#like yeah i mainly meant the newer ones

[thatlesbiancrow]

went to watch a video i thought i hadn't seen before and... yep... i guess ive seen it before!

wish i knew people were replying to me lol. they're all from 2 years ago and i wish i could tell some people they've made some incorrect assumptions. there are like multiple people going "oh humanoid pokémon have ALWAYS been a thing! you're like the people that bla bla bla" bro i didn't like them back in gen 1 either! i don't like those designs! lucario is like the most humanoid i can go tbh (and gardevoir before it became clear that she had weird legs)

i think this was also made out of frustration of how in swsh all three starters were very big and more humanoid. most of the time i just avoid pokemon i dont want to use, but it sucks disliking all the starters so much i just box them. in scarlet/violet the humanoid starters dont bother me as much because i have an option to choose something else without boxing my starter!

[tacobellabeanburrito]

hey it’s anon — you’ve become my go to rec person, which is why I’m here to ask if you have any recommendations for short and sweet fics. Been looking for some bedtime stories :^)

Awwww, really!? That’s super cool. I’m glad I’ve been recommending good fics!

(Also, Anon, you’re the one that asked about Steel Samurai fics right? Well, I started reading this one called “A Brief For The Defense” by Ophelia_Writes on ao3, so check that one out cause it talks about what you were looking for a while back!)

(Also. I was searching for Christmas fics in my bookmarks just because the Christmas fics are usually the ones that are short and sweet, but now I’m really in the mood for Christmas how dare you Anon)

“Office-Appropriate” by cursedwurn: A hilarious Halloween fanfic that I adore. Featuring all the prosecutors in different costumes. Has an office sitcom type feel (People are seriously, SERIOUSLY, missing out on writing a prosecutors office sitcom type deal. For some reason, sitcom style doesn’t work for the Wright Anything Agency and mainly only works with the Prosecutors Office)

“Disrupting The Calendar” by 3musketears: Also a cute Christmas fic. I’m currently trying to find fics that are short and sweet and I found this one again in my bookmarks and as I started reading it to check if it was good I just kept getting into it and reading it. So yeah, good fic!

“Germination” by Ekat: I JUST READ THIS ONE. Omg, it’s soooo adorable. And absolutely hilarious. You just have to read it, really. It’s short and you can probably guess the real plot from a mile away but I don’t wanna spoil anything because I was so happy when I figured it out. It’s adorable.

“Court Record Companion” by rib14: I Remmeber revealing in this fic when I first read it. I’m also a big sucker for certain fics where the story is told by posts, texts, tweets and photos during the course of the story. There’s something so absolutely funny about it.

“Support Player” by Pirate_Jenna: A really good Larry centered fic. I have already mentioned in detail about how Larry has been done bad in lots of fics and in the games, so I am very partial to fics that are centered on “Good Friend Larry”. BECAUSE HE IS.

“Meet Me Down The Aisle” by bluemoodblue: I’m a true sucker for wedding fics, and this one takes the wedding cake! I’m also a sucker for wedding fics that go wrong. And this one also takes the wedding cake!

“This Christmas (I’m Gonna Risk It All)” by Samiolioli (Samioli): A really cute Christmas fic taking place during a holiday party! It’s all about Phoenix confronting his feelings for Miles, and I remember it being hilarious.

“Not What I Expected” by motivationisfortheweak: A Valentine fic set in an alternate universe where Miles and Phoenix go to high school together. Short and sweet, but Phoenix is sooo dense.

“Monster Movie Monday” by contritecacite: A breakaway from the norm! A Klavier centered fic about him getting a boyfriend and making amends with one Phoenix Wright.

“There Is Time To Kill” by realizationtime: Oh, oh bbg. You weren’t survive after this fic. “Maybe we were never meant to be older than nine”.

“A Fool For You” by bluemoodblue: ADORABLE!! It’s a Narumitsu one. I loved this one when I read it. It’s so funny and so perfectly them. Read it.

-

Ok so, there’s a couple that I personally really like but can’t find in my bookmarks. There’s this one where Miles and Phoenix are stuck in a mall during Christmas, it’s a newer one I know that. It’s absolutely adorable and I fully recommend it if you can find it.

There’s also a really cute one that I remember with Miles and Phoenix as kids making each other Valentines cards, and there’s even a very lovely sequel where they’re older and Trucy finds the card in Phoenix’s stuff! It’s not recent, but I read it recently. It’s very adorable.

Another fic I really like is one where Miles is a worker at a prestigious art museum and gets fired. Then he moves to a small town and ends up with Phoenix as a roommate. It’s actually really, REALLY adorable and pretty funny too. It gives me warm fuzzy sunflower vibes.

OK SO there’s this fic that I remember reading a long while ago, and it’s this one where Phoenix and Miles go to a Steel Samurai orchestra concert and make proposing to each other into a competition. It’s pretty hilarious and I fully recommend it if you ever end up finding it.

AND LASTLY (I think) there’s this fic that’s pretty unknown? I think? It’s absolutely CRAZY. I had no idea what was happening when I was first reading it. I really don’t wanna spoil any details in case you find it on your own. But long story short, through mystical Magatama fuckery, Phoenix and Miles end up in their own weird, fucked up worked where they’ve forgotten all their memories and are married. Characters like Trucy, Gumshoe and a lot of the others try to get them out of their own heads and it’s soooo cool and I read it pretty recently but I can not for the life of me find it. It’s really good and super interesting. Has the exact same vibes as “Perfect” by SideBlog (so if you find it, Fic Anon, I full heartedly recommend it)

ALSO IF ANYONE KNOWS THE FICS IM TALKING ABOIT IN THIS SECTION. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DIRECT ME. They’re soooo good.

These are ones that aren’t short and aren’t really sweet but that I feel should get highlights because I didn’t mention them in my other post (I don’t think):

“Everything That I Have Ever Learned Leads Back To This” by kbots: Oh. Oh this one is… Oh my goodness. SAD. I actually cried while reading this one. Like. Holy shit. Good luck not crying while reading this. It’s amazing and should have more hits.

“All The Better To See You With” by bluemoodblue: OH. Oh. I love this one. We love Trucy hating Kristoph. (Fuck Kristoph Gavin, all my homies hate Kristoph Gavin).

ANYWAY! That’s about all of them, for now at least. Again, full recommend looking at my bookmarks on A3O for other stories because this list isn’t even half of the short and sweet ones I’ve read.

AND! Also, if anyone knows the fics that I talked about in the, uh, other half of this fic ref lists where I don’t know the names but only know the stories. PLEASE DIRECT PEOPLE TO THEM IN THE REPLIES!! Or at least tell me or something cause they’re good.

Good luck reading Anon! Ask again if you need anymore recs! ;>

[the-era-of-shadow]

Woah, I made an animatic!

It's been a while since I've done that, eh?

Please do enjoy! And after watching it, if you want some general AU updates, click past the cut below!

So uh, first things first - there's your explanation for where TDTMD Act 2 Chapter 3 is. It'll come out some time in January unless some big autism moment like this happens again, sorry for the wait y'all!

Honestly, like I said in the video's description, I didn't plan for this to take all month - it was originally meant to be for Eclipse's birthday but. Delays happened.

But enough about the month gone past - or even the year gone past! I just KNOW you all wanna know what we have in store for 2024!

Firstly - TDTMD Act 2 Case 01 will still be coming out as it has been! Right now I have 5 planned chapters for Case 01 - and we're like, halfway there! Crazy, huh? But... What do I mean by "Case 01" anyway? Well, you see, TDTMD Act 2 is actually an anthology of sorts! A collection of stories that are all connected by the theme of the Black Arms' effect on PetalBloom - three stories to be exact! Each case is to have 5 chapters each, resulting in Act 2 as a whole having 15 chapters! Quite a lot! But worry not, those who are looking forward to things other than TDTMD, for I am not going to be writing all three cases back to back, no no!

After Case 01 is finished - I've scheduled myself to write a new side story - the FINAL side story for Arc 1! "But Ash, you finished Arc 1 like 2 years ago! Why are you still writing side stories attached to it?", well, mainly because my brain gets on my case about how the writing isn't as good as my newer stuff and how "unbalanced" Arc 1 and Arc 2 are in terms of content - so I'm doing this to make it shush. But also I saw potential still to be found within Arc 1's events, so, yeah! After this post goes up I'm gonna add the name of that side story to the pinned post for hype and all that :]

After THAT - I'm finally gonna go a bit into the catalogue of documented but not written Origins stories listed on the pinned post with The Englishman With The Devil's Eyes. I've been wanting to get to this one for a while now but stuff kept getting in between me and it. But no longer! For after the last Arc 1 side story, Devil's Eyes will finally have it's moment - no matter what! But... I know what you wanna hear...

New Main Stories?? - Yes yes, I hear you. Enough with the Origins and the side stories - when are we getting back to Arc 2 proper? Well aren't you in luck! Being preceded by a short side story oneshot, Mission: FOX FRENZY - the third main installment of Arc 2, will indeed be the next in line after Devil's Eyes! Not to spoil too much, but this one goes out to all you Garrick fans~! 🤭

Beyond That - I have a whole schedule planned that carries to the end of Arc 2 - both officially with the LONG awaited rewrite of Something to Bond Over, and spiritually with TDTMD Act 3 and more importantly, it's corresponding Moonlight Interlude. (what do I mean by that? You'll see~), but if I were to explain the whole of it now, why, this post would be like the new color of the sky! So I'll do it in increments~ All you need to know rn is that I plan to finish Arc 2 this year.

Lastly - The non fic stuff! The most important, I think, is the whole deal with CoC and it's cancellation. I won't go into the why of CoC being cancelled here - but rather, how it effects TEoS going forward. If you were unfamiliar, CoC was to be a webcomic that was a spinoff/crossover with TEoS. It was vaguely referenced in Innate Affiliation - meaning that it needs a replacement. That replacement is... kind of in the works as we speak - I plan to truly start remaking it into the role in February. All I'll say for now is that it's going to be another Sonic AU this time rather than an AU from another franchise. Other than that - I have a special YT video in mind to come out after the Arc 1 side story, won't say what it is yet but, I really hope you'll enjoy it - it's... gonna cost me a pretty penny. Also, this animatic (you forgot that this was the original point of the post, didn't you?) was made completely in Ibis - but after this I'm completely switching over to Clip Studio Paint! I've already been messing around with it since Xmas though - I'm very much willing to show what I've made with it so far! In fact, I think I'll do that on the main art blog later tonight!

I think that's all I have to say! Happy New Years Eve everyone! (Or just New Years if you're one of those time traveling Aussies /silly) Here's to a prosperous 2024!

[koushirouizumi]

DIGI-ADVS 02 ~ "Chosen Child of Faith" {the precursor to the "REPEAT?_verse}

Hikaru's personality + Characteristics (C) ME / @koushirouizumi {Epilogue!Hikari inspired Look + Outfit by Toei} Hikaru's overall personality was intended slightly more expressive. [Hikaru is in (Junior) High school in "COF"]

"DemiSilVmon" & "DemiGoldVmon" were ideas I had when I was Young Me.

{DO NOT Copy} {DO NOT re-post} {DO NOT Edit} {DO NOT re-produce under ANY Circumstances}

Oh and this is Hikaru's Crest since before 2010 by the way...: {Art by Skye G.} (Yeah, it was also B.S.S.M Inspired) (It was the only Crest with this type of design at time too others did use similar themes but rarely the actual image.)

The "V" sign is swapped with primary colors intentionally ("red" for SilV = a 'hidden' passionate + fiery side; "blue" for GoldV = a 'hidden' sensitive, compassionate side; SilV is originally overall portrayed as "calm, quiet, sweet" while GoldV is originally portrayed as "outgoing, lively, jokes a lot" but both had 'hidden' sides of them too that would be revealed in time. GoldV's 'Adult'-level form is "GoldVdramon" from the T.C.G.) Silver and Gold V-mon designs in this combination did NOT exist prior to me requesting these arts from people I knew of the time. I know that for a fact because I heavily researched existing 02 sites that existed in the Western fan base during this time-frame. {My site was among the very first 02 O.C.s sites. No one else {almost no one} at time paired their O.C. with Daisuke specifically as a (major) lead} 02 had finished airing. There was at least one other person involving Daisuke in an "FDD" {Fictional Digi-Destined and Dgmn} fic but Daisuke was definitely not the lead, they were more like a "side pairing" {02!Takeru was often heavily the "lead" chara + ship-involved; in old O.C. F.D.D sites.}

SilV's eyes were originally blue; GoldV's green; but lately I've been considering swapping them both to Brown [GoldV was originally meant to parallel GoldV-dramon overall] but I didn't like the bright red eyes that GoldV had in the OG T.C.G back then which was why I chose the same red for SilV's "V" instead. (The vividness of the "red" often was/is a kind that hurts my eyes if I stare at it too hard or long and GoldV-dramon's look was "focused".) Since then a newer one has GoldV-dramon looking more tolerable to me there as the vividness of the eyes isn't as intense as the old art. (SilV meanwhile was meant to show differences to GoldV) {Mainly in personality but also with a different color design!} But GoldVdramon has a new art or two lately I can edit?... SilV's evo line is also different; may or may not have an alt "SilV-dramon" form which doesn't exist officially, but also has an evo line concept {still in development to this day} inspired by {J E W I S H} interpretations of spirits, "angels" and such.)

Hikaru "looks like" Hikari for reasons, but NOT the reasons you're thinking, most likely... (In reality, they do have very obvious differences more up close, which Daisuke will come to recognize over time too.) A notable difference is Hikaru's hair is meant to be overall more obviously curlier and a darker shade, or more like simply Black, than Toei portrayed Hikari as (Since y'know Hikaru is partly based of MeTM and I have such hair...) Back then when I made requests however I wasn't as specific as I should have been, and people I requested from maybe took "looks like Hikari" a bit too literally (not their fault!)

BlackTail icons were edited by ME. (Based on "B.S.S.M" {Luna}) {DO NOT COPY} {DO NOT re-post} Back then I was originally under the impression these Face-blinking icons were free for anyone to use or edit since many J.P.N fan-sites + web-rings of the era did the same with them, but since then I only use things + icons I specifically requested back then.

For example:

{Spirit Evolution!} I requested this from someone on "With the Will" forum but since then lost their name... This icon is ALSO NOT TO BE USED or re-produced! It was more meant as just a visible representation; GoldV isn't necessarily a "slide" evo of SilV lol. (I was still working on SilV's evolution line concepts!!)

The one of Hikaru with Jounouchi ("Joey") was requested towards the end of my old site being removed during a web-purge, and someone who did art had their requests open. At the time I was also super into Y.G.O D.M. still and thus requested O.C. with my Y.G.O D.M. Fav, also because "COF"'s anniversary was basically Jounouchi's bday. (Jan. 25th circa pre 2010 02 fan-base era)

This is marked 'no rb' for now, but I might make it re-bloggable in the future.

At the time I heavily paired O.C. with eventual Epilogue!Daisuke. Things here with them both were meant as mainly, Friendship and both having mutual starting crushes on each other. (Top left is my edit attempt of 4th img; I was using it for a page to store these requests.) Since the fic takes place jumping around their later high school years, by the middle and end of the wider story, the Epilogue is starting to come into play, but a wider plot is also happening.

This is the fic that spun off my never-ending love for Koushiro (Koushiro's arc was right in the middle of everyone else's; and the development of ideas was IMMENSE from there.) {02 Fan-base has Always Existed!} 2nd by: Tiara 3rd by: Kari A. 5th & 6th by: Alana D. 7th by: Jenn M. 8th by: Liliy

The story has long since been offline; (I might have also lost a final draft of the last chapter... but I do have an original finished draft and thus) 'Parts' of the original plan are being slowly inserted into my Kou+Tai A.U. "The Past World".

ALSO, at some point, I was then diagnosed "A U T I S T I C" and Hikaru TOO was eventually going to be portrayed AS SUCH; but my site got deleted via web-purges and was barely hanging on by threads in my later Angelfire imgs archive :') :')

Sometime after I finished some later schooling I made the "One Week" A.M.V. KouTai + Koushiro in general came back around to TAKE OVER and Koushiro now has starring role too {Koushiro just mainly appears by Koushiro's middle arc!!} (There was buildup in the early arcs for KouTai's story though!)

{The original design for the Crest by Young!Me.} (You can tell it was by Young!Me because I used M.S. Paint.)

[top-the-cat]

I've bought loads of records since I last did a vinyl update and to be honest, there has been a lot of bargain basement bullshit in there... Don't get me wrong, there have been a few diamonds in the rough and at a couple of quid a pop, they are even more precious when you find them!

But I'm not going through them today as there are loads to fuck about with and I would need to go through them all to remind myself what's worth listening to again, and what's worth just chucking...

So we will start with my two latest acquisitions from Ninja Tune:

First off, a slice of sample heavy Polish trip-hop jazz from 2003. This was right from when I had my love affair with Ninja and greedily hoovered up most of their offerings; some I paid for, some I acquired via certain file sharing facilities, and then later ended up working for them so got them all for free!

I bought this mainly as it was cheap on their website and it meant I would get free delivery on my next record. But yeah, it's cool, jazzy, quite drum heavy, but not heavy drums, if that makes sense? More easy/swing style breaks and loops, with plenty of double bass and bits of chopped up piano and vocal snips. The sort of thing you could play to the father-in-law, who likes his jazz classic and easy, but appreciates that it evolves over time... (I played him the video of Kid Koala doing his Drunk Trumpet routine the other day and he was well impressed)

Skalpel by Skalpel

Now this, I could probably play a couple of the tracks to the father-in-law, as it is very much a jazz inspired album... but some are more towards the Venetian Snares end of the jazz spectrum, than the Ramsey Lewis end!

This was one of the albums that really defined my listening habits in the early 00's and opened me up to all sorts of jazz, drum & bass, trip hop, and breakcore sounds that I still blast to this day.

Originally released in '98, I think it was most likely Sordid that I first heard on one of the Zen compilations and was hooked on this slow, dark, jazzy, breakbeat sound and needed more. So I got hold of the Album and full on ingested it at every opportunity. This then led on to a full-on obsession with Amon Tobin where I actively sucked up all his stuff for quite a while. But like all good love affairs, it can only last so long and eventually we parted ways after five albums, two EP's a live mixtape, and getting guest list passes to his album launch party.... Which was a wicked night out, but he essentially played a hard electronic drum & bass set, which wasn't where I was at, so we called it a night.

I would check in occasionally, but he was living in the wilderness with some chap called Double Click and going by the name Two Fingers by then, making atmospheric dubstep sounds. Although that partnership didn't last long, his new found atmospheric dubstep thing continued and we were moving in different circles by then.

He did pop up on the theme tune to Orphan Black a few years later with a dainty fairy tale inspired snippet of music, and I tried out a few of his newer offerings, but the Goddess Tatiana Maslany was on the scene by then, so we wasn't going to get a look in anymore!

Anyway, twenty odd years later and I get an email saying that the latest classic Ninja Tune album to be repressed with a fancy updated artwork and coloured vinyl is this; Permutation. (I picked up Out From Out Where on gold vinyl, last year) And I'm all giggly at the thought of rekindling a lost love, even more so when it's on deep purple, heavyweight vinyl and comes in a die-cut sleeve with posters and enhanced artwork by Openmind/DJ Food....

Until I found out it was only available in the US and it would cost me £80 to get it shipped over!

Maybe it was a sign? I didn't need to relive that part of my life to that extent and £80 is a lot of money to spend on a single record that I already have on CD and haven't listened to in years anyway.

And they do say that you should never go backwards to an old flame...

On the other hand, the standard black vinyl still comes with the artwork and die-cut sleeve and it wasn't eighty fucking notes! So I threw caution to the wind to see if there was still a spark between us and you know what? It's still there...

After all these years, he still makes me feel giddy when those gentle easy going jazz loops get darker and moodier and those drums come in and get chopped up and roll and the bass wobbles my balls!

I've listened to it start to finish three times in the last few days and it's like nothing has changed between us in all these years. The track list has been changed and there is a bonus tune on the end (which I knew but was never on his albums) which has made it the same, yet totally new and I'm all in love with the god damn Brazilian break charmer all over again... let's just hope he doesn't break my heart this time!

Permutation by Amon Tobin

[andsotheuniverseended]

(every time i come to scream at you i want to use your first name and every time i am reminded that i do not know it :'D) DO YOU WANT TO TELL ME ABOUT YOUR DEITIES??? I'M SUCH A SUCKER FOR FICTIONAL PANTHEONS

sdafsdf asks that remind me i took my name outta my description bc it was messing with the flow (Emily, or whatever nickname feels most appropriate, i ain't picky)

and also YEAH SURE! like i said its very much an 'inspiration strikes every once in a few years' so i've only got, like, Three right now. but my idea for this pantheon is very much the conflating of broad conceptual things with more concrete phenomenon and so they also don't have physical forms generally and exist in higher and lower planes as ideas that are given purpose

so there's Yvsus, deity of the mentally ill, the lost, and the weather. their worshipers set up care facilities, basically, and accept any and all patients- so long as it is by the person's own will that they are there. Yvsus also has the absolute most amount of recorded sightings, because Yvsus' worshipers will also accept anyone's word that they saw/heard/interacted with Yvsus in any way and will write it down to keep as holy writ. the only way to remove/invalidate a recorded sighting is if the person who said it takes it back in some way

and then there's Esque, deity of irreversible change and journeys you can't come back from and travelers, and knowledge. a lot of academics pray to him, hoping for the kind of breakthrough that will set them apart and make them different than they were before. and a lot of travelers pray to him in the hopes that this will appease him and keep him from preventing their return. Esque is also strange because historically speaking he seems to be newer than the other deities? which doesn't make a ton of sense considering they are all vague eternal concepts and so there must have been a patron for this even before the name Esque, but no one can find anything that predates his first mention.

finally we got [___], deity of martyrs and symbols and revolutions, as well as the stars. she is a special case in that her original name is from an ancient, dead language that is very hard to pronounce nowadays, and yet there is no agreed upon updated version of it. this is mainly because no scholars/academics/historians can agree upon what the actual exact version of her name was, or even what it meant. so there are a few new versions of her name hanging around, some common sounds that tend to be used, but everyone who worships her tends to settle on their own individual interpretation of her name. her symbols and varying names will always be found in the middle of revolutions, fights for freedom, etc etc

[michelleleewise]

Secrets......

Pairing: Loki x plus size reader

Warnings: self esteem issues, self deprecating behavior, mild swearing, body shaming, bullying

Summary: you get hired to cater a party for the Tony Stark, with only four days to prepare.

Part 2-

====================================

You flopped down on the chair in your office, putting your feet up, having just spent the last 4 hours finishing a cupcake order for a birthday. "Who needs two hundred cupcakes." You sighed to yourself. You leaned back in your chair, closing your eyes for a minute when there was a knock on the door. You groaned opening your eyes. "Hey, there's someone needing to talk to you." Sarah said "if it's bucky tell him I'll talk to him later." You sighed starting to shut your eyes. "no, it's....someone esle." She whispered. You furrowed your eyebrows and followed her.

"Miss y/n?" He asked holding his hand out. "Yes, what can I do for you Mr. Stark?" You asked shaking his hand. "I needed to talk to you about catering a party." He smiled. "Ok, let's sit down, Sarah could you grab us some coffee please?" You asked "Sure thing." She smiled and ran off "shall we?" You said waving to a table. "So, what kind of party are you having?" You asked sitting down. "Well, we have a newer member to our team, against my better judgment, but his brother wants us to make him feel welcome." You nodded not sure what any of that meant. "So, it will be a small party, mainly just the team and a few others. I'd say about twenty people." He smiled as Sarah brought your coffee over.

"You want to hire me? To cater your party?" You asked confused. "Yes. You come highly recommended by one Bucky Barnes." He said sipping his coffee. "Says your stuff is the best." He winked. "Ok, well when is the party?" You asked pulling out your notebook "we're planning it for Friday, about seven pm, oh and it's a surprise." He said pulling out his wallet. "Here, charge whatever you need to, I'll get that back at the party." He winked handing you a black card with his name on it. "And what does this new member like?" You asked making notes. "You'll have to to ask Point Break." He said grabbing your pen writing a number down. "Feel free to call and ask him." You looked down seeing the name Thor and a number. "Wait, theeee Thor?" You asked looking at him. "Yeah, he's reindeer games' brother." All these nicknames were making your head hurt.

You stood and shook his hand "see you friday" he winked, putting on his sunglasses. Your head was spinning as you walked to your office. Bucky recommend you? And who is reindeer games? Why is stark so weird? You thought picking your phone up dialing Thor's number. "Hello, can you hear me?" You heard pulling the phone from your ear, God he was loud. "Brother, keep your voice down." You heard in the background. "Hello, is this Thor?" You asked. "Yes, who is this?" He asked. "I'm y/n, owner of Sweet Cravings, Mr stark was just in here and hired me to cater a party, and I need your assistance." You said leaning forward. "Oh, well Hello lady y/n, how may I help?" He asked. "Is there a way you can come to my shop in a bit, I just have a few questions?" You asked "Yes, I'll be there shortly." He said. "OK thank you Thor, I'll see you soon." You hung up laying your head on your desk.

You sat doing paperwork until Sarah knocked "Hey, so Thor is here, like the avenger Thor." She smiled "ahh, yes send him back here please." You said putting your papers away. "Lady y/n?" He asked stepping into the office "Yes. Hi, come in and have a seat. "What can I help you with?" He asked sitting across from you "So the party friday is for your brother, and I need to see what he like." You said pulling your notebook out. "Oh, well back home we mostly ate different meats, cheeses, he loves fruit, and he loves sweet things." He said sitting back. You nodded making notes. "Anything he's allergic to?" You asked "not that I recall." You nodded "and what's his favorite color?" You asked "green for sure, maybe gold and black as well, oh and he loves snakes." He smiled. You nodded writing everything down. "Ok, I think that's all I need." You smiled putting your notebook away.

You both stood as you walked Thor out. "Oh here, take a sample." You said handing him a macaron, watching him eat it in one bite "Mmm those are delicious." He smiled. "If you need my assistance again, you have my number." He nodded "yes, thank you again." You smiled holding your hand out "until Friday lady y/n." He shook your hand leaving. "Oh my God he's gorgeous." You heard Sarah next to you "what would bucky think?" You raised an eyebrow at her "Oh he's hot. But him, I'd climb him like a tree." She smiled as you laughed. "You cannot tell me you wouldn't jump on him if you could." Sarah said wiping the counter. "Have you seen me? He'd have to be blind." You shook your head. "Why do you do that y/n? Your beautiful." She said glaring at you. You sighed "Sarah, I live in reality, I could never compare to the women they date, they want a size two not twenty two." You said shaking your head. "You are not your size y/n." She said sternly. "Tell that to every guy I've met." You shrugged heading back to your office.

You sighed, pulling out your notebook, making a list of things you needed for the party. Seeing it was almost five you grabbed your phone to call your sister "Hey Mel, I'm gonna need to run to the store for supplies. Mr stark hired me to cater a party this weekend." You said hearing her squeal "like Tony stark?" She asked "yep, that's the one. So I'll be home in a few hours." You sighed. "Ok, I'll get dinner ready and see you when you get here. She said "Ok sounds good, give Emma a kiss for me." You said hanging up.

You pulled up to the store seeing a group of teenagers hanging around outside. You sighed, gathering what nerve you had and started to make your way inside. When you passed them, you heard them snickering "Hey, is sea world missing one of their whales?" You heard one say. "I think a cow got loose." You heard another. You held your head high as you went inside, it was nothing you weren't used to at this point, but it still hurt. You got what you needed and headed outside, thankfully the teenagers had gone so you loaded your car and made your way back to the cafe to store everything.

You finally made it home about eight, sitting in your car before heading inside the harsh comments echoed in your mind. Why couldn't anyone look past what was on the outside? Why couldn't anyone see you? You thought as you felt a tear run down your cheek, quickly wiping it away. You sighed as you headed inside "Hey, Emma passed out after dinner and there are leftovers in the oven." Mel said making her way to the living room. "Thanks, im I'm not very hungry." You said kicking your shoes off. She eyed you for a minute "did you eat today?" She asked "yes, of course." You lied, you didn't want to make it a thing. She nodded believing you and went to sit down. "I'm beat, I think im gonna head to bed." You said "ok, night." Mel said turning her head. You nodded making your way to your room.

You showered and got dressed, looking at yourself in the mirror. Poking the softness of your belly you sighed. Laying down in bed you closed your eyes "tomorrow will be better." You said to yourself as you let the exhaustion wash over you.

💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚

@vbecker10 @lokisprettygirl22 @mcufan72 @midnights-ramblings @sonatabee @catalina712 @cabingrlandrandomcrap @kilikina34512 @delightfulheartdream @froggiecky @sinsandguilt @sweetberry47 @buttercupbestie @wtfislifeugh @asgardianprincess1050 @commanding-officer @lovingchoices14

[polyghostfacehours]

Tension broken, Quiet found - Billy Loomis x Reader

TW: Tension through the roof. Mentions of death. Acquaintances to Awkwardly budding friendship. Reader has a scar. Knives as a metaphor.

--

“-and a karambit.” You drawled, tilting your head as you finger the tip of the black curved blade. It stings as you press down, and you stop before you break skin. “Nothing too impressive. Nothing like Stu would have.”

Billy’s eyes trace molten on your back as you show him your modest knife collection of two. A karambit and a skinner. Hardly anything notable, and mainly there for either collection or protection. It was a desperate attempt to demolish the awkward small talk you two had started once he arrived. You place them down and turn, rubbing your finger across your nose and sniffling slightly before moving to sit back on your computer chair, propping one foot up on your bed. The bed Billy was currently sitting on.

“Hello?”

Billy snaps out of his reverie, seemingly just now realizing both you and he were still present and existing. You frown; it had been happening a lot lately. Billy getting in his head with cogs so loud you wonder if he hears them above whatever self-pity he wallows in. You knew it was handled.

He had Stu and Sidney after all. And the only reason you had invited him here was out of favor to the latter.

Of your friend group, Billy was probably the one you felt the least connected to. Sidney, in all her sweetness and fealty, had just smiled and said Billy was usually distant to newer people. And that was probably why she had asked this of you.

You were a third-eye. A new, flashy toy in the eyes of Woodsboro’s citizens, the most exciting thing since Sidney’s mom was brutally violated and ripped apart. It made sense of her to ask the one person Billy hadn’t known since elementary to try and bring him out of his shell. The problem was it was spiked, and it hurt to have him look at you sometimes. You feel antlike under his gaze, smaller than small, and you have no doubt getting close to someone with so much baggage was a terrible idea.

Ever since his mom left, she had said, he seemed to close off to anyone that wasn’t Stu.

“Yeah, sorry. It’s a nice knife. Both of them are.” Billy cracks his neck as he stretches, before resting his upper arms on his bent knees. “Mind if I take a closer look?”

“Sure. Go ahead and grab them. I’ll pop in the movie.”

You almost don’t hear the shifting of Billy’s movements as he gets up and walks to your dresser. Almost. As stealthy as he was, your ears had been fine tuned to listening pins drop. You don’t know why, but you could imagine Billy skulking over, twisting and turning the knife in hos palms as any light mirrored onto his face. You wonder how his dark eyes would look with some shine in them.

You turn to see, and you almost stop dead in your tracks at how close Billy is to you now. The knife, the skinner, is in his hand, and he’s gripping the handle so tightly his knuckles are pale. Your breath catches, and his does too, and you’re a second from dashing away to the shelf that held the other knife.

“Billy? What are y-?”

“Sorry. Didn’t meant to scare you, just wanted to show you something on the handle.” Billy gives an apologetic smile, the exact kind that probably won girls like Sidney over- and a brief glance down shows you it’s reflection in his hands, upside down and grimacing. He brings up his hands up in surrender though, including the one now only loosely gripping the knife. “The handle is actual-“

“Don’t ever do that again.”

Billy loses that fake friendly smile, mock confusion furrowing his brows.

“What?”

“If you ever do that again Billy, I’ll go absolutely apeshit on you. I’m serious.” You hiss out, and the sounds of Halloween’s theme pound the air and your ears alike. Billy’s eyes bore into yours as his smile drops a little, so dark they look concave in the TV light, and you realize now that even a glint doesn't brighten them up.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you, really.” A beat. “You don’t need to overreact.”

You scoff at his attempt to downplay the situation, and your hand moves up to the pounding scar tissue at your shoulder, a habit you haven’t been able to break since you got it. Cool fingers glide under your T-shirt’s collar before sliding against the bumpy texture, attempting to soothe searing ghost pains. Billy’s eyes drift briefly towards the movement before snapping to your other hand as it reaches out to grab the knife.

“Give it here, Leatherface.” You quip, a small attempt at lightening the mood so you wouldn’t have to explain why you lashed out the way you did. An amused smirk doesn't appear on Billy’s face like you expected, rather, he frowns, before looking down at his hand and handing the knife to you. Your fingers brush, the haft feeling like ice, and you observe Billy lick his chapped lips as he burns holes into where the steel parts from his hands.

Gripping the knife makes you feel powerful. Makes you feel like you’re more in charge than you are at any given moment. Taking that away from Billy feels better than it should, especially as you watch his shoulders tighten like a spring. Maybe you were a bit of a masochist, but the anxiety building in Billy brought you something akin to pleasure. Or at least relief. He felt the opposite, you were sure. But you cared more about your comfort than his at a moment like this.

A beat of awkward silence follows, before Billy heads over to your room’s door and slides on his shoes.

“I think I’ll head out.”

The words feel solid in the empty space and you're sorta glad that Billy doesn’t turn around when he leaves.

[imthebadguyyy]

You're All Mine

Pairing - Lewis Hamilton x Reader

Fandom - F1

Summary - Things get slightly out of hand at a party where you decide to act up, and Lewis shows you just exactly who you belong to. P.S - He makes you wear that damn jacket.

Warnings - smut, swearing, possessiveness (brought to you by the fashion king that is Sir Lewis Hamilton, because that jacket did things okay?

A/N- OC (Thomas) has nothing to do with any of Lewis's friends in real life.

Also shoutout to @grandestrategia and @lights-out-in-monaco for helping me 💙

✯⌃⌄☼♥︎

iThrowing a party to get together was always a fun idea to get the chance to socialize, meet new people, dance, get drunk and spend quality time with your friends and family. But throwing a party after three back to back race weeks was not really a great idea, mainly because it meant your boyfriend groaning and moaning about how he didn't want to spend time with anyone else but you. That was exactly what was happening at present, as you swiped a tube of crimson lipstick across your lips, while Lewis sat on the bed, in a black shirt and his purple customised jacket, with his arms crossed across his chest, reminding you of a toddler who was told to go to bed early.

"I don't get why you had to throw a party today, of all times" he grumbled for what felt like the hundredth time that day. "Okay baby, I love you, I really do, but I swear, if you say that one more time I will strangle you" you replied, setting the lipstick back down, and reaching for a bottle of perfume on your dressing table. "I'm just saying, I feel like spending time with you now, and yes, I love that you decided to call my friends and family over, but I kinda just wanted to have some you and me time" he said, eyes following your movements as you sprayed the perfume behind your ears, on your wrists, and lightly over your body, "You'll have me to yourself from the moment they leave, till you have to fly for your race again. And I promise, we can do whatever you want" you said, reaching up to smooth your hair. Far too preoccupied with fixing the flyaway strands of hair, you didn't notice him standing up and standing right behind you. "Whatever I want hmm? I know exactly what I want baby. But I just can't get it right now. You know why? Because I want to bend you over and take you right here, right now. But because you decided to throw a party instead of spending time together, you'll have to wait a little longer than necessary to have my head in between your thighs, my fingers in you, and my cock in your cunt. And guess whose fault it is? Yours, my darling. It's your fault" he growled in your ear, smirking when a soft moan slipped past your lips.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you? For me to bend you over and take you here? When our guests could be here at any minute?" he continued, lips resting just near the outer shell of your ear. You couldn't even answer, feeling the arousal grow in between your thighs, as your heartbeat seemed to slow down for just a second, before it seemed to hammer against your chest almost as if it wanted to just burst out of your chest. "Tell me darling. Would you like that?" "Ye-" your reply was cut off by the sound of the doorbell ringing, signalling the arrival of one of your guests. "Saved by the bell, hmm? You didn't have to answer. But I promise baby, when they're gone, I'm gonna make you scream my name so loud, if our neighbours aren't on a first name basis with us tomorrow, I'll be very, very surprised. And leaving you a aroused, horny mess, he went down to open the door.

✯⌃⌄☼♥︎

About half an hour later, the party was in full swing. You had invited some of your friends and some family members, and turning to look over your shoulder, you saw Lewis chatting with his dad and Nicolas, a glass of wine in his hand as he laughed at something his brother told him. Smiling, you turned back, to see one of Lewis's friends making his way over to you, two glasses of champagne in his hand. You enjoyed mingling with his friends, and you had met Neymar Jr, Odell Beckham Junior, and other really awesome people. Smiling at Thomas, who was one of Lewis's newer friends, you accepted the glass, your third glass of champagne and your fifth drink all together, hovering between the lines of tipsy and drunk.

Thomas, (the friend, idk I just made him up) offered you a glass of champagne, and you gladly took a sip, enjoying the buzz as the alcohol ran through your veins, filling you with a calm happiness. Maybe it was the alcohol in your veins and the promise of a really good time that made you decide to push Lewis's buttons just a little bit, to ensure that you were really in for it. Giggling at a joke his friend made, you threw your head back laughing, letting your hand rest on Thomas's shoulder, before letting it move to your hair, twirling a strand of hair around your finger, teeth sinking softly down onto your lower lip.

From where he was standing, Lewis looked over to see where you were, his grip on his glass tightening when he saw you laugh and rest your hand on his friend's shoulder. His eyes darkening when he saw you twirl a strand of hair around your finger, and bite your lip softly, knowing all too well what you were doing. It was working. As you giggled again, tilting your head back laughing, and nodding a quick 'I'll be back soon', to his dad, he walked towards the both of you, his eyes fixed on the way you kept twirling your hair around your fingers.

"Hi baby. You having a fun time?" he asked you, standing next to you and wrapping an arm around your waist. "Yeah I am! Are you having fun?" you replied, letting your head droop onto his shoulder. "Yeah I am my love, thank you so much for planning it" he murmured in your ear, ignoring the fact that his friend was standing right in from of him, probably getting a free show. His hands splayed out on the leathery material of your black skirt, enjoying the coolness of the material and the feel of a section of your skin against his palms. The black outfit you had put on was a black leather top and skirt, that clung onto your body like a vice, as he moved his hand to the back of your skirt, moving so Thomas couldn't see what he was doing.

"And what about you Thomas, are you having a good time?" you asked the man, feeling Lewis tense up behind you. "Yup I am! Thanks so much for inviting us all, its a great party" he replied, flashing the both of you a smile. "We're glad you're having fun" Lewis replied, his hand moving to your ass, squeezing ever so discreetly. "Yup I know! Great to see you too, man! Your last races have been great, you deserve a break" Thomas kept talking, blissfully unaware of how you were squirming, your arousal pooling in between your thighs as he ran his fingers up your thighs, in between your underwear and the skirt. He moved his body so the lower half of your body was not visible to anyone else.

Pressing your lips together to keep a sound from escaping, you tried your hardest to hold yourself together, but it was damn hard when you could begin to feel the liquid threatening to run down your thighs and make a mess in front of everyone. "Moving your hand to the back to squeeze his thigh, silently begging him to just take you to the bedroom and fuck you senseless. Feeling your desperation, Lewis smirked softly, before turning to Thomas. "If you don't mind Thomas, I think I left my phone in the bedroom, I'll just go get it" "Yeah sure" Thomas replied, as you turned and made your way up the stairs to the master bedroom. But before you could go and sit on the bed, a pair of arms grabbed you around your waist, and pulled you into the master bathroom that was connected to your room.

Lewis turned your body around, the rough movement taking your breath away, before he crashed his lips down onto yours, his hands sliding down to your as again, squeezing hard, causing a moan to slip out your lips, your arms tightening around his neck. "I saw you trying to rile me up baby. All giggly and flirty, and that whole fiasco with you messing with your hair, hmm? Only I can pull your hair, and only I can tug on it. You like it when I do that, don't you? When I tug your hair, and your head falls back, and those sounds slip out of your lips and I can see how much you like it" The moan that slipped past your lips went straight to his cock, hardening under his pants.

"Words baby, words. Do you like it?" he asked, his fingers running along the waistband of your leather skirt, tugging the skirt down your legs. "I do, I really do! please, please do something, I need you so bad" you whined, your hands unbuttoning the buttons on his shirt, and tugging his purple jacket down his shoulders. "Patience my baby. Good things take time. So desperate for it, I can see your wetness dripping, but you aren't getting off that easily after that stunt you pulled. But I promised you that I'd give you a good time, and I always keep my promises" Another desperate whimper left your lips, and you dragged the jacket down his torso, letting it drop to the floor.

"No no no. I want you to put that on. Or even better..." he mumbled finishing his sentence halfway, picking up the jacket from the floor. He pushed you down on the bed, grabbing your wrists in his hands, before pushing you back up to the headboard. Then he took the jacket up to your hands, tying one side to the headboard of the King sized bed, and the other end around your hands. "There we go, all tied up and gorgeous for me. Do your wrists burn with my name baby? Do you like how my name is tied onto your skin?" he asked, eyeing how the 'HAMILTON' part of the jacket was tied around your wrist. "I bet you like it don't you? That stinging sensation? I cannot wait to taste you my love, all wet and dripping for me" he continued, moving down to press his lips to your neck. He pushed his tongue out onto your skin, sucking the spot before licking over the spot repeatedly, letting his teeth sink onto a pulse point, shifting in his pants when his cock twitched at the moan that fell from your lips.

He ventured lower and lower, till he reached your chest, taking your nipple into his mouth, licking the sensitive nub, letting his teeth graze your areola. Above him, you were struggling against your bonds, wrists straining against their restraints., desperate to touch him, to feel his skin and his glorious muscles under your hands, but you couldn't, because your hands were bound, literally, "Oh my god please Lew, please let me touch you, please I need to touch you baby" "Not yet princess. You were a bad girl, and bad girls get punished my love. I'm not going to let you even graze my hand, if you don't shut that pretty little mouth of yours, before I do it for you" he growled back, feeling his own arousal grow as you whimpered again. He let his fingers fondle your other nipple, tweaking and pulling before taking it into his mouth too, as you felt the wetness run down your leg, soaking into the bedsheet.

Moaning again, you pressed your thighs together, desperate for some friction to relieve you of the throbbing pain in your core, the amount of arousal you were feeling making you feel like you were drowning in some sort of strong sea current, as Lewis's lips travelled lower, and his breath fanned over your throbbing cunt. "I can't wait to taste you my love" and with that he dived in, giving you almost no time to adjust, as he fucked you with his tongue, and his fingers toyed with your clit, sending you towards your high, before biting the sensitive bud softly "You taste like fucking candy love" "Oh fuck fuck fuck Lewis, I'm gonna -" you managed to gasp out as the gasp turned into scream of frustration when he pulled away. "What the fuck? Why'd you do that?!" you gasped out, chest rising and falling rapidly.

"Because like I told you, bad girls get punished" he replied, shoving his pants down his legs, before leaning over and grabbing a condom, pulling his calvin keins down his thighs, as his cock sprang free, smirking when you moaned at the sight, "Taking a good look baby?" he asked, crawling over to you. "You're just really gorgeous" you replied, straining against the jacket. "I know" he replied, pushing his rings off of his fingers. "No don't. Keep on em. I like em" you said, earning a smirk from the man again. "Want me to fuck you with my rings on? I'd love to" he said, watching as you squirmed again.

"Baby please let me touch you, I want to touch you so bad, please!" you practically begged, tears of frustration filling your eyes. "No baby. I'm going to fuck you with your hands tied and I'm going to mark you up" he replied, sliding the condom on and leaning over you, positioning his cock at your entrance. "Ready baby?" he asked,smiling a little as you nodded, the both of you moaning in sync when he pushed into you, your walls clenching onto his cock, as he settled into you, moaning when he sunk into you bit by bit. He gave you a few seconds to adjust, before he pulled out, making you let out half a moan and look at him questioningly, before he slammed back into you. You weren't expecting that, and a strangled scream left your lips when he filled you to the hilt, before bottoming out in you, hips snapping repeatedly into you, his cock moving inside you.

You moans and groans echoed off the walls, as your hands burned, the desperation in you threatening to drown you again. "oh my god, you feel so good, you fuck me so good, now baby please let me touch you!" you practically screamed, your voice catching when he angled his thrusts so the tip hit your g spot repeatedly. "Okay my love, you deserve it now. My baby desreves to touch me now, doesn't she?" "Yes please, especially when you fuck me this good, almost too good to be true" you stammered out clenching down on his cock again, feeling the slight stutter of his hips as you did. Lewis reached up to untie you, letting the jacket fall to the floor, and moaning when your hands dug into his back, scratching down his back, as he hissed at the feeling, loving the feeling of your nails raking down his back. "Fuck baby, do that again" he growled. "Only if you choke me" you moaned back, feeling him stutter again, and let out a moan.

His eyes widened, not completely used to you being so bold, but loving the wild side you let out. He reached up, wrapping his hand around your neck and squeezing a little, groaning when you let out a choked moan. "Harder" you moaned, feeling his cock twitch in you. "Oh fucking hell baby, I didn't know you liked it rough" he moaned, tightening his grip on your neck, cutting the air off ever so softly, snapping his hips into you faster, as your nails raked down your back even harder, leaving marks that would definitely hurt the next morning.

"That feels so good, oh my god, I love you so much" you gasped out wrapping your hand around his, causing him to squeeze a little harder. "Oh fuck, I'm gonna cum my love" Lewis moaned, groaning when you moved your hips thrusting up to meet his thrusts. 'Oh fuck" Lewis groaned, before releasing into you ,his finger reaching down to rub your clit repeatedly. Your moans echoed in the room, as he pinched your clit, as you squirted all over his cock.

Panting, Lewis sunk down next to you, chest rising and falling. "That was so good" you gasped out, resting your head on his chest. "Was that too much? Did I hurt you?" he asked, kissing your forehead. "No no I loved it. You should do that more often" you mumbled. Just as Lewis leaned in to kiss you, there was a knock at the door, making the both of you jump apart. "Are the both of you done yet?" a voice asked, making you blush. "Oh my god. We forgot about the guests!" you gasped, making Lewis laugh, as he kissed you softly. "I know which one I'd rather do again" he mumbled, laughing when you kissed him back. "Don't go for round two, atleast let us leave first!" the voice yelled again, as Lewis stood up from the bed to get dressed.

"Oh and by the way, you're wearing that jacket downstairs"

[anonquack]

| Chef Q |

Alex Quackity x Reader, Oneshot, Requested by: @anotherdreamsimp !!

Word Count: 3328

Warnings: Some curse words, mainly just some fluff !

Summary: Quackity hasn't been streaming recently, and decides to come back with a cooking stream. Featuring you as a special guest.

Lately, Quackity had been studying like crazy for his final exams. That meant no streaming. He'd take a break from it to focus entirely on his studies. Absolutely nothing else.

He claimed to have his priorities straight, and had the goal to pass all exams with high scores in order to keep his grades looking wonderful.

This also meant there was rarely any time spent between you two, beside the occasional snack breaks you forced him to take so he wouldn't die at his desk.

It was tough not being able to show him a random video you'd found on the timeline, or walking up to chat with him whenever you wanted, but you knew this was very important to him. So you gladly supported him and offered as much support as possible.

Thankfully, all of his studying paid off and he passed with flying colors. A teacher had even informed him that he'd received the top score for one of his final exams.

You were the first person to hear the news, and you couldn't help but feel the adoration coursing through your body at how excited he was to tell you. Jumping up and down and shaking you lightly as he told you about his scores.

You'd offered to take him out for a celebratory meal, to treat him for all his hard work and also since you missed the fun outings with him. There was no way he was saying no to that.

—

After a day out and about, you two had made your way back home. Both of you were pleasantly full, having enjoyed the meal and also dessert. His request, for "doing so well on his finals." How could you possibly deny him that?

You both were also very content, a warmth and comfort surrounding the air around you two the entirety of the outing.

One thing that was impossible not to notice was how he'd become exceptionally clingy as soon as you two were out of the car. Gripping onto your hand tightly as you singlehandedly unlocked the front door.

"I've missed you so much these past few days." He murmered as you finally got the door to open and pulled him inside.

"I've missed you too." You hummed softly. It was always nice hearing him say these things. You locked the front door, and gently pulled at his hand to lead him back to your room.

It didn't take much of a pull for him to willingly follow you. "Can we cuddle or something?" He asked softly, almost as if he was a bit embarrassed to ask. You turned to him and gave him a grin, along with a small nod.

You'd missed him, even if you two had been in the same apartment this whole time. You'd especially been missing cuddles with him, considering he studied pretty much all day. There wasn't enough time being shared together so you gladly agreed to some cuddling.

Sooner than later, you two found yourselves in your pajamas, laying in bed peacefully as you scrolled through tiktok, screen tilted in order for him to see as well. It really was so nice finally being able to be this close to him again.

After some time, you found yourself looking through tweets on the timeline. A certain one caught his attention and he asked you to stop scrolling.

It was a tweet from a fan, saying they missed Quackity since he hadn't streamed in two weeks, but that overall they hoped his tests were going fine.

"Has it really been 2 weeks?" He asked aloud as he clicked on it and looked through the replies, all agreeing with the original tweet.

"Mm.. two and a half, I think." You answered, looking at him curiously as a guilty expression appeared on his face.

"Hey." You called out once you saw the expression wasn't leaving. He turned to you with a small frown.

"It's fine. You had a good reason for being gone so long. I'm sure they understand. Plus, you'll be back soon, right?" You asked, to which he nodded before sitting up from the cuddling position you two were in.

You sat up as well, noticing how his eyes widened slightly, and a small smile made its way onto his face.

"I just got a great idea." He exclaimed. "Y'know, I was going to just spend the next few days with you since I missed you but– how about we stream something together? That way I can enjoy both, and the fans get a stream too."

You stared at him in surprise. The fans did know he was dating someone, but you rarely ever came out on streams, not because he didn't want you to but because you didn't deem it to be necessary.

The few times you had been on, you'd received tons of love and support from the chat, so you didn't think anything too bad would happen if you were to appear on his stream again.

"What did you have in mind?" You asked curiously. The other times you'd been on were him playing horror games and an extremely scuffed IRL stream.

"Well.. I haven't done a cooking stream in a while." He began, but you quickly shook your head.

"Oh no. Don't tell me you're going to make us eat some monstrosity‐ like your past cooking streams." You visibly shuddered at the thought. You remember having to help clean up the mess after. And no matter how funny it had been, the actual cleanup was awful.

"No no– I was thinking maybe we do a serious one, y'know? Chat hasn't really been able to see my cooking abilities, and well.. I'd say I am pretty good at it." He grinned. He was unfortunately right.

You relaxed at the mention of it being a 'serious' cooking stream. It could never really be too serious when it came to Quackity, but it meant not eating dog food or poorly made pizza. You were in.

"So we'll make an actual.. edible.. meal?" You questioned again, just to be sure. To which he nodded.

"Yeah, and we can enjoy that meal after. Like a date. What do you say?" He was beaming. It was his creativity rolling in. And he was probably so proud of himself for finding a way to spend time with you yet also give chat the stream content they'd been missing out on.

"Alright. I'm in."

You hadn't seen him this eager to get out of bed and head to the grocery store ever before. Chat was really in for a fun stream tomorrow.

—

He'd tweeted it out several hours before you two planned on starting the stream that he'd be streaming today with a special guest, and that he had his chef hat ready to go.

As you scrolled through Twitter you could see the timeline freaking out over 'COOKING STREAM' and 'SPECIAL GUEST'. Lots of discussion over who it was.

You couldn't help but feel a bit bad since the fans were probably speculating that he'd met up with his online friends, but in reality it was just you. In that case, you'd try your best to make this a fun stream, and your presence an enjoyable one.

As the time for the stream to start got closer, you helped him set the ingredients you'd be using onto the table, in a way where it was in perfect view for the stream to see and follow along if they wished.

"We're supposed to start in 5." You called out as he slipped his beanie on, fixing the few hair strands that were sticking out a bit too much.

He smiled and made his way over to you, cupping your face and giving you a small kiss. "I'm so excited to do some cooking with you. They're all going to love you."

You couldn't help the warm feeling that spread over your chest at his words. It was like introducing you all over again. He'd recently gained a lot of new followers, and that meant they probably had no idea who you were. Always fun going through that again.

He dealt with some last minute editing and placing, checking all ingredients were there and that everything was set, before hitting the 'Go Live' button.

It didn't take long for the viewers to increase after the tweet notification went out, and the starting soon screen was the only thing really protecting you two from the roaring chat.

Everyone was dying to know what was going on, who the special guest was, and whether this would be yet another scuffed cooking stream.

You stood behind the camera as the starting soon screen finally disappeared and he began greeting the viewers, thanking all the subs coming in, and eventually also giving them a little update on how he'd done on his exams.

You felt so proud as you watched him boast about how his studying had paid off, and how he talked about being the happiest he'd been in a while. He deserved all of it. And chat thought so too.

After some rambling about his test scores and what they'd be cooking today, chat finally became too impatient and asked for a reveal of the special guest.

"Fine. Fine. Since you guys are so fucking impatient." He huffed, watching as chat flew by, telling him to 'get on with it' and to 'TELL US WHO IT IS'. You couldn't help but laugh at the relationship he had with his chat. Always bullying each other but usually knowing when to stop and send love.

"I've actually had them on multiple other streams, not so much recently.. but they've been on my horror streams.. some IRL streams.. and they are really really special to me, chat!" He said with a big smile. Some of chat was confused as to who he was referring to, while older fans began to question if it was YOU. They were very smart.

"Some of the viewers might not know of them, so this is like I'm introducing them to chat all over again! Come over here." He finally directed the last part at you. You couldn't help but feel the sudden spike in anxiety, but chose to ignore it as you smiled back at him and headed into the frame beside him.

With a small wave and a greeting, you watched as chat completely broke. A mess of question marks and your name being spread in chat. You couldn't help but laugh. It was an overwhelmingly positive reaction as Quackity explained to new viewers that you were his partner, and that older fans were already aware of this for a while now.

The amount of 'y/n our beloved' and people asking if quackity's partner was single were abundant in chat, and you couldn't help but feel stupid for thinking the newer viewers would hate you or something.

Having the approval of Quackity's chat also made you feel lighter, it made it easier to let go and just enjoy the cooking stream.

You two began to explain what you'd be cooking to chat, and you made it very clear that he actually had to try and cook this time, to which chat agreed wholeheartedly.

He'd taken a recipe from his mom for one of his favorite meals, one he hadn't had in a while. He explained to chat that he wanted to see how well you and him could recreate it until you two took a trip to visit his family.

"Hopefully we don't disappoint her too much." You mumbled as he placed the chef hat onto your head, fixing it so you looked presentable.

"She can't be because we're actually gonna try." He stated before beginning to explain to chat what the meal was since many of them might not have even heard of it before. As he did that, you began to set aside the ingredients you wouldn't be needing until later.

After everything had been explained, it was time to get cooking. His concentration to try and recreate his mom's recipe was adorable, and chat agreed on that too.

This stream wasn't loud and messy like the others, but it was still enjoyable in its own way. Quackity was radiating such wonderful light and energy, cracking jokes and genuinely enjoying himself. It was all thanks to the stress and worries being lifted off his back. You really enjoyed seeing him like this.

Chat was able to follow along later if they wanted with how organized you guys were being, but the banter he had with you and chat made it entertaining to any casual viewer. He always found a way to make it fun.

Not only that, but chat was able to see a new side of him. The Chef Q side. More often than not, a message would roll in saying they were amazed by how good Quackity actually was at cooking. You could already imagine some of the edits that'd come out of the stream.

His mom had told you two beforehand how long it would normally take to cook this meal, and it was perfect for a usual stream and some extras where you two would actually get to try the food.

There was moments where chat was warning you two that the food would burn or that he'd accidentally set the kitchen on fire, but overall you were enjoying yourself so much.

And chat was enjoying your presence too!

By the time you two managed to finish the meal, you both plopped down onto the chairs he'd set for the supposed 'breaks'.

He had some of the sauce on his cheek and his apron, but still managed to look good. He'd also smeared sauce onto your cheek, and at this point some strands were sticking out of your hat in such a messy way since the last few minutes had been rather hectic, food almost burning and all.

"Chat. We did it." He called out before cheering loudly and clapping his hands, to which you swiftly followed along, chat beginning to cheer as well.

"I think its only right that we try what we made, don't you think?" You ask, to which chat quickly types YES in all caps, wanting to see the finished product and also find out if it even tastes good.

Quackity let out a chuckle as he smiled over at you. "Not gonna lie, I'm a little nervous. We haven't even seen it so it might just be black. Burnt to a crisp. Or what if it tastes like shit? Y/N i don't know what I'm going to do if the food tastes like shit. Thats what we're supposed to eat on our date." He whined a bit.

You shook your head, "It'll be great. And if not, we can just order takeout. It'll be fine big q." You smiled reassuringly. Chat became a frenzy of calling him cute for the state he was in, declaring their love for how supportive and kind you were, and melting over your relationship.

Before you knew it, you were both revealing the meal to chat, and pleasantly surprised by the results. The presentation of the meal itself looked really good. It looked like what you'd expect from such a plate. Quackity had even gone as far as saying it looked similar to how his mom made it.

You gasped, smiling in surprise at him. "Really? Did we really do that good of a job." His face turned into one of regret, and a long segment of silence engulfed you two before he nodded hesitantly. You both broke out into a fit of laughter.

"Okay okay, seriously. Chat's waiting for you to try it." You placed a fork in front of him, earning a loud scoff from him.

"They want to see you try it as well." He mirrored your actions and you gladly took the fork.

"Alright. First bite. Let's see if all our hard work paid off! Chat, are you ready?" You grinned and watched as the 'YES's started rolling in, some viewers telling you both to get the fuck on with it, and others gushing about how the food actually looked good. You could only hope.

You watched as he began to dig in, mouth full and chewing slowly, truly trying to savor the first bite. You did the same, and the stream was silent for the first time in a while. Chat was in suspense as well, question marks and incoherent rambling rolling through the chat.

"Chat..." he finally spoke after swallowing his bite. "Chat. It's." He paused before showing a small smile. "It's not bad at all. I like it. It's good."

You nodded your head in agreement, "It's nowhere near as good as the ones your mom makes.. but I think you and I make a pretty good team."

"I think so too. And not just for cooking." He grinned, earning himself a playful eye roll and shy smile from you.

The stream proceeded to you two feeding each other bites of the meal, asking each other if it was good, and just enjoying yourselves for a bit longer before Quackity deemed it was time to end.

"Chat !! Thank you so much for tuning in and watching this.. actually coordinated cooking stream. I had so much fun and well, I ate yummy food. I'm happy." He laughed, thanking a few more gifters before doing his signature Bye, and ending stream.

He hurried over to your side, pulling you into a hug. "Thank you so much. I truly had fun. And they definitely loved you, but not nearly as much as I do."

You chuckled at his words, giving him a small kiss before cupping his face. "I had a lot of fun too. Thank you for always being so nice to me." You paused, observing how cute he looked with his chef hat still on. "I think I like Chef Alex." You reached over and fixed his hat a bit.

"Yeah? Should I keep it on?" He teased, coming a bit closer. You couldn't help the warmth that spread over your cheeks at how blunt he was.

"Yes, but you need to help me clean this up. Maybe after we finish the food, hm? C'mon. Don't think I forgot our deal."

He whined, already feeling too lazy, but he quickly followed after you as you two sat down to actually eat. Still wearing the silly attire he'd bought for the stream, far too unbothered to change just yet.

Through a mouthful he asked, "Cuddles and a nap after we're done?"

You smiled and nodded, to which he gave a silent cheer. That was enough motivation to get you both up and cleaning after finishing the meal.

—

Wrapped in each other's arms again. He couldn't seem to get enough of it. You were once again scrolling through Twitter, this time scrolling through his indirects, wanting to see what people were saying about the stream.

He'd ask you to stop to read certain ones he found funny, and even 'aww'd at the ones he found cute, mainly those talking about how cute you two looked.

Surely enough, there was already edits using the clips of him cooking, and you'd openly admitted to him that he looked "so fucking good." To which he responded by cuddling closer, if even humanly possible.

Quackity found the numerous clips of you two feeding each other to be the best part of the tweets. You two rewatched, saved, liked as many as you could before he became tired.

And with that, he was pulling you close, and leaving small kisses anywhere he could on your face. Eventually, his chest slowly rose and fell as he entered a deep slumber. You smiled, glad to see he was finally getting the rest he deserved.

"Goodnight, Alex." You whispered, leaving a small kiss on his cheek before closing your eyes as well.

[bthump]

I know this is very nitpicky, but what do you think is the level of awareness Griffith has during the stairwell scene? For a very calculated and rational guy like him, it's hard to imagine that he hasn't even tried to decipher where these strong reckless reactions come from. I mean... even king of denial Guts has reflected a bit on it. Enough to ask Griffith about it. I know yoy mentioned in a recent answer to an ask, that you don't headcanon Griffith as pining, so would you say that you (cont)

Would you say that you imagine that he compartimentalizes his thougts and represses to the point that he doesn't aknowledge at least to a certain extent, that his feeling for Guts are more passionate, than what he feels for other comerades. The fact that he fully realises the depth of those feelings once Guts leaves is clear. But Idk the stairwell scene makes me think that he is at least aware, that he has a bit of a crush, but choses to not give it much importance. Curious about your thoughts 

hmmm. okay first off I just want to say that I can see multiple possibilities, from full on repression and denial, to recognizing his attraction but not acting on it, to knowing he cares for Guts and wants him as a True Friend(TM) but often downplaying that because he believes Guts sees him mainly as a superior officer. But yeah I do prefer the denial and compartmentalization explanation and I want to go into why, because I think it’s fun to talk about lol.

So the big reason I read Griffith as refusing to acknowledge his feelings to himself is because that’s how he deals with all his other inconvenient feelings, like his guilt and fear and the fact that he cares about the Hawks. Like eg when he tells Gennon that he doesn’t feel a single emotion about him whatsoever, or when he tells Casca that he doesn’t feel guilty over the deaths of the Hawks, I don’t think he’s just lying to them, I think he’s convincing himself too, to the point where he really believes it.

It’s sort of hard to explain how I see this working in Griffith’s head bc it feels v intuitive to me but I know that’s not the case for everyone. So yk it’s not that I think he like, eg makes himself forget that he nearly had a breakdown in a river, but I think he doesn’t ask himself why he nearly had a breakdown beyond maybe a shallow ‘sex with gennon was unpleasant and made me uncomfortable for a couple hours but i’m completely fine now’ and doesn’t think about it afterwards if he can help it.

And when he tells Charlotte he doesn’t have any friends and tells Guts he belongs to him during the second duel, I think he’s telling himself lies/rationalizations he genuinely believes there too. In fact, I think his denial of his own feelings is straight up meant to be his tragic flaw, which is why he’s only able to finally acknowledge them in the torture chamber, after it’s caused his downfall.

In the torture chamber we see him remember the face-off with Zodd and acknowledge that it was an irrational thing to do and wonder why Guts is so important to him, and I think part of the reason the monologue works so well is because it’s the first time we see that kind of self-reflection sans lofty rationalization from him, because before he ended up trapped in his own brain for a year with nothing to distract himself in between bouts of torture he didn’t really ask himself these kinds of questions. If he had, things probably would’ve gone better for everyone.

And like, I don’t think this makes Griffith less intelligent, or negates his rationality in other areas of life. I don’t see a contradiction in someone being able to analyze a battlefield or read other people well but avoiding genuine soul searching whenever possible and lying to himself a lot. I think it’s actually pretty realistic - I don’t think very many people fully understand themselves or their feelings, even really self-reflective people, and it’s very easy to rationalize away inconvenient cognitive dissonance. and I include myself in that lol.

Griffith’s life is kind of a contradiction that would really fuck him up to untangle (he sends people to their deaths to achieve a dream for the sake of assuaging his guilt for sending people to their deaths to achieve a dream), so he doesn’t try to untangle it, he avoids the question and hides behind a philosophical ideal. And his feelings for Guts add to that cognitive dissonance because if he values Guts over the dream, that kind of proves his entire defensive life philosophy is bullshit and his whole life plan is built on a precarious house of cards, so it makes sense to me that he’d avoid examining those feelings closely too.

And you can look at Guts too, who does navelgaze a lot and tries to analyze his own feelings and motivations - when he’s faced with a contradiction (I want to become independent of Griffith and do my own thing solely to gain Griffith’s approval) he actually notices it and briefly questions himself... and then he still puts it out of his mind and continues pursuing his contradictory goal anyway, and manages to stay in denial for 3 days even after learning that Griffith ended up in a torture chamber because he left.

Along those same lines, Guts eg realizes that he kills things because it makes him feel better but he doesn’t make the connection between his irrational urge to fight powerful enemies and his childhood trauma the way the readers can, the King didn’t acknowledge his incesty feelings til Griffith shoved them in his face, Count Slug kept denying having human feelings til Puck went on a tirade against him and he couldn’t sacrifice his daughter, Casca lies to herself about her feelings for Griffith for a long time before finally acknowledging she’s in love and then doubles down on her Griffith feelings when her newer feelings for Guts threaten them until she has a breakdown and admits some things to herself (I mean I find that last one disappointing lol, but it’s also a really straightforward example of someone living in denial of romantic feelings and therefore a good comparison point to show that Miura does this on purpose), etc. So I think this interpretation of Griffith is also consistent with how Miura just like, tends to write people.

Like imo Griffith has moments where he comes close to self awareness and could’ve started potentially reflecting on his feelings and coming to better, more accurate conclusions, and those moments definitely include the Zodd conversation (as well as the river scene with Casca, and “do you think I’m cruel?”) but none of those scenes lead to useful self-reflection because they all go wrong. Casca tries but fails to reassure him bc she’s out of her depth, Guts reminds him of his dream, the King interrupts their conversation and Charlotte reorients Griffith towards his goal so he can move on from that moment of irrationality and refrain from thinking about it further for a while. Even after the duel Griffith tries to avoid self-reflection by fucking Charlotte imo (”take all the sad and frightening things and cast them into the fire” ie hey girl wanna repress some shit w/ me?), and imo his previous ability to do that makes it all the more impactful when it doesn’t work this time and he breaks down.

BUT YEAH all that said I don’t think this is the only reasonable reading of Griffith’s awareness of his feelings lol, it’s just the one I like best and consider the most satisfying and interesting and fun to think about. And honestly that’s partly because I love dramatic irony and have a real thing for characters who lie to themselves, so I’m biased in favour of it too. Nothing about Griffith being good at denial contradicts the idea that he could still be aware of an attraction to Guts (in that case he’d probably just write it off as irrelevant and deny the associated internalized-homophobia-related self-loathing lol until it all pours out while he’s projecting at the King), and he could eg be aware that he irrationally cares about Guts above and beyond anyone else and just doesn’t even try to reconcile that with his dream, ie compartmentalization in another way.

But I think the idea that he only fully admits it to himself in the torture chamber is just very narratively satisfying.

[dramarising-replacement]

The sequel to: Literally nobody asked for this and I'm doing it anyways This time as an update!

Why wouldn’t you be able to sell it? Some people like making money OP -yes, but that market would be too easy for rich players to exploit, so it's a no. while it could help so that newer players that get a good egg could possibly sell it for even more if the colors are matchy, i cant really think of a way to prevent it from just adding to gen1 only lairs with 1000 gems at all times.

I think this was supposed to be a joke or something. -somewhat! i know it would never happen, as it's complete bullshit that comes out of nowhere, but it was a semi-serious exercise in how to introduce mechanics to pre existing games. but yeah, mainly a joke, cause it's never actually going to happen, and i also dont really want it to.

Breeding eggs… What?- OP, tell me what u took last night -ambien, if i remember right. sure, technically i shouldnt have it, but parents know best amiright?

and yeah take nothing i have done seriously, assume i am either high or out of my mind.

why do people make overly long and elaborate site suggestions on FR drama sites and not, you know, on FR’s actual fucking suggestions forum -bc this is not an actual suggestion, its a fake one meant to have fun and maybe piss people off. i did not make that very clear in my post, sorry about that.

What a long way to say “I hate snobs”. -sounds like me! :)

The absolute irony of crying about G1 people being snobby while trying to make a dragon special by creating a subspecies is chefs kiss delicious. Nothing wrong with subspecies just that OP is talking out they ass. -i meant like. for lore reasons? yall make subspecies for pricing reasons? damn. i might have to change a few forum threads to lore-specific rq

I dont get why people gotta be so rude and downplay people’s disappointment:/ -im funny like that. and also a vindictive dick. but let's stick with funny.

Hey.. uh wasn’t A___ a regular normal user who had that luck cult form around them because they were pretty lucky their first week? They’re not just some ‘fanon luck god’. This should’ve been censored. :/ -shit, my bad. thank you for telling me! (this sounds sarcastic, but seriously, thank you.)

so this anon should support a way to make any dragon a G1 then, I mean I’d respect them if they did -thank you for the inspiration!

what about that egg i got from the coli and hatched myself on my birthday and it was a neat primal -you got a primal on your birthday from rng? congrats, that's really awesome! i wouldnt really say that other people getting primals now cheapens it, having a special day primal myself, but we're different people and all. congratulations on your special hatch!

do you guys have anything better to do lmfao -nope! rip me ig, but then again i'm a teenager w/ no job in a terrifying pandemic and maybe some people i know are dead of plague, which is a rather common experience now, so sometimes you gotta make long posts laughing over dragon games. it's fun and totally not unhealthy!

[kaiowut99]

Phew, finally finished re-finalizing my finalized GX stuff so far!

Over the last few weeks well I guess months--initially while I waited for some potential editing help for 65, then [once I canned the last fix I’d planned; sorry to those I may have slightly annoyed with my casual reblogs about it] just to get it all done while in Rome before double-releasing 65 and 66--I’ve been giving my scripts one final look-through to fix any consistency or formatting issues with my newer stuff (things like my starting to use “Fusion Undone” as De-Fusion’s translated name before accidentally going back to “Fusion Cancel” or turning “Miss Asuka” back to “Asuka-san” since I’d meant to use that whenever “Asuka-sama” was used, or the way I’d italicize contractions or capitalize things), and also to sort of go and do things I should’ve done initially (like translating Daitokuji’s nyas into meows, the logic being that it’s what we’d hear in English anyway; hopefully this is one that goes over well?).  Basically just to cross them off my list so I don’t go back to them at all.  The plan is also to work on new finalized MKV softsubs that I’ll release on NAC for those who’d like ‘em, since Zeratul (who’d provided them before) hasn’t in a long while, and once I do them for 1-66, they’ll be a thing going forward.

While I was at it, I applied some other animation/footage fixes to things I hadn’t picked up on in my initial finalizing run-through as I started doing them, or polished a couple that I did.  Some might wonder “why put in the effort for quick shots or at all no one cares,” but as I’ve mentioned before, as someone who loves GX with some [I think good?] skills using Photoshop/video editing and an eye for detail, I figured if I have time to improve it for people (especially those who might notice the same errors I did) where the staff didn’t take the chance to do so on the DVDs (where they usually would), then why not? (I was actually inspired to do it by KaiserNeko doing the same for DBZ during DBZ Abridged.) The fixes I work on are done for both my hardsubs and the DVDRips I release with the scripts over on NAC, and there’s a thread there with the original DVDRips I work off of as well, in case anyone doesn’t like them (most/all of my finalized Season 1 scripts were re-timed for them by someone there, but I’ll take some time out to do it myself too now that I’ve re-finalized them), along with the CR subs which I’ve said should be shown love too.  I’ll list these new fixes out below by each episode, for anyone super curious about the details; some are kind of interesting, lol. (Did my best to format it so it’s readable, too, lol.)

So, yeah--keep an eye out for the links to actually-final 1-64 on my stream masterpost to be updated along with 65 and 66 once I post them (probably tomorrow), I’ll be updating the links in my NAC thread to the hardsubs and scripts I’ve re-finalized along with any DVDRips updated with the fixes below, and as I get work going on 67+ (which I’ve started a bit of) I’ll work on batches of the softsub MKVs for folks.  For people looking forward to my 65 and 66, really appreciate the patience the past couple of months; hoping to work on some double-releases to make up some time.

Extra-Final Fixes!

Episode 4 (Since I didn’t include a list of the previous fixes I’d worked on in the original release post, I’ll include those here in italics; the new ones here were mainly noticed as I worked on 66 given the flashback to Judai and Manjoume’s duel here--the edits were applied there first, then I went back and applied them here. The fixes I’d already done were applied to the flashback in 66 as needed.)

As Judai takes damage from Clayman’s destruction by VW-Tiger Catapult, Judai’s LP start counting down from 3808 and not 4000; I fixed it in Sony Vegas by masking in a LP counter starting from 4000 for a few frames.

As Judai prods Manjoume into choosing a card from his hand for A Hero Appears’s effect, Manjoume’s part of a split-screen has part of his blazer semi-faded for a frame; I corrected it by just duplicating a later frame.

As Judai’s LP take a hit from V-to-Z destroying Burstlady, there are four frames where the upper part of his Disk is missing the bottom part that extends out--but it shows up in the next frame, which also causes Judai’s Disk wrist grip to vanish for the rest of the shot before Shou’s split-screen comes on, as the parts of his arm for it are colored like his jacket sleeve.  To fix the first issue, I used Photoshop to draw on that bottom part in that first frame, then masked it into the shot in Sony Vegas for the other three frames.  The second issue I fixed by recoloring his sleeve to account for the wrist grip, then masking the edit into the shot while masking the little destroyed Solid Vision bits above the edit.

Had a few things going on here.  First, after Manjoume mocks Judai being wide open just after the above, we have one of many recycled shots through the episode where Judai insists that he’s still got fight in him--the initial frame has Judai in the same position as edit #3 ends with his wrist grip missing, but it reappears as he moves to stand firm while the shading on the lefthand side of his Disk’s Cemetery slot is wonky for a couple of frames.  Second, as Judai moves back into his initial position, that shading is normal but the wrist grip again disappears into his sleeve, and this time that bottom bit of his Disk’s upper part is colored as part of Judai’s sleeve, making his arm shorter.  Third, as Judai moves to draw, the wrist grip reappears and that bottom part is now colored properly, but Judai’s arm isn’t extended like it was at the start of the shot. Finally, as Judai draws, the wrist grip is there but that whole part of his wrist is colored like it (no red noting the end of his jacket sleeve).  I fixed the first issue by copying the wrist grip edit from #3 and copying the moving Cemetery slot shading from the second part here.  The second issue was fixed once I again copied the wrist grip edit from #3, along with using the initial frame to mask in the correct Disk/forearm coloring.  Then, I fixed the third issue by copying the rest of the area below the Disk’s bottom bit from the later shot in edit #7 below where it was colored correctly.  I fixed the last issue by recoloring the first wrist grip curve into red for the end of Judai’s jacket sleeve for five frames.

As Manjoume’s V-to-Z aims directly at Judai, as he discards two to activate Evolutionary/Transcendant Wings, the Winged Kuriboh on his Disk is in Attack Mode when it’s in Defense on the field; I blanked its Monster Zone in Photoshop and then added a Winged Kuriboh proxy in AfterEffects correctly in Defense Mode.

As Judai swings his arm around telling Winged Kuriboh LV10 to “send all that energy right back” at Manjoume, the spot on his Disk where Winged Kuriboh LV10 appears for a few frames is colored like the Monster Zone it’s on; I just applied a Winged Kuriboh LV10 proxy above it for those frames.

Again, a few things here as we recycle the Judai shot in edit #4 (but he’s smiling so it’s different~). First, after Manjoume mocks Judai’s idea of him drawing a 1000-ATK-or-higher Monster to finish him, the initial frame of this shot is pulled from just before Judai moves to draw in edit #4 because the wrist grip is missing along with the bottom bit of his Disk being colored like his jacket.  Then, as Judai moves to draw and grabs a card from his deck, as his Disk arm swings upward for a few frames, the wrist grip area is first 90% colored like his sleeve, with half of the first curve of it on his sleeve colored like the grip, before it’s fully colored like his sleeve for the other frames.  Finally, as Judai fully draws and his Disk swings back to the bottom of the shot (recycling Judai’s position post-draw in edit #4), the wrist grip is gone, but also Judai’s undershirt is miscolored, part of the folds on Judai’s jacket sleeve near his elbow are colored like his Disk, and his Disk is miscolored or missing a few details compared to the earlier shot (like the bottom side of the blue LP orb being colored blue as well and not the Disk’s gray as before).  I fixed the first issue by copying the fixed initial frame from edit #4, masking it in Vegas to just use the Disk/wrist grip area.  The second issue was fixed as I recolored the wrist grip area such that the first curve was fully red and the rest was wrist-grip-colored for the three frames of Judai’s Disk arm going upward.  I fixed the third issue by just masking in Judai’s Disk and arm (up to the edge of his wrist) from the earlier correctly-colored shot, while also masking in his correctly-colored undershirt.

As Judai summons Featherman--to Shou and Chronos’s surprise--and has him lunge at Manjoume for the finisher, the black faraway box that is Featherman on his Disk disappears as Shou and Chronos slide in on a split-screen, and it’s still gone as they slide back out.  I fixed this in Vegas by just masking that black box on to stay longer, masking in Shou’s split-screen over it before and after it slides in.

Episode 8 (Original release post; as with episode 4′s, these new errors were mainly noticed as I worked on 66 given the flashback to Judai and Ryou’s duel here--the edits were applied there first, then I went back and applied them here.  The fixes I made before were applied to the flashback in 66, as well.)

After Judai thinks about how well Ryou played his first move, he draws Fusion for his turn, but as he draws it, it’s a dark-orange rectangle in his hand; I added a Fusion proxy over it in AfterEffects for the quick 2-3 frames it’s in.

After Judai’s first hit on him, Ryou draws and Special-Summons another Cyber Dragon, but visually he’s playing a Monster in face-down Defense Mode on his second Monster Zone--we see this Cyber Dragon in Zone 3 a few shots later as he uses Revival of the Dead to bring back his first Cyber Dragon.  The dub fixed this by making his Disk arm move such that Ryou’s hand lands on Zone 3, with the card in his hand a dubified Cyber Dragon, and I opted to work that into the footage here by masking their moving Disk over the original shot in Vegas, redoing the sky background behind it and masking in parts of Ryou and his hand to make it blend well while also adding some detail to the Disk in Photoshop to compensate for the slightly lower quality.  Then, I replaced the dubified card with a Japanese Cyber Dragon proxy in AE.  I worked on this in 66 first (as highlighted here), but I unfortunately couldn’t just copy that edit completely here, since the footage in 66 has a bit more brightness/contrast to it that I couldn’t dial down accurately to make it blend in to the darker footage here; this is definitely the kind of error that would normally be fixed on the Japanese DVDs, so why it wasn’t is a mystery.

As the screen zooms in on Judai after Ryou declares Cyber Twin’s attack, he’s missing Thunder Giant on his Disk’s third Monster Zone; I added a proxy onto it in AE and masked the red bulb on his Disk over it in Vegas.  It’s tiny and a quick shot, but for consistency’s sake and all. (I’d previously only added that missing Thunder Giant as it zooms out while he activates A Hero Appears).

As Judai thinks about how Evolutionary Wings would evolve his Winged Kuriboh and the screen fades and zooms out to Bubbleman on his field, he’s missing Bubbleman on his Disk in his third Monster Zone.  I added it in AE, then keyframed this zoom-out for it accordingly in Vegas.

Right after #4 above, as Judai notes that he can’t Normal-Summon again this turn, we see Mudballman--which he hasn’t summoned yet--in Defense Mode on his Disk.  When I first fixed this, I put Bubbleman in its place, but accidentally in Defense Mode (given that he’s in Attack Mode right now), so I fixed my own correction by blanking the third Monster Zone Mudballman was on and slapping Bubbleman on in Attack Mode in AE, moving it along with Judai’s Disk. (Still not sure why the dub decided Mudballman = VW Catapult or something apparently lol)

Episode 10 (Original release post listing the original two fixes that were done)

After Mei draws out his Sanga thanks to Kyuu’s Dark Designator card, during the panning shot as Mei adds it to his hand (before they tell Judai and Shou they’ll enlighten them about Tag Dueling), the Defense-Mode Burstlady on Judai’s Disk is shown reversed; I just applied a proxy in AfterEffects on top of it so it was correctly shown with the name box facing left.

After summoning Steam Gyroid, as Shou notes that summoning Hyuga left Kyuu without a defending Monster, the above shot is recycled--this time, reversed so it pans from Shou to Judai, but also has Judai react to what Shou’s saying--and so is the error with Burstlady on his Disk.  Again, just applied a proxy in AE to fix it, moving it as Judai moves his Disk.

As Shou looks down in disappointment after his Steam Gyroid’s attack ran into Hyuga’s effect, Judai turns to give him some words of encouragement, but as his Disk moves with him, we see the Defense-Mode Burstlady on his Disk again facing the wrong way.  Just slapped a proxy on in AE and moved it as Burstlady’s Zone came into view.

After Gate Guardian destroys Shou’s Steam Gyroid, as Chronos watches on and notes Shou’s timidity vs Judai’s stubbornness while the two look on at the Meikyuu Brothers, we see the Defense-Mode Burstlady on Judai’s Disk facing the wrong way again.  Fixed it by placing the proxy again in AE, then zooming it out accordingly as the shot zooms out.

After Mei sets a card and Judai prepares to draw for his turn, there’s a yellow rectangle where his Defense-Mode Burstlady should be.  Applied a proxy in AE over it to fix the issue.

Episode 11  (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

As Kyuu draws once Judai sets a card to end his turn using Spark Gun on Gate Guardian, the spot on his Disk where Defense Wall in Defense Mode would be has an Attack-Mode-shaped hole where you can see the blue of the stands behind him! I fixed it by making a Defense Wall proxy that I slapped on in Defense Mode in AfterEffects, moving it with his Disk.  For the tail end of the shot where the Zone is fully visible, I also filled in the hole with the Zone color in Photoshop and then applied the proxy.

As Shou declares Gate Guardian the target of his Shield Crush, the card back for the one card in his hand is miscolored.  I fixed it by redrawing the usual card back in Photoshop for the frames it’s in, Gaussian Blurring it so it blends in, before he turns and they’re out of the shot.

After Mei ends his turn having attacked Drillroid with Dark Guardian amused at Shou’s standing back up thanks to Judai, as Judai draws for his turn, his face-down card is miscolored. I recolored it in Photoshop for the few frames it’s in, working it into the footage in Vegas.

After Judai draws from Pot of Greed after the above, he goes on to activate Fusion Gate, but Sparkman on his Disk is reversed; I applied a proxy in AE facing upright, then keyframed it to the zoom-out here in Vegas.

As Judai realizes he’ll need to give up Skyscraper so Tempester can survive Dark Guardian’s attack, the Tempester card on his Disk is reversed; I applied a proxy in AE facing upright, then keyframed it to the zoom-out here in Vegas.

As Judai and Shou reel from the above attack once Kyuu ends his turn, Shou has a Normal Monster card where Drillroid would be on his Disk.  I fixed it by slapping on a proxy in AE for the couple of frames it’s visible in before Shou moves his Disk so it’s not onscreen.

I polished my edit to Misawa to keep his sideburns still in episode 12 and added it to the equivalent shot in the preview here.

Episode 12 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

As noted in 11′s #7, I polished my original fix to Misawa’s moving sideburns as a buffed-up Hell Soldier took out his Hydroggedon so it blended in more with the smoke and everything going on in the shot; looks better now.

As Manjoume declares Hell Burner’s attack on Misawa, there are two quick frames where it’s a yellow rectangle on his Disk; I applied a Hell Burner proxy in AE accordingly.

Episode 18 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

After Kagurazaka brings back Berfomet to take the hit from Thunder Giant and he starts his turn, as he activates Reincarnation of the Dead, there’s a quick frame where it shrinks in his hand as the shot zooms out--I fixed this by just duplicating the frame just before where it’s normal.

After Kagurazaka summons the Gazelle he added to his hand above, he then activates Swords of Sealing Light, but there’s a quick frame where it’s just a yellow shape in his hand.  Easy fix by slapping a proxy in AE.

Episode 30 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

As Shou and Hayato realize they’re no longer being boiled alive, Hayato audibly asks, “Huh? Where are we?”, but his lips only move for the “Huh?” part of that as he lifts his head.  To fix this, I used the couple of flaps as he lifts his head and tweaked/resized them so they would work after his head’s lifted, adjusted to fit his line.

Episode 31 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

As Chronos sets a card down after Camula brings out another Immortal Werewolf, Antique Gear Soldier on his Disk is shown as a Normal Monster Card; I originally fixed this by slapping on a proxy in AfterEffects while the shot was still, then keyframe-zooming it out in Vegas, but at the time, I didn’t account for Chronos’s swinging arm, so the card was superimposed over his hand for a frame or two as it swung over that Zone.  I’ve masked his hand over my edit now, so that’s fixed.

Episode 38 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

After Judai summons Wildman in Defense Mode to start the duel and the lights suddenly go out (prompting the “duel of darkness/duel in the seas” mixup...), we see Wildman’s in Attack Mode on the field despite its Defense posture.  I fixed it by applying a proxy there, then masking Wildman’s lower body and the shadow coming from his sheathed sword on top of it.

Episode 46 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

As Judai reminisces about the past year, he flashes back to his duel with Ryou in episode 8 and his Featherman being vaporized by Cyber Dragon; I added back the fix I did to Judai’s Disk in removing his destroyed Featherman for the few frames it’s onscreen.  Because the flashback fades to white right then too, I also added a quick mostly-transparent layer of white over the blanked zone to replicate the start of the fade to white so it blended in.

As Judai then looks over at Shou and Hayato and he remembers his first encounters with them (a bit reanimated, too), there’s a quick frame where Hayato’s gritted-teeth mouth disappears before it closes into a line for his mouth.  Fixed by just reusing a frame of his mouth in the same position and moved it into place in the panning shot.

Episode 51 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

As Ryou notes that Judai’s studied up on him by choosing to go second, Judai slides in on a split-screen, but the top of his hair’s miscolored.  Fixed by recoloring it in Photoshop, then working it into the footage in Vegas by moving it into place as he slides in.

As Ryou uses Time Capsule to hide away his Fusion Undone/De-Fusion for later and Judai thinks back to his move in episode 8 leading to his activating Power Bond, I added back my fix to Ryou’s Disk to add on his missing two Cyber Dragons and the one Cyber Dragon in his hand, grayscaling it and adding visual noise to it to blend with the flashback.

Episode 54 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

After Chronos pins his hopes on Manjoume, as Gokaido draws for his turn, we see an error where his Disk apparently partially vanishes for two movement frames--it seems the animation staff forgot to put the background layer behind his Disk there or something, lol.  I fixed this by actually filling in the rest of his Disk in Photoshop for those two frames, first by filling in the Disk itself and then painting on the rest of the Monster Zone at the edge of the frame, and then just added them to the video in Vegas.

Episode 59 (Original release post listing the original fixes that were done)

After Shining Flare Wingman returns while Ed explains Misfortune’s effect, of the D-Heroes on his Duel Disk, we see Diamondguy and Diehardguy reversed.  I originally slapped on proxies for them positioned correctly in AfterEffects on the frame after the slow zoom-out stops, then in Vegas I used that frame to re-do the initial zoom-out, but while I usually add a slight blur to the proxies, I noticed that they were a bit too blurry as the zoom-out started.  So I redid it and lightened the blur, while also touching up the bit as Misfortune’s light envelops Ed and his Disk so the light over them blends in more.

Episode 62 (Original release post, though I didn’t do any fixes before)

As Judai uses Dandylion’s effect to summon his two Fluff Tokens, Cocoon Dolphina--visually in Defense Mode on the field--is in Attack Mode on Judai’s Disk in the panning shot to them.  I fixed it by first blanking the Zone in Photoshop, then placing a proxy in the Zone for one frame in AfterEffects before I re-panned that frame for the shot.

[mcrmadness]

Pink, amber and coral :)

Ask game: 20 colour asks.

Hello, and thanks for the ask :D (I read this to the tune of a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book title :D)

---

pink - which is your favourite animal? zoos or farms?

Cats! And especially tigers!

And oh, the second one is a good question! I do enjoy zoos and animal parks but I just get to those quite rarely. I think Finland has only one actual proper zoo, and it's in Helsinki, and the last time I visited was in 2002 or so when I was 11. The rest here are more of animal parks which sometimes have some more exotic animals in them, e.g. a snow leopard, but mainly they have more common animals that exist in the Finnish nature as well - or they have all kinds of different ungulates which are easier to keep and set up the exhibits for.

But I think I have to say I like farms more than zoos, as long as it's not intensive farming where animals become numbers in the system instead of individuals with names. And since I am a horse groom who is occasionally dreaming of other animal related jobs, especially zookeeper's job, I still would prefer an animal park or farm animal park if it means I get to also interact with the animals from the ground instead if behind bars or glass. I really like to hang out with animals and interact with them and pet/scratch them if they like it, and I think I'd be miserable working at a zoo where I would have to only watch them.

---

I'll put the rest under a cut because I, again, could not stop talking :D

amber - can you drive? if not, how do you get around?

Yeah, I can drive. I got the driver's license a couple of months after I turned 18 (in 2009). I was planning on getting it on my birthday but I failed the first test and had to do it again, and it meant I had to take a few more lessons before I was allowed to try it again. But then I finally made it - and also never forgot the roundabout traffic rules again because it was one of the reasons why I failed the first test :D

I also got a car before getting the driver's license, and my current one is my second car. It's an absolute lifesafer to own, especially in my city which is not that big but has even worse public traffic system and too many uphills to every direction. I don't love anything as much as the feeling of not having to run after busses and stress over if I'll be able to catch one or not, because I'm always running late. With my own car I'll always have a ride, even if I'm running late despite it.

I also often choose to drive to other cities instead of public transport. It's just the feels of freedom. I live in east Finland and for some reason it's always more difficult to travel horizontally than vertically in Finland, so you often have to switch busses or trains several times, or use both, and the timetables might not always line-up nicely, so it's very stressful to try and find something that would match. But with a car you can just... hop in your car and drive and you're there without worrying about switching to other vehicles.

---

coral - which is your favourite disney movie? who makes the better movies, disney or pixar?

The Lion King, definitely. I saw it from a VHS shortly after it came out and have loved the movie ever since. It's also the only (original) Disney, of the ones we had on VHS, that had the music I absolutely adored. I realized this only when I was already an adult and found out Hans Zimmer made the score for the film. Also the "musical numbers" are better than in most films, and I usually hate musicals.

I hyperfixated on the Lion King when it was released on a dvd (at least in Finland) in 2003 when I was 12, and I bought it as well as the sequels and just, well, hyperfixated for some time :D

I think Pixar makes better movies than Disney. I have been a "fan" of Pixar ever since Toy Story came out, altho, I haven't seen any of the newer Pixar nor Disney movies since the early or mid 2000s. I think The Incredibles is probably the last one I saw? Except for Toy Story 3, that one I have seen and it was actually great, too. And MOnsters University.

I think the reason why I was always more drawn to Pixar than Disney films were the stories. I had some of the original Disney princess movies on VHS as I was growing up and I always hated them, they were so boring? I preferred the animal movies over movies about humans, and I also often was so annoyed by the music in all those movies, apart from The Lion King and 101 Dalmatians - which I didn't even have on VHS ever but borrowed it from my cousins sometimes.

Now, as an adult, as I look back at those Pixar movies, I have realized that they probably fed my aromantic side a lot. Most of the old Disney movies were about a princess finding a prince in the end, meanwhile the princesses being extremely boring as characters. But Pixar movies were (are?) all about the adventure and friendships (or a found family, even?), and I don't remember there ever being any proper romance? Like, sometimes they indicated some sort of a romance or how there COULD be one, but I don't remember any of them ending in a romance, or that it would have been the main idea of the whole story. Or even a subplot.

So, Pixar is my answer :D And Toy Story will probably forever be The Pixar film for me. It was also one of my first childhood hyperfixations as I was already old enough to understand and also memorize things. (I was 4 or 5 when I first saw it.)

[creativia10]

Third Wip: Remy in Emile's antics (Pet Shelter volunteer)

Summary: Remy once again finds himself dragged into doing something he would not previously have seen himself doing, because he can't resist his adorable best friend.

Notes: Sometimes, I just want to share the fluff, you know? Also, I based this shelter off of the one where I got my dog from. I haven't actually volunteered there myself though. Pseudo sequel to Remy Clause

Pairing: Remy and Emile

Word count: 1375

@tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors

Remy thought he knew the kind of person he was. Cool, suave, careless at times, living for coffee, sass, and fun. Yet, for some reason, he has a hard time saying no when Emile wanted to do something that was so not something Remy would opt for on his own. Maybe he was soft. Yet even though he grumbled about it, he still went for it every time. Emile just shined. It was so cute to see how excited his friend would get. It was like an innocent excitement to spend time with Remy, not what Remy would expect. It was fun being around Emile when he was so enthusiastic about something. That was how Remy one time ended up as a mall Santa for a day. That would not be the only situation Remy would find himself in.

-

Yet this was how he ended up here, somehow.

Don’t get him wrong, he did not have anything against animals. It was just not something he saw himself volunteering for. Emile was clearly excited though.

Emile squealed before they even entered the shelter, just staring through the window at the animals that could be seen there.

Remy winced and exaggeratedly twisted his finger in his ear.

“Ow, Em. That was my ear.”

Emile covered his mouth and giggled.

“Sorry. I’m just excited.”

“Gurl, I swear, its like you combust anytime you’re around cute things. How do you manage to stay professional in your office with all your cute stuffed critters around?”

Emile rolled his eyes with a smile and entered the shelter. This particular location was in a mall, so at least it wasn’t dingy like Remy had pictured. Right away Remy noted how the area seemed to be sectioned off into different areas. Forward and to their sides at different angles volunteers could be seen setting up circle playpen areas, for possible adopters to later get a chance to see the cute puppies in play, and possibly interact with them themselves.

There were some other sectioned off areas, one of which was separated by a see-through wall.

Emile was practically vibrating as he sprung forward. Remy followed behind, attempting to maintain some sway as he came through. The volunteers setting up glanced at them before continuing. Some were tending to something in the back out of their vision.

Emile almost bounced in place as he stopped in front of the desk.

“Hello there! Its our first day volunteering.”

The woman behind the counter smiled at them.

“Thank you for coming. Just sign in here, grab a name tag, and them go wait in the back behind the curtain for volunteers and workers. Someone should come to help show you what to do.”

Emile nodded vigorously and went to signing in and did as she instructed. Remy followed after him, although with less hyperness. He couldn’t help but pause for a moment to look at his friend fondly before he joined him in the back.

For their first day volunteering, it did not seem like it would be much. The place was not huge, so Remy supposed it made sense the tasks would not be laboring. They were mainly just meant to keep track of things and get to know some of the ways they could interact with the animals. They were brought to an area not for buyers, but to let the dogs run around some more, since there was less space in the inner mall area. They were pretty much getting a tour first, so the first day should not be so bad. Although, Emile had not said yet how often he planned to do this. Remy went with Emile through the play area. A bunch of little fuzzball puppies surrounded them, barking, and trying to play or be affectionate with them. Emile, of course, bust into giggles. He could not seem to help himself but to bend down and pay attention to them, which of course just made them more excitable.

When Remy found the fur balls all around where he would have stepped, he paused and just stared down at them not really knowing what to do. Remy did not have anything against the pups, but he did not know what he was supposed to do. He glanced around.

Someone reassured that playing with the animals was part of their tasks, and it was okay to have some fun to feel things out as it was their first day. Said informée clearly seemed to be fighting some sort of amusement. Whether it was to Emile’s cuteness or Remy’s awkwardness, he wasn’t sure.

Remy did not do anything with the puppies, although he jumped a little when one jumped a bit high and latched onto his pant leg.

“Whoa!”

A different volunteer immediately came over and detached the puppy from Remy’s person, getting the rest of their attention.

Remy tried to outwardly compose himself as he looked back over to Emile and the volunteer who was going back to showing them around. As they continued to walk through, Remy apparently was not paying attention to his surroundings, and found himself barreled over by a large fluffy dog.

Emile gasped.

“Oh my gosh! Remy, are you ok?” He asked.

Remy laid there in shock for a moment, almost not able to see if he was hurt, as the creature that barreled him over was still a weight on him, and licking his face. Remy made a face.

“Ugh, yeah, I guess. Just, can someone get this thing off of me?”

A few volunteers helped pull the dog off of him.

“Sorry about that. She is still pretty young and hyper, despite her size, and one of our newer volunteers lost grip on her.”

Remy huffed.

“It’s fine. Can I go wash my face though?”

They nodded. Remy went to the small bathroom near the back, Emile standing off behind him.

“Rem…are you okay doing this? I know you weren’t as excited as I was, and I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

Remy glanced at him in the mirror, and Emile was looking away. He looked like he felt guilty. Remy sighed. After he cleaned up some, he spun around.

“Look, hun. I am not one to give up easily, you know that. I said I would try this with you, and I’m gonna stick with it. Giant furry cretins aren’t going to keep me down, not on day one.”

Emile smiled a little at that.

“You’re sure?”

Remy slung an arm around him.

“Yeah. I can bare the adorable monsters if it means I get this time with my Em.”

Emile giggled at that.

“Do you even like animals?”

Remy shrugged.

“I guess we’ll see.”

Emile should his head, and they went back.

They were shown the activities that would be done, such as how they go about walking, feeding, and giving the animals water. They were shown schedules and ways to keep track of who still needed to be taken care of. Apparently, there would be times when a pet in the process of being adopted would be brought out to see if they got along with the other pet, but it was usually the more experienced volunteers and workers who took  care of that. Remy and Emile were mainly tasked with getting to know things, organizing and keeping track.

There were kennels along the walls. Remy noted it was mainly the puppies who were brought out to be played with in the playpens.

They did not know the pets well enough to be caregivers for specific ones, but they were allowed to sit in the pens with a more experienced volunteer to see things out. Remy was slightly relieved that the puppy one he sat in on did not have the same excitable puppies they saw earlier. Not that they were scary or anything.

The other volunteer sat in a chair in the middle. Remy sat on the floor. Some puppies came over to him, despite him not seeking them out. He hesitantly reached forward and started to pet one. The pup barked and started wagging his tail, getting into it. They must like new people, because Remy literally did nothing for these pups to come over to him.

[angelsandacceptance]

Genie of the Lamp

Chase and Harley’s plane touches down on the tarmac in Oahu, Hawaii. After everyone leaves the plane the girls head to their hotel with an ocean view. On the plane Harley had started rereading the Harry Potter series for the thousandth time. Chase, rather, had binge watched horror movies while cross-stitching (and has now made up her mind to never admit how many times she stabs herself).

 “This is the nicest place we’ve stayed in a while,” Harley comments when the two enter the hotel room. The room is quaint, but lavish compared to the motels they were used to staying in. This room had high, white walls, a large bathroom, with a jacuzzi tub and shower. Ornate mirrors hang on the walls opposite each bed, with a large flat screen tv in the center.

Chase sighs, running and landing on her back as she jumps onto one of the beds with a laugh. “This place is awesome! Ugh, just what we’ve needed. When’s the last time either of us had an actual vacation?”

“There was that week I decided to visit my family.”

“Yeah, but that was still a while ago. This is also like, real vacation. I mean, look at that view!” Chase points out the large window, spanning most of the far wall, curtains pulled back to display the gorgeous view; they can both see the beach, with the waves lapping at the shore, few people dotting the shoreline as they relax in the sun. Green, lush wildlife grows abundantly all around them. “We don’t see that everyday. Can’t tell you when the last time I was at the beach was.”

“Me either. I can’t wait to be in the ocean again.”

“Same! Let’s change real quick, then we can head down to the water.”

The girls change in their swimsuits, before grabbing towels and running down to the beach. Harley has to chastise Chase, who forgets to put sunscreen on and begins to turn pink within minutes.

After Harley is satisfied with Chase’s cover of sunscreen, which only helps to make her look somehow paler than normal, they race to the water. Chase grabs Harley in a bridal style hold, only to quickly drop her in the surprisingly warm waves. Chase, however, is not thinking clearly when she does this, because Harley’s arms are laced around her neck, dragging her into the water as well. They both surface, spluttering, wiping the water from their eyes. They both shriek and laugh at each other’s reactions as they dive further into the waves, splashing each other. 

***

The girls head to a food shack on the beach soaking wet, towels loosely tied around their hips, though not bothering to catch the water dripping from their hair. Chase brushes hers back with her fingers, pushing the accidental pink strands from her face (accidental because the die was purple but didn’t stick). Harley simply ignores her own Auburn-red hair, which drips slightly from her bangs. 

A waiter comes by, asking if they are ready to order. Having known what their first meal in Hawaii would be, they both nod excitedly. They each order fish and chips and Chase gets a fruity cocktail. 

“God, I love fish.” Harley says, eating a piece.

Chase, taking a bite of her cod, nods enthusiastically. “This is so amazing. Ugh, the boys are missing out.”

“Yeah, too bad Dean’s afraid of flying. If he wasn’t they might’ve come.”

“I don’t know. Sam did say that he didn’t want to go so far. But yeah, Dean probably could have changed his mind. I mean, c’mon dude I’m scared of heights and everything, but you don’t see that stopping me.”

“True, guess he’s just a scaredy cat.”

Chase laughs. “Don’t let him catch you saying that. It might hurt his feelings.”

“Then he’s a sensitive scaredy cat.”

“Another thing to not let him catch you saying.”

“Let him hear it. I’ve caught him saying worse about me.”

“Yeah, he probably wouldn’t say anything he’d just go in the corner and pout.”

“That would be hilarious.”

Chase nods agreeing, taking another bite of her food.

***

The girls got back to their hotel room to find a collective amount of 30 missed calls from Dean and texts from Sam saying he tried to stop him. Harley immediately calls him back and he picks up before the first ring. 

“Where the hell were you? I thought the plane went down!” Dean shouts.

“We just went swimming. Chill,” Harley says, trying to calm him down.

“Would it’ve killed you to call... Wait, you went swimming? What are you wearing?”

“Gross!” Chase yells into the phone.

Dean hesitates before defending himself, “Hey, I didn’t mean it like that!”

“You’re Dean, of course you did,” Chase says. 

“Maybe I’ll tell you later,” Harley teases.

Chase turns to Harley with wide eyes, mouthing, ‘Oh, we are so talking about that later.’ before turning back to the phone. “Don’t get any funny ideas there, Deano. I can and will kick your ass.”

Dean and Sam both laugh over the phone, Dean having obviously put the girls on speaker. 

“Ten bucks on Chase,” Sam comments. 

“Hey!” Dean exclaims.

“I’m so not getting involved in this one,” Harley says.

“So no one’s betting on me?”

“Course not, Dean. Why would they?” Chase laughs. The girls can both just imagine the pout on his face. “Look, now you know we aren’t dead, so can we go to enjoy our vacation please?”

“What if I want to talk to you?” Dean asks. 

“You literally could have come with us, but noooo. You’re too much of a scaredy cat to.”

“Hey, you’re afraid of heights, Chase,” Dean says in defense. 

“Yeah, but you don’t see that stopping me. I promise, we will talk to you later, okay?”

“I want nightly and morning updates!”

“Nightly,” Harley says, trying to compromise.

“And pictures,” Sam says. 

“Okay, okay, we promise.” “Good,” Dean says. “I will talk to you two later.”

The girls bid their goodbyes, then hang up, sighing in relief before looking at each other in disbelief. They both burst out laughing, thinking of how Dean is paranoid, but how it is also endearing. 

“Morning and night. I mean really? Once a day is more than enough,” Harley mutters.

“Really though. What does he think’s gonna happen?”

“Who knows what goes on in that brain of his.”

“Well obviously what goes on in that brain of his is ideas of you in a swimsuit.”

“Any girl in a swimsuit more like.”

“I dunno about that. He seems very keen on just you. However, I have to ask. ‘Maybe I’ll tell you later’ probably did not help him think about anything else. What was with that comment?” Chase fake shudders. “It was in front of me and everything.”

“I was just teasing him. It’s not like it meant anything,” Harley says plopping down on her bed.

“Right. It meant nothing. Nothing at all. I bet that is definitely the truth,” Chase says, sarcasm dripping heavily from each word. “Because thinking that you would say that and not mean it in any way would be preposterous. Of course I know you were teasing him! My point is you wouldn’t be teasing him without due cause.”

“I really would be though.”

Chase raises an eyebrow. “Mmmhmmm. Sure. Let me just call bullshit real quick.”

“Okay maybe I wanted him to think of me a little, but that’s it.” Harley says defending herself.

“Yeah,” Chase scoffs. “Just ‘A little’.”

***

The girls woke up the next morning, well, Chase woke up. Mainly because Harley didn’t know how to be quiet while she’s getting ready.

Sitting up onto her elbows, Chase checks her phone, groaning at the sight of a steady 7:21 staring back at her. She turns to Harley with a frown and creased brows. “You seriously couldn’t have waited nine more minutes for my alarm to go off?”

“Sorry, Scooby wasn’t cutting it for me anymore,” Harley says as South Nashville Blues plays at full volume in the bathroom and she does her makeup.

Chase, meanwhile, flops backwards onto her bed, simultaneously grabbing a pillow and covering her face. “Wake me up in nine minutes.”

“Six minutes now.”

“Wake me up in six minutes then!” Chase exclaims, her voice muffled by the pillow. 

“Fine,” Harley sighs, dragging the word out before asking herself, “Should I even bother doing my hair? It’s just going to get wet. We’ll probably get some photos on land though. Right?”

“I’m curling mine, then I’m not gonna care until after we get back out of the water. After that, I’ll probably just braid it.”

“I can’t stand when my hair’s curly. I think I’m gonna straighten it. Just in case. Hey, did you bring any hairspray? I didn’t pack any.”

“Oh yeah, I did. I wanted to make sure my curls stayed even if it got windy. Why? You don’t need it to straighten your hair.”

“Yeah, but you can use it to waterproof your makeup.”

Chase shoots up in bed. “Wait, really?”

“Yeah. I’ve done it before.”

“Okay, I’ve got to try this! I was just planning on skipping eyeliner, but now I don’t have to.” Chase gets out of bed, silencing her alarm before it could go off, joining Harley in the bathroom. 

***

Harley fiddles with the radio before giving up and playing something on her phone.

Chase groans, letting up on the gas. “Why is this car so touchy?”  She turns to Harley, gesturing slightly to the speedometer. “This car is so annoying! Jack would never do this to me.”

“It’s because it’s a newer car. That’s why it’s so touchy.”

Chase scoffs. “That doesn’t give it the right.”

“It’s just for a couple of days.”

“The audacity!” Chase exclaims dramatically.

“Calm down, it’s just for a little while.”

Chase sighs, continuing as though Harley hadn’t spoken. “Just like the audacity you have, claiming you don’t like my brother.”

“Hey, we're not in Jack. No talk about me liking Dean.”

Chase rolls her eyes. “Whatever you say.”

“Thank you.”

Sudden realization dawns on Chase. “Wait, you just admitted you liked him!” Chase refrains from screeching-but just barely. 

“I didn’t mean I liked him. I just meant you think I like him.”

“Ugh. Okay, okay, fine whatever. Be in denial. What’s our first scene gonna look like for pictures?”

“We could do a shot like the main poster for H2O.”

“Ooo, yes.”

“And then I brought my waterproof camera.”

“Wait, you did bring it? I forgot my polaroid sadly.”

“Yeah, I remembered thankfully.”

“Okay, cool. Now here we are! Surf  ‘N’ Shack. Think they sell food? I didn’t eat breakfast.”

“I’m sure they sell food.”

“Good.”

***

The girls smile, looking out at the wake crashing onto the shore. Plenty of beach is in front of them, but there is also rocky cliffs situated to their right. The perfect place to take photos. The girls had their rented silicone mermaid tails and struggled to put them on for longer than they would like to admit.

“That was exhausting.” Harley admits as she finally gets her tail on.

“That was… unpleasant. But the pictures will be well worth it.”

“They better be,” Harley says, flipping herself over so she’s not sitting on her dorsal fin.

Chase struggles to her feet, using the surrounding rocks to help her hop closer to the water. “This is gonna take a while,” she laughs after three hops. 

Harley starts crawling across the sand towards the water dragging her tail behind her. Chase laughs at her, before losing balance and falling over.

“It’s easier this way,” Harley chuckles.

“Well, it looks weird. Oh my God! I just realized. It is going to be so much harder to get this off when it’s wet!”

“I don’t know about that.”

“Well, it’ll definitely be more uncomfortable.”

“It’ll be weird for sure. Like shedding your skin.”

“I never asked, wanted, or imagined that mental image until now. So thank you for that.” 

“You’re welcome. Wait, we should take the H2O photo before we reach the water.”

Chase gasps. “That’s brilliant!”

“I have my moments.”

“You mean moment, because you’re never not brilliant.”

“Aww! Thanks!”

“Well duh.” Chase scoots closer to the water. “Now, let’s get this done with so we can go swimming!”

Harley takes the photo as her arms are longer. Then they continued to crawl till they reach deep enough water to swim.

***

“I’m beached! I’m a beached whale!” Harley yells as she reaches the shore.

“I’ll save you,” Chase shouts, swimming and then scooting up the shore to Harley. Then, she lays there, tired out. “Shit, now I’m beached.”

The two girls started laughing uncontrollably at their beached state.

“Best vacation ever,” Harley says between laughs.

“I’m just glad that we get to relax and nothing is going wrong.”

“Oh god, did you just jinx it?”

Chase shrugs, peeling her tail back a little at a time. “I doubt it,” she huffs. “Seriously. We are in Hawaii on vacation for Thanksgiving. We deserve a break. I’m sure God, wherever the hell he is, recognizes our efforts, and will grant us some peace.”

“Sure, like he’s been much help before.”

“Well, he will give us peace this week, or he will be punched very, very hard when I meet him.” Chase looks to the sky. “And that’s a promise!”

Harley begins trying to kick out of her monofin before pulling the tail skin down.

Chase shimmies out of hers, kicking her legs slightly, her hands brace on the ground behind her for support. “This is one of the most annoying things I’ve ever had to deal with.” Blowing the hair out of her eyes, she continues, “What’s on the agenda for tomorrow?”

“The spa and that hike to the Kaniakapupu ruins.”

“Oh, yes, a spa. That sounds like heaven.”

“It does, doesn’t it. I wanna get some gel nails so I don’t constantly have to redo them.”

“I want a fucking massage.”

“Honestly. I probably need one. Either that or a chiropractor.”

“Same. Or death.”

“You are not allowed to die on me.”

“No promises,” Chase laughs.

“Fine, but you have to come back.”

“That, I will figure out how to do. There’s no way I’m going to die and miss out on the rest of our adventures together. That, and Dean owes me twenty bucks and pie that he still hasn’t paid up for.”

“What bet was it this time?”

“Like, I don’t remember, a month ago or so, Dean told me I couldn’t eat a whole pie in ten minutes. I bet him twenty bucks and another pie. Guess who won?”

“You.”

“Oh hell yes. Anyway, you wanna get food? I could go for some good Hawaiian bbq right now.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a fun new experience.”

***

Chase puts the phone on speaker as the dial rings exactly one and a half times before Dean picks up the phone. “Chase! Thank God you called. I was about to get upset that you’d break your promise.”

The girls hear Sam sigh over the phone. “We saw those pictures you sent. You two look like you’re having fun.”

“You look hot.” Dean pauses. “Obviously I’m talking to Harley.”

“Wow, Dean. I feel so much better now,” Chase says sarcastically.

“You look nice too, Chase,” Sam amends. 

“Thanks, boys. We miss you too,” Harley laughs.

“Of course you do,” Dean says, “No one to cuddle with at night.”

Chase rolls her eyes. 

“You flatter yourself,” Harley retorts.

“I do,” Dean responds cheekily. “All the time. But guess what?”

“So do I?” Harley guesses.

“You flatter me too, wait- How’d you know I’d say that?”

“Because you’re predictable?” Chase guesses. 

“I’m not predictable,” Dean says feigning hurt.

“I thought you were gonna say I flatter myself actually,” Harley counters.

“Well, see, I’m not predictable.”

“You kinda are, Dean,” Sam says.

“My own brother, betraying me like this.”

“What am I?” Chase asks. “I’m your sister and you’re not as offended? Rude.”

“You’re rude saying I’m predictable.”

“Well, you’re rude because-”

“Guys, really?” Sam asks, sounding tired.

“What?” Chase demands. “He started it.”

“Well, you guys are weird. I’m gonna go wash the sand out of my hair. So, bye, love you guys,” Harley says before getting up and heading to the bathroom.

“Was that an invitation?” Dean asks, thinking Harley is still near the phone. 

“Ew, gross, goodbye,” Chase says, hanging up the phone, despite her brother’s protests.

Shaking her head, Chase lays down onto the bed, waiting for her turn in the shower.

***

Today the girls head out to a group tour of the Kaniakapupu Ruins. “When was the last time we went sightseeing?” Harley asks.

“Other than everytime you stare at Dean? Don’t know.”

“I don’t stare at him.”

“Yeah, okay, and I don’t- uh. I don’t. Shit, I totally forgot what I was going to say,” Chase says, turning a light shade of pink. “Anyway, these ruins sure are pretty!”

“Yeah, and so is the land around it. Absolutely stunning.”

“You’re stunning. Quick, go over there and I’ll take your picture!”

Harley goes to stand in front of a fallen archway and Chase takes her picture. “Your turn!” Harley says, stealing the camera.

Chase laughs, shaking her head, but strikes a ridiculous pose nonetheless, a hand on her hip, the other on the back of her head, sticking her tongue out at the camera. “Okay, now we should probably catch up,” Chase says, gesturing to the group a few paces ahead of them. 

The rest of the tour went as normal as possible with Chase and Harley around. At least that’s what the girls thought until they overheard their tour guide talking to someone else about how a girl, Megan Brown, didn’t come back from the tour.

“Excuse me, ma’am, are you saying one of the girls disappeared?” Chase asks, interrupting the tour guide, who seemed to be talking to a head officer of some sort. “Is the tour route going to be closed down then?”

The tour guide shakes his head. “No need. It seems every couple months when we do this tour, a couple people wander off and get lost. There haven’t been any signs of animal attacks or kidnappings.”

“And you haven’t thought to handle the situation more thoroughly?”

“Have you even looked into the disappearances?” Harley asks. 

“Of course,” the officer says. “But it isn’t anything you two need to be concerned about.”

“It seems that it is,” Chase continues. “If this happens so often, you’d think you would have a better handle on things.”

“As long as you two don’t wander off, you will be fine. You two girls run along and don’t get into any trouble.”

Harley and Chase huff, but listen to the instructions. 

***

As Chase and Harley enter the spa, they’re surrounded by three people each. Harley has one man along with one woman, while Chase is surrounded by two women, each of them in their early thirties at the latest. 

Chase and Harley give each other a thumbs up as they are led to their own spa stations, close enough to hear, talk to, and make weird faces to each other, in hopes of getting one to laugh. 

“I’m Kai,” the man introduces. “And this is Kayla. The two lovely women attending you are Sarah and Halola.” 

“Nice to meet you.”

“So where did you two come from?” Kayla asks. “And what are you here on? Honeymoon perhaps?”

Harley shakes her head with a laugh. “No, actually. Just vacation.”

“We just came for the early holidays. We were just at the Kaniakapupu ruins.”

“Oh! That tour. It’s always so...interesting to hear the stories once visitors come back.”

“How so?” Chase asks.

“Well, you see-”

Kayla is cut off by Halola, who says something rushed in what the girls assume is Hawaiian. Turning back to the girls, Halola smiles. “It is nothing. Just petty gossip surrounding people who aren’t smart. We really shouldn’t talk about it or bother you.”

“You mean the disappearances. Well, a girl went missing on the tour before ours.  Does that really happen often?”

“Sadly, yes,” Kai says, ignoring the rolled eyes of Halola and Sarah. “But really, what happens to them is just a legend told to tourists by us locals to scare you. Really, I wouldn’t think much about it, at least for the time being. Now is your time to relax.”

“What’s the legend say?” Harley asks.

Kai smiles. “Well, legend is, King Kaniakapupu had an affair with another woman who wasn’t his queen. Driven mad with jealousy and rage, Queen Kanua’pele killed both him and his lover. Distraught over how the queen let the kingdom go after his death, he haunts the ruins, seeking revenge on any person who dares intrude in his home.”

Chase and Harley stare at him, slightly unimpressed. 

“Huh. That’s a good story,” Chase says. 

“Yes, yes, a story and nothing more. Not even a good story at that.”

Kai shoots Halola a look. “Ah yes, because I’m sure you prefer the older beliefs.” Halola stiffens slightly. She relaxes within a second, however. 

“I simply don’t believe in ghost stories and you shouldn’t be telling them to visitors that already are aware of the very real disappearances that occur.”

“It’s alright,” Harley says. 

“Yeah, trust me. Not much scares us away,” Chase laughs. 

“Even so,” Halola continues. “At least relax and we can finish this process. Next, you’ll be having your massage and then manicures.”

Chase and Harley grin at each other, pushing the story Kai told them aside for the time being. Next, they were getting massages. 

***

“So, that was the best thing ever!” Chase exclaims, flopping backwards onto the bed. 

“Agreed! Today was awesome! Except for the whole we might have a hunt thing.”

“Uh, no. No, no, and no. I might have allowed myself to be curious, but this is my vacation, and I will not be working on it!”

“Fine, I’ll just go it alone on this one.”

“Yeah, also not happening. I know you can hold your own and everything, but I would rather not have Dean trying to kill me.”

“He won’t try to kill you.”

Chase raises an eyebrow. “Right. I guess he didn’t give you the same pep talk.���

“Seriously, Dean?”

“Yes, seriously! You leave her alone for a moment, I’ll kill you. And you better not be running off on your own either. You are to go, have fun or whatever, and then come back. NO hunts, NO jobs, NO nothing. Capisce?”

Chase rolls her eyes. “Why would either of us need to go off on our own?”

“Because it’s you and her. Somehow, you guys are gonna do something or you’ll say something and boom. You’re separated and she’s in trouble or you are, and then you’ll fix it.”

“So you think we would fix it though?”

“That won’t keep me from killing you if something goes wrong.”

“Of course, blame me!”

“That’s what I plan on.”

“Fine, fine, okay! I’ll be careful. We won’t go off on our own. We’ll keep you posted.”

“Good. Now go have fun. And call me when you land.”

Chase makes a face at him. “Yes, dad.”

“Wait, he said all that?” Harley asks.

“Yep! So now we know who his favorite is. And it isn’t me, his own flesh and blood,” Chase sighs dramatically. 

“Wow,” Harley says, so low it barely registers.

“I know, right? It’s like he doesn’t trust us!”

“He really said all that?”

“Yeah. He sure is a buzzkill.”

“So we don’t listen to him. I mean we rarely do anyway.” Chase pauses, thinking for a moment. “You’re right about that. But I still say we don’t get involved unless we have to, okay?”

“Just one last look around the ruins?” Chase glares at Harley before sighing loudly. “Fine, I guess. But we go with a guide and group again. If something happens on that trip, then we can investigate.”

“Deal!”

***

“I told you there wasn’t any reason to be here again,” Chase complains, staring down at the EMF reader. 

“Wait, do you smell something?”

“Does bullshit count?”

“No, it smells like metallic-y.”

“Thought you were gonna say sulfur there for a moment. But yeah. Smells like blood,” Chase says, glancing back at the group. She takes a head count, then frowns. “See anyone missing from the group?”

“The chick with the giant sun hat?”

“Yeah, and the tour guide.”

“He didn’t want us looking into the disappearances,” Harley points out.

“Yeah, and now he and another woman are gone. What should we do?”

“We should split up and look for clues.”

“You watch too much Scooby Doo. Honestly, best plan right now is to probably stay with the group and see if the tour guide comes back. What’s his name?”

“Paulo, I think. And yeah you’re right, about both.”

“Of course I am.”

Ten or fifteen minutes later, the girls can’t be sure, Paulo seems to have reappeared from nowhere. He stands with a few others, pointing out carvings in the pillars against the far entrance. However, upon further inspection, the woman who had disappeared along with him is still gone.

“Okay, maybe it’s a good thing we came back,” Chase relents. 

“Told you.”

“Oh, don’t pull that card.”

“I’m pulling that card.”

“Rude,” Chase pouts. 

“Well, I’m not the nicest person in the world.”

“Fair. To be honest, if you were, we probably wouldn’t get along nearly as much as we do. Speaking of doing, what do we do about Pablo over there.”

“Paulo.”

“Same difference.”

“Find out what he is and gank him,” Harley shrugs.

“Guess that ghost story is just that. A story. Of course, a ghost would have been too easy.”

“I don’t know some are pretty nasty.”

“Yeah, that’s fair. Still, we at least would have known what to do. Now, we don’t have many leads, other than that,” Chase emphasizes ‘that’, nodding her head at Paulo. “We should go back to the hotel and come back here tonight.”

“Agreed.” 

***

Harley takes up dialling Dean for the night. “Hey, we’re still alive,” she says as soon as he picks up.

“Good,” Dean says dead serious.

“Let a little laughter in your life. Jeez.”

“I’m good thanks.”

“Buzzkill.”

“I am a joy to be around.”

“Ladies, ladies, you’re both very pretty. Moving along?” Chase says breaking the two up.

“Duh, have you seen me?” Harley jokes.

“I have and I can’t help but like what I see,” Dean flirts.

“Oh shush, I’m not gonna be one of your one night stands.”

“I never said that.”

“It’s what you were thinking.”

“Sweetheart, you have no idea what I think of you.”

“Good things I hope.”

“More than good.”

“Ackomygodthatissoackkkeee,” Chase squeals in a high pitched tone, almost incoherently. 

“What was that?” Dean asks. 

“That was me puking because you’re disgusting, duh.”

“Yeah, right, okay.”

“I mean it was disgustingly sweet,” Harley says laughing, “I thought you didn’t like chick flick moments.”

“I don’t.”

“Suuuure you don’t. How’s Sam doing? I haven’t heard from him.”

“I’m good, just tired,” The girls could hear Sam say in the background. 

Harley rolls her eyes before saying, “We miss you tons.”

“I miss you guys too,” Sam laughs.

“I miss you moreeee,” Chase over exaggerates. 

“Yeah, probably,” Sam quips. 

“Ouch,” Chase mutters.

“Well I’m gonna let you guys go so Sammy can get some beauty sleep before he kills me,” Dean says.

“He’ll kill you anyway. You’re just that annoying,” Chase says.

“Says you!” Dean fires back. 

“Yeah, says me, the least annoying sibling.”

“You are so not the least annoying,” Dean says.

“You’re both annoying. Shut up!” Sam shouts from wherever he is in the room (his voice sounds muffled, as though buried in a pillow).

“Bye Dean, bye Sam!” Harley calls out.

“Can you believe the gall of that man?” Chase exclaims after the phone call ends. “The nerve?”

“I thought it was hilarious,” Harley says.

“Of course you did. You were still distracted about Dean’s previous comment!”

“Which one?”

“You’re actually asking me that? As if you haven’t been replaying that sentence in your head for the past ten minutes? Please. I’m not that dumb.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah, sure you don’t.”

“I don’t!”

“Okay, okay, whatever you say.”

***

The two hunters stand in front of the ruins, flashlights illuminating the dirt path in front of them as they stare up at the crumbling walls of the old palace. 

“I guess we should sp-”

I swear to God, if you say the words “split up”, I’m going to super glue you to my side.”

“You got a better idea?”

“No,” Chase mutters dejectedly. 

“Then yes, we should split up.”

“Fine, but the moment something happens, call me, okay?”

“Duh. I’m not an idiot.”

“Jury’s out on that one. Let’s go.”

“Oh my god, you’re so rude.”

“You’re the one suggesting we split up so, am I wrong?”

“Yes, you are, because we’ll probably be fine.”

“We’ll see.”

***

Chase wanders down yet another corridor, softly humming AC/DC under her breath, a habit she has for when she’s nervous. Flashing her light against the walls turns up nothing, though the sight is pretty. 

Suddenly, after about half an hour, something flickers in her peripheral vision. She whirls around quickly, all sound being cut off. Cautiously, she walks over to the doorway she’d seen the movement coming from. 

She pokes the flashlight through the doorway first, before following with her head. She looks left. Nothing. She looks right. Also nothing. 

Chase sighs, placing a hand to her head, squinting her eyes tightly, as though that could make her headache disappear. Turning on her heel, she walks back into the corridor, only to collide into something hard. She stumbles back, before noticing she’d walked into a wall. 

She really shouldn’t walk with her eyes closed. 

She growls under her breath, walking through a high arch, leading into a large open space, equally as dusty as the past few rooms. She checks behind the large pillars, hoping to see some evidence of...anything, really. Just as she’s about to leave into another hallway, she spots a flicker of movement again. Turning her light to the center far wall of the room, she sees a large stage-like stone, atop it what looked like human remains of some kind. 

“Perfect,” Chase mutters, wandering over. “Just perfect.”

Chase grabs her phone, bringing up the name “Harley Quinn”, pressing the number. 

“Yeah? Find something?”

“Yeah. Human remains. You know, body parts, some bones. The usual.”

“Lovely,” Harley mutters. 

“Yeah, anyway, I think there’s something still here because I keep seeing movement. I don’t know, I may just be paranoid. But- oh for fuck’s sake.”

“What’s up?”

Chase whips out her gun, firing a couple shots at the figure looming over her, of course, making little headway in keeping it at bay. 

“You stupid Aladdin character looking ass,” Chase mutters, dropping her phone after the figure makes a swipe at her. The woman, djinn, grins at her, reaching out a hand.

“Chase? Chase!” She hears Harley’s voice shouting from the other side of the phone call, before her vision turns white.

***

Harley searched the ruins high and low for any sign of Chase before finding her phone on the ground. She pocketed it before surveying the area. She noted the body drained of blood. That and Chase calling the creature an ‘Aladdin character looking ass’ clued her into it being a djinn they were hunting. She headed to the hotel room pocketing a silver knife.

Harley drove to the nearest sheep farm. She picked the locks and found a lamb before calling Sam.

“Hello?” He asked, yawning.

“Hey. Do not put it on speakerphone. Don’t tell Dean it’s me.”

“Dean’s asleep. Why are you calling?”

“Swear none of this leaves this phone call first.”

“I swear. Now, what’s going on?”

“Chase and I were hunting a djinn, but we didn’t know it was a djinn yet so we didn’t have the proper weapons. Basically she got kidnapped by the djinn and now I have to murder a lamb and I’m freakin’ out man.”

“Okay, slow down. Chase got kidnapped?”

“Yeah, please don’t be mad.” “I’m not mad, just worried. Do you need backup?”

“No, I just need to kill this lamb, but like it’s so precious and sweet.”

“Who do you care about more? Chase or the lamb?”

“Chase, but the lamb is really up there.”

“Look, just stab it. You just need the blood. You don’t have to kill it.”

“Right, yeah, I can’t do that.”

“Yes, you can.”

“I still blame myself for all my fish dying after I cleaned their tank when I was in grade school. I still feel guilty about that shit.”

“That’s...okay, um just pretend it’s a werewolf.”

“I have aphantasia, Sam! I literally can’t do that!”

“Okay, then you’re just going to have to do it. Don’t think, just do.”

“Okay?” Harley squeezes her eyes shut blindly bringing the knife down until she hears the bleat of the lamb. She opened her eyes and saw the white of the lambs fluff turn red. The knife was coated in the lamb’s blood. “I did it, oh god, I did it. Fuck, I’m a monster. I mean I’m always a monster, but now I’m even more of a monster.”

“Harley, calm down. You’re not a monster.”

“Yes, I am,” She says, tears building up in her eyes.

Sam sighs, “Just do me a favor and go rescue Chase.”

“Right, yeah, bye. I’ll call you after I rescue her.”

“Alright, bye, Harley.”

***

Chase laughs, pointing mockingly at one of her best friends. Harley sits close by her side, twirling a knife. Setting the camera up to take another picture, Nathaniel flips off the moon. 

“Shit, this is not going to come out right. We should’ve picked a different night.”

“Hey, you invited me out, not the other way around,” Chase says. 

The horizon is surprisingly easy to make out, considering it’s eleven at night. The full moon illuminates the scenery, a small town in the distance, it’s lights twinkling lazily.

“Can you fix this for me?” Harley asks.

“Sure,” Chase responds, starting to braid Harley’s hair.

“Ah! Got one I actually like,” Nathaniel shouts in victory. 

“Hey, we wanna see!” Harley says.

Nathaniel bends down, showing the two girls a photo of them, sitting next to each other, looking out in the distance. You can’t see much detail, but the two are relaxed and enjoying themselves.

---

Chase runs through the house, getting chased by an overly loud man. 

“Dean, Dean, stop! It wasn’t me!”

Getting scooped up by her older brother, she dissolves into a fit of laughter, getting tickled in all of the worst places. “Then who was it?” Dean demands playfully.

“Sam, okay, it was Sam!” 

Dean lets go of Chase and turns to slowly look at their youngest brother. “It was you!”

Sam looks at Chase. “Snitch.” He takes off down the stairs and all three can distantly hear Bobby yell, “No running in the house, ya idjits!”

Chase watches on, taking deep breaths, laughing slightly still.

---

“I did it, I did it!”

“Um, hello?” Harley asks.

“Okay, fine, we did it.”

“Was that so hard?”

Bobby comes up behind the two girls, hugging them both. “I’m so proud of you two.”

“Stop, Bobby, you’re gonna wrinkle the gown.”

“You’ve already graduated, what does it matter now?” Dean asks, taking yet another picture.

“It’s about the pride,” Sam says. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t understand. I may not have graduated from a fancy college like you three, but I am still the coolest one here.”

“Keep telling yourself that, Dean,” Chase says.

“Yeah, obviously, I’m the coolest one,” Harley adds.

“Okay, okay, I relent. Obviously, I am the coolest one here, other than my smartass fiancee.”

Dean wraps Harley up in a hug, while Sam and Chase roll their eyes, mouthing ‘I told you so’ to themselves.

“Okay, okay, I want one last picture of all of us,” Sam says.

Sam asks a random family to take a picture and they oblige. Sam stands at the very back, his arms around Dean and Bobby’s shoulders, while Harley and Chase stand side by side in the very front. Their smiles are wide, and their hearts content. They wouldn’t trade this life for anything.

   ***

Harley arrives at the ruins, african dream root in her messenger bag and silver knife in hand. She began searching in the djinn-eral area that Chase disappeared from. She found Chase’s phone before she found her in a cavern by the ruins.

“Chase!” Harley yells as soon as she sees her. She runs up to her friend's limp hanging body, and gently slaps her cheek trying to wake her up. It doesn’t work so instead she gently cuts her friend free and lays her on the cavern floor and takes out her IV. Harley then frees who she assumes is Sunhat Lady. She assumes as she has since lost her hat.

The djinn enters the cave and it takes a moment for Harley to place her heavily tattooed face. “Halola, right?” Harley asks.

“You remembered, I’m surprised.”

“I never forget a pretty face. Too bad I’ll have to kill you.” Harley frowns before lunging at Halola. She dodges and tries to grab Harley’s neck. Harley ducks and drives the silver blade through the djinn’s heart. Halola screams then goes limp.

***

“Chase! Thank god you’re alive!” Harley yells hugging her for dear life.

Chase moves away slightly, very confused.“Look, I know I said I was stressed about the job interview, but it’s nice to know you have so much faith in me. Could you possibly extract your limbs from me now?”

“No you don’t get it. This isn’t your life. We’re hunters. We were in Hawaii hunting a djinn when you got attacked,” Harley says extracting her limbs from Chase, “All this is fake.”

Chase looks at Harley with an increasing degree of bewilderment on her face as Harley continues to talk. “Uh huh, sure. And you and I haven’t been roommates since college, you’re not engaged to my brother, I’m not about to work for the high end firm I’ve been trying for years to get, and Sam isn’t a bad singer.”

“I’m sorry what?! Me and I’m assuming, Dean are engaged? Wow this is a weird world you’ve created.”

“Dean and I.” Chase gives Harley a blank look. “And no. Sam.”

“Me and Sam?! What the actual fuck!”

“Sam and I. And that was sarcasm, dumbass. How much sleep did you get last night?”

“None. Vampire remember.”

“Okay, so no more mixing alcohol and horror movies for you. Got it.” Chase stands up from her seat. “You should probably get some rest. You’re not acting like yourself.”

“I don’t drink. The whole murderous bloodlust thing doesn’t mix well with alcohol. And I am acting like myself, because I african dream rooted into your brain.”

“Okay, so do I have to go along with what I’m assuming is another improv thing or can I ask- what the hell is african dream root and what is going on?”

“Improv? Okay. Well african dream root lets you go into other people’s dream so you can talk to them-”

“Uh huh, sounds fake but continue,” Chase says, waving a hand.

“And you got touched by a djinn while we were on vacation in Hawaii.” Harley says increasingly impatiently.

“Wait, we went to hawaii?” Chase thinks for a moment. “Djinn. Djinn, djinn, why does that ring a bell? Isn’t that like a genie. Like Aladdin?”

**“You stupid Aladdin character looking ass,” Chase mutters, dropping her phone after the figure makes a swipe at her. The woman, djinn, grins at her, reaching out a hand.

“Chase? Chase!” **

Chase lurches forward, a hand on her head, as though suddenly dizzy.

“Yes! Thank god! Yes!”

“What was that?”

“My best bet? You remembered something from your real life.”

“This is my real life,” Chase says forcefully. “My name is Chase Winchester. I am a graduate from Harvard, I volunteer at the library, and you’re my best friend. I’m twenty-eight. I’m going to be your maid of honor. Bobby and Ellen are practically my parents and my two brothers are Sam and Dean. This is real,” Chase says, as though trying to convince herself more than Harley.

“No, it’s not. Travelling across the country in Jack is real. You relentlessly teasing me about the fact that I might like Dean. You totally crushing on Cas, and us saving the world. That’s real.”

“Who’s Cas?”

“An angel and a friend. He gave us pie.”

**“Harley? Chase? Are you two okay?” Cas asks. 

Chase nods, whilst Harley can barely breathe enough to answer, just putting a thumbs up. “Yeah, we’re fine. Why do you ask?” Chase asks nonchalantly. 

“You were running, screaming, and you’ve got burns on your arm.”

Chase looks down to see that the bleach that had spilled on her earlier had indeed burned her slightly. “Oh this is nothing. Harley got some in her eyes, so I mean. It’s whatever.”

Cas frowns at Chase. He moves one of his hands, both of which were still holding onto Chase’s biceps, and places it over the burns. A second later, they’re gone. 

“Oh, thanks. Anyway, you can let go of me now. I’m sure I’m less inclined to fall at the given moment.”

“Oh, right, yes. Of course, I’m sorry,” Cas stutters, stepping back. **

Chase clutches her head with both hands, her vision blurring and refocusing suddenly, leaving a nauseous feeling in her stomach.

“What the hell is going on?!”

“I think you wanted this life so bad you repressed your actual memories and now they’re coming back. But that's just a theory.”

“What?” Chase asks incredulously. “Tell me, if this isn’t real. What is? You?”

“Well, yeah, like I said I african dream rooted myself. Now I’m in your dream world.”

“Convince me then. Go on. Tell me what you know about me.”

“We met when I was twenty and you were twenty-one. We were chasing an orange eyed demon who went by Hank. We started helping each other on hunts. You won Jack, that’s our car, in a poker game a year later and we finally hit the road together and we haven’t looked back since. I also happen to know you have a folder on your computer that’s just pictures of me and Dean sleeping.”

“Wait, you know about that folder?”

“Yes, I know about that folder and it’s all perfectly innocent.”

“How? I hid it behind a folder of lore on poltergeists, which you never read about-” Chase cuts herself off, frowning. “I don’t know where that came from. I don’t have any folders on my computer like that.”

“You do on your real computer.”

“But-but- Keep telling me stuff.”

“We went to visit Sam at Stanford then went to go fight a sphinx. We hunted the demon that  killed your mum and dad. You found out I’m half vamp when I got kidnapped by some friendly vampires who were trying to prove a point. We have fought so many monsters together and this one is no different. You gotta believe me.”

Chase, confused and slightly dazed by the rush of images flooding her brain, notices Harley beginning to freak out. “Okay, say I believe you. Then what do I do?”

“Well, um, you have to kill yourself,” Harley says looking away, her voice strained.

Chase blinks. She blinks twice. “Come again?”

“You have to kill yourself.”

“Yeah, let me go take a long walk off a short pier. How am I supposed to kill myself? I haven’t shot a gun since I was twelve! I haven’t held a knife outside the kitchen ever. And I see no rope or high ledges because I'm not crazy!”

“Well, that’s how Dean got out.”

“You got something to help me then?” Chase asks jokingly, only for her eyes to widen as she sees Harley pull a silver knife covered in blood out of her jacket. “Okay, what the fuck?”

“I killed a djinn with it, and stabbed a lamb. So it’s not the cleanest blade ever, but it’ll get the job done.”

“You killed- you stabbed a- of course you did. Hand it over.”

Harley hands the knife over.

“Okay, Harley. I’m going to go through this logically. If you’re messing with me, you wouldn’t give me an actual knife. This is fake or you’ll somehow stop me and it’ll be fine. Or, if I’m dreaming, I’ll wake up because your brain can’t process dying so you wake up when you die in dreams.

“Or, or somehow. In some fucked up way, you’re telling the truth. Tell me. What is it worth to go back?”

“For starters you’ll die if you stay in here. And also none of the people here are real. None of this is real. Cas isn’t here. Trust me you wanna wake up.”

Chase pauses for a moment, fear reflecting in her eyes. Screwing her eyes shut, her face scrunched in concentration, she pulls the knife towards her, a stinging sensation rushing through her abdomen before she feels nothing.

***

Chase opens her eyes to see Harley hovering over her, worry etched onto her features. 

“Man, no need to look so worried. When have I ever turned down the offer to kill myself?” Chase jokes. Harley cracks a smile, shaking her head. “I know, I know, that was awful. Can we get going though? If we don’t call Dean in the next half hour, he’ll freak.”

“It’s kinda almost morning.”

“Wait, already? Shit. I’m still so tired,” Chase says, sitting up. She winces. “And sore.”

“It’s fine we’ll just say we had an early night. Let's get to the hotel and you can rest up.” Harley says as she shoots Sam a text.

“Wait, did you really kill a lamb successfully without freaking out?”

“No. Let’s just leave it at that.”

Chase sighs. “Figures. Let’s head back.”

***

Harley dialled Dean as Chase slept recuperating from her djinn ordeal. He picked up on the first ring.

“Before you say anything, sorry, we fell asleep early.”

“Bullshit! Y’all never fall asleep early!” Dean yells. Harley has to hold the phone away from her ear.

“Yeah, well we spent all day hiking, walking, and swimming, so we got a bit exhausted. Sorry. Look I just woke up, Chase is still out. What more do you want from me?”

“I want a lot from you, but right now I want an explanation.”

“You want a lot from me? Like what?”

“I want you screaming my name as I fuck you against the motel table.”

“Dean!” Harley yells. “I told you I don’t mess around like that.”

“I know,” Dean sighs defeated.

***

Chase and Harley sigh heavily, their bags falling off their shoulders as they slump against the wall. 

“Remind me again to choose a later time to fly out from wherever we are. I never want to get to an airport that early again,” Chase complains. 

Harley nods, grabbing her water bottle. “Where are the boys anyway? Weren’t they supposed to be here?”

“Who knows?” Chase rolls her eyes. “Dean probably got distracted by something. Or maybe they got lost. That’s something they would do.”

“The only place Dean gets lost is in New York,” Harley counters.

“Yeah, but Sam?”

“Yeah, but Dean’s probably driving.”

“Oh, I meant in the airport. God knows, they probably didn’t bother looking at the signs.”

“Probably not,” Harley sighs.

Chase sighs, sliding her back down the wall, settling into a comfortable position. “Tell me when they get here.”

“When,” Harley says as the boys round the corner. 

“What?” Chase opens her eyes to see Sam, an annoyed expression gracing his features, and Dean, an uncomfortable one on his. “Of fucking course.”

“Sorry it took so long; we thought we could beeline here, but it’s been a while since we’ve been in an airport,” Sam says, side eyeing Dean. 

Dean immediately just hugs Harley, who had opened her arms slightly, indicating she wanted attention. Sam helps Chase off the floor, before grabbing her bags. 

Harley and Chase share a knowing look, stifling a laugh that screams, ‘knew it’. 

Rolling his eyes, Dean kisses Harley’s forehead, before reaching down and grabbing her luggage.

Walking out of the airport, Dean and Sam pester them with questions about their trip. They, in turn, pester the boys about what they’d been doing in their absence. 

“I’m just happy we’re back,” Harley says, getting into the backseat of the Impala.

Chase nods, “Me too.”