#legit came out with the original idea when origins+ was announced... but it took me forever to get it completed Dx

[drifpaint]

Classic super amy design i never finished until now... i tried to mix her outfit with magical girl elements ^_^ also tried to make her rose gold since i think thats a cute idea !!

[parcequecestnotreprojeeeet]

I have two questions for you:

What do you think about "gilets jaunes" protest against him? His handling of it, what made him backtrack on his reforms, how did he calm the protests down and about the grand national debate.

More of a lighthearted one: What do you think about Emmanuel and Volodymyr in a shipping perspective (like a POV with either Justin or Pedro)?

Depends on what "gilet jaunes" you are talking about. The original ones, that had legit complaints or the others that came along and just took advantage of the protest to create chaos? Because I honestly think there are two different groups of "gilet jaunes". Not to turn it into a conspiracy theory, but they were also a monster created by the media. They would follow every single saturday protest, almost desperate and wishing for violences. And if you have the platform at your disposal, what not use? And that's what the protesters did. I think the intolerable, unbearable and unjustifiable violences made him back down and concede some things to the protesters, even if for some, it would never be enough because that was not their point either. I think the national debate was a fantastic idea and it did help to give the idea that he was talking and listening to the people. Those don't know how many straight hours of debate/Q&A just came to prove, once again, how smart and capable this guy is and, most of all, how well he knows pretty much all the files. It's quite impressive. Tell me a current french politician that could those the same and hold conversations like that. Can't think of anyone! I'm honestly glad he somehow managed to get out of the GJ crisis, even if theres always the spectrum of a comeback of some sort every time a new government measure or reform is announced. I confess that, at some point, I doubted he would be able to come back from it. (even if i always defended him and i remember a little "fight" during a family reunion because someone said "this will only end when he resigns". You can imagine the bitch in me defending Emmanuel lol). So i was quite impressed by him! But, let me also say that they (Emmanuel, his advisers, government, etc) made the big mistake of not taking these protest serious at first. They look at it like something that would go nowhere and that also contributed for them to grow.

Honestly? I don't ship them hahaha I take it that you do?

Hope I answered all your questions! If not, come back to me again hahaha

[intergalactic-padawan]

Season 2 Ezra with a S/O who is super forgetful? (I’m an Ezra simp so get ready for many asks)

Relics - Ezra Bridger x reader

Requested: yes!

Warnings: preprare for some strong feels if you catch the reference! It came to me in a dream and now you all have to deal with it. You're welcome.

A/N: It's no problem at all, please, fill my asks with as many ideas you want! Sorry this took so long as well, i wanted it to turn out really good but my teachers had other ideas. Hope you like it?

Pronouns of reader: she/her

*ENGLISH IS NOT MY FIRST LANGUAGE! I make mistakes just like everybody else 😉*

-"And you did all of that just for one meiloorun?" - You look back at Ezra, guiding him through the packed streets of the open market in a strange planet Hera had landed to refuel, and he gave you a smile. Your question was very serious, though: there was no way that was really the origin story of the 'Commander meiloorun' inside joke he and Zeb shared.

-"Funny enough, that's exactly what that trooper asked" - you snort at his reply and stop at the front of a busy stand of off-world fruits, grocery list in hand and bag of credits at your side.

-"welp, hopefully this time we can find some that are actually avaliable for buying"

Their selection was truly impressive. Not just the stand, but the market as a whole: jewelry, souvenirs, toys, books and foods all found themselves mixed and admired by people who had to yell louder than their neighbour to sell something today.

Ezra continued with his story, examining the apples as you'd instructed him, but you only paid half-attention this time: something had caught your eye, and you couldn't believe how lucky you were that no one had found it sooner.

A genuine DC-17 hand blaster was sitting beautifully two stalls to the right of you. For the looks of it, it was genuine, at least. The sign also advertised it as such, so it was truly a wonder no one with the minimum of firearms knowledge had grabbed it before.

Ezra said something that vaguely sounded like a question beside you, and you nodded, absent-minded. He then handed his shopping bag to you - probably to be able to bend over the table and get a few kiwis from the back - but you didn't turn to him.

-"I'm going over there, take a look at something real quick" - you announced, but didn't wait for an answer before navigating the sea of people to meet the woman selling the blaster.

Firearms weren't reallly the only thing she was selling, you noticed. There were holo-shields, vibro-blades, shoulder paudrons, darts and- was that a kama?

-"It's a nice arsenal you've got here" - you strap Ezra's bag to your shoulder and carefully take the folded fabric to analyze its flexible leather. It was lacking a utility belt to secure it, but seemed to be in very good conditions for something that old; you notice how the style didn't match with any of the ones you'd seen mandalorians wear, much less one of the native fighters from Rotas V. Which means it must have been worn by a clone trooper of the old republic back in the Clone War.

-"It's a keen eye you've got" - the lady retorts, setting down her datapad -"but that's not a skirt, you know that, right?"

She looks amused, almost like she's testing to see if you know the real value of the things offered here. You've got to hand it to her, everything seemed legit; wich only makes you question even more how did she get those things in the first place. She stares at you for a few seconds and briefly reaches for something from below the small counter, placing it on top of a pile of restraining bolts.

It's a dark grey and blue kama, the same size as the one you're holding, though it seems like it has seen better days. The pattern's more detailed in this one: diagonal lines that meet in the middle, forming an arrow-like shape framed by a black seam. The colour reminded you of a worn-out shade of blue similar to the one Captain Rex uses to paint the last pieces of his armour - and you wonder if it's just a sad coincidence or probably the last remainings of a fellow soldier from the 501st.

-"Straight from Coruscant, my great-uncle got a hold of it few days before the Empire became... well, the Empire" - her tone was something you'd been told to avoid using in public when speaking of the Empire. Perhaps it was that courage that had gotten your full attention in the end. Was she with the rebellion in some way as well?

-"Hasn't been worn ever since it was stripped from a dead clone's body" - she continues, checking you up and down - "and maybe it's a bit more your style".

-"Looks decent enough" - you comment and she nods her head in aknowldedgement - "but it does raise the question: how and why are you selling these things... here?"

-"Well, for starters, it's harder to get caught out here. Some of these aren’t exactly... legitimate purchases, as one would say.” - you raise an eyebrow and she chuckles - “this is a legitimate business, I swear. It’s just that my family’s been having difficulties and we're having to sell some relics.”

You can see she's telling the truth as she takes back the kama you'd first grabbed to the side, folding it again. You reach for a different credit pouch out of your pocket: your personal credits.

-"I see. Well, I do need a new blaster, and this one looks like the best i've ever seen in months. Despite the clogged barrel, of course."

-"shall we start negociating a price, then?" - she takes the datapad back and types a few numbers. Before you can say anything, however, you turn back to see Ezra rushing towards you looking desperate.

-"Oh, thank the Force, there you are!" - he brushes the long hair out of his forehead, not sparing a glance to the lady behind the counter -"you just walked off! I didn't know where you were!

Faced with a confused expression from the both of you, he scowls

-"I was at the bathroom! You didn't hear me telling you to wait for me?"

You look at him, suddenly tuning back to reality. All of those relics seemed to have filled you with a melancholic sadness you didn't know, but you managed to snap out of it the moment Ezra came back.

-"Can't believe you forgot me just because of this old junk" - he grumbles, a bit offended. You take his hand into your own.

-"I didn't forget you, Ezra, I swear. I was just distracted for a moment, that's all" - you reassure him, placing some credits on the tray where the lady collected them.

-“I'll be taking this, please” - you take the purse back off of your shoulders and hand it back to Ezra - “you can start taking this back to the ship. I think the list is over, I'll just be taking this and go."

-"wait, Hera didn't tell you to buy this, did she?"

-"It's a personal purchase, with my personal credits. I think I'm allowed that much, right?" - you give him the money bag again, and he shoves in his jacket.

-"Well, can you at least get me something as compensation for forgetting all about me back there?" - you scoff and let go of his hand to slap him on the shoulder

-"Just go along Bridger. I'll be there in a minute"

You turn back to the vendor, who's placing the pistol in a bag with the holster that came along in a slightly larger bag ithan necessary. You also notice the shape of the folded kama peaking though it.

-"Wait, wait! I didn't buy that, I don't have enough credits for that!"

-"Just... consider it a gift" - she smiles and winks - "this specific piece here doesn't really fit anyone's style, anyway. It's better off with you, trust me."

Before you can mutter any type of 'thanks', Ezra calls for you again, making sure you didn't forget your own head back there. You run off to him without looking back, ready to smack him Zeb-style before taking his hand again, reminding him gently he'd never have to worry about being abandoned by you.

[bisluthq]

It’s your kaylor historian here who still can’t remember my log in details to my KH account 🤦‍♀️ (so please make sure this anon just in case it isn’t... I fear them 👀)

Karlie’s tea post before masters heist:

Ok so I can’t remember who posted first and don’t feel like looking, but taylor posted a selfie and captioned it “Friday calmness” and we (kaylor fandom) had been speculating taylor was going to come out as bi on the last day of June / 🌈pride month🌈 since she’d been doing so much stuff that could be seen (and was) as queer coded. We celebrated the “Friday calmness” thinking it was like a ‘calm before the storm’ with the storm being her coming out.

I think Karlie posted after taylor, but am not 100% sure. Karlie posted a selfie with a cup with a caption like “what’s the tea” and the fandom, thinking they were still together, collectively lost our shit. It looked to us like Karlie was playing off Taylor’s post. (I’ll admit, I didn’t think kaylor were still together, but that weekend I was thinking ‘I can’t believe I doubted them!’ Lol)

*there were also rumours that the YNTCD video and single were delayed a couple of times and meant to be released sooner and serve as a soft coming out, but that taylor kept changing her mind about it and is also why she kept the tracklist length under wraps, because she wasn’t sure if she’d go through with it. She was way more vague than ever before. There were also rumours she had a rolling stone cover planned that she was going to come out in but it was scrapped —— I can’t even remember where these “she’s actually coming out” rumours originated anymore and I can’t remember if people had legit sources and gossip or if it was fan fiction planning, but it was mentioned outside the kaylordom too, so take that as you wish.

Then came the masters heist.

Now, to understand the thought process of Kaylors at the time, you have to remember that we thought Karlie & Taylor had a secret romance, Joe was a beard, Josh was a beard - but since he comes from a crime family who have done a lot of bad things (to put it lightly) and are stupidly rich, Josh had Karlie trapped in such a tight contract and has so much blackmail material that Karlie was forced to fake marry him against her will - remember, it was only meant to be a photo shoot for a Vogue wedding spread showing what wedding fashion was available, it wasn’t meant to be a wedding! But josh had his team leak the photos and instead of saying it was all for a photo shoot, Karlie had to say she was now married. <- that was the narrative and thought process within the fandom.

So the fandom thought 🛴 and Josh conspired to announce the purchase of big machine/ taylor’s masters which would derail her coming out plans. The fandom thought Karlie had no idea it was happening. Scooter and Josh were worried Taylor was going to come out, which would ultimately out Karlie since there were so many rumours about Kaylor already, and it would then out Josh and ruin Josh’s image, making it look obvious to everyone that Josh and Karlie were just beards, but kaylor was real. To avoid tarnishing Josh’s hetero card, scooter waited until the end of June to announce he bought taylor’s music for maximum impact.

(Never mind that someone spent $300M to keep a client in the closet) that was how we interpreted the situation (kept writing the fan fiction) and that it was a blow to taylor and a huge betrayal from scooter to Karlie because now they had extra leverage / ways to hurt Karlie.

So yeah. It was a very sad time. This also is why some kaylors think hoax lyrics point to their everlasting love “my best laid plans” = tay ready to come out end of June “your sleight of hand” = scooter tricking Karlie when he bought the masters and any information about taylor that Karlie mentioned innocently was used against them, “my barren land” = taken on a new meaning since Karlie announced her pregnancy, but initially it was seen as the land that was meant to be blooming with love was left barren and empty because of the masters incident delaying her coming out.

It sounds absolutely ludicrous, but the only way to understand how it was easy to rationalise is to understand how adamant the fandom was/ is that Josh and joe are just beards, Karlie is locked in a contract, and taylor is trying to free the both of them. If there were any truth to this at all, it is nothing short of ghastly situation for Karlie and paints taylor as a Nobel warrior trying to save her princess from the tower 🦸🏼‍♀️👸🏼 ....

Karlie had what I think was a scheduled post cause it was ad content , but otherwise was unusually silent on social media for a week + after the announcement. We thought they were grieving together.

——-

Now for Emily Poe. Ok so I really didn’t do my research - I thought Emily was only one or two years older than Taylor, so it never even occurred to me that the idea of that relationship would’ve been extremely predatory and badbadbadbad. I regret not doing my due dillihence when I was part of a fandom that consumed this theory. So Emily theories have been around since Taylor first had gay speculation. Part of this was because of some funny photos like that one where taylor is standing next to a truck that says “...gay Texan” and emily and a guy in the band I can’t think of his name were pointing to taylor and smirking. It’s a funny photo. I can see my dumb teenage self making similar jokes long before I knew my sexuality because LOOOOL GAY was a thing back then. There’s the video taylor made for Emily where she held up the “we love you emily” sign and she went to everyone she toured with including brad paisley to hold up the sign and make heart hands and just be extremely cute - platonic or romantic - both seem plausible - and cute as hell! The video was set to the dashboard confessional song ‘stolen’ which is basically just the lyric “you have stolen my heart” over and over again. This video got renewed interest when people went back and looked back at the you belong with me video. The idea of taylor and her make love interest holding these a4 sheets of paper with “I love you” written on them seemed familiar. The story of how YBWM came about was that Taylor heard her guitarist on the phone with his girlfriend and his gf was yelling at him for something seemingly insignificant/ the gf was painted out as high drama and her guitarist seemed miserable every time he spoke to her for a while. So Taylor had the idea of a song about a girl thinking her friends girlfriend is horrible, but turn it into a love story where the two friends get together - classic romantic comedy trope - she took the idea to Liz Rose and it was one of the last songs written for Fearless and specifically made to be upbeat and preppy because taylor thought the album was lacking that vibe. If you take the story Taylor said inspired the song and swap it from her male guitarist (who she also said she had no feelings for), and change it to her female fiddle player, the story behind the song can be the same, just tweaked to be hetwashed. Emily was a cheerleader and had a boyfriend when she toured with taylor, so it’s easy enough to take those things at surface value and think there was some truth to Emily. Also the two biggest gaylor rumours pre swiftgron came from comments on a gossip site/ forum. One was that ‘Emily was fired after she was caught relieving taylor of stress’ and how ‘emily was interested in law, but this incident cemented she had to leave the band but the swift team gave her money so emily wouldn’t sue for being fired on a sexual harassment issue’ (of course, knowing the age difference, we know this would NOT be the case at all) and it is speculated it inspired taylor to write breathe because she was so sorry for how things ended. They were inseparable and then after her birthday, never seen together or mentioned each other on MySpace again.

The other comment was that taylor ‘was a pillow princess in high school’ and that she was happy to receive but not give because she wanted to maintain her virgin status and thought if she reciprocated it would make her gay — the comment was something like that.

Of course it would’ve been incredibly easy for idk, some random on the internet who has never even met taylor to say those things.... but it was taken as gospel by the gaylor truthers.

People who looked further found a girl they believed was Taylor’s high school gf, her name started with L... but I never really believed it so I don’t have the greatest knowledge of that one. It seemed ridiculous to me she had a 3 year gf as a teenager and not a single person from her high school - or anyone who knew her alleged gf - ever spoke about it publicly??? That would be a lot of NDAs and payouts to keep silent, but a lot of other people believed NDAs and hush money was spent, so yeah... 🤷‍♀️

She also had some fruity MySpace posts which seemed to help the case for gaylor, but imo, it also falls under the ‘teenagers on the internet are dumb especially when social media was brand new and thank god myspace doesn’t exist cause I don’t want to see my old one ever again’ category.

Sorry for the essay, I felt I had been summoned and wanted to give background on the fandom. When I log back in I think I need to change my bio, I’m not really here to talk kaylor , but the fandom. Cause it’s really sad what that narrative within the fandom has become and heartbreaking what that narrative has done to fans, especially queer kids trying to figure themselves out. I couldn’t see how toxic it was for a long time, I’m happy I’m out of there now. but I think it helps to understand how the fandom thought and saw things as to how easy it was for things to spiral to the state it’s in now.

As old T used to sign off, - lovelovelove 💜

Brilliant post thanks KH!

[sinagrace]

Iceman’s been back on my mind lately. It started with the internet rumor that Shia Labeouf was being considered to play the role of Bobby Drake in a Marvel Cinematic Universe version of the X-Men. My DMs and @Mentions on social media were a mixture of intense reaction and then asking my take on who would make a great Bobby Drake (for the record: in my head I always saw him as a younger Antoni Porowski with a theater background, ‘cuz playing the funny guy with a vulnerable streak requires serious acting shops). My mind went back to the time of BC, when I was doing a lot of touring, and answering this very question because of my work on the Iceman book at Marvel. One thing led to another, and I decided to take a trip further down memory lane to look at my favorite volume of the series: Amazing Friends. Now, I know I’ve spent equal amounts of time publicly stating what a gift working on Iceman was, while also calling out the challenges that came with the experience, but the third volume really was a pure blessing. I was able to take every valuable lesson I learned as a writer, and apply it to telling a story that would be interesting to one person: Me. I’ve been a lifelong X-Men fan, I live and breathe comics, so my own expectations for a return to the series seemed like the only ones to really worry about meeting/ surpassing. The first two volumes had been so bogged down by rotating editors, complex continuity, company-wide events, multiple artists… The third volume was my chance to focus on what an Iceman series was outside of so much context. All that mattered was challenging myself to do an X-Men story that focused on the aspects of the franchise I felt were valuable and relevant, meaning: excuses to have Emma Frost be an asshole and finding an opportunity to make fun of Kitty Pryde’s haircut. Before moving on from Marvel, Axel Alonso made time to call me for a pep talk about the series. I wanted to get the series extended, and he wanted to help me succeed with the ten issues he could commit to. First, he offered an eleventh issue to give me more time on the stands. He took a look at everything I had planned, and basically told me to restructure with an eye for ramping up the pace. My writing background comes from prose and essays/ think pieces… both of which are methodical and provide some allowance from the reader to really take your time and set up the world before diving into the meat. That’s not the case with comics. You gotta work fast. Especially in today’s market, there is less and less room for a retailer to say, “give it two volumes, because shit starts really coming together by the third trade.” That was literally my speech for hooking people on such iconic series as Invincible, Fables, and Strangers in Paradise. Nowadays, every single issue is not a brick to be laid down as foundation so much as a bullet in your gun. Conflicting imagery, but that’s the point. Axel told me to think about the Big Moments in my life and sort out how to inject the mutant metaphor into it and make the most compelling comic book story I could. This was epic advice that I took with me into the new arc, but I struggled a bit with what could be bigger than the “coming out” storyline in volume one. Love was off the table because I wanted to keep Bobby single and ready to mingle. Death was off the table too, because my editor felt like we’d done enough with Bobby’s parents in the first two volumes. Upon looking at my own life, and considering the stuff me and my friends were dealing with, I landed on something a bit more reflective than LIFE or DEATH. I wanted to focus on that moment when a gay guy looks outside of himself and realizes the folks around him may not have it so easy. After everything we’ve been dealing with this summer, Iceman’s “big issue” of the arc feels oddly prescient. Bobby Drake had to reconcile his accidental complicit role in keeping the Morlocks down, and he has to investigate new approaches to being a better ally to those who don’t want to or can’t live under the protection of the X-Men. I used the Morlocks to allegorically speak to the issues that the trans/ NB community face today. Considering that trans folks are facing higher rates of homelessness and murder than other members of the LGBTQIA+ community, all I needed to do was find a perfect villain to treat the Morlocks as “lesser-than.” Cue Mister Sinister, who I wrote as particularly Darwinist with a major flair for interactive theater. While Amazing Friends definitely is the most fun I’ve had working on the book, it was also full of the heaviest shit I’ve written about. I’m so grateful that my editor let me use Emma Frost for a story about the trauma of gay conversion therapy with her brother Christian, but I’m still annoyed he wouldn’t let me put her in a sickening Givenchy outfit for her reveal. Similarly, creating the Madin character required that I chat with several mental healthcare professionals and members of the NB community to respectfully portray them as a resilient and fleshed out hero. I included personal lessons that I learned from years of the therapy (the sandcastle / sea image, a Jay Edidin fave moment). My editor and I weren’t always aligned, but we definitely were on each other’s side. He understood what I was trying to do and asked questions when something flew over his head, and he even had the good instincts to stop me from going too heavy handed with the ending. My original idea for the arc’s finale was to have Bobby become permanently scarred in his fight with Sinister, where he’d have a cool ice gash running across his face or something, a la Squall from Final Fantasy 8. The goal was to show Iceman stripping himself of his ability to pass as non-mutant to save the Morlocks, but the Mutant Pride fight scene being a stand-in for the Stonewall Riots kind of already made enough of a statement. Plus, no one in editorial wanted to deal with remembering to track his scar in other books. At first I tried to balk at his point of view, but when I looked over my original notes for the series, the point was to focus on optimism and hope. Giving Bobby a permanent scar and emphasizing the notion of sacrifice was too bleak a message for a series wherein the hero carbo-loads hoagies while riding an ice scooter and mutant drag queens emcee local festivals. Of course, the crowning achievement of the series… my mutant drag queen :) I’ve witnessed a lot when it comes to the world of pop culture and myth-making, and I 100% believe that you can’t plan the success of something. I’ve seen bands forced into breaking up because labels spend six figures failing at making listeners connect with an album. I witnessed firsthand how The Walking Dead was built from relatively humble beginnings as a buzzy cable drama into a literal international phenomenon over the course of its first three seasons. Everyone hopes for the best, but you never know how something will land with audiences. When the Shade character took off, I was truly astounded. Things I posted on Instagram while half-asleep became official quotes on major news sites. Queens and cosplayers were interpreting her like Margot Robbie had unveiled a new Harley Quinn lewk. The impact was so legit and immediate that we had to jump in and give Shade a proper Marvel hero alias, to truly welcome her into the X-Men canon. Hence the name change to Darkveil. (Funny story: I tried to fight hard for Madame X as an alias, but CB didn’t want another Agent X / “X-Name” character. Three months later, Madonna announced the Madame X album. Phew!) There was a time where I felt uncertain that the folks in charge at Marvel would bring Darkveil into any stories outside of the ones I wrote. My understanding was that Hickman was like the Cylons and had A Plan-- one that didn’t include her character. I made peace with my contribution to the Marvel Universe being contained, but then someone on social media pointed out that Darkveil showed up in an issue of Marvel Voices. After breaking down and reading Hickman’s House of X, I saw that his Plan was one of endless possibilities, and that he was moving EVERY character into new and dynamic places. I have hope now that he sees the possibilities with Darkveil, and takes advantage of her and all of her many body pouches. Amazing Friends really is my favorite thing I’ve done for the Big Two. I made a lifelong friend out of artist Nate Stockman (DC, please hire us for a Plasticman book), and I got to run a victory lap with the most encouraging and supportive readers out there. It was worth every dreadful conversation, every shitty thing a person said to me online, and all of the fun nonsense that goes into being creative for a living. Being stuck at home in quarantine has given me a lot of time to reflect on the gift that my career to date has been, and I feel so grateful to be where I am today. Other people may groan when they have to talk about something they’ve moved on from, but not me. I made people happier, I got to work with my favorite characters at Marvel, and and I'll say it again: it’s a frickin’ gift to make people move from your work. So, I will engage every tweet or message asking me my thoughts about who should play Bobby Drake in the Marvel Cinematic Universe… I’ll just never have a good answer.

[mikauzoran]

Adrienette: Serendipity: Fifty Marichat and Adrienette Kisses: Kiss Eighteen

Read it on AO3: Serendipity: Fifty Marichat and Adrienette Kisses: ...as encouragement.

“What did I miss?” Adrien called as he trotted up to his friends waiting at the bottom of the school’s front steps.

“Marinette’s going to win this contest Hermès is holding,” Alya announced with a smirk. “You know. No big.”

“Alya,” Marinette sighed in exasperation. “I haven’t entered yet. I haven’t even come up with a design.”

Adrien gave Nino a fist bump in greeting before turning to beam at Marinette. “Yeah, but you’re going to win once you do.”

“I don’t know about that,” Marinette mumbled, looking back down at her sketchbook.

“I do,” Alya snickered. “Listen to the boy. He knows what he’s talking about. He’s a fashion thoroughbred.”

Adrien blushed, finger going to tug at his collar. “Uh, technically, I think I’m more of a nouveau riche upstart, but I definitely know a thing or two about fashion, and you’ve got talent, Marinette. What kind of contest is it?”

“Ties,” she sighed, trying to hide how red her cheeks had become at his praise. “The artistic director for the men’s line, Véronique Nichanian, is going to be judging the finals herself, so I really want something that’s going to stand out.”

Nino gave Adrien a nudge. “Didn’t you do some modeling for Hermès a year or so ago when your father was pimping you out to other fashion houses to quote-unquote ‘expand your resume and build up the foundations of your career’?”

Adrien sighed, rubbing at the back of his neck. “Yeah. That happened.”

“Well, hook a girl up,” Alya chuckled, giving Adrien a teasing shove. “Not that I don’t think Marinette can win on her own merits, but having an edge never hurt anyone. What kind of insider knowledge do you have?”

“Nothing really,” Adrien admitted shamefacedly. “I wish I could be more helpful, but the only piece of advice I can think of is to do a fun, quirky pattern, but camouflage it so that it doesn’t look tacky. Like, Hermès does have some silly patterns. For example, there’s this one with horses and jockeys up in the clouds, and then on the reverse side it has the horses and jockeys with parachutes.”

Nino cracked up. “Seriously? And let me guess…they want, like, two hundred euros for it, yeah?”

Adrien shrugged helplessly. “It’s hand-sewn silk?”

Nino shook his head sadly. “Mec…no. Two hundred euros for a silly tie? That’s criminal.”

“Okay,” Adrien admitted. “That one’s a little…less sleek, in my opinion, but then they have this one tie I actually really like.”

“Also probably for two hundred euros,” Nino chuckled, elbowing his best friend playfully.

“It’s got a bunch of little blue fish on it,” Adrien explained, giving Nino a light shove. “From afar, it just looks like a normal tie with a small geometric pattern repeating, but when you get up close, you can tell that they’re fish, and it’s kind of funny. It looks professional at a distance, but up close it’s a quirky tie. I think that’s the kind of design the judges will be looking for.”

Marinette, who had been hanging on Adrien’s every word, nodded, making mental notes.

As if coming to an important realization, Adrien gave a start and hurriedly added, “Only if that’s what you’re inspired to do. I don’t want you thinking you have to limit yourself based on what I said. I don’t really know what I’m talking about, and you have such a sharp instinct for this kind of thing, so…just do whatever you think is best.”

“No, I really appreciate your input,” Marinette assured, stepping in across the little circle their group had formed to rest a hand on his forearm. “In the end, I’ll go with my gut, but what you said gave me some ideas, so I think I’m off in the right direction. Do you think there’s anything I should avoid doing? Any colours or patterns or subjects?”

Adrien bit his lip as he considered briefly. “A lot of their products have the H logo all over them. I think they’ve done the H in all the ways it’s possible to turn an H into a design element. I know you’re super innovative, but I think that, since it’s their signature thing, they’ve probably seen pretty much everything and have higher standards for what they want in that kind of design, so it might be really hit or miss. I’m not saying to play it safe, but maybe save tackling a new take on one of the signature elements of their branding for later.”

“Noted,” Marinette affirmed.

“Also, maybe avoid horses,” Adrien added with a grimace. “It’s another one of their things. I’m sure plenty of other people do horses, so if you do horses, you might not stand out unless your design is over and above amazing—which I’m sure it will be anyway, but—and, besides, they already have a lot of merchandise with horses on it, so I don’t know that that’s what they’d be looking for.”

“Why horses?” Nino couldn’t help but wonder aloud…though, he wasn’t sure he actually wanted to know.

“If I remember correctly, the company founder originally made luxury leather goods like saddles and stuff for English nobles for horseback riding. So, yeah. Lots of horses,” Adrien explained with a smile and a shrug.

Nino frowned. “I mean…I guess that’s legit.”

“So, do you have any ideas now?” Alya excitedly inquired of Marinette…who didn’t respond because she was already absorbed in her sketchpad, quickly drafting the beginnings of a handful of possible designs.

The squad watched in awed silence as Marinette’s pencil moved frenetically across the page.

Less than five minutes later, she had three rough sketches and half a dozen other fledgling ideas in the works.

“What do you think?” She flipped the sketchbook so that the others could see the page with her quick sketches and notes on colour.

Adrien’s eyes went wide as he observed that the designs were all Chat Noir-inspired.

The first featured green paw prints on a black ground, spaced close together and turned around anticlockwise on their axis so as to give the impression of cohesive dynamism.

The second was black cat heads on a rose-pink background that had the same effect as Adrien’s fish tie. From a distance, it would look like a respectable, grownup tie, but up close you could see the fun in the design.

The third had miniature Chat Noir batons arranged in staggered, downward diagonal lines that, again, looked like a normal tie design from farther away.

“That’s amazing,” Adrien breathed, looking up at Marinette as she stowed the sketchbook back in her satchel. “Did you seriously just come up with all these right now, in, like, five minutes?”

Marinette smiled shyly, tucking a bang behind her ear as she shrugged. “What can I say? You really inspired me.”

A surge of joy and pride and love welled up in his chest.

His girlfriend was the most talented, incredible woman, and he wanted to put her up on a pedestal so that everyone could see how awesome she was. And yet, she was so humble about her gift and her achievements, going so far as to pretend that he had anything to do with her genius.

He took her by the hands and watched as her eyes went wide, locking with his.

“You are so amazing, Princess,” he cooed, overwhelmed by her greatness and the miracle that a girl so out of his league could be interested in him. “You’re going to win this contest. I know you are. Do you even know how epic you are?”

She opened her mouth to reply but was cut off as Adrien leaned in, catching her lips in a short, sweet, bolstering kiss.

Marinette froze as her brain tried to reboot.

Alya gasped even as she mentally lamented the fact that she hadn’t been recording this momentous occasion.

Nino cursed under his breath, preparing to build his bro back up after Adrien inevitably got shot down.

“I am so proud of you,” Adrien continued obliviously as he pulled out of the kiss. “You’re going to have your own label before you graduate.”

“Adrien!” Marinette hissed as her system came back online, pulling back and turning away.

Adrien blinked, shrinking slightly at her sharp tone. “What? I think it’s true.”

“Adrien, you can’t kiss me like that,” she groaned.

“…Oh, crap,” he breathed, covering his face with his hands. “I did it again. I am so sorry, Marinette. I don’t—”

“—Back up,” Alya interrupted. “‘Again’? As in, this has happened before?”

“Al,” Nino growled warningly.

Alya didn’t seem to hear him. “How many times have you guys kissed behind my back?”

“Three now?” Adrien mumbled miserably.

“Alya, this is serious,” Marinette chided. “I have a boyfriend—a serious boyfriend.”

Alya rolled her eyes. “Who I’ve never met and don’t even know the name of. Girl, you may have given up on Adrienette, but I haven’t. If my ship is sailing, I deserve to know.”

“Alya,” Nino snapped even as he put one arm around Adrien’s shoulders and rested the other hand on Adrien’s forearm. “Situational awareness much?”

To Adrien, he directed a soft, comforting, “Hey, it’s okay, Mec. It’s going to be okay.”

“This is kind of a big deal,” Alya huffed. “My bestie could easily have the man of her dreams, but, instead, she’s insisting on pretending to have some fake boyfriend she made up because she’s afraid to accept happiness and the good things the universe has sent to her. Clearly, an intervention is necessary for the good of both of our best friends.”

“He’s not fake!” Marinette retorted vehemently. “I told you, I met him online. We game together, and I only know his username, but he’s a real guy, and we’re really dating, so I can’t be making out with other blondes behind his back.”

“The good of our best friends?” Nino snorted crossly. “Right now, I think the best thing for our best friends is to keep them from getting akumatized.”

“I am so sorry,” Adrien repeated powerlessly, unsure of what else he even could say.

Nino gave him a squeeze. “It’s okay, Mec. Why don’t we head down by the river and try to calm down, yeah?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Marinette huffed, making a break for it and striding off towards the bakery. “I’m going home.”

“Marinette!” Alya called and started to chase after her.

Nino sighed, briefly watching them go before getting back on task.

“Come on, Adrien,” he gently coaxed, leading Adrien down onto the walkway along the river.

They found an empty bench and sank onto it, Adrien snuggling up against Nino’s side and dropping his head onto Nino’s shoulder while Nino wrapped an arm around his friend and gave another supportive squeeze.

“It’s okay,” he repeated like a mantra, keeping an eye out for purple butterflies. “It’s okay.”

“I think I just ruined things with the person I’m desperately in love with,” Adrien responded blandly. “I don’t think it’s okay.”

Nino was silent, contemplating for a moment before he amended, “It’s going to be okay. I’m going to make this okay for you, all right? Marinette’s still going to be friends with you, and everything’s going to be fine, yeah?”

Adrien didn’t have the energy to engage in optimism. “I royally screwed up, Nino.”

“Yeah, but what you did wasn’t unforgivable,” Nino tried to comfort. “Things can be patched up. You’ll see. Just hang in there for me right now, okay? Try to think happy thoughts.”

Adrien managed an affirmative grunt.

And then his phone chimed with an incoming text.

There on the screen was a short message that restored his strength.

Marinette had written: “I’m not mad at you. <3 Everything’s fine between us.”

Adrien tipped the screen so that Nino could see and then smiled up giddily at his friend.

“There you go,” Nino chuckled. “Everything’s fine.”

Adrien sighed, sinking back into Nino. “No, it’s not. Wanna hear a secret?”

Nino shrugged. “Sure.”

“I’m Marinette’s boyfriend.”

It felt really good to finally get it out into the air.

Nino took a deep breath, schooling his expression into a cautious neutral before responding. “…The one she plays online games with?”

“Yep. She doesn’t know it’s me, and you can’t tell her. She has her reasons, but she won’t let me reveal my identity to her, so…I keep accidentally kissing her because she’s my girlfriend, but she doesn’t know she’s my girlfriend, so…we end up having scenes like the one you just witnessed,” Adrien wearily informed.

“…Dude,” Nino replied poignantly.

“Yeah,” Adrien sighed.

“You have to tell her,” Nino insisted. “No joke.”

“Yeah,” Adrien repeated. “It’s complicated. I don’t want to talk about it.”

Nino pursed his lips, trying to process. He wanted to tell Adrien that nothing too bad had happened when Nino and Alya found out about Rena Rouge and Carapace’s secret identities. (In fact, Alya had seen through Carapace right away, so…) And nothing bad had come of Nino being ninety-nine-point-nine-repeating percent sure that Adrien was Chat Noir, so…

Nino took a deep breath and let it out, giving Adrien’s hair a distracted tussle. “Well…if…when you do want to talk about it, I’ll be here. You know you can talk to me about anything, right? Anything.”

“Yeah,” Adrien breathed, snuggling in closer, resting his head under Nino’s chin. “Yeah, I know. I want to, and I know I can trust you with anything, but…I can’t talk about it right now.”

“Okay,” Nino agreed, letting his chin rest on top of Adrien’s head. “Okay.”

“Thank you,” Adrien hummed, closing his eyes and letting himself relax.

[sonic-chronicles-fanfic-sequel]

Chapter One: Sonic

Sonic the Hedgehog, hero not only to Earth but to several alien races due to his recent adventure into a dimension called the Twilight Cage. He made a new friend in the form of Shade the Echidna; they got the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds back from the Nocturnus Clan and now everyone was on their way home. He should be celebrating, relaxing at the very least! So why was he feeling so uneasy? Even Tails was looking uneasy as he piloted the ship through the wormhole; then again, he was trying to not crash land like when they went through the first time, but he knew his little bro could do it!

His heart dropped as the first sight of home that he and his friends saw was that Metropolis was up and running again. There was no way, they were only gone for a few hours, a few days at most! How did Eggman build all of this up?! It was in ruins last time they saw the city!

“Welcome back team. You’ve been gone a long time...” Eggman’s voice crackled as his face appeared on the screen. Sonic snarled as he could practically hear the mad scientist ooze with twisted delight in his voice; can’t any of them catch a freaking break?! “Might have been better if you hadn’t returned. But I was hoping you would.”

And that’s when they felt the first blast from one of the many anti-aircraft missiles, everyone staggering to get their balance. “Tails!” he shouted as the fox snapped out of whatever he was in before grabbing the controls. This wasn’t good; they were too high up and there wasn’t a weapon attached to this ship to fight back. “Tails, I’d like some options before we’re blown up skyhigh!!” he shouted again as they got hit with another blast.

Tails grimaced before looking at a large green button that was on the dash panel. “If there’s one thing I’m glad I installed, it’s this!” he announced, slamming his fist onto the button. Ten tubes surrounded the group including the fox. “I hate to lose this ship, but get ready to be ejected, team! We’re taking the escape pods!”

“When did you install escape pods?!” Amy asked, startled by the sudden appearance of the device. Sonic peered out of the small window to see that almost everyone else was equally startled by the escape pods.

The red echidna was less than pleased as he was trying to bust out of his containment. “Hey! The Emeralds!” he shouted, the speedster looking around. Oh right, the Emeralds! They could use that to try and stop Eggman.

Or at least that would be the plan if Sonic hadn’t used them to fight Ix in the last hour and drained them of their power. And of course the moment the gang has looked at the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald, the escape pods had ejected from the space ship, the speedster peering up to watch as their ride was engulfed in flames as it made its destructive descent to earth. He squinted, but he could’ve sworn he saw something else fall out of the ship as well. The Emeralds...?

The pod shook as there were two more explosions from outside that rocked the container. “Whoa!” he cried out, struggling to get his footing before the third one caused him to hit the back of his head against the hard metal surface behind him, sending his world into darkness.

--

He groaned as a bright light came over his closed eyes, reaching a hand up to block the light. “What-?” he muttered.

A red figure came into view, the hedgehog blinking as his vision cleared to see that it was Knuckles offering a hand. “Sonic, you alright?” he asked, Sonic accepting the help up to his feet. “Tails and I just found your pod; we weren’t sure who was inside it though.”

“Besides getting knocked out after that bumpy ride, I’ll live,” Sonic replied. He took a look around, noticing that it was a bit of a dense forest, wondering if they weren’t somewhere by Blue Ridge. Well, ‘a bit dense’ was an understatement as the hedgehog was noticing some fallen pine trees a few yards away. Guess Knuckles had to unleash his frustrations somehow... But Blue Ridge was covered in snow last time they were there. Where were they then? He shook his head, needing to focus on what’s going on right now. “You and Tails doin’ good?” he asked.

Knuckles sighed and shook his head. “Physically yes, but emotionally...look, we just got the Emeralds back and now they’re gonna end up back in Eggman’s hands! Just all that time and effort wasted!!” he groaned. He sighed as he pulled out a couple of small green shards from the cuffs of his gloves. “At least he won’t be able to get to the Master Emerald easily…just wish it didn’t shatter in the crash.” Sonic sympathetically patted his shoulder, knowing how annoying finding the Chaos Emeralds can be, figuring it was equally annoying to try and find smaller pieces of the Master Emerald. Knuckles hid the shard back where he had it, then he cupped his hands and called over to Tails, “hey! I got Sonic out of that pod!”

The fox looked up from his spot on the ground, his ears going up before fluctuating between drooping and staying up. “Oh, uh, great! Awesome!” he stated before going back to whatever he was looking at before, making some scratches on the ground with a stick.

Sonic looked confused as he looked towards Knuckles, hoping the echidna could explain Tails’ dismal attitude. It wasn’t just because of the ‘warm reception’ they received, right? The echidna sighed and explained, “Tails has been trying to figure out where we landed. Both the others and where we even are. This has to be close to Metropolis but it seems...bigger.”

“We were also a few thousand feet in the air trying not to die via crashing; of course it would look bigger from a distance,” Sonic retorted, Knuckles rolling his eyes at that.

“You know what I meant, Sonic...we all know that Metropolis was practically destroyed when we left; how did it get rebuilt that fast while we were gone??”

The hedgehog frowned at that because...yeah, there was no way that Eggman got this all up and running after a few days. Not unless he had a second base the size of a city, but what happened?

His thoughts were interrupted as Tails stumbled back into him as some nearby bushes rustled. How original. The trio got ready for a fight when a cerulean German Shepard in a black and grey jumpsuit with red stars on the tips of his shoes came stumbling out of said bushes. At least….Sonic thought it was a German Shepard? It was definitely a canine with pointy ears who was struggling to keep his balance after that stunning entrance.

“...ya good there?” Sonic asked as the kid got up to his feet and dusted off his legs. He seemed...relatively harmless. No weapons or robots at his disposal at least. “Also, who are you? Like, you work for Eggman or just...a random hobo?”

“Sonic!” Tails scolded, the hedgehog wincing. Yeah, his lil buddy was right, that was uncalled for.

Before he could apologize, the canine gestured to himself with a thumb. “The name’s Dexter and I’m here to get you to the rebellion!”

The trio glanced at each other before looking back at Dexter, Tails clapping his hands together. “Ok, uh, one, rebellion? Two, Dexter? As in...Amy’s...boyfriend, Dexter?”

The canine’s tail started wagging as he was practically gushing, “you’re Amy’s friends! Isn’t she pretty and funny and cute and she’s totally my real girlfriend and I can’t believe we’re dating! How is she, is she alright??”

Tails and Knuckles looked over at each other, confused by this...weird turn of events as Sonic just strolled on over to the kid. “Wait, Sonic-”

“We got separated in the blast overhead, but, uh, what’s this rebellion you were talking about?” the hedgehog asked, slinging an arm around Dexter’s shoulder.

“Oh my gosh, Sonic the Hedgehog is touching me-OH RIGHT, uh, rebellion! Uh, my orders from my boss were ‘hey those guys got hit by Eggman, let’s get them on our side before Eggman does or kills them or whatever.” He got out a compass from one of his pockets and checked it. “My partner went to check out some other pods that way!” he explained, pointing west. “Honestly seeing you guys is like...the best news we had in a long time.”

Sonic glanced back at the others before shrugging. “Sounds legit to me; Dex, lead the way!” he said, the canine giving a salute.

“Yes sir!”

“Wait, Sonic, are you sure this is a good idea??” Tails asked, hesitantly starting to follow the gang. “What if this is a trap?” he quietly added.

“It might be, but what other options do we have? Wait for Eggman to capture us and monologue us to death?” he teased.

Knuckles gave a weak shrug. “We might be able to figure out what’s even going on,” he suggested, Tails’ ears going low as he trudged after them.

“Yeah...doesn’t mean I have to like it though…”

[captainswanbigbang]

CSRT Promos: let-it-raines

Today’s promoted CSRT story is Second in Command by @let-it-raines! Read it on Tumblr or AO3! 

When did you start writing this story, and what inspired you to write it? 

I started writing it in July of 2018, so it wasn't too long ago actually! Second in Command was really my first big fic undertaking. I hadn't written since maybe I was a freshman year of college, and I got back into it in a very public way by writing this story. Believe it or not, I'm not some big fan of the British Royal Family (though, I do now follow them on Instagram), and the story just kind of came to me because I sat down to write and boom! I had a 10k word chapter that involved Killian as a member of one of the most famous families in the world and Emma as someone who was a "regular" person, and instead of exploring the "royal" side of things, I wanted to explore the human side and how living in that kind of environment would impact people emotionally.

What is it about this story that made you feel like it was worth rewriting?

As I said, Second in Command was my first big writing undertaking, and I literally had no idea what I was doing. It was very much a learning process for me, and that's something anyone reading can see when they notice that the writing and detail gets much better as the story goes on. I love the world that I built with this universe, always will because it's a little magical to me, but I almost wish I had written it now so that I could truly craft the world and characters I wanted with the skills I've gained. So when I saw the rewrite-a-thon announcement and my brain immediately flashed back to all of the plot points I wanted to do but didn't out of fear, I knew that I had to sign up to see if I could twist my favorite universe into something new while also keeping the spirit of the original. (I've actually gotten several messages from people worrying about me changing some things, which has been kind of cool that people just have these elements that they love so much.)

What is one detail about your story that you're almost definitely keeping?

The flashbacks. Those aren't going anywhere, which I'm happy with because so much of the heart of the story is there. I'll be using some ones from the original, changing a few to Emma's POV, and then we've also got some new ones and some altered ones!

What is one detail about your story that you're almost definitely throwing out or changing?

We're going to get Emma's POV every other chapter! That's a big change, and I am SUPER excited for it! You guys don't even know! It's definitely going to change how the story is told, especially since the plot is going to be a canon divergence so at some point we'll have all new plot.

What has the rewrite experience been like for you so far?

It's been really weird. Having to go back and reread the original story hasn't been the most fun, and I've spent far too much time picking it apart while looking for things to include in the new version. Now that I'm in the completely new territory, though, things are different and easier flowing. It took me a pretty long time to actually feel excited about it, but I definitely am now that I can see it take on more of its own life outside of the original.

What would you like readers to know about the original version if they decide they're going to read it?

To know that I promise I didn't mean to make it that long and that my writing has improved from the first few chapters. Haha. The second half of the story is legit a sequel that I didn't intend to write but got away from me, so the story isn't actually as daunting as it seems. I had intended a three-part epilogue that obviously expanded, and if I had known I would get inspired with a big plot line, I would have separated it into two different works. But the original is complete, and you don't have to read it to understand the rewrite version. Though, I would appreciate it if you did decide to read! It's my big, messy fic baby, and I'm always here to talk about it 💜

[real-jaune-isms]

Volume 7 Chapter 3 Review

My first time with this, it’s probably gonna be longwinded and awkward...

Starting off with 3 scenes basically happening at once is interesting. The airship flying them in to start the mission, Ruby and Jaune getting briefed on it, and the whole crew getting their gear upgrades. The briefing conversation plays over shots of them all getting their personal briefcases of stuff, and of some normal soldiers fighting smaller Grimm in the tundra. The new clothes scene is most important though. We see: Their happy faces, Blake and Jaune both pondering haircuts while Jaune runs his hands over the sash he kept from Pyrrha (ow my heart), Yang attaching her arm upgrade, and Ruby getting at a new cape before Oscar approaches her. Oh, and on the briefing screens RWBY and JNR are registered as civilian Huntsmen. They have their licenses!!!!

Let’s talk about the cape for a sec. Her red cloak has been an heirloom she’s kept for 6 volumes now and about 17 years. The last vestige of her mother. So is it really such a good idea for her to get a new one and just go with it? Is that abandoning the sentimental value and very essence of the original cape? It’s been worn and weathered since Volume 4, so an replacement or a stitch job would be good, but the latter would be ideal. I don’t really mind the new one so much because she asked for it and clearly she had a reason for that. It’s the exact same in every visual way as far as I could see, and she’s keeping the old one. The message is still alive in her wearing it, and times must change. It’s better to get a new one than risk damaging the original any more.

Anyway, after we see the few shots of them prepping for this mission, a very old Geist possessing a bunch of ice and hiding in a Dust mine, the airship doors open and we see the team in all their new glory. They jump out accompanied by the Ace Ops, and all make stylish landings. Ruby only uses her pogo gunshots to slow her descent, and Blake swings her weld fixed Gambol Shroud to Spider-Man swing around the buildings to land. But Weiss and Yang use their semblances to do it, and the aura percentages on Blake’s scroll later represent that accordingly. Good attention to detail. And we hear from Weiss that using your Aura can keep you from freezing, a good reason why they can all wear such stylish clothes and not die of frostbite.

After Clover checks in with all the groups about keeping in contact and keeping an eye on Aura levels, Blake catches Yang staring and they have an adorably awkward exchange about Blake’s haircut and how Yang likes it but doesn’t know how to express that. Marrow seems annoyed he has to watch a high school love story unfolding in front of him, but Harriet teases him about being childish and that shuts him up. They head toward the mine entrance, but Team RWBY hangs back to discuss how uncomfortable they all are with having lied to Ironwood last episode about Salem and the lamp. But Ruby reasons that they don’t know if Ironwood is in the right mindset for that bombshell right now and they WILL tell him soon. Fair enough. A flashback to Oscar’s interruption earlier reveals he’s pretty torn about it too since it’s exactly what they hated Ozpin for doing to them. Either way, they enter the mine and a comment about the path being blocked leads to a chilling realization. This is the mine that caved in and killed Ilia’s parents. This is why her life went so terribly, and it’s a major reminder of the awful relationship between humans and Faunus and how bad things can get. That prompts Weiss to try and apologize for her own bad attitude about it all in Volume 1, and some harsh truths from Marrow about complacency with injustice for the sake of living free of making those hard moral choices. Wise words, a lot to think about with this world and even our own.

But there’s no time for thinking about changing the world’s prejudices, they need to send Blake through a dark opening in the rubble to see if it’s safe for them to blast a hole big enough for everyone or if there’s any nearby Dust they might agitate. I get the whole faunus seeing better in the darker area of the cave thing but... couldn’t Marrow have done it too? Or was he too big and thicc and they had to send the lithe teenager? I tease, I tease. Height and muscle mass may be the legit reasons, plus her weapon is also less bulky. Before she goes in, both Blake and Yang see the SDC logo printed on some discarded boxes, likely a reminded of the last place they saw it: branded on Adam’s face. Not a good memory to recall in a tight situation, but it shows they’re still dealing with that. Good news is, when Blake goes through there’s no Dust on the other side. Bad news, the Geist gives a legitimate jumpscare that literally makes Blake jump back in surprise and pull her weapon to shoot at it. That of course clues the others in that she found something, and we see Harriet’s weapon as she deploys mechanized armor to go over her arms and boost her punching strength. Reminds me of the controls for a mech, fake arms you wear and move in the cockpit to move the real giant ones. But these have plenty of power all on their own and bust open the wall of debris. Makes sense to boost her upper body strength to counterbalance the power in her legs.

They chase the Geist into the mine until they encounter the new Centinel Grimm burrowing up from the ground. Team RWBY gets to show off their weapon upgrades/new moves as they dispose of them: Blake does a lot of slashing and stabbing as usual and Weiss does mostly the same plus shooting ice at the bugs and using glyphs to stop them from lunging. But the real stars seem to be Yang and Ruby. Yang added sticky bombs to her gauntlets’ arsenal, and Ruby can now spin Crescent Rose’s blade 180 degrees to slice a severed centinel half on her backswing. Cool. But Marrow shows off his own party tricks with his rifle that becomes a large blade edged boomerang and the ability to stop two Grimm still with nothing but a snap and the word “stay”. Clearly a reference to dog obedience training and possibly showing the power words can have, a reference to The Boy Who Cried Wolf, which I still believe he’s based on. All that kid had to do was say the word and the entire town came running to face a supposed threat. However, I’ve also heard that his inspiration is actually “A Dog and it’d Shadow”, which might suggest he’s going to go down a bad path for the sake of his own benefit... Regardless, Harriet zooms up and tosses the centinel against a wall, which seems to stop it. They report sighting the target and engaging with further hostiles to the others, who take that as a cue to speed things up. When next we see them, Harriet runs past Weiss and Ruby to take down the last Centinel with a single punch before Ruby had time to even take a shot at it. Instead of being petty about a kill steal, our little rose goes gaga over Harriet having a speed semblance like her, while the Hare of course boasts she seems to be faster based on Ruby’s reaction time. They suddenly hear Clover announce he’s fighting the Geist with Qrow, and when it eludes them too everyone converges in a central cavern.

Now let’s talk about JNR’s section of the mission until they meet up with the others. They make their jump too, Jaune having added Hard Light Dust to his shield and using it like Link’s paraglider in Breath of the Wild to float down gently, and then gravity Dust from the central crest to negate the final impact and bounce into a flip landing. Stylish~ We don’t see how, but Ren and Nora landed fine too. And their accompanying Ace Operatives Vine and Elm give rather indirect compliments, much to Jaune and Nora’s annoyance. As they walk through an ice tunnel and Vine reports its stability and their approximate time of convergence, Nora gushes about how exciting it all is before turning her enthusiasm on Ren. He handles a direct compliment about his new outfit about as well as Ren handles any show of emotion... he does not. He just tries to redirect the topic to the mission. Annoying to all the Renora shippers, absolutely, but also kinda his MO. His semblance, his very nature since the tragedy of Kuroyuri is to not get emotional because that can get them in trouble if it’s at the wrong time. He still needs to learn there are plenty of right times to have emotions, LIKE WHEN YOUR UNOFFICIAL GIRLFRIEND WANTS YOU TO RETURN THE COMPLIMENT!!! He better learn from that mistake... But at least there’s dense as a rock Jaune to compliment Nora instead and miss the point of what she was doing. The good boy is trying his best to be nice.

When they hear RWBY’s squad announce the fighting has started they start booking it and slide down an icy slope that’s revealed to have Centinels emerging at the bottom. Vine uses his semblance to stretch out and grab hold of the walls and Elm uses her’s to root her feet in the ground, both so they can stop moving toward the enemy. But that’s not JNR’s style, so they charge right into the Grimm and take them out quickly. A gravity burst shield bash from Jaune, new grappling hook mode for the blades on Ren’s guns, and Nora just bashes some skulls. This approaches earns another indirect compliment before they took finish the journey to the main mine cavern.

Meanwhile Qrow is with Clover and looking very cool in his new digs. They head in and discuss Qrow’s history of teamwork and how he doesn’t really do that anymore... cue sad STRQ vibes. Also he almost trips and Clover catches him, a perk of having someone at your side. After he gets the rundown from Elm, we don’t hear from thes two until they’re chasing down the Geist. It reaches its icy armored body, and gathers extra pieces from the walls around them. Qrow notices one bit it’s trying to get will pull down a support beam and warns Clover to stay back... just in time. The Geist gets away, but in its wake the two men share a conversation about Semblances. Qrow reveals his misfortune and how it burdens him to solitude or else situations like that one could go way worse. But Clover surprises him with the fact that his own Semblance is, of course... generating good luck.

The look Qrow gives him... a lot of people say it’s gay panic as he falls head over heels for this charming military man who can balance him out. I’ve come to see it a bit differently thanks to another post I saw. It’s regular panic. Panic and self-loathing, because he sees his perfect mirror image. Clover is sober, charismatic, a good leader, doesn’t ruin things with his very presence, and has skill and wisdom beyond anything Qrow has been able to demonstrate. This is everything he wishes he could have been for the kids from Volumes 4-6, the kind of huntsman he wants to have been at Beacon... a version of him who might have been able to keep Team STRQ together. But it might also be him getting a crush on a charming guy who balances him out. Regardless, they call everyone to meet up in the middle.

And meet up they do, the various types of Dust in the large central chamber having such effects as floating the dirt their boots kick up and evaporating a drop of Jaune’s sweat when it hits the ground. Cool set piece, though they need to be careful with how they fight otherwise they could set off the Dust and ruin the Amity Satellite launch site... and kill them. The Geist is hanging from a giant piece of ice jutting from the ceiling, and when the teams spot it the big boy dramatically drops down to fight them. Ruby panics upon seeing it added Dust to it’s body so they’ll have a harder time fighting it safely, but the Ace-Ops kick into action almost immediately. Elm and Vine use their Semblances to keep it in place and expose the Grimm joints between its ice limbs, which Marrow throws his weapon to sever. But that leaves some Dust crystals falling through the air, so the Flash gets the lightning in his eyes and speeds in to catch them before they hit the ground... Oops! I mean Quicksilver does his Days of Future Past thing to move around the falling debris at superspeed and grab the Dust... DAMMIT! I mean Harriet gets the lightning in her eyes and pulls a Days of Future Past to move around the falling debris at superspeed and grab the Dust. But the boomerang cuts another part of the arm and knocks more Dust off out of her reach. Lucky for them, Clover is there to catch it just in time. He passes the crystal to Qrow and jumps into the action.

The Ace-Ops continue to run around the Geist and to distract and disorient it, and they get the other arm off. With a flick of his lucky charm, Clover jumps up and loops his fishing line around the Geist’s mask face, and it actually hooks. What comes next brings a look of astonishment to Team RWBY’s faces. He pulls the Geist out of the ice by its face, and Harriet runs up its torso to give a jumping Shoryuken with her mech fists to kill the Grimm. But that leaves a lot of Dust crystals falling through the air, and the Ace Ops scramble to grab all of them. One remains and Harriet runs to get it... it’s a close call... and Ruby beats her to it. Who’s faster now?~ But much to Ruby’s surprise, upon seeing her in action Harriet claims Ruby’s Semblance is unlike any speed Semblance she’s ever seen, that there’s probably more to it than she realizes... or we do for that matter~ I can’t wait to see what they do with that. Yang points out that Ruby has an awful lot more going on in terms of power than Harriet realizes, earning a grin from Weiss and a very cute giggle from Blake. Regardless, mission accomplished and Qrow and Clover have a little banter over if Ruby’s catch was luck or talent. Glad to see the Atlas MVP’s acknowledge our Team has some skill of their own. Even happier to see Elm effortlessly put Ruby on her shoulder and carry her around to celebrate while Yang and Nora start dancing.

Next thing we know we’re back in Mantle as the police ship drops Forest off. He goes into an alley, where Tyrian suddenly appears under a flickering light to creep us all out and kill a short lived fan favorite character. RIP, good good protest boy. 

And that’s pretty much it. Sorry it took a while.

[atopearth]

Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 2 - The Beauty and Wackiness of Wall Market (Ch 8-11)

Btw, I forgot to mention it in the previous post but danggg, Aerith’s house is as beautiful as I imagined it to be. I always loved how it was a nice house surrounded by flowers and water, and I think the remake really nailed the atmosphere and beauty of it. It felt so tranquil and soothing. Lmao at Aerith trying to get Cloud to high five with her when they successfully work together to go through the shortcut to Sector 7. It’s hilarious how Cloud feels bad about not doing it since she looks so disappointed hahaha. HAHAHA, I love how Cloud decided to high five her but she didn’t realise until he awkwardly let his hands down hahahaha, Cloud is so adorable! Lmao at Aerith apologising for not getting it at the right timing and Cloud pretending to be dumb🥺🤣 I love how Aerith got him to high five her at the end of the walk. And lollll at those three robber “brothers”(?), yes, I realised that I could kick them around when they pretended to be dead after getting defeated by Cloud and Aerith, so yes, I did spend some time kicking them HAHAHA. It was stupid but funny okay?! I love how they added that bit because I always hated the random battle appearance of thieves in the original, they kept stealing my good items and money! But now it’s more of a fun yet ridiculous experience at the same time haha.

It’s kinda interesting how Aerith tells Cloud about Zack but Cloud isn’t able to hear his name properly. But it was really cute how she scooted closer to him when they sat down on the slide at the park. Omggg lmao at actually being able to play in the park, I never knew I needed to see Cloud going on a slide because that was so awesome! Yes, I’ll admit I went on it more times than I should have because I just found it hilarious that the stoic Cloud was on a slide like a big child hahahhaa. I always wished that I could play with it in the original, so that was super cool! They really put effort into the most useless things lmao. Outrageous that we don’t get to play on the swing though, that would have been so cool and fun!! Kinda sad now T_T It was so sweet when Cloud and Aerith were awkwardly saying goodbye to each other, I found it so endearing how Cloud was so ready to take her home if she told him she needed him to walk her back. Despite how tiring it may be to follow Aerith’s pace, he definitely finds her company enjoyable. I find it rather random that Cloud actually gets to talk to Tifa when she’s on the carriage to go to Don Corneo, but I guess it’s nice to see Aerith tell him that if Tifa’s important to him, he should really chase after her and protect her (since Corneo is dodgy), I guess despite my gripes with some things, it is nice that Aerith still plays the role of motivating Cloud to be more open with his feelings and doing what he wants rather than what he thinks he should do.

Wall Market is so wacky and lawless, I love it. It looks so good and everything nostalgic about it is there, it’s so awesome. It’s crazy how stuff like the pharmacy, the materia store, the bar, the clothing shop and the squats place is pretty much exactly like the original! It’s so awesome! HAHAHA, I love how when the promoters try to get Cloud to spend the night at the inn with Aerith, you can ask “how much?” and Aerith calls you out for it lolll. I mean, I had to try, right? LOL at Fat Chocobo, it’s so huge, that moogle was ugly btw. Lmao at Cloud enjoying the hand massage more than he thought he would hahaha. It was so cute seeing him flex it in such a dazed state hahaha. Madam M is pretty cute and hilarious though, loved it when she was so mad that Corneo intervened and made Cloud and Aerith fight an extra round in the Corneo Cup loll. Btw, if you’re curious, yes, I admit that I spent some time kicking the thief brothers around the stadium again LOL. Don’t judge me. I also spent some time admiring the flowers and signs Cloud and Aerith increasingly got after winning each round. The underground battle Coliseum was more fun than I thought though, not too hard and I think the announcers and audience really make the experience so great, I was so hyped even though I was the one fighting haha. The cartoon mini Corneo is hilariously cute. Lmao that the house monster became a boss though! Like, c’mon, now he’s not cute anymore! He’s still annoying though LOL. I had no idea how I was supposed to be killing him so it took me a while to realise what I needed to do after finally using Assess loll. A flying house with a shield is notttt fun!  The idea was hilarious though.

As for the squatting game lolll, that was relatively easy, took me a few tries to get used to it though hahaha. Leslie (the guy at the door blocking you from going to Corneo) is so nice, he legit tells Cloud and Aerith to not go for the audition because he knows how terrible of an experience it is for these women. I’m surprised. Awww, we don’t actually go to get the materials for Cloud’s dress?? That’s no fun! I wanted the clothing shop owner to find meaning in his life again by making dresses for men like Cloud lolll! And the aggressive customer that goes all quiet and just says “...you’re weird” when he sees Cloud dressed up as a girl was such a highlight! The wacky banter between the clothing shop owner and his son talking about this new business line in the original was so funny tooo! Honeybee Inn is fancier than I thought though, like wow, all that extravagance. I guess it’s good that Andrea liked Cloud and recommended him to Corneo haha. But omg, Aerith is absolutely stunning, definitely better than Tifa’s dress imo. Her hair is so beautiful too! Madam M did a good job! I loved how even Cloud was surprised how beautiful she was, also gotta love how Johnny rolled the red carpet for her lmao. AND I will proudly admit, I tried to peek when Madam M said she was going to dress Aerith up hahahaha. Anyway, by not making the dress for Cloud, you kinda miss out on how much Aerith enjoyed dressing up Cloud in the original and how much she teased him, so that’s kinda sad, but I guess Cloud’s cute so it’s okay lmao. Also kinda miss how confident and playful she was to pick her own dress and show it off like the boss she was though. 

LOL at that dancing game, it was so weirdly ridiculous since when you do the practice, Cloud literally moves with his sword hahaha. I really wanted to enjoy the dance instead of focusing on hitting buttons though! Especially since some were so hard to see, like seriouslyyyyy! It was really nice to see how much Aerith was enjoying herself watching Cloud and them dance, she’s such a party lover. The dance was pretty awesome in itself though, and Andrea really made Cloud look great, that tiara man! It was so funny when you get to annoy female Cloud with Aerith and keep calling his name but he ignores you hahahaha. LOL at the random passerby guy saying his girlfriend can be the most beautiful in the world, but Cloud is the most beautiful in the universe hahahaha.

Loll at the Don Corneo jukebox thing in his mansion hahahah. As usual, it’s so cute to see Cloud embarrassed and trying to ignore the fact that he’s dressed up like a girl in front of Tifa hahaha. Awww, the original was so much more funny when it came to Don Corneo picking one of them, it was hilarious in the original when Don Corneo would try to look at Cloud’s face properly but Cloud would turn his face the other way lmao. I guess it’s nice to see Tifa and Aerith kick some ass though? Hahaha, so cute how they’re both like, we need to save Cloud! Lol. The “reject room” was more funny in the original though, the guys used to follow you around like zombies before you beat them up haha. I guess we should be impressed that Leslie was able to hold the Buster sword with one hand to give it back to Aerith and them? Ahahah. Honestly though, I think that Wall Market felt the most nostalgic to me, I mean, seeing the noodle place where Cloud could eat, the depressed clothing store owner, the guy that’s stuck in the toilet at the bar, the shooting machine gun that’s supposed to give you something good later on and everything, it just felt so heartwarming. Even the squats were a welcome sight haha. So, even though I feel like they could have added more interactions here, the Coliseum and stuff were enjoyable in their own ways I guess haha, I’m happy enough to just see everything in the background tbh.

Okay, so I realised that PS4 screenshots don’t work like the Nintendo Switch, you actually have to hold the button or press triangle to save it, omg!! And yes, I was mad and sad, so I did a speed run through the first 9 chapters just to get them again lmao. Yes, I was dedicated, and stubborn lol. But omg, I ended up discovering new things! Which is not good! Lol. I realised (unfortunately) that there are different dresses for Cloud, Aerith and Tifa!! OMG. Incoming the shock of my life when I saw Aerith in a peasant dress!! I was like wow, Madam M was such a con artist, she literally took 990,000 of that 1 million gil prize from the Corneo Cup to give my girl Aerith the cheapest dress she could find. I guess I should have known when I did different quests and realised that there is that quest that makes you run around helping the clothing shop owner get back on his feet, and you kinda do the same thing as the original where you help out the sick guy in the bar etc, but I had hope… I really wanted better screenshots of Aerith’s extravagant dress!!😫😫 On that note though, I’m pretty disappointed in the change in the clothing shop owner’s motivations, I can’t believe they changed it to him wanting to go to the Honeybee Inn for inspiration omg!!! I’m so sad and mad. I honestly really loved the original because I found it understandable yet hilarious that what made the clothing shop owner stand up on his feet again was finding inspiration with dressing up Cloud in a dress. I also loved how much more Aerith interacted with Cloud here in Wall Market and teased him and helped him with everything. Now it just feels kinda…cheap. 

Sigh, anyway, somehow I got Cloud’s other dress (the purple one with black bows and his braids, so what the original FFVII dress would look the most like in high quality I guess) as well, like what did I do different?! Anyway, I kinda googled it, and apparently you had to do all those Aerith side quests to get the best dress, sigh, this is what happens when you speed run I guess. And lolll Tifa’s one doesn’t change even if you don’t do her side quests, it’s only when you do them that you get the option to choose the other (uglier imo) dresses. And Cloud’s one…I have no idea, apparently it depends on whether you do the Chocobo Sam or Madam M side quests thing, but I’m not sure how I ended up getting it. All I remember for the tiara dress is that I chose “no deal” for the coin toss with Sam, said no to Johnny at Honeybee Inn and I did the standard course for the massage. Whereas for the braids look, I chose “heads” for the coin toss, did the luxurious hand massage and just completely ignored the side quest to follow Johnny. So yeah…whatever I guess lol, just bear with my dodgy screenshots then hahaha. Or maybe I’ll just get my bro to do them for me when he plays haha! (My bro didn’t end up playing it, the traitorrr, so yes, dodgy screenshots it is~)

I’m glad the sewers weren’t as tedious than the original haha, but the water pump thing was so confusing! I legit didn’t get it lmao, took me a while to realise what I needed to do, sigh, maybe I’m just stupid LOL, I was like, what is Aerith’s role in this?! The needle moved so fast I didn’t realise I was supposed to stop it inside the red part hahahha. I also very much enjoyed turning into a frog with Cloud, I mean, having a frog with a mini Buster Sword jump around blowing bubbles or whatever was hilarious to the max LOL. I guess it’s kinda cute how Aerith and Tifa are bonding through this journey together, and it’s sweet how Aerith is trying to encourage and comfort Tifa by getting her to think about what they can do after they save Sector 7 from Shinra. It’s saddening though, that because of Avalanche, Shinra is planning to kill all these people to make a sort of representation that this is what happens when you go against them whilst falsely showing to the world that these eco-terrorists are willing to destroy a whole plate to achieve their purposes. Even Reno who doesn’t feel like he has the right to feel that way anymore considering the work he does feels a bit uncomfortable with it. On the other hand, the train graveyard was as tedious as usual, not as dangerous as the original though.The place is so creepy btw! Lol. In the original, it had a more solemn atmosphere where I felt like it showed the remains of a past gone, but here, it just feels scary with the ghosts etc lol. Although I guess with how Aerith reacts to it all, it is saddening that these ghosts seem to have just been really lonely and wanted to play hide and seek with Cloud and them after finally getting to see people come here. Honestly though, that vending machine here playing music!! It scared me with the loud music LOL. Small Aerith is probably the cutest tbh! It was so cute when young her was sad and lonely about not being found by other people(ghost showing her sad memories), and then Cloud and Tifa find her and save her in reality, it’s kinda corny, but it’s cute and rather sweet haha.

Okay, I was going to talk about CH 12-14 here as well but somehow the post got too long so I’ll leave it for the next part lolll. I guess me gushing over the beauty of Aerith whilst complaining about my clothing shop owner being demoted into a sleazy guy took up a lot of the post huh? Seriously though, regardless of the changes, I still really enjoyed it because I think the changes made it flow nicely in its own way, and really, I love the whole idea of the Corneo Cup and expanding the role of the Honeybee Inn in the story so I don’t mind the reinterpretation that it went through. I mean, some details were lost and it’s saddening, but at the same time, it was still rather fun and refreshing in its own way. I’d say my biggest gripe is that Corneo is more creepy than funny and that kinda kills the whole mood, but then again, the remake has been more “serious” so it’s understandable. I still got to see Aerith bond with Cloud on the slide (one of my favourite moments), and I got to see how breathtaking Aerith was in her dress, so it’s a win! I think I could spend all day marvelling at how detailed and beautiful Wall Market is tbh. I spent a lot of time looking for the restaurant to see if I could order food and other nostalgic things, and the remake really fit it all in rather nicely! So really, I complain a lot but I still loved it :P

P.S Ms Folia (orphanage teacher?) being a Honeybee girl because her dream is to become a dancer was SO RANDOM and silly lmaoo. Also no idea why I’m hearing a rendition of Farm Boy in Wall Market, it’s so random! And yes, I got lost in Wall Market a lot lolll. I also found it hilarious to see Johnny’s father around everywhere, whether it be in the inn wandering where he can find Johnny, or be it him playing around in the Honeybee Inn even though he’s supposed to be finding his son LOL. Now we know why Johnny is the way he is~

[dangerliesbeforeyou]

my top 10 series of 2019~

aka i gush about shiz i watched this year for waaaaaay too long lol... 

i watched a lot of stuff this yr (well... it felt like a lot? there’s a lot more i wanted to watch but i’m terrible at time management lol...) so let’ssss explore that in a ~numbered list~ lol

(spoilers - there’s a lot of gay shit here lol... what can i say, twentybiteen really pulled thru lol)

10 - Stranger Things (series 3) 

i know some people didn’t like this series, but i legit thought it was really good lol... i felt it had gone back to the style of the 1st series a lil more? (whereas series 2 had felt a lil disappointing in a way??) & i loved all the new characters introduced (robin is a personal fav, obv), & the whole splitting off into the lil groups was really effective in not just feel like it’s always the same group together, and it also allowed for some interesting character moments!

visually, stranger things always looks amazing! but i thought the whole summer/july 4th vibes really made it especially stunning tbh... as most things on this list, i’ve only seen it once, so i would like to rewatch it at some point (actually wanna do a full stranger things marathon tbh i was trying to explain what had happened in the show to my friend who stopped watching it early in series 1 & it was so difficult to remember exactly what had happened in it lool... ) 

there were obv things about it that i wasn’t as big on, like the whole evil russian-invincible guy was v cliche and kinda silly, & some of the actions scenes were a bit awkward(?) feeling... but i’m a sucker for any 80′s style media so those things just reminded me of the goonies or some shit lol

9 - Ghosts 

actually the funniest & cutest series ever tbh!!! as someone who grew up with horrible histories with the original cast, this just made me immensely happy to see the whole team together again! the humour style is v similar to horrible histories too btw, though i feel they let themselves have a lil more ‘dark humour’ than in that (since this is more a general audience, whereas hh was definitely more aimed at kids tbh... tho they still won a comedy award for it lol! actual legends lol anyway...)

only downside is that it’s only 1 series atm & it’s pretty short... but i know there’s gonna be a new series at some point so i’m v excited for that!! i feel there’s sooooo many places they can go with the concept (i.e. exploring how/when the other characters died (like kitty!!! i need to know her story lol i love her!), maybe introducing another character who can see ghosts?? like a medium/psychic or something/etc ...) but legit, please watch this if u haven’t!!! 

8 - Good Omens

this pretty much took over the internet this year lbr lol & tbh i’d def say it was worthy of the praise!! ineffable husbands aside, the main story is super engaging and enjoyable, with some really awesome side characters (& some of my fav character designs in anything ever tbh!!) but definitely the biggest draw was the ‘6000 years mutual pining’ romance which they did so well lol & it was something that was genuinely so lovely to watch tbh!! i also really loved the ending message of the show! i really hope to rewatch this next year when i think it’s gonna be aired on british tv at last????

downsides would be that the plot can be a bit confusing at times? but maybe that’s just me being dumb lol... but i imagine it’s a lot easier to understand if u’ve read the book lol?? i don’t have a problem w/ aziraphale & crowley not being “explicitly” gay or whatnot (i know i’ve seen some people annoyed with this?), since the whole idea of their relationship is so much larger than just them bonking or whatevs lol? (in general i think more media should have less focus on kissing/intimacy as an indication of love/romance... which is something i’ve already talked about lol)

oh, and the title sequence is INCREDIBLE lol i seriously loved it so much!!

7 - Killing Eve (series 2)

finally finished this the other day & it was so good!!! i really love the dark comedic tone of the show tbh & i def feel there was more of it in the 2nd series then the first! i also liked the further development of villanelle & eve’s relationship, which is obv the highlight of the show tbh! there was also a nice lot of twists tbh, though i’d say it was a lil less intense than the 1st series? (overall i’d say i prefer the 1st series, but the 2nd was a fab continuation... btw i also watched the 1st series this yr lol)

negative points are that the plot wasn’t quite as interesting as the 1st series... i think cos the focus of the murders was taken off of villanelle that we lost some of that drama from the 1st? i thought the ghost was gonna be a more integral part but she was kinda weirdly pushed aside once we learnt her identity? & the creepy son dude just annoyed me lol (but i suppose that was the point lol...)... so like yh there were lil things that didn’t engage me as much as the first, but overall i still really enjoyed it lol

this is def fulfilling the hannibal-shaped hole in my heart tbh... (another series i finished this yr...)

6 - Dark Blue Kiss the series

look, it’s no surprise this is on my list lol... i was hella hyped for this series when it was announced last yr, even though my expectations were VERY LOW after kiss me again the series (which, lbr, is a massive mess lol... like it’s My Mess tho)... but for real, this series really exceeded all my expectations... & then some! like i’m legit shook at how good it was ngl! especially morksun’s storyline, which was by far my fav in the show (as much as i’m petekao trash lol...) also, i was surprised by how genuinely pretty this show is! esp in comparison to kma (like i know i keep going on about the goddamn bruise makeup but it is so ugly in kma, but they really did a great job in dbk tbh!)

ok so there’s a lot of flaws lol... like... a lot (i’m already complained a lot so i won’t bore u with that rn lol...) but for real, the thing that i love the most about this is the discussions of coming out/homophobia/general young people struggles/etc etc which is so refreshing to see in these series! like i love that despite the cheesy tropes, it still knows when to be serious & genuine...

5 - He Is Coming To Me

another thai series, i believe this has the same director as dbk? (don’t hold me to that tho...)... legit one of the best, if not the best, thai series i’ve ever seen tbh! so adorable, so well acted, so funny & heartwarming like... legit it’s so good!! i was already excited about it from the trailer, but the way it really delivered on the emotionality, whilst keeping it lighthearted, was truly wonderful tbh! the main actors did a brill job i gotta say, and all the side characters were amazing too (there really wasn’t a character i didn’t like i’d say tbh? i need to rewatch tbh... there’s a lot i’ve forgotten since this came out p early in the year lol)... also, visually it’s so pretty!! i swear the cinematography in these thai series just keeps getting better & better & it def improves the watching experience tbh!

a down point would be that the first ep is a bit slow/awkward to get in to... & i think it def could put someone off? but i’d say to stick w/ it since it just keeps getting better & better! i’d actually say there isn’t really anything else i didn’t like about it ngl? it’s just so good guys... u really need to watch it!

4 - Russian Doll 

probs the only series on this list that i actually actively went to rewatch straight away lol (didn’t do a full rewatch btw)... it was SO good for real! i already loved the premise lol (it’s basically groundhog day, which is already such a great film, but they explored those ideas even more in this which i loveeeed) the leads are fantastic, and the story is generally so interesting!  plus the editing & song choices are really brill tbh... 

my one complaint would probs be that the series loses a lil momentum at certain points (esp later in the series), but it still keeps ur interest, and the ending is really well done too! i know there’s gonna be a 2nd series, so i’m really hoping it’ll be able to live up to this one, and also explore more of the characters/concepts/etc! i’m def hyped for it tbh!  

i feel like this series is simultaneously underrated and also v well known lol?? like i know everyone sees that ‘thursday! what a concept’ meme but i feel like i didn’t see as many people talk about it as much as other series this yr??? 

(for my top 3, i’d say i love them all equally/for different reasons... so the order they’re in is changeable lol)

3 - Gentleman Jack

one of the greatest bbc series of the year, maybe even the decade lol! actually a masterpiece of cinematography, incredible acting, gorgeous costumes, beautiful depictions of love and intimacy, hilarious characterisation & just generally a wonderful series!! like i can’t praise it enough! it’s literally everything i could ever want from a series, and more!!!!!!! like everytime i think about it i just feel like ‘!!!!!’ constantly lol... like... what did we do to deserve such a series for real?? something that i esp loved was that i vividly remember not that long ago w/ people complaining about the bbc for having minor lgbtq characters in things, so to have a actual main lesbian couple series be on prime time bbc telly is kinda mind blowing lol... like.. i know we’ve got a long way to go, but it does make me immensely proud!! 

i have no complaints lol... other than - needed to be longer (i think we’re getting a 2nd series right???? i hope so tbh!!)

2 - The Untamed 

look, i don’t make 15 piece series’ for nothing lol... this show really got to me ngl... like i knew it was gonna be amazing from seeing tonnes of mutuals start watching it & praising it.. .but ohhhhhhhh boy i wasn’t reading for the angst and heartbreak and just generally how invested i’d be in all the characters lol... like genuinely there’s so much to praise about this show! it may not be as super ‘polished’ as some of the other shows on this list, but it really has so much heart and hard work and dedication put into it which really shows in the final  product!

there’s obv issues with it, but i feel like it’s kinda unnecessary to go over them lol? there’s so much more of this series that has brought me genuine joy, the biggest being the fact they were still able to depict a really beautiful, loving and /romantic/ relationship despite the strict censor is truly incredible lol!! like w/ good omens, it just shows what you can do to depict love/romance without having to over-sexualise something...

i feel like i’m saying less for these top 3, but it’s just cos i’ve already gush to high heavens about how much i love them lol... 

1 - HIStory 3 - Trapped

you - *pretends to be shocked that this is my number 1*

yeh... no surprises that this is in my top 3 lol... what can i say that i haven’t already screamed about for months??? this series truly surpassed any expectations i could have had for a HIStory series... the story line is complex & pretty well done (it’s not perfect... but nothing is so....), the characters are wonderful & also brilliantly acted! i think the thing that i love the most is that the director wanted to create a series that wasn’t just a cheesy gay series (don’t get me wrong, i loVE cheesy gay series’ lol... ) but also would have a more interesting, well developed & more ‘mature’ story line (i think esp in comparison to other HIStory series’ which are usually school/uni based)... it’s also one of the few lgbtq series i’ve seen that isn’t just about ‘first loves’, and doesn’t place a big emphasis on a sexuality/identity crisis... it’s just so unabashedly a mystery-romance drama, which is just so refreshing to see! & i genuinely hope we can see more series like this, where gay characters don’t need to ‘prove’ themselves in order to be in a series or to be in relationships (which it often feels like, where writers need to explain /why/ characters are gay...)...  

phew... that’s a lot of text lol, just like w/ the untamed, i feel like i’ve already talked about the negative points of the series (plot holes, awkward moments, weird editing/sound choices, bad tropey plots), but the positives of this series seriously make it worthwhile, and i’m just so so SO happy this show exists lol...

all 3 of these series have a special place in my heart of inspiring lots of my own exploration of art, as well as writing, which has been really crucial in me understanding what i wanna do with my life (i know that sounds kinda weird, but at the start of the year i really didn’t know what i wanted... and i wasn’t even sure what i was good at lol... so thru these shows i was able to discover a lot more about my own style of working & thru all of them i was able to meet some wonderful new people on here which has made 2019 actually one of my most enjoyable years on tumblr! 

this has been an...... interesting year lol... but definitely these shows made it just a lil bit better!!! 

Happy new year to anyone who actually read thru this & let’s hope 2020 brings us even more brill shows ~~~

[wrestlingisfake]

Triplemania XXVII preview

I always feel like I should cover more stuff from Mexico, but I just haven’t gotten the hang of lucha yet.  Nevertheless, AAA is running its biggest show of the year on Saturday, August 3 (9pm Eastern) and you can watch the whole thing live on their Twitch streams.

A word of caution: AAA has stream for both English and Spanish feeds, but the English announce team is Matt Stryker and Vampiro, and they’re pretty terrible at it.  I mean, I kinda hate most wrestling announce teams, but I’d rather listen to Corey Graves berate Alex Marvez while Don Callis puts himself over for four hours--Stryker and Vamp are that bad.  So while I know it’s tempting for newcomers to rely on the English commentary to figure out the product, I can’t recommend it in this case.  The Spanish announce team at least sounds like they’re calling pro wrestling and not recording a podcast while drunk.

Also, this show is probably gonna run pretty late into the night, and the August 4 G1 Climax show is going to start pretty early (2am Eastern), so if you’re planning on doing both you may be in for quite a marathon.

Blue Demon, Jr. vs. Dr. Wagner, Jr. - This is a lucha de apuestas (”match with wagers”).  If Demon loses, he will unmask and publicly announce his true identity.  If Wagner loses, he will have his head shaved.  Demon, 52, is undefeated in this type of match.  Wagner, 53, has only lost once, when he gave up his mask, although he more recently defended his hair in a match against Jeff Jarrett.  Wagner has suggested he will retire if he loses, but that’s not an official stip as far as I can determine.

Wagner originally issued a challenge to LA Park for this type of match at this show, but Park is notoriously difficult to work with and evidently he and AAA couldn’t come to terms on it.  I’m no expert on lucha libre but I’ve heard all about how hard it is to negotiate a match where masks and/or hair are at stake.  There’s a reason the main event of this show features two really old guys.  The credibility of keeping your mask well into your fifties is huge in Mexico, far beyond any championship.  I’m sure Wagner didn’t give that up cheap, and I doubt Demon will either.

On paper, you would expect the guy who is “just” wagering his hair to lose, since the masked man can only unmask the one time.  Even so, a head shaving means a lot more in Mexico than in the US.  So although I don’t expect much from the match, this should have some historic value, with a lot of genuine pride on the line.

Rey Fénix & Pentagón Jr. & Laredo Kid vs. Kenny Omega & Nick Jackson & Matt Jackson - Incidentally, Fenix and Pena are the AAA tag team champions, Fenix is the AAA heavyweight champion, and Laredo is both the AAA cruiserweight champion and one of the AAA trios champions.  So they’ve got like five belts among them, but none of them are being defended on this show.

This is a rematch from AEW’s Fyter Fest, where the Elite (Omega and the Young Bucks) defeated the Lucha Brothers and Laredo.  The Bucks and the Lucha Bros. have been feuding for months, most notably in a three-match series where the AAA tag team championship changed hands twice.  I don’t expect the Elite are in Mexico for any reason except to return the favor; Fenix, Penta, and Laredo should pick up the win this time.

Psycho Clown & Cody Rhodes & Cain Velasquez vs. Taurus & Texano, Jr. & ??? - Taurus and Texano are Los Mercenarios, who interrupted when Cody was announcing the AEW-AAA partnership on March 16.  They attacked Cody but Psycho Clown (one of the hottest babyfaces) made the save.

Velasquez is a 14-3 MMA fighter and a former UFC heavyweight champion, who also happens to be the guy who took the title from Brock Lesnar.  So this feels like an attempt to present the Psycho Clown team as a bit of a dream team, with a top babyface, a legit badass, and a major American star.  Seems like the heels need a really good ringer to match that, but I have no idea who it could be.

I gather Velasquez is sticking around to work several big AAA shows, so I assume he needs to get a win here, but that mystery partner has me wondering if there’ll be a swerve. 

Keyra vs. Tessa Blanchard vs. Taya Valkyrie vs. Lady Shani vs. Faby Apache vs. Chik Tormenta vs. La Heidra - Keyra is defending the women’s championship in a tables, ladders, and chairs match.  If it’s anything like an American TLC match, the title belt will be hung above the ring, and the only way to win is to be the first woman to climb a ladder to pull the belt down.  (Since that makes disqualifications impossible, any foreign object would be legal, but tables, ladders, and chairs will be provided for the wrestlers to use.)  I actually don’t remember if I’ve ever seen a Mexican ladder match, so the rules may be different.  We’ll just have to see.  Every AAA match I’ve seen so far suggests this will be a trainwreck, but at least it’ll be an interesting one.  No idea who wins.

El Hijo del Vikingo & Myzteziz, Jr. & Golden Magic vs. Mocho Cota, Jr. & Carta Brava, Jr. & Tito Santana vs. Pimpinela Escarlata & Mamba & Máximo - This is a three-way trios match, and I assume the first man to pin any of his opponents will win the match for his team, but I’m just kinda winging it when it comes to lucha rules.  Vikingo and Myzteziz are two of the AAA trios champions, but their championship partner is Laredo Kid, not Golden Magic, so the title is not at stake.

To get this out of the way, Myzteziz is not the guy who used to be Mistico/Sin Cara, and Tito Santana is not the guy that used to be in the WWF with the “Girls in Cars” video.  I’m not sure why you’d name a guy “Tito Santana,” unless it’s to be super random like “Razor Ramon Hard Gay,” which is probably not the case here.  Also Maximo is probably not the big cool titanosaur at the Field Museum of Natural History, but that would be pretty cool.

Vikingo and Myzteziz are from a trio called Jinetes del Aire (”air raiders”).  The Cota/Brava/Santana team is called El Nuevo Poder del Norte (”the new power of the north”) and the Escarlata/Mamba/Maximo team is called Las Fresas Salvajes (”the fresh strawberries”).  So...you know what, those strawberry guys must know something I don’t, that could be a secret weapon, I think I’m gonna just bet on those dudes.

Niño Hamburguesa & Big Mami vs. Sammy Guevara & Scarlett Bordeaux vs. Villano III, Jr. & Lady Maravilla vs. Australian Suicide & Vanilla - Mami and Hamburguesa are defending the AAA mixed tag team championship in a four-way match.  In the US “mixed tag team” has come to mean “you can only wrestle opponents of your own gender,” but from what I’ve seen AAA is more lax about that stuff, and this may be more like what US promotions would call “intergender tag team” wrestling.  I assume the first team to score a fall on any opponent wins the match and the title.

The only team I really know anything about is Guevara (from working the undercard in AEW) and Bordeaux (from beating up Disco Inferno on Impact).  I’m kinda curious how those two ended up together.  This looks like it’ll be undercard comedy wackiness, and I expect the champs to retain.

Copa Triplemania battle royale - This is for the “Triplemania Cup” trophy.  The last time I saw a battle royale in AAA, everybody came out one at a time like in a Royal Rumble, and they were doing eliminations by pinfall, and Jeff Jarrett looked drunk and I think they fucked up the finish a couple of times.  I don’t have high hopes for this one.

[starshipsandsuperheroes]

Top 5 DND moments

oh shit I’m putting this under a cut cause it’s probs gonna get long

This isn’t gonna be quotes - I’m gonna tell actual stories, so if anyone’s interested in top 5 quotes, feel free to ask for those, and those will be much shorter because I will not provide context.

Ask me my top 5 anything here!

Ok so, in no particular order

1.) Two Birds, One Stoner - An almost episodic game, masterfully handled by my DM at school.  It featured the introduction of a new player, who we met as a pink tiefling bard, just like our current bard.  The resemblance was striking and strange, but she seemed interesting, so we let her tag along with us as we went to speak with an old mentor of our Rogue’s about what we suspected was the death of a god.  His advice led us to split between two temples in Rome - Bacchus (where both bards, our paladin, our barbarian, and our cleric went) and Artemis (where I, our rogue, and our wizard went).  I went to Artemis because she’s my character’s mother (that’s a whole nother story that may appear on this list later? We’ll see I’m still on this one), but our first bard went to Bacchus because his original god was Pan, who we believed was dead.  A purple tiefling met him outside the temple, her gold lipstick announcing her as a prostitute.  Paxxx (our bard) went with her while the rest of the party found themselves lost in the revelry that is the temple of Bacchus, until Paxxx returned to the main area and retrieved our paladin.  Paxxx took drugs given to him by the purple tiefling (Violet) and on the second try, found himself face to face with Bacchus, who told him what was going on - gods were dying and disappearing, and no one had any idea what the cause might be… only that Hades was the prime suspect.  He also dropped some other cryptic but important information - that Zeus loves his twins, but they had disappeared; that twins always reunite; that Paxxx should be sure to keep an eye on his “Demi-friends” (me and our paladin).  Paxxx snapped back awake, realized that the other pink tiefling we had found was his twin sister (yell heah), immediately filled in our paladin and the purple tiefling on what he had seen and learned, and gathered the party to dash over to the temple of Artemis.

I was there with the rogue and wizard, poking around the temple essentially to see if anyone had had any contact with Artemis without revealing too much about my character’s connection to her (she literally just found out like two weeks or so prior to this that it was even a thing, give her a break).  While we were there, I noticed a massive owl watching us from above - and a massive raven.  Both came down and landed on my arms when offered, but when they both flew away in opposite directions, I could only track one, and I rolled better to track the raven.  We tracked it back to a hooded figure, who was cooing at the bird until it noticed us, and disappeared when we spooked it.  

Literally every single thing I’ve told you just now went on to have an incredibly majorly important role in the last game we played before school got out for the summer.  It was absolutely buck wild.  

2.) Kost - In my other party, DM’ed by my amazing wife, this asshole sat on a plot twist for literal years, and we only found out like, last month.  We’re just chilling, minding our own business and trying to escape from prison (as you do) when our gunslinger suddenly realized something based on breadcrumbs of plot that had been dropped, turned to our swashbuckler, and asked for his last name.  Our swashbuckler immediately tried to play it cool, but it absolutely did not work, and it turned out that he was the son of a governor that may or may not have had something to do with why we had been thrown in jail in the first place - Govenor Kost.  I did start getting the flu as this was happening, so the details are a bit fuzzy, but I had skyped into the session and I almost hucked my laptop across the room it surprised me so much.

3.) “There’s no purple tiefling that works here” - This happened in the same school game (not session) that “Two Birds, One Stoner” did, so DM is here.  Remember that purple tiefling that gave our bard drugs and listened in as he recounted all of the incredibly important information he had gotten from Bacchus?  Yeah, so, uh, turns out we may be fucked because of that.

To make another very long story short, a series of very chaotic events led to our last game of the year.  The library of Alexandria has fallen, and it snowed in Giza as the temples to the Egyptian gods literally shattered around the city (this bit, by the way, gets honorable mention for my favorite moments, because it was narrated beautifully by my DM, as she told it from my character and our paladin’s perspective - two characters that had been raised in Egypt, where snow was a sign of the apocalypse).  Gods were falling left and right.  But when guards rushed into the Caesar’s palace to inform him that the Temple of Bacchus had fallen, we rushed over there - only to find a literal dracolitch standing atop the rubble, as the hooded figure I had seen with the raven at the Temple of Artemis yelled to it in infernal.

To make a long story short, she was yelling for it to stop, but since my character doesn’t know infernal, I assumed she was evil and tackled her.  After a bit of fighting, the Dracolitch literally took five characters down in a single blow, and then disappeared through a portal.  Our cleric and bards got everyone back to standing, and we started to help those that worked at the temple out of the rubble.  As we were helping them, though, someone made a comment about how we should try and find the purple tiefling Paxxx had met with when we were last here and make sure she was ok.  This sounded like a great plan… until the man we were helping up looked at us with a strange expression and said “There’s no purple tiefling that works here.”

4.) The Rats - My wife puts up with so much from us.  To be fair to us - none of us had played D&D before.  We weren’t exactly sure how things worked… so we summoned some rats to check around dungeon corners for us before we went into rooms and halls and the like.  I never pretended to be exceptionally intelligent, I’m just doing my best every damn day.

5.) Delphina - I’ve said before that my character in my school game (This DM) is the daughter of Artemis, but she only found out about it like two or so weeks prior to where we are currently in the game.  Maybe three, idk.  My point is, she hasn’t had a whole lot of time to adjust, especially since she found out like this:

 We had travelled to Giza (the hometown of our dragonborn paladin) in search of our party’s old rogue, Effie, who was played by our DM before she took over for our previous DM.  When we got there, we found that someone had been killing non-dragonborns - as Egypt is a largely dragonborn society in this world, this made the pattern very obvious.  Our trail to both Effie and the killer had grown cold and we had found a man from my character’s home village that requested our help dealing with a threat, so we left the city for a few days to help them.  While we were there, our party picked up a new member - our barbarian, Mara.

When we returned, however, our paladin’s friend was waiting for us with some devastating news - Effie had been found dead, shot through the heart by an arrow.  (Crit role fans: the bow that was being used to make these kills was Fenthras, so there were trees growing out of the corpses, which is how they were really linking the kills).  Our cleric cast speak with dead on her, and we found out a few things:  she had been killed by a cultist who bore the symbol of Artemis, and Effie had been sent to Giza by her patron (Hermes) to protect his niece, the daughter of Artemis - which was, apparently, my character, to the genuine surprise of both her and I.  All this cultist knew was that the daughter wasn’t a dragonborn and was from Egypt, hence the pattern.  We set up a trap to catch this woman, using me as bait and our new barbarian as a “bounty hunter” figure who would act as if she was turning me in for a reward.

What followed was the most genuinely invested and scared I’ve ever felt during a scene in D&D.  Our plan got put into action, and our DM’s interpretation of this cultist (whose name was Delphina) was a rather regal woman with a terrifyingly calm voice.  She stared me down for a moment before asking in all-too-gentle of a voice, “Do you know who you mother is, child?” and I legit almost lost my damn mind.  It was terrifying and insanely fun and cool.  I’d be happy to finish the story if anyone wants to hear it, but it’s already insanely long for this post, so come ask if you’d like to hear the rest.

[falling--in--place]

Original Fic Fest: Day 1

It’s here! Day one is all about characters! Another thank you to @originalficfest for creating this platform! I’m probably going to spend this evening getting obsessed with other peoples OC’s! 

Ok! Onto mine! I decided to take a slightly different approach than what this post mentioned. Everything I could think to write separately sounded amazing until I realized it compromised some aspect of the plot. For this book, I’m giving out information and back stories in a very controlled manor. So maybe some of these ideas the prompt gave me will get written and released much later. Anyway! Below is slightly better look at my OC’s from Rage than I gave on my WIP page: 

Vanessa- She is greatly inspired by some of my favorite things in life. Vanessa is who I would love to become. She is blunt, sarcastic, aggressive, protective, loyal, and can of course hurl fireballs at people that piss her off. If only I could learn to do that last part… I didn’t write her specifically to fit the lovable asshole trope, but she does fit it in some ways. She has a very dry sense of humor, and has mastered the deadpan delivery.  She self-describes as bitchy. To her (and to me) it’s a good thing. It’s a badass thing. It’s something to be proud of. Her past is something she doesn’t talk about much, but it will surface a few times throughout Rage and the rest of the series. She was abandoned as an infant. She met James in the orphanage they were dumped at. A lot of her aggressive tendencies developed as a means of survival. At 12, she and James ran away from the orphanage to try and find a better life. For her, that meant hardening herself to the world. Taking charge of it. Making sure she was never in a vulnerable position again. She had love once, but it didn’t work out in a spectacularly awful way. She closed herself off to that too. She does want to make the world a better place, but she doesn’t talk about it. I wouldn’t advise bringing it up either (unless you’re James).  

James- I had this vision in my head when I came up with James and Vanessa. This almost perfect yin and yang thing. I didn’t know how or why, but I just knew how they would interact with each other. The backstory formed almost flawlessly and it made sense. James is the calm to Vanessa’s storm. He is patient, thoughtful, deliberate, and reserved. They are soul mates in the truest sense. James also doesn’t like to talk about the past, but he will with people he trusts. Gus, Cassidy, and Thomas learned of both his and Vanessa’s history through James. While they were both dumped in the same orphanage, raised by the same uncaring guardians, and both took the streets together, James doesn’t see it the same way Vanessa does. He was always a little more cautious, but watching Vanessa charge in to all situations without a second thought made him more so. He took to protecting her the best way he knew how: backup/escape plans. She jumped into the middle of danger to protect him, he found a safe exit for them both while she kept all attention on her. He wouldn’t let the world harden him though. He wants to see the beauty in life. He wants to save the world and it’s afraid to announce to anyone. He’s very overt about wanting to rescue anyone from the past he and Vanessa shared. 

 Cassidy- When I started this book I didn’t intend to keep her and Gus around as regular important characters. Shows me what I know… Cassidy is a sweet lady. She will help anyone that appreciates it. She loves the world as a whole and sees all it could turn into. She is a bit of dreamer, but she knows it. She sees all the bad stuff too. She just chooses not to dwell on it. Her past with Gus and how they met Vanessa is going to get air time with this series (I just don’t know when) so I’m only going to touch on it briefly. She had been a part of one of the leading fairy families. Part of her job was to keep the witches off balance. Tensions between the two magic wielding races had always been high, but for the leading families it was even more so. It was always a battle for whose magic was more valuable. Then a boy tried to get her attention as he rode by on horseback. He wasn’t paying attention and his head slammed into a sign, knocking him off his horse. (I know it sounds very Romeo and Juliet, it isn’t quite though). 

Gus- He was of course the guy on horseback. He didn’t even know she was a fairy at first glance, just that she was beautiful. He wasn’t a member of one of the leading witch families, he just worked for one of them. He was accustomed to hard work, and even with magic he had calloused hands. Much of his magic was used up during the day at the Academy training for combat, so at work he just used his hands. He is a very down to earth guy that places very little value in expensive things. Woodworking is one of his favorite hobbies, and even though he has magic to spare nowadays, he still uses his hands to carve everything from figurines to statues.  

Thomas- Ah, Thomas is my redemption story. When he met James and Vanessa for the first time he was a self-absorbed asshole. Their first encounter lead to a lot of yelling and Vanessa wanting to kill him, just a little bit. The change that swept through him happened mostly before this books starts, but he still has some of those moments. Vanessa still wants to kill him sometimes. I plan to tell Thomas’s story in full at some point too. (I have A LOT of plans…) He works at a bank managing major accounts. He has a lot of powerful contacts, most of them legit, but some are a little shadier. He almost never uses his clout to pull in favors anymore. Something that used to give him a pretty bad reputation. He is now pretty well respected. That he is living with and in love with James only helped his case. Every one that knows James thinks he’s the greatest. Having James care about you boosted your credibility dramatically.  

Nic- I’m kind of excited about this one. I haven’t talked much about Nic anywhere yet. He doesn’t come into play until like 100 pages into the book, but he’s going to be pretty fantastic. As a powerful Were alpha, he pretty much always gets what he wants. Then he met Vanessa. He is both amused and infuriated by her. She defies all of his instincts. She doesn’t defer to him. She doesn’t require protection. She is downright disrespectful when she feels like it. She’s funny though, and it’s kind of nice to see someone step into Were politics and not need their hand held. The two of them are like any one of these death defying rollercoasters. Ups and Downs, breakneck speeds, sharp corners, but ending in a massive freefall with hopes the parachute works. James and Vanessa complement each other in almost every way with a defined give and take. Nic and Vanessa… they collide and challenge each other constantly. Their banter is so much fun to write! 

 Those are all the characters I am going to do for now (ended up WAY longer than I thought it would)! For more information on my characters or the story they are a part of, head over to my WIP page!

[sh-dafugup]

a year ago last week i started that manager job (that i quit in october) so i’ve been reminiscing.

recovered memories from my previous job for when the one i have now feels like the worst thing in the world:

*i made thirty 911 calls in six months

*PARENTS LETTING THEIR KIDS HAVE BABY-POWDER FIGHTS, parents teaching their kids to shoplift, parents teaching their kids how to properly curse out and threaten employees for asking them to not ride carts through the store

*throwing out $100 in stolen half-eaten food a night (mostly vienna sausages and coconut water)

*professional pan-handlers chasing customers through the parking lot asking for specific amounts of money, professional shoplifters filling up backpacks with whatever they could and meeting their boss across the street to empty out and get paid,

*a cashier overdosed twice in two weeks while on the clock,

*another cashier who gave me some kind of antibiotic-resistant virus that lasted six weeks (who also let her toddler go with pink eye for so long her eyes crusted shut) brought in her boyfriends to shoplift during her shifts. She stole thousands of dollars from the registers and the safe (inside heist before i started working there that was never solved) over the course of two years. She was filmed by a customer stealing money from another customer by ringing up a sale and voiding it without opening the register after the first customer left. and she started stalking me when she found out the vigilant customer came to me with the video of her stealing and that i'd reported it and opened an investigation. I had to beg my boss to fire her even after he saw the video. when we met and i was introduced as her new manager, she asked me if i liked to party and said she "used to smoke crack" but she promised she "didn't anymore."

*a homeless man from the tent city behind the shopping center tried to murder another homeless man by the dumpsters behind our store by beating his head in with a pipe.

*the mafia landlord threatened me because i wouldn't let him shop after hours, his girlfriend filled her purse with whatever she felt like on a regular basis and corporate told me to back off when i reported it. i was told "just because i felt threatened doesn't mean I was".

uhhhh...

*being threatened by customers on a daily basis for refusing to process returns with fake or outdated receipts for $1 brooms, being threatened by customers for not breaking hundred dollar bills on sunday afternoons for one-dollar sales, being threatened by customers for not having more than one register open at 6 on a monday night (guy told me he was gonna take me outside and show me what customer service really meant), being threatened by customers for making closing announcements.

a man who ran a popular Dominican nightclub across the street came in at five minutes to closing on Cinco de Mayo, asked what colors were on the Mexican flag and asked for 50 helium balloons in each color. He got flustered and left when he realized it would take more than five minutes to inflate 150 mylar balloons. none of us understood why he was trying to capitalize on a holiday Dominicans don't celebrate but it moves booze and he figured it was worth a shot.

a cashier got fired for stealing money and merchandise and under-ringing hundreds of dollars of food for her friends. she came back to shop all the time. last time i saw her she tried to steal frozen pork chops but got nervous and left them by the doors when she thought we weren't distracted enough. she went to a hiring event at another value store up the road owned by our company, but she was turned away because they had her arrested a few weeks prior for retail theft.

one time we had about ten to fifteen associates come visit from other stores for a special merchandising remodel and they were all from stores in nicer areas where people are normal. none of them understood why we didn't have the doors propped open for our customers that morning. even the district manager at the time tried to warn them that it was a bad idea, but the visitors insisted it would be more welcoming to the neighborhood. we were robbed three times before noon. twice by the same guy. he liked to fill shopping carts with socks and just run for it.

uhhh....

the freezers breaking three times in one week and losing $4K in food, having to receive DC trucks until the day of a special mid-year inventory (red flag store) because my DM was the antichrist and refused to delay the trucks, and then receiving two more full trailers the next day cause another store in the district had a fire and they gifted us their shipments

i had to lock myself in the back office to get away from a screaming middle-aged white woman who was insistent that i was lying about the restaurant next to us having a public bathroom because we weren't allowed to let the public in our stock room to use the barely operational employee bathroom.

the shopping center supposedly being built on legit-i-shit-you-not INDIAN BURIAL GROUND and there being some kind of demonic force or presence in our storage basement that gave people what i can only describe as a sense of dread and violent mood swings from moments after entering the store until they left. it was kind of like a SHINING experience crossed with what happened to the dad in the original Amityville Horror. outside the store, people were completely different, like the moment they went outside the rage stopped. and sometimes homeless people would sneak in the basement and live there for a while. and the basement was full of chiggers and dust mites and bed bugs. any time we had to bring fixtures or seasonal pack-away's up we had to tape our clothes around our ankles and wrists.

one day someone hit a transformer so the entire south end of town had a blackout and when i closed the store until the power came back, one elderly customer refused to leave and stood around for an entire hour until he could make his purchase. GREATEST GENERATION, MY ASS. others outside ignored the fact that the restaurants, nail salon, grocery store and urgent care center had evacuated and tried to forcibly enter my store while cursing at me for locking the doors in the dark. our system stayed offline for hours after that and every sale we made wasn't entered in the system until we realized our registers were showing hundreds of dollars in "excess" cash. while we were on the phone with the help desk getting it sorted out, two people didn't show up for their shifts and another (the one with the needle habit) showed up early and overdosed behind the register in front of a nurse from the UC next door just trying to buy a soda on her lunch break.

and one time a Puerto Rican cashier made a remark about her neighbors playing Dominican music in the middle of the night in front of a Dominican customer and they physically fought while while the Dominican customer announced to the entire store in Spanish to any Dominicans in there that we were discriminating against them and that they should all get together and "do something about it." I had to call the cops to break up the fight. no citations issued, i just had the cops tell her she was banned for life.

this one time one of my cashiers attempted to physically discipline a customer who threatened one of my managers when she'd said something to the customer about their kid running around and screaming and throwing things. cops had to break that one up too.

oh and one day i went in on a mid-to-close shift and the bank next door had closed down in response to "OUR" bank down the street being robbed so we couldn't run our deposit or get change from anywhere in the area. and the opening manager who told me so also casually mentioned that a delivery driver told her that morning that the power box on the back of the building had been hit by a truck "or something" and that electricians would be by to look at it later in the day. when they showed up, it HAD been hit with something and I was told un-regulated power was pouring into the building, that it was a fire hazard, but power and light wouldn't be able to fix it for approximately two weeks. corporate insisted we stay open for business--they said a chance of an explosion didn't mean it necessarily would. when the electricians took the door off the box to check out the guts inside, they mentioned that the wires leading into the building looked out of regulation but were interrupted by a swarm of live hornets nesting in the meter box that poured out into their faces.

our phone line was split with someone else's in town so sometimes our store phone just didn't work. calls would cut out, we'd hear other people talking on the line. most of the 911 calls i made went like, "what's the number there at the store?" "oh, i'm calling from my personal cell, our phone is out of service." we never had it fixed.

human resources tried to fire me because an associate said i was cursing in the employee bathroom after a customer chewed me out for something trivial. I handed her my keys and walked out. I was the fifth person to hold that position in two years. at least two other people have had it since I left seven months ago.

[novelblujay]

Chapter 2

Title: Breaking Walls

Genre: Fiction, Action, Dystopian Future, Original, Romance

Words: 4.6K

Rating:  T

Summary:  Puck is trying to have a semi-normal day, but with the new student in his class is putting his secret is in danger.

The teacher announced Sky’s arrival an hour ago, and Puck had spent that time staring daggers into the back of Sky’s head,  pretending to shoot lasers from his eyes in order to set Sky’s small, messy, brown bun on fire.  Suddenly, his hour long fixation was interrupted by a wad of paper hitting his face and landing in his lap.  He turned towards its origin to see Wally staring at him, eyes shifting between the wad of paper and Puck.  He opened up the crumpled paper, revealing a sloppily written message asking Puck to meet Wally by the restrooms.  

Wally, then, quickly excused himself, took a restroom pass, and left, while Puck was still looking at the crude letter in annoyance.  Puck rolled his eyes and followed Wally out to see what had caused him to rudely interrupt Puck’s staring.  The teacher eyed him suspiciously as he headed towards the door, since everyone knew that Puck and Wally had a history of causing chaos together when no one was looking, but she did nothing to stop him from leaving.  Puck exited the room, letting the door slam carelessly behind him.  He was not in the mood for whatever Wally’s ridiculous antic might be today.

When he walked out he saw Wally leaning against the wall near the restrooms, trying to look cooler than he was.  His naturally, bright red hair was a mess today, which wasn’t that unusual, but he was wearing decently new jeans, as it only had one hole, instead of the usual extreme wear-and-tear.  He was also wearing his favorite zip up, with a logo of a skull being fired from a cannon that Molly had made for him.  With his hair sticking out in random directions his pierced ears were hidden, he had both lobes pierced and the left side had three upper cartilage piercings.  Puck had been the one to pierce him, since piercing and tattoos were seen as forbidden and taboo in the Upper Districts, and Molly couldn't bring herself to stab her brother.  

As Puck approached, a pair of heterochromatic eyes looked up at him, full of concern and anger.  Puck was thrown off by the look on the shorter male, as he usually only looked overly excited, bored, or confused.  Seeing him look serious in any situation was off putting to say the least.

“You all good there, hun?” Puck asked, slowing his approach.  

“Are you?” Wally huffed back.  “You've been super spacey all day, and do you know the new kid because I can't tell if you're trying to undress him with your eyes or if you’re imagining stabbing him in the back.  It’s not like you to be so distracted”

“I am definitely not undressing that… that pompous asshat,” Puck spit out, struggling to find an insult that felt right.

“So you do know him! What’d he do? Did he hurt you? Do we need to kick his ‘pompous’ ass?” Wally asked quickly with a hint of concern.  Getting excited at the idea of a potential fight, he pushed off the wall and began bouncing side to side, throwing fake punches in Puck’s direction.

Puck shook his head. A small part of him wanted to say yes, but he knew it would be wrong.  “Wally, I don't know him, and nothing happened.  I just…,” he paused looking for a believable excuse, “don't like his face…?”

Wally’s eyes narrowed, looking at Puck as if to say ‘really’.  “Sure… y’know I can always tell when you are lying to me,” Wally stated.  

Puck scoffed at that comment since he lied to Wally about work on a daily basis, “sure you do,” he said bitterly.

Wally threw one last fake punch, this time hitting Puck in the chest and causing him fall back a little.  The movement caused a passing teacher to notice them loitering. The teacher frowned and began walking towards them.  Noticing he had drawn unwanted attention towards them Wally started back towards the class, and away from the teacher, with his head down and his hands in his pockets.  Puck fell in step behind him.  Wally looked back at Puck and whispered angrily, “well, have a legit reason or get over it, because class is boring with you staring at him like that the whole time.”

Puck angrily pushed passed Wally and hurried to sit down in his seat. He knew he wasn’t really mad at Wally but that Wally was the only outlet he had for his anger at the moment.  He ignored the glare from the teacher, and Wally’s death glares, choosing instead to resume his staring contest with the back of Sky’s head.  Wally had every right to be upset with him.  His lie was lousy, but there was no way for Puck to explain his actions without giving away his secret.  He could only imagine the hate Wally, and the others, would show him if the secret got out, and with Sky here, his secret being revealed seemed inevitable.  All he could do was hope to scare the kid away from himself and his friends.

With the first half of the day done, it was time for lunch, and Puck made sure to sit on the opposite side of the cafeteria from Sky.  He was hopping the girls would sit with him and he could forget everything and make the day not feel like the end of the world.  However, when he spotted Molly’s orange and red hair come in, followed by Summer, he was quickly disappointed.  He watched as the average looking girl, if not for her eyes and hair, and her shorter curvier companion each take a seat next to Sky.  

Puck dropped his head on the table, ignoring whatever Wally had started whining about, in an attempt to make Puck act normally.  Puck stayed like this, enjoying not being able to see anyone, until Wally decided he didn't want to be ignored any longer.  Wally poked Puck’s head so that it rocked back and forth, while making the most annoying noises he could.  Puck didn't respond and let it continue, hopping Wally would lose interest and let him wallow in self pity.  After several minutes the poking got harder, before it stopped all together.  Puck relaxed assuming he had won the war of wills.  However, his luck from the night before hadn’t gotten any better, and rather than leaving, Wally stood quickly and turned towards Puck.  Then, before Puck had time to question the strange behavior, all of Wally’s weight was thrown into his side, and Puck was falling from his seat and onto the cold, dirty floor.  Still sore from yesterdays fall, he struggled to get up, yelling any curse words and insults that came to mind.  The recipient of the harsh words was already long gone though, running towards the table with their friends on the other side of the cafeteria, laughing as loud as he could.  

Puck stood up slowly, ignoring the majority of the room that was now staring at him.  He looked towards the table were his friends were sitting along with the origin of his sour mood.  He debated on whether he should sit with them, and risk being outed as a District 6 stripper, or go home early and take a nap in before work.  Ultimately, he decided to risk it and sit with the others.  As he got closer to the table Wally lunged over the table towards Sky, looking like he was going to kiss the new boy.  Puck was thankful when Wally stopped short, to look at Sky’s face far too closely for anyone to be comfortable.  

“Careful love, he might bite,” Puck announced as he reached the table.  He sat  next to Wally.  “And I heard he might be a zombie, just look at those eyes.  He is obviously dead,” Puck added, in hopes of getting the redhead away from the stoic brunette.  

“Puck!” the girls yelled in unison, looking at him in horror and disbelief.  The girls didn’t know about Puck’s angry fixation on the boy, and seeing outgoing, friendly, and charismatic Puck insult someone he had supposedly just met was a shock.  Puck knew he was acting strangely, but he couldn't bring himself to care right now. His secret was in danger and being this close to Sky again was putting him on edge.  

Sky didn’t seem to notice and/or care, he only looked over at Puck for a second before returning to stare at nothing.  Wally had not moved away from his spot in Sky’s face, but started yelling when he saw the brunettes eyes move, “oo, oo, oo! Do that again Puck!”

Puck smiled slyly, sitting up and propping his chin on his hand,  “you're going to have to be more specific, darling.  Do you mean insult the zombie again,” he said, lazily pointing at Sky with his free hand,  “or perhaps do you mean make Summer and Molly scream my name again,” he purred.

Wally whipped around to face Puck, with a face of pure disgust.  “Ew! No! that's my sister, and that was crazy sexual,” he said, putting his hands up defensively.

Regardless of his previous mood, Puck couldn't let an opportunity like this go by.  He sat up fully, using his extra height to tower over Wally and flash a predatory grin.  “Why is poor little Wally jealous?” Puck asked.  “If you would rather I give you that kind of attention, you only have to say so.  I know how much you love being the center of attention,” he purred, putting a hand on Wally’s thigh.

Wally’s face and ears, quickly became as red as his hair.  However, he refused to look away, and he brought his hand up to cup Puck’s face.  “You can make me the center of your world, but you could never make me scream like that,” he said looking Puck dead in the eyes.  Someone cleared their throat before Puck could continue, and the two boys looked at the other three at the table.  Molly looked amused by her twin’s rare cleaver come back, Sky still looked dead, and Summer looked ready to rip the two apart.  Wally quickly turned away from Puck and smacked the hand off his lap, focusing on his food, fearing Summer’s wrath.  This only made Puck more upset than he had been before, as this was one of the rare times Wally was continuing with a comeback to one of Puck’s many attempts to fluster him by flirting, and the banter was helping him feel better.  Too bad Summer was being a major buzzkill, as usual.

Summer glared at Puck, and gestured towards Sky, who had not moved or reacted in any way, and was arguably sleeping with his eyes half open.  Puck knew Summer was mad about him acting like this in front of someone new, but Puck would make out with Wally - right here right now - if it meant making the brunette leave.  He'd be disgusted afterwards and have to clean his mouth for hours, and Wally would definitely give him a black eye for doing that, but he'd put money on it being the best kiss Wally would ever get.  However, after considering it for a moment, he decided nothing short of being held at gunpoint would make the brown haired and blue eyed boy react and maybe that wouldn’t even be enough.  

He watched as Summer and Molly tried to have a conversation with Sky, even though he only answered with a nod or shake of his head, if he answered at all.  Feeling irritated about the situation, Puck stood up dramatically, earning the attention of not three, but four sets of eyes.  He glared at Sky making him look away and go back to looking dead.  “I think I am going to go into work early today,” he announced.  “You all have fun with that...thing,” he spit out, pointing at Sky with his chin, then turned towards the exit to leave.

Molly called out after him, but Puck was hellbent on leaving and didn’t acknowledge the call.  His friends knew how stubborn he got, and that he could not be stopped when was in a mood.

He actually didn't have to be at work for another 6 hours, and even that was going to be early.  He had originally been planning to be in school for the next three hours, but now that was no longer an option, so he decided to go home and take an extra long nap.

Puck woke up to his alarm blaring in his ear.  He groaned loudly and sat up to silence the annoying beeping.  If he went to work now he would still be an hour early, and he wasn't sure he wanted to be doted on and questioned about yesterday for that long.  Instead, he decided he would stop by the black market and get a new table to replace the one that had been destroyed. Maybe that would help calm the wrath of his manager for his behavior last night.  He was lucky he had been able to leave last night without getting a lecture from her.

Puck actually prefered shopping in the Lower District rather than his own district.  The prices were significantly lower, but it matched the quality of the goods.  However, it was a much more social place than any shops in the Upper Districts.  Puck had even made friends with a few vendors, which is not an easy task.   He grabbed a book Molly had lent him to read, and started walking to the market.  

When he arrived at the market, he made sure he had all his valuables secured and only the amount he wanted to spend evident - he might be friendly with everyone in the Lower Districts but that didn’t mean he trusted everyone down here.  He only had to wander through a few stalls before he found a table that was unsettlingly similar to the style the club already had.  It was customary to bargain in the Lower Districts but, he never bothered with haggling for a lower price.  He handed the greedy looking man selling the table the amount he asked for right away, hoping not to spend too much time at the stall and avoid getting swindled into buying things he didn’t need.  The man was pleasantly surprised by this, so he offered to help Puck move it.  Puck looked over at the large table and accepted the help, grateful for any assistance.  Soon him and a group of younger boys were maneuvering the table through the crowds, to the club.

When they arrived, Puck asked them to wait out front so he could go around back to open the front door for them.  The front door was always kept locked until operating hours which didn't start for another two hours, however the dancers were expected to come early for rehearsal and prep.  As he approached the dark back entrance he noticed a figure sitting, slumped over next to the door.  Puck assumed it would be someone who had gotten an early start on drinking and had already passed out, but the closer he got the more he started to recognise the figure.  Loose brown hairs hid his face, but Puck had spent too many hours today staring at that sloppy half bun to not recognise it instantly.  He quickly turned around, leaving the other there.  The market boys were still out front waiting for him to open the door, but Puck just thanked them for their help and sent the confused group home.  

Looking at the front entrance he wondered what his odds were that someone would answer if he knocked.  With his recent luck the odds felt depressingly low.  He let out a sad sigh and pounded on the door as hard as he could, not expecting an answer.  However, his luck seemed to be turning around, and someone opened it soon after he knocked.  

“Puck?” a small voice asked.

Puck looked down at the shorter girl, Lacy. She was one of the newer dancers, who hadn't even performed yet.  “Lacy!” he exclaimed, “do you think you could get a few people to come out here and help me bring this in?” he gestured toward the table.

She gave a small nod then disappeared behind the door, letting it close behind her.  Puck stood protectively over the table, trying to forget what he had seen at the back door.  Sky looked like he was actually asleep for once, from how his head was hanging forward.  Puck would have wondered how long Sky had been there except he wanted to forget about the boy entirely.  Luckily, Lacy showed up a minute later with two of the male dancers and the supervisor.  The supervisor looked at Puck in annoyance and then she saw the table beside him and burst into a loud laugh.  

Puck looked at her with mild concern until he was pulled into a hug by the older woman.  “First you fuck up the night and go storming off without a word.  Then some boy comes looking for you, refusing to leave until he sees you, and now here you are on my doorstep with a new table.” She continued laughing and hugging the boy tightly.  “You are almost more trouble than you are worth,” she said, squeezing Puck so hard he couldn't breath.  “Almost.”

“I do what I can, love,” Puck wheezed out.  

She let go shortly after, and started barking orders to the others, telling them where to put the table and to get back to rehearsal.  Everyone except Puck.  Puck stood next to the older woman trying not to stare at the grey hairs hidden in her dirty blond ponytail.  Once everyone was gone she dragged Puck into her office by his ear, earning a chorus childish of oohs from everyone they passed.  The door was closed once they were inside and Puck instinctively took a seat in the chair facing the small, makeshift desk.  

The supervisor took her seat behind the desk and rested her chin on her hands, staring at Puck in amusement.  “I am still mad about the losses from last night, but since you saved me some work by replacing the table… I’m willing to let it go.  But, before I completely let you off the hook, I need you go deal with the boy camping out at the back door.”  she stated simply, keeping an air of professionalism about her.  

Puck wanted nothing more than to never see that boy again.  He debated on which was worse, having to interact with the zombie one-on-one or suffer the wrath of his boss.

“I don't even know the kid. Have someone else do it, please!  What if he is here to kill me...or worse!” he gasped dramatically, hoping he could avoid the situation.

The show got him nothing more than an annoyed eye roll from his superior.  “He has been sitting out there for the past hour or so waiting for you” she said, matter of factly.  “Even knew your name, so I'll take my chances with your life, this time.  Now get out, you clearly need rehearsal time after last night's disaster,” she shooed him, waving her hands randomly around her.  

Puck left the office slowly, pouting as obviously as possibly, but he wasn't given any attention.  As he was passing rehearsal, to go to the back door, he stopped and peeked back at his boss, who was staring intently at what he could only assume were bills of some sort.  He looked back at the group rehearsing and got an idea.  “I’m going to go rehearse first, say nothing if that’s okay” he whispered over his shoulder.  Getting no response from his boss he smiled happily, and pushed Sky to the back of his mind, assuming he would leave eventually if Puck never came out.  

Rehearsal ended up running late, giving everyone little to no time to clean up and prepare for the night.  Getting lost in the quick pace of work came naturally, and Puck completely forgot about the boy at the back door.  

The night’s performances went much better than yesterday's, maybe even one of their best night ever.  Puck was going around bragging that the good fortune was due to the lucky table he had bought, causing everyone to roll their eyes and laugh at him.  Not needing to clean himself up much, Puck was the first one out, and what he saw at the back door made all his happy feelings drop instantly.

Sky was in the same spot and position he had been earlier, perhaps more curled in on himself for warmth.  Puck froze not knowing what to do, honestly he was surprised the well dressed, sleeping figure had not been mugged, but then again this area rarely had any traffic.  Puck sighed loudly and, started to move toward Sky, stopping when he noticed the peaceful rise and fall of Sky’s body pause before being taken over by short, panicked movements.  Puck quickly moved closer and crouched down to look at the brunette’s face closer, he noticed that Sky was still asleep but extreme fear had taken over all his normally emotionless features, and tears were starting to stream down his face.  

Alarmed, Puck grabbed Sky's shivering shoulders and started shaking him gently, in an attempt to wake him.  This only seemed to panic Sky further, as he curled in on himself tighter, mumbling incoherent phrases that sounded like pleas for something.  This only made Puck worry more and having never dealt with anything like this before he started shaking Sky harder, desperate to wake the other, “wake up! It's only a dream,” he yelled.  

Sky’s eyes shot open, seeing Puck’s dark outline looming over him made him freak out further.  Yelling, he pushed away, falling onto his side and curling into himself. “please…. please don't hurt me,” he whispered in a small voice, closing his eyes and covering his ears, like a small child fearing injury.  Puck was at a total loss for words, he was 100% sure that with Sky’s build and muscle mass there were very few that could hurt him, and Puck was definitely not one of them.  He looked around him for a hint on how to deal with this, but he saw noting that would help calm a person.  The foul smelling alley was dark, filled with vermin infested trash, and surrounded by walls that were covered in all kinds of questionable substances - not exactly ideal for what he was currently dealing with.  For a brief second he considered going to get help from inside, but then his boss would know he had let Sky sit outside for the last several hours, it had to be 3 or 4 in the morning by now.  

He looked down at Sky and slowly sat down near him, being careful not to touch him.  “Hey… hey it’s ok sweetie, I only want to help you,” Puck cooed gently.  

Sky shook his head violently, rubbing his hair into the dirt and trash he was laying on.  

Trying a slightly sterner voice Puck said, “hey now, don't get your nice clean hair all dirty and tangled because of me.”

Sky stayed balled up for a few more silent moments, but then he finally opened his eyes, and looked around the alleyway, seeming lost for a moment until he finally recognized Puck.  He relaxed significantly and slowly pushed himself into a sitting position.  “I’m sorry” he whispered, hair hanging in his face.

“It’s no problem, we all get nightmares,” Puck said gently.

Sky flinched at the word nightmare, but otherwise didn't move.  “No..., I… I’m sorry for last night,” he corrected.

Puck blinked at him unsure how to respond.  

“I came here today to apologize to you,” Sky tried again.

“Apologize…? For me punching that guy?”

Sky nodded, causing a leaf to fall out of his hair.

Puck had spent the past 24 hours despising this broken person before him, and he was starting to regret it.  “Why would you apologize for that, you didn’t do anything wrong?” he asked.

“The man who you hit was there to meet me for business.”  Bloodshot, blue eyes looked up to meet brown ones.

“Love, I am sure he would have been at the club last night even if you didn't have a meeting with him.  Although, I question your idea of a business meeting location.”

Sky shook his head quickly, more hair falling in his face, “it wasn't my idea.”

Puck smiled at him, gently pushing as much hair as he could behind Sky's ear.  “I don’t doubt it judging from how you looked in the club.  Why didn't you come in today?”

“Didn't want to cause you more trouble…”

“What trouble did you cause before?”

“Me being their made that fight happen, bad things always happens around me…”

Puck looked at Sky in confusion, “the only thing you did last night was look dead and make people feel uncomfortable.  I had hoped to change that, but I didn’t account for the the ass I ended up hitting.  You are more than welcome to come inside in the future.  As long as you don’t sit in center of the room looking like that, I mean really that’s like the best seat in the house.  Leave it for people who actually like the show.”

Sky bowed his head lower than Puck thought was possible, “I’m so sorry! …And… that's not… I never said… I didn’t… l-like it.”  The last part was mumbled so quietly that Puck wasn’t sure it had even been said, but he could see the tips of Sky’s ears turning pink.

Puck chuckled lightly and stood up, he offered a hand to Sky, much like Sky had done for him last night.  “Come on, I’ll walk you home.  You seem like you could use some company.”

Sky took his hand but kept is face angled away from Puck’s.  Puck pulled the burnett to his feet easily, and they started walking back towards the Upper Districts in silence.  Puck wanted to ask about earlier, often opening his mouth as if to speak but only letting out a sigh, when he saw how it made Sky tense up.  They walked in silence, Sky staring at his feet and Puck lost in thought trying to let Sky lead the way without walking behind him.  Honestly he wasn't sure if either of them knew where they were going.

Finally, after about an hour of walking, they reached the middle of District two.  Puck slowly came to a stop.  Sky noticed and stopped too, looking up to meet Puck's eyes nervously.  “Sky...,” Puck began, feeling weird finally saying the other boys name.  “Would you like to sit with me and my friends at lunch tomorrow?”

The corner of the brunettes lip turned upward for a second and he nodded slightly.

“Lovely, well it's pretty late and I have to get back to District 3, so if you’ll be alright making the rest of the way home on your own...” Puck paused and Sky nodded again.  “I’ll see you tomorrow then, get some rest,” Puck said, smiling.  He waved a small goodbye before walking back towards his house.  He looked over his solder after a few steps to see the back of the brunettes head walking in the other direction.  The sight made him smile and he walked home feeling significantly lighter than he had in a long time.