#i wish they got to talk one on one like phil actually planned to

[tasmanianchickenstrips]

The chat Phil had with the kids today was so important and good for them but I still feel like Chayanne seems himself as a martyr for the sake for others and its killing me. "If it is me.. okay but do not ever hurt Lullah again" was agonizing to read. Like king no you both have equal value that's still not ok to think...

[torukmaktoskxawng]

tsamsiyu ta'em - strangers like me

Masterlist - part ten

Summary: Kayla continues to learn about island life with the Metkayina and also learns a bit more about her teachers along the way. Tonowari and Ronal find their student strange and intriguing.

Pairing: Ronal/Tonowari/Original Female Character

Tag: #tsamsiyu ta'em fic

posted on ao3

Word Count: 6k+

Taglist (bold indicates "could not tag"): @motheroffae @undeniableadrenaline @mooniequeen @shit-i-say-shit-i-think @heart-an0n @amiets2 @slutforsmut4ever @yeosxxx​ @im-in-a-pansexual-panik @sucker4angstt @inolaphoenix @ilovechickenwings tojisleftarm andyfromku @ivysully

A/N: I am so sorry for my absence! I wish I have a good excuse for being absent, but the truth is I'm not doing so hot in the real world rn. My job is cutting back hours and I barely have enough for rent. I'm getting a second job next month so hopefully, things smoothen out.

Here is the long-awaited update that I will kick myself for delaying in exchange for obsessively crying over Good Omens Season 2. Let the montage of Awa'atlu life commence! Again, thank you for your patience and I hope you enjoy!

Note: The title is named after the Phil Collins song "Strangers Like Me" because Tarzan and Avatar just go together XD

To avoid having Ronal hunt her down again, Kayla got up earlier the next morning and made her way back to the village to join her brother's family for breakfast before her lessons. Kiri was definitely doing better and Tuk was excited that her aunt had decided to see them off before their busy days. After pleasant conversations and the promise to meet before their midday meal, the kids took off to pursue whatever they planned for the day. Kayla stood up with the intention of going to find either the tsahik or the olo'eyktan and so Jake walked her out of the marui as they talked.

"So Neteyam mentioned that you guys talked about what happened between Lo'ak and Ao'nung," Jake started off.

'Oh, boy, here we go,' Kayla thought as she tilted her head to glance back at him, feigning partial innocence, "Yes? What about it?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to let you know that it's already been handled, and it sounds like the boys are actually getting along now. Neteyam also mentioned that you didn't get to meet Ao'nung yesterday so I wanted to make sure you knew this before you went looking for a fight with the kid."

"Jake, how young do you think I am?" When his face twisted with hesitance, she rolled her eyes, "Don't answer that. What I'm trying to say is that I'm not a child, I'm older than I look, and believe it or not, I do realize this. You don't have to worry about me... but you could've been a little nicer to Lo'ak."

Jake refrained from also rolling his eyes, knowing his sister would say this. He wasn't blind. He was well aware that Kayla would always be quick to defend his youngest son, no matter what he did. Jake was half-convinced that Lo'ak could get away with murder as far as his aunt was concerned, "He knew he wasn't allowed to go beyond the reef but he went anyway. He was at fault as much as Ao'nung."

"I get that, but it feels as though Lo'ak received more punishment than the boys who actually put him in danger, and for what?"

"For picking fights."

"No, for defending his sister," her eyes narrowed, "Not that you would know what that means."

Jake took the verbal lashing in stride, internally sighing, "I can't punish the chief's son for what he does against my kids, Kayla."

At first, Kayla had every intention of cursing her brother out, but instead paused and tried rephrasing her response. Her eyes drifted to the reef while she recalled far-off memories, "I remember Mom and Dad were allowed to punish the neighbor kids if they misbehaved with us and no one would bat an eye."

The mention of his old life irked him, and he wasn't afraid to show that in his deep snarl, "Well, Mom and Dad aren't here and we're not on Earth," her posture visibly stiffens but doesn't interrupt. Jake's wave of anger is immediately replaced with guilt, so he opts in taking a breath before he could say anything else he might come to regret, "Things are different here. So be civil and keep the peace. Don't go picking fights with teenagers."

"I won't," she mutters darkly, the coldness in her eyes returning as she side-eyes him, reminding Jake that he still wasn't out of the storm regarding her, "That's what you're here for."

She doesn't stay long enough to hear whatever rebuttal he might have in mind. Instead, she walks down the pathways leading further into the village before calling back, "I'll see you later."

Tail lowered in distress and possibly shame, Jake could only turn back to the marui and try to go about his day as he normally would. He knew he deserved the petty insults and his sister's aggression toward him, especially after all the radio silence she had endured for months while he was here experiencing a new way of life, on top of everything else. He just wished Kayla could manage to let go of all the pain and anger like he did when he first began to learn the ways of the Omatikaya. Physically, Kayla's avatar hasn't changed apart from the new Na'vi trinkets she had added to her standard-issued cargo shorts and crop top. However, Jake had hoped her mentality toward him would change the more she learned how to be Na'vi. 

He knew he was a fool to get his hopes up so soon. 

Walking through the village, Kayla went down the same route Ronal had brought her yesterday, hoping she would catch sight of the tsahik. Again, there were some stares from the Metkayina, but they didn't last as long as the day before and the reef people didn't look as bothered by her appearance. The Na'vi go about their day without much acknowledgment to Kayla, and before she knew it, she had made it to her destination, the craft huts she had met Tsireya just the other day.

It wasn't hard to find Ronal among the crowd of mottled skin patterns. Her accessories, tattoos, and rounded stomach are a dead giveaway, and the tsahik easily found Kayla in the crowd in turn, though it wasn't as hard, given the circumstances. Ronal's eyes visibly squint when her gaze lands on Kayla, then the Na'vi woman pulls away from her task to rise and meet the avatar. Another Na'vi stands to join her, a teenage boy and Kayla had an inkling who it was.

When Ronal approached Kayla, she motioned to the boy behind her, "My son, Ao'nung."

Smiling timidly, Kayla greets Ao'nung as respectfully as possible, though even she could admit her smile was tighter than usual. Ao'nung didn't say a word back, instead deciding to simply nod and avoid eye contact. His ears drooped and his head lowered like this was torture for him. Clearly, he was being coerced into being here with Kayla, but she decided not to fault him for it. Perhaps he's already being punished enough for his wrongdoings that he didn't need Kayla to torture him further about it.

Ronal doesn't appear to notice nor care for Ao'nung's discomfort and sternly stated to Kayla, "We will be teaching you how to communicate underwater. Do not fall behind or you will be left behind."

Kayla refrains from the small smile that threatened to escape her. Ronal's words vaguely reminded her of Neytiri's way of teaching Jake both from the stories she heard and the video log Jake had recorded. As Jake had once phrased it, 'Learn fast or die.'

With that in mind, Kayla doesn't complain and silently follows Ronal and Ao'nung away from the craft huts and further down the pathways. It didn't take long before they brought their guest to a large marui. It wasn't as big as the communal pod for the feasts, but it was significantly taller and wider than the normal ones Kayla has seen, including the Sullys' marui. She took note of the different colors of weaving and decorations adorning the home, such as the totem and skimwing skull hanging over the front entrance in greeting, a small windchime of shells softly dancing in the warm breeze. If Kayla had to guess, this was the olo'eyktan and tsahik's pod. Soon after stepping inside, both Ronal and Ao'nung lower to the ground, sitting back on their legs and Kayla does the same, proceeding to listen as Ronal starts off the lesson.

Nothing eventful happened as Kayla learned the Metkayina equivalent of sign language. Ao'nung never said a word regarding Lo'ak or any incident that happened with Kayla's nieces and nephews prior to her arrival. In fact, Ao'nung didn't say a whole lot other than chiming in a time or two to help Kayla with the lesson. Perhaps he never said a word outside of the subject of his people's sign language because his mother had been giving him sharp looks throughout the whole lesson. It was hard to miss. Ronal wasn't exactly a subtle creature. She openly expressed whatever she was feeling, unafraid of hurting someone's feelings, not even her son's, it would seem.

It was amusing to find all the similarities between the mother and son, both physically and spiritually. Their glare, eyes, and even their pout were the same. Kayla even dared herself to look a little closer without getting caught and noticed that Ao'nung inherited the same mole as his mother's, both spots found above their lip, on the top right side.

She must have lost track in time as the suns rose higher in the sky. Before she knew it, her next teacher had shown up to take her to her next destination. Tonowari stepped up into the marui, his large frame blocking the majority of the light coming in through the entryway. His gaze brushes over Kayla and Ao'nung before his eyes land on the tsahik, "Ma Ronal. Is this a good time?"

One of Kayla's ear flick to the side at the term of endearment, glancing over to the woman in question who only firmly nods and stares back at Kayla, "Go on. My mate will continue your riding lessons from yesterday."

Kayla mutters her thanks and stands up to join Tonowari. As they turn toward the exit, the olo'eyktan points back to his son, "Ao'nung. Remain with your mother."

"But, Father--"

"Do not question me, boy," the tone in Tonowari's voice was a little louder and stronger than normal, and even Kayla could feel her spine straightening up, despite not being under his scrutiny. Kayla briefly glances back at Ao'nung and notes the way he shrinks in on himself, still unable to look her in the eye, clearly embarrassed. Kayla looks away and follows Tonowari out of the marui, shadowing his footsteps as he addresses her, "I apologize for my son."

For the moment, Kayla had the empathy to pity the teenager and decided to soften the blow against Ao'nung, "There's nothing to apologize for. He was a pleasant enough teacher."

His voice had reverted back to its normal tone, significantly smoother and kinder on the ears, "Did you learn well?"

"I think so. It's not that different compared to what the Sky People have," when he flashed a questioning glance over his shoulder at her, she further explained, "They have a language that requires hand motions, too."

He doesn't question it further, instead looking back ahead and leading Kayla down to the docks. The ilu anxiously await their arrival in the water below, clicking and calling excitedly as Tonowari pulls a harness over one of their heads. The two adults get into the water and stand beside the earnest ilu, Tonowari trying to calm the creature whilst Kayla makes tsaheylu. She mounts the creature with ease, remembering yesterday's lesson and dreading the idea of falling off again as Tonowari begins reassuring her, "You need to exude confidence. Tell the ilu that you will command them and you will be respected by them. Do not give them space to come up with their own ideas."

She takes a few deep breaths to calm her nerves and nodded, waiting until Tonowari steps away before commanding the ilu to move forward using only the bond connecting them to each other's thoughts. The creature obliges and all appears to be going smoothly. Kayla manages to instruct the ilu to swim faster before eventually sinking underneath the water's surface. The ilu picks up speed and even as she clings on for dear life, Kayla could already feel her grip loosening. Angry and determined, Kayla tightens her thighs around the saddle of the creature and demands her bonded steed to leap out of the water and let her breathe, no room for nonsense.

To her shock and delight, the ilu chirped happily and sprung out of the water like a bullet, briefly flying through the air and allowing Kayla to take a breath before diving back in. She was so shocked that she almost lost her grip before regaining composure and asking the ilu to do it again, in case she had only imagined her success. The ilu was ecstatic to leap out of the water again and did so without a fuss, and this time, Kayla laughed as the shock wore off.

On the surface, the woman is met with a small audience. Lo'ak, Neteyam, and Tsireya were out riding their own respective ilu that afternoon before briefly pausing to watch a school of fish swim all around them, tickling their feet. Just as Kayla appeared to finally be getting the hang of riding an ilu, the teenagers caught notice of her as well. Lo'ak is the first to spot her, cupping his hands over his mouth as he crows in encouragement, "Go, Auntie! Woo-hoo! Yeah! You got it!"

Kayla laughs as Neteyam and Tesireya begin to cheer her on as well, their voices carried by the winds as Kayla and her ilu dive into the water and back out again. By the time Kayla remembered herself and returned to her teacher, Tonowari had his arms crossed but otherwise appeared pleased by her improvement, tail leisurely swaying behind him with curiosity.

~~~~~~~~~

Weeks go by since Kayla first arrived in Awa'atlu, and despite having to adapt to yet another completely different culture, Kayla had to admit that it was getting easier as time went on. She originally thought the ways of the Metkayina were a cakewalk compared to the Omatikaya, but maybe it was because she learned from the Forest People first that made learning from the Reef People easier than she originally thought it would.

She makes sure to reiterate this to Norm and the other humans every time she sees them. When everyone in Awa'atlu is meant to be resting, Kayla retreats to her campsite and secures her avatar form before closing her eyes and breaking the neural link. The next time she opens her eyes, it's within the link gurney back at High Camp.  Norm and Max are always there to greet her, asking about her headaches and other health problems. There were days even Kayla had to admit were rough. After spending so much time in her avatar form, it's starting to strain the link connecting herself to her human form and it causes massive headaches every time she breaks a new record of not reporting back for days on end. To distract her friends from lecturing her, Kayla just updates everyone on Kiri's condition and relays any messages Jake or the rest of the Sully family wanted her to bring. In return, the scientists or even the Na'vi, such as Txe'la and Meui, would update her on any information regarding Ardmore or any Sky People activity. 

She's always left disappointed when they say the same thing. No one has seen Spider. 

Trying not to let the news discourage her, Kayla always wakes back up in her avatar form in better spirits so as not to worry Jake and his family. Kayla continues to treat the days as normal, continuing her lessons and helping out in any way she can so as not to overstay her welcome. When she wasn't following Tonowari or Ronal around, Kayla was usually in the company of her nieces, nephews, and their new friends.

Tsireya was one of those friends, and she was such a sweet girl who would happily entertain Kayla in any endeavor. When she wasn't busy, one of Kayla's favorite pastimes was helping Tuk and Tsireya find seashells for their hair and any jewelry idea they had in mind. Tsireya, as Tuk said, knew all the best spots where the shells were always fully intact and not crushed into pieces by the harsh tides. During these little adventures, Kayla, Tuk, and Tsireya would learn more about each other, bonding over the fact that they were all their families' younger sisters. 

The sign language was easier than the verbal language, but Kayla felt as though she had a rug pulled from beneath her feet when Ronal knowingly stated that she was going to be teaching her student a third language. The tsahik, with the help of other Metkayina, began to teach Kayla the language of the tulkun, the sea creature Kayla learned to be the spiritual animal and companion to the Reef People, as the ikran is to Forest People. Apparently, not even Kayla's nieces and nephews have progressed as far as learning the tulkun language yet, and they became ecstatic to realize that they would be learning this alongside their aunt. Joining Ronal in these lessons with Kayla and the Sully kids would also be Tsireya and Rotxo, which only excited the forest kids more. Ronal wasn't as pleased with her own student when she caught Kayla fondly watching the children interact more than once. 

Kayla had to learn this extra language on top of her breathing lessons, the latter of which was taught by both Tonowari and Ronal. Sometimes they would teach her separately, and other times they would do so together, but whatever the case may be, it didn't matter to Kayla. She would carefully listen to whoever was teaching her, and sometimes she listened so intently that she caught herself observing her teachers a little too closely. 

Like Tonowari's eyes for example. Kayla noted they were a light blue at first as she sat cross-legged across from him while they practiced breathing exercises. But upon closer inspection, Kayla noticed specks of green engulfed by those blue orbs, like clumps of islands surrounded by warm sparkling oceans.

He was a clenched fist with a gentle touch. Kayla greatly admired him for being someone who could easily take advantage of his strength and position above his people but chooses to be kind and soft-spoken instead.

 It was fascinating for Kayla to see just how different the Metkayinas' eyes were compared to the Omatikayas'. Whereas every Na'vi of the Forest had orange or yellow cat-like eyes, the ones who live off of the reef had rounder and bigger eyes, not to mention they had a variety of different shapes, sizes, and colors. 

Like Ronal's eyes. The opposite of her mate's, Kayla noted that Ronal's eyes were more green than blue, with specks of a warm, gold color, like a sunset reflecting off the ocean surface. 

She was orphic, but that's as far as Kayla allowed herself to describe the tsahik.

There was plenty to say about Ronal, but Kayla thought it best not to linger on any of the words bouncing around in her head. It was clear to her that the tsahik will always disapprove of Kayla and her presence among the Metkayina, so Kayla didn't want to compliment the Na'vi woman too much, especially since she doesn't intend on staying for very long.

Her stay was still very much temporary, at least in Kayla's eyes, as she still intends on going back to the forest to find Spider. For now, however, she was content with her small campsite just inside the treeline of the Metkayina island, a campsite that Ronal appears to disapprove of along with everything else about Kayla. The tsahik still has to occasionally venture out and find Kayla among the trees if she is in need of the avatar woman, like today when Ronal had the mind to take the time to find Kayla. It wasn't hard since the demon had kept her promise and never moved her campsite so she would be right where Ronal could find her. Still, Kayla was apologetic when Ronal found her and the tsahik begrudgingly told the foreigner to follow her back to the village.

Ronal brings her to the shoreline and recruits her to help fix an ilu pen that had begun to wither with age. Tonowari was already hard at work on it and briefly looked up to greet the two women when they sat down on the edge of the pathway and gracefully slipped into the water with him. After a brief instruction from him, Kayla gets to work in silence, and Ronal isn't opposed to doing the same. The silence wasn't as awkward as they were in the past, but out of the corner of her eye, Kayla could clearly see that something was bothering the tsahik, as Ronal wasn't ashamed of openly frowning while watching Kayla work. She didn't appear to be glaring in disapproval, but she looked... frustrated. It was as if she was trying to figure out a complicated puzzle. Kayla briefly glanced at the Na'vi positioned on the other side of her and noticed that Tonowari was much more subtle than his mate. Unlike Ronal, he only snuck glances at Kayla and her work here and there and did his best to hide whatever expression was on his face.

"Am I doing it wrong?"

"No. You're doing well," a compliment was not what she was expecting and it shows as Kayla's ears perk up and her eyes briefly widen. Ronal pointedly ignores the reaction and blatantly asks, "Why do you not stay with your brother's family at night?"

Kayla looked at Ronal, nose scrunched slightly in confusion, all the while completely unaware of the stare Tonowari sent to his mate from above Kayla's head, "Why would I?"

"Group sleep is also customary in the Metkayina."

"What's a group sleep?"

By Eywa, did the Omatikaya teach this alien woman anything? Ronal huffs out an irritated sigh, "Families sleep in large groups, usually in their swaynivi. Some clan members will sleep alone or with their mate just as long as they return to their family's nivi in a short period of time. Otherwise, they're deemed spiritually unhealthy. It is unsafe for one to sleep alone."

"I see," Kayla's ears pin back and her posture straightens, understanding the question now while pointedly staring down at her work on weaving the ilu pen together instead of addressing Ronal, "Well, where I'm from, that's called an invasion of privacy. I would assume that the families who sleep in large groups mostly contain parents and their children, correct?"

She doesn't wait for a response as she further explains with a small distaste in her mouth, "Since I'm neither of those, I don't want to invade my brother's and his children's privacy. Thank you for your concern, but I've been alone for a very long time. I can assure you that I am just fine with the sleeping arrangements I have now."

Even Ronal can sense a dismissal when she hears it in Kayla's voice. It was clear that the alien woman didn't want to further discuss this topic and so the tsahik didn't push it. Returning to her work, Ronal now briefly shared a glance with Tonowari but he pointedly kept his mouth closed during the whole conversation and after.

Luckily, the silence is saved by Neteyam as the teenager arrives with a purpose, slightly bouncing over the pathways above the adults' heads, "Auntie. My father is looking for you."

Kayla's discomfort visibly melts before Tonowari and Ronal's eyes. She looks up and smiles at the Na'vi boy, "Tell your father he can come and get me himself next time instead of sending you out. You should be elsewhere, enjoying the reefs and hunting with your friends."

She briefly turned back to the clan leaders, silently asking for approval to leave with her eyes flicking between the two Metkayina. Both nodded and openly watch as Kayla turns back to Neteyam, smiling up at her nephew as she rises up onto the pathway and follows him out, gently shoving him once to get him to pick up the pace so she didn't trip on his heels.

Neteyam huffed a small laugh as they walked, but the sound falls in replace of shame. He was visibly acting a little shy as he avoided eye contact, "I am sorry that I told my father about our conversation. I should have asked for your permission."

"Hey, no harm," she nudged him, "It's not like our talks are meant to be a secret or anything. It's nice that you can trust your father with everything; trust him enough to talk about whatever you want. As long as you're comfortable, kiddo."

"Was your father not like that?"

Kayla bit her tongue to refrain from visibly wincing, staring directly ahead instead of at her nephew, "No. I don't think he was. Not from what I can remember. Mostly I relied on Tommy and your dad growing up."

"What was my father like as an older brother? Am I like him?"

Kayla briefly grew quiet as they walked, pondering about how she could best word this to her oldest nephew. She tried seeing Jake in Neteyam, she really did, but whenever she tried comparing the teenager's best traits, they only remind her of Neytiri. And when Kayla thinks about Jake, all the pain and other torture he had put her through both intentionally and by accident, she couldn't even fathom Neteyam doing the same thing to his own siblings. Physically and mentally, deep down she knew that Neteyam was nothing like his father, and she was secretly grateful for that.

So instead of agreeing, Kayla simply smiled while staring the teenager in the eyes so he could see her sincerity, "No, 'Teyam. You're like Tommy. He was the older brother. When it comes to how you treat your siblings, you remind me of him, and I think your father sees it, too."

~~~~~~~~~

When Ronal isn't busy with her duties as tsahik or teaching Kayla, she is making sure Neytiri also adapts to their way of life. Although the former tsakarem had been comfortably accustomed to island life by the time her sister-in-law joined her family, Ronal still takes Neytiri into the jungle for a second pair of hands to gather the needed plants and herbs for her stock. Today was no different as the two women stumbled across a large jungle tree, larger than any of the others around them. Instead of following Ronal's suggestion to skip this tree and its healing fruits in exchange for a shorter one, Neytiri stops and shakes her head. Ronal was adamant about moving on since she was in no condition to climb and wasn't built to climb trees even if she wasn't currently pregnant. 

Neytiri still shook her head in defiance and simply said, "You need Forest People."

The Forest woman opens her mouth and calls out at the top of her lungs, causing Ronal's ears to twitch in response to her whooping and cawing. Notifying her family about her location, it didn't take long for Jake, Kayla, and all the Sully children to come running to Neytiri's call. 

Neytiri proudly smiles at her family while explaining why they had been summoned, "Our tsahik needs the fruit from the top of this tree and the ones surrounding it."

The others take a moment to look at one another before Kayla breaks the silence, briefly tapping Tuk's shoulder before running off, "'Last one to the top is a rotten egg!"

Tuk squeals and immediately chases after her aunt. The older Sully kids smile and break into fits of laughter, following suit and running after Kayla and their little sister. They all leap up, grabbing onto the lower branches before lifting themselves up, climbing expertly higher without their arms protesting the weight of their bodies. Ronal watched them climb higher and higher, keeping her expression stoic while observing the way Kayla makes the collecting and scavenging into a game for her nieces and nephews, challenging them to see who can gather the most fruit. In the corner of her eye, Ronal could still see Neytiri standing beside her, also watching the trees and smiling fondly up at her family. Jake soon stands beside his wife, hands on his hips while watching his sister and his children with a careful eye.

It was then did Ronal address Toruk Makto directly, flashing a face of disapproval, "Does your sister always act so childish?"

Jake's posture stiffens and he struggles to find the right words under the tsahik's watchful eye, "Well-! Uh..."

"No, only with the children," Neytiri answers for him, eyes hardened when they meet Ronal's as if daring her to speak again, "She plays with them because she wants to remind them that they are still just that. Children."

~~~~~~~~~

Kiri woke up bothered about something and everyone could tell. That girl didn't know how to hide her feelings no matter how badly she wanted to, the definition of an open book. Even though no one knew why she was upset, they could clearly tell that whatever it was, it had something to do with her aunt. Kiri wasn't necessarily cold to Kayla, but the teenager would go quiet and only speak in one-word responses whenever the older woman spoke directly to her. 

Kayla decided that she needed to fix whatever was going on between herself and her oldest niece, so she offered to take the children out as the afternoon slipped into the evening. Neytiri suggested bringing them swimming through the reefs to collect barnacles and other underwater plants for tonight's supper, a passing time a lot of the villagers tend to do. Kayla takes up the idea and presents it to the Sully kids, who all agree to go, some more enthusiastic than others.

Tuk immediately splashes into the water and her brothers chase after her. Meanwhile, Kayla and Kiri linger on the beach, watching them disappear into the ocean. Kayla had tried breaking the tension with a small smile, "So when are you gonna show me how to use those underwater fairy wings?" 

She was hoping for a small laugh or even a smile, but Kiri does neither. Instead, she looks sad and distracted, looking out over the horizon where the sky meets the sea, daydreaming of other lands... of home. Kayla bravely touches the girl's shoulder, and when Kiri looks up, her aunt could see the concern plain on her face. The avatar woman squeezes Kiri's shoulder, "What is it?" 

Kiri bites the inside of her cheek before giving in, letting out a small sigh, "When are you going back to the forest?" She quickly understands how that could easily be misinterpreted and corrects herself, "It's just that-- you promised you'd look for Spider. And yet, you're here and he still hasn't been found yet."

Kayla relaxes both in posture and touch, removing her hand from Kiri's shoulder and instead letting it fall to her side, "I'll likely be gone by the end of the week, but for Norm's peace of mind, I'm going to be running a few tests on you so he and I both know you'll be okay," silence follows and Kayla reaches out once more, letting her hand gently grasp Kiri's arm, "Kiri, look at me."

The teen does so, a little belligerent at first. Upon staring up at her aunt, Kiri could see the determination in her eyes that closely matched Kiri's father's. Kayla tilts her head down to try and stand more at Kiri's height before softly explaining, "I haven't given up. And you might find it pointless to keep an eye on you after what happened, but I don't, and I don't think Spider would either. Think about it, kiddo. Spider would want us to make sure you're alright before we ever went looking for him."

Kiri ducks her head and watches her toe make shapes in the sand beneath her feet, "I know... but that doesn't mean I have to like it. He deserves to be put first for once."

Silence lingers between the two of them before Kayla simply says, "You're right."

Kiri doesn't wanna look up to see whatever expression was on her aunt's face. Instead, Kiri takes her arm and drags her to the water, "Come."

"'Where we going?"

"You said you wanted to learn how to use a txampaysye."

Kayla's nose scrunched up, testing the word on her tongue with bitterness, "How do you even spell that??"

Kiri manages to loosen up and laugh before they both held their breath and sank down into the water, sinking until they joined the rest of the Sully children. They introduce Kayla to txampaysye -gill mantle- and instruct her on how to use it in order to breathe underwater. Kayla wasn't far off. The gill mantles really did look like fairy wings, but other than maybe a few comments or stories, none of the Na'vi children would know what exactly a fairy was. The children and their aunt spend the evening doing as Neytiri suggested, gathering underwater plants and barnacles alongside other Metkayina, most of whom all wore the txampaysye. By the time the communal dinner rolled around, the Sully family was exhausted, but content all the same.

~~~~~~~~~

A peaceful morning where the Sullys invite Kayla over for breakfast goes uneventful until they're rolling up their nivi after a good night's rest. Their peace is interrupted by a horn, followed by whoops and hollers of celebration coming from outside. Confused and on edge, Jake and the kids emerge from the marui, looking around as the Metkayina jump around and dive into the water, making the newcomers curious as to what was going on.

Their answer came in the form of Tsireya, astride an ilu as she waved down her people from the water below their homes, "The tulkun have returned! Everybody! Our Brothers and Sisters have returned!"

Kayla looked up toward the atoll wall protecting the village from less docile nature. Emerging from the tunnels and pathways underneath the wall were rolling waves indicating something large below the water. Spurts of seaspray spring out like geysers from beneath the ocean's surface. It was a large pod of whale-like creatures, massive and slow. Their descent onto the village was graceful and one that brought much joy to the Metkayina as they couldn't get in the water fast enough.

The Sully kids couldn't wait either, jumping from the walkway around their home and into the water below. They scatter, exploring the new creatures one way or another. Tsireya had grabbed Lo'ak when she spotted him and pulled him onto her ilu, swimming away to introduce him to her Spirit Sister. Jake summoned his tsurak and both he and Neytiri take off to observe the sacred animals themselves. Rotxo had come around and pulled Kiri and Tuk away too, leaving Neteyam and Kayla to wander. Ao'nung was not far behind his friend, however, and invited Neteyam to come along with him to find his own Spirit Brother. Earning a small reassurance from his aunt, Neteyam doesn't hesitate to jump in and both teenagers each grab an ilu and take off, making a game of chase with Ao'nung in the lead.

Neteyam kept close to Ao'nung the entire time. The chief's son leads Neteyam through the chaos expertly, the two of them swimming quickly around a particular tulkun. Kiri, Tuk, and Rotxo were hanging onto the bull's fin and gliding peacefully through the water, the tulkun likely the reef boy's Spirit Brother. Neteyam was only able to catch a glimpse of this as they swim by, keeping close to Ao'nung's tail and playfully chasing him.

Jake had been leisurely swimming his skimwing through the maze of tulkun and Metkayina before glancing off to the side and perking up. Reaching back and tapping Neytiri's thigh to grab her attention, he waits until her eyes are on him before pointing out the sight he stumbled across. Following her husband's gaze and finger, Neytiri spots a mother tulkun and her calf, the smaller whale-like creature keeping close, mostly under its mother's fin or belly. Neytiri smiled with delight, her heart melting at the picture.

Kayla had been floating above the surface, watching the vast sight of tulkun from up top the back of an ilu she had successfully summoned. She didn't venture very far until the olo'eyktan sought her out. She noticed his tsurak first, flying above her head before gracefully sinking into the water, folding in its webbed fins. Tonowari brings it back around and swims up to Kayla's side, a determined smile on his lips, "We must put all that you learned to the test. Come meet my Spirit Brother and see how well you can understand and communicate with him."

She nods and dutifully follows him into the water after taking a deep breath. They submerge and take off, weaving through and around the large bodies of tulkun, dodging other ilu and Na'vi while Tonowari keeps his pace slow for Kayla's ilu to catch up. Underwater, Kayla can get a better look at the tulkun, and to her amazement, she realized that most of them were tattooed like their respective Na'vi. Eventually, they come across a large bull and Tonowari slows to a complete stop, disengaging from his tsurak and openly swimming the rest of the way to the heavily tattooed tulkun male. Kayla disengages from her ilu and watches it swim away before swimming in the same direction as the olo'eyktan, keeping a small bit of distance while he approaches the tulkun, greeting it like an old friend with a wide smile before gesturing Kayla to come closer.

When Kayla swims close enough to float near the large eye of the creature, Tonowari motions to the bull and makes rapid hand movements, "This Makayla te Suli tsmuke te Toruk Makto. She is of the Forest People and has come to learn our ways."

"Greetings, Makayla te Suli." The tulkun sings, and Kayla is delighted that she can understand him.

She quickly signs back, just as she had practiced, "I See you, great and mighty tulkun."

"Have you learned much since your arrival?"

"Yes, many things. I have excellent teachers in the olo'eyktan and the tsahik."

"Indeed. You are in good hands with my Brother and his mate. Ro'a speaks highly of her."

Curious, Kayla turns to the olo'eyktan in question, hands slowed by the water as she asks through the Metkayina sign language, "Is Ro'a Ronal's Spirit Sister?"

Tonowari nods while further explaining with his hands, "Yes, and I believe Ro'a has just given birth to her first calf."

"Indeed." The tulkun calls softly, the beautiful sound muffled in Kayla's ears like a song trying to pierce through cotton, "We are very proud and happy for our sister. What of Ronal's child?"

Tonowari beams, "Growing fast. Halfway there."

Kayla faintly smiles as her lungs begin to faintly burn, then quickly makes the appropriate hand motions to signal, "Forgive me. I need air."

She tilts her head upward and kicks her arms and legs to plunge up to the surface. Kayla immediately gasps for air the moment her head broke through the ocean waves, taking deep and calm breaths while looking around at all the joyous reunions going on around her. Laughter and cheers are still clinging to the approaching afternoon air, not a single Metkayina worried about the day's chores as they are too busy reacquainting themselves with their Spirit Brothers and Sisters. Kayla fondly watched these interactions, her heart warm and yet... sad as she watched the Na'vi swim around her without a care in the world. It's not as though she expected anyone to notice her, but it was a brief realization that today she was invisible and an outcast compared to these beautiful tulkun creatures. It was just another reminder that she didn't belong here and she had no Spirit Sister of her own, feeling out of place among an entire lagoon full of tulkun, Na'vi, tsurak, ilu, and other aquatic creatures.  

Once she caught her breath, Kayla inhaled deeply and stuck her face back into the water to check out the activity going on beneath her treading feet. Looking around, she managed to catch a glimpse of a familiar Na'vi, a woman, adamantly communicating with her hands toward another tulkun, a female and her calf. Kayla recognized Ronal's ornaments that expressed her importance among the other Metkayina, along with her rounded belly. Without those traits, however, Kayla wouldn't have recognized her because the tsahik was smiling, broadly, unbothered by anything going on around her as she spoke to what had to be her Spirit Sister, Ro'a.

In all the weeks Kayla had been living here, she had never seen Ronal smile, let alone smile like that.

A/N: Please remember that I can't reply to any comments below every chapter because I'm using a secondary account. So if you have questions about the series you would like answers to, please put it in the ask box, thank you!

If you have a request, check the rules first! Much love!

Buy me ko-fi <3

Just a brief notice that updates are gonna be spotty from here on out as summer is coming to a close and I'll be working two jobs next month (Sept). Keep the love and support coming and I hope to update for y'all soon!

[youphoriaot7]

QSMP RECAP : DAY 189 (9/29)

PAC sprinkled tazercraft chairs/items all around the server

BAGI warned us about upcoming lore

FIT found black concrete in pomme’s bedroom (no message)

cucurucho gave BAGI a wildlife research task. she refused it.

FIT had a serious increase in headaches

BAGI is not actually a vegetarian (wHAT???), she only did that to seem less threatening to the islanders

PAC showed bagi the prison (fit came too)

PAC, PIERRE, and BAGI found black concrete, a red sign (“je veux les protéger. vous me manquez :( <3” / “i want to protect them. i miss you <3), and a pair of butterfly wings

BAGI realized that the messages were placed at the same time they heard lightning

FIT showed phil his secret bedroom

FIT headed to bed (o7 q!fitmc you got this i bELIEVE IN YOU)

BBH gave pac cake (??? idk man this felt weirdly important-)

PAC fell asleep

FOOLISH told jaiden about his federation task

TUBBO received coordinates from fred to a new mailbox

FOREVER got his gun back!

cucurucho wished JAIDEN a happy birthday :’)

JAIDEN was led to a house (16k blocks out). inside the house were three rooms (01, 02, 03). inside she found a camera, a stack of paper, a bubble blower, an extendo grip, a slingshot, and a fire helmet (and a present that can’t be opened bc it was addressed wrong). cucurucho osito bimbo gave her a hug.

JAIDEN told cucurucho osito bimbo about bagi’s plans

BAGI began building a base of informations far away from spawn

BAGI refused cucurucho’s task

BAGHERA found pomme’s sign

cucurucho osito bimbo told JAIDEN he didn’t know where the eggs were

BAGHERA found books at the federation offices (one was a passcode reset for baghera’s childhood room, one was an old diary of hers talking about an escape plan) as well as some papers (each had snippets of coords, passcodes, words…)

BAGHERA found the finished report of the black box from the french plane (? or something? i’m not 100% sure but it related to the plane crash.)

BAGHERA found the coordinates to a “bio laboratory”

FOREVER shot cucurucho (i feel like that’s gonna be important.)

FOOLISH delivered the evidence to cucurucho (he said jaiden was his assistant and that tina and mouse helped inadvertently)

FOREVER and FOOLISH found the water tunnel where quackity drowned

BAGHERA argued a bit with bbh about ron

JAIDEN was given the task bagi refused (she accepted)

[ooc] HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JAIDEN!

[cupcraft]

okay time to go on a little origins smp rant about lore potential especially about otommy.

O!Tommy actually had quite a bit of lore potential if we combine s1-s2 characterization, s2-3 o!allium, and s3 o!crime and o!angel, with the biome setting of s3 (to sort of in my mind create a cohesive story, though note i will be combining themes from each season even though they happened in different orders...sorry!)

o!Tommy's life is defined by a father (o!Phil) who he sees as a hero, as put together, as someone to be like because above all else he wants to fly, while his father is stricken with grief to the point he wants to be the villain to control the entire server even against o!tommy's wishes for a free and caring place as a means of coping of how out of control he felt when o!Wilbur died. And then we balance o!tommy's want to fly, to train, to grow up to be an elytrian balanced with o!wilbur who used to fly but no longer can, who has a father who seems to feel guilty, who's stubs of wings are still in pain, who is fearful and a bit bitter about meeting new people, of which o!tommy helps him navigate being that he is much more extroverted.

And we see o!Tommy take a similar turning point in S2, perhaps also playing on a similar arc to o!phil of "feeling out of control". He can't fly, thus he can't be like o!phil. He can't fly and prioritize those hyrbid orbs to become an elytrian because he's reviving Fragrance Man, he's trying to be mindful of o!Wilbur. He's just a "chicken child", he's got "the worst power". So he creates Innit Inc. He makes his turned villain father a hero by contract, and he blows up his home as his own villain origin story to create fake crime.

And then you have o!Wilbur too, who for some reason wants no one to leave the enclosed mountain range and live further away. Is it possible he can't be far for a long period of time? Is he haunting the Pube/spawn area? Does o!Phil live far to plan his villainry just for secrecy or because he can't bare to be reminded every day. Does o!tommy stick with him and push both for a caring free place while seeking solace in Innit Inc/making his dad a hero who has to protect that place because o!wilbur can't leave?

And don't even get me started on o!allium's dynamic which could be an entirely other post.

There's so much more i could talk about, but this is my attempt to connect the lore from s1-3 together as one story to show you what kinda lore potential i think there is. Thanks to that anon for inspiring me. As always you can add on and as always i miss origins forever and always.

[theredcuyo]

I just need to vent a bit-

So, its been a year and so now, isn't it?

It's curious to me how much Techno affected me even tho I wasnt one of his biggest fans at that time, and yet, I went thru some really, really hard times over this, and in some ways, I still am, up until recently I didn't feel the strength to watch his videos, up until recently even if I watched them I couldn't help but smile in a bittersweet way

Not too long ago I was finally able to laugh, to enjoy them again, to not think about how he's not here anymore while hearing his voice, and instead, have fun with what he left for us, and yeah, that's what everyone is been saying to do, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who struggled with actually doing it, because it IS hard, it's hard to not start to have fun and immediately remember "... He won't be doing this anymore now, huh?" and get sad all over again, even if we know he won't want us to still be crying

I got over it a week or so ago, I finally can watch the great potato war without sobbing for twenty minutes after watching it, and even if the grief won't go yet, I feel like im moving on, never leaving it all behind, but carrying the moments that made it hurt so much in first place, needless to say the happiest ones, in my heart, and overall, I'm full on energy, I've been inspired by him, by his all, like everyone, to do something, to give a meaning to what I do now, to be as strong as him-

And yet... The reason I write this is because of the grief left in me, I can't deny that whenever I go watch the qsmp streams a part of me can't help but wonder "wouldn't this have been so cool if Techno was here?, if he could've been here?"

I can't help but imagine him making fun of the eggs for practically being orphans, just to be forced to take care of one, can't help but imagine him immediately throwing one off of the wall, or maybe training Chayanne, and probably, growing to love Tallulah in a "I've had this child for five minutes, but in a anything happens to her I'll kill everyone in this server" kind of way

How he would tell Greek mythology stories to the eggs, but be the one person extremely against babysitting just to end up doing it a lot because of the insane amount of time he spends playing

Can't help but imagine how he would absolutely attempt presidential assassination against all the candidates and be completely against the federation without a doubt, and how he would've entered that dungeon left for them and absolutely destroyed it

Can't help but imagine Techno doing to forever the same thing he did whenever a baby zombie was near Philza

Can't help but wish the people who didn't get to know him outside of stories actually met him, and him talking to them with his bare knowledge of Spanish, and them reacting to the man himself talking about "blowing up a country" and "farming potatoes for +six months" or how "he once conquered the world" just to have them not believing it until Phil backed up the stories

Can't help but imagine a world where Tallulah didn't have to make an altar for him, and then i get back to reality to realize that... That's not the world where I live in, I live in the world where it's been more than a year since all of this possibilities became impossible and I feel genuinely hurt again, maybe more so over the thought of how much life he had ahead of himself, one that hurts me even more because he's the same age as my older brother

I like to wonder off in my mind sometimes, and imagine just for a bit of escapism, that he'd be giving Wilbur validation in his concerts, or that he would've bullied the life out of Dream when he did his face reveal, and also bullied Skeppy when he met up with bbh, or that he would've been in first line for Tommy's show

Technodad once mentioned on Reddit that Techno had been thinking of writing a story, and that too, would have been awesome to see, as much as all the plans he had and didn't get to do that I and all of his fans keep dreaming over

At the end, I think that the grief left in me, is over how much more time he should've had, over the future that we will never see

I'm sorry for this, I really just needed to vent, I don't want to sound disrespectful or anything really, just some thoughts I had inside of me and needed to get out, I'm sorry if it sounded weird or bad-

[goldenpinof]

So Dan started doom touring llp in partnership with his management company and to me this all really feels like a lot of bad communication and hostility between the two them.

Dan didn't fufil his obligations to promote the show at the beginning, there was almost a month gap between the two Soho shows and Dan doing any other promo which seems like a really bad choice given that the tickets sales were worrying. He bitched about how his management were making him do DD and then he didn't upload them nearly as often as he was promising despite it being the best way to drive sales. He's trying to make up for it now I guess but he's still not released stuff he's been promising which would have helped with promotion.

Now that it seems inevitable that they aren't going to make as much as they were hoping his management team is clearly just trying to cut costs and claw back everything they can and Dan isn't in full control because he doesn't own the company and he can't just make demands and get his way. It could be that they have just cut him out of these decisions since he's obviously going to push for things that aren't going to make money.

I'm not doubting that Dan has been treated poorly but I does make sense given that the tatinof and ii companies were owned by himself and Phil that he really isn't used to working in an environment where he has somebody to answer to. I remember there were a few YouTuber reactions to WIQY that pointed out that he was clearly inexperienced with working with a big company and seemed like he expected things he wasn't owed.

I honestly believe that Dan went in knowing that he wasn't going to make much money from this and just expected that his management team were going to go along with what he wanted because that's what he's used to. Remember he said that they didn't make any money on any of the Asia shows they did for II but still went because they wanted to see everyone, well if you're working with a company who is looking to make a profit then that just isn't going to happen.

Dan clearly has issues with control, it feels really strange to me that he went all in with II and then when it came to his personal 'dream' project he pawned off half of the costs and responsibility on someone else and was surprised when things didn't go his way. All this could have been avoided from the start.

I'm not saying that Dan is fully to blame, but I am saying that he got himself into a situation that is less than favourable. If he'd put in more effort at the start I would be more sympathetic to him but it seems too little too late and now he has to face the consequences. Just not a fan of the whole *wow Dan keeps getting screwed over* narative when it does always seem to be similar problems that cause things to go wrong and Dan continues to make those mistakes.

wow, hold on, i wish we talked in dms. just because i have many questions that are probably gonna be ignored here.

*if i don’t comment on something big, i probably agree with you to a certain extend and have nothing to add*

fuck. don’t ask me why but i never went to look wtf was going on with dnp’s companies. he really did open a new one. roughly speaking, Dan holds 75% of the company votes and surplus assets, am I seeing it right? (roughly, because there’s no word about actual shares). i thought he would just work with promoters as Dan Howell Limited.

hostility? why would his management agree to open a new company if they weren’t planning to make an effort to make it work? same goes for Dan.

you’re starting with saying that Dan didn’t fulfil obligations at the beginning. but how do we know that? how do we know that there WAS, in fact, a marketing strategy proposed by his management or promoter that he agreed to but dismissed along the way? the Soho shows were too “closed off” for general audience (remember it was sold out before Dan even posted about it. nice start, but whose fault is that). i don’t really have a strong opinion on the videos of the show he uploaded to his 2nd channel but i don’t think they helped a lot. maybe it should have been less but longer cuts, idk.

“then he didn't upload them [dd] nearly as often as he was promising despite it being the best way to drive sales” - i have to disagree with that. he should have started uploading earlier, that’s obvious. but the pacing is actually borderline too fast. too many videos in a short period of time after 4 years of silence. i feel fed up, for example. i need something to dilute this stream of monotonous content (using big words here, ugh). after dd announcement he made clear that it’s not daily and we shouldn’t expect him to follow any pace. fair, whatever. (where did he bitch about his management forcing him to do dd? i genuinely don’t remember and don’t feel like rewatching all videos to find it. can you, please, give a hint? i really wanna hear it iurgewfsdfdies) big agree that by not uploading the memes video and for some reason cancelling or postponing their collab with Louise he damages himself. now the memes video needs an extra editing because of Iceland (if he won’t get rid of the promo scene at all at this point).

“It could be that they have just cut him out of these decisions since he's obviously going to push for things that aren't going to make money.” - if that’s true then what does 75% mean? usually management works FOR an individual, not vice versa. if he doesn’t have any shares of this LLP then why does he have so many rights in voting? they can’t cut him. he is co-founder and i bet his own money is on the table (maybe not the biggest % but still). i agree that there could be misunderstanding, miscommunication, lots of panic when they saw the 1st numbers, and stubbornness. considering all, the UK leg went well. they failed with the US/Canada big time. they tried to give it an extra boost with that map reel and a clip in a dystopia daily episode but, let’s be honest it wasn’t the best format for such a big chunk of shows. (remember the US promo for ii? something with Phil’s shirt with the map of USA. it’s been 5 years and i still remember. says something.) if you think they are cutting expenses (agree) and shutting Dan off, why would they not try to save at least those shows that are not cancelled? why does Dan take graphic images in his hands? surely the promoter has a marketing department that made the 1st images, what’s the problem with using it now? a bit off top: i think Dan convinced/forced them to not cancel Helsinki and Amsterdam. in Helsinki half of m&gs tickets are still available, like wtf. there’s literally no point of the 2nd show if people can travel to nearby countries and fill their venues. the same goes for the 2nd Amsterdam show. Antwerp is right there! with about 30% available.

“he really isn't used to working in an environment where he has somebody to answer to” - he is not used to work with someone who he has to depend on. with bbc radio 1 it kinda worked because it initially wasn’t Dan’s baby so the boundaries were set firmly. his tours are a different thing. from Dan’s perspective he can do whatever he wants because it was his idea and they all are here making some kind of money BECAUSE of him (and Phil, if all tours combined). and he’s got a point. but he started aiming for things he can’t swallow. it’s not disastrous though. about WIQY and YouTube Red: you have to agree that ghosting someone for months is unprofessional no matter how big you’re. there were ways to warn him that his project may never see the light of day on Youtube without breaking NDAs (was there even an NDA if Dan could make a video pointing fingers at YouTube specifically?). i bet they knew that he has put everything on the table and stopped doing other profitable things to focus on this big project that he was promised to get done. it wasn’t wise to go for all or nothing with one thing but whatever, i hope he learned that.

where the fuck did they say that they didn’t make money on ANY shows in Asia? Phil said that they lost money in Manila. (genuine question, because i don’t remember that)

“Dan clearly has issues with control, it feels really strange to me that he went all in with II and then when it came to his personal 'dream' project he pawned off half of the costs and responsibility on someone else” - ii was sponsored, it wasn’t his money. they still had to make a powerpoint to get Rize on board. it was still a partnership, with dnp doing their promo for Rize no matter how tired they were or how bad the internet or the app were. good side? we got lots of joint liveshows :) now it seems like some companies “invested” in this tour alongside with Dan. and they want their money back rfdhewdisk they will get it, come on, it’s not THAT bad. it’s just messy.

[x-pair-o-dice-x]

Dice I have re-read everything in the by nature AU tag like 50 times and I love it so much it’s so good-

Anyway I wanted to ask some things to expand a little bit if you don’t mind:

How do Dreams friends react to him literally just…disappearing? He runs off with the bench trio, but do the rest of the manhunt crew learn where he went? And does Dream try to explain to them (especially Sapnap) that eating borrowers is wrong? i can imagine Sam just being like “oh yeah I know btw you wanna meet my little borrower partner?” and he just pulls Ponk out of a pocket

Also, kind of going back to Sapnap, will Karl and Quackity have roles in this au? Cause I can totally see them being two borrowers that Sapnap meets after learning that borrowers are sapient. It would be so hard for him to accept that he likes them (platonically or romantically if you like karlnapity), especially given that you said he ate borrowers as often as possible. He’d probably take the news of them being sapient the worst.

Also not really a question, but kinda odd how Phil and Techno knew what rovengers were when Tommy and Tubbo didn’t, I wonder they they hide their main predator’s existence 👀

Also, lastly, you’ve mentioned that humans were a thing in this AU, so are there any characters you plan to be human?

Sorry this is a lot, when I really like something a lot I ramble hskskshsk

YOOOO i don’t mind this ask at all!!!! i’m happy to answer all of these hell yeah.

(quick warnings for vague mentions of hard and soft vore)

lemme clear up the second-to-last question first real quick: actually, no one really knew about rovengers. when tommy and tubbo first got taken, all they knew about were some particularly large tracks that were nearby. and even then, they weren’t 100% certain whether or not they were even related. it was only connected when those same tracks showed up when tommy and tubbo returned.

dream and ranboo had to explain what exactly rovengers were to phil, who then relayed it to techno. until then, they didn’t even know what they looked like, let alone what they were called.

now, back to the first question.

there actually was a scene i meant to add in the fic,,, but it had to be cut, since i couldn’t get it to look right. plus, it did feel like it didn’t flow well with the rest of the story,, at least not the way i was writing it.

it took place after dream stored the borrowers and his brother, as he was trying to make his way out of the colony.

he ended up getting interrupted by sapnap. sap, who had heard about the fight between ranboo and dream(somehow), wanted to talk to him, see if he was okay.

dream debated whether or not to tell sapnap, and the rest of his friends, about what he learned about borrowers, but hesitated.

he.. he knows they’re his friends.

but.. how would they react when finding out about borrowers? george and any were always pretty apathetic about them, leaning no particular way towards them, but.. sapnap…..

dream doesn’t tell him. he simply says he’s going on a walk to cool off some steam.

sapnap, at first, wants to go with him, but dream refuses, saying he wishes to be alone right now. hesitantly, sapnap agrees, saying that he wants to talk to him after he comes back.

dream puts on a smile, and says sure.

and then he leaves, and doesn’t come back.

————

anyway, my inability to ramble about anything without making it a mini-fic aside, yeah uh. he doesn’t explain.

and they don’t react well.

sapnap especially.

first his father disappears without a word, and now his best friend, as well as his brother?

yeah… mans is not okay.

he ends up having to take over as leader of their patrols, now that dream’s missing, but sapnap assures everyone it’s temporary. dream’s gonna come back, maybe he just- got lost, or something. he’s gotta come back, surely.

(on one of these patrols, they end up finding a certain mossy-green rovenger, but that’s a story for another day.)

moving on to your second question, and — huh, i never actually.. shared anything about karl and quackity here,, huh didnkdbfid. i’m pretty sure i did in the discord server,,, but i guess i never put them here,,, woops!!

but uh- yeah yeah they’re here!!!! and indeed,, they’re both borrowers!

(skeppy and ponk are also here but you knew about the latter already djdbdkbdid)

they’re both bird-like borrowers — and, okay quick little tangent here i guess, there’s two types of borrower designs, ones based off real animals, and plain ones, with just pointed ears and stuff. why? uhh because why not, that’s why.

i have like a vague idea on how they all meet, but i’m gonna need to find a reason to justify why sapnap doesn’t immediately try to eat ‘em,, that doesn’t involve them talking dibdkdn.

or- actually maybe i have one? maybe sapnap hasn’t seen borrowers with wings before — maybe they’re a bit hard to catch, and even harder to keep contained.

sapnap ends up finding karl, and decides to keep him as a pet for a bit, a la dream kdndkdndkdn.

when he finds out they’re sapient…….. hoo boy……….

and now,, for the final question…

indeed, there is a character in this au that is human!!!

and i could be ominous about it and wait until i write a fic about it, but we all know that’ll take years, so.. here she is!!!

mumza!!!!!!!

she lives in a house out in the woods — a house that happens to be the one where the borrower village is nearby!

she isn’t around often— she’s an archeologist, so she has to travel around in order to do her work, making her house a prime target for most of their borrowing trips.

(though, it’s not as if they have to sneak around the place if they want anything — she’s more than happy to give them a thing or two!)

also, while i’m at it — and mostly bc i forgot to share them — sbi designs!!!!

[skadream]

Rudy's Book Reviews: You Will Get Through This Night by Daniel Howell

yeah thats right im gonna be a phannie on main for a second. this is the start of my book review series which i hope to actually folow through with lol. this one ive been listening to as an audiobook but i do have the physical copy as well cuz im like that! next review will hopefully be gideon the ninth so tune in for that, but for now, read this review under the cut:

this book is a practical mental health guide, honestly a lot of it is stuff that you can learn in therapy so like if you have a therapist that you like then maybe its not worth it BUT theres like slim pickins for mental health books that arent just anecdotal evidence without actually talking about what people did to help them get better, just "yea i was sad but then i got therapy ✌️" or books that are so couched in psychiatric jargon its hard for a layperson to get into OR just vaguely inspiring bullshit.

its all written with the help of an actual licensed psychologist person, so no bullshit, no just do yoga and drink water shit (although obviously exercise and hydration and physical health are talked about) and yes he mentions medication and LICENSED therapy if those end up being necessary steps to take with your mental health!!! which again, in the world of self help type books, tends to be rare advice which is DEPRESSING IN A DIFFERENT WAY LMAO.

ofc it should go without saying that a book can never be a replacement for therapy but Considering How The World Is, this book is good for like maybe stepping into learning some coping skills as well as figuring out a plan before, during, and after crisis mode. i would say the tone is more serious than humorous but dan puts a lot of his own natural snarky sarcasm stink all over this book which obv that can be a taste thing if youre not into brit sarcasm mode but as a One Of Those i like it lol

in terms of Dan And Phil™️-isms, theres a sprinkling of cute winks and nods and inside jokes that people who drew sharpie cat whiskers on their faces as teens would understand but Normies will not find to be out of place or anything, there's also some storytimes of like his previous tours or living as a dropout youtuber being stress-inducing and things like that but not a ton which i kinda prefer cuz it makes it easier for me to recommend this book to people who dont give a shit about Phandom Memes

theres an introduction which is kind of a short summary of who dan is, basically just summarizing his youtube videos talking about depression and when he came out as queer and all that fun stuff, if youre a psycho hardcore fan person like me you might find it to be a long and unnecessary read, but if youre someone who didnt know about this guy and are curious as to why he would even write a book like this its a pretty good synopsis.

the american cover has dan's stupid face on it, and as someone who is a big fan of dan's stupid beautiful face, i wish we had the EU version with like tasteful yellow stripes on it bc it looks so nice, but i mean i just keep it on my bookshelf with the spine showing which is just a nice yellow spine with the title and looks unassuming so its not THAT big a deal lmaoo.

in terms of the audiobook, dan's voice is quite soothing and there's all these like audio cues and fitting music which i really like. the only downside is, for example, he reads out this timed breathing exercise that is meant to be like a five minute exercise, but it's not actually timed? so like i want to do the breathing exercises along with him reading it out but he reads it so fast its kinda like bro slow down you said breathe in for five seconds why you going ahead two seconds later homie. thats my only criticism i think obv if you are reading it and not listening you can just do the exercises by timing yourself lol.

ummmm idk if im gonna give a number at the end of these reviews!!! i give this book a big thumbs up!! 👍 woohoo yeah baby i am very proud of dan's current life journey thing that he's going on and i think this is a great book for people who need help which is everyone alive today right now :)

[holdmytesseract]

a/n: Here it is, guys! The first chapter of OT&ON! I hope you like the story as much as I do. Without further talking... Let's take off and take flight to Cairo! :)

Warnings for this Chapter: quite the toxic relationship, maybe a bit angst, mentions of cheating

OT&ON Masterlist

Chapter One - Welcome to Cairo

"Darling, you're finally ready now? We need to leave! Otherwise, we'll miss our flight - and I can't miss it! You know that I have a strict time plan in Cairo!" I heard the voice of my husband echoing across the hallway. I sighed, zipped the zipper of my suitcase shut. "Coming!" A four-week vacation awaited me. Summer, sun, a new culture, different food, people and places, a five-star hotel – and gosh I hated it already. Okay… To be honest, I actually hated everything about my life. My family, which stabbed me literally in the back - especially my father, by forcing me to marry a man, which I didn't even love. 'It will be the best for our families and the business. You and Phil will make a great couple,' he had said. I had not even the chance to complain. My father was strict and what he said counted. Sometimes I wished for my mum to still live... She would've never let that happen, but since she died ten years ago, everything changed. Father changed. He became colder, bitter. And I was the first person, who got to feel that side of him at first hand. And now? Now my life was made of living in a fancy villa on Mallorca, spending the whole day with doing luxury things and accompanying my husband to 'meetings' all around the world. That may sound dreamlike - and it was in a kind of way, but... I wasn't happy. Phil wasn't the right man. What is all the money worth, when your heart longed for real, true love? Right. Nothing. I just wanted to be... normal again and not 'the wife of Phil Arison'…

Again, a heavy sigh left my lips. But that was impossible. I had my responsibilities and duties towards Phil as his wife and as much as it hurt me, I needed to follow them. Besides, if I would decide to get divorced, my father would be the first in line to kill me. As often as I toyed with that thought, it was just wishful thinking. I was trapped inside that life. In that life I didn't want to live, but had no other chance than to do so. Little did I know, that the fateful vacation in Cairo would change everything...

I grabbed my suitcase and bag and made my way down our private elevator, towards the big yard. Phil was already there, leaned in his black suit against the black Range Rover, tapping impatiently his foot. "Finally... Come on, Riley!" With quick steps I was at the car. "Yes, sorry, I couldn't find my bikini," I lied, giving him a half fake smile. I didn't want to tell him, that I got lost in my daydreams again. He wouldn't appreciate that. By now I knew this man... Phil didn't care about the thoughts running through my head or the troubles which made my heart heavy or the demons which hunted me down sometimes. I was married and yet on my own. Alone. Therefore, that our relationship was anyway build on lies, didn't matter one more or less. Daniel - our personal chauffeur and right-hand man stowed away my luggage in the trunk of the car, then opened the door for me to sit in. "Mrs. Arison." I gave him a friendly smile, "Thanks." and sat in the car, beside Phil. "We have to be at least in eight hours at the Nefertiti Hotel in Cairo. Maryse will await me there - and I want to be well rested, before it's time to get to business." Maryse. One of his 'secretaries'. Or how I like to call them: Personal bitches. I had to suppress a bitter laugh. I knew it. I knew that he had other women beside me. I knew that he had several affairs behind my back. I was simply not enough for him. That was a thing I had accepted a long time ago. He thought I didn't know... But I did. Of course, Phil tried to hide it, but it was quite easy for me to count one and one together. How often he was hours and hours away, sometimes the whole night on so called 'meetings'. Or how he smelled like not exactly decent women perfume, when he crawled in bed to me late at night. Or the lipstick smudges he tried to cover up with the collar of his shirts. At first it really hurt me, after I found out, but meanwhile was it almost actually a blessing... Because that meant that I didn't have to sleep with him so often. Nevertheless, didn't change it the fact, that my husband cheated on me. A thing we swore to never do in marriage. But well... Promises can be broken... Even a marriage promise. "I'm sure we can make it to be on time in the hotel," I answered, giving him another fake smile. Daniel took us to the airport, on which our private jet already waited. We quickly got inside the plane, heading off towards Egypt.

We landed exactly seven hours later in Cairo. The sun hung already low, on the verge of sinking, as my feet touched Egyptian ground. The first thing I noticed was the temperature. Damn, it was hot... Way hotter than in Mallorca...                                                                                                            I never was in Cairo before, therefore I was quite excited about it, looked around and tried to soak in my surroundings - even if it was almost dark. "Riley, come. Our car waits," Phil said, arms slinging around my middle to pull me closer. "You can explore Cairo tomorrow, darling." I nodded, smiled again at him. Phil reciprocated my smile and pressed a kiss on my cheek, before taking my hand and pulling me after him. A taxi brought us straight through the city to the famous, five-star Nefertiti Hotel. It was super big and expensive looking. Yes, I was in a few cities already with Phil and also in a lot of hotels - but none of them was so splendid and luxurious like this one. Together, we entered the hotel, went through the big open glass door. My eyes went wide in awe and my brain tried to process what my eyes saw. The lobby was big. Really big. Decorated with big white columns, obviously made out of marble or so. Just like the floor. White and black stone slabs formed the floor. In the middle of this huge lobby stood a fountain, surrounded by little plants and lanterns. Everything was a bit Arabic breathed on and you could literally smell the Egyptian flair. It was simply amazing. I was beyond stunned. Maybe, just maybe this vacation wouldn't be that bad at all...

While I was still looking around and drinking in this amazing location, Phil walked already towards the reception desk to get us checked in. I didn't even recognize that. Well, not until he approached me again. "Riley, darling, you coming?" I spun quickly on my heels, facing him. "Um, yes, sure, in a minute. I'd like to look a bit further around." His expression told me, that he wasn't that pleased with my answer. "Fine, but I want that beautiful ass of yours in five minutes in my bed, yes?" I swallowed, but nodded. "Yes, sure." He gave me a nod. "The Concierge brought your stuff already up to the room as well." Then he left. "Alright, thanks," I mumbled, but he was already out of sight.

Call me stupid, but I was so fascinated by that lobby, I didn't know where to look or go first. "Can I help you, Madam?" I almost jumped out of my skin, when I heard another voice speaking up behind me. I turned around, facing whoever had addressed me - and looked straight into the face of a man in a neat dark blue, almost black suit, white shirt and gold-ish tie. His short blonde curls with hues of brown were styled to perfection and the man's sharp cheekbones and cheeks were covered with a slight stubble. He had a friendly, warm smile on his lips and his shining, bright blue eyes looked at me. They were as bright as the ocean and so deep, that I was shortly afraid I would lose myself in them. "Excuse me, please, I didn't mean to startle you, Miss..." It took me a moment to get myself out of my thoughts. "Arison." I cleared my throat. "Mrs. Arison." His polite smile widened. "Mrs. Arison. My name is Pine. I am the Night Manager here." The Night Manager? I gave him a friendly smile as well. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Pine." Mr. Pine gave me a polite nod. "Can I help you somehow, Madam?" "Oh, um, not really. I just wanted to look around a bit." "I could show you around, if you like." What a friendly and courteous man he was... "Yes, I'd like that-" My gaze drifted coincidentally to the big clock, hanging over the reception desk - and I froze. The five minutes Phil gave me, were over."B-But I think I should go to my room now. It got quite late a-and after the flight I should rest a bit." "Of course, Mrs. Arison. Maybe tomorrow?" "Maybe, yes." "Shall I escort you to your room?" Speaking of that... Oh no... I didn't even know where my room was. Stupid, Riley… Very stupid. So, I agreed. "Yes, thank you, Mr. Pine." He escorted me to my room in silence, stopped in front of the 'Hatshepsut Suite'. "There we are." I gave him another small smile. "Thank you." "Anytime, Mrs. Arison. Good night." Mr. Pine made a slight bow, "Good night." then left. I looked after him with a smile until he vanished around the corner. What a gentleman... I opened the door to the suite, stepped in and shut the door again behind me. That smile I had on my lips, got quickly swept away again. "Five minutes... I said five minutes!" I flinched at my husband's words. "I-I know... I'm sorry I-" "Shut up and get on the bed. I'm starving..." Phil interrupted me, coldly. His eyes practically undressing me and the look on his face left no chance for discussions. You are his wife, I reminded myself. You have your duties. So, I did what he asked me to.

At the start of mine and Phil's 'relationship', I tried to convince myself, that we were going to make indeed a great couple. Trying to convince me, that I could actually fall for him... Pretended to fall for him. Lied to myself that I have fallen for him. I didn't, of course. At least not hard. This all had nothing to do with love. It was business. We both knew it. For Phil was this all a great deal in contrast to me. He had even more money now, could buy whatever he desired, was a respected business man, the company boomed and he got me - the icing of the cake. A woman he could show off and especially use as his personal amusement toy. And what did I get from that 'deal'? A life full of unhappiness and coercion. A life without a perspective on a happy end. On love. On a own life. Come on... A bit dreaming was allowed, wasn't it? My gaze drifted to my right. Phil laid on his side with his back towards me. The lamps of our nightstand illuminated the room, drowned it in a soft orange. I sighed. I needed a bit... space - and therefore, that Phil was deep asleep, I stood up and got dressed again, before sneaking quietly out of our room. The hotel was completely quiet. No single guest or stuff could be seen. Well, no wonder... It was meanwhile almost midnight. Actually, I just wanted to walk around a bit, to sort my thoughts, but somehow my feet let me down to the impressive lobby again.

a/n: Let me know, if you want to be tagged in this story! :)

Tagging:

@youlightmeupfinn

[phanfictioncatalogue]

Librarian!Phil Masterlist

between the lines (ao3) - dieofthatroar

Summary: Phil's a librarian at a local public library. Dan has nowhere else to go.

Birds (ao3) - orphan_account

Summary: Phil is a library volunteer who somehow ends up helping with a children’s activity. And as he’s working, he can’t help but notice the curly haired stranger who is really good with kids and really good at making him smile.

details of an asteroid (ao3) - dantiloquent

Summary: “If you think about it, aliens probably believe in us, too. We’ve got our own intergalactic cheerleaders.”

When Dan and Phil keep bumping into each other, they eventually give in to chance and start talking. Soon enough, Dan makes a home at the library Phil works at, and they talk about nothing and everything so often that there is no going back. The two survive the future just fine, until they learn the flaws of leaning the weight of your existence on someone else’s shoulders.

Figure My Heart Out - definitelythor

Summary: Dans a student with a massive crush on the university's librarian, and it's Valentines day

i can’t focus on what needs to get done (ao3) - obsessivelymoody

Summary: Phil works at a library and Dan’s a philosophy student.

If These Shelves Could Speak (ao3) - phandomestic

Summary: a slice-of-life-esque library au where dan has plans to study for an exam but a certain distraction by the name of hot librarian #1 gets in the way

just once to be lifted strong (ao3) - The_Blonde

Summary: "Maybe it is random. Maybe the lynx was just the next one waiting in line for its human and that human had happened to be Dan, awkwardly manoeuvring his way around the outskirts of situations while it prowled at his side. Or maybe it represented some inner part of Dan, golden and glowing, hidden somewhere amongst all the shadows, something that he could get to if he actually looked. Dan’s more inclined to go with the first one (though he’d considered the second one numerous times. It just wasn’t possible)."

Or: Dan is a boy with a missing anima. He finds a Phil instead.

make a wish when your childhood dies (ao3) - tinydragon (tiny_dragon)

Summary: Things could be going better for librarian Phil Lester. He’s discontent with his life and his job when an episode of accidental magic lands him in a seemingly different world, which nobody else seems aware of other than the neighbour he never knew he had, Dan Howell. Together, they must find a way to return home to their ordinary cities and lives, but there’s something about Dan that’s strange, in that he seems eerily similar to Phil’s favourite childhood storybook character.

Middle of Somewhere (ao3) - det395

Summary: Phil’s an apprentice at a library who is drawn to a regular visitor with fluffy hair and a questionable attitude

More Than Stanzas - mairieuxes

Summary: The hot librarian is a massive nerd and Dan just found his notebook filled with poems.

Scraps and secrets (ao3) - Writtenbyalonelynerd

Summary: Phil is a librarian, dan has nowhere to go during the summer holidays so decides to do some reading. Meets Phil and love grows from there.

Short Skirts and Candy Kisses (ao3) - tahliaisnotonfire

Summary: The boy had chestnut coloured hair and matching brown eyes, golden skin and pink succulent lips. His cheekbones were strongly put together and his jawline was at the perfect angle, complementing the boy’s features nicely. Phil couldn’t believe someone like this actually existed. The boy was young and his appearance seemed even more tempting as he was sucking on a lollipop. A fucking lollipop.

Also known as that AU where Phil works in a library and Dan wanders in one day wearing a short skirt looking for a book and Phil just can’t stay low-key.

teach me how to kiss (ao3) - cityscaped (touchofgold)

Summary: Dan is a typical notorious bad boy smoker who couldn't give a shit about anything. Phil is a quiet librarian nerd who spends too much of his time in an abandoned tower in school. After rumours were spread that Dan had slept with many girls, and his two friends finding about it, Dan's dirty little secret is exposed.

Dan has no idea how to kiss.

And what does he do? He gets kissing lessons from Phil.

Textbook Love (ao3) - phanimist

Summary: phil works at the library, and is more than happy to get to know the cute boy at the back of the room, even if he does play his music loudly.

The Boy Was Cute (ao3) - bookcallipitter

Summary: Library AU, Phil works at a library Dan attends often, but one day changes everything.

The Douchebag (ao3) - novastars

Summary: Phil works in a small library where a local douchebag keeps moving the books and putting them on the wrong shelves.

you’re warm (home) (ao3) - littledgykid

Summary: Dan is a miserable law student. Phil is getting his bachelor’s degree in library and information science. He’s getting work experience in the university library, where they meet. After Dan stays way past the closing time, they bond over their love for literature (and Oscar Wilde).

[bonesandthebees]

Wilbur gets a slightly different deal. I’ve gone back to dig up Phil’s original offer, which I’m sure Wilbur didn’t think he’d still get. The first offer is actually rather vague. Phil points out that Wilbur’s potential would be wasted on Eldingvegr (which is true) and offers to teach him. The implication there is that Wilbur should stay on Zephys IV. And Wilbur doesn’t want to take that offer without talking to Tommy, because it means leaving Tommy.

I wonder if Phil figured out that that was the problem with the original offer. Because this time he says [That doesn’t mean you have to leave your brother behind. But you can stretch your wings.] Or if he just figured out the timeline of the Ranboo reveal. Probably both. Ranboo got his words echoed back to him so he’d know exactly what conversation it was and when that happened.

Phil would then be able to connect that to Wilbur acting off the next day. From there he could figure out that the fight was fake and just be more impressed by how they were tricked. I also wonder how he feels about his last one-on-one conversation with Wilbur.

How many times did the lines [“I wish I could tell you everything going on in my head,”] [“I just… I can’t.”] and [“I’m scared, Phil,”] (- Wilbur, ch. 25.) echo through Phil head in the past few days. Did he take it as Wilbur being scared of leaving, or Wilbur being scared of him?

Also what happened to Quackity? Do they think he got tricked too? Or did they interrogate the hell out of him? And I’m getting really side tracked now.

The choice (4/5)

-🌲

yeah phil figured out the timeline for sure. I don't know if he exactly figured out that the problem with the original deal was tommy, he just knows wilbur well enough to figure out that that's a concern of his and makes sure to address it the second time around

looking back on that convo, phil wasn't sure what wilbur meant by saying he was scared. he wanted to believe that wilbur was just scared of trying to escape, but a little seed of doubt in the back of his mind told him wilbur might be scared of him, and that's not something he wanted at all.

actually quackity is kind of funny. when they went to question quackity jack happened to be there since he'd also been part of the plan, and before they could ask quackity wtf he did, jack really loudly went "I mean I didn't see Wilbur use his Voice on Quackity but since he did that to me he PROBABLY did that to Quackity too" like giving quackity the answer on a test since quackity wasn't there to see the brothers using their Voices

quackity of course picked up on what jack was saying and immediately rolled with it, and just claimed that wilbur used his Voice on him LMAO

[avengeclintasha]

12 & 2

Ahh these are the two that have been in my WIP folder the longest out of everything. It's been AGES since I worked on either of them but they both are still in there in hopes that one day I actually do write them and flesh them out to their full potential.

12. Age of Ultron AU

Okay, I think this is literally the oldest WIP I have, it was SO long ago when I started this one--it's basically age of ultron but with Peggy in it and a few other details changed bc I both loved and hated age of ultron when I first started this fic (now I can say with certainty that it's one of my least favorites, but I don't question my past self and her movie tastes)

It follows the plot of age of Ultron and everything kind of still happens in the same way major plot point wise—I only have the very beginnings of it because I wasn't sure how much I wanted to include of the actual movie/how true I should stay to the dialogue, but there is a part I particularly like that I'll leave below the cut from the first chapter (which is still set before the party scene in the movie but after they fight the first battle, if I'm remembering correctly.

2. ACS3 AU

UGH and this one, this one is an agent Carter season 3 like, what I wished would have been created, and it starts out RIGHT as season 2 ends and it's kind of meant to bridge the gap between the end of agent Carter and endgame, but like idk about years and how long and timelines and stuff got complicated but anyway—

They start out looking into Jack's death and Peggy realizes quickly that he was killed for a file with fake information on her, but just a few short hours after his death and their work at the crime scene, Peggy goes back to the Los Angelous office and though she just reported she was taking more vacation mere hours ago, the head of New York (Jack's old boss) wants her back to run the office by Monday at the latest.

Peggy also gets a call after that from Phillips and Stark about creating SHIELD and making a new organization together and there's supposed to be a whole side plot with her getting offered jobs in the middle of the big extensive plot that's going on

Anyway, Peggy starts combing through old war records and eventually finds out that it's Michael and he's not dead and it has something to do with the Arena Club too, but I didn't plan out all the exact plot of that and eventually after dealing with all of that she takes the job with Phillips and moves to DC and she's only been in her new place for a few days when Steve shows up at her door and that's the end.

It also was meant to kind of have a lot of war flashbacks and flashbacks to childhood with her and Michael, and this is one of my more planned out WIPs I've just never had the time and energy to devote to it to write it, though the first chapter has been edited multiple times I've never posted it, but honestly, it's kind of tempting even though I haven't worked on it in over a year rip. I might post it later on AO3 just because you asked about it.

Thank you so much for asking about these two, they hold such a special place in my heart, and I hope maybe one of them will be posted soon, or at least partially out there for everyone to enjoy :)

More for the Age of Ultron AU for giggles:

"Where is she?" Maria said handing Steve a folder. 

"Who?" He asked taking the folder and opening it. 

"The director!" Steve looked over the room and everyone else was there. Tony and Bruce were sitting next to each other with Thor listening to their discussion. Natasha, Phil, and Clint were sitting opposite them and talking to each other. "Fury's coming too," Hill said looking up and down the hallway. "You'd probably have better luck finding her, Cap. I checked her office and the rest of this floor." 

"I'll be right back," he said. He set his folder and his bag down in the seat beside Clint before leaving to go find Peggy. 

Peggy was very good at hiding inside the intricate hallways and rooms of the SHIELD headquarters, but Steve always knew where she went when she was stressed or needed moments to herself. He checked his office first, then the break room on Natasha's floor, then the training room on that floor. He checked them all with no luck, but then realized where she would be. 

He quickly rode the elevator to the floor with the upper level gyms. Most of the higher ranking agents didn't ever come on this floor because the other gyms were more centrally located on their floors. He knew Peggy liked it here because it was often deserted and he quickly found her punching a sand bag in one of the rooms. 

"Peggy," he said. She instantly jumped at the sound of his voice. She had sweat rolling down her face, and she looked more tired than usual. He walked over to where she was and took her hands in his own. "You alright?" 

"Just needed a few minutes to myself," she said. He began to unwrap her hands, and she relaxed a little because of the familiarity of the situation. This was not the first time this had happened. 

"You're late for the Avengers meeting." He tossed the gauze onto one of the benches near the bag Peggy had brought with her. His gaze came back to her before seeing her face. There was something wrong that she wasn't saying. "Pegs, what's wrong?" 

"Nothing, darling. I'm just tired. It's been a long week," she said. She started to gather up her belongings. She shoved everything into her locker and locked it with her keys. "We'd better get to that meeting." She quickly grabbed her black leather portfolio where she put everything she needed for the day before walking out of the room. Steve quickly followed her to the elevator and got on. 

"Do you have a full plan for the defense conference talks?" He turned to her tying to take her mind away from what was bothering her. 

"Almost. I wanted everyone's approval and input before it became a full plan. The end is a little open," she said opening the portfolio in her hands. She glanced over the content inside before snapping it shut again. "It'll all work out." 

[after-witch]

smiling man related passages from ‘Dark Waters’

So I initially sort of wrote off Dark Waters, the third Small Spaces book, because there are no actual Smiling Man scenes. But I reread it over the past week or so, and I think I’m giving it a bad shake. I still massively disagree with a specific decision the author made, but enough characters think and talk about the Smiling Man that you can glean a lot from it. 

Some of my favorite passages (spoilers ahead)

Also this book confirms that the Smiling Man has fancy handwriting, so, bless him.

one:  “A narrow face, sharp-nosed and big-eyed, with a wide grin. A grin that could look friendly or terrifying, or amused, or kind. Fair hair falling over the forehead. The smiling man...”

I’ve said it before, but the guise that the Smiling man takes in book #1 is so calculated and charming. Fair hair!! Pond-water eyes! Hot damn. 

two: “... to lure some essence of the smiling man, laughing and charming, mean and old, onto their boat with them.”

Plays with the element of the Smiling Man being hundreds of years old, at least. He can be so many things at once. 

three: “It was so, so easy to trust the smiling man.”

He’s really good at making people--not just children, but adults as well--trust him. Believe in him. Even when you seem to know that there is something wrong, you can’t help but want to be lured in by his words. 

 four: “’It winked at me,’ whispered Coco.”

Smiling Man pulling some Pennywise shit, you have to love it.

five: “He always keeps his promises.” 

I love the implications in the notion of a Faustian-devil type character who always keeps his promises. Good promises, bad promises... both are equally sanctified. 

six: “Why do you think I even talked to--to your smiling man, let him give me his stupid fishing lure? Because he was nice to me. He believed me. Not just some stupid ‘I believe that you believe’ thing, like the shrink. He actually believed me. He listened to me.” 

Again, an element of cruelty in his behavior... he can be kind and generous, or seemingly so. Listening to a kid who everyone thinks is crazy and making him feel listened to for the first time in months, only to turn out to be using that kid in order to try to trap and/or murder some children. Oh, and the fact that Phil is one of the kids that the Smiling Man had turned into a scarecrow and was planning to kidnap forever to use as his servant until his soul withered into nothing makes it even more fucked up. I can just see him putting on airs of sympathy, acknowledging this poor kid’s trauma, making him feel seen--and it’s all a show for the Smiling Man to get what he wants out of it.

seven: SWIRLING FANCY HANDWRITING. 

He’s got swirling fancy handwriting. I bet he likes quill and ink pens. Also I love this descriptor--”glitteringly hopeful.” One thing I appreciate about Arden is that it doesn’t feel like a Goosebumps-style book with, well, less then stellar writing. She’s got some really nice prose. 

on the decision I disagree with: I absolutely think Arden should have given us the scene between Ollie and the Smiling Man making her bargain to save her father at the expense of herself. Instead, she has Ollie do it “off page,” and we only find out at the very end through her leaving a note and the kids receiving the message from the Smiling Man.

And I get why--she wanted to make it a surprise, a twist, etc. But... That’s THE scene that has been building up since the first book, the moment when the Smiling Man “gets” Ollie, which he wanted to do since she turned down his initial deal in book 1. Maybe Book 4 will offer a flashback, idk. But I think it’s a shame because it would have been such a horribly sad, frustrating scene--to see Ollie have to give up, while bargaining for some type of potential rescue from her friends, even if the Smiling Man will be sure that it won’t happen, combined with what I’m sure would have been a gloating triumph from the Smiling Man himself.

Arden says book 4 has a lot more Smiling Man than the other books, so I’m sure we will get quite a bit, but I do wish book 3 had found a way to incorporate that scene into the story. i would have really liked to find out exactly how both Ollie and the Smiling Man react to his fresh win. 

[findingjoynweirdstuff]

Dream SMP Recap (March 15/2022) - Bust

Wilbur speaks to Phil after what happened in Las Nevadas and gets some words of wisdom. Tubbo and Eryn come up with plans for a new project, and Bad continues his war efforts.

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VOD LINKS:

Wilbur Soot

Tubbo

BadBoyHalo

Michaelmcchill

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- Wilbur and Tommy are at the Arctic cabins calling for Phil. They run into Techno boating around on the snow out front. It’s been a while since Wilbur and Techno have last spoke. Techno tells them Phil’s just in his house

- Wilbur speaks with Phil. Phil welcomes him in for a drink while Tommy leaves with honey. Wilbur remembers how they last spoke when Wilbur wanted to make a burger van. Phil asks him how it went

- Wilbur tells him that he thinks he may have taken one of Ranboo’s canon lives and he doesn’t know where Ranboo’s gone

- He explains he got competitive with Quackity and Las Nevadas while Tommy and Techno mess around in game chat

- Wilbur says he was getting better for a while, but then it all went wrong. He feels like he’s at his peak, he can’t get any better than this, and there might just be something wrong with him. He doesn’t know how to get people to actually forgive him, even if they say they do

- Ranboo must have more canon lives, he must be somewhere! But Phil says they haven’t seen him. Wilbur thinks Ranboo just didn’t want Wilbur to hurt him

- Phil sits Wilbur down

Phil: “Sometimes, you fall so far, so low, that there isn’t – or doesn’t seem to be a way to be forgiven. Sometimes you just can’t expect forgiveness at all. You can’t expect it to be your end goal. Your end goal should be to allow others to move on from the mistakes you’ve made. You have to bring closure to the suffering you’ve caused, Wil. That’s the most important thing right now.”

- If Wilbur’s offered people everything he can and it still isn’t enough, Wilbur has to let them go and let them heal without him

- Eryn and Tubbo log on. They are surprised to see so many people online and Eryn suggests they go fuck them up but like, in a chill way

- Phil asks Wilbur if there’s anyone he’s thinking of right now who Wilbur has wronged in the past. Wilbur turns around and opens the door to see Tommy standing in the doorway

Wilbur: “Tommy, I...”

Wilbur: “...I need to go speak with Technoblade.”

- He thanks Phil and leaves, telling Tommy to hang out with Phil. He goes over to Techno, who is still just boating. It’s great exercise for one’s arms

Techno: “You can’t overthrow a government if you don’t have GAINS, bro.”

- Eryn tells Tubbo that he’s made a bee dome. Tubbo puts all of his valuable items in a chest in his house and then follows Eryn to Eryn’s base

- Technoblade has been getting swole. He hasn’t seen Wilbur since...Pogtopia, was it? Wilbur remembers. They were on the big sky rail talking about traitors, they were fighting side by side in the towers, and...the rest is history. Wilbur has a couple memories of him with the ghost

Techno: “I think I saw you for a few seconds when the anvil fell on me.”

- They go into Techno’s house and sit together in boats, reminiscing on the Pogtopia posters. Wilbur apologizes to Techno for using him as a weapon to just make a new government, a government that ended up killing him

- He says that Techno was right to not trust him, and he was right to be angry, and he’s sorry

- Techno remarks that Phil told him about how Wilbur’s dying words were about Techno being a traitor and to go after him, but what he wants to know is, was that all Wilbur? How many people were in on it?

- Wilbur says he was working on his own but he told the others his plans many times – the plans being to blow everything up with everyone still inside

Techno: “Bruhhhhh.”

- Eryn tours Tubbo around his village and bee dome and shows him his war horse

- Wilbur says that he knew they were going to make another government, but as for the others, Techno would have to go to them for their answers. All that he wants to say is that he’s a changed man now. Techno wishes him luck on his road to recovery

- Wilbur and Techno part ways, Wilbur saying he’ll be going around to a lot of places in these coming weeks

- He returns to Phil and Tommy to find them dressed up in zombie heads and pumpkins. Phil says they were trying out costumes and Tommy is stuck in a corner

- Wilbur needs to go and find a lot of people to apologize to. He has to find Ranboo. He thinks for a moment of who he needs to apologize to next, and has an idea. He looks at Tommy

- He tells Tommy that the person is very far away, and that Tommy will come with him. They say goodbye to Phil and leave

- As the two walk back through the Nether, Wilbur explains what Phil told him. He has a task for Tommy. This isn’t the person Wilbur is currently thinking of, but Tommy would be better at this job than him

- Wilbur feels that Ghostbur was a separate entity from him. Ghostbur’s been in Limbo for a very long time now. He asks if Tommy knows of DreamXD. Tommy has heard rumors. Wilbur thinks that DreamXD can help them get Friend back to Ghostbur

- Tommy promises to try and make a deal. The two shake hands

- They come up on Tommy’s house to find it covered in obsidian. Wilbur asks Tommy who he pissed off. They can deal with this later. For now, they have some work to do

- Tubbo and Eryn decide to build a new base at a cool area. Tubbo has the idea to build it at a mushroom biome surrounded by several ocean monuments. They travel over 26,000 blocks out to reach it and scout the area

- After exploring the mushroom biome, Tubbo realizes he flipped the 26,000 coordinate from Z to X by accident on the biome-finder and they somehow still ended up in a mushroom biome. Tubbo also notices that there’s a Woodland Mansion nearby

- They go to the mansion and raid it. They end there with plans to start the project later 

- Bad finishes redoing the Prime Path with the temporary new design and continues pranking Tommy’s house. He leaves a message for Tommy saying that if Tommy backs down on the path, he’ll get rid of the obsidian

- He also adds a Techno face and crown to the DreamXD statue

---

[mcyt-peach]

Could you write a Wilbur x reader oneshot, where the reader is Tommy's older sibling and they both meet for the first time and they both start flirting with each other a lot? Maybe it's based on the themepark vlog with Wilbur, tommy and Phil?

the curse of the younger brother

·˚ * summary: Tommy’s theme park vlog gets a bit derailed when Wilbur takes a liking to his older sibling

·˚ * pairing: cc!wilbur x gn!reader

·˚ * warnings: reader actually uses they/them pronouns, brief descriptions of rollercoasters, fear and dizziness

·˚ * word count: 638

·˚ * genre: fluff, romantic

·˚ * note: oh to be tommy's older sibling and flirt with wil just because, this was lovely to write so I hope you like it :)

“C’mon Tommy! We’re gonna be late!” Your voice echoed up the stairs as Tommy scrambled about upstairs. He finally came down to where you stood by the door, clamouring into the car after you.

Why you had agreed to drive Tommy to the theme park for his vlog, you’ll never know. But it was good to get out of the house once in a while. You couldn’t spend all your time working on schoolwork, at least that’s what your mum had told you while convincing you to be Tommy’s ride.

Well, a day at the amusement park wouldn’t be that bad. You only wish you were hanging out with someone your age. As you pulled in to park, Tommy was practically bursting out of the car, obviously ecstatic to be filming the rides and shenanigans he had planned for the day.

Tommy nearly disappeared into the crowd immediately, only to be pulled back by his shirt to your side. “How do you expect Tubbo to find you if you keep wandering...”

“Tommy!”

That... was not Tubbo. The man running up to you and Tommy was decidedly not the teenage boy you were expecting. Brown hair peaked out of his beanie and he clapped your brother on the back good naturedly before turning to you.

“Uh, hi! I didn’t know you were coming today.” His smile was slightly crooked, feeling a bit awkward at the change in plans.

“So you’re the internet man my little brother’s been talking to.” Your teasing seems to go over his head as he waves his hands around and tries to explain that it’s not what you think. His ears had a burning blush on them when you patted his arm and said you were only joking.

Tommy stood off to the side, watching the scene unfold in disgust. “I’m going to throw up.” he announced before turning on his heel to find Phil and Russ, leaving you and Wilbur with no choice but to follow him.

Thankfully, for Tommy’s sake, the two of you stopped acting strange when the vlogging began. Wilbur and Tommy played off each other and Phil interjected to say some jokes while Russ and you stayed behind the camera.

It was good to see Tommy so happy, knowing full well the stress he was under, with school, friends and his multiple channels. Wilbur seemed to bring everyone out of their shell, even the usually soft spoken Russ. Something about him was magnetic.

And draw you in he did. Wilbur had managed to coax you onto one of the more dramatic rides at the park. Seating yourself next to him, the attendants strapped the two of you into the ride. As the cart shuffled up towards the top of the track, you felt your nerves grow at the anticipation.

Wilbur laid his hand atop yours to calm you, giving you a soft smile. Then the cart stopped... and started its long descent down. You were screaming and so was Wilbur. Distantly you could hear Tommy’s yell over the sound of the air rushing past you.

But then the ride was slowing down, your laughter replacing your screams as the straps were released. Standing up from your seat, you wobbled a bit and Wilbur steadied you with his hands on your shoulders. “Dizzy?” He questioned.

“Just a bit.” You nodded back. Wilbur got you settled on a bench as Tommy dug into his newly acquired containers of cotton candy.

“Wil, do you think you could drive me for the next vlog?”

“I’ll drive!” Your head popped up from where it had been leaning against Wilbur’s shoulder.

Phil chuckled like he knew something you didn’t and Tommy huffed from his place on the grass, not having a good enough reason to deny you, but knowing you only volunteered to see Wilbur again.

[lucy90712]

Telling friends (pregnancy series)

Series masterlist

George:

George is on call with Dream and Sapnap like he usually is while I sit on the bed behind him doing some work on my laptop. He hasn't told either of them about the baby yet which has surprised me because he tells them everything including some things that I wish he hadn't but they don't seem to care. I have told him that he is allowed to tell them whenever he wants he just hasn't done it yet.

"Love can you come here for a minute" he asked

I got up and sat on his lap like I do all the time when he asks me to come and sit with him. He kissed my cheek and put an arm around my waist leaving a hand on my belly even though I'm not showing yet.

"Can I tell the boys about the little one?" He asked

"Of course you can you don't need to ask me this is your baby too" I said

He smile and unmuted himself so I went to leave him be but he kept hold of me so I stayed with him getting comfortable in my place on his lap.

"I have some exciting news for you guys" he said

"What is it? Don't tell me that you and y/n are engaged" Dream said

"Not quite but she is pregnant" he said

"What" Dream exclaimed

"No way we get to be uncles" Sapnap said

They continued to fight about who would be the best uncle before congratulating us and wanting to know more which George told them maybe with a little too much detail on some parts but again they weren't fazed.

Dream:

Me and Clay are sat in our bedroom while he talked to George planning things and I sat watching Netflix and occasionally chiming in with parts of the conversation. The two of them were talking about filming and streaming and trying to plan out days in the next few weeks where they could get together to do those things.

"What about the 17th at like 3pm to film your video?" George asked

"No that won't work y/n has and ultrasound at 3:15 so it will have to be later" clay replied

Clay turned round as soon as he realised what he said because he hasn't told any of his friends yet but because we talked about it with family and between the two of us it has become second nature. He looked so panicked probably because he wasn't sure if I wanted to tell other people yet even though I really don't mind him saying it.

"Shit I'm sorry babe I didn't mean to say that" he whispered giving me a hug

"It's ok you can tell people if you want to I'm not bothered" I assured him

He went back to his computer to explain himself to George who was beyond confused and concerned that there was something wrong with me. I'm very close with George and Sapnap to the point that when anything is wrong they also get concerned.

"Is y/n ok? Why does she need an ultrasound?" George asked

"She's fine she's ok the ultrasound is because she's pregnant" Clay said

"Oh my god no way congratulations" George said

The two of them talked about it for a bit and I left them to it only jumping in if they were talking about things only I really know.

Sapnap:

Sapnap and I haven't told any friends yet not really for any particular reason it is just a lot to keep worrying about what people are going to say when they find out, the worrying just makes me so exhausted on top of general tiredness. Sapnap has been wanting to tell karl out of all of his friends because he knows that he will be supportive and helpful especially because he knows Chris well who already has a baby. I was up for him talking to karl so he said he would tell him when they are next talking alone which happens to be today.

He wanted me to be there when he told him because he will admit that he doesn't really understand some things so I was there to tell some more of the details. He let me sit on his lap because it was comfier than the other chair in the room and he's been big on keeping me comfortable.

"Bro there's something I need to get off my chest" Sapnap started which seemed really over the top

"What is it? Is everything alright?" Karl questioned

"Everything's fine its just that y/n is pregnant" he said

"Thats great I'm so happy for you two how are things?" Karl said

We talked with him about how things are going and he gave us a little bit of advice which he had learnt from Chris but was mainly just reassuring which is just what the both of us especially me needed.

Quackity:

Alex is making a big deal out of telling everyone at once because he doesn't want to have to repeat himself over and over again telling different people at different times so he has managed to get if not everyone most people on the smp to get together this afternoon and we are going to tell them all at once.

I'm not so keen on this idea of making it such a big thing with everyone there at once especially in the afternoon because I'm normally quite tired by that point and having to talk to everyone at once sounds like a real ordeal. Alex has assured me that he will do most of the talking but he wants me to be there to hear everyone's reaction.

At around 4:30 everyone got into the call thinking that this was something serious or to do with the lore that Alex has been doing so no one has really made any jokes or anything and it feels so odd to be in such a serious environment when you are about to say this really big news. Despite that Alex started talking and saying that he has some big thing to say which got them all intrigued.

"We're expecting" we both said together

A mess of words and screams came through the speakers none of it could be made out as anything in particular but soon they kind of took turns in saying things so that we could understand what they were saying. All of them were very nice some made a few jokes because thats just how they are but it was all in good spirit.

Karl:

Karl is filming for mr beast gaming today which usually means if I'm free I get to go with him or at least visit him after filming. Karl brought me with him with the plans to tell all of them about the pregnancy today which he has been dying to do but just haven't had a good chance to.

They finished filming and were sat down for a bit before filming another video which gave us the perfect chance to tell them. Karl had wanted to tell them before any other friends because he spends so much time with them and Chris was the one that encouraged me to take the test.

"We have some news for you guys" I started

"Y/n's pregnant" karl finished

"Wait I was right when I said that a few months ago" Chris said

"Yeah we actually took the test that evening" I said

"That's so great" Jimmy said

"We can make cool content now" Karl said

I gave him a look at that comment even though I know he's just joking but I wouldn't be against making one or two videos with them just not doing a bunch of weird challenges.

Wilbur:

Naturally when telling friends Wilbur wanted to tell Tommy, Phil and techno first because they are all very close. He wanted to get them all together in person but it just wasn't possible so we decided to do it though discord instead. Wilbur got them all together to call this afternoon and he has his plan all prepared.

When the call started I let him talk to them for a while before I came in the room after Wilbur texted me. I came and sat with him and said hi to all of them handing Wilbur what he wanted under the desk and out of view of his camera.

"Oh I took this cool photo the other day let me show you" Wilbur said

He grabbed hold of the ultrasound picture I got for him and held it up to show his camera and watching his friends faces was so fun. Phil's reaction was my favourite he looked like he was about to cry out of pure happiness the others were just shocked.

"Congratulations you two this is so exciting" Phil said

"Wait so you guys" Tommy started

"Tommy don't finish that sentence" techno said anticipating something bad

"Fine but that's seriously so cool" Tommy said

All of them were very excited for the day they get to meet our little bean and demanded updates all the time which Wilbur is more than happy to give them.