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ebonysplendor · 3 months

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Perfect Love Review 💖

TL;DR: Yeah, Milo is toxic and all, but growing up is realizing that, maybe I'M the problem. Maturing is realizing that it's not even a damn maybe; we're deadass the problem this time.

Game Link: https://c4game.itch.io/perfectlove

Notable Features: Sadistic MC, Gender options, LI turned Yandere, (8) Endings Tracker, Self-Insert Spiciness: 0/5 -- As far as I know, there's no spicy scenes, but I was so shook after my first playthrough, I just ran to make a review. That said though, this game is by no means wholesome LI MC Red Flags: 7/5 -- Sadistic, vindictive, manipulative, drugged someone, accessory to crimes, conspiracy to crimes, gaslighter, blackmailed someone, emotionally/mentally abusive, just..a lot of shit (and you thought Castiel was toxic)

Wanna know more? Well, let's get into it!

Fair warning, there may be way more grammar errors than normal because when I tell you that I played the first ending and ran to make a review, I mean that quite literally. That being exposed, just bear with me because this had very little proof reading because I was way too excited to tell you all about this game (without spoiling too much, of course) lol

What's up! Welcome back to another review!

Two things to start this off:

1. I know I already posted another review today, but I couldn't not write a review about this game and tell as many people that would listen to play it as soon as they could! 2. No, my friends, that was not a typo. It's not the LI we need to be concerned about; it's the MC. Yes, we're the problem this time around, and holy shit, please allow me to tell you about it! Or at least some of it, because I don't want to spoil too much.

As angry as this game made me, and as open and as wide as my mouth was during pretty much the entirety of this game, this has been the best damn visual novel I have come across to date! Yes, you read that correctly, and I will double down on it without hesitation; this is the best visual novel that I have ran across! Bitch, I would've paid money for this visual novel it was so good, and y'all know that I'm a cheap bitch! This was a $12.00 game (no, I still ain't over that! lol)! I would've gladly dropped that amount of money on this!

And I really hope I'm not exaggerating or overhyping it either, because I don't know which visual novels you guys have or haven't played, so let me clarify: For me, this is 1000/10 the best visual novel that I have read up to date. The pacing, the art style, the story its damn self, the fact that we're the problem this time around! Like, ugh, I could go on and on and on and on and on some more about this masterpiece of a game. I'm dead serious. I really believe that I could do an improvised one hour powerpoint presentation with absolutely zero prep time on how much of a chokehold this game has me in and STILL need an extra 30 minutes to an hour to really get my damned point across. It is that real for me. It is that serious.

All right, all right, all right, I'm gonna stop myself here because if I keep gushing, the intro is going to get way too long. That being said, it is officially time for me to write the synopsis. More than ever, I really mean this when I say, I'm going to tell you as much as possible without spoiling the game itself, and gods damn it, is it going to be difficult because, holy shit, the stuff that goes down?! I really want to tell you about it but fuck, if I do, then you might not play it yourself, and I can tell you right now, you have got to play this for yourself, and I highly recommend this game! Y'all are seriously missing out if you don't!

Okay, okay, I'm shutting up, because the intro's for real, for real getting too long and really redundant. Like, we get it, you love the game, start summarizing the damn thing! No worries, I hear y'all, and that's exactly what I'm about to do. Just a heads up, you're gonna need to buckle up for this one. Like, no, deadass. Buckle the hell up. I don't know what the hell kind of ride I'm about to take you guys on, but it's a damned wild one.

All right. Enough intro, enough talking. Let's finally get into it.

So, boom, and gods damn it, I mean, BOOM.

The game starts off with a little introducty-duction about how fucked up we are as a person. I'm not kidding about that. Basically, you know how we play these "dark romance" visual novels because the idea of someone being so unhealthily obsessed with you to the point of literally driving them bat shit crazy is something that just excites us for whatever reason? Yeah, we're like that in this game, except, we're literally delusional. Not the "quirky", cringey "aha, I'm so crazy~!", not delulu, like full on, needs to be admitted into the psychiatric floor of the hospital, delusional.

Anyways, we aspire to experience and permanently have that specific type of psycho crazy love, and damn it, we're going to have it, even if we have to go past just manifesting it and instead creating it ourselves, and I mean that quite literally. Let me explain.

See, at this point, there have been many failed attempts at getting this form of toxic love that we're after. At first, (or at least it's implied that) we tried to find it naturally, but it wasn't working out because, quite simply, it was never enough. I mean, sure, they cared about us, and sure, they would fight for us. Hell, they would easily do things for us if we asked, but they would always fall short because they wouldn't be willing to do anything and everything for us, let alone without us just being straight up about it and asking them to do so, and that, my friends, did not and will not fly.

Because we were tired of the constant failures and the constant disappointment, we decided to get on our boss shit and solve our problem instead of complaining about it. How do we solve it? By simply creating the love that we're after, and the first -- and most critical -- part of creating that love, is to find the right type of person. Someone who was a loner and an outcast. Someone that people ignored without so much as a second glance. Someone who allowed people to walk all over them and treat them any kind of way because they had no sense of self-worth. Someone desperate for affection, touch-starved even. Someone like...that new kid who recently transferred.

Milo Change. The perfect sap.

So, for totally non-selfish reasons, we play hero, and we step in to save the day. The bully -- his name's Ryan, by the by -- pretty much hightails it out of there once we intervene, and we're left with our suitor, and a suitor he'd better damn be because we didn't save his ass for nothing.

Milo gets off the ground, and he stumbles into us because he had gotten beat down pretty bad. True to expected nature, he apologizes, and starts rambling on about his friends for a little. He basically explains that, even though he knows that the people that he hangs around are really shitty, being new and not being used to the area makes him anxious to the point where he prefers their company over having no one and being alone. How coincidentally in perfect character he is...this is the one. Time to turn on the rizz.

When he asked why we jumped to his defense, we hit him with the ultimate "I was worried about you". This man's heart immediately gets to fluttering, and he's just making this too easy. It gets to a point where we make this "arrangement", so to speak. In exchange for giving him pointers on how to start standing up for himself, he has to date us. Of course, he jumps on this offer, because aside from him being the very type of spineless dweeb guy we're looking for, we knew that he had a serious crush on us. We know this because we had noticed that in passing and in the classes that we had together that he was always sneaking glances at us, so why not exploit that shoot our shot?

Anyways, we flawlessly sink the shot, and we get our date established. When we meet up, we decide to go to the batting cages, but it throws Milo off because they aren't the kind of batting cages that he was thinking of. Actually, quite frankly, it isn't really a batting cage but instead this really creepy room that has bats and is filled with mannequins.

Naturally, Milo starts asking questions, because now he's pretty uncomfortable with this whole thing, and it only gets worse when he sees us haul off and take a pretty ruthless swing at one of the dummies with a bat. At this point, Milo is holding one of the bats in his hands, and he's like "Nah, nah, I'm not into violence. Like, this is wild", but we reassure him that this isn't so much a reflection of character but a perfectly healthy way to get his anger out. He's still a little hesitant so we start planting thoughts giving him things to consider, and we're just like:

"Dude, are you not angry about the way that your so called 'friends' treated you? Did you actually like that they would use and abuse you when all you did was try to be nice? You did nothing wrong, and yet, they found it amusing to see you in pain. Do you really think you deserved to be treated like that...?" In short, we're just like "Getting your ass beat for the sake of friendship? Couldn't be me".

Milo stops for a second and really considered our words. After he really thought about it, he realized that he was and still is pissed about everything, and he goes in.

Like, really goes in to the point that the bat shattered and his hands started bleeding.

This scares the crap out of him because he didn't realize how much anger he had been holding in, but we find his performance desirable, not to mention severely attractive. Insert the Kronk meme because, my bois, it's all coming together.

We see the potential in Milo, and we're more than happy to help him reach that potential that we know he's capable of achieving. That being said, while he's trying to process what's going on, we just reassured him that we weren't scared of him and that it probably felt really good to finally get all that anger out. The tragic part is that Milo innocently agreed that it did.

We smile about the fact that he unknowingly took the bait, and we keep reeling him in. We tell Milo that we're really happy that he was able to get that anger out, because we understood that the world could be and is super cruel. While we're on the topic of the world being a really messed up place, we just idly bring up the concern of something happening to us and whether Milo'd protect us or not. Milo is once again thrown off because, yeah, the world is cruel, but why would we even picture a scenario like that? So, we explain that it's not necessarily that we wanted to think about it, but that because there's so much violence going on in the world, it was natural to think about.

That being said, we double down and tell him that he may have to protect us one day and fight back. We already know how Milo feels about violence, so we tell him to think of it more as self-defense and not so much as an excuse to be violent towards others for the sake of being violent. It was protection, really, for both himself and the people that he loves and "Milo...you'll protect me...right?"

And, once again, very innocently, he promises us that he will.

With that declaration, he became stronger. He upgraded from mannequins to glasses, plates, and whatever else in ramshackled houses to cars in abandoned lots. He even did classes that taught him how to fight, whether for self-defense, to protect others, or to simply hurt someone. He had become a bit more brash, and the "friends" that he had before started to back off because he was so different, but that was okay; that was what was best for him, and even more importantly, that was what we wanted.

Milo clung onto us. He knew that he was the only one that we could trust because our sweet Milo deserved the world, but the world didn't deserve him. He knew this because we told him exactly that, and why would we ever lie to him? We wouldn't, and because of that, Milo believes that we're the only one that he can trust -- as it should be.

Milo was slowly, but surely, starting to learn, but despite this improvement and despite this change...

...It still wasn't enough. Just the same as before.

Nah, nah, nah, I'm not telling you anymore, because it was hard enough withholding some of the details here. Know this though: this isn't even the halfway point let alone the thick of it, and this is one route out of eight that I just described to you. Yes, it gets damned wild, way beyond this.

FRICKIN FINALLY. I was about to explode trying to get to this part!

Guys, if it was not obvious, you guys have got to play this game! Like, I usually be like "Oh, if you want, and you have the time and feel like it, play this game" but nah, nah, nah, nah, NAH. This is not optional. You will seriously be missing out if you do not play this visual novel. Now admittedly, I got pissed at the MC because, shit, like, there's an option for self-insert, but I was so far detached from this character because this bitch is -- and Markiplier said it best -- fucking psycho crazy bonkers! Like, I saw certain stuff coming, but it's like, when it happened, it would be 10x worse than I thought it'd be.

Like, you honestly have no idea. The lil' synopsis I gave you at the top isn't even really a synopsis; more accurately, it's a teaser, because what I told you didn't even scratch the surface of what is going on. Guys, gals, gays, theys, all of y'all...please...I beg...play this damn game. Like holy shit, I cannot push this game enough. Like, yeah, sure, just to provide criticism or whatever, certain things or scenes are worded really "Ooh, I'm edgy and fucked up", and (unless I just read it weird) I think there were a few coding errors for nicknames and some super minor grammar errors, but like honestly, it doesn't even matter. I honestly couldn't give a damn because shit, the game is damned good! Like, there honestly isn't anything significant to complain about or critique. The dev? C4Games? They are out here, and they are setting the bar damned high.

Like, oh my gods, the fucking concept had me tripping out! Like, the whole "sadistic MC" or "The MC is crazy, too" trope isn't unheard of but, as far as I know, the execution itself is original, and I'm super geeked about it! A sadistic and twisted MC who is literally corrupting and molding an innocent guy to be the yandere that she craves. Like...what the hell? Ahhh!! I love it! Like, I literally cannot hold in the amount of gushing that I'm doing, and you can tell when I'm gushing because every other sentence will be "like, like, and like, like, like, and oh my gods, holy shit, like, like, like". Like lmao, I am gushing. I am ruined.

At this point, I feel that no other game will top this game. If I was making a tier list of the visual novels I have been reviewing, this is by far, no debate, an S Tier, God Tier, "whatever your highest tier would be" game. This visual novel is good, and I cannot wait to play the other seven routes, and guess what? The best part of all of this is that it's released! This is the entire game, and you can bet your ass that I'm going to be playing every route MUTLIPLE times!

Okay, I feel like the review and this overall post is long enough, and I want to stop myself from rambling and gushing anymore than I already have. That being said, that is officially all from me, and everyone's homework-- actually, nah. Everyone's project -- and it's going to be worth 100% of your grade -- is to play this damned game. EXPIDITIOUSLY. This is a requirement. This is an order.

Side note, I'm back on my sims kick, and I'm half tempted to make a family of the Milos I unlock because apparently -- pay attention! This is about to be a "pro, not really pro, but super helpful" tip! -- Milo's appearance and personality changes based on how you choose to mold him. Interesting, right? So, considering that there's 8 endings, I'm thinking there's 8 Milos, so...that's a full household in the Sims. Lol I might do it. I think I am.

Lol all right, enough rambling, I'm outta here for realsies! I hope everyone enjoys whatever time zone they're in, and, in case it wasn't clear or you missed it, play this damned game!

Anywho! Huge reminder! Drink water, don’t be dumb, play this game, and hope to see you around~!

Perfect Love

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redactahoe · 7 months

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Tank centric shaw pack headcanons

Tw:// this is unorganized brain rot shenanigans, there will be mentions and talk of Quinn, tanks shitty parents, etc. but it will be mostly fluffy shenanigans also mention of my personal tank headcanons, this also is unedited

Tank was and still is freakishly huge (like bigger than David) in wolf form but kinda “tiny” in human form. And this caused a lot of health issues and social issues. But Mr Asher “I befriend everything that breaths” Talbots(is that his last name??) decided at the age of 14 that he was going to befriend the impossible(or that’s how he puts it)

Asher is one of the few people that could touch tank without them flinching

Tank was born half deaf(like they hear next to nothing without hearing aids) and a little blind in the left eye, so b/c of this Asher with the help of David forced ever single pack teen to learn asl(American sign language) so tank could feel included

Tank also didn’t even realize that they were deaf, they thought that everyone heard like them and struggled for the first few years of life to learn how to read lips (they got to learn sign language w/ everyone else :) )

That is until it was Milo that noticed that tank was deaf and brought it up in the next hang out the teens did(tank wasn’t there cause they were taking care of honey they’re baby sib)

Then the word was passed on to Gabe who decided to take tanker to get some hearing aids

Asher likes to greet tanker by shifting and tackling them to the floor

Asher was the one to introduce tank to music and movies and shows when tank got they’re hearing aids at 15

Asher is a very touchy person and (other than Sam) knows that tank is very touch starved and cuddly

B/c of this Asher used to scare the shit out his mom and dad by jump scaring tank

Most of the pack except for Gabe, David, Milo, Marie, Asher, and a few others are afraid of tank b/c of not only their abnormally sized wolf form but also b/c tank was and still is very instincts based person and more animalistic in nature

Despite the fact that Asher is a giant goofball he still very protective of his pack and mate

The most protective of them all goes tank, David, then Asher. Everyone else is normal

Asher had to be physically held back from running down to the d.u.m.p facility that Quinn was in so he wouldn’t tear Quinn apart

The pack didn’t know the full extent of abuse tank went through until after Quinn was arrested and it’s safe to say that a lot of the pack(including our non werewolf members) had some pretty violent thoughts they wanted to enact on Quinn

When Asher’s parents started traveling and his sister moved tank regularly checked up on him b/c they know what it’s like to feel abandoned

Soon after tanks meeting back in daliha, they had a heart to heart with David explaining that Quinn would’ve only attacked the pack if they were “in his way”. And that the only reason tanks friend was attacked was because that friend consistently called Quinn out and tried to keep tank from falling to deep into Quinn’s manipulation. The said something like “ Quinn is a coward, he would never attack Shaw pack without a sure fire way of getting away with it or if he’s was running out of ways to manipulate me and the pack had too many connections for him to do anything that wasn’t a desperate last attempt.” This is really when it clicked for David that tank really knew what they were doing when they kept everyone away. Sure it was self sacrificing at its finest but tank probably didn’t see many other options

This was even more solidified for him when tank was going on for hours trying to get a rise out of Sam and he said that if tank kept “acting”(whatever that meant) they would’ve forced him to “hurt those precious little humans the Shaw pack keeps around”

Out of spite of what Quinn said about darlin being his last sight before death, darlin, David,angel, sam, Milo, sweetheart,Asher, and babe stayed inside and had a sleepover at the pack house and actively avoid Any thing regarding the execution

Around the time tank and babe started getting close(they’re besties b/c I said so) bab started to work for a research facility they focused on bettering vampires lives and was able to get in contact with William and DUMP to start a experiment to see if they could find a way for vampires to be in the sun by using Quinn as experiment fodder

Babe went ask tank for permission and tank asked why keep him alive babe responded with “Quinn has hurt to many people to just simply die, he deserves so much worse, and hey maybe he could be useful for once in his pathetic life :).

Tank obviously agreed because there was just something so ironic about how Quinn’s want for power and eternity(he use to go on and on about how vampires are superior and how powerful and old he was) would be the cause for his suffering

On that same note babe despite being kinda small can be quite scary

I’m gonna end it hear. I’ll make a part two sometime later

#redacted asmr #redactedverse #redacted audio #redacted honey #sam collins #redacted sam collins #redacted angel #redacted darlin #redacted david #redacted headcanons #redacted asher #redacted milo #redacted baaabe #redacted sweetheart

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roseandgold137 · 8 months

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*chin hands* tell me about Darla Aquista!!

ok so there’s Darla in comics and then there’s Darla as I draw her, bc I think there are a few distinctions. Also bc this is Darla and not Laura I only took pictures of her pre-death for examples

This page is the first time we ever see her, with Tim instantly crashing into her. She’s very nice about it, and having read through her appearances pre-death in robin I can confirm that “kind” is probably her main character trait.

Here we learn that Bernard is like majorly crushing on her me too bear dw but he’s too afraid to approach her bc she’s always surrounded by the “giant jocks”, who turn out to be pretty chill. Unfortunately for Bernard, and because Tim is the main character, Darla develops a crush on Tim.

Darla isn’t just her looks, though - she’s very smart, and she can piece together the limited information to come up with just the right picture. I’d also like to point out how she talks to her dad - she’s used to getting what she wants from him, and the fact that she knows he’s withholding information annoys her. Luckily for her dad, she manages to derail herself, and we can also see a bit of bitterness in her last speech bubble - “I think he made her up as an excuse not to date me.” Which, to Darla, is pretty much exactly how it is. As she said, no one’s ever seen Steph. And she says it on the other page, too - everyone likes her, but none of the boys ask her out. And, as a fifteen/sixteen year old girl, who clearly would like to be asked out, that’s a very frustrating situation

now. She goes about this in very much the wrong way. I’m not going to sugarcoat that. The main thing I’m noticing from her throughout her appearances is frustration. She’s frustrated that her dad is hiding things from her. She’s frustrated that she thinks Tim’s lying to her.

She takes the rejection well, though, and seems amicable with Tim afterwards. Though, Tim, really, if you’ve just established that you’re not interested in her, please don’t ask her to sneak off with you to go to a restaurant together. It’s not a good look

And here we have them as their little trio! The dynamics here go crazy, but frankly my biggest question is where did her jocks. She doesn’t seem to be quite over tim, but she’s not kissing him out nowhere, so that’s something. 2000s comics, man. Bernard appears with his little conspiracies, and Darla indulges him to a point. She’s clearly not all that invested, but she does let him ramble on for quite a while.

She’s circled back to one of her other frustrations - her dad hiding things. Manipulates is a strong word, but she definitely sweetens Tony and Milo up so she can hear the answers she wants. Unfortunately for her, this is the issue she (and her drivers, rip) dies in, so she doesn’t get clear answers before then.

She clearly cared an awful lot about her drivers - as she said previously, they’d been with her for years - tony had just had a baby, and while it’s not on this page, she was distraught for him. This is the last page I have saved, but it happens pretty soon before she gets shot and dies.

in summary, Darla was kind, patient, and sheltered - but she also harboured a lot of frustrations and jealousy. She died at sixteen without ever really getting the truth out of anyone, she never found out if Steph was real, her dad never sat her down and told her the real reason she had bodyguards.

Comparatively, my version of Darla isn’t really as passive - that’s not an insult to canon Darla, by the way. Also, my Darla is a lesbian, so that kind of cuts out the whole jealousy plot she had around Tim and steph

She’s still kind, still frustrated, but she’s less sheltered, and she definitely knows more than she’d ever actually let on to her dad. She goads Bernard into coming up with more outlandish theories, once they get past her fake I-don’t-care persona she’s just as much of a geek as they are. Tim mentions a girl? Uh, you mean her girl. Bernard is after his stepmom, Darla is after his girlfriend, he can’t win. This time her frustration over Tim and Steph is that she can’t find her so she can mess with Tim by flirting with her.

Sorry this took a while I wasn’t really sure how to say what I wanted to say 😭 hopefully this answers your questions abt her <3 if you want to know more abt my Darla feel free to ask 💛

#asks #darla aquista #tim drake #bernard dowd #rose reads #robin #long post #character analysis #? Maybe?

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miracles-and-butterflies · 7 months

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Encanto Ride the Cyclone AU.

For @glowing-celesticpetals, based on the prompt: “maybe something about Antonio or Bruno in the Ride the Cyclone Au?”

This is the last you’ll see of the living side; the family grieving the loss of the four children.

Comments are always appreciated.

Warning, sensitive topics ahead: character death.

~~~~~~

Just Another Tragic Fact

Bruno sighed to himself.

The four gravestones, all lined up, layered in a variety of plants - Isabela would have hated it if it was all just flowers.

Here lies

Luisa Amalia Rojas Madrigal

14th November 1930 - 14th September 1951

Beloved daughter and sister.

Here lies

Camilo Valentino Estrada Madrigal

28th December 1934 - 14th September 1951

Beloved son and brother.

Here lies

Isabela Cristina Rojas Madrigal

7th August 1928 - 14th September 1951

Beloved daughter and sister.

Here lies

Dolores Victoria Estrada Madrigal

31st August 1928 - 14th September 1951

Beloved daughter, sister and partner.

Seeing it makes it real.

Not that it didn’t feel real watching the crash and seeing their dead bodies be pulled from the wreckage.

The funeral had came and went.

The loss of the children, who had been dubbed ‘Encanto’s Four Saints’, had impacted the town itself. Everyone was draped in mourning garb and music and laughter almost vanished from the streets.

But, of course, it brought the most impact to the Madrigals themselves.

“I’m sorry,” Bruno says to them.

It’s a relatively bright and dry afternoon - considering Encanto has been living in a constant storm since the Cyclone accident.

Pepa must be asleep. She’s done a lot more of that recently.

He doesn’t blame her.

“I should have seen… I should have been able to warn you. Then maybe you’d still be…” he sighs, breaking into tears again.

“Tío Bruno?”

He sniffles. “Hey, Toñito.”

“What are you doing?”

“I thought I’d just come to see them. It’s a nice day.”

“You don’t have to say ‘sorry’. You couldn’t have known what would happen at the fair.”

“No, you all couldn't have known. This is my gift. This is what I’m for. But… I didn’t even think to look and now it’s my fault they’re gone.”

“Still. You can’t blame yourself.”

Tight arms fasten around him.

Bruno accepts the hug.

It probably should be the other way around, it’s not him who has lost his siblings and cousins.

~~~~~~

Antonio doesn’t quite process that they are gone.

He knows they are dead, but… their family has a miracle, why wouldn’t it bring them back?

When a bunch of baby capybaras are born the following week, he names them after his siblings and cousins.

The quietest capybara he names Lola. She was the oldest of the four. She’s always hiding behind his legs. She insists she be carried up and down the stairs. He finds a pinkish red ribbon in Mirabel’s room that he asks his Mama to tie in a bow for Lola.

Next came Luis. He was the biggest of the litter, so Antonio didn’t need to mark him to tell him apart. Luis was more like a playful puppy than anything else, frequently managing to sneak out of Antonio’s room to wander around Casita in search of belly rubs.

Then there was Belita, or Bela, depending on whether or not Antonio was telling her off. Like her mother, Chispi, she was very confident and snarky. However, lacked her mother’s chill. She was full of energy - if Antonio didn’t put her to bed with her siblings, he would be sure she never slept.

And lastly there was Milo, possibly Antonio’s favourite but don’t tell the others. Getting his brother’s name, he was exactly like him. Mischievous, loves food, and maybe a little too dramatic. Milo was good at making him laugh and, after everything, that is what he needed.

He assembles them all before bed, so that when Mama or Papa or both of them come to read his story, they are there too.

Abuela would happily spend time babysitting the four of them while Antonio was at school.

If they came into the kitchen, Tía Julieta would offer them scraps or spare food they could eat.

Tío Agustín had built a little wooden cart that Antonio could pull them around in.

Tío Bruno pretty much adopted them alongside his many rats, as the best pets/children ever.

It was another week later that Antonio got an idea.

“What are you doing, mijo?” His mother asked one day. It was just before dinner - table already set up, but nobody had called them to eat.

Then she noticed the extra chairs and plates that had been added to the table. And Antonio having placed each capybara on their namesake’s chair, which was stacked with pillows, so their heads just about reached the table.

“I thought they could join us for dinner!” He offered. “And Chispi is here too to watch them. I got her a spare chair all by myself.”

Pepa didn’t know what to say. “Is your Abuela okay with this?”

“Why wouldn’t she be? She loves them. I saw her cuddling Milo and Lola when I came home today. I think she likes them more than Tío Bruno’s rats.” He informed, happily.

“Well, but, you know what Tía Julieta is like with animals at the table,” Pepa tried again.

“I don’t think she’ll mind. It’s like having the family back together!”

Thunder rumbled.

“I was meant to ask Bruno something,” she excused herself, brushing through her braid as she walked off.

Antonio stood in silence.

He glances at Chispi, “Did I do something wrong?”

~~~~~~

It’s a silent night.

They are slowly coming out of mourning and adjusting back to normality.

Starting to work again.

The colours of black and dark blue and dark grey begin to fade away.

The eternal storm that Encanto has been wrapped in since September is slowly breaking away. Now it is just occasional spells of heavy rain and sleet.

Antonio has long since been put to bed, with the four capybaras.

The rest of the adults stay up.

What once would have been a night of some wine, a few cards games, music and laughter, is now just a solemn conversation in the candlelight.

They ‘um’ and ‘ah’ over what could have been.

Where and what the children are doing, now that they are no longer among the living.

“And the other one?” Agustín dares to ask. “Did anyone ever come for her?”

“Was she at least identified?” Félix inquires.

“No.” Alma answers. “The order was given for her to be buried today.”

Pepa tugs at her hair, shivering. “I can’t imagine it. A child. Just like the rest of them. Except in an unmarked grave, and not a soul to care.”

“Her poor family,” Bruno remarks. “My sympathy is with them.”

“No.” Julieta shook her head. “To let their child go… and they don’t even care. They either didn’t care to look in the first place or they couldn't recognise their own bloody child. It’s horrible. They don’t deserve any sympathy.”

“Julieta!” Her mother and brother both exclaim, in shock at her attitude.

All the family is, but Agustín and Félix are stunned into silence (not that they find a fault in her statement, it’s just unexpected for her), and Pepa is already nodding her head in agreement.

“I agree.” She said, turning to Julieta. “If it was one of our babies, I would have known instantly. Heartless people.”

#encanto #encanto ride the cyclone au #ask me anything #bruno madrigal #antonio madrigal #pepa madrigal #julieta madrigal #alma madrigal #félix madrigal #agustín madrigal #pedro madrigal #isabela madrigal #luisa madrigal #dolores madrigal #camilo madrigal #mirabel madrigal #my writing

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isleofdarkness · 2 months

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Chapter 7 FINAL DRAFT

Warnings- medical procedures, near-death experience, medical info, gun pointed at child, blood, murder, slight body horror, war, swearing, gang violence, trauma, flashbacks, slavery, chronic pain, selling souls Implied/referenced; genocide, starvation, character death, noncon, minor noncon, childhood prostitution, child sexual abuse, child abuse, torture, grievous injury, massacres, terrorism, gang violence

Part one

Sultana Jasmine was pacing.

That was what struck Li Shang first. Before he even noticed the books stacked on the table or the pale, drawn look on Aladdin's face, he noticed that Jasmine, eternally unshakeable Jasmine, was pacing.

Whatever they had been summoned for, it was going to be bad.

A glance around the room confirmed that suspicion. Everyone was there- Heracles, Megara, and Hryhoriy, King Arthur and Queen Guinevere, Tiana and Naveen, Kida, Milo, Sweet, Audrey, Vinny, and Whitmore, Aurora and Phillip, Snow, Rose, and Florian, Esmeralda and Phoebus, Ariel, Eric, and Melody, Elsa, Kristoff, and Anna, Moana, Merida, Ella, Christopher, and Anthony, Jabari and Dahlia, Anita and Roger, Hank McCoy, Logan, Kurt, and Charles Xavier, Alma Madrigal, even Oliver Warbucks. Everyone was there, even those who rarely came to these meetings. Something was very, very wrong.

Jasmine spotted them and stopped, hijab swinging as she whipped to face them. "Welcome to Jahannam! Please, don't linger in the doorway, come in and suffer with the rest of us!"

Ancestors protect them.

"What's going on?" He asked, stepping further into the room. There were a few murmurs of assent- everyone else was just as confused as he was.

Jasmine gestured sharply to the beaten books on the table. "The Isle kids snuck these across the barrier and had Jabari deliver them to us. These books are all about the Isle." She grabbed one and tossed it to Mulan, then one to him. "Shan Sarangerel, daughter of Shan Yu, and a written record of Shan Yu's efforts to keep the Isle alive with one bottle of medicine a year." She tossed one to Heracles. "That one's all about the suffering of Hades. I would advise you not to read it on a full stomach." She tossed a massive book to Naveen. "That's about the efforts by Doctor Facilier to help the children of the Isle." One to Kida. "Would you like to read about Rick, the son of Helga? He's a lot like Kaldur. And this-" She threw one to Anna, "Is about a little girl named Anna, daughter of Hans. Don't read it on a full stomach. The good done by Madonna Tremaine-" she tossed one to Ella, "The life of Anthony Tremaine II," to Anthony, "The life of Mal," to Aurora, "And our dear Claudine," to Esmeralda. "And more! Any requests?"

None of them had the nerve to answer.

"Diego de Vil, Belle LeGume, Harriet Jones, Jay, Riah, Harabolos, Evie, Uma, Yzla, Mischa, Reza, Sammy, Davin- prostitution, torture, abuse, rape, death, and more!" She held out to Rapunzel. "This one's on your daughter, Ginny. She's doing well, even has her own EMS- well, except for the fact that she's been raised by Mother Gothel, not by Cassandra." Rapunzel gasped, but Jasmine wasn't done. "You're about to be a grandmother, because she's nearly due with a baby. Of course, that's not mentioning the two children one of her loves already has-" she whipped to face Anthony, "Possibly the children of Anthony Tremaine the second! Congratulations.

"Riah," she continued, whirling to face Aurora, "Got that limp and all of those broken bones when he was ten, when six grown men broke into his house, raped him, and tried to beat him to death. He was only saved because Hades had a gut feeling and managed to escape a session with Maleficent halfway across the island. They had to do surgery where all he had was half a bottle of whiskey. Claudine," to Esmeralda, "Has been sexually and religiously abused her entire life, to the point where Ginny is almost certain she has dissociative identity disorder and to the point of permanent, irreversible damage caused by trauma she doesn't even remember! And just you wait until you read what her older sister has done to try and protect her!" Jasmine threw another book to the table. "Meet Lydia Snoops, who sold her soul at the age of five to save lives and has been turned into a monster. She's been sexually abused her entire life, she started her period when she was three, and she has to regularly go back to the cult that abused her to keep Claudine from getting hurt, even though it means taking the abuse herself. Our dear Mal," back to Aurora, "Is asexual, as fae tend to be. Her mother knows this. Maleficent has been selling her asexual daughter to a brothel whenever Mal fails her impossible explanations, she's been doing so ever since Mal was ten. It's to the point where the brothel is checked every night just in case. And Jay-"

They were spared her horror by Jasmine slipping into Arabic, but her fury and horror were catching even with the language barrier. It took nearly an hour for Jasmine to cut herself off, spinning on her heel to face one of the mirrors and pulling out a tube of eyeliner. Oh, she was beyond angry.

No one dared say a word as Jasmine wiped off and reapplied her flawless makeup, calming herself down. Her rage was gone when she turned back to them, replaced by grim determination. "I've already spoken to Fairy Godmother about my concerns, but she refuses to listen. We'll have to take this into our own hands." She grabbed a large stack of paper and dropped it onto the table. "Julieta was kind enough to send the files she collected on the six and Katherine Pulitzer has conducted multiple interviews about life on the Isle. Charles, would you be willing to conduct more extensive exams, as most of these six are genetic variants?" Charles nodded. "We should also conduct psychological evaluations. Ginny has assumptions but, without any proper medical training, nothing is certain. A word from you or Dr McCoy may be enough to petition for these children to be allowed regular and unrestricted contact with a therapist and a psychiatrist. These records are not to be released until Beast does something truly stupid and only within reason. I'm starting to look to remove children from the Isle." Woah- "I'm setting up a system here, but shelter and food will not be enough to help these children. I will need doctors, psychologists, paediatricians, medical specialists, and childcare specialists. If any of you are willing, I would readily welcome your help. If you are unwilling," she shrugged, "You may leave. No grudge will be held."

None of them left.

"Thank you."

Two weeks later, Riah started the worst day of his year by falling down the stairs.

October twenty-ninth was the anniversary. Not just the weeks surrounding it, when his symptoms built up and eased back, but the exact day It had happened, the day he'd nearly been killed. The day six men had broken into his home and made him know he would never be safe anywhere. The day... The day. He hated the day.

With his sixteenth birthday coming up in two days, his curse was getting worse. He'd woken up to spots dancing in his vision and thick fog filling his mind. It had taken a hellish fifteen minutes for him to remember where he'd hidden his oxygen concentrator, then another fifteen for him to get to it with how he was wheezing and coughing. The machine did its job, but just barely. It was a day where he absolutely needed the machine's help, but there was no way in hell he was letting the others or the Auradon kids see him relying on a machine to breathe. If he was lucky, he might have been able to get thirty minutes between each use. He just had to properly time a few bathroom breaks throughout the day. Unlike he would on the Isle, he made sure to wear it under his shirt, using a jacket to further conceal it. His brain protested not using it, but he wasn't letting anyone figure out he needed a stupid oxygen machine.

On top of everything else from the date, it was a bad pain day. A storm was rolling in on a cold day and his bones let him know about it. Even the bones that weren't usually a problem, his arms, good leg, ribs, jaw, and pelvis, ached. His skull felt like someone had buried a knife in his temporal hard enough to crush the side of his head. He could barely move his hands, couldn't even properly hold onto his cane. And his bad leg? His bad leg hadn't hurt this much in years. Hell, it had only hurt this badly when it was actually broken.

And he had class.

On the Isle, a day like this would be a day he wouldn't get out of bed. He wouldn't mind Hades and Seph worrying over him, and he wouldn't worry about them thinking he couldn't do anything for himself. This should have been a day where he curled up under the warm blankets and went in and out of sleep, his parents waking him every time a nightmare started to take hold and making sure he ate when he couldn't even walk. A day where he wouldn't mind who saw him relying on his dog for even the simple stuff. A shitty day, sure, but less shitty than it could have been. A day where he didn't have to do anything, because he couldn't find it in himself. But not in Auradon. In Auradon, a day like this meant class. And class meant walking down thirty stone stairs.

He knew he was going to fall. It was just a matter of how bad the fall would be. He'd hoped his arm and leg could at least hold out to the middle of the staircase.

They didn't. Not even two steps down, his bad leg collapsed. His bad left arm, his cane arm, folded when he put too much weight on it.

He went down.

His foot slipped out from under him as he lurched back on reflex, putting his elbow behind him to take the impact on it instead of the back of his skull. His bad leg caught on one of the stairs as he slid, forcing him into a tumble, and he tried to curl in on himself to protect his face and stomach from the worst of it, just like he would on the Isle.

Of course, that had been a routine for a simpler time, when he didn't have two very snappable bones coming out of his skull.

His horns were the first crack he heard. But they weren't the last.

Horns hand fingers leg skull-

He wasn't sure who screamed when he fell. He was pretty sure it wasn't him.

Spine leg leg hands-

He hit the ground hard enough to wind him and slammed into one of the heavy, cushy chairs. His head cracked back against the side table and he saw stars, going limp.

When he blinked the darkness from his vision, his first instinct was to scream. His second was to start swearing. He managed to refrain from both. He still had shocked scared tears in his eyes when he looked up to see his friends racing down the stairs. And to feel the gaze of every Auradon kid in the building on him, concerned gazes cutting into him like knives. Fucking fantastic. They were all going to see him as weak and helpless just because of a bad day, his friends were going to see him as weak and helpless because of a bad day, Jay and maybe even Ben were going to see him as fucking weak and helpless and he had to show that he wasn't-

Refusing to show weakness, he forced himself to his feet, putting weight on his bad and now-broken left leg in the absence of his cane. The smile he gave his concerned friends definitely looked more like a snarl or a grimace, but he didn't care. "Fucking... just tell Fairy Godbitch I'll be late to class. I'm gonna see the nurse cause I just broke my leg in three places. Where's my cane?"

"How'd the ground taste?" Jay joked on what had to be reflex, holding Riah's cane out to him before withdrawing. Riah saw red. "Wait, you shouldn't-"

"Shouldn't what, Jay?" Riah snapped. Gods, his day sucked absolute dick and he'd only been awake for an hour. He needed to get to the nurse so that everyone wasn't staring at him like he deserved pity or something. "Walk with a broken leg? Newsflash, my leg's been broken for five fucking years and I got along just fine without someone carrying me to and from like I'm some kinda princess. Give me my godsdamn cane or I swear on my father that I'll be removing it from the hands of your corpse."

His eyes went black to prove his point, but none of them were impressed. Mal was giving him a shocked, worried, pitying look and Riah's blood boiled. "You shouldn't walk on a broken leg, cane or not, so-"

"I'm going to be walking out of here with or without my fucking cane so you'd best give it to me if you're so concerned." He reached out his hand, using magick to pull the cursed metal in his cane out of Jay's hand and into his. "I can manage by myself, I don't need help. I especially don't need pity. Stop acting like I'm fragile or some shit." He turned sharply, levelling a murderous glare at the Auradon kids between him and the door. "Is there a reason you guys are in my way?"

The Auradon kids practically dove out of his way. He stormed past them.

Just to prove his point, he forced himself to walk without his cane. The rage gave him enough fuel to walk sort of normally, but the fading adrenaline meant that he felt every. Single. Step.

The second he ducked around the corner of the building, he folded, leaning hard on both his cane and the wall and trying desperately to breathe on his own. Stupid leg and stupid curse and stupid everyone who thought he couldn't do anything and stupid Auradon and fuck, he was going to pass out-

There was no way in hell he was letting anyone see him like this after what had just happened. Fuck it. If Fairy Godbitch wanted to throw him out of school she could. He wasn't getting across campus without it but he sure as shit wasn't going to let anyone see it, so he had to. He whispered a spell, calling on magick from his grandmother, to make himself invisible to those he didn't want to see him. Once he was sure that was done, he pulled the flattened plastic mask out of his shirt, fixed the metal edges over his mouth and nose, and pulled the elastic bands over his head to fix it to his face. He didn't bother to lift his shirt to see the buttons on the machine hidden at his side, just flipped the power switch and sighed in relief as the oxygen concentrator started working.

Fucking sixteenth birthday. Bitchass spell couldn't even wait two days to kill him.

Claudine was a lot stronger than Mal thought. When she and Jay started after Riah, Claudine held them both back without effort. "Don't. You'll only make it worse."

"What are you talking about?" Riah had fallen down the stairs and was walking on a broken leg without his cane. How could they possibly make that any worse?

All too aware of the eyes on them, Claudine dragged Jay and Mal back up the stairs, leading the gang to the closest of their rooms and locking the door behind her. Wasn't she supposed to be Riah's friend? How could she be so calm? Mal would've lost her shit if Jay tried what Riah was currently doing. "You can't try to help him. It's not a good idea in general and it's definitely not a good idea today." Claudine bit her lip and sighed, clearly trying to figure something out. "I can't go into too much detail, but today is the anniversary of when his leg was broken. There was a lot of stuff that happened. Those breaks are all from today, as well as most of his scars. Have you guys seen the scars on his arms, collarbone, and jaw?" They were hard to see but yeah, they'd all seen them. "There's more of those across nineteen of his ribs, on his spine, on his pelvis, and down his good leg, and those are from where they managed to operate on his to put the bones back into place. He was awake during that and that was five years ago today. That's why he's been so touchy these past few weeks and he's going to be touchy for a few weeks after this, he always has been. Today is always a bad day for him, he usually doesn't even get out of bed. And it's a bad idea to try to help him in general, but it's one of the worst things you could do today."

"If he needs help," Mal argued, "Why's it so bad to try and help him?"

"Because none of you know how to ask and none of you ask anyway," Claudine explained patiently. "If you want to help Riah, you've got to ask if you can help him, not if he needs help. And if he says no, you have to respect that. Riah tries to be independent, he hates when people assume or act like he can't do something. It makes him feel as though people see him as less than and when you do that, he goes overboard to prove you wrong. I've seen him scale a brick wall using just his hands to prove that he could get up the stairs and I know Hades has seen him do a great deal more. Riah is very capable of a lot of stuff and he's usually really good about sticking to his limits, but he'll push himself too hard if he thinks people are going to think less of him for what he can't do. Riah was probably extremely embarrassed about falling down the stairs in front of everyone and I probably didn't help by screaming and drawing attention. What he needed us to do was act as though someone like Jay had just tripped. When he falls down the stairs, unless he's saying something is wrong, it's best to make a joke like Jay did and move on. You give him his cane and if he puts his hand out, you help him to his feet like it's no big deal. Don't even put your hand out to help him. I know you meant well and you just didn't know, so I'm telling you guys now so that this doesn't happen again." Huh. Claudine could definitely be a nurse. "Never, ever, try to take his cane away. That would be like taking Agony's arm or leg-" There was a collective wince. They'd all seen what happened when someone did that and how severely upset Agony had been. "Because that is like Riah's arm or leg. Plus, he can walk without it. He can run without it. And he will. Believe me, I've seen him do both and the aftermath of both is never pretty. If he doesn't have his cane he will hurt himself. He'll walk and run on that leg and if the bone breaks the wrong way it's an emergency trip to the hospital and several blood transfusions from the three people he can receive blood from and who aren't in Auradon."

"What about his breathing?" Evie asked. Shit, was there something wrong with how he was breathing? Mal hadn't even noticed. She was supposed to notice this stuff to take care of her crew. "His lips and fingernails were blue and he was breathing too fast and not deep enough."

"His curse." His fucking what? "Riah has a curse trying to crush his lungs, he's had it for his entire life. He wears an amulet to keep it from killing him, that blue stone he doesn't take off, but..." Claudine gave Mal a nervous look. "It was cast by Maleficent and you know how her curses are. They kill on the sixteenth birthday. And Riah's sixteenth birthday is in two days."

"Hold the fuck up," Mal raised a hand to cut Claudine off. "Are you telling me right now that Riah is cursed to fucking die on his sixteenth birthday, which is in two days, and neither of you told me or any of the gods know how many magical beings we have access to?"

"He thought he could handle it and I thought he could, too. Mal, Riah wasn't cursed to die when he turned sixteen, he was cursed to die before he turned thirteen. He's lived with a spell trying to kill him for three years. He thought, with the magic he would have access to here, he would be able to keep fighting it. But..." Tears started to glitter in Claudine's eyes. Claudine never cried. "He can't. He only has so much left to use and once it's gone, he's going to die. But he won't take more. He can't. He would rather die."

"Take what?" She needed someone to draw a diagram so she could keep track of the punches. Riah was going to die in two days. Great.

"Life." What?! "I don't know how it works. Riah drained the life energy, the souls, out of four people almost fourteen years ago. That's how he's stayed alive. With that abundance of life magick, he's been able to extend his own life. But it's been so long, he's running out, and he can't get more."

"Can't he just drain someone else?"

"And get us all kicked out of Auradon?" Good point. "Even if that weren't a problem, he's not capable of it. He's got something keeping him from using it. Someone would have to willingly perform magick to transfer their life, their soul, into him, knowing that they would be destroying themselves. Their lives would be gone and so would their souls. Their souls would be destroyed, taken apart for magick, and they would cease to exist in even the afterlife. No one would be willing to do that. There's... there's no way to fix it."

No. No, Mal refused to believe that. Her crew had survived dozens of things that couldn't be fixed. If Evie's heart could be fixed, if Carlos's lungs could be fixed, if her brain could be fixed, if Jay's spine could be fixed, Riah could be fixed. They just had to think outside of the box. There had to be a way and they were going to find it. "Claudine, I need you to stay with Riah today. Don't leave him alone. We'll get you excused from class." Think think think, there had to be someone or something that could help. "Jay, get Jordan to bring her dad to talk to us. Evie, get Adam Constantine and see if Snow White can get us in touch with Aurora. Carlos, see if Audrey can get us an audience with Kida, or if Kida has any kids we can talk to. I'll talk to Jane and Doctor Sweet. If you have the chance, ask if they can get us in touch with Maui, Elsa, Heracles, Te Fiti or Moana, Rapunzel, Sofia the First, anyone who knows a lot about magic. No Merlin and no Fairy Godmother. There's an answer to this, we've just gotta find it."

They had to try.

Thank God Doctor McCoy had been visiting. If he hadn't been, Julieta was almost certain the Isle boy would have died.

The boy with the cane- Riah, she remembered- had only just managed to stagger through the doorway before he had collapsed, clumsily throwing a hand out to catch the edge of the desk and slow his fall. Julieta, as fast as she was, had barely managed to get to her feet before Riah's hands went to his chest and spread out just under his neck, pushing down slightly. It was a strange sign, almost like a failed attempt at a choking sign, but his intention became clear when she got a look at him.

His lips and fingertips were blue. Each tiny exhale came out as a strangled grunt. His chest was falling far too deep, as if his body was trying to suck his ribs to his spine. His nostrils were flared behind his oxygen mask and he was mouthing something as he curled in on himself. He went down before Julieta could kneel in front of him.

"His lungs!" She grabbed him by the shoulders and laid him on his back, undoing the magnets in the shoulders of his shirt to undo the magnets of his binder before starting chest compressions. "He's in respiratory arrest-" she wasn't doing any good, only forcing more air out of lungs that couldn't expand. "Take over chest compressions so I can call 911."

"It won't do any good," he argued, handing her his phone as he took over. "An ambulance won't get here in time. Call Kurt and tell him he needs to teleport to your office and that there's a medical emergency incoming. Cecilia needs to set up the life support machines for respiratory arrest."

The three rings of the phone were the longest few seconds of Julieta's life. She didn't give the person on the other end of the line time to speak. "This is Julieta Madrigal we need Kurt to come to my office at Auradon Prep immediately and we need Cecilia to prepare McCoy's equipment for respiratory arrest."

"Charles!" The voice on the other end shouted, accent thick even in one syllable. "Tell him what you know, I will be there in two seconds."

Another voice started to speak. She didn't give them the chance to. "The patient is a fifteen-year-old transgender boy in respiratory arrest. He has a curse constricting his lungs and his lungs cannot expand. He's on oxygen but it won't do good if he can't breathe."

"Slow down," the man ordered gently. "What do you know about the curse?"

"It crushes his lungs. He has an amulet to create a barrier between his lungs and the spell but the amulet doesn't always work. He wouldn't say much about it."

"So the spell is a physical thing?"

"The way he explained it, yes." She knew nothing about this kind of magic. The Encanto was a blessing, a miracle, not a curse. She didn't know anything about curses.

"They'll be there in one-" There was a strange sound as three people appeared in a puff of smoke. "Moment."

The older of the two women, a Latina woman with brown locs pulled back in a bun, knelt next to Riah and put her fingers to his neck. "No pulse." She pulled the shirt and binder off the rest of the way, making access easier. "McCoy, move on three. One, two, three-" McCoy jerked back and she quickly got his clothes off and pulled the strap for his strange oxygen machine over his head. "Resume." McCoy went back to chest compressions as she tore the corners from the wax paper covers on the electrodes and poured a clear gel into her hand. "McCoy. One, two, three." He moved back again and she quickly applied the gel across Riah's chest, then applied the five electrodes. "Resume."

The young woman with red hair put her fingers to her temple, brow wrinkling. "I can't move it much, but I've given him maybe an inch of room. There's something really wrong with the shape of his lungs. I've never seen anything like it. It looks like some kind of ILD, but I can't find an exact diagnosis."

McCoy frowned. "We'll have to do an imaging scan." He didn't say it, but the way the atmosphere was quickly turning grim told Julieta how dangerous the situation was becoming.

The machine came to life, showing a pulse that was far too slow and far too shallow. But it wasn't a flatline. Cecilia let out a small sigh of relief, turning over his arm and quickly finding a vein and swabbing the skin. "Julieta, Jean, hold him down. McCoy, in one, two, three-" McCoy stopped compressions again as Cecilia pressed a needle into his arm and injected it.

Riah jerked hard, eyes flying open for just a moment as he gasped and choked. He wasn't awake for long, only a few seconds, but the added space gave his heart and lungs a chance to start working again. When he went back down, he was breathing.

"Keep him down," Cecilia ordered. She quickly set up the ventilator she'd bought with her and got a breathing tube down like it was easy. No one dared to breathe as they waited a few minutes, making sure Riah wasn't going to back into immediate danger. He didn't. "He's not stabilized yet, but he's fit for transport. Call his parents and Kurt can bring them back to the institute."

"His parents aren't available." It was horrifying to think about. Riah had nearly died and they couldn't so much as call them to say what had happened. "He's one of the Isle children. I can contact his friends and the family taking care of him here."

After a beat of horrified silence, Cecilia nodded. "Do that. Hopefully, we'll have good news to send to his parents."

How had none of them noticed? That one question played on repeat in Jay's head as everything kept getting worse and worse.

How did we not notice he's cursed? He'd wondered as Claudine explained Riah's situation. They all knew Riah had an issue with his lungs, but he'd brushed it off as some lung condition, said it was no big deal. And they had all believed him. How could none of them have noticed that his "condition" was a curse, a curse that had been actively trying to end his life for three years?

How did we not notice him dying? The thought had been agonizing. Jay took it upon himself to notice everything about his friends. If Evie looked a bit too thin or perfect, if Mal looked a bit too desperate, if Carlos was just a second off- Jay was supposed to notice this stuff. He was the one who watched out for the crew even if Mal already was. If something got past Mal, he was supposed to catch it. How had he not caught the fact that Riah was dying? How could anyone hide something so well, knowing they were going to die in just a few days? Had there been something he missed? Had he overlooked something? Had some sort of negligence on his part led to this getting this bad?

How could he hide this from us? Yeah, they hadn't known him for long, but this wasn't something you hid from your allies. Why would he do that? How had he been able to? How the hell could someone be so good at lying that he could hide a curse and his impending death from them?

What else is he hiding?

What if he dies?

Considering how often his mind went to worst-case scenarios, Jay was no stranger to praying he would be wrong. He could count on one hand the amount of times he'd been hoping it this hard. Riah was tough, after all. He wasn't going to let some stupid curse kill him. When the blue demon (he would worry about that later) grabbed him by the shoulder and made them appear in some sort of hospital room, Jay had almost convinced himself he was going to be wrong.

The second he saw Riah, that growing hope died.

How the hell had he gotten so bad without any of them noticing?

He knew Riah was thin, they all were, but the lack of a jacket and long pants let him see that Riah was skeletal. He had some muscle, sure, but it was all flat and dense and right underneath the skin, as though he didn't have even the thinnest layer of fat. His skin was clinging to his muscles and bones. What Jay had thought were just high cheekbones and a sharp jawline suddenly became evidence of severe starvation- how had this guy managed to get out of bed, let alone walk the quarter-mile to the nurse's office? He had picked Riah up, how had he not noticed the guy being a bag of bones? How could Riah, who easily ate more than any of them, be so skinny?

The paper gown revealed just how bad his leg was. He'd known the bone was curved, but thick jeans had hidden the worst of it. The skin on his left thigh was bumpy, as though the bone had healed in spikes under it. His leg wasn't merely bruised, it was almost entirely painted in shades of black and blue. Bruises painted his thigh entirely in patterns that meant breaks, and most of those bruises were old. His knee was bent in a slightly weird way, as though the lower part of the joint had turned a bit, and the swelling and bruising showed both dislocation and breaks. There was even a slight but unnatural indent to his calf, with bruising that looked like it had broken a few weeks ago- the entire leg was an emergency on its own. How had Riah been able to put any weight on that leg, let alone walk on it without his cane?

The third thing he noticed was the least important, but somehow it surprised him the most. They'd all been wondering why Fairy Godmother insisted on calling Riah Rhiannon, a girl's name, and why he'd been put in a girl's room. Despite everything, he felt a hot flash of anger. What was wrong with this place? Riah had made it abundantly clear that he was a guy, so what did it matter if his body didn't match? There was no way they hadn't known about him being a boy. Were they trying to make some kind of point? Allah, that was so messed up.

Claudine wasn't surprised. She darted to Riah's side as the rest of them paused, squeezing his limp hand. "How bad is it?"

Another one covered in blue fur, this one built like a gorilla, shook his head. "The damage is too severe to be fixed and his blood type makes a transplant impossible. There's no way to make his lungs function again. I'm so sorry."

No.

Jay nearly staggered under the weight of those words. Riah... no, Riah couldn't die. He'd been fine yesterday. They'd been joking and complaining just like normal only yesterday. Riah had been a bit stressed, yeah, but he'd been fine. And now he was going to die. He was going to die and Jay would never see his smile or hear his laugh or trade insults with him ever again. He was only fifteen and he was going to die. And they would have to send his body to the Isle with the barge as though it was garbage, and there was no guarantee Hades would get his body before anyone else because Hades wouldn't even know Riah was dead-

Claudine jolted, face going hard. "There is. We need to get him to the Isle. Right. Now."

"What're you talking about?" Mal asked. Was it something about letting Riah die with his family?

"He's had transplants before, his heart and kidneys. A lung transplant is possible, but we need to get him to the Isle for that to happen." She shot to her feet. "Mara Winchester is a complete universal donor and her tissue changes to match whoever it's transplanted into."

"Winchester?" Jay shared a confused look with Mal. Mara Winchester as in that weird girl who lived in the forest? The one who smoked, drank, swore every three words and insulted someone every five? The firstborn daughter of Madam Mim and the Horned King, with the-

The pure white skin, curly black hair, and glowing red eyes.

Holy shit.

"He's Matilda Mim," Evie whispered. Matilda Mim the Third was a bit of an urban legend on the Isle. The secondborn kid of the Horned King and Madam Mim, born three months premature, cursed, and left to die at only a few hours old. Legend was that Matilda had actually survived and was still alive-

"Don't call him that," Claudine corrected. "His name is Riah. But yes, he was."

Holy shit!

"We're wasting time," she continued. "The longer we wait, the more damage is done. If we get him there within the next hour he might be able to survive long enough for the transplant-"

"What's going on?"

Jay's.

Heart.

Stopped.

They all whirled to Ben standing in the doorway, Aurora and Audrey with him. His eyes were tight with worry, his muscles tensed and ready to move. He looked worried, but there was no way he would let them take Riah back to the Isle at the drop of a hat-

"We're taking Riah to the Isle to save his life," Claudine said, squaring her shoulders and giving him a look as if daring him to argue. "And we're taking him there right now."

"You'd better believe they are."

As if this couldn't get any more confusing-

The man who stepped out of the shadows was Isle, it was obvious even if Jay hadn't known who she was. The scars on her skin and across her face- he could match so many of her features to Riah's- the tattoos painting her arms, her light turquoise hair, buzzed at the back and sides but long at the top in a way no one on Auradon used, her black armour-

Maverick fucking Mim.

She gave them a crooked smile, just like Riah's, and stepped further into the room. She was only a few inches taller than Ben, but she seemed to tower over him "Let me make this clear, Benny Baby- if Riah dies, everyone dies. Riah is not supposed to die yet and if he does, it fucks the natural order sideways in a way that reality really can't afford. I ain't in the position to kill myself so that his death wouldn't upset the natural order, so you're going to take him to the Isle so that I can continue playing cleanup for the absolute fucking disaster your daddy created. Now." She turned back to them. "There's a specific way you have to do this."

"How the fuck are you here?" Mal asked, finally finding her tongue in her shock. Maverick Mim didn't have any way to be in Auradon. She was powerful with magick, sure, but if she hadn't broken the barrier yet, she wasn't going to. So how had she gotten to Auradon?

"Technically I'm not," she shrugged. Yeah, because that made sense. "I'm astral projecting so that I can talk to you because I don't want the world to end. And, by the way, ask King Beast how I know Riah's dying because that fucker knows, and he also knows why Riah's death before my death would upset the natural order of everything. We ain't got time to unpack all that. Now, are you gonna listen to me or are you gonna let him die so that the world ends?"

If any of them had a response, she didn't give them enough time to say it. "As I was saying, you guys need to follow directions because there's a certain way this needs done. Get him to the barrier but don't open it and I'll take care of the rest. You're going to need to drive."

"The Blackbird can get there faster," some bald guy in a wheelchair said.

Maverick shook her head. "Not gonna work. Number one, the hospital is underground-"

"Since when?" Mal sounded frazzled. Well, it was nice to see he wasn't the only one who had no clue what was going on.

"If one of you idiots interrupts me one more motherfucking time I swear to the gods," Maverick snapped. "We moved it because of I'll explain later. Point is, shit's underground now. There's no way for an aircraft to get to it even if we could get an aircraft through the barrier safely. So, you need to drive to where the bridge breaks. I'll handle everything else. I'll explain once the world is no longer in danger of ending. Get my little brother to the barrier and bring Benny Baby with you." She turned again, giving Ben a grin that was all teeth. "We need to talk."

"Who are you?" Ben managed.

"That answer will have to wait until we're face-to-face, golden boy, and none of you are allowed to tell him. I think a demonstration will drive it home better than me just saying it." With that cryptic statement, she turned back to the five. "Just get my brother to the barrier. I'll explain everything once he's stable. You guys willing to do that or do I have to do something that's going to bring Auradon's fist down on thousands of innocent children?"

Jay was so confused he was practically dizzy from it- he was almost certain he was physically swaying from it. Mal grabbed his hand, squeezing hard to try and ground him. "We'll get him to the barrier. Everything else can wait."

That was why Mal was the leader. She had a gift for keeping her head in even the worst situations.

Maverick nodded. "I'll be waiting. And, no matter what, you guys need to not interfere with what I'm going to do unless I tell you to. If I don't tell you to do anything, you do nothing. That goes for the X-Men, too." She gestured at the adults so that there was no question who the "X Men" were.

"I'll keep them in line," Mal promised. With one final nod, Maverick stepped back into the shadows, melting into them. Just as inexplicably as she had arrived, she was gone. "Let's get moving, fast. If she's involved, we need to believe her because she never gets involved unless it's the apocalypse."

"Who was that?" Ben asked, struggling to sound composed. The poor guy looked as confused as Jay felt.

"That," Mal gestured at the shadow Maverick had vanished into, "Was our sign that the world is going to end and a way to keep it from ending. On the Isle, her word is law. If she orders you to jump, no matter what gang you're part of, you say 'How high?' If she's saying we need to get Riah to the Isle, we're getting Riah to the fucking Isle. Now let's get moving before he dies."

Ben had no idea what was going on. It turned out that the Isle kids didn't, either.

The entire journey in the X-Van was spent listening to Claudine explain everything. No matter how bad Riah's physical conditions had seemed, they were only the surface of the issues. Riah had been born nearly three months premature. He'd been blind when he was younger and had needed surgeries and different treatments to fix this, but his eyes were still sensitive to light and he struggled with processing visual information. He'd needed multiple organs replaced- his heart, his kidneys, his intestines, and even two vertebrae. He'd had brain surgery when he was three to lessen severe epilepsy, but he was still epileptic and had seizures triggered by stress (which he was on medications for, but still.) His left femur wasn't simply broken, it had been eighty-five percent shattered. Fixing it had been impossible for reasons Ben never got but they all seemed to know. He had chronic pain from dozens of broken bones and this pain was sometimes so severe that he couldn't get out of bed. Today had been one of those days, and Riah had still forced himself out of bed and tried to walk down the stairs.

The only area Claudine didn't know much about was his lungs. That was where Doctor McCoy stepped in.

"Getting an imaging scan was far easier than you think. Equipment for mutants with ice, fire, and electricity abilities worked like a charm. This is why these six must see a provider used to working with genetic variants- if this had been detected earlier, we would have been able to act before it was an emergency." So they needed mutant doctors. He would have to see if the Xavier Institute would be willing to treat them moving forward. "Riah's lungs are extremely malformed. If I had to guess, I would say they were the size of an eight-year-old's lungs, and a small eight-year-old at that. Their growth has been severely restricted by the curse. As a result, they've grown into an extremely dysfunctional shape. The walls of his lungs are inconsistent, some parts are far too thick while some parts are as thin as tissue paper. The insides are almost eighty percent scar tissue, I suspect due to the way they've been forced to grow. It appears he's had some sort of laryngotracheal reconstruction surgery, surgery to fix his windpipe, at least twice in his life, but there's still a great deal of damage and malformation with his windpipe."

"He shouldn't be alive," Audrey whispered, eyes wide with horror. "How can he still be alive?"

"It appears he has some minor form of immortality. His body seems to adapt to any issues that put his life at risk. I noticed in the scans that he has scar tissue across his intestines, right under the scar across his stomach. An injury like this should not have been able to heal and should have required removal and a great deal of medical intervention, but his body was able to heal the damage and restore function. Scans of his brain, stomach, heart, liver, and spinal cord reveal similar scars and similar healing. If I had to guess, I would say the tissue in his lungs has mutated to function despite the damage. The real question is why this ability suddenly stopped." The Isle kids shared a minute, knowing look. "I hope to speak to someone who knows more about his medical history."

"Hades should know," Claudine whispered. "He's been taking care of Riah for Riah's entire life. He knows everything there is to know about Riah's medical issues and he'll probably be at the hospital."

"Fantastic." McCoy looked almost like a child at Christmas.

"We're bringing his dog back with us," Aurora said. Ben looked at her, puzzled. Since when did Riah have a dog? And why did they need to bring a dog with them to Auradon? "He has a service dog, Lydia, and he wasn't allowed to bring her with him. He needs her."

"She does a lot," Claudine added. "She helps him get around, grabs stuff for him, keeps him from falling or helps him get up after a fall, opens and closes stuff, wakes him up from nightmares, alerts for his panic attacks, meltdowns, shutdowns, flashbacks, and dissociation, and she helps him feel safe. She can even alert them to his seizures before he has one, sometimes an hour before they happen. I've seen how much she helps him. She's as important to him as his cane, maybe more."

"If she's so important, why wasn't he allowed to bring her?" He'd never said anything about the Isle kids not being allowed to bring pets, and he'd certainly never forbidden service dogs. If Riah had a service dog, he should have been allowed to bring her with him. And why hadn't he been told about this? At the very least he should have been made aware that Riah had an essential service dog he'd been forced to leave on the Isle.

"She's a Tibetan mastiff." A what? "According to Hades, her breed qualifies as giant, like a Newfoundland or Great Dane. She's heavier than Riah by around twenty pounds and when she stands on her hind legs, she can put her front paws on her shoulders. She looks like some kind of lion, too, or a bear. She's just a massive dog, and I guess they thought that her size made her dangerous." Claudine gave him a pleading look. "But she's not. She's so gentle, she doesn't have a mean bone in her body. She's not friendly, yeah, but she's not aggressive. I swear, she won't put anyone in danger. If anything, she'll keep bad situations from happening."

"If he needs her, I don't see why he shouldn't be allowed to have her. I had no idea he had a service dog that he wasn't allowed to bring with him." Maybe not having his dog would explain why Riah seemed to have gone downhill so fast in Auradon. He was the only one of the Isle kids who had lost weight, and he'd lost a lot- maybe the dog reminded him to eat, or helped relieve stress so he could eat? If she kept him from falling, his leg probably wouldn't be as bad as it looked. Maybe she could have calmed him down before he snapped under his anger or anxiety. Maybe a lot of his anxiety was from not having his dog- not having the comfort, not having an early warning for seizures, not having something that could remind him to listen to his emotions and take care of himself- it would make a lot of sense. He couldn't believe this had never been brought to his attention. "Do any of you have service animals you left behind? We can collect them while we're here."

Mal shook her head. "But I know I've got some stuff I left at home, and I know the others probably do. Would it be okay if we went home and grabbed some things we forgot?"

"Absolutely. Just don't bring any weapons." He felt stupid saying it. The Isle kids might have been rough, but they weren't dangerous. They weren't going to bring weapons into the school.

Jay snorted into his hand and Evie bit her lip to keep from laughing. Mal elbowed both of them, but it was clear she was trying not to laugh. "No problem."

With those plans made, Ben looked back at Riah, still unconscious in the gurney that had fit perfectly into the X-Van. He was so thin, far thinner than he'd been when he first came to Auradon, and covered in black bruises. It was hard to believe he'd been in Auradon for two months. While the other five had healed up and gained weight, he'd lost weight and gotten injury after injury. "Has he been eating?"

"He eats more than any of us," Jay frowned. "Sometimes I think he eats more than all of us put together. I don't get how he lost so much weight."

"Maybe we should ask Mara." Who was Mara and where did she come into this? Seeing Ben's confusion, Mal went on. "She's his biological sister, around a year older than him, and they look like they could be twins. If anyone knows how Riah managed to lose this much weight, it's her. Maybe she'll even know how to help him get back to normal... Well, normal for his weird ass. She'll be the one he's getting lungs from, so she should be there."

"His sister is really going to die for him?" That was a very impressive amount of sibling dedication, but God... How could they talk about that like it was no big deal? How were they supposed to talk to this girl knowing she was going to die so that Riah could live?

"What?" Mal gave him a strange look, then seemed to understand. "Oh- Mara's immortal. She sold her soul to the woman you saw earlier because Mara needs to be immortal for now. She'll just regenerate her lungs and she'll be fine."

"There isn't any magic on the Isle." If there was no magic, how could anyone sell their soul to anyone? How could they become magically immortal and get to magically regenerate without magic?

"There's names," Mal explained. "If I were to ask someone to give me their name- never have, by the way, except in emergencies when someone won't be able to live unless I do it, and I always free them the second they aren't in danger- and they were to say their full name, I would own their soul. It's a rare practice, but people do it. Some people use it in very bad ways, but some people, like the person from earlier, use it to help people. Mara's currently the only thing keeping some of the adults in check, so she sold her soul to M- that person from earlier, because she needs to be immortal for everyone's sake. For what it's worth, she's has never forced any of the people who've sold their souls to her to do anything they don't want to do. Actually, I know at least two of them are freed from their contract if she tries to order them to do something they don't want to do."

Back to the mystery woman from earlier. Even the memory of her made Ben feel small. He could still feel her bright turquoise eyes piercing his soul, seeing every wrong he'd ever done. She had obviously been a lot older than all of them, twenty-one at the minimum, but he couldn't tell which villain she was. Of course, he hadn't been able to identify anything about her. If not for the Isle kids, he wouldn't have even known she was a woman. "Who is that woman? How do you know her?"

"Don't call her a woman. She's fine with she/her pronouns but she prefers titles for a guy or gender-neutral- so she'd be a man, not a woman." That didn't make any sense to him but he wasn't going to police how someone identified. Okay, M was a guy... ish? "As for who she is, she's..." Mal shook her head. "If she said we can't tell you who she is, we won't. When that one gets involved, she's in charge. When she gives us an order, we listen. We know her as Destiny, basically." Destiny as in Destiny of the Endless? The oldest of them, with a chronicle of all time chained to his arm? The most powerful being on the planet? "She's not, obviously, but we treat her like she is. She knows everything, knows what'll happen if something else happens. She has a really good intuition, or some kind of magical schooling, and we listen because she's never been wrong. And she rarely gets involved. Usually, she stays on her part of the Isle, doesn't interact with anyone outside of her gang. When she gets involved, it means something extinction-level needs stopped, and she knows how to stop it. If something is bad enough that she gets involved, we listen to her because she never gets involved."

"She's the Pope of the Isle," Claudine said. "She doesn't give orders often but when she does, her word is absolute law."

"How is she going to get us onto the Isle?" Ben felt like he was trying to put together a billion-piece puzzle with no edges and no picture. He wasn't going to let himself dwell on anything, just learn what he could so that he could figure out the bigger picture.

Mal shrugged. "No idea. But if she said she's going to get us onto the Isle, I believe her."

Ben glanced out the window, at the wide expanse of blue ocean, then at Riah.

Whatever happened, he hoped it happened fast.

#chapter 7 #descendants #descendants au #isle of darkness #original character #descendants oc #swearing

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rachelspoetrycorner · 10 months

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Thanksgiving (2019) by Rachel Long

In Episode 199, Rachel shares a poet recommended by a listener, Milo Rey!

Rachel: In fact, Rachel Long is actually a founder of a poetry collective called the Octavia Poetry Collective for Women of Colour. She talks a lot about the experience of being what she calls, like, both the invisible and also hyper visible.

[...] And so that poem kind of gets at that a little bit, of just this idea of like trying to exist in this space and be what somebody else wants you to be, you know? And I mean, obviously I don’t have that exact experience, but that experience of being with somebody that you feel is different than you, and trying to just keep everything unique about yourself, like, hidden.

This poem always manages to catch me off guard; it's title and opening lines seem to be guiding the reader towards a peaceful, and even tender, road. But suddenly, you finish reading it and realise that, without even noticing it, you'd been steered right to the edge of a cliff. It's such a quiet, heartbreaking poem.

If you’d like to hear more about the author's experience, you can do so here: In Relationship with the Orbeez, from 23:38 - 35:00

#poetry #rachel mcelroy #griffin mcelroy #poem #Rachel Long #poet #Thanksgiving #writing #words #literature #love #bittersweet #black author #black artist #wonderful!#wonderful! podcast #rachel’s poetry corner #episode 199

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sleeping-in-the-sky · 3 months

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what're your favorite headcanons about the infinite blue boys

asdfghjkl thank you for the ask! Apologies this took so long, I love wanting to do multiple hobbies and subsequently not making progress on any of them

Anyway I'm a sucker for domestic mundane things, like the list of random facts VelvetFox posted in this ask, so here are some headcanons for the boys with that same vibe:

(I had some scraps of IB dad headcanons so those are mixed in here too)

Infinite Blue LIs x Reader. No mentions of reader pronouns or gender. Also posted on Ao3 here.

——

Alexei:

Has journals full of thoughts and observations about anything and everything. Some of his writing is illegible and other parts make no sense to anybody but him because it's literally his runaway train of thoughts dumped onto paper. He sticks post-it notes with diagrams between the pages, jots down excerpts from Wikipedia pages, and overall it's not an aesthetic read... But flipping through can give you an idea of how this super genius's brain works.

He also writes about you in these notebooks, albeit they're written in between stuff like the thirty-seven fun facts of siphonophores and his favorite part of last night's dinner. Many of them are things you’ve never even noticed about yourself like the way you hold the steering wheel while driving. This is also where he'll stick date memorabilia, like movie tickets. (this hc was inspired by this fic by @sailxrmxrs <3)

If you two own a saucer chair or some other small round comfy seat, he'll probably fall asleep in it at least once. He curls up, all 5'10" of him tucked in that tiny space. Naturally, his body hurts when he wakes up and therefore he gets a bit grumpy. So next time if you see him dozing off maybe lead him to the couch or the bed so he can stretch comfortably.

Brooklyn:

I want to imagine that he has a closet only for his clothing irons and ironing boards. Like a fucking broom closet and you open it to see that there's those four boards and a dozen irons. These include vintage clothing irons, restored and repurposed. He knows how to use them and take care of them too. Why does this make me laugh so hard.

Clothes shopping. Take this man clothes shopping. Yes, he'll buy you anything but honestly? Even disregarding that it’s a fun time because he would enjoy discussing outfits, and if your taste isn't the same as his business-academia-formal style he could be convinced into trying an outfit you styled, or vice versa. Also he's a total simp every time you step out of the changing room. Need fit pics? He's got you covered.

Something tells me Brooklyn would enjoy snacks and desserts from around the world. He'd love to make them himself (and with you!), but you could just come home with some mitarashi-dango because your local Asian supermarket was having a sale and he's already cracking open the container for the ceremonial-grade green tea leaves.

Leo:

Leo's our favorite gamer guy, but I think he also enjoys jigsaw puzzles whether they be with his friends or you or both. These are the quiet nights where everyone is focusing, intently staring at the puzzle sitting on the coffee table while aimlessly chatting. It's super peaceful, though sometimes time slips by unnoticed and by the time you all finish it's two in the morning.

Does that thing where you put someone in a shopping car, sprint across the parking lot while pushing said cart, then jump on it while it's moving. He does it with his friends, you, and his future kid (albeit with a lot more caution). He really wants to kiss you while he’s doing it too, but maybe not because what happens if he hits a car, or worse, someone else?

While we're on the topic of transportation and kisses, every time you're sitting shotgun and he pulls the car in reverse he'll put his hand on your seat and lean in to kiss you. Every. Single. Time.

Kiss him first. It'll get him flustered. Do it.

Milo:

I want to believe he really likes having his hair brushed. If you ask him about it he'll never admit it beyond a quick affirmative, but anytime you sit behind him and start to gently run the bristles through his tangles, he could feel himself relaxing. It's soothing. He might fall asleep like that.

Milo would own a 3d printer. I have no definitive reasons why. Vibe check says he owns a 3d printer and will print out cool little knickknacks and give them to you without a word because they either help you in a mundane way (like a toothbrush holder), or he'll print out something cute like a tiny frog with a mushroom hat because he likes seeing your face light up.

Or he'll print out something cursed, like that Thomas the Tank Engine bottlecap where the liquid streams out of the eyes. It's a coin toss every time.

Rory:

Was that one kid reading with a flashlight under the covers. Even now that he's older, he likes to get a bed light and read before bed. Sometimes he gets super engrossed in it and you gotta peel that book off him. He’ll complain. Stand your ground. Otherwise he'll be super sleep-deprived and cranky the next morning.

If his future child also turns out to be an avid reader, he'll secretly change out their flashlight batteries. Or get them a night light with some half-baked excuse of, "so you don't turn on all the lights when you get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and wake the entire house up." Sure, Rory.

Speaking of sleep-related things, he really likes it when you fall asleep next to him/on him. His expression melts into the softest smile and he'll pull you in tightly. If he falls asleep on you, he's the kind to unconsciously hold onto you/must be touching you at all times. He gets really embarrassed about it if you mention this to him. I recommend taking a picture and making it his contact photo.

Tobias:

Has terrible handwriting but an impeccable signature. Don't ever ask him to write the grocery list because it takes forever to decipher his chicken scratch, but he'll sign stuff for fans in one fluid stroke, and that shit looks clean. And yes, he'll offer to sign something for you too.

Loves it when he's chilling on the couch after a long day and you flop on top of him. He'll happily be your teddy bear and let you lay there for hours, the two of you chatting and watching TV while he rubs soft circles on your back. Feel free to fall asleep like that too.

He's the type to enjoy flashy, expensive dates. He takes you out in his sports car to get dinner at a fancy restaurant, followed by spectating sports games from the VIP seats. But I also think incredibly mundane things, like the two of you going out just to grab ice cream in sweatpants and hoodies give him a special kind of happiness.

Seeing you sleepily rubbing your eyes as you come to pick him up from the airport is enough to make him giddy.

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dominimoonbeam · 4 months

Text

Holding Out for a Hero - 10

The bodyguard au continues! Read from the start over on ao3. <3

David/Asher/Darlin. No magic au.

tags: bodyguard au, violence, bloodshed, attempted kidnapping, miscommunication, past violence relationship, getting together

Holding Out for a Hero - 10

3 days.

It had been 3 days since Asher kissed him and since he kissed Darlin.

Fuck!

Somehow, he hadn’t gotten Asher alone to talk since. He’d had two shows, over a dozen interviews, and countless meetings and set run throughs. Asher was always there. Right there! But David never got him alone. What was worse, was that Asher seemed fine. He wasn’t angry or heartbroken. He was just… happy?

David started to think he’d read too much into this. He’d thought there was something between them—that Asher was into him. Maybe it had just been a kiss. Maybe it had just been casual. Maybe David was the one imagining the rest…

They’d been stopped at the same place the last few nights but Asher never slept in the bus. He always ended up someplace else, someplace close enough to always be doing his job but not close enough to get caught alone with them.

David rubbed his temple, running that kiss over in his head again, increasingly worried he’d overstepped a line and Asher was just trying to get away now. He called him Boss all the fucking time. Someone else might find that hot, but David sure as fuck did not.

Darlin seemed to be handling it well the first couple days, soothingly running a hand over his back and telling him it’s just timing and really busy right now. They’d talk to Asher eventually and straighten it all out.

David knew them well enough that he should have realized Darlin was a fucking powder keg about to blow. They tried to keep things calm. They tried to be diplomatic. But Darlin had always been a fighter and he had known since they were kids that he was their short fuse.

“Your job is to protect him, right?” Darlin’s voice pitched with that bite everyone who had worked with them or crossed them knew.

David gnashed teeth and shot to his feet, walking toward it. No. Nononono.

They were all tired. It had been too little sleep and a lot of work. One more show and then they’d have a few days to go to events and hopefully relax before the next location. He came out onto the stage, dozens of people running checks and Milo and Sweetheart pausing in the midst of one of their own spats to turn their attention to Darlin.

Asher was standing with the security crew, blinking doe-eyes at the manager. “Yeah…”

Darlin had their hands balled into fists. “Then where is he? What the fuck am I paying you for?”

Asher didn’t break eye contact with Darlin—didn’t look at David on the stage behind them—but he pointed, more like he knew by instinct than by any other sense. “There.”

Darlin didn’t look, but they tensed, like they could hear all the times David told them to calm down in their youth. Instead of heeding it, Darlin stepped up in Asher’s space. The rest of the security crew edged back but Asher stayed put, not challenging but not flinching, just watching Darlin like they were a mystery. “I’m starting to think I hired the wrong person for this job,” they ground out.

David felt sick. Darlin was just pressing on the only thing they had to try to get a reaction out of Asher. It was sort of classic Darlin, but it happened to be pressing on the fact that Asher worked for them. “Hey, knock it off,” he snapped at the whole room. “Darlin, leave the crew alone.”

David could have sworn Asher winced when he called him crew. But why? He’d been the one underlining it so hard.

Darlin glared another few seconds and the room waited. And then Darlin exhaled, rolled their eyes, and turned away from Asher, walking back across the room and up onto the stage. David waited, but Asher never looked at him. David hadn’t been able to catch Asher’s gaze since that night, and yet he was sure he felt the other man’s eyes on him all the time.

Darlin brushed past David on their way to the back and David followed a few steps behind, grinding his teeth on his own feelings like he could just chew them up and make them easier to swallow.

“I know,” Darlin hissed.

David shook his head. “You can’t talk to him like that…”

“I said I know.”

“It’s not his fucking job to…” He snarled rather than say it. Not Asher’s job to be more than a guard. Not his job to have emotional conversations with them. Not his job to be… more.

“I wasn’t saying it was! I was just… He… What the fuck is his problem?” The words came stumbling out of them.

Some of David’s anger eased at the cracking of their voice. They were frustrated and upset and maybe just as confused as he was. “It’s only been a few days. We’re all busy and we’re almost never alone. We’ll figure it out eventually.” For the first time he believed it, because he was the one having to say it.

Darlin groaned and scrubbed a hand over their face. “Really though… what kind of bodyguard avoids the person they’re hired to guard?”

David snorted. “I told you I didn’t need one to start with…” The words had less weight than they used to, because he didn’t like the idea of never having brought Asher into their lives.

“Fuck…” they exhaled the way they always did when they rethought what they’d said or done and regretted it. “Fuck!”

David sighed and reached out, palming the back of their head and gently pulling them closer, hugging them. “It’s okay. You’re an asshole. Everyone knows it already. It’s part of your charm.”

They swore again but this time the words were pressed into his chest, their arms curling around his waist. They hadn’t kissed again since that night. They touched more—more hugs and arms slung around one another—but there really hadn’t been much alone time and what there was, was pretty much dedicated to sleeping.

The speakers crackled and the band started running through instrument checks.

David sighed and let Darlin go. Back to work.

The concert went great and David was dead tired.

He couldn’t wait to get back to the bus, shower, brush his teeth, and fucking pass out. They were supposed to head out tonight and land in a new city tomorrow where they’d be checking into a hotel and going to some events. He just had to get to his bunk and everyone else would make sure he got where he was supposed to be by the time he woke up.

The problem was just getting there. He’d been signing shit for what felt like hours, the place still buzzing with activity long after the concert finished. The crew were mostly through breaking down the set and packing it away, everyone exhausted and hustling to get moving. Darlin was somewhere yelling at someone about schedule mishaps, road plans, or some other logistical detail that no one else thought about but they’d all die without.

“Shaw,” someone called, between a question and a request. David had heard a lot of people say his name in a lot of ways, this one was pretty common. Someone that had cause to talk to him but still wasn’t sure they were allowed to. He looked up. The guy was wearing a security shirt. One of the local crew. He smiled nervously at David. “This way, sir,” the guy waved him to the back hall, one of many leading toward an exit.

David rubbed at his face with a towel and walked over, his whole body sore. “Yeah?”

“Your manager told me to walk you to your bus before you get caught up in another interview or fan signing?” he sounded unsure, like this had been thrown at him and he was just trying to do what he’d been told.

David snorted and nodded.

The guy turned and led the way. He was big, but he wasn’t bigger than David. Few people he met were. He led him to an exit and held the door.

David never even heard Asher walking up behind him. He caught his arm by the elbow, the first time he’d touched him since that night, and firmly drew him back a step before he could walk outside. “What—” David started but the look on Asher’s face was so confusing. He looked… pissed.

He stepped around David smoothly, lean and agile, let go and stepped out through the door in his place.

The security guy holding the door looked like a deer in headlights, confused and still holding the door. Someone else out of sight, several someones, swore and started yelling.

Before David could push forward, Asher clocked the security guy in the face, throwing him back on his ash, and then slammed the door shut in David’s face. It locked.

David lurched forward, reaching for the door. What the fuck had just happened? He needed to get through the door. He needed to. “Fuck!” he swore when the door first didn’t budge. He had to turn the lock and push at the same time. If he had been on the other side, there would be no going back.

He shouldered his way out into the private back lot, the night washed orange in pools of lamplight. He almost tripped over the first guy—the security guard that had led him down this way. He was clutching at his face, his broken nose bleeding through his fingers and his eyes so watery that he seemed blind by the tears. A second guy was out cold on the ground a few steps away and two figures were out there, between the building and the bus. The ruckus was attracting other attention, other security and crew loading trucks around the corner coming around.

David ran toward the two—knowing that one of them had to be Asher.

The bigger one was the stranger, running from that slender cut of a man in the dark. David shivered when Asher took him down, tackling him and riding him to the pavement in a way that couldn’t not remind of a wolf pulling down an elk. David reached them in time to watch Ash pull the guys arms back and drag a ziptie tight around his wrists before jumping up and using one sneakered foot to shove the runner onto his side.

Asher huffed, pushing hair out of his face and looking up—past David. He pointed at some crew and then at the other two near the door. “Grab those two and call the fucking cops.” He was breathing hard and finally looked at David. The first time he’d looked at him since that night… “You okay, big guy?”

David stared at him. “How did you…?” How did he know something was going wrong? What had almost happened? Where the fuck had Asher even come from?

Ash huffed, using one foot to push the guy on the ground back down when he tried to get up but never breaking eye contact with David. “What? I’m always watching you. I’m… It’s my job. Why do you guys think I’m bad at this?”

David shook his head. “But you’ve been avoiding me.”

Asher flushed and looked away. He shrugged. “I was trying to give you two space.”

David shook his head, not looking away. They weren’t alone, not really, but maybe this was as close as he could get. “We don’t want space. Just… If I crossed a line with you—”

“What?” Asher barked, eyes wide. He shook his head. “No. What… Hang on…” He stooped and grabbed the guy by the back of his shoulders, turning and dragging him toward the door and the others with the growing crowd. Several people were on the phone. He dumped the guy with the others and then came back to David, face still creased with confusion and worry. “No. But you two… I meant what I said, David. I don’t want to make shit harder for you and I don’t want to ruin something like that. I like you and Darlin. I’m not going to play homewrecker.”

David exhaled like he’d been holding his breath for days. Maybe he had been. “You’re such an idiot…”

Asher blinked and then huffed a thin laugh and took a step back. “Yeah, okay. But this idiot just saved your—”

David caught his wrist and pulled him in, catching his jaw and tipping his face up to kiss him.

Asher seemed frozen for a second and David wondered if he’d made a mistake, but then the guard was kissing him back in the dark near the tour buses and trucks. The kiss was short and broke when blue and red flashing lights splashed across their skin.

David couldn’t tell, because of the light, but it looked like Asher was glassy eyed and blushing.

#redactedverse #dashlin #david/asher/darlin #bodyguard au #no magic au #dominimoonbeam #fanfic #<3 #redacted asmr #romance

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band--psycho · 1 year

Text

Vander x Reader - Baby It's Cold Outside

Sorry I didn't post anything yesterday!

This stroy was requested by the lovely @barbersjoy for my Christmas Writing Challnege!

I hope you all enjoy this!💛

Warning-Smut (18+)

Prompt - Baby it's cold outside

“I should probably be getting home,” Y/n began; earning the joy in Vanders' eyes to diminish slightly as some loud protests from Powder, Vi, Milo and Claggor.

She didn’t want to go, but it was late and Y/n didn’t want to outstay her visit, she’d only come to drop off some presents for them all and then she was going to leave, that had been at least three hours ago.

She also knew that the blizzard outside wasn’t getting any better, even in the warmth of Vanders home there was still a noticeable chill.

“I’ll see you again tomorrow,” Y/n soothed as the four children bombarded her with hugs.

As she said her goodbyes to the children, Vander went upstairs to unlock the front door, shivering slightly when he opened it.

“Baby it’s cold outside,” he stated softly as Y/n walked over to him. And it was, it was freezing. However the heat that was forming on her cheeks almost took away the harshness of the chill.

Her house wasn’t too far away but walking anywhere in this weather was going to be nothing of a very cold nightmare.

“Y’know you don’t have to go?” Vander stated as he lifted his hand to her cheek, making her heart swell as her eyes met his.

“I don’t want to overstay my welcome,”

Her response earned a small chuckle from Vanders lips, “You’re part of this family, darl’, you could never do that,” he replied, moving his hand from her cheek to her waist, giving it a soft squeeze. There'd always been something between Y/n and Vander, an unspoken love. In fact, it was only recently that the two of them actually admitted their feelings to one another.

So even though they’d known each other for years, all of these little actions and the sweet nicknames he’d given her still felt surreal.

“So will you stay?” Vander asked, quietly, trying to hide how much he wanted her to stay the night, he didn’t want to pressure her to stay if she didn’t want to.

“Of course I will,” she answered back, a shy smile forming on her lips as he pulled her softly into his embrace.

A few seconds later, cheers from the four children echoed from the stairs, making both Y/n and Vander chuckle as they headed back downstairs.

~~~~~

It was safe to say that they were both feeling a bit more than a little tired seeing as none of the children wanted to go to sleep. Powder wanted to stay up and create some more inventions

About an hour (and multiple stories read by both Y/n and Vander) later all four of the children fell asleep.

But now both Y/n and Vander were snuggled up in his bed. Vander had given Y/n one of his spare T-shirts to wear during the night; he was a lot bigger than her, especially in height, so his T-shirt was practically a nightie on Y/n; not that she was complaining a single bit. She loved it.

Vander had also made sure to put an ample amount of blankets on the bed as well as the duvet so that she wouldn’t be cold during the night.

But what was giving Y/n the most warmth was not the blankets nor the duvet, it was Vander. The man was practically a human furnace; and being wrapped in his arms and lying on his chest kept her nice and safe from the chill in the room.

“You okay there baby,” Vander muttered, as he placed a soft kiss on the top of her head.

“Mhm,” Y/n sleepily replied; as she nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck; leaving soft kisses along Vanders neck as she did so.

A very quiet, almost inaudible, low moan slipped past Vanders lips as her lips continued their gentle attack on his neck.

“Darl,'' he warned softly, his hands slowly beginning to roam over the side of Y/n's body, but she didn’t acknowledge Vanders warning. Instead the next time she placed her lips against his neck, she didn’t leave a kiss like she had previously; no this time she lightly sucked on the skin, causing another low moan to leave Vander lips.

A triumphant smirk tugged at Y/n's lips as she looked down at Vanders neck to see multiple little red marks; though she did not get much time to admire her work before Vander had flipped her onto her back.

“My turn,” he whispered huskily, shoving the blankets and duvets that once surrounded them both, before grabbing the top of the T-shirt and pulling it down slightly to expose the top of her chest, before copying exactly what she had done to him.

Earning exactly the same response.

“Fuck,” Y/n sighed, her hips bucking into the air.

“Easy, baby,” Vander soothed, placing a hand on her hips, his strength holding them down almost effortlessly.

“I promise I’ll take good care of ya,” he continued, his lips brushing against the shell of her ear, earning no response from Y/n other than a desperate moan.

Vander didn’t want this moment to be over. He wanted to savor every single second of it.

All those years of wanting; and now here they were.

Together.

Doing things they’d both only ever dreamt of.

He wanted to take his time with her. He wanted to tease her relentlessly, until all she could do was beg for him to touch her. And when he did; it would be almost as torturous as the teasing. Starting off slowly, before increasing speed only to slow right back down again when he knew she was close and do it all over again.

And she wanted him to do all of it

Tagging:

@xacatalepsyx @yn-ymn-yln @bookworm1767 @book-dragon03 @conretewings @the-lone-librarian @cass-brightwood @withmyteeth @bestbitchsstuff @fortune-fool02 @arielpanda1 @wildestdreamcatcher @simping-ella @mothratic @stickyrice5096 @levis-butterfingers @justabigass-simp @munsinner

#vander x reader #arcane imagines #arcane imagine #arcane x reader #vander x you #vander imagines #vander imagine #arcane #arcane vander #vander arcane #vander smut

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adventuretolkienlover · 8 months

Text

My Atlantis The Lost Empire Review!🗺️🪖💎🏺💣🛞🧭⚓🛟

I finally got the courage to do it! Yay!

First I'd just like to start out by saying AOAHSJDJDHFBJFJFJFJFIGJGJDKSOXJVJFJDJUVJFUFJFUGUGHFHFUDIDJDJFHFHFUFHFJ!!!!!!!!!

🤩🤩🤩

Okay, stimming done! I should note, I don't hold back in my reviews. I see something wrong? I can and WILL say it! Luckily, there's like, nothing wrong with this movie, so you won't hear much of that from me! Lol!🤣 This is first time doing this kinda thing. So I apologize for any errors or incorrect formatting.

Now, without further adu, the review! (Hey that rhymes!) Below the cut cus it's LOOOOOOOOOONG!!!! It's literally the longest post I've made. And there's SPOILERS! So beware!

Okay, I'm not even sure where to start cus this is one INSANE ride of a movie! I mean HOLY COW!!! IF ALL OF DISNEY'S MOVIES WERE THIS GOOD, I'D WATCH

EVERY

SINGLE

ONE.

I'm not even kidding. I don't know what I'm doing, so let's just start with the World building.

WORLD BUILDING

This movie ROCKS in the world building department. Everything is well rounded out and looks stunning. One of the things that I found most exciting was the fact that they made a WHOLE FRICKEN USEABLE LANGUAGE FOR THIS MOVIE!!!!!! They actually brought in a linguist to make it!!!! That's how committed they were!!! Do you hear about Disney doing this nowadays? NOOOOOOOOOOO!

Also, THE STEAMPUNK AESTHETIC.

LOOK AT THIS SUB!!!! LOOK AT IT!!!!!

It's so detailed and cool looking!!!! If I saw this in love action, I think I'd freak! How can steam powered vessel go below the crush depth?

I DON'T CARE!!! IT'S AWESOME!!! (I especially like that bubble in the front. How fun! I'd definitely be looking out of that thing all the time!) I heard people say that watched the scene with the Leviathan attacking the sub thought it looked so real, that some people who worked on army subs got FLASHBACKS!!! I'm not even kidding! Everything during those scenes felt so real and immersive! You can tell Disney did their home work!

Okay now Atlantis itself!

It feels like it's own culture. It's feels real. It doesn't feel or look like a lazy combination of two cultures. It's distinct and interesting looking. And the people are very unique in appearance too. With their blue eyes, white hair, and coppery brown skin. It's a beautiful combination. And their clothes are nice as well. Lots of bright colors. Mostly blues, purples, magentas, etc. Very beautiful.❤️

OH! OH! AND THEIR TECHNOLOGY!!!! Oh my gosh!!! That leviathan and those fish shaped flying machines?!! HECKIN RAD!!!! How are they made?!?? What are they made out of?!??? So many QUESTIONS!!!!!!

I especially love the use of crystals in the Atlantian technology. I actually studied stuff like that and from what I've found in my research, it was actually entirely possible that ancient civilizations, like Atlantis used Crystals in somes ways of energy. Which is amazing! I don't know if that's where they got inspiration. But I found it intriguing none the less!

And the Creatures were also cool! They felt almost alien or prehistoric in appearance! It was really cool. Some of the creatures looked like they came straight from Pandora from the movie Avatar! I'm a sucker for fantasy creatures and speculative biology. So I'd love to see If I could figure out everything about the ecosystem of Atlantis! To bad they didn't go into more detail about it, but the movie wasn't about the critters. Still, hats of to the crew for giving them such interesting designs!

Okay, Onto more stuff!

THE CHARACTERS

Milo. He's adorkable.

That's it. He's perfect. I love him.

Okay, lol. Actually I have a lot to say. They gave him SOOOOOOOOO much personality! He's dynamic and easy to read! He's allowed to push his expressions and be exaggerated! He's just so fun to watch! Big thumbs up to his animator(s). And look at those glasses! And that hair! Such a good character design! He's just so fun and loveable looking!❤️

And he's allowed to show a full range of emotions! I know this one sounds weird. But it drive me crazy when a character is only allowed to show one emotion and by completely defined by it. Like being sickingly happy go lucky, or dark and moody. It's like, that's all you're going to do with them? But Milo, goes through the full range of emotions in the movie. He's got excitement from going into the unknown. Sadness and grief from the loss of his grandpa and parents. Righteous anger at Commander Rourke's betrayal and utter disregard for the Atlantian people's lives. He experiences everything and it all feels so relatable. He's just the best. I also love how enthusiastic and kind hearted he is. He has the heart of a hero despite his first impressions. And his cute crush on Kida is the best. He's such a goober. He needs to be considered a Disney Prince. He deserves it more than most.

✨KIDA.✨ Just KIDA.🤩

Kida is GORGEOUS. 🤩🤩🤩🤩❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ LOOK AT HER DESIGN! IT ROCKS!!!! WHY THE HECK IS SHE NOT AN OFFICIAL DISNEY PRINCESS!?!??!? SHAME ON YOU DISNEY!!!! She has ALL the qualifications!!!!

She's strong! Mentally, emotionally, AND fricken physically!!! She cares deeply about her people and her culture!!!! She is ROYALTY. She is a WARRIOR!!! She is a QUEEN!!! If any of the "forgotten Disney Princesses" deserved the title of official princess, it HER! FORGET RAYA!!! You're telling me that the Disney heroin that taught people to trust their abusers, EVEN AFTER THEY'VE HURT THEM MULTIPLE TIMES and then GUILT TRIPS THEM, deserved the title of Disney Princess more than THIS WOMAN?!??! BULL! ABSOLUTE BULL! (Sorry for the rant. I have to refrain myself for going on a lecture about how Raya never deserved that title. She is my least favorite Disney princess. 😖👎 KIDA ALL THE WAY!!!!😄👍💕)

Oh, and her and Milo are the cutest couple. I heard people were upset because they didn't get a big kiss at the end. NO! They didn't kiss at the end of the movie! They didn't need to! They just FLIPPEN met!!! I wouldn't either! We're they still an adorable couple? HECK YES!!! They cared about each other and learned from each other and UGH! They so CUTE!!!!! And Milo gets to be King Consort of the Kingdom he spent his entire life searching for alongside his Queen who is also the woman he loves! How great an ending is that?! He knows they were both great rulers. You know it.

Commander Rourke. I hate this man.

I can't even find any good gifs of him. THAT'S HOW MUCH PEOPLE DESPISE HIM! Rourke is the DEVIL! Hidden under the guise of a good old American Army Commander! Which is why he is one of the BEST if not THE BEST Disney villains! He was about to let an entire lost civilization of people die, just because he wanted their LIFE FORCE!!! He definitely deserved to be transformed into a crystal creature then shattered. What a complete MONSTER!!!

I have to admit, I was actually already spoiled by the twist ending. I already knew about it from multiple sources. But somehow, that didn't matter! I watched it and I still felt connected to Rourke, even though I knew what was coming! It was so good! Rourke was written as the stereotypical brave army commander. Down to the last detail. Making a memorial for the lost crew mates. Being friendly with the main cast. Acting like a true gentleman. This is why he makes such a good villain. Nobody expects someone like him to be in league with the NAZIS of all things! Ultimately, he was an absolutely cruel and insane man, that nobody saw coming. It is probably the BEST twist villain I have EVER seen. Incredible writing. Wow.

Now, I'm not sure If I want to go through every single character. But I loved the all and definitely have thoughts on them, so I'm gonna speed run this.

Lieutenant Helga Katrina Sinclair. MA'AM??? Just what do you think you're doing in a kids movie?!!??

🤣 Okay, in all seriousness. She was actually a cool character. She was tough as nails, beautiful, confident. To bad she was that jerk Rourke's head lackey. I mean, she sort redeemed herself toward the end. But it was mostly because she was mad at Rourke for betraying her. Not because she cared about the Atlantis or Kida. Soooooooo... I don't know.🤔

Audrey Rocio Ramirez. LOVE HER!!!!

Her backstory his incredible. Her dad wanted sons. He got two daughters. Audrey and her sister. But you know what? That didn't stop them! He wanted someone to run the garage with him? HE GOT IT! And she's good too! I also love the little detail in her backstory that says her sister is a literal heavy weight boxing champion. You go girl! Show'm what's up! I wish they had given her a name. (I'm gonna give her the name Rosa. That feels right.)

Wilhelmina Bertha Packard. Honestly the most relatable character in the movie.😂 This one gif pretty much sums it up for me.

Somehow, I feel like me and old Mrs. Packard would get along just fine.🤣

Vincenzo "Vinny" Santorini. I'm not sure whether he's crazy or just like explosives a whole lot. Lol.

I actually thought he was Russian the first time I saw him. It wasn't until I found out he was Italian that I realized I made a horrible mistake in identifying his accent. 😂 His almost always neutral expression is helirious. I guess once you've blow up a lot of stuff, nothing phases you. Haha!

Dr. Joshua Strongbear Sweet. *Squeees*

As someone who has Native American ancestry, (my grandfather is Apache,) I was SO excited to see a someone who is half Native American in this film! I mean, half Black and half Native American?! That's INCREDIBLE! I can safely say I've never seen that type of representation in a film before. And he's also one of my favorite characters.

Gaetan "Mole" Molière. This dude is WEIRD... And of course I love him. Haha!

"You have disturbed the dirt." - Mole

I was laughing so hard when I first saw this guy come on screen. He's so dramatic! But he's french, so I guess that fits.

Jebidiah Allardyce "Cookie" Farnsworth. He said this.👇

That's one of the best lines in the film. ☝️😂 But seriously, what can I say? Crazy southern chuckwagon cook with as many unhinged stories as he has pounds of bacon grease. How could I not love him? 😂❤️ One thing I wondered was if this was such a high budget expedition, why couldn't they get like a five star chef instead? NOT THAT I'D WANT THAT BESIDES COOKIE!!! I'd be so mad if they replaced him. I was just curious. But I'm not gonna question it. He's the best and I love him. No five star chef could ever top Cookie.

Kashekim Nedakh i.e The King of Atlantis! WOW.

LEONARD NIMOY?!!?!?? That was pretty much my reaction when I found out who played Kida's father. Who would have guessed that Spock would end up playing a king from a lost empire?! The crew that worked on this movie said that while he was in the recording both, they were stunned. He put his whole heart into the role. They felt like the king was standing there in the room with them! And I FELT that. He sounded just so real! It actually sounded like I was listening to a real ancient king speaking. He was amazing for the role. I'm floored.

THE STORY

The story was amazing. I got a lot of Jules Vern Journey to The Center of The Earth vibes. It was clearly inspired by it.

Milo felt very much like the Axel of the story. Despite being much braver then him. The whole thing felt so cinematic and thrilling! Me and my family were either screaming with excitement or laughing super hard the whole way though.

As the for the moral? Well, it's actually kinda hard to pinpoint exactly. But I think that because unlike other movies, it lets the story show the moral instead of the characters telling us directly.

I would say it shows what happens when people value money and power over human life. Which is important in the time we live in. And that people's culture should be respected.

In all. A very good movie and I highly recommend it. It's a fun, bold, thrilling adventure that you will love.

✨Thanks for reading my review! Bye!✨

#Atlantis The Lost Empire #disney atlantis #disney 2000s #Disney reviews #movies reviews #H #JP speaks #cult classic #milo thatch #princess kida #commander rourke #atlantis disney #leonard nimoy #disney princesses #disney animation #disney princess #disney movies #Disney

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night-market-if · 4 months

Note

Hey! I recently found this and just got done with the free demo, and while I look forward to play the full thing I just had to come here and sign my praises for the pacing with Milo.

As someone who in real life is a real quick judge of emotional connection, it’s the first time I’ve read an IF where the slight interest happens at the same time as I realise I want to romance them. While I know one can argue the chapter 2 kiss is questionable at best (for as many times as I read it I still feel bad picking it as a canon choice, even though I love it oh so dearly.), for me the fact that the moment I read ‘Pleasure District’ I thought “Oh, I hope we get a flirt option about that, I already want MC to kiss him so bad, please let MC make a flirty joke about it.” and then there was, in fact, a whole kiss.

So just, having Milo, MC, and I all go “Yeah, that was a bit intense, but not complaining.” was just, I don’t even have words for the delight. In fact I sat with it for a few minutes and reminded myself there would most likely not be another kiss until at least the last third, if even in the first book at all.

And then chapter 3 came with its “c’mere”, dancing in the streets, and a second (or first) kiss, so utterly soft and tender? I know I am blabbering, but I am not exaggerating when I say that is by far my favourite romance (Interactive or otherwise) that I’ve ever read. You know there’s something or probably many somethings weighing on his shoulders, there is so much to Milo one doesn’t know and that he may never wish to share, but there is also so much innate trust and joy—It’s so well written. I wish I had the eloquent words to say this properly and professionally, but all I can say is it makes me so fond, and so patiently curious for the day I learn what troubles him.

I’ll shush now, though, as this is already way too long. I just felt you deserved to know, even if it’s incoherent, that you’re a wonderful writer of romance and friendship and worldbuilding and character—and I am very much looking forward to getting my little grabbers on the full book and learning what the night market has in store.

Thank you! I am so happy to hear that you've enjoyed what you read so far. And I do try to really focus on character development and world building. That is incredibly important to me.

With only having read the demo, I can say that you are in for a very wild ride on your Milo romance. But, there is a lot of depth and layers to that romance and a lot of really kind moments as well as heartbreak. Going into book 2 I'm trying to keep the same momentum with that level of characterization.

Thank you again for all your kind words. I love reading the long rants that come in. It makes me feel like I'm on the right path. :)

#the night market #interactive fiction #milo next #character development #anon love

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ejunkiet · 2 years

Text

voicemails: david shaw edition

i’m soft and I also love writing in this format. this is set halloween 2020.

redacted asmr: davey/angel. rated G for Goodness.

[CALLER: DAVEY. MESSAGE LEFT ON THURSDAY OCTOBER 29TH AT 10:50AM]

Angel. It's David.

READ ON AO3

[CALLER: DAVEY. MESSAGE LEFT ON THURSDAY OCTOBER 29TH AT 10:50AM]

Angel. It’s David. The website said your flight is still scheduled to arrive on time, so you should be in the airport around now. I didn’t expect you to pick up.

Call me when you land.

[BEEP]

[CALLER: DAVEY. MESSAGE LEFT ON THURSDAY OCTOBER 29TH AT 10:30PM]

Angel. It’s David. You’re still at the company dinner. Call me when you’re on your way back to the hotel. Chicago is a big city, and you shouldn’t walk, no matter how close the place is. Hire an Uber. You should be able to claim the expenses back at the end of your trip.

To answer your text from earlier… you don’t even need to ask, idiot. Of course I miss you.

Call me before you leave for the hotel.

[BEEP]

[CALLER: DAVEY. MESSAGE LEFT ON FRIDAY OCTOBER 30TH AT 08:10AM]

Angel. It’s David. I’m assuming the fact that you’ve not picked up is because you’re at breakfast, not because you’ve slept through your alarm. We were up late last night, a lot later than I realised... and I’m feeling it this morning. You will be too.

Be extra careful today. Don’t overdose on caffeine. No matter what the scientists in that study said, drinking that much coffee will give you an aneurysm. Don’t be an idiot.

I’ll talk to you later.

[BEEP]

–

[CALLER: DAVEY. MESSAGE LEFT ON FRIDAY OCTOBER 30TH AT 6:10PM]

Angel. It’s David. The pack meeting just finished. Ash and his mate asked me to send along their regards… whatever that means. You better not be planning something. Insubordination is not viewed lightly within my pack. Whatever you have planned…. Don’t.

I’m sure you will text me professing your innocence, but I know you. You’re a menace.

Call me when you’re heading back to the hotel.

[BEEP]

–

[NEW MESSAGE, RECEIVED FRIDAY OCTOBER 30TH AT 11:51PM]

YOU LITTLE SHIT

[THREE MISSED CALLS FROM: DAVEY (BIG MAD)]

[NEW MESSAGE, RECEIVED FRIDAY OCTOBER 30TH AT 11:55PM]

PICK UP.

[NEW MESSAGE, RECEIVED FRIDAY OCTOBER 30TH AT 11:56PM]

ANGEL.

–

[CALLER: DAVEY (BIG MAD). MESSAGE LEFT ON SATURDAY OCTOBER 31ST AT 00:01AM]

Stop avoiding my calls. I know it was you, you little shit.

I don’t know how you managed it, or exactly how many other members of my pack you roped into this little plan of yours - but it’s not going to work.

There will be no trick or treaters visiting the house this year. I will figure out how to uninstall those lights you put up, and take down all the halloween decorations that miraculously appeared on our lawn in the middle of the night.

[low muttering] Did you get Milo’s mate involved in this? I couldn’t sense any auras-

It doesn’t matter. It’s not going to happen. Turn off those lights right now before you disturb the neighbours.

You don’t have to call me back. Just turn those lights off.

And go to sleep. You have a big day tomorrow.

[BEEP]

–

[NEW MESSAGE, RECEIVED FRIDAY OCTOBER 31ST AT 00:10AM]

THANK YOU.

[NEW MESSAGE, RECEIVED FRIDAY OCTOBER 31ST AT 00:11AM]

GET SOME SLEEP.

–

[NEW MESSAGE, RECEIVED FRIDAY OCTOBER 31ST AT 9:05AM]

GOOD LUCK TODAY ANGEL. I LOVE YOU. EVEN WHEN YOU’RE ACTING LIKE A LITTLE SHIT. CALL ME WHEN YOU’RE FREE.

–

[NEW MESSAGE, RECEIVED FRIDAY OCTOBER 31ST AT 4:30PM]

IMAGE ATTACHMENT FROM ASHER (BIG GOOF)

GOT A SNAP OF THE BIG GUY HANDING OUT CANDY. TOLD YOU HE’D HAVE FUN.

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR PRESENTATION. YOU’RE GONNA KILL IT, ROCKSTAR.

–

[CALLER: DAVEY (BIG SOFTIE). MESSAGE LEFT ON SATURDAY OCTOBER 31ST AT 9:30PM]

Angel. It’s David. The expo should be finishing right about now, time zones and all. I’m sure it went well. The practice presentations you gave me were excellent. You’re good at articulating yourself and your ideas. Never doubt your abilities.

Asher and his mate just left. You’re still a menace, and we will be talking about this when you get back… But despite my reservations about tonight, it went well.

It was good to see them both. It’s been too long since we’ve hung out like this.

That doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. But it was a good idea.

Now that you’ve finished your big presentation, I expect you to come home to me. Stay safe, Don’t let your relief make you careless. It’s still a big city, bigger than Dahlia. Stick with the group, and call me when you’re on your way back to the hotel.

I’m proud of you, Angel. I’m looking forward to welcoming you home.

[BEEP]

#redacted asmr #ej writes redacted #look this is entirely self indulgent #i've dabbled in script writing before #ngl it's very fun #i have a pseud dedicated to it: coffee and labcoats #look in my defense I did start my cross stitch project #it's very fun #writing #redacted davey #redacted david #davey/angel

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magmahearts · 2 months

Text

TIMING: current PARTIES: @luci-in-the-stars & @magmahearts LOCATION: luci's apartment SUMMARY: cass tries to hang out with luci, but finds herself distracted. CONTENT WARNINGS: none!

It was difficult to try to maintain neutrality, knowing that her father was waiting for her back home. He’d seemed a little disappointed when she’d left, but he hadn’t told her not to go. Cass figured that, like her, he wanted to make up for lost time, wanted to rectify the fact that they hardly knew one another at all. Part of her wanted to offer to cancel her plans to stay with him, but… Well, she couldn’t just cancel on Luci, could she? Luci was her friend. Her father would understand that.

That didn’t stop her from spending most of the outing staring at the clock on her phone, though. She was distracted, she was distant, she was not quite herself. And she couldn’t say why, not without betraying her father’s trust. So, she just… bounced, and squirmed, and watched the clock and completely missed whatever it was Luci was saying. She blinked, realizing her friend was looking at her and offering an apologetic smile. “Sorry. What was that?”

—

Luci was excited, hanging out with friends was a new thing for her and while she had people over before she was very fond of hanging out with Cass. Normally it was fun talking to her as she explained all of the different rocks she’d managed to see or the star maps she had. Cass was easy to talk to, and she had sat as well listening to her interests too.

It honestly reminded her a lot of how Milo and her used to talk waiting patiently to talk about their topic and asking questions. It was nice. Still there was something that seemed off as Luci continued to babble that she couldn’t quite place. Then it struck her.

Luci blinked realizing that Cass wasn’t paying attention. It took her longer than normal, maybe because she didn’t want to think about it but it was pretty clear something else was on her mind. “Oh um - I was just talking about a new crystal I found. Sorry I probably went on about it too long. I just thought you might like the structure of it, that’s all. Have you read any new comics lately?” Luci said, trying to pull on another topic not wanting to feel the sort of panic that came from someone not wanting to talk. “I just finished the one I had.”

Guilt flooded into her chest, leaving an acidic taste on her tongue. The last thing she wanted was to make Luci feel bad for talking. Cass liked it when Luci talked, liked hearing what her friend had to say. She was just… distracted lately. With the knowledge that her father was waiting for her back in her cave, it was so difficult to focus on anything else. Even her friends, even Luci.

“No,” she said quickly. “You weren’t going on too long or anything. I’m just, um… Having trouble focusing today. I didn’t sleep very much last night.” It was the truth, even if it wasn’t the reason why she was so spacey. She had slept poorly, anxiety regarding her father’s presence and concern that he might leave while she was dreaming curling around her like a clenched fist in her chest.

She offered Luci an apologetic smile. “I really do want to hear about your crystal,” she said, and she meant it. “And your comic. Um, which one did you finish? I’m rereading Tom King’s Vision. I don’t even really like Vision as a character, but that’s a good read. You know?” She tried to keep herself present, tried to keep herself in the moment. It was… difficult. But it meant something that she was trying, didn’t it?

—

“Oh,” Luci said, knowing that was understandable. After all, being tired or unfocused wasn’t the same as not liking that someone was talking. “I understand. What was up? Were you doing some star gazing or something?” She hadn’t talked to Cass about stars, but it seemed a lot of people in the town liked them. “Sometimes I don’t sleep either.”

She didn’t really want to say why, even now that she had somewhat settled in Milo’s apartment there were still times she woke up scared. Sometimes it was Gen, but lately it was the caves again and the strangeness there had been there. After all, she hadn’t really figured out why she had known how to fix them. It was - disturbing her.

At the idea she did want to know Luci smiled a little. “Oh okay yeah I’ll show you it if you want. I haven’t gotten it under a microscope so I’m not sure what it is, but you probably will.” She didn’t exactly know why Cass was so good at crystals - she didn’t ask - but it was pretty clear she had a knack. Going to her things in the corner she rifled through them and pulled out a small crystal. “I think it’s quarts, but I’m not sure what kind. Oh I haven’t read that one yet. I’m not sure who Vision is, but I just finished reading She-ra legend of the fire princess. I don’t think it's like a Marvel or DC one but I wanted to start reading those. The guides online are confusing though.”

Luci sat back down showing her friend the little crystal hoping to help. Luz wasn’t good at talking through emotions, but she could see that Cass seemed - off. More like how Milo acted then she would really like. So hopefully the little crystal helped. “What do you think?”

“I’ve been having trouble sleeping for a while,” Cass replied, skirting around a straight answer. It was the truth, of course. Her trouble sleeping was older than her father’s presence in her life, had started sometime after Rhett’s knife found her shoulder and worsened with Alex’s decision to leave town. She was hoping her father being around would help once she grew more accustomed to his presence. He’d be a source of peace instead of anxiety just as soon as she stopped feeling like he was going to leave her.

She chewed her lip for a moment, watching Luci carefully. “I’m sorry. That you have trouble sleeping, too, I mean. It’s — It sucks. If you wanted to talk about it…” She trailed off, letting it hang. She wanted to offer to help, but at the same time… Everything felt so fragile right now. Her friendship with Luci, new and blooming. Her relationship with her father, thin and untested. Alex had left, and if Alex had left, didn’t it mean anyone could? Anxiety thrummed in her chest, settling like a stone in the pit of her stomach.

At least she could still understand things like the crystals Luci found. People rarely made as much sense as Cass wanted them to, but rocks? Rocks were, by definition, steady. You could build a whole foundation on them, could use them to make homes without worry of them crumbling at the slightest touch. It was part of what made her so sure that things with her father were going to be good; like Cass, he was made of stone. Dependable, strong. She just had to lay down the foundation. Then they could build the house.

And she could help Luci in the meantime. She could do both. She could have both. She just… needed to work on time management a little.

Reaching out, she took Luci’s crystal with a smile. In the back of her mind, there was a question she’d never asked before — why did Luci deserve to have this crystal when she couldn’t even understand it? She pushed the thought aside quickly, not liking the way it felt. Luci was her friend. She understood rocks better than most, even if she couldn’t understand them the way an oread did. Studying the crystal, Cass nodded. “Quartz,” she confirmed. “Smoky quartz. It’s pretty common in Maine. Pretty, too.” She hesitated uncharacteristically before offering it back to Luci. “I haven’t read that one. Did you like it?”

—

Luz nodded a little, thinking about everything that kept her up and hoping that it wasn’t similar for Cass. Why they had become good friends over the last few monts, Luci didn’t like to pry or bother people opting to show care by remembering. Simply, she didn’t know a lot about what was going on. At the offer Luci shook her head, “Oh Um - no I don’t think it’ll really help. Mostly it’s just - you know nightmares.”

Nicole had said to reach out to people, but Luci was still hesitant to let people in like that besides she was more worried about Cass. “I’m sure when it starts getting warmer it’ll be easier.” That and it was still so close to Gen’s - she didn’t really want to think about it focusing instead on Cass. “If you want to talk about it though, I don’t mind. I’m not really good at understanding dreams, but I can still listen.”

Luci watched carefully to see what Cass thought about the crystal. “Oh Smoky quartz,” she confirmed muttering under her breath as she reached for her rock journal. “That would make sense. I hadn’t seen one that looked like this.” She took back the rock neatly and examined it again herself as if she was trying to memorize it. “It’s pretty.”

At the talk about her comic she nodded. “Yeah I liked it a lot. It’s not so much superheroes like marvel or DC, but - I don’t know. I like their really good friends if that makes sense? Sam helped pick it out with me - do you know her? She works at the comic shop,” Luci said, looking at Cass.

___

Nightmares. The thought ached a little, though Cass nodded all the same and tried to ignore it. Everyone she cared about had some deep, dark monster in their past that kept them up at night, didn’t they? All her friends, all the people she considered family. She’d already noticed the way her father mumbled in his sleep, the sweat on his rocky brow as things he’d likely rather not think about plagued him even in slumber. Wicked’s Rest was a town full of haunted people, and Cass didn’t know how to help any of them.

She didn’t know how to help herself, either. She thought she might learn, if Makaio stuck around long enough to teach her. He’d been at this a long time, after all, and he must have known more than Cass did about the best way to use the powers the Earth had given them. There had to be some way to create instead of destroy, to make the world better instead of worse. Cass just… needed a little help finding it, was all. And as much as she cared for Luci, she didn’t think the other girl was her ticket to doing that. Her father was the one who would know about this sort of thing, wasn’t he? He had to be.

It was hard not to look at the time again, hard not to worry about him growing bored back in her cave. Would he still be there when she got back? Or would the frustration of being left alone for so long boil over, make him decide she was far more trouble than she was worth. The thought was so overwhelming that it was difficult to really focus on what Luci was saying, though she nodded along anyway. “Yeah,” she said, forcing herself to tune back in. “Uh, yeah. They have — I mean, quartz is diverse. Most minerals are. No two are ever going to look exactly alike.”

She continued trying to keep her mind off her father, and she continued failing. “Right,” she agreed with a tight smile. “I’m mostly into the superheroes, but some of the other stuff is cool, too. I do know Sam.” The ache in her chest grew, just a little, at the memory of how scared Sam had looked at the sight of Cass without her glamour. It was such a stark contrast to the way her father looked at her. “She’s great. She gives good recs.”

—

There was a tension there again, something that Luz could feel in the air but couldn’t quite reach out and touch. It was the same kind of tension that Milo and her had at times, something unsaid and deemed outside. It was a little frustrating to her, to know that there was something off and not know how to do anything about it. Still, like most things Luci found that her hands were too clumsy to untangle the knots. She didn’t know the words to say to make Cass know she could talk to her so she let it go.

Maybe she could ask later, that would be good. After all, not everything had to be disclosed at once and - if she was honest she didn’t know how to talk about her own past and nightmares. She couldn’t even seem to reach out to Milo well at this point let alone anyone else.

Luci nodded at the thought about the crystals all being different, it made sense after all. Even in her family she was always a little different even if she was similar. “Fascinating. I love that there’s nothing exactly the same. I mean it makes sense, but it just shows that everything is unique.”

Luci smiled a little and continued, “Yeah her dog is really nice too. Say what’s your favorite superhero or like one of them? Maybe I could read one of those comics next.” Her eyes focused on her friend wondering if she would tell her something more about herself. “I’ve been interested in expanding what I read.”

___

Luci didn’t push and, paradoxically, Cass was both disappointed and relieved. She wanted someone to keep asking, even if she didn’t want to talk about it. Wasn’t that how you knew people cared? She thought, again, of her father. He’d ask, wouldn’t he? (Or maybe he wouldn’t. Cass still didn’t know him as well as she’d hoped to, still wasn’t quite sure who he was underneath the rocky surface. He was a blank slate; it was easier that way. It let her apply anything she wanted to him, let her pretend he was whatever she needed him to be. It was the same thing she let other people do to her.)

She pressed her tongue against the roof of her mouth, subtly checking the time on her phone yet again. Of course, it hadn’t moved forward very much. Didn’t the clock always move a bit slower when you were watching it? Kuma used to say that a watched pot would never boil. (Kuma used to say a lot of things; Cass tried not to think about her, too.)

“Yeah,” Cass agreed with a small smile. And, in spite of her distraction, that was genuine. “Like… fingerprints. Or snowflakes! You might not be able to tell that they’re different just by looking at them, but no two are alike. Rocks are the same way.” And people forgot that. People assumed everything was what it looked like on the surface, and they were wrong. There were whole worlds lurking beneath the tops of most things. Cass knew that better than anyone.

Luci was trying. That much was clear. Despite the fact that Cass was clearly not as in the moment as she usually was, despite the fact that she was pretty sure she’d been pretty rude, Luci was trying. It warmed her chest a little, eased some of the tension there. If Luci could like her in spite of how she was acting, didn’t that mean she stood a shot at convincing her father she was worth sticking around for, too? “I like the Spiderverse characters,” she replied. “Peter Parker Spider-Man is okay, but most of the others are cooler. Miles Morales, Cindy Moon, Miguel O’Hara, Jessica Drew… There’s a lot of variety there, too. And Ms. Marvel is neat! I could give you some recs, if you wanted.”

—

Luci didn’t quite notice what was wrong although there was a bit of her that noticed something. Something that reminded her of Milo the few weeks before he bolted up to Maine - or at least she wondered if she had been present she might have noticed it. Still, she pushed it down wanting to be here with her friend right now. Still, she looked at the crystal lightly in her hand instead of looking quite at Cass.

“Yeah, they are. You know - even chemically a lot of things aren’t as straightforward as they look like. Not major changes mind you, but there’s always a little difference between things.” She didn’t know how to quite describe it but she knew when she looked up at the stars they were all slightly different even chemically. It was an alchemists job to know the exactness of things, but also to accept that they needed to be adapted. It was a strange bit of rules and exceptions that always felt like something well earned. It was the knowing bit that always struck Luci as something worthwhile. Still she couldn’t quite talk about that and instead smiled. “I think even if you looked at this under a microscope it would be ever so subtly different then the rest of them.”

Luci nodded excitedly, pulling out a notebook. “Oh - yes I would love recommendations. I think I’ve seen some of the spiderman movies. Milo and - my sister liked going to the movies sometimes.” There was a pause there that Luci quickly filled, “Isn’t Miles the one that’s in the new cartoon movie? I’ve been meaning to watch it - are there comics on that one?” She wrote notes quickly to look up the spiderverse characters and Ms. Marvel. “But yeah you're the expert. So I’d love recommendations.”

___

Rocks and minerals were things Cass knew about by nature. They were etched into her in a very literal way, from the stony surface of her skin to the magmic nature of her blood. She understood them without trying, without thinking. People were different. And she didn’t want them to be. She’d wanted to understand people since she was a kid, wandering around an aos si and knowing she didn’t belong but never quite knowing why. She’d tried to find her place a thousand different times and, over and over again, she came up short. She liked to think she was closer to finding it when she was with people like Luci, when she was with her friends. Maybe, she thought, her father could provide the final missing piece. Maybe with him in her life, she’d feel whole again, find that belonging she’d been chasing for as long as she could remember.

She listened as Luci spoke about the chemical nature of things, though she didn’t understand it. She wondered if this was how other people felt when she talked about rocks; like someone on the outside looking in. “Yeah,” she agreed quietly, offering another small but genuine smile. “I think… I don’t know. Nothing is ever what it looks like on the outside. Everything’s different when you take a closer look. For better or worse.”

At least this, Cass thought, was a subject they could both talk about at length. “Some of the movies are better than others,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “Yeah, Miles is the one in the animated films. Which are awesome, by the way. Definitely the best Spider-Man movies out there. It’s, like, loosely based on a comic run, but the comic run is waaay different and more convoluted than the movie. I wouldn’t rec it to someone without a pretty big understanding of, like, ninety different Spider-Man characters. What you should start with is Silk. The first volume. It’s a great book, and… I think you’ll like it.”

—

Most of the time it felt like Luci was just on the other side of a glass wall with people trying to articulate her thoughts, but even so Cass didn’t seem bad at reading her lips. Maybe it was more comfortable then to ignore the pressure that said something was wrong as she smiled at the idea that Cass sort of knew what she meant.

“Yeah! Exactly. For better or worse we are all just a little different.” She nodded thinking about how she looked different then she felt. Maybe chemically she was actually different - and she decided not to go through that path instead sitting with her friend instead. After all, Cass deserved her attention even if she felt the urge to look at the chemical structure of the quarts.

Luci nodded, “Yeah I can agree on that one. There was one I wasn’t a super big fan of, but I can’t tell you what one it was. I’ll have to watch the animated ones then.” She wrote down the names carefully to make sure she could have it for Sam when she wanted to get a new comic. Maybe the library would also have some. “Okay I’ll start with that one then, and let you know what I think.” She looked up with a smile.

___

“I think it’s for the better,” Cass said, and it didn’t used to be true. She used to wish that people were all the same, that there could be some magical cheat code that might allow her to understand and be understood. But that line of thinking had shifted, especially since coming to Wicked’s Rest. She still didn’t understand humans in their entirety, but she thought she was a little more understandable now.

Her father understood her. She knew that, realized it the very first day in her cave when he’d smiled at her and made her feel seen. It felt like the first step towards something. Maybe this, with Luci, was a first step, too. Maybe she could have everything she’d ever wanted — friends, a family — if she was only brave enough to reach out and take it.

Talking about movies felt safe, even if she glanced down at her phone to check the time again before replying. “I could probably guess. There are a lot of bad superhero movies… and more than a few bad Spider-Man ones. Spider-Man 3 is, like, a total disaster.” Another glance at the time, despite the fact that it had been only seconds since the last one. She tapped her finger absently against the side of her phone. “Cool,” she said, looking back to Luci with a faint smile.

—

Luci nodded lightly thinking that it was for the better. After all, she was a little different than her family members and that hadn’t made her bad right? “Yeah it’s good that we're all a little different I think.”

“Oh - is it with a guy named Toby? I think it might have been that one. I mean it was fun, but it was a little odd.” She said fairly. She often watched odd movies anyway so it hadn’t really made her upset at all. She glanced as Cass looked back at her phone and said, “I’ll go find these movies though. - And you know I’m really sorry but I should probably get back to my finals. I know that it’ll probably bore you to stay here with me, so I understand if you want to head out.”

It was a lie - something Luci didn’t feel good saying - but there was something that she couldn’t figure out. It seemed like Cass wanted to leave, and she wanted to give her friend an out without it hurting her feelings too much - Luci didn’t want her to just get up in a huff to leave after all. “You’re welcome to stay if you want! But I also know you probably don’t want to watch me do physics homework.”

It was good that Luci thought that, wasn’t it? Cass was different. Different than Luci, different than most people. And she wanted to be accepted anyway. No, that wasn’t right. She wanted — she wanted to be loved because of who she was instead of in spite of it. And that was a scary thing to want, because she’d never wanted it before. Before, she’d only ever wanted to be loved, regardless of the details. But her father coming into her life, looking at her like she was precious… It made her bolder. It made her feel as though she could ask for things from her friends that she wouldn’t have been able to before. Wasn’t that something? Wasn’t that good?

“Yeah,” she nodded. “They’re pretty old school. The special effects are, like, bad. Spider-Man 2 is considered one of the best Spider-Man movies ever, and Spider-Man 3 is considered one of the worst, so… You kind of get a lot of extremes there. I really think the nostalgia factor does a looot of heavy lifting for people, honestly. They’re not exactly groundbreaking, but it’s what the old people grew up with.”

She hated the rush of relief that washed over her when Luci provided her with an easy out. She hated the fact that her heart jumped like she’d just been offered a cookie or a donut, hated the way she was already crafting the path back to her cave in the back of her mind. She should want to hang out with her friend. She liked Luci, enjoyed spending time with her. But she had something she’d always wanted waiting for her back in her cave, and it was hard to pretend that there was any part of her that didn’t want to run back to it now. So she offered Luci a smile that she hoped wasn’t too eager, nodded her head just a little. “Oh, yeah, that’s no problem. Gotta pass those finals, right? It was fun hanging out, though. We should totally do it again soon.”

Soon, she thought, her dad would be ready to meet her friends. She could introduce them to Luci, and she wouldn’t have to choose between spending time with her friends and spending time with her family. But for now, the choice had been made for her. In a lot of ways, Cass kind of preferred that. “Good luck on your tests, though. You’re totally gonna nail them.”

—

Luz nodded along at the idea of the different spiderman movies and wondered how she’d feel watching them. Usually she just took what other people said into consideration, but maybe with Cass she could have her own opinion of a movie and not have it feel rotten. She would have to try, but not tonight.

There was a flash in Luci, part of her hoped that Cass would stay, but at least it didn’t hurt as badly as it would have if she had just snapped she didn’t want to be around her. It was okay, Luci was too much all at once she knew that. Besides Cass did seem to like being around her, she would just talk to her later.

Luci was sure they’d talk later so she nodded with a smile and said, “I’m hopeful even if it’s gotten a little harder. I’ll see you later.” She said, leading her friend to the apartment door. “I’ll let you know what I think of the movies and if I find any more cool rocks.” She didn’t say goodbye, adverse to the word now after everything that happened, but a ‘see you later’ was perfectly good.

#luci in the stars #luci: on the clock #wickedswriting

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