#in other news I kinda feel like trying to design the triplets

[anonymous-harpy]

I have discovered that if I go over my line work with a black ink pen, that I will absolutely love the look as it makes the lines pop properly against the pencil coloring

And I'm also glad I can jump back and forth between pencil & paper and digital without losing my skills

On a lore note

I, like always, plan on fully detailing a tragic backstory for Oca, because I'm supposed to be going through a major surgery at the end of the year and I use my writing, especially my OCs to work through issues I have (Geliaden gets all the self hatred and random bouts of depression! 😅) so Oca gets to suffer too (as soon as I have a proper point of reference)

On a more positive note note, Raditz is best Sayian boy who's nothing but nice and supportive to Oca.... Or at least as kind and supportive as he can be as Vegeta and Nappa's whipping boy.

They're just gonna be cute and sad together.

Is this in my canon for "Universal Surprise"? Ehhh not really, but I was figuring on making multiple canons based around certain characters and storylines anyhow. Oh the things I have planned for Yōji

[themattgirl]

could you please make one where Chris and reader are dating and reader feels sick and Chris just takes care of her and acts all sweet and stuff? 🫠

an: thank you for the request ily 🧡

this turned out so much longer than i intended

this isn’t my first one shot but it’s the first with one of the sturniolo triplets in it. 

obviously their characters have been altered by me a little to fit into the story but i tried to make it as realistic as possible by keeping their personality traits as they are in real life.

also comment or like this post if you want to be added to the taglist

pairing: chris x fem!reader

word count: 4.1k

warnings: fluff, use of ‘babe’ and ‘ma’ as pet names for reader, intentional wrong spelling in text messages to make it more realistic, mentions of nsfw themes, swearing, lots of playful teasing between characters

y/n’s dialogue  

chris’ dialogue

matt’s dialogue

nick’s dialogue

mary lou’s dialogue

“it’s just a cold, nothing serious i promise. i don’t think i can come over today though, i don’t wanna infect any of you. i’m sorry for ruining movie night,” i say to chris on facetime before breaking into a cough. i turn the camera away from me, not wanting him to see me in a disgusting state like this. if i could, i would’ve muted myself so he doesn’t have to listen to it either. plus, i know how worried he gets with any type of sickness or unwell feeling really.

so, of course it wouldn’t be chris if he didn’t immediately furrow his brows.

“babe no, don’t apologize. you didn’t choose to get sick.”

he gets up from where he was sitting on the couch and goes downstairs to his bedroom. he puts the phone down so all i can see now is his ceiling. his voice sounds a little farther away when he speaks again, “it doesn’t really sound like nothing serious, does anything hurt?”

“to be honest, my whole body has been aching since i woke up this morning. it’s not too bad, just a dull ache, i can still move and all that, even if i’d prefer to just lay here and rot away,” i laugh and hold back the cough that wants to escape right after in hopes it would make him worry a little less. vainly.

“your voice sounds stuffy and kinda hoarse, does your throat hurt?”

“i forgot you turn into a doctor every time somebody doesn’t feel great,” i roll my eyes even though he can’t see it with his phone still down and him on the other side of the room from how distant his voice sounds.

“shut up, y/n. you feel worse than ‘not great’. you’re not fooling anyone with that act.”

he reappears on the screen. now i can see what he has been doing in the time i couldn’t see him. he put on a hoodie over the tank top he had been wearing before, the hair he had put up in a little ponytail - if you could even call it that - in the front has been untied and brushed. or maybe he just ran his fingers through his hair a couple of times, that’d be more like it.

“anyways baby, imma call mom real quick. be right back,” he hangs up before i get the chance to respond.

i put the phone down next to me on the bed i’ve been in since i realized this morning how much it hurt to stand up and how i felt like i was gonna throw up every time i moved too hastily.

i took a deep breath - well, as deep as a breath can get when your nose is clogged - and closed my eyes to try and concentrate on something other than the throbbing pain in my head.

i feel so much worse than how i described it to chris and i feel bad for kind of lying to him, i do. but he has been dealing with so much of his own lately - new designs for his brand, fixing the shipping issues with some of the orders from his last drop, coming up with video ideas and prefilming those before him, nick and matt go on tour again, preparing everything for said tour - see, he really doesn’t need me to add to his things-to-worry-about-list, especially if he can’t do anything to fix it and it’ll go away on its own anyway.

i feel my phone’s vibration from somewhere in between the sheets and grab it. it's messages from nick.

hey y/n heard your not feeling so good (:/ smiley) i was really excited to see you again today but don’t you dare feel guilty for it

i know how you guilt trip yourself into thinking everything is your fault

its kind of a good thing bc now i have time to get the matching pjs we wanted

hope you feel better soon tho

matts sick too maybe you got it from him when you helped him decorate his room yesterday

I hey y/n heard your not feeling so good 😕 i was really excited to see you again today but don’t you dare feel guilty for it

word spreads faaast 😂 i’m so sad i gotta wait another week or so to see you again i only like sleepovers cuz of u but dont tell chris 🤫

I i know how you guilt trip yourself into thinking everything is your fault

seriously i hate that yk me so well 😐

I its kind of a good thing bc now i have time to get the matching pjs we wanted

at first i was like 🤨 but then i kept reading i LOVE YOUU SO MUCH OMG just so yk chris was the second option

I hope you feel better soon tho

me too now i’m excited for the pajamaaas 😫

I matts sick too maybe you got it from him when you helped him decorate his room yesterday 🤔

i’m gonna kill him like fr this time

hey where tf is chris??

talking to mom shes teaching him sth honestly don’t ask idk

ok 😂 i think im gonna take a nap talk later?

yess get some rest and lmk if you need anything ❤️

ly❤️❤️

after sending the last message i get a call from matt. i contemplate not picking up for a second but decide against it.

“what?”

“uff, what’s that attitude?”

“i’m sick because of you, shithead.”

“we don’t know that. what if you’re the one who passed it on to me, hm? besides, i was just calling to tell you to drink some water and to ask if you need anything. i was actually being nice but you clearly don’t deserve it,” his voice is just as bad as mine, if not worse which makes me feel a little bad, but matt wouldn’t be one of my best friends if i had to worry about him getting mad every time i’m not nice. that’s actually how we bonded after annoying each other every chance we got. we both have a bit of an attitude problem which caused a lot of irritation and aggravation. now we get along better than any pair of best friends. the teasing stayed in place, but now we both know there’s only endless love behind it. sometimes you just gotta let off a bit of steam and we both just get that.

“fine, i’m sorry. sickness really does turn you soft, huh?” i smirk.

“why’re you saying it like you just confirmed a theory?”

“mary lou told me once and i’ve been waiting ever since to see for myself, guess she was right.”

“you are actually the worst. i’m hanging up now. drink water, bye.”

he hangs up the phone and i laugh to myself. what a big baby.

i open chris’ chat and type in a message telling him i’m going to sleep and that i will call him once i wake up again. i don’t bother waiting for a reply and just put the phone on my nightstand. i turn on my side, close my eyes and after that i don’t notice anything anymore.

i jolt up from bed, breathing heavy, body sweaty and heart racing. my room is dark, lit up only by the moon shining through my window. i look around trying to remember where i am and shake the nightmare from my mind.

i reach for my phone and check the time.

11:43 pm

i turn on the flashlight and right when i notice a black jacket hung over the back of my desk chair i hear footsteps coming closer.

chris pushes the door open and steps in.

“oh shit, did i wake you?”

“no i had a nightmare. what are doing here?”

i sit upright in bed and turn the flashlight off when chris flips the switch to turn on the fairy lights around the edges of my ceiling.

he moves to sit on the bed next to me before he answers, “i had mom teach me how to make her get-well-quick-soup and brought you some. she also told me about the perfect remedy tea, i can make it for you,” he stands up again immediately, “i’ll heat up the soup for you first. shit ma, have you even eaten anything today?” he stands by the door, holding the handle but looking back over his shoulder at me.

“chris,” i honestly don’t know what to say to him. he is so sweet i have to fight the tears that build up on my waterline. i just look at him for a moment, a little smile ghosting on my lips.

i’m well aware of how caring, considerate and compassionate chris is as a person in general, but it still baffles me sometimes how much he goes out of his way to make others feel good. i guess i’m just not used to it, being loved like this, having someone do everything that lies in their hands - and beyond that - just for me. it’s astonishing to say the least. especially when i myself have had issues with showing how deeply i cherish somebody ever since i can remember. it’s probably rooted somewhere in my past and how my affection has been received and responded to, that’s what my therapist says anyway.

i shake myself out of my thoughts and move the blanket away from my body to finally get up. immediately chris is beside me, holding me in place, “what’re you doing, ma? stay here i’ll bring it up,” he talks quietly, trying to get me to take in my previous lying position but i stay put on the ground.

“babe, i have been in this bed almost all day. i need to get up. i’ll just come down with you, we can eat together in the kitchen,” i try to convince him.

he looks at me, an uncertain expression on his face for a few seconds, the gears in his head almost visibly turning while he thinks about it. at last he lets out a sigh and nods, “alright then, hop on my back,” he bends over in a piggy back position in front of me and i can’t help the laugh that escapes me.

“you do know i can walk, right?” i ask still chuckling.

“i know, come ooon, just do it,” he urges me on and wiggles his hips, making me laugh even harder when i climb on his back.

“you’re gonna be so sick tomorrow, chris,” i complain mournfully once he lets me down to sit on the kitchen counter while he gets to heating up the soup he brought.

chris insists he’s not prone to catch a cold or any sickness easily, no matter how contagious or how close to the source he might be, even though he has proven himself wrong multiple times on more occasions than he cares to admit.

“no i won’t. besides, i could use a few days off even if i have to be sick to get that,” he lets out a huff of air trying to make it sound humorous, but both of us - and everyone who knows chris for that matter - knows that he is exhausted and is in desperate need of a break.

i know he doesn’t want me to get serious about that topic right now though so i try to change routes, “oh my god,” he turns around from where he was stirring the soup on the stove and faces me, confused about my shocked exclamation. i point an accusatory finger at him, my jaw hanging low but a smile still creeping it’s way on my face.

“so that’s why you’re here. you came to try and get infected, that’s why you carried me down too even though you know damn well i coulda walked by myself. and i’m here thinking you were actually being the best boyfriend on earth. turns out my man is a piece of shit,” by the end i fail to stay serious and let out a giggle. well, it’s not like he actually believed that i meant what i was saying but still.

he lets go of everything he was holding, turns around to me fully and begins to stalk toward me slowly.

“oh yeah?” i don’t know if it’s just me or if he’s doing it on purpose but all of a sudden his voice sounds deeper, his face more stern and serious.

“is that what you think then? i’m just a piece of shit?” he makes me nervous at first but the second i see the smirk on his lips i know exactly what’s about to follow.

“chris. no.”

he is standing right in front of me, so close he has positioned himself in between my legs, his hands on the counter on either side of me, trapping me. the finger i was pointing at him long since taken back.

“am i a piece of shit when i make you cum with just my tongue?” his face is so close now.

“stop,” i say quieter than i mean to, almost whisper-like.

“or when i fuck you so good you can’t walk right for days, am i a piece of shit then?”

this asshole is doing it on purpose. he knows i would never have sex with him when i’m sick so he’s trying to rile me up the little fucker. have i mentioned that i actually hate him. like for real hate him. the type of hate that leads to an absolutely mindblowing fuck. shit.

“or yesterday when you told matt you needed a break and came downstairs to my room to suck me off and then you just wiped your mouth and went back up like nothing happened. did you do it because i’m a piece of shit?”

my jaw is on the floor.

“or when–”

“OKAY,” i practically scream, “you’re the best and i didn’t mean what i said, just please stop.”

i’m almost whining at this point.

i try to rub my legs together to ease some of the friction unnoticeably but chris is like a hawk, sees everything, notices everything. and then he smiles. just smiles and goes back to the soup.

later that night, after i was forced to eat almost all of the soup and drink two cups of magic tea while chris downed a cheese burger, fries and three of the last four pepsi cans i had in my fridge, we snuggled up on the couch with a heavy blanket that chris had also asked his mom for, thrown over both of our laps and a random movie playing on the tv. 

neither one of us actually felt like watching something but we threw it on as background noise anyway. chris and i have barely seen each other in almost two weeks so all we want right now is to enjoy each other's company. he has been so busy with all that’s coming up for him and his brothers, still is. and i've been studying like crazy because i always feel like i won’t pass if i don’t and when i wasn’t busy with that i’d be at work to earn my living and feel like i’m doing enough. so there wasn't really time for us to actually be together and get to enjoy it. i've missed it.

“you know you’re probably sick because you exhaust yourself all the time,” chris says when he turns to look at me.

“shh,” i shush him with my eyes closed and a smile on my lips, “i got it from matt, no discussion.”

he lets out a little laugh at that, “yes discussion. if you keep going like that, one day it’s gonna have more serious effects on your health than a cold. you don’t even need to do all that. how many times do i have to tell you your life is worth enough even if you don’t work yourself half to death and have a little fun every once in a while,” he rubs my thigh while talking. chris knows better than anyone that i don’t like being put on the spot and lectured about my not-so-healthy habits like that, especially when i know exactly that it’s in fact very unhealthy. but he also insists on having these talks with me because he knows i would shut out everyone else who’d dare to try immediately. he and his brothers are the only three people i have let come so close and they make use of that quite often, might i say. but it’s okay because these people are my best friends and i know i need to be put in check sometimes, i admit. nobody else would dare try but them so i just let them. 

i must say, it has helped me improve my life to an extent. they taught me that it’s okay to cut ties with people who are bad for my mental health and encourage bad habits, and that i don’t owe shit to them even if they want to make me believe that. they kept telling me “quality friends are worth so much more than a big amount of bad ones” until it finally clicked in my brain and i blocked half of my contact list.

“look who’s talkin’. mister i work twice as hard as the person i try to lecture,” i jab my finger in his side and he jerks.

“you know that’s different,” he holds my hands in his to stop me from doing it again.

i like feeling his hands on mine. i know he’s my boyfriend and it might be weird to say it like that. but i haven’t seen him in so long, which means i also haven’t felt him in so long. it’s crazy but it almost feels like in the beginning when we were scared to touch each other and would act like we accidentally brushed our hand on the other but we both knew it was fully on purpose.

chris pulls me out of my thoughts again when he speaks, “at least i have an end in sight and work’s gonna be way more relaxed once i’m done with everything. with you there’s always–”

the ringing of his phone cuts him off and he takes a look at the caller id, his mom. he narrows his eyes at me and gives me a look that says “we’re not done yet” but picks up the phone and holds it up so she can see the both of us on the screen.

“i was going to ask chris about you but since you’re with him please pinch him for me,” is the first thing mary lou says when she looks at us. and i gladly do as she says even though i don't know what he did to deserve it.

“oww, what was that for?” chris asks whining and i just shrug and chuckle.

“you told me you would bring y/n the soup and go back home. you lied to me.”

i turn to him with my mouth hanging open, “christopher owen, how dare you?”

it’s so fun to aggravate chris.

he furrows his brows at me and then looks back at the screen, “she literally begged me,” he straight up lies. “i was trying to tell her i didn’t wanna get sick so i could only drop off the soup and blanket and would have to leave again but then she started crying–”

i hit him for real this time, hard enough to make him suck air through his teeth.

“mary lou, don’t believe a word he says.”

“i know, darling, you wouldn’t do that. chris, that’s twice you’ve lied today.”

“sorry, mom,” he actually looks defeated now, “you know i can’t just leave her all alone when she’s like this. i lied because i didn’t wanna worry you. i won’t get sick though,” at that me and her give each other a knowing look but let him continue, “y/n’s weak and in pain, of course i’ll be by her side as much as i can, you probably knew i was here, that’s why you called me,” chris wiggles his finger at his mom with a cheeky smile while she’s trying to hide her own.

“alright, alright,” she gives in, “that’s how young love is, i guess. anyway, have you eaten the soup yet?”

“almost all of it,” i report proudly, rubbing my stomach.

“only forced,” chris side-eyes me and i roll my eyes at him.

“and the tea?” mary lou just keeps going. well, i definitely know where her son gets the caring from.

i grab the mug that’s been sitting on the table for two hours and could now be considered iced tea and hold it up for her to see, “this is my third,” i take a sip.

“very good. okay, well, i just wanted to check if chris is taking good care of you. it’s important for you to get enough rest, don’t go to sleep too late, alright darling? i have to go now but if you need something just give me a call. i’ll talk to you both in the morning. good night, i love you,” she blows two kisses as we tell her we love her and then she ends the call.

right when chris puts his phone down we hear the doorbell ring.

we both glance at the direction of the front door as if we could see through it and figure out who’s standing on the other side. then we turn and look at each other.

“expecting someone?” chris asks me and i just shake my head no and shrug unknowingly.

“open up!” the voice sounds muffled but it’s unmistakably matt.

chris rolls his eyes and sighs loudly and i just giggle.

he moves the blanket and gets up to go open the door but stops in his tracks suddenly, turns around again, bends down and kisses me.

“won’t be able to do that for a while if he’s here,” he explains before he goes.

matt and nick do complain every time we kiss in front of them, so we agreed on trying not to do it anymore. they act like little kids being forced to see their parents being all lovey-dovey with each other. at least one of them always yells “GET A ROOM!” as if they’re not invading our personal space. big babies, like i said.

“what’s up, bitches?” nick walks in wearing the pajamas we wanted to match, holding up his hands. one holding what i assume is my set of the exact same one and a pillow in his other hand.

i jump up from the couch immediately and squeal as i run toward him to hug him.

“what are you doing here?” i ask once we let go of each other, our smiles still as big as ever.

“since chris is here breathing in germs and this one,” he points his thumb over his shoulder where matt is giving chris a pajama pair, “is already sick i thought we might as well have our movie night here since i’m getting it from one of you either way.”

“i’m so happy,” i squeak, elongating the words.

“aren’t you happy to see me too?” matt acts sad and offended when he moves to stand next to nick.

i roll my eyes but give him a big hug, “i am actually.”

chris scoffs and we all laugh. he moves to stand closer to me and i wrap my arms around him, tilting my head to look at him.

“you guys can go in the kitchen, grab some snacks while me and chris put on our pajamas,” i say to nick and matt, my eyes still locked on my boyfriend.

they do as they’re told once the’ve put down their things and soon enough they’re out of sight.

“you good?” chris asks me quietly, stroking my hair gently

“yeah. i just realized our alone time is over,” i respond in a hushed tone.

he gives me a kiss on the forehead before he talks, “it’s okay, we’ll just go up to your room when they’re asleep. nothing’s keeping me away from you tonight.”

hearing it makes comfort spread in my chest in a way i didn’t know i needed right now.

“i love you so much, chris. thank you for everything,” i try to sound genuine, because i truly am.

he holds my chin between his thumb and forefinger and dips his head until his lips meet mine.

“i love you too, ma.”

taglist:

@strniolosworld @that-general-simp @sturniolosreads @whoreforchr1s

[neotrances]

I just finished season 2 of bb and… why do people hate this ending? I get not liking bb 2 as a whole because it upped the gross factor and the plot is even sillier but it kind of seems like the best possible outcome for alois, hannah, and ciel, which honestly was all I cared about.

for alois and hannah i agree but for ciel not so much, i think the second seasons main issue was trying to ig up the risk of the plot too much? but the thing about bb regularly is the risk is sought out by ciel on his own time or it’s connected to the crimes he solves, with season two he just ..randomly loses all his memories and they try to explain the circumstances of this whole adding new magic (and poorly designed magic at that) with very little episodes to explain everything combined with the plot just telling you “this is very dangerous and urgent” despite not really..explaining why, a good example would be alois and eek ok hold on i’m gonna put the rest of this under a read more bc i feel a little crazy and want to talk about this

alois is introduced with not just one demon in his grasp, but FIVE, he has claude hannah and the triplets all whom are servants to him yet inly claude has a contract with alois, it’s never explained why the others stay with him except for it being slightly hinted that hannah got the triplets to come with her after getting attached to alois and his younger brother but …we still don’t go deeper than that, bc of that alois should be dangerous, especially with hannah having a demonic weapon (the sword) inside her body that can destroy souls if it comes into contact with a mortal???? like it’s just so convoluted and u can tell they wanted to up the stakes but don’t actually do it in a way that makes sense, bc given the amount of demons alois has in his command and the weapons they all own sebastian would be outnumbered and would not be able to fight them all, yet somehow he does? and it’s not some “oh hes one hell of a butler” thing, bc theyre all demons shown to have the same exact capabilities as him and yet…they all fail when it’s five to one

going on to ciel his ending is “he becomes a demon and thus can never die or age and sebastian has to be his butler for eternity and his revenge never gets completed” which is a really shitty end to me, funny yeah bc sebastian has to be a butler forever but in the end scenes we can see how coldly sebastian treats him, he doesn’t joke with him anymore, he doesn’t play games or treat him like his kid, it’s just cold and robotic, similar to how claude treated alois, and i kinda hate that, they no longer have that fun dynamic bc it’s turned into nothing but hatred which is exactly what alois didn’t want for ciel after they talk to each other in the soul mindscape

alois meets his end with people who do actually care about him, and though it’s by the hand of claude that he dies his soul luckily gets to exist with his younger brother and hannah, all he really wanted, so that’s a “good” ending for him, but for ciel all he’s left with is eternal life, watching his friends and family die, and a demon that is forced to stay beside him who no longer cares about him, it’s just sad to me bc beyond ciels “tsundre” behavior he wants a loving family and wants to be cared for, and with his new found demonic body he can’t get any of those things anymore, dying at the end of his contract as a human would’ve been the best thing that could happen to him and he can’t even have that anymore :[

[alj4890]

Misfortune's Intentions

(Liam x OC*Elisse Millan) (Drake x Riley) in a Choices: The Royal Heir fanfiction.

A/N Sorry for the delay. Life got in the way of my editing for posting this final part of the story. Thanks so much again for indulging my head canons, LOL. We now will wrap up our Liam x Elisse saga with some peeks into the future.

@gkittylove99​​​​​ @krsnlove​​​​​ @kingliam2019​​​​​ @texaskitten30​​​​​ @hopefulmoonobject​​​​​ @yourmajesty09​​​​​ @mom2000aggie​​​​​ @ofpixelsandscribbles​

Masterlist

Chapter 7 Never Ending

Valtoria's Hospital, Cordonia...

"Sit down." Hana patted the seat next to her. "You've been pacing for hours."

Maxwell shook his head. "I'm too nervous."

"One would think you were the expectant father." Olivia remarked.

"I am kinda responsible for this." He smiled at the thought. "After all, I'm the one that talked Riley into coming to Cordonia in the first place."

Liam and Elisse returned to the private waiting room.

"Any news yet?" Hana asked.

"It's begun." Liam explained. "A nurse told us that Riley is doing well. Drake is a nervous wreck."

"Sounds about right." Olivia grumbled, standing up to stretch.

She smiled when Elisse handed her a bag of salt and vinegar chips.

The cravings had begun, and as much as it surprised the sugary treat loving parents, the triplets were causing Olivia to want salty and sour foods.

"Thank you." She popped one of the chips in her mouth, sighing in delight.

Liam shook his head. "Are we sure those are our children doing this?" He teased.

"I think it's their way of showing how much they appreciate Olivia taking care of them." Elisse added with a laugh. "They know she isn't as fond of desserts as we are."

The duchess rolled her eyes even though she was secretly touched at Elisse's words. The thought that the babies would go out of their way to keep her as comfortable as she could be seemed more like the royal couple than anything else.

Each evening, after she got settled in bed, she would talk to the triplets. Olivia shared childhood memories of her years growing up with Liam. She told them observations and conclusions she had made concerning Elisse.

She would never tell anyone else she did such, in what was her opinion, ridiculous things. Yet, a part of her wanted the babies to know how important she, herself, thought they were. How much she cared for Liam and Elisse...and now their family.

The fact that she was giving the royal couple what was once thought impossible brought a pricking of tears to her eyes.

"Damn hormones." She grumbled, blinking rapidly to keep the tears from slipping out.

Drake chose that moment to burst into the waiting room.

"She's here!" His smile practically glowed. "The baby is perfect. Looks just like Brooks!"

Everyone voiced their congratulations while Olivia gave up the battle and allowed her tears to fall.

At least I'm not the only one crying.

Hana was delicately dabbing at her own eyes while Maxwell bawled.

Soon they were taken to see the newest Walker.

"Everyone," Riley said softly, "meet Hope." She handed the infant to Drake. "She hasn't quite learned that one should stay awake when company visits."

After Hana cuddled her close she passed the baby to Liam.

He regarded the bundle in pink blankets, thinking about her nearly being the heir to the throne.

He wasn't about to question how all that he had gone through the last few years had led to his life resembling one he could have never imagined.

Each misfortune he had suffered had somehow pushed him toward his finally finding a happiness all his own.

Leo's abdication led to meeting Riley. Though their love had not endured, it had revealed to him what he had truly needed in a significant other. It gave him the courage to not allow anything to take it away from him again if given another chance to fall in love.

If he had not been so impatient in naming an heir, then he never would have had a chance to really get to know Elisse. He might have encountered her down the road at some international event, but would he have pursued her?

Would she have pursued him?

He handed Elisse the baby, watching as a tender smile formed on her lips. He knew they both were imagining what it would be like to hold their babies.

His eyes rested on Olivia. She had one hand protectively over her slight baby bump.

If her parents had not died in a traitorous act, then she might not have volunteered so readily to being a surrogate. Would she be such close friends to Liam if they had lived? Would she have been so willing to do whatever sacrifice was needed for Cordonia?

Seeing now that there had to have been some kind of grand design in each heart wrenching moment in their lives to lead them to what they were meant to have helped when reflecting back on the past.

Once Hope was back in Riley's arms, he quietly observed Drake with his family.

He had once held bitterness toward him for taking the one he had lost his heart to. And yet, now that he had Elisse and a family of his own in the making, he couldn't feel anything other than a simple joy that his best friend had found a happiness all his own.

Seeing them together with their little public displays of affection didn't phase him at all. There was no twinge of pain. No...nothing.

Elisse slipped her hand in his, drawing him away from reminiscing.

Liam lifted her hand to his lips, smiling when she rested her head against his shoulder.

The future lay before them and he was more than excited at what was next for them.

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

Beginning of the third trimester, the Royal Palace...

"You're going to have to stop traveling." Ethan explained. "In fact, I'm putting you on bedrest."

"For how long?" Olivia asked.

"For the rest of the pregnancy."

Preparing for an argument, Ethan was surprised when Olivia dropped her head into her hands.

Her shoulders shook with silent sobs.

Elisse laid a hand on her back, trying to soothe her.

"Olivia?" Liam gently touched her shoulder. "Are you in pain?"

"No." Her voice cracked. She lifted her eyes to Ethan's. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No. Not at all." He reached over and placed his hand on top of hers. "This happens often when carrying multiples."

She took deep breaths to try and call down.

"I'm sorry." She wiped her eyes. "I seem to be crying over everything lately."

Elisse shushed her while Liam praised how well she had been doing.

Once the couple were reassured that everything was still looking well, they left after hearing the babies' heartbeats.

"I want to monitor you through the night." Ethan explained when Olivia moved to return to her room.

"You do?" Her eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"You've had two bouts of contractions." He continued to type his notes, believing that to be the end of their conversation.

"Can't I be monitored in my room?"

"No."

"Ethan!"

He lifted his eyebrows at her outburst.

"Can I at least move to the hospital bed, or were you intending on me staying on the examining table from now on?" She snapped.

"Olivia, what's wrong?"

She folded her arms over her stomach. "Nothing."

"Nothing?" He snorted softly.

"Yes, nothing." She grumbled. "Nothing you would be concerned over or even consider worthwhile."

He closed his laptop and gave her his full attention. "Does it involve you?"

"Obviously." She averted her eyes. "Why else would I be sitting here?"

He rose and helped her off the table. "Come on. Let's get you settled, then you can tell me what is going on in that head of yours."

"Why must you make it sound like I'm some emotional idiot?" She raised her shirt for him to place the tocodynamometer around her belly.

"I don't do that." He argued.

"Yes, you do." She placed her hand where a little knee or elbow was pressing. "Even the heirs agree."

He snorted softly. "My apologies. I thought I treated you rather well."

"You do." She admitted. "I don't know why I'm trying to fight with you."

When she kept her eyes downcast, Ethan pulled a chair next to her bed and sat down. "I have all the time in the world to hear what is really wrong."

"I'm..." She grit her teeth, hating the words that were about to come out. "I'm scared."

"Of?"

She shot a glare at him for making her explain. "Of giving birth." Needing to justify herself, she hurried to defend such a feeling. "This isn't something I could train for. And given the few women I know who have given birth, no one has the same experience."

"That's true."

Olivia tried to wait patiently to see if he would say anything else. When he simply looked at her, she felt her irritation return.

"That's true? That's all you have to say?!"

He shrugged. "Well I certainly don't have any first hand experience to offer."

"Your bedside manner is remarkable."

He leaned forward and placed his hand on hers that rested on her belly. "I don't know how this will go. I can give you medical facts and statistics, but they will do little to ease your mind. I can tell you about all the successes I have had as a doctor. It still won't matter."

"You're making it worse." She tried to pull her hand away.

Ethan gripped her fingers. "What I can tell you is that I will do everything within my power to get you and the triplets through this." His thumb brushed her hand. "I will be right by your side if we do have to perform a cesarean. I will make certain you have the best of everything."

She studied his face, feeling reassured by the calm determination stamped in his features.

With a squeeze of his hand, she relaxed back against her pillows. "Thank you Ethan."

He smiled softly at her while settling in for a night of monitoring.

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

Nearly two months later...

Elisse trembled as she tried to put on the surgical gown she was given. She crammed her hair under the cap while trying not to think that within minutes, she would see her children being born.

When Olivia's contractions started the night before, Elisse and Liam had rushed from their bedroom knowing that this could very well be the moment.

There had been numerous false alarms, but this one was finally it. What they had not anticipated was how long it was taking.

Ethan and some obstetricians he had worked with in Boston had decided that a vaginal birth did not seem to be possible. One of the triplets was still in a breached position and blocking the other two.

Olivia had taken the news well, though most of the color had drained from her face. She was already exhausted from the nearly twenty hours of contractions and silent worry. She gripped Ethan's hand when he tried to leave to prepare.

"I'm only leaving to change." He explained.

"Then you'll come back?" She asked.

"I promised you didn't I?" He asked.

She nodded.

He was surprised when she pressed his hand to her cheek.

"Thank you." She breathed as another contraction began. Her fingers tangled with his as it caused a groan of pain to slip out.

He waited until she relaxed before easing his hand away. "I'll be back."

Liam and Elisse had followed him out.

"Will she be alright?" Liam asked.

"Yes." Ethan scrubbed his hands and arms. "Dr. Lahela is one of the best surgeons I've worked with. With him and the obstetric team on hand. All four of our patients should do well."

Elisse had remained quiet as the medical team rushed to set up the room for the delivery. Her eyes followed the young, handsome surgeon who greeted everyone with a confident smile.

Liam stepped up beside her and gently squeezed her hand. "This is it, my love."

She tilted her head to the side, noticing the crinkle around his eyes. Though the surgical mask hid the lower half of his face, there was no denying his excited smile.

She let go of his hand to hug him.

He held her close, resting his cheek on top of her head.

"I love you, Liam." She raised her eyes to capture his. "Our life, our family, is more than I could have ever hoped for."

He tenderly cupped her cheek. "I love you too." He took her hand and pulled her along. "Now let's go meet our children."

The pair stood at Olivia's head while the cesarean was performed. Liam kept his arm around Elisse as they waited for the first glimpse of their children.

The duchess kept her eyes on Ethan's profile. He had taken her hand as soon as he returned to her side. When Bryce had placed the scalpel to her abdomen, Ethan had intertwined his fingers with hers. His piercing gaze went from the procedure to her face. Seeing her remain calm helped him to focus once more on the birth.

Bryce lifted one of the babies out. "Looks like you have a prince." He smiled at the couple who watched anxiously as the nurses and assisting doctors cleaned and examined the wailing newborn.

"And his twin brother." Bryce removed another, chuckling when the crying infant peed on a nurse. "He'll be trouble."

Elisse covered her mouth as tears streamed down her cheeks. She placed her other hand on Olivia's shoulder as Bryce delivered the smaller of the three.

"Poor little princess, trapped with those rowdy boys." He chuckled when her softer wail was given as a response. He looked up at the royal couple. "Congratulations, your majesties. You have a family."

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

A couple of hours later, Elisse and Liam sat with Olivia. Each held one of the babies that had been born.

"What will you name them?" Olivia asked, smiling when the little prince frowned at her.

"We never did decide on names for a boy." Liam chuckled when the crown prince in his arms yawned.

"Our princess shall of course hold the name that means the most to us." Elisse placed a kiss on her daughter's forehead.

Liam smiled in agreement. "Hopefully she will carry it well."

"What are you going to call her?" Olivia asked.

"Libby for short." Elisse replied. "Princess Olivia for all formal occasions."

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

Epilogue, Applewood Manor, four years later...

Liam chased after his children in the apple orchard. Their squeals drew laughter from Elisse as she set out their picnic.

When Libby was swept up in her father's arms, her brothers, Connor and Christopher, each tried to save her by grabbing onto Liam's legs.

Liam playfully dropped to the ground. "Help!" He cried out to his wife. "I'm outnumbered again!"

Elisse rushed over, to only collapse in giggles when the triplets rushed into her arms.

Liam watched them, feeling as if his heart would burst with pride over his family.

These last five years had been the happiest of his life. His marriage to Elisse had been what he and Corodnia had needed. The birth of their children had been a day of celebration across the country.

Peace and prosperity had followed.

Amalas visited often with her allies, causing Cordonia to be one of the most sought after countries in the EU. Trade and tourism grew from these alliances. Cordonia's unemployment rate became nearly nonexistent, causing more contentment than the country had seen in the last three hundred years.

As the triplets grew and the people caught glimpses of their sweet personalities, they were just as beloved as their parents were.

Elisse drew him from his thoughts when she spoke to the children about their upcoming trip for a wedding.

Olivia had been hailed by everyone as a hero. Liam and Elisse took every chance they could to say that they wouldn't have their children if not for her generous offer. No one, they said, could have done a better job.

Olivia had returned to Lythikos shortly after giving birth. Ethan had gone with her to assist in her recovery and to begin the plans for a research hospital. They had developed a close bond during those months of pregnancy. It only became stronger the more they worked together.

Though most of her friends whispered that there was something more between the fiery duchess and renowned physician, nothing seem to come about from their time together.

At least, that's what they thought.

Imagine everyone's surprise when one night at a ball in in the palace, Olivia asked Liam and Elisse if the triplets could be in her wedding.

"Wedding?!" Riley sputtered. "You're getting married?!"

"Why else would I ask for ring bearers and flower girls?" Olivia rolled her eyes. "And I suppose I will need Hope as a flower girl also to make it even."

"Who's the lucky guy?" Drake asked, unable to imagine anyone voluntarily tying his life to her.

"Who else?" Came a deep voice from behind them.

Ethan came around and stood next to Olivia. His hand found hers while they met everyone's curious stares.

After congratulations were given and promises that the children would do their best, Olivia and Ethan had left the group to dance.

Speculation amongst the group of how and when were whispered. Knowing the pair well, Elisse knew that guessing was all they would get. Neither Ethan nor Olivia would likely tell them anything about their love life.

She couldn't help but secretly hope that her fertility issues had somehow helped in putting them together.

She believed she owed them everything. Both had a hand in giving her and Liam their hearts' only wish for a family.

Elisse had suspected a closeness between them but had never said anything about it. She knew that neither Ethan nor Olivia would appreciate any interference, much less attention toward their relationship.

Watching the couple as they danced, she couldn't imagine any two people she thought deserved to find happiness more than them.

Months of wedding planning went by. Practice and fittings were completed. People from near and far were making the journey to the cathedral nestled in the snowy mountains.

"Mommy?" Libby asked once they were seated on the picnic blanket. "Can I keep some of the flowers? I don't want to throw them all."

"Do we get to throw the rings?" Connor asked.

"And the pillow?" Christopher pretended to throw an imaginary pillow at his brother, laughing when Connor pretended to be knocked down by it.

"I don't think that is quite what Olivia and Ethan want." Liam explained. "I suggest you keep to how we practiced."

"We will." Christopher promised.

"And we can always pick more flowers." Elisse reminded Libby. "You want Olivia to have a pretty aisle to walk down, don't you?"

The couple shared a smile when Libby quickly agreed to make it beautiful with the petals she would be given to toss.

Their children kept up a happy chatter about the upcoming trip. Snowmen, snowball fights, and sledding were planned amongst the three.

Liam reached for Elisse's hand as they listened to the cheerful voices. She scooted closer to him to kiss his cheek.

He returned the kiss, a soft smile forming with the thought that his life was filled with endless moments like this.

Everything he had ever wanted was right here.

[schibi12]

Review/Reaction for "Let's Get Dangerous!"

Sorry for posting this a bit late i tried to post these a day before the new episode but this being an hour long episode and i got a really busy week it took its time to write but know its here so enjoy!

This post is gonna be long, longer than my usual posts, not only because it’s a 1 hour special but im gonna be fangirling real hard even though i haven’t watched OG Darkwing Duck so take this as a biased or unbiased review, but still this episode was amazing, everthing was so on point the story, characters, animation, music, action, comedy, etc., everything was great so Let’s Do This!! And LET’S GET DANGEROUS!!!!

Spoilers!! Read at your own Risk!!

Love that intro of Launchpad narrating their entrance to St. Canard, Dewey and LP accidentally revealing Darkwing's identity to Huey and Louie and Scrooge forgetting to turn off the laptop on his video call with Bradford and Darkwing failing to glide like Batman everything was great and then we get the titlecard no theme song oh it was perfect.

I like Taurus Bulba's introduction like we already know he is a villain but i like that he is this friendly and knowledgeable to Scrooge and the kids which can be seen as kind or a bit stalkerish once they reveal his true intentions.

I love Darkwing's hideout, all the gadgets, the super computer every little detail i love it,and that Fenton helped him and that Drake is oblivious to Gizmoduck real identity is just funny.

I love W.A.N.D.A. her sarcastic tone and i especially love that she is voice by Jameela Jamil who also voices Gandra Dee, but i like that she kept her accent.

Of course there is no crime in St. Canard they got the best mayor, and im glad that Owlson finally got a job where she is respected.

Ooh Huey is getting is suspicious of the RAMROD and of Bulba and ew Haggis sounds kinda nasty not gonna lie.

No crime kind of an awkward situation but at least Darkwing had the decency to finish the job for them. Ooh we get to see Gosalyn damn she can hold her own, oh my gosh i think we all have the same thought that the first triplet to be arrested would be Louie, and of course Scrooge doesn't remember Darkwing at all. Interesting Bulba is on DW side but not for long. Damn Huey that hat is like Mary Poppins bag.

They made a set for Dewey Dew Night, these pics of DW and i need that cookbook in real life.

And Gosalyn i love her design, personality everything and Stephanie Beatriz did an amazing job voicing her she had big shoes to fill and in my haven't watched OG Darkwing Duck opinion i think she is a worthy sucessor and a big plus that she is Latina and i love the reference to her original design

And honestly i thought that Dewey was gonna be the last of the kids that she would form a friendship with, so i was genuinely surprised when they teamed up and i loved that they related with the whole mystery of a missing family member a nice callback to the 1st season, and i love that Dewey is trying to make a catchphrase for her.

Of course DW is gonna help her but i do like that Launchpad is the one who encourages him to help Gosalyn, nice shot of all them driving DW motorcycle but where is Dewey in the motorcycle WHERE??? Huey knows he knows Bulba and tell a parent or caretaker how to educate their children, Did Darkwing just dislocated his jaw ouch! and nice hiding spots guys, that’s a really big and heavy book.

Taurus what a good liar and yeah some nice teamwork from Dewey and Gos!!! And that’s a lot of papers and plans for one machine oooh this episodes ties up with the whole missing mysteries plot wasn’t expecting that and wait so that means any Disney Media is an alternate dimension/universe so maybe DT17 is a universe where Mickey Mouse doesn’t exist ok crazy theory aside i like the explanation they have for the RAMROD and the whole dimensional stuff.

Caught in a lie Taurus Bulba!! What a jerk he just hit a child what is wrong with you (well he is a villain so why am i surprised). Good Guy Launchpad helping as always. Some more good teamwork with DW and Gos! Oh my the Fearsome are Fearsome indeed and what an entrance! 

So like i have said many times i haven’t seen OG Darkwing Duck so i have no reference to compare or critique but as their own version i really liked it their design. personality and etc., everything was good with these 4.

Come on DW you already breaking down and you haven’t even fought anyone. Aw Fenton/Gizmoduck has his own kind of Iron Man Hud and geez so rude DW. Hey Bonkers another Disney Afternoon show i haven’t seen (im gonna get my Disney Fan Club Card revoked after this post). And aw Launchpad is making another Adventuring Family and Oh my Ducks!! LP is the uncle he has a lot to live up to.

Oh so he is a part of FOWL i was kinda suprised not gonna lie, oh Bulba gone rough and kinda crazy, and the kids with Bradford what an odd team up and of course Louie can pick locks,The chase scene with the Quackerbot and Liquidator and DW and Co. was great, was that a Sonic reference? and that scene with Bushroot was suspenseful and  creepy as heck! That saxophone solo was hilarious. Duck boys getting suspicious especially Huey.

Did LP broke the 4th wall?!?! Aw what a funny and wholesome moment with Gos and LP.

Aw is DW is doing the best he can for Gos, aw what a sweet tender moment im not crying your crying LP is crying. LP made pancakes what an uncle and ouch DW can take a beating.

What a reference to OG Ducktales this was really unexpected and hilarious!! And i really like Dewey’s sarcastic tone at Bradford. Holy cow the boys know about FOWL and they are in ther classic design Oh bother!

What a plan LP kind of dumb but it worked. And what a nice message of LP about what it means to be a hero wise words my dudes. And what a fight it was amazing great references, action-packed, clever and funny it was beautiful. Oh those references to OG Ducktales good stuff. 

Aw poor Gosalyn having to make the ultimate decision the animation, music and voice acting were great and you really feel for her and i gotta be honest i cried in this scene.

Oh snap!! Scrooge knows about FOWL now!! The tables have turned for this season!

And aw they formed a nice found family and Launchpad is an honorary member of team uncle!

Amazing episode everything was so good this is the perfect pilot for a Darkwing Duck Reboot, Disney if you don’t do it you’re crazy.

This episode was greatly balanced i liked that it wasn’t all Darkwing Duck but it also followed Scrooge and the boys and it all perfectly meshed together with the whole FOWL plot line which i wasn’t expecting at all but it was an awesome surprise and i honestly don’t know what to expect for future episodes or the season finale.

Overall a perfectly made episode funny, clever, action-packed, great character interactions and great introduction to Darkwing Duck universe for peeps who haven't seen the OG like me and others.

I give this episode 5 out of 5 ducks.

🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆

[nightmarish-adventures]

it’s official. nightmarish is coming back with several changes (which i hope will be appreciated). new designs. new stories. new humor.

new info about each character under the cut.

King Axel Horsmann Age: 345 Full Description: A hessian trooper killed in the Revolutionary War and reincarnated into a Dullahan, he was crowned the King of Nightmaria by retired ruler Hades and officially the master of the castle. He is caring for the other residents but he’s a bit crazy. Axel loves his unicorn ghoul Rainblood, who was once the horse he rode during his battles, and would go berserk if anyone were to hurt her. He mostly hangs out with Aziza, who’s practically his roommate. Based on: The Headless Horseman.

Aziza Age: 2897 Full Description: An athletic and confident mummy who is the Queen of Nightmaria. Formerly an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh, she just wants to live her life in and adjust to the modern times Nightmaria like a mortal human would, but finds herself contributing to the antics of the rest of the Nightmarish 9. However, she can’t help but find fun in it like the others, as she does have to remind herself, “This is better”. Based on: The Mummy.

Vladimir “Drac” Dracula Age: 665 Full Description: Once a fearsome warrior, this count used dark magic to turn himself into a powerful vampire after death. He moved to Nightmaria after his old castle in Transylvania was destroyed by a small mob of vampire hating humans and was taken in by the king, and is now the royal advisor. He can shapeshift into different creatures, is destructive and crude, loves video games and fighting, and, while vampires do indeed have to consume blood and flesh, he is practically addicted to it. Based on: Dracula.

Project F/VF-01 “Scrap” Frankenstein Age: 297 Full Description:  An intelligent creature that was an attempt to make a new species. They are a creative seamstress along with their pet mothman and spider/bat hybrids, are often apprehended by phone calls from their slightly overbearing creator, Victor Frankenstein himself (who's trying to make up for what he's done when he was alive, but Scrap is much less than forgiving) f, serve as the royal guard in Horsmann Castle, and the Nightmarish 9’s voice of reason who’s seen just about everything. Due to being shunned in Germany and brutally experimented on by researchers in England because of their appearance when they were younger, they’re a gloomy person in general, have a rather cynical outlook on life, and even suffer from PTSD. They can also communicate with animals. Based on: Frankenstein’s Monster.

Erik “DJ Phantom” Aria Age: 132 Full Description: A rather hyper and very odd ghost who was born with a severe facial deformity and wears a white mask that hides it, he is very melodramatic and prone to fainting. Abandoned by their mother as a child, they were featured in a freakshow (lets just say he didn’t like it very much) and escaped to the darker parts of an opera theater. Dying at a young age, he became from a Phantom in name only to an actual Phantom, and was offered to be the butler of Nightmaria’s royal staff due to devices and contraptions they had made and also now works as a DJ. He’s a huge fan of different types of music, acts rather immature, and can get… clingy sometimes. Based on: The Phantom of the Opera.

Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde Age: 159 Full Description: Dr. Jekyll is a very shy creature who works as the royal scientist and is very polite, if not a bit self-centered. Formerly human, he had used a potion to finally help him release his darker thoughts in the form of a more powerful being, which stayed with him long after his death. Resurrected into a shadow spirit after spending years in purgatory, he now has the ability to shift to Edward Hyde when he feels mischievous, angry, lustful, consumes caffeinated drinks, or somehow just feels like it. As Hyde, he enjoys mischief, destruction, pranks, junk food, and slacking off. While Jekyll and Hyde are prone to shifting between one or the other, they are also able to communicate by sharing a body CatDog style and often tease and insult each other, sharing a strong rivalry. Based on: Dr. Henry Jekyll/Mr. Edward Hyde. (duh…?)

Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale Age: 2268 Full Description: Three gorgon triplets, in which here are large snakes with arms and writhing, almost living hair. Medusa, the green viper-like gorgon, is the stoic, chill, and rather dimwitted leader. Stheno, the red cobra-like gorgon, is hotblooded (ironically) and protective. Euryale, the blue rattlesnake-like gorgon, is gloomy and paranoid, though tries to be the voice of reason. What all three have in common is that they pride in their supposed "ugliness" and don't care at all about romance. After a traumatic encounter with Poseidon, Medusa, along with her sisters, were given a power used to defend themselves the best way possible. Similar to the gorgon myth, those who look at their eyes, hidden by their hair, sunglasses, and hat, turn into stone for as long as the gorgons want them to be stone. They live in the castle’s dungeons as the wardens. The sisters often make random wisecracking lines and the like, but are also prone to causing a lot of trouble. Based on: Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale. (kinda obvious)

Lawrence Lycan Age: 103 Full Description: An effeminate zombie with therianthropy, meaning he can shift into a specific animal (wolf, to be exact) and back again, (making him a werebeast, or, more specifically, a werewolf) who lives in the castle gardens. His father gained therianthropic abilities after a blood transfusion, while he himself was born with them. Lawrence loves his wolf form to the point he stays in it often unless he absolutely has to be a man. He was shot to death by a wolf hunter in Wales when he was in his 20’s, and so became undead as well. Lawrence was later offered to work as the gardener and caretaker to the yards of Nightmaria’s castle. Sometimes, canine instinct will take over him once in a while, which is not really all that great when you’re trying to tend to plants. Based on: The Wolfman.

Gill Age: 107 Full Description: A river demigod who serves as the royal chef. While a majority of the characters are loony one way or another, he probably has the most outlandish personality of them all and is the bravest. He’s also quite a romantic, and was a big ladies man back in the Amazons and is an even bigger one on Nightmaria. Based on: The Gill-Man/Creature from the Black Lagoon.

[spam-monster]

Helsaweek 2020 Day 1: Swap

(or tumblr’s apparently being a butt but idgaf i’mma post this and head out)

I’ve done things like power swaps or gender swaps or kingdom swaps before (at least in my head), and I wanted to do something different this time, sooooo...introducing amount-of-siblings swap!

-----

In the beautiful kingdom of Arendelle, there were once thirteen fair princesses; although the kingdom had only ever seen two of them, for around the time the third was being carried the king and queen had suddenly closed the gates to the castle without warning. Stories were told, by the servants and traders who went in and out, of a group of perfectly normal, lovely girls. Yes, they all had their quirks, but none seemed to have any affliction that would justify hiding them away. Rumors were spread as well: questions of parentage, a hidden 14th child born with some terrible curse and locked away, a secret illness that affected only royalty…or perhaps something to do with the eldest child, Elsa, since she was almost never seen outside of her rooms.

But surely she was just engrossed in her studies, preparing herself to become the new queen after her parents had been lost. After all, the older townsfolk had met Elsa when she was younger, and she had been a perfectly normal, sweet young girl. Whatever had caused her parents cut themselves off from the kingdom, it surely had nothing to do with her…

---

“Alright, that’s enough! Dina, don’t play huntress with Frida’s Mr. Deer! Ingrid, stop trying to give Cathrine a makeover! Gunda, Hilda, stop fighting! Jorunn, we can go see the horses later! Klara, Linda…”

“You’re fine.” Brigitta says from behind her. “Now let’s all get ready for bed, we have a big day tomorrow.”

Anna sighs in relief, and mentally thanks Brigitta. At least one of her little sisters is acting responsible tonight.

“We want to make a good first impression on the peasants, after all.”

…Or maybe not.

“Yeah, c’mon. You don’t want them to get mad at us and rebel and drag us all to the guillotine.”

“Cathrine, no one is being guillotined tomorrow.”

“I’d like to see ‘em try!”

“Hilda, please don’t try to fight anyone.”

“…Will they even like us?”

“Linda, of course they will.”

“Why should we even care about Elsa’s coronation?”

Anna turned to Mathilde, the youngest of the thirteen sisters of Arendelle, slumped over on a couch looking bored. “Because she’s your big sister, and she’s going to be queen! We’ve all been waiting for this day for years, we need to support her-”

“Why should I care about someone I barely know?”

Anna flinched. “It’s true, that…Elsa hasn’t been around much lately…or spent much time with us…but I’m sure she’s just been…very busy! With…studying to be queen! And all!”

Mathilde glared. “That’s a lame excuse. She always ignores us.”

“She’s not…a bad person, really…”

“Yeah, I know, you always say you used to be “best friends” or whatever. But you’re the only one of us who’s ever seen her act like a real sister!”

Anna looked around, panicked, as most of the other girls began to nod and whisper in agreement.  

“She never talks to us.”

“She’s never played with us.”

“She rarely even comes down for dinner.”

“She left you alone.”

Anna turned to Klara, confused. “Left me alone?”

Klara looked at her sadly. “After mom and dad died. She left you to raise us all on your own.”

And Anna had no answer for that.

 -------

In the small kingdom known as the Southern Isles, there were once two princes. Although you might not have remembered at first, because the elder brother was so boisterous and dazzling that it was easy to forget the younger one even existed. Prince Torvald was remarkable; an accomplished hunter, a spectacular storyteller, able to charm even the most aloof noble, and sure he could be a bit boorish and egotistical at times, but he was a prince! It was to be expected, right?

“We should be grateful we even have a prince at all, let alone two.” People would whisper. “The poor queen had been trying for decades to bear the king a worthy heir, rest her soul.”

“Not sure the other one was worth her effort, though.” Others would grumble. “What’s his name…Hans? What has that one ever done that Prince Torvald didn’t do better? Well, at least we have a spare…”

---

“Is it not a fine day at sea, little brother? Clear skies, calm waters…and across the ocean, the quaint, little, unimportant country of Arendelle awaits the blessed presence of future King Torvald the Mighty!”

Hans tried very hard to suppress a sigh. *Arendelle is bigger than the Southern Isles* he grumbled under his breath.

“What was that?”

“If…Arendelle is so “unimportant”, as you say…why did you bother to come with me?”

“A King never passes up an opportunity to impress other rulers with his might! That’s a lesson you should remember…or not, I suppose.”

*Since I’ll never be a king, you mean*

“Also, I have heard tell that the future queen is quite beauteous. Perhaps she shall prove worthy of the honor of becoming my bride.”

*That was my plan, damn it!*

Torvald laughs obnoxiously and slaps Hans on the back, almost knocking him off his feet. “Fear not, little brother! I have also heard that she has many younger sisters! Perhaps one of them shall take pity on you!”

Sitron knickers at him in concern. Hans shakes it off. “Yes…perhaps. I – um, should go…check on the horses.”

Torvald laughs again and sends him off with another hearty slap. Hans sighs heavily as he tends to Sitron.

“I’m alright, boy.” He murmurs to the horse. “And who knows? Maybe the queen will be smart enough to see my brother for what he really is, and…who am I kidding? She’ll never look at me.”

-----

 (I imagine how this goes is that:

- Hans still meets and bonds with Anna but Torvald swoops in and grabs her attention away since Elsa is ignoring him (and he’s jealous Hans is getting attention for once)

- Elsa still freaks out and runs, Anna still goes after her by herself and leaves Torvald and Hans in charge, Torvald spends most of the time posturing and giving grandiose speeches while Hans actually works to take care of the people and ends up bonding with the other princesses as well

- at the castle Torvald makes Hans go in first and he actually has a conversation with Elsa and bonds with her

- in the end Torvald talks Hans into killing Elsa (because he doesn’t want to dirty his hands, plus then he can make Hans take the blame if things go bad), but Hans hesitates so Torvald tries to do it himself but Anna stops him

- Torvald gets sent back but Hans decides to stay (and clean up his brother’s mess), the sisters all basically adopt him as their new unofficial big brother alongside Kristoff, the end)

 Might expand on this later (like designing the new siblings, or maybe WRITING SOME ACTUAL HELSA IN INSTEAD OF JUST HINTING AT IT.)

Bios for the au siblings under the cut:

I basically just ran down the list of Norwegian girl names for this one (one from each of the first 13 letters that aren’t “a” or “e”), so let me throw out some basic entomology/character stuff for the swap siblings:

Brigitta: 3rd child, in this ‘verse Idunn was probably pregnant with her when the accident happened. Goes between helping Anna keep the younger ones in line and causing problems herself. Has a bit of a superiority complex regarding her status as a princess - acts like she must be better than everyone outside the gates, but really it’s a coping mechanism to help her deal with the isolation she feels. Name means “resolute, strength”.

Cathrine: Name possibly derives from the goddess of witchcraft Hectate, so she’s the spooky, playfully morbid one. Level-headed when she’s not creeping the younger ones out by joking about death. Dina is her younger twin.

Dina: Name comes from the goddess Diana; Roman equivalent to Artemis, goddess of the moon and hunts. She picked up her love of hunting from the hunters who would come and sell fresh meat to the castle cooks, and spend her time stalking the other girls (and their stuffed animals) and sneak-attacking them with her toy bow and arrows.

Frida: Name means “peace”.  A quiet nature-lover who hates conflict, which is ironic because she’s one of a set of triplets and the other two are the most aggressive of the bunch. Ends up being the target of the more aggressive girls a lot because she doesn’t want to fight back, and she’d rather they pick on her than one of the younger girls.

Gunda and Hilda: Names mean “war” and “battle” respectively, and they live up to them. The typical red-headed identical twin duo that’s always causing trouble (except they’re triplets and the other one doesn’t want to play along). Dina can either be their ally or their rival depending on the situation.

Ingrid: Name means “beautiful”- basically she’s the one obsessed with fancy clothes and trying to do everyone’s makeup.

Jorunn: Name means “horse lover” …yeah. Obsessed with horses, spends way too much time in the stables and comes back kinda smelly, biggest dream is to ride freely through the fields of Arendelle, possibly has headcanons of what breed of horse each of her family members would be (with accompanying fanart).

Klara: Name means “clear, bright”. Intelligent and honest, sometimes to a fault. Although she doesn’t like upsetting people, she won’t shy away from telling hard truths. Linda is her twin.

Linda: The most gentle and sensitive of the girls, easily stressed and has a hard time objecting to others because she doesn’t want to hurt their feelings. Gets along best with Frida, who tries to protect her from the more rambunctious girls. Name means “soft, mild”.

Mathilde: The youngest of the bunch. Acts out a lot because she knows she can get away with it. Her name means “battle strength”, and she lives up to it by being the most strong-willed and stubborn of the bunch.

 As for Hans’ older brother, he had to be really obnoxious to make up for the fact that there’s only one of him instead of twelve. Torvald means “Thor’s ruler”, and I basically based him off Thor at the beginning of his first movie (minus any of the good traits) – he’s brash, egotistical, and takes his little brother for granted. Unlike Thor, he’s also an emotionally abusive dirty coward with no respect for women or anyone he deems “weaker” than himself (which is pretty much everyone except his father).

(Even though Hans stays in Arendelle in this ‘verse, I think he might end up going back and becoming king of the Southern Isles someday just because I can easily see the kingdom deciding its sick of Torvald’s shit and kicking him out. Maybe he and Elsa end up in a long-distance thing, or they unite their kingdoms or something idk how this works.)

[fmleos]

swings in on a vine w a margarita in my hand... howdy demons n nerds ! i’m sage, she/her n comin 2 u live frm the est tz. i am literally the worst at intros but jus know im so glad i found this cute lil group!! anyways , u know the drill! pls spank the little heart down below n i’ll come runnin 2 u for plots! also if u wanna skip the messy intro n just vibe check, here is her pinterest

hey ELEANORA VALENTINE , welcome to dillon university . has anyone ever told you you’re MAIA COTTON ’s twin ? no ? well okay , i heard you are TWENTY-ONE & a JUNIOR at the university . we hope KINESIOLOGY isn’t kicking your ass too much , especially since you’re a  STUDENT ATHLETIC THERAPIST . see you at the next game, LEO .

BACKGROUND

was born in auckland, new zealand and moved to the states when she was 13. she’s still got hints of a cute lil kiwi accent!!

her dad was originally from dillon and moved the valentine’s back to take over his dad’s law firm when he decided to retire

mom is an interior designer so their home, no matter how big or small always looked something out of architectural digest

is the youngest out of 4. her three brothers happen to be triplets!! they’re 2 years older than leo

they desperately wanted a boy.. cried when leo was born and refused to call her eleanora and thus the name LEO was born and just kinda stuck with her??

rarely ever goes by her full name but is chill with all other nick names

grew up rly close to her brothers so they’re the main reason why she had gone to dillon

they are how you say.... panther royalty

the valentine triple threat is what they called them... acting as quarterback, running back and center. it was like surgery watching the boys play, every move and pass was like second nature they knew how the other moved and could predict what the other would do even if the play went off book. 

NFL teams had their eyes on the brothers even before their first game at dillon, but time and time again they proved they were destined to go to the NFL. 

they’ve been out of dillon for a year now and 2 of them are playing for the 49ers, while the other one is with the cowboys.

the role of student athletic therapist just kinda fell into leo’s lap. it started with her helping with her brothers injuries and somehow grew into helping the entire team and it all just kinda stuck with her. she doesn’t mind it though - it’s good practice considering her major is kinesiology.

PERSONALITY 

runs off of coffee and sarcasm

dorm is probably filled with books - has an ever-growing pile of books that’s on her to-read list but probably hasn’t touched it in months and keeps going back to old classics

the type to keep an agenda that’s disgustingly organized.. 10/10 would have a meltdown if it ever went missing!!

is all around nice.. will probably always give u the benefit of the doubt

likes to be right.. would rather stick a pin in her eye than admit she was wrong about something!! :/

annoyingly the kind of girl who could stay out drinking the whole night, wake up the next morning for an 8 am class and not be hungover

has the kinda personality that just makes u feel GOOD, u know jus has an infectious aura .. cld light up a room when she walks into it.. just naturally charming without trying. kinda person who has u still thinkin about her the next day after one (1) conversation.

is on the track and swimming team. couldn’t see herself as a cheerleader mainly bc she has no dance rhythm but lowkey wishes bc the uniforms are cute and what better way to support the team?

can stand up for herself if the time calls for it but will also give someone multiple chances they don’t deserve.. sis is weak and forgives too easily :/

can also throw a mean punch... it’s been proven when someone on the opposing team slapped her ass on their way off the field and her fist collided with their nose

CONNECTIONS: 

girl squad! ride or dies! friends who just absolutely get into trouble when they’re together! party friends! roommates could be fun too

a good ol friends with benefits, tinder matches, flirtationship, exes on bad terms.. her brothers were pretty protective of her so now that they’re gone i jus feel like her dating life would be thriving finally 

rivals, enemies, people who just don’t get on with her

someone she tutors.. honestly she just needs to always be going 100 miles an hour, so i imagine she’s always doing something, so this could be multiple

with that said.. someone who pulls her away from all her good doings, takes her out to chill and relax bc its deserved

someone who she meets with to help with physio.. doing little exercises and trainings with them 

someone she trains with!

 someone who is just constantly coming to her with different injuries bc they want to spend time with her lmao

also someone who constantly comes to her with the same injury bc they don’t listen to her advice.

[adamarinayu]

Now that we're on this hiatus, do you mind telling us what you thought of each episode?

Okay, I know I’m super late to answer this but here I am! I’m not gonna go too in depth on them, but I do want to talk about them.

Treasure of the Found Lamp!

This one was amusing, and I absolutely love what they did with Djinn. I’m so so so glad they changed his name, too, as “Dijon” always bothered me, even as a kid. Also, the story of the lamp was very heartwarming! And seeing Selene again was fun, especially as she had to run around and we find out she’s a terrible liar lol (so she definitely had nothing to do with Della’s disappearance, I think we can all finally put that theory to rest).

The wild goose chase aspect was funny, coming from both sides, and I still think the actress on Ma Beagle’s TV looked vaguely like a character from PKNA so. But Djinn did not pull punches and them Beagles at least got hurt XD

Also. It kinda has a “the greatest treasure is family” vibe to it.

The Outlaw Scrooge McDuck!

As someone who loves Scrooge and loves Goldie, but is indifferent to Scroldie… I still loved this episode. It was great! It was also absolutely hilarious. And Gyro’s time traveling was amazing. Especially Scrooge’s sudden moment of realization when Gyro returned lol.

Louie’s gonna befriend Goldie! That makes me excited. I bet they’re gonna teach each other things that we haven’t even thought of (ie Louie values his family, while Goldie doesn’t even have a family. Maybe Goldie will officially join the Duck-McDuck family not through her strange but obviously antagonistically-romantic relationship with Scrooge, but through her friendship with and tutelage of Louie? Maybe he’s the one who shows her the importance of family and offers her a place in their family… it doesn’t mean giving up adventure, it just means always having somewhere she can call home, and people she can trust and rely on!).

I’m iffy about Jeeves’ redesign, and also his somewhat betrayal of Rockerduck, but I’ve never been like a hardcore fan of the two of them so it was easy for me to move on. I am curious, though, just how they’re gonna come back… guess Gyro’s not quite done with time travel shenanigans.

The only real gripe I have is Sheriff Marshal Cabrera. DON’T GET ME WRONG, I absolutely loved him. He’s a beautiful babby boy. But at the same time, he’s literally just. Fenton. I know he’s like. Fenton’s great grandfather (or maybe uncle, idk) or something. There should absolutely be similarities yes, but it felt like someone had taken the characters and placed them in an old west setting. That being said, I do love him, I just wish he’d been slightly more his own character. Like, maybe a little more like a mix of M’Ma and Fenton! Idk.

The 87 Cent Solution!

…….. You really want to know?

Okay, the episode was good. It was funny, and I enjoyed seeing Glomgold’s timestop shenanigans.

But the funeral scene? That wasn’t cool. I saw the “not really dead” twist coming, I think we all did, but no one thought to tell Donald? Donald thought that, so soon after finally making amends with his uncle, he had lost him for good.

And I get it. It’s meant to be a gag. It’s supposed to be funny. But it kinda really soured the rest of the episode for me. I hate to say that too, because it was a good and funny episode… I just… I can’t believe they did that to Donald. :(

The Golden Spear!

AGONY. Agony is how I feel about this one. Della made friends with the Lunarians! Actual friends! And then Penny made a bad choice, and Lunaris… damn you, Lunaris, you traitor.

All the things Della listed off, wanting to do with her kids and brother and uncle… they’re things the others have already done without her. That hit me in the feels.

AND THEN DONALD- AGH, I CAN’T EVEN. Poor Donald. He’s so stressed and his family loves him so much and just wanted him to have some peace. But alas, it was not to be. And now the fandom cries.

… Even if he really shouldn’t have climbed into that rocket but y’know. He didn’t MEAN to press buttons….

Nothing Can Stop Della Duck!

Della reunites with her boys and no one realizes Donald is gone. And we see Della trying to be a mom, and kinda failing miserably. But she’s trying, and she’s learning!

ALSO THEIR WOULD-BE NAMES HFBVSHKFCS

It really put to rest one of my biggest fears, that all of the triplets would accept her immediately (Louie showed serious hesitation through the entire episode, definitely coming from his place of insecurity that Dewey and Huey don’t share) and she’d be super-mom. She makes mistakes, and it’s acknowledged that she seems to be trying to be one of them rather than be their mother. It does feel awkward at times, and alien, like the boys are trying so hard to think she’s doing great when she’s really causing harm, but in the end when it comes down to it she’d do anything to protect them, and gives them the choice of letting her into their life. She doesn’t try and force her way in (as she kinda did at first, but came to realize this isn’t easy for them either).

Right now she feels kinda more like a cool aunt than a mom, but she’ll learn.

Raiders of the Doomsday Vault!

IS LUDWIG’S CONSCIOUS TRAPPED IN THE VAULT?! HE REACTED TO AND INTERACTED WITH THE PEOPLE OUTSIDE.

Anyway Scrooge and Glomgold’s parts were absolutely A+ hilarious. Della and Dewey bonding, they’re so much alike, but we see Dewey’s insecurity flare up- how he wants to impress Della, feeling like he has to earn her love. Even though she’s already loved them for ten years, even without ever knowing what they looked like.

Della has a moment of realization here, too. She looks down and realizes Dewey is in a dangerous situation. She realizes that Dewey is in danger. She questions if they’re doing something crazy, clearly thinking maybe we shouldn’t be doing this, but when Dewey quotes her “I’m your son, I can do anything!” she instead chooses to encourage him, not wanting to discourage him and possibly cause him to fall.

And then of course, her “exit strategy” thing. I honestly kinda feel like it’s a bit of an ass pull, but it at least makes a little sense. When you’re being hunted by a monster on the moon, you always want to have an escape route planned. Scrooge sees that, even if she’s the same ol’ Della she was before, she’s still changed. Ten years still changes you.

Friendship Hates Magic!

New Girl! New Girl! Violet’s pretty cool. At first she comes off as one of those “um, actually” people, but since I’m one of those “um, actually” people it’s pretty whatever to me lol. And Lena’s back! I’m super excited about that.

Lena gets a little jealous-possessive but who can blame her, Webby’s one of the few people who have always believed in her. And Webby spent so much time we never knew about trying to find ways to bring Lena back, to the point that it’s like clockwork.

The whole “being tormented by her own mind” thing was actually frightening in a way, and I’m just glad it all turned out alright. And now Webby isn’t just a fourth triplet, she’s the central member of her own trio. It’s great!

The Dangerous Chemistry of Gandra Dee!

Admittedly another plotline to be seen from far away. A good episode full of secondhand embarrassment, but dang Huey’s LUNGS.

I love Gandra’s design and personality. It’s pretty durn great. I love it! I just have one gripe. Warning, this is a bit of a rant.

Why can’t we let characters be feminine? By this I mean traditionally feminine. Dresses, makeup, shopping, high heels, giggling, soft and compassion and gentle and things I’m not, pinks and lilacs, etc. Yes, Webby’s favourite colour is pink and she likes glitter and wears skirts, she is pretty feminine. But she’s the only one, besides Roxanne Featherby (Featherly? I don’t remember, and that’s only arguably because of her clothes), to be even slightly feminine, and even then it can be argued she’s not all that traditionally feminine because, well… she’s the bruiser of the group. Which there’s absolutely nothing wrong with! A feminine bruiser absolutely works, and I love it, but looking at it from certain angles…

Most of the (non-villain) females, besides Webby, show next to no traditionally feminine qualities- Goldie is the closest, when she dresses up for special events or for schemes. Which I don’t mind, per se, I don’t have many traditionally feminine qualities either, but you’d think at least a few would. The original Gandra Dee, who I am glad they changed mind you, was very feminine; she wore her hair long, wore dresses, enjoyed makeup and manicures, etc. She was traditionally feminine, AND smart. (even if I never liked how they drew her face (the eyes and beak look weird imho, DT17 pulled it off better), and I felt like she left much to be desired *cough*…)

There is nothing wrong with having traditionally feminine characters. There is nothing wrong with having characters who enjoy dressing up, or putting on makeup, or shopping, etc. The problem with traditionally feminine characters comes in when it’s done for sex appeal, or you have a woman running from dinosaurs in 6 inch heels (yeah I’m calling that out) or there’s a feminine character there only to be dragged on by the others for their feminine characteristics.

Anyway, rant about that over. I still love what they did with Gandra, but I’m just noticing this trend where female characters aren’t being allowed to like traditionally feminine things. Yeah, there are absolutely a lot of girls who don’t, but there’s probably an equal amount who do! And there’s nothing wrong with showing a competent, traditionally feminine character. :/

The Duck Knight Returns!

DARKWING DUCK DARKWING DUCK DARKWING DUCK NEGADUCK AAAAAAAA

Need I say more?

Okay, Launchpad is a sweetheart and let’s be honest, we knew the moment we saw him that the other guy at the signing was Drake Mallard.

I love that they kept the “Darkwing Duck inspires Drake Mallard to become Darkwing Duck” aspect of DW’s origin story, while twisting it around so that time travel and paradoxes don’t occur. Also! We still get Jim Cummings as Negaduck, while also getting a new VA for Drake Mallard/Darkwing Duck- someone who does a pretty good job at sounding like them, too. So now Negaduck, who is no longer Darkwing/Drake Mallard from an alternate universe, has his own distinguishable voice!

… And I still think Negs is gonna have an unhealthy obsession with Launchpad, thanks to the “my fan” comment. I figure that’s how we’ll get Nega Launchpad, but who knows! There’s so many possibilities!

Anyway Gosalyn, yesterday please. Gimme.

[2bstudioblog]

Flame vs Katy Perry

So, a terrible thing has happened in the music world and that makes my calling of not pursuing a commercial career more and more evident due to the latest ruling between Katy Perry vs Flame case. First of all let’s go over the points again what it means when it comes to copyright in music.

What can you copyright?

You can copyright lyrics and melodies. That’s pretty much it. Anything else are the building blocks of a song that makes up the genre.

What CAN’T you copyright?

In music we say that melody is never complete without the ornamentation surrounding it, that will say the building-blocks that are required to make up the genre. If we start copyrighting a genre, we wouldn’t have genres to begin with.

A genre is built up with the following things besides the melody:

Chords

Chord-structure

Bass-line

Rhythm (Percussion and drum-patterns, now included MPC based hiphop rhythms)

+ plus any orchestration techniques spanning from the last 300 years.

Music is not a SPORT, it should be enjoyed!

When it comes to writing music, most commercial artists are moving around the circle of 5ths, a kind of a chord-relation-chart that tells you basically which chords are connected that could lead to other 5 chords surrounding the song. But other genres like jazz basically goes beyond the circle of 5ths, trying to explore new grounds. And just like with jazz, in the early days, it all started with taking already existing songs and twists them in a certain way so they became something very different from it’s source. For many people this is a challenge that gives people, who are good at their craft, when crafting a cover, respect. For me, privately, I was never a big Beatles-fan, but I find arranging their simplest songs into something more complex exciting and fun! And if I can take their pop-song like “Day Tripper” and turning it into a slick funk-jazz version, with new harmony and melody and keeping the lyrics, I’m honoring the original material. And of course, when I perform the song I let the audience know that I’m doing a cover, not a copy-band project. And with that said, I contribute to The Beatles royalties by honoring them with a new version of their song.

But taking a 4-chord song like Day Tripper means I can change so many things about the song, but the most important thing I try to not to disturb too much, is the melody, but I do have to compromise with a new voicing, changing the line to match up with the new harmony. But the lyrics have not been changed. So no matter what, this is still “The Beatles” copyright I’m dealing with.

If I would pass this on as my own “original” work, oh boy would I be in trouble.

Song vs Song

There are a few similarities in the song, but also those similarities are broken when we start listening for the things more in detail. Let’s break it down really easily with the first thing that hits our eardrums first.

THE OSTINATO

An unbroken rhythm in 1/8 division. In Flame’s song it starts on C and crawls down to an A on the keyboard, chromatically in the key of A minor (The C-major’s little brother, all white-keys on the piano. The rhythm looks like this: CCCCBBBA.

Katy Perry has a similar thing, but not in a synthlead but with a voice-based synth. It’s in a different key, but let’s pretend that it’s in the same key, her ostinato goes like this: CCCCBBAA

Verdict: Not the same. I consider this to be a RIFF, not a melody.

THE TEMPO

Tempo comes from the Italian word, that basically means “TIME”. You can’t copyright time. Tempo really determines the feel of the song and sets up all the instruments way to be played. On a score-sheet you will see a designated tempo in bpm: 120 bpm (120 beats per minute, or 2 beats per second.) Besides the tempo, you might even get an indication how the beat/tempo should be felt. Like in swing music we usually notate it with 2 8th notes, tied together with a triplet indicator. But to write it all out like that, to simplify the notation with usually write 2 8th-bar notes, then an = sign telling the result on how to read it as a dotted 8th tied to a 16th note, explaining a shuffle-feel.

In this case, both songs are played STRAIGHT. No shuffle what so ever.

Verdict: not the same, but you can’t copyright a TEMPO.

INSTRUMENTATION

Flame’s instrumentation is sparse, very simple. Using prominently a saw-tooth synth with a slow-portamento (glide effect between 2 notes) that actually obscure the “true pitch” in the ostinato.

Katy Perry has a more full-fledged arrangement with more instruments, harmonies and different sound-sources. Her ostinato consists of a more organic, voice like quality sample.

Verdict: This would be silly if we all could copyright instruments. We can’t.

Melody

This would be THE MOST IMPORTANT thing to see if the songs are similar. But they AREN’T.

In Flame’s case, majority of the verses are being RAPPED, without any melodic content to the voice.

Katy Perry actually sings a real melody.

Verdict: Not EVEN CLOSE! Katy Perry is in the SAFE ZONE on this one.

Lyrics

Tightly connected to the voice are the lyrics. Are they the same? Thematic content? DO they line up EXACTLY THE SAME?

In Flame’s song, the lyrics is about Religion.

In Katy Perry’s song it’s about Friendship, wins and gains, not making enemies, of course looking at the video it kinda contradicts the message in a fun way, but that’s what video-producers do.

Remember the fight scene in The Punisher (2004) between The Punisher and the tall Russian? The music behind it is a classic Italian opera, which really turns the gruesome battle into a dark comedy.

Verdict: Katy Perry is SAFE on this one as well.

SAMPLES

On this note, it gets a little bit hairy. The biggest question is, did they use the same phrase, the same wording from FLAME’s recording?

Is it a common phrase used in that genre of music? If so, Michael Jackson would sue everyone for using his classic -”c’mon!” from millions of other artists.

Where the phrase lies in the song is about the same, it’s like the introduction before the artists start singing in both songs.

Biggest question of them all, DID TEAM PERRY STEAL a sample, from a song they claim they haven’t heard? The voice who introduces the song also include Katy Perry and the Rapper Juicy J in his voice. Another voice-actor and not the singer from FLAME’s recording? This is a tough one to break. But it’s only 4 words we are talking about. And it happens in the same area of the song.

It just happens that sometimes, songs overlap each other like stars in the sky, making a perfect line. I know a lot of songs that sounds alike, but nowhere close to be copyrighted because of LYRICAL and MELODIC content.

VERDICT: This is the only point that’s of interest of the discussion. Would love to hear the process of how they both ended up with the same wording and a similar voice on both of the recordings. The voices sounds really close to each other, but the other voice still extends the recording, making me believe it is NOT a SAMPLE but an ORIGINAL RECORDING specially made for KATY PERRY’s SONG. 50/50. But I’m pretty sure it’s an ORIGINAL RECORDING. And copyrighting a COMMON PHRASE would be LUDICROUS. Then Shakespear would OWN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE!

These were my thoughts.

[toddykun]

duckvember 2018: 3. game duck & 5. competitive duck - Duck Siblings (HDLW), Daisy’s Triplets (AMJ), Gladstone Gander & Donald Duck.

game over! or try again?

summary: Louie found a new indie video game made by an unknown developer inspired by their favorite superheroes! Hurray! Only problem? The last level seems impossible to complete. Could anyone in the mansion do it? Also, obviously the Duck Avenger is the best character to play with, right? No, Gizmoduck! No, Darkwing Duck! ...Huh, better ask Uncle Donald.

word count: 1994

n/a: inspired by this wonderful piece by @neon-shesh. april, may and june’s designs inspired by @avespecora, fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants writing.

“Oh, come on! Not again!”

“Umm, Louie, what are you doing?”

Huey looked at Louie, sprawled on the floor dramatically, holding his phone like had betrayed him. Louie just looked at him with this indecipherable expression and then showed him his phone. A pretty high score was glowing in the screen and the words of two options: ‘try again!’ and ‘game over’. It showed too, the international high scores. The colors looked cool and the little animation too, Huey murmured appreciatively.

Huey sat beside him. “But you have a really high score, and into the internationals too, Louie! Why are you so frustrated? What is the game about?”

Louie sighed and got up like it was a trouble for him to do that but he smiled anyway, happy to ramble about his new discovery. “A person on the internet developed this new indie game with superheroes from real life! They have the Duck Avenger even when he’s retired. You can choose between Gizmoduck, Darkwing Duck and the Duck Avenger. I chose the Duck Avenger, of course, he’s the most badass.”

“I would like to argue that. Duck Avenger was the most badass, he retired, he’s no more. Gizmoduck, however, it’s a new superhero and he has so much-.”

Louie interrupted him immediately. “Yeah, yeah. I will fight you on that later because that doesn’t change the fact that the Duck Avenger is the most badass. Anyways, the game is pretty simple. But I can’t past the last level no matter how much I try. It’s stupid, I’m thinking it’s rigged.”

“Maybe the character is not the one adequate for the level?”

“That’s ridiculous, they’re all supposed to pass the levels.”

“Well, only one way to find out. Come on, let me try it with Gizmoduck.”

Louie passed the phone to him and Huey tried it. It was, like Louie said, an actually simple game. Like some Mario Bros game. But the animation was actually pretty cool and fluid and the levels were even more interesting. Until he got to the last level, and he lost. Multiple times.

“This doesn’t make sense! I have changed every little thing that went wrong went I played and none of them work?”

“I told you! It’s rigged!”

Dewey entered the living room and looked at his brothers being a little too mad at a simple phone. “Guys, what are you doing?”

“We are playing this game and none of us can pass it.”

“Oh, can I see? Mmm. I will choose Darkwing.”

“So, Launchpad made you like it, huh?”

“Shut up. Pass the game.”

.

“WHY THE HELL I CAN NOT PASS IT?”

“WE KNOW!”

“THIS IS RIDICULOUS!”

“Boys, whatcha doing?”

“WEBBY, TRY THIS!”

“Oh, ok. HEY, IS THAT THE DUCK AVENGER? I WILL CHOOSE HIM!”

Louie just smiled proudly. “Good choice, little sister. Good choice.” Huey and Dewey just rolled their eyes.

.

“WAIT, WHY I CAN NOT PASS IT?”

“UGH, COME ON, NOT EVEN WEBBY?!”

“THE GAME IT’S RIGGED, I TOLD YOU!”

“Maybe the developer made a mistake?” Huey took his book out of his hat and looked out for the page on developing independents video games.

Louie and Dewey rolled his eyes. “Not everything can be in that book, Huey.”

.

“Even Uncle Scrooge tried, and he lost too. Well, he didn’t like to play, kept saying that’s it was a ridiculously simple game and he shouldn’t lose his time. But when he kept losing he almost threw my phone like it personally offended him. No good.”

“Cousin Fethry tried too, but well, he didn’t really understand the game either. He thought it was cool though.”

“Well, atI least I’m glad they all have great taste. They all chose Duck Avenger.”

“Yeah but, boys, we have not found a way to win. Granny didn’t want to even try it though.”

“Launchpad tried too, he lost with Darkwing and he was actually good at playing it.”

“Maybe we could ask Uncle Gladstone? I mean, if someone it’s able to win, it’s him, right?”

All the kids looked at each other and then nodded. All of them went to look for Gladstone.

.

“Do you think anyone is going to ever catch up that you fucked up that last level on purpose so no one can find the secret passage, April?” May asked, making her basketball’s ball turn around in her finger while resting on her bed.

“I didn’t do it on purpose, I don’t know why no one is finding the secret passage in the last level!”

“Well, you should fix it, dear sister. Like me and this little buddy. Right, little buddy?” June cheerfully said from her place in her own bed. She was trying to fix a little robot she was making.

“I. Am. Trying. To. Fix. It! You’re not helping!” April declared, furiously typing on her computer.

May and June just rolled their eyes and shrugged, continuing to do their own thing.

“Girls, let’s go! April, to your programming classes! May, to your basketball practice! June, you volunteered to that activity in the park!”

“Yes, aunt Daisy!” May and June responded and went to look for her things. April made a frustrated noise and started to write even faster. “UGH, WAIT, JUST A LITTLE. I STILL NEED TO SEND THE UPDATE.”

“I’M NOT WAITING. APRIL!”

“UGH, OKAY.” April ended giving up, taking his things frustrated, putting her laptop in her bag. Well, she could just apologize to the gamer community later and post the update, she supposed.

.

“Sorry, little beans. Guess video games are not my thing, not even for my luck.” Gladstone did seem weirded out by the result too. He didn’t lose the game but for a really weird reason his character (the Duck Avenger, Louie was glad most of his family had such great taste) got stuck in a weird way, he didn’t lose like everybody else, he wasn’t killed even once but his character kept moving and moving without another obstacle on the way but the way didn’t end for minutes. Until they themselves stopped the game. It was like the game couldn’t let him lose but it couldn’t let him win either. It was actually ridiculous.

Webby sighed but smiled. “It doesn’t matter, Uncle Gladstone. Thanks anyways.”

Louie raised a brow and looked Huey and they both nodded. They were thinking the same thing. “In a way, Uncle Gladstone didn’t lose, he’s actually the only one that didn’t lose, and he never died in the game,” Huey concluded.

“The game is rigged, it’s impossible Uncle Gladstone had not won.” Louie ended saying.

Gladstone seemed to consider it too and then he smiled. “Have you asked Don to play it?”

“Do you think the most unlucky duck in the world can win this game?” It wasn’t like Dewey wanted to underappreciate his Uncle Donald but it was just. Good luck vs. Bad luck, you know.

Gladstone shrugged, an easy smile on his face. “Why not try it? Don holds a lot of surprises.” Also, he is going to flip out if he sees someone has done a game of PK, he deserves a little pleasure once in a while, he thought. “Good luck, kids!”

The kids looked at Gladstone going away to whatever business he had. Well, that only left them with an option.

.

“Kids, I’m kinda busy.” He was still repairing the boat, he didn’t know why the thing could just hold it together. All the kids made puppy faces. Donald sighed, it wasn’t fair. “Ok, ok. Give me that. Wait, is that the Duck Avenger?” He seemed to blush but Webby wasn’t so sure.

For a reason unknown to Webby, it was like that simple phrase lighted up something between the boys that she had not seen before. She blinked confused, the air smelled like competition out of nowhere. She looked at Donald and made a simple question. “Who are you going to choose to play, Uncle Donald?”

It seemed like the wrong question when the boys’ aura of competitiveness grew even more. Louie was the first one to attack, trying to be smooth about it. “It is incredible that the Duck Avenger is in a video game and he deserves it because he is super badass, you should choose him, Uncle Donald.”

Huey jumped next, his spirit wasn’t going to submit to the younger and more spoiled brother. “But Gizmoduck is a promising young hero! He has so much room to grow, and he is super smart and heroic and-!”

Dewey, not about to be left behind, jumped too, interrupting his older brother, determined to make his Uncle choose his hero. “But Darkwing Duck is amazing too, he is a great detective and does some pretty sick moves! You should choose him, Uncle Donald!”

Donald tried to calm them down. “Wow, wow. Calm down, boys. Let’s see.” Donald looked at the screen and then nodded. “Ok, I’m choosing Gizmoduck.”

Huey made a pleased cry, his fist in the air. Dewey and Louie looked at him, feeling betrayed. “But Uncle Donald!”

“Well, Huey is right, Gizmoduck is a promising young hero. Darkwing Duck is from another city and he has more experience, and Duck Avenger is retired, so. Anyways, this is just a game, it really doesn’t matter who I choose.”

“Ha! In your faces!” Huey jumped, happily, the winner of the unsaid competition. Dewey and Louie groaned.

“Huey,” Donald warned.

“Sorry, Uncle Donald…”

Webby tried to regain the attention to their actual issue. “Well, let’s play, Uncle Donald!”

Donald lost more times than any other person they asked for, the kids were about to give up until, eventually, he screamed ‘It says this is the last level!’, the kids jumped and hovered around him to see the screen. It was, in fact, the last level. They all felt dread over their bodies. Even Donald was starting to tense over this simple game. He started the level and the kids even felt like they couldn’t breathe. For now, it was going well. He avoided the obstacles even when the kids distracted him with their shouts of ‘be careful!’, ‘no, to the left!’, ‘uuuuugh’ and ‘jump, no, run, no, just walk!’. He was almost getting to the same point that Uncle Gladstone was. He only needed to make a simple jump and not fall into the hole. Simple enough.

He fell. The kids’ spirits fell too. Nobody had ever felt into that hole, it was an easy jump.

“NO!”

“UNCLE DONALD, HOW? WHY DID YOU LOSE LIKE THIS?”

“WHY? WHY? IT WAS A SIMPLE JUMP!”

“UGH, SO CLOOOOOSE.”

“Um, kids, I fell into a secret room.”

All the kids stopped their wailing, confused and asked at the same time. “Secret room?”

In fact, there was a secret room. The kids started to shout again, happy and almost hysterical. Donald kept moving his character until he got to a door. It read ‘FINAL BOSS’. They all gulped. Donald made the character enter the doctor without much thought.

Donald did give the final boss, Negaduck, a fight. It was sad that he lost, anyways.

Donald sighed, mad at himself, feeling the dread of the disappoint he probably left in the kids. “I’m sorry I didn’t win your game, kids. I-”

The kids couldn’t care less, they all hugged him. Donald returned the hug, greatly surprised but confused nonetheless.

Huey was the first one to talk. “Are you kidding? You were the only one that found the secret room, Uncle Donald!”

“Yeah, that was pretty cool!” Dewey followed.

“Especially since not even Uncle Gladstone could. I mean, he didn’t lose, but he didn’t win either. It was weird.”

Donald was even more confused now. “Not even Gladstone?”

Webby smiled and reassured him. “Not even Gladstone. You’re the best, Uncle Donald!”

Donald smiled harder and hugged them harder. The kids just laughed, happily, hugging him in return. Who knew that what they actually needed was some little of bad luck?

[perylinsus]

Rant

Rant Contents-

Perming hair

Dyeing hair

Cutting hair

Getting piercings

Body weight

Tattoos

CONTAINS ENOUGH HATE AND UN-NEEDED CRITICISM TO LAST MILLIONS OF LIFE TIMES.

Okay, so this rant is gonna be weird as fuck, since it's about my hair and some piercings, but listen as I start talking about my hair. It's weird. It's straight somedays, curly on others, wavy on the others, and a combination of all three, though most of the time it's straight. It's also very, very, very thick and oily. Now, being in the end of my 3rd quarter of 8th grade, I keep telling people at school that I plan on getting a perm over the summer, since everyone is counting the days till then. But when I say perm, I mean tight-curls perm. Not even curls, more along the lines of coils. But everytime. Every. Single. Time. I say anything about getting a perm to someone with wavy/curly hair, they complain about how hard it is and how it'll be so much harder for me since; I'm not used to curly hair, my hair is too thick and/or my hair is super oily. All I want to do is turn and just fucking snap.

The only fucking reason my hair is straight and oily is because of the lice treatments I had to go through. I had those assholes all up on my head for 5 years straight. When I was a kid, I had to straighten my fucking hair everyday just to get it to cooperate. When I was a kid, I was fucking mistaken for a different race. My hair has always been thick, it was always silky and soft and it was in tight ass curls up until I was 5 or 6. I've experienced curly hair my entire life cause my step sister adopted triplet girls with hair that was on the verge of being kinky, but was still considered curly. I do their hair every fucking morning to this damn day. I have since they were adopted at 3 years old and that was 8 years ago. I was in my first year of having lice (I took precautions to make sure they didn't get lice. Luckily, it worked cause they never did).

I wanna fucking snap when people say to not get my hair permed into tight curls cause I won't be able to take care of them. I take care of curly hair every damn morning, 4 AM sharp, listening to babies cry when I only get 2 hours of sleep cause of my damn homework. Everything's good. I cope now, I will always fucking cope.

Two more factors make the complaining worse. Before I perm my hair, I'm getting it colored. Again, more complaining. Things like, "You'll damage your hair!" Or "Why would you color your hair, it's already so pretty." I might be doing two different colors, they might be bright and because of that, I have to bleach and color my hair. Don't get pissed because I don't wanna have basic brunette bitch hair like you (that's aimed at one person, not all brunettes. I luh u). I want to die my hair because I can. I'll perm my hair afterwards because my cousin, aunt and grandma, certified hair dressers, told me it was okay. I'm tryna live my life so back the fuck up.

Next thing, I wanna cut it, too. Before getting a perm, but after coloring it, I'm gonna try and get an undercut. More. Fucking. Complaining. "Sweetie, if you wanna color and cut your hair, you can't perm it. It'll look weird. I've tried it." Bitch. Does it look like I care about what you tried. You're pale, skinny and you have some fake ass lookin blonde hair. I am, on the other fucking hand, a delicious hunk of chubby Mexican (I'm trying to love myself more. Don't judge me). Me and you, we're completely different. I have an ass, some tits and some fat around my waist. You look like a sheet of horny construction paper (that shit feels weird...idk what y'all feel like, I swear). People may retaliate with;

"I'm not saying you'll be ugly, I'm saying curly hair and undercuts don't go well together." What if my main goal is to look ugly? To put shame to my last name (that rhymed bruh). Idgaf what you think. I'm cutting my hair, I'm coloring my hair and I'm perming this shit. I fucking live for coloring my hair, I've done it for the entirety of my middle school life. I miss having an undercut. Living in Florida with some dark ass, thick hair is hard, so the less hair, the easier my life (less shampoo and conditioner too). And my curly hair. I want that shit back. I didn't hate it then, but I also didn't love it, but. I. Want. It. Back.

So, with my hair, back tf up. Now some piercings.

My uncle does piercings for people. Yeah, total fucking pothead, but he's chill and good at his 3 steady jobs. He said, once I get old enough, he'd give me good quality piercings. Because we moved away from him, down to Florida (that was 5 years ago btw. I had ear piercings then. I also temporarily moved up to Michigan for like half a year, when he promised me), he hasn't given me my piercings yet. Over a video call, since he's overseas helping a friend move into a new house, he asked me what piercings I wanted so when he got back (I'd be halfway through my first quarter of freshman year) he could give me my piercings.

As many as I want, for no price at all. He's self employed so it's no problem, however my face/head area is all he'll do. I'm okay with it bc that's all I want. I tell him, with my bff and her bf sitting next to me. Her bf has his friend with him so he can hear me too, obviously. I say both ears and lips, possibly nose. My uncle says ok. He asks me what kind I'm considering for my ears. I say; standard lobe, upper lobe, helix and industrial. That's another ok. Then for my lips. I say; angel bites, snake bites, spider bites or shark bites. Again. Another okay. Then he asks for my nose. I say septum or nostril but the nose piercings weren't definitive. Again. That's okay.

My mom knows about this and she's okay with it. I'm my own person and what I choose to do needs to be dealt with by me. I face my mistakes, or I suffer. I choose to take some pretty bad ending risks but I learned. That's always been my lesson and it won't change. Face the consequences. My bff asks if she could get the same deal as I did. He says no but that he could lower the price significantly. She says okay, definitely happy, and her bf asks the same, getting the same response as my bff (he's cool with piercings. He had some. He just wants more). Now, my bff's bf's friend starts criticizing us, specifically me. We hate eachother so it was expected.

But this asshole. THIS ASSHOLE. Had the audacity to insult me on my choice of piercings. He's anti everything. Anti gays, anti abortion (this one is agreeable), anti Muslim, he's HORRIBLE (his personality filters into this. Believe what you want but if your personality is too evident in your opinion, DO NOT TALK TO ME. Especially if you're stuck up). I'm learning makeup atm so he goes down that road and calls me an ugly whore who deserves to die on the streets. Nice. But...same thing with the hair. I WILL DO WHATEVER I FUCKING WANT TO. IDGAF ABOUT YOUR OPINION. Don't criticize me because I want to get tons of piercings. He went down the path of racism, too, and called me a typical Hispanic bitch. Rebellious and dumb. I have nothing to say to this other than get tf out of my house. I turn to my friends and tell them if they agree with him to leave with him. They're actual friends so they stayed but he had to find his way home in the pouring rain. Don't be an ass to innocent people cause Karma's a bitch.

Anyway, I was called a hippy, spic, typical druggie, shitty person and retard (this word isn't taken lightly in my family. Don't call people that shit).

You know what, let's rant some more.

I'm a chunky motherfucker. I way well over 100 lbs but I ain't too close to 200. I'm almost 14 and I'm kinda short. Still growing, but short.

I have lots of body fat. Obese, depends on your definition of it. Fat, yes, but I can still rock some tight clothes better than anyone else. I've embraced my body fat. Yes, I'm currently researching healthy, lemme repeat, healthy ways to get rid of it, but I've embraced it and I now tell myself I'm cute whether people like it or not. It's strange since I've never done it before but it helps with depression.

Anyway, I'm chubby but I'm working on it. I need to glow up to rock my bullies' motherfucking worlds. This dude, idek who he was, comes up, calls me fat and walks away. I turn around and yell fuck you or fuck off or some shit like that. I'm making my way to class and this other kid trips me. When I hit the ground, he screams earthquake and runs.

I get up and walk my way to class like a civil person. Eventually, my mom, who works at my school, has to take me to the hospital cause I couldn't get up and leave my class at the end of the day. Why, you may ask? Well, I had;

minor whiplash

a sprained wrist

Scrapes on my knee that were so bad, they'll probably scar

My day sucked before that so it only got worse. Besides that, the whiplash is gone, my sprained wrist is healing nicely and it's just my knees that are still fucked up.

All that trouble because some bastard wanted to fuck with me cause I'm chubby. Stop being dicks everyone, unless that's your nickname.

Finally, the last topic. Tattoos. My other uncle, the twin brother of my piercings uncle, is a tattoo artist. Game addict, too, but, like, srsly, unhealthily addicted.

Anyway, if I can't do college, I have a guaranteed spot as a tattoo designer in his parlor. I'm trying to plan for college so it might not happen but, you never know. Besides that, he gave me a deal. As many tattoos as I want, for no price. All because I'm his only blood niece.

I said hell fucking yeah (I got a shoe thrown at me for it). He said as long as I designed them, he'd give me them. Okay, not too bad since I'm a 14 year old with college level art. First, though, I had to tell him what type I wanted. I said I wanted tribal, illustrative and possibly neo traditional.

I have designs for my illustrative tattoos. One for each important person in my life. My older brother, my younger brother, my mom, my grandma, my bff and my 1st dog. I was gonna try and do one for my husband/wife when and if I get married but I was warned about tattooing names of people I'm not related to on my body. Again, I might still do it. Anyway, those are for my illustrative tattoos. Then, comes my tribal tattoos.

I plan on asking my bestfriend and my mom to choose from a set of Moon Glyphs, which symbols best represent me. Whichever common ones they choose, will be hidden in a tribal tattoo on my ribcage. I also want a tribal on the top of my forearm and a tribal band around my bicep. I may just get arrows on the inside of my other forearm.

Neo traditional will probably be a worn down banner with flowers that has a saying in it. In another language, most likely, but there'll be a saying.

Anyway, I told my uncles this and my tattoo artist uncle said he was perfectly okay with it. My mom was chill with it, too, so everything was good. Until my great grandmother got ahold of the information. So many vulgarities.

Anyway, don't be a shithead when it isn't necessary. Let people learn from their own mistakes when said mistakes are revocable.

Luv ya and thanks for reading.

[popculturebuffet]

Donald Duck Week: Quack Pack: Ducks Amuck  (Ducky Dearest and All Hands on Duck) (Commission for WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy people! And it’s Day 3 of Duck Week.. as I slid a day. Oops. Point is it’s our third review. This time we’re going back to the 90′s when Donald was in a very infamous tv show. Yes ladies, gents and others, it’s time to feel like qucking because Kev paid me to take a look at this, it’s Quack Pack. 

Quack Pack, for those of you who don’t know, was a 90′s tv show. It was conceived not as a sequel to ducktales so much as the classic shorts, showcasing teen versions of the nephews living with a grown up Donald and getting into weird hyjinks as Donald worked as a cameraman for news program “what a world” with girlfriend and reporter Daisy and egostitcal jackass Kent Powers. It wasn’t well recieved due to a combination of the nephew’s totally radical 90′s personalities, the fact it WASN’T a sequel to Ducktales but came off like one anyway due to the nephew’s older ages and thus enraged fans for using humans, getting rid of scrooge , etc, and for being kinda batshit insane. 

I previously took a look at this series with Snow Way Out way back towards the start of my career over a year ago, one i’d seen before that had a bunch of Donsy in it and I liked it fine enough: the nephew’s were grating but overall it wasn’t that bad, nor was the Yolks On You, an episode that used Donald’s prototype deisgn to represent him as a teen. So the question was were these just good episodes in a bad show or was this show better than it’s reputation? 

Thankfully when I brought up doing a Donald Duck week kev had a solution: this vhs two pack of episodes he’d had as a kid, Ducks Amuck, containing two apporiatley donaldcentric episodes, one that has the triplets as just as much the focus nad one that’s entirely donald focused with them absence. I agreed seeing it as the perfect way to test this theory and return to a series most wouldn’t touch out of fear to see if it was any good. What did i find? well that lies under the cut dear friends, so join me there won’t you?

The One Saturday Morning Advert:

I did watch the Disney Plus versions of the episodes so I could watch them on tv but still managed to dig up the vhs rip kev sent me as I wanted to make sure there wasn’t any extra content I was missing. For the most part no.. like most VHS’ of kids shows it’s simply some adds and two episodes. The advertisment is worth a mention though. 

It’s a promo for two shows, 101 Dalmations, which I frankly had forgotten existed and one of my personal favorite Disney shows period, Recess. Yes folks what your seeing above are bits taken from Recess’ pilot that were used in this add. Beacause close enough isn’t the only time someone used the pitch pilot for promotion. This utterly fascenates me as while Mikey and Gretchen are almost exactly teh same, Gretchen just has a diffrent outfit and mikey a bit pointer face, everyone else is VASTLY diffrent. Spenelli has overalls and about 80 dozen pigtails, Vince has about the same outfit but in red and gold with a shaved head and TJ is MASSIVELY diffrent, with diffrent eyes, no cap, and a bowling shirt. It’s just fascenting how MUCH the characters changed between pilot and series and I’d love to know why these changes were made, though if I had to guess the final designs were simply better and in spenelli’s case less utter hell to animate, hence giving her a hat and messy hair instead. And now our...

The Theme Song:

The theme song is in fact pretty good. It’s not as good as say DuckTales or Darkwing duck but it ain’t bad at all: it’s catchy, fun and while it says nothing about the show the clips used do well enough with that. 

The openign itself is kind of obnoxious with sound effects from the show itself often played a bit loudly over things. So yeah the SONG is good but the opening itself is pretty obnoxious with the boys taking away Donald’s classic shorts he’s watching because “their not it or with it mannn”

It’s trying WAY too fucking hard, and gives the impression the series is trying too hard.. and is often right, but still, you don’t want to let your audience think your a pandering corprate husk filled with spiders... (Shudders).. sorry my own image creeped me out. Point is you don’t want the audience to know your pandering to them, even the Teen Titans GO! opening as brain killing as it is tries to hide the fact the series is an antillion hiding in a corpse... god what is it with me and horrifying bug metaphors to day. Point is the song is great and should’ve been used for the opening of the in-universe quack pack in ducktales 2017. The intro.. tries too hard and fails at it. But what of the episodes?

Ducky Dearest:

The episode starts with Donald and the boys just hanging out hanging out with the family, having themselvves a party. They play table tennis (Louie and Dewey vs Huey and Donald), Donald cooks them massive burgers that would make Jughead proud, and then they end the ngiht watching a cheesy horror movie, with a corny but adorable fakeout of him stopping them.. only to offer popcorn. it’s a really good setup to show things are going well.

But trouble comes, as it often does in real life with some asshole claming to be a doctor, in this case Doctor Homer. 

Sadly no. Instead he’s a gold too schyster. As for whose playing him...

I TRIED looking it up best i could, but every source I found left me at a dead end. The wiki entries for both episodes didn’t have voice credits and the one for Dr. Homer himself welll...

So I tried IMDB.. and that’s where it got WEIRD

This is the actual cast credit page by the way. I did not edit it in any way. In SOMEONE’S mind there’s an episode of Quack Pack where Donald and the Boys team up with GI Joe and Potty the Parrot to fight Cobra. I’m as shocked as you this wasn’t something I actually did but I assure you this wasn’t my idea, this is just fucking weird. So of course I love it and i’m baffled by it all at the same time. Finally I just tried checking the episode... which was somehow even less helpful

Anselmo, Daily, Segall and Elias are all the regular cast, so that leaves any of the other three men to possibly be Dr. Homer. Also who.. who puts voice credits like this like an animal? Seriously people want to know who actually played who. Even if it flashes by too quick for the human eye, at least the flash himself could read it. Even jay and his eyesight’s probably half gone by now. And he will still probably be kicking ass as some sort of retro-futursitic tin robot well into the next century. What i’m saying is Jay Garrick is awesome and these credits are objectively fucked, and I got nothing on who voiced Doctor Homer, but I tried. 

So yeah back to probably not a doctor Dr. Homer.. I mean Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz had doctorates at one point and neither of them really COUNT as a doctor anymore. Why should this guy who looks and sounds like the former and shills shit people really don’t need like the latter be any diffrent? Homer tries to fearmonger the parents watching, Donald in paticular into buying his stuff, and while what he’s doing is genuinely harmful Homer is entertainingly hammy, gotta give him that. 

He also brings about the great satire of this episode: the whole episode revolves around Donald , thanks to this schmuck, thinking the boys are up to evil things behind his back and are breaking bad. Granted as I showed you earlier and will again because you clearly don’t have enough nightmares for the week...

They aren’t helping themselves by looking like Chucky after he just killed someone with a voodoo doll. Just saying. But naturally in a sitcommy twist you knew what was coming their relaly preparing for his birthday party, so the episode becomes a back and forth between both sides: Donald becoming increasingly worried and paranoid, fueled entirely by Chuck needling him via a fancy wrist thing he buys and the boys trying to hid ethe presents because they assume Donald’s trying to find out about his birthday, which it’s fair to assume given who we’re dealing with but it’s equally fair to assume he’d forget it entirely and go on a paranoid rampage. 

So the episode is naturally a back and forth as Donald first buys a spy outfit and tails the kids to the mall, which sadly dosen’t lead to the wacky chase sequence you’d expect to 60′s music but instead just them leading him on a false trail, Chuck Homer convincing Donald to try breaking into their room while their gone, and then chastising Donald for trying to and blaming him for the boys “bad behavior” despite the fact he caused it because of course the fucker did. 

We also meet the boys friend Gus, who seems like a nice guy.. and that’s alL I really have on him. So after a sequence of donald moral guaradingzing the boys taking away their music and violent toys, Chuck gets it into Donald’s head he’s a bad influence as Gus comes over to deliver presents you get the bit by now. This all might sound formulaic.. because it is. And the jokes are mostly just okay and likely ones you’ve seen before so the core of the episode is nothing new. What makes it work.. is it’s message. Yes Quack Pack actually delivered a good message. The problem of the episode comes from Donald listening to the wrong person and thus being convinced there’s a problem when there’s in fact nothing wrong. I am not a parent, so i’m not speaking from experince nor do I wnat to be a smug doucher who does...but I can say there are PLENTY of snake oil saleman who take advantage of parental fear to push their own agenda. The fuckers who say video games cause violence over and over to cover for the NRA, Dr. Phil, really any pearl clutching weirdo who thinks something in society is to blame for what’s always been there or what’s being caused by the very conservative morons who tout this. There was no problem in the episode and the kids were happy and healthy until Homer came in and put the idea in Donald’s head. And look i’m not saying kids DON’T hide stuff or that EVERY person who has parenting advice is terrible, they do and they aren’t. But the episode isn’t saying that either. This is Quack Pack. I’m not expecting Nuance. 

The Climax shows this off even better as Homer cons donald out of the last of his money to take them to a happy camp after the boys claim their going to gus’ indefneitely, and Donald kidnaps them. The boys then have to put up with fake scenery and a bunch of annoying singing and end up finding homer and that he’s a con man. 

But what beats him isn’t trying to expose him or the boys lying about weapons like they do but being HONEST with Donald and giving him the gifts. Though really they could’ve solved this entire plot just.. telling Daisy. Seriously.. just.. tell your uncle’s sensible girlfriend. Regardless the climax is utterly satstifying as the boys use donald’s telescope and rod they gave him to grab the money from homer and Donald beans the asshole with a golf ball using the club the boys gave him, with them tying the asshole up and leaving him with his annoying devices for the cops. 

Final Thoughts on Ducky Dearest:

This wasn’t bad. I’m as shocked as you. It’ snot GREAT, there really aren’t any laugh out loud jokes and the plot is mildly predictable, but Chuck Homer’s haminess and the honestly necessary aesop to trust your kid instea dof some tv quack trying to scam you was very much needed then.. and even more now. Seriously stop giving Dr. Phil airtime. All in all not the BEST episode of a show ever, but not bad at all either. 

All Hands on Duck:

This one’s an odd duck.. not in terms of being weird.. I mean i’ts an episode where a forcibly reinlisted donald is forced to fight a naval battle ship using remote controlled ships whose computer he accidently corrupted while playing a flight based video game and Donald was in the cock pit in the first place becaues he lied to Daisy about being a naval war hero. It’s not a NORMAL anything to begin with but it’s odd because the triplets are entirely absent. You can just imagine my reaction to the news. 

Yeah while the three actresses playing the triplets are talented: Pamela Adlon would go on to one hell of a career in voice acting and in regular acting she’s done amazing stuff with her self written series Better Things, while EG Daily would of course play Tommy Pickles for a decade and some change on both Rugrats and All Grown Up and again for the revival no one asked for but at least made Betty gay and that’s kinda neat. Not sure if Huey’s va ever did anything. The point is these are talented women.. but despite Quack Pack trying to make the triplets diffrent by giving them all diffrent actresses and deisgns..they usually just come out as the same three annoying 90′s sterotypes. Saying faux slang, trying to be cool but looking like a fool to me, to meeeee, and generally making me pray for death but death won’t come. You just can’t save a wet fart of a character no matter how talented you are. Take for instance Tiny Toon Adventures. Cree Summer is one of THE most talented voice actresses alive, was great in live action on “A Diffrent World”.. but Elmyra is easily one of the least likeable, most obnoxious and most rightfully hated characters in animation. Cree did her best but there’s a damn good reason that walking animal rights nightmare she played has been rightfully exorcised from the reboot. Hopefully it’s JUST elmyra as the rest of the cast is still fresh and Fifi can be reworked, she shoudln’t have to pay just because Pepe was rightfully Me Too-ed. 

So i’ts VERY telling the episodes of teh show i’ve watched and liked so far have either barely featured them or have only slightly had those elements. 

Then again they might at least be so bad i’ts good because the episode descirptions i’ve seen on wikipedia are COMPLETELY INSANE. And unlike the IMDB page as far as I can tel ltheir accurate. Seriously for every plot you’d expect like Donald Joining Neighborhood watch or the boys hero turning out to be a fake or the boys all fighting over the same girl we get “Huey is seduced by a local girl in china who turns out to be the empress wtich of world domination”, “the group visiting an alligator farm where the owner is using the alligators to steal gold”, “the boys get super powers and fight donald as doctor doom”, “HUey gets fitted with a dental mind control device”, and finally “The boys looking for a comic leads to finding a worl ddomination plot”. My questions after reading these were “what drugs were the writers on” and “are they still avaliable in present day?”. 

But both the presence of these batshit fever dreams i’’ll defintely be coming back to, seriously this is a goldmine of material i’m just sitting on, leads me to believe the producers wanted a Donald Duck focused series, keeping the older boys a major focus but mostly focusing on one of Disney’s biggest stars now Disney was ready to give him a series. But it’s very clear from the boys personaliteis and these wackier plots that either the creative team coudln’t agree on a directoin or more likely Disney wanted to throw in extra XTREME shit , either to differnate it from the similarly premised goof troop, or just because they thought kids had the attention span of gnats. The result is a show that can be summed up as follows:

It just dosen’t work. You can have a wacky comedy that can do anything in a realistic setting. The simpsons itself is a great example of that.. but you can either have anything goes or relaistic excepct cartoon physics. The show was neither and I look forward to looking at the more insane episodes at some ponit to see if their any good. 

This one however is not too shabby as Donald is called back to the navy for 24 hours of service.. under teh commanding officer whose tiny boat he’s attached to got wrecked by donald. i’d laugh but if anything happened to my G1 Snarl I somehow found at a yard sale years ago i’d be just as hungry for that person’s blood, so I do get it. What’s worse he lied to Daisy about being a naval flying ace, and yes the navy do have pilots, after all... they protect land air and sea. It’s in the song. Hit it fellas!

The Muppets: Proving Vikings Can be Gay since Ninteen Seventy...

Anyway it’s a pretty simple episod efor the first half: donald does a navy chore, he donalds it up, Admiral Jim Cummings (Who I can indentify by voice) gets progessively angry at him, it’s about what you’d expect. Then Daisy shows up, Donald’s web of lies stands ot be revealed only for the confused visiting admiral to assume Donald really is a hero due to daisy and wanting a pilot for their unmanned plane because he wacky, requests Donald.

So the second half is where it gets nuts. See early on in the episode Donald’s playing a flying ace video game on an old joystick , which I would chide but it’s both used to set up the episode itself and this was 1996. While we were well into the super nintendo and sega genisis eras and on the cusp of the 3d era, it’s not unresonable the writers would be more familiar with atari, or that the thing Donald was playing was a plug in play gimmick dealie. 

But it ends up coming in handy when Donald, after playing the game on the ships computer earlier, accidently sabotages it causing the ship to think it’s plaing the game and thus donald has to undo the AI in his aircraft and take charge to take out the planes before they kill daisy. It’s a fun sequence, inclduing a bit where donald’s plane sneaks from a giant one on tip toes. Donald wins the day though, earns a medal, a hug, his lies are kept up and he destroys Jim Cummings boat one last time as you’d expect, but fucker gets rightfully chased by a shark for pettily calling someone back just to tourture them

What really makes the episode work.. is it’s essentially a 22 minute donald duck short. Nothing more nothing less: the plot’s mostly a thin excuse for jokes and sometimes that’s really all you need> the jokes are way funnier this time around, a few duds but mostly hits, the climax is intresting and there’s a lot of clever setups with the whole video game thing. it’s a really good ep and even nif you don’t like quack pack but like donald, i’d check this one out. 

So overall.. a suprisingly good double feature. I can admit when i’ve been an asshole and misjudged a show, and I did with Quack pack. Not entirely, the Nephews are still annoying as hell, but honestly if you look at the show with it’s own merits it’s not bad. It’s not AMAZING, it’s passable, but it got such a bad wrap for so long when really.. it’s just okay. And sometimes okay is wonderful. 

Next Time on Donald Duck Week; Have a sandwitch as we come on in to the house of mouse and Donald meets a big fan of his whose a stand in for a certain wabbit. 

If you  enjoyed this review, consdiering becoming a backer RIGHT HERE.  Even if you can only kick in a buck it not only helps but gets you access to exclusive reviews, my discord, and to pick a short when I do a shortstacular, my celebration of a character from the theartical short’s day’s birthday. You also help me reach stretch goals: 20 has been changed from monthly reviews of darkwing duck to reviewing, also at a monthly or more if I feel like it pace, THE OWL HOUSE. all the episodes but the two i've already covered all for everyone if you pony up 5 bucks along with  2 Ducktales mini as well as a brucey bonus Danny Phantom: The Ultimate Enemy review, while 25 will have me reviewing 3 MORE disney movies (The Recess, Proud Family and best Kim Possible Movies), and allow you the backers to pick a review. And the best part is like this review EVERYONE, wether you can afford to pay or not, gets the review. So if you end up liking this review and want more, hop on.  And if your consdiering becoming a 5 dollar backer and thus helping meet my next goal automaitcally you not only get a review a month but if there's a reward down the line you'd rather swap one of the current ones for the 20 dollar tier with let me know. If it's within reason i'll gladly do it.

[lilliesofinspirationvalley]

Since this girl has gotten into the new Ducktales, I have some ideas for 3 certain birds if they were recurring characters!

Because BOI WE GOT THE PARROT AND ROOSTER OF OUR DREAMS HECK YES

Daisy Duck

She’s an up and coming fashion designer, looking for some patrons to back up her own shop and studio!

That or a news reporter intern. I also like that idea

Polite in most cases, but still able to have wit and snark when needed. A charming girl that can enchant most around her.

But the reason not many boys tend to stay is well… she has a nasty, feisty temper. This rarely pops up, but she often will mouth off, or stomp away from whoever’s arguing with her.

How does this anger spark? Difference of opinion? No. The best way to say it is that Daisy is a bit of the bossy type, and doesn’t like when her plans aren’t executed just as she wants them.

Seeing her tell off some jerks is exactly the moment Donald is like “Hot dang. What a woman”

Scrooge becomes her main patron after she quits working for Glomgold, totally not so his nephew can try to flirt with her nooooo

This might be a cool idea She knew Don and Della during high school, but since the twins went off on adventures, she kinda forgot about most of their time together. But it definitely all floods back and she is crying over where the heck Della is.

José Carioca

Travels all over Brazil, mainly staying in Rio and Bahia. He does some of his own shows, but mostly helps others learn instruments, or just make more friends!

It’s either that or he ends up owning a cafe in Bahia. Great food, and beverages, and he’s very insistent on letting employees learn instruments or songs.

Still the very fast talking, enchanting, easily impressing parrot Don befriended before he took care of his nephews.

Becomes an ally, in the ability to collect information for bigger crime operations, so Scrooge and gang can preserve their money. (“You’re a little selfish, Scrooge. Just fighting so you can keep your own fortune, no?”)

Keeps thinking the boys are Don’s own sons… he’s not far off really. (“Ooooh, so you got a little busy when you left, ah?” *signature eyebrow wiggle*)

He and Panchito basically tag along often so they can see Donald more, and get to know the other ducks. Plus, there’s the thrill of adventure that seems to stick with them!

Often helps everyone snooze off with lullabies, mainly when their day has been incredibly action packed

Louie is such a big fan of him. But also kinda realizes Josè is actually a really nice bird too. So there’s that development.

He teaches everyone the samba.

Panchito Pistoles

Still definitely a Caballero, that now chases after bandits for pay, but mostly travels around as a storyteller.

Though he has Señor Martinez as a steed, he leaves it mainly at stables, most often the one in Mexico City. Instead, this rooster gets around using his magic serape. “I never leave without it! That is to say, I often leave on it!”

He and José basically tag along often so they can see Donald more, and get to know the other ducks. Plus, there’s the thrill of adventure that seems to stick with them!

Helps with travel around South America, and can provide supplies (more he gets them connected to supply shops)

Comes in a close race as to who tells the best ghost stories, right behind Scrooge and Webby

He’s really bad with modern technology. Like, he has a deep hatred against Waddle and Mark.

He gets sombreros for everyone.

Also, a quick little thing here

Donald feels super bad for suddenly ditching his friends to help raise the triplets. But they aren’t mad at him at all. So expect campfire-letting-out feelings-angst

[lickstynine]

⭐️ ⭐️ all your ocs please!

I’ve been working on this for literally a day. I have 25 active OCs, so here’s FIFTY FUCKING FACTS because apparently you’re trying to kill me

Asher-He’s the only one of Vody’s sons who doesn’t grow up to be super tall. It’s a combination of poor eating habits and unfortunate genetics.-He eats spicy food when it’s offered because he wants to look tough, but he actually can’t handle his spice well at all.

Felix-He can solve a rubik’s cube in under thirty seconds.-He once singlehandedly cleaned his family’s entire house in one weekend.

Luke-They want to get a tattoo, something cute and floral on their collarbones, but they’re afraid it’ll hurt too much.-They’re considering dyeing their hair, but they’re torn between peach and lavender and light aqua.

Nate-He used to wear his hair in braids, but when he came out, he cut it all off, and he decided to leave it loose when he grew it out again.-He can grow a beard, but prefers to keep his face clean-shaven.

David-He’s read every Star Wars novel ever published, and has a spreadsheet ranking them based on quality.-He has a series of freckles on his shoulder that look like a blobby turtle.

Kazu-He naturally has a lot of effeminate mannerisms, but they’re hidden under a thick layer of forced masculinity and bitchiness, cause acting girly used to get him beat up.-He’s actually really good at sewing, cause he couldn’t afford to buy new clothes when they tore, and it’s hard to find clothes that fit right when you’re v tall and v thin.

Min-He likes to use either buttercream or modeling chocolate to decorate cakes, cause he thinks fondant tastes like sugary play-doh.-He once spent an entire weekend in a bondage harness and handcuffs.

Takao-He has several friends at school, but they’re starting to worry that he’s homeless or something cause he’s terrified to introduce them to his parents.-His cat is named Nostradamus, but Kazu can’t pronounce that and just calls him Noodle.

Kit-He’s considered getting contacts, but thinks he looks better with glasses.-He has such good hearing, he was once woken up by a maid knocking over a vase on the opposite side of the house.

Ellery-He only dyes the sides of his hair because it’s technically against dress code at his job. He parts his hair in the middle and combs it down so it hides the colour at work.-There’s like three girl nurses who have a crush on him. He has no idea.

Lucy-He’s been kicked out of a Hot Topic for trying to draw a pentagram on the floor with a red paint pen.-He finds bubblegum pop very catchy and is aggressively in denial about it.

Russ-He seems big and strong, but he lowkey just wants a stronger guy to sweep him off his feet.-He’s slightly crosseyed, and even though almost no one notices, he’s very self-conscious about it.

Cody-He keeps a sort of stubble-beard not for the aesthetic, but because he’s way too lazy to shave daily. His laziness was only encouraged when Hayley told him it looked good. These days, he only shaves a couple times a month.-Hayley picked out most of his wardrobe for him. Before she took him shopping, he owned like four t-shirts, a pair of jeans, and a pair of shorts. It wasn’t cause he couldn’t afford more clothes, he just didn’t care.

Hayley-She’s super obsessed with musicals, and makes Tamara and the boys learn parts so they can sing with her.-She’s the shortest of the triplets, and by far the widest, but all three sisters have the same shoe size. They share and borrow shoes constantly.

Tamara-She’s been wearing the same pair of glasses for about four years. Her prescription has changed, but she can’t afford new ones.-She really likes watermelon-flavoured things, but she tries to avoid them cause she feels like she’s being a stereotype.

Jace-He has a very broad vocal range. Think Brendon Urie, but he can go a bit lower and not *quite* as high.-He has a YouTube channel where he posts covers of songs he likes, and he also runs the YouTube for his band, Funeral Crashers. He’s the creative (read: insane) mind behind their music videos, and he actually has the budget to do some pretty cool shit.

Wren-He hasn’t cut his hair (save for trimming split ends) since elementary school. It’s about halfway down his back, but gradually nearing his ass.-He likes the flavor of cinnamon, but its slight spiciness bothers him, so he rarely eats it.

Silvan-He’s had the same jacket for about six years. At this point, it’s more patches than original fabric, but he’s still too broke to replace it.-He changed his last name when he moved to the (then Royaume, now République) de la mer du Sud, to fit in better and to feel more detached from Schwaerzenscheid.

Yves-He has a total baby face, and since he’s also short, he gets mistaken for a kid a lot. He stays clean-shaven anyway, because he can only really grow about half a mustache, which looks even worse.-Even though he’s an avid follower of the national religion, he’s an aggressive advocate for religious freedom, as the République is less than kind to citizens of other beliefs.

Serafino-He has a septum piercing, but that’s a fairly common thing in his home country of Estado de Ocaso. It’s a somewhat dated tradition at this point, but it’s def not looked down upon by stuck-up fucks like it is in our world.-Even though it makes him stick out like a sore thumb, he still wears traditional Ocasan clothes while he’s in the République. He refuses to ignore his heritage just to make other people more comfortable.

Désirée -She works at a biotech company, where she’s designing more functional prosthetic limbs. However, work has pretty much ground to a halt since the second revolution, so she’s taking an unofficial hiatus to join in the fighting. -Despite being the only girl in the group, she’s the second tallest. She’s shorter than Silvan (though most people are, he’s 6’2”), but at 5’10, she’s an inch taller than Serafino (which he h a t e s), and she’s got a solid four inches on Yves.

Ryan-He tends to take selfies in a really awkward pose, cause he loves to show off his heterochromia but doesn’t want to draw attention to his birthmark. As a result, most of his pics are at like a ¾ MySpace angle.-He’s a bit of an arrogant douche, but he has a decent Instagram following, where he posts lots of videos of him dancing and photos of him trying on new costumes and shit, so he has a handful of internet friends cause they don’t realize what a pain in the ass he is irl.

Siofra-She kinda wants tattoos, but is afraid they won’t look right with all her freckles.-She goes on walks/hikes with Finny at least five days a week.

Riagán-He once broke his arm on a homemade zipline. It’s a miracle that’s all he broke.-He’s incapable of shaving/trimming his beard without making tons of stupid faces in the mirror.

Cillian-He’s the only one of his siblings who needs glasses. Riagán likes to hide them just to be annoying.-He once ditched school to try out for a musical, only to barely make the chorus. It’s one of his most embarrassing and frustrating memories.

[yumotohakone]

Haunted House Hang-up (Voltron-SS) (Klance fic)

My @voltron-ss gift for Nicole!! (@nsart ) I hope you like it!! This monster of a fic is like,,,,,12k words somehow wtf 

Read it on Ao3 here!! (please read it on Ao3; my italics don’t paste over right onto tumblr–the fic is the same but I just feel like it’s missing something w/o the emphasis,,,and it’s much, much too long to go through to put them all back)

Summary: Keith runs a paranormal YouTube channel with his friend Pidge.  Pidge is friends with Hunk, who is friends with Lance, who is very very haunted. And also very, very pretty.

Warnings: Some violence, blood/injury, mentions of death, horror elements

“Shit, shit, shit!” Keith hissed under his breath. He cringed when he heard the equipment clang noisily from where it had been thrown haphazardly back into the bag. He yanked open the drivers’ side door and barely had time to chuck his luggage into the back before Pidge was clambering into the seat next to him and screaming.

“Drive! Drive!” Pidge gasped, glasses skewed on their face.

“I thought you said the place was abandoned?” Keith yelled, foot slamming down on the pedal. The strain on the old, beaten-up truck was not lost on him, and he gave a silent apology to the well-loved car.

“It was!” Pidge said back, their face bright red. “They hadn’t been back there for at least a decade! How was I supposed to know they would take their cute little anniversary vacation at their shitty, rotting cabin?”

Keith groaned, heart still drumming with adrenaline.

“Go check the equipment,” Keith said, exhausted. “It got a little rough back there.”

“Keith, I swear to god if you broke anything I–”

“It wouldn’t be my fault! Did you want me to get shot by an 80 year old lesbian couple??”

“I mean.”

“Pidge!”

“C’mon dude! It would be so funny!” Pidge climbed into the backseat to check the equipment.

“We didn’t get any data from that, so unless we can find a new hotspot in like, two days, we’re not gonna have anything for the channel.”

Keith and Pidge ran a YouTube channel together called Paranormal_InfoDump, where they went to supernatural hotspots for evidence on paranormal activity. That, or they posted unedited, hour-long rants of them infodumping about their favorite cryptids. The channel was moderately popular, kinda, at least among the supernatural niches of the internet.

Their current attempt at a video was in an old cabin that was rumored to be haunted by some triplets from the 18th century. The legend went that they were killed in a freak horseriding accident and their father, who they were riding with, just hid their bodies instead of telling anyone the truth. So they were pissed at him. And now they were ghosts.

“We can just edit a blooper reel, or like, make it a vlog.”

“But I hate vlogs,” Keith grimaced, “Whatever. We can go back to the cabin later. What’s the next spot on our list?”

The car pulled up into the parking lot of IHOP, where the duo waltzed in for some pancakes. As usual, Matt glared at them when he had to serve them because they always went to IHOP for the explicit purpose of bugging him.

“Y’all gonna get into sugar comas.” Matt grumbled, ruffling Pidge’s hair when he approached. He didn’t even have to take their orders–they always got the same thing. Double-blueberry pancakes for Keith, and french toast for Pidge. Neither of them got sides, because sides were for posers. So were drinks, but that was where they disagreed, so Pidge would just order Sprite and Keith just ate his meals without drinking anything which Pidge makes fun of him for sometimes. It was all good though because Keith would just make fun of them back for the way their feet couldn’t touch the ground in the chair even though they were almost 17. But whenever he did, they would always clap back with–

“Yeah, well you’re 19 and you still don’t know how to swim even though you grew up in Florida.”

And then Keith would reply–

“Is it really ‘growing up’ in Florida when I was only there from ages 13 to 18?”

And then the topic would change.

“Okay, so the next place we should hit up should definitely be something big,” Pidge said through a bite of french toast, “Like, real big. Like…St. Zarkon’s Estate big…”

“Pidge…” Keith drawled, “You know we can’t. That place is too much for us. You remember what Allura said, right?”

“Yeah, but we both know you’re dying to take up the challenge–no pun intended.”

Keith sighed, knowing Pidge was right. St. Zarkon’s was the oldest building in town–a huge mansion that dated back centuries and belonged to an insanely rich family that got their fortune from some seriously shady means. There were rumors that the family performed fucked up medical experiments in the basement, and that they were teamed up with the orphanage/hospital/asylum/whatever place the source said, because the story changed all the time. Either way, that place was notorious. And also illegal to get into because of “safety regulations”–but Keith and Pidge knew it was really closed off because of the rumors.

Anyways–Allura was a psychic. They met her through Craigslist and went to her before every haunt they hit up for a consultation. That day, she told them she sensed more figures in the home than what was predicted, and that they should be aware of the color purple. Of course, they ended up ignoring the purple rocking chair on the porch that wasn’t there the week before when they scoped out the place.

When they asked her about St. Zarkon’s a few months back, she just gave them a look and asked them if they really wanted to go to a place that looked like it was gonna fall over with the next breeze. She said she foresaw the feeling of distress and injury.

Then Pidge asked:

“But do we die?”

To which Allura sighed and responded:

“No.”

They had their minds set, but then Allura told them if she heard of them going to St. Zarkon’s she would start charging them for consultations again.

“Pidge, why are you bringing this up now?” Keith said, cutting up his pancakes into little triangles.

“Ok, so I have this friend–”

“I thought me and Keith were your only friends?” Matt interrupted, refilling Pidge’s Sprite.

“You’re my brother so you don’t count,” Pidge said, “but anyways I have another friend that I met in Robotics club. He’s super cool. But the reason I bring him up is because he has another friend who is apparently extremely sensitive to ghosts. Like. They’re just somehow magnetically attracted to this other friend, and they have been since forever.”

“What does that mean for us, exactly?” Keith said, trying to catch on.

“We bring a ghost magnet to a ghost hotspot–guaranteed ghosts! Ergo: guaranteed results and proof!” Pidge chugged some Sprite and burped obnoxiously after, which made Matt cringe from where he was on the other side of the restaurant. “According to Hunk, his friend is so surrounded by ghosts that weird supernatural stuff is just kinda normal for ‘em .”

“I see what you mean,” Keith said, thinking, “How do we know it’s true though? We’ve gotten lots of bullshit stories before.”

“I haven’t asked yet, but we could probably get Hunk’s friend up for some testing. We could sneak it in with our research system, yanno?”

Keith and Pidge, before any haunt, always did extensive research to make sure they were prepared. Keith thought it over. Since they were already interested in the Estate, they didn’t have to do so much research on it, and could probably dedicate some time to running a few tests.

“Plus we could test out some new gear me and Hunk were designing,” Pidge started flapping their hands at the wrists excitedly. Pidge had designed and built all the gear themselves. “It’s so cool having another brain to talk things out with in the building process! Hunk’s an engineering major and also a cook so his mind works differently than mine and he has some really cool ideas!! He’s so fun to work with.”

“That sounds awesome.” Keith finished his pancakes. “Do you know a lot about the friend? Do you think they’d say yes?”

“I mean, I’ve already got Hunk pretty involved, so I think he’d be able to talk his friend into it. We’ve got another Robotics Club meeting in two days so I can spring the question then.”

The two finished up their food, but not before demanding Matt bring them kiddie menus and crayons, which he was lawfully obligated to do seeing as he was on the clock.

It wasn’t until four days later that Keith was woken up from his blissful sleep by the obnoxious ringtone Pidge set for themselves.

“Pidge what the fuck. It’s 7AM no human should be awake at this hour. Why are you calling me and why can’t this wait until when I get up at 11?”

…Is what Keith meant to say when he picked up the phone, but between his general grogginess and the pillow shoved over his face it came out more like: “Hnnurrrghhhh,” which, thankfully, Pidge understood.

“Get your gay ass up, Keith and get over to the cafe in twenty. Hunk and his friend will meet us there.”

Keith groaned, willing himself to sit up. He knew if he wasn’t over there Pidge would end up breaking in through his broken bathroom window again. Keith threw on some sweatpants and a muscle-tee and lazily tugged his hair into a ponytail. It was too early to put effort into his appearance, and besides, it’s not like Keith really cared about what Pidge and their new nerd friends would think about his outfit. His clothes had nothing to do with anything.

Keith skipped breakfast, knowing he could just get something at the cafe. “The cafe” was just the simple name most people gave to the one cafe in the area that didn’t have a green mermaid plastered on the front. It was mostly due to that idyllic “cafe atmosphere”. Somehow, even in the middle of spring, that place always made you feel like it was the dead of fall. Not just fall, but autumn. It was nice. Keith liked it there.

The walk to the cafe was a short one. The old metal bell gave a cheerful ring when Keith opened the door. The sunlight streamed in through the faux stained-glass windows and bathed the whole cafe in a soft, orangey-yellow light. He saw Pidge sitting at their usual booth in the corner of the cafe, looking absolutely miniscule from where they sat across from a broad-shouldered, barrel-chested man also at the table. Keith gave him an appreciative once-over. Not Keith’s usual type, but the man had thick, well-built arms and a friendly smile that was very easy on the eyes.

Keith walked up to the counter, intending to order something small for breakfast. He gave a glance to the person in front of him and immediately had to pull a double-take. The man in front of him was… pretty. Keith had never used that word to describe a man, and he didn’t think he would be, well, interested in anyone fitting the description.

The man was tall, with long, long legs emphasized by strappy white wedges and high-waisted shorts. He wore a flowy crop-top, in a pastel-pink color that went well with his rich, coppery skin. When he reached over to grab his drink, Keith could see the clean white polish on the his nails, and the many bracelets and rings he wore. What really struck Keith’s attention, though, was the crown of colorful flowers that sat primly on the man’s brown hair. The flowers didn’t have a plastic sheen, and were too smooth looking to be cloth, so Keith could only assume they were real.

Keith watched in utter horror as the man turned heel and approached the familiar corner booth to sit next to the handsome, heavy-set man that was animatedly talking with Pidge. Keith stared at the back of the man’s head, swallowing thickly, wondering how in the fuck he was gonna do this. He approached the counter and picked up a pastry, contemplating just running away before Pidge saw him. But, of course, like some kind of telepathy, Pidge chose that very moment to see Keith, and excitedly waved over at him.

Keith was intimately aware of his careless attire and suddenly regretted not dressing a little nicer. It was only when he slid into the booth next to Pidge that he was able to get a look at the man’s face.

“–this is Hunk, my friend from Robotics Club,” Pidge introduced. Keith sheepishly pulled his eyes away from the pretty, flower-covered man across from him so he could meet Hunk’s eyes.

“Nice to meet you,” Keith said, a little stiffly, but then Hunk smiled reassuringly at him, and Keith felt the tension ease from his shoulders.

“It’s great to finally meet you, Keith!” Hunk shook Keith’s hand. “Pidge has told me a lot about you!”

“Oh, and this is Lance, our resident ghost magnet!” Pidge gestured to the remaining stranger. Keith finally got a good look at the man–Lance. Along with the flowers, Lance was covered in jewelry, the soft light of the cafe bouncing off of the gemstones to dapple Lance’s skin in the reflected colors. Lance’s face tensed a little at Pidge’s words, but before Keith could analyze his expression, Lance’s face smoothed back out.

“What can I say, I’m irresistible even beyond the grave.” His voice was positively saturated in cocky confidence. “It’s more of a curse–having to fend off admirers from both planes of existence.”

Keith rolled his eyes. Lance fiddled with one of his earrings.

“Will you help us?” Keith asked, bluntly. Lance glanced at him, a thin eyebrow raised in question. “We’re paranormal investigators, and we think having you would be useful–if you’re even telling the truth about being ghost-sensitive.”

Lance bristled.

“You’re lucky Hunk talked you two up so much or I wouldn’t even be here.” Lance leaned back, arms crossed, easing into an air of cool. “You don’t even know how many wannabe ghostbusters I get trying to coax me into their bad mojo.”

“And you don’t know how many bullshit ghost stories we get from people saying they can talk to the dead or summon spirits. I can tell you I’m only here because of Pidge, because personally I hate bringing in outsiders.”

“Wow, okay, what a big hotshot we have over here.” It was Lance’s turn to roll his eyes. “You don’t even know the beginning of the bullshit I have to deal with–”

Lance was cut off by Hunk interjecting.

“Guys!” He put a hand onto Lance’s shoulder. Lance looked at his friend, then pouted and slumped back in his seat. “Lance, dude, take a breath, chill out a little bit. We already went over what they want, remember? You agreed to come.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Lance mumbled. He leaned on Hunk, his cheek nuzzling into his friend’s bicep. “Sorry, buddy. I’m just gonna go to the bathroom for a sec; be right back.”

Keith, still seething from Lance’s attitude, berated himself when he caught his eyes tracking Lance’s backside when he walked away.

Pidge tugged his sleeve to pull him down and whisper at him.

“Are you okay, dude? You usually don’t get worked up like that.”

“I’m fine. There’s just something about the way he talked that got under my skin.” The way Lance kept undermining Keith and Pidge and their work made Keith see red. He poured a lot into the channel, and so did Pidge; hearing someone disrespect it was like a personal attack, somehow.

“Sorry about that, guys,” Hunk said apologetically, “Some days can be a little more rough on him than others. Last night, all the hot water in the house ran out suspiciously early, and the bulb in the bathroom shattered while he was in there too. He had to spend all night in a top-to-bottom cleanse to expel the thing.”

“There was a ghost in his house?” Pidge said, eyes widening.

“Oh god, yes there was,” Lance groaned dramatically as he slid back into his seat. “I have no idea how it got in. I think this one necklace I got from Etsy was a fucking dud so the little bastard hitched a ride. It was awful.”

“You had a ghost in your house?” Pidge repeated.

“Yeah, uh,” Lance blinked, suddenly looking a little uncomfortable. “I try to prevent it as much as I can. When a spirit attaches to a home it’s so hard to get rid of, so you gotta exorcise those fuckers ASAP.”

“You’ve done that before?? You just expel ghosts often?” Pidge looked almost in awe.

“Yup,” Lance popped the ‘p’. “Hunk did tell you supernatural stuff happens to me all the time, right?”

“Yeah, but I just thought he meant, like, you go to haunted places and the ghosts come out to see you–not that they follow you around!” Pidge suddenly pulled back, “That must suck if you’re not looking for them, dude.”

“THANK YOU!” Lance exclaimed, “ Finally someone understands. Thank you, Pidgeon; I think we’ll be very good friends.”

“So will you help us?” Keith asked again.

“Sure–” Keith and Pidge sighed in relief before Lance continued, “–but only if Pidge builds me a drone that looks like the Millenium Falcon. Hunk refuses to do it for me.”

“Are you kidding? I would fucking love to do that. I can even add in a claw that you can use to pick up stuff, or like a candy dispenser.” Pidge looked giddy. Lance’s eyes lit up and he leaned over to grasp both of Pidge’s hands in his own.

“Pidge, I would die for you.”

The rest of the cafe meet was Pidge and Lance geeking out over the features to put on Lance’s drone, with Hunk occasionally butting in to keep things reasonable. Keith bit back some snarky remarks, but every once in a while one would slip out, and Lance would immediately snap back with another in reply before he was distracted away from a full argument.

It was…kinda nice, Keith would suppose. Hunk was very kind but would not hesitate to say something to passive aggressively put the others in their place. Lance got along incredibly with Pidge, but for some reason, whenever he would say a word to Keith it would end with the two of them bickering. After the tension of the first argument broke, though, none of the bickering in question would be openly malicious. In fact, it was kind of fun. It was like they would just try to one-up each other with every smart-ass one liner.

They eventually decided on a day to meet up so they could do some testing with Lance’s abilities, then went their separate ways.

The meet was at Pidge’s, because they had the most equipment set up and ready to go. They did a number of tests on Lance and gathered data in their chicken scratch handwriting, leaving the research element to Keith, mostly. Lance was pretty compliant, and often cracked jokes while having his body poked and prodded with strange tools.

Eventually Pidge decided to take Lance “on the field”, and take him to haunted spots to observe him there. That was how Lance and Keith ended up sitting on bean bags in the library while Pidge and Hunk fiddled with computers and machinery in the background. Keith was trying to get Lance to tell him more about the paranormal aspect of his life, but Lance got increasingly defensive about it and kept trying to dodge the topic.

It was kind of the cycle they got into whenever they were left to their own devices–Keith would prod Lance about ghosts, Lance would change the topic, they would bicker for a little bit before moving the conversation elsewhere. It wasn’t a bad thing by any means, they did learn a lot about each other. For example, both of them liked watching true crime documentaries on Netflix, or the fact that neither of them could ever sit still to read a book in silence.

“I either had someone explain it to me, or I got my siblings to read it aloud,” Lance said, reminiscing. “Obviously, I could read it myself just fine, I just got lost super easily, yanno? I’d end up thinking of some question or imagining a scene and next thing I know I’ve been on the same page for ten minutes.”

“Yeah, I always got antsy. Sometimes the words would get mixed up and it would hurt my head, and then if I wanted to keep going I would have to point at each individual word and read them separately but then I wouldn’t absorb anything that was going on. It’s gotten better as I’ve gotten older, though.”

“Yeah, same. Nowadays I just use audio books.”

Sometimes they would lapse into slightly awkward silences, especially when the topic of childhood came about. Keith was about to say something when Lance blurted out:

“Uh, do you know you have a ghost following you?”

“What? Wait, wait, what the fuck?”

Lance looked incredibly sheepish, hands flying up to backtrack.

“I, uh–it’s just that….shit this is weird to explain.” Lance bit at his thumbnail, which was a pale purple that day. “It’s like…there’s this…energy? Around you? I don’t know something about it feels really…protective? In like a loving way I guess…have you ever had a pet?”

Keith blinked. Lance usually didn’t talk about the ghosts he sensed. He said it didn’t really do anything but make him really sad, so he tried to avoid looking into the ghosts’ personalities or whatever. The one time they got him to mention something was when he had sat on a swingset at the park and almost burst into tears. The ghost was of a second-grader.

“Um…when I was a kid I had a cat?” Keith replied. He hadn’t thought about Red in years. She was a fluffy orange tabby with a grouchy personality who always sat on Keith’s head whenever he laid down. He loved her a lot and was devastated when she passed.

“Yeah, yeah…that’s kind of the feel I get,” Lance’s eyes went a little distant, as if he were lost in thought. “She’s…just kind of watching you…in a good way…”

Lance blinked.

“Uh, I haven’t mentioned this before but, um…if you could like, give me something of hers then the…connection, I guess, would be stronger.” Lance nervously fiddled with the hem of his shirt. “If you want.”

“Are you some sort of medium?” Keith asked, carefully.

“Not really? I mean I can’t summon just any spirit I want or anything, but if something is there then I can like sense it. It gets stronger whenever I’m in a spiritually charged area or I have something physical to hold. So, like a medium, just they have to come to me.”

Keith dashed thoughts of contacting his parents. Lance just said he couldn’t force any spirit to show themselves, and besides, that would be an incredibly awkward situation to force Lance into.

“Have you ever talked to a ghost?”

“Yeah, plenty.” Lance bit at his lip. “It was a lot easier when I was a kid, before I started trying to block them out.”

“Block them out?”

That pulled a chuckle out of Lance, and Keith was glad to have dashed some of that somber look in Lance’s eyes.

“Not all ghosts are good ones, Keithy–” Keith grimaced at the nickname. “What do you think all these pretty gems and flowers are for? I live for the aesthetic but not enough to bathe in it.”

Lance gestured to the flower behind his ear, and the gemstones on his amulets and necklaces. “All of this is for protection–the gems and the flowers. I even make my own incense and essential oils. It’s actually how I met Hunk.”

Hunk’s head popped up at the mention of his name.

“Are you telling him our meet-cute?” Hunk’s voice got Pidge’s attention too, for a short while. Lance laughed again, the former serious mood completely gone.

“Yeah! You see, Hunk’s family runs half of a flower shop.” Lance waited for the inevitable questioning ‘half?’ from Keith and Pidge before continuing. “So years and years ago, the Garretts and the Balmerans had two rival flower shops that were trapped in a bitter blood feud–Romeo and Juliet style. Then one day, completely unlike Romeo and Juliet, the antique shop owner from across the street played the flower shop owners in poker. In an embarrassing, alcohol-fueled night, the two owners had accidentally made an agreement to combine their shops if they lost to the antique shop owner. And they lost miserably, because every Garrett and Every Balmeran I have ever met have zero poker-face skill.

“So now Hunk’s family is half the owner of the best flower shop in town–well, the only one in town–and I met my best buddy because I’d just been buying all of my plants like a moron and Hunk finally decided to save me and show me how to make my own garden after watching me spend–how much money was it again, buddy?”

“Oh god, it was horrible. He spent, like, at least 500$ in about two weeks. I couldn’t let him do that to himself, even if he was great for business.”

The story got a laugh out of Keith. When he glanced over at Lance again, though, he found the other just kind of staring at him with a look so soft it made Keith’s stomach twist pleasantly, and he had to bite his lip to keep from grinning like a loon. The action just made Lance’s mouth twist into a smile, and in that short, quiet moment, they were both just smiling at each other, and Keith hoped that Lance was feeling the same way, even if Keith himself couldn’t explain what that feeling was.

After running through all of their equipment at least twice–which took about another week and a half–Pidge had finally decided they were ready for St. Zarkon’s. As tradition, before they could go, they would visit Allura.

“So…we’re going to meet your psychic?” Hunk asked. Despite the fact that his best friend was a ghost magnet, he was somehow skeptical of a psychic.

“Yeah, she’s amazing. We always go to her to make sure we won’t, like, die or something.” Pidge shrugged. “She’s really accurate, but not like, telling your whole future word by word stuff. It’s mostly cryptic warnings and feelings.”

“And you’re sure she’s legit and not using confirmation bias to make you think her vague statements are predictions?”

“No, dude, she’s our friend. Plus she stopped charging us ages ago.” Pidge replied.

They entered Allura’s establishment, and immediately Lance gave a long, and particularly pleased sounding breathy noise that had Keith’s face burning bright red. Hunk turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

“Buddy, are you okay?”

“Hunk I have never been better. This place is so clean. There’s a lot of good feelings around here and I can’t sense a single ghost. It’s so good. Do you think she sells any of these gems?”

“I think she does, actually. We’d have to ask her though. C’mon, she should be expecting us–”

Pidge was interrupted as the clack of heeled footsteps approached them. Allura looked stunning as usual, her voluminous silvery hair framing her dark skin and shimmery clothing to give off an otherworldly feel. She’d barely looked up to greet them when Lance had gasped loudly in surprise.

“Allura??”

At the sound of Lance’s voice, Allura’s face snapped up to meet his, a similar look of surprise on her own face.

“Lance? What are you doing here?”

“Allura!! You’re psychic??” Lance approached her, going to grab her hands familiarly. Keith’s brow furrowed.

“Wait…you guys know each other?” Pidge asked.

“Yeah! We’re in the same dance class! Allura is my partner!” Lance looked positively ecstatic. He turned back to Allura, still holding her hands with a bright smile on his face. “Why didn’t you tell me you were psychic, Lu? This shop feels so clear I might just camp out here forever!”

Keith found himself glaring at their clasped hands and the affectionate nickname. Over the time that they had gotten to know each other, Lance had been pretty open about his affections for attractive people of all sorts. Keith may have been gay, but he knew Allura was absolutely gorgeous–he had eyes. He should’ve figured Lance would be all over her, and considering they had a history–

But it’s not like Keith cared or anything. He had no reason to care about who Lance did or did not have romantic inclinations for. Keith knew he found Lance attractive but he wasn’t dumb enough to get a crush on him or anything, obviously. He liked Lance as a friend. Strictly as a friend. A friend with a heart-stopping laugh and endless blue eyes and the lightest smattering of freckles on his shoulders and–

“Well, Lance, I can’t just go around proclaiming I’m a psychic to everyone.” Allura’s voice pulled Keith out of his stupor. She had let go of his hands, thankfully.

“Yeah but didn’t you ever, like, feel anything weird about me?” Lance asked.

“…I wasn’t sure if you were aware of the happenings around you, Lance. Most people aren’t.”

“Allura, when I was five my best friend was a doctor with a noose around his neck that only I could see. It was only when I was 13 I found out he died in the house in the 1400s. I sat on a swingset last week and saw a second-grader with the upper half of their face gone. My ‘Lita basically force fed me holy water when she met me for the first time.” Lance looked at her. “I know.”

“I didn’t realize it was that serious, Lance, I’m sorry.” Allura placed a comforting hand on Lance’s shoulder. “My visions are very weak when I’m away from my crystals.”

“It’s okay, Lu,” Lance grinned at her, “It’s not your fault. Anyways though, I’m over here with the nerd squad for some ghost hunting.”

“Oh! Lovely! Well, you all should come along with me to the back and I’ll start the consultation.”

They all piled into the darkened room behind the curtains. Allura had once told them the over-the-top decorations were more for the sake of the customers than anything she actually needed. The one prop in the room that was truly necessary was the murky, indigo-colored crystal ball in the center of a table.

“So, where are you all intending on going this time?” Allura asked. When her fingers touched the stand of the crystal ball, however, she jolted, giving them all a concerned and level look. Pidge didn’t seem to notice when they responded.

“We’re finally tackling St. Zarkon’s Estate,” Pidge said confidently, “Not only do we have Lance, but me and Hunk have been working on a ton of new tech for it! We’re totally ready.”

Allura’s face was pinched.

“Alright…I can already tell I can’t stop you this time…” She took a heavy sigh and gently touched her fingertips to the smooth surface of her crystal ball. She breathed deeply, eyes shut. After a few moments, she opened her eyes with a shuddering sigh, her hands shaking.

“This…this is not going to be easy,” She mumbled, “There will be distress, there will be injury, but there will also be catharsis, and there will be the beginning of something new. Marmora will guide you.”

The room went quiet. Allura shook her head slightly.

“I don’t like this…” her voice was quiet, “But my visions are telling me this will turn out right in the end, somehow.” She gave them all a meaningful look. “I trust you all.”

“Thanks, Allura.” Keith gave her a small smile.

“What did you mean by ‘Marmora will guide us’? Who’s Marmora?” Hunk asked.

“I am…I am not sure. My visions are usually strong feelings or images of a moment, but never detailed.”

Keith frowned. The name sounded familiar, somehow.

“Welp! Time to get this show on the road! The sooner we get there the sooner I can get home to kick Hunk’s ass in MarioKart!” Lance proclaimed suddenly, breaking the soft atmosphere. Keith turned to look at Lance but the other was already marching out the door.

“I mean…he’s not wrong,” Pidge shrugged, “St. Zarkon’s is, like, an hour’s drive away. We should probably get going before it gets too dark.”

A wave of murmured agreement washed over the rest of the group. They bid their goodbyes to Allura and met Lance back at the car.

“Lance what the hell are you doing?” Keith asked, deadpan. Lance had been halfway inside the car, leaning over the driver’s side. Keith tried to force his eyes anywhere else but Lance’s…lower half was all that could be seen of him. It didn’t help that the sheer cardigan he wore had been shucked up and to the side, leaving the long line of Lance’s black leggings on full display.

“I’m just setting up some tunes for the road!” Lance laughed, suddenly. “Hunk left the AUX cord where I could find it–so I call dibs!”

Pidge groaned. Keith knew how much they loved having control of the music.

The group piled into the car, Hunk driving, Pidge in shotgun (they called it), and Lance and Keith in the backseat. As the car started up, Lance’s grin was downright devious as he held up his phone. All of a sudden, a poppy, unfamiliar music riff began, Hunk whispered a quiet “oh god” and then Lance was screaming lyrics along with the vaguely nostalgic vocals of an early 2000s boyband.

Lance’s playlist was…eclectic at best, painful at worst, jumping from cheesy musical numbers to badly autotuned pop garbage with Lance singing throughout all of them. Every song was a performance and there was no end in fucking sight. Keith had never longed for a single moment of quietmore in his entire life.

Pidge complained every two songs and Hunk tried gently to console them. Whenever they tried to turn the music down Lance would screech at them until they stopped. Keith had seen Lance act over-the-top but this just seemed downright obnoxious. Even Keith tried to say something, but Lance just ignored him completely and kept singing.

It’s not like Lance couldn’t sing, but after belting out a few songs he got lazy and whiny sounding.

Eventually, they stopped at a gas station to refill, and Lance stepped out of the car to use the bathroom, leaving the rest of them in blissful silence.

“Oh thank god.” Pidge dragged their hands down their face. They reached for the radio, but Hunk stopped them. Pidge looked at Hunk with the most abject confusion and betrayal. Hunk tried to smile at them reassuringly, but Keith could see the conflict on Hunk’s face. Hunk glanced out the window behind him before turning to Keith and Pidge.

“Look, I don’t think I’m supposed to tell you guys this, but uh,” Hunk awkwardly rubbed his neck, looking severely uncomfortable, “…this is Lance’s happy playlist. He kind of only plays it when he’s upset or nervous. He hasn’t said anything to me, but I think this whole…St. Zarkon’s ghost thing is really getting to him. I know it’s painful…believe me, I know–”

“Yo, Hunk, it’s okay dude,” Pidge put a hand on Hunk’s shoulder. “You should’ve just told us that sooner. I mean, damn, I hadn’t even noticed Lance acting that weird or anything, but….I probably should’ve. At least asked him or something.” Pidge looked sheepish. “I forget, sometimes, that not everyone is as excited over ghosts like me and Keith are.”

Keith bit his lip. Knowing that Lance was nervous kind of put things into perspective. Keith probably should’ve seen it coming, as he was the one left to talk to Lance the most while the other two worked on the tech. He knew Lance wore an overabundance of protective charms; he knew Lance cleansed his house with herbs almost religiously; he knew Lance had a history with spirits getting physical with him or his stuff. What Lance didn’t tell him, Keith had guessed. Keith suddenly felt a little guilty for not thinking of Lance more.

“We’re…kind of shitty friends…” Keith said suddenly.

“What? Oh god, no–jesus–don’t think that,” Hunk sounded distressed suddenly. “Lance tries to hide these things. It’s not your fault he does it well. Hell, I’ve known him for years and even I didn’t see it. I guess he just convinced himself to do this.” Hunk paused for a second. “I know he might have a weird way of showing it sometimes, but Lance really likes you two. And I think he even likes how into ghosts you are.”

“Really?” Keith and Pidge said at the same time.

“Yeah, I think it’s just because of how much you believe in all of it.” Hunk suddenly had a look of guilt. “He, uh, doesn’t have a good history of people believing him. Even I didn’t believe him at first. I was there for him and I supported him but I think I just told myself he was making it up somehow. I only started believing him for real after, uh…let’s just say something really bad happened.”

They could tell that Hunk didn’t want to say anything more, and just left it at that.Though Keith would bet money that Pidge was dying to ask more. Before they could, though, Lance came back, with a blue slushie and a plastic gas station bag.

“Heyo, guess who brought snacks?” Lance held up the bag. “We’ve got powdered donuts for Hunk, Nutty Bars for Pidge, and some Sour Patch Kids for Keith.”

“Thanks buddy,” Hunk said pleasantly, biting into a donut as he started the car.

“Anything for you, big guy.” Lance’s grin was lopsided and showed off the dimple on his cheek. Not that there was any reason for Keith to notice that. Keith almost didn’t hear the aggressive sound of plastic wrap being shredded to pieces.

“Woah, Pidge you eat faster than my little niece on a sugar rush.” Lance raised an eyebrow at Pidge, stifling his giggles. In the short while it had taken Lance to hand out the food and talk to Hunk, Pidge was already one Nutty Bar down out of two, and was enthusiastically working on the next. Pidge didn’t respond aside from a weird growling/hissing sound they made whenever someone tried to interrupt their snacking. Keith was used to it.

Keith looked down at his own snack, fingers running along the package. He was kind of surprised Lance remembered. Looking back, he probably only ate them once or twice in Lance’s presence, and he certainly couldn’t remember saying they were his favorite–except for once in a video.

…but Lance probably just assumed Keith liked them from those few times he saw Keith eating them. There was no way he sat through twenty minutes of Keith ranting about the Jersey Devil just to get to the part where Keith said Sour Patch Kids were his favorite candy. Probably.

Keith glanced over at Lance, only to lock eyes with him. Lance jumped and looked away suddenly, stuffing his slushie straw into his mouth. If he didn’t know any better, Keith would say Lance’s face looked a little pink before he turned away…?

“How did you know to get me Sour Patch Kids?” Keith asked, trying to keep his voice nonchalant. He traced his finger over the serrated edge of the package, feeling the plastic on his fingertips, before tearing it open and popping a gummy into his mouth. He rolled the candy around his tongue, letting himself feel the roughness of the outside before it melted. It was always his favorite part about eating them. That, and he liked the sour part.

It took Lance a second to respond. When he did, his voice was a little timid. It was almost difficult to hear over the music, which started to play again–something peppy Keith had heard on the radio before.

“Well, they’re your favorite, right? And I mean, you are eating them so I’m guessing they still are.” Lance’s face scrunched up. “You’re not one of those people who eats things they hate just to be polite, right?” Keith rolled his eyes, laughing a little at the horrified look on Lance’s face.

“Of course I’m not like that,” Keith replied, “If I hate something, you’re gonna damn well know how much I hate it. Pidge can testify.” Keith suddenly called to the front of the car, “Pidge! Remember Thanksgiving last year?”

“Oh yeah, my gross great-aunt Sheryl kept trying to get you to eat the green beans.” Pidge turned to clarify. “Keith kept telling her he hated green beans, but she wasn’t listening and wouldn’t let him leave and she kept trying to put a spoonful onto his plate. Keith ended up yelling at her. Oh god I can still hear it now: ‘I do NOT want any of your slimy white-people food Sheryl. I’ve eaten ass that tastes better than your cooking.’ Man, Sheryl shut the fuck up after that. It was amazing.”

“You did not.” Lance nudged Keith’s shoulder in amazed disbelief. “No wait, I can totally see it. Holy shit, Keith, you’re my hero.” Lance was laughing, and his eyes crinkled at the corners, and his two front teeth were just a little crooked, and the slushie had dyed his tongue blue, and he was…beautiful. Keith couldn’t help but grin back at him, a little dazedly.

Soon, Lance finished his slushie, and was free to go back to singing along with his happy playlist. Every once in a while, Pidge would pipe in when they recognized something, and the two had a lovely duet to the PokeRap together. They took turns rapping each of the verses while the other beatboxed. Neither of them could beatbox.

Eventually, though, they pulled up to the chainlink fence encircling the Estate. High on the hill, the dilapidated mansion loomed above them, looking like every cliche from every old Scooby Doo cartoon. As they approached the fence, Keith saw Lance tense up. Hunk and Pidge were working on getting the equipment out of the car, so Keith turned to Lance, concerned.

“Are you okay?” Lance looked startled at the question, eyes tearing away from the Estate to focus on Keith.

“…Yeah, um…” Lance did not look okay at all. “I’m totally fine. I’ll be fine.” Lance sounded like he was trying to convince himself as he rubbed his own arms, as if he were cold. Keith, unused to comforting but wanting to help, put a hand on Lance’s bicep. Lance’s focus was again pulled away from the Estate and was entirely on Keith. He looked a little surprised, but not displeased, and was about to say something when suddenly a loud crash startled them both.

Lance clung to Keith’s arm, eyes darting fearfully around him. He was slouched down and pressed so close Keith could feel the rapid beating of his heart. Overcome with the urge to protect, Keith had to resist the way his arm wanted to wrap around Lance’s waist and tug him closer.

“Sorry about that, guys!” Hunk said, drawing their attention to the heavy-looking piece of machinery in front of him. Though the danger was apparently gone, Lance still hadn’t let go of Keith. Not that Keith was particularly complaining.

Pidge caught sight of them, however, and gave Keith the most devious look. Keith groaned internally, knowing already he would be forced to sit through an endless barrage of teasing when they got home.

“Okay, how do we get in?” Hunk had piled up the equipment onto a metal trolley Keith had stolen from the highschool when he was in the 7th grade.

“There’s an area of fence that isn’t in the ground properly, so we can lift it to get inside,” Keith said, casually, “I marked it off with some rope, but after this we shouldn’t need to come back, so I’m probably just going to take my rope back with me.”

“How did you find that part of the fence?” Hunk asked.

“We scoped out the place a while ago.” Pidge grinned. “Allura said not to go inside but she said nothing about just circling the perimeter. We gotta be thorough.”

The group followed Keith as he walked around the edge of the fence, looking for the knot of rope.

“Oh, there it is. Farther than I remember.” The rope was eye-level, so Keith just reached into his waistband to pull out his knife and slice it off.

“Woah! Dude! Why do you just have a knife on you?” Lance’s grip on Keith’s arm had tightened, and he jumped back a little bit–without letting go of course.

“Um…I always carry this on me?”

“Just…in your pants? You just carry a knife…in your pants…at all times?” Lance was speaking slowly.

“…yes?”

“I was going to make a bad joke right now but the mojo around this place is really getting to me. Can we just get on with it?” Lance sighed tiredly. He leaned against Keith’s shoulder, his hair tickling Keith’s cheek. Keith stiffened but didn’t move. Hunk caught his eye and mouthed ‘sorry’ at him. Apparently Lance’s touchiness got worse when he was scared…?

Hunk, being the tallest, lifted the fence so they could all walk through. From inside the gate, the Estate actually didn’t look as far away. As they made their way up the hill, they went over the gameplan.

“Okay, so I’ll start recording when we get to the porch. We walk into the house and hang around the first big room recording data with the equipment until we get something, or until we don’t get something, then we move to the next room,” Pidge explained, “Whatever we do, though, we always stick with the group. No walking around on your own. I mean, this place is old as balls and is probably rotting as we speak so it’s just safer.”

With every step they tool approaching the Estate, Lance just seemed to inch himself closer and closer to Keith. Eventually Lance had stepped on the back of Keith’s shoes one time too many and Keith had to stop, which caused Lance to walk right into his back.

Keith looked back at Lance, prepared to be annoyed, but all he saw were Lance’s big blue eyes wide with terror.

“Hey, we’re gonna be okay, you’re gonna be okay in there. You got this.” Keith’s voice was a little too quiet and stiff, but he hoped he was able to get his sincerity across. Keith pried Lance’s hands off of his arm and instead moved to clasp Lance’s hand with his own. Having Lance walking beside him was much better.

The group stood on the front porch, Lance had intertwined his fingers with Keith’s and was biting his lip as he stared at the door. Pidge took out their camera and put a hand on the doorknob.

The door creaked shrilly as it struggled open, the rusty hinges practically screaming at the strain. Pidge’s flashlight caught on the dust in the air and the gaping, moldy holes in the floorboards. They carefully tested every step before moving forward, as if they were looking for traps in an Indiana Jones movie. Everyone followed immediately behind them, not wanting to accidentally step on a weak area of the floor. Eventually, they had all piled into the front room, with a big spiral staircase to the right and doorways to the front and left.

Pidge and Hunk set up the equipment on the trolley. Lance trembled next to Keith. A long, dry scratching noise sounded from somewhere on the floor above them, like fingernails being dragged over wood. Lance whimpered.

“Guys…I really, really don’t like this.” Lance mumbled.

“That was probably just some animal or something. Hunk and I haven’t finished setting up all the way but we don’t have any super strong readings yet, at least not from this room.” Pidge turned to Hunk. “Do you think we should move on?”

The group looked around the room at their options. They had decided beforehand going upstairs was too dangerous, and the doorway to the left was blocked off by fallen ceiling beams. The only way to go was forward.

“Keith and Lance, you guys go first to scope out the area and make sure it’s safe. Pidge and I need to make sure the equipment will be okay. Can you handle that, buddy?” Hunk said the last part to Lance, mostly. Lance nodded shakily, nails digging painfully, unintentionally, into Keith’s hand.

They slowly progressed down what was revealed to be a narrow hallway. The only light was from Keith and Pidge’s flashlights, and the murky sunlight that filtered through the holes in the ceiling at random intervals. The scratching noise started up again, this time more aggressive–starting and stopping like something was repeatedly dragging its claws over the same spot. From behind them, glass broke.

Lance grit his teeth, jaw clenching painfully. What felt like an actual, physical force shoved into Keith’s back, a chill washing over the room. Keith stumbled into Lance.

“Woah! What the fuck!” Pidge cried, “Guys! We just got a massive spike in activity!”

Lance’s unoccupied hand reached up to press against his head, his eyes clenched tightly. The scratching grew louder, closer. More glass broke from somewhere. The chill had brought wind. From behind them, the sound of footsteps over rubble. Lance groaned.

“Lance? Are you okay?” Hunk asked from behind them.

Then, Lance fell to his knees, his pained groans growing louder as he pressed both hands to his temples. Hunk tried to rush forward. The scratching stopped only to be replaced with the sounds of doors slamming shut, and the clatter of wooden boards being met with blunt force. The footsteps on rubble grew closer.

“No…no, no!” Lance mumbled, voice hoarse, “Stay out! Stay out! Get away from me!” His hands gripped at his hair. The light shone a murky gray over him, the dust spiraling around his body. All of the light disappeared for half a second–the flashlights, the equipment, the sun–

Everything came back, brighter, and less than five feet in front of them stood a massive, ancient looking floor-length mirror that hadn’t been there before.

Several things happened at once.

Lance screamed. The mirror shattered. Keith felt claws gripping his arm as he tried to lunge for Lance. The floorboards below them gave out. Darkness.

Keith felt a searing pain in his side, and a throbbing in his head. He belatedly realized he still had his flashlight in his hand and slammed it against his hand until it worked again. He stood slowly, legs shaking, and coughed when he inhaled dust.

“Lance?” He asked, voice wavering. Then, more sure: “Lance!”

Keith heard a responding groan and raced to it as fast as his injuries would allow. He dropped the flashlight and kneeled by Lance, who was curled into the fetal position, whining in pain, though he didn’t have any visible wounds. Unlike Keith, who could feel the blood warm and sticky at his side, plastering his shirt to his skin.

“Lance?” Keith asked gently, turning Lance over to look at his face. Lance was dazed, eyes glassy and unfocused. “Lance!”

Then, the room started to quake violently. Keith wildly waved his phone around him, trying to gague the room while shielding his eyes from falling debris. Around him, pantries and shelves were rattling and shaking, their old glass bottles like a sick imitation of windchimes, before falling and smashing on the floor. The wooden planks on the walls thumped against each other, splintering at every crash. Keith curled over Lance, who was still unresponsive.

Then, a voice.

A raspy voice, like a sharp stone scraping against a metal plate, ear-bleedingly shrill and gritty. The voice spoke in a language Keith couldn’t understand, yet it still made his blood run cold. He swaddled Lance into his arms protectively, cradling him, a hand going to clutch at his knife.

A figure, foggy at the edges like an old watercolor painting, appeared in front of him, glowing with a pulsing light, flickering in and out of existence. The only things Keith could make out were thin strands of stringy, messy hair and long fingernails caked with blood and dirt. The figure had no mouth. Its eyes were blank. And yet it spoke, inching closer, a twitching arm reaching towards Lance’s limp body. Keith bared his teeth, knife raised threateningly.

Lance twitched. The figure’s hand came dangerously close to brushing a claw against Lance’s face, and Keith saw red, slashing viciously at the arm. The creature gave an indecipherable sound of agony, loud and harsh and grating. Then it surged backwards as if being forcefully dragged away, a heavy wind followed their movements, throwing broken glass and rubble into Keith’s back. He hunched over Lance, who had started to shift.

When the wind died down, Keith felt Lance shiver. Then, he convulsed violently, gasping desperately like he was struggling for air. A hand gripped Keith’s arm, the other going to claw at his neck.

“Oh shit, shit shit!” Keith hissed to himself. He stuck his knife between his teeth so he could use his free hand to pull Lance’s nails away from his own throat. Keith immobilized Lance’s hand by grabbing it with his own, a facsimile of how their fingers had been intertwined before. Lance’s body spasmed a few more times before going still again, his breathing evening out.

Keith stared into Lance’s eyes and felt a wave of relief wash over him when they refocused.

“….Keith?” Lance’s voice was a whisper. “Why do you have your knife in your mouth? ….And why is it glowing?”

Keith blinked. Lance sat up slowly and Keith used the hand not holding Lance’s to take the blade out from his teeth. He turned it in his hand, quizzically. The familiar runes were glowing a neon purple–which provided them with light, thankfully, since Keith had no damn idea where the flashlight went.

“Do you remember what happened?” Keith asked. Lance rubbed his forehead with his palm, looking pained.

“I….uh…there was this presence, and it kept slamming into my head, trying to get in…it was so dark, Keith, like, usually with ghosts I feel some of what they feel but this one was nothing… it was just…empty.” Lance swallowed. “Then there was a mirror and it showed me everything. Everything that had ever happened in this house, all of the people who died here, what happened to them. The images just kept coming and coming over and over and I could hear them. Eventually the screaming stopped and it was crying but worse than that was the silence. Because when there was silence there was nothing to hide the rest of the sounds of the machines and the hacking and the sizzling–oh god, Keith.”

Lance threw himself into Keith’s arms, burying his face in Keith’s shoulder, his arms flung over Keith’s neck. Keith couldn’t imagine what Lance had been through. Lance took a few, shuddering breaths before he pulled away.

“We…should really get out of here,” Lance mumbled, not looking at Keith.

“Yeah, we need to get Hunk and Pidge and never come back to this shithole.” Keith stood, wincing at the pain in his side. Now that Lance was okay, the wound had made itself known again, tenfold.

“Shit, Keith, are you okay?” Lance tried to look at Keith’s side, but Keith gritted his teeth and shook his head. “I’ll be fine. We just need to figure out where the hell we are and how to get back before that fucking thing shows up again.”

“…What thing?”

“The fucking ghost thing, whatever the fuck it was. It tried to touch you when you were, uh, out of it. But then it left.”

“Jesus Christ.” Lance’s voice was strained. “Long nails? Ugly long hair with garbage split ends?”

“…yes?”

“Fuck. Yeah, okay, we really gotta leave.”

The two had guessed they were somewhere in the kitchen storage, and that the servant’s quarters should be nearby. From there they could find a staircase and get the fuck out. Lance mentioned Hunk and Pidge, and when Keith suggested checking their phones, Lance dejectedly told him that the ghost probably drained all their batteries.

“Tell me, doc, is it bad?” Lance said dramatically, eyes shut as he held out his phone to Keith.

“Shut up,” Keith said in lieu of admitting Lance was totally right.

The floors were littered with old junk they had to step around–bottles and furniture and broken things Keith didn’t want to compare to bones. Lance clung to him, whispering prayers under his breath. Every once in awhile Lance would cringe and tuck his face into Keith’s arm, whining quietly as they stood stock still. In those moments activity would pick up again, and Keith’s body would stiffen at every scrape, drag, and crash he heard around them. They always moved a little faster when they heard any sound come from behind them, though.

Eventually they stumbled into the servant’s quarters, which was marked with an old, faded sign on the wall.

“Yanno, this place kinda reminds me of a Skyrim dungeon, yanno? All the old wooden furniture and weird glitches from the fucking ghosts really bring that atmosphere together.” Lance muttered. While Keith didn’t see anything, Lance would swear up and down he could catch glimpses of blood splattering on the walls, old chains swinging from the ceiling, giant cockroaches skittering across the floor, doors and chairs blinking in and out of existence. He said it had something to do with the bad energy of the house messing with him–whatever was haunting the place had some real twisted visions.

Lance held Keith’s hand as they crossed the small room. Keith was seconds away from testing the first of the weak looking steps when Lance suddenly stiffened. Color drained from his face as he stared directly at Keith, whispering one word:

“Run.”

They had started barreling up the staircase, hand in hand, when the room behind them exploded. Metal cutlery and splintered wood bursting forwards, the ancient bedframes jumping from their places to shoot through the ceiling. They heard a high-pitched scream from somewhere in the house. The raspy voice came back with an animalistic screech.

Keith could see fucking light at the top of the staircase when suddenly his hand was jerked down.

“Fuck!” Lance yelled. He yanked his foot from where it had broken a hole in through the stair, but it woudln’t budge. The disaster of the servant’s quarters was drawing nearer, the cold presence of the ghost nipping at Keith’s ankles. Keith let go of Lance’s hand–noting with desperate heartbreak the sad, resigned look on Lance’s face at the action–and moved to grip Lance at the waist with both arms, wrenching him out of the floor and throwing his body over his shoulder to race up the rest of the way. The stairs they had passed started to shatter behind them, one by one, and clawmarks slowly appeared on the walls, rising along behind them, gaining more and more speed until Keith was bounding two steps at a time to avoid getting caught on the splinters. By the time they reached the top step, Keith hurled Lance into the next room and turned to slam the door behind him, his knife still clutched in hand.

Keith’s chest heaved, the pain burning sharply. He knew the wound at his side had most likely torn even deeper. Keith’s eyes caught on the soft glow of his knife as it pulsated under his palm, slow and steady. From behind him, Keith heard a pained groan.

“Oh, shit– Lance.” Keith turned to see Lance sprawled on the floor, legs thrown up against the side of a counter at the far end of the small room.

“Wow, thanks Keith. If I wasn’t injured before I sure as fuck am now. Jesus.” Lance crossed his arms, looking entirely un-pleased at the turn of events. He looked pretty silly like that, pouting and upside down. Keith laughed breathlessly, partially from the image, and partially from the sheer overwhelming emotional overload he was experiencing. Lance grinned back, laughing just as breathlessly as he laid there on the floor.

“So…” Lance started after their laughter had pittered out.

“Yeah…” Keith responded.

“Where are we now?”

“Uh, the servant’s kitchens, I think. Around here there should be a back door, but there’s gonna also be a few hallways and sitting rooms or something.”

“Okay…let’s get walking I guess,” Lance said. He reached his arms out in a grabby motion. “Help me up? The blood is rushing to my head.”

Other than some bruises, Lance was fine. Keith was praying they could finally leave without anymore fanfare. They were making their way down the only unblocked hallway, heart rates finally slowing back to some kind of normalcy, when they heard the awful, horrible, dragging of claws behind them.

“Oh come the FUCK on!” Lance cried. He and Keith started running again. “We JUST got away from this bitch!”

The hallway seemed to grow infinitely longer, the end twisting and morphing like a bad optical illusion. Keith felt bile rise in his throat. Lance groaned and clambered for Keith’s hand, trying to keep steady.

A mirror appeared in front of them and Lance screamed. This time, Keith could catch a glimpse of what was reflected. He saw a familiar set of eyes staring back at him solemnly before Lance had pulled him into a room. Another mirror appeared in the doorway before being immediately shattered, forcing Keith and Lance to step back further into the room.

The figure appeared in front of them again. Keith tugged Lance behind him. The figure once again reached its clawed arm towards Lance, and Keith growled deep in his throat. He sharply raised his knife, its light suddenly intensifying. The creature hissed, rearing back. Keith slashed towards it blindly, emboldened but not thinking properly. The creature screamed and vanished again. Keith looked down at his knife.

“I think…I think it’s afraid of my knife…” Keith mumbled, “Why the fuck is a ghost afraid of my knife?”

“I….I don’t know Keith…” Lance panted in between breaths, “Maybe…maybe I’ll fucking ask her when she’s not trying to kill us.”

“Her?”

Lance stiffened, looking uncomfortable.

“When that mirror appeared again…I saw her. She was just as pretty in life as she is now, Keith. Something evil  seeped into this house a long time ago, and she became its keeper.”

Then there was silence.

“Let’s just go, Keith, I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”

They started walking again. The hallway had returned back to normal.

At the end of the hall, there was a massive set of double doors. There were halls to the left and right, but they were blocked by rubble and holes in the floor. Once again, the only way to go was forward. Lance swallowed thickly.

“There is something really off about this damn room,” he muttered. Keith nodded, somehow able to feel what Lance was saying.

The doors opened much too easily–smooth and quiet, as if maintained. They were in perfect condition. The room they contained was packed floor to ceiling with books, desks and corkboards and flyaway papers everywhere. The room smelled heavily of ink and chemicals.

“It’s…the study.” Keith furrowed his brow. The ceiling was glass, so the whole room was illuminated with bright daylight. Unlike the other rooms, this one was void of dust, and stood perfectly still and golden, as if frozen in time. They walked forward cautiously.

Pristinely on the back wall, high above their heads, the centerpiece of the room: an enormous, oil painted family portrait.

“It’s…the Zarkons, right?” Lance had whispered.

There had been no evidence left of the family’s existence aside from their name, and the cryptic blueprints that had been scrounged up from old records. The portrait showed a mother, father, and young child–though the faces of the father and child had been burnt away, and the mother’s eyes had been savagely scratched out.

The massive wooden doors slammed shut behind them. The ghostly figure that had been stalking them stood once again before them. Mirrors appeared around her, encircling the room. Reflected in them was the painted mother, with her serene smile and clawed x’s over her eyes.

Keith held his dagger securely. In knowing it would protect them, somehow, he felt stronger. Fleetingly, a thought crossed his mind and he quietly gave thanks to Red, who he kept thinking about ever since Lance mentioned her. He apologized for being shit at taking care of himself when she was trying so hard. Despite that, though, he knew he was at least going to go down fighting, and he was going to go down fighting tooth and nail to protect Lance.

The figure started approaching them once more, the mirrors closing in along with her creaking movements.

“Fuck! If we’re gonna die here, I gotta say something–” Lance cried. Keith wanted to tell him they would get out alive, but Lance interrupted before he could– “I love my family so much, and I miss them a lot; I wish I’d told Hunk how much I appreciate him; I should’ve reminded Pidge how fucking brilliant they are, and fuck, Keith, I should’ve told you I liked you sooner.” Then Lance did something unthinkable. He darted forward and pressed his lips to Keith’s cheek, firmly but for just a second, then hid his face into Keith’s neck again.

Keith barely had the time to process Lance’s words when a rush enveloped him–a thrumming wave, as if he were caught underwater in a storm. It pounds in his head and he could feel it down to his teeth but it was somehow empowering. Somehow familiar. And the creature drew forward quicker and Keith’s knife grew so bright it overpowered the sunlight in the room so there was nothing but a bright, bright white and Keith lunged forward towards the creature. He shoved his arm forward, stabbing his knife and pushing it deeper into something he couldn’t fathom, he distantly heard screaming but it was muted and drowned by the thrumming in his head and he felt powerful in every bone in his body, his hands gripping the handle of his blade. He felt another set of hands over his own and with that he was able to finally force his way through.

The light faded. It took awhile for Keith’s eyes to adjust, but when they did, he was faced with the unnervingly empty study, the mirrors and the figure gone. Exhausted, Keith collapsed to his knees, looking up at the skylight with glazed eyes.

“Holy shit…” Lance whispered, awe and disbelief in his voice. He kneeled by Keith, grabbing the other’s face to look him dead in the eye, an exhilarated expression on his face. “Keith…I don’t know how the fuck you did it but– you did it. She’s…I’m…she’s gone!”

Then Lance, still gripping Keith’s face, pulled that face forward to firmly press his lips to Keith’s.

“That was so fucking awesome, Keith.” Lance was breathless when he pulled back, the adrenaline mixing with their relief in an intoxicating combination that made people do stupid, wonderful things like kiss their amazing, wonderful, stupid friends.

Keith’s brain still hadn’t caught up to the events that had occured when Lance gasped and suddenly turned.

Keith’s eyes focused on another figure, this one more complete and solid looking than the last, with a face Keith had only ever seen in old photographs in the backs of closets. The new figure looked down on them without a smile, but the look in her familiar eyes was soft.

“…Mom?” Keith’s voice was so, so small. She slowly lowered to the floor, appearing weightless still. She slowly picked up the knife from where it had clattered to the floor. Keith timidly reached a hand to meet hers as she handed him the knife. She smiled softly at him, before blinking out of his sight.

Before either Keith or Lance could say anything, the wooden doors burst open again, but instead of a ghost, it was Shiro, in full uniform.

“Keith! Are you okay?” Shiro approached them, and Lance looked extremely confused and shocked.

“Woah okay, did I get knocked out in that weird blast because I can’t be having that hot firefighter dream again what the fuck,” Lance mumbled only half-coherently.

“Ew, Lance what the fuck that’s my brother.”

“Oh…oops….sorry Keith,” Lance said distractedly, watching as Shiro lifted away some heavy debris from the door.

Eventually they were out of the house, escorted safely by Shiro, who Lance could not keep his eyes off of.

The moment they stepped out onto the grass they both had an armful of Pidge barreling towards them.

“Y’all are idiots, holy shit,” Pidge had yelled at them, pounding their tiny fists into their chests angrily.

“Ow, Pidge, injured here.” Keith had muttered, still a little bitter about the way Lance’s face was bright red when Shiro went to check for injuries on him. When Keith spoke, Shiro’s head snapped up and he immediately went to his brother.

“How bad is it?” Shiro said, motioning for Hunk to come over with a first aid kit in hand.

“Uh…” Keith tried to lift his shirt and winced. Shiro’s brow furrowed.

“Holy shit, Keith.” Lance’s eyes were back on him, extremely concerned. Keith was a little smug about having Lance’s attention again, for some damn reason. Why was he–

“Oh.“ Keith’s lips slowly slunk into a devilish grin. He couldn’t mention it in that exact moment–not with everyone around–but he’d be damned if he wouldn’t say anything the second he got the chance.

The hospital was a blur, but Keith was able to zone out while his side got patched up, and was finally able to process what had happened. Sort of. He was at least able to think about it a little bit, but in the end, he boxed away thoughts of his mother for another, more mentally stable day, choosing to instead remember how Lance smelled like fresh flowers when he was near, and how soft his hands were when they held his face.

Keith shouldn’t have been allowed out of the hospital so quickly, but they made it happen somehow, probably because of Shiro. They’d all decided to go out for a celebratory picnic at the park, because apparently Hunk cooked a lot when he was stressed, and was making sandwiches nonstop for the few hours Keith was in the hospital.

Lance had already told the others what had happened on their end–with a lot of embellishment, and suspiciously leaving out the confession and the appearance of Keith’s mother. In turn, Pidge told them what happened to themselves and Hunk: they’d been chased around by the ghost, and it smashed all their equipment, but they were able to get out through a boarded up door that Hunk apparently “shredded with his bare hands”, though they panicked when they realized Keith and Lance weren’t with them and immediately called Shiro.

Eventually, Keith noticed that Lance had wandered off away from the group. Keith searched for him, also sneaking away to follow where the other was. Sitting in the bed of Keith’s truck with a blanket from the backseat, Lance was staring at the slowly pinkening sky with a far-away look on his face.

“Party too boring for you?” Keith said casually, laughing a little as Lance jumped.

“Oh, hey Keith,” Lance replied, smiling. “How’s your side?”

“It’ll be fine.” Keith bit his lip, risking a chance by moving to sit next to Lance. His legs dangled off the side, and Lance’s were curled up under him criss-cross. “So…today has been fucking insane.”

“Oh Christ. Understatement of the damn year. Worst haunting of my life, I never want to step foot anywhere near another house that’s more than fifty years old ever again.”

“I keep thinking about everything that had happened…I know it’s all over but…” Keith sighed, noting how Lance looked at him a little worried, “…I feel like there’s something we haven’t finished…”

Keith shifted to face Lance more fully, one of his legs lifting to rest on the other side of Lance’s body in the truck. Keith leaned in slowly, a crooked grin on his face. He felt Lance’s breath on his face, and the stumble in its rhythm when Keith moved closer. Looking into Lance’s pretty blue eyes he saw them focusing on Keith’s mouth before flicking up to meet his eyes.

“It might be the painkillers messing with me, but I distinctly remember it went a little something like this…” Keith gently took Lance’s hands and placed them on his own face. Lance’s tongue darted to wet his lower lip before he made a quiet, frustrated noise and pulled Keith’s face to his own–just like he did before, only this time, Keith met him with equal fervor, arms coming to rest on Lance’s waist and tugged him closer, Lance lifting onto his knees to slot in between Keith’s thighs. Their kiss was warm and slow. When they pulled back, Lance’s face had a dazed looking grin, and Keith felt bubbly and gooey in his chest, knowing he had the same goofy smile.

“So…wanna go out for some coffee or something?” Lance asked impishly.

“I just saved your skinny ass from an evil ghost, the least you could do is take me out,” Keith replied, just as playful.

“Dork.” Lance leaned his head onto Keith’s chest, relaxing like a lazy cat while Keith’s arms came to circle around him. Keith reached over to drape the blanket over both of them, and Lance sighed contently as he snuggled up closer. They whispered stupid jokes to each other as they watched the sunset.