#my wings of fire posts flopping and I understand why

[quotidianish]

My art is dipping in quality but I have so much lore for these human cunts in my head. Yes it’s an overdone au but that’s why the concept still has charm.. it’s their scavengersonas. I hold wings of fire humanisations close to my heart I’ve been making them since the fifth grade.

[enchantedbarnes]

Uncle Buck Returns

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Single Aunt!Reader

Summary: Our little menace of a nephew has secured a date for you. Here is part 2 to Uncle Buck.

Word Count: 1401

Masterlist: One | Two | Three | Four | Five

A/N: what in the actual f👀 is going on 😅 I was expecting maybe 10 or so people to read Uncle Buck. My notifications haven't stopped going off since I posted. Thank you so much everyone that read it and enjoyed it. I hope you also enjoy this little continuation. P.S. GIF replies are my love language so if you enjoy send me your best (or worst 😈) 🫶

As soon as the pair returned home and walked through the front door, Benji skipped his way in shouting, "MAWWAGE! MAWWAGE IS WHAT BWINGS US TOGEVAH TODAYYYY!" Arms high above him as he rushes through the living room in search of his parents.

"Benji, please don't make me regret letting you watch my favorite movie," you sigh, flopping onto the couch, hands covering your face.

He stopped short and looked back at you, "Have you the wing?" He bowed and giggled then turned back around to continue on with his search.

"You're back!" Your sister shouted while she snatched Benji up into her arms, covering the small boy in kisses. "Did you have so much fun with Auntie today? Why are we shouting Princess Bride quotes?" She gasps, "Did you get to meet the dread pirate Roberts??"

Benji looks up at her in confusion, "What? No Mom, we saw Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson! And guess WHAT!"

"Ohhh, what?!"

He whispers into her ear and throws his head back laughing like a tiny evil madman.

"You did what???!" She laughs.

You groan from the couch.

She walks both of them over to you.

"Did I understand him correctly, is there something we should know? Are you betrothed to a super soldier?"

"I'm gonna go throw up," you groaned again.

Sweating doesn't even begin to cover it.

Your entire body feels like it's on fire.

You agreed to meet Bucky for a late lunch the following day. You've been sitting on the floor by your closet for what you thought was 30 minutes now, staring into the clothing abyss, spiraling into an internal panic.

You don't go on dates. You keep to yourself. It's comfortable. Living in a combined household with your sister and her small family you're certainly never alone.

What are you even supposed to talk about?

Your current job is nothing super exciting to talk about. You do like to go to concerts and musicals... However you can't really imagine the 106-year-old super soldier going to a pop punk or metal show, nor do you imagine him attending Wicked 3 times. Note to self: do not bring up Rogers the musical. Yikes.

Your sister has already talked you off a ledge 3 times since last night when you got home.

While still wallowing in self pity and loathing, two outfits are scattered by you and you have three more in your arms.

Your sister walks by your open door and backtracks peering in.

"Y/n," she sighs, "just wear the first outfit. You'll look great, I promise." She walks over and grabs the armful of clothes from you, dumping them on the bed and grabbing the first outfit. Your favorite pair of black jeans and a sweater you bought specifically because it was so damn soft.

The doorbell rings and your eyes widen. "He's early?!"

"He's on time, you would have noticed if you weren't staring into space for the last hour."

"WHAT?!"

"Don't worry we'll keep him distracted while you finish getting ready."

"Oh sure, don't worry. That fills me with all the confidence..."

"Benji has already asked him to marry you, what's the worst that could happen now?"

"I don't even want to think about the answer to that. So many possibilities come to mind."

You grab your outfit and start rushing around.

"Can I get you something to drink, Bucky?" Your sister asks while she moves about the room.

Bucky and Benji are seated at the kitchen table, just off from the living room. Benji is across from him with his tiny arms crossed on the table, and a very serious look on his face.

"I'm fine, thanks."

"Ok, I'm sure she'll be down in just a moment. Make yourself at home. Hopefully we will see you around again soon," she smiles, "I'm just gonna go switch the laundry over quickly. Benji," she looks down at him while pointing two fingers at her eyes and then over to him, "behave yourself," she warns while leaving the room.

The table stare down continues.

"Where do you live?" Benji asks.

"In the city," Bucky answers.

"You have a house?" Benji fires back.

"Apartment."

"Own or rent?"

"Rent."

"Where’s your office?"

"I don’t have one."

"How come?"

"I don’t need one."

"Where’s your wife?"

"Don’t have one.."

"Yet," Benji squints with a tiny smirk, "but how come?"

"It's a long story."

"You have kids?"

"No I don’t."

"How come?"

"It's an even longer story."

"Do you prefer dogs or cats?"

"Both are fine."

"Do you have one?"

"I have a cat. Names Alpine."

"Is Steve Rogers really on the moon?"

"What's your record for consecutive questions asked?"

"38."

"He's up there all right." Bucky answers with a nod.

"Your metal arm and regular arm match well with how ginormous your muscles are."

"How nice of you to notice."

"I’m a kid, that’s my job."

Bucky raises a brow, "Why am I getting the 3rd degree here?"

"Just checking in on my investments. If this didn't work I was going to ask our neighbor Frank, but he kind of sucks," Benji shrugs his shoulders.

Before Bucky can question the language and what the 8-year-old said, you walk into the kitchen and quickly look back and forth between the two of them.

"Oh no, how long have you two been alone in here?? What did he say?" You ask Bucky, looking over at Benji quickly after, "What did you say??" Your eyes narrow.

Benji grins and holds your purse up for you. "Have fun storming the castle," he cheekily smiles with that glint in his eyes.

"Benji," you glare down at him.

Bucky clears his throat while standing up from the table. Walking over to you he points to a small bouquet of flowers that were already in a vase waiting on the kitchen table, "Um, these are for you…" he smiles.

"Thank you so much, they're beautiful," your reply is breathless while you look at the arrangement filled with a small mix of your favorites.

"He also gave me this," Benji holds up an RC truck with a Captain America shield painted on the side.

"That was very nice of him, did you say thank you?"

"Duh," he rolled his eyes while grabbing the remote to the car and rolling it out to the living room, "Thanks Future-Uncle Bucky," he grins and chases after it.

"Anyone ever tell you guys he's kind of a strange kid?" Bucky whispers conspiratorially while offering his arm to you.

You throw your head back with a quick laugh. "Oh, you have no idea."

Your date is going better than you expected.

You have managed to not make a complete fool out of yourself so far and both of you seemed to be enjoying your time together.

You have apologized multiple times for Benji's antics.

Bucky laughed, "He reminds me a bit of a young Steve and my sister Rebecca combined. Didn't realize that combo was possible, it's a little terrifying. I hope they have great medical insurance," he jokes.

"His father's a nurse, so we have in-house medical on demand. My sister tried to convince me to go to law school so someone can represent him when he undoubtedly tries to take over the world. Guess I can save some money and time on law school now that we have a super soldier plus a Captain America connection that can potentially stop him before lawyers need to be involved."

"Your sister already welcomed me to the family when she opened the door to let me in," he smirks.

You put your face in your hands, elbows leaning against the table in support.

"Well now you know where her small menace gets it from."

Bucky helps pull your chair out for you as you're both about to leave. As you stand up your purse falls off the back of your chair, spilling some of its contents on the floor when it lands.

Bucky ducked down to help collect your things when something shiny appeared next to your chapstick. His eyebrows furrow as he picks both up and holds them up to you.

You let out a slightly strangled cough as you realized what he was holding up to you.

Bucky Barnes was kneeling holding up your peppermint chapstick and your Grandmother's opal ring that was supposed to be safely in your jewelry box at home.

...Benjamin!

@pono-pura-vida @bitchy-bi-trash @random-writer-23 @jvanilly @clintsupremacy @eatingtheworldsoffanfiction

Next: Part 3 Lord of the Pins

[andrewmoocow]

Steven Universe Alternate Future chapter 26: Everything’s Fine (originally posted on September 20, 2021)

AN: Welcome back to the jungle readers. When last we left Steven, his mind was going further down the toilet after shattering Jasper and the voice in his head continues trying to take control, which led to him lashing out against White Diamond & Spinel. Can he possibly keep his personal Nega-Scott under control while trying to tell the Gems that everything is totally okay? All this and more in this gripping chapter of Alternate Future!

Synopsis: Despite Steven constantly saying otherwise, everything isn't fine.

Cast:

Zach Callison as Steven, Topiary Stevens, Cactus Stevens

Estelle as Garnet

Micheala Dietz as Amethyst

Deedee Magno-Hall as Pearl, Yellow Pearl, Blue Pearl

Grace Rolek as Connie

Tom Scharpling as Greg

Ron Perlman as Steven's Inner Voice

Shelby Rabara as Peridot, Squaridot

Jennifer Paz as Lapis, Laz, Zuli

Uzo Aduba as Bismuth

Kimberly Brooks as Cherry Quartz

Michelle Maryk as Larimar

Ian Jones-Quartey as Snowflake Obsidian, Bixbite

Tara Platt as Heaven and Earth Cubic Zirconias

Martha Higerada as Topaz

Auli'I Cravalho as Orange Spodumene

Aparna Nancherla as Nephrite

Kimiko Glenn as Blue Chalcedony

Phillipa Soo as Chrysocolla

Anika Noni Rose as Watermelon Tourmaline

Tara Strong as Grossular Diopside

Aimee Carrero as Moonstone

Jinkx Monsoon as Emerald

Kari Wahlgren as Pyrope

Melissa Fahn as Demantoid

Noël Wells as Black Rutile

Lauren Ash as White Topaz

Della Saba as Aquamarine

Charlyne Yi as Eyeball

Larissa Gallagher as Bluebird Azurite

Susan Egan as Rose Quartz

--

As soon as Steven returned to his earthly home via Warp Pad and checked up on the bathroom, he returned to his room to flop down on his bed. Steven thought the Diamonds would be of help to him, but instead, they didn't understand what he was going through, and his evil voice kept making things worse for him.

"Why did you make me do that?" Steven lugubriously asked his inner self. "Why did you make me nearly kill White Diamond, and punch Spinel?"

"They hurt you, so I thought it was about time you gave them their just desserts." The evil voice within Steven answered. "Yet the real you insisted that everything was fine. That's your biggest problem, you're way too forgiving of others no matter how much they want you dead."

"No, I know when others don't deserve to be accepted." Steven argued. "Like Black Rutile for example. If she's going to be proud of how irredeemable she is, I'll just let her do her thing."

"Ah yes, do her thing." The negative side of Steven mused. "Like threaten your life and make repeated attempts on your psyche. Yeah, if you could change that pervert, then maybe you can change the sociopath too."

Suddenly, Steven's phone began to ring. "One second Negative Me, I have to take this." Steven said while picking it up and hearing a relieving familiar voice on the other end. "Hey Connie, what's up?"

"Steven!" Connie cried in delight. "Good, you finally picked up. I can't believe we haven't talked to each other since the hospital visit, how are you?"

"I'm great!" Steven fibbed while gazing at how he was still pink. "Never been better!"

"Really?" Connie asked, raising an eyebrow. "Are you sure you haven't had any more swelling or turning pink problems?"

"Uh, nope?" Steven replied. "Okay, maybe, but how are you doing? How's prepping for college going?"

"It's going fine Steven." Connie answered nervously. "But what you mean when you said maybe?"

"Look, there's nothing to worry about." Steven kept on lying. "Everything's fine."

"I doubt it." Steven's dark side interrupted.

"Look, I'll call you later," Steven said. "I don't wanna wake up the Gems."

"But they don't even sleep!" Connie exclaimed before Steven quickly hung up and gazed at his hands before the TV turned on.

"-it's because I'M A UNIVERSE!" Steven began seeing visions of the past on the TV, starting with his argument with Greg before it went to static. Then it began showing Steven holding the shattered remains of Jasper's gem in his hand. More static, followed by the near-death of White Diamond, then Steven punching Spinel for singing to him. Just as Steven got up to try and turn the TV off, he got one last devastating surprise.

"Steven, we can't both exist." Rose Quartz announced to Steven in the video she made before giving birth to him, the very sight of her warm face making him twitch angrily where he stood. "I'm going to become half of you. And I need you to know that every moment you love being yourself, that's me, loving you and loving being you."

"No, I never loved myself," Steven growled furiously. "I've always hated being you. Everything I've suffered, and everything you ever put everyone through," He balled up his fist and pointed it straight at the TV screen. "IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

Before Rose could finish, Steven broke the screen with a single punch and prematurely ended the video. However, Steven then let out a gasp as he gazed into his reflection on the shattered remains of the screen, noticing that his irises were now diamond-shaped and realizing what he had become.

"No! No, no, no, no!" Steven trembled and dropped to the ground in horror. "Th-this can't be happening, I didn't think about shattering White, I didn't shatter Jasper, punch Spinel, or nearly kill Dad!" His panicking soon turned to mad chuckling as Steven tried to cheer himself up. "I'm Steven Universe!" Steven then turned to Vidalia's painting of him and Garnet. "I'm fine, I'm fine!" he loudly repeated to himself, causing the glass of his bedroom door to break. "I'm totally fine!"

"Steven, is that you?!" The loudness of Steven's fibbing caused Pearl to cry out as she, Amethyst, and Garnet raced upstairs to Steven's room and gasped at his current appearance.

"What happened?" Amethyst asked Steven. "When did you get so big?"

"Is everything alright?" Pearl added just as nervously.

"I'm fine." Steven smiled and waved at the Gems. "Going to the Diamonds was just a waste of time since they had no idea what I was going through. I thought I needed to figure myself out, but I already know who I am! I'm Steven Universe; and I help, not hurt!"

"Yeah, then I suppose you tried to help the TV there?" Amethyst said while pointing a thumb at the damaged TV. "Seriously, we have got to upgrade someday. But seriously dude, what's going on? You look way different!"

"Pfft, I'm still your lovable old Steven!" Steven denied in response.

"Steven, we're worried," Garnet stated, taking off her glasses to emphasize how concerned she was for her ward. "You haven't been acting like your usual self lately, and we think you should get some rest before this gets dangerous."

"I'm okay, really!" Steven continued lying to the Gems, who glanced concernedly at each other before turning back to him.

"We'll take your word for it." Garnet said resignedly.

"You know, everything's gone downhill ever since I quit Little Homeschool!" Steven declared cheerfully. "I should head on over and see if I can make myself useful there! See you guys later!"

With that, Steven used his newfound super speed to race out of the house to Little Homeworld. To the Gems, it was like he was gone in an instant.

"I get that Steven wants us to know he's fine, but that was a little unsettling." Pearl stated fearfully. "We should just follow him to Little Homeworld so we can keep an eye on him."

"Agreed." Garnet nodded while putting her glasses back on.

"Yeah, that boy ain't right!" Amethyst declared before the trio left Steven's bedroom. But what they or even Steven didn't know was that a black-colored drone was watching them carefully.

--

"Excellent, he's just about at his breaking point." Black Rutile declared triumphantly while examining the footage her drone has gathered with White Topaz by her side. "Oh, I haven't felt this much of a rush since the Strawberry Battlefields!"

"But will Steven get any better?" White Topaz asked nervously, inciting her master to give her a furious glare.

"No, that's my intention!" Black Rutile stated. "I broke him, I broke his spirit! If I physically harmed him, the damage would just go away. But mental torture, the wounds shall only grow and fester! I have officially broken Steven Universe, and all that's left is for everyone to reject that monster."

"Oh master, we're back from training." Bluebird Azurite declared as she flew back to the Rutile's cavern hideaway.

"Oh hey guys, how you getting along?" White Topaz asked the fusion cheerfully.

"We're getting along splendidly thanks to Steven's advice." Bluebird answered before un-fusing into Aquamarine and Eyeball.

"Now we're even stronger than ever!" Aquamarine exclaimed joyfully.

"Look what we can do now!" Eyeball added before pulling out her chisel and shaking it to turn the blade into a beam of fire while Aquamarine launched bubbles from her wings.

"Ah, so glad you two are reaching your full potential, potential that Steven has suppressed for too long." Black Rutile smiled warmly at the tiny twosome. "But know this, you may be afraid of what could be to come, but remember that fear is but the precursor to valor! And to strive and triumph in the face of fear is what it means to be a warrior. Don't think, become."

"I fail to see how that could inspire us, but okay." Aquamarine muttered before peeking behind Black Rutile to see the drone footage. "Now what's all this?"

"It's video evidence that I've driven Steven to madness." Black Rutile answered with a proud grin before gesturing to each screen. "Here, we see Steven going ballistic on a human television when his mother appeared on the monitor." She said pointing to the first one. "On this one, the accursed Crystal Gems show concern for him for once, but he denies that anything is wrong with him." Then Black Rutile moved on to the third one. "And finally, Steven is just gone like a light."

"How can he do that?" White Topaz asked as she looked at the third viewscreen.

"Research shows that this comes from his Diamond heritage interfering with his human biology." Black Rutile analyzed the footage. "I should know, I was often tasked with watching over Pink Diamond whenever her usual caretakers were unavailable. And let me just say, it was unbelievably hectic."

"Yeah, like remember our attempted occupation of Zembilla?" White Topaz added. "Pink really grew attached to those little orange natives and didn't want them all dead."

"Don't remind me to the point of making me have a flashback." Black Rutile groaned while stroking her temples. "This shall be our time to rise up. We shall strike the first moment we get when Steven is at his lowest, so I suggest you better prepare." The Rutile then turned to her Topaz muscle. "Topaz, I need you to preside over Aquamarine and Ruby's training for the time being."

"Oh, of course, I'll do as you say!" White Topaz frantically declared. "That's me, White Topaz, always at your service!"

"Just…..go." Black Rutile's eye began to twitch at White Topaz's brownnosing. As soon as her three subordinates left, the mastermind turned back to her screens and paused the first one at Steven punching the TV screen. "Soon, my boy. Your god complex will finally crumble, just like your so-called happily ever after."

--

"Ah Little Homeworld, long time no see!" Steven declared happily as he reached Little Homeworld and landed on the Warp Pad. "Time to find someone who needs my help."

As Steven ran around the village in search of people to help, Gems and humans were taken a little aback by his new appearance and tried to stay away from him, though Steven didn't know why.

"Look, we're just saying Emerald, there are more ways reptiles are connected to birds than you think." Demantoid argued with Emerald as the two played chess together.

"Name one!" Emerald declared while moving her rook to knock out Demantoid's pawn. "Are there any lizards that have feathers, hm?!"

"Hey, guys, any arguments that need settling?" Steven butted into the green Gems' debate with a wide smile, taking the two by surprise. "Something about birds?"

"What is wrong with you?!" Emerald exclaimed. "This is why Black Rutile hates you, you think everything has to revolve around you and how you think you can fix everything! But even so, you look creepily happier than usual. Something is definitely up."

"Oh, everything's fine." Steven declared, his eye twitching ever so slightly at Emerald's accusation. "I think I'll just let you guys get back to your conversation." And so, Steven set off for someone else to try and help, leaving the green ex-subordinates of Black Rutile aghast before they decided to change the topic while getting back to their game.

"So, I've heard rumors that Steven is suffering from some problems lately." Demantoid said as her rook moved to take out the opposing knight. "Something about post-traumatic stress disorder?"

"Are you sure?" Emerald replied. "Because I've read about the symptoms, and something tells me he might have a borderline personality disorder."

"Maybe somewhere in the middle?" Demantoid deduced.

--

"Now the key to giving a plant proper sunlight is finding a spot that's just right." Peridot exposited to her class of Pyrope, Orange Spodumene, Blue Chalcedony, Cherry Quartz, and Squaridot while pointing to a chrysanthemum. "And it also varies on what kind of plant you're growing."

"I see." Squaridot muttered in awe.

Just then, Steven barged into the greenhouse and grinned at Peridot's class. "Hi Peridot, do any of you need some help?"

"No, I do believe we're perfectly fine." Pyrope answered dryly.

"So what brings you back here?" Peridot asked. "Didn't you leave a few months back?"

"Just your friendly neighborhood Crystal Gem just here to help!" Steven declared. "And I think your students have a few struggling saplings here. Let me give you a hand." Chuckling at his pun, Steven licked his hands and reached out to Pyrope's pot before Peridot stopped him.

"Not so fast!" Peridot scolded Steven. "Amethyst told me you're on a No Plant Friends policy after what happened with the Cactus Stevens."

"We're right here you know." A Cactus Steven said while helping a nearby Sapphire.

"Besides, I don't want your germs all over my prized flower!" Pyrope added, protectively hiding her pot from Steven.

"Oh come on you guys, I just want to give them a little nudge!" Steven laughed. To further prove his point, a leaf fell off Blue Chalcedony's plant.

"That has been bothering me lately." Blue Chalcedony stated, holding her pot out to Steven. "Go ahead, just a smidge though."

"I got a bad feeling about this." Cherry Quartz said warily.

"Oh don't worry, I got this!" Steven said as he licked his finger and tapped on the spot where the leaf fell off.

Moments later, the greenhouse began literally bursting with plant life, and not in a good way. Living topiaries in the shape of Steven broke through the greenhouse walls chanting "Steven's here to help!" while Peridot's class ran away screaming.

"Nice going Chal, now look what's happened!" Pyrope yelled at Blue Chalcedony.

"Hey, lay off her Pyrope!" Orange Spodumene exclaimed. "But still, something is not right with Steven!"

On the topic of Steven, he followed the class out of the greenhouse and seemed oblivious to the damage he had caused. "Look at that, life! It's everywhere, it always finds a way!"

"Much like how you find a way to drive people away." Steven's evil voice muttered sardonically, but Steven paid it no mind as he continued his search for people to help.

--

"Now, tell me how that makes you feel." Garnet said to a human couple she was giving counseling to when she heard Peridot scream, causing the humans to stand up as they gasped. "See you next week."

As soon as the couple ran away in fright, three Topiary Stevens surrounded Garnet, still chanting "Steven's here to help!" while the real Steven ran into the fusion.

"Oh Garnet, I see you're making some new friends!" Steven exclaimed joyfully, continuing to be unaware of his surroundings. "Then I guess this was a net win. Welp, gotta run and find someone else to help! It's what I do!"

"Then help me stop them!" Garnet yelled while the Topiary Stevens repeated "Steven's here to help!", which began to get on her nerves. "The others have to know about this."

--

"Being a lifeguard was far easier than I thought." Laz declared while relaxing in a lifeguard chair above the Gems in the now completed swimming pool. "Just gotta sit around and wait for something to happen. Besides, Gems can't drown anyways!"

"Yeah, but they still need to learn some basic rules." Lapis said to her old friend turned enemy turned friend again before blowing her whistle. "Hey, no running so fast! You might slip and fall!"

"Sorry, Lapis." Teal Zircon apologized before diving in and landing on top of Watermelon Tourmaline. "This is living, eh Melon?"

"You said it, Teal." Watermelon Tourmaline said as she floated around the pool with the Zircon relaxing on her stomach. "Ain't nothing could go wrong today."

Just then, Steven came a-knocking as he opened the gate to the pool to check out what was going on. "Hey Lapises, how's everything going?" he asked. "Anyone need any saving right now?"

"Actually, I think we're running a pretty tight ship as is," Lapis answered Steven while Zuli emerged from the pool after a swim. "Right guys?"

"Yeah, we don't need any extra help right now." Zuli stated. "But if you want, we could hold tryouts sometime."

"Oh no need, I'll just do it myself." Steven beamed before he began looking out for someone who might need his assistance when he spotted Teal Zircon resting on Watermelon Tourmaline's stomach. "Hey TZ, you could slip and fall!"

"What?" Teal asked before Steven grabbed her by the hand. "I'm doing pretty fine over here." Suddenly, as Steven tried to pull the Zircon from the pool, he accidentally pulled a little too hard and threw her up in the air. "OKAY, NOW I'M NOT DOING FINE!" TZ screamed as she flew away from the pool. "WITNESS ME!"

Teal Zircon didn't stay in the air for long, and soon dropped from the sky into another part of Little Homeworld. "I'm okay!"

"What's the big idea, Steven?" Watermelon Tourmaline asked. "We were all having fun before you came in and threw Teal Zircon to who knows where!"

"I'm sure TZ's fine, she said so herself." Steven laughed. "Well, gotta run! Have a nice day everybody!"

As soon as Steven ran off, more Topiary Stevens came bursting through the chain-link fence as they wrestled with the Cactus Stevens, prompting the other Gems present to slowly back away.

"Can this day get any weirder?" Laz scoffed. "I was trying to relax here!"

"Hey, did anyone else notice that Steven was all pink and such?" Lapis asked her fellow water-manipulating lifeguards.

"Yeah, it's kinda freaking me out." Zuli replied. "And are we sure he's totally fine?"

"I'm asking that question too." Lapis pondered while Peridot came charging through the broken fence to break up the battle of the plant Stevens.

--

When Steven left the pool, the first thing he saw was Bismuth's forge. "That's right, it must be shop o'clock!" he declared while skidding to a stop. "Bismuth's shop class, that is. Time to get my shop on."

"You good bud, you talking to yourself or something?" Amethyst, dressed in a coach uniform, asked Steven as he entered the forge.

"Now, the detailing requires a light touch." Bismuth explained to Blue Pearl, Bixbite & Snowflake Obsidian while standing between Pearl wearing a smithing apron and Yellow Pearl in a suit of armor. "Pay attention now everybody, cause this is critical to getting it right."

"Uh, hey howdy hey!" Steven greeted the shop class while leaning against the entrance.

"Oh, hey Steven!" Bixbite cheerfully greeted Steven.

"Did you get taller?" Blue Pearl asked with a tilt of her head and a finger to her lips.

"Whoa-ho-ho, lookin' good Steven!" Bismuth complimented Steven's change in appearance.

"I don't think that look is a positive change for him." Pearl whispered to Bismuth. "We think something might be wrong with him."

"Fancy seeing you drop by." Yellow Pearl grinned, unaware of what the teachers were conversing about. "How do you like my armor?"

"You look great Yellow Pearl!" Steven answered. "So Bismuth, in need of a teaching assistant?"

"Actually, Pearl's my TA today," Bismuth replied with a hand on Pearl's shoulder before presenting Yellow Pearl's armor-clad arm. "but I could use a wedding expert for my wedding armor demonstration. How 'bout it?"

"Of course, I'll help!" Steven declared. "That's what I love doing, just helping everyone!"

"Okay, let's get some materials warmed up for you." Bismuth then walked over to a pot of coals that she plucked a cooling steel bar from and flattened one end of it on the anvil with her hammer hand. "I think that's good enough." She stated. "Hey Steven, mind helping me with a pauldron or two?"

"I got this." Steven cheered as he walked over to the anvil and prepared to punch the metal.

"Hold up there boulder-brain." Bismuth stopped Steven before he could punch. "It's just some detail work, no need for a big mallet when you could use a little hammer." She handed a tiny hammer to Steven. "Plus, you could burn yourself that way."

"Oh, whoopsy-daisy, thanks Bismuth." Steven exclaimed and lightly tapped on the metal with the hammer. Instead of the detail work he thought he could do, Steven instead cracked the anvil into pieces with a single tap.

"Someone's stronger than we thought." Snowflake laughed nervously while Pearl & Bismuth gazed at the broken anvil.

"Look at that, now you have two anvils!" Steven laughed while Bismuth mourned the destruction of her anvil.

"NOOOOO!" Bismuth dropped to her knees in despair. "My anvil! My beautiful anvil!"

"Oh, grow up will you?" Steven's inner voice grumbled. "It's an anvil, you can make another."

"Seems like my work here is done." The real Steven laughed as he prepared to leave. "Well, toodles!"

"You see what I mean, Steven's not himself lately." Pearl said as she comforted Bismuth. "First he nearly got Greg killed, then Jasper started calling him her Diamond, and now this."

"Can I be the first to say that he needs help?" Yellow Pearl asked sardonically as more Topiary Stevens continued their rampage outside the forge.

--

As Steven exited the forge, he ran towards a baseball game that Amethyst was holding. Nephrite was on the Warp Pad throwing a ball to Doc, Amethyst stood by with Onion next to her, Topaz stood with a pair of humans on the bases, Larimar was in the outfield, and Chrysocolla, Grossular Diopside & Moonstone were waiting to play.

As soon as Amethyst noticed Steven, she blew her whistle and turned to talk to him. "Hey dude," she greeted him. "What's up?"

"I was just wondering if you needed any more players." Steven offered. "I'm ready to have a ball!"

"I think we could squeeze you in, we do need a new outfielder," Amethyst concluded and pointed to Larimar. "Oy, Larimar! Hit the showers, Steven's taking your place!"

"Good luck there Steven." Larimar said while she got up and left while Steven took her place on the playing field.

"Yeah, good hustle there Lil Larimar." Steven complimented the ice Gem. "I'm honored to be joining such a great game, I mean, everyone here has been outstanding!"

"You just got here, how do you know that?" Nephrite raised her brow.

"That's just me, I know what everyone is doing and feel the need to help all the time!" Steven declared, creeping everyone out.

"Enough chit-chat, batter up!" Amethyst cried out, cuing Onion to pick up a bat and walk up to home base, ready to play. Nephrite threw the ball towards the silent boy and he hit it with the bat, although unfortunately, it was heading straight for a nearby house.

"Oh no, in danger again?!" the Heaven Cubic Zirconia complained as the ball sailed towards the window of her and Earth Cubic Zirconia's house while they were having tea.

"I swear, is it because we're small?" Earth Cubic Zirconia wondered. Thankfully, Steven caught the ball just in time, much to their relief.

"I did it." Steven declared and the other players cheered.

"Three cheers for Steven!" Topaz declared.

"That's our boy." Chrysocolla smiled.

"I did it, and I didn't ruin anything!" Steven boomed happily. "YEAH!" However, the complete opposite of what he just said quickly happened. His excited yell caused a windstorm powerful enough to knock people off their feet, break glass everywhere, and cause the Zirconias' house to fall apart.

"Whoa, take it easy Steven!" Moonstone cried as she held onto a bench while the windstorm continued.

"Someone help me!" Grossular Diopside yelled while she got blown away with Larimar. Thankfully, the windstorm died down after a few seconds but still left a ton of destruction in its wake, and all eyes were on Steven.

"Oops, sorry everyone." Steven blushed at the chaos he caused. "T-t-that was an accident. But what are accidents and mistakes but opportunities to learn and improve, right?" He looked down at the Zirconias, who weren't very happy about the destruction of their home.

"It was a mistake for us to be put in danger again, especially because of you!" Earth yelled accusingly.

"Earthy, shush!" Heaven shushed her partner.

"I mean, we all make mistakes, and as long as we keep improving, everything will be fine!" Steven declared while picking up a log. "Alright, let's get to it!"

"It was a mistake for you to come here in this state." The voice in Steven's head declared. "Black Rutile and I were right, you will drive everyone away."

"Listen, I am done with you for today." Steven's own thoughts argued with the voice. "Just pipe down and don't ever think about feeding me bad thoughts ever again, got it?"

"How about never?" the voice said smarmily while the Topiary Stevens got to work on helping Steven by picking up Onion, Larimar, and Grossular Diopside.

"WE'RE HELPING!" one of the Plant Stevens yelled.

--

High above the destroyed makeshift baseball field, Black Rutile's satellite continued watching everything and sending footage back to its creator, who was all too happy to see what her hard work has amounted to.

"This is just priceless!" Black Rutile laughed joyously. "First, he makes plants come to life and fight those cactus beasts, then he throws that annoying Zircon into the air, broke an anvil, and caused a scene during one of those human games. I'm sure he's going to make such a scene about all these little accidents."

"All the more tools to humiliate the boy." Aquamarine added just as sneakily. "Soon, he will have nothing but himself and his thoughts controlling him."

"Unless his friends were to come out and tell him everything will be alright." White Topaz objected. "I'm just saying, those Gems will stick by his side through thick and thin."

"Hey, no more objections!" Eyeball yelled while pulling out her flame knife. "Want me to test this on you?!"

While Eyeball began chasing White Topaz around the woods with her knife, Black Rutile just groaned and turned back to her screens. "Tell me Aquamarine, why do all great geniuses surround themselves with idiots?"

"Your guess is as good as mine my Rutile." Aquamarine shook her head while watching the screens focused on the beach house with bated breath.

--

As soon as Steven was done helping fix what he had broke, he returned to the beach house with a dourer expression than the big smile he kept wearing throughout the day. On the other side of the room, Connie was in the living room while Greg and the Gems sat down on the couch.

"Steven!" Connie cried. "I was right all along, you're still swelling! I tried calling you all day, but I kept getting this weird meme." She held up her phone, which now depicted Steven bouncing up and down while chanting "Steven's here to help!" just like the Topiary Stevens. "Please, what is going on? We're all worried for you."

"Go on boy, play dumb." Steven's inner voice commanded.

"I sometimes broadcast my subconscious these days." Steven answered. "It's really no big deal."

"NOT THAT DUMB!" the voice groaned in irritation.

"I can tell something is bothering you." Connie continued. "There are even times where the meme sometimes turns into this."

"Steven's here to help, Steven's here to help!" Steven kept chanting on Connie's phone before it began to glitch. "Steven help, help Steven!"

"Ah, I don't know what you're talking about!" Steven declared, his stress continuing to unnerve others. "Besides, you all saw I was doing just fine this morning. I'm fine, awesome even!"

"Steven, if being as helpful as you always are, even if it's a bit obnoxious & creepy, is what you want, we'll support you 100%." Greg comforted. "But if you're not really happy, if something's wrong-"

"He's onto us!" the voice exclaimed. "Should've gone a little further with the crash, I say."

"Nothing's wrong!" Steven rebuked his father's worries. "Besides, you all don't have to worry."

"We ARE worried!" Connie replied worryingly. "Besides, Pink Diamond's Pearl told the Gems over the communicator in your greenhouse that you punched Spinel while you were at Homeworld."

"Listen, you can tell us anything." Greg added.

"Look at these worms, ganging up on us." The inner voice kept snarling. "Run, run while you still can! No one may help us now! Except, of course, for a certain Rutile."

"It's not that easy." Steven muttered as he hung his head in shame. "You know what? I don't want to deal with all this." However, when Steven tried to leave, Garnet blocked his way to the Warp Pad while the rest kept him from leaving through the door. "Seriously guys, I don't want to deal with this!"

"No, we don't wanna deal with all this." Amethyst put her foot down at Steven's behavior.

"Please, you have to stop running." Garnet begged in addition when suddenly, Steven's body began to swell yet again and his face stretched out.

"Maybe we should get you back to my mom at the hospital." Connie suggested.

"HOSPITAL?!" Amethyst shrieked.

"Is that what you were doing while we were at the trial?!" Pearl yelled.

"You mean you didn't tell them?!" Connie cried out in shock, while Steven's body kept on distorting and his breath quickened.

"It wasn't that important, just my first ever doctor's visit." Steven smiled awkwardly. "You're making a big deal out of nothing! Sure, I messed up the house and broke a few things, but what teenager hasn't?"

"You spent years forcing secrets out of the Gems, and now you're the one keeping secrets?" Steven's darker half growled at his other half's hypocrisy. "You truly have become your mother."

"And sure, Dad and I had a little fight, but it was practically a rite of passage!" Steven continued fibbing and shrugged.

Connie and the Gems turned their gaze to Greg, who just scratched his head and let out a nervous laugh.

"I mean, wouldn't it be weird if we didn't?!" Steven kept on ranting. "And sure, I've had Black Rutile feed me some not so nice thoughts while you were at Los Diego that took the form of an inner voice that forced me to punch Spinel, or try and shatter White Diamond, but it's not like I actually went through with it! I did really shatter Jasper after all!"

"WHAT?!" Amethyst screamed at the thought of Steven, this sweet young man who would rather hang out with a fly than hurt it, doing such a thing, especially to a Gem he had tried many times to help see the light.

Although barely anyone could hear, Jasper let out a light moan from the bathroom.

"You're-you're joking right?!" Connie gasped with Greg while Garnet's jaw dropped and Pearl's eyes widened.

"Oh don't worry, I fixed Jasper! I can fix anything!" Steven's temper began to reach its boiling point. "I can just keep fixing and fixing things forever, and you'll never have to worry about anything ever again!"

"Except worrying about how you're deliberately pushing people away while begging them to stay." Steven's inner voice concluded while metaphorically looking around at the shocked reactions of Steven's human & Gem loved ones. "Just look at them all, how do you think they'd ever forgive you for such a horrendous act?"

"Steven." Garnet tried to lend an assuring hand on the boy's shoulder, but she was quickly shoved away.

"How messed up is that?!" Steven gasped as he felt something change in his body. His teeth began getting sharper, his skin became pinker & leatherier, his hands slowly turned into claws, and his pupils started turning pink. "That I've gotten away with all this for so long, forcing my views down the throats of others, tearing apart Gem society to the point where they'll eventually be invaded, actually murdering someone! Black Rutile was right, I am just an awful person! A sociopath even!"

No one could comprehend what Steven was thinking right now. Greg began to tear up at all these horrible things Steven was saying about himself, Connie gripped the father's arm tightly, and Pearl & Amethyst began fearfully hugging Garnet, whose face was completely frozen in horror.

"You think I'm so great, I'm so mature, that I always know what to do, BUT I'M NOT!" Steven began roaring in a more beastly tone. "I haven't learned a thing from my problems, and I never will! They all kept making me worse, YOU all keep making me worse! Are you even sure any of you ever loved or cared about me?! If it weren't for Pink Diamond ruining everything for everyone, I could've been just a normal kid!"

"That's right, just let everything out." The inner voice purred comfortingly. "Me on the other hand, I think I shall take my leave and prepare something more normal for you." With that, the inner voice seemingly vanished from Steven's mind.

"You all think of me as a perfect angel who's too pure for this world, but I'm not a little kid anymore!" Steven boomed before he dropped to the ground with his head between his hands. "I'm just like my mom. A fraud." He began to tremble where he crouched as something began bubbling on his back. "I'm a monster!"

Suddenly, a massive pillar of light pink scales erupted from Steven's back like a volcano as everyone reacted quickly. Garnet stuck her arms out to protect Amethyst & Pearl and Connie jumped back, but Greg was just plain terrified.

--

"I'm a monster!" Steven's final words before his transformation were rewound by Black Rutile as she eagerly replayed the phrase again and again on more of her satellite footage. "I'm a monster! I'm a monster! I'm a monster!"

With an evil grin, Black Rutile paused the video and shut off her screens. "And I have finally won!" she declared triumphantly and let out a booming evil laugh that echoed throughout the cave and scared off the nearby animals. Aquamarine & Eyeball grinned in delight, while White Topaz turned away from her cohorts in shame of what she had participated in. As quickly as Black Rutile finished her victorious cackle, she had another wonderful, awful idea in mind. "Now, onto Phase 2."

--

….holy shit. Uh, see you all for I am My Monster, I guess. And by the way, I did repurpose Steven accidentally playing Rose's message for the Rose trio in Rose Buds for the opening.

[nearlymanaged]

7. Celebrations and The Morning After

“How come McGonagall isn’t trying to break this party up,” a starry-eyed third year boy was staring up at Sirius as if he’d never seen anyone so awe-inspiringly cool.

“Well, she’s fast asleep, isn’t she? It’s almost midnight,” his friend suggested.

“Or she pretends to be. She’s got a soft spot for Black,” Remus startled the two boys when he spoke behind them.

The surprise birthday party had already proven to be a success - the Gryffindor common room was packed, everyone was having fun, and Sirius had faked an expression of polite shock flawlessly after climbing in through the portrait hole.

“Remus, help me explain to this pure-blood what Twister is.”

“Twister?” He looked over at Liam, a Muggle-born Irish boy in their year, who had apparently been discussing Muggle games with Sirius.

“Look, from everything you’ve told me…” Sirius started with a smirk. “I just don’t see how it’s not a dirty game. Decent wizard parents would never allow their children to play it.”

Liam gave Remus a look of pure exasperation, which made him chuckle. “No, you must have misunderstood, Sirius. It’s all about physical skill,” Remus explained.

“Exactly!”

“Not that kind of skill.”

“I don’t understand. Why else would you play it if not to get all up close and personal with someone?”

“If you actually tried playing it, you would know how vicious and competitive it is.”

“Have you ever played it then?”

“Once or twice, when I was younger.” Remus thought back to his Muggle cousin’s eighth or ninth birthday party.

“Who d’you play it with?” A blatantly suggestive smirk spread across Sirius’ lips.

“Oh for the love of Merlin’s sagging left testicle…”

This went on for a little while longer, Sirius’ questions becoming more and more ridiculous with every sip of Firewhiskey that he took. On top of that, he had taken to addressing everyone as ‘my child’ and ‘little one’ owing to his turning of age. 

At some point, professor McGonagall did show up, clad in a tartan dressing gown, to only half-heartedly reproach everyone for being so rowdy, but moments after she left, the common room swung right back into loud laughter and celebrations. Remus found himself in one of the armchairs, watching two seventh years putting up a show for everyone, smacking each other with Inflatable Tongues that shrieked each time they made contact. 

“So now that I’m an adult…” Sirius sat down on the armrest of Remus’ seat. “Do you find me any more attractive?”

Remus barely managed to keep his butterbeer from shooting out his nose; instead, some of it dribbled down his chin. As he was wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he noticed that James and Peter were standing a little ways away, watching him, but they both instantly turned away.

“Is that a yes then?” Sirius was biting his bottom lip; probably trying not to laugh at him, Remus thought.

Lupin was spared from having to answer that when a couple of girls (who, he was quite sure, were Hufflepuffs) squeezed their way through the crowd to wish Sirius a happy birthday. Remus used the distraction to retreat to the other side of the common room, where he had spotted Lily chatting with a couple people. This is ridiculous, he thought to himself. He needed to pull himself together; he couldn’t let this get in the way of their friendship. But the things that Sirius sometimes said and did, without realising of course, were making it really hard for Remus to get over him.

As he pulled his wand out to clean himself up, his ears caught the familiar, friendly voice of Lily Evans. Glancing over, he noted that she was talking to one of her friends, Marlene Price.

“Just make sure to turn it all the way on,” Lily was instructing her. “Be as outrageously flirty as you can. Make sure he has no doubt in his mind that you’re interested in him, you know?”

“Gotcha,” Marlene nodded excitedly.

Remus had a smile on his face; he found it amusing thinking about how he’d heard this same pep talk, directed at James, so many times before. He wondered if Lily knew how often he and his friends talked about her, whenever James would declare that ‘today’s the day, I just know she’ll say yes this time’. 

He checked the front of his shirt to see that he got the butterbeer stain out and was about to walk over to Lily when he realised who she had sent her friend after. All the way across the common room, sitting down in the same chair that he had just vacated, Marlene was striking up a conversation with Sirius. Remus was so dazed for a moment, watching the scene while trying to take a sip of his drink, that he spilled it again. He shuffled his gaze over to Lily to find her positively beaming at Price from afar, clearly rooting for her friend’s success. 

Remus felt a sting of betrayal in his heart. He had thought that him and Lily were friends, he trusted her to keep his secret, and he assumed she’d be on his side… But then why would she encourage Marlene to chat Sirius up? His eyes kept darting between Lily and the armchair in front of the fire, his hand loosely holding a bottle of butterbeer halfway to his mouth. Perhaps he needn’t have been so shocked by it? After all, Lily and Marlene were much, much closer, they’d been friends a long time before Remus ever had a proper conversation with her. Perhaps it was perfectly fair?

Still, Remus let himself slip down the path of wallowing in disappointment. Against his own attempts at reasoning with himself, he felt that Lily should have told him that her friend fancied Sirius at the very least. And since her friend did fancy Sirius, Lily shouldn’t have brought that topic up with Remus at all. It seemed a bit insensitive now looking back. 

Turning on his heel, he almost crashed into James. “Oi, where are you off to, Moons?”

“Bed. I’m exhausted.”

“Really? Sirius will be disappointed.”

“Doubt it.” Remus gave him a feeble shrug and started making his way towards the staircase, looking at James over his shoulder. “It’s almost full moon, I better get some rest.”

But restful he was not. He lay in bed, eyes wide open, thinking about how Marlene Price was a good looking girl and how, surely, it was going to be easy for her to seduce Sirius, if she hadn’t done that already. Then Remus’ mind would shift to being mad at himself for being so melodramatic and moping like this. It wasn’t like him. Feeling jealous of people that caught Sirius’ eye was nothing new, but it had never escalated to the point of keeping him up at night.

Remus rolled over and flopped onto his belly, letting out an impatient sigh. “Boo-bloody-hoo,” he mumbled into his pillow.

* * *

Sirius woke suddenly, startled by a loud gasp, barely stopping himself from falling off a chair he’d been dozing in. He knew immediately that Moony must have just woken up too because he was leaning over, reaching for the bucket that was always sitting on the same side of the bed in the hospital wing dormitory. The next moment Sirius heard retching and instinctively put his hand on his friend’s back, massaging it gently.

Remus sat up in the bed a moment later and shuffled his gaze full of worry to meet Sirius’ eyes. “Is everyone okay? Have I hurt anyone?” Moony asked quietly; those were always the first words he’d speak the morning after the full moon.

Sirius handed him a glass of Healing Potion that Madam Pomfrey had left on the side table. Remus took it with shaky hands but didn’t drink until his question was answered. “No, we’re all fine,” said Sirius impatiently, giving his arm a little shake to make sure his sleeve was covering a nasty cut that stretched from his wrist to his shoulder. “How are you?”

The truth was that even if the other three Marauders ever did get scratched or bruised or broken by Moony in his werewolf form, they never let him know. Usually they’d patch themselves up in a matter of seconds while Remus was sleeping it off in the hospital wing. Sometimes, if the injuries were a bit nastier, they got Madam Pomfrey to do it for them, but they would wait a day or two so that it wouldn’t look too suspicious. That was exactly the case with Sirius’ arm this time. Out of all the injuries that came with their monthly excursions, ones inflicted by Moony’s claws were the worst. Since the boys would be getting hurt while assuming their animagi shape, it didn’t leave cursed scars as it normally would have, but they required Madam Pomfrey’s potions’ help to heal them.

“Exhausted,” Remus answered, but he still didn’t look convinced. “Are you sure everyone’s okay?”

“Yes, I’m sure, Moony.”

November of that year saw a full moon rise mere three days after Sirius’ birthday. The morning after Remus’ transformation Sirius volunteered to go to the hospital wing and wait for him to wake up. At least one of the Marauders would always be there for when Remus woke up; it was simply something that they had always done, even before they managed to become animagi. The three boys thought that it was the least they could do. So on this particular morning, Sirius assured James and Peter that it was okay for them to get some much needed sleep in their own beds and he would let them know when Moony was up. 

He reached into his jeans pocket to retrieve the little mirror that he used to communicate with James; soon as he did though, Remus gave him a pleading look. “Not yet,” he said. “I just need a moment before I feel like a person again.”

Sirius nodded. “Have some food,” he pointed his chin at a plate of sandwiches that was another usual fixture on the post-full moon bedside table. He felt an almost overwhelming urge to reach over and stroke Remus’ face and move his sweat-soaked hair from his eyes and kiss his pain away. 

“In a little bit. This is worse than being hungover. Except for the violent, blood-thirsty monster part.” Remus pressed his fingertips into his closed eyes, as if trying to push last night’s images out of his head. 

“You know I don’t like that word. If you’re going to use it, at least do it properly - to describe my mother.” Sirius was pleased to see that his efforts were not completely fruitless - there was just the faintest smile playing at the corners of Moony’s lips now, but it was something. 

“Whatever word I use won’t change what I am…” The smile faded. “Dangerous and ill-tempered wolf-like creature, if that offends you less.”

“Rubbish. First of all, you’re not a what; you’re a who. And if you’re still thinking about what Snivellus said - stop.”

“Very sweet of you, Pads, but you’re biased. Snape, in a way, is the only person who’s seen me during full moon, who has the mental and emotional objectivity to see me for what I truly am.”

“But surely, you can’t seriously think that?” Sirius barked out a mirthless laugh.

“I do,” Remus shrugged. “And...you played that prank on him last year, knowing that he would come face to face with a monster at the end of the tunnel,” he said quietly, timidly almost, his green eyes jumping between his friend’s grey ones and the floor. “Wasn’t that supposed to be the punchline?”

Sirius’ mouth fell open. He had fucked up that night, this was no news to him, but he was caught off guard hearing Remus bring it up after such a long time. What made it worse was that Moony didn’t sound accusatory, but rather just sad and tired.

“I’m being unfair,” Remus spoke again, a definite note of firmness in his voice this time. “You’ve made my transformations far less horrible, you know. Even before you could be there with me, you accepted me, you didn’t deny me your friendship. I shouldn’t say things like that.”

Sirius watched his friend, biting the insides of his cheeks, feeling an insurmountable wave of shame wash over him. He wanted to put it into words, but didn’t quite know how, so the silence between them stretched. “It--” Sirius cleared his throat, looking down at his hands in his lap. “It’s fine, I’m the one who--”

“Oh don’t you dare steal my spotlight. Let me have my that-time-of-the-month, woe-is-me moment, Pads.” Remus stuck his foot out from under the covers to nudge Sirius’ knee.

He lifted his eyes to meet Moony’s and saw that the boy was smiling at him, his green eyes radiating warmth. He mirrored the expression without thinking. “Fine, have it your way then.” He gruntled, grinning wide now, and poked Remus’ sole, causing him to swiftly retract it. 

The echoing sound of footsteps reached Sirius’ ears and he looked over to the other side of the room - a redheaded girl was making her way towards them, but she stopped some ten feet away.

“Oh… Hi. I heard you were at the hospital wing, so I wanted to drop by,” Lily smiled at Remus eagerly but, Sirius noticed, he didn’t do so much as press his lips together in a straight line. “But I can come back later.”

“Kind of you, but you probably needn’t bother, I won’t be here long.”

Lily stared at him with an ever-growing uncertainty in her face. Her hands found each other and she started wringing them absently. She shifted her gaze to Sirius, who could only offer her a blank stare, and then back to Remus. “Alright. I’ll see you later then…”

“What was that about?” Sirius narrowed his eyes at his friend after they heard the hospital wing door close behind her. 

Remus merely shrugged and grabbed a sandwich.

There was a barely perceptible flicker of hesitation in Sirius’ movement, but he got up from his chair and sat down on the edge of the bed. Grabbing a cotton ball dipped in Murtlap Essence, he scooted closer to Remus, took his left hand, and, ever so gently, started dabbing a fresh wound on the inside of his forearm. As he did so, he wondered if it was wrong of him to feel such bubbling excitement in the pit of his stomach for being the only person that Remus seemed to want around.

[sonicringbond]

Sonic Ring Bond: the Journey - Scene 23

And with a lengthy little scene, we have moved away from the exposition for now. Or at least most of it. Rosy still has some exposition to give every scene just due to the story structure, but we actually have things getting started started again in this scene so i hope everyone enjoys...

    ~The biggest thing I love about adventuring is all the new people I meet and all of the wonderful places that I see. Sometimes though the people I meet need help, or just want a favor in exchange for a service. Tee-hee~♥ This time the people I met are little meaner though.

    ~To people who rely on Rings, they are irreplaceable. They do so much, and we rely on them so much. I don’t even think I really thought about it until I ended up in these strange lands with that little planet watching me every day. When I first discovered that most people here didn’t trust Rings it was so unnatural. Yet to them it was perfectly normal. Or so I thought until I met the Engineers.

    ~They were the first people here who actually used Rings like I was used to, but when Rings are treated as bad, they have to keep it a secret. It makes Ring Thieves even worse than they are back home. Stealing Rings is so hurtful, even helping a Ring Thief will get you hurt. I’ll have to talk Gill into changing his way of life when I finally catch up with him.

    ~Fortunately, though I was afraid that knowing Gill would have lost me an opportunity to catch up with Zooey, the cloud sailors were very understanding. They just didn’t trust me, or Draw, so they sent us out on a little quest to prove that we were trustworthy.

    ~Hmph! I think it’s ridiculous since they saw the photo with me and Zooey both in it. It should be obvious. But Gill did steal Rings from them, so it makes sense to help them gather Rings. I’m kind of excited too as I haven’t had a Ring gathering job in what feels like forever! Hee-hee! It’s what I used to do back home so it’s a nice little reminder of who I am. Which is fortunate too under the circumstances.~

    An airship that was barely more than a deck, cabins, and a hold wrapped around a metal balloon and further wrapped in sails, rigging, propellers, and wings soared across the jagged terrain. The mountains were unusual in that they almost appeared like domino tiles that had fallen on top of each other. The geography resulted in the top side of the mountains being covered as far as the eye could see in lush grasslands where sheep roamed, and Rings spun about on their axes arranged in any number of patterns. Despite being high enough for clouds to drift across the meadows the temperature was warm and balmy. From the deck railing Rosy watched the scenery passing by below with a huge and excited smile.

    “Ooh~! It’s so perfect! There are so many places to run, and so many Rings too! I bet there are all sorts of interesting things to find down below the cliffs too!”

    “You’re awfully excited considering they’re making you do their work,” Draw looked at Rosy wryly before a smirk adorned his face. With a shrug he closed his eyes and turned away. “But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when dealing with a weirdo girl like you.”

    “How many times do I have to tell you stop calling me names!”

    Rosy complained and Draw snickered before Rosy stuck her tongue out in retaliation. It earned them both a good laugh, but Rosy felt it would be rude not answer the implied question from her koala companion. Wiping a tear from her eye she explained her excitement.

    “Believe it or not, but this is what I did back home,” Rosy demonstrated vaguely drawing a doodle in the air with a finger. “My job was to collect Rings and I went all over the place doing it. Me and my best friend. Ooh~ I haven’t seen Tails in forever and I miss him so much. I really hope he’s okay.”

    “I’m surprised you haven’t forgotten him with how long you’ve been searching. It seems like something you’d forget.”

    Hopping off the railing, Rosy sat down on the deck beside Draw and pulled her knees to her chin. It made her look very small, even next to the younger and smaller koala.

    As Draw continued to clean his bow, he looked at Rosy wondering if she was upset about something. The mischievous grin she wore hidden behind her knees told him otherwise and he leaned in closer as she motioned to him with a wave of her hand.

    “Well that’s the thing,” Rosy whispered excitedly, her wagging tail thudding against the deck giving away her enthusiasm. “I’ve noticed that the things I’m most likely to forget are things that aren’t associated with what I normally do. I think that’s why it’s so important for everyone to have the defined roles that they do. It helps you stay you, I think. But adventuring is what I do, and what my friends do too so most of those memories are just kind of fuzzy now, but I can still remember them. That’s why I’m not worried about helping the Engineers out.”

    “I get it,” Draw contemplated as he absently rubbed down his bow. “They aren’t trying to have you repay the stolen Rings, they’re trying to use how everyone always forgets things to make you loyal to them.”

    “That’s what I was thinking too,” Rosy beamed as Draw had caught on. “But I know it won’t work on either of us. First and foremost, I know that the Rings will always remember. Secondly, they think we’re dumb because we’re kids.”

    “Well you’re certainly a weirdo girl,” Draw countered Rosy’s attempts to build up their confidence. She puffed up her cheeks at him and he simply flashed her another playful smirk. He did not prompt her to go off topic however and stayed quiet.

    “But they shouldn’t look down on us like that. I know you’ll be fine too because practicing to hunt golems is what you do, and I’ll be fine because I’m going to be doing what I always do. They won’t beat us so easily, and we’ll still help them and get to hear more about where Zooey is.”

    ~I felt like my belief was spot on. Why wouldn’t it be? This strange land may steal people’s memories, but I’ve been doing my best to pay attention and protect my precious memories as best as I could. I had gotten Draw involved too so it was important that I protect his memories too. The thing is though, I wasn’t prepared for how bored I was going to be. And after it looked so exciting too.

    ~Overlooking one of the best views I ever saw of the wide openness of the world was a weird little tower that was as much a part of an old ruin as it was something that looked like it grew out of it. It was like a smashed together building built from a windmill, a water tower, a lighthouse, and a giant boiler chimney. There were pipes everywhere and covered almost as much as the ivy and other plants that covered the stone brick building. But there was nothing else of interest.

    ~A kitchen, bedrooms, and a lookout post. Even the weird little arch that served as the airship port was just quaint. The old guy who worked at what they called an Engineer’s waystation was nice enough too, but he laid down a very strict rule about never going further out than he could see. And so, by the afternoon of my second day there, I was so bored and turned desperately to Draw to help me chase away the boredom.~

    “It’s your fault for collecting the Rings so fast,” Draw remarked dismissively as he fired off a practice shot into a target he carved into the side of an old tree within the outer wall of the ruin that held the waystation.

    “I know, but I get so excited!” Rosy whined. “It really is like back home. Rings show up in random places and patterns every day and I just can’t help myself. It’s so much fun but being limited on where I can run makes it so boring. I know they don’t trust me, but it’s still unfair.”

    “And why do you think I can change their minds?” Draw asked as he fired off another arrow.

    “I don’t,” Rosy admitted as she clasped her hands behind her back and began swaying her body back and forth. “I was just hoping you could help me chase off my boredom for a little bit.”

    “Why do I have a bad feeling about this?” Draw asked as he eyed Rosy wearily.

    Her cheeks puffing up, Rosy energetically defended herself. “It isn’t anything bad! Really! I just want to practice my fortune telling. I may consult the cards every morning, but I know so many other ways of reading fortunes too. Like I can do a really simple one right here and now. All I need is for you to show me you hand.

    “And if I say I don’t want to?” Draw challenged.

    “Don’t be like that!” Rosy fussed and snagged Draw’s hand in both of hers.

    “Why do you care about my future anyway?” Draw pressed as he yanked his hand away, not noticing that Rosy drew her thumbs along his palm as he did. “Or do you think I can’t beat your golem–?”

    Draw stopped short as he noticed Rosy’s mischievous grin had returned and he frowned in disgust and fear. “What did you just do?”

    “Nothing,” Rosy swayed playfully, teasing the poor koala. “Just read your fortune is all~♥”

    “What! That easily?”

    “I’m really good at it,” Rosy laughed as she shook a playful finger at the bewildered Draw.

    “No way! What did you learn!”

    “Well…,” Rosy started enthusiastically, but she seemed a bit perplexed and looked down at her thumbs. Draw swallowed loudly afraid something bad lay in store for him, but Rosy dismissed it as she reached into one of the shoulder puffs of her leotard. “It’s kind of confusing so I’m going to ask my cards to help clarify for me.”

    Without missing a beat, Rosy flopped onto the ground, her legs forming a “W” like shape in front of her as she withdrew the small waterproof container. Carefully extracting her tarot cards Rosy split the deck and paused a moment before shuffling. Giggling, she lay the two halves on the ground in front of her. “I better give them a Ring first. I don’t want them getting worn out. They’re my oldest friends you know.”

    Draw gave Rosy a doubting look, but she ignored him and cheerily pushed a Ring into her cards. With a twinkle of golden motes of light, the Ring vanished as quickly as it had appeared from Rosy’s person. Her cards seemed no different, but it was obvious that they still looked brand new. Testing the snap of the cards Rosy smiled wider as she began to shuffle them.

    It was a mundane action, but a sudden breeze blew one or two free and Rosy gasped in apologetic surprise.

    “Ah! I’m sorry!”

    Scrambling to catch the errant cards, Rosy looked like a child chasing butterflies and Draw hung his head and sighed. The sudden urgency in Rosy’s voice as she spoke to him again though caused him concern as he looked back up at her.

    “Draw, we have to go.”

    “Eh! What!” Draw stepped back surprised, but Rosy’s face was desperate with seriousness. Still, he needed clarification as she hurried to put her cards away. “But if we leave… I mean won’t they never help us find your friend if we go now.”

    “They probably won’t,” Rosy conceded, but did not linger as she offered Draw her back so she might carry him piggyback. “But I know seeing them and how protective they are that Zooey is safe. I want to see her. Really, I do. But… but right now, someone else needs our help and we have to hurry before it’s too late!”

    “How did come up with that?” Draw guffawed at the absurdity of what Rosy claimed.

    “The cards told me!”

    Rosy’s claim baffled Draw even more and he gave her a doubting look and began to mouth a response but Rosy cut him off with a stern look as she forewent an explanation. “I know you don’t believe me, no one ever does at first, but my cards never lie to me. And right now, someone needs our help more than Zooey, so we have to go.”

    “Well… If you… argh! Fine!”

    With a shout Draw gave in and soon found himself whisked away at speeds he could not comprehend across the meadowed mountain sides.

Scene 23 · CLEARED A Tiny Voice, to be continued

-----

And with that, Rosy is chasing after trouble yet again. Draw seemed to have mellowed out this scene, but hopefully not jarringly so. I definitely need to get some excitability into him again. But we’ll leave that for the future.

Thank you for reading everyone! i hope you enjoyed!

-----

Special Thanks to Cutegirlmayra Story by @JoshTarwater/SonicFanJ Inspiring Song – What Makes the Sky Blue – Tsutomu Narita – Granblu Fantasy Original Soundtrack: Promise

Fair Use Disclaimer

Sonic the Hedgehog and all affiliated characters and logos are the express property and Copyright© of SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS used without permission under Title 17 U.S.C Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976 in which allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. “Fair use” is use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be considered copyright infringement. The Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey alternate universe (AU) consumer written work of fiction is a non-profit transformative work primarily for personal use and can and will be taken down without warning or prior notice at the request of the copyright holder(s) should it not be recognized under “fair use”.

*Sonic Ring Bond logo created by DEE Art – twitter.com/daryliscute.

Sonic Ring Bond AU and Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey are the creation of Joshua David Tarwater/ynymbus/sonicfanj/@Joshtarwater and is to be, including all contents herein considered for all legal purposes the property of the Sonic the Hedgehog intellectual property (IP) and copyright owners, SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS. All story contributors via prompt, suggestion, written scene, art, and all and every other contribution acknowledge that all contributed material is forfeit for legal purposes to SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS upon official request from SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS.

[caroldanversmohawk]

Quidditch Captain Danvers Chapter 2!

CHAPTER 2 POSTED!

Carol goes on a quest to figure out who her Ravenclaw friend is and gets into trouble in the library. And by trouble I mean Natasha Romanoff. Original au idea inspired by anon and @agentnatasharomanov 

Added Original Character and Tony Stark! Already working on Chapter 3. Read the full chapter here or on ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19794877

NOTE: Carolnat is still and always will be a thing in this fic. As it says in this chapter, they're not necessarily an exclusive couple so other relationships are on the table without negating carolnat. Not sure whether that fact will be taken advantage of, but it's there.

—

EXCERPT:

Natasha raised her eyebrows again in challenge, taking another step forward into Carol’s personal space. “That the best you got, Captain?”

Carol was still glaring at her. “Why don’t we take this to the Prefects’ bathroom and I can show you exactly what I’ve got,” Carol promised softly. Their lips were centimeters apart. Natasha was so close that every fiber of Carol’s being wanted to reach out and touch her, to grab her, to yank her against herself.

“You coming, Romanoff? This essay isn’t going to write itself. Well…it will because I charmed the quill, but that’s besides the point. We have a date with firewhiskey and the Shrieking Shack.” Tony Stark’s voice burst through the silence of the library, obscenely loud, completely ambivalent to the fact that he just announced to the entire library that the Slytherin Prefects were cheating on their homework.

–

Full Chapter 2:

Mazie Stanton sat in the Ravenclaw common room, nestled up in a big leather chair with a book. The cover looked like some magical text, so she blended in with her studious peers. She had charmed it to look that way. She was actually reading a sci-fi novel. Totally engrossed in the wacky plot, she didn’t even notice Pebbles until he screeched indignantly.

Her heart leapt into her throat as she saw he was carrying a reply. She snatched it from him, muttering praises to her owl as she jumped up from the chair. She couldn’t handle reading the note in a room full of people. She knew she was horrible at hiding her emotions, everyone could read her like an open book. And while she had no idea what the letter contained, she didn’t want her classmates having any inkling of it. Not that any of them were paying attention to her anyway. She knew she was just being paranoid.

Mazie raced up to her bed, flopping down and yanking the curtain around it to give herself some semblance of privacy. She opened the letter with shaking fingers. Her breath hitched at the first line. Danvers had called her sassy! Was that a good thing? Had she annoyed her? Or was she just teasing? She kept reading. By the last word, Mazie felt like her whole body was on fire. She squealed into her pillow. Danvers had liked her ‘gift.’ And she thought her owl was cute. 

Come say hi sometime in person? Mazie scoffed. Yeah right. Like she’d ever actually approach the mighty Captain Danvers in public. It had taken all of her courage to send Pebbles to her. An actual face-to-face? Not happening.

Mazie scolded herself for acting like a lovesick first year. She was about to graduate from Hogwarts in a few months. Set up with a job, assumedly, after taking her N.E.W.T.s. She was caught somewhere between wanting to “seize the moment” and from logicing her way out by saying that starting a relationship now was pointless when everyone was about to leave for the real world. Who was she kidding? Danvers didn’t want a relationship with her. She was probably just being polite. Wanted to shake her hand. Completely professional. She fell into a fit of giggles at the idea of Danvers ever acting professional.

Mazie was still undecided if she’d actually reveal herself when she saw Danvers next. All she knew was that she was going to hold onto that letter forever.

—

Carol expected to meet her Snape-Savior the next day. But no one ever came up to her. She didn’t tell any of her friends–it wasn’t like one should really spread the fact that they cheated. But beyond that, she felt like she wanted to keep this for herself. Outside of the jostling, bubbling mayhem that was her quidditch team. She loved them like family, but sometimes they could be obnoxious about certain people.

Like Romanoff, for example. They always made these weird faces any time Carol mentioned that she was going to prank Romanoff again. Or get revenge on Romanoff’s latest attack. None of them knew about Carol’s interactions with Natasha behind closed doors…and Carol wanted to keep it that way.

She was starting to feel the same about her Snape-Savior. Even if it annoyed her that they never showed themselves. Were they too shy? Did they just not care? After three days of nothing, Carol decided that she was tired sitting around, waiting for it to happen. She was going to take matters into her own hands.

—

The stench from the owlery was awful. Which was why Carol usually made a point of avoiding it. But that bloody owl was her only lead. So she put a hand over her nose, in a vain attempt to mask the odor, and went to work searching the scores of owls for the right one.

It took a surprising amount of time to locate the fluffy, round owl asleep on his perch. “Hey handsome.” Carol greeted him. He slowly opened his eyes and blinked at her. “I’ve got something for your master.” Carol continued to speak to the puff ball like he could understand her. He yawned in response, but kept didn’t go right back to sleep, little eyes still peering up at her. She took that as a good sign. Carol brandished the envelope, and the owl seemed to understand that better than her words. He grabbed it from her, taking off immediately.

Carol wished she could just follow it directly, but she knew that it would take the easier route out the castle windows. Carol, on the other hand, had to find her way back down the shifting staircases, taking the steps two at a time in her excitement. She had no idea if her sassy Ravenclaw would be in the library, but that seemed like the most likely place that Carol also had access to. So, without a better option, she found herself lurking in the stacks of the library, trying to strain to hear the flap of tiny wings.

She never did hear the owl, so she had to assume he had made it there before her. But that wasn’t her plan anyway. Carol peaked through the shelves, subtly trying to glimpse the hands of all the students working away at the various tables scattered throughout the stacks. 

“Hey Danvers, you lost?” That voice. Carol was glad the fabric of her robe hid the instant shiver that ran across her skin.

She turned to face Natasha, controlling her expression as she saw the Slytherin smirking up at her. “No,” Carol muttered indignantly, her eyes narrowing. She wasn’t sure what kind of mood Nat was in. Or how dangerous she wanted to play this, in a only-semi secluded area. “I’m not lost.”

Natasha raised her eyebrows at her. “You came to library willingly then? Surely not to study.” There was a mischievous sparkle in her eyes that Carol was ready to face, to face with fire.

“Nope. No need to study. I’m not a suck up.” Carol smirked down at Natasha.

Nat’s grin widened. “Hmm, not sure I agree with that last part.” She said softly. 

Carol glared at her lover. “Bugger off, Romanoff.” 

Natasha raised her eyebrows again in challenge, taking another step forward into Carol’s personal space. “That the best you got, Captain?”

Carol was still glaring at her. “Why don’t we take this to the Prefects’ bathroom and I can show you exactly what I’ve got,” Carol promised softly. Their lips were centimeters apart. Natasha was so close that every fiber of Carol’s being wanted to reach out and touch her, to grab her, to yank her against herself.

“You coming, Romanoff? This essay isn’t going to write itself. Well…it will because I charmed the quill, but that’s besides the point. We have a date with firewhiskey and the Shrieking Shack.” Tony Stark’s voice burst through the silence of the library, obscenely loud, completely ambivalent to the fact that he just announced to the entire library that the Slytherin Prefects were cheating on their homework.

Natasha took a step back from Carol just as Tony rounded the corner. “Ah, Danvers.” He said by way of greeting. “No wonder you were taking so long, Romanoff. Did you want to invite your girlfriend?”

Carol blanched, heart racing. Did Natasha tell him? Nat just rolled her eyes at him and gave him an exasperated look. “She’s not my girlfriend.”

“Hey, I’m not blaming you. I’ve seen her play quidditch. I’m sure she’s got some moves–”

“Stark–” Natasha tried to cut him off.

“–I mean, maybe it would be good for you two to hang out without trying to claw each other’s eyes out–”

“Stark–” Natasha tried again.

“–But if you wanted to, that’d be cool too. I’ll just enjoy the show.” He finished. Mainly because Natasha had stopped trying cutting him off.

“I bet you would enjoy the show,” Carol smirked back at Stark, realizing now that he was like her friend Valkyrie, teasing them but not actually knowing anything. “But Romanoff doesn’t like getting her robes dirty, so you’re out of luck. No fights today." 

"I bet you could convince her to…” Stark hedged.

His words suddenly gave Carol an idea. An awful, amazing idea. She knew what her next prank on Nat was going to be. Let’s see how calm Natasha was after Carol got her with this. That’ll show her for distracting her during Potions, again.

“Come on, Tony,” Natasha was literally trying to drag Tony away by the arm.

Carol found herself stabbed with a pang of jealousy, seeing Natasha touch someone else and call him by his first name. It wasn’t like she and Nat were exclusive. But it didn’t help that the past few times their secret rendezvous, however unplanned they were, had been interrupted. Carol was suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to throw her lover against the nearest bookshelf and show Natasha just what she did to her. There was a fire ignited in her core every time the girl walked by. And Carol wanted to show Nat just how hot that fire could burn, to scorch her skin with kisses until she was begging for mercy. She bet it was much more pleasurable than firewhiskey with Stark would be.

Nat saw the look in Carol’s eyes, and she shook her head slightly at her lover. Asking her to exercise caution. Stark may have a decent heart, but he had a loud mouth. They couldn’t give him any actual evidence of their relationship.

“Got something to say, Danvers?” Tony pressed seeing the shift in Carol’s eyes too, as he fought Natasha’s grip.

Carol glared at him. “Watch your back, Stark." 

"From what?” He laughed. “From you? I’m not worried. Besides, I have Natasha to watch it for me.” He winked at Carol. 

That was all it took. Carol found her wand in her hand before she even realized she was reaching for it. She wasn’t sure what hex she was going to use, but whatever it was, it was going to wipe that arrogant smirk off his face. That was how Carol dueled–by instinct. She never had a plan.

She opened her mouth, ready to cast the first spell that came out, when a flash of red and brown rushed in front of her. “Merlin’s Beard, Danvers. What did I do to piss you off?” Carol was caught completely off guard. She had never seen the girl in front of her before. Well, she had, in her classes, but she’d never really talked to her. Or noticed her. But now she was beyond noticeable.

Her brown hair was streaked with splotches of red. The chalky substance covered half her face too. Her hands were completely covered, as we’re the sleeves of her robe. It was like a bomb of red chalk had gone off in her hands. Which it had, Carol realized. Her sassy Ravenclaw friend had gotten her present. Carol just hadn’t expected to have the girl confront her. She had expected to find her herself, which was why she had planned such a clear indicator of who she was looking for. Well, the girl was definitely impossible to miss now.

“Bloody hell, Danvers, did you really do this?” Stark was laughing. “It’s a masterpiece.”

The red-streaked Ravenclaw turned around to glare at Tony. “Bugger off, Stark.” The girl said with surprising confidence to the Slytherin Prefect.

Natasha just stood there in shock for a moment, before tugging on Tony’s arm again. “Come on, Tony. We have better things to do.”

Carol tried not to let the comment hurt her. With how she had almost completely lost her temper with Tony, it probably was for the best. Not to mention that she had another situation on her hands. One that she had nearly forgotten about as soon as she had seen Natasha. And was actually her doing.

“I thought she only pranked you,” Tony mumbled as he gave into Natasha’s insistence. “I guess she’s just an ass to everyone.”

Carol didn’t realize her wand was raised until it was flying out of her hand. 

“Expelliarmus,” the Ravenclaw in front of her said the spell softly enough that Tony and Natasha didn’t hear. Carol’s wand only crossed the short distance to the girl’s hand. She offered it back to Carol almost immediately, as soon as Tony Stark was out of view. Carol took it back without a word, knowing that this girl just stopped her from getting in a fight but too pissed at Stark still to actually be thankful to her.

“So I guess you’re not shy,” Carol grumbled, looking down at the girl in front of her, still a bit in shock at the change in direction of her evening.

The Ravenclaw laughed. “Oh, I am. I just hate confrontation more.” She stuck out her red-caked hand. “Mackenzie Stanton. My friends call me Mazie." 

Carol felt herself smiling despite herself at the odd girl before her. She raised her eyebrows at Mazie’s hand. "I’m not touching you. That stuff gets everywhere.”

“And how would you know that?” Mazie joked accusingly.

Carol raised her hands in surrender. “It was just supposed to get on your hands, I swear.” She looked Mazie up and down, seeing the red powder staining patches of her uniform. “It comes out of clothes…I think.” Actually, Carol was pretty sure it didn’t. “How’d you know it was me, anyway?”

“Literally no one else would do this to me.” Mazie laughed. “I mean, I’m a bit surprised you did. I didn’t think you’d even remember me. But once I heard your voice in the library…I mean why else would you be here?" 

"There’s that sass,” Carol commented, noticing Mazie’s cheeks flush at her words.

“I think I deserve to be sassy, given the situation,” Mazie raised her hands up slightly, in case it wasn’t clear to Carol what situation she was referring to.

“I didn’t say you couldn’t be. I like it when you are.” Mazie blinked at Carol’s praise, forgetting how to speak momentarily. She wasn’t sure if Carol noticed though, as the other girl continued, “So the girl who doesn’t like confrontation decides to confront me?”

“I came here to distract you. From doing something reckless. Even if Stark deserves it.” Mazie explained.

“But why?” Mazie didn’t seem to understand Carol’s question at first, so she clarified, “Why do you care if I fight Stark?" 

Mazie shrugged. "Why do I care if Snape assigned you extra homework?” She countered. “Like I said, I don’t like confrontation.”

“And I create confrontation,” Carol said, unabashed.

“Not always intentionally.” Mazie shrugged, but didn’t contradict her. “Besides, I’d hate for Gryffindor’s Quidditch Captain to be suspended before the match next week. I have a wager that you’ll beat Slytherin 2 to 1.”

Carol raised her eyebrows, “That’s a lot of confidence in my team.”

Mazie shrugged. “Wishful thinking maybe. But I’m going to stand by it. So try not to get expelled before then, okay Danvers? I hear you’re the best Chaser Hogwarts has seen in years.”

Carol grinned, “I think they say I’m the best Chaser that Hogwarts has ever seen. But that’s okay, I’ll let that slide this time.”

Mazie smiled back shyly, starting to understand why Carol resorted to confrontation. It was much easier to make conversation that way. “I’ll remember that for next time.” Mazie muttered.

“So, there will be a next time? You won’t keep hiding from me?” Carol pressed.

Mazie’s smile turned wry. “I wasn’t hiding! I just didn’t see a good opportunity to come up to you and randomly introduce myself.” Carol looked like she was about to call Mazie on her bullshit, considering there had been plenty of opportunities the past three days, but Mazie rushed on. “Anyway, I can’t really hide now, can I?” She waved red covered hands at her red-speckled self.

Carol laughed. “I may have gone a little overboard with the Combusting Chalk." 

Mazie shrugged, "At least I’m the right color for the game next week." 

Carol snorted. "True. I should send this to the whole school!”

“Bloody hell, don’t you dare!” Mazie’s face turned pale and Carol fell into a fit of laughter, both at the thought of the havok it would wreck on the school and at Mazie’s terrified expression.

“Yea, but can you imagine Snape opening it?” Carol wheezed.

Mazie’s eyes were still wide, but she couldn’t hide a chuckle at the thought. “He’d be livid!" 

"Positively murderous,” Carol agreed with a glint in her eyes.

“Do not,” the words were a command, but Mazie’s tone was closer to begging.

Carol shook her head. “I won’t, I won’t. That stuff’s too expensive anyway. Especially the 'Radiant Red’ one. The pun was just too good to pass up.”

“What pun?” Mazie looked less terrified now that Carol was no longer talking about pranking the entire school.

“I wanted to catch you red-handed,” Carol said proudly.

Mazie shook her head. “You’re a dork, Danvers. But I love it.” Mazie froze as she just realized what she said. Carol didn’t seem to notice, her crooked smile never faltering.

“Hey, want me to let you into the Prefect’s bathroom to clean up? It’s the least I could do, after…” Carol just waved a hand at Mazie’s whole red-splotched form. There wasn’t any apology in her eyes though.

Mazie almost didn’t accept. She wasn’t sure she could handle any more exposure to Carol Danvers. Honestly, her stomach had already did backflips at the notion that the Quidditch Goddess, Carol Captain Danvers, had pranked her. But she’d always wanted to check out the Prefect bathrooms. And all the other Prefects were too rule abiding, or maybe it was too selfish, to let anyone else in there. Leave it to Captain Reckless Danvers to offer her the invite. “Uh, yea, sure. That would be great.”

They walked down the halls in companionable silence. Mazie’s thoughts were going wild, scolding herself for all the embarrassing things she had said to Carol during their conversation. But also freaking out at managing to talk to her, for like a whole conversation. And for making her smile. And making her laugh…

Once they got to the Prefects’ Bathroom, Carol admitted that she had to run to Quidditch practice, to Mazie’s relief and disappointment. But she didn’t let Mazie off the hook that easy. As she held open the door for Mazie, Carol smirked, “Hey, who knows, maybe if you’re still in there after two hours, I’ll see you after practice?” She winked at Mazie, who just looked up at Carol completely stunned as the smug witch turned around and trotted off to Quidditch practice.

There was no way in hell that Mazie would still be in that bathroom after two hours. Not because she wasn’t completely turned on by the thought, by the way Danvers’ voice had gotten all low and husky when she had suggested that, or by the mischievous glint in her eyes. But because she was way too shy to think that Danvers actually meant it. And she was too chicken to stick around to actually find out. Mazie went to work frantically trying to scrub the Combusting Chalk off of her skin.

[sultrysirens]

Lucifer, Season 4

So my husband and I watched the whole thing over the course of like 4 days. And it was amazing. And then afterwards I learn they’re already talking about a 5th season?!?

HYPE, YO

But the point of this post is to gush a little and outline some of the thoughts I had during the episodes -- namely one, in particular. Spoilers ahead, so don’t read if you haven’t watched it/don’t wanna know/etc.

YOOOOO BUT IT WAS SO GOOD THO

Remember this?

Linda: [gets phone call] [blah blahs] [GETS UP, SHOCKED] No, no that isn’t possible!

Well, me, being the brilliant person I am, said out loud, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Husband agreed.

Then I said, “She’s pregnant.”

Husband looked surprised.

Obviously we were not thinking the same thing. XD

Also: FUCKING CALLED IT

On that note, one of the best parts was when Lucifer held little nephew, looked all happy, then precisely 4.8 seconds later handed him back. X’D Yep. That’s Lucifer for you.

AND ON THAT NOTE, Lucifer going all avenger when Eve and Trixie got threatened? God, YES. You show ‘em, Lucy. AAAHHHH I loved it so much~

>u<

Gonna say this straight out: I did not trust Eve. At all. Even all the way to the end of the last episode (more specifically, her last scene) I was expecting a betrayal. I was just so used to betrayals in this scenario, I guess. She was just too sweet, too nice, too damn happy and encouraging. She got along with everyone.

It was freaky.

But I suppose if you’re one of the oldest beings alive and just spent the last who-knows-how-many years greeting and speaking with every single soul who went to Heaven, you’d gain some incredible people skills.

Also can we talk about how Adam and Eve were in Heaven? And how they clearly weren’t right for each other? Like I thought for sure they’d be in Hell, having disobeyed le God and all, but it appears they otherwise didn’t have any sins.

Either that or they died before Cain and Abel did, because as Lucifer mentions, Hell was created because of Cain murdering Abel -- even though Cain was cursed with eternal life and Abel became Hell‘s first occupant.

Here’s one reason why I didn’t trust Eve, btw: she mentioned her “sweet little Abel”. Like, right off the bat. And it made me think of a few things: how’d she “fly the coop”? Who helped her? It can’t have been that easy. And she went back to her own body in a crypt? What crypt? How’d she get out? Crypts are usually sealed, guys. Not to mention -- first woman? Possibly tens of thousands of years old? The fact that even her bones still exist is pretty surprising.

For a while I was thinking that maybe her goal was to release Abel from Hell. Get him back. Reunite with what was clearly her favorite son.

I mean I also expected her to say something like, “Yeah, I was the first woman -- not the only woman.” Like Adam and Eve were the test run, and afterwards God went ahead and made a ton more couples placed all over the planet.

Ignoring, of course, that this doesn’t at all agree with history, archaeology, genetics, evolution, or anything else, but still. Suspension of belief is very important for Lucifer.

He started a car by staring at it really hard.

Suspension of belief is a necessity.

Also -- devil Lucy was so hot. Christ. Them wings, yo. [shivers]

I get why Chloe wasn’t able to look at him when he went devil, though -- she knows him one way. And she likes him that way. Whenever he shows her a different side of himself, she tries not to look, not to think; she doesn’t want to remember him differently than the side of him she loves so much.

She’s been viewing him as an angel for a long, long time, I think -- certainly before season 3′s finale. And that’s how she knows him. That’s who she knows he is.

Devil face Lucy fucked her up cause that’s not the Lucifer she knows.

Devil body Lucy fucked her up even worse cause she doesn’t want to remember him like that. She doesn’t want to think “he’s the devil” every time she looks at him.

She just wants to think, “It’s Lucifer.”

I had such hopes for some heartbreaking scenes, btw. And I had one in mind that I legit would’ve loved. Wanna hear about it?

Sure ya do. ;)

Scene: Lucy shows Chloe his devil wings, freaking out about it and such. Chloe comforts him with cuddles.

This is not a joke.

They lay down on the couch, he rests his head on her chest, and she pets his hair, just trying to get him to relax -- all while considering this revelation and how to help him get over it.

Cause she does want him to get over it. She can see him struggling and she wants him to not struggle. If that means getting him to accept himself, so be it; if that means helping him pull away from his darker side, even better.

He falls asleep. It’s super cute.

He wakes up to movement and the sound of choking.

Chloe is fumbling for her gun (yer damn right she has it on her at all times) and...is bleeding from the throat.

Eve had snuck up on her and, driven by possessiveness and envy, slit Chloe’s throat.

But Chloe ain’t going down without a fight.

Lucifer freaks out (understandably), both trying to yell at Eve and demand answers while looking for some way to fix Chloe’s gash of a throat. Then -- bang!

Chloe fired.

She’s kind of upside down but her aim was true: she hit Eve right smack in the forehead.

Eve drops.

Lucifer freaks out harder.

He starts going full devil (this is before I knew he even could go full devil, so it was amazingly well-timed). Chloe flops on the ground, holding her throat and gasping and spitting out mouthfuls of blood.

What do, Lucy?

Your two best girls just killed each other.

He does the only thing he can think of: grabs the both of them, holding them, crying over them.

It was a great rollercoaster in my head and I love it okay thank.

I would’ve loved to see anything even remotely close to that -- just a simple catfight between Eve and Chloe would’ve been amazing, especially considering Eve definitely would’ve started it -- and I’m a little disappointed that no great conflict between the ladies happened, but overall I freaking loved the whole season omg you guys~!

The ending was really touching but also left me a little blue-balled. Four seasons of build-up, three kisses, and that’s all we got? I mean Chloe couldn’t even have asked for a night with him?

Sad.

But...again, very touching.

Okay done ranting and gushing, I got other shit to do. Just wanted to get my thoughts out. :3

- Nightshade

[fabrowrites]

Gleam and Glow: Training

In terms of elemental powers, lightning is one of the hardest to master.

Jay feels the sweat beading on his forehead. He thinks he’s got it this time, but when he brings his fingertips together there’s only a small burst of light.

“Oh, come on!”

He drops his hands and slumps back against the courtyard wall. The stone is warm against his wings. It’s a warm day in general, despite it being autumn. Jay reaches for his water bottle, gulping down the last few swallows. If not for the slight breeze, he thinks, training out here would be unbearable.

It’s only Kai, Nya, and himself in the courtyard today. Cole and Zane left early in the morning, flying down to the base of the mountain for their training. Something about being more in touch with their elements down there. Kai punches at a wooden dummy and Nya drills katas in the center.

Today is a day for practicing elements, Sensei Wu had said, as he dragged them from their beds this morning. So Jay had used up the better part of his day punching, jabbing, and flailing his arms in an effort to try and create a lightning bolt.

Sensei told him to imagine his lightning as yin and yang, two forces always trying to get back together. But spiritual mumbo-jumbo has never been one of Jay’s strong points. Lightning is lightning- positive and negative charges driven to balance each other out. Even with this mindset, he’s making slow progress.

All the electricity he’s generated before has only consisted of sparks. Sparks are easy. Sparks are envisioning your chi- and chi is one concept he can handle- gathering in one place. The energy overflows naturally and is expelled from your fingertips as sparks. Piece of cake. But actual bolts of lightning?

He pushes off the wall.

“Yeesh, have you never seen a lightning master before?”

“Huh?” Jay frowns at the fire ninja. Kai hops off the post he was perched on, wings flaring for balance.

Truthfully, Jay doesn’t understand the fire master. One moment he’s flirty and obnoxious, the next passionate and serious. (‘He’s like a flip-flop!’ Jay rants one day to Wu, who calmly sips his tea and stares straight ahead with the wings of a suffering father who wonders why he adopted five children.) And Jay hates to not understand things.

Nevertheless, he listens to what Kai has to say. The kid is older, after all. And from the times he’s spoken with him, he knows more about elemental powers than Jay does.

“Well, I mean, in the movies, they’re always waving their hands in circles, like this.” Kai demonstrates. He swings his arms and brings his fingertips together, mimicking an exploding noise.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Jay protests. He ducks away from Kai’s flailing wings. “It’s lightning strikes, not lightning circles!” He thinks back to his physical science classes. “Lightning always seeks the quickest, most direct route to its target.”

“Hey, just trying to help.”

Jay huffs. But since he’s out of ideas, he might as well try Kai’s. He moves away from the wall and starts again. This time, he moves his arms in arcs as he separates the charges.

His left arm starts first, sweeping across his body. He imagines that he’s gathering all the negative energy with the swoop. His right arm mirrors the movement, and he feels the positive energy flowing to his fingers.

Now for the actual lightning. He brings his hands up, still in their arcs, and his fingertips touch.

His arms go cold, like his veins are made of ice, and then a silvery bolt is pulsing from his fingers. The power, the energy flooding his body is overwhelming. He staggers. He leans back against the courtyard wall because the energy rush is already leaving his system and now he only feels tired, drained.

“Woah.”

“Yeah.”

Jay wants nothing more than to rest now. But Sensei Wu is suddenly there, golden feathers ruffling in a pleased manner.

“A good attempt, Jay,” he says.

Jay makes a noise of protest, but even that dies on his lips. How in the world will he fight Garmadon, if just one bolt is enough to make him feel faint?

He asks the Sensei this. Wu nods, running a hand through his blond hair.

“That is why you must train,” he says. “Learn to control how much energy you put into each blast. Then you may be sure that you will never over-exhaust yourself.”

Jay makes a few more bolts through the course of the evening, each weaker than the last. He calls it quits when Cole and Zane materialize at the door.

“How was your day?” the earth ninja calls. His wings drag on the ground, but his eyes hold satisfaction, so Jay guesses that his training went well.

“It was really cool!” he replies. “I actually made a bolt this morning!”

“That’s great, Jay!”

Jay has to consciously stop his wings from fluffing up. “How did you do, Cole?”

The earth ninja rubs his neck self-consciously. “I got some rocks to move.”

“Cole understates,” Zane says. “He was summoning boulders and directing them to targets.”

“It was pretty neat,” Cole admits. “Is dinner ready? I’m starving!”

“Sensei Wu said we can order in pizza,” Nya says, coming up to the group. “What do you guys want?”

“Deluxe,” Cole says.

“Eww, no!” Kai pulls a face. “I don’t want vegetables near my pizza!”

Jay finds himself agreeing. Then Kai suggests meat lovers, and he finds himself not agreeing after all.

They end up ordering two pizzas and crowd around the tv in the game room to play video games. Jay looks around at the hodgepodge group and can’t keep his wings from fluttering at the contentment he feels. This, this feels right.

[rjzimmerman]

I’ve been reading a lot of Tumblr posts from supporters of Senator Sanders, ranging from disappointment and sorrow through anger, usually accompanied by ugly denunciations of Joe Biden that I had, to date, characterized as the domain of the right wing-nuts supporting trump. While I respect Senator Sanders, and welcomed his introduction of some new ideas to the national debate, I hesitated to support him for several reasons, the most important of which was electability against trump. To me, the critical need is to dump trump in 2020 and begin the restoration and healing process we so desperately need. That requires a candidate with politically “moderate” credentials in order to capture as many of the independent voters and disgusted republican voters as possible.

Do I like Joe Biden? Yes, I do. I voted for him in the Illinois primary. Have I always considered him the best candidate? No, I have not. Frankly, I didn’t think we had a “best” candidate presented to us in the Democratic primaries, although we had a lot of very good candidates. Throughout the past several months, I flip-flopped among the names, and for a while even considered Senator Sanders the better choice. But nothing lit my fire to the extent that President Obama did, and that has been my base test.

The first presidential campaign in which I was truly aware and participated was the 1968 election. I was a rabid Gene McCarthy supporter, but when Bobby Kennedy entered the field, I waffled on McCarthy and ultimately supported Kennedy. Then the assassination, then the Democratic convention in which Hubert Humphrey was selected in the midst of the Chicago Democratic Convention riots and while thousands of our soldiers, sailors and airmen and women were being killed, generally in my age group, and African Americans were still struggling to achieve respect, equality and basic rights. I was livid, absolutely livid, probably as livid as the angry Senator Sanders supporters are today. Ironically, I couldn’t vote, because the constitutional amendment that lowered the voting age to 18 wasn’t ratified until 1971. (I was in college in Wisconsin in 1968, so I could drink beer legally, I could get drafted, and had a high draft lottery number meaning I would be drafted, but I couldn’t vote. Not fair, I whined, along with millions of others.) So, I couldn’t boycott the election, but I also couldn’t vote anyway. Why am I saying all this? To assure you that I understand the sorrow, disappointment or anger of the Senator Sanders supports. Been there, done that.

One other thing. I was hoping desperately that younger people would be turning out strong during the 2020 primaries and in the general election. Through the Michigan primary, younger voters did not show up in the numbers I had hoped and that Senator Sanders’ campaign staff had hoped. So, when I read angry posts on Tumblr or Facebook, or talk to younger people (with the 6 foot social distance in between), I always ask: did you vote? No? Why not? Yes? Thank you. Yelling on Tumblr or Facebook or Twitter doesn’t count; voting does. And apparently, a lot of you didn’t vote. That is really sad.

The next election will not lead us to progressive Nirvana, and you know that. Perhaps we can get closer after the 2022 and 2024 elections, but baby steps first. For example: before worrying about Medicare For All, which is essentially an access and payment issue, worry about our totally fucked up healthcare system, including the horrid politics and programs that constitute our public health values. This coronavirus pandemic should drive home to us big time the notion that we better improve our public health approaches and the structural flaws in our healthcare system, and then worry about access and payment. Do we want grandma and grandpa or our kids to have unfettered access to a healthcare system in which solid, sound, comprehensive healthcare cannot be delivered, regardless of cost? No, I don’t think so.

Do what’s right, and ignore where your anger hormones are leading you.

[sky3jmight-blog]

Side Characters Are Not The Heroes

A short story about a young man who knows he isn’t the main character in his own life. I posted this to a Wordpress blog I’m a part of a while ago. I plan to upload the rest of them eventually. For those who are interested in the meantime, the blog is at thewritingprojectsite.wordpress.com. Enjoy!

I am not the main character.

But wait a minute, you say as you read that sentence, you're the one talking right now. This story is about your experiences.

True. Yet I am only supporting cast.

Crazy things happen around me. Insane things. I sometimes get so deeply involved it's a miracle I come out alive. Because of this, life is somewhat difficult. I've actually gained somewhat of a reputation, making insurance companies less likely to cover me and employers more hesitant to take me on.

I see, you still don't understand. Well, maybe I can explain it by sharing what happened to me a few weeks ago. That was the day Dr. Peril arrived on the scene. He shot up a couple banks, melted a couple icebergs and flooded California, gave the rest of said Californians cancer, and held the world at his mercy by changing certain chemical elements in world leaders to cause them to explode upon contact with a normal everyday substance (citric acid, it was discovered later). Then he disappeared, leaving the world to cower in his absence. What was the madman planning? When would he return? And where had he even gone?

Surprise. He came to see me.

"I have to say," he grumbled as he entered my home, pushing past me to get to the couch, "I find it very cold-blooded of you to leave the world at peril like that. I had everything in my clutches, with nothing to stand in my way."

I closed the door and walked into the living room area. He had already flopped comfortably, arms spread, across my sofa. I noticed he had left his shoes on, but it was too late to say anything now.

"I don't have much in the way of snacks," I proposed politely, "but I have lemonade if you'd like some."

"Yeah, that does sound good right now. And don't be so informal, man. We're pals, right? We go way back."

"I don't remember," I called from the kitchen, "how far back are we talking here?"

Freeze for a second. Why am I so calm? Well, when you've been through everything I have...no, scratch that. Having been through everything I have I’ve come to realize a couple things. Having a clearer perspective on the fragility of life actually helps me keep calm in situations like these. I could die at any moment. Does it matter when or where? And besides, if this dude wanted me dead it would happen. Might as well see what he wanted. I was legitimately curious right now.

"Wow. I was afraid of this," the doc called back to me, "we were kids. We met in middle school. Edith Marin."

"I only went there a year. What was so special about that time?" I asked as I walked back in the room, "oh, here you go."

Dr. Peril took the glass with one hand and tossed a small cube at the coffee table with the other. It floated a couple inches off the table, and spread out a holographic image at a seated eye level. I took a chair.

"This device takes our collective memories and makes a three dimensional image based off off each of our perspectives. It works with two people, but you won't believe the clarity if four or more share the same experience together."

"This is incredible. Hey, those robots..." I said slowly, "I think I remember those."

"I built those robots to protect me," the doc smiled, "bullies were always trying to pick on us. You were a big kid at the time and took it. You didn't want to hurt them back."

"You made cool robots and stuff," I nodded, "we would play with them."

"You liked my robots. We played superheroes all the time in the sandbox. One time we made a promise together. Here, listen."

"When I grow up, I'm going to be a superhero and stop bad guys." The little me said as he posed heroicly.

"Yeah. I'll use my robots to take the bad guy's money and hurt them really bad. Then I'll be in charge of the world and make the bullies against the law."

"You can't do that. Bad guys take over the world and hurt people. Heroes just put them in jail and stuff."

"But they just get out. And they hurt more people. That's stupid." The kid doc tightened a bolt on his robot's arm. "I'll be a good bad guy, who does bad stuff to only the bad people. I'll hurt them all."

"If I become a superhero, I'd have to stop you. I'd fight your robots and beat them all up." Little me punched a knee-high droid with my action figure.

"Well, I'll be the best bad guy ever. And even if you become a superhero you won't be able to stop me."

"I'll still beat you. Because I'll be the best superhero and good guys always win. And we'll still be friends, and I'll always fight your robots and play and stuff. I promise."

"You get the idea," the doc said as he turned off the cube and tucked it back into his pocket. "We made a promise as kids to be arch rivals. I kept up my end of the deal, of course. I had those bullies subdued within the next school year, and ruled those grounds with an iron fist. From there I hacked, traded, scammed, and bought my way into a fortune. I have my own business empire now, run from the shadows. And secret facilities built in Atlantis supply me with all my robots and other deadly items needed for total world domination."

"Okay." I said slowly, "so, how do I fit in to all of this?"

"You have to stop me!" Doctor Peril exclaimed as he waved his arms wildly, "my achievements become stagnant. I literally conquered the entire world, and with no know extraterrestrial races I can't really go any further than I already have. Without resistance, I have no reason to grow and produce and destroy..."

I started to laugh. I couldn't help it! The idea was so ludicrous.

"My intense drive for domination has left me with withdrawals! If you cut me down to size I can get back to work on bigger and better inventions of destruction, and my life will have purpose once again." The doctor was now on his feet and pacing around the room.

"But I'm not a superhero! I really wish I was, but I'm no match for your brilliant machines." I sighed, "things have happened before now, but someone else always saves the day."

"But you promised me! Alpha, what have you even been doing these last fifteen years?" The doctor was visibly frustrated.

"Trying not to die whenever something supernatural or horrifically disastrous happens." I sat back, "I keep busy."

The doctor sighed, then looked at his watch.

"I have to go. But this isn't over. You will become my rival, in some way. Somehow." And with that, he was gone.

It was only a few minutes until I received my next visitor. A man in a black suit and dark expression.

"May I help you?" I asked him.

"That's classified," he said in a monotone voice, "Alpha Persiona?"

"Yes, that's me."

"I need to ask you a few questions."

It soon became clear what this man wanted. You can’t have an evil doctor driving a giant robot park outside your house without drawing some attention to yourself. This dude wanted to know what went down.

"Want some lemonade?" I asked him after I finished telling him all I knew.

He lowered his sunglasses to glare at me. "After what the doctor did last week?"

"Right. Too soon. Sorry."

"I'm afraid I'll need you to come with me." The man snapped some cuffs around my wrists before I could move. He led me outside and into a giant black limousine. Well, that was that. There goes my normal life. I could easily guess they were going to use me against the doctor in some way, and they also saw me as disposable. Being supporting cast, there was almost no chance of me surviving either.

" Hold it right there," Dr. Peril landed his giant mech on the road in front of us. It's calves opened up to distribute rows of folded up battle droids, deploying an army within seconds.

"This is where it gets real boys. Open fire," the man who kidnapped me ordered. Vehicles and soldiers appeared from seemingly nowhere, and the neighborhood erupted into militarized chaos. Houses exploded and vehicles were sent flying as man fought machine.

"With that giant robot he's got, it doesn't matter how many ground troops you have. It won't be enough!" I exclaimed as I watched the Peril’s mech launch a volley of missiles at incoming jets. The man in black just smiled.

"Form calves and thighs!" He commanded as our car and some of the surrounding vehicles started to transform, "form arms and body! Form rockets, wings, megaswords, mega guns, mega gunswords, mega stilettos..."

Tanks, jets, helicopters, motorcycles, and even a semi truck all piled together into a massive entity. Finally our limo made it's way to the pinnacle point of this monstrous creation. I was in awe.

"And I'll become the head!" The man roared as he slammed into the cockpit.

"How is this possible?" I asked in amazement. We stood easily three times as large as the Peril mecha.

"32 vehicles and one robot tiger. The latest in the earths defense collaborations. Each country holds a piece or two of the mighty robot, and we only combine when the earth is in as mighty peril as it has come to under the hands of Peril. We are known as the hyper Mega Gaigundratron Alliance!" The man adjusted his sunglasses, "but that's classified."

"Oh boy." I smiled, "looks like Dr. Peril didn't need me to challenge him after all."

"You morons," Peril crowed back at his new adversaries, "you act like I wouldn't have anticipated this. Anti-squad, assemble!"

Four new robots blasted onto the scene, and I recognized them in an instant. T-rex bot, Mech-L, Swiss knife, and Potato. Along with the Peril mech, these were the very same robots I fought as a child.

"I finished their final upgrade over summer vacation, but when school was finally back in session you were already gone. I guess now is as good a time as ever to show you what these guys can do!" Dr. Peril roared, "transform!"

They all kept into the sky and combined together. We watched in amazement as the almost impossible configuration occurred. They were still a bit smaller than our robot, but you could tell his contraption had serious power.

"Peril mech 3000 is online!" He roared triumphantly, "come at me!"

The battle that ensued was incredibly fierce. The Mega Gaigundratron fought with almost every weapon they could pack into a giant robot, but was quickly pinned by the Rex arm and blasted in the face by Potato's gun armaments.

"We have no choice. We'll have to set off our nuclear core while he has us down. Everyone, prepare to overload." The man grabbed the Peril Mech 3000 and activated his thrusters. Peril held on tightly, and I quickly realized that the doc hasn't installed any flight capabilities. Even if he escaped the nuclear explosions, his robot would surely be damaged in the fall. We soared higher and higher towards the atmosphere.

"I'm impressed. You've somehow managed to integrated a couple of NASA jet rocket packs onto your machine. You could easily break the atmosphere and carry on to the moon if you chose," Peril's voice came on over the communication line.

"Our plans exactly. We will keep this world safe with our lives" the man in the suit growled, "we're taking you with us, bub."

"One problem, although it's my solution," Peril laughed at him, "Tesla death ray."

"Wait, wha-" was all the man could say before the two robots vaporized into thin air. Each pilot had a parachute, thankfully. Except for me. Well, I wasn't a pilot, though. That's why I didn't have one, I guess. Not to worry though, my safety was secured in Rex's head, which had detached and become an escape pod.

"Sorry about your robots, man." I said as I climbed into the copilot's chair.

"No need to worry, they were merely prototypes I created years ago. Apart from their sentimental value, they were pretty much useless compared to the stuff I have now."

"I see," I said, and with nothing else to say we both waited quietly as the robot head floated down past the parachutes and into my front yard.

Two weeks later I was once again entertaining the doctor at my house.

"Apparently the government had evacuated everyone in the area before they waged their battle, so there were no causulties," I stated as I handed Peril a lemonade, "and they cleaned up nice afterwards. Not a thing out of place. Even people's broken digital devices were restored by the time they returned home. The neighborhood is as good as new."

"Actually, the restoration is all to my credit," Dr. Peril informed me after a sip of lemonade, "I took 3-d scans of the entire neighborhood beforehand and printed everything that needed restoring with my secret manufacturing facilities."

"Huh? But why?" I asked, puzzled.

"That's a silly question. No one wants to live in a trashy neighborhood, especially me."

"Wait. You live in this neighborhood now?" I asked, startled.

"As of today, we're roomies. I've already taken the liberty of installing a four level facility underneath the house. Something so small is only useful for household and recreational experiments, but I'll have to make do until your latent heroic potential blooms and develops to the point where you become of use to me."

"Oh. And the t-rex head? Guess that isn't coming out of the front yard." I sighed.

"Why should it? It serves as a reminder to the world just how badly I've beaten them all. They'll be a while before they challenge me again, and as long as you stay under my protection they won't dare to lay a finger on you. Oh, and I retrofitted the head to serve as a vehicle. Here's you a set of keys, in case you need to take it anywhere."

And that, boys and girls, is the story of my life. Told you I wasn't the main character. In the credits after the movie I'm side character A. But I wouldn't say I'm unhappy about it. I'm content to be a Watson, chronicling the tales of the many Sherlock Holmes and professor Moriartys that run through my life. And maybe one day I'll meet you in some grand adventure, and you can save me. Or kill me. Or maybe join me in a supporting role.

Because sometimes, that's okay too.