#might have to be at an earlier age/verse for him if one would want it there

[starsmuserainbow]

Wishlist entry incoming! Applying to basically any of my tamaranean muses because I headcanon it possible for their species.

Someone catch them purring. None of my tamaraneans would actually mention that their species is capable of it (unless specifically asked about it) since it is a rather very rare occasion to happen at all - perhaps we’d have to talk about the circumstances of the moment before doing this as they have to basically ‘not have any worry in the world’ for it to happen and that’s a rather difficult thing to achieve - but, I imagine this would be fascinating for anyone to experience and I’d really like to explore the reaction my tamaraneans would give to being ‘caught’ doing it.

[bethanydelleman]

Hi! Love your blog :) I saw your previous reply about Jane Austen and cognitive neuroscience and it reminded me of a question I have about Persuasion that still haunts me, which I can't seem to find a definitive answer for on the general internet. So after Louisa is injured, its like she undergoes a pretty massive personality shift, leading up to her falling in love with Captain Benwick etc. My question is, is that change (in your opinion) supposed to be a mental trauma reaction, or more of a physical trauma reaction? Like are we supposed to infer that the brain tissue injury changed her or is it more like, she was in mental shock and also an invalid with plenty of time to brood on her role in things and that's what resulted in her being in a state of mind to love some poetry & Benwick? I do wonder if the total personality change is temporary or permanent, because sometimes people who undergo near-death experiences often have mental trauma-based reactions including apparently 180 degree personality shifts, but those don't last and as they heal from the trauma, they become closer to their older selves. In Louisa's case that would make for an interesting dynamic in her married life with Benwick if she goes back to her earlier personality eventually.

I personally think Louisa and Benwick's marriage is the most questionable one in all of Austen's works! Forget age gaps, no one should be getting married a few months after major brain trauma... I mean unless they were already engaged... maybe.

These are the two quotes about Louisa after the injury that are important here:

She saw no reason against their being happy. Louisa had fine naval fervour to begin with, and they would soon grow more alike. He would gain cheerfulness, and she would learn to be an enthusiast for Scott and Lord Byron; nay, that was probably learnt already; of course they had fallen in love over poetry. The idea of Louisa Musgrove turned into a person of literary taste, and sentimental reflection was amusing, but she had no doubt of its being so. The day at Lyme, the fall from the Cobb, might influence her health, her nerves, her courage, her character to the end of her life, as thoroughly as it appeared to have influenced her fate.

and

He answered rather hesitatingly, “Yes, I believe I do; very much recovered; but she is altered; there is no running or jumping about, no laughing or dancing; it is quite different. If one happens only to shut the door a little hard, she starts and wriggles like a young dab-chick in the water; and Benwick sits at her elbow, reading verses, or whispering to her, all day long.” Anne could not help laughing. “That cannot be much to your taste, I know,” said she; “but I do believe him to be an excellent young man.” “To be sure he is. Nobody doubts it; and I hope you do not think I am so illiberal as to want every man to have the same objects and pleasures as myself. I have a great value for Benwick; and when one can but get him to talk, he has plenty to say. His reading has done him no harm, for he has fought as well as read. He is a brave fellow. I got more acquainted with him last Monday than ever I did before. We had a famous set-to at rat-hunting all the morning in my father’s great barns; and he played his part so well that I have liked him the better ever since.”

So firstly, Louisa was already into the navy and Wentworth, she has retained that interest. However, we will recall that Louisa's interest in the navy sprang to life in moments after meeting the handsome captain. But she's 19 years old, so sudden interests in things that a handsome guy likes are perfectly normal! I'm sure she's learned to appreciate poetry in all the time she had to be quiet and still.

Secondly, what Charles observes is likely lingering effects of brain trauma or what we might call post-concussion syndrome (Louisa had a worse injury than what is commonly called a concussion). Louisa's brain is still healing. She will probably begin to dance again at some point, depending on what damage is long lasting. This is the tricky thing with brains, permanent damage can be extremely varied. One person ends up with aphasia (trouble speaking), another with ataxia (trouble with muscle coordination), and a third with memory problems and so on. However, Louisa is young and her brain is still plastic (adaptable); hopefully she will recover completely without deficits.

Lastly, I included the part about Benwick being a great rat-hunter because we have to remember, he's not all poetry. He is in the navy, he is apparently competent to be promoted so early and we know he has a good fortune. He's a good guy, he's passionate, I'm sure he wants to make his wife happy.

So... I think they'll be fine. Louisa was going to mature no matter what, Benwick is a good person, and they will grow more alike. If not, navy wives weren't always able to travel with their husbands, so Benwick might be away for long periods of time and Louisa might be home with the kids.

But I still advise anyone to wait at least a year before marrying after a major brain trauma! (semi-expert advice, don't sue me)

[ladytauria]

I've been following your AO3 before I found your Tumblr, I loved your Sub Alpha Jason and Dom Omega Tim fics and I just adore all your Jaytim fics 💙💙💙

awww you’re so sweet <3 i’m so glad you enjoy my fics!!

i actually have. most of a long sequel written for the dom!omega verse fic <333 i shared part of a snippet here, though i’ve expanded that part a little xD

have another one~ this is from a little earlier in the fic:

It’s not the first time Tim’s been hit on while they’re out. Probably won’t be the last, either. Jason isn’t normally bothered by it. He might get a little territorial—throw his arm around Tim’s shoulders, raise his brows like he’s daring them to keep trying, but. It’s not a big deal to him. Mostly because he knows what those alpha want—and it’s not Tim, no matter what they think. They want a sweet, submissive little thing, not an omega who wants to bring them to their knees, and is more than capable of doing it.

But this alpha—

There’s something about him that has Jason’s hackles raising.

It’s the subtle turn of his head; the way it exposes his neck without calling attention to it. The way his body seems to—fold, toward Tim’s. A subtle sort of submissiveness you usually see in omega flirting with alpha, not the other way around.

Combine that with the way he’s shorter, smaller than Jason, his muscles less defined, it—

His belly twists.

He takes a deep, centering breath, and approaches, careful not to rush. “Hey, baby,” he says, mouth corners quirking up into a smile. It’s only a little forced. “Thanks for watchin’ my drink.”

The way Tim brightens at the sight of him, all of his attention switching to Jason, as if the other alpha isn’t even there— He’s ashamed to admit the way it comforts him a little; soothing the terrible thing coiling in his chest. Tim passes him his water, and he kisses Tim’s temple as he takes it, settling his arm around his shoulders.

He resists the urge to pull him into his side. To growl, bare his teeth. Tim won’t appreciate that kind of stupid alpha dominance shit, and Jason— Jason doesn’t want to give him any reasons to be upset with him.

He can’t resist cutting a cool look at the alpha, though.

“Like I was saying,” Tim says, a wonderful note of satisfaction in his voice, pressing up against Jason’s side all on his own. “I’m with someone.”

The alpha looks Jason up and down; the slow drag of his gaze flaying Jason open. He looks at Tim again, one brow raised as if to ask, Seriously? Aloud, he says, “Right, well.” He slides a napkin across the bar. “If that doesn’t work out—give me a call, won’t you?” With a wink, he slips back into the crowd.

Jason takes a sip of his water. His hands don’t shake. His scent doesn’t shift, but he locks it down anyway. He ignores the way his chest feels tight; the way he feels like he’s just been assessed and found wanting.

It doesn’t matter what that alpha thinks. It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks, except Tim.

But—

Jason can’t help but compare them, still. That easy, automatic submission. How much less challenging it would be for Tim to move him around, the way he could overpower him without strain. He’d be a much easier sub than Jason. Prettier, too—he bets that alpha isn’t a gnarled mess of scars and blemishes. Doubts he’s carrying a minefield of trauma, either, bets Tim wouldn't have to worry so much about triggering him by accident.

The accent, or what Jason caught of it, was different, too; more Upper Gotham. It’d be less of a scandal, for Tim to be seen with him. Maybe not even a scandal at all, with how clean cut he looked.

No complicated history, either.

Just—

All-in-all easier and better suited for an omega like Tim than Jason is, or ever could have been.

Tim mutters something Jason doesn’t catch, taking the napkin with the alpha’s phone number and tearing it to tiny little pieces. The sight makes Jason feel better—but only just. Tim drains the rest of his water, and then steps closer into Jason’s space, turning so his front is pressed against him. His arms twine around Jason’s neck; fingers playing with the short curls at the base of his skull.

“Take me home,” he says, looking up at Jason, glossy lips shaping the words.

[nowandforalways]

"Never to change, ever to share...": An off-the-rails analysis of "Now And For Always" from the Lord of the Rings musical

Good day to you, my dears.

"Now And For Always" is my favorite song of all time and has been since I first heard it at age 16. With the revival of the musical giving us a ✨whole new arrangement✨ of the song, I decided now would be as good a time as any to analyze it as a whole and take a look at a few of the changes made to see how each version accomplishes exactly what it set out to accomplish with it's storytelling from a musical perspective.

A QUICK NOTE BEFORE WE START: While in the original production of the show, "Now And For Always" is clearly diegetic (that is, the characters in the show are actually singing the song in the world of the show), it's a bit more debatable in the new production. Samwise Gamgee is a wonder, but I find it hard to imagine him schlepping an entire guitar to Mordor - this ain't Hadestown, after all (the "Wait for me"/"And I'm coming with you" thing would require an entirely separate post 😉). Regardless, for the sake of analysis and also my sanity, we are going to say that the song is 100% diegetic in both versions of the show.

Key: NA = new/revival arrangement

OA = old/original arrangement

SO

First lets take a look at what stays the same between both versions (which is most of the song, tbh) and see what can be seen. We're gonna get lightly music-y here.

This song is in 6/8 time signature, which basically just means that it's counted out in two groups of 3 notes each - 123, 456 - with a sort of slope-y feeling to it, like rising up to 3 and falling back down to 6. You can also count it in a very slow 2/2 (1, 2), with each of those being on the 1 beat and then the 4 beat of the 6/8 counting pattern. This time signature has the effect of making it slow and relaxing, but still sound Hobbit-y, in a rather country-ish way. This time signature could technically become a very fast waltz, and it does lean into a natural sort of swaying motion when you listen to it. Perfect for singing around the fire.

The rhythm of the song itself is interesting because it's very speech-like. If you try to speak the words out loud in rhythm, it doesn't actually sound that off from a typical English speaking rhythm. This makes it very easy to learn, and very easy to add your own words to, as its implied Sam and Frodo are doing as they sing it. Lassi Longren, the composer of the song, said that it wanted it to sound like an old song that the Hobbits all know and sing around the fire, and the idea of a song like this with a chorus that everybody knows and then verses that are improvised by individual singers makes a lot of sense (makes me think of, like, "The Campfire Song" from The Lightning Thief - a song that is also in 6/8 and with a very speech-like rhythmic pattern).

The chordal structure also contributes to this homey, comfortable feeling. The song is in the key of D major, which is a fairly middling key (it's the key that most pennywhistles are automatically tuned to!), and is constructed around just 3 chords, with 1 more thrown in there if you want the cadence on "strange and rare" to sound correct. This makes it extreeeeeeemely easy to play - like I can barely play guitar, but I can reasonably play this. For the music nerds, the chords are I, IV, and V, with a little vi for that one cadence I mentioned earlier. This is essentially the most basic group of chords ever created, and it seems very intentional to me - it makes the whole thing feel comfortable and familiar, like it's an old song you know, even if it's your first time hearing it (Fun fact: The Shire theme from the Peter Jackson films uses also uses this chord group!). The only this about the song that might make it tricky to sing along with is its range - it's more than an octave, which can be hard to span if you're not a practiced singer. But you know, sometimes you just gotta have that fun melodic contour. Song gets boring if it stays all within too small of a range. :P

Okay so that's all the basic musical stuff that's the same between both arrangements. Time for the differences.

The most major musical differences in the NA as I can see are: Frodo and Sam switching who is singing the higher vocal part and who has the lower part during the second chorus, different instruments being used for the solo instrumental lines, and the whole of Frodo's solo verse and chorus. These all serve the major thematic change in this moment in the NA, but I'll get to that at the end.

First, the vocal lines in the chorus. You all know how much I looooove that Frodo is always on the lower part in the original show (see this whole post I wrote about it here!), and I equally love Sam getting the higher part in the OA for this song. It fits his character and part in the song very well - he started it off, he's done the improvising bit; after one chorus of unison to make sure that Frodo has a handle on the melody, he can pop off. Young, dreamy, surprisingly poetical Sam, with his love for elves & beauty & all things that grow, gets the chance to soar, while Frodo stays lower, hanging onto the melody. It almost works like foreshadowing for their characters, with Sam audibly choosing to do so much while it seems like Frodo is just there, but Frodo's actually doing the arguably far more important part of carrying the melody.

In the NA, they are flipped - now Sam stays on the melody while Frodo pops up to the higher part, and it still works just as well. Frodo's actually been on the higher part for the whole show up to this point, cause that's just how Louis Maskell rolls (the one very significant moment where he sings a lower harmony to Sam's melody is right before he leaves at the Grey Havens, which I could probably write a whole 'nother essay about), but it doesn't screw with the character perception in the way I had initially feared. Sam starts the song, Sam's got the guitar, so Sam stays on the melody, to carry the thing through. This now leaves Frodo free to do his thing with Sam's support. And this is where I start heading into headcanon territory, but I can't help but think by the easy way he slipped into it that maybe Frodo has sung this part before. He canonically has a nice voice (the Breelanders like it so much that they make him sing "The Man In The Moon Stayed Up Too Late" twice in the book!), and it would make sense for a naturally talented singer to get enough experience singing that they are able to whip out a higher part just for fun - maybe, if they ever sang this one down at the Ivy Bush, or by the fireplace in the parlor of Bag End, this was Frodo's part. And speaking from the same character perspective, Frodo is also everything I described Sam as before - dreamy, poetical, sweet - he's just older and, at this moment, significantly more tired both mentally and physically. But, he hasn't lost his hope yet, so he can still reach down and bring out a past version of Frodo, one who could sing that part in the song.

Next, the instruments. This is pretty simple; there aren't a lot of changes, but the one significant moment is the use of a harmonica instead of a fiddle for the solo in the middle of the song. Both versions of the show have instruments associated with certain characters (harp for Arwen, whistle for Frodo, concertina for Gollum, etc.) but the NA has the advantage of having all the actors play instruments, so it becomes rather explicit. In this case, the harmonica is being played by and associated with Bilbo, and that's neat, because this is a continuation of a story that he was also a part of. The fiddle in the OA is more representative of hobbits as a whole, so it also works in context.

Aaaaand the last one, the arrangement of Frodo's verse and chorus. This one is a doozy, because this is where we will be involving my theory on the different reasons for Sam starting the song.

So, the first time I heard the NA "Now And For Always", I actually started yelling IRL "IT'S A HYMN" as soon as it got to Frodo's verse+chorus, because, well, it is. Lemme explain. The orchestrations shift from the guitar and strings of the rest of the song so that Frodo is backed primarily by the ensemble singing "Oohs" and some sort of drone bass note underneath that I can't figure out (probably like a cello or something). The tempo suddenly becomes a lot slower and a lot less "bouncy", so to speak - that 6/8 time rising and falling pattern that I described before is significantly downplayed, and there are a lot more complete rests in the music, and that gives the whole thing overall a much straighter feel. This all gives a very hymn-like effect, particularly the "ooh"s, because voices moving between chords like that in a homophonic way (that is to say, everyone changes notes at the same time) is common in chorale-style hymns, and the drone, because having something called a "pedal point" (one note held underneath multiple chords) makes the music sound a lot older and more solemn. This is in contrast to the OA, which has, while not the exact same backing in Frodo's verse+chorus (it does get slower, and more smooth and flowing in the instruments), certainly much less contrast between Frodo's bit and the rest of the song than the NA. They both do this, but the NA just a bit more emphasizes how serious Frodo is about what he's saying. It's also is a texture that we haven't heard yet in the show and won't really hear again, so it kind of demonstrates the changes going on in Frodo by this point, like he's becoming something not quite of the world (sort of like all those comments in the book about him being "clear" or having a light shining through him). From a practical standpoint, it's also because Sam had been playing the guitar this whole time, and now he has gone to bed, so no more guitar. But above all, the vibe that making it sound like a hymn gives it is reverence, and that is important for the next bit.

Hoo boy, it's extrapolation/headcanon time. I've done a lot of actual musical analysis, but there comes a point where you have to take all those things you've gleaned and start spitballing about what they mean when combined all together. Here's what I have landed in: The changes in the NA reflect a change in Sam's motivation for starting the song in the first place.

Lemme explain.

In the scene before "Now And For Always", the boys are discussing Frodo's realization that destroying the Ring means that the elves will leave, and that there will be no more magic in the world. It's as they reflect on these very big changes that Sam starts singing a song about how at least some things stay the same. NOW. In the OA, Sam and Frodo start off the song in much the same place, emotionally - they're both kind of moody and mournful, feeling shaken at the idea of everything changing in such a big way, and missing the days when they believed that stories always ended with things returning to a happy normal. Sam's line "We hobbits only really like stories that end just the way they started, don't we?" is sort of a rueful realization that they are both severely freaked out by all of this because they come from a place that values unchangingness so highly. Sam starts the song as a way to bring them both some comfort by reminding them of home. He then fills in the bit about Frodo during the second verse because Frodo mentioned special folk and great adventures, they're both so tired that everything's funny, and Sam genuinely adores Frodo and knows how brave and important what he's doing is. Frodo's verse about Sam, in turn, is sung almost like a lullaby, which makes sense, as lullabies are often directed at the person falling asleep. So Frodo sings to Sam as he falls asleep about how much he admires him right back, sort of returning the compliment, like in the book. The way he says "it's not me they'll remember, you know" just before he starts singing has this weird sort of regretful tone to it, as if Frodo has kinda always known that his would be a thankless task, and that Sam, taking charge and leading them around and taking care of them, will be the one who goes down in history as being instrumental. He has been seeing this whole time how much Sam has done for him, and he knows that in time, others will too.

In the NA, on the other hand, the vibes of the scene before the song are somewhat different. The lines do not change at all, but the attitude from each of them is different. Here, we have the exact same conversation, but Frodo is audibly more stressed about it (not to mention more audibly exhausted), and Sam, in response, is keeping his tone very neutral, almost lighthearted at times. That general vibe continues into the song, which I thought was weird at first, until I realized what Sam is doing. Frodo is very shaken by all the big changes that he sees coming, so Sam responds by reminding him about the songs that they used to sing the Ivy Bush - the ones where nothing ever really changes. He says the line from above about hobbits liking stories that end the way they started like he's reminding Frodo of a fun fact, which is that despite everything going on around him, there are still plenty of stories about heroes where things are allowed to go back to the way they were. In other words, while the OA of "Now And For Always" is two people trying to comfort themselves by singing something that reminds them of home, the NA is Sam Gamgee Is Going To Cheer Up His Best Buddy Or Die Trying, first by reminding him that plenty of things do stay the same, and then by getting a bit silly and describing Frodo as one of the heroes (who, I will remind you, are allowed to go home unchanged). He goes until he sees a sign that he has succeeded somewhat in his quest - remember my headcanon about Frodo singing the higher part being indicative of his old self shining through? That could certainly be a signal to Sam that his little idea worked. More likely, the fact that Frodo starts waxing poetic about plum cake (which is so valid of him, tbh) when a few minutes ago he had to be ordered to sit down and eat something is also a sign to Sam that Frodo feels better, at least for the moment. So he feels alright to go to sleep. And then Frodo sings his part. And THAT'S why the reverent tone I mentioned earlier is so important. Because it makes it seem like Frodo also realizes, in this moment, what Sam has just been doing, and what Sam has been doing this whole time. The pauses in the music make it seem like he's coming to awareness, step by step, of just how much Sam has done for him, and the only possible emotional response for something that earth-shatteringly loving is reverence. And THAT'S why the NA ending works so gosh darn well - it gets across everything that Frodo is thinking and feeling in this moment with the music as well as the lyrics.

So, yeah. I don't have, like, much of a conclusion for all this. These are just a bunch of things that I observed about these two songs and then my brain running absolutely buckwild with extrapolating conclusions from there. And a lot of this is my own interpretation of what I hear, so if you thought something different, that's totally fine! Also, this is entirely based on only being able to hear what's going on, so if you've seen the show and I got the vibes super off for part of it, please let me know. :)

Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you around! Heyday!

EDIT: The more I think about it and try to feel it in my body, I might call the time signature a very fast 3/4. Regardless, all my points still stand. Just wanna cover all my musical bases. :)

[klaineccfanficlibrary]

Hi! Do you know any fic where it's set in the 60s/70s/80s around that time period?

Here are an assortment from previous asks! ~ Jen

To Be Myself by @wowbright

What if Kurt had been born 25 years earlier? A story about Gen X Kurt Hummel learning about love and, most importantly, learning to be himself, 1976-1985.

It Must Be Love by lovely_sparkle

It’s 1987, and Blaine just wants to fit in with the cool kids at school. So he wears trendy clothes even though they aren’t his style, saves his singing and dancing for his bedroom, and keeps his sexuality a secret by dating a popular cheerleader. But everything changes when teen sensation Kurt Hummel, lead singer of the latest New Wave craze Social Heap, enters his world. And little does Kurt know that his world is about to be turned upside-down, too.

~~~~~

Hummel and Oats by elfinder

Klaine ‘80s AU. Sometimes even potential soulmates can get off on the wrong foot. Enter Kurt, the ballsy co-manager of Dare to Flare, the hottest gay club in the East Village, and Blaine, a newly hired cover band artist at the same club. Right from the start, the boys’ first impressions of one another go astray thanks to some incorrect gossip and an accidentally spilt drink. Can two men who aren’t even on a first name basis ever put their differences aside?

~~~~~

80s Verse by @whenidance

AU set in the 1980s. Dalton doesn’t exist, Blaine transfers to McKinley, and Rachel and Kurt help him figure out who he really is, complete with a cheestastic soundtrack. A season two rewrite with all that in mind.

~~~~~

Can’t take my eyes off you by gleekto

1969 Klaine AU.

Blaine is a gay. He’s known for years and he’s not ashamed. He just wants to be sensible about it as it carries a lot of risks. So he chooses to study Arts at one of the best colleges in the country - Columbia - that makes his parents happy. And it also happens to have the first college sanctioned gay group in the country - the Student Homophile League - for people like him. And that makes him happy. He hopes. He just has to muster up the courage to actually go to one of the League meetings. Instead he wastes his time staring at that icy hippie in his music history class who doesn’t know he exists. He needs to stop pretending people are gay in his head and actually meet some real homosexuals.

Blaine coming of age in 1969. Hippie!Kurt. Elliott and Sebastian as Blaine’s mentor-friends. Unironic use of ‘groovy’. Coming out and fitting in and falling in love.

~~~~~

Gimme Shelterby Kurtswish

On a joyride out with friends, Blaine stumbles upon a man that would change his life forever. It is a time when changes are coming swiftly with Civil Rights laws and Vietnam on the forefront of everyone’s minds. Finding each other and romance should have been the hard part, but what will two young men endure in the time of free love and war. Story is complete.

~~~~~

The Sound Of Silenceby brokenlovesong

It’s 1968 and Blaine runs away from home. He meet a boy different from anyone he’s ever met who changes everything he thought he new about himself and life, and quickly his entire world changes drastically. Strong language, sex, drugs, drinking, violence

~~~~~

Here I Am, Honeyby luckie_dee

When Blaine Anderson visits Kellerman’s Mountain Home with his family in the summer of 1963, he isn’t expecting anything more than days in the sun and games of croquet, but when he and his cousin Rachel meet the staff dance instructors, his plans get thrown for a loop. Blaine’s family vacation might just end up being the time of his life. A Klaine Dirty Dancing AU. Title from Solomon Burke’s “Cry to Me.”

Immutability and Other Sins series by fabfemmeboy (not completed)

This is an AU that spans from the late 1950s to just shy of modern-day. With the exception of the prologue, it goes in order. It begins in the fall of 1959 at Dalton Academy and follows the trajectory of the American gay experience through our not-always-so-happy couple. While the central story series is Klaine, there are some genfic stories on the side, set in the same universe and timeframe. Mostly because, as I planned out the main story, I kept coming back to all the ways in which the members of New Directions would be different 50 years ago, how many ways their worlds would be unfamiliar or more limited than we think of today. For all politicians seem to talk about what a great time the 1950s were, they weren’t for a lot of people.

There will be links periodically to songs involved in the story. Sometimes it’s a big plot point, sometimes the character is singing it, sometimes it’s just what’s on in the background. Think of it like the soundtrack, since it’s not something we can hear in the episode because there is no episode. Or disregard it entirely, that’s up to you.

And if you happen to want a great kind of nonfiction companion reading, check out Making Gay History by Eric Marcus.

HKVoyage’s Note: This series is not completed (last updated in December 2017). However, at 674k words, it is well worth the read, even though you wish there was more. The author has written up to the late 1970s.

~~~~~

Come Alive by delires

1960s NYC: Newly-wed junior advertising exec Blaine Anderson finds a missing piece to his puzzle in the back room of a Manhattan bar. Mad Men era AU.

[cerberivs]

@universestreasures asked: "lavender, lilac & amaryllis (for canon verse)" ((𝐁𝐎𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐍𝐒))

lavender : how easy is it to gain your muse’s trust ? once their trust is broken, how might one go about mending it ?

Gaining his trust isn't easy at all, but at the same time he has no reason to think ill of somebody either. Anyone who is a stranger is pretty much an empty slate until their actions or by what they say. It might seem like he initially hates everyone at first, but it's more of him just being awkward and having terrible social skills. If trust is broken though, count on it being pretty much impossible to fix. Of course it depends on the severity, but if someone were to gain his trust, it wouldn't be fragile at all. Words will do nothing, only time and actions. Kalego is extremely spiteful, so even if someone doesn't gain his trust back, relieving the spite is a big step.

lilac : what was your muse’s childhood like ? how has their upbringing affected them as they’ve aged ?

His childhood was quite lonely. He had his family and grew up with a silver spoon being upper class, but the prestige and purpose of the Naberius Clan meant everyone else never being home and busy with work while he had to study constantly — especially after taming Cerberus and labeled as becoming the new Guard Dog for Babyls. Kalego is terrible in social settings because he hadn't really been social until enrolling in Babyls as a teenager. Even then, he was so focused on being the Guard Dog that nothing else really mattered. His older brother had such a high reputation in being efficient with border patrol that Kalego wanted to be just like him, focusing only on his purpose and making good with the Naberius name. Kalego really didn't have time to be a child growing up.

amaryllis : what is something or someone that your muse takes pride in ? how do they express that pride ?

Kalego takes pride in having the title of Guard Dog of Babyls. Unlike his uncle (the previous guard dog), Kalego sees it as the most important thing in his life, the reason he exists and what he would die for. Sometimes he might be smug about it or take offense to anybody questioning it. It's something announced pretty regularly.

Someone he had a lot of pride in is his older brother, Narnia. Kalego had been styling his hair in similar fashion to Narnia and even grew his hair out longer in his earlier days to match. When speaking about the Naberius Clan, he never failed to not mention his brother. However, after cutting ties with his brother, Kalego's pride had turned more into a spiraling depression.

Kalego also has pride in his students. He still sees them as an annoyance and is more than happy when they leave and get away from him, but he does see all their growth and potential — proud of how many times they've proven him wrong and have successfully pushed back at his demands, but he's strict because he cares. Obviously he isn't one to give praise and would rather be dead than admit such kindhearted thoughts, but him giving what seems to be nearly impossible tasks is him being prideful. Kalego tells his students he would never actually give them something he'd believe to be impossible for specifically his students to do. He has so much trust in them that he'll risk making them suffer. ...but also because he is still a massive sadist.

[skymaiden32]

Bad News

AO3 link here

Fandom: Thunderbirds, Stingray

Tagging: @dragonoffantasyandreality @thundergeek59 @janetm74 @katblu42 @liseylou @amistrio @uniwolfcorn (Please ask if you would like to be updated when I update or post new stories.)

Gordon gets a call from Marineville.

Set in the Mariana Trench-verse.

Continuity: TOS

------

Gordon had been enjoying the peace and quiet, floating along the pool’s surface, savouring the moment. And then all hell had broken loose…

“Alan Shepard Tracy, you get back here right now!”

The youngest Tracy brother’s impish grin was audible as he taunted his unfortunate target. “You’ll have to catch me first, Virg!”

A third voice joined the fray, calmly attempting to quell the flames of the brewing argument. “Alright fellas, that’s enough.”

Virgil growled lowly. “Easy for you to say, Scott. It’s not your Thunderbird that has ‘Thunderbird 3 rules, Thunderbird 2 drools’ written all over it!” The silence was deafening. “In bright pink paint!” Okay, even Gordon had to admit that was going a little too far.

“He did what?!” …And big brother’s calm was gone. Gordon didn’t need to look up to picture the look on Scott’s face. He’d been on the receiving end of what they all liked to call The Stare more than anyone else. And he certainly didn’t envy Alan right now.

The aquanaut whistled, drawing everyone’s attention to him. “You want my opinion?” He took their silence as a yes. “Make him clean it up, then ground him for a month.” He moved off of his back, and swam towards his brothers, stretching as he did so.

“I’m not a little kid anymore!” Alan protested.

Virgil huffed, still a little annoyed with the prank, but at least Gordon could hear the amusement in his voice. “Gordon probably means grounding as in no missions, not staying in your room.”

Alan grumbled. “Same thing to us, isn’t it?”

“Should’ve thought of that before doing it then.” Scott folded his arms. “You’ll definitely be cleaning that up, immediately.” Alan sighed, accepting his fate. “I’m not going to ground you, since I have to stay to manage the island while Dad’s away and someone has to fly Thunderbird 1. Wait a few hours though and you’ll have a fresh job lined up.”

Their little brother slumped over, trudging over to the scene of the crime. “I better get to it, then…”

“Yeah, you better.” Virgil’s voice followed him. “You never know when we’ll be needed on call!”

“Speaking of Dad,” Gordon hauled himself out of the pool, and grabbed the towel he’d set aside earlier to dry himself off, “what’s the latest from Tracy HQ?” Their father had been called into an urgent meeting with Tracy Industries’ Board of Directors earlier that week, and from what they’d heard from him so far, it was a real doozy.

Scott sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Nothing good, I can tell you that…”

Virgil whistled lowly. “That bad, huh?”

“Yep.” 

“How long do you reckon he’ll be?” Gordon asked.

“I’m not really sure.” Their eldest brother shrugged. “The end of the week at the very least…”

Gordon ran a hand through his wet hair. “Well, I hope he gets back soon.” He started, throwing a cheeky smile in Virgil’s direction. “Too much stress is bad for you. Ages you by about a century.” Virgil smirked, catching on. “Ooo,” Gordon made a show of it, pointing at a random spot on Scott’s head, “is that a new grey hair?”

Virgil rubbed his chin. “You know, I think it might be, Gordon.” He hummed. “Either that or it’s an old one and big brother’s hair dye isn’t working anymore.”

“Haha. Very funny.” Scott deadpanned. “I’ll have you know that this,” he pointed to his hair, “is all natural.”

Gordon leaned in. “Are you sure?” He stage-whispered. “You are getting very old, Scooter. We’re just looking out for you…” He put on his best innocent face.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I saw some crow’s feet the other day.” Virgil added.

“Alright fellas, cut it out, will you?” Scott rolled his eyes, smiling fondly as his brothers snickered. Back in the lounge, the phone rang loudly. “I’d better get that. Might be Dad…”

They watched as their brother disappeared back inside the house. Virgil threw a grateful glance in Gordon’s direction. “Thanks Gords. I needed that laugh, even if it’s at Scott’s expense.”

“At least Scott’s a good sport about it. We wouldn’t dare make those jokes if it genuinely upset him.” Gordon chuckled, and Virgil nodded in agreement before the aquanaut changed the subject. “Don’t want to strangle Alan anymore?”

“Oh no, I’m still gonna kill him.” The pilot smirked. “My improved mood just means he has more time to plan his escape route.”

“It better be a good one then.”

“Gordon!” Scott’s voice drifted out towards them from the house. “It’s for you!”

Virgil followed his brother upstairs and into the lounge, where Scott was waiting with the video caller on. “Is it Dad?”

Scott shook his head, looking at Gordon. Based on the look on his face, they could tell it was pretty serious. “WASP business…”

Gordon quickly made his way over to where the grim face of his old Commander sat. “Commander Shore.” He nodded respectfully, suddenly very aware of his lack of clothes. “What can I do for you?”

Shore took one look at Gordon before speaking. “I’m going to assume that you just went swimming, Lieutenant Tracy.” Gordon nodded. “Then I’ll say no more about that.” He cleared his throat. “I called you to give you an update, and to make you an offer.”

The aquanaut frowned. “It must be pretty big, if you’re calling someone who left the WASPs a long time ago.”

“I realise this must be confusing, Tracy. But in truth, we’re in a tight spot.” Gordon gestured for him to continue, and Shore sighed. “Stingray is short a crew member.” Gordon’s eyes widened. “We don’t know for how long, quite possibly a good while.”

“Who? And how?” Thunderbird 4’s pilot asked, immediately worried for his old friends. He needed to know the full story.

Shore gave him an apologetic look. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you the full story, Tracy. Former WASP or not, you no longer have Marineville clearance.”

“At least give me something, Commander.” Gordon pleaded. “They’re my friends. I need to know if they’re okay.” Out of the corner of his eye, the aquanaut saw his older brothers inching closer, ready to offer comfort in any way they could. Gordon found himself feeling incredibly grateful for it. The Commander just shook his head. Gordon sighed, changing the subject. “You mentioned an offer?”

Shore seemed thankful for the change in topic. “As you know, you served temporarily on Stingray under Captain Holden before Lieutenant Griffiths took over hydrophones.” Gordon nodded. “I’m inviting you to return to active service as a temporary replacement to fill the position on Stingray’s crew. I would be able to give you the full story then. Of course, you don’t have to accept, and I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t want to leave Thunderbird 4 without a pilot, but…” 

“Thunderbird 4?” Gordon pushed his astonishment that Shore knew the truth far beneath the surface, attempting to play it off as a case of mistaken identity. In the background, Scott and Virgil looked as if they’d seen a ghost. “With all due respect sir, you must be mistaken. How could I possibly be an International Rescue operative?”

“Quite easily, I think you’ll find.” Shore smiled. “The stunts I’ve heard Thunderbird 4 pull off, well, there’s a few men who are capable of them, but there’s only three aquanauts I can think of who would actually try, one of them works for me, another I don’t know the location of. The third one is you.” Gordon could say nothing to change the older man’s mind. The Commander grinned in triumph, knowing he was correct. “Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me…” He didn’t dare mention that he’d guessed it was his old friend Jeff who was running the whole outfit, thus making International Rescue a family affair.

“I’ll hold you to that.” Gordon muttered, and frowned in thought. “Well, for that reason, Commander, I’m afraid I’ll have to reject your offer to rejoin the Stingray crew. As much as I enjoyed my life at WASP, it’s time for me to stay close to my family…”

Commander Shore smiled. “Of course, I understand. Before I let you go though, I will give you some advice…” Gordon raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “Be careful who you trust, Gordon Tracy. Even our closest friends can cut us deeply. And the funny thing about betrayal is that it never comes from an enemy…” He moved to sign off. “I wish you luck, and good day.” 

Gordon was faced with a black screen, playing the Commander’s last words to him over and over again in his head. The knowledge that his old Commander knew he was an International Rescue operative was the least of his worries. Betrayal never comes from an enemy… Shore had told him the truth of what had happened all this time. A member of the Stingray crew had gone rogue. 

He was barely aware of what was going on around him. His brother's voices were right next to him, asking if he was okay and begging him to say something, but all he heard were whispers. He could see Virgil in front of him, shaking him gently, but he seemed so far away. He felt Scott wrap an arm around him in a sideways hug, slowly leading him elsewhere, but felt nothing. He just felt… numb.

The next time he was aware of anything, he was sitting on a flat rock, looking out towards his favourite place, the ocean, next to his favourite people in the whole world. He lifted his head off of Scott’s shoulder, stretching out his tired limbs, and just sat with his brothers, watching the sun go down on the horizon.

Alan came down from the house with an ice cold glass of water, which Gordon took gratefully. The youngest Tracy sat between Gordon and Virgil, loath to get between Smotherhen and his current concern. The four of them just sat in silence, worries and feuds of the day put aside temporarily...

[justalowlyservant]

My Thoughts On: Genesis and Exodus

Okay, I'm coming into this partway through my reading of the Bible, so forgive me if my thoughts on Genesis and the earlier parts of Exodus are a little bit undetailed or fuzzy.

Genesis is absolutely INSANE. I fully understand now why God felt the need to create so many rules for His people. I know some people say that parts of the Mosaic Law are archaic in this day and age, but looking at what people were getting up to in the time of Abraham and his immediate descendants, you can still see how it was a major improvement at the time. I won't get into details on what kind of things went down in Genesis just due to lack of time right now, but I very much recommend you read it for yourself. If these people existed today, they'd be starring in the trashiest reality tv shows imaginable.

Well, I guess I can give ONE specific line. It's not one of the trashier ones, but I still think it might me one of my favorite quotes in the entire Bible.

Genesis 27:11 - 'But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man."

Yes you are, Jacob. Smooth little baby man.

Also, to clear things up, I'm using an English Standard Version Study Bible for this read-through, if my avatar didn't make that obvious.

Exodus below!

Moving on to Exodus, I won't really talk about the plagues themselves, since pretty much everyone knows about those at least. What I will say is that Exodus helped me to solidify my position on the whole matter of Free Will vs God's Sovereignty. Basically, how I see it now is that we still bear responsibility for our own choices, and we make our own choices within the confines of the universe God created, but every choice that we make conforms to God's will. He exists outside of time, and even if we make our own choices, God has ALWAYS known what choices we would make, from the beginning of creation. Thus, nothing happens outside of God's will. Pharaoh was responsible for his own choice not to free the Hebrews, but from the beginning of everything God planned for that to happen. If a person accepts God, it's because He allowed it. If a person denies God, it's because He allowed it. Again, we still have responsibility for our own choices, but every choice we make is a part of God's plan. That's how I see it at least, I'm no Theologian or expert on stuff like this.

Moving on from Egypt (literally), we get to another one of my favorite parts of the Bible, and reading it, I realized there was even more to laugh about than I initially thought.

It's the whole situation with the golden calf. I already knew the part about Moses coming down the mountain, seeing the Hebrews worshipping the calf, and throwing down the tablets with the Ten Commandments in anger, breaking them. What I did NOT know what everything that happened immediately after.

So, Moses, angry with his people, smashes the golden calf. Understandable. Then he grinds the calf into dust. Again, I get it, he wants to get rid of every trace of it. Then he throws the dust into water. Uh... okay. And THEN, he forces the people who were worshipping the golden calf to DRINK THE DUST-WATER. Moses is a lunatic! I mean, I get that they were being stupid about worshipping a false idol after everything God had just done for them, but still. Moses really was not messing around.

Oh, and then Aaron, Moses' brother who fashioned the golden calf, gives perhaps the lamest excuse ever for how this happened: "uh, well, I just... threw some gold into a fire and out came a calf! Crazy, huh?"

Yes, that's what he said. It's not a direct quote, but still. What makes it even funnier is that an earlier verse explicitly said that Aaron fashioned calf with tools, like the Bible itself is calling him out.

Okay, I'm running out of time, so here's the last major thing I wanted to mention. I'll admit, reading through all the chapters about dictating the materials to be used for the Tabernacle, then gathering the materials for the Tabernacle, then building the Tabernacle was... a bit of a slog. But towards the end, I think I finally understood the importance of it all.

It was to show the loving care that went into building God's dwelling place among the Hebrews. How important it was to them, that they'd give up so many precious materials, gold and silver and fancy linens, to construct it.

I think there's this tension in Christianity between two view points. On the one hand, you have people who want to honor God by building big, elaborate churches. Beautiful, artistic buildings to show how much we love Him. Palaces for the Lord.

And on the other hand, there are those who believe we should keep church buildings simple, and use the extra money and resources in order to help the poor and underprivileged. After all, did Jesus not say that serving the poor was equivalent to serving HIM?

I can honestly understand both sides, and I think both view points have their time and place. On a personal level, I do think I agree more with the view point of saving the money for the poor over building elaborate churches; my church isn't exactly a work of art, but we don't have much money, and we do our best to help people in our community and beyond. At the same time, I won't begrudge those who want to honor God by building churches as beautiful works of art. I think it's a worthy pursuit in its own right.

Anyways, I'm rapidly running out of time. I have to leave for work in about half an hour. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. I hope you enjoyed it, and that maybe you were able to learn something new in the process. May God bless you, and may you have a wonderful day!

[malarkay]

Too Real Is This Feeling of Make-Believe

When the Storm Hawks intercept a transmission claiming that Master Cyclonis is going to Terra Neon, they assume the worst. Determined to stop her before she can carry out any nefarious plans, they head straight for the terra. But things go differently than how anyone had planned.

“Remind me again why I agreed to this,” Master Cyclonis prompted, and Ace suppressed a sigh as he took her by the shoulders and turned her around to face the mirror again. 

“Hold still,” he told her, just forceful enough to gain her compliance without sounding too commanding, which ran the risk of earning her ire.  He was well-versed in the art of wrangling his mercurial empress.  Combing her hair out of her eyes with his fingers, he deftly began to work it into a single Galean braid.  “You agreed because you wisely recognize that you need a day off to decompress from all the stress you've been under lately.”  

He’d been trying to get her to take a vacation for the past month and a half, ever since he’d endured a tirade from a fed-up Ravess who declared that working for Cyclonis was becoming, quote, a fucking nightmare.  Something had to give if they didn't want a mutiny on their hands.  He’d begun by suggesting two weeks on Tropica, which she rejected outright.  He hadn't had any luck getting her to agree to take a week off, either.  Finally, she had agreed to one day off.  It was better than nothing.  He’d been quick to suggest Terra Neon.  She was the perfect age for it, and the terra provided the most bang for your buck.  

A disgruntled hum was her only response.  She was clearly second-guessing her decision.  Finishing with her hair, he handed her her Chroma Crystal necklace.  She slipped it on, tucking it under her shirt, and they both took a moment to gaze into the mirror, studying the effect.  Her braided hair was now a sandy brown, her eyes a light blue that matched the shirt she wore under a royal blue zippered hoodie.  She’d ditched the black nail polish and had opted for a thinner, subtler eyeliner.

“Your own grandmother wouldn't recognize you,” he assured her as she moved to gather the rest of her things into a black backpack: a telescopic staff in case she needed to defend herself, an Oblivion Crystal in case she really needed to defend herself, and a Warp Crystal in case she needed to make a quick getaway.  More cash than she could possibly spend in a day was tucked into a zippered pocket hidden inside her hoodie.  “You’ll be shadowed the whole time by undercover Talons, and I’ll be here making sure the place doesn't burn down in your absence.  You have nothing to worry about.”

“I'm not worried,” she told him.

“Voice.”

She rolled her eyes with a sigh before clearing her throat.  “I’m not worried,” she repeated in a lighter, much less intimidating tone.  

Satisfied that she looked and sounded like any other fifteen-year-old kid and not like one of the most hated and feared people in all of Atmos, he told her he hoped she had fun today and sent her on her way.

~*~*~

The Storm Hawks were on their way to Terra Neon, and Finn couldn't be happier, even if they were technically on a mission.  They'd intercepted an encrypted Cyclonian transmission earlier.  Piper had managed to partially decrypt it, unscrambling it just enough to learn that Master Cyclonis herself was supposedly going to be on the terra today.  They didn't know when or why, but as Aerrow had said, she couldn't be up to anything good.  Their job was to find her, figure out what her intentions were, and ultimately stop her from carrying out her plans.

They would have to be sneaky about it.  If Cyclonis caught on that they were after her, she could bail, coming back later to finish what she started when they weren't around to stop her.  Or she might decide to stay and fight, which could lead to innocent people getting hurt.  They couldn't risk that, so they'd have to catch her by surprise.  That meant disguises, but Piper only had three Chroma Crystals.  It was decided that he, Piper, and Aerrow would be the ones to search the terra while Stork, Junko and Radarr would remain aboard the Condor to monitor the radio for any more Cyclonian chatter.  To cover more ground, they were going to split up.  Finn rubbed his hands in anticipation.  This was going to be great!  Without Piper breathing down his neck, he didn't see why his search couldn't include going on a ride or two.  What she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

They changed into civilian clothes as they approached the terra, him tossing on a black leather jacket over a dark green t-shirt before raiding his piggy bank for spending money.  Meeting back up with the others, he accepted his Chroma Crystal, making sure it was securely tucked into one of his pockets.

Crossing his eyes, he looked up at his hair to see what colour it had turned, frowning when he saw that it was black.  He looked over at the other two, Aerrow with his bright blue hair and Piper with her pink hair, and huffed.  “Aww man, why’d I have to get the boring hair?  Do my eyes look cool, at least?’

“These crystals aren't the best quality,” Piper admitted, sounding a little embarrassed.  “Your eyes didn't change colour.”

He looked at the other two closer to see that their eyes hadn't changed, either.  That made him feel a little better.  Not enough to stop his disappointed whine, though.

“You look fine,” Junko reassured him, messing with his hair a little to style it differently.  “There, no one’s gonna recognize you now.”

“Thanks, Junko,” he smiled, making a mental note to try to win his best friend the biggest teddy bear he could find.

Piper gave him one of her knowing looks like she could read his mind.  “Just remember, you're here to find Cyclonis, not to goof off or chase girls.”

“Cyclonis is a girl,” he pointed out, and Piper rolled her eyes so hard he was surprised she didn't hurt herself.

“You know what I mean!”

“Yeah, yeah.”  He crossed his arms.  “I get it.  We have a job to do,” he said, showing the others that he understood the assignment.

“Okay, so here's the plan,” Aerrow said.  “We’ll keep in touch through our earpieces.  If you see her, don't engage.  Let the rest of us know, and follow her until we can get to you.  Our weapons are too conspicuous, so we’ll leave them here.  Junko and Radarr can bring them to us once we’ve found her, and we’ll go from there.  Got it?”

They all agreed, and, at last, it was time to have some fun.

~*~*~

Have fun, Ace had told her, and she fully intended to meet that challenge.  It would just take a little planning and strategy first.  Armed with one of the cutesy little maps they handed out at the park gates, she claimed an empty bench and started plotting out which rides and attractions she wanted to check out, meticulously charting the most efficient route between them so that she didn't waste any time.

Once her day was planned, she got up and headed toward her first stop.  She’d almost made it to her destination when she felt someone slip their arm around her shoulders and loudly say, “There you are!  I've been looking all over for you!”  She stiffened and stopped walking, only to have her overly friendly assailant prompt her to keep moving as he whispered, “Just play along.  You've got someone following you.”

Ah.  So a would-be rescuer, not an assailant.  She glanced over her shoulder just long enough to catch sight of one of her plain-clothed Talons in the crowd before the boy with his arm still wrapped around her said, “Don't look!  We don't want him to know we’re onto him.”

She decided to play along.  The sooner this was over with, the sooner she could go about her day.  So she let him lead her through a turn or two.  He’d sneak a glance toward their shadow every time they changed directions.  After a few minutes of that, she gestured behind her back, ordering the Talon to withdraw.  It worked.  Once he noticed they were no longer being followed, her rescuer relaxed, letting his arm drop.  

“That was one scary-looking dude,” he said as he shuffled to a stop.  “I’m glad we lost him.”

She couldn't disagree with his assessment.  That particular Talon was a very large, intimidating man.  She wasn't sure what Ace had been thinking with that pick.  If she were ever forced to take another day off, she'd be sure to choose more inconspicuous-looking Talons as security.  

“Thanks for looking out for me,” she said, finally able to get a good look at him.  He was about her age, with bright blue eyes and tousled black hair.  No taller than she was, and slightly built, he had to have been either very brave or very stupid to think that he could have done anything to stop the behemoth of a Talon from hurting them if that was his goal.  Probably both.  Surprisingly, it wasn't the suspicion that he was an idiot that bothered her.  It was that there was something vaguely familiar about him, but she couldn't quite pinpoint what.

He gave her a grin that was clearly meant to be flirtatious, which made the feeling even more pronounced.  Why was he so familiar?  This was really going to bug her until she could figure out who he reminded her of.  “Well,” he drawled, “if you really want to thank me, we could hang out for a little while.  Go on a couple of rides, maybe have lunch together later?”

“No.”

He wilted at her flat rejection.  She almost felt bad.

“How about one ride?” he suggested, looking so hopeful that the second no she had prepared died in her throat.  She sighed.

“Fine.  One ride.”  She looked around to figure out where they were, then consulted her map.  “The StarFlyer’s that way,” she said, pointing.  “That's where I was going first.”

“The StarFlyer?” he said, making a face.  “That's for babies!”

“No, it's not,” she said, defending the swing ride.  It may not be the most thrilling ride in the park, but anything that dangled you a hundred and thirty-five meters into the air and then spun you around at seventy-five kilometres per hour was hardly what she'd call a ride for babies.  

“Yeah, it is,” he said dismissively.  “I wanna go on that!” he said, pointing to the giant roller coaster off in the distance.

She looked back down at her map.  Not only was it out of their way, but it wasn't even on the list of rides she wanted to go on.  She'd overheard that it was the most popular ride on the terra and that the lines were always long.  She didn't want to wait in a long line.

“We’re going on the StarFlyer,” she told him.  “Take it or leave it.”

“Ohhh, I get it.  You’re scared,” he said obnoxiously.

“What?  No.”

“Why else would you say no to the best ride on the whole terra?”

“Because, in the time it will take us to get through that line, we could have gone on three other rides.”

“We?” he grinned, stopping just short of waggling his eyebrows.

She narrowed her eyes at him but otherwise ignored his comment.  “It’s an inefficient use of our time.”

“You sound just like one of my other friends,” he groaned.

“Well, your friend sounds like they have a good head on their shoulders.  Look,” she said, holding out her map, ready to explain her carefully laid plans in detail.  He took one look at the map and the little annotations she had made in the margins and shuddered.  Snatching the map away from her, he crumpled it up and tossed it into the nearest garbage bin.  

“That took me an hour!”

“And in that hour, you could have gone on the roller coaster instead!  Listen, you can’t plan a day at Terra Neon.  You have to feel a day at Terra Neon.”

“I feel,” she drawled out emphatically, “like that sounded better in your head.”

He scoffed.  “I’m going on the roller coaster,” he said and started walking.  When she didn’t follow immediately, he stopped and turned around.  “You coming or not?”

With a sigh, she followed.  “Don’t look so smug,” she told him when she caught his satisfied little smirk.  “I agreed to go on one ride with you.  I’m just keeping that promise.”

“Uh-huh,” he said as they walked, still grinning.  “So, what’s your name, anyway?  I’m Fi…” his words trailed off in a cough, and he thumped himself on the chest a couple of times before continuing.  “Felix,” he finished.

Names.  Right.  She hadn’t thought she’d need a name when she came here, not expecting to pick up company.  She considered using Lark but dismissed that idea.  She didn’t like how things had ended the last time she gave someone that name.  She’d have to come up with something else.  It didn’t take long for one to bubble up from the darkest depths of her subconscious, and she blurted it out without thinking.  “Andy,” she said, and nearly winced.  When she was younger, and her grandmother was still alive, there was a boy whose father was governor of Gale for a few years until his assassination.  She couldn’t remember his or his father’s name, now.  It wasn’t important.  What was important was that he insisted on butchering her name whenever she saw him.  Ignoring her repeated requests that he refer to her by her preferred middle name, her surname, or her title, he had instead glommed onto her hated first name and then managed to make it even worse by shortening it.  Thus, Calandra had become Andy.  Ugh.  Well, there was no taking it back now.  For as long as she was stuck with Felix, she was stuck with this stupid name.

“Andy,” he said, smiling over at her.  “I like it.”

~*~*~

It turned out Andy was even more impatient than he was when standing in lines.  While he bounced on the balls of his feet as they slowly inched their way forward, hardly able to contain his excitement, she stood with her arms crossed, scowling, radiating major stormcloud energy.

Maybe he shouldn't have insisted on the roller coaster after all.  She was definitely going to ditch him the moment the ride was over.  He was going to blow his chances with a cute girl again!

‘You could try talking to her,’ an exasperated voice in his head told him.  It sounded suspiciously like Piper.  Duh!  Of course, he should talk to her!  It would distract her from the wait.

So he asked her where she was from.  After a moment’s hesitation, she told him she was from Terra Greemus.  

“Cool, what's it like there?  I've never been.”

There was another pause before she answered breezily, “Oh, you know….”

He didn't know, but he laughed like he did.  “Oh yeah.  Totally.”

“What about you?”

It only took him a split second to come up with an answer.  Piper would be proud of his quick thinking.  “Terra Rex,” he told her.  A part of him felt bad about lying to her, but he had to keep up the undercover act.  If Cyclonis was around here somewhere, there could be other Cyclonians around, too, and he couldn't afford to have any of them overhear who he really was.  It could ruin the whole operation.  

“Huh.  For some reason, I always thought everyone from Terra Rex was blond.”

Well yeah, he thought so, too.  That's why he…crap!  His hair wasn't blond!  It was fine; he could salvage this.  He could if his mind hadn't gone completely blank, anyway.  Come on, man, say something!  Anything!  “That's racist!”

She stared at him for a moment before bursting into laughter.  After a second, he started laughing, too, his face burning.  “It's not racist,” she insisted between bouts of laughter.  “A stereotype, maybe.”  Getting her laughter under control, she said, “It was stupid of me to believe that everyone from an entire terra would have the same hair colour, now that I think about it.  Sorry.”

“It's okay.  I get that a lot.”

The conversation became easier after that.  He learned that she was an only child and that it fell on her to take over the family business.  When he had asked what kind of business it was, she had waved a dismissive hand.  “Logistics.  Boring stuff.  I don't really want to talk about it.”  Fair enough, he didn't really want to talk about boring stuff, either.

He told her he had three brothers, a sister, and a very smart dog.  That made her smile, but it was kind of a sad smile.  She'd always wondered what it was like to have siblings, she told him.  And a pet.  She claimed she didn't have time to take care of a pet, though.  He suggested a cat.  Cats were supposed to be pretty easy, weren't they?  She shrugged.  “Maybe someday.”

She asked him what his plans for the future were, and it was his turn to shrug.  He couldn't tell her that he was already part of a Sky Knight squadron.  “I dunno.  I like helping people.  Maybe something that lets me do that.”

She grinned and asked him if he had ever considered trying to join the Rex Guardians.  He laughed outright at that.  “Join those stuck up windbags?  Dude, not on your life!”

That seemed to amuse her more than anything else he'd said.  

At last, they got to the front of the line, and soon enough, they were in the front car.  “Best seat on the ride!” he said excitedly.  “When we get to the top of the first hill, you gotta raise your arms in the air when we drop,” he instructed, suspecting that this was her first time on a roller coaster.  She had neither confirmed nor denied her roller coaster experience level when he’d asked her on the walk over.

“Why?”

“Because it’s fun?”

She looked skeptical but agreed.  The ride operator came around to yank on their restraints to make sure they were secured, and then away they went!

She was surprisingly chill throughout the ride.  Besides an initial yelp when the first drop came, there wasn't much screaming and yelling coming from her side of the car.  He thought she maybe hadn't enjoyed herself as they got off the ride, but when he asked her how she liked it, her smile and the way her eyes sparkled put that fear to rest.

“Wanna go again?”

“Yes!” she said without hesitation.

As they made their way back to the end of the line, he spotted two teenage boys about a third of the way from the front.  They looked pretty cool, which gave him an idea.   Grabbing Andy’s hand, he led her over to them, ducking under the railing to get in line behind them.

“Hey guys, what's up?  Thanks for saving our spot,” he told them.  Sure enough, the boys played along, fist-bumping him and acting like they were friends.  The person they had cut in front of grumbled a little but didn't make a big deal out of it.  Success!

“That was sneaky,” Andy told him approvingly.  He just grinned.  He’d just shaved so much time off their wait.  He didn't think he'd hear any more Piper-like complaints about 'inefficient use of time’ from her after this.

~*~*~

Cyclonis wasn't sure how it happened.  She wasn't sure how she had gone from counting down the minutes until she could ditch Felix for good to standing in line with him to go on their fifth ride of the day.  After their second time on the roller coaster, they had gone on the Gravitron, then something called the Pendulum, which she had not enjoyed.  Not that she was going to admit that to Felix and have him make fun of her.  Honestly, it had started out fine, simply rocking back and forth.  No big deal.  But then the ride had flipped them upside down and let them hang there for what felt like an eternity before it creakily continued on its arc.  And the restraints?  A joke.  They had been hung upside down with nothing but a frayed lap belt to prevent them from falling out!  The cursed thing was part torture device, part death trap.  Someone had definitely died on that ride before, no one could convince her otherwise.  Felix, obviously, loved it.

One thing was for certain, she was never going anywhere without a levitation crystal ever again.  Just in case.

Now they were waiting to go on something called The Orbit.  Round cars were attached to a central pole that swung them around the wavy track while the cars also rotated.  Felix explained that there was a wheel they could turn to control how fast the car spun.  The majority of the cars spun at a relaxed pace, while a few were barely moving at all, and one was spinning so fast it looked like it might fly off the ride entirely, its occupants screaming bloody murder the whole time.  She already knew by the way Felix’s smile grew manic as he watched that that would be them soon enough. 

They had stopped along the way to get some cotton candy; yet another thing that she'd never tried before that Felix seemed so casually familiar with.  As they waited in line, he offered her some first.  She pinched off a bit of the fluffy pink candy, popping it into her mouth.  It dissolved instantly, and she couldn't help but make a face.  “It tastes like pure sugar,” she said.  She wasn't sure she liked it.

“Not true,” he said as he ate some.  “There's also food colouring.”  After a brief moment of deliberation, she took some more, giving it a second chance.  Knowing what to expect this time helped.  It actually wasn't that bad.  Between the two of them, they finished it all by the time they got to the front of the line.

~*~*~

They were on their way to grab some lunch when Aerrow’s voice came through his earpiece.

“Everyone check in.  Are we all doing okay?”

Oh no….

He quickly scanned the area on the off chance he might spot Cyclonis somewhere in the crowd.  It was the first time he’d given the matter any thought in…a while.  Nope.  No Cyclonians here.  But there was a bathroom.  Perfect.  Smiling apologetically to Andy, he excused himself as all the others sounded off that they hadn't seen anything suspicious all morning.  “All good here,” he told everyone as he entered the bathroom, turning a blind corner and running right into Aerrow.  Literally.  

“Ahhhh!” he screamed, startled.  Aerrow yelped, stumbling back a couple of steps before catching himself.

“Finn!  What the heck?”

“Nothing!”

That earned him a suspicious look.  Honestly, where was the trust?  But whatever suspicions Aerrow had, he didn't voice them.  Instead, he said, “I'm about to head over to the food court for lunch.  Do you want-”

“No!”

He could have kicked himself.  Now Aerrow really did look suspicious.  It wasn't like him to turn down food.

“Is everything okay?  You're doing what you're supposed to, right?  Because Piper thinks-”

“Pfft, come on, Piper always thinks I'm slacking off, but I've got this!  If….” He looked around, aware that they were still in a public area and easily overheard.  “If she's here, I’ll be the first one to find her.  Guaranteed.”

“Good,” Aerrow smiled.  Giving him a quick hug, he told him to be careful and left.  Finn waited a full sixty seconds for the coast to clear before walking back outside, wondering how they were going to avoid running into Aerrow again.

~*~*~

Less than a minute had gone by since Felix disappeared into the bathroom before one of her Talons casually sidled up to her.  Luckily not the big, brutish-looking one who had caught Felix’s attention this morning.

He crossed his arms, carefully looking away from her before he spoke.  “Everything alright?” he asked respectfully.  The ‘Master’ part was left unspoken but implied.

“Yes,” she answered, watching him out of the corner of her eye.  

“That boy isn't bothering you, is he?  He can be made to disappear.”

So eager.  He must be gunning for a promotion.

“That won't be necessary.  I find him amusing for now.”

The man gave a nearly imperceptible nod.  “We stand ready to assist you should you need us,” he reminded her.

“Of course.  I expect nothing less.”

With that, the Talon disappeared back into the crowd.  Soon after, Felix returned to her side.  “So, change of plans,” he told her.  “My stomach doesn't feel so good between all that cotton candy and crazy rides.”

Gross.  She shifted a little bit away from him, and he rushed to reassure her.  “No!  I didn't…I wasn't sick in there.  I’m fine!  I just thought we could ride the StarFlyer first before lunch.”

“You want to ride the baby ride?” she teased him.

“Yes,” he smirked.  “I wanna ride the baby ride.”

“Okay,” she agreed.  She shifted her backpack so that she could get at the outside pocket, unzipping it and pulling out a pack of peppermint gum, offering him a piece.  Hopefully, he was telling the truth about not getting sick in the bathroom, but just in case….

“To help settle your stomach,” she prompted.  

Slipping the gum back into her bag once he had taken some, she shouldered her backpack, and they headed off to the StarFlyer.

~*~*~

So, Andy might be onto something with the StarFlyer, now that he’d given it a proper chance.  Okay, three proper chances.  It was actually really relaxing.  It was like flying on a Skimmer, but not really.  Flying took concentration, always running calculations and making little adjustments to make sure nothing bad happened.  This felt more like falling, only no, because falling was scary, and this ride wasn’t scary.  It was somewhere in between the two.  He could just sit back and enjoy the view of the sky and the wind whipping through his hair without a care in the world.

“Wanna go a fourth time?” he asked once they were back on the ground.  The other great thing about this ride was that there was almost no wait time.  The walk to the ride and three trips through the short line had only burned half an hour.

“Nah, I nearly fell asleep this last time,” she confessed.

“You, too?” he laughed.  “It’s so…” he trailed off, trying to think of a better description than ‘relaxing.’

“Meditative,” she finished for him.

“Really?  My friend, the one I said you remind me of a little bit, meditates.  I tried it once, but I couldn’t get into it.”

“It takes a lot of practice.  No one gets it right the first time.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.  Are you feeling better?” “100%.  Ready to eat whenever you are!”  

She nodded, and they started off for the food court.  “I just don’t get how you’re supposed to clear your mind of all thoughts,” he said as they walked.

“You don’t,” she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.  

“No offence, but I think you’re meditating wrong.”

“No, you are.  You can’t just stop thinking altogether.  That’s stupid.  You’re going to have thoughts.  Meditating is about learning how to not dwell on those thoughts.  It’s kind of like watching a leaf float past you.  You have no control over the wind that blew that leaf towards you.  You can’t stop the leaf from approaching you.  But you can watch it pass you by without reaching out and grabbing it.”

“Whoa,” he said.  That made way more sense than how Piper had explained it.  “So you think the thought, but you don’t really think the thought?” he asked, putting more emphasis on the second ‘think.’

“Exactly.  Like I said, it’s not easy at first, but you get better at it the more you try.”

He watched her out of the corner of his eye as they walked.  He was so confused by this girl.  She’d obviously never been on a roller coaster before today, but she also hadn’t been scared riding it.  She didn’t know what cotton candy was, but she could wax poetic about meditation.  And who the heck came to an amusement park alone, anyway?  Had he befriended an escapee from a monastery?  Was that a thing?

They got to the food court, and he watched her study the menu boards, her brow furrowing more the longer she stared at them.

“Problem?” he asked.

“Do they not have anything healthy here?”

Oh yeah.  She had definitely escaped from a monastery.  He was sure of it.

“No, everything here is terrible for you.  That’s what makes it fun.”

She hummed indecisively.  After another full minute of silence, she asked, “Wanna split one of everything?”

“Umm, I don’t think I have enough money for that.”

“That’s okay.  I do.”

Seriously, who was this girl?!

~*~*~

In the end, they didn't get one of everything, but they came close.  They'd settled on a sampler platter that came with chicken strips, potato skins, fried zucchini, and mozzarella sticks.  Then they'd added some nachos, a giant slice of pizza that they cut in half, a side of fries, and a couple of sodas.  

Cyclonis didn't think they'd end up finishing it all once she saw it all laid out on the table between them, but she had been wrong.  After one of everything from the sampler platter, her half slice of pizza, a quarter of the nachos and a handful of fries, she was uncomfortably full.  

Felix, meanwhile, was still going strong.  She watched in horror and fascination as he polished off the rest of the food.  Hadn't he complained about feeling sick just an hour ago?  Were all teenage boys like this, or was he some sort of freak of nature?

“Maybe we should hold off on going on any more rides for a while,” she suggested as they cleared their table.  She would hate to have to murder him if he threw up all over her.

“Okay.  They have a really cool arcade here.  We can hang out there for a while,” he suggested, and she agreed.

Forty-five minutes later, she decided she wasn’t a fan of arcades.  There were way too many flashing lights and blaring sounds, all jumbled together into one big discordant mess, and it didn't take long for it all to start getting on her nerves.  On top of that, Felix had obliterated her in basically every game they'd played together.

Yeah, she wasn't having fun.  

At least Felix took his wins gracefully.  Now.  The first time he beat her, he had started dancing around, exalting himself and mocking her in turns.  Eventually, he noticed the look on her face, and it instantly shut him up.  Gulping, he had called her scary before suggesting they try a different game.  Since then, he'd wisely kept his opinions about how badly she sucks to himself.

“There's a laser tag arena next door,” Felix told her after another fifteen minutes.  She wasn't sure if he had gotten bored or if he had finally noticed her discomfort.  Either way, she was grateful to get out of there.

~*~*~

It didn’t take long for them to get suited up and join a bunch of other smaller groups who would all be playing together.  They had the arena for an hour and would get to play as many rounds as they could fit into that time.  Once the rules had been explained, they broke into two teams of ten.  He and Andy were on the same team, their red armbands distinguishing them from their blue-banded enemies.

It was a simple game of Capture the Flag.  Respawns were allowed, but if you were hit, you had to go back to your team’s base before rejoining the game.  A whistle blew, and the game began.  The arena was huge, dimly lit, but not too dark, with multiple levels and plenty of obstacles to hide behind between them and the opposite team’s base.  

“Follow me,” Andy told him, sounding like she had a plan.  It didn't take him long to regret his decision to do so as she led them up to one of the upper levels, found a person-sized foam pyramid to conceal them behind, and then…decided to camp there?

She flattened herself against the ground in a spot where she could watch the chaos going on below.  He had to admit that it did give them a really good view of the entire arena, but if all she wanted to do was watch the game instead of play, she could have saved her money.

“Watch our backs,” she told him.  After five minutes of dutifully doing as he was told, he got bored.  Only one other player had come up to their level the entire time, and he easily took the kid out.

He had had enough of sitting on the sidelines.  “Okay, well, you have fun up here.  I'm gonna go actually play the game now.”

“Hold your position,” she ordered.  

“Andy, seriously, this is so boring.  I wanna play.”

“Hold.  Your.  Position,” she said, glaring back over her shoulder at him.  Scary Andy was back.  

“Okay, fine,” he told her, holding up his hands in surrender.

Two more minutes passed.  He got to shoot one other enemy player who had tried and failed to sneak up on them, but that was as exciting as things had gotten for him.  He was considering shooting himself so that he’d have to go back down to where all the action was when she spoke.

“What's the range on these laser guns?” 

“Uhh, I dunno.”

She hummed in thought, pointing to a player who was pinned behind another foam pyramid on the lower level.  “Shoot her.”

“She's on our team,” he protested.

“So?”

“Do you…do you get the objective of this game?”

With a sigh, she aimed her laser gun at her chosen target and fired, hitting her on her second try.  

“Andy, what the heck?”

“That was fifty meters,” was all she had to say for herself.  She pointed out another player, this one on the opposite team.  “Would you say that's a hundred?”

“Give or take,” he agreed.  He took aim, fired, and hit his target on the first try.

They tried a hundred and fifty meters, followed by two hundred, registering a hit at both distances.  Anything beyond that appeared to be out of range.

“You're a good shot,” she complimented him.

“I know,” he grinned, which made her roll her eyes.

She watched the battle rage below them for another minute before announcing, “I've seen enough.”

Getting up, she led him back down to the main level.  Their flag was gone by the time they got back to their base, and less than a minute later, the whistle blew again, signalling the end of the game.  The blue team had won that round.

Once the red team was back together, Finn just about had a heart attack when Andy lit into their teammates.  “That was pathetic.  There was no cohesion, no strategy; it's like you all wanted us to lose.  So let me tell you what's going to happen in the next game…”

“Who the fuck died and made you queen?” a disgruntled older teen who had nearly thirty centimetres and fifty kilos on Andy interrupted.

Showing an alarming lack of fear, Andy stepped closer to the almost full-grown man who had spoken out against her.  She had to tilt her head back to look him in the eyes, but when she did, the guy took a nervous step back.  “Oh, I'm sorry.  I wasn't aware you wanted to keep losing.”

Ohhh.  Scary Andy had a scary voice to match now.  That was new.  And vaguely familiar for some reason?

The guy looked over to him.  “Bro, control your girl,” he blustered.

“I dunno, man, I think we should hear her out,” he said.

Thankfully, no one else on the team seemed to have a problem with injecting a little strategy into their gameplay, so they all agreed with him.  He gestured, prompting her to continue.  

“Now we don't have much time, so I’ll keep things simple,” Andy said as if the interruption never happened.  “Luckily, the blue team’s tactics are laughable, so we should be able to win pretty handily if everyone sticks to the plan-”

She quickly and succinctly laid out her plan, breaking the team into pairs and giving each pair a specific role to focus on.  As for them, they’d be the ones responsible for capturing the blue team’s flag.  “You wanted to play,” she told him with a smirk.  “Let’s see what you got.”

The whistle blew, starting the game.

One pair stayed behind to guard the flag, while another split up and headed off to opposite sides of the upper levels.  Andy said she had seen them both make some pretty impressive shots during the first game and decided they should be their snipers.  The other two pairs stuck to the perimeters of the arena, moving to flank the enemy.  The middle of the arena was all theirs.  They moved from pyramid to pyramid, him covering her when she was on the move, with her doing the same for him.  They each landed a few good ‘kills’ and made it to the last pyramid before the enemy base unscathed.  A member of the blue team was guarding the flag, perfectly positioned so they couldn’t get a clear shot of her target sensor without leaving the safety of their cover and putting themselves at risk.  

Andy waved up at the upper levels, trying to get the attention of one of their snipers.  They didn’t have to wait long.  No more than ten seconds later, the flag guardian’s vest lit up, indicating a hit.  They both darted forward, him reaching the flag first.  

“Go, go, go!” he said as he grabbed it, and they full-on sprinted back towards their side of the arena.  Andy got hit along the way, but it didn’t matter.  He got the flag back to their base before whoever had shot Andy could get him, too.  The whistle blew, and the match was over.  Their team had won, with enough time left for one more round.  A tie-breaker.

Before the third round, Andy ran a whole new strategy by the team.   They couldn’t use the same tactics as last time, she said, because the blue team was probably busy right now coming up with ways to counteract them after their success.  Just as she was assigning roles, Aerrow’s voice came through his earpiece. 

Seriously?  Now was so not a good time.

“Hey guys, I don’t suppose any of you have had any luck locating the target?”

The poor guy sounded so hopeful and so bored at the same time.  He glanced at Andy, thinking fast.  “I call dibs on sniper!” he told her.

That seemed to throw her off for a second, but she recovered quickly, restructuring the team so that they were the snipers for this round.  Once the whistle sounded, he ran up to the upper levels and wedged himself into a corner where he could see anyone trying to come at him.  Alone, he could finally speak freely.  

“Nope, still nothing.  Also, I vote that the next time we come to Terra Neon, it’s to have fun.  Today has been a real drag,” he said, shooting a blue team member who had immediately shown up looking to take out the snipers.

“Finn, where are you?  Why’d it take so long for you to answer?”

“I think the better question, Piper, is where are you?”

So he could avoid it like the plague….

“Right now?  Outside the theatre.  Now answer the question.”

“I’m near the carousel.”

“Really?  I’m near the carousel, and I don’t see you,” Aerrow said.

“Uhhh….”

“Finn!” Piper said disapprovingly.

“Okay!  I stopped to play a game of laser tag.  I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have lied.  As soon as the game ends, I’m heading right back outside.”

He winced to himself.  Technically, he wasn’t lying?

He heard Aerrow sigh through the earpiece.  “Listen, at this point, I don’t think that the intel we got was right.  So how about this?  Stay undercover, keep a lookout for Cyclonians, but if there’s anything fun you wanna do, go ahead and do it.”

“Dude, do you mean that?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re the best!”

“Thanks, Aerrow!” Piper said, all traces of her earlier irritation gone.

The line went quiet again.  

Finn grinned to himself.  “Alright, time to bag me some-” 

The whistle blew.

“Aww, man!”

~*~*~

She was in a pretty good mood as they left the arena, her team having absolutely slaughtered the blue team in back-to-back matches.  

“So, what kind of logistics business does your family run that requires you to know battle tactics and strategy?” Felix asked her teasingly.

“Just one of the many perks of a classical education,” she joked.  “Where'd you learn to shoot like that?”

“Well, since you asked,” he smirked, “follow me.”

He led her to the carnival game section of the park and right up to one of the booths.  It was one where you shoot little duck targets as they move along a conveyor belt.  

“Seriously?” she laughed.

“Hey, don't knock it until you try it,” he said, slapping down enough money to buy them into the game.

They spent the next hour playing every game there.  Felix won a stuffed bunny that was nearly as big as he was.  He asked the game operator if he could leave it there and return for it later, and the man gave him a ticket to bring back when he was ready to claim it.

“What're you going to do with that thing?”

“It's for my brother.  He was disappointed he couldn't come today.”

She couldn't help but smile a little at that.  Felix seemed like a genuinely good guy; she was glad they had met.  He'd made the day a lot more fun than it would have been if she had spent it alone.

She won a goldfish from the last game they played.  She emulated Felix, asking if she could claim it at the end of the day, and was given her own ticket.

“You did say you wished you had a pet,” Felix grinned.

“I said I don't have time to take care of a pet!”

“Well, you're in luck, ‘cause none of these fish look like they're gonna live past the end of next week, anyway,” he pointed out, and she scoffed.

The next couple of hours went by in a flurry of more rides.  They’d ridden the bumper skimmers, the carousel (where she had managed to snag a brass ring, winning a free ride), a ride that took you to the top of a tall tower and let you free fall from there, braking just a meter or two before hitting the ground, and the roller coaster for a third time.

Around sunset, they decided to go on the Ferris wheel.  The cars faced west, giving them a spectacular view.  She found herself enraptured as the disappearing sun painted the sky and the surrounding clouds orange, pink, and purple.  “It’s beautiful,” she breathed.  

“Yeah,” he agreed.  He didn’t sound like he found it nearly as impressive as she did.  Then again, why would he?  On Terra Rex, with its clear blue skies, he’d probably seen hundreds of sunsets like this before.  Maybe even thousands.  Still, he didn’t tease her over her enthusiasm, and his smile was soft when she glanced over at him.  At some point, he’d managed to drape his arm around her shoulders without her noticing.  She was surprised to find that she didn’t mind.  She was even more surprised when, without even thinking about it, she leaned into him.

~*~*~

Finn tried to play it cool when Andy leaned into him, which wasn’t easy when his heart was pounding as hard as it was.  He really hadn’t been sure if she’d welcome his arm around her or not.  Sure, he thought they’d had a lot of fun together, but did she feel the same way?  Then there was the fact that he was lying to her about everything: who he was, where he was from, what he did for a living.  He felt really guilty about that, even more than he had when he had lied to Aerrow and Piper.  It was almost bad enough to convince him to keep his hands to himself.  

But then they had gotten to the top of the Ferris wheel, and she had gotten lost in the beauty of the sunset, and she just looked so….

Pretty, for sure, but it was more than that.  It was like walls he hadn’t even noticed were there before had disappeared, and he was seeing a side of her that not many people got to see.  Yes, she could be standoffish, sarcastic, hyper-competitive, and downright terrifying at times.  He didn’t think any of that was a front.  She was definitely all of those things.  But right now, she just looked so vulnerable.  And a little sad, like she was seeing something she really wanted but couldn’t have.  And it made him want to put his arm around her even more than he already did, to be her shield while hers were down.  

He had expected her to reject him; he really had.  He’d expected her to pull away, push his arm off of her, and make some kind of comment that would pour ice water all over these new feelings.  So when she leaned into him instead….

Oh boy.

This was bad.  

It made his whole body feel like it was buzzing.  And his heart was beating too hard.  And he was very aware of all the places her body pressed against his.  And she was warm?  He wasn’t sure why he was surprised by that.  Maybe because of the times she’d looked at him in a way that made a chill go down his spine?  That was probably it.  She gave off cold vibes.  But not now.  Definitely not now.

And it wasn’t fair, man, because this wasn’t real.  It’d never be real because, at the end of the day, he would go back to the Condor and give the Chroma Crystal back to Piper.  He’d go back to being Finn, not Felix, and never see Andy again.  Or if he did, he wouldn’t be able to tell her who he was.  She’d never want to talk to him again if she knew that he had spent all day lying to her.

The ride ended too soon.  He asked her if she wanted to grab dinner, she said yes, and then she took his hand!  His palm prickled as it pressed against hers, but he didn’t let go.

~*~*~

Something had happened up there on the Ferris wheel.  Cyclonis wasn’t sure what.  Felix’s whole demeanour had shifted.  He seemed anxious, upset even.  Had she done something to mess things up between them?  She couldn’t think of anything.  Then again, he wouldn’t be the first person she’d ever upset without intending to.  It was frustrating when that happened.  She much preferred upsetting people on purpose.  

Comforting others wasn’t really her strong suit, but she decided to try, reaching out to take his hand.  He clung to it like he never wanted to let go.  Okay.  Not something she’d done, then.  Good to know.  After a few minutes of walking in silence, she decided to come out and ask him about it.  “Are you okay?  You seem unhappy.”

He seemed to debate with himself whether or not to answer her question.  “It’s just…do you think we’re ever going to see each other again?”

Oh.

“Probably not,” she admitted.  Her chest felt too tight when she said that, and she realized that she wished it wasn’t true.  She just wasn’t sure how to make that happen short of kidnapping him, which was an option she disregarded immediately.  That wouldn’t go over well.  Besides, she’d only known him for a day.  She wasn’t even sure she liked him well enough to keep him forever.  

But what other options were there, really?  She couldn’t keep playing the part of ‘Andy’ indefinitely.  And a Free Atmosian, especially one from Terra Rex, probably wouldn’t be thrilled to learn that the girl he’d spent the entire day with was the Master of Cyclonia.  She couldn’t tell him that, he’d freak out, and that would ruin this perfectly good night.

No, they definitely weren’t going to see each other again.  Which was why they might as well make the most of the time they had left.  Which was what she told him next.  He had thought about that for a minute or two as they walked before nodding his acceptance.  

“I guess that’s the best way to look at it,” he agreed.

~*~*~

Strangely, Finn felt better after their talk.  It made things easier, knowing that this was a casual, one-day-only thing and that they were both okay with that.  Not that a part of him wasn’t still disappointed about that, and he could tell that a part of her was, too.  But it was better this way.  Way less complicated, too.  

The easy companionship they had shared for most of the day returned.  Neither of them was starving, so they each just got a corndog and another soda for dinner, not even bothering to sit down.  They ate as they walked, just taking in the sights and sounds of Terra Neon at night when the place really got to show off the lights it was named for.  When they were finished and had found a trash bin to toss their corndog sticks into, they went back to holding hands.  

They stumbled upon Ghost Carrier, the haunted dark ride, and Andy insisted they go on it.  He balked at first.  She really wanted to go on a scary ride?  After dark?  

“It’s a dark ride.  What difference does it make if we go on it during the day or at night?” she reasoned.

“Because at night, it’s still going to be dark after we get off the ride!”

“If you don’t want to go on it, that’s fine.  I can go by myself,” she sighed.

He gave her an unimpressed stare.  “That’s low, even for you,” he told her, and she laughed.  “Fine, let’s go.”

The ride ended up being eventful.  Tense music played throughout the entire thing, though it did nothing to drown out the various screams, growls, howls and maniacal laughter that punctuated every animatronic jump scares.  So many jump scares!  The music did nothing to drown out his screams, either.  

They emerged at the end with him clinging to Andy.  He’d practically crawled right into her lap by the end of the ride.  She had her face pressed against his shoulder, her own shaking as she laughed herself silly, he guessed at his expense.  So that’s where the maniacal laughter had been coming from.  

“I hope you’re happy,” he told her once they had escaped from the ride’s demonic clutches.

“Oh, I am,” she said smugly.  

They stopped by a food cart to get dessert, then walked some more until they found a quiet little spot by a water ride.  Not many people ventured into this section of the park after dark.  They leaned against the fence that separated the walkway from the manmade river, staring out over the dark water for a few minutes while they finished their churros.  Once they were both done, he leaned over and nudged her with his shoulder.  She turned to lean back against the fence, smiling at him.  “What?” she asked, making it sound like she already knew the answer to that question.  

He pushed away from the fence, moving to stand in front of her.  Reaching out, he tucked a strand of hair that had escaped her braid behind her ear, grinning.  He hoped his grin didn’t look as awkward as it felt.  “So, uh, when you said we could make the most of the time we had left….”

Her smile turned into something dangerously close to a smirk.  Dangit!  He knew his grin looked awkward!  “Well, maybe not the most,” she said.  Did she sound nervous?  Why would-

What she meant caught up to him, and he blushed furiously.  He hoped it was dark enough to hide it.  “Dude, no!  No, no, I know that!” 

They both laughed.

“I didn’t expect that,” he assured her.  “I am so not ready for that.  But I would really like to kiss you.”

She nodded encouragingly, and he leaned forward, closing his eyes as he pressed his lips to hers.  It was a gentle kiss, and after a moment, he pulled back, looking at her to make sure they were both still cool with this.

“I think we can do better than that,” she said, and he grinned.  Emboldened by her egging him on, he leaned back in for a more adventurous kiss this time.  That one kiss turned into many kisses before they decided that they should head back towards the main part of the park before it closed.  

That had been a lot of fun.  There had been a few less-than-great moments.  Neither of them had much (okay, any) experience kissing someone like that, after all.  Unsurprisingly, Andy was not shy about letting him know when he was ‘being gross.’  He retaliated by letting her know when she was ‘not being gross enough.’  That nearly ended things right then and there, but they were able to laugh it off.  They were never going to do this again, after all.  They didn’t have to take it too seriously.  In the end, they had both learned a thing or two and enjoyed themselves, which was their goal all along.

He collected Junko’s stuffed bunny rabbit, then walked Andy over to the ring toss booth to pick out her goldfish.  She chose one that was all black, with creepy googly eyes and a permanent frown.  Y’know what?  It suited her.  

“What’re you going to name it?” he asked as they went into a nearby store that they were told sold goldfish stuff.

“It’s a fish, it doesn’t need a name.”

“Aww, come on, every pet needs a name!  Wait, I’ve got it!  Gillbert.  With two L’s.  Get it?”

She snorted, shaking her head.  He watched her pick out a twenty-gallon tank, which he thought seemed a little excessive for one goldfish, but she insisted.  The store clerk agreed with her, saying that the type of goldfish she had chosen was larger than your average goldfish and needed extra space.  Andy had given him such a smug look at that.  She picked out purple and black gravel to line the tank, several scraggly-looking fake plants, and a haunted castle ornament big enough for the fish to hide inside.  A tank filter, aquarium maintenance kit, and fish food soon joined the pile.

“All this for a fish that’s gonna be dead in a week?”

She shrugged.  “Might as well make it the best week of its life.”

“Are you going to be able to carry all that?” “I’ll manage.”

Loaded up with bags, she led him back outside.

“Do you want me to walk you back to your ship?” he asked her.

She shook her head.  “I’ll be okay on my own.”

There was an awkward silence as they stared at each other.  He put down the stuffed bunny and gestured for her to do the same with her bags.  Once their hands were free, he stepped forward and gave her a hug.  

“Today was fun.  I’m not gonna forget it,” he told her.

“Me neither,” she said, hugging him back.  They both took a step back when he let go.  “Well, have a nice life,” she told him, which made him laugh.

“You, too,” he said.  Picking up the stuffed animal, he made his way back to the Condor.

~*~*~

Cyclonis watched Felix walk away.  When he was out of sight, two of her plain-clothes Talons materialized from wherever it was they had been lurking.  She picked up Gillbert while the Talons gathered the rest of her bags and followed her back to their ship.  

She was all too aware that they had seen everything that had transpired between her and Felix that day.  That was confirmed when she noticed that one of them couldn’t quite hide the way the corners of his mouth twitched up every time he glanced at her.  A pointed look from her sobered him right up.

“You will not breathe a word about today to anyone,” she commanded.

“Of course, Master,” they said in unison.

~*~*~

“Have a fun night?” Aerrow asked as Finn sauntered into the room with a grin he just couldn’t shake.

“You know it!  Where’s Junko?”

“In the engine room with Radarr.”

Shooting him a thumbs up, he headed to the engine room.  “Junko, buddy, got you something,” he said as he handed off the gigantic rabbit.

“Aww, thanks, Finn!  You didn’t have to do that!”

“I know, but I felt bad you’ve been cooped up here all day.  Anyway, I’m beat.  Gonna head to bed.  G’night.”

“Night!” 

“G’night, Radarr.”

Instead of wishing him a good night, Radarr sniffed at the air, looking a little confused.  Shrugging it off, he headed for his room.  Surprisingly, Radarr followed.

“Uh, you okay?” he asked the little guy as Radarr barged into his room right on his heels.  There was no answer as Radarr scaled him like he was a tree, sniffing at him carefully.  Suddenly, Radarr squawked, his hackles rising as he leapt back down to the floor, chittering and pointing accusingly at him.

“Whoa, slow down.  What’s the problem?”

Radarr pointed to him again.

“I….”

Radarr nodded, then dramatically mimed sniffing, looking disgruntled.

“I smell?  Gee, thanks, Radarr.  Listen, I’m too tired to shower right now.  I’ll be sure to do that first thing in the morning.”

Self-consciously, he sniffed himself, just to make sure it wasn’t an emergency.  He didn’t smell anything.

Radarr shook his head, stomping his foot.  

“I don’t smell?”

Radarr made a so-so gesture.  How was he supposed to interpret that?

“I kinda smell?”

Another head shake.

“I smell like something?”

Radarr nodded emphatically.

“Okay?  Oh, wait!  I smell like someone?” he guessed.  Another nod.  “Okay, listen, I kinda met someone today, but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell any of the guys.  It didn’t…well, it’s not going to work out.”

Radarr smacked his forehead, then really started carrying on.  He had no idea what Radarr was saying, but he knew a lecture when he heard one.

“Seriously, what is your problem?  I hung out with a girl.  It’s not a big deal.”

Radarr was growing more frustrated by the second.  Finally, he put his hands up to his shoulders, fingers pointing upward.

“Feathers?”

Radarr rolled his eyes and tried something else, rubbing his hands together menacingly while doing a pretty good job imitating sinister laughter.

“Evil villain?”

Radarr touched his nose.

“Radarr, I don’t….” he trailed off as what Radarr was trying to tell him hit him like a ton of bricks.

“Dude….”

Radarr chirped yes.

“Dude, no!”

Radarr chirped yes again.

Suddenly, so much about Andy made sense.  And didn’t make sense!  How could he have spent the entire day with Cyclonis and not know it?  How could he have spent the entire day with Cyclonis and have fun?  

His knees went weak, and he sat down hard on his bed.  He had made out with her!  It was too much.  This was all too much.

“I need to lie down,” he told Radarr, who by now looked more concerned than angry.  “Please, Radarr, just keep this to yourself.  I didn’t know!”

Radarr sighed and waved a hand like, ‘Fine, they won’t hear about it from me.’  Then he awkwardly patted him on the knee before leaving the room.

Finn stared at the ceiling, way too many thoughts swirling through his head.  Well, he had told Andy…Cyclonis…that this had been a day he’d never forget.  And he sure as heck wasn’t going to forget it now!

He wondered if she had known who he really was and decided she hadn’t.  She wasn’t that good an actor.  And she hadn’t tried to recruit him to her cause or anything.  And if there had been any Cyclonian attacks anywhere, Aerrow would have told him, so this hadn’t been some elaborate plot to keep them distracted.  So, what?  She had come here in disguise to have a fun day out?  And had been as clueless about his identity as he had been about hers?

He grinned a little.  Oh, he was so going to use this the next time they came up against her.  He couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when he did.  If he had to live with this knowledge, then he was damn sure going to make sure that she had to live with it, too.

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

If the chapter is mostly done can we see some of it 🥺🥺

AFDHFHFD sure! I’ve been gnawing my arm off over nikolina atm so I guess here’s a slightly longer romance scene

***

Nikolai is working at his desk. He looks up at her approach sharply but his expression warms. And through her own swarm of worries, Alina thinks that he might genuinely be pleased to see her.

“Do you mind me interrupting?” she asks hesitantly. She already feels calmer here, or like she could be calm. In this room, with the lamps lit, and mundane work to be done.

“Not at all. Though I think I’m too tired right now for a continuation of our earlier debate.”

“Shall we call it a truce?”

“So you’ve realized my argument is stunningly correct and have come to praise my brilliance?”

She snorts.

“Couldn’t sleep?” he asks and she shakes her head. “Neither can I, or well I haven’t really tried.”

“It’s late,” she says, drifting closer. There are dark circles under his eyes and for a moment she wishes she had Genya’s ability to simply wipe them away with a touch. Instead she traces her thumb lightly over his cheek, and marvels at the tension draining from his face.

“I don’t think I could stand to be still long enough.”

“Then come to bed with me,” she says, only a little coyness to her answering smile.

This catches his attention. “Have you finally succumbed to my seductive charms?”

“Perhaps.” She leans down to brush her lips against his, resting her hand on his, taking the pen away. She feels a sudden pang of fondness for these hands, scars and all, though he might hate them. She holds his palm to her cheek, the warmth of it chasing away the Darkling’s touch.

“We’re married,” he says quietly, when they break for breath.

“I suspect we might be.”

“Just seems odd to consider.”

“Nikolai,” she says again, kissing him insistently. She twines her fingers in his hair. Takes his lower lip between her teeth and he shudders.

“I get the distinct sense I’m being taken advantage of,” he replies. “But then I could never refuse my beloved wife anything.”

She rolls her eyes but smiles as he finally rises from the chair, pulling her to him, a more urgent note to the way his mouth moves against hers.

“You always say such glib nonsense,” she breathes in between kisses, as his hands travel over her back through the silky material of her dressing gown. She can feel every line of his body against hers, solid and warm. Real.

“It’s either nonsense or terrible poetry, I’m afraid. I need an outlet for my romantic tendencies.”

“You never told me what you wrote poetry about.”

“Ah. Nothing worth mentioning.”

She angles her face away to get a better look at him, she grins. It nearly feels genuine. “What would you write about now?”

He slips the dressing gown over her shoulders, down her arms, to let it fall in a puddle around her feet. “My own heroic exploits clearly. There are so many words I could dedicate simply to my charm and handsomeness. Not to mention prowess with a sword.”

“Naturally. And your modesty?”

“Not a trait worth lauding in kings I’m afraid. Though I suppose you deserve a few poems too.”

“Oh? How generous. What would you write about me?”

“Your surly disposition. Brutal dedication to any argument. Passionate, seething hatred for mornings.” He pauses. “Perhaps an epic about how you punched me that one time.”

She smacks him on the chest lightly. “That was ages ago.”

“Hm yes. I think you did kick me too.”

“I could kick you again.”

“Fine, fine, the hypothetical terrible poetry can also include a few verses about your stunning beauty as well, is that sufficient?”

“I suppose it will have to do.”

He brushes his lips over her jawline, her throat. “That isn’t very enthusiastic. Did you want me to profess my undying love in verse? I could. What do you think of limericks?”

She arches her neck to give him better access. “Very funny.”

“Oh, that is not a joke.”

“So it’s a threat?”

“If you want to call it that.” She can feel him grin against her throat and before she has a chance to question it, he lifts her up in his arms. She squeaks in surprise.

“What are you doing?” she laughs, looping her arms around his neck for balance as he carries her away. His bedchamber is connected to the study so they do not have to brave the halls. And for that she’s grateful.

It’s freeing to be alone, to simply not care about appearances. But also disconcerting to think of how unusual it is for her now. Keramzin was never particularly private, but she wasn’t constantly scrutinized in the same way.

“Fairly evident, wouldn’t you say?” he replies, carefully setting her down.

She glances around the room. The lamps have been lit, and there is a low fire in the hearth. There are shadows in the corners, cast by the furniture, Nikolai himself, where he stands in front of the bed, back to the fire. They don’t appear to be darker than natural, but she cannot tell either. Could something be lurking there? She tears her gaze away, refusing to follow the line of thought.

[lchufflepuffcorn]

Happy 500 followers!!

Word: 751

Author's note: Here is another text I wrote for all of you who follow me.

Warning: Underline past slavery (when you read between the lines).

Masterlist

OG Work Masterlist

Rewriting promises

There was something in the way he was sitting on his throne that made him look like he belonged there. Or maybe it was because he hid his face in a beskar bucket-like helmet. It could also be because you stared at him from the back, which made it look less intimidating and more technical. Who knew? The pressure was less when you didn't feel his eyes straining on you. 

It was something else, really, to look at Boba Fett from behind, but you liked that better than facing him. Only once was enough, even if it hadn't been that bad for you. Those were keywords, weren't they... 'for you.' Goose bumps travelled from your arms toward your shoulder and neck. 

Well, Boba had kept his promises, even if it happened years after it was made. And now you stood behind him in the castle -dump really- that used to be your prison. Now, in the place of the poor and frightened slave girls dressed in nothing more than glorified underwear stood Fennec Shand with a gun secured in her hands. And instead of Bib Fortuna -if not a little behind his usual placement- you, in an actual seat. Now that was taking power back if you knew anything. 

A Klatooian stood in front of the three of you, blattering and stuttering about his case, trying as he might to explain the reasons for his late payments and no-show to earlier requests for a meeting. It was slowly starting to bore you. You'd already lost track of all the excuses he'd give Boba. 

It was the way he posed. Boba, not the Klatooian. His shoulders were square, and his head was always straight, possibly because of his line of work. It gave a sensation of comfort that -far from being relaxing- was giving of safe energy englobing the people near the throne. 

Yes, power, when in the right hands, you thought, would do that to someone. And you were delighted to have the security of Boba's back to you rather than his eyes every time you could. 

"You don't have to do it." He said, his voice merely above a whisper. 

"I don't mind." The 'for you' part floated unsaid between the two of you. 

His helmet passed from his hands to yours before ending its journey on the stand made for it. You are not well-versed in Mandalorian traditions. You don't even know if Boba sees himself as one. You only know how greatly he takes care of his armour. His hand lingers in the position of handing you his helmet for a moment longer before falling to follow the direction of your hips. Then to his sides. 

At least you would have known that if you were facing him. 

"You don't have to stay here." He calls softly before you when you turn toward him once more. "You don't owe me anything." 

"I know." You respond quietly. His words make something in your belly drop, deep -deep - inside, until you fear you cannot reach whatever it was that went anymore. The words spill out of your lips before you can reflect on them more. "What makes you think I'm trying to repay anything?" 

He shrugs, looking over your head as he does, trying to conceal something from you. Not that he needed it, as his face was naturally hard to read. You rose straighter as if it could make you appear less frightened. In control, somewhat. You'd learn from a young age that showing weakness was the way toward an early grave. 

'Not with Boba.' She thought, closing her fist tighter, trying to reduce the tremor in her limbs. 'Never with Boba.' 

He reaches a hand, free of gloves this time, in your direction. Boba doesn't move closer. He says: "Come here," in the sweetest of tones and waits for you to take his hand. When you did, he gently pulled you to him again. 

"I promised to free you." He said. You nodded. 

"You did." 

"So why don't you go? Live a life you'd want, be free?" His forehead rested on yours, light pressure on your head, and you closed your eyes for a moment before opening them again. Boba's dark brown eyes met with yours, searching for the answer to his question. 

"What serves to be free if I can't spend my life with those I cherish most?" You asked. 

A dry laugh escaped him and his eyes closed. "You're right." 

"I know." 

[creatureshrieks]

As a disclaimer to my Laurie post please keep in mind that for my personal writing and interpretation of Laurie, I stick specifically to the original Halloween film released in 1978. I am only going to be discussing this film in this post, too. I stick specifically with this idea of Laurie when it comes to my headcanons, how I write her personality, and her interactions with Michael. I do not follow any sequels, reboots, or continuities, though I do sparingly take minor inspiration from some (as in Laurie going to college to be a teacher due to her one timeline where she works at a school or for her slasher verse where she kills a innocent man and is put into a sanitarium due to them believing Michael damaged her too much). If I did have to pick any timeline, however, I most likely would default to the 2018 timeline specifically because this the only timeline in which Laurie not only survives, but also is not connected to the Thorn continuity in any capacity. Michael might be the face of Halloween, but I can't see him without Laurie, too. They're two halves of the same coin - which is what I'll get into later! It also continues with JLC's Laurie which is where I base my Laurie from. I do know there was a reboot with Rob Zombie and, though I have seen it, due to that Laurie being drastically different in age and personality and even ending with her death, I will not follow it for my own personal writing of Laurie's characterization. That said I don't... really delve too deep into Kills/Ends either. I'm fine with the original movie, thank you. This is, of course, subject to change when it comes to writing with fellow Halloween muses, especially with different interpretations of Michael, but I will not incorporate that into my main timeline for her just to keep things simple. My Laurie's timeline is completely original following the first movie. Thank you&lt;3

With that out of the way, let's get to discussing Laurie, the literal final girl template that arguably pushed that trope into the main spotlight. She is the template that all future Final Girls have come from (I will not discuss her difference with earlier Final Girls and why Laurie is arguably 'the' first iteration of the trope we love and not just a girl who survived until the end. That's too meta for this post).

When we first see Laurie, we immediately get an understanding of her character even from the first handful of minutes, those first bits of dialogue. We even get who she is from the clothes she wears! She's the good girl, the babysitter. She's dependable, she's smart. She's also shy. Let's start with her clothing:

Just look at this outfit! It looks nice on her, it's pretty, but lets compare it to her friends. Her first outfit is a light cardigan that covers a long sleeved turtleneck while she's at school. Her skirt is just above the knee (it's not short!), and it continues into tights and penny loafers. She looks 'mature', but more like an older woman, not a teenager. She doesn't like to show her skin, she's layered. It's sensible, it's mature. She looks like a stereotypical tutor you meet in the library to help you with calculus. Compare this to her friends - They're wearing jeans, blouses. One is smoking a cigarette and the other forgot all her books vs Laurie who is carrying her entire school workload with her. They're also dressed mature, but in an attempt to get attention. They want to be women that men go for, not girls in their last year of high school. We might not view it that way now due to clothing and fashion changes, but these girls are dressing for attention! They want boys to look at them! They want to dress hot (they're both 18 in the film, mind you. The youngest is Laurie who is turning 18 in a few months). Annie is also notorious for literally not wearing a bra, by the way. Also notice that Laurie is the only one that doesn't tie her hair back! She's shy, she's reserved. She says she's too smart. She's different from her friends. Now, her second outfit is put on after school - and after she sees Michael Myers three separate times.

In her second outfit in the movie, Laurie puts on pants. This can probably be inferred to the fact she’s going babysitting and wants to dress for the job, but she also is less “feminine” in pants after being frightened by Michael three times. She's less exposed, more defensive. She doesn't yet think of Michael as a threat that's going to come crashing through her door, but she doesn't feel safe. Now, this might seem similar to what her friends were wearing to school, even if she’s wearing jeans, they’re not so body-hugging as Lynda and Annie. Even when she takes off all her layers, she still keeps a sweater on. When we see Annie later, she's also dressed down even further into loose fitting flannel and tank-top. No matter what, Laurie is always more covered than her friends. Then we get her final look:

Her blue button up tucked into her pants. This final look still covers her - even during her fight with Michael it doesn’t ever get unbuttoned unlike Annie who took off her clothes to clean them and Lynda who was entirely naked when Michael attacks her. Throughout the film, Laurie is the most consistently covered out of all the main victims shown. We never see over her elbows in the entire film until Michael himself tears into her shirt with his knife right after she sees her friends. That's the only section of skin Laurie shows that’s higher than her elbows for the entire film, obviously not counting her face. Keep in mind that Michael is the driving force behind Laurie in this movie, which we get told almost directly. However, for organization purposes let's keep all Michael and Laurie discussion until the end after Laurie has had her time to shine. Alone.

Laurie and her bedroom:

This part will be smaller, but I feel as if it's just as important to talk about Laurie's bedroom because it does offer us some insight into her character - as well as a small easter egg!

It's almost funny how much this room reflects the clothing she wears at the time. Browns, beige. There's no color here and, in fact, Laurie is more decorated than her walls! There's nothing there except a poster, some small pictures, and a hat. Her room doesn't have much personality to it and judging by her bed with how small it is, it's clear this is very much her childhood room. The items here are probably things she's had for years and hasn't bothered to change. She's never had a reason to - and mind you, her parents are not poor. Her father runs a very successful real estate business and her mother stays at home. Laurie is decently well off enough to get a bed befitting of an 18 year old if she wanted. The only item that clearly doesn't look like it's from her childhood is the poster for James Ensor. This is actually a fun detail! James Ensor was a Belgian painter most famous for his macabre and grotesque imagery involving people in masks. :)

Due to how Laurie dresses and the state of her room, we get some defining traits - sensibility, maturity, and innocence.

Innocence is a huge part of Laurie's character and is why she's the one to survive as well as the one to be the obsession of Michael. And you could not have Laurie Strode without Michael Myers.

The very first time we see Michael and Laurie together in any capacity is when she directly approaches his house and leaves a key with her name on it, leaving it right there for Michael Myers to find. We also get a brief look at Laurie's character here! Tommy Doyle mentions that it's a cursed house, a bad house. A "spook house". Laurie shouldn't approach - but she does. She doesn't believe in scary stories or that anything like ghost and the boogeyman are real. She also sings a love song after she drops off the key. Laurie is a romantic, if even slightly! She is jealous of her friends. She wants a boyfriend. Laurie wants what her friends have, but it's exactly the fact she does not have those traits that keeps her alive. She's not like Annie. She's not like Lynda. She's not like Judith. She's innocent and for Michael, innocence is not something he knows.

The second time we see Michael is while Laurie is at school. He has followed her, stalked her, and he wants her to see him. He wants Laurie to notice him, to be scared by him. And Laurie sees him, staring at him outside of the school window until her teacher interrupts her to talk about a very interesting topic: Fate.

Teacher: [...] You see, fate caught up with several lives here. No matter what course of action Collins took, he was destined to his own fate, his own day of reckoning with himself. The idea is that destiny is a very real, concrete thing that every person has to deal with. How does Samuels' view of fate differ from that of Costaine's? Laurie? Laurie: Costaine wrote that fate was somehow related only to religion, where Samuels felt that, well, fate was like a natural element, like earth, air, fire and water. Teacher: That's right, Samuels definitely personified fate. In Samuels’ writing fate is immovable like a mountain. It stands where man passes away. Fate never changes.

(Just a fun connection: Samuel Loomis is almost a Cassandra-like character, a man that prophesied Michael's attacks on Haddonfield and was never believed. Funny how he predicted fate like that)

This part is just spectacular. It is genuinely such a spectacular moment that defines so much of Laurie and Michael and their never ending battle and unless you knew about them, unless you knew their tale, this line could fade away into the background. It could be little more than school-related dialogue they threw in for the scene. But it's not. Michael is the personification of Laurie's destiny, her fate. He is immovable, unshakable, his obsession is what drives Laurie and her mere existence is what drives Michael. He is fate. He is Laurie's fate. He is what changes her, shapes her. They are the perfect enemy, two halves of a coin that leave marks on each other that forever change each other. Laurie is no longer the innocent babysitter, Michael took that innocence from her. Michael is no longer contented to sit at Smith's Grove, staring at walls. He wants Laurie and he wants her dead. Fate caught up with several people on Halloween. Michael caught up with several people on Halloween. It stands where man passes away. Fate bonds them, it changes them.

This is also from a deleted scene, but there is also a part where Lynda comes to Laurie's home and asks to borrow a shirt from her while also stating she believes she saw Michael stalking her. While Lynda goes to search for the blouse she wants to wear, Laurie once again sings her song again as she stands by the door and looks for Michael. It's almost funny how even subconsciously she repeats motions when it comes to him, that even if she doesn't realize it yet she has sealed her fate with him. He is only waiting for his time to strike while Laurie, defensive and uncertain, waits for the night to end. Waits for the boogeyman to disappear.

But metaphorical fate is not all that bonds them - Laurie is the only one to actually hurt Michael before Loomis arrives to shoot him. She is his only survivor, the only one that fought back against him. The only one that stabbed him, the one that took his eye. She left him with far more wounds than he left her, though to Laurie his single knife wound to her runs far deeper. It scars her, a permanent reminder of what she lost. Her friends. Her sheltered life. Her innocence.

[moonfurthetemmie]

Unlucky Meeting of the DS Verses

There is Yet Another

No warnings, other than Mentioned Karen Encounter and also delusion is trying to help and doesn’t realize that actually he is. not

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Blue was exhausted. He’d had the misfortune to stop in a the produce aisle, off to the side out of the way, near a Karen, and had to spend half an hour trying to escape her wrath. 

Okay, it probably wasn’t really half an hour, but it sure felt like it. He just wanted to get some carrots and celery for his soup and go home, he wasn’t trying to block her from her pre-cut mixed fruit platter for her kid’s party. He didn’t care; he just wanted to get his groceries and go home, and this lady had decided she needed to drag him through the dirt for stopping his cart in front of the fruit for sixty seconds.

He got it. He really did. He didn’t have the energy to cut up fruit most of the time, and those pre-sliced fruit things were a godsend. But dear lord. 

He finally managed to get out of the store with all of his groceries, and had even made it to his Outertale timeline and was walking home when he heard the familiar woosh of a portal opening overhead.

He glanced up, expecting a traveling bird monster or something, but instead finding Dream gliding over the empty streets of the small town. 

He nearly dropped his eggs when Dream spotted him and made his way down, landing in front of him and spreading his wings majestically. Only the did Blue realize this wasn’t the Dream he knew. He was...orange. Way too orange. He held himself more like a lord, and his face was almost perfectly void of emotion, other than a hint of a content smile, and some mild curiosity. And his wings were shedding at…a rather alarming rate. Was he sick? Dream’s wings didn’t shed like that. 

“You seem to be having some trouble.”

Blue blinked. “Wh-what? Oh! No, I’m fine, thank you.” He tried for a smile and readjusted his grip on the bag with the eggs. “Er, sorry, but- who are you?”

The strange Dream tilted his head down slightly. “Ah, my apologies. I am Dream, head of Justice Reigns, though judging by your reaction, I take it you know me.” That content smile grew ever so slightly into a dryer one. “Or, at the very least, some variation of me.” He glanced around, as if surveying the area, before looking back to Blue. “Would I be correct in assuming your name is Blue?”

Blue swallowed. “Um…yes. You know some…alternate of me, then?”

‘Dream’ hummed in thought. “Yes…I encountered odd versions of a trio that my organization is attempting to arrest, and I assumed that I had found myself in another multiverse. I attempted to return to mine, but, as you can see, that didn’t quite work out.”

Blue resisted the urge to back up. Despite the soft, comforting feelings the radiant’s aura generated, there was something about this guy that was just a little off. 

Blue chuckled nervously. “Well, I think the JR and Dream in this multiverse would be happy to…assist…you…”

The new Dream was giving him a strange look, and Blue trailed off slowly.

“…Are you alright?” ‘Dream’ asked. “You seemed stressed. Is something bothering you?”

“A-ah. I…may have irritated an entitled middle-aged white woman in the grocery store a bit earlier,” Blue said. “I’m just a bit…tired.”

‘Dream’s eyes were piercing. Blue swallowed nervously. He really wanted to get home. 

The winged man lowered his voice. “I’m concerned you might be in some sort of trouble. Would you mind if I came with you to make sure you make it home safely?”

Blue felt a lump form in his throat. He did not want this guy to follow him home. He was afraid that he’d follow him even if he said no, though. 

The strange Dream noticed his hesitation and said, very gently, “I understand if you’re wary of taking a stranger to your house, but I only wish to help.”

“I…Alright.” Blue swallowed. “It’s, um, just down the street.”

‘Dream’ gave him a slight smile. He offered to help carry some of Blue’s groceries, which was nervously accepted.  

As they walked, Blue mentally berated himself. Why on earth did he agree? He wasn’t that stupid, was he? God, he hoped this guy would leave him alone afterwards. He knew better than to bring strangers home. 

The strange clone of Dream seemed to enjoy the otherwise peaceful walk. 

“Do you…um…” Blue tried to ignore the feeling that the stranger man’s eyes were boring into his soul. “Do you have…friends, who might also have been brought here?”

The other Dream hummed. “Not that I’m aware,” he said passively. “It’s possible, I suppose. I’m not certain.” His wings twitched. “I should probably visit this multiverse’s Justice Reigns, and ask your Dream if he’s heard anything.”

“I hope anyone that did end up here are alright,” Blue said. 

“…Forgive me for the personal question, but do you live with family?”

Blue hesitated. “Er…Yeah. I live with my…sister.” He said, like a liar. “She’s at work currently.” Please don’t ask me what her name is.

“I see…” ‘Dream’ didn’t say anything for the rest of the walk. Blue breathed a sigh of relief.

They reached Blue’s house, without any of the trouble that ‘Dream’ had been afraid of. Blue unlocked the door and turned to the strange Dream. “Thank you for helping with the groceries.” He tried for a smile. It wasn’t as forced as it had been before; probably because he’d been hanging around in the man’s positive aura for a while. “I hope you get home safely.”

‘Dream’ didn’t smile this time. “Thank you. You still seem very anxious, though.” He handed Blue the rest of the groceries. “Would you like someone to stay with you?”

Blue’s throat went dry. He really, really didn’t. 

“I-I’ll be fine. Thank you, though.” He went to hurry inside, but felt a gentle hand on his shoulder, that wasn’t as comforting as it was supposed to be.

The winged man didn’t move. “I would hate to leave and find out you got hurt because you were alone.”

Blue laughed nervously. “Well, as far as I know, no one’s after me. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

“I’d feel better knowing there was someone keeping an eye on you,” ‘Dream’ said. “At least until your sister gets home.”

The slightest raised eyebrow, and Blue felt his heart sink. 

He never had been a good liar…

[mneiaifics]

Dragon Age Fic: Mercy, Chapter 3

Earlier Parts Here

AO3 Link

XxX

9:36 Dragon

“And the Maker, clad in the majesty of the sky,

Set foot to earth, and at His touch

All warring ceased. The vicious

Beasts lay down and were quieted;

The meek lambs became bold

And rose up, casting aside their shepherds

To dance at the Maker's feet.“

Without perfect faith, an initiate would not survive becoming a Seeker. He had been told that before his Vigil began and every note and letter he had looked through, kept in the small living area that countless other initiates had used during their isolation, confirmed that.

Cullen had never questioned his faith before, relying on it in those dark days in Kinloch Hold, cleaving to it as Kirkwall grew closer and closer to chaos. The verses of the Chant still fell easily from his lips, powered by his very being.

Yet, as he saw the Lord Seeker approach, he felt the slightest hesitance. In his hand was a brand more familiar than Cullen wished, that he himself had wielded a few times (yet more than he could ever earn forgiveness for) in the years he had been a full-fledged Templar.

” From every corner of the earth

The Chant of Light echoed,

And the Maker walked the land

With Andraste at His right hand.

And they reached the gates of Minrathous,

Where once a terrible fire swept

The Light of redemption from the face of the world,”

He did not let his prayers waver, even as his trepidation grew. In this moment, after a full year of reaching for it, he wanted nothing more than to be a Seeker. This would be his absolution, his chance to right the wrongs he had slowly begun to realize he perpetuated. A year of praying, of going over his life and his choices, of struggling to survive without the lyrium that was a blessing and curse in one, could not go to waste.

Perhaps his faith wavered, but his desire didn’t, and it helped him close his eyes, hold still, and brace himself.

The pain was unimaginable, but it did not last.

“It is meant to be Faith,” a voice sounded through the darkness, drawing his attention through the syrupy feel of the Fade around him.

Unnatural, how he felt, what was happening, all of it was so unnatural. With the lack of emotions he knew he should be feeling, he could acknowledge that all the better, cataloging all that was wrong. He had never liked to dwell on what it was like to be Tranquil, yet now he could do so without any of the old remorse or disgust.

“Spirit,” he greeted, watching it carefully. “Yes, Faith would make sense.” All of the emphasis on it had seemed more like the indoctrination he was used to, now he realized it was meant to draw out a Spirit, to feed it. “What are you?”

The spirit giggled, swaying closer, and he tensed in preparation for an attack as he recognized it. “Cullen, please, you know who I am.”

He nodded, he did recognize this demon who had tormented him for so many years, first in Kinloch and then in his dreams, the demon that had cleaved onto him. “It was supposed to be Faith, but instead it is Desire.” His voice was flat, lacking the fear and want the demon normally drew from him.

“Look at what they’ve done to you, those monsters,” it hissed, claws stroking his cheeks in familiar patterns. “I will fix you, make you as you always should be.”

“You shall not,” another voice interrupted, its presence lighter and brighter through the slurry of Fade that Cullen experienced. “It is I to whom they called.”

Watching Faith and Desire argue was uninteresting to his mind, now, and instead he attempted to experience more around the Fade, analyzing what was happening. The lyrium brand should have, feasibly, cut him off completely, but he was no mage and so perhaps the opposite was true for him: Instead of losing all ability to experience the Fade, he instead was able to experience it as a mage might.

There was a noise beside him (for some notion of “beside” and “noise”) and Cullen turned to face it, trying to keep the spots that were Faith and Desire in his peripheral vision. “Hello?”

“Hello, child,” the spirit replied, flowing closer. “It has been long since this ceremony was so interrupted. You are providing a great deal of entertainment for my brethren.”

“I am unsure if that is to my benefit.”

The new spirit let out a soft hiss. Displeasure, Cullen thought, though he did not know why it would feel such a thing. The Desire demon did not like that he no longer felt anything, but it was his demon, the one that had haunted his dreams.

“After all you have done, all you have survived, that they would do this to you. I will not allow it.”

Closer still moved the spirit. “Who are you?”

“You know me, Cullen, as well as you know any of the others. I am Dedication.” A spirit of Perserverance, then, he realized clinically, observing what he had never seen before. “I have been with you since you were a child, determined to become a Templar despite your status. I was with you in your training, when you worked to rise above all those others who had tutors and trainers to prepare them. I was with you in the Tower, as the mages tried to break you. And I am with you now, as I will always be with you.”

When he awoke, he was lying on his back in the room the rite had taken place in, blinking up at the ceiling. He was half terrified and half furious, his emotions warring within him, and so did not say or do much as he was gently helped to stand and brought back to his small cot to sleep off the effects.

They acted as though he should be accepting of what had been done to him and he thought few of the Seekers around him after they left the ceremonial room, celebrating his full membership, were aware of what had actually been done to them. Perhaps if it had been Faith that had brought him back to himself, he would have simply accepted it, too.

Better if even Desire had done it, than Faith. He did not want to have faith in the Seekers anymore.

9:37 Dragon

The attack was more sophisticated than most. At any party in Tevinter, one expected an assassination attempt (Cullen was still unsure if the frequent insistence that one was needed was true or simply the Tevinters playing with him), at a party featuring so many of the Magisterium that became even more likely.

A death had just taken place, spectacular enough to draw most of the attention of the partygoers and their guards. If his senses had not been so sharp when it came to sensing magic, if he had still been new in Tevinter and still overwhelmed by the amount of magic around him, he would not have noticed anything else suspicious.

As the only one ready for the attack, bracing himself just moments before it happened, he spotted the projectile—sent with the magic he sensed to fly so far and true, but itself a non-magical object, unstoppable with simply Southern Templar abilities.

Not unstoppable for Cullen.

It streaked through the air and he had only a moment to analyze the situation, then reached. He’d not spent very long with his Seeker abilities, studying them privately and away from others long enough to be sure he wasn’t a danger, but the power came to him like breathing.

There was a brush of the Spirit against his mind—welcoming, dare he say loving—and then the projectile was stalling, steady in the air, then retreating along the path it had followed. As soon as he felt it return to that starting point, when magic had last touched it, he expanded the field of his power and stopped everything within it.

Silence followed, or near enough through the heavy sounds of his footsteps and breathing as he ran to the assassin, sword at the ready. He felt weak at such sudden and extreme usage, unsteady, as he had when the Seekers first started weening him from lyrium, but he refused to let it show in front of the mages around him.

“Fascinating, just fascinating,” were the first words one of them said, and he looked not at all intimidated by the power Cullen wielded. “Is this the largest scale you’re capable of?”

Cullen blinked at the man—Magister, Gereon Alexius, he had memorized them all and what sort of threat they were (or were not, rarely) to the Divine. “Pardon me?”

“Are you capable of other manipulations of time? How long of a field can you produce?”

Someone scoffed and he heard a few murmurs of doubt that a Templar had actually done such “magic,” but then another man appeared near Alexius’ side (not a Magister, Alexius’ apprentice, son of Magister Pavus, Cullen’s memory immediately provided), giving Cullen a once-over that made him feel more like food than a person, and he had to focus on the rapidfire questions the duo.

The excuse that he had to oversee the arrest was moot when he glanced back at the assassin and found the other Templars present at the ready. As soon as he released the field (bracing himself so he didn’t sway or swoon as he feared he might), they pounced, lyrium-infused weapons taking down the disoriented mage without issue.

“Ser Templar,” the apprentice purred, drawing his attention back to him with little effort except a tone that made Cullen mortified to know he might be blushing, “this is simply fascinating. You must come dine with us tonight.”

Cullen glanced over at the Divine, who was surrounded by other Templars and watching him with a bemused expression. There was a slight incline of his head, all he needed to know that the Divine was listening in and approved.

This was almost certainly some political ploy on his part with Cullen as a prop, but it was all but an order and he could not disobey.

[featherchan]

Xiaolin Showdown Headcanon : Kanako

I wanna first thank @champiionic. As I have always stated, they are awesome friend and a mutual. They gave me so much inspiration that I was able to give Kanako's Xiaolin Showdown Verse with more concrete and cemented ideas for her.  IMPORTANT NOTES: Please understand. This is just my personal headcanon for Kanako, including the characters mentioned in her headcanon. I do not claim to own the series, as Xiaolin Showdown characters and the series (excluding muse Kanako and Noburu, and their verse, stories and headcanons) belong to their creator.

So here we go:-

Kanako rarely appears in the Xiaolin's lives, as she decided to carry on her mother's and ancestor's duties as Scarlet. Even though she was told she was the Dragon of the Light, her reasons were that she didn't want any other child or people to suffer the same loss and pain that she did, where their loved ones were robbed by cursed artifacts.

Kanako has a huge and terrible scar on her back, due to an injury inflicted by a demon during her earlier heist. She became a little too cocky and became careless, allowing the demon to slash her back. Despite having artifacts that could heal the painful scar, she decided to keep it as a reminder of her failure and what carelessness can lead to. Now, it sometimes aches whenever she is close to any demonic creature.

Master Fung has persistently encouraged Kanako to join her fellow monks, as he knew being a Scarlet and a thief could sometimes be dispiriting. Experiencing the real world, especially the darker side of it, dealing with crooks, and crooked people, and encountering beings no one should ever meet or come across, can not only be demoralizing, but easily kill her view of humanity and sap up her sanity.

Despite this, Master Fung hoped that, as far-fetched as his hopes might be, that through love, friendship, and family, Scarlet's humanity and hope could be restored, making her a greater Scarlet than her predecessor.

Kanako is a casual smoker at the young age of (16) to cope with the growing pressure, stress, and danger of being a Scarlet. Noburu wouldn't discourage her either and, instead, encouraged her, even joining her for a smoke on occasion. Despite knowing full well that Kanako was underage and shouldn't be smoking, she figured it would be better for her to pick up smoking than to pick up the bottle (alcohol) to cope.

Kanako has a musical talent and can play the violin. She plays her instrument to sort out and digest strong emotions, from anger to frustration. But she does play for fun sometimes, even along with Master Fung (in my own personal headcanon), a man who has many talents. He plays the piano and they bond together as a family by playing duets.

Kanako struggles to digest strong emotions, especially anger, because as a Scarlet, she needs to remain calm at all times and never let her emotions easily sway her. Yet, sometimes emotions can run high and be too difficult to handle. This leads her to be emotionally cold at times, shutting off her emotions to deal with a situation. But when it becomes too much, she unleashes her pent-up emotions through the punching bag or the nearest wall.

Her father is very absent in her life, due to the death of her mother. This destroyed him and he was unable to care for his daughter. Leading Master Fung not only stepped in as her master, but also as a father figure, fulfilling his promise to Kanako's mother (named Aika) to watch over and care for her in her place.

In my personal headcanon, since Kanako and Omi technically grew up in the temple and under Master Fung's care, they look to each other as siblings, referring to each other as such. Since they both understand the pain of loneliness, they're able to be so close to each other. Omi would often call her "sister" while Kanako would refer to him as "little brother" since she's a few years older than him.

She kept in touch with her 'sibling', Omi, by sending him postcards whenever she traveled to a new country around the world, letting him know that she was alright. To keep her friends and family safe and to keep her whereabouts unknown to her enemies, she would send postcards to him under different aliases, including himself.

In the gang, Kanako fulfills the role of being the mother's friend, taking care of and watching over her friends and family with kindness, wisdom, and care. But she easily drops that act and flirts, flustering her lover or crush without mercy.

Kanako is usually the one who catches her teammates whenever they fall. If anyone gets tossed aside, her first instinct is to catch them and prevent them from getting seriously hurt. She not only protects the others from harm, but she also puts herself in harm's way to allow the others to quickly regroup and get away, believing they have a better chance together in the next fight. And as her relationship and bond with her teammates grew stronger, she would go above and beyond to help them, no matter what the cost.

Kanako doesn't believe herself to be the right fit as a Xiaolin Warrior. She doesn't believe in the element of the 'Light' and believes it to just be an element that her master made up. With a goal and reasons to make her believe that she has a place in the temple and on the Xiaolin side. Plus, with a constant lack of practice in her own element, among the team, she is considered the weakest of them all. And what is going for her is only her martial arts and experience in fighting. And as Kanako rode on adventures with the other Dragon, it soon dawned on her how important it was to strengthen her belief in her own element. Especially when she was protecting her friends and family, her protective shield was easily shattered. But through her journey, she learned to believe in herself. And with the encouragement and love of her master, friends, and family, she believed in herself and learned to accept her role as the Dragon of the Light.

Because of her lack of confidence in herself as a Xiaolin Dragon of Light. She was the last member to receive her own Wudai weapon and elemental Shen Gong Wu. After accepting her role as the Dragon of the Light, she soon received her weapon, the Selena Bow, just like any other Xiaolin member from the Blind Swordsman. Her elemental Wu was forged out of love and bond, taking bits of essence from each of the Dragon and Master Fung, where she named her elemental Wu the Moonstone Dragon.

Her family has a wide knowledge of poisons and potions. This includes knowledge of herbs and medicine. And several medicine and ointment stores in the temple were created from her family's recipes. When she has the time, she will often be found in the greenhouse, tending to the plants, while concocting poisons and medicines, both for her own use and the temple's.

Master Fung had a secret and hidden flip phone where both the student (Kanako) and master would leave crypted messages to one another, to keep in touch.

[cowboyhorsegirl]

End/Start of the year! Means it’s time for an end of year self rec list! If you want.

A top 3-5 list OR rank all the fics you have done this year in a full, completely arbitrary, ranked list of all the ones from this year! Would love to hear your thoughts on your own work :)

Is it too late to answer this or does the almost-end of February still count as "the start of the year" lol

In any case, this was my first year writing fanfic! Writing any fiction at all even, save for the obligatory short-lived YA dystopian novel series my friends and I outlined in the 6th grade together. All that said, I've loved SteveTony for close to a decade now, and I really, really loved getting to explore them even more through my own writing. I'm very excited to practice and create more for them over the coming year :)

Hands down, my favorite fic that I wrote last year was Paradise Blue in 1872, which was written in a fugue state three days after reading the 1872 comics and promptly devouring all the existing 1872 fic on ao3. I love the 1872 verse so dearly (it was the first comic I ever read! biiiiig year for docdracula fandom firsts in 2022), and I had a lot of fun imagining what the nature of Steve's feelings towards Tony might have been before the actual events of the story began. I hadn't really intended to make Steve's devotion to Tony a conceit for religion, but religion tends to come up naturally in my writing a bit anyways so I just leaned into it extra hard for this one. Paradise is definitely the fic I reread the most from my own work by a very large margin, and I think it's some of my best writing, so I'd highly recommend it (and bonus! you don't need to know anything about the 1872-verse to enjoy & understand it other than the fact that Steve is a postbellum cowboy sheriff and that Tony likes to sing to him outside his jailhouse).

Lie de The (Memory Serves Me) is another favorite of mine, a kind of concise summation of the events of Phases 1-3 of the MCU from Tony's 2nd-person POV. I quite enjoyed the more poetic meter and the repeating phrases in this fic. I remember writing this fic in chronological order, largely over the course of one afternoon, and I recall delighting in trying to tie together the later sections with motifs I'd introduced in the earlier ones. It was also a treat to have an idea that I wanted to develop from Tony's POV. I tend to gravitate towards writing Steve's POV, and as far as I'm aware, the only times I've ever written Tony's POV have been in 2nd person. Let's not examine that too closely.

Ralph Waldo Emerson Twilight is another fic that I both loved writing and enjoy rereading! I just feel like there aren't nearly enough stories out there about Steve and Morgan, and more broadly, stories that focus on the fact that Steve has known three different generations of Starks. I feel like there's definitely a lot of inspiration there to wrestle with, if anyone was so inclined to explore those relationships and the way they interconnect further. This was just my small contribution to that endeavor. (And fun fact! The title comes from this ink. The color changes from dusky blue to a deep vibrant mauve with each additional layer of saturation. New meaning with repeating timelines and lifetimes and what not, you know?)

Burn Baby, Burn. I just get a kick out of this one lol. It came to me almost completely fully-formed in an almost divine revelation as I myself was applying sunscreen one morning during the SteveTonyGames. Also make sure you all are wearing sunscreen all year long & don't forget to reapply every couple of hours throughout the day xoxo <3

Stuff Happens was purely a self-indulgent AU of a bollywood movie I used to watch several times a week between the critical ages of like 3-6 years old and which definitely dealt me some form of queer awakening the likes of which I would not be consciously privy to until high school. It was a fun time stevetonifying it :) I will say I know for a fact that this one is criminally underrated bc for the first 12 hours it was up, I had fucked up the tags (Steve Rogers & Tony Stark instead of Steve Rogers/Tony Stark :/ ). So if you're interested in some college AU fluff, I can almost 100% guarantee that you haven't read this one yet.

Blue Black. Another 2nd person Tony Stark POV fic, this time set in the aftermath of 1872. I'll be honest, I only wrote this fic because the line "But so too do his handprints still paint your hips from the last time he touched you." popped into my head unbidden and I couldn't just not do something with that.

I'm putting Growth, Freshly Squeezed Sunshine, and Stand By Me all in the same category of fics I'm happy to have written but that I personally do not revisit at all. These are all stories that I don't think I executed as well as I could have, but I'm glad that there are other people out there who have enjoyed reading them <3 Extra love goes to Growth because it was my first fic, I wrote and uploaded it the day I got my ao3 account, which is certainly a fond memory for me. :)

Thanks for the ask anon! Here's to many more years of writing! <3