted to disagree, but he reluctantly put the blade away. Lex called Sapphire over and she took me back downstairs, wheeling me to my usual spot to the left of Bats.

Once she left it was fairly quiet. Humanite was back to reading his paper and I was back to ignoring Batman. At least, I was ignoring him.

"You're bleeding."

"I was bleeding. It's dry now. Joker didn't cut me that deep," I said, clipping my words a little bit so that he might get the hint that I was mad at him.

"He cut you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm surprised you noticed actually. I thought you would be sticking your tongue down someone else's throat, too busy to notice little old me." God I could be such a bitch sometimes.

"Aquatica," Batman sighed, using my hero name only because Humanite was still in the room.

"Don't. Don't say anything," I said, finally looking over at him. "Just find a way to get out of here because I am all done with today. I just want to go home and read my books. Is that so much to ask?" I practically yelled. I almost laughed at the comical look of disbelief on Batman's face, but then I remembered I was mad at him and I looked back at the wall.

Before he could say anything else, the elevator doors opened and our favorite purple suit wearing clown walked in. "Show time, everybody." He said, wheeling in a TV and what smelled to be popcorn. "Live and in color." He wheeled the TV over to where Batman and I were. "The end of the Justice League," he finished, gesturing to the TV screen.

"Don't make me laugh," Batman said.

Joker chuckled, "It's no joke! There's a surprise hidden in your little clubhouse," He said turning on the TV. The Watch Tower came into view. "And once your friends get there…kablooey!" He yelled, jumping in front of us and laughing. "Popcorn?" he asked us. We both only gave him a deadpanned look. "Oh, well, more for me." He threw a piece up in the air and caught it.

"Joker, you nauseate me," Humanite finally spoke up. Then he got up and left the room, leaving Joker by himself with the both of us. Smart.

"OH, he's going to miss the show…and the sequel."

Sequel? "What sequel?" Batman asked, thinking the same thoughts I was.

"After the bomb gets your friends…I get you. And her." He said pointing at me. Then he started laughing, but this wasn't his high pitched crazy laugh. This was his deep laugh, the laugh that meant he was being serious. Not gonna lie, I was starting to get a little worried. We had been here for God knows how long, with no clue as to what the others were doing. Were they even up there? Had they realized we were gone?

"Any second now," Joker sang. The words had no sooner left his mouth before a bright light enveloped the screen and we couldn't see the Watch Tower anymore. That is, until the light died down and we saw the Tower, looking just as it usually did.

"Oh, they ruined the punch line," Joker said sadly, staring at the screen.

"As impressive as that was, if you don't mind, we would like to get to our brooding alone please," I said.

"Oh no, I can still have my fun," He said, pulling his switchblade out of his jacket. "Shall I start with the lady first? We can pick up where we left off earlier." He started walking towards me while wearing his super creepy 'I'm crazy' smile.

"Don't touch her," Batman practically growled. Joker must have sensed just how upset he was making him.

"Alright, fine. I'll start with you, and then go to her," He said taking the blade off my neck and putting it to Bats'. I think it's hard to tell just how much of a badass someone is until a switchblade is put to their neck. I mean some people would wince and beg for him not to do anything, and then you have Batman. Who headbutts Joker so hard he knocks him back onto the floor.

"Not funny, Bats!" Joker grumbled while he stood back up. I had noticed the elevator doors opened and Grundy walked out. Before Joker could do anything else, Grundy grabbed his arm.

"Luthor not want you alone with him." He told Joker.

"Oh, come on, Grundy, old pal," Joker said, trying to sweet talk his way out of this. "What's a couple of nicks between friends?"

"Go away." I never thought I would say this, but thank you Grundy!

"Thanks. If you hadn't come along when you did…" wait, was that Batman? Saying thanks? For being saved? Hm. I thought he didn't thank people for being saved. Wait till Shay hears this one, he'll be getting shoulder punches for a week. "Could I have some water?" I perked up at the mention of water.

Grundy seemed to think about it for a minute before he agreed. He walked over to the sink and filled up a cup. He walked back over to Batman and held the cup up to his mouth so he could take a sip. Except he didn't take a sip. He spit it up in the air so that it hit the generator for the stasis field, causing it to short circuit.

I closed my eyes so the bright light didn't blind me, and opened them when it died down. Now the machine was sparking, but the stasis field was gone, meaning we now had a way out. "Thanks," Batman told Grundy.

"Uh-oh," Grundy said, realizing what he had just done. I really did feel bad for the guy.

"Grundy, it's okay," I told him. "We can help you. You don't have to work for Luthor anymore."

Grundy started backing up. "No, Grundy not listening to you anymore." He ran back to the elevator, probably to tell Luthor what he had done.

I sighed and shook my head. I noticed that Batman had been awfully quiet. I looked over and saw he had his eyes closed. "Have you talked to J'onn yet?"

"I just did."

"Good."

The room was filled with an awkward silence now.

"It didn't mean anything." Here we go.

"I'm sure."

"Evie…"

"No. Don't 'Evie' me!" I stage whispered. "It really isn't any of my business where your tongue goes. I don't care."

Bats looked at me like he wanted to say something, but the elevator doors opened before he could. Humanite stepped off, looking mighty happy about something. This wasn't good. He walked towards us and I noticed he was holding a yellow stick. He must have saw me looking at it. "Are you wondering what this is? It's an electrically charged phase stick. I can use it for when your Martian comes to save you. It doesn't matter if he's solid or not, it will still shock him."

"That sounds cool, mind if I give it a try?" I asked, hoping that he would be as dumb as Grundy was.

"Nice try." Damn.

I waited a few more seconds before speaking again. "Can I have some water?"

"NO!" Alright then.

"Well can you at least take my heat field down? Batman has his down! I'm pretty sure the law says that men and women must be treated equal in the workforce."

"That is enough. One more word out of you and you won't live to see the outside of this building," Humanite said, sticking his zap stick next to my face. Message received loud and clear. "That's better," he said when I didn't say anything else.

It had been quiet for a while, the only sound in the room was Humanite pacing.

"Batman, Aquatica…" I heard a voice whisper. I looked past Batman and saw J'onn phasing through the wall.

"J'onn don't!" we both yelled, but it was too late. J'onn had already flew over to help us, but Humanite got to him first. He was right, the stick did go through J'onn, even when he was phased, and electrocuted him. He hit the ground with a thud and didn't move anymore.

"He's gonna feel that in the morning," I mumbled.

Upstairs we could hear glass crashing and giant bangs, signaling that the rest of the League had arrived. "You might want to go check that out," I told Humanite. He only rolled his eyes but actually did walk over to the elevator.

"Remember our deal," he said before the doors closed. Deal? What deal?

"What is he talking about?" I asked Batman, but when I looked over, Bats was moving his arms, which should have been impossible if he were still tied down. Of course he would figure out how to get undone. God forbid anybody else save him.

"I made a deal with him. Don't worry, everything is taken care of," He said. With a giant click, the titanium straps came undone and he landed on the floor.

"Great, you're out. Now get me out, I can't feel my hands," I said while squirming around.

"Not yet. Just wait another minute."

I stopped squirming. "Excuse me?" I never did get an answer because Bats literally disappeared. I don't' understand how he does it. "Oh, you are so dead. When I get out of here you better run, because I honestly might try to drown you." I said, knowing that he could still hear me.

Before I could fully curse him, the elevator doors opened and Joker stepped off, and of course he was holding a gun, because why wouldn't he? He ran off the elevator but stopped when he saw that it was only me down here and Batman was gone.

"What?" He yelled, then looked at me. "Where is he?"

"If he's smart, he's halfway to mars right now."

Joker turned around, sweeping his eyes (and gun) across the room. While he was turned around, Bats somehow magically appeared behind him. Joker turned around and was face to face with him. He raised his gun up but it was easily knocked away. The gun clattered to the ground. Then Joker tried to punch Bats, which didn't work too well. Batman blocked his punch and countered with one of his own, sending Joker back towards me.

"No fair! How'd you get free?"

"I could have escaped anytime, but I thought I'd stick around to keep an eye on you clowns." Oh really? He could have escaped at any time? Please, tell me more and try to explain why you left me here all day. Now I was super pissed.

Bats punched Joker one more time leaving him super disoriented. "You're despicable," Joker said before falling to the ground, out cold. Bats smirked and then looked at me. Needless to say, he must have seen how pissed I was.

"You could have gotten out at any time?" I asked

"Yeah, the mechanism wasn't that hard to pick," He said walking over to me. I didn't say anything and just let him undo my restraints. There was a click and I slid to the floor, landing on my feet. I wobbled for a second and looked at my hands, which were alarmingly pale from the lack of blood.

"You really weren't kidding about the circulation," Batman said, taking one of my hands. "You should be fine, although your hands may tingle for a bit." He dropped my hand and knelt next to Joker, putting handcuffs on him, and took a hold of his collar.

"Can we go now?" I asked, gesturing towards the elevator. Bats dragged Joker along on the floor, and I took that as my answer. We made it upstairs and saw that the rest of the idiots were being handcuffed and locked up.

"There you are!" Superman said when he saw us. Everyone looked over at us.

"We're fine," I said, not wanting to make a big deal out of it.

"Batman walked over to the swat officers, and handed them Joker. They put him in the back of the transportation vehicle along with the rest of them. Humanite was the last one out, and when he walked past us he asked to wait.

"You'll keep our bargain?" He asked Batman. Oh, so this must have been what he said before he went upstairs.

"Yes. Double what Luthor was paying." Was all Batman said. Humanite looked pleased and seemed to eagerly want to go back to prison. Double what he was paying? Holy crap that is a lot of money.

"What was that all about?" Flash asked. He only got a small smirk in response. I rubbed my hands, trying to get the blood to flow back in them.

"Can someone take me back to Gotham? I do not feel like flying all the way back tonight," I said.

Shay looked like she was about to answer but Batman did instead. "I will." I looked at him for a second before nodding, figuring it was best not to question him. He pressed a button on his belt, which he must have gotten back, and the batmobile came around the corner and parked right in front of us.

"Alright. Bye guys!" I said, limply waving my hand to the rest of the League. I turned around and climbed into the car, and laid my head back on the headrest. The driver's door opened and Batman got in. He started the car and took off, heading towards Gotham.

I closed my eyes, not wanting to talk. I think I did enough talking for the day. I certainly wasn't in the mood for it now.

"I never did thank you." Okay, never mind then.

"Thank me for what?" I asked, my head still resting against the seat and my eyes closed.

"For stopping that bullet."

I opened my eyes and looked at him. I thought he had forgotten about that.

"Well I never thanked you."

Now it was his turn to look confused. "For what?"

I chuckled, "For keeping Copperhead from biting me. Don't think I didn't notice how you pulled me out of the way. It should have been me."

He didn't say anything at first. "I was just protecting you, just like you did for me," he finally said.

I nodded my head, knowing he was right. "How's your hands?" he asked.

I looked at them and saw that they weren't as pale as before, but they were still tingling. "Better than before. I'll be fine. Don't worry." I looked back out the window and watched the street lights go past.

"You know, she wasn't that good of a kisser." I whipped my head around so fast I swear I heard something crack. He knew what he said, the jerk. He was even smiling. He looked over at me and practically laughed. "She had too much fur."

I lost it, I laughed so hard I had tears running down my face, my bad mood instantly disappearing. "Oh my God, that's hilarious," I said wiping a tear from my face. I calmed down and looked back over at him. "Why did you kiss her though?"

To his credit, he did look a little uncomfortable. "I was just trying to distract her. To be honest, I didn't think it would go that far." Seeing he was uncomfortable I looked back out the window. "Besides, I would rather that happen with someone else." I didn't even have to look at him to know that he had a smirk on his face. I closed my eyes and smiled, hoping that the 'someone else' he was speaking of, might be me.

[starlitsummermoon]

Hey there~! Hmm Can I request a ikesen Mitsuhide romantic/surprise date please? I really love your writing! Thank you~

@mikablazen @nad-zeta (A/N: This one is a bit longer mostly because of how many requested it~)

—————

All day, the girls at work have been bragging about their dates their boyfriends were taking them on after work. Each time they giggled about what they were expecting, my eyes would roll. With enough practice, I would probably be able to see my brain by the end of the day.

Some of them tried to pry and ask about what my boyfriend had planned for me and all I could muster was a fake smile and say, “Gee, I don’t know! Hopefully nothing too crazy!”

I did my best to match their same level of excitement and enthusiasm, but I kept my expectations low. Not that Mitsuhide didn’t spoil me enough already, I just wasn’t the biggest fan of Valentine’s Day. In fact, I disliked the “holiday” so much that I never even told him about it. He’s been in my time with me for just about a year or so, leaving his wartime life behind. If anything, I should be the one spoiling him for giving up his entire lifestyle just for me.

The minute the clock struck the right time, I bolted out before I could hear anymore girls losing their minds about date night. Even the men in my office were getting out of control, bragging about the night they’re about to have, mainly the after-date activities.

“Now let’s see,” I whipped out my phone, pulling up my list of groceries I needed to pick up. Although I had no faith in this greeting card holiday, I was subtly planning on making Mitsuhide a nice dinner “for no reason,” but I had to act fast if I was going to get it ready before he came home.

I blindly started walking towards the sidewalk when I suddenly felt someone grab my arm. Startled, I turned, ready to punch, but then I found myself frozen stiff. It was Mitsuhide, in the flesh.

“My, that’s quite the greeting,” he smirked, “is it one I haven’t learned yet? Seems fascinating.” He knew full well it wasn’t a greeting at all and that it was just me reacting to suddenly being grabbed, but I was still struggling to find my words for I was still shocked to see him in my front of my work. I wasn’t expecting to see him for several more hours.

“Mi-Mitsuhide!” I gasped, finally finding my words. His hand loosened from my arm only to have his arm wrap around my waist, guiding me down the sidewalk. “Wh-what are you doing here? I thought you were working until 6 tonight?”

“It’s a special night,” he said, casually leaning over to press his lips against my ear, “By your surprise, may I assume you are indeed surprised?”

Special night? My heart sank into my stomach as I came to the realization that he found out about Valentine’s Day. Whether it was the media or maybe even his co-workers, I’m not sure, but one way or another, he knew and thought he got the upper hand on me.

“Surprised, yes,” I shrugged his arm off, trying to be serious, but he kept placing his arm around me, passive-aggressively guiding me down the street, “special night? I don’t know about that one. Mitsuhide, if you want to do something for tonight, we can do it in the privacy of our own home! So will you please just-!”

“Don’t be absurd,” he boasted, my struggle with his arm didn’t seem to phase him as he suddenly stopped, “tonight is a special night to celebrate our love, wouldn’t you agree?” I didn’t even notice there was a black luxury car right in front of us. He opened the door for me and urged me to go inside; I didn’t protest. The minute he closed the door behind him, the driver at the front took off. He must’ve already had a destination for us.

“Mitsuhide, please!” I begged, keeping my voice low enough so the driver couldn’t hear, “we can celebrate our love any and every night, we don’t need one day out of the year to give us permission!”

“Reservations have already been made, my dear,” his smirk somehow got sneakier than normal, “and I’ve already paid for everything.” I huffed in dismay, accepting defeat. He took notice to my soft grunt and pulled me into his arms, nuzzling his face into my hair, murmuring, “Just relax and let’s enjoy our evening together.”

I knew he was right. There was nothing I could do now except enjoy our “special night” and hope I could squeeze in something about not doing anything for Valentine’s Day in the future.

It didn’t take long to get to our destination, or least it was hard to tell since all my attention was on snuggling my man in the backseat of a luxury car. We were brought to a seaside restaurant just on the outskirts of the city. Exiting the car, I could already see the long line of couples waiting to be seated, but Mitsuhide escorted me directly to the hostess who immediately directed us to our table.

My concern escalated when the seating hostess weaved through the maze of booths and tables, dimly lit with kerosene lanterns and candles to fit the mood of the evening. The further back we went, the more expensive the tables looked as they were decorated with little lights and bushels of roses, and yet we still get going.

At last we arrived at a door, which the seating hostess happily opened for us. I couldn’t help but smile as I stepped onto the sandy beach. The sound of the ocean waves and the smell of the sea breeze simply swept me off my feet. Our table was at the very end of the perimeter, closest to the beach, but furthest away from any table. The timing was perfect as sunset was just beginning over the ocean.

We got comfortable in our over-sized cushioned wicker chair, large enough for just two people, and the hostess finally left us alone with one menu. I didn’t even get the chance to pick it up before a waiter came swinging around with two glasses of champagne.

“Mitsuhide,” I sighed happily, picking up my ice cold glass, “color me impressed and wee bit speechless!”

“Only the best for you,” he winked before taking a swig. I sipped at my beverage, glancing down at the menu before me, pretending to read it. Knowing him, he’d see through me in a heartbeat if I tried to act like nothing was on my mind. In fact, he probably already knows.

“How did you find out about Valentine’s Day?” I asked nonchalantly, holding my glass up to the sun setting on the glittering horizon, watching the bubbles rise up as I awaited his answer. There’s no point in beating around the bush with this man, asking him straight up was the best strategy.

“I’ve heard my co-workers mention something like that,” his arm once again wrapped around me, holding me close to him, “but after a little digging, it didn’t seem all that interesting to me.”

“…wait, so then-” my words trailed off as I snapped my gaze up at him, his profile lit by the harsh light. Dumbfounded, my gut wrenched at the reason we’re here, unable to understand, “if we’re not here for Valentine’s Day, then… why are we here?”

It had been way too long since I’ve seen Mitsuhide this puzzled, his eyes wide with curiosity for he, too, wasn’t understanding something, which only made ME more confused. I refused to believe this “special night” was just a night he had planned for us that coincidentally landed on every single couple’s “special night!”

“Have I done something wrong?” Mitsuhide scratched the side of his head with his long finger, genuinely baffled. “I’m sure I did my investigation carefully and got all the facts-”

I tuned him out when he trailed off like this. Ever since arriving in the modern day, he’s done anything and everything to learn modern customs. In fact, he almost lived at the library for two weeks when he first discovered it. Now we just have a mountain of books in a corner of our apartment; his research corner. He’s always interested in seeing what he’s learned “in action” so we’d go out see if it really played out the way he expected it to. If it ever didn’t, he always got like this, explaining his research and investigations. Whatever he thought he found in his “modern domestic research,” he misunderstood something.

“Slow down,” I soothed, trying to hold back my laughter as I set my glass down so I could face him fully, “slow down, slow down! Now, skip all the mumbo jumbo about investigating and tell me what this special night really is about?”

His gorgeous golden eyes faced me completely, stealing my breath away. There was a small moment of silence between us, most likely him trying to figure out the best way to tell me without explaining everything from the beginning.

“One year ago, on this day,” the seriousness in his voice kept me on the fine edge of anticipation, “I arrived here in this time with you and we started our modern lives together. I read that it’s customary for couples to celebrate anniversaries like this. Am I… incorrect?”

Not only was he correct, but he was 110% correct and I was 110% moron. I couldn’t believe myself! I completely forgot that we arrived one year ago today!

The day we arrived, we were both sent to the hospital, mostly thanks to Sasuke, and after that it was nothing but hard work to adjust him to modern life and for me to pick up where I left off. THEN, with all this craziness about Valentine’s Day that I’ve been blocking out of my mind, our anniversary of our lives together didn’t even come into mind.

“No, Mitsuhide,” I lowered my head, hoping to give myself some time to stop the tears threatening to flow, “You’re right, you’re absolutely right. Today is a very special day and I’m so very happy that you-”

“You forgot, didn’t you?”

I didn’t have to see his face to know he was smiling that awful, teasing, evil smile!

“Of course I DIDN’T!” I scoffed, hitting his shoulder. “I was just shocked that you even cared or that you even wanted to do anything like this on today of all days!”

“Leave it to you to forget the important things,” he teased, pretending to defend himself from another hit. Our playful banter went on until the waiter came over to take our order. I couldn’t stop smiling throughout the entire dinner and even on our way home, my heart nearly bursting knowing that this day will mean something completely different to us, something that we have for ourselves, nobody else.

[bigskydreaming]

For the fic ask meme, 4, 16, 24, or 28

I will answer 16 now, because No Reason, Just Whimsy, but stay tuned as I’ll probably end up answering 4, 24 and 28 at some point anyway, because like. No Reason, Just Whimsy. *Shrugs*

16.  If you only could write one pairing for the rest of your life, which pairing would it be?

I can’t tell you, see, because I would simply make that one pairing endgame and everything else leading up to it like, contain all the other ships I could not bear to be without. (Hahahaha this is why I could never be a romance author, I can not abide by the rules of HEA or HFN in relationship stories to save my LIFE). So, y’know, SPOILERS.

No but also I’m completely aware that this is cheating and not the point of the question. But I can not choose though, that is the point, like, have you met me? I am the original poster child for ADHD. I’m THAT old.

So instead I will simply say that in the realm of Teen Wolf, Scanny is very very very important to me, which like, surprises no one. But also I would still fight someone who tried to take either Scira or Scallison from me, I remain obnoxiously fond of Scackson’s potential, and I’m still out here being like, the sole Scosh (Scott/Josh Diaz) shipper in all the land, I’m pretty sure, lmfao. 

And I mean, also there’s Scyle, of course. I could never give up the Scyle.

As far as Marvel goes, like, I am going to be riding the high of Bobby/Christian being canon for quite some time, as anyone who has known me long knows that I have been shipping this ship since Christian was first introduced and then written offstage like two issues later….seventeen years ago.

(I have a lot of issues with straight writers making gay characters’ gay-specific tragedies and traumas like….someone ELSE’S angsty back story, while they themselves are just shuffled off the page and considered irrelevant. For those who don’t know, Christian is Emma Frost’s gay older brother who she adored and when their father had Christian institutionalized against his will because he was gay, this was what made Emma break away from the rest of her family for good and set her on the road to becoming the White Queen of the Hellfire Club. 

And then, despite like, this being life-defining for her, not a single writer in the next fifteen damn years ever thought to ask themselves…..hmmm, why would Emma Frost, one of the most powerful telepaths in the world and someone whose personal morality in no way makes her above using those powers, her wealth or Hellfire resources however she damn well pleases in the name of protecting herself, those she cares about, and advancing her agendas…..why would this woman who has never let anything stand in the way of what she cares about before like….simply just…never once in all the years since she was a teenager think to herself….hmm, what if I simply go to the institution where my beloved brother is kept against his will, and just…..made them release him?)

So, aside from always thinking Bobby/Christian would be a great ship with amazing potential given Bobby’s unique history and dynamic with Christian’s sister and the fact that Christian shares a lot of the same traits, backstory and other elements that make Emma an amazing and multi-faceted character and he’s just been sitting there in Limbo for fifteen years with all this untapped potential just waiting to be mined….

I’m always going to be gleeful about this ship and with a special fondness for Sina Grace for bringing Christian back from comic book Limbo and laying the foundation for this ship, like, just because like……I feel its long overdue and the only way to ACTUALLY make anything decent out of the bullshit that was mining his oppression for the sake of another character’s angst: by finally giving HIM the chance to be a character who is affected by all that, developed and moved forward from all of that, is the FOCUS of all that…..and even more importantly, now after being left offscreen for fifteen years by writers who considered his narrative nothing more than tragic filler….he finally has a chance to be an example of a gay character who gets to come BACK from all of that and move FORWARD from it, and like…find healing and happiness with another character, like Bobby.

So Bobby/Christian is actually hugely important to me for a variety of reasons, especially right now since this is all just happening recently, and I will love them forever and in defiance of the inevitable bullshit some future writer pulls that will piss me the hell off. Y’know, just going off of Vegas odds or whatever.

Aside from Bobby/Christian I’ve also always had a weakness for Bobby/Johnny Storm because they are the most iconic ice and fire characters out there and I am basically twelve. I also have blogged at length in the past about all the reasons I’m a huge fan of Bobby/Bishop and not just because their ship name would make them a literal bop. Again, I refer you to the thing where I’m basically twelve. But yeah, there’s a whole history there where when Bishop first came back into the past and met the X-Men who’d all been legends in his time, he kinda fanboyed a little over Bobby because of Bobby’s future legend, and then was kinda like….oh, that’s it? about him once he got to know Bobby and Bishop became like, the physical embodiment of underwhelmed. 

And ever since then Bobby’s always low key been like, a hyper-active puppy around Bishop, like, trying not to SEEM like he cares an awful lot about whether or not he’s managed to impress Bishop but because he can’t be subtle to save his life, mostly just coming across as “am I living up to the hype now? how about now? am I legendary NOW? What about now?” and I dunno. Its just kinda cute and a fairly unique dynamic, and Bishop has this deliberately bland, blink and you miss it sense of humor with the right writers and that I’ve always thought has a ton of potential for him to be privately amused by this tendency of Bobby’s, enough that he’s unwilling to confess to him that Bobby actually earned his respect years ago by this point, and he just doesn’t want to let Bobby know because then he’d stop. 

And then in terms of DC, I’ve posted a lot a lot a loooooooooot about my love for Dick/Kory in canon, and how they - and by extension we - were robbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbed, and if DC doesn’t give me my canon Mar’i and Jake Grayson one of these days, I don’t care if they have to import them from another universe and then have this universe’s Dick and Kory awkwardly try to co-parent them while living their own lives separately before finally coming back together and falling in love all over again and then becoming a single united family unit forever and ever in the most ridiculously complicated comic book version of the Parent Trap ever, like…..

I can’t even think of an over-exaggerated threat creative enough to convey just how badly I want and need this, DC, give it to meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee plzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

And then also, I’ve actually posted a lot a lot a loooooooooooot (though not in a few years, probably, so those posts are all super old, lol) about how I think Kyle and Donna are a criminally under-rated canon couple and were actually really really good together because they went through so much together and Kyle literally grew so much as a character specifically on the things Donna called him out for the first time they dated, like, literally so he could be BETTER, and then with how anticlimactically they ended...because the thing is, they never actually even broke up! It was this thing where like, when Donna went to LA with Kyle for his high school reunion and to literally MEET HIS MOM, like HELLO, that is not a basic relationship step, that is Advanced Dating, like…..that is where they were at in their relationship when Donna literally got the call then and there that her ex-husband and her son had just died in a car accident. 

And Donna was devastated of course, and Kyle was devastated too - for her, and also in his own way, because he’d adored Robert and like, there were these issues where they were super cute and took him to the zoo together and Kyle was bonding with him and just like, melting over this kid, and Robert and Terry were killed by a drunk driver, and like, there was a later story where Kyle just went apeshit on this drunk driver he encountered because he had all these repressed feelings about Robert’s death and how it had hurt Donna and he’d made sure not to show any of that to her or even let on that he hurt for Robert’s loss in his own way, because he didn’t want to make it about him, he KNEW better…

And anyway, the point is…they never actually broke up in the sense of either of them at any point being all, oh we no longer love each other or think this can work, we need to end it. Instead, Donna said that she needed to take some time away from Kyle and everyone else and just…come to terms with what she’d lost and figure out who she even was now in the wake of that….and Kyle totally understood, didn’t argue or try and change her mind, he just said take as much time as you need, I’ll be here when you’re ready, and oh btw, here’s this lantern construct of a locket that I want you to keep because as long as it exists you’ll know that a part of me is still thinking about you and wanting you to be happy, wherever that is.

And then like…..less than a year later, DC did their super weird Dark Angel story where Donna was erased from reality and then had to be ‘recreated’ from Wally’s memories, and for awhile just existed in the form and identity she’d been recreated from, which was based entirely on what Wally knew of her and thought and felt about her, and so there were huge gaps in her identity where she was missing stuff she should have known but didn’t now because WALLY didn’t know about it.

Such as how when Donna met Kyle’s subsequent sorta-girlfriend Jade some time later - I say sorta because she and Kyle were still figuring things out at that stage, and Jenny-Lynn in part didn’t know if she wanted to actually get into a relationship with him because she thought he was still in love with Donna - well anyway, when Donna and Jenny-Lynn met in a later issue and she said all this to Donna, Donna reassured her not to worry about it, she was reading more into it than actually existed because she and Kyle had never been that serious anyway. 

Which. SCREECH! Brakes please. HOLD UP. 

Like, I’m sorry JAY FAERBER YES I REMEMBER IT WAS YOU WHO WROTE THAT ISSUE UGGGGGH, but like, in what UNIVERSE is “dated, broke up, then got back together later because she thought Kyle had matured a ton since they first tried dating and now they were so much stronger as a couple that she oh I dunno, introduced him to her son and they went on playdates together, went with him to meet his mom, had a never-vanishing lantern locket construct that signified just how much he would always love her” uh…..’never been that serious anyway’? I’m. What? Does not compute.

BUT WHATEVER.

LOL. Anyway, point is, so things like that actually make sense when you factor in the role Wally’s memories and perspective played in who Donna literally WAS for awhile (and the understandable existential crises she went through as a result). But like, at the point in time when Kyle and Donna were most serious, Kyle was still fairly removed from a lot of the rest of the DC universe, he wasn’t a core member of the JLA yet and usually operated independently, and he and Wally were NOT close at all yet, let alone friends….in fact, for as long as Donna and Kyle dated, Wally pretty much still actively hated and resented Kyle for just existing, since he’d always been close with Hal since he was a kid and Hal was his Uncle Barry’s BFF-and-homosexual-life-partner-in-all-but-name. 

Like, it was only after Kyle became one of the core JLA alongside Wally that the two of them finally worked out their mutual antagonism and became friends, but before that, Wally was NOT shy about expressing he hated this new GL guy and wanted nothing to do with him, even though it was for unfair reasons, sooooo……like, its not really that shocking that even though Wally and Donna are two of each other’s oldest friends and super tight, like, he was never going to be the friend she called up to let him know how great things were going with her and Kyle these days, lol, y’know?

So it makes sense that when Donna was first magically reconstituted thanks to Wally’s memories/view of her (btw, this was because Wally was out of phase with reality and was in the Speed Force at the precise moment that Donna was erased from reality by the Dark Angel’s magic, and that’s why he alone remembered her and was the template for undoing what the Dark Angel had done). But anyway, it makes sense that she would for a time have had very little memory or even knowledge of her and Kyle’s prior relationship, and basically just know/remember what little Wally actually knew of it. So from her perspective then, it could very well have seemed that they were never that serious, and everyone but Kyle like….kinda just nodded and figured okay, you would know after all, and just…..everyone ended up walking away with the idea that they were just this brief fling and neither had ever had strong feelings for each other, let alone love.

The problem I’ve always had is that eventually Donna DID regain her full memories and her own sense of self, and like….she was Donna again, through and through, existing as she always had without being limited to just Wally’s view or memory of her.

Soooo, at THAT point, she should have been perfectly aware of what her and Kyle’s relationship had ACTUALLY looked like, in its entirety, and I mean, I can understand them not getting back together at that point. It’d been years, they both were in very different places, Kyle had eventually gotten together with Jade after it was expressed by Donna herself that there was no reason not to, given that its not like they were ever that serious….so by the time Donna herself would have realized otherwise, I can totally understand her feeling that the moment had passed for them, that Kyle had moved on (just as Kyle had only ‘moved on’ once he felt there was no longer a chance of them returning to what they were). Like, all of that is super weird and complicated even by ridiculous comic book soap opera standards, so I mean….lol, how do you even BEGIN that conversation, y’know?

Buuuuuut, it just kinda sucks that at no point after that Faerber issue has any later writer ever had either Donna or Kyle discuss their previous relationship(s) in terms of what it ACTUALLY was, for BOTH of them, rather than just this trivial, ancient history fling that neither had ever been super invested in….even though for several years in the nineties they were one of THE major hero couples in comic books.

So. Yeah. As evidenced, I have a lot of unresolved Donna and Kyle feelings lol.

And then of course, there are and always will be my epic “OMG DICK AND KYLE COULD BE THE GREATEST SHIP AND END ALL THE SHIPS LIKE COULD YOU EVEN IMAGINE” feelings, but like. That’s a thirty pound tome in and of itself, so. Like. Just picture the two of them standing staring soulfully into each other’s eyes and then me, creepily fixated on them twenty feet away, chin propped up on my hands and going awwwwwwww while my own eyes like, sparkle anime style but also are the heart-eyes motherfucker meme at the same time.

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

Witches of LA, Chapter 2: I hope you like exposition and pro wrestling jokes because that’s all we’ve got here

[Seelie of Kurain Chapter Masterlist] [ao3] 

[Witches Chapter Masterlist] [ao3]

“And where exactly did you say we’re going?”

“It’s called Nine-Tails Vale! Jinxie – you remember her from New Years? – works there and invited us up for a yokai festival today!”

“A yokai ff – is it too late to get off the train and go home?”

-

Nine-Tails Vale sits in the hills at the base of the mountains of Kurain, far enough away that there’s a chance that they can have as normal a day as anyone at a yokai festival could, but close enough that the hills around the valley still might be faery mounds. Like most days at the WAA, anything goes, and Apollo has to live with it. And maybe he’ll die with it one of these days, sooner rather than later.

Trucy keeps trying again to explain to Apollo the storyline of the local wrestling scene, which she and Jinxie are avid fans of, on their walk over from the train station.

“It’s like a soap opera combined with a fantasy story, but also with grown men hitting each other with chairs,” she says, which is definitely a pitch that would appeal to certain people who aren’t Apollo. “They’ve got their thing that’s kinda like Court, or if there were two Courts who hated each other, and they battle it out in the ring like Daddy says some of the fae do within our legal system. Because the wrestlers are all masked and they’re the proxies for these powerful spirits who possess them whenever they’re wearing the mask. Like selkie skins but if the seal was separate and you were being controlled by it.”

“Uh huh,” Apollo says, surveying the main lane they’ve come up along. The dirt path, lined with a few scattered cobblestones, is overladen with little wheeled carts and pop-up stands selling little charms and trinkets and decorated with leering faces of yokai. Overwhelmed and shoved aside by the merchandise are older buildings bearing signs with both English and Japanese writing and weathered stone statues that have little offerings and candles scattered about their bases. “I wouldn’t feel like being possessed by a seal is very useful. What am I going to do, flop around a lot?”

“There’s always slapping,” Trucy says. “But I’m saying it’s like that. You put on the skin and you turn into it, wear the mask and bam.”

“Uh huh.”

“So when the wrestlers lose, they can have their masks stripped off, which is the ultimate disgrace because they lose both their power and the world and their enemies know their face and name and can claim them.” Trucy stops and leans over a table of paper tags marked all with a paw print and otherwise with a variety of characters and symbols. “And anyway it never got real big until the Amazing Nine-Tails – he’s one of the wrestlers obviously – started being active outside of the ring. And that’s a real no-go to use your powers like that, but he started getting attention, and the Vale started getting attention, and then this yokai craze kinda started up and now there’s lots of tourists from way out of the area watching the matches and visiting!”

“They’d have to be from way out of town,” Apollo says, “because there’s no one I know from the LA area who would hear about a town in the mountains full of monsters and say ‘yeah, I’m going to spend money to go spend time there’.”

“Yet here we are,” Trucy says. She reaches into her purse and pulls out a bracelet of wooden beads. “Oh, here.” She grabs his arm and slips it onto his wrist next to his bracelet, then shaking her own wrist to draw his attention to a matching one she wears. “I forgot to give you this sooner; it’s rowan wood, which is—”

“An anti-fae charm like iron,” Apollo finishes.

Trucy nods. “Yep! And anti-yokai, it overlaps. Anyway, Daddy says it’s very important to not get rowan mixed up with hawthorn wood, which the fae like. He says that’s a very dangerous mistake to make.”

(“Are you speaking from experience?” Apollo asked, and Phoenix cracked a broken smile and told him that’s all he has to speak from.)

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Apollo says.

“I know you’ve got your ring, but it can’t hurt us to be extra cautious out here today.” Trucy pats the necklace she is wearing; a small horseshoe-shaped charm that must be made of iron dangles from it. Horseshoes are a lucky thing, or thought to be, Apollo knows. Clay has one he keeps with him. “I think that’s why Daddy wanted you to come with me. I think he’s worried I would get into trouble alone, since Jinxie’s working and I won’t be with her all day.”

“I thought he sent me with you because he hates me,” Apollo says. Trucy smacks him on the arm.

Uphill to the alderman’s manor, the dirt roads merge with a well-kept cobblestone path to lead them into a beautiful garden, full of paper lanterns and long banquet tables. Trucy sticks her nose into a bush of beautiful golden flowers and is still admiring them when Jinxie, wearing an apron over her dress and carrying a round serving tray, finds them and slaps a warding charm – one of the thin formal slips that Apollo saw for sale down in the yokai extravaganza, like she wears on her own forehead, not a sticky note – on his forehead. Even after she remembers that she’s met him before, they have to make their way through another circular argument about whether or not Apollo is a fae demon. Trucy has apparently given up on convincing Jinxie of the truth, because she says, “He’s a demon but a good one!”

Does he look extra monstrous today, for some reason? Is his hair spikier, his voice louder? What has he done to deserve this?

Jinxie works as a maid at the manor, though she doesn’t live in the Vale but instead in the neighboring Tenma Town, and with her job she can’t spend all afternoon with them. She imparts on them some local lore from the village about the powerful and terrible yokai, Tenma Taro – is it coincidence or significant that its name bears such similarity to Tenma Town? Like Kurain and Khura’in, what does that mean? – imprisoned in the mountain that the manor is built against. Today’s festival, she explains, is a much more robust version, bolstered by tourist dollars, of a ceremony they hold every year, ritually releasing a shade of Tenma Taro and then banishing it.

Though instead of the Nine-Tailed Fox, the village’s guardian yokai – is that an oxymoron? Apollo once would have thought so, but he works in an office that has a guardian ghost fae – doing the banishing, the wrestler the Amazing Nine-Tails, will be.

Which reminds Apollo of Trucy’s one-sided conversation on the way over, and he interrupts Jinxie and Trucy starting to gush over some recent matches to ask, “So all of this you’re talking about, the wrestlers, uh, kind of channeling yokai spirits – that’s all just in the fiction of wrestling not really being real, right?” They both glare at him. “They aren’t actually using magic and summoning demons, right?”

“Apollo,” Trucy scolds, her hands curled into fists on her hips. “You can’t break kayfabe! You should know that!”

He wishes he had the strength to believe that it isn’t real, and that no one could be so stupid to be fucking around that deep into fae magic for the sake of televised entertainment, but he’s also here at a goddamn yokai festival on one of his days off and that’s pretty stupid too.

“I should get back to work,” Jinxie says. “I’ll see you later – ah!”

Making its way through the garden, causing people to spring out of its path, is a tall bird-creature, with gray feathers and three yellow eyes and sharp talons on its hands and feet, which with their yellow skin resemble the legs of some kind of raptor. It resembles the yokai on the scroll Jinxie showed them, the Tenma Taro, but it’s just – someone in a costume? Right? A costume for a festival, and not actually—

It rounds on Jinxie with a hiss. “Better watch out, little girl, or I’ll sssnatch you away!” She raises her platter up over her face and cowers back into one of the banquet tables. Apollo thinks that it probably is just someone in a costume, now that he’s seen it speak; its beak doesn’t move and its tongue lolls forth even in the middle of its speech. It’s too static, or is that wishful thinking?

But no one else is looking at the monster and how it’s cornered Jinxie, no one moving to help her – and Apollo realizes he is moving forward, not sure what he could do if it’s a yokai and knowing he shouldn’t do anything if it’s a performer (like how he and Clay got banned from a local haunted house when they were 13 because Clay reflexively punched one of the actors in the sternum), but still unable to stand by.

“Hey! Don’t stare like that!” someone nearby warns, at a volume that tries to be a whisper but doesn’t really succeed. They must be talking to Apollo and Trucy, because no one else, not even Jinxie, is staring. “If Tenma Taro locks eyes with you, he’ll steal your soul!”

Apollo turns his eyes to the ground instantly, reflexively, because that’s the one thing he knows not to take chances on even though, as he thinks about it, he’s more sure that this monster is a costume and even if it weren’t, he doesn’t think there’s anything powerful enough to just simply take a soul so easily. And if there were, they wouldn’t just casually set it loose. (He hopes.)

“Look!” Trucy whispers, nudging him and pointing toward the manor, where a small figure stands on the roof dark against the blue spring sky. Whatever – whoever – it is leaps down to the lower roof, disappearing from sight, but only a few seconds later springs again, with a long leap far too long to be human. (He thinks first of Lamiroir’s disappearing act and wonders what the trick behind this is.) The man who lands in the midst of them, between Tenma Taro and Jinxie, wears a wrestler’s belt and a golden fox-head mask, with a collar of the same color fur that turns into a cape of many long foxes’ tails. If he was going to guess, Apollo would say that there are nine.

Clearly the Amazing Nine-Tails, and with some silted words about vanquishing evil, he chases Tenma Taro back toward the manor. And Apollo might now be really convinced of the scriptedness of it – and admittedly relieved by that – but the crowds are cheering and Jinxie no longer looks like she’s about to faint from fright. With her platter still clutched across her chest like a shield, she waves goodbye and returns to work, and Trucy drags Apollo off to explore the town.

-

Trucy wants to buy everything. Apollo should have expected that – the amount of Gavineers merchandise that she acquired in the two weeks between their meeting Klavier and the concert was astonishing – and to that end he should have expected that she would run out of money and turn to him. She at least considers herself an organized businesswoman, enough to write up the invoice of what she owes him, and he strikes from it the paper warding charms they buy. He isn’t sure yet if he believes in them, but he’d probably be getting a few for his and Clay’s apartment anyway, and Trucy is talking about how it would be nice to have some kind of protective charm to give to Vera that wouldn’t hurt her like iron, and getting something for their friends seems a worthwhile investment. Trucy’s attempt to wheedle a few dollars out of him for another plush Nine-Tailed Fox keychain is not.

It’s warmer now than it was last April, enough that Apollo tentatively hopes that the fae are done throwing their winter tantrums. If Trucy had to drag him anywhere – and she would consider that a necessity – it’s a good day for it, pleasant to spend time out under the sun and the clear sky. He’s not even convinced that the town is as cursed as he first assumed.

Naturally, that’s where it always goes wrong, letting his guard down, no longer anticipating that the worst is going to claw its way up out of the dirt.

He and Trucy circle back to the manor as a crowd is starting to gather at the front doors; at the center of it, once they manage to push through the people, Trucy helping clear a path by sending Mr Hat off to the side to draw people’s eyes and attention the way a will o’ the wisp does, is Jinxie, simultaneously wild-eyed and looking close to passing out. She stretches out one visibly-trembling hand and grabs Trucy by the wrist, her other arm still hugging the platter close to her chest. It must be iron, it must. “Alderman Kyubi is dead!” she cries. “T-ten – Tenma Taro murdered the alderman!”

She sways on her feet and Trucy takes her by the elbow and helps lower her to sit on the ground, and Apollo does what is starting to become a habit in these sort of situations – which are becoming habitual in themselves – and rushes in, pocketing a charm that Jinxie throws at him as he goes.

The scene is a small room Jinxie called the Fox Chamber, up the entry stairs and down the hall to the right, and there, one thing is certain: the alderman is dead.

-

A classic locked room murder mystery: two men, one dead, the other unconscious, no one else seen when Jinxie discovered the crime. The killer? Obvious, seemingly: the unfortunate unconscious man, whose murder plan clearly ran into a hitch when it came time to get away, and for motive who happens to be the mayor of the neighboring town currently disputing over municipal issues with the dead alderman.

Except the mayor is Jinxie’s father, and if he goes to jail she has no other family, and she’s adamant that Tenma Taro did the killing, and the last locked-room murder case that Apollo defended ended up not being one at all. So, classic setup, maybe, never the obvious solution, and Apollo’s record of stumbling into complex cases while he’s trying to do something law-unrelated with Trucy continues. Is it her? Is it him? Is it them both, together? He can only write so much off as coincidence.

And he wishes he could write off Jinxie’s ramblings as those of a superstitious girl scared witless by the feathers and bloody footprints at the crime scene, and maybe once he could have, maybe this time last year, but he’s seen too much since then. If a monster, a yokai – are they connected to the fae? They must be. Isn’t everything? – murdered the alderman, then the question becomes: how does he prove it? How does he convince the judge and prosecution of it?

He should start with asking Mayor Tenma what happened, first.

Trucy tells him that the mayor can seem scary, but he’s nice, really, promise not to run away, Polly. His nerves would be frayed enough without it, but her warning snaps several more of the barely-connected threads, and like a self-fulfilling prophecy, he’s jumpy and nearly flees the room, sheet of glass between them or no. Mayor Tenma is very good at setting some very bad impressions, loudly, with great force, giving Apollo’s heart time enough to stop several times before the mayor corrects the misconception. It’s a very anxiety-inducing interview, and the facts he gleans from it are worse: Mayor Tenma’s fingerprints were on the murder weapon, and he, asleep from being drugged, remembers nothing, including who was it that hit him on the head. Apollo can’t see the wound or a bandage; the mayor’s entire scalp is covered in Jinxie’s warding charms, as though to make a full hat. Does he believe, or is he humoring his daughter? Apollo doesn’t ask.

He has barely left the building when he receives a phone call from the last person he expects. “Mr Wright? What’s going on?”

“Trucy tells me you’ve found yourself a case over in Nine-Tails Vale.” No preamble, no small talk: Phoenix, friendly as ever.

“Uh, yeah. Why?”

“Are you still at the Vale right now?”

“No, I was just talking to the client at the detention center. Why?”

Phoenix sighs heavily. “Because I’m at the airport, picking up the new addition to the Agency – Athena Cykes, Trucy’s mentioned her to you before? And I mentioned your case, and that was it, no stopping her, Athena ditched me with her luggage and took the rental car and is heading out to help you right now.”

“She – you what? She what?” Apollo won’t say that he doesn’t feel some small sense of satisfaction at Phoenix having to suffer someone else flaking on him, but what an impression to make on your new boss.

(Almost as good as punching him in the face.)

“So I need a favor, basically: can you go back to Nine-Tails Vale and intercept her?”

“I—” Once again, the way this day is going takes a sharp turn off the road. “Yeah, I can. But I’ve never met her – what’s she look like?”

“Yellow,” Phoenix says.

“What?”

“She’s got long red hair, and the way you’re red, she’s yellow. Hard to miss with how much energy she’s got.” The description is somehow both vague and incredibly specific – he can’t exactly picture Miss Cykes in his head, but he knows he won’t mistake anyone else for her when he finds her.

“Okay. I can do that. I have to go back anyway to check out the crime scene.” Did he say that Athena had a rental car? He can only dream of how convenient that will be once he gets to her.

“Cool, thanks. Good luck with the case – and with the Vale.”

So much for putting himself at ease convincing himself that it was just a man in a costume, and that there’s some sort of easy explanation for the feathers. (Or not an easy explanation, because saying that Tenma Taro passed through is very easy, but a mundane one.) “What does that mean? Mr Wright?” He doesn’t answer right away, giving Apollo’s stomach enough time to flip over itself and then squish his heart up into his throat. “The stuff Trucy was saying about wrestling, with the yokai and the masks and uh, channeling them? Or whatever it is – that’s not – that’s just the story on the show, right? That’s not…?”

“Not actually real? For most of them, it’s not, no; no magic in the mask but television magic and a tall tale to keep the audience.”

“But – most of them. You said for most of them? So for some of them it is real?”

“Yeah.”

Apollo wants to sink down to the sidewalk and cry. Or scream. Definitely scream, right here next to a police building where they can arrest him for disturbing the peace very easily.

“I can say with certainty that if any spirits involved were actually powerful and smart enough to be malicious, they wouldn’t be stooping to playing a part in half-scripted on-camera fights between half-naked men. Maybe it’ll be a nuisance to your case, at worst, but no threat to anyone’s lives or souls.”

Apollo wishes he could believe that wholeheartedly, and that he could say for sure that Phoenix’s definition of nuisance is something close to his own. “If you don’t get the Not Guilty tomorrow, when you head back up to investigate again, I’ll let you borrow the magatama,” Phoenix adds. “Just so you can really keep an eye on everything, if it’s needed.”

He thinks there will be a second day – that if Apollo doesn’t win in one, then he will have kept his head above water well enough to drag it out. He doesn’t expect Apollo to lose in a day. He thinks Apollo could win in a day.

“Thanks, Mr Wright.”

“No problem. Now you’ve gotta find Athena, and I’ve gotta figure out how to lug her suitcase home.”

Athena, Athena – what else has Trucy told him about her? She was studying in Europe – did she grow up there, too? Does she know what Los Angeles is like? Will she think him superstitious or ridiculous for everything he knows to be real? Does she know what she is walking into in Nine-Tails Vale? Did Phoenix warn her?

Apollo starts walking quicker than before. Of course Phoenix wouldn’t warn her – but hell, to be charitable to Phoenix (for once), he might not have had time to say anything to her before she took off.

If, against his own nature and his lived experience, he tries to be optimistic, he hopes for three things. First, that everyone involved in the murder his plainly human and that no monster committed murder. (That seems the most likely: would a monster know to plant the mayor’s fingerprints?) Second, that Athena has enough sense to be cautious about whatever village folklore they’re stumbling into instead of immediately dismissing it. And third, if he’s really dreaming, that Klavier will be the prosecutor on this case, easily able to identify who is and isn’t human and probably willing to share it.

But Apollo knows that’s all a little much to hope.

[kusunogatari]

[ About Time ] [ @gentlegraceful-and-fatal ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Suigin Ryū, Hyūga Hinata, Uchiha Shisui, Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, Inuzuka Kiba ] [ SasuHina ] [ Verse: A Light Amongst Shadows ]

He’s never been a fan of these sort of things...but surely putting up with one for an evening will be better than the harping he’ll get for weeks to come for missing it.

Besides, the rest of his family seems eager to go - even his stoic older brother, clad in a haori and hakama, smiles as they get ready.

It’s not often, lately, that he’s seen Itachi smile. For that alone, he can grin and bear a matsuri...and its lights, crowds, and noise.

Ryū attempts to wrangle her twins as they double-check nothing is being forgotten, graciously handling her daughter’s whining and her son’s uncertainty. Nearly ten minutes after they intended, their little group manages to leave the manor behind, strolling through the empty land of the rest of the compound. Beyond it, the fervor of the festival can be both seen and heard. As they go, Sasuke mentally braces himself for the assaults on his senses, going so far as to dryly think a prayer that they avoid as many of his agemates as possible. The last thing he wants to compile on top of everything is dealing with Naruto, Sakura, or anyone else that seems to enjoy butting into his business.

The nearer they get, the clearer drifting music becomes - koto, taiko, shakuhachi, and even singing voices drift through the air. Strangely, it manages not to become a chaotic cacophony over the murmurs and shouts of the crowds. Letting himself focus on that as they go, his gaze wanders mostly above them. Lanterns glow softly in the night sky, hung back and forth over the road in various shades. Occasionally, a rogue firework goes off before the official show later in the night, civilians too eager to wait.

Most distracting, however, are the smells. The underlying smoke is accented with scents of seared meat, hot broth, and plentiful sweets. Sasuke’s stomach clenches against a gurgle - Ryū had insisted they forgo dinner at home as best to save room for festival food.

“Ah, konbanwa, Hinata-chan!”

A single dark eye snaps forward at the healer’s voice calling the familiar name. Rather than escorted by family or teammates, it appears the Hyūga is traveling - for the moment - alone. She flashes a polite smile at them all, exchanging pleasantries and shallow, informal bows. At the rear of the group, it’s he she greets last.

“Good evening, Sasuke-kun.”

“...Hinata,” he greets, forgoing her surname.

The action doesn’t go unnoticed, milky lavenders alighting for a moment before her attention is directed elsewhere, Ryū asking if she’d care to join their party. “I told my team I would meet them later for the fireworks, but...until then, I suppose I can wander with you all.”

“Perfect! We were going to peruse the food stalls first - have you eaten?”

“I have…”

“Well, we’ll just have to find you some sweets to top it off, then!”

Arms folded, Sasuke follows as their group begins to move again. For the moment, Hinata walks between his brother and his wife, each carrying a toddler and making small talk. A fourth wheel, Shisui lets himself drift back to walk beside his cousin. “She’s part of your year, right?”

“Hn.”

“Thought so.” The eldest Uchiha gives Sasuke a hint of a grin. “Didn’t know you were on first-name terms.”

“Didn’t know it was any of your business.”

“Aw, c’mon Sasuke! Given how small our clan is now, there’s no use in trying to avoid the rumor mill.” Shisui bumps Sasuke’s hip, ignoring his half-hearted glower. “I’m just glad there’s someone you get along with outside our family, huh? You’ve been a bit of a recluse since I came back, and I’m willing to bet it didn’t start then.”

“...you really can’t imagine why?”

“Didn’t say that. What I am saying...is that it’s good to see you making some progress.” For a moment, Shisui sobers. “...I know this isn’t easy for you. But she seems like a good place to start making friends. Get the impression you two have similar temperaments. Not, uh...like your teammates.”

The reminder deadpans Sasuke’s expression. “...yeah.”

Considering things for a moment as they reach the proper aisle for food, Shisui meanders forward and catches his sister’s attention. That, conveniently, leaves Hinata without her prior conversation partner as the rest of them peruse the menus.

...damn it, Shisui.

Heaving a small breath of a sigh, Sasuke closes the gap between them, hands in his sleeves.

“Hungry...?”

“Mm. Best to wait, though.” Sasuke nods to his cousin. “I’ll never get anywhere until he’s done.”

Sleeve lifted to her lips, Hinata giggles softly, and Sasuke can’t help but blink as the sound lifts his mood...ever so slightly. “Shisui-san is rather...vivacious, isn’t he?”

“You have no idea. He’s loud, forward, and he makes...puns.”

Another laugh, and another blink. “Not your typical Uchiha, is he?”

“No...he got that from his mother. She was also just...different. But not as blatantly as he is.”

“She was...your aunt?”

“My mother’s sister. Lost her husband in the third war - I never knew him. She almost married my dad.”

“Really?”

A few minutes pass in more idle chatter as they wait for the line to move. Why he’s decided to ramble about his family, Sasuke isn’t sure. He’s not even certain if Hinata cares, though she seems at least passably interested. It’s odd...she’s just so easy to talk to. Maybe because she - unlike his teammates - doesn’t feel the need to fill every spare moment with noise. He’s so used to being talked at, it’s just...different to be the one allowed to speak.

...pleasantly so.

Reaching the head of the line, he gives her a glance. “Sure you don’t want anything?”

“No, thank you. I ate with otōsama and Hanabi earlier.”

A brow perks a hair at her lackluster address of her sister, but he makes no comment. Instead he just orders his food, wrapped in paper and stuck on a skewer. Hopefully she doesn’t mind him eating in front of her...but she did say she wasn’t hungry…

From there, they all meander toward the games. Most players are kids, but that doesn’t stop Shisui from participating, promising his niece and nephew his prizes. Ryū lets them down to the road to watch the goldfish swim in a kingyo sukui stall, laughing as Shisui fails at his ring toss...and fails again.

“Want to try your luck?”

“...never played before.”

“Really?” Hinata’s head tilts before looking to the prizes. “I still have a plush panda from when I was young and won once. I should have gotten the rabbit…”

Glancing at her, Sasuke follows her gaze to a soft white bunny plush, its beady eyes seeming to stare down at him. Taunting him.

“...hold this.”

Jumping a bit as Sasuke hands her his last skewer, Hinata blinks as he takes the stall beside his cousin. So...he just has to land the ring on the right peg? Doesn’t seem that hard...Shisui’s just an idiot.

He pays the ryō to play, accepting a handful of rings from the game master before eyeing his target, hand bobbing slightly as he familiarizes himself with the weight. If he can hit shuriken targets...he can beat a measly ring toss game. A wrist flicks, sending a ring sailing...only for it to land a few inches off-target.

A blink. How did…?

“See?! It’s harder than it looks!” Shisui insists from beside him, clearly already frustrated. “These things are rigged!”

Sasuke’s stance shifts slightly. Okay...so there’s a trick to it. They’re probably more weighted on one side than another to warp their flight. He can compensate for that. Another flick...and it lands behind. Flick. To the right again. Flick. Falls short nearly a foot.

A vein ticks in his temple. This is ridiculous! And he’s out of rings!

Another few ryō coins are exchanged for another set. Eyeing them critically, a glance shows the stall keeper just smiling pleasantly. Now he’s between a rock and a hard place. Keep going, and make a fool of himself if he fails again...or quit and feel a keen sting to his pride.

And it has nothing to do with Hinata watching.

Squinting at the peg, Sasuke pulls back his arm, tensing to throw...only to twitch as someone loudly calls his name.

...to his amazement, it actually lands.

“Congratulations! Go on - pick a prize!”

Blinking, it takes him a moment to recover before snatching the rabbit - he’s not staying a moment longer. It’s then he can turn back around, finding the last two people he wanted to see tonight flanked on either side of his prior companion.

“Nice toss!” Naruto calls in greeting, grinning. “Those things are impossible, eh?”

“Tch...just gotta figure it out,” Sasuke scoffs in reply - he’ll never admit to the fluke. Handing over the plush, he barely restrains a twitch of his lips as Sakura jolts out of the corner of his eyes. “Here. One rabbit.”

Trading him back his skewer, Hinata laughs. “It seems I owe you!” Fingers scritch at the stuffed animal’s ears as she beams. “Thank you, Sasuke-kun...but you didn’t have to do that.”

“Figured I might as well.”

“So, uh...are you guys going to the fireworks?” Sakura manages to ask, smile looking a little forced. “We were on our way over!”

“Oh...I should find Kiba-kun and Shino-kun,” Hinata muses. “It is getting rather late…”

“...if you can’t find them, we’ll be around,” Sasuke offers offhandedly, tucking his arms back into his sleeves.

“Mind if we join you?” Naruto asks.

“What, you two aren’t on a date? We don’t want to interrupt.”

The pair of them stutter, and this time Sasuke can’t help a small, triumphant smirk. Hinata lifts a sleeve to her mouth, clearly hiding a smile.

“Sasuke! C’mon, we’re gonna miss the opening ceremony!” Shisui calls, the rest of the group already heading down the road.

“Let’s go,” Sakura sniffs, dragging Naruto one aisle over and ignoring his stuttered questions.

Sasuke just snorts. “...good luck finding your teammates. At least you want to see yours, hm?”

“They’re not that bad, are they?” Hinata teases, still smiling.

“...maybe not. But they’re the sort I get my fill of quickly,” he begrudgingly amends.

“Well...I appreciate you tolerating me for so long.”

He nearly pouts at her taunt. “...I don’t need to tolerate you, Hinata. I...”

The reply seems to catch her off-guard, and there’s a small jump at a dog bark behind them.

“Oi, Hinataaa! We gotta go!”

“K-Kiba-kun! Where have you two been?” she demands with a turn.

“Oh, y’know...around. Shino’s finding a spot - it’s gonna fill up quick!”

For a moment, she looks a little conflicted. Giving the Uchiha a glance, Hinata ducks a quick bow. “...enjoy the rest of your night, Sasuke-kun.”

“You too.” Expression guarded, he watches her trot off to catch up with the Inuzuka, a light tension in his gut.

...and it’s not jealousy.

...maybe just...a little loneliness.

Shoving the feeling aside, he moves to catch up with his family. Itachi gestures him over, the lot of them snuggled up atop a small knoll. His niece babbles excitedly, pointing from her father’s lap as the first batch of rockets go off. Her brother, however, burrows into his mother’s shoulder, occasionally peeking out shyly.

“Thought you’d bring her back with you!” Shisui teases between volleys.

“...she had prior arrangements.”

“What, and you didn’t drag her over? I’m disappointed, Sasuke.”

“I’m not an ass - she had plans,” Sasuke retorts dryly. “Besides, she could have changed her mind, and she didn’t. It’s not a big deal.”

“Whatever you say, little cuz.”

Scowling, Sasuke just reclines to watch the show, attempting to drown out Shisui’s taunting in the concussive explosions. Can’t he have just one aspect of his life avoid scrutiny by anyone else? Does everything he'll ever do really necessitate being picked apart and analyzed? They get along - so what? His social life isn’t a sample in a Petri dish!

Breathing a sigh, he heaves himself to his feet.

“Sasuke…?”

“Need a break from the noise.”

Ryū’s brow wilts, but she makes no attempt to stop him.

Wandering back from the show, a hand lifts to his brow, pushing at the drawn-up muscles. He really shouldn’t let a little teasing get to him, but -

“- told you before: I have an early clan meeting, so I can’t stay out too late. I’m sorry, Kiba-kun. Please don’t miss it on my account.”

“Who the heck plans a clan meeting the morning after a matsuri?”

“The Hyūga, apparently,” Hinata replies dryly. “Really - go back. I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon. You can tell me all about it, okay?”

The Inuzuka heaves a pouty breath. “Yeah, yeah...well next time, you’ll stay all evening. And you won’t spend half of it lookin’ for us in a wild goose chase.”

“I promise. Now shoo!”

Rounding the corner, Sasuke catches as Hinata literally (gently) pushes her teammate back toward the park hosting the firework display. She watches him go, posture wilting slightly.

“Doesn’t clan head get some say about meetings?”

Jolting in surprise, Hinata wheels around, only to go slack at the sight of him. “Some, yes...but not all. Hyūga elders are notoriously stubborn.”

“Yeah, old people tend to do everything slowly...including changing their minds.”

Hinata can’t help a humored huff of breath. “Very true…”

They reach an impasse.

“...well, I’d better not keep you. Can’t have you oversleeping before that meeting.”

“Certainly not. Though...I never did say thank you for letting me tag along earlier.”

“There’s no need to -”

Clearly ignoring him, she steps up a little closer, a hint of mischief in her eyes before leaning up on tiptoes. Lips press chastely against his cheek, practically along the corner of his mouth.

“...goodnight, Sasuke-kun.”

Comically wide-eyed and stock-still, he can’t manage a reply, able to do little more than watch her go. It’s only once Hinata slinks out of sight that he blinks, spell broken as footsteps sound behind him, accompanied by sniffling.

“Feel better yet?”

A pause, and then he turns. “...somewhat.”

Gently bouncing her son against her hip to soothe his tears, Ryū just smiles. “You’re not the only one who found it a little overwhelming, it seems. But I think it’s almost over...we can head home soon. All the better. These two need some sleep.”

He gives no reply.

It’s then the night sky goes quiet, and crowds slowly begin to disperse. Ryū glances back with a thoughtful look before offering, “You can head back - I’ll gather up the others.”

“I can wait.”

“Mm...you could.” Greys glint as her smile grows, answering his questioning look with, “...but then everyone would see that lipstick mark on your cheek before you can wash it off.”

Balking, Sasuke smears at his skin with a palm, coming away a light but noticeable red. “...uh...y-yeah.”

“See you at home, dear.” Watching him retreat, the healer giggles softly to herself, drawing Fu’s curious gaze. “...about time, ne? Come on...let’s go find the others.”     

     *falls over* THIS IS SO UNGODSLY LATE I’M SORRY. I’ve had the wORST block for like...a few months with drabbles beyond like one or two things, blugh. BUT, hopefully this was worth the wait!      And more hopefully I wrote your Hinata properly - I always get nervous writing other people’s muses ;;;;; But I gave it my best shot, aha - and I can make corrections if need be, just let me know!      But yeah! Here’s our babbs bein’ cute dorks. Matsuri setting cuz...I’m a sucker for it x3 Poor Sasuke just can’t catch a break - everyone’s gotta get up in his business. At least one person seems to let him off the hook...with just a minor hint of teasing, lol      Anywho, I guess that’s it, haha - hope ya enjoyed, Dani! <3

[alisonembers]

Cogs and Queens (Eberron Fan Fic) - Week 8

This one was a bit hard to get out, due to easter.

Content Warning: Course Language, Depression, thoughts of taking one's own life.

—————————————————–

Google Drive Link for correctly formatted version with NSFW content: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j5vZqlNF-Vz-6zmDOT7fjOiCZ2vy9-kT/view?usp=sharing

Mercury looks over the railing edge in the heavy rain, seeing the sky bridges extending below. Their chest aches as they grip the railing tight with their mechanical arm. I could throw myself from here. One hundred feet down… The storm cracks through the sky, the city tops lighting with a flash. Mercury looks up, the rain washing over their face and soaking their hair as the cold bites them. My face soaking… Nobody can see the tears.

“Come on,” Tal says. “They could be here any moment.”

“Yeah…” Mercury steps away from the railing.

“You okay?” Tal asks, loading a rifle.

“Fucking great,” Mercury lies.

“Okay. You go up the catwalk. I’ll swing around the front,” Tal says.

Mercury nods and begins walking for the catwalk. Though the temptation of death was enticing, the possibility for a pardon and not being harassed by the watch was a reason to live. Besides, one of the greater sky bridges would most likely use a spell to reduce my falling speed.

The sound of crates shuffling inside the storage facility echoed.

Mercury sneaks up, placing themselves against the wall of the building next to a window. They peer in, their pistol unholstering, held to the left of their cheek.

“My brother, it is so good to see you,” a warforge says to another.

“Likewise. You will be happy to know that I have enough for two full suits.”

“Is it good enough to plaster onto ourselves? You have the right parts?”

“That is what I’m saying! I have already removed the innards. Go ahead, wear it.”

Mercury watches one of the warforge pick up the hollowed-out head of a dead man and stretches the skin over its head. Lord, what the fuck.

“Ha ha, you look like a human, brother.”

Mercury aims the pistol at one of them. And I thought what I was doing was bad. Just before Mercury pulls the trigger, a third one brings in Tal, dragging him along by the collar. “Oh fuck.”

“We have another body to use, my brothers!” it says, throwing Tal into the middle of all three of them.

Tal gets up, punching at the closest one, and misses.

“A fighter this orc man is.”

“You will be a fitting skin for my stee-” The crack of gunshot echoes through the facility, blasting one of the warforge’s heads in two.

Tal rolls towards the one that was shot, grabbing his rifle back. He points it at another but takes a foot made of iron to the face.

Mercury crashes through the window, glass spraying the inside of the building. They fire twice more at the closest one but miss both shots.

It charges Mercury, with inhuman ability leaping up onto the catwalk. It knocks the pistol aside out of Mercury’s hand and grabs them by the shoulder. “What are you?”

Mercury wraps their tale around its leg and tackles forward, knocking it through the catwalk's railing, landing down on the ground with a hard crash.

Tal gets thrown across the room by the other one, slamming him into shelving. He gets back up, holding his shoulder. “That all you got!?”

Mercury starts punching the warforge with their mechanical arm repeatedly.

The warforge throws Mercury to the side, and stands up, their wrists rotating in a full three-hundred-and-sixty degree turn.

Mercury runs back towards the shelving behind them. Just as the warforge leaps in a lunge, fist in the air towards them, Mercury swings a long steel pipe forward with their mechanical arm, impaling the constructed man. Its eyes flicker with a sad glow before it falls limp.

“Get – The – Fuck – Off – Me!” Tal says after every punch to the face from the last warforge. Mercury runs over and tackles them to the side, latching on, but not good enough as they are propelled further.

Just as Tal raises a metal pipe to beat the warforge, the doors slam open, and the guard begins rushing in. One of them uses a lightning spell, shocking the construct in place.

It screams in pain as the lightning fries their internals, and the guards begin tieing it up.

Mercury hoists themself off the ground, watching it happen. They instantly begin walking at a fast pace to where their pistol fell from above. They spot Tal talking with Captain Damon Vanhoutte, watching a pouch of gold fall into Tal’s hands. They pick up their gun from beneath the catwalk and holster it again.

“Mercury, you did good,” Tal says.

“What the fuck was going on here, Tal? They were killing people to make custom human suits? What the fuck.”

“It’s pretty gruesome,” Tal says, ruffling his hair.

“Never seen anythin’ like it, and I came from the demon wastes.”

“Yeah, I don’t really want to look at it. It’s making me feel green.”

“You are green,” Mercury teases, pressing their shoulder into him.

“Fuck off, mousey.”

“Hey!… What now?” Mercury asks. “Am I pardoned? Good to go?”

“They’re not shooting you, are they? Not arresting you?”

“No,” Mercury says. They watch the guards nearby closely. “So, we getting out of here or what?”

“Sure. We can use some of the gold to rent an apartment nearby?” Tal asks.

“Sure…” I promised Davil I’d be back tonight… Ugh… I’m sure it will be fine.

“Follow, mousey.”

“I told you to stop calling me that!” Mercury says, their neck burning as they walk out of the storage complex back into the cold open rain.

     V

 Tal sits down across from Mercury in the high-up apartment, the rain pelting against the outer window. The warm flicker of the lanterns was welcoming. “Your skills are just as impressive as I remember!” he says.

“Thanks, Tal. You’re not so bad yourself. A little rusty, slow, but all round a good bull,” Mercury laughs. “So, come Tal, tell me about your life! How’s Kal holding up? Last I heard, she was trying to become a doctor.”

“She is a doctor!” Tal says with excitement. “She studied well, and now she’s working for a clinic in the lower city. Bad kinds down there, but she wants to help the poor and innocent.”

“Anything to help the poor and innocent,” Mercury says, taking a sip from their wine. “This tastes like shit, bring anything else?”

“What? Whisky?” Tal laughs. “Yeah, I got some. It’s special, though!”

“Oooh, really hyping it up now, are ya? Fuck me,” Mercury giggles.

“Haa-haa! I mean, if you insist!” he ruffles through his bag, pulling out an expensive bottle of whisky. “Mama told me that one day I would need to make peace with someone I had wronged, and she gave me this bottle. I think it was destined for you.”

Mercury looks at the label of the glass bottle. “You’re kidding. That’s sixty-year-old brew.”

“I’m sorry about our reunion. Didn’t contact you for almost six years, and I approach out of the blue for a job.”

“Ahhh, don’t worry about it. I probably would have gotten you into trouble. You might have gotten beat up,” Mercury lets out a chuckle. “Remember that one time you tipped over the cart, and I broke my fingers?”

“Yes! Of course! Mama would never let me forget that. ‘That young Mercury probably would have married you if it weren’t for you breaking their wedding ring finger!’ she’d say.” He places a glass before Mercury and pops the cork on the whisky. “Just to think! Sixty years brewing and another forty sitting in the cabinet, just to be drunk by us!” he pours Mercury a glass. “I see you lost that arm. Recent?”

“Three months, I think. You know you lose count quick…” Mercury gently picks up the glass. “To broken fingers and missed opportunities!”

“Ahh, to drinking one-hundred-year-old whisky!” he downs his in a flash.

Mercury slowly sips from theirs. “It’s good.”

“Ah! Right!?” he wipes his mouth with his arm.

Mercury drinks the whisky down to a fingernail deep before tipping it along the gun. “Time to clean you off.”

“Eyy! That’s exquisite whisky!” Tal says.

“Which is why it’s gonna clean off my gun.”

“Khorvaire, not letting you get any more whisk-”

Mercury snatches the bottle from their hand and begins gulping it down. They lower it slowly from their lips and lock eyes with Tal, their cheeks beginning to burn.

“Careful, Mousey. You’re getting dangerous,” Tal chuckles.

“Tal, would you wanna…” Mercury bites their lip, looking down in embarrassment.

Tal leans forward, placing his whisky on the table. “Like old times?” he chuckles.

Mercury places their hand on the table. “Yeah.”

      V

 Mercuy’s eyes shoot open, finding themselves alone in the room. They swat their left arm to the side, grabbing a note and a small pouch left on the bed.

“Good luck, sweet tief… I’m sorry.”  

Oh, for fucks sake. Mercury rolls out of bed, rapidly dressing as they hear the footsteps of many men walking through the hallways. They slam in six cartridges into the cylinder of their revolver, slapping it on the side to listen to it click. As they throw their coat on, a loud knock comes from the apartment door.

“Sharn Watch, open up!”

Fuuuuuuck. They point the pistol at the door. Five? Six? Not worth it… They move towards the window, looking outward to see a cargo ship taking off twenty feet below. Ah-ha-ah… Yeah, you’re doing this. Mercury runs to the apartment door and then runs full sprint at the window, shooting it four times before it breaks the magical barrier placed. Mercury leaps past the threshold of the window and begins falling, but not before a well-placed shot by a veteran guard finds its way into Mercury’s lower back.

To be continued…

[popcornblotter]

My Top 10 Favorite Films of 2017

Good news everyone! No need for intros here, let’s end the year on a high note shall we! Here, we, go!

#10

Writer/Director Sofia Coppola further proves her mastery of filmmaking with The Beguiled. A drama set in Virginia during the Civil War when a wounded Union soldier makes his way to an all girls school in the summer, the Headmistress and students wonder what to do with him, and subsequently find out how he affects their lives.

The biggest standout for me was the lighting and cinematography. Each shot is perfectly well framed as well as only using light sources that would be available in that setting. Candles, lanterns, and the sun brought this ambiance of uneasiness. The location of schoolhouse and it’s surroundings was marvelous as well, transporting you to an almost ethereal bayou of sorts.

Colin Farrell continues to impress as he furthers his career. Bringing an edge of quiet fear, seduction, and anger all within a 95 minute runtime.

#9

I know this film was very divisive for comic book fans, and I can understand some of their qualms, but Justice League was just a heck of a lot of fun.

I loved the coming together of the team, as well exploring a bit into the newer character’s stories. Ezra Miller and Jason Momoa were the standout actors here.

I loved the humor, the interactions between the characters, and man did I love the scene when The Flash knew he was in trouble.

Despite it’s problems, the sometimes not great CGI, I still had fun, and would easily revisit this film again as it made me hopeful for what is to come from DC Films.

#8

The first time I saw this movie, I wasn’t super crazy on it. Did I think it was funny? Yes, but something didn’t quite hit the first time. So after a second viewing, I grew to love this film. While the first Guardians is a little more straight forward, plot wise, stop the bad guys from doing this, and save the day. Guardians 2 is a little less structured, there isn’t a necessary Point A-Point B plot because most of this film is exploring familial relationships. Whether its Peter and his dad, Gamora and Nebula, or Yondu and Rocket. It brings forward the idea that your family doesn’t always have to be blood. And by the time this movie ends, I was a mess.

#7

Blade Runner 2049 was a surprise for me this year. Mainly because I’ve never seen the original. I was curious, it looked cool, I’ve enjoyed director Denis Villeneuve’s work in the past, so I thought I’d give it a shot.

The way this film is shot is extraordinary. You could take any  shot out of this film and have it be a painting on your wall. The sound was so booming and explosive it transported you to this neo-noir Los Angeles. The acting is superb as well, especially the chemistry between Ryan Gosling and Ana de Armas. You felt from the first scene they have that this is a couple who’ve known each other for a while.

My only nitpick with this film is a pro and a con, which is it’s pacing. This film moves much slower than a normal film does these days. It has a very slow pace, which I enjoyed for most of it, because it allowed you to soak in this world with so much to see and hear. But towards the end, when things start coming together, you expect for things to speed up, which they don’t. In that, its very realistic to a world that is far removed from ours. I’d just hoped it would’ve wrapped up a little faster.

Despite that nitpick, I loved this film, its great, and it is genuinely a great mystery that keeps you guessing until the end.

#6

This past July, the web slinging, wall crawler returned to the MCU in a big way.

The biggest achievement of this movie is the cast that is multi-racial, extremely talented, and can make you laugh at a moments notice. Director Jon Watts was able to represent the population of New York with the characters they have, even changing the origins of some to fit the story.

Tom Holland is obviously the standout, being able to be funny, awkward, and charming all in one go. I just loved that we actually got a high school looking Spider-Man. Yes, I know Tom Holland is in his 20’s, but it’s all about what age you can play, not what age you are. Versus Maguire and Garfield, looking like they were both about start investing in 401k’s.

Michael Keaton as The Vulture does a great job, probably being the second best villain, behind Loki. He was able to make you understand where he was coming from and why he was doing what he was doing.

This is a big thumbs up for me that’ll have you laughing all the way through.

#5

All I can say is cool, cool, cool. I’ve been a fan of writer/director Edgar Wright for a bit, and his films always have this top, fun layer that you can appreciate, but then there’s this emotional layer underneath that just hits it home, and Baby Driver is no exception.

Ansel Elgort plays Baby, a get away driver with tinnitus, so to drown out the ringing in his ears, he constantly plays music on old iPods. What comes out of this film is a rollicking good time with all of the great witty dialogue Wright is known for, along some of the best edited action I’ve seen in a film. Since we watch the film through Baby’s perspective, we’re constantly hearing the music he’s listening to, either loud, or droned out. But when the action kicks up, you can’t help but say wow as gunshots and hits are timed perfectly to soundtrack in Baby’s ears. And I’m just a nerd for that kind of stuff.

Ansel Elgort has charm coming out of his ears in this film, and makes you wonder how he isn’t swarmed by women everywhere he goes. You also have a great supporting cast in Jon Hamm, Jon Bernthal, Jamie Foxx, and a small role from Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

If you’re looking for an action flick with a twist check this one out.

#4

With no surprise to myself, Marvel Studios gets another spot on this list with Thor: Ragnarok. I was immediately hooked into this new tone change from the first trailer. Marvel was finally going to let Chris Hemsworth do what he does best, and that’s be hysterical. I think the person to thank for that is New Zealand director, Taika Waititi, who’s known for wacky, off the cuff humor that works brilliantly.

I was hooked within the first minute when Thor is trapped in a cage, talking to someone about how he got there, and they flip the camera, and it’s a skeleton, which then proceeds to drop his jaw. That is the type of ridiculous humor I love. We then get a taste of the awesome action accompanied by Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song. And I was smiling ear to ear like a fool.

While the previous Thor movies have been done with a more serious, Shakespearean tone, this one goes for crazy, balls out, 80’s metal look with almost every frame look like something you’d want painted on the side of a van.

All of the actors were great. Tessa Thompson was great as Valkyrie, I loved the appearance by Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, and of course you can’t forget Tom Hiddleston as Loki and his chemistry with Hemsworth. Other great additions were Jeff Goldblum as The Grandmaster and Taika Waititi voicing a rock alien named Korg.

To me this was the tightest made film that Marvel Studios put out, with a crisp runtime of a little more than two hours it’s just enough to make you want more, but not long enough to check your phone.

#3

Anyone who knows me knew this would be on my top 10 of the year. I’m a Star Wars nut! What can I say that I haven’t already? Porgs, porgs, porgs, porgs, and porgs.

If you haven’t seen this film yet, do yourself a favor and get your ass to theater.

#2

I’ll be completely honest here, I didn’t have high hopes for Wonder Woman. At the time, here’s a studio with three movies with mixed results critically, and this one being directed by someone who hadn't made a film since 2003. But I went opening day with some slight chance of hope. And I gladly ate my words.

Words can’t necessarily describe how great a film Wonder Woman is. Patty Jenkins made what some have called a masterpiece in superhero filmmaking. I agree with about 98% of that. My only qualm was that on the second viewing in the theater, I did feel its runtime a little more, which is why it isn’t in the number 1 spot.

Gal Gadot and Chris Pine have a romance that seems practical for the amount of time they spent together, it seemed genuine, and I loved how Diana would call people out on their shit if she thought they were wrong. The No Man’s Land sequence left me in tears of joy at how wonderful everything worked from the cinematography, the music, the acting, the action, just everything.

You can’t miss this one, even if you aren’t a fan of DC characters, this is just a damn good movie.

I wanted to put some honorable mentions that didn’t quite make the cut.

What would’ve been #12

Christopher Nolan’s war film, Dunkirk is a technical marvel. The cinematography is breath taking and the sound scared the shit out of me. I saw this in an IMAX theater and when bullets fired, you never knew where they were coming from until they made contact. This literally made me jump several times throughout. The reason that this didn’t make the top 10 is that none of the characters particularly stood out in any way. I could tell you the names of the actors, but not their character’s names.

What would’ve been #11

The reason It isn’t higher is because I’m not a fan of horror movies. But I was intrigued at all of the critical success this movie was gaining, so I saw it with a few friends.

The reason this movie works as well as it does is because of the writing and the great child actors they got. Aside from Finn Wolfhard, of Stranger Things fame, the rest of these kids were unknown. But damn it if they didn’t knock it out of the park with their acting chops and chemistry. But if it wasn’t for that reason, I probably would’ve left the theater within ten minutes because I don’t do scary well. And as much as I enjoyed this one, I probably won’t revisit it.

And my favorite film of 2017 is

Logan is the perfect combination of my two favorite types of films. Action blockbusters and deep, emotional character pieces. When I went into Logan, I didn’t know exactly what to expect. I’d heard it took some inspiration from some of the comics where Wolverine is an older man, but that was about it. What I got was something that seriously fucked me up.

Like a lot of people, I grew up with Hugh Jackman playing Wolverine since the first X-men film in 2000. And it seemed with each iteration Jackman tried to deepen the character to reveal Logan’s core, instead of just being a mindless killing machine. With this you get the best of both worlds. Jackman stripped Wolverine down to the point it seems like he’s given up and is ready to die. But at the same time we get to see what would actually be the effects of a guy with claws for hands mauling people like an animal, and you learn that in the first few minutes. It is gory, but damn is it awesome!

Patrick Stewart also has a phenomenal performance as a Charles Xavier that we’ve never seen the likes of in the films. His mind wandering, breaking down, plagued by what I assume is the mutant version of dementia or Alzheimer’s. Seeing Stewart’s and Jackman’s near 20 years of working together is heart warming, heart breaking, and brutal.

This film also breeds a new star in newcomer Dafne Keen as Laura. This is a girl who is wise beyond her years as an actress. For about the first half of the film she doesn’t say a word, but you see all the emotion in her face communicated brilliantly. She is definitely someone who will have a prosperous career.

What director James Mangold succeeds with Logan is that he’s able to make a superhero film, but not have it be about something super, per se, but makes it about something everyone can relate to, family. Whether it’s Logan’s relationship to Charles, Logan to Caliban, Logan to Laura, its about the relationships that you grow with and foster when you inevitably have to say goodbye. Mangold was able to make a western, a superhero film, a family piece, a deep character study, an action film. This literally has something for almost everyone. I think Logan is the perfect example of what the superhero genre could and should become.

I’ll be completely honest, like I said before, this movie fucked me up. And I was crying for almost the last five minutes. And for me to cry at a piece of media, whether it be a series or movie isn’t uncommon, but to the degree that I did was what stayed with me. It was a typical silent cry that I usually do with most films I see, but this was uncontrollable, hard breathing, loud noised, ugly face sobbing. When the word “Daddy” is said, I lose it every time.

I guess I didn’t expect to get as attached to this film as I did. But I guess with Jackman playing that character for as long as he did, he sort of became synonymous with that role. I guess it’s to the effect of Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker or Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter. But the sendoff Jackman and Mangold give this character is one of pure mastery, sadness, and hope. With the Fox/Disney deal, there is some part of me that wishes Jackman will return as Wolverine for the MCU, but if he doesn’t, that’s fine as well. Because this film is all but perfect to me.

I hope this film gets nominations for Jackman, Stewart, Keen, and Mangold for the Oscars because I think it deserves it because it broke boundaries of what a superhero film could be. And that is why Logan is my favorite film of 2017.

I want to thank you guys for reading this and for the support. Here’s hoping that 2018 will be even better! In the vain of a dumb catchphrase I tried to start years ago, stay tuned for more blotter!

[tessatechaitea]

Darkstars #4

Hey hey! It's the Nineties!

I sometimes wonder how people into fashion and fashion history can look at some item of clothing and know exactly when it was created. Same with experts on music and visual art and poetry. But then I realize that even though I'm hardly an expert, I could probably do a fairly decent job of looking at comic book art and guessing what era it was from. I'm sure if I studied a bit, I'd be excellent at it considering I've done so much pre-course work due to my comic book hobby. The only really difficult part would be guessing art from artists who have really long careers and their style doesn't change a great deal. Like maybe somebody like Curt Swan, you'd be able to guess when he started and maybe a decade or so after as his form improved. But at some point, Curt Swan is just fucking Curt Swan for, like, decades! So I'd probably be terrible at recognizing the minutia that would be the fingerprint of the decade he was working in at the time. What I'm saying is, "This cover looks like if The 90s ate some bad oysters and wound up shitting and vomiting at the same time but got caught in the rotation so neither The 90s mouth or butthole were facing the toilet and the sick just sprayed out of both ends and landed on the cover of Darkstars #4." And that was one of my less tortured metaphors! According to this cover, somebody is still trying to make "The Darkstars" happen. According to next issue's cover, it didn't happen. I knew I was on the right side of history when I refused to use the article! This is the title of this issue:

Imagine how much more exciting George Lucas's movie franchise would have been had he chosen to put an exclamation point at the end of the title. What a tragic loss!

I want my legacy to be, "He wrote a thing that was as good as Lucille Bluth's 'Here's some money. Go see a Star War.'" Evil Star begins destroying a city because he's evil. The star part of his name must be vestigial because he doesn't act like a star. Unless he doesn't mean the astronomical star but the Hollywood star. I guess the tantrum he's throwing because Green Lantern hasn't welcomed him to Earth is quite star-like. I take it back about the "Star" being vestigial but mostly because I was probably using vestigial wrong. And if I was, just know I was using it metaphorically which means you can't criticize me for using it wrong. Evil Star calls Green Lantern "the green coward." In the last three issues, no character has actually said "Green Lantern." It's like when a star on a game show is from a show on another network, they don't mention the network because it's their rival. Although they do sometimes. I think it was probably a certain time where nobody would mention the competitors. Probably the 80s. And since I don't know as much as I thought I knew before I started typing this crap, maybe I should have stuck with the analogy of how Marvel and DC always refer to each other as "the competitor." Unless it's another word that's a synonym for competitor. See, I don't know much about that either! The Eee! Tess Ate Chai Guarantee: "I might sound like I know everything but I'll readily admit to you when I absolutely know nothing (but only if called on it and can't deflect the accusation)." Some cops pull up to stop Evil Star and one cop is all, "I'll show you power, jerko!" And the other cop is all, "No, don't!" Not because he's against lethal force but because he realizes Evil Star has even more lethaler force, a lesson the cop learns for himself rather quickly.

I'm not saying I cheered at this panel because that would open me up to a bunch of criticism from online jerks who don't understand fiction, satire, or hyperbole.

So with the cops dead, it's up to Darkstar and his sidekicks (one of which is a cop) to stop Evil Star! Unless Green Lantern suddenly appears but I think he's not allowed to show his face in this comic book and/or he's busy becoming Parallax. So there's this big comic book fight and it's a lot like every other comic book fight you've ever read. Which really makes you wonder why some comic book fans only want to read comic books where there are big fights. Why would you want to read the same thing over and over again?! Some people just like to look at the different outfits, I guess. Anyway, I'm not going to describe the fight blow-by-blow. Y'all know how these things work! The good guys get beat up for awhile and maybe defeated after which the bad guy flees instead of killing them. Or the good guys get beat up for awhile before digging deep and defeating the bad guy. It all depends on how many issues the story is set to run. And since I think this story is over this issue, the fight will be of the latter sort.

I'm not saying, after looking at this panel, I subsequently wrote a fan-fic story that went into way too much detail describing Colos's cock and how Detective Beer-Guzzles' mustache felt rubbing against the thick, pink skin because that would open me up to a bunch of fan-fic writers who would try to befriend me so we could swap dirty stories.

Meanwhile, Carla White learns that you can't quit family. Or mob bosses.

He's from America. Another thing you learn in America: if somebody doesn't respond to you being polite, you have every right to become a violent asshole. It's the major defense on Judge Judy. "Yes, your Honor, I smashed up her car. But she wouldn't move it when I asked her politely to move it for no reason at all except that I wanted to park there!"

Evil Star retreats to a junk yard to engage in an existential crisis. Why is he evil? Why does he do bad things? Why does everything have to die? I mean, on a metaphorical level and not on an evolutionary level where death drives evolution, creating room for offspring more and more capable than the parent of living in specific environments through the recombining of different genes and sometimes through lucky mutations. Darkstar feels like it's a good time to wait and see what Evil Star winds up doing but Detective Mustardstache has a better idea: beat the living crap out of him and maybe kill him if he gives him any fucking excuse at all! Detective Darkstar gets his ass kicked by the Starlings and Darkstar has to rush in to save him. They then retreat to observe Evil Star.

Every right winger on Twitter who thinks they're the greatest debater since some famous person who could debate well. Napoleon, maybe?

Detective Pork-chops-as-an-appetizer apologizes for getting carried away. Notice how Homeless Mo didn't get carried away and try to kill the perp even though he hasn't had nearly as much training as the cop? Carla was kidnapped by her ex-client, the guy being used by the aliens to run the Loco drug ring. Kidnapping a lawyer seems like a bad idea. I mean, kidnapping anybody seems like a bad idea but kidnapping a lawyer seems like it would have extra consequences. I used to do cabinet work for my cousin's cousin David. He was a train wreck of a human being but he did good cabinet work. At one point in his life, he had a lawyer working on his DUI case to try to get it dropped and he was juggling his bills. His solution was to bounce a check to the lawyer. I don't know how that all worked out because I tried not to work with him too much (only enough to pay for comic books, really) but I'm assuming his lawyer decided not to argue the charge down and David wound up in jail.

This is the argument of everybody who has ever kept the world from becoming a better place.

Carla refuses to keep working for the mob boss so now he probably has to kill her or else he's facing kidnapping charges which are as bad as murder charges. Which seems like a bit of a mistake, in my opinion. I mean, sure, you want kidnapping to have a steep punishment. But if kidnapping is equal to murder, every kidnapper is just going to murder the person they kidnapped because it does away with the main witness. I guess the point is that people that wouldn't murder won't kidnap either because the penalty is so great. But if somebody is kidnapping somebody and the penalty were only a year in prison, they'd still probably murder that person in the hopes of getting away with it and not having to spend a year in prison. Darkstar, using his super computer on his ship orbiting Earth, learns that Evil Star's mind shackle that keeps him from turning into Evil Star is on the fritz. So he's occasionally feeling like a genocidal maniac while mostly just feeling scared and guilty about his terrible thoughts. To stop him, Darkstar inundates him with images of all the people he killed on his home planet. I guess Evil Star was the original Lobo, committing planet-wide genocide.

Earlier I mentioned how he laughed while his wife and son died not because I'd read ahead but because, probably like the author of this story, I read the Who's Who entry on Evil Star.

Evil Star collapses from the guilt and Darkstar takes him into custody. He encases the Starlings in scrap metal and, I don't know, sells them at a yard sale. Carla gets extra-kidnapped by the mob boss whose name I probably should have learned four issues in. Darkstars #4 Rating: B+. This issue was better than the previous three but I can't explain why. Maybe because there was a super villain and most probably not because some cops died and the other cop got harshly reprimanded for immediately resorting to violence. The Darkstar Colos has turned out to be far more diplomatic than I was expecting. I wouldn't have guessed that Hal Jordan was more temperamental than some testicle-headed alien in a 90s costume called Darkstar.

[lykegenia]

The Things We Hide Ch. 9

The Southern Water Tribe stood for a hundred years against the Fire Nation, indomitable until Sozin’s Comet tipped the balance in Fire Lord Ozai’s favour. Now, as planned, the South is decimated, Chief Hakoda is a puppet on his throne, and Princess Katara is a political prisoner held in the Fire Nation capital to ensure his good behaviour. But Ozai has little time to gloat. A vigilante masquerading as the Blue Spirit is causing unrest among the people, rebel ships still hound his navy, and right under his nose the South’s most powerful waterbender waits with the patience of ice to strike at the very heart of his empire and bring it crashing down.

Chapter 1 on AO3 Masterpost here

Words: 4388 Pairing: Zuko x Katara Chapter Summary: The Fire lord’s garden party goes exactly how Katara thinks it will - until it doesn’t.

Read it on AO3

Katara –

It’s official, we’re taking a break. The fishing fleet got caught in a storm and luckily we found shelter. The people here are fishermen too, so it’s almost like being at home, only with less snow. All their fishermen are women, though. You’d like their chief. When we first landed, I may have accidentally suggested to her that we were better at fishing because we have bigger boats – don’t laugh, Katara, I know you’re laughing – but she kicked my ass like five seconds later, so she’s now teaching me some of their methods for fishing while our ships finish repairs. You should meet her. You’d like her. Although I don’t know how that would end for me.

Did you know they have a sea serpent here? I’ve only seen the fin, but it’s huge.

Anyway, there’s another reason I’m writing. I know you’ll understand this, you always do. I miss my little sister. You remember her, right? Always helping people, always exploring where she wasn’t allowed. We never could keep her out of the caves on the side of that stupid mountain behind our house, because someone told her that if she looked hard enough she’d find the hidden people and they’d tell her where to find the best treasure. She’s all grown up now, and Dad always told her to be careful, but I wonder sometimes if she still does things like that. She’s doing a great job with the polar bear-dogs, by the way. I hear they’re nearly eating out of her hand.

And one last thing – please don’t send me any more of those Fire Nation recipes with all those weird spices and complicated fiddly buts. It’s giving Nanak ideas and we all have to suffer through them, and what happens after. There’s nothing wrong with sea prunes, you know.

Mimi

--

The letter was crumpled, the ink smudged from so many readings. Even after going through it multiple times, parts of the code were indecipherable. When they had decided on disguising their notes like this, back before Sozin’s Comet, they had decided the need for secrecy was too great to risk anyone being able to find patterns in the smokescreen of friendly correspondence. Katara and Mimi both mixed banal details about their lives with the more important facts, hiding them beneath the surface like the deep ocean currents that brought the bow whales in spring. They relied on their shared memories and in-jokes to communicate, and relied on Nila’s skill at getting information to fill in any gaps.

Not that there was usually much they could do to help, Katara groused, as she sat under the lantern tree in the garden and reread the letter again for the dozenth time. They had worked out that the mention of the ‘hidden people’ was really about Nila’s spies, who had missed their previous three report windows, but the rest of it was still gibberish. And instead of being able to go out and look for them, she and her entourage were stuck in the compound, still under house arrest, with nothing more strenuous to occupy them than garden parties and the ridiculous intricacies of court life. Sometimes she just wanted to forget the plan entirely and swamp the palace in a deluge, but this far into the dry season there wasn’t nearly enough water for that, if she even had the power to move it anyway.

No, for now she was stuck playing the role of subjugated princess, smiling from behind a paper fan in a pretty dress and dreaming of the day she would be free to cast off the layers of Fire Nation silk and daub her face with warrior’s paint as she had on the night when she crushed the three transports against the breakwater. Soon enough, she would teach them the oldest lesson of the Water Tribes: the sea is patient, and powerful, and cannot be conquered.

In the meantime, perhaps she could pry some information out of one of the more loose-lipped nobles, and if that failed, her alter ego might find something. She smirked to think about the growing rumours of spirits in the city, murmurs in the marketplace of a shadowy figure that cloaked itself in mist and slinked through the streets after dark. Ozai had reacted to these rumours with predictable force, but the extra patrols assigned to the wards were reluctant to risk the ire of the people – or the spirits – by going after another preternatural vigilante. It helped, of course, that Katara could pass her waterbending skills off as magic, and she took vindictive pleasure in knowing how easy it was to bring the dissatisfaction of the Fire Nation’s citizens to the surface.

Like drawing out an infection, she thought. All they needed was the right tonic.

She wondered about the Blue Spirit. Since the first night they spent running through the Caldera, she hadn’t seen him. If nothing else, his knowledge of the city would make her own reconnaissance go that much quicker, but despite Hama’s insistence to the contrary, Katara was not reckless enough jeopardise their plan in order to seek him out. Whoever he was, he clearly held no love for those who abused their power, but here in the capital, that didn’t narrow down the field. Maybe he was the son of a disenfranchised noble house, out to seek revenge by stirring up the common folk against their masters; or maybe he was an artisan with a stall in the market, no longer able to tolerate the injustices he saw every day. It was a mystery she would be unlikely to solve with the limited time she had.

“Lady Katara,” Attuk said, making her jump. “Prince Zuko is here.”

She ignored the excited little skip her heart made against her ribs. No matter how charming or earnest he seemed, he was still the enemy, and any attraction he might feel should be cultivated as an extra tool, or as a weakness if it could not be used to serve her purpose. That’s what Hama would, anyway, and if Katara’s thoughts wandered a bit too often too how he had warned her about Azula, or how he had returned her father’s hunting kit without thought of reward, she ignored that, too.

She checked her appearance in the mirror. Today she wore scarlet, following the tradition of the Fire Nation court, but her seamstress had been clever with the cut of the fabric. The layers of silk mimicked the light camel-wool cloth worn during polar summers, the traditional fur linings substituted for intricate golden embroidery. She knew few of the nobles were familiar enough with Water Tribe fashion to notice her quiet rebellion, but it was a comfort nonetheless.

“I’m ready,” she said.

Zuko looked happy to see her. At his side, a servant held an armful of scrolls she recognised as the Southern sagas she sent him a few days before, because it had seemed the best way to thank him for returning her father’s affects.

“You didn’t like them?” she asked, frowning, once the pleasantries were out of the way.

Zuko’s eyes widened. “No! I mean, I did like them,” he stumbled. “I couldn’t put them down, actually.”

“Really?” There was that flutter in her chest again.

“It’s so different to what the masters here think of as poetry. Uh, I didn’t mean that the way it sounded,” he added, inching one hand up to rub the back of his neck. “It’s just that, I’ve always thought poetry was kind of hopeless, you know? Blossom always fades, animals die, and we’re all caught up in the wheel of the universe, unable to change things. Your sagas are just so… so vibrant, like it’s celebrating change rather than just letting it happen, like you can do something and it will matter. If you see what I mean.” He ducked his head with a bashful smile. “There were probably a lot of references I missed, and the stories were a bit more complex than what I’m used to, but I did enjoy them.”

Seeing him so animated about her culture brought an unexpected flush of happiness that tingled along Katara’s limbs, and she answered his smile with one of her own. “If you want to keep them a little bit longer to copy them, I wouldn’t mind,” she offered, without really thinking.

“Are you sure?” Zuko checked.

She shrugged. “We’re allies, aren’t we?”

“We are,” he agreed, the smile spreading to light up his whole face. “If you’re sure you wouldn’t mind, then I’ll have a scribe make a duplicate. They can be a present for my mother,” he added, as the thought came to him. “I’m sure she’d appreciate them. Maybe you could clarify a few things for me, in case there are problems with translations?”

“I’ll answer what I can,” she replied. “What do you want to know?”

Zuko’s smile faltered at a subtle gesture from his valet, and Katara realised their shared excitement had carried them into their own little world. Together, they were chivvied across to the palanquin, with a hurried but half-hearted lecture from the servant about the impropriety of keeping one’s guests waiting, though Katara suspected the real reason for the sudden rush was a fear that they would arrive after the Fire Lord. From what she knew of Fire Nation protocol, the higher ranking nobles got to arrive at social events later, so that they could appear fresh and composed next to those of lower rank who had already spent hours enduring the heat and boredom that inevitably came with these sorts of parties.

As he handed her into the palanquin, Zuko smiled sheepishly at her, and she found herself returning it. Hama would disapprove. She set about arranging her skirts in a fan to avoid crushing the silk beneath her weight, pleased that Zuko had remembered to draw up the blinds without her even having to ask.

“There’s more of a breeze today, don’t you think?” she said, when the silence between them grew brittle.

Zuko nodded. “It’s coming off the sea. Li and Lo say the monsoon is finally here, and they’re never wrong – but I hope the rain stays away for the rest of the evening.”

Katara smiled and nodded. She didn’t tell him she could feel the sea in her bones, churning up a storm that would snap the dry crackle in the air like a strand of spider silk. She ignored the feeling, for the most part, but the weather-change left her fretful, distracted. She had come very close to making up some excuse to cancel the party and stay in the inner courtyard of the house, where she could bend away her agitation without fear of being seen.

“The thunderstorms at this time of year are amazing,” Zuko was telling her. “So much raw power, and after so long without water, the countryside just bursts into life. We have a special pavilion at the palace just for listening to the sound the rain makes on the roof tiles. The storms won’t be better until later in the season, but if you would like to see it…”

“I’d love to,” Katara said, thinking about how she might be able to sneak away and find the Fire Lord’s office. “It sounds wonderful.”

“I suppose you have storms in the South?” he asked.

“Not quite like here,” she admitted. “We have blizzards, and there’s thunder and lightning in those, but often the wind is so loud and the storm so thick you can’t tell. Sometimes it’s dangerous to go outside because the snow turns you around and you end up lost within a few steps of your doorway.” She shuddered. “I think I still prefer it to this heat, though – at least when it’s cold you can put another parka on.”

“I’ve never seen snow. I know what it looks like, from reading, and that it’s frozen water, but… what’s it like?”

Katara was thrown by the wistful tone of the question. She didn’t know how to answer – how could she, when the snow and ice of the South had been as constant and natural to her as the water? And in a land of such heat, what was there to compare it to?

“I never really thought about it,” she said. “I’ve never had to think snow was like anything, it just is.”

Zuko looked thoughtful, digesting her answer. “What’s a sea wolf?”

“What?”

“One of the sagas mentioned them.”

“Oh.” Katara relaxed slightly. For a second, she had thought he meant to trap her, but the expression on his face was open, the bright gold of his eyes slanted in expectation of her answer. Something uneasy stirred across the skin at the back of her neck, but what could it hurt to tell him about sea wolves? They came to the South in the spring, Tui’s demon aspect chasing tiger seals through the streams of melting ice, their black fins stretching taller than a man above the water. They were respected, Katara explained, because they hunted as a group like humans did, and were cunning, and generous, and vengeful in defence of their families.

“I think I know what you’re talking about. We call them Shachi.”

Katara tried the word; it tangled on her tongue and made her giggle. By this time, they were passing along a broad avenue lined with mangingko trees, their bright yellow leaves fluttering in the wind coming off the sea.

“In some of the stuff I read,” Zuko ventured after a moment of silence, “there was a character called ‘sea wolf’. It was used like a title.” He seemed to be choosing his words, glancing at her sidelong and picking at a stray thread in the silk cushions. “I… I hope this isn’t rude, it just caught my eye and, um… it’s alright if you don’t want to answer, but it seemed like a pretty big deal.”

Katara felt tension creep back into her limbs. The storm air was getting to her, but worse than that was the sudden, choking fear that she had been found out. How much did he know? Did the royal guard escorting them draw closer?

No, she decided. If Zuko had any idea who she really was, he would have brought more soldiers with him. And if this was a test, then surely it was better to control the information he got rather than to arouse his suspicions further.

Be calm. Be still. Adapt to the flow around you.

“There was an old tradition,” she said, trying not to sound like she was working out how to lie. “‘Sea Wolf’ was an honour given to the most powerful waterbender in the South, carried until they could no longer carry out their duty.”

“And what was their duty?” Zuko asked.

“They were the people’s champion. When they died or wished to retire, they would choose their successor.” She smiled. “It’s all in the past, especially now that the Fire Nation are our allies. What need do we have of such things?”

Zuko frowned, as if puzzling something out. “If it’s all in the past, what happened to the last Sea Wolf?”

Katara froze at the question. Fire and screaming flashed in her memory, the heat and the guilt of seeing her people destroyed and being able to do nothing to stop it. Her fingers reached for the familiar comfort of the necklace at her throat.

“She died.”

--

Katara was surprised by the number of guests in green and yellow as Zuko led her through the grand moon arch and into the Fire Lord’s public garden. The Earth Kingdom nobles flittered through the Fire Nation court like hummingbirds around flowers, keeping up a sycophantic bubble of conversation over their glasses of chilled fruit punch. The sight of which had Katara clenching her fists inside her sleeves. How many Earth Kingdom citizens had died trying to fight the Fire Nation, only for the self-interested aristocracy to pander to the enemy in order to protect their own interests? With great effort, she smoothed her face into a smile, and allowed Zuko to lead her through the crowd and offer introductions.

“Oh, so you’re the little thing Her Grace has taken such a shine to. The Fire Lord is quite generous to keep you as he does, you know.”

“Is it true the Water Tribes still wear animal skins and live in huts?”

“How brave of you to wear such colours, with your skin tone. And those beads – how quaint!”

Katara replied to all the backhanded sniping with good humour, but only because it was fun to guess whether they would be more shocked or scandalized when Zuko came to her defence. While he lacked the delicate wit to ever really be a proper politician, he made up for it with dry sarcasm and a disdainful stare, made all the more effective because, as the Crown Prince, nobody could afford to insult him. She watched as one particularly pushy matron, no doubt hinting at a match between Zuko and her rather mousy daughter, tripped over and over herself trying to clarify a remark about Katara’s hair.

“Lady Katara,” Zuko interrupted smoothly. “I hope you will forgive my rudeness. I got so absorbed in presenting you to so many lovely people that I forgot you haven’t even got a drink yet. Will you accompany me?”

Katara took his offered arm and all but purred at the way the matron’s jaw dropped open. “Of course, Your Highness. I admit, my throat is quite dry after all this delightful conversation. I don’t think I’ve ever tried fruit punch before.”

“Then I’m glad I have the pleasure of introducing it to you,” he replied, and led her to a quiet corner of the garden shaded by a thick stand of bamboo. “I’m sorry for all of this,” he murmured when he was sure nobody would overhear. “I know they can be rather… not nice.”

“I can handle them,” Katara told him with a shrug. “Is something else bothering you?”

“What?”

She frowned at him. “You’re scanning the crowd like you’re expecting something to happen. Am I keeping you from meeting someone special?” she teased, unsure why she wanted to catch him off-guard.

“What?” he cried, colouring. “No! I’m just…” He sighed. “It’s Azula. She’s late.”

“And that’s unusual for her?” Katara asked.

“She’s up to something,” he growled.

“Maybe you can find out if anyone else knows where she is,” she suggested.

Zuko’s eyes widened. “You believe me?”

She shrugged. “You do remember I met your sister, right? No offence.”

“None taken,” he replied, with a slowly spreading grin. “Wait, I almost forgot – drinks! Will you wait here for me?”

Katara hummed. “If I stay here all by myself it’ll look suspiciously like I’m not enjoying the company, but if I go out there,” she gestured vaguely, “then I’ll be roasted alive.”

“By the sun or by the company?” Zuko joked.

“Take a wild guess.” She shook her head. “I’ll mingle. I still have to find Bato, anyway. I haven’t seen much of him recently.”

Zuko bit his lip, the way he did whenever she brought up any reminder that she was still under house arrest, or that she and the rest of her entourage were watched, but he nodded and promised to come find her later with drinks.

Good, let him feel guilty, Katara thought as she ventured back into the sea of nobles. It means he won’t look so hard at what we’re doing.

She didn’t get far before she felt somebody slink up behind her. Instinctively, she took hold of the water in the nearby pond, but before she could do any more, a tall, pale young woman stepped out in front of her. Everything about her was made up of precise, straight angles, from the severe line of her fringe across her high forehead to the crease where her sleeves folded at the elbow, to the lazy slant of her kohl-rimmed eyes. She held herself with the kind of poise Katara knew from experience could drop into a fighting stance at the slightest provocation – something everyone else must have noticed, too, because the majority of the nobles who looked at her deflected their attention quickly away.

“You don’t have to pretend to like them, you know,” the strange woman said.

Katara gave her a quizzical smile. “I’m sorry?”

“Those Earth Kingdom ninnies,” came the drawled reply. “They probably wouldn’t notice if you were mean since they’re trained not to make a fuss. One of the only fun things to do around here is to see how far you can push them before they resort to having a tantrum.”

“We haven’t met before, have we?” Katara replied, hoping to at least get a name from her new acquaintance.

“Azula told me about you,” the stranger said. “The Water Tribe Princess. I thought you’d be taller.”

“My name’s Katara.” And yours is…?

“I know. Azula was impressed with you, you know, even if she’d refuse to admit it.” The thin face split into a smirk like a shark’s. “You should have heard her. It got so boring, listening to her go on and on about how rude you were to her.”

“I’m sorry I inconvenienced you,” Katara replied, not sure what else to say.

A shrug. “You should take that as a compliment, actually. Being ‘rude’ to Azula simply means not being scared stiff of her. Anyway, my parents would be horrified to find me not circulating. These parties are always so dull.” She turned with a dismissive wave of her hand. “If you ever need a friend, my name is Mai.”

Relieved to be out of dangerous waters, Katara offered a polite nod of her head and made her way over to where Bato was standing with his attendants. They all wore Fire Nation uniforms and stern expressions, telling her in no uncertain terms that every word she shared with her father’s ambassador would be reported to Ozai or his agents. In a way, she was grateful, because it meant he wouldn’t have the opportunity to chastise her for being reckless – because she could tell by the deep furrow of his brow that he knew exactly how she had been spending her evenings.

“Having fun?” she asked.

“I’m looking forward to the play they’re putting on for us, but it’s too hot,” he replied, smiling. “Not that there’s much to be done about that.”

“I’ve been told the rains will come soon.”

“Oh, and will they?”

She nodded. “Soon enough.”

“I see.” Bato sucked in his cheeks, glancing at their escort. “How are things with you, day-to-day?”

“I had a letter from Mimi yesterday,” she told him. “Something about –”

A fanfare interrupted her. The Fire Lord had arrived. Ozai appeared at the top of the steps to the private wing of the palace with Ursa’s hand placed delicately on top of his, fantastically arrayed in layered scarlet and burgundy that glittered with golden thread. On anyone less sure of their own power, such a display might seem ridiculous, but the thought did nothing to stop the cold shiver that ran down Katara’s spine. The last time she had seen the Fire Lord, he had been hidden behind a wall of flame.

He spotted them and came over. She was glad for the steadying hand Bato laid on her shoulder.

“Our most honoured guests,” Ozai said silkily. “We are so glad you could join in the festivities.”

“We are pleased to be here, your Majesty,” Katara replied, with a bow. “The entertainment promises to be enjoyable.”

“My son, no doubt, has told you about it,” replied the Fire Lord, with only the smallest hint of a sneer. “He would do better to spend his time bringing to justice the perpetrator of the recent destruction in the harbour.”

Bato’s grip tightened on Katara’s shoulder. “As I have told you before, Your Majesty,” he said, “the Southern Water Tribe will do all in its power to assist our allies with the capture of those responsible.”

“Can’t such serious talk be left until after the party is over?” Ursa interjected. “This celebration is supposed to be a happy occasion, after all.”

“My wife, the peacemaker,” Ozai chuckled. Katara noticed how his grip tightened on Ursa’s fingers. “Very well. We will take our seats and see what the Ember Island Players have for us this year.”

“Lady Katara, would you sit with me?” Ursa asked.

“Of course, Your Grace.”

As a group, the Water Tribe ambassadors and the royal entourage of the Fire Nation made their way to a small stone courtyard beyond the garden, where a small stage had been set up in front of rows of cushioned wooden benches. For a moment Katara paused, waiting to see whether Zuko would appear as he had promised. When her hesitation threatened to grow conspicuous, she sat down between Ursa and Bato, leaving enough space that she could shift up if she needed to.

On the stage, a man dressed in fiery orange tassels spread his arms.

“That’s Agni,” Ursa explained to Katara. “The god of fire. He narrates the story because his omniscience allows him to take events and show humanity the lessons embedded in them.”

“… a tale of how two threads of Destiny were ripped in twain…”

“I see neither of my children deigned to honour their father by showing up,” Ozai growled. “How disappointing.”

“Your Majesty, Zuko is here,” Katara protested. “Somewhere. He escorted me to the party.”

“… and, once known to each other, how they – what is the meaning of this?”

Ozai’s sneering retort faltered as he looked to the stage, where Azula stood with a blue fireball on each open palm, towering over the man dressed as Agni.

“I’m afraid tonight’s show has been postponed,” she trilled. “What a shame. I do so enjoy Love Amongst the Dragons. How fortunate that I’ve come prepared with an alternative form of entertainment.”

The audience watched, transfixed, as four royal guards armed with poleaxes marched onto the stage, dragging an unconscious figure between them.

“Noble guests, honoured Father, the time for fear is over,” she announced. “I have caught the saboteur. May I presents the Blue Spirit.”

[aion-rsa]

How Wonder Twins Became the Funniest DC Superhero Book

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Mark Russell and Stephen Byrne have made the Wonder Twins the most unlikely superhero reboot success story of our time.

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For all of the high profile storm clouds gathering on the horizon of the DC Universe between Year of the Villain, some decidedly Crisis-y vibes in Justice League, and the fact that the Batman Who Laughs gets his jollies by turning the heroes of the DC Universe into evil versions of themselves, you might think that it's all bad vibes in the DCU. Ah, but you would be wrong. Each month, Wonder Twins (yes, those Wonder Twins) delivers a blast of hilarity and social commentary, all set right under the noses of the Justice League at the Hall of Justice. Imagine a DC superhero comic as steeped in deep superhero and animation knowledge as a show like Venture Bros., packed with the same irreverent and manic energy, and with a similarly sympathetic eye towards the failings of its heroes and villains. That's Wonder Twins.

And really, it shouldn't work. The titular Wonder Twins, Zan and Jayna, were alien sidekicks from the planet Exxor who hung around on episodes of the Super Friends in the late 1970s and early '80s. Both are shape shifters, although their respective power sets are somewhat limited in this regard. Jan can take on the "form of" anything related to water, while Jan takes on the "shape of" various animals. Of course they can only activate these powers when they're together, and really, there's only so many times a giant purple eagle can carry a bucket of water with a face on it to put out a fire or whatever, so their powers aren't exactly their most compelling aspect. Nor are there purple uniforms, snazzy as they are, or weirdly uncool-cool-for-like-5-minutes-in-the-late-90s-then-uncool-again haircuts really the thing that makes Wonder Twins such a great book.

No, that would be the jokes. So many of them. All of the jokes allowed by the Comics Code were that still a thing (which it thankfully is not). Jokes from the minds, pens, and brushes of Mark Russell (of the similarly hilarious and shockingly poignant The Flintstones and The Snagglepuss Chronicles) and Stephen Byrne (lots of cool things but especially a bunch of gorgeously animated genre-fan friendly viral videos that you have almost certainly seen...and if you haven't you should fix that right now). Jokes that are packed into the backgrounds of panels and arrive at such a pace you sometimes have moved on to another page before they've all fully landed. Hell, even jokes at the expense of Superman and that notorious buzzkill Batman. 

But threaded through the humor is a genuine understanding of the human condition, a sympathetic eye given to all who deserve it (even the book's villains), and a genuine understanding of and even respect for how the DC Universe should work, even when we're all laughing with (or at) the sheer ridiculousness of it all. It's that balance that probably helped Wonder Twins, originally planned as a six part mini-series get expanded to 12. And with the first volume out now collecting those initial six issues, there's no better time to get to know Zan and Jayna...or the creators behind them. So...activate! 

Den of Geek: The thing that really strikes me about this book is how animated it feels even on the page. What’s your process is like working together? Are you acting these scripts out? Are you hearing the script in your head when you start doing it? 

Mark Russell: Well it starts with the process of trying to think of what I would tell myself if I had the ability to go back in time and talk to myself as a 16 or 17-year-old kid and think about what that means in the modern context. If I can tell them one thing today, what would it be? I try to tell it in as visual way as possible. I know that Stephen's going to take the ball and run with that in ways I can't even foresee. Our process is mainly me just telling him what I have to say and just waiting for him to come up with visual ways to make that happen.

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Stephen Byrne: I guess from an art perspective, I have a background in animation and the main place where people know the characters from originally was the Super Friends cartoon. So I'm sort of trying to bring a little touch of that vibe into it with the bright colors and the simple line work, but then to inject it with more darkness and deepness and emotion. You can be more creative with the types of compositions and shots you're doing that they wouldn't have had the budget for in the old Wonder Twins cartoon. I want it to feel artistically familiar to how people know the characters, but also make it a much more emotional and meaningful.

Mark: I feel like Wonder Twins is ultimately sort of a dystopian book, but I feel like a dystopian America will be colorful. 

Stephen: Doesn't dystopia imply futuristic? Isn't it just present day dystopia?

Mark: Right. It's a dystopia that will take place in the next 18 months. I feel like dystopias you see in literature are all gray and dark like George Orwell's 1984. They all kind of look like East Germany in 1976. I feel like in dystopian America, we might not even recognize the dystopia because it will look like a Taco Bell. It'll be like, purple and orange and stuff. That's why Steven is so good because he represents these dystopian topics, but in a way that's very sort of colorful and almost attractive.

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Stephen: I like that because I think of the book as dealing with some of the unresolvable tragedies of our time. That's overall in the themes, but then moment to moment on every single page, there's something that'll make you laugh or some funny joke. I try and keep it light and brief in the moment to moment because the story carries that extra satirical social commentary.

Mark: I think the central theme of the story is that the world is terrible, but we find things worth saving in it, that our lives are still good despite the fact the world is terrible.

Stephen: Sometimes.

Mark: We find ways to make life worth living and I think that's what the Wonder Twins do. They make the life they have worth living, even though they’re exiled on a planet they know nothing about, living in a sort of screwed up culture that they had no role in creating, but they find a way to make it work for them.

There's so many background gags in there ... are these all written by Mark or is Stephen sneaking stuff in the background too?

Mark: I think it's both..

Stephen: But I'd say it's mostly you and you started doing it and then once in a while I will take the lead and put it in something because I know that's kind of the tone of what you're going for.

Mark: That's kind of how I get to know an artist. I say, "Here's some background gags I want you to sneak in at some point." Then I think that they get me after that point. They get the sensibility and they feel more comfortable including their own thing. I think the worst thing you can do is just have every scene in what looks like a CSI set. There needs to be things that give you your character and your perspective in the background that set it apart from other sorts of things. I'm very adamant about writing in background gags or details that will give it this air of not being like the set of a primetime TV show.

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Stephen: That's funny because I used to do satirical newspaper cartoons and I would do the main joke or whatever in the strip, but if possible, I would always sneak a little something in the background for people. I think people like that if they notice something that they know not everyone noticed. You get a little extra satisfaction out of it.

Mark: It makes the world feel more fully populated. Oh, this isn't just somebody making it up as they go along. They've created this whole world for me to live in.

Any of those jokes not make it into the final book?

Stephen: I probably didn't know about it. By the time it got to me, they were already gone.

Mark: There's some that were just a little too dark to make it into the Wonder Twins comic. It's like ‘we don't really need these jokes in a comic about a guy who turns into water’ was one of the comments I got from one of the editors.

Anything that you're allowed to talk about or not?

Mark: I'll leave it there.

Okay, that's fair. Stephen, have there ever been any that you had to get on Skype and say, "Mark, I'm not doing this. I'm not drawing this."

Stephen: No, I don't think so. I think by the time...

Mark: The editors get to do that. Then by the time Steven sees it, it's a little sanitized.

Stephen: When it gets to me, it's all very above board.

What kind of voices do you envision for these characters because obviously we all remember the Super Friends voices, but possibly my favorite panel in this whole series is still from the date story when Zan is like, "I'll have the scared tuna," with this look on his face. The only voice I can ever hear when I read that panel is Hank Venture's. How do you guys envision their voices?

Mark: Well I kind of approached the Wonder Twins like they’re one really well adjusted person tragically split in half. Jayna's the one with the deeper intelligence and the wittiness and Zan's the guy who's optimistic and ready for any adventure, but he's kind of dopey and clueless about the world at the same time. That's the way I tried to have that. He's ultimately just optimistic and ready to venture opinions about things he knows nothing about. Jayna's more shy and sort of a quiet genius, but not ready to talk about the things that she knows very well.

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Stephen: I hadn't specifically thought about their voices, but I think their characters come through in the words really strongly. When I'm drawing Zan, he's always over-excited and making a fool of himself and being sort of zany and weird, living in the moment. He's like a puppy. Whatever's going on, he's just excited about. Then I think of Jayna as much more introspective, contemplative, thoughtful...

Mark: She sees the deeper tragedy in everything around her.

Stephen: Yeah, very self serious. Zan is usually bouncing off the walls and smiling and she's usually sitting, thinking about everything that's terrible all the time. I have thought about it in the way that I do their body language and stuff like that, but not specifically their voices.

Mark: Jayna's probably more of the person I am and Zan's probably more of the person I wish I was.

Stephen: Yeah, I'm a Jayna for sure.

How much of this book is an actual critique of superheroes and how much of this is you trying to relate to superheroes in terms of this world?

Mark: Well, I think a lot of it is my critique of society in general, which is that our institutions no longer serve us. The institutions were created to serve us, but then at some point it changes. And so we then begin serving the institutions, and we forget why they exist except for that we know that we must serve them. And I feel at some point the superheroes themselves become an institution, and they forget why they're superheroes. They forget why they're doing this. They just know that this is what they've always done. And so I try to question that. I try to force them into these circumstances where they have to wonder why am I doing this or is this the best way to serve society, five superheroes converging on a purse snatcher? Is this really what society needs more than anything? I couldn't be doing anything else more valuable with my powers than this? I try to ask these questions in my scripts.

Stephen: I think of it as a commentary on superheroes but also a celebration at the same time. Like the best self-referential work, it can poke fun at the thing it's about also being a great version of what it's about.

What about body language? The body language that you give Superman is not the body language you often associate with the character.

Stephen: We're seeing him in a different context than we usually would. And so he's dealing with interns which isn't his usual thing. And so you're just getting to see a slightly different side of him.

Mark: He's more of a father figure in this one because he's got these two foundlings that he brought over from Exxor to Earth. He's their father figure now. It's his super power not being so much his speed or his strength, but his wisdom, and it's a side of Superman you don't see a lot, but just him understanding what it is as an outsider the human race needs. And then explaining that to Zan and Jayna I think sort of defined Superman for this series in a different way than he is sometimes presented in other series.

You're often writing characters who are the smartest people in the room. You have a Filo Math and Polly Math and you just did that great Riddler special as well. That's not the easiest thing to do, especially in the superhero world. So how do you put yourself in that head space and then how do you distinguish them from the characters that are less visible?

Mark: I just think smart people are more interesting. I also think that we are all sort of the geniuses of ourselves. We all understand our own perspective better than anybody else. So what I try to do is just give the character room to explore right or wrong. This is why I feel the way I do and make a stand for why they are the way they are. And I feel like that's what allows people to connect with these characters to make them feel relevant. It's like we all have that moment where the world does not understand us, but if we only had this moment where we could talk to somebody through the pages of a comic book and explain ourselves, then we would be the heroes of our own story.

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Stephen: My answer is much less sophisticated. I draw the intelligent people wearing suits and ties and glasses. There's some body language and expression stuff too, but that's definitely part of it is just sort of the way they present themselves. They're smart people.

Since that was way too straightforward and serious an answer, let's go back to the funny stuff. And what do you feel is the most ridiculous thing you've gotten to draw in the book so far? Whether it was the funniest or whether it was a thing that you were just like, how the hell am I going to make this work in this comic?

Stephen: First thing that came to mind, although there's so many, right? It's like there's something every issue that's insane. But the first thing that comes to mind was a giant gorilla punching an alcoholic vampire through the air, which I was just like, this is so weird and funny and comedic in tone and yet in like three pages time, you're going to get an emotional punch in the gut for the conclusion of that story, which was so tragic. So I love drawing the funny stuff and I love drawing the emotional stuff and I love that you can kind of oscillate between them in such a short space of time. I think a lot of that is down to Mr. Russell.

Mark: And I think one of the things I try to bring out in the scripts is that these are two dimensional, funny comic book characters where there's always a third dimension lurking somewhere in the background. There is a backstory or a tragic shadow to this person that makes what they're doing makes sense and Stephen does a very good job of bringing that out in the artwork.

Mike Cecchini is the Editor in Chief of Den of Geek. You can read more of his work here. Follow him on Twitter @wayoutstuff.

Read and download the Den of Geek NYCC 2019 Special Edition Magazine right here!

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Interview Mike Cecchini

Nov 13, 2019

DC Entertainment

from Books https://ift.tt/2q9th2q

[nika-the-hunter]

House of Mist [Ch.1]

294km off the coast of the Last City +1124 Days

The ship shuddered as it passed through another thunderstorm, the third one since they took off from what was left of Manhattan. The ship barely maintained a pressurized cabin, and against all odds, the heaters still functioned, something Nicole was grateful for. She had to love the old Golden age technology, it lasted forever.

Her Ghost was piloting the ship, so she leaned back in the ruined seat and sighed. It had taken her just over seven months to find something to cross the Atlantic, and she didn’t even know how to fly it. Of course, that’s what the Ghost was for, at the moment.

Her Ghost hadn’t said much, Nichole assumed that he, like her, didn’t know much else.

Nicole gripped the pilot’s stick as the craft shook again. Another lightning strike to the wing. Tugging at the stick was useless, the controls were all shot and would need to be fixed when they got wherever they were headed.

“I’m going to bring us out of the clouds now.” the Ghost said.

“Alright, are we close?” She asked. The ship dropped down out of the clouds. Nicole could see land below them. Everything was green and overgrown. Whatever had been there was long gone by now.

“We are approaching the air identification zone for the City.” He said.

Almost on cue, the old radio crackled and a voice spoke from a hanging headset. “Attention; Ship pinging as Skylanes Sierra-One-Zero-Two-Romeo-Charlie, this is Vanguard Tower Control. You are entering restricted airspace. Identify or you will be shot down.”

Nicole looked over at her Ghost hovering over the controls. “Let them know you’re a new guardian coming in.” He said, the small tabs stuck onto his ball rotated and twitched.

She took a breath and pulled the headset onto her head. “Tower ATC… this is One-Zero-Two-Romeo-Charlie, I am… uh… a new Guardian, my Ghost brought me here.”

The other end was quiet for a moment. “...Roger that. Then have your Ghost send telemetry to confirm position.”

Her Ghost twitched. “Here it goes…”

“Telemetry data received. Outpost now has visual, one moment... Your ship is too large to set down in the Tower hanger. Ghost, proceed to Tower runway Seven-West. Runway is being cleared for your approach. Welcome to the Last City, Guardian.”

“You may want to hold on to something. This craft is centuries old.” Her Ghost said.

Nicole looked around the cockpit, the seat belts had rotted away long ago and the seat itself wasn't in a much better state. Once again, she took hold of the flight stick. “You can just revive me again, hmm?” she said with a worried smile.

The small machine turned to look at her with the most serious expression a ball could have. “Only if we don't explode on impact.”

The craft banked and slowed, its engines winding down for its final approach. It came down on the runway hard. The landing gear suspension snapped, and the stiff tires tore apart from friction. Yet the landing gear’s brace held and the shuttle slid down the runway on its rims. The wing flaps lowered to their full extension and brought the craft to a gradual, but rough stop.

“Well… we didn't explode. Good work, Ghost.” Nicole said.

“Thank you.” The ball simply vanished into her armor.

Nicole turned and pushed open the pressure door between the cockpit and the passenger compartment. She pushed her way through rusted chairs and the glowing blue chunks that cluttered the floor. The cargo hold was apparently full of the stuff, her Ghost said it was important for making things, but he didn’t have the capabilities to actually use it to the cubes’ full extent.

The outer door creaked as she opened it to the outside world. Nicole looked on in awe, at the massive sphere that sat in place at the center of the vast city that spanned the horizon.

“So that's the Traveler?” she asked her Ghost.

It's voice came from the speakers in her helmet. “Yes, that is it… That is what made me, and helped bring you back.”

“Damn… It's bigger than I thought.” Nicole tore her gaze from the Traveler and the city and looked down the runway. A cluster of vehicles were approaching with flashing lights. It occurred to her once more that she did just land in a craft that was centuries old and could burst into flames at any given moment.

She dropped down from the door and quickly walked away from the still smoking rims. The emergency vehicles came to a stop, and the crews doused the hot parts of the ship with foam.

A woman hopped off the back of one of the trucks. She wore a set of bulky armor and a silver sash hung from her waist. “Are you the new Guardian, Hunter?”

“My name is Nicole, not Hunter. And yes, I suppose I am,” she replied.

The woman chuckled. “I didn't mean your name, you're a Hunter, it's your class,” she said.

“Oh, my mistake.” Nicole held out her hand to shake. “Pleasure to meet you …?” She paused to let the woman introduce herself.

The woman reached out and took Nicole’s hand with a firm grip. “Matilda, I'm part of City Defense. They sent me over in case you were actually non-human.”

“Just you?” Nicole asked.

Matilda laughed again. “I am a Titan, ma'am. I'm all they need.”

“I take it you're very skilled?” Nicole asked.

“You are really new, aren't you.” The Titan said. “Your Ghost not fill you in?”

Nicole’s eyes glanced up at the small icon on her visor. “No, he doesn't talk much.”

“Maybe now that you've finally reached the Tower, I can change that.” The Ghost piped up privately.

Nicole rolled her eyes. “He's been helpful with everything else, just not information.”

“Very well then. I am a Titan, we are the Warriors of the Light. The so-called blunt force of the Traveler’s will. Then there are the Warlocks, they spend a lot of time in their books, but they're a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.” She stopped and looked Nicole over. “And Hunters… Well. They spend a lot of time in the wild, fans of knives and ranged weapons… Speaking of which… How long were you out there?”

Nicole nodded her head up to her Ghost’s icon so he could give an exact time. The white machine appeared over her shoulder. “It's been one thousand one hundred and twenty-four days.”

“Damn, long time. Just proves point one.” Matilda looked down at the pair of throwing knives on Nicole’s belt. “There's two… What's your preferred weapon?”

The definite Hunter pulled the strange brown weapon off her back to show the Titan. “This, and my Sidearm.”

“That's a Fallen wire rifle… Definitely ranged.” Matilda chuckled. “Yep, you are most certainly a Hunter.” She looked over Nicole’s armor, something she had neglected to really look at before. “Wait, your gear is Fallen too? If I didn't know any better, you could be a Vandal.”

Nicole laughed and turned, showing off the red caps she had from a Dreg and welded to her side. “Had to blend in somehow.”

“Yeah, leave your helmet off while here, or get a new set of armor. I don't want you shot by someone who thinks you really are Fallen.” The Titan said.

“Hmm, I see your point.” Nicole reached up and removed her helmet, clipping the back end to a loop on her belt. When Nicole looked back up, Matilda was looking closely at her face. “What is it?”

“You’re eyes glow like an Awoken, but you’re a regular Human…” She shrugged. “I don’t know what’s up though, maybe the Warlock Vanguard would know something. Either way, you need to go up the tower to meet with the Hunter rep and then the Shipwright, probably.”

“How do I get up to the Tower from here?” Nicole looked around, “Could they tow my ship somewhere out of the way? I would like to get some personal effects out after I get settled here.”

“Yes, if you follow that yellow marked fence into the old terminal, the lifts inside will take you up to the Tower Commons.” Matilda pointed over to a building at the base of the Tower Nicole had landed near.

Nicole nodded. “Thank you. Perhaps I’ll see you again.” She waved to the Titan and walked off towards the lift.

“Don’t count on it, there are a lot of us!” Matilda shouted out before Nicole left earshot.

The old doors slid open, rust being ground off its gears. She walked into what looked like an abandoned airport terminal. The rows of chairs covered in blankets and dust. In certain areas, plants had grown through cracks in the flooring.

An advertisement for some sort of rife was haphazardly slapped up on a pillar. The paper was a bit worn, but still highly legible. Suros Weapons Foundry was printed above the white plated weapon in bold black lettering, though the R was red. The gun itself was sleek, with a red creatures painted to the side.

A voice spoke up from the darkness. “Ah, lookin' at the DIS-47. Good gun, but I am more of a Regime guy myself.”

She turned around to see a group of Guardians seated around a table playing cards. Their table was illuminated by a couple camping lanterns placed in the small space. They were fellow Hunters, from the look of their gear. The card table was hidden behind a stack of cargo crates, which explained why she did not see it coming in. One of them nodded to her, he must have been the one who spoke.

Nicole shook her head. “Honestly, haven't heard of either of them. This is my first time back to any sort of civilization.”

The Hunter humphed. “Ah, spending time in the wild, that's something I haven't done in a while. Though you don't look like a baby guardian.” He looked over at the others at the table, who all nodded their heads in agreement. “How long?”

“Two years, I think.” She said with a shrug.

“Hmm...” He looked over her armor. “You some sort of Fallen lover?”

She looked back down at herself, and made up a lie about it. It probably would not be a good idea for them to know the real way she got it. “I scavenged it. Years in the ruins and I had to blend in somehow, but I do respect them as an enemy.” Nicole waved her head back towards the elevator. “I really should go up the Tower though.”

“Whatever you say, bug hugger.” The Hunter chuckled and waved her off. “See you around.”

She sighed, shook her head, and headed to the lift. Nicole pressed the button that was labeled as the Tower Commons and was sent up the base massive tower. The door dinged and slid open once she reached the top. The Commons itself was sort of unimpressive, but the view was breathtaking. The Great Machine, or the Traveler as her fellow Humans called it, floated out above the city way in the distance.

Her Ghost piped up from her helmet. “You should probably listen to what Matilda said. Go meet the Vanguard.”

She looked down at the helmet clipped to her side. “Fine, I’ll do that. But I will go see the shipwright first.” Nicole looked up at the directory to see where the Shipwright was located and followed the directions into the hangar. She had to pass through some sort of weird security like checkpoint, but it was unmanned and there were guns just sitting on the wall. It was unusual, but she just chocked it off as something they do around here.

The hangar was a large open space, the small vendor and offices were on catwalks above the main hangar floor. It reminded her a bit of some of the military sites she had visited on her journey to the Tower. Though this was still in good repair and functioning. She walked up to the stall with the big Shipwright sign.

A woman was sitting up on a crate in the back. “Hey, Guardian. Haven't seen you around here before, I'm Amanda Holliday, the best Shipwright around.” Her voice had a slight southern accent, it appeared that some of the people from the southern part of the North American Empire was still around.

“Uh, hello. I just arrived and-”

The Shipwright cut her off. “Is that your wreck on the runway?”

Nicole nodded. “Well...yes... yes it is.”

She hopped off the crate and walked over to a screen showing a runway camera view. “Ah, an old Pterosaur Vi-Two-twenty-one. She's a beaut' when all cleaned up.”

“That's actually why I came over here,” Nicole said. “Can you fix it?”

“Can I fix it?” Holliday questioned. “Hunter, of course I can. As long as you've got the Glimmer.”

Nicole had heard of it before, the Fallen had mentioned it a few times. She had never really cared about money, “Glimmer?”

“Glimmer, cubes of matter. Glowin' blue?” The Shipwright said. “The re-programmable matter we make just about everything out of nowadays.”

“Oh! So that's what that stuff is... Check the ship’s cargo hold, I hope that will be enough.” The belly of the ship was filled with several crates of tightly packed cubes that glowed a brilliant blue. Her Ghost had made a comment about how it was valuable, but not how it was.

“Well, alright then Guardian,” Holliday said, hopping off the container. “I'll head down and get to work then.”

“Um, sounds good. Is there some way for you to contact me, or me contact you?” Nicole asked.

“I've got a com unit, and you have a Ghost.” Holliday said. “Just gimme your CID and we'll be good.”

Nicole did not know what a CID was, but she summoned her Ghost in her hand anyway. He spun and looked around. “I’ve transmitted the communicator identification number to your device.”

“Alrighty then, I’ll send you a message with an update on your ship when I know something.” The Shipwright opened up a gate and walked through. “I’ll go get to work.” Nicole walked across a balcony on one of the lower levels of the tower. It had been two weeks since she had arrived there, and she was anxious to actually visit the Last City. However, the Vanguard had restricted her access to just the Tower. Maybe they didn’t like her ‘Fallen’ look. Holliday had informed her that the ship would take about a month of repairs to get it back to working order, but she was not in a hurry. Nicole stopped as someone fell from the balcony above and smashed into the ground in front of her. Their Ghost appeared and revived the Exo, who immediately went over to the next railing and hopped over the side. “Uh... what....” She ran over and saw that he was still there, holding onto the lip on the other side. The Exo looked up at her from his view. “Oh, hello!” “Are... you alright?”  Nicole asked. “Yeah... fine. Why?” He replied. “Well, you’re just hanging off the ledge.” She glanced down over the edge. “Yeah, its cool though.” He said. “I mean, we can’t die.” “Well I suppose that is cool...” Nicole nodded slightly, she had experienced that moment more than a few times on her journey. The high that went with it was a strange sensation. “Are you new?” “I might be, why?” The Exo pulled himself up and back onto the balcony. “Because you were just hanging off the side of the Tower,” she waved her hands over towards the edge. “Well... what about that makes you think I'm ‘new’?” He asked, a playful tone present in his synthetic voice. “Don’t know, just seems that it does.” Nicole said. “Okay, well... I am. I’ve been here for a week.” “Ah, I got here two weeks ago” Nicole nodded. “Oh so you just were revived too?” The Exo asked.

“No, it just took me a while to make it to the Tower.” “Oh cool. It took me a while to get here too, I was revived in a hospital in Meridian Bay on Mars... I'm pretty sure.” He held out his hand and his Ghost appeared. “Jinx?” “What is it, Guardian?” It asked, his Ghost had a feminine voice, contrary to hers.

“How did you find me?” He asked the ball. “You were in a pile of dirt in a hospital... Floor seven, room forty-two.  Meridian Bay, Mars.” Jinx spouted off some coordinates that meant nothing to Nicole. The Exo stopped looking at the Ghost and then to Nicole. “You have nice eyes.” His Ghost stopped talking and turned to face the Exo as well. “Oh... um thank you.” Nicole felt herself blush a bit. “Would you like to continue this conversation over a drink or something?” he asked. “Mmm... sure.” Nicole nodded. “Is there a good place to go?” “There isn't much in the Tower Commons, but a few levels down there is a place with decent food,” he said. The Exo led the way down a stairwell and into a small tavern built along an open span in the Tower’s supports. They took a seat and a Frame brought over a couple drinks automatically. “My names Brutus, by the way.”

“Ah, I'm Nicole. Good to meet you.” She introduced herself as well. They tapped their glasses and took a drink. It was interesting having contact with someone, after a year of walking through the wastes. Everyone she met on the tower, short of Holliday and Matilda, seemed to avoid her. Maybe it was not anything really, perhaps Guardians just normally passed one another without saying a word.

“So what is your story? What took you so long to get here?” Brutus asked.

“Ah, well, it's a long one...” Nicole trailed off and took a sip.

“We've got time”

“Then here it goes....”