#not entirely unique to each person but there are abilities that crop up again

[radiofreeilium]

Crowd sourcing plot points in my new wip

[prof-peach]

Out of all of the pokemon you have taken care of, which one do you think it was the hardest to deal with? Be cuz they were in a pretty bad shape, or just personality wise?

We get rumbunctious and rowdy Pokemon all the time, our works nature brings them to us probably more than any other issue, outside of grass Pokemon care and management. Anger and nervousness is something we have a good hold of here, and try to help iron out of various species. I do a lot of that work, and on occasion, Grey will do the odd water type with these problems, as I tend to shy away from those. For the most part, they are short stint stays, a couple months, to a couple years helping them to rewire their anger into a more productive feeling or energy. That being said, there’s alwasy the odd Pokemon who comes our way who’s just a step above the rest. So here’s some stories of the ones who have had to stay with us, for their temperament and behaviour.

On the north side of the island, we house the biggest, meanest Pokemon, and the individuals who are very timid and nervous around people. We do this to ensure they have space to live undisturbed in peace, but also to protect guests and visitors from being eaten, crushed, blasted, or otherwise harmed. Some of the northern residents are difficult yes, but most are just stroppy or uncomfortable with the majority of humans, but there are a handful that are actively engaged in harming or hunting people.

One such Pokemon is a rather nasty tempered Drampa, he came to us about five or so years ago now, kindly donated by being abandoned on our shores, it’s original trainer leaving the ball and hopping on a boat without alerting us, or letting the individual know. We figured it would be possible to rehome it, they’re usually a rather reasonable Pokemon to handle, considering their typing. We were wrong. This Pokemon when let out of the ball, went on a monsterous rampage for four days, destroying forests, toppling buildings, blasting holes in the mountain to try to burrow away, and picking fights with anything it’s size or bigger, often causing great harm to others. The island didn’t rest for that entire time, most Pokemon cowering from it, bigger species trying to halt them, all in vain. It took an entire troop of grass Pokemon using sleep powder to knock it out, the Drampa moved about so fast, one single grass type didn’t stand a chance to produce enough spores in time. It took a lot of work but we knocked the old boy out, and got a good look at him. His body was riddled with arthritis, not medicated, he would thrash about and cause himself so much pain and discomfort. He had overgrown nails, the feet hidden in the fur they have around their torso, often overlooked, and it’s ability to fly was limited because of its general condition and state. We began helping it, medicating it’s aislments, aiding it’s inflamed joints, but it never really calmed down, so now it chills out alone on the coast of the north side, left well alone, it doesn’t even like the company of other Pokemon.

We’ve done our best to interact with it, to socialise it, to generally get it use to people enough to do medical checks, but it’s still very resistant. We have decided that after two years of hard work, and it being tolerant to me, at least to check it’s health and wellbeing, that it’s best to let it live it’s life unbothered. Many would push a Pokemon to be a perfect social being, but we don’t believe it’s necessary for happiness. Some species are happy to be away from others, I wouldn’t push a human to be social, I know how awful that can be, so we didn’t force the individual to be around others either. It’s not that it’s unhappy, we spot it from time to time sitting on the rocks by the ocean, humming to itself, and the small pidgey and tailow that come by don’t bother it, and even give mild brief conversation. He seems ok, the medicine given means he’s in less pain, despite still having stiffness, and in the winter we’ve built him a unique space, rocky cover much like a cave, just above a Macargo hide where they lay eggs. The heat from those Pokemon keep its cave very hot, and help in the cold to ease the joint aches. The two species have different entrances, making sure they never meet within the hide at any point. There’s a good slab of rock dividing them, so it’s not an issue, and saves us having to pipe hot water over that far for him. He eats well, has a few items he’s kept from the labs, a toy sentret, and a large red ball, and generally is in a good place to live out his life in peace now.

Another difficult member would be a particularly timid Slazzle, gifted to us by a police member who had confiscated it from a rather mean individual close to her home town, they had been hurting the poor Pokemon, forcing it to produce an insane amount of poison liquid, throwing water on the poor thing every time it tried to ignite to retaliate, generally abusing the poor thing for its life, apparently it had been locked away since it was a young unevolved Pokemon. They’d been harvesting the poisons from the Slazzle and dropping it into various water sources to try to control the local Pokemon population, as they blamed the wild ones for the state of their land, and diminished crops yield from their allotment. Jokes on them, that water poisoning affected them too, and their garden died very quickly, and made the man quite sick through consumption of the crops he grew there. The slazzle is still very skittish, will hide at any given moment, we’ve seen her ignite an entire building in one move, and then bolt away through the flames to lose our line of sight. She managed to stay hidden for two weeks on the island, before we caught sight of her again. Generally she’s just a case fo neglect but we have been working with her now for a long while, 3 ish years, and her temperament is at least manageable amongst our staff. We have found her others of her kind to help her settle, and she’s become good friends with a Wartortle who came from the same area, they bond over memories of the place, and seem very happy in each others company.

We’ve found ways to keep her grounded, but she never goes near people when we have open days, slinks off through the big fence to the north side, and waits out the visiting hours until night. They’re not usually nocturnal but she likes the night, and spends her time looking about, foraging and feeding in the later hours. If you’re quiet you can catch her moving around the forests and the base of the mountains here, talking with the occasional individual, she seems to enjoy Murkrow too, their company seems to keep her quite social, as they usually move in large flocks here. She may never be rehomed, but for now we try to socialise her, we don’t battle her, and she has a very calm and peaceful nook to go to when she’s having a rough time. We make sure to provide support where possible, and though she’s a little skittish she’s somewhat happy to have myself and Grey, even Pari take a look at any wounds or scrapes she may gain while living here. She’s become trusting enough to come to us if we call, and who knows, maybe someone will come our way who she takes an interest in. There’s hope for her yet, we have however become quite fond of her, and she’s part of the furniture now. It may end up that she never leaves, and lives her life in peace here, surrounded by people and Pokemon who love her. Her panic makes her very difficult to pass to another trainer, and she’s prone to spitting up huge quantities of toxic liquid when spooked, and bolts at a slight bang or rumble.

One I have kept back for a number of reasons, is a rather mean tempered Aerodactyl. Normally we get Pokemon sent to us, but this one I ended up finding myself, some circus had her chained up in a box hardly big enough to turn around in, an attraction to the masses as they travelled through the area. The leader of that troop was particularly awful, treating Pokemon as commodities, items to be bought and sold, used as toys in his big performances. Boiled my blood. We called her Zeplin, and after 12 years she has still got a nasty temper on her, when not focused on a task. Her condition when we first found her was quite something, tattered wings, unable to fly straight at all, and she was littered with cuts and bruises, not in good health. Val has melted the chains that bound her, and the lock in her cage, and she just went, like a bat out of hell, flew off, blasting the tent that hid her quarters, burning a lot of the circus as she went. Little did I know, my foot was in one of the chain links, and I got dragged off with her, the ground, Val, all my other team mates, falling from my pocket, or being left on the floor where we had once been standing. She flew, and kept going, not aware I was still attached, you could see her wings were having a hard time catching the breeze, littered with holes and tears, she went for about two hours, I nearly froze that high up, trying to get a good grip on what chain was left so I didn’t come falling from that height. We came to a very sudden crash landing, she hadn’t had much chance to practice the whole take off - land thing from the feel of it, we both ate dirt, and she became very aware that I was there all of a sudden.

I had about three seconds while she assessed my presence, to get out of the chain, and dive behind a rock that gave me cover from an almighty blast of energy, chipping away bits, catching my arm a little. Trust me when I say, it’s terrifying coming face to face with something that stands a fair few meters taller than you, with more teeth and claws than you’re comfortable with dealing with, with none of your Pokemon, no weaponry, no real plan or cover other than a rock. How she didn’t eat me, I don’t know. Perhaps she knew it was me that let her go, maybe she just ran out of energy, but for whatever reason, she made a few bits and tail lashes at me, missed the lot, and gave up, turning to stomp off into the forests around us. She was still shackled with heavy irons, one on the neck, two on the legs, and was in serious condition, so I did the stupid thing and followed her, tried to sneak my way behind, though every now and then she would look towards me, and try to focus on my form in the dark of night now. It was a few days, she had stalked some prey, fed, and was starting to ooze from some wounds. Though the circus was unkind, they were providing her with medication that stopped further infections occurring, perhaps a scarred beast of great size drew more punters, maybe they were just making sure she survived to make them money, I still don’t know.

I hunted herbs, dug out roots with rocks, used river water, and common berries and managed to fashion some kind of salve, nothing amazing, especially back at that age, but it would work, I knew it would because I used it on my own wounds first. Just had to convince her it was a good thing to let me get close. Not an easy task. We physically brawled, she was clearly spent, not able to use any attacks, just thrashing about, I managed to trip her with the chains still attached to her legs, and once downed, you can jump on the head of these Pokemon to keep the jaws shut, just long enough to lather the wounds you can reach, then bolt fast. It was a small act, but she took off running again. With some wounds sort of cared for, I followed again, fishing for dinner, forraging roots to chew on. It wasn’t much but it kept me going, then one night, where I had climbed to a crook of a large tree, using my jacket to tie myself in for a nights sleep, I was awoken by loud rustling, thudding of feet, and a mighty huff.

Below where I sat, the Pokemon had returned, being no doubt well aware of my presence, following the smell of human, she had noticed the salve do a good job on the wounds I managed to reach, but the ones I couldn’t get near had become far worse, red, inflamed and weeping terribly, no doubt hurting and itching. I’d seen her rubbing her sides in the day, itching gasinst rocks and trees, smearing blood and ooze along her path as she trudged. So here we were, alone in the woods, I veeeeery carefully climbed down, staying in cover as much as possible, and over the space of an hour or two, she let me come out into the open, teeth bared yeah, but she hadn’t attacked, and other than a very uncomfortable, low growl, she allowed me to creep closer, some more of that salve made more for my own wounds than hers, being sniffed at, she licked it too, but wasn’t happy with the taste, very bitter, and I was cautiously optimistic, allowed to help her heal the rest of the cuts she had acquired from her old home. So we began our....I want to say friendship but that wasn’t it, it was a collaboration to survive.

We had landed somewhere far from others, I missed my team, and she had never experienced anything outside of the cage, and so we banded together, tentatively. We caught dinner as a team, and climbed for fruits, foraged for berries, reapplying what loose form of medicine I managed to make, before coming to some kind of comfortable companionship together. A week passed, wandering without a clue where we were, before a path was found, she seemed to want to avoid it, and while I wasn’t keen on people much either, it was impossible not to want to find my team again. They needed me, and I needed them. If they had been found, a police officer or the likes may have sent them to my original professor, waiting to be called from the PC system again, but knowing Val, she had grabbed the balls, my things, and bolted to hide, waiting for my return. In desperation I tried to explain this to the Aerodactyl, who had not experienced a trainers care before, and seemed reluctant to return.

It was only upon mentioning revenge, to burn the circus to the ground, that I regained her attention, and we came to a slow agreement to get aid, gather items, and return to where she had been released from. She waited in the forest while I went to town, checking my PC space to see if my team had been handed in, which they had! It was lucky, I was reunited with Val (vulpix), Booker (teddiursa), and Potato (bulbasaur) who I took back, and returned to the woods with.

We had to get some revenge, and in turn we devised a plan to free the Pokemon first, sneak in and pick the locks, melt the chains and gates, and then finally, let the aerodactyl do her thing once the vulnerable individuals were loose. I did my best to hold back my own personal rage, and simply aid the demise of a group who were awful towards Pokemon through this one big flying type. I wint go into details but no one perished in the fire, they were arrested and charged for unsafe work conditions, and abuse towards Pokemon, not to mention false advertising, having no worker’s Compensation in pace for injury, which many staff complained of, and several incidents of sexual harassment in the work place that were brought to light.

Once one started to talk, the others all joined in, and the fire was put down to unsafe working conditions and a lack of health and safety. From what I heard, the whole circus worth of Pokemon were rehomed, helped and generally lived much better lives after that. However now we had one very mistrusting angry Aerodactyl on our hands, a Pokemon I had not worked with before, who had seemingly become quite tolerant of me, but would snap at just about anyone who clocked eyes with her. So I kind of just kept her, no ball, not for a fair few years, we both didn’t think it was important. She was nursed back to health, and we had to go through a lot of training together, she bit booker once quite badly, but we’ve all put that in the past, and have worked on it together.

She is still testing, she won’t be ridden by anyone else, she doesn’t care for other Pokemon much, crowds will spook her, she doesn’t like when people talk with raised voices or hostile tones, and gets real irritable if you come at her in any kind of way that isn’t open handed, calm and slowly. She’s now a very capable flier, wings healed up, spending her first half of life locked up made her long for the open sky, so now we take time together to go off and ride winds when work is slow, and she’s helped in many ways to make the island functional, by moving logs, clearing paths, helping lift building materials around, and generally being there for me when I’m full of rage, which is actually annoyingly often. We’re anger buddies hah, kind of get on the same level with it. She’s become so much part of my family, and I feel like i’m part of hers now too, so I doubt she’d be rehomed, but should she find somewhere she would rather be, we wouldn’t stop her going. She is difficult, angry, snappy, tempermental, difficult, won’t be touched by strangers, likes to fight, but I’d not change her, she’s our testing monster, who we love and adore.

Went off a bit, but I figured why not, I know her, and can write more about her life and story than the others.

[ddarker-dreams]

Paradiso. Yan Giorno x Reader [COMM] AU

a/n: au takes place in the early 1900s. tw for descriptions of cults, religious themes, and descriptions of violence. 

From the moment you read Elle’s first letter, you were skeptical. 

All of this high praise for a hidden community that accepted anyone regardless of their background. She speaks of the people, forgiving and helpful in every conceivable way. That even when she first arrived, not once did she feel like an outsider; everyone welcomed her with open and loving arms. It’s not that you don’t want to believe such a perfect place exists -- you wish it is, for her sake -- but it has to be too good to be true.

If there’s anything you know from firsthand experience, it’s people. Inherently selfish, always in pursuit of their own goals and agenda. There is undoubtedly a catch behind this, you know it in your gut. Elle’s descriptions are too biased, words written blindly behind rose-colored glasses. She isn’t able to see the truth anymore, too far into her own delusions of a flawlessly crafted world. 

For a time, you were able to grin and bear it despite the bitter taste it left in your mouth. Responding with forced enthusiasm over her supposed healing, expressing how happy for her you are. It was the letter from the end of her first month, that you felt unparalleled dread overwhelm your entire person. 

Words such as “blood” and “ritual” stuck out like a sore thumb, nausea overtaking you and concern soon after. The worst part of it all, is how she posed it as a wonderful thing! She spoke of how it brought healing and an abundance of crops, that it was the most beautiful thing she’d ever witnessed in her life. 

No longer could you enable this detrimental behavior. Your dearest friend is in the jaws of a predator, and you’ll do anything to pry her out; even if it requires force. This conviction is what you hold tightly to, fastening yourself against the oncoming horrors. 

“Is this it?” you yell over to your guide, loud purr of the motorboat’s engine deafening your ears. He nods his head in affirmation, attention remaining on steering in the right direction. Looking forward towards this utopia, doubts continue to cloud your mind. It didn’t help that the process to get here is beyond tedious, this fisherman the only one willing to take you out to this remote location.  

No alarm bells are ringing from your initial glance over, but looks can be deceiving. With each passing moment the secluded island grows closer, looming over you with dubious intent. White sandy beaches line it, the only hint of civilization being an old wooden dock. Thick and lush green trees encompass the island, engulfing it in nature. It’s larger than you initially thought it would be from Elle’s complimentary descriptions. 

For privacy, and to keep away suspicious eyes you imagine, the heart of the village is a trek from the beach. Elle justified it by a need to stay hidden, citing how many of the island’s inhabitants are reformed criminals or people who are rejected from society. All you can see in her reasoning are blatant excuses. Nothing good comes from having no accountability from others, it’s a wide open gate for madness and abuse of power.

Splashes of salt water sprinkle against your face, moistening your hair in the process. The peaceful experience does little to soothe you, your mind focused solely on how you’ll go about your investigation undetected. You’re arriving under the pretense of staying permanently, the only possible way to “earn” an invitation. It feels dirty to lie to your good friend, but this is all for the greater good. 

The motor sputters down as the fisherman stops next to the dock, a sign of the unknown journey ahead of you finally starting. He begins the process of tying a rope against the dock to steady it, leaving you to sit on the rocking boat. Bobbing up and down with the waves, you close your eyes to fend off a wave of nausea the ocean brings with it. 

“[First]!” A cheerful, nostalgic voice calls over to you; breaking you from your stupor. Elle waves eagerly from the shore, running against the sand with a wide grin. Once the rope has been tied successfully, you grab your bags and shakily step onto solid land. She’s wearing a simple white dress, that cuts off below her knees, adorned with sandals and a large straw hat. 

Her skin is tanner than when you saw her last, likely from the hours spent in the sun. Light brunette hair secured in her signature high ponytail, and amber eyes shining brightly. You can’t remember the last time you’ve seen her so giddy, the sight bittersweet and conflicting you further. Raking over her figure for any signs of foul play, she doesn’t have a single bruise or scratch on her person.

If anything, you’d say she looks to be in perfect health. No longer does her skin cling tightly to her bones, face full and evident that she’s been eating well. It doesn’t deter you for long, as you’re certain there’s still underlying malice in this supposed community. 

Arms wrap around your waist in a suffocatingly tight hug, her face settles against your neck. Returning her affections to the best of your ability while holding your luggage, she carries on the embrace for a few more seconds. You can’t help but return her enthusiasm with a laugh of your own, recalling how she’s always been affectionate. Elle has an ability to make you melt within her hands. 

“It looks like somebody missed me.” you tease with a short snicker, earning a low hum of affirmation. 

“It just feels so good to finally see you again,” she admits with a dreamy sigh, hands moving down the skin of your arm to the handle of your bags. “I’ve missed you more than you could imagine. Here, hand me your bags. I’m sure you’re tired after all that travelling. But it’ll be well worth it, I promise!” 

Elle sets off towards the intimidating looking woodland, turning back to you inquisitively when you don't follow right after her. You still don’t see any obvious signs of problems, eyes scouring every crevice of the area before you. With a reluctant sigh, you follow after your good friend into the unknown.

She leads you through thickets of trees and shrubbery, skillfully weaving throughout nature with practiced precision. “I have so much to tell you. I don’t want to overwhelm you right away though, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask.” 

“Give me just a general overview of how things work around here,” you respond while ducking under an imposing branch. “Is it all this… uninhabited?” 

Waving off your poorly hidden concern, she shakes her head. “Not in the slightest. This is just to keep out anyone who’d do us harm. We’re getting closer to the central area, that’s where you’ll be staying with me. Don’t worry about chores or anything the first few days, I want you to focus on getting used to life here! It can take some adjusting.” 

So inundated by the information you’re currently taking in, you fail to notice a vine rising ever so slightly from the ground. Your foot snags against it, sending you tumbling onto the ground and warm pain radiating from your knees from the impact. Elle whips her head back to you at the sound, immediately coming to your side with potent concern. 

“A-are you okay? I forgot to mention how many things there are to trip on around here, I can’t even begin to recall how many times I’ve fallen…” she trails off, soothingly rubbing a hand against your shoulder while you catch your breath. You look down at your knees, the source of the stinging pain, to see they’re scraped up. Great, just great. 

Letting out a shaky sigh, you grimace through the ebbing ache while standing up. “It’s just a few scratches, nothing serious. I think I’ll live.” 

She inspects the wound further despite your insistence of being alright, you finding the circumstances of tripping like a klutz to be mildly embarrassing. The insignificant injury means little to you, you’ve experienced far worse in the past. It’s only an added nuisance since living here will require a lot of movement. That, and you’ve always wanted Elle to view you in a cool, “knows what she’s doing” type of way. 

“Still, it’d be best if you got it looked at and disinfected to be on the safe side. We have a healer here who will help you out, no questions asked.” 

This catches your attention. The word “healer” being used instead of a doctor or nurse is suspicious to say the least, but it will be a good opportunity to see firsthand what the practices are around here. Although you’re wary of accepting any medicine from these people, there’s no harm in letting this guy look at it.

“Alright, as long as it’s not too much trouble. It really is just a small scratch after all.” you respond nonchalantly while dusting dirt off your shorts. Ignoring the slight sting that reemerges with every step, Elle leads you in a slightly different direction than before. 

Even with your reservations, there’s no denying how beautiful the nature surrounding you is. Wild life scurries about at every corner, trees tall and hanging over to protect from the harsh rays of sunlight. Various plant life of almost every color dot along the ground, flowers you’ve never seen before in full bloom. 

After a few more minutes of walking, a small and wooden college appears before you. The first signs of this area actually being occupied, you note. There’s a large garden of herbs surrounding it, the structure impressively built with a few signs of weathering on the roof. Elle waves you over, knocking on the door.

“Giorno! Giorno, are you there?” she beckons with insistence, knocking increasing in volume from the lack of an immediate response. Before she can call out once more, the door opens to reveal a young man who looks to be around your age. 

You feel an unexplainable draw to him, unlike anything you’ve ever felt before. His skin is very fair, without a single imperfection or blemish present. Golden hair as fine as silk, placed into a unique style consisting of three large curls for bangs and a braid. His eyes are piercing yet not unfriendly, color reminiscent to that of luminous emeralds. There’s no denying his beauty. 

“You must be [First],” he greets with a welcoming smile, attention solely set upon you. “Your friend has spoken highly of you.” 

Your cheeks flush at this, Elle looking similarly flustered. She speaks up for you, much to your internal relief. “[First] hurt her knees a bit on the trek here. Would you mind taking a look at it, if you’re not too busy?” 

Giorno glances down at the aforementioned injury, placing a hand to his chin and narrowing his eyes in inspection. “I would treat it now, but I was about to deliver this medicine Fugo requested earlier.” 

“It’s fine, really, Ellie,” you reassure her with her favorite nickname, throwing your hands up in mock defense. “I’d hate to impose on my first day here, this seems important.” 

“Would you make the delivery for me, Elle? That way I can treat [First] right away.” Giorno proposes, lifting his hand up to reveal a small bag that must contain whatever this Fugo person needs. You snap your attention over to your friend who is thoughtfully considering Giorno’s request. Hoping she can get the hint from your tense body language that you’d rather not be left with a stranger from a weird reclusive village, you all but deflate as she gladly nods her head. 

She’s always been too nice for her own good. And yours. 

“Sure thing, anything to be of help! I’ll run this straight over to Fugo and be back in a jiffy.” Elle grabs the bag from Giorno’s hand, walking off without further thought. She gives you a wink and a wave, before scurrying off into the direction from before. You swallow thickly in her absence, feeling awkward as silence settles in over you and Giorno.

He steps aside from the door frame, waving you in with a single, graceful motion. You take the wordless invitation in stride, walking in and warily eyeing your surroundings. This area must double as Giorno’s living space and workplace, carefully arranged wooden furniture giving a sense of domesticity. Shelves line the walls, covered to the brim in a variety of small glass bottles full of things ranging from liquids to powders. It brings with it a nice, earthy scent. 

An assortment of flora make up for most of the decoration within, different leafy plants and flowers sitting atop every counter. Nothing incriminating so far, but you didn’t think Giorno would display anything potentially off putting that blatantly. It still isn’t enough to lull your thumping heartbeat, wishing that Elle hadn’t left your side. 

“Please, take a seat here.” Giorno nods to an empty chair in the furthest side of the room. You follow through with his request, grateful for the chance to rest your exhausted body. Hand hovering as he examines the bottles in front of him, he eventually gets the contents within. Mixing it together in a bowl with some other unidentified greenery, he walks over to you.

“So… should I be anticipating an amputation in the near future?” you attempt to joke to ease the stifling air, earning a small quirk of the lips. He looks nice when he’s smiling, you note.

“No, nothing like that,” Giorno calmly reassures, kneeling down and inspecting your knees closer. “May I?” 

You can appreciate how polite he is, nodding to offer permission for him to touch you. Giorno wastes no time, skillfully running the unknown combination against your scraped skin. Inhaling sharply in anticipation, you’re for a loop by the immediate dulling of pain. At the very least, you were expecting a sting from the initial application of this homemade remedy. 

Giorno reaches for a gauze from his pocket, wrapping it around the wounded area with perfect efficiency. The entire process was faster than any you’ve experienced, not that you’ve ever been able to afford a nice doctor. Maybe this Giorno character isn’t so bad after all? He has a soothing presence, being well mannered and not speaking more than necessary. 

Your cheeks redden once more, the subsiding of the pain allowing you to realize how close he is to you. Giorno gives your skin a final glance over, but doesn’t stand back up immediately. Clearing your throat, you attempt to initiate a conversation.

“So… Giorno, was it? Have you lived here your entire life?” you question, hoping it seems natural and without a hidden agenda. He doesn’t appear to interpret it in a negative light, going into deep thought at your prompting.

“In a way, yes,” he concludes aloud, standing from his kneeling position and cleaning off his hands. “It’s somewhat difficult to explain.”

At this, you decide to stop yourself from prying further. Having quite the past yourself, you can sympathize with not wanting to put it all on display. Still, there are further questions that refuse to leave your mind. Giorno speaks up before you get the opportunity to ask him anything else.

“You’ll need to reapply this remedy once a day until it shows further signs of healing. I’d give you it to do yourself, but it's less effective the longer it's been exposed to air. It’ll work best if being applied after I make it fresh.”

You have mixed feelings, lips pursing at the extra steps your little tumble gave you. Nodding your head in agreement, you carefully test the waters by extending your leg forward. “Thank you, Giorno. Elle really wasn’t exaggerating when she said everyone here is beyond helpful.” 

“You’re one of us now,” Giorno places the bottles he took down earlier back to their original position, then turns his head to you. “I’ll take care of anything you need. And remember to stop by tomorrow.” 

A nagging feeling pinches at your side, one comparable to guilt. It doesn’t make logical sense why you’d feel bad for deceiving Giorno, who you have just met. Due to his unabashed kindness and trustworthy visage, you find yourself feeling bad for your dishonesty. Looking away from his watchful gaze, you relent.

“Y-yeah, I will.” 

--- 

When you start to doubt yourself, it’s never a good sign.

Whether it’s because of the pride of admitting that you were wrong, or the shame for suspecting Elle’s testimony in the first place. For months you’ve stayed here, living out the simple yet satisfying life you once scrutinized. Nothing of questionable intent has caught your attention. What originally was meant to be a short visit became extended, each day carrying out with welcome familiarity. 

Life has been good. Better than it was before, in some regards. No longer do you have to worry about where your next meal will come from, what you’ll do if you’re unable to make rent by the end of the month. You still pull your weight, of course, but expectations that society bestowed upon you before are now nonexistent. 

“I think I forgot my bag at the beach. Dammit…” you trail off with a sigh, running a hand through your hair. Elle laughs at your misfortune, looking out the window of your shared cabin to see that the sun is long set.

“I’d say to leave it until morning, but who knows if the tides will come wash it away. Want me to walk with you to get it?” she offers with a smile, already standing up to come help. You shake your head, not wanting to trouble her. She’s never been a night person, always one to wake up bright and early. 

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll be right back.” 

Even when the path is only lit by moonlight, you’re able to maneuver through the area with ease. You often would find yourself spending time on this section of the shore, joined either by Elle or Giorno. Elle isn’t capable of sitting still for long, normally bringing you a snack before running off to find something new to do. Giorno’s a different story. He’ll sit next to you for hours at a time. The two of you having conversations ranging from light topics about plants, to deep philosophical musings over human nature.

The thought puts an extra spring in your step, beige bag thrown against the sand now being picked up. While walking back to your shared residence, you’re thrown off by a shrieking noise coming from your left.

It’s eerie, unquestionably a human scream. A variety of thoughts flood your mind, but you know you’ll need to investigate it. Before you can call out to see if anyone needs help, you overhear two male voices talking with one another.

“--Need to do something about this traitor now.” 

“Gag him.” 

Narrowing your eyes, you source the noise to one of the fishing cabins on the outskirts. Only a single light shines within, dull and flickering; yet undeniable. No one is out this late under normal conditions, much less a group of people. Holding your breath, you sneak alongside the building to get a better spot to listen.

A bag rustles within, a voice you recognize as Abbachio’s picking up with tangible displeasure. “Bucciarati, get a look at this. He didn’t just steal supplies, he wrote down firsthand accounts too.” 

“We’ll burn them later,” Bucciarati replies without hesitation. “For now, we need to learn if he was alone or working with others.” 

Abbacchio sighs at the extra workload, floorboards creaking as he walks along them. You hear a distinct noise of flesh being hit repeatedly, a body thumping across the floor with muffled screams. “Who do you think you are, making us do all this? What a pain…” 

More kicks. It feels like there’s a vice grip constricting your chest, breathing growing more strained. Adrenaline pumps through your veins, urging you to flee the scene and seek safety elsewhere. The more logical side of you prevents this, feeling a need to come up with a solid plan first. 

With all the sticks and rocks littered across the ground, it’s possible they might be alerted if you make any sudden movements. Creeping alongside the house slowly towards the back, you swallow thickly as your heart pounds violently. Never have you felt so warm, beads of sweat dripping down the sides of your face. 

Cautiously, you’re able to put some distance between yourself and the incriminating scene. It isn’t enough to lull you into a false sense of security, all your senses dialed to the max. You didn’t realize how harshly you’ve been gripping your bag, knuckles white and feeling numb. 

Questions flood your mind that you doubt you’ll ever find the answers to. What was it that this person did to earn such a cruel fate? Abbachio and Bucciarati are revered here, Bucciarati even more so. They spoke of firsthand accounts being written down... he must’ve seen something he shouldn’t have.

It’s too dangerous here. You need to get back to Elle, and you need to go the hell out of here. Creeping along in the night, you feel like something or someone is watching you. Looking around sporadically for any signs of this, you frown at the lack of confirmation. 

‘Is it just my imagination...?’

Your mental state is fragile now, having witnessed a gruesome scene unfolding. Shaking your head, you silently chastise yourself. There’s no time for this jittery, you need to get a hold of yourself to make it out of this alive. Lightly smacking your face in hopes it’ll bring you back to reality, you think of more hurdles that’ll need to be overcome. 

A daring idea pops into your mind. Telling Elle now what you just saw would be a recipe for disaster, she’ll be an anxious mess incapable of the resolve to escape. That leaves incapacitating her in some way, as much as it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. It’s all for the greater good, you remind yourself. Once you’re in safety you’ll explain all the details to her.

She’s never been able to handle alcohol well. 

It might not be enough to keep her asleep. That’s when you realize Giorno will likely have some kind of medicine that makes you tired. The thought of him, and never seeing him again, twists your heart in a strange manner. Perhaps you can say your goodbyes to him, or even ask him to come with you. 

Similar to the way you first met him, you knock on the door to his home. 

‘Please be awake, please be awake...’

Great relief washes over you as he opens the door, eyes widening at the sight of you this late at night. Before he gets the opportunity to question you about it, you walk inside; closing the door and looking around for signs of anyone else. It’s only him, you realize. 

“[First]? Are you alright? You look terribly pale.” His concern is palpable, likely thinking that you’re injured in some way. 

“I-I’m fine. Giorno, do you have any medicine to help with sleeping by chance? Or anything similar?” you inquire frantically, to which he slowly nods his head; still trying to gauge the situation. Letting out a sigh of immense relief, you run your hands through your hair. 

He hands you a bottle full of unrecognizable herbs, not loosening his grip when you go to take it from him. Blinking in confusion at this, you realize he must have a few questions of his own over your disheveled appearance. It’d be rude not to offer some form of explanation, no matter how messy it may be.

“What is this really about? Please remember that you can always tell me anything.” he pries further, voice unwavering and eyes hopeful. His sympathy touches your heart. Licking your lips, you manage to rush out an explanation. 

“Listen, Giorno. It isn’t safe here. I-I saw something, something bad. I can’t stay here, we can’t stay here anymore. I think... they were torturing someone. Someone who saw something they shouldn’t have. I don’t even want to know,” you rush out, finally managing to grasp the bottle from his hands. “Please, for your own good, consider leaving.” 

At this influx of information he doesn’t seem shaken, only more curious. “I think you should sit down. You’re clearly not thinking straight. If you’ve been having trouble sleeping, that could--”

“No! It’s not that,” you cut off in frustration, furrowing your eyebrows and clenching your fists. “You’re not listening to me. Giorno, I know what I saw. I-I need to go. Now.” 

Not waiting for his response, you rush towards the door. Giorno grabs your wrist from behind, your heart sinking in the process. His grasp isn’t as tight as it could be, more for show than anything. He can feel your brisk pulse with his fingers, head lowering.  

“You’ll regret it. Don’t.” 

The words are whispered so lowly, you wonder if you even heard them in the first place. With a lackluster tug, you break free without further dilemma. His chin dips to his chest, letdown evident. It pulls at your heartstrings, still not being enough to deter you further. 

Holding your hands to your chest, you keep an eye on him as you back up towards the door. “I’m sorry.” 

When you feel the handle underneath your hand, no time is wasted rushing back to Elle. Giorno doesn’t stop you as you leave, and you don’t want to look back to see him now.

It doesn’t make any sense why he’d try to stop you, why he didn’t even flinch at the mention of a person being tortured. A cloud of dread hangs over your head, combination of negative emotions stirring within. His eyes, so melancholic and hurt--

No, it does nothing to think about it. All that matters is escape. 

Returning to your house, your shaky hands miraculously manage to pour a touch of herbal concoction into Elle’s drink. You’re grateful that she’s in bed, too preoccupied to see what it is you’re doing. Wiping the sweat from your brows and straightening out your posture, you enter her room with a facade of calm.

“I wanted to celebrate the three month mark of my stay.” you explain while opening the door with your back, then handing her a glass. She looks up from her book, grabbing it without another thought. The liquid within your cup rattles from your jittery hands.  

“Kinda outta nowhere, but it is a good cause to celebrate!” Elle lifts her glass into the air in a mock toast, which you mimic with less enthusiasm. You watch her throat move as she gulps down the liquid, wiping at her mouth. To avoid suspicion, you do the same, but taking in less. 

She stretches in a way that reminds you of a cat, making a loud noise and going to stand by your side sluggishly. With the scent of alcohol on her breath, she lazily brings you into a hug. Is the concoction working this fast? You weren’t able to ask Giorno what to expect, too rushed.

“I felt so lonely without you.” she begins to slur her words, eyelids growing heavier and leaning her weight against you. Your muscles go taut at the sudden declaration, steadying her against your shoulders as she begins to sway. Whatever that stuff is, it’s fast acting. Hopefully you didn’t pour too much. 

Her cheeks have a rosy tint, eyes growing further from this reality. She refuses to let go of you, wanting to be by your side. 

“So... so lonely... mn... don’t leave me alone again... okay?” 

Elle sniffles, burying her face in your neck. “Promise?” 

You press your lips against her forehead gently, her eyes fluttering shut in the process. Tightening your grip around her, you nod your head; though you doubt she’s coherent enough to understand the action. 

“I promise. Everything will be okay soon.” 

A few more moments pass, and she’s entirely slack against you. 

Testing the waters, you call her name calmly. No response. A nudge. Still nothing. Gentle breaths fan out against your flushed skin, Elle lulled into the depths of unassuming slumber. If it weren’t for the dire situation, you’d admire how her eyelashes look so pretty against her skin, how here brunette hair frames her face when it’s let down-- 

Shaking your head at the intrusive thoughts, you grunt while picking her up into your arms. There are some rowboats used for fishing alongside the coast, and that’s where you���ll make the final step of your escape. It isn’t the easiest task to haul her along, despite not being too heavy. 

It doesn’t matter. You’re close, so palpably close. You can hear the seagulls cawing in the air, the sound of the ocean crashing against the sand. Just a few more minutes, and then you’ll be free of this nightmare. Keeping her secured against your chest, you trudge along some tricky vines. 

‘Was this area always like this? It’s feels more like a jungle than a forest.’

Kicking yourself loose, your frustration grows as the vines seemingly begin to wrap around your ankles. Eyes widening at the unbelievable sight, you frantically begin to struggle against the restraints. It wouldn’t be too difficult, if not for the fact you were carrying a person in your arms. 

Your body feels weighed down from exhaustion, but you push down any complaints. Cursing underneath your breath, the vines finally are warded off by another tug. Beyond a few more trees, you’re welcomed by the inviting sight of the moonlit ocean. Its beauty takes your breath away.

The ground underneath your feet now feels soft, dirt replaced by sand. It makes it more tedious to walk. Your ticket to freedom is but a couple feet away, the rowboats bobbing up and down in time with the waves. Not the most ideal escape, yet it’ll still work. 

‘Please, just give me the strength to make it to land.’

Finally at the boat, you feel your shoulders and body growing weaker by the second. Your movement has grown considerably more sluggish since arriving at the beach, the sinking of the sand underneath you all but sapping the remainders of your strength. 

With utmost delicateness, you gingerly lay Elle down inside of the boat. Now all that’s left is untying it from the dock. The rope isn’t in too complicated a knot, a small amount of luck. Hurriedly working at it, you notice the texture of it changing before your very eyes.

It grows scaly instead of rough, color morphing into a dark green; beady eyes now peering at you. Jumping back in surprise, a snake in place of the rope hisses at you, tongue flickering out of its mouth. It slithers against your arm, causing you to yelp and tumble backwards. 

‘This place is fucking cursed!’

“Over here! We found them!” 

Looking back to the trees where you came from, you see a few shrouded figures emerging. It’s unfair, safety just tauntingly within your reach. There’s too many than you could hope to fend off, even if you were at your full strength. The snake coils around your forearm, stopping just short of biting you. 

‘Is there anyway out of this...?’

Elle’s peaceful face is blissfully ignorant to the chaotic events unfolding around her, and you can’t stop the tears that sting the corners of your eyes. Failing her hurt more than any physical pain this world could throw at you. Will this be the last time you’ll see her? 

A hand presses against your shoulder.

“This isn’t how I wanted it to be.” 

Of course. 

That lamenting voice belongs to no one other than Giorno. He must’ve betrayed your trust by seeking you out and alerting the others. So this is what betrayal feels like. You wouldn’t have known until now, having always been too skittish to get close to others. It was Elle who broke your tough shell, inviting herself into your life like a ray of sunshine. 

‘God protect her in my stead.’

Adamantly refusing to give him the time of day, you swat away at the hand he extends towards you, stupid as it is. 

Giorno sighs in a mix of disappointment and minor frustration, pinching the bridge of his nose at your petty actions.

“She had nothing to do with this,” you struggle to get the words out, throat tightening with the threat of crying. “Do whatever you want with me... just don’t hurt her.” 

Giorno walks in front of you, kneeling without any signs of fear towards the snake who remains still against your arm. Placing his hands on it, it returns to its original form of a rope, falling off of you. 

He looks back at your drained, hunched over form. You must look pathetic, mustering up your best attempt at a glare. 

“Please don’t make this difficult. Come back with me willingly and she won’t be touched, you have my word.” 

There’s no reason to trust him, his request leading you to grit your teeth. For her sake, you’ll cease any signs of resistance. No other options present themselves to you, prayers remaining unanswered. Reality is cruel, twisting you at its own discretion. 

Resigning yourself to this fate, you get up and following after him without a word. Abbacchio and a few other men look at you, Giorno placing a hand up to stop them from approaching. Does that mean he’s their leader?

You recognize the path Giorno’s taken on, having gone to his home too many times to count. Tree branches move out of his way, the sight reminding you of a fairy tale. It still remains one of the least shocking events you’ve seen tonight, you humorlessly think to yourself. 

Biting your tongue has never been your forte, awe and dread too staggering to push back any longer. “What is all this? W-what are you? That snake... and these trees, was that you?” 

Giorno waits before entertaining you with a response, voice low and devoid of emotion as if he was speaking about the weather. “It’s my doing, yes.” 

“Is anyone here human?” you ask without further thought, before shutting your mouth. He remains quiet for a painful moment, giving you a response that makes you lightheaded.

“Everyone aside from me.” 

Not a single word in the dictionary could form a decent response to a confession like that. Elle had mentioned to you a divine being that blesses this island, watching over it and offering abundant blessings to those who were deemed worthy of it. This is how their harvests were so abundant, she explained, but you disregarded it as a hoax at first.

There’s no denying it any longer. How could you have been so foolish, to get yourself into this situation? The same tenacity that you arrived here with would’ve protected you, had you only continued to listen to it. 

Giorno comes to an abrupt stop, turning on his heel to get a good look at you. Not wanting to cause more trouble in the face of the supernatural, you stay firmly planted. He saunters towards you, leaves crunching underneath his feet. Raising a hand to your face, his thumb rubs small circles against your cheek. 

He’s close to you, too close for comfort. The skin of his hands are icy cold, eyes softening with unidentifiable flurries of emotion. Tenderness is unwelcome from him, yet you’re far too entranced to pull away. 

Giorno’s mystical eyes are all you can look at. 

“Under normal conditions, you’d be punished harshly,” Giorno presses his forehead against yours, considering you. “Yet I can’t bring myself to do it. I had hoped you’d turn around of your own will.”

Lips trembling and jaw agape, your tongue is incapable of forming words, mouth painfully dry. Whoever -- or whatever -- that’s in front of you has whisked away all forms of rational thought, leaving you a shivering mess. You’re at his mercy, if he has any to offer.

“I only want to be honest with you, now that there’s no reason to hide it any longer. From the moment you first stepped on my island, I finally knew what I wanted, for the first time in centuries.”

“I wanted to be your god. But now, I feel that’s far too impersonal to sate me,” he pauses his movements, eyes shut in deep thought. “What I want... is something far more. Will you give me that, [First]?” 

He poses the question as if it’s a choice for you to make. Patiently, he awaits your answer, already knowing what it’ll be by the gratification in his smile. Giorno’s serene, the battle already having been won.

“I will.” 

[peaches-writes]

sun shower

description: you happen to be spending your training year in adjacent villages with a certain kim seungmin  member: seungmin genre: fluff, witch/wizard au (kiki’s delivery service, a little snow fairy sugar-inspired) word count: 4k note: ‘magical people’ just doesn’t sound awesome enough to be the official gender-neutral term i therefore declare that both the words witch & wizard are gender-neutral choose ur fighter ppl

Seungmin has always had a fascination with the heavens since he was a young boy. His mother specialized in potions but his father was an astronomer, inviting him to stargaze after potion lessons until he had to leave for his training as an independent wizard some 6 months ago. He never vocally said it to his parents but when they received a letter from him in the mail informing them that he has chosen to train in the quaint countrysides of Italy a month into his training, they correctly inferred that he wanted to be specialize in astrology. 

For this reason, he finds it bothersome, for a lack of a better word, whenever you, a neighboring witch, would conjure up clouds of rain until the early hours of the night. In your defense, it always happens unconsciously, most often when you’re frustrated because you couldn’t conjure up enough clouds when the sun is still out or when you untimely create clouds right as a storm passes over the countryside.

“Excuse me!” He called to you from the skies on his fifth night in the neighboring town. This was when you first met. You look up at him curiously, surprised at finding a fellow magical person. “Are you causing this?”

He gestures over the thin veils of clouds looming over the full moon. He could tell you were a witch by the runes you read to your root crops.

“Yes, why?”

“I study astrology, you see.” He shows you a familiar book, the standard guide to astrology—you knew because your own mother was an astrologer. “And I can’t really study if it’s too cloudy.”

“O-Oh, sorry.” You stand up from squatting next to your green sprouts, scratching the back of your neck. “It takes me a long time to make them disappear, you see. I swear I’m also working on them!”

“Well, it’s already late and I still have business to attend to later on so it’d be really helpful if you get your clouds out of the way quickly.” He points out, intimidating you a bit. 

Because of his dry and rather stern tone, you managed to clear out the sky faster than you’ve ever done at the time. Suffice to say, Seungmin was impressed.

“Thanks! I’m Seungmin, by the way.” “Y/N, nice to meet you and sorry again!” 

Now at present, you only have a month left until your training ends yet somehow you can’t seem to master the art of controlling the rain for sun showers, which frustrates Seungmin as much as it frustrates you. 

“Maybe you’re overthinking it. Have you tried relaxing?” In the few months you’ve spent being sort of neighbors, you know that Seungmin never means anything malicious, he simply has a sarcastic tone by default. 

“I am relaxed.” You insist, puffing out air that resembles smoke in the cold weather. It’s nearing the end of November and you can already feel the snow coming, signalling your impending departure. You try again, concentrating and thinking about how Seungmin’s watching you, “Oh hey, look, I did it!” 

To compromise over your clashing work schedules, on the 2nd month of Seungmin’s stay, the two of you came to an agreement that you alternate between your towns, so that Seungmin can monitor you practicing with the weather and make sure that he gets to see the night sky when you’re done. Undeniably, you’ve grown closer from helping each other out (and maybe you’ve even developed a small crush on the side, but you wouldn’t tell him that).

He sits behind you on your rooftop on this particular Sunday, reading a thick book on the movement of constellations, while you levitate over your vegetable garden, eyes trained to the cloudy sky that slowly clears. 

“Is this the last thing you need to accomplish?” He asks after a while, having decided after a while to halt reading and observe the sky. You’re halfway through clearing the sky, some hints of sunlight starting to peek through from the remaining clouds. Though he doesn’t show it, he’s proud (and a bit jealous) that you’re almost done with your training.  

Without sparing him a glance, you shake your head no. “I still need to perfect my own song to conjure up a sun showers.” You correct as a frown settles on your face. 

You control the weather with music. You use a flute for snow and sleet, a harp for the rain, a triangle for thunder and winds, and your own voice to call for the sun and clear skies. The problem with creating a sun shower is that you can’t come up with your own last verse—the one that is supposedly unique to every conjurer, according to your aunt who gave you the sheet music. 

“Maybe you need another instrument.” Seungmin suggests but you both know that if there was another instrument for sun showers, your aunt would tell you as a witch who controls the weather herself. “Or the music sheet’s wrong.” 

“If it’s wrong, then I would’ve conjured up something else entirely the last time I tried it.” You point out. The last time meaning just a few weeks ago when you tried out your latest revision and conjured up enough clouds but too much rain. “I’m just missing a few measures but my brain’s already too fried to come up with any!” 

“Can I see?” 

You impatiently hum in approval, finally turning around to briefly look at him and gesture over to your rucksack. “It’s in my bag, knock yourself out.” 

You have an idea of Seungmin’s musical ability. He tends to hum to himself while he’s busy with work, you’ve heard in the events you’ve stayed in his place longer to help him see the stars better, and he plays the piano well, especially when he was asked to in his town’s festival. You’ve wondered yourself before why he chose studying astrology over taking control of the weather until he mentioned his home life before going off on his own. 

“It does sound hard to complete, especially with what you already have.” He agrees with you after a while. At this point, you’ve managed to clear the skies of heavy rain clouds so you levitate towards him, sitting across from him after penetrating the shield he’s made for himself from the rain that’s passed. “But I think you’re getting there.” 

He hums the main melody under his breath, occasionally stopping to brainstorm ideas on what could possibly be missing on your sheet music. To his right, you lay down tiredly on your back, rucksack serving as a makeshift pillow, and turn your body to face him, listening intently to the little notes and comments he makes under his breath. “I just need a balance with the sun and the rain.” You sigh. “The sun is already enough, the rain’s just a little too much.” 

“Hm, sounds strangely poetic.” He points out with the same dry tone you’ve grown accustomed to, making you chuckle. “You going through something or what?”

“I don’t know if I’d call it that.” You then turn your body up towards the sky. Now that your clouds were gone, you then realize that the sky’s started turning pink and orange in sunset. “It’s just that, there are some things and people I’m unsure of, I guess.”

He wanted to ask you what, or rather, who exactly you were unsure of. You’re not exactly known for being a social butterfly but you’re not anti-social, either, but if bothered you so much, whatever or whoever you’re referring to must be someone incredibly special to you. 

“Hey, can I keep a copy of this?” He opts to ask instead, gaining your attention again. 

You nod. “You can take the music sheets, I have it memorized by heart already, anyway.” 

“If I can come up with something, I’ll let you know.” He carefully tucks your music sheet between the pages of his book. “You don’t have some kind of deadline, do you?” 

“No, it’s okay.” You smile before turning back to the incoming sunset. “Anyway, I’ve had enough of thinking about it for today, let’s just enjoy the sunset before you go back to studying! Ah, what a day.” 

Seungmin is evidently surprised, often you mind each other’s businesses and only talk when one needs help or when one is about to leave, but you missed such a rare expression across his face “Okay.” You only hear him say as he closes his book and lays down next to you, using his own messenger bag as a pillow. 

Later that night, Seungmin decides to study on your rooftop later than usual, and you hear him singing until you fell asleep.

In the following days, Seungmin kept on humming the final measures of your song along with experimental measures to try and fill in the missing gap. He sings it while gathering (or stealing, depends on who you ask) herbs from your garden, cleaning the room he rents above a dusty bookstore, and even while writing a cohesive prediction for someone in his side business. 

It would drive you crazy if only his voice isn’t that great. 

“You know, when your training ends, you should also try picking up at least one skill related to music.” You suggest to him a week later while pacing around in his room. You’re supposed to be outside but complained because of the intense heat you can’t seem to tone down. “I highly recommend singing for sunshine.” 

“But you do it better.” He’s making you a reading on this particular day since business is slow recently. “You sing and play well.”

Internally, the butterflies already present in your stomach multiply greatly. “So? Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t too?” You manage to counter while trying to recover. “I bet wherever you’re going after your training, they’ll have extraordinarily warmer sun.” 

He chuckles nervously. He’s more than halfway through his training already but he doesn’t want to think about that just yet (mostly because he finds it weird thinking about a new place without you in it, but he wouldn’t tell you that). “Really? You think so?” 

You nod. “Yeah, I feel—well, I believe you will.”  Placing a hand outside a nearby open window, the sun still feels scorching hot on your skin. You didn’t like bringing umbrellas or wearing hats while practicing, it distracts you too much. “Aish, it’s still too hot out!”

“If I do pick up music, I might turn out even better than you.” He teases, stealing a glance over to you and softening up by following with, “But who knows, maybe we’ll bump into each other a few years from now, you’ll probably already settled with somewhere and I’m still looking for a place to call home, then you can teach me.”

Seungmin can’t actually imagine you permanently staying in one place, with your adventurous streak and passion for the outdoors, much less finding someone who makes you stay in one place forever but he forces himself to consider for the sake of theory. 

Whoever will catch their eye would truly be exceptional. 

You, on the other hand, show evident confusion in your expression while you retract your hand back from the window. “I wouldn’t count myself on the settling down part but sure, I guess, I can teach you a few years from now.” 

“Why?” Seungmin looks up at you again and even stops humming, showing you genuine curiosity. It suddenly felt strangely serious.

At this, you simply shrug. “I don’t know, I guess I don’t think it’s a priority for me. I want to see the world! Can you picture me staying in one place forever?” 

“No?” He chuckles. “What if you fall in love?” 

“If I do, whoever I fall in love with should probably start practicing flying well then.” 

When the two of you go out to the farmland behind Seungmin’s lodging later on, you conjure up an almost-perfect sun shower with only a handful of extra clouds left that needs to disappear.

“Seungmin, you’re going to catch a cold, come over here!” When you turn around to show Seungmin your work,  you see him flying circles over the empty farmlands instead. 

Drenched in light rain, he grows self-conscious of how you think of his flying skilles—all the while debating on whether he should give the last measure of your song to you now, when he’s definitely sure that he enjoys your company, or during Christmas, when it’s the cruelest holiday to leave. 

Seungmin eventually gives in after 2 weeks, not that you’d notice anyway since you didn’t know that he wanted to keep you around longer. The sky is already getting cloudy, reminding the two of you of snow, making it harder to practice during the day—Seungmin had to give in while you can still manage to clear the sky before practicing.

“This is it, Seungmin.” You breathe out dramatically through the chilly December breeze. It’s early morning, just a little after the break of dawn, because you were so excited practicing the song with Seungmin last night. “If this last measure makes my perfect sun shower, my last week here would be the best! I’d be the happiest, I swear.”

There was also the fact that you planned on leaving right after the first snow. Sometimes you’re just too cruel, Seungmin thinks.

“I’m sure this is it, I decoded it.” He says as coolly and as confidently as he can.

You say nothing more, proceeding to sing and play the harp according to your sheet music. The song is only 2 minutes long, barely providing any room to feel nervous as you slowly approached the final verse which is supposed to be different for every witch / wizard, hence why it was hard to decode.

As you play, Seungmin watches the clouds form over the pale yellow sunrise, a small smile unconsciously forming on his face that then grows into a wide grin when they stop at just the right amount and started drizzling the vast expanse of houses ahead in light rain. “Y/N, you did it! You did it!”

You didn’t even realize that you’ve had your eyes closed the entire time you sang and played, opening them only when you felt Seungmin spinning around next to you to feel the rain just as the droplets of rain started to dampen your own hair. “I—I did it!”

“You did!” Seungmin turns to you, not even hiding his happiness this time as he then instinctively pulls you into a warm hug. “I’m so proud of you!”

You hug him back tighter, his coat cold and damp against yours. “Thank you, Seungmin.” You catch your breath as you rest your chin against his shoulder. “Thank you so much.”

Seungmin only hums, speechless in being so close to you. This was the first time you hugged.

Without his face in your view, you miss the way he momentarily frowns at the thought that you’re now certain and confident to leave—a thought he expertly hides when he pulls away later on and says, “So, will you still practice or do you just leave it at that until you leave?”

You frown at him in annoyance, you really were irked he brought it up, especially since several days have passed since you’ve avoided mentioning it. “Why are you thinking of me leaving already? I have to practice a couple more times before I go, of course!”

“I’m just making sure so in case you stay outside overtime again.” He defends himself, suddenly feeling colder that you’re far away again. “Okay, now try making it stop, it’s getting really cold!”

“Alright, alright!” You roll your eyes, making the clouds disappear. You manage to dry yourselves even with a gush of warmer winds to compensate the two of you getting wet with rain. “Jeez, Seungmin, I thought we were having a moment there!”

Though you said it in a joking manner, of course he didn’t miss the way you showed the slightest hint of being hurt. Seungmin feels his heart drop to his stomach at the thought.

You continue practicing in the days that follow, both early in the mornings and late in the afternoons. Though you keep it cool in front of Seungmin, you notice how quiet he’s suddenly become, how he would hum your song less and literally cover his face with his book whenever you glance over at him for small talk.

“Are you mad?” “No.” “Do you feel awkward too?” “...A bit, yeah.” Would always be your conversation-ender. You know he meant it sincerely because he didn’t use his default dry tone on you but somehow it felt awkward.

What changed?

On your last day, you invited him to dinner.

“I told the landlord you can take this house if you want to.” You mention as the two of you ate strawberry cake. Earlier that day, some of the villagers surprised you with a going-away party since you leave at midnight—the cake was from one of the farmers you helped grow crops faster. “I still have some root crops in the garden, that should last you for a month.”

“It’s fine.” He reassures you for the 2nd time since you started eating. “I want the vegetables, though.”

For a while, it seemed like the awkwardness was gone and you laugh. “If you’re not taking the house, then you might have to have a talk with Mrs. Ross over the vegetables.”

“Then I’ll swipe them later when you go.” And then the awkwardness was back.

“Won’t you see me off later?” You ask, nervously playing with your food as you steal a glance at him.

Across the table, the lone strawberry on Seungmin’s plate suddenly seems interesting even when your gaze pokes on his newly dyed blonde hair. “I’m...I’m helping a villager’s sick child, it might take a while.” He bluffs, a heavy feeling looming over him.

“Oh...” He doesn’t see the frown before you muster up a smile. “That’s alright, I guess.”

“Where do you plan on going?” He finally gathers the courage to look up at you, searching for any sign in your eyes that you’d suddenly stay.

You ponder over the question longer than you usually would, your eyes trailing to the window behind Seungmin as you do so. “It’s snowing.” You mutter absentmindedly.

When Seungmin turns around, your windowsill already has a thin layer of snow.

“It is.” He agrees, eyes suddenly stinging. Am I crying? “It’s the first snow.”

You swore you saw faint hints of tears on Seungmin’s face when you escorted him out later that night but you chose to ignore it, diverting your attention instead to the sky—and for the first time you understood why Seungmin hated night skies wherein the stars aren’t visible.

“A bit dull, I get it now.” You comment as you walk him with him to the main road. When he gives you a questioning gaze, the dry trails of tears shining under the faint street lights, you gesture to the sky. “The starless sky, I mean.”

He follows you, frowning at the lack of stars. The sky seems to radiate off of the two of you. “Yeah, it’s so vague, you could barely read anything.”

Seungmin wakes up the following morning to a sun shower. There’s a thick layer of snow outside his window, even more when he steps out of his lodging later on, yes, but it’s the lone droplet of rain that falls on his cheek as he closes the door behind him on his way out that catches his utmost attention, casting his eyes up to the sky as it begins to drizzle.

At that moment, it fully dawns on him that you never told him exactly where you were going. 

Still, he flies to your house, in hopes of any clue somehow. Only, when he arrived, he only saw the landlady, Mrs. Ross there, tending to your garden.

“Oh, Seungmin!” She greets the evidently distressed wizard. “Do you want to take some of the vegetables?”

“N-No, I just thought that—nevermind.”

“If you’re looking for Y/N, they already left last night.” Mrs. Ross says sympathethically to Seungmin. “They didn’t say where they were going.”

Seungmin walks home afterwards, dejected.

It felt wrong, spending an entire day without you afterwards, especially when the sun was out later in the afternoon yet it felt horrifyingly cold.

The week passes by too slowly for Seungmin, even when he decides on devoting half of his day to resuming correspondence with his parents and some friends—away in their own towns. He rarely leaves the house, wandering only as far as the bookstore downstairs, utilizing the never-ending snow as an excuse to his landlord. Your landlady. Mrs. Ross, is probably the only person from outside his building that he sees whenever she drops by to hand him the produce from your garden.

His textbooks have started to blur in front of him whenever he studies and the weather has started feeling dull and repetitive for him.

And so it felt years have already passed when a knock comes to his door beyond the usual time Mrs. Ross would come by. It’s already afternoon, just as Seungmin is about to take a nap.

“Who is it?” He asks as loudly as he can in his drowsy state, almost stumbling over an umbrella stand in the process, but the knock continues, annoyingly chirpy at that.

When he opens the door, you give him no time to prepare himself as you tackle him in a hug. “Kim Seungmin!” You exclaim, throwing your arms to his shoulder.

There’s a slight delay on his part, partly because the sun is shining too warmly and too bright outside but mostly because he instantly recognizes your warmth as you squeeze him tighter. “Wha—? How—?” He stutters, eyes wide and mouth hanging open in shock. Nevertheless, he wraps his arms around your waist, quickly gathering his thoughts together to coherently ask, “Where have you been?!”

“Oh, here and there. I went home to my parents then wandered off aimlessly to some beaches in the South since it’s really cold up here.” You explain as you try and pull away from him but Seungmin uncharacteristically keeps you in place, making you laugh. “Hey, you missed me.”

At this, he buries his face on your shoulder, mumbling a muffled, “Of course I did.” that almost completely melted your heart if it weren’t for him following it with, “I thought I’d never see you again.”

“Well, I needed time to think.” When you pull away, he lets you this time, allowing you to step inside his place. It looked the same since you were last here, you notice.

“Of what?”

“Of how I feel for you.” You make sure to say it in the sincerest way you know, feeling light-headed afterwards.

Oh, Seungmin thinks, cheeks flushed, so it’s me?

Seungmin stands there gaping, completely dazed at your short confession until your face is completely red from the heat that you immediately speak again. “Seungmin, say something.”

“Why?”

“Because I didn’t know if you liked me or not.”

“Wasn’t it obvious?”

You knit your eyebrows in confusion. “No? If you were, I would’ve actually stayed longer.”

“R-Really?” Now, Seungmin just feels dumb for not being more clear with his feelings.

You nod with a hum, continuing, “I kept dropping hints as best as I can but you just keep mentioning me leaving whenever you can.”

In front of you, you can clearly see Seungmin’s frustration with himself. “I’m sorry, I should’ve still been considerate of how you felt about me mentioning your leave then and I definitely should’ve asked you to stay even when your training did end.” He frowns, more to himself than to you. “B-because I...I really like you too but I also thought that you’d want to go and explore the moment you’re allowed to leave—I didn’t want to keep you waiting if you like me too.”

You shake your head no, a small smile now forming on your lips. “It’s not like the world outside’s going to change.” You take a brave step closer to Seungmin now, cupping his cheeks in your warm hands. “So, what’s—how many months do you have left? Four?—what’s 4 months more of waiting?” 

[mira--mira]

One obvious for the ask game. The main protagonist; Naruto Uzumaki and Izuku Midoriya.

@shiryusamarkanda it’s so nice to hear from you again! <3 

I totally didn’t forget to post this and had it fully finished in my drafts for days...totally. 

Naruto

What I love about them:

Naruto's a bratty kid who’s not afraid to speak up and challenge something he thinks is "wrong". This, of course, is part 1 Naruto. I actually like when he's a bit insensitive without being explicitly malicious bc its very fitting for his background/how he grew up but also gives him a clear path forward as he learns how to work as a team/starts to grow. It wasn’t exactly a smart move, but I really liked how he continued to challenge Zabuza in the Wave Arc saying “he’s still my enemy” after Kakashi told him to back off. This is all good and strong characterization that, to me, was more often endearing than it wasn’t. Naruto had goals and a purpose and in early Naruto that was still clear.

What I hate about them:

Part 2 (Shippuden) Naruto. There’s a lot that goes into this but the core deviation is getting away from the underdog story. In Shippuden Naruto is the son of the 4th, the Child of Prophecy, a reincarnation of the Sage of Six Path’s kid, makes friends with Kurama, and has the most OP power of the them all: Talk no Jutsu. What makes all of this even worse is Naruto went from a loveable bratty kid to an insufferable messiah figure. To be “perfect” his natural personality is shorn down until he’s only allowed occasional “stupid” mistakes rather than mistakes that emerge from his characterization. This also makes his ideological “wins” with villains...completely meaningless. Shippuden Naruto doesn’t really...have beliefs. He wants to be hokage and bring Sasuke back to the village. “Being hokage” was fine as a kid but I expected the progression into shippuden to be “what kind of hokage do I want to be?” This seemed natural bc we get in the Wave arc Naruto pushing against “what a shinobi is supposed to be: a tool” from Haku and declaring he’d make his own ninja way. Flashforward to the chunin arcs: hates Orochimaru for messing with Sasuke (esp when he eventually leaves to join him) and Neji for treating Hinata the way he did until he learned more about the Hyuga before declaring it wasn’t fair and you had to fight against fate and destiny. Tsunade’s arc was more about reemphasizing the village was something worth protecting and the Sasuke retrieval arc, while focused on Sasuke, at least kept up this theme. But these moments of growth are only alluded to in shippuden and by the time the war arc and ending come around...nothing changes. Naruto didn’t upset the status quo, he only maintained it. And once that ending was established it was a lot easier to go back and pick out exactly when his characterization started to fall through and the weird messiah figure took over instead. Part of this, imo, is the focus of his ultimate goal being “bring Sasuke back to the village” rather than understand what Sasuke is doing/why he’s doing it and then deciding to help him or stop him. 

Favorite Moment/Quote:

“You’re cute when you’re chubby” [in reference to the frog purse] 

I really love the quiet moments Naruto has and watching him live out his daily life. The frog purse is absolutely adorable and I love seeing it crop up time and time again. A close second is when Gai kicks Jiraiya in the face and, a short time later, offers Naruto the green tracksuit which he’s appreciative of. 

What I would like to see more focus on:

In Part 2 Naruto having a long-term goal alongside bringing Sasuke back to the village or trying to seriously think about why Sasuke does what he does and how that would potentially affect the plot. If I could go back to the very start, keeping the actual heart and intent of an underdog ninja story rather than everything turning into superpowered mecha/kaiju battles and aliens from space this is the big point that I’d want to address. In general, I really like fics that focus on training and give him a range of jutsu besides spamming shadow clones and rasengan variants. I’ve said this before, but if Naruto really wants to keep the “number 1 unpredictable ninja” moniker, learning a variety of small, diverse jutsu and using them in interesting/creative ways would be the way to go rather than spamming the aforementioned two. I also really like fics that buckle down and just go ham and create their own variety of jutsu, especially if it’s small practical jutsu rather than the latest and greatest OP Power #839281 kind of jutsu. 

What I would like to see less focus on:

The messiah figure. Talk no Jutsu. The obsession with having a morally pure hero in a world that routinely employed child soldiers and put them in war. I understand Naruto was a shonen manga first and foremost but like...this was the setting/world Kishimoto decided on having. However, I will say some fics take it to far on the other extreme for my taste, creating a edgy nihilistic Naruto that hates everyone and everything. 

Favorite pairing with:

Uhh...I don’t actually have a strong feeling for this one LOL. The most I’ve read has been SasuNaru (Sasuke x Naruto) because I’ve found really interesting set-ups. I like the ship and it does have a decent amount of backing in canon but it’s the little moments (or my ability to see possible little moments) that really make or break a ship for me. SasuNaru is all Big Declarations and I struggle to see how they’d actually settle down post Shippuden time into something sustainable. My favorite iterations of the ship is focused when they’re genin age and have a better relationship...but then I recognize that this is getting closer and closer to Hashimada. The other big things I run into with shipping Naruto with Sasuke is 1. Sasuke needs a shit ton of therapy/willingness to process his family related trauma and 2. Naruto needs a good support network/family outside of a romantic partner because it personally makes me uncomfortable to read ‘you’re my one and only’ (here being: I have no other friends, family, loved ones outside of you). It’s a ship that can work but it’s not my personal OTP.  

Favorite friendship:

Canon/OoT - Naruto & Sakura

I do have a softspot for fics where Naruto realizes his crush on Sakura is actually a desire to have friends/someone to care about him and then they do become close. In canon Sasuke was clearly the favorite of Kakashi (if chunin arc is kept the same/similar and he takes him away for the month to train) I really like Naruto and Sakura sticking together and trying to help each other. They’re both loud and can wind each other up but Naruto can help Sakura relax a bit from her rigid view of herself and she can help keep him on track/encourage him. 

NOTP:

Again, no real strong opinions here. Probably harems? I remember seeing a lot of those a couple years ago and I fundamentally dislike the harem so it will never be ‘done well’ to my personal taste. 

Favorite headcanon:

Naruto is smart, he just needs things to be explained in a way he can understand. 

I’m not a fan of ‘he’s the smartest person in the entire world’ trope but Naruto is creative, he created the oiroke jutsu before he graduated to genin and has a lot of stubborn determination. He’s just really bad at typical ‘book learning’ and traditional testing and he’s not a genius/prodigy like Sasuke or Neji.

.

.

Read line for BNHA manga spoilers

Izuku

What I love about them:

He’s such a smart kid and while he’s unsure/insecure about himself he still does his best. Honestly the premise of BNHA is amazing and I was so excited to watch this little quirky (heh) boy do his best and outthink heroes, utilizing his intelligence and knowledge of quirks. I really love early Izuku and how he has to approach situations from a different angle bc he grew up quirkless/can’t properly handle OFA. The sports festival arc remains one of my personal favorites and really showed his ingenuity. I also really love that Izuku is openly emotional, he cries, he gets super happy about things, he’s angry, he’s sad, etc.  

What I hate about them:

Why do stories insist on calling themselves “underdogs” when for a majority of the time, they’re not? Or not as much as they would be from the original premise? Look, TDP came about exactly bc BNHA was billed as ‘quirkless boy becomes number 1 hero’ it changed rapidly into ‘Izuku gets the strongest quirk but can’t control it’ and while I was...disappointed with that, it happened so quickly I wasn’t really upset. Fast forward to apparently OFA has...what seven(?) quirks inside it and I just...it’s frustrating. Even more the longer we go the more Izuku strays away from a character that is forced to use his intelligence and creatively outthink his opponents and instead becomes...I just have to hit him harder! The Muscular fight already inched towards this but the Overhaul fight just felt like Super Shonen Smack-down 728329. Which, isn’t an inherent problem, it just doesn’t match up to the expectations I had about BNHA I had at the start and how I hoped the series would go. For a character trait that I hate: Izuku is stupidly self-sacrificing. It makes sense with his character but he shoots beyond what is safe and reasonable and I wish there would be more internal emphasis on the question “is it better to save one person today if it meant I couldn’t save ten people tomorrow?” I think he’d choose the former or forsake the question altogether (we touched briefly on this during the overhaul arc with Eri) but I think it’s a serious question needs to be touched on (or I just need to go back and rewatch things again LOL) 

Favorite Moment/Quote:

See entire sports festival arc. I don’t really have a favorite moment because I love the entire arc and we get so much out of it. 

What I would like to see more focus on:

Quirkless Izuku. There’s already a lot of fics, but I really do love them. It deviates a bit, but I do like the creativity of giving Izuku his own unique quirk and then exploring what he can do with that/how it changes canon. Really I want Izuku to keep his original characterization and not trade his smarts for more punching power or deus ex machinas for quirks hidden inside of OFA. If OFA!Izuku is kept, I like story ideas where he still has to rely on means outside of his quirk. Preferably this is isn’t because he injuries himself so much, but I like toying with the idea that Izuku never gets OFA to All Might’s level so he really does have to make the quirk his own and still rely heavily on his intelligence and quirk journals to become the number 1. 

What I would like to see less focus on:

Quirks hidden inside OFA. Strength should have been enough, it was already billed as the most powerful quirk of all. I know this is a common theme for shonen stories, and I don’t mean to harp specifically on Izuku, but again the premise of BNHA was an underdog story. 

Favorite pairing with:

Tododeku (Todoroki Shouto x Midoriya Izuku) 

Friends to lover and battle couples lads, I am weak to them. I like the contrast between their personalities as well as origins (Shouto being the number 2′s (now 1) kid and Izuku from a quiet civilian background). At the end of the sports festival arc both of them are extremely well characterized and it’s easy for me to imagine how their relationship progresses from there and how they can support each other and help each other grow. It’s a very sweet and wholesome ship the way I write and read it and it’s v cute.

Favorite friendship:

Canon- Midoriya Izuku & Uraraka Ochaco & Iida Tenya

I really like the core trio and think their interactions are really sweet. They balance each other out well and their friendship was immediately believable to me. I also like later when Tsuyu and Shouto start to get included in the group and out of the “main” core friends I’m endlessly entertained whenever Izuku and Tokoyami interact with one another. (This is also because I love my bird son, but you know.)

TDP - Midoriya Izuku & Ashido Mina or Midoriya Izuku & Hatsume Mei

Really, I love all of TDP’s kiddos interactions. Their chemistry is one of my favorite things about the fic and all the villain school kiddos meshed really well and had hilarious interactions. Mina and Mei are my faves but just barely. Mina came out of left field for the fic but she plays a similar role that Ochaco does in canon as a usual source of positivity (but unlike Ochaco with additional chaos). She’s Izuku’s first real friend even before starting HIVVE and wouldn’t hesitate to call Izuku her cousin as she views him as family. In return, Mina’s someone Izuku can completely count and depend on if necessary. Mei is...Mei. Izuku is her best “useful customer” and it’s actually terrifying how similar their thoughts are, just Mei has an (un)healthy dose of Hazmat’s insanity and her own business acumen added into the mix. They have slightly different fields of interest but are intellectual equals that work well together and that’s something new to both of them.

NOTP:

Bakudeku (Bakugo Katsuki x Midoriya Izuku)

It’s unhealthy. Unless it’s an AU that changes what the start of their relationship is like, Bakugo and Izuku will always have a toxic friendship to me and I can’t ever see them in a healthy relationship. Both of them have a lot to learn and I am of the opinion that Bakugo should get the opportunity to grow and become a good person and leave behind his past as a bully. However, I’m also of the opinion that no matter how good of a person a bully becomes their victim is never required to absolve them of past wrongdoings. Izuku and Bakugo were friends once, their relationship turned toxic, and now it’s in the interest of both of them to grow apart from one another. I even hesitate to really say they’ll be friends again because the early characterization of their relationship was so imbalanced to me, but for the right author and the right work I may see them being on good terms. It’s still a romantic relationship that I dislike. 

Favorite headcanon:

Crack headcanon? Izuku does have a natural quirk, the force of his tears is clearly superpowered 😂 Regular headcanon, (that is canon in TDP and kindaaa in regular canon(?)) when Izuku gets really engrossed in a super stressful fight he focuses on what will work rather than what is moral. It has...mixed results. 

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For the ask game. 

[oikaw-ugh]

Sino (Kageyama x m!reader)

a/n: Yes. Another Kageyama fic. Idk what's with this King and I keep writing for him. And yes, this is a bxb fic. Yes, I'm a fujoshi. Yes. This is also influenced with Given anime? It's on air at Japan and I can't watch it >=[ 

 A song fic(?) of Unique Salongga's 'Sino' (that shit is so good)

Warning:

-typographical and grammatical mistakes and my lack of vocabulary.

-also, m!reader is described with characteristics that are common for (East) Asian boys.

-mention of blood and suggestive words indicating of sick!y/n

Who would've thought I would love you?

Kageyama stared longingly at the court. This shocked everyone-no, shock is an understatement. Astonished? Baffled? They were surprised to see him voluntarily ask for a water break, a request that is most certainly out of his character as he has always been loyal to volleyball training.

As much as Kageyama despised being off the court, he needed to. For he couldn't collect his self altogether. Despite his collectiveness, his certainty as his fingers passed the ball to the team, he couldn't help but to have a slight resist everytime.

"Sensei, I'm here on behalf of the student council."

He looked to his right, only to see him. He didn't even bother to give Kageyama a side glance as his entire attention is alloted for the club's teacher.

It didn't bother Kageyama. Instead, he took this as an opportunity to freely wander his eyes on him.

He was free to stare at his drowsy brown eyes, his lips that are in a straight line, his neatly cropped hair that covered up to his brows.

He probably should thank the sport for training his eyes to be wary as possible because even the way his black uniform hung loosely at his unathletic body did not escape Kageyama's vision.

He glanced at Kageyama.

Kageyama had to look away and suddenly, he is reminded by his brain of the very first encounter he had with him.

Kageyama grunted as he scrubbed the green board with full force, channeling his hate on the inanimate object as the fact that Hinata gets to go to the gym earlier than him irritates his skin.

God, who invented cleaning duties?

Kageyama's self hate is disrupted as he heard the sliding door screech. Surprised, he looks at the door, only to find an oddly familiar lad who share the same uniform as him.

"Kageyama-kun," the way Kageyama's name sounded with his flat voice made Kageyama's insides upset, "Hello."

Kageyama did not react but he only stared. Unvoiced curiosity escaping from his eyes instead. Who is he? Why does he know my name? The back of his mind asked.

His questions remained unanswered. Instead, this unfamiliar yet familiar guy walked his way towards the the lockers at the back, pulling a worn-out mop.

"I'm a cleaner, too," he said this in a voice with no intonation, as if he's only speaking for the sake of respect.

Kageyama, despite his thoughts, nodded. Looking back at the board again and this time, his scrub lighter than before, suddenly growing conscious knowing that he shares the room with someone else.

He's used to silence. Kageyama's not much of a talker himself. And yet he found the silence between him and the other deafening and nerve-wracking. The back of his mind played a couple of conversation starters that he knew he can use. But then, he lacked the courage-

"Oh."

"Oh."

The two lads jumped in surprise as their backs hit one another. Kageyama abruptly looked at his back and so did the latter, both surprised as they see the other staring at them.

"I'm sorry," Kageyama apologized with his usual gravelly voice.

"It's alright," the other replied, slightly chuckling this time, rendering Kageyama surprised as this person's dull look dissolved into a forced smile.

Kageyama glanced into his pin attached on his left chest.

It shows '(L/N)(Y/N)', written in legible Nihonggo characters.

Who will confess their feelings?

As much as Kageyama wanted to revolve his entire life at volleyball, the harsh reality forbids him to do so.

Kageyama blankly stared at his paper, the ballpoint of his pen stucked on the first line where he has already written his name but as if he is on court, his thoughts are blocked. Not giving him the ability to write his reaction paper from the film they just watched.

"Kageyama-kun."

Kageyama awkwardly sat straight. His hands slightly raising his paper as he looked up only to see (L/N)-kun staring at him. This realization made him feel odd. His stomach churning the same way he did when he first met (L/N)-kun. His ears feeling hot despite of the blasting aircon across the library's domain.

"May I sit here?" He asked in a voice that sounded unbothered, a fact that Kageyama is in awe. How could he remain so composed at the moment?

Was he the only one who is feeling this way? Are you saying that (L/N)-kun isn't feeling his stomach upset the same way his is? His hands aren't sweating? His breath isn't hitching? Kageyama needed answers.

His thoughts were put into a halt when (L/N)-kun looked up to him, catching him off guard. He wanted to apologize over nothing but he had his tongue tide.

"You weren't watching, were you?" (L/N)-kun asked, his body slightly leaning on the table, allowing Kageyama to see a portion of his collar bones with his uniform's upper buttons unbuttoned. He swallowed what was stuck on his throat.

"The what?"

"The film. You weren't watching the film?"

"I wasn't."

(L/N)-kun sported a soft smile, a smile that got Kageyama choking on his own breath once again, making him softly gasp in awe.

"I wasn't, too," (L/N)-kun confessed.

Why don't I know why? It always comes to me. Though sometimes I am not enough.

Kageyama needed no one.

Kageyama did not need his superiors' words, he did not need Hinata's comforting words. He did not need the managers', the coach's comfort.

He needed no one. He's always been alone and he's fine alone.

He stopped on his tracks as he sees (L/N) on the doorstep of his classroom. Both of them froze as they are held captive with one another's eyes.

Kageyama frowned, feeling his stomach upset again. The odd feeling climbing its way towards his throat. His lips aggressively shaking as he tried to restrain himself from screaming 'help me' at (L/N)-kun.

He needed no one so why is he desperately seeking for (L/N)-kun's words?

"Kageyama-kun? Are you alright?" His flat voice asked in a tone slightly higher than the usual. Was this his attempt on being empathic? Was he reaching out?

Kageyama gulped everything at once. His eyes fluttering as he nodded curtly, "I am."

Though it felt like it wasn't enough.

I will continue to find love. The meaning of love.

Upset. Kageyama's upset.

A failure. He is a failure. A failure for not being enough. If he were more competent, more skilfull, more talented, he would've won. He would've defeated his former senior's team.

And yet he wasn't and this frustrates him. Days have passed and yet his frustration still lingers inside him, casually clenching his fist and chewing his lips until they turned white and his lips bled. A harsh punishment his judgment has given him-

"Here."

A striking pain touched his forearm. Cold. He trails his eyes towards his arm only to see a cold drink resting on top of it. His eyes followed where the drink came from and it led him to the sight of (L/N)-kun, looking down at him.

He wanted to ask why and what it was for but (L/N)-kun pressed the drink harder onto his skin, urging him to take it in which he did.

(L/N)-kun walked beside him and sat on the cold floor as well. Both of them leaned on the school's walls as the sound of the vending machine vibrated at the side.

Kageyama pierced the straw towards his drink. He takes a sip and is temporarily relieved with the taste of yogurt on his tongue. He glances at (L/N)-kun who only stared at the empty hallway.

"Where's Hinata?" (L/N)-kun asked as your familiar companion is nowhere to be found.

And will be alone forever.

Who is worthy of my love? Who should I set as my priority?

Kageyama tightened his grip on his shoe bag as he strode his way towards the doorway. The halls are empty given that it's already four in the afternoon. The sky painted orange as it is adorned with fleeting birds and gentle clouds.

Kageyama froze as he saw a familiar figure not too far away from him. A little glance and he immediately knew who it was who's shamelessly sitting on the hallway in a very odd position.

"(L/N)-kun," Kageyama muttered as he walked towards him, (L/N)-kun jolting with the mention of his last name. Though this wasn't enough to make him look at his back. Instead, this made him eager to hide his face more, only allowing Kageyama a flash of his shaking back.

"(L/N)-kun, are-"

"Kageyama-kun..." (L/N) looked up, allowing Kageyama a sight of his face which immediately made his color fade away.

"Are you alright?" Kageyama couldn't help but to crouch as he see what seems to be blood dripping from (L/N)'s nose.

(L/N) chuckled, slightly shoving Kageyama's tough arms, "Yes."

"You're off to practice?" He said in a dismissive tone, the back of his palms covering his nose. A futile attempt as Kageyama’s stares are entirely locked at the red liquid now lingering at his upper lip.

“Yes. Are you-”

“You should go now, it’s almost four-thirty,” (L/N)-kun cut him off, a subtle hint that he didn’t want Kageyama to pry. A hint that Kageyama was not able to take.

“But-”

(L/N) looks up. His eyes weaker than they usually appear on Kageyama’s eyes. A ghost of smile on his lips as he shook his head slightly.

“Just go.” (L/N)-kun said softly.

I will continue to find

A ghost of smile lingered on Kageyama’s lips as his ears are drowned by Hinata and some of his seniors’ overflowing joy as they took off from the team’s rented bus, each of them proudly wearing their raven black jacket, a mark that indicates they are a member of the volleyball team.

Flood of praises welcomed Kageyama the moment he stepped in on his classroom. His classmates proud and overjoyed as Kageyama, an official member of the volleyball club, recently won a match against another team, their ticket towards the nationals.

The meaning of love

“Kageyama-kun.”

Kageyama’s eyes wandered at the sea of crowd and it landed to where (L/N)-kun stood. (L/N) once again plastered a melancholic look. His eyes drowsy-looking as a small smile crept onto his lips.

“Your team won, right?” he mumbled as he walked his way towards the crowd, blending with his classmates. If it weren’t for Kageyama’s eyes that were stuck on him, he wouldn’t be able to notice him. But he did.

“Yes,” Kageyama said, eyes strained along with his brows. His lips in a line as he was trying to stop from smirking.

(L/N)-kun nodded, “Congratulations.”

And will be alone forever.

[saiilorstars]

Falling in Temptation

Ch. 15: The Task of Death

Previous chapters • Sequel to Stars Dance •  Fairy Tale Memoirs (Companion story)

Fandom: Doctor Who

Pairing: 11th Doctor x Female OC

Chapter summary: Melody Pond strikes back against the Doctor with a secret weapon from Kovarian. When the Doctor is dying, who can save him?

Taglist: @ocfairygodmother @anotherunreadblog​ @maaaaarveeeeel​

4 Months After Demon's Run.

The Doctor, Lena and the Sapling all awaited outside the TARDIS in the center of a crop field. It was no ordinary crop field though because somebody had decided to write 'Doctor' in it, making it the number one headline in Leadworth. The Ponds were very creative, the Doctor would give them that. With no other choice, he had to come back and visit them to update them on the search for Melody and Avalon. In no time they saw Amy and Rory coming to a halt in their car, both getting out with utter urgency.

"Seriously?" the Doctor raised the Leadworth newspaper to the pair. "You do realize you can't do this, right?"

"You weren't answering your phone," Rory snapped at the Doctor as he shut the car door. Neither of them looked guilty for what they'd done.

"Because we were searching," Lena explained. She was supposed to be in charge of keeping the connection between the Doctor and the Ponds, given the Doctor's reputation with phones and whatnot. But in the end, they'd gotten in too deep with the search after getting the clue Avalon left behind for them.

They took every Black Market by storm afterwards, and there were a lot of them. The Sapling had even used his unique abilities to instill new fear in those who were holding things back. With a raging, gigantic tree threatening them, everybody sang like canaries.

Kovarian had been picking up devices for mind altering. Brainwashing to the next level.

Others reported that she was gathering chipping devices. She would probably be branding Avalon and Melody soon enough.

Several of the people described watching Kovarian order Avalon to go to the end of an aisle and back. It was an odd test for them but the Doctor straightaway knew what the purpose of it was. Kovarian wanted to see how conditioned Avalon was. If she came to and back without so much of a kick in protest, it meant Avalon would be a loyal, dependent toy. And all that took the trio a month to gather, leaving everybody back on Earth in distraught over their lack of communication.

"OK, you've had all summer," Amy got straight to business and walked for the Doctor. It'd been the longest summer of her life, definitely the most unbearable one. Things had to be better now. "Have you found them? Have you found Melody and Avalon?"

The Doctor took a moment to look back on his recent efforts to find both mother and daughter. He handed the newspaper to Rory. "Permission?" he asked the human.

"Granted," Rory motioned for him to go on.

The Doctor hugged Amy tightly, "You know who Melody grows up to be, so you know I will find her."

"But you haven't yet?" Amy assumed the last the words, "Not even Avalon?"

"No," the Doctor quietly mumbled.

"But we won't give up," the Sapling said with a finger raised in the air. It brought a momentary smile from Amy, but it was short lived when they heard Rory's puzzled question.

"Hang on, what's this bit?" he was staring at the newspaper with Lena as the picture of the crop circle now showed a slash through the word 'Doctor'.

Amy walked over and took a look, "That wasn't us."

The Doctor took the newspaper and tried seeing where the line would be coming through in the real world. Everyone gathered behind him to try and pinpoint where the exactly that mysterious line came from. However, he stopped and lowered the newspaper when the noise of car came into hearing shot. They screamed as a bright red Corvette headed straight for them. They jumped out of the way just as the car did an abrupt stop only inches from the TARDIS. The driver's door opened up and out stepped a dark skinned young woman with blue eyes and black hair, dressed in a pink and black dress with black boots.

Lena rubbed the dust out of her eyes and immediately recognized the woman across them. "Mels? What are...what are you doing here!?"

"Lena can't you ever keep up?" Mels raised an eyebrow. Lena rolled her eyes but didn't say anything back. She wasn't quite for Mels' attitude. "I was following you. Oh, and I also acted as a delivery girl."

"Um, where did you get the car?" Rory dreaded to ask. It looked far too new for Mels to own.

"Like I said, I'm acting as a delivery girl right now," Mels whistled through her fingers and made everyone cover their ears.

The passenger door of the door opened up and out stepped a familiar, messy ginger haired woman.

"Avalon?" Lena's mouth fell open.

"Mother!" the Sapling squealed and jumped to his feet. He and Lena ran towards Avalon, each encasing her in a tight hug. However, Avalon didn't say anything. She cocked her head to the side, darting immediately to Mels as if she held all the answers.

The Doctor straight away noticed something different about Avalon. It was what stopped him from running towards her. She was looking around like she was new to the place, her eyes filled with confusion and...fear? That was not his Ava, not by a long shot. However, nobody else found such differences in that moment. Amy and Rory had followed in the others' foot steps and ambushed Avalon in more hugs. The Doctor turned his head towards Mels and watched the woman smirk proudly, like she knew what was happening.

"Get off me!" Avalon suddenly cried and pushed everyone away from her. Her nose crinkled while her eyebrows knitted together. She was angry. "Get the hell away from me!"

"A-Avalon..." Rory tried taking a step towards her but she drew back the same step.

"Stay away," she warned them with a pointed finger. "Mels!"

"Oh don't worry," Mels strolled over to the woman's side and swung an arm around her shoulders. "They're pretty harmless."

"I don't...I don't understand..." Amy directly looked at the Doctor for the answers they were demanding now.

The Doctor walked up to Avalon and struggled to ignore the fearful retraction of her steps. "Avalon, do you know who we are?"

She looked him over and stared at him for a few minutes. In those minutes, the Doctor studied her to the brim. Her eyes were red and puffy, a clear sign that she'd been crying not too long ago. Her voluminous hair was a bit lifeless at the moment, as if no care had been given to it in a good while. Her skin was a shade of sickly pale and she did look like she'd lost some weight. If he looked really hard, he could see her shake as if she'd been shocked. The bruises on her arms were heartbreaking. It was a heavy challenge not to touch the healing stitches on her arms.

"You're the Doctor," Avalon said after a moment but when she did, the Doctor swore there was a brief flash of anger in her eyes.

"Did she lose her memory? Is that what's going on?" Lena called from behind, attracting the eyes of her sister. "Avalon?"

"Lena," she recited before doing the same to the Sapling, Rory and Amy. "They...they did something...I c-can't...remember...my thoughts..." her shaky hand tried to gesture something beside her head. "All j-j-jumbled up."

Now the Doctor laid dark, suspicious eyes on Mels who couldn't seem more delighted with the scene. "Where did you find her?"

"What, did you lose her or something?"

The Doctor glared and waited for her to say what he needed to know.

"Mels, this is important," snapped Amy. "Where did you find Avalon?"

"Gah!" Mels dramatically threw her arms in the air. "What does it matter? I found her on the entry road to the town! Poor thing can't remember, well...a thing!" she gently tapped Avalon's head, a small action that still elicited a great flinch from Avalon. "Hello? Nobody's home!"

The Doctor yanked Avalon away from Mels with a look warning her not try that again. "Was anybody with her? Did she say anything?"

"So boring," Mels rolled her eyes. "I'm kind of in a rush, actually. Errands to run and whatnot!" A few seconds later, the group heard the blaring sirens of police cars.

There was a collective groan from Lena, Amy and Rory.

"Mels, did you steal the car?" Rory was too tired to deal with this nonsense.

"I'll have you know that it's mine," Mels wagged a finger but at the growing glares of her friends she groaned, "...ish! It's mine-ish!"

"Oh, Mels, not again?" Amy sighed as she rubbed her forehead, "We really don't have time for this today."

"You can't keep doing this. You'll end up in a real prison," Rory added.

"I can see why your father disapproves of her," the Doctor whispered to Lena as he brought Avalon towards the TARDIS.

"Mhm," Lena crossed her arms, "She's half the reasons why Avalon was put under arrest."

"Is that the phone box!" Mels was studying the TARDIS from her spot, somewhat impressed. She'd heard Avalon tell the stories of the box but it didn't compare to seeing it in person. "The bigger-on-the-inside phone box? Time travel - that's just brilliant," she then eyed the Doctor, "Yeah, I've heard a lot about you. I'm their best mate."

"Then why don't I know you?" the Doctor challenged, still unable to trust her despite her relation with the entire group, "I danced with everyone at the wedding. The women were all brilliant, the men were a bit shy."

"I don't do weddings," Mels made a face. She looked back as the sirens grew closer, "And that's me out of time," she took out a gun and aimed it at the Doctor.

The Doctor pushed Avalon away within the second. Rory lunged to catch Avalon before she would fall and once he touched her, he realized how incredibly cold she was.

"M-Mels...not yet..." Avalon said before she even realized she said it. There were so many thoughts inside her right now, she had to sort which ones were pertinent to the situation.

"Mels, for God's sake!" Lena groaned, "You're actions get stupider by the day. Avalon is...sick," she considered her choice of words carefully since her sister truly looked terrified as she basically clung Rory, "And we need your help so put that thing away."

"I'll get her to put it down," the Sapling glowered at the woman. He put his hands together and extended them forwards...when the Doctor pushed them down. "Father!"

"No," he said calmly. He needed Mels inside the TARDIS so he could question her until she passed out from exhaustion. She had more information than what she was letting on and he wasn't going to let her get away.

"I need out of here, now, can you deliver?" Mels looked at the Doctor questioningly.

"Anywhere in particular?"

"Well, let's see! You've got a time machine, I've got a gun. What the hell - let's kill Hitler."

~ 0 ~

Yes, the Doctor could see why Ryland Reynolds disapproved of the Mels' friendship with his daughters. First, she influenced Avalon negatively, she wasn't very well-mannered, and third...because...

"You've shot it!" the Doctor shouted angrily as he stared at the bullet hole that was in the time-rotor casing, the TARDIS already affected badly with the sparks and smoke it billowed while flying out of control. The Doctor turned to Mels, "You shot my TARDIS! You shot the console!"

The girl was holding onto the railing, "It's your fault!"

"Argh! How's it my fault?!"

"You said guns didn't work in this place. You said we're in a state of temporal grace!"

The Doctor tried working the controls to get them flying in a stable manner, "That was a clever lie, you idiot! Anyone could tell that was a clever lie!"

The travelers were thrown all around the room as the TARDIS crashed into a landing, God knew where. The Doctor had opened the doors and pulled out Avalon first since she looked the weakest out of everyone.

"Out, out, out! Everybody out. Don't breathe the smoke, just get out!" he called to the others whilst coughing from the smoke spewing out from the box.

"Where are we?" Amy stumbled out the box, with her pulling the Sapling.

"A room."

"What room?" Rory coughed.

"I don't know! I haven't memorized every room in the universe. I had yesterday off," the Doctor caught Mels trying to get back into the TARDIS, "Mels, don't go in there!"

"Oi!" Mels frowned as her gun was snatched away from her hand.

"Bad smoke! Don't breathe the bad, bad, smoke. Bad, deadly smoke, because somebody shot my TARDIS!"

Lena stood beside Avalon, helping her stand straight, "You okay?"

"I-I have to do something," Avalon coughed and struggled to breathe in. "My body hurts!"

Lena knew that had to be true. Avalon looked exhausted and the last thing she needed was to be bounced all around inside a shot time traveling machine. "I know, I know, we're going to get this all sorted and then you're going to take a big nap! We could make hot chocolate and oh! We could watch Sleeping Beauty!" she threw her arms around Avalon, momentarily relishing that her sister was back. She was alive!

"What?" Avalon only frowned. "What's Sleeping Beauty?"

Lena pulled away and incredulously looked at Avalon. She had no idea, she really had no idea! Lena turned to the Doctor for some help. "What did they do to her?"

The Doctor let go of Mels but not without warning her to stay put. He strode up to Avalon and took her by the head, specifically studying her eyes. "It's ECT side effects and the overuse of memory wipes. They've been working very hard on her."

Avalon scrunched her face and tried pushing his hands off her. "Stop it! Let go!" she exclaimed, a bit too frantic for such a small moment.

But the Doctor knew that had to be a consequence from whatever torture she'd gone through. He let go of her and kept his hands raised, wanting her to see that he wasn't one of those people who would hurt her. "Ava, it's me. Remember? I'm...well...I'm your Fairy tale man, remember?"

There was no significant reaction from Avalon - that alone hurt the Doctor - but she did abandon her brief suspicions over him. "You're...my friend..." She suddenly yelped when a sharp pain struck her head. She cried and clapped her hands to head. Images were running through her mind but they were going so fast like somebody had pressed the forwarding button 4 times.

"Yes, glad we got that cleared up," the Doctor rocked on his shoes. "Because as the 'fairy tale man' that's not the right thing to do."

Avalon briefly smiled but it was done with flushed cheeks. "You know you don't have to keep answering to that name, right? It was a stupid nickname I gave you when I was some stupid kid..."

"It's not stupid," the Doctor promised her, though his amused expression didn't quite convince her.

"Please, what do you call him, eh?" Idris encouraged Avalon to say the answer out loud. "That name you gave him when you were just seven years old."

"Fairy-tale man," Avalon answered slowly, still in confusion.

"And that is exactly what he doesn't want to lose," Idris smiled sadly, "That image you have of him since you were seven."

The Doctor and Lena struggled to calm Avalon down but suddenly, just like that, Avalon sucked in a deep sharp breath and snapped her head up. "You're my Fairy Tale Man!"

"What was that?" Lena frowned. "Avalon, you were in pain-"

Avalon practically shoved her sister away and grabbed the Doctor's arm. "You're my Doctor! You-you found me!"

The Doctor didn't exactly know how she was getting her memories back, nor if it was a trick, but he wanted to be a bit happy right now that she was remembering him. "Yes, I am. I am..."

Avalon took him into a tight hug. The Doctor wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her tightly as if she were about to disappear again. He kissed her hair a few times, not that she would notice.

"Doctor, this guy, I think he's hurt!" Rory had found an unconscious man on the floor, his body poking around his desk. Rory rushed over to help him but when he did, he found that the man was alright. "No, hang on. No, he's... he's fine." Well, something good had to happen he supposed.

Against his wishes, the Doctor pulled away from Avalon and gave her a small smile. "You'll be just fine now, Ava." She nodded and watched him go then patted something in her back pocket.

"Mother!" the Sapling would take his turn and hug his mother. "You're okay! We've been looking for you!"

"That's you're kid?" Mels gave a horrid-eye stare at the Sapling. In return, the Sapling stuck his tongue out at the woman.

"Ooh, hello! Sorry, is this your office?" the Doctor asked the man who was now getting up. "Had a sort of collision with my vehicle. Faults on both sides, let's say no more about..." words left him when he saw Adolf Hitler turning around "…it."

"I remember him..." Avalon's eyes widened in horror at the sight of the man.

Slowly, the companions moved to the Doctor, "Is that...? No, it can't be, Doctor?" Amy struggled to speak coherently.

"Thank you. Whoever you are, I think you have just saved my life," Hitler honestly said, chuckling at the group.

"Believe me... it was an accident," the Doctor blinked rapidly.

"What is this thing?" Hitler blinked at the sight of the TARDIS and walked to it.

"What did he mean we saved his life?" Amy tapped the Doctor's arm, "We could not have saved Hitler."

"You see?" the alien groaned, "You see, time travel, it never goes to plan."

"I think we need to get out of here," Lena shook her head.

"This box, what is it?" Hitler looked at the group.

"It's a police telephone box from London, England," the Doctor walked over, "That's right, Adolf, the British are coming!"

Hitler didn't seem to take notice of the answer as he watched past the group to the man who tried killing him rise to his feet, "No, stop him!"

Rory punched Hitler on the chin and picked up the gun while Hitler fell to the floor, "Sit still, shut up."

Lena and Amy went to check on the second man. "Are you OK?" she asked as she and Amy helped him up.

"Yes, yes. Yes. I'm fine. I think he missed."

"He was going to kill me," Hitler tried saying but there was nobody listening to him.

"Shut up, Hitler!" Rory ordered with the gun still aimed.

"Rory, take Hitler and put him in that cupboard over there now," the Doctor ordered as he went to the attacked man, "Do it!"

While Rory shoved Hitler into the cupboard while the Doctor helped the second man sit up. "Are you okay?" he wondered.

"Oh, I..." the man started but fell back, unconscious again.

"Um, he just fainted," Lena remarked, surprised.

"Yes, that was a faint," the Doctor agreed as he stood up and studied the man, "A perfect faint."

"What? You think that was intentional?" Lena looked at the man with new suspicion. There could not be more trouble right now, this was just really bad luck.

"Mels?" Avalon's voice pulled the group's attention. She was gazing worriedly at Mels across the room who had her hands pressed against her stomach. "Are you alright?"

"Hitler..." Mels looked at the cupboard.

"What about him?" Lena raised an eyebrow, half expecting the woman to make some cruddy joke about their situation.

"Lousy shot," Mels said before she collapsed to the floor. Everyone dashed to her side, including Avalon who took first place at Mels' left side.

"Mels!" she took Mels' hand.

"Rory," the Doctor motioned for the nurse to start helping. He made sure the Sapling stayed a decent distance from them. The last thing he wanted was for the Sapling to see more blood than he needed to.

"I've got to stop the bleeding," Rory exclaimed.

"Well, how bad is it?" Lena stared at Mels with concern, knowing a cure from Avalon wouldn't work now.

"Just keep her conscious! Stay with us, Mels."

"Hey, look at me. Just hold on," the Doctor tried to get the girl's attention.

"I don't know what is so cool about you," Mels honestly remarked to him while looking at Avalon. "You said he was cool but he's not."

The Doctor rolled his eyes, of course she was dying and insulting him, "Alright, fine, let's make a list of why I'm not cool, then! Any suggestions?"

But Mels wasn't paying attention to him. She was whispering something into Avalon's ear. When Avalon pulled away, she was blinking rapidly. It earned herself some questionable looks from the others, especially the Doctor.

"Almost time," Avalon repeated, nodding her head.

"Time? Time for what?" the Doctor stared at her suspiciously.

"I-I don't remember..." Avalon looked down at Mels questioningly, "...is it time?"

Mels smirked and looked at the others anxiously waiting for her to either die or live. "Wanna know a secret?" she asked. "I didn't really 'find' her at the entry road," she whispered, "...she was handed over by the big ole boss."

The Doctor's eyebrows shot up, "WHAT?"

Mels smirked as her hands started glowing with regeneration energy. The Doctor quickly stood up and shooed everyone back, pulling Avalon to him in the process.

"No! No! Stop it!" she yelled at him to let go. She wanted to run back to Mels, but the Doctor held her arm to keep her still.

"Father, is she like you?" the Sapling was making a face as the regeneration energy got stronger around Mels.

"Last time I did this, I ended up a toddler in the middle of New York," Mels gazed at her hands that were almost completely enveloped by the energy. She really hoped this time she would get it right because it'd been a pain in the ass having to grow up all over again. If she got this right, then she would finally be free.

"OK, Doctor, explain what is happening?" Amy shot a look at the alien, "Please!"

The Doctor was nearly kicking himself for being so stupid. All this time, searching through the galaxies when he himself had said that Kovarian could hide Melody and Avalon right under their noses. "Mels, short for...?"

"Melody," Mels answered with a wide smirk. She knew exactly what he was thinking. "Gotcha!"

The Doctor then shot the same look back to Amy, a bit irritated she hadn't mentioned this to him. Nobody had bothered to mention that the mysterious friend 'Mels' everyone always talked about was in reality named Melody. That would've been extremely helpful. Amy, however, didn't see the problem so clearly yet...along with the others. "Yeah, I named my daughter after her."

"You named your daughter... after your daughter."

"Took me years to find you two. I'm so glad I did," Mels honestly said to her parents, "And, you see, it all worked out in the end, didn't it? You got to raise me after all."

"You're Melody?" Amy's eyes widened.

"No, my head hurts," Lena was thinking how they could have missed this. Mels never gave an indication that she knew more about the Doctor than them. She was always curious, yes, even asking questions like Avalon would.

Rory, however, was thinking farther ahead. "But if she's Melody, that means she's also..." he glanced at Avalon who didn't even notice as she stared in horror at her friend.

"Oh, shut up, Dad! I'm focusing on a dress size," Mels struggled to say right before the regeneration took her over. The group shielded their eyes from the blinding energy. Once it was over, a new, yet familiar, person stood across them. "Right, let's see, then!" River Song gasped as she started taking a look at her new self, "Ooh, it's all going on down there, isn't it? The hair!" she touched her hair and ran to a long mirror on the wall. It was incredibly voluminous. "Avalon, I beat you this time!" she cheered and glanced back at the ginger who was blankly staring at her. "You're going to have to pass on the tips, though!"

Neither knew their similar hair went deeper than just a coincident.

"Everything changes!" Melody laughed, "Oh, but I love it, I love it! I'm all sort of... mature!" she set her foot on the endpiece of a furniture beside her, "Hello, Benjamin!"

"Who's Benjamin?" the Sapling tilted his head.

"Tree kid, you couldn't keep up even if you tried!" River sighed and gasped as she passed her tongue over her teeth, "The teeth, the teeth! Oh, look at them!" she pointed to her mouth, "Excuse me, you lot, I need to weigh myself!"

The group leaned on the edge of the desk except for Avalon who had walked a couple steps away from them. Something was coming and she needed to be ready, but she couldn't quite remember.

"That's Melody?" Amy breathed in, her eyes wide as could be.

"That's River Song," Lena shook her head. She felt like something was compressing her head because everything hurt up there.

"Who's River Song?" Melody stood at the doorway with curiosity.

"Spoilers," the Doctor decided no word than that one fit better.

"Spoilers? What's spoilers? Hang on, just something I have to check!" and she ran back to the restroom.

"She's...River Song," Rory whispered quietly. Oh, time travel was really hurting right now.

"And she's also my sister's mother!" Lena whisper-hissed. Speaking of...

At the mention of Avalon, the Doctor stood away from the desk and walked over to her, "Ava?" he cautiously turned her to face him, "You alright?"

"Honestly, no," she put a hand on her stomach, "I feel terrible. I c-can't remember anything except th-that there's something really important I have t-to do. But I feel sick. And everything hurts."

"I promise you we will get you sorted as soon as the TARDIS is safe to get back inside in." He didn't want to touch her since almost every part of her arms were covered in bruises, but he did want to hold her.

"But what about Mels? Or, River..." she moved her hand to her forehead, "...all this time she was really the daughter of Amy and Rory? No, wait..." Avalon's head snapped to the side when she realized something, "I knew th-that already. I...I l-learned that...I'm forgetting things."

"Your head's a bit, uh, it's bit jumbled up," the Doctor gently said as he turned her head back to him. "But you'll get better."

"I-I..." Avalon blinked as if there was something in her eyes. The images were coming fast again.

"Ah, that's magnificent!" they heard Melody shout from the restroom. Quickly, she returned to the room with a bright smile, "I'm going to wear lots of jumpers! Well, now, enough of all that!" she shrugged and pulled out a gun which was aimed at the Doctor, "Down to business."

"Mels, what are you doing?" Lena sighed, "This isn't you. Well..."

"She's doing exactly what she's programmed to do, baby sister," the Doctor slowly moved for Melody.

"Where'd she get the gun?" Rory had to ask. How on Earth could Melody - River - carry a gun when she'd just regenerated?

"Hello, Benjamin," the Doctor recalled, "It was in the chair..."

"You noticed!" Melody chuckled and fired but found the gun was empty.

"Of course I noticed," the Doctor smirked at his quick-wit, "As soon as I knew you were coming, I tidied up a bit."

"So you're one step ahead of me, then?"

"Always."

Melody smirked and looked past him. "But are you though?" At the sound of a click, the Doctor turned back to find Avalon holding another gun at him from her spot. Alright, that one scared him a little bit.

"Ava, put that down..." he slowly raised a hand, barely moving an inch forwards when Avalon waved the gun at him again.

"I-I don't remember when somebody told me to do this..." she admitted, but it still didn't make her lower the gun.

"That would be me," Melody said for everybody's clarification. "Posthypnotic suggestion, anybody?" It was the same trick the Silence used on the humans while they were watching over her. "Kovarian made sure to leave her very well trained for this moment."

"You made Mother do this?" frowned the Sapling. "Why!? She's done nothing wrong!"

"Mmm, clearly you haven't learned everything about dear old Mummy," Melody rolled her eyes. "Mummy's not that innocent, you know? She and I...we've had our fair share of moments."

"If she's your friend, then why would you do this to her!?" Amy didn't know whether to cry over her daughter's twisted mind or scream out of frustration.

"Because it's what I'm supposed to do," Melody said quietly. "That's the order and I learned a long time ago that when Kovarian makes an order, you follow it...or else."

There was a sharp tinge in the last words that made everybody wonder what Melody had to go through to make that discovery.

"Hey, hey, Avalon, it's me," the Doctor was still holding his hands up. "We went over this remember? I'm the Fairy Tale Man and I came here to rescue you."

"No you didn't, you didn't save me," Avalon shook her head, eyes tearing up in a matter of seconds. It broke the Doctor's hearts because she was saying the truth. He failed her and her mother. "I-I can remember...bits and p-parts...they-they hurt me. And then...and then they hurt me again, and again..." her face scrunched with raw anger and despondence. "They kept hurting me..."

"I know, Ava, I know," the Doctor's own eyes teared up. "It's all my fault but listen, that will never happen again. I'll die if it means you'll live happily and safe. But right now, Ava, right now I really need you to put the gun down. It's okay if you hurt me, but you don't want to hurt Lena, right? Or Amy and Rory? Or the Sapling?"

Avalon's eyes flickered to the others in the room. They were all so scared - though she didn't know they were scared for her and not of her - and the Sapling seemed to want to hide from her. Something went off her in mind and it made her drop the gun on the floor. "Oh my God!" she blinked. The Doctor quickly seized the gun from the floor and gave it to Rory. "Oh my God! Oh my God! I didn't...Doctor, I didn't mean it! I-I didn't mean any of that! Oh my God!" she brought her hands to her mouth as her tears streamed down her eyes. "What did they do to me!?"

The Doctor hurried over to her and pulled her into another hug. She cried and shook between his arms while she begged him to forgive him.

Lena was infuriated to see her sister so...broken. Avalon was always so put together, a leader, and she knew exactly what she wanted at all times. Lena rounded on Melody with the ugliest scowl marking her face. "What did you do to my sister!? Fix her right now!"

"I told you," Melody shrugged carelessly. "Posthypnotic suggestion. Kovarian left instructions that I only reinforced."

"You whispered into her ear," Rory recalled the moment just before Melody had regenerated.

Melody smiled. "Use the gun when I use mine. Simple, but very effective."

"And where'd Avalon get the gun from?" demanded Amy.

"Kovarian gave her one!"

"You're a psychopath!" Lena erupted into a loud scream that could probably echo down the streets. She didn't care if this was her friends' daughter, nobody hurts her sister. "Avalon is your friend! Instead of helping her, you're dooming her!"

"I am helping her!" Melody argued defensively which just made incredulously glare.

"How are you helping her!?"

"I may be a psychopath, but I'm also honest."

"You were not a psychopath! Why would she be a psychopath?" Amy snapped at both women for using that horrible term. However, Melody didn't look at all offended by the term.

"Oh, Mummy, Mummy, pay attention," Melody groaned, "I was trained and conditioned for one purpose. I was born to kill the Doctor."

"Demons Run, remember? This is what they were building, my bespoke psychopath," the Doctor explained whilst still holding onto Avalon. He was rubbing a hand down her back, hoping to soothe her until she could understand that he had nothing to forgive her for. "What I can't understand is why you felt the need to get my Ava involved."

"Yeah, Mother didn't do anything wrong," the Sapling chimed in with his own glare.

"No, she only got involved," Melody shook her head. Things were supposed to have gone a different way but Kovarian just chucked Avalon to her at the last minute and expected Melody to work with what she had. "Nice going there. She always looked up to you. She went on and on about how the Doctor could save anyone. Well guess what? You didn't save her nor me!" Because if he had saved her, she could've grown up with her parents. She wouldn't have had to grovel on the streets of New York, swallowed up by an astronaut suit. She could've had what Amy had as a child, what Rory had, what the Reynolds had. She could've been like them and then maybe she could've traveled with the Doctor too.

"You're right," the Doctor agreed with a nod.

"No, big brother," Lena turned back to him but he had long ago made up his mind about the matter.

"I didn't save either of them. I put them into this situation," he looked down at Avalon who had buried her face in his chest. "I put people I care about in danger and I don't save them."

"No, no, that's not true," the Sapling frowned. "You've saved so many people, Father. It's impossible to save everybody. Otherwise, this would be a fairy tale."

"Avalon," called Melody, "Time to go."

Avalon jerked between the Doctor's arms, but instead of leaving him she only drew back enough to look up at the Doctor. "I'm sorry," she sniffed.

"Hey, you don't have to be sorry about anything," he whispered and cleared off a few of her tears from her cheeks. Her skin felt so dry he picked up a few flecks of dead skin. "You just have to worry about getting better. I'm going to get you to a real doctor, and they'll fix you right up."

"But you are my Doctor," she frowned slightly. "Why are you saying nonsense? Nobody can fix me, only you can."

"My Ava, you have no idea how badly I want to change all this," he cupped one side of her face. "I-I wish I could turn back time and keep you safe."

"You said 'my Ava'," she said, choosing to focus on the best part of his words. "My Ava, you are everything to me. You've owned these hearts for a long while now," Her bright smile could light up anyone's day. "That's what he said. The other Doctor. He told me that, just before he died. Is that true for you too?"

The Doctor thought this was hardly the place to discuss this matter but his hearts did leap a bit now that he finally knew what his ganger had told Avalon just before they escaped the ganger factory. And the ganger Doctor got it spot on too. "It is," he admitted, swallowing hard as if there was something lodged in his throat. "But look at where that's gotten you, where it's gotten everyone..." his eyes looked over her to the rest of the group that he'd solely ruined.

"It's given me a new feeling," Avalon pulled him down closer to her face. "And-and I wouldn't change it. It's my story. And do you know what my story deserves?"

The Doctor could think of a few things, starting with 'safe' and 'happiness'. "Peace," he settled for in the end.

"Nu-uh," Avalon's smile turned sly seconds before she pulled him one more time to close the gap between them. She kissed him like she'd been wanting to for a while - that she could remember perfectly - and held onto his arms because if she kept going, she didn't know if her legs would be able to stand it. But the Doctor was also holding her and with her surprise kiss, he wouldn't be letting go of her anytime soon. He finally got a taste of her lips that, despite being chapped, were so sweet. For a woman who had quite a loud mouth - which he was really fond of - she had such a way of kissing. He could do this for hours...

"Avalon?" called Melody, almost snarling, as she headed for the open window, "Quit your snogging and get over here, now! Time to go!"

Avalon's body jerked again, forcing her to pull away from the Doctor in the process. She blinked fast and once she found Melody by the window, she walked towards the woman like a robot following orders.

"A-Ava, don't," the Doctor tried to stop her but Avalon ignored him and stopped by Melody.

"Look at that, Berlin on the eve of war," Melody put an arm around Avalon's shoulders, "A whole world about to tear itself apart. Now that's my kind of town. Mum, Dad, Lena, don't follow us. Tree kid...don't you dare go all gigantic on me. And, yes, that is a warning for everybody!" She specifically made sure to look at everyone except the Doctor, something he easily picked up on.

"No warning for me, then?" he slowly walked back to the group, thinking of the perfect moment to snatch Avalon from her. He wasn't going to let her take his Ava off to some deranged city.

"Rather save my breath," Melody smirked, "The deed is done and so are you."

The Doctor only had seconds to wonder what she meant when he felt his legs weaken to the point he wobbled till he would fall. Rory and Amy ran to help him stand.

"Father, what's wrong!?" the Sapling, frightened, rushed to his side.

Lena once again glared at Melody, knowing that she was the culprit of whatever was happening to the Doctor. "What did you do to him, Melody!?"

"Oh, that wasn't me," Melody proudly presented Avalon to them.

Avalon seemed horrified to learn, to remember, that it was her fault. "Oh my God!" she brought her hands to her mouth. "It was me!"

"It was never going to be a gun for him," Melody smirked even wider seeing everyone's reactions. "Doctor, the man of peace who understands every kind of warfare, except, perhaps, the cruelest. You shouldn't have fallen into temptation."

The Doctor put a finger on his lips as he looked at Avalon, the ginger completely destroyed over what she'd done. He didn't need to ask to know that she hadn't even remembered what she was supposed to do. Somebody had left those instructions in her head and she would've done them no matter what.

"Doctor, I'm sorry," Avalon cried and tried running to them when Melody grabbed her arm and yanked them out the window.

"NO!" Everyone cried as the woman disappeared.

"Why would Mother do this?" the Sapling sniffed as he looked at his father who really struggled to stand on his own.

"It's not her fault, Sapling," the Doctor said.

"What did she do to you, exactly?" asked Rory so that they knew what to work with. Meanwhile, Lena bolted for the window to see if she could catch where Melody was taking her sister to.

"Avalon, she-she poisoned me," the Doctor answered with a struggle.

"Don't let Avalon kiss you in Berlin," Rory remembered Ryland's words that he'd gotten from a future version of the Doctor. "You literally left yourself a message about this!"

"I'm terrible at messages!" the Doctor snapped, but truth be told he'd kiss Avalon again if the chance was at hand. "And don't start! Avalon didn't know any better, her mother tricked her!"

"Her mother," Amy sighed, "This is completely awful!"

"Oh, her mother is brainwashed too!"

"That makes it better," Lena returned to them, "How do we help you, big brother? Do you have a plan?"

"The plan is not to die," the Doctor pointed at her, "I gotta save my Ava. Take this! The TARDIS can home in on it," he gave Amy his screwdriver, "Now, go, get after them!" he pushed Rory to the window.

"But what about you?" Lena helped Amy to get him into the TARDIS, "You said the smoke was deadly."

"The smoke's fine. The poison will kill me first," he tried to humor and actually expected for Avalon to remark on that, only she was nowhere around anymore, "Now, get after Avalon and River! Sapling, with me! Poison can't really affect trees!"

The Sapling grinned and nodded.

"But I don't understand," Amy shook her head, "Why would Avalon poison you?"

"She didn't mean to, she was brainwashed," the Doctor explained fast, "The head is a delicate thing and they've managed to get into it. Now, please, just go!" he entered the TARDIS and left them to do their task.

~ 0 ~

Down in front of the building stood Avalon and Melody and were being questioned by German officers. While Avalon seemed completely wrecked, Melody was quite confident in herself.

"What are you doing here?" the officer demanded to know.

"Well," Melody stepped forwards, "We were off to this gay Gypsy bar mitzvah for the disabled, when I thought, "Gosh, the Third Reich's a bit rubbish, I think I'll kill the Fuhrer." Who's with me?"

"Shoot them."

Melody quickly stepped back, in front of Avalon and took all the shots for the both of them. After the shots were finished, she looked up at the officers while hugging herself, "Tip for you all...never shoot a girl while she's regenerating," she opened her arms and sent out regeneration energy towards the soldiers and laughed as she knocked the entire group down, "Ah! Now, that hit the spot."

"Please...we have to go back," Avalon looked up at the window where she was sure the Doctor was still in, "I-I killed him, I have to go help...maybe there's cure..."

"Oh, it's Judas Poison, didn't they tell you?" Melody grabbed a couple machine guns and moved over to a motorcycle.

"I can't remember," Avalon glanced at her, "But you do, you knew I was going to do that, didn't you?"

Melody smirked and started the motorcycle, "C'mon, Avalon."

"But Melody-"

"Look, you killed the Doctor. You committed a crime, they're not gonna want you anymore. But I will," Melody gestured to the motorcycle, "I didn't want you to do any of this but if we didn't do what Kovarian said, she would've killed us. We had to do this. Plus, it's the Doctor's own fault. If he would've been there for us, we wouldn't have gotten here."

"But my friends..." Avalon looked up at the building.

"I am your friend, always have been. C'mon, don't you feel like shopping?"

Avalon was terrified but Melody did ring some facts. She'd done a terrible thing, how could anyone forgive her for that? "Sh-shopping?"

Melody grinned. "Yup! New body, means I've got to get new clothes. Shall we?"

Avalon looked up to see Amy, Lena, and Rory climbing down and grew even more frightened. She didn't want to face them, much less her sister. Melody was right, she'd committed a crime. A crime against the most wonderful man she'd ever met, no one would want her after that.

"Avalon, no!" Lena shouted after her sister as the ginger hurried and climbed on the back of the motorcycle Melody was in, "Avalon!" but it was too late, the women were gone. "We have to stop them, we have to stop them now!"

A soldier came through the gate behind the trio, riding a motorcycle. He stopped in front of them and Rory stepped forwards to explain, "Look, I know how this looks, but let me explain everything from the beginning," but the soldier started reaching for a weapon and so he panicked. "Heil!" he saluted.

"Heil!" the soldier saluted back to him.

Rory took advantage and punched him down. He climbed on the motorcycle and motioned for the other two women to do the same.

"You're all punchy today," Lena remarked as she took her place behind Amy.

"Well, my daughter and granddaughter are out in a city on the brink of war, hell of a reason to punch," Rory shrugged, meaning every last word he said. He'd always cared for Mels and Avalon, Avalon a bit more since he'd met her first. But now after knowing who they were in reality, his protection fired up and he knew he would do anything to keep them safe, even if that meant punching Hitler.

"Can you ride a motorbike?" Amy dreaded to ask as he started the motorcycle.

"I expect so. It's that sort of day," Rory shrugged once more and drove off.

~ 0 ~

Melody had found a nice restaurant filled with elegant people and decided to hijack them, both men and women. While she tried several pieces on and checked herself in the mirror, Avalon sat at a nearby table with her hands in her hair, desperately trying to remember and process what she'd done.

"I might take the age down a little, just gradually, to freak people out," Melody chuckled as she tried on a captain's hat and looked back to Avalon, "Whaddya think?"

"What have I done?" Avalon mumbled to herself, "I killed someone, and not just anyone, but the Doctor. I killed him," she looked up at Melody with teary eyes, "Why did you let me do that? What's he ever done to you?"

"I was taken from my parents, you forget that?" Melody raised an eyebrow, "I was thrown into a life of hell because they're all afraid of him and needed someone to do the job that none of them could do."

"And yet I'm the one who did it," Avalon stood up, "Your life may have been hell as a child, but when you came into Leadworth you became my friend and Amy's and Rory, even Lena's. Don't tell me your life was awful back then too."

"Of course it wasn't," Melody admitted quietly and looked around, "It was fun, the most fun I'd ever had."

"Then? Why did you do this to me?" Avalon gestured to herself, her voice breaking in the end. "They stole me and they did something to my head, brainwashed me, hurt me!" She frantically gestured to her injured arms. Melody did swallow hard at the sight of her nearly purple arms. "They did so m-many things to me...and you just let me kill the one person who could've saved us both!"

"I never had a choice, Avalon," Melody's voice softened, "You think I asked for all this? That I wanted my best friend to do what I was trained to do my entire life?"

"Then why did you let me do it!?" Avalon shouted, her tears strolling down her cheeks.

"Because it was either you did it or you died," Melody shrugged, seeing no other way to put it, "I didn't just find you on the entry road, you were handed over to me."

"By who?"

"Avalon, you seriously don't remember anything!?" Melody couldn't help but shout the question, quite exasperated that she really had to start from zero.

"I s-s-see bits and pieces..." Avalon screwed her eyes shut but once she did she saw the woman with the eye patch. "Mels...how could you do this to me?"

"Because I didn't want to see you die, alright? Anyone else, I wouldn't have cared," Melody snapped, honestly not even understanding herself why she had cared so much for her friend's safety, "But you, you are the only one that I can be myself without getting any scolds nor reproaches. It's either you did the task or they killed you on the spot."

"Well I would have rather died," Avalon exclaimed and leaned back on the table, sniffling, "You don't understand, Mels, you didn't make me kill just anyone...you made me kill my Fairy Tale Man. He was mine and he actually cared for me like no one else has. And now, he'll die and I'll lose my friends, my sister, my family. Cos you're right, they won't want me anymore. Who'd love a murderer?"

"It won't matter anymore, Avalon," Melody walked over to her and took her hands, "We'll have a fresh new start, I told you. We can travel the world and do things our way now. No following the rules and pretending to be who we're not."

"But with the Doctor I did do that," Avalon whispered, "He didn't care who I was."

"You killed the Doctor," came Amy's voice from behind them.

Avalon tensed and turned around, seeing Amy a couple steps away from them, "Amy, I know what I did, and there's nothing I can do anymore. She says my healing won't work."

"You killed the Doctor on the orders of the movement known as the Silence and Academy of the Question. You accept and know this to be true?"

Avalon raised an eyebrow, "I...don't understand what all that is. I can't remember, I swear. I killed him and I can't even remember who told me to do it."

'Amy' opened up her mouth and shot out a blue beam at Avalon, making the ginger cry out in pain, "No! No! Get off me!" she pleaded. It brought back the moments of her torture where they would carve her skin.

"That's not Amy!" Melody kicked the Teselecta robot of her mother back and managed to shut down the beam.

Avalon stumbled back onto the floor, "Oh, you don't say? I was just about to ask her when she got that new beam built into her mouth!"

"Oh your sense of humor is back," the Doctor's voice made her look to the side and see the alien standing beside the TARDIS, dressed in black tails and a top hat along with a cane.

"First of all, what the hell are you wearing?" Avalon raised an eyebrow, "You're dying and you stopped to change? You know what, I'm not even surprised."

The Sapling giggled beside his Father. "I think he looked nice! I need to find me a suit too!"

The Doctor spun around with a grin and made his way down the steps, "You should always waste time when you don't have any. Time is not the boss of you - Rule 408," he stopped in front of the robotic Amy, "Amelia Pond, judgment death machine. Why am I not surprised? Sonic cane!"

"Are you serious?" even Melody was stumped by the man.

"Never knowingly. Never knowingly be serious," the Doctor used his cane to scan the Teselecta, "Rule 27. You might want to write these down. Oh, it's a robot!" he concluded from the readings, "With 423 life signs inside. A robot worked by tiny people. Love it! But how do you all get in there, though? Bigger on the inside? No, basic miniaturization sustained by a compression field. Oh, watch what you eat, it'll get you every time. Amy, if you, Rory and Lena are OK, signal me," and then the Doctor got a signal from his cane, "Thanking you," he then gave out a cry of pain.

"Doctor!" Avalon ran to help him, "Oh my God, I'm so sorry!"

"It's alright, leg just went to sleep," he tried to humor her to no avail, "Just had a quick left leg power nap, I forgot I had one scheduled. Actually, better sit down, I think I heard the right one yawning," he sat on the dais of the steps with her help.

"I am so sorry for all this," Avalon stepped away from him. He probably wouldn't want her anywhere near him. "I can't remember, and I know that's no excuse but it's the truth. I don't remember why I did it, I just knew it after I did it and now I've killed you. I'm the woman who kills you." Flashes of the astronaut at Lake Silencio crossed her mind. It was her, wasn't it? She killed him at that lake. But now she'd rewritten time and killed him earlier. She felt sick and it wasn't because of her own injuries. "You...should have just left me that night...that you came back for me. You should have just left me there."

"No, hey!" the Doctor snapped a finger at her, snapping her out of those horrid thoughts. "I don't regret anything we've done in the past! The only thing I regret is not saving you sooner!"

"But I'm a murderer," Avalon whispered and glanced at the robot, the Teselecta. "And they know it. Everybody inside that thing...they know who I am. A murderer." She turned towards the robot, swallowing hard. "You should kill me."

"No, Avalon-"

"I accept my fault," she stepped towards the Teselecta, "I accept my punishment..."

With the confession, the Teselecta shot out a beam of light and trapped her in it. Avalon screamed in terrible pain, one that even made Melody flinch.

"Mother!" the Sapling growled and grew one of his left arms to smack the Teselecta, but the Doctor stopped him.

"NO! Don't you touch her! Do not harm her in any way," the Doctor shouted at the Teselecta and managed to stop the painful beam, leaving only a containment field around Avalon.

"Remember that Amy, Rory and Lena are still inside!"

But after that, the Teselecta turned on Melody and before the brunette tried making a run for it, she was trapped in a containment field as well. "I haven't done anything," Melody writhed in her field, far more awake than Avalon at the moment.

"According to records you are the women who kills the Doctor," was the response of the robot.

"Listen, I love my friend, but she is the one that kills him today, sweetie," Melody snapped, "So far, I've committed no crime."

"He's dying."

"Well, at least I'm not a time-travelling shape-shifting robot operated by miniaturized cross people," the Doctor called, eyeing the situation, perplexed to see Melody 'arrested' as well, "Which, I have got to admit, I didn't see coming. What do you want with them?" he pointed his cane to both women.

"She's Melody Pond, the woman who kills the Doctor. And she-" the robot pointed to Avalon, "-kills you today."

"How can I kill him if he's already dying!? Let me go!" Melody ordered.

"What is any of this to you?" the Doctor demanded from the robot, "Cos my friend there-" he pointed to Melody, "-has a point."

"Throughout history, many criminals have gone unpunished in their lifetimes. Time travel has... responsibilities."

The Doctor laughed, "What? You got yourselves time travel, so you decided to punish dead people?"

"We don't kill them. We extract them near the end of their established timelines."

"And then what?"

"Give them hell."

The Doctor's humor faded away immediately to be replaced by the darkness the Black Markets had come to know in the last month. "I'd ask you who you think you are but I think the answer is pretty obvious. So, who do you think I am? From everything I've heard, it sounds like you've got a record of mine being altered," he glanced at Avalon who was slowly coming around, "Gotta say, I'd love a peek."

"Our records office is sealed to the public. Foreknowledge is dangerous."

"Yes, well, I'll be dead in three minutes. There isn't much foreknowledge left."

"Sorry, can't do that..." There was a moment of silence before the Teselecta changed its mind. "Records available."

The Doctor wouldn't question the change so stood up with great struggle on his cane. The Sapling helped him walk on his wobbly feet. "Question. I'm dying... who wants me dead?"

"The Silence."

"What is the Silence? Why is it called that? What does it mean?"

"The Silence is not a species. It is a religious order, or movement. Their core belief is that silence will fall when the question is asked."

"What question?"

"The first question. The oldest question in the universe, hidden in plain sight."

"Yes, but what is the question?"

"Unknown."

"Well, fat lot of use that is, you big ginge! Call yourself a Records... Argh!" the Doctor fell to the floor with a cry of pain, "Kidneys are always the first to quit. I've had better, you know."

The containment field around Melody vanished and she dropped to the ground. She would've cheered if the field around Avalon hadn't turned into a flaming red that tortured her. Her shrill screams filled the room and perhaps the rest of the building. Everything was on fire. It felt like she was back with Kovarian and the Silence...oh. She remembered who gave her the order now.

The Doctor pulled himself across the floor with his hands and called out to the robot, "Amy! Rory! Lena! Can you hear me?"

"Yeah. What do we do? What do we do?" Amy's distraught voice came from the robot.

"Just stop them, please. She's your granddaughter, just stop them." Because the Doctor felt his life slowly slipping away. There was no more of his energy to use and the Sapling was still just a child. He was terrified. If he was to die, then he needed to know that Avalon would come out safe and sound.

"What did you say?" Melody stared at him with confusion from her spot.

The Doctor considered his next words while his gaze was stuck on Avalon. It was a huge no in the world of timelines telling Melody of her future, especially about something - someone - so important to her. But as the field stopped and Avalon dropped to the floor, completely unconscious, and the real Amy (or Rory or Lena) pleaded for his help through the Teselecta, he found there was no other choice. Besides, the universe owed him this.

"Please, now we have to save your parents. Don't run. Now, I know you're scared, but never run when you're scared. Rule 7. Please," he looked at Melody with urgency.

"Why did you say granddaughter?" Melody rose to her feet and frowned. "You said 'granddaughter', why?"

"Her mother, her real mother, is River Song, and she would kill you right now for what you've done..."

"Who is this River person?" Melody sighed with exasperation, "And why are you saying she's Avalon's mother? Emmalina is!"

"Imagine, imagine something for me please," the Doctor mustered his final coherent words. Not even the Sapling's strength could keep him up. He had to sit back down, preparing for his final moments. "Imagine that little Melody grows up and she goes to college and she has a baby of her own..." his eyes drifted to Avalon.

Melody slowly looked over to Avalon. Her face was covered by her hair. Melody inched closer to Avalon and touched her ginger locks. They felt like hers. "You're lying..."

"You're no fool, Melody, look into your past, look into the now. You've gotten along so good despite everyone else's opinions about you two, the Silence stole her and brought her back to you for some twisted mother-daughter job. You look me in the eye and tell me you're gonna let your parents, her grandparents and sister die," the Doctor ordered her and surprisingly Melody did as told. She looked straight at him and could feel his urgency radiating. "You know there's a special connection between you and Avalon. There always has been and this is why. Somewhere along your timeline you have a daughter, and you do love her. You've hurt her, now make it up by giving her, her grandparents and sister back. Rory can treat her after I...die. Do this for your daughter, Melody..."

Melody turned for Avalon, considering everything she'd heard. It made sense, all of it...but...to believe it...that was hard. She brushed a lock from Avalon's face, "Avalon..." she whispered, unable to bring herself to actually touch her now, "...Avalon, please? I didn't mean to hurt you. I was scared that they would hurt us both. Avalon, wake up."

"Go to her, Sapling," the Doctor urged the child with him. The Sapling was torn between staying with his father or going to his mother. They both needed him. "It's okay, Sapling," the Doctor offered him his best smile. "You go and help your Mother. That's what we wanted to do, remember? Help her."

The Sapling slowly nodded and walked over to Avalon and Melody. He knelt down beside his mother and gently shook her arm. "Mother, please wake up. Aunt Lena, aunt Amy and Uncle Rory need you. I need you too. And so does Father. I don't want my family to be ripped apart. I'm just a kid. I don't know what to do by myself."

Melody blinked at the tree child with a ripple of...sympathy? She knew exactly what he was talking about. She had no idea what to do with herself when she was a child. The Silence had given her full independence but she was a child. What was she supposed to do without her parents? She had to figure it out on her own sometimes. She wished somebody could have saved her way before any of this happened. She was just a kid...she shouldn't have had to live the way she had. And now she was the reason why another child would have to figure it out on their own. The Silence didn't do that, she did.

"I'm sorry," the words blurted from her mouth.

The Sapling met Melody's gaze with teary eyes. "Why would you hurt us? We worked so hard to find you, to save you, and you hurt us? That's not fair. You're taking my Mother, my Father, my family."

"No, no," Melody shook her head. "I didn't-I didn't mean to..."

The Sapling gently lowered himself to his Mother's side and brushed her hair with his hands. "Mother..." he sniffled.

~ 0 ~

Just as Lena, Amy and Rory were about to die, the TARDIS appeared around them, saving them in time. Lena quickly left her friends' side and ran for the console, "Big brother!" but she stopped when she saw Melody standing there and gasped at the sight of Avalon on the chair, trying to get out of it. "What did you do!?" she fiercely demanded from Melody as she ran to Avalon.

"i-it's fine, Lena," Avalon assured her. Her sight was coming back at least. "I...taught her to fly the TARDIS. Guess those lessons did pay off." She managed a weak smile while her sister hugged her.

"Where's the Doctor?" frowned Amy. "And the Sapling?"

"Then bring us back to the Doctor so he can help her," Lena ordered.

Melody looked around, refusing to tell her exactly what was going to happen to the Doctor in just a moment. Still, she used what Avalon had told her and successfully brought the TARDIS back to the restaurant.

Amy ran out the TARDIS first to find the Doctor lying on the stairs, nearly unconscious, with the Sapling at his side. Amy dropped on one of his sides, "You can't die now. I know you don't die now."

"Oh, Pond! You've got a schedule for everything," the Doctor managed to smile. From the corner of his eyes he could see Avalon coming out of the TARDIS with Lena's and Melody's help. She was safe now. Now it was okay to...to go.

"Doctor, what do we do? Come on. How do we help you?" Rory called to him as he and the others neared him.

"No, sorry, Rory. You can't. Nobody can," the Doctor sighed, "Ponds, listen to me, I need to talk to your daughter."

Everyone looked back at Melody who now looked completely uncomfortable. Slowly, she came towards the Doctor while the others backed away. She bent down beside him and whispered quietly to him, "You're not lying are you?" she glanced back to Avalon who was direcly staring at them with tears in her eyes, still filled with guilt.

"You see it now, don't you?" the Doctor questioned her, "Her eyes are yours, her hair is yours, her spirits are yours. But she doesn't know it yet, she thinks you're just a really close friend."

"I'm her mother...and I let her commit murder," Melody swallowed hard, if that didn't make her the worst mother of the year she didn't know what would.

"I need you to do something for me," the Doctor told her, "Find River Song and tell her something from me."

"Tell her what?" she raised an eyebrow and leaned down to listen to his quiet words. After she sat straight again, she had tears in her eyes, "Well, I don't know how..." but he gave her a pointed look that made her shift in place. She stood up and turned to the group, "Who's River Song?" she demanded.

Without a word, Amy moved to the Teselecta now host to no lives inside, "Are you still working because I'm still a relative? Access files on River Song."

"Records available."

"Show me her. Show me River Song."

Melody's tears strolled down her face as she now saw herself in the Teselecta. She glanced back at Avalon and shuddered a breath, "I lied."

Avalon shooed Rory off her, "What about?"

"There's no cure...but you have all the cures in your immune system...a well evolutionized system..."

Avalon's eyes half-widened. She raised her hands and turned them over. "And that would work? That would really work?"

"Might..." Melody shrugged with a small smile as she watched the ginger's hope increase by the seconds. "...but there could be consequences..."

"Don't care," Avalon snapped and hurried to the Doctor however she could on her wobbly feet. She came to sit beside him, ignoring the slight pain she felt on her knees. She motioned for the Sapling to move away. She would need a moment alone.

"What's she doing?" Lena looked at Melody suspiciously. One more trick from hers and this time Lena might just slap her.

Melody didn't answer and turned for Avalon, hoping her words would be true and...perhaps, do one good thing for her...daughter. She didn't want anyone to grow up the way that she did.

"I promise you after this you can chuck me into a black hole," Avalon whispered to the Doctor. "Or put me in jail. That's what I deserve. I'm so sorry for all this. Believe me, killing you is the last thing I wanted to do," she leaned down and stroked his hair, smiling slightly when he opened his eyes. He looked so weak and it was all her fault. He would never sit still, never lay down. He was always on the run, exploring different worlds, saving people here and there. He was the perfect man. A man that should not have to die.

"You remember those stories you wanted to see? The ones I wrote when I was younger? Well, they were all about you, stupid," Avalon's face blushed a warm pink as she explained what she thought she'd never say. "You're the Fairy Tale Man and you were always my hero, saving me...and do you remember when I couldn't sleep last year? You had to talk to me about my nightmare and you said I should dream up something that would ward the nightmares away? Well, you were the knight-in-shining-armor that fought off all my nightmares. You protected me. You've been quite the busy man," her smile spread as her blush deepened, "Now the princess - albeit an odd one - gets to save the prince."

"But Ava..." the Doctor could barely say those two words. Even with his bypass system, his lungs had expended his air.

"Be sure to rest for a bit before you go gallivanting through galaxies, alright?" Avalon leaned down, ignoring his weak attempts to stop her, and kissed him. Her fingers held onto the lapels of his jacket, as if she'd need it to keep him still. Her body glowed as the energy of her immunization began to transfer from her to the Doctor's. Avalon could feel her strength slipping away but she took comfort knowing it was going to the right place.

Towards the end, Avalon barely had the strength to raise her head. She weakly glanced at the others with a small smile. But her eyelids became heavy and before she knew it, she laid her head on the Doctor's chest and fell into darkness.

~ 0 ~

The next time Avalon opened her eyes, she was in a bright, white room. For a few seconds, she thought this was what the afterlife looked like...but then she heard a familiar voice.

"Avalon, sweetie, you're awake," Ryland was sitting right next to her bed - a hospital bed because she was in the hospital.

"Yeah, took you long enough," Gavin snorted but soon yelped when Lena elbowed him on the side. "I mean, yay, you're awake!"

Avalon scrunched her face and tried getting up, but everybody told her to stay put. "What's...what's going on?" she swallowed hard. Her body hurt. Everything was sore and moving the slightest caused a wave of pain to wash over her. "Owww."

"You're in the hospital, Avalon," Lena explained the bits most pertinent for the moment. "We brought you here after, um...Berlin."

It took only a few seconds for Avalon to remember what she did. "Oh my God! The Doctor!" she tried getting up again but Ryland pushed her down and kept a firm hold over her shoulders. "Daddy, stop! I have to go-"

"Avalon, it's okay! He's okay!" Ryland exclaimed over her voice. "The Doctor's just fine now." Avalon stopped struggling and studied Ryland's face for any indication that he was lying just so she wouldn't get up. Ryland knew her so well. "I'm telling you the truth. He's here, taking care of some things."

"So I...I didn't kill him?" Avalon's eyes flickered to Lena. "He-he survived?"

Lena smiled at her. "Yes. And as Daddy said, he's just taking care of some things. But you, Miss, you need to rest. A lot."

Avalon could care less about herself right now. She was just relieved that the Doctor had survived. "I...I didn't kill him."

"No, but you gave up something else," Gavin spoke up, sounding a bit irritated with her.

"What...?"

Ryland shot his son a look to keep quiet. What they had to tell her to needed to be done in a delicate manner. "Um, sweetie, there's something you need to know. You, uh...you saved the Doctor and nobody could be more proud of you for that, but...there were some consequences."

"Like?"

Ryland sighed. "Your immunity system has dropped, almost entirely. You lost the ability to heal people and your health has reverted to that of, well, an average human."

"Without those vaccinations all the babies usually get," Gavin chimed in, once again receiving the glares from his father and now his sister. "What? It's true."

Avalon was trying to understand what it meant, but it didn't take a lot of her thought process to figure it out. "So I-I don't have my abilities anymore? I don't have all the cures?"

"No," Ryland confirmed. "And the doctors here tried everything to activate it but there's nothing there anymore. We're going to have to be very careful for a long while now, until we can build up your immunity from scratch. But, even when that happens, it won't be like it used to be."

"I'll just be like Amy and Rory," Avalon nodded to herself. "Like every other human. I can get a cold now..."

"It's a bit more dangerous right now because you literally have no defense system."

"It's fine," Avalon swallowed hard and smiled. "It's my punishment for what I did."

"No, it's not," Lena frowned. "This was an accident but it is not because you did something wrong. Nothing is your fault. It's on Kovarian and the Silence." As soon as she spoke those two names, Avalon flinched. Lena regretted it deeply. "I'm sorry."

"No, no...it's okay..." Avalon bit her lower lip.

"How long were you with them, Avalon?" Lena decided to ask after a moment.

"...about...5 months..." Avalon scrunched her face when more memories started coming back to her. A lot of them included her screaming and begging for them to stop hurting her. "They-they kept..."

Lena reached for her sister's hand and held it tight. Avalon didn't have the strength, currently, to do the same. "It's okay, Avalon."

Avalon brought her free hand to her hair, pulling the strands as she continued to remember. Every pain she felt from the carvings, from the prodding, the needles. Her body was on fire. And she was so terrified.

"Avalon, it's okay," Ryland tried to take Avalon's hand off her hair but she kept pulling on it.

"I was so scared, Daddy! I was so scared!" The tears streamed down Avalon's face. "Everybody was prodding me like a-an experiment! They-they stabbed me with needles! They starved me! It was cold, it was hot! And I just wanted them to stop!" Her voice cracked in the end, but all in all she sounded like a terrified child when she burst into sobs. "But then I-I can't remember everything but...I know they did things to me, bad things. I don't want to go back there!"

"And you're not going to," Ryland promised her, almost crying himself because of her. He allowed Avalon to sit up so he could hug her tightly. "Nobody is ever going to touch you again. Not on our watch."

~ 0 ~

Melody stepped into a the admittedly nice building. Her eyes raked over the neat hallways and cheery decorations. It seemed to be very busy with employees - nuns - coming in and out of rooms. Patients, or inhabitants, were out making their daily lives. They looked happy. It seemed like a nice place to live...for now. She turned sideways, meeting her parents' gaze and the Doctor's. "This is it, then? This is where I have to stay?"

"It looks like fun," the Sapling made the comment to lift the spirits.

"It's your basic home for, well, anybody who needs it," the Doctor explained. "The Sisters here will help you make your way, whatever path you want to take."

Melody knew what he meant. Even though she knew about an important part of her future, the choice was still hers. "I am sorry," she said, even though it pained her to admit that she was wrong. "You have no idea what Kovarian is like...she doesn't take 'no' for an answer. She doesn't show mercy which is why I can't understand why she decided to wipe Avalon's memories. She had her for months and...she just erased it?"

"She did it for a reason," the Doctor muttered. Kovarian didn't do anything without a reason.

"But she didn't do a very good job because Avalon still remembers bits and pieces," Melody said, not understanding herself. Avalon didn't seem to have all her memories but she remembered what kind of torture strategies they used on her.

"That's her biology at work," the Doctor sighed. He had no doubt that within the coming months, Avalon would begin to remember more of her time with Kovarian.

"I wish I would've known," Melody looked at her parents. "I didn't know. But after spending years with Kovarian breathing over my shoulder, I learned the best way to survive is to just follow her orders."

"You're forgiven for everything," the Doctor assured her. He could see the guilt in her eyes from a mile away.

"Absolutely," Amy moved towards Melody and took her into a big hug. It soon brought Rory over as well. "None of it was your fault," Amy promised.

"But I just...I don't understand," Melody pulled away. "How could Avalon be my daughter? I don't...I don't even want kids. They're kind of annoying." The others chuckled, but she wanted to point out that she was being very serious.

"Well, that's up to you," the Doctor said, but Melody folded her arms over her chest and settled a sharp look on him.

"Mhm. You snogged my daughter and you expect me to believe that you don't care one tiny bit whether or not I have her?"

The Doctor's face flushed at the reminder. It made Melody smirk, much like Avalon would. "Well, I-I didn't mean to..." Truth be told, he would hardly call what happened between him and Avalon a kiss. There'd been two kisses and while the first one was a more of a kiss but it'd only happened because Avalon was brainwashed into doing it, not because she wanted to. And the second one? Well, he'd been dying. He could hardly remember it. It hurt his hearts realizing it.

"Oh forget it," Melody sighed deeply when she saw the Doctor getting lost in his thoughts. "I'll stay here for a bit, then, if that's what it takes to keep her safe. Whether she's my daughter or my friend, I do care about Avalon. I had to do what I had to do to keep us both alive."

"I believe you," the Doctor assured her.

"And...the Sapling...I didn't mean to take your family," Melody looked at the tree child. He no longer held contempt for her, but she wanted to make sure that he understood her. "I know exactly what that feels like and I never want to do that to a child."

The Sapling nodded and offered her a smile. "I believe you. You helped save my parents. Plus, your my grandmother."

"Oooh, that hurts," Melody put a hand over her chest. "That word hurts."

"Imagine great-grandmother," Amy muttered and shared a small laugh with her.

"So, Doctor, how long do I have to wait until I can see Avalon and apologize to her too?" Melody looked at the Time Lord anxiously. She didn't like the idea of being far away when Avalon was recovering from a situation she helped create.

"For a while," the Doctor answered, knowing that it wasn't the answer she wanted to hear. "The Silence and Kovarian are still out there and until we capture them, you shouldn't see Avalon. Plus, you might have your own Avalon to deal with further along your timeline."

Melody smirked. "Oh boy."

"But don't worry, she'll know that it wasn't your fault either."

"And what about the fact that I'm her Mother? Will she know that too?"

"Do you want her to know?" the Doctor challenged. The choice was entirely upon Melody because as far as he knew, it didn't matter from this point on if Avalon learned who her mother was.

Melody pursed her lips together. "I...don't know. I mean, if she wants to know then...I suppose I have no right hiding that from her. I owe her that much. So, if she asks, if she wants to know, you tell her. But you make sure-" she pointed a finger at him, "-that she knows that I do love her. She's been my friend for so many years, she shouldn't doubt that."

"Okay," the Doctor nodded. "Well, I guess it's time for us to go."

Melody faced her parents with a sad smile. "I'll see you around, then?"

"Definitely," Amy promised. "Stay out of trouble, Miss."

"Seriously," Rory warned her. "Out of it. Don't even think of getting into it!"

Melody laughed. "I'll try my best. But you know me...it calls me." She walked over to give them both a hug. While they said goodbye, the Doctor took the Sapling with him back to the TARDIS. The Ponds would need a moment to say goodbye to their daughter.

"Are we going to see Mother now!?" the Sapling hopped excitedly up to the console.

"Yeah," the Doctor went straight to the console. He shouldn't have done it but he downloaded his biography from the Teselecta archive. Now he knew exactly what he was in for, and it was not pretty. But so long as Avalon was kept out of it, he didn't care what was coming for him.

~ 0 ~

When Ryland emerged from from Avalon's hospital room, he spotted the Doctor, Amy, Rory and the Sapling coming down the hallway. He immediately searched for the woman responsible for all this mess, but she wasn't there. And she wouldn't be coming back soon, that much he could tell from Amy's and Rory's distraught faces. The Sapling didn't waste time and scurried down the hallway, straight into Avalon's room before anyone could tell him anything. He wanted to see his Mother so badly!

"Where is she?" Ryland still asked the group when they joined him. He didn't have to say her name for them to know he meant River.

"Somewhere, making her own way now," the Doctor said, glancing over his shoulder to the Ponds. It hurt them badly to let their daughter go, but it was the best thing they could for Melody and Avalon.

"Is she alright?"

"Yes, in what fits."

Ryland nodded then sighed. "Avalon's woken up, though she's been in and out of consciousness. The Silence, Kovarian - they did a number on my niece." His heart broke when he first saw Avalon's arms, when she sobbed about how terrified she'd been. "I want them to pay. All of them."

The sentiment was shared amongst the others, but they knew that they literally had to wait.

"It's a tricky thing, Ryland," the Doctor began, looking unsure himself...because he was. "Kovarian has created the perfect game here. We can't strike because of Time. We make one wrong move and both Melody and Avalon go 'poof!'." He did the hand gesture for effect, but he was sure the word was more than enough to make a point. "And that's not what we want, right?"

Ryland sighed with exasperation. "Of course not! But we can't just let this stand!"

"Oh, we won't," the Doctor said, his voice dropping low. "You better believe that I'm going after them."

Ryland wasn't one to doubt him, so he nodded but there was still heavy concern in his eyes when he glanced back at Avalon's room. "She's really hurt. I trust this hospital but I'm also scared. She lost her entire immune system. She has zero defenses."

"But we can fix that," Rory finally spoke up but then he realized that Avalon's biology was a bit out of his element so he looked at the Doctor just to be sure. "Right?"

"Yes, of course we can," the Doctor nodded. "But I'm going to need to take Avalon away for a while," he told Ryland, knowing that the man wouldn't be so happy about that detail.

And true to that, Ryland's mouth opened to argue. "But we just got her back!"

"And like you said, she doesn't have any defenses. Earth is filled with bacteria and germs that she cannot fight right now. The TARDIS is a sterile place where I can monitor her at all times, where we-" the Doctor gestured behind him to Amy and Rory, "-will look after her and raise her health. Physically and mentally."

Because of course there was no way in hell the Ponds would let go of the only piece they had of their daughter. Both Amy and Rory nodded affirmatively. Where Avalon went, they went. Period.

"I am a nurse," Rory reminded Ryland. "I know exactly what humans need. I'll help take good care of Avalon."

"I don't suppose I have a choice," Ryland mumbled, but he did realize that the TARDIS was the safest spot for Avalon at the moment. "But will you bring her when she gets better?"

"You have my word," the Doctor promised, raising his hand in the air. It would be some time before Avalon could leave sterile rooms, but he would bring her back to Earth the moment she could withstand it.

Ryland nodded. "Thank you. And...thank you for bringing her back. All of you." The Doctor gave a slight nod of his head but it was easy to see that he didn't feel like he actually did anything. He hadn't found Avalon, she had found him. "I trust you, Doctor. And you," Ryland gave Amy and Rory a half smile. "I trust that you'll keep her safe." He gave Avalon's door another glance before motioning them to go inside. "See if she's awake. I assume there's plenty to talk about."

That was an understatement. Still, the three of them took in some deep, brave breaths and headed for Avalon's room.

Avalon was asleep but with the Sapling's movements and whispers, she would end up waking up. Seeing the tree child did bring out a smile, which was all anyone wanted right now.

"Hey, don't try to move so much," Rory took the nearest seat beside her bed. "You gotta save your strength."

"Ugh, now you're sounding like my Dad," Avalon licked her chapped lips then made a face after it stung her. "I really need chapstick. Actually...I really need and want a bath."

"Lavender scented bath bombs await in the TARDIS," Amy promised her. She'd taken the opposite side and grabbed Avalon's hand first chance she got. There was a different feeling Amy got now that she knew who Avalon was. Maybe it was the part of her motherhood that she didn't get to live out with Melody, or maybe it was just the grandmother part of her too. She wanted to protect Avalon and be there for whatever Avalon might need.

"Mm, sounds nice," Avalon drew in a breath but it stung as well. "My entire body hurts. Even breathing hurts - how pathetic is that?"

"Don't say that," the Doctor spoke up for the first time, and it was only because that had come out automatically. He didn't want Avalon feeling bad for anything that happened. "You don't say anything like that, got it? Because you have no reason to put yourself down."

Avalon's gaze lowered the moment his eyes landed on her. She couldn't fathom looking at anyone right now. She was guilty. And embarrassed. "I'm sorry guys," her apology came in the form of a frail whisper. "I couldn't save Melody and I let them brainwash me."

"Avalon, this wasn't your fault," Rory reached for Avalon's other hand.

The Sapling squirmed his way around Amy's chair, going under Amy's arm that was holding Avalon's hand, until he was right next to his Mother. "Mother, you shouldn't cry. It was the bad people's fault."

"But neither of you have Melody because I couldn't hold onto her," Avalon raised her head, showing new tears in her eyes. "I had her in my arms and Kovarian ripped her away from me. I took care of her for a week and then I never saw her again. I'm so sorry."

Amy couldn't help the tears in her own eyes. "Avalon, the same thing happened to me and I'm her mother. But Kovarian was too smart. But hey, she's okay now and she's going to make her own way. This is where River Song starts and we'll be seeing her around."

"I didn't get to apologize to her," Avalon glanced at the Doctor. "Could I see her, please? I-I really want to talk to her. River's saved me so many times and the one chance I had to save her...I didn't do it."

"She doesn't blame you - actually, she's mad as hell with Kovarian," he gave her a soft smile. "You're so alike, actually."

Avalon would've smiled but instead of seeing him, she saw his dying body in Berlin. The tears doubled and whether she wanted to or not, she sniffled all over again. "Doctor, I'm so sorry! I nearly killed you! I-I didn't know I was going to do it but I'm so sorry!"

The Doctor forgot all about his own guilt for the moment as he moved up to her bed to hug her. Amy and Rory let go of Avalon's hands and the moment they did, Avalon clung to the Doctor's arms. Even the Sapling had leaned away, more on his great-grandmother's side, to give his parents some space.

"You're good, Avalon. You are so good, don't ever think that I will reproach you for anything," the Doctor kissed Avalon's messy hair.

"But I-I poisoned you-"

"-and you saved my life," the Doctor pulled away to give her a small smile. He poked her forehead, something that brought out a teary-eyed smile from her. "And now you lost your ability to heal people."

"I don't care," she said, sounding pretty damn certain about it too. "I saved you. I would do it again if I had to."

"I recommend you don't," the Doctor's gaze turned sharp just at the idea of her having to do it again. Next time, she might just use up all of her regenerations, however many she had. "I'm the Fairy Tale Man. I will do the saving around here. And I'm sorry I didn't do that before Kovarian hurt you so much."

Avalon completely let go of him to see her bruised and stitched arms. She screwed her eyes shut for a moment to push away any of those memories. "I can't remember everything...but I know that they hurt me. I can see some of it. I hate her so much."

"We're going to find her," Amy promised, her teeth gritting together as the raw fury crept over her. It only faltered when she saw the brief terror in Avalon's eyes. "But she's not going to hurt you again. She's going to have go through all of us first." Everyone nodded, including the Sapling.

"You stay far away, Mister," Avalon wagged a finger at the Sapling, relishing in his childlike giggle. She missed him. "I may be a terrible mother but I will still do my best to keep you away from danger." At the mention of 'mother', the others exchanged nervous glances. Avalon noticed it fairly quick and arched an eyebrow at them. "What is it?"

"Uum..." the Doctor would be brave and take the lead in the conversation. "You mentioned that your memory's a bit foggy?" Avalon nodded. "Do you remember if Kovarian mentioned anything about, I don't know, your parents?"

Avalon crinkled her nose. "No. Why would she?"

"Just curious," the Doctor checked for Amy's and Rory's reactions. He'd continue if they wanted him to...and they seemed to want him to. Oh boy.

"What's going on?" Avalon saw their discreet glances with each other. "What more is going on?"

"Avalon...we, uh...blimey, there's not an easy way to say it but...we know about your real Mother and..." the Doctor watched her face go pale - paler than what it already was - then was quick to go for anger.

"I told you I didn't want to know!" she practically snarled.

"But things are different now," Amy chimed in for the sake of her daughter.

"Yeah, I'm a murderer!" Avalon shot the Doctor a look. "I nearly murdered you and you want talk about my...my Mother?"

"Actually, her and-"

"No!" she yelled. "You know what? I do remember Kovarian mentioning something about that. My mother abandoned me because she didn't care about me."

"That's not true," Amy scowled, but in doing so it made Avalon even more angry.

"How would you know? Nobody abandoned you!"

"Because I know who she is and she didn't leave you behind!"

"Amy," Rory's voice was warning her to watch what she would say. Amy was distraught over their situation, more so by the fact Avalon would still believe in the lie that River abandoned her. But there was a reality that none of them were facing yet, one that nobody had asked out loud. River didn't abandon Avalon, okay, but then why did she give Avalon away?

Avalon squeezed her eyes shut. She tried to remember moments with Kovarian but her mind was all jumbled up and everything was fuzzy. She couldn't remember even if she truly wanted to. "My life is in pieces right now and I don't want it to be broken into smaller fragments. Please leave it alone. Please." Her begging reminded her a lot of when she had to beg for people not to slice her skin, or when she had Melody taken away from her, or pretty much every time she was in pain. New tears rolled down her cheeks and even if she couldn't move a lot, she put her best efforts to scoot towards the Doctor, trying to reach for his closest hand. "Please just forget about it. I don't want to know. I-I don't want to know!"

The Doctor wouldn't further victimize her like Kovarian had. He gave her a reassuring nod that he would not say anything. It brought her such relief that she thanked him over and over again, like he'd just saved her life. He checked Amy's and Rory's expressions and he wasn't surprised to find them grim. Their granddaughter hated their daughter because of a lie.

The Silence had ruined them from top to bottom and he let it happen.

[gearstorm40]

Free Tarot Card Reading

If these show up, relate them to a person with that type of character. An additional benefit is that email psychic analyses have a tendency to be a set price, so you do not need to fret about acquiring the mins. Relying on the equipment you contend your disposal, you could potentially appreciate a free tarot reading from anywhere, including your home computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, mobile app, or a mobile phone. A video clip analysis enables you to connect face-to-face with a psychic medium. These cost-free readings are the closest thing to being in the exact same room as a psychic, and also you can obtain a much better feel for the person by seeing their face as you talk. I attracted the Grim Reaper in this forest environment with all these plants and also life as well as butterflies that symbolize adjustment as well as makeover. With each other, the Major as well as Minor Arcana cards create a extensive photographic language. It is essential to bear in mind that all the answers we seek exist innately within the deck, with each card illustrating a person, circumstance, or prospective end result. Considering that there are clear problems or hidden programs with tarot card, the ability to recognize indicating lies within your own narrative interpretation. The Significant Arcana cards represent huge, cutting-edge impacts. They stress our journeys and also each stands alone as a powerful message, representing life-altering movements that specify the beginnings or ends of cycles. Finally, and many exciting part - Tarot card analysis of each individual of my team. It was a fun session for my friends and myself, we 'd most definitely suggest to everybody to experience it on your own. I have actually been reading cards as well as doing recovery work for 10 years now. Many individuals want to really feel more personally connected to their tarot reader and find that video clip supplies them the ideal experience. They also supply five complimentary mins at the beginning of your call and also offer phone, e-mail, and also live chat alternatives like Kasamba. These are several of the functions you may intend to search for when choosing a top tarot reading service. https://tarot-masters.com uses a cost-free 3 minute tarot analysis, plus 50% off your very first session, that makes checking out Kasamba much less of a financial threat. My name is Eva Delattre as well as I have been practicing the ton of money telling arts for virtually thirty years. I wanted to share my understanding of tarot analysis by offering a completely cost-free draw utilizing the 22 Major Arcana of the tarot card. Cupid's Oracle Cupid's Oracle uses the love tarot to assist you check out the future of your lovemaking. These vibrant cards show up during significant transitions, signifying distinctive moments of change. The cards are phoned number to represent terminals within our greater journey via life; their chronological order discloses the passing of time. Allow's talk about the structure of the deck and the meanings of its cards. Any type of enchanting practice-- tarot card, astrology, or spell job-- is based upon the Hermetic axiom "as above, so below." In other words, the macrocosm of the cosmos is mirrored in the microcosm of specific experience. As necessary, the entire cosmos exists within a tarot card deck, with each card standing for a person, location, or event. These symbols are depicted in both the Major Arcana cards, which speak to greater secrets, as well as the Minor Arcana cards, which talk to minimal secrets.

As soon as you have the inquiry in your mind, it's time to shuffle-- and also there are several methods to do so. The overhand shuffle involves holding the deck of cards in one hand as well as making use of the various other to relocate cards from one side of the deck to the various other. You can likewise " reduce" the deck by splitting it right into numerous stacks and then combining them right into one again. Or you can try spreading the cards facedown on the table and sweeping them into a huge, untidy heap before tapping them into location once more. Rituals are an essential way we refine events, and even if you're unconvinced, the act of following a routine as well as treating your cards with respect as well as significance can be alter just how we view the world. After you enable your analysis to process, be grateful, clear your cards, and also see to it to store it in risk-free and also safe and secure place. Tarot counts on icons pulled from a wide variety of human awareness. There are several decks readily available, each with their very own unique collection of icons and also systems. You'll need to produce tales making use of the signs of the deck in your analysis, so picking a deck whose artwork reverberates with you is important. One of the most typical deck as well as a terrific way to start is the Rider-Waite deck. There are nevertheless a myriad of choices to select from, yet we have actually created a minimalist deck that makes analysis rather easier. Whether you are single or in a relationship, this spread can assist you understand what really matters to you so you can travel on in the ideal direction. When you prepare to begin your Tarot card reading, scroll up and also pick your cards. This is the time to gain what you have sown, since you are guaranteed of a bumper crop on both individual and also professional fronts! Those taking a trip on a organization journey will certainly find points working out. Wellness shows up fine, but the cards suggest not to take every little thing for given. There are 12 different Zodiac signs, and each person's indicator corresponds to their birthdate. With greater than 1,700 psychic consultants to select from in greater than 2 dozen categories, you have more options free of charge psychic readings on this platform than anywhere else. Psychic Resource provides free psychic readings for the first 3 minutes along with prices as low as $0.66 per min if you select to proceed your analysis after the complimentary test. By collaborating with a dream interpreter throughout complimentary psychic analyses, you can start to comprehend your desires. Are there details numbers that appear to be repeating in your life? A complimentary psychic numerology reading can help you find why these numbers are so noticeable in your life and also what they mean. Occasionally referred to as astrology readings, a horoscope reading utilizes the signs of the zodiac to help anticipate your future and give insight right into your character, relationship compatibility, and also more. Some psychics supply new clients the possibility to get an response to a question at no charge by providing the first couple of minutes of psychic analyses completely free. These totally free analyses are done by actual psychics, and also if you like the experience, you can proceed your session, normally at a discounted rate. This kind of cost-free on-line psychic analysis can be extremely valuable if you find yourself in a damaging pattern, really feel insecure, or need objective answers from a person with clairvoyant understanding. Maybe you have a recurring dream, as well as you're uncertain if your subconscious is attempting to inform you something. The 20 various spreads offered at FreeDivination are suggested to provide you various selections on what type of reading you're trying to find. The website offers you some advice on selecting from a deck for romance, profession, or general life issues, and after that moving forward with what you see. As a result of the pandemic, there are a number of psychic analysis websites that are offering cost-free mins as well as steep price cuts to help their customers survive these difficult times. I have a devoted following on Instagram as well as wonderful returning customers. I have actually worked with individuals from Brazil, Belgium, Germany, Canada, Sweden, England, Malaysia, Denmark, Singapore, Australia, as well as the listing simply goes on. One girl from Mexico even messaged me in Spanish; we did the analysis via Google Translate. Digital analyses cost me nearly absolutely nothing to generate and also were veiled under a U.S.-based business so I can avoid the visa net. First we did a brief reflection which helped to soothe our minds, then Shilpa clarified about Tarot card decks and messages of the Tarot. In a lot of decks, the Lovers reveals two people in a yard with an angel hovering overhead above them, maybe in the Yard of Eden. The Marseille shows three people, and also a grumpy-looking cherub intending an arrowhead at them from over. Jodo pointed to the sun on top of the card, from which claimed cherub was arising. Before you attend your tarot card analysis session, attempt to get as clear as feasible on what it is you desire guidance on. This will certainly aid you find the experience you seek and also aid your viewers specify the reading for you. You might have been informed ahead to your tarot analysis with a clear concern and also an open mind. This guidance is often duplicated because it's taken into consideration to be the best means to obtain one of the most out of the experience. During the session I will certainly do a reading which will give clarity and also bring about an understanding of what the tarot is conveying regarding your existing, previous and also future. Furthermore, Sarber told EXPERT that as soon as you ultimately start, a crucial to getting efficient checking out the cards is to select one that represents you. the extra that you bond with your deck, the far better analyses you'll provide-- and also get. Today, there are thousands of tarot card visitors around the world. After hearing my story of the Death card, Howe allowed's out a laugh. "I really love the Fatality card, it's the one that always appears in the movies," she begins. "The Fatality card, in my experience, does not in fact imply death.

[doom-dreaming]

The Sacred Flock: HIC - The Oasis

I’ve been waiting to post this article for a long time. The Oasis was one of the first bits of worldbuilding we developed for this AU and I want to, again, thank @cacklefrendly​ for pitching the idea that maybe the twins can heal as well as leech and providing the springboard for the idea of the Oasis.

The Oasis (not to be confused with Oasis in Wurmwater) is an impressive demonstration of the Twin Gods’ power. 2.5 acres of fruiting trees, streams, ponds, and waterfalls are nestled within the walls of the twins’ Holy Inner Compound. In the center stands a huge tree, once a struggling sapling growing in the harsh desert environment. Tyreen, determined to prove that she could use the healing counterpart to her leeching ability, swore to make the tree grow faster and healthier than it ever would have naturally. While this did in fact happen, the unique properties of siren energy and the ambient eridium from the nearby refinery mutated the tree into something so far removed from what it once was that it has basically become a new species.

The bark of the tree glows faintly with red and blue swirls mimicking the twins’ siren markings and bears a round fruit with thin purple skin which allows the bright glowing white nectar inside to shine through. Once a fruit is picked, it begins to lose its glow. The tree, and by extension the fruit, is infused with trace amounts of each twin’s specific siren energy signature, which creates a unique effect when ingested. For more information, see the Siren Fruit Ceremony article.

(Above: A top-down view of the garden. The entire living space of the ground floor could easily be fit within the walls of the Oasis.)

(Below: A cutaway view from the side. The second floor covers roughly 33% of the total area, near the front of the compound, but the back portion is open all the way up to the glass roof four tall stories overhead.)

Continue through the cut for more pictures and information. (Click on the pictures for better resolution.)

(Above: The view of the garden from the second floor balcony. The massive “siren tree” in the center dwarfs all the other trees around it. Glowing plants from distant planets show their true colors during Pandora’s night cycle.)

With this strange tree thriving, the twins began building around it piece by piece, planting grasses, constructing water features, and protecting it with thick glass, creating a lush Eden in an inhospitable setting. The Oasis now hosts dozens of other edible plants and fungi, some of which are native to Pandora, though most have been imported or brought back with the twins when they return from other planets. Rows of exotic vines provide grapes for ceremonial wine (and also snacks).

(Above: Angel harvests mushrooms.)

The ecological balance inside the Oasis is so delicate that anyone who enters is required to be decontaminated. Because of this, the environment is meticulously maintained by trained and trusted cultists, known as priests. Soil and moisture levels are tracked and adjusted twice daily. Ground-level irrigation can be programmed in sections depending on a specific crop’s needs. Ventilation systems filter out any possible airborne threat and keep the humidity at an optimal level. Even though the priests are tasked with the day-to-day upkeep of the garden, the pets and the twins themselves often enjoy tending to the plants.

(Nearly every square foot of the Oasis is covered in lush grass and colorful plant life.)

In addition to plants, the oasis houses small animals, including the resident “pet pets.” Weed Bongwater, a Junpai-7 kelp eel, lives in the largest pond; Soup, Troy’s stalker kit, likes to sun on the rocks around the waterfall, and Ibby, a small creature similar to Hermes, does an impressive job keeping the soil grub-free. Other denizens include small birds and reptiles from other planets, honey-producing insects, and about a half-dozen chickens that provide fresh eggs.

(Below: The Oasis is home to flora and fauna both native and foreign, and special measures are taken to ensure everything thrives in one place, regardless of its origins. Here, a small spiderant picks through the dirt near the front windows.)

(Above: A ground-level view of most of the garden’s area. The floor of the second level creates a ceiling for the front third of the space.)

Naturally, the twins and their pets have first pick of harvests from the Oasis, but the extras are handed out to the masses of the COV. Usually, the foods are dried or preserved, but higher-ranking cultists can bid to receive collections of fresh fruits and vegetables. Oftentimes, clan leaders will try to exceed their sacrifice quota in order to procure fresh food for their clan members.

(Above: Ash and Angel sit and chat with Troy and Tyreen under a glass structure.)

The Oasis is not only a source of vital food production, it’s also a place for the twins and their pets to relax, whether by swimming in the ponds, tending to the plants, or just sitting and chatting. For some pets, the Oasis is the closest thing to “outside” they see when the twins are busy and don’t have time to take them out for public appearances. Even though it is fully enclosed, it’s vast and lush and the glass walls allow Pandora’s bright natural light to filter in at any time of the day.

This area is a personal favorite of mine and while my screenshots look very nice and it took me an extremely long time to build this, it will always look better in my head. That being said, if you have questions or just want to talk about this (or other things), all you need to do is ask!

Curious about the Sacred Flock? Check out this link!

[bigskydreaming]

One of the changeling communities is protected and hidden by a powerful changeling, Naomi, a dark skinned black girl with frosty blue hair, eyes resembling a frozen lake's surface. She can create snow that not only produces frigid cold but can cloud the minds of those she chooses, warding off any potential intruders. The town resembles a snow globe, even if everything around it is spring. There's an ever present flurry of snowflakes dancing around her

Oooh nice, I dig it! Can she have blue lips too, but kinda like a blue shade of lipstick almost - idk, I’m just picturing like, what if her hair, eyes, and lips are all different shades of blue or gray, the way ice is never one specific shade but kinda tends to be a gradient of various hues?

And I’m not sure why, but something about this made me think of Harley and her fairy wings and her swarm of atomic pixies (maybe because its you, lol, so from the second you described Naomi I couldn’t help but picture her hair as being this unnaturally vivid shade of blue that just pops, much like the idea of Harley’s pink cotton candy-esque cloud of hair, but I could just be assuming hahaha).

BUT the connection was made, and this did remind me of Harley, and so like I said, that made me think of her swarm of atomic pixies and then from there I hop-skipped to Mason and his monarch butterfly wings and his butterflies with various abilities, and sooooooooooooo, I’m thinking……what if we combined the idea of Harley’s pixies and Mason’s engineered-to-have-a-different-power-everytime-he-goes-back-into-a-cocoon-and-emerges-with-a-new-swarm-of-them butterflies……

Because okay, so if Naomi has an ever present flurry of snowflakes dancing around her….what if they’re not actually snowflakes, but just look like snowflakes from a distance…..and they literally are dancing little fairy type creatures somewhat similar to the ones Harley creates around her……but…..also are still like actual snowflakes, in the sense that no two snowflakes are alike?

So altogether, these little snow fairies resemble a constant snowstorm swirling around Naomi, but up close, you’d see that each of these little snow fairies would be their own unique shapes, slightly different sizes, shades, with differently shaped wings, features, maybe even different numbers of oappendages, some might have tiny horns, others antennae kinda…..

But also…..if they’re all manifestations of Naomi’s magic, rather than have them all have the same ‘function’ en masse……then like, what if each and every one of these fairies had or represented a different kind of psychic ability, as distinct and one-of-a-kind as any of their appearances?

Because again, I’m still thinking about Harley and Mason, since they’re two of the only Changelings whose magic manifests in the form of what look like external beings separate from them…..but are still just extensions of them. Their sprites and butterflies aren’t independent entities the way Ajay’s imaginary friends are, with minds and personalities of their own, they’re more just extensions of their will. 

And Harley’s sprites all kinda just do the one specific thing….I mean, she can combine them into any configuration she can imagine and make them kinda ‘building blocks’ that seamlessly meld together to be whatever she wants them to be….until she reconfigures them into something else, or just disperses them back into their usual buzzing swarm….but even though they can become anything she wants or needs, that’s still their only actual function….that act of combining to become something that’s the sum of their parts.

And then in contrast, there’s Mason’s butterflies, which again are still all just little pieces of his magic given external shape and form…..but unlike Harley’s sprites, they can do a ton of different things, whatever ability he engineers his latest crop of butterflies to emerge from their cocoon….but like Harley’s sprites, they all do just the one thing, each time. So he can do his cocoon thing and while in there his magic grows a new swarm of butterflies according to whatever kinda ‘design specs’ he gives it….and when he comes out again, along with him come the whole new cloud of new butterflies with specific wing patterns and colors, and say, a bioluminescent ability. So that this current swarm all glow, and he can direct them to go anywhere he needs for as long as they live out their allotted ‘lifespans’ of days or weeks or whatever…..because of course, that’s the other major parameter of his magic….he can design his butterflies to have any one singular ability he wants, across the whole swarm…..but once they emerge, they are his magic, existing outside of him in the form of that swarm. 

So he can’t make new butterflies, with a new, different ability, until the current ones all ‘die off’ and live out their full life-cycle…..at which point the magic that he’s put into them returns to him, he can do up a new cocoon……and then he can reshape his magic into a new swarm of butterflies distinct from the last crop, and with whatever new power he wants this next swarm to have…..if say, he needs something a little more destructive for a change, he can make ones that have black wings dotted with orange and red spots like sparks or embers, that anywhere they land, they set fire to. And something like that, he’d probably give a very rapid life cycle, maybe only aim for them to last like 24 hours or so, before sending them out and directing them…..and once his magic comes back, make the next swarm able to act as telepathic couriers, where anyone they land on, it opens a mental channel between him and that person, so he can hear their thoughts or send thoughts to them, etc. But again….like Harley, in that he externalizes his magic in what look to be independent beings separate from him, though really they’re not, they’re all still kinda…him…..but unlike Harley, in that her sprites just have the one function, and the many forms she can shape that function into……but his butterflies all have just the one form at a time, but a different power shared between them with each new swarm.

But going with the idea of ‘every snowflake is its own unique and distinct shape’…..that would allow Naomi to be both alike and unlike both of them, all at the same time. I’m thinking like…..okay, so she doesn’t make ‘new’ fairies the way Mason makes new butterflies, she always has the same flurry of snow fairies to wield and direct, however many that may be……..but there’s enough of them that there’s such a vast array of abilities between the whole lot of them, its not like she ever needs any more than she already has.

And that way, she’d have enormous versatility, but still have specific parameters as to how she can use her magic. Say one of her fairies is a channel for telepathy, like Mason’s courier butterflies…….landing that fairy on someone would let her hear that person’s thoughts or send thoughts to them…..but she only has the one fairy that can do that, so she can only do that particular thing one person at a time. Gotta take travel time into account too, lol. She needs to spy on someone else’s thoughts now, cool….but she’s still gotta send that fairy flying off in search of that next person and wait til it lands on them before she can use that telepathy on them now instead. And the same with a telekinetic fairy……she can mentally control and move around whatever that particular fairy lands on, but because of the one at a time rule, she can’t just go flinging whole crowds of people through the air all willy nilly. 

But while that fairy’s perched on whatever she is moving, she’s still got the whole rest of her flurry to be sending about and making use of their own unique abilities…..maybe one that ignites ‘cold fire’ wherever it touches, like a blue flame that freezes things like nitro-glycerin rather than actually burns them. And another that’s her clairvoyant fairy, letting her see whatever it can see, no matter how far away from her it is…..maybe a teleportation fairy that acts as an anchor that can draw her to it instantly, just as soon as it reaches wherever it was she sent it, so she could step through to somewhere even miles distant.

So what she lacks in scope, she makes up for in range. Affecting only one thing at a time would be pretty limiting….if she were limited to only having just the one thing she could do. But when she’s got a whole snowstorm of these little snow fairies, each of them molded by her magic to be one distinct thing at all times…..then its not really all that limiting at all, lol.

Cuz in fact….even other Changelings who can do the whole ‘fling an entire crowd of people through the air all willy-nilly’ thing with their magic…..can still be countered and outmatched by someone or something that just so happens to have the right kind of power to withstand or negate that one particular effect, no matter how potent that effect might be.

But when Naomi doesn’t have a bunch of her snow fairies all off elsewhere ‘running errands’ for her or whatever, when they’re all just zipping and dancing and falling through the air around her like that full-fledged snowstorm…….and someone, any one, any number of someones, all try attacking her or her Faetown then?

Like, when she unleashes her entire blizzard of fairies in one direction all at once, sends them all zipping off in front of her to sow chaos as far as her eye can see……how does anyone really counter or withstand a whole blizzard of fairies each packed with their own distinct power…..when its pretty much impossible for anyone to tell which is which, when they’re all flying straight at you, and the next thing you know, people are being telekinetically smacked left and right, cold fire is shattering a big wall and sending chunks of ice spewing every which way, people are randomly (as far as they can tell) being teleported one at a time but fast enough it seems a hell of a lot more than that, you feel a snowflake land on your shoulder and two seconds later someone’s shouting in your head…..

I mean, way I see it, pretty much the only sound options in the face of something like that, are pretty much what anyone with sense does in a big enough blizzard. Hunker down, try and take shelter, and just try your best to ride it out without getting buried alive or freezing to death.

[norrington-hell]

A Redemption’s Promise Fancast

As y’all may know, I introduced a handful of reoccurring original characters into the world of Pirates of the Caribbean via Redemption’s Promise. Each one has become uniquely special to me, some going on to have parts in sequel fics or other AUs entirely, and, as I’ve had multiple readers express curiosity, I decided to share whom I was picturing as I wrote.

- - - { { Spoiler Free } } - - -

Rebecca (Becca) Scott

‘Elizabeth,’ her full name sounds almost foreign in Becca’s dulcet voice. ‘We are, each one of us, living a lie.’

Truth and Lies

Elizabeth’s closest female companion in Port Royal, Rebecca Scott is highborn, beautiful, and playfully wicked as they come, guilty of goading ‘Dear Lizzie’ into all manner of mischief in their youth (though, admittedly, it wouldn’t have taken much effort). She’s described having fair, freckled skin and unruly ginger hair. 

In my mind, I pictured Carey Mulligan as Becca, specifically the character she played in Northanger Abbey, Isabella Thorpe, who was full of the latest gossip, always eager to have fun, and a shameless flirt.

Lieutenant Harry Toombs

Lieutenant Toombs affects a rather unflattering French accent and prances about the cabin, a wig he’s somehow fashioned out of parchment held to his head. ‘Oh, Capteen Norreengton, but you are ze most vexing of ad-ver-sa-reez!’ He crows, face red with drink.

Redemption’s Promise (Chapter 9: Friends)

Harry Toombs, a lieutenant along with Theodore Groves and Andrew Gillette, is one of James’ officers he hadn’t taken the time to know in his previous life, but this time does, and they become friends. Toombs is boisterous, always up for a drink, quick to laugh, and even quicker to lose all his money at cards. The only description given of him physically is that he has blue-grey eyes.

Due to his personality, I envisioned Simon Pegg while I was writing Toombs’ scenes, especially in the latter part of the fic. I’ve always admired Pegg’s ability to take a comedic character and turn them into a multi-faceted dramatic one, giving whichever film he’s in a surprising emotional weight.

Captain Robert MacMurray

MacMurray’s grin is almost feral in its intensity. The easy humor is gone from his eyes, replaced with something sharp and frigid. ‘We meet again, James the excellent sailor.’

Redemption’s Promise (Chapter 26: King)

Robert MacMurray, Captain of The Retribution, is a Scottish pirate and contact of Hector Barbossa. A formidable and avid enemy of His Majesty’s Royal Navy, MacMurray puts off a pleasant air that belies his reputation. He’s generous and gregarious with his friends and his crew, but ruthless with his adversaries. He’s observed as being tall, barrel-chested, and ‘broad of shoulder with a closely cropped black beard shot through with iron gray.’

Now, this is perhaps my most obvious fancast, as I pretty much verbatim described Graham McTavish’s character on Outlander, Dougal MacKenzie. The two aren’t much similar in personality, but, as I was rewatching the first season around the same time I came up with the character...

I couldn’t help myself! Graham McTavish is so very handsome!  ♡

Arthur ‘Fitz’ Fitzpatrick

It seems churlish silence isn’t going to be an effective method of escaping because the boy continues to prattle despite James’ best efforts not to engage. Within ten minutes he’s learned Fitz’s entire life story without having asked a single question.

Redemption’s Promise (Chapter 18: Choices)

En route to Tortuga, James almost literally stumbles over Arthur Fitzpatrick who he notes is ‘no older than sixteen, with dark, dancing eyes and jet black hair pulled back into a messy queue.’ James observes he’s flighty, tenacious, and genuine. And above all, he will not. Shut. UP.

In an author’s note at the end of chapter 19, I mentioned I’d choose Tom Holland to play Fitz. Mostly, it’s due to his youthful exuberance and stellar smile. And the fact that he’s a total cinnamon roll. Tom’s look from The Lost City of Z (sans mustache) was pretty on point for Fitz.

Redemption’s Promise is the first part of my James-centric Second Chance AU, also known as ‘Jimothy’s Time-Travel Fix-It.’ For more information on it, or my other projects, feel free to slide into my dms.

~  ♡  ~ Thanks for Reading ~  ♡ ~

[lovetgirlytiffanylove]

Must-Have Packs To Get The Most Out Of The Sims 4 – AcrossTheFader.BIZ

In the event you have been hooked by the Sims 4 base recreation and are prepared to reinforce your playthrough, there are a slew of DLCs that provide a richer expertise. After its rough preliminary debut, Sims 4 has since stepped up with free updates and content that appease longtime fans. Nevertheless, buying all of the packs would easily value you over $500, and with seven enlargement packs, seven recreation packs, and 14 stuff packs, you could be at a loss of where to begin. For many who are overwhelmed by the prospect of which DLC to decide on, we’ve compiled an inventory of our favourite packs. Although we are nonetheless bemoaning the absence of fashionable Sims 3 staples like Supernatural and University, there isn’t any shortage of inspired gameplay in the Sims 4.

Enlargement Packs

Enlargement packs supply probably the most options and are the costliest, costing $39.99.

Island Dwelling

This current release has already proven to be a strong entry. Together with mermaids, this pack has plenty of new gameplay, especially in relation to new features and traits in create-a-sim. “Child of the Islands” and “Child of the Ocean” both introduce some unique new ways to interact inside the island of Sulani. Connecting with the culture and tending to the island is rewarding. Gamers can actually see the influence their sims make on the island with cleaner beaches, greener timber, and even more flowers.

Creating a mermaid is loads of enjoyable, since you possibly can achieve some lovely designs in your mythical creature. Though their talents are surface degree (the Vampires pack, as compared, has mild RPG mechanics that can help you study new magical expertise), the aesthetics alone are well worth the worth of admission since each mermaid seems to be awesome when swimming round and befriending dolphins. You may also enchant individuals together with your siren’s name, whether your intent is matchmaking or mayhem.

When you love constructing in the Sims, then this pack is a must have. The world of Sulani is fascinating, with seaside venues and expansive ocean waters. It’s a joy to construct a home that permits your sims to get up in the morning and dive right into the sea from their patio.

Get Well-known

Within the Sims 4, you’ll be able to attain success by climbing a career-path ladder to the highest, however different sims gained’t care about your renowned accomplishments… till you add the Get Famous enlargement pack.

When your sims achieve a milestone like touchdown a lead position within the hottest pirate film, writing their next great novel, or catching an enormous fish, your sims construct their fame degree. Different sims will need to take their picture and get their autograph. Having different sims gawk and have a fan freak-out over your sim is amusing and gratifying; it looks like a reward for all of the arduous work you set towards their superstar status.

The capability to go to movie units, that are full of props like pirate ships and saloons, can also be plenty of enjoyable. You possibly can put your sim by means of the hair and makeup departments and make them perform for the cameras. Your success will depend on how a lot you’ve honed your appearing talent, your rapport with the rest of the crew, and judgement calls on whether to take dangers when performing. Depending on how the director reacts, the performance could possibly be a flop or a complete success. Both means, both are amusing to observe.

Seasons

Seasons ought to be on everybody’s must-have record. Not only does it convey welcome variations to the weather because of changing seasons, however it adds a great deal of new clothing and building gadgets so your sims can correctly put together for snow days or the sweltering heat. Two new clothing sections can be found for summer time and winter put on, and there are plenty of new additions in build mode, similar to a thermostat to manage indoor local weather and stockings to hold in your hearth. All this helps accommodate for the weather and holidays.

You will get right into a festive temper regardless of the event, receiving presents from Father Winter (who truly visits your home on Christmas Eve – you’ll be able to even befriend him), sending out love notes on Love Day, or creating an official vacation of your personal. You possibly can assign timeframes and actions for sims to get into the holiday spirit. Treat Yo’Self Day and Purge Day are private favorites of mine because who doesn’t need to spoil their sims or dedicate a day to duking it out with their noisy neighbors? You possibly can dedicate the day for gift-giving rituals and even encourage sims to interact in a full-on brawl for holidays. It’s as much as you.

Though this enlargement doesn’t add another world, the wealth of latest gameplay makes up for that. Until you experience an sudden blizzard or warmth wave, outside experiences are fun. Without the pack it can be robust to seek out a lot to do in your backyard. With Seasons, sims could make snow angels, rake leaves, dance in puddles, and even freeze to demise when you’re not careful.

Cats And Canine

No create-a-sim family feels complete and not using a little pupper or kitten. The creature creation on your pets is expansive and gives so many alternatives to make your pet as artistic and unique as attainable, from mixing breeds or adorning them with neon inexperienced fur. My most cherished design is a robotic-looking kitten to go together with my alien sim.

Along with the brand new world of Brindleton Bay, there’s additionally the veterinarian career path, so your sim can work to assist remedy beloved pets in addition to perform surgical procedure. The pets go right into a machine where your sim vets “operate” on pets from the surface by wanting in by way of an x-ray monitor. Make sure you climb up the brand new veterinary talent tree so the little ones don’t come out of the machine as crops or decked out in a clown go well with.

The pets aren’t just added for aesthetic value, both. Unfortunately, you aren’t capable of control pets like you possibly can in The Sims three, however there are nonetheless loads of interactions. You possibly can practice your pets to study new tips and navigate by means of obstacles, or your critters could be lazy and simply take pleasure in cuddling together with your sim on the couch. The means to offer your pets traits makes them really feel extra sensible they usually may even develop fears. Pets nonetheless have wants, and the “what’s wrong?” interaction may give you a heads up on what your little buddy craves.

Recreation Packs

Recreation packs supply a modest quantity of content and sometimes come priced at $19.99.

Jungle Journey

Two of The Sims 4’s recreation packs supply a vacation destination in your sims, however the one that basically stands out is Jungle Adventure. There are so many extra adventurous and worldly options for clothing and construct mode. You possibly can simply make your sim into a Nathan Drake or Lara Croft sort and set them up in a Central/South American-themed residence.

Exploring tombs is spooky and thrilling. Not solely are you able to stumble upon skeletons, but you danger having your sims cursed and reworked into skeletons as properly. Relying on if the transformation is a curse or blessing, you’ll both get stuck in skeleton type or have the ability to change again everytime you need. It will either make you need to snicker or punch a gap by way of your monitor. There isn’t any in-between.

Scavenging for artifacts will ultimately culminate in the formation of an entire relic. Assembling a relic might be fulfilling, especially with the shock curses or blessings they generate, like the curse of the private raincloud, the blessing of the skeleton assistant, and even one thing as brutal because the marked for demise relic, where your sim can burst into flames and die.

Interacting with the locals won’t solely work in your favor to seek out cures for illnesses or curses, but you can too purchase unique gadgets to assist in your trek via the jungle and survive random hazards comparable to lightning-bug assaults. There are also interactions that spotlight native traditions. You possibly can ask the locals about their tradition, dance with them in Selvadoradian fashion, and study songs to convey back house with you.

Vampires

It’s never a uninteresting moment when mythical creatures are concerned. In contrast to the Mermaids in Island Dwelling, Vampires have a talent tree, which provides rather a lot to the gameplay. As your sims grow to be more adept in vampire lore, they degree up and unlock more powerful talents, reminiscent of teleportation with bat and mist varieties. Positive, you possibly can already teleport with cheats, but vampires get to do it in fashion.

Choosing your vampire sim’s perks and skills is riveting. You start off as a weak vampire with primary powers, comparable to detecting different sims’ personalities. As you develop stronger, you possibly can degree up their preventing expertise to allow them to vanquish other vampires, max out appeal in order that they’re irresistible to other sims, or even develop into masters of hallucination to allow them to feed off of the sims of their selection without the awkward social consequences.

The new world of Forgotten Hollow comes with the Vampires recreation pack, and it might be small, but the darkish theme and design is perfect for the brooding creatures. You’ll be able to create a vampiric mansion and transfer in right next to Vladislaus Straud, who resembles Dracula. Don’t be fooled by his outward look; he appears previous, however he’s truly a younger grownup. He’s also single, so don’t be shy if you want to put the strikes on him.

Parenthood

Parenthood is one other key addition to the Sims 4, particularly for players that need to give attention to constructing a family. Whereas this can be a must-have pack, we want that this was included in the base recreation, considering the large enhancements it brings to one of many core gameplay pillars of The Sims. The base recreation consists of a huge family tree aspiration, but Parenthood expands on this concept so it includes extra than just having your sims pump out babies.

Toddlers not often get any new content or gameplay additions, so the extra clothes and substantial interactions that come with Parenthood are greater than welcome. The interplay inside households consists of giving recommendation, praising, and disciplining your youngsters. This is partaking, as a result of the extra you interact with them, the extra their personalities start to shift to mirror the communication. Together with growing your parental expertise, you’ll be able to affect your youngsters’s actions and talk about how they should behave as they transfer ahead into adulthood.

Parenting expertise can develop for anybody that interacts with toddlers, youngsters, and teenagers. With this new bonding gameplay, relationships feel far more meaningful. I have a household where a young lady takes care of her little sister, and as a result of meager finances, they should reside with two of her pals. When it gets irritating to cope with her little sister, her pals step in and assist. Emergent stories like these evoke emotions for players even during mundane activities like gathering everyone to the lounge flooring for a faculty venture.

Strangerville

This recreation pack announcement raised plenty of eyebrows. Story targeted parts in the Sims are likely to put individuals off, however this pack truly pulled it off and still provided loads of different things to do, as well as an in depth world that doesn’t prohibit your expertise.

The point of the sims is to be whoever you need to be, and this one opens up an entire new desert world with a dedicated story and army profession path, which allows you to turn out to be a undercover agent. The army branch matches in completely with sims who’re making an attempt to determine what’s happening in Strangerville, but you can too play by means of the story without it. Though you can’t go to work together with your army sim, you possibly can have them “work from home” when you have the City Dwelling enlargement pack. This lets you be extra concerned in their career both by means of coaching or investigating individuals around city.

So as to comply with the story, it’s a must to select the Strangerville Thriller aspiration. The narrative introduces parts we haven’t seen before in The Sims which might be bonkers and a ton of fun because of mild RPG mechanics and building a resistance to battle off an evil menace. With whispers of a authorities conspiracy and all your neighbors in Strangerville going nuts, the thriller of the town becomes increasingly more alluring. Although it’s brief, you accrue loads of rewards akin to cupcakes and fan mail whenever you complete the narrative. The furnishings (corresponding to weeds growing in a tub or mysterious machinery) additionally presents plenty of weird build ideas, supplying you with the right options for making a secret laboratory on your sim. The new laptops are a strong addition as properly.

Stuff Packs

Stuff packs are small add-ons that often solely value $9.99.

Movie Hangout

Bohemian Stuff or Psychedelic Hippie Stuff might have been a more applicable identify for this pack, contemplating how colorful and artsy the furnishings is. The new clothes and build-mode gadgets are satisfying additions that we will’t think about enjoying with out.

New wall decorations, couches, coffee tables, and ceiling lights convey so much vibrancy to your builds. They will easily turn into favorites when designing a home and infusing it with character. There’s even an enormous tree draped with lanterns that may be a lovely addition to any backyard.

Backyard

In the event you’re on the lookout for more outside-focused gameplay, then Yard stuff is a best choice. Not only does it supply rural ambiance with objects like wind chimes and fowl feeders, but choices like lawn waterslides allow enjoyable neighborhood get togethers. You’ll be able to throw barbeque parties while everybody falls flat on their face making an attempt to slip across.

This can be a great pack to spruce up both your front or backyard with extra lively features. These things pack can simply complement Seasons as properly for the summer time months, comparable to having your sim drink lemonade whereas family and friends play on the slide.

Romantic Garden

When you take pleasure in landscaping, then this pack will put you over the moon because it helps make your yard look beautiful. Romantic Backyard Stuff is particularly helpful when designing an outside wedding ceremony.

One other fascinating addition is the wishing nicely, which isn’t your common yard function. You’ll be able to ship your sims on a wishing marathon to see if any wishes come true, but typically they get the precise opposite of what they want. Romance, happiness, wealth, long life, youthful vigor, good grades, a promotion, a toddler, or a selected talent all have numerous outcomes. The extra you bribe the properly, the more doubtless you’ll get what you asked for. Additionally, in case you have hassle protecting your sims alive, the properly proves useful in bringing them back to life.

Cool Kitchen

Because the identify implies, this pack is great for sims who need more variety when building and decorating their kitchens. The new knife rack, cabinets, and spice racks for construct mode deliver a homey aesthetic and a contact of realism. However the ice cream is where this pack will get really enjoyable.

There are 30 flavors, with toppings of your selection, that have varying results on your sims. Relying on your sims’ traits, they’ll have a favourite. Childish sims love sprinkles and whipped cream, commitment-issue sims love peppermint sticks and nuts, and gloomy sims don’t like all.

Ice cream doesn’t just make your sims comfortable, nevertheless. This is The Sims, in any case, and even consuming ice-cream can have dire penalties as some flavors may cause a ghost to visit, make your sims drop extra pounds, or even breathe hearth that can set different sims aflame. Think about that being written on your tombstone.

There’s still lots to return with the Sims 4. Choosing from all of the content packs out there isn’t straightforward. Hopefully this record helped you out find the perfect packs to make a well-rounded Sims 4 experience.

Sims 4 has grown immensely from its predecessors, watch our let’s play of Sims 2: Castaway to see for yourself.

The post Must-Have Packs To Get The Most Out Of The Sims 4 – AcrossTheFader.BIZ appeared first on DWJ Tech.

[iamthelightofyourlife]

Must-Have Packs To Get The Most Out Of The Sims 4 – AcrossTheFader.BIZ

In the event you have been hooked by the Sims 4 base recreation and are prepared to reinforce your playthrough, there are a slew of DLCs that provide a richer expertise. After its rough preliminary debut, Sims 4 has since stepped up with free updates and content that appease longtime fans. Nevertheless, buying all of the packs would easily value you over $500, and with seven enlargement packs, seven recreation packs, and 14 stuff packs, you could be at a loss of where to begin. For many who are overwhelmed by the prospect of which DLC to decide on, we’ve compiled an inventory of our favourite packs. Although we are nonetheless bemoaning the absence of fashionable Sims 3 staples like Supernatural and University, there isn’t any shortage of inspired gameplay in the Sims 4.

Enlargement Packs

Enlargement packs supply probably the most options and are the costliest, costing $39.99.

Island Dwelling

This current release has already proven to be a strong entry. Together with mermaids, this pack has plenty of new gameplay, especially in relation to new features and traits in create-a-sim. “Child of the Islands” and “Child of the Ocean” both introduce some unique new ways to interact inside the island of Sulani. Connecting with the culture and tending to the island is rewarding. Gamers can actually see the influence their sims make on the island with cleaner beaches, greener timber, and even more flowers.

Creating a mermaid is loads of enjoyable, since you possibly can achieve some lovely designs in your mythical creature. Though their talents are surface degree (the Vampires pack, as compared, has mild RPG mechanics that can help you study new magical expertise), the aesthetics alone are well worth the worth of admission since each mermaid seems to be awesome when swimming round and befriending dolphins. You may also enchant individuals together with your siren’s name, whether your intent is matchmaking or mayhem.

When you love constructing in the Sims, then this pack is a must have. The world of Sulani is fascinating, with seaside venues and expansive ocean waters. It’s a joy to construct a home that permits your sims to get up in the morning and dive right into the sea from their patio.

Get Well-known

Within the Sims 4, you’ll be able to attain success by climbing a career-path ladder to the highest, however different sims gained’t care about your renowned accomplishments… till you add the Get Famous enlargement pack.

When your sims achieve a milestone like touchdown a lead position within the hottest pirate film, writing their next great novel, or catching an enormous fish, your sims construct their fame degree. Different sims will need to take their picture and get their autograph. Having different sims gawk and have a fan freak-out over your sim is amusing and gratifying; it looks like a reward for all of the arduous work you set towards their superstar status.

The capability to go to movie units, that are full of props like pirate ships and saloons, can also be plenty of enjoyable. You possibly can put your sim by means of the hair and makeup departments and make them perform for the cameras. Your success will depend on how a lot you’ve honed your appearing talent, your rapport with the rest of the crew, and judgement calls on whether to take dangers when performing. Depending on how the director reacts, the performance could possibly be a flop or a complete success. Both means, both are amusing to observe.

Seasons

Seasons ought to be on everybody’s must-have record. Not only does it convey welcome variations to the weather because of changing seasons, however it adds a great deal of new clothing and building gadgets so your sims can correctly put together for snow days or the sweltering heat. Two new clothing sections can be found for summer time and winter put on, and there are plenty of new additions in build mode, similar to a thermostat to manage indoor local weather and stockings to hold in your hearth. All this helps accommodate for the weather and holidays.

You will get right into a festive temper regardless of the event, receiving presents from Father Winter (who truly visits your home on Christmas Eve – you’ll be able to even befriend him), sending out love notes on Love Day, or creating an official vacation of your personal. You possibly can assign timeframes and actions for sims to get into the holiday spirit. Treat Yo’Self Day and Purge Day are private favorites of mine because who doesn’t need to spoil their sims or dedicate a day to duking it out with their noisy neighbors? You possibly can dedicate the day for gift-giving rituals and even encourage sims to interact in a full-on brawl for holidays. It’s as much as you.

Though this enlargement doesn’t add another world, the wealth of latest gameplay makes up for that. Until you experience an sudden blizzard or warmth wave, outside experiences are fun. Without the pack it can be robust to seek out a lot to do in your backyard. With Seasons, sims could make snow angels, rake leaves, dance in puddles, and even freeze to demise when you’re not careful.

Cats And Canine

No create-a-sim family feels complete and not using a little pupper or kitten. The creature creation on your pets is expansive and gives so many alternatives to make your pet as artistic and unique as attainable, from mixing breeds or adorning them with neon inexperienced fur. My most cherished design is a robotic-looking kitten to go together with my alien sim.

Along with the brand new world of Brindleton Bay, there’s additionally the veterinarian career path, so your sim can work to assist remedy beloved pets in addition to perform surgical procedure. The pets go right into a machine where your sim vets “operate” on pets from the surface by wanting in by way of an x-ray monitor. Make sure you climb up the brand new veterinary talent tree so the little ones don’t come out of the machine as crops or decked out in a clown go well with.

The pets aren’t just added for aesthetic value, both. Unfortunately, you aren’t capable of control pets like you possibly can in The Sims three, however there are nonetheless loads of interactions. You possibly can practice your pets to study new tips and navigate by means of obstacles, or your critters could be lazy and simply take pleasure in cuddling together with your sim on the couch. The means to offer your pets traits makes them really feel extra sensible they usually may even develop fears. Pets nonetheless have wants, and the “what’s wrong?” interaction may give you a heads up on what your little buddy craves.

Recreation Packs

Recreation packs supply a modest quantity of content and sometimes come priced at $19.99.

Jungle Journey

Two of The Sims 4’s recreation packs supply a vacation destination in your sims, however the one that basically stands out is Jungle Adventure. There are so many extra adventurous and worldly options for clothing and construct mode. You possibly can simply make your sim into a Nathan Drake or Lara Croft sort and set them up in a Central/South American-themed residence.

Exploring tombs is spooky and thrilling. Not solely are you able to stumble upon skeletons, but you danger having your sims cursed and reworked into skeletons as properly. Relying on if the transformation is a curse or blessing, you’ll both get stuck in skeleton type or have the ability to change again everytime you need. It will either make you need to snicker or punch a gap by way of your monitor. There isn’t any in-between.

Scavenging for artifacts will ultimately culminate in the formation of an entire relic. Assembling a relic might be fulfilling, especially with the shock curses or blessings they generate, like the curse of the private raincloud, the blessing of the skeleton assistant, and even one thing as brutal because the marked for demise relic, where your sim can burst into flames and die.

Interacting with the locals won’t solely work in your favor to seek out cures for illnesses or curses, but you can too purchase unique gadgets to assist in your trek via the jungle and survive random hazards comparable to lightning-bug assaults. There are also interactions that spotlight native traditions. You possibly can ask the locals about their tradition, dance with them in Selvadoradian fashion, and study songs to convey back house with you.

Vampires

It’s never a uninteresting moment when mythical creatures are concerned. In contrast to the Mermaids in Island Dwelling, Vampires have a talent tree, which provides rather a lot to the gameplay. As your sims grow to be more adept in vampire lore, they degree up and unlock more powerful talents, reminiscent of teleportation with bat and mist varieties. Positive, you possibly can already teleport with cheats, but vampires get to do it in fashion.

Choosing your vampire sim’s perks and skills is riveting. You start off as a weak vampire with primary powers, comparable to detecting different sims’ personalities. As you develop stronger, you possibly can degree up their preventing expertise to allow them to vanquish other vampires, max out appeal in order that they’re irresistible to other sims, or even develop into masters of hallucination to allow them to feed off of the sims of their selection without the awkward social consequences.

The new world of Forgotten Hollow comes with the Vampires recreation pack, and it might be small, but the darkish theme and design is perfect for the brooding creatures. You’ll be able to create a vampiric mansion and transfer in right next to Vladislaus Straud, who resembles Dracula. Don’t be fooled by his outward look; he appears previous, however he’s truly a younger grownup. He’s also single, so don’t be shy if you want to put the strikes on him.

Parenthood

Parenthood is one other key addition to the Sims 4, particularly for players that need to give attention to constructing a family. Whereas this can be a must-have pack, we want that this was included in the base recreation, considering the large enhancements it brings to one of many core gameplay pillars of The Sims. The base recreation consists of a huge family tree aspiration, but Parenthood expands on this concept so it includes extra than just having your sims pump out babies.

Toddlers not often get any new content or gameplay additions, so the extra clothes and substantial interactions that come with Parenthood are greater than welcome. The interplay inside households consists of giving recommendation, praising, and disciplining your youngsters. This is partaking, as a result of the extra you interact with them, the extra their personalities start to shift to mirror the communication. Together with growing your parental expertise, you’ll be able to affect your youngsters’s actions and talk about how they should behave as they transfer ahead into adulthood.

Parenting expertise can develop for anybody that interacts with toddlers, youngsters, and teenagers. With this new bonding gameplay, relationships feel far more meaningful. I have a household where a young lady takes care of her little sister, and as a result of meager finances, they should reside with two of her pals. When it gets irritating to cope with her little sister, her pals step in and assist. Emergent stories like these evoke emotions for players even during mundane activities like gathering everyone to the lounge flooring for a faculty venture.

Strangerville

This recreation pack announcement raised plenty of eyebrows. Story targeted parts in the Sims are likely to put individuals off, however this pack truly pulled it off and still provided loads of different things to do, as well as an in depth world that doesn’t prohibit your expertise.

The point of the sims is to be whoever you need to be, and this one opens up an entire new desert world with a dedicated story and army profession path, which allows you to turn out to be a undercover agent. The army branch matches in completely with sims who’re making an attempt to determine what’s happening in Strangerville, but you can too play by means of the story without it. Though you can’t go to work together with your army sim, you possibly can have them “work from home” when you have the City Dwelling enlargement pack. This lets you be extra concerned in their career both by means of coaching or investigating individuals around city.

So as to comply with the story, it’s a must to select the Strangerville Thriller aspiration. The narrative introduces parts we haven’t seen before in The Sims which might be bonkers and a ton of fun because of mild RPG mechanics and building a resistance to battle off an evil menace. With whispers of a authorities conspiracy and all your neighbors in Strangerville going nuts, the thriller of the town becomes increasingly more alluring. Although it’s brief, you accrue loads of rewards akin to cupcakes and fan mail whenever you complete the narrative. The furnishings (corresponding to weeds growing in a tub or mysterious machinery) additionally presents plenty of weird build ideas, supplying you with the right options for making a secret laboratory on your sim. The new laptops are a strong addition as properly.

Stuff Packs

Stuff packs are small add-ons that often solely value $9.99.

Movie Hangout

Bohemian Stuff or Psychedelic Hippie Stuff might have been a more applicable identify for this pack, contemplating how colorful and artsy the furnishings is. The new clothes and build-mode gadgets are satisfying additions that we will’t think about enjoying with out.

New wall decorations, couches, coffee tables, and ceiling lights convey so much vibrancy to your builds. They will easily turn into favorites when designing a home and infusing it with character. There’s even an enormous tree draped with lanterns that may be a lovely addition to any backyard.

Backyard

In the event you’re on the lookout for more outside-focused gameplay, then Yard stuff is a best choice. Not only does it supply rural ambiance with objects like wind chimes and fowl feeders, but choices like lawn waterslides allow enjoyable neighborhood get togethers. You’ll be able to throw barbeque parties while everybody falls flat on their face making an attempt to slip across.

This can be a great pack to spruce up both your front or backyard with extra lively features. These things pack can simply complement Seasons as properly for the summer time months, comparable to having your sim drink lemonade whereas family and friends play on the slide.

Romantic Garden

When you take pleasure in landscaping, then this pack will put you over the moon because it helps make your yard look beautiful. Romantic Backyard Stuff is particularly helpful when designing an outside wedding ceremony.

One other fascinating addition is the wishing nicely, which isn’t your common yard function. You’ll be able to ship your sims on a wishing marathon to see if any wishes come true, but typically they get the precise opposite of what they want. Romance, happiness, wealth, long life, youthful vigor, good grades, a promotion, a toddler, or a selected talent all have numerous outcomes. The extra you bribe the properly, the more doubtless you’ll get what you asked for. Additionally, in case you have hassle protecting your sims alive, the properly proves useful in bringing them back to life.

Cool Kitchen

Because the identify implies, this pack is great for sims who need more variety when building and decorating their kitchens. The new knife rack, cabinets, and spice racks for construct mode deliver a homey aesthetic and a contact of realism. However the ice cream is where this pack will get really enjoyable.

There are 30 flavors, with toppings of your selection, that have varying results on your sims. Relying on your sims’ traits, they’ll have a favourite. Childish sims love sprinkles and whipped cream, commitment-issue sims love peppermint sticks and nuts, and gloomy sims don’t like all.

Ice cream doesn’t just make your sims comfortable, nevertheless. This is The Sims, in any case, and even consuming ice-cream can have dire penalties as some flavors may cause a ghost to visit, make your sims drop extra pounds, or even breathe hearth that can set different sims aflame. Think about that being written on your tombstone.

There’s still lots to return with the Sims 4. Choosing from all of the content packs out there isn’t straightforward. Hopefully this record helped you out find the perfect packs to make a well-rounded Sims 4 experience.

Sims 4 has grown immensely from its predecessors, watch our let’s play of Sims 2: Castaway to see for yourself.

The post Must-Have Packs To Get The Most Out Of The Sims 4 – AcrossTheFader.BIZ appeared first on DWJ Tech.

[pielson2-blog]

Must-Have Packs To Get The Most Out Of The Sims 4 – AcrossTheFader.BIZ

In the event you have been hooked by the Sims 4 base recreation and are prepared to reinforce your playthrough, there are a slew of DLCs that provide a richer expertise. After its rough preliminary debut, Sims 4 has since stepped up with free updates and content that appease longtime fans. Nevertheless, buying all of the packs would easily value you over $500, and with seven enlargement packs, seven recreation packs, and 14 stuff packs, you could be at a loss of where to begin. For many who are overwhelmed by the prospect of which DLC to decide on, we’ve compiled an inventory of our favourite packs. Although we are nonetheless bemoaning the absence of fashionable Sims 3 staples like Supernatural and University, there isn’t any shortage of inspired gameplay in the Sims 4.

Enlargement Packs

Enlargement packs supply probably the most options and are the costliest, costing $39.99.

Island Dwelling

This current release has already proven to be a strong entry. Together with mermaids, this pack has plenty of new gameplay, especially in relation to new features and traits in create-a-sim. “Child of the Islands” and “Child of the Ocean” both introduce some unique new ways to interact inside the island of Sulani. Connecting with the culture and tending to the island is rewarding. Gamers can actually see the influence their sims make on the island with cleaner beaches, greener timber, and even more flowers.

Creating a mermaid is loads of enjoyable, since you possibly can achieve some lovely designs in your mythical creature. Though their talents are surface degree (the Vampires pack, as compared, has mild RPG mechanics that can help you study new magical expertise), the aesthetics alone are well worth the worth of admission since each mermaid seems to be awesome when swimming round and befriending dolphins. You may also enchant individuals together with your siren’s name, whether your intent is matchmaking or mayhem.

When you love constructing in the Sims, then this pack is a must have. The world of Sulani is fascinating, with seaside venues and expansive ocean waters. It’s a joy to construct a home that permits your sims to get up in the morning and dive right into the sea from their patio.

Get Well-known

Within the Sims 4, you’ll be able to attain success by climbing a career-path ladder to the highest, however different sims gained’t care about your renowned accomplishments… till you add the Get Famous enlargement pack.

When your sims achieve a milestone like touchdown a lead position within the hottest pirate film, writing their next great novel, or catching an enormous fish, your sims construct their fame degree. Different sims will need to take their picture and get their autograph. Having different sims gawk and have a fan freak-out over your sim is amusing and gratifying; it looks like a reward for all of the arduous work you set towards their superstar status.

The capability to go to movie units, that are full of props like pirate ships and saloons, can also be plenty of enjoyable. You possibly can put your sim by means of the hair and makeup departments and make them perform for the cameras. Your success will depend on how a lot you’ve honed your appearing talent, your rapport with the rest of the crew, and judgement calls on whether to take dangers when performing. Depending on how the director reacts, the performance could possibly be a flop or a complete success. Both means, both are amusing to observe.

Seasons

Seasons ought to be on everybody’s must-have record. Not only does it convey welcome variations to the weather because of changing seasons, however it adds a great deal of new clothing and building gadgets so your sims can correctly put together for snow days or the sweltering heat. Two new clothing sections can be found for summer time and winter put on, and there are plenty of new additions in build mode, similar to a thermostat to manage indoor local weather and stockings to hold in your hearth. All this helps accommodate for the weather and holidays.

You will get right into a festive temper regardless of the event, receiving presents from Father Winter (who truly visits your home on Christmas Eve – you’ll be able to even befriend him), sending out love notes on Love Day, or creating an official vacation of your personal. You possibly can assign timeframes and actions for sims to get into the holiday spirit. Treat Yo’Self Day and Purge Day are private favorites of mine because who doesn’t need to spoil their sims or dedicate a day to duking it out with their noisy neighbors? You possibly can dedicate the day for gift-giving rituals and even encourage sims to interact in a full-on brawl for holidays. It’s as much as you.

Though this enlargement doesn’t add another world, the wealth of latest gameplay makes up for that. Until you experience an sudden blizzard or warmth wave, outside experiences are fun. Without the pack it can be robust to seek out a lot to do in your backyard. With Seasons, sims could make snow angels, rake leaves, dance in puddles, and even freeze to demise when you’re not careful.

Cats And Canine

No create-a-sim family feels complete and not using a little pupper or kitten. The creature creation on your pets is expansive and gives so many alternatives to make your pet as artistic and unique as attainable, from mixing breeds or adorning them with neon inexperienced fur. My most cherished design is a robotic-looking kitten to go together with my alien sim.

Along with the brand new world of Brindleton Bay, there’s additionally the veterinarian career path, so your sim can work to assist remedy beloved pets in addition to perform surgical procedure. The pets go right into a machine where your sim vets “operate” on pets from the surface by wanting in by way of an x-ray monitor. Make sure you climb up the brand new veterinary talent tree so the little ones don’t come out of the machine as crops or decked out in a clown go well with.

The pets aren’t just added for aesthetic value, both. Unfortunately, you aren’t capable of control pets like you possibly can in The Sims three, however there are nonetheless loads of interactions. You possibly can practice your pets to study new tips and navigate by means of obstacles, or your critters could be lazy and simply take pleasure in cuddling together with your sim on the couch. The means to offer your pets traits makes them really feel extra sensible they usually may even develop fears. Pets nonetheless have wants, and the “what’s wrong?” interaction may give you a heads up on what your little buddy craves.

Recreation Packs

Recreation packs supply a modest quantity of content and sometimes come priced at $19.99.

Jungle Journey

Two of The Sims 4’s recreation packs supply a vacation destination in your sims, however the one that basically stands out is Jungle Adventure. There are so many extra adventurous and worldly options for clothing and construct mode. You possibly can simply make your sim into a Nathan Drake or Lara Croft sort and set them up in a Central/South American-themed residence.

Exploring tombs is spooky and thrilling. Not solely are you able to stumble upon skeletons, but you danger having your sims cursed and reworked into skeletons as properly. Relying on if the transformation is a curse or blessing, you’ll both get stuck in skeleton type or have the ability to change again everytime you need. It will either make you need to snicker or punch a gap by way of your monitor. There isn’t any in-between.

Scavenging for artifacts will ultimately culminate in the formation of an entire relic. Assembling a relic might be fulfilling, especially with the shock curses or blessings they generate, like the curse of the private raincloud, the blessing of the skeleton assistant, and even one thing as brutal because the marked for demise relic, where your sim can burst into flames and die.

Interacting with the locals won’t solely work in your favor to seek out cures for illnesses or curses, but you can too purchase unique gadgets to assist in your trek via the jungle and survive random hazards comparable to lightning-bug assaults. There are also interactions that spotlight native traditions. You possibly can ask the locals about their tradition, dance with them in Selvadoradian fashion, and study songs to convey back house with you.

Vampires

It’s never a uninteresting moment when mythical creatures are concerned. In contrast to the Mermaids in Island Dwelling, Vampires have a talent tree, which provides rather a lot to the gameplay. As your sims grow to be more adept in vampire lore, they degree up and unlock more powerful talents, reminiscent of teleportation with bat and mist varieties. Positive, you possibly can already teleport with cheats, but vampires get to do it in fashion.

Choosing your vampire sim’s perks and skills is riveting. You start off as a weak vampire with primary powers, comparable to detecting different sims’ personalities. As you develop stronger, you possibly can degree up their preventing expertise to allow them to vanquish other vampires, max out appeal in order that they’re irresistible to other sims, or even develop into masters of hallucination to allow them to feed off of the sims of their selection without the awkward social consequences.

The new world of Forgotten Hollow comes with the Vampires recreation pack, and it might be small, but the darkish theme and design is perfect for the brooding creatures. You’ll be able to create a vampiric mansion and transfer in right next to Vladislaus Straud, who resembles Dracula. Don’t be fooled by his outward look; he appears previous, however he’s truly a younger grownup. He’s also single, so don’t be shy if you want to put the strikes on him.

Parenthood

Parenthood is one other key addition to the Sims 4, particularly for players that need to give attention to constructing a family. Whereas this can be a must-have pack, we want that this was included in the base recreation, considering the large enhancements it brings to one of many core gameplay pillars of The Sims. The base recreation consists of a huge family tree aspiration, but Parenthood expands on this concept so it includes extra than just having your sims pump out babies.

Toddlers not often get any new content or gameplay additions, so the extra clothes and substantial interactions that come with Parenthood are greater than welcome. The interplay inside households consists of giving recommendation, praising, and disciplining your youngsters. This is partaking, as a result of the extra you interact with them, the extra their personalities start to shift to mirror the communication. Together with growing your parental expertise, you’ll be able to affect your youngsters’s actions and talk about how they should behave as they transfer ahead into adulthood.

Parenting expertise can develop for anybody that interacts with toddlers, youngsters, and teenagers. With this new bonding gameplay, relationships feel far more meaningful. I have a household where a young lady takes care of her little sister, and as a result of meager finances, they should reside with two of her pals. When it gets irritating to cope with her little sister, her pals step in and assist. Emergent stories like these evoke emotions for players even during mundane activities like gathering everyone to the lounge flooring for a faculty venture.

Strangerville

This recreation pack announcement raised plenty of eyebrows. Story targeted parts in the Sims are likely to put individuals off, however this pack truly pulled it off and still provided loads of different things to do, as well as an in depth world that doesn’t prohibit your expertise.

The point of the sims is to be whoever you need to be, and this one opens up an entire new desert world with a dedicated story and army profession path, which allows you to turn out to be a undercover agent. The army branch matches in completely with sims who’re making an attempt to determine what’s happening in Strangerville, but you can too play by means of the story without it. Though you can’t go to work together with your army sim, you possibly can have them “work from home” when you have the City Dwelling enlargement pack. This lets you be extra concerned in their career both by means of coaching or investigating individuals around city.

So as to comply with the story, it’s a must to select the Strangerville Thriller aspiration. The narrative introduces parts we haven’t seen before in The Sims which might be bonkers and a ton of fun because of mild RPG mechanics and building a resistance to battle off an evil menace. With whispers of a authorities conspiracy and all your neighbors in Strangerville going nuts, the thriller of the town becomes increasingly more alluring. Although it’s brief, you accrue loads of rewards akin to cupcakes and fan mail whenever you complete the narrative. The furnishings (corresponding to weeds growing in a tub or mysterious machinery) additionally presents plenty of weird build ideas, supplying you with the right options for making a secret laboratory on your sim. The new laptops are a strong addition as properly.

Stuff Packs

Stuff packs are small add-ons that often solely value $9.99.

Movie Hangout

Bohemian Stuff or Psychedelic Hippie Stuff might have been a more applicable identify for this pack, contemplating how colorful and artsy the furnishings is. The new clothes and build-mode gadgets are satisfying additions that we will’t think about enjoying with out.

New wall decorations, couches, coffee tables, and ceiling lights convey so much vibrancy to your builds. They will easily turn into favorites when designing a home and infusing it with character. There’s even an enormous tree draped with lanterns that may be a lovely addition to any backyard.

Backyard

In the event you’re on the lookout for more outside-focused gameplay, then Yard stuff is a best choice. Not only does it supply rural ambiance with objects like wind chimes and fowl feeders, but choices like lawn waterslides allow enjoyable neighborhood get togethers. You’ll be able to throw barbeque parties while everybody falls flat on their face making an attempt to slip across.

This can be a great pack to spruce up both your front or backyard with extra lively features. These things pack can simply complement Seasons as properly for the summer time months, comparable to having your sim drink lemonade whereas family and friends play on the slide.

Romantic Garden

When you take pleasure in landscaping, then this pack will put you over the moon because it helps make your yard look beautiful. Romantic Backyard Stuff is particularly helpful when designing an outside wedding ceremony.

One other fascinating addition is the wishing nicely, which isn’t your common yard function. You’ll be able to ship your sims on a wishing marathon to see if any wishes come true, but typically they get the precise opposite of what they want. Romance, happiness, wealth, long life, youthful vigor, good grades, a promotion, a toddler, or a selected talent all have numerous outcomes. The extra you bribe the properly, the more doubtless you’ll get what you asked for. Additionally, in case you have hassle protecting your sims alive, the properly proves useful in bringing them back to life.

Cool Kitchen

Because the identify implies, this pack is great for sims who need more variety when building and decorating their kitchens. The new knife rack, cabinets, and spice racks for construct mode deliver a homey aesthetic and a contact of realism. However the ice cream is where this pack will get really enjoyable.

There are 30 flavors, with toppings of your selection, that have varying results on your sims. Relying on your sims’ traits, they’ll have a favourite. Childish sims love sprinkles and whipped cream, commitment-issue sims love peppermint sticks and nuts, and gloomy sims don’t like all.

Ice cream doesn’t just make your sims comfortable, nevertheless. This is The Sims, in any case, and even consuming ice-cream can have dire penalties as some flavors may cause a ghost to visit, make your sims drop extra pounds, or even breathe hearth that can set different sims aflame. Think about that being written on your tombstone.

There’s still lots to return with the Sims 4. Choosing from all of the content packs out there isn’t straightforward. Hopefully this record helped you out find the perfect packs to make a well-rounded Sims 4 experience.

Sims 4 has grown immensely from its predecessors, watch our let’s play of Sims 2: Castaway to see for yourself.

The post Must-Have Packs To Get The Most Out Of The Sims 4 – AcrossTheFader.BIZ appeared first on DWJ Tech.

[mytherapistknowsaboutyouthings]

Must-Have Packs To Get The Most Out Of The Sims 4 – AcrossTheFader.BIZ

In the event you have been hooked by the Sims 4 base recreation and are prepared to reinforce your playthrough, there are a slew of DLCs that provide a richer expertise. After its rough preliminary debut, Sims 4 has since stepped up with free updates and content that appease longtime fans. Nevertheless, buying all of the packs would easily value you over $500, and with seven enlargement packs, seven recreation packs, and 14 stuff packs, you could be at a loss of where to begin. For many who are overwhelmed by the prospect of which DLC to decide on, we’ve compiled an inventory of our favourite packs. Although we are nonetheless bemoaning the absence of fashionable Sims 3 staples like Supernatural and University, there isn’t any shortage of inspired gameplay in the Sims 4.

Enlargement Packs

Enlargement packs supply probably the most options and are the costliest, costing $39.99.

Island Dwelling

This current release has already proven to be a strong entry. Together with mermaids, this pack has plenty of new gameplay, especially in relation to new features and traits in create-a-sim. “Child of the Islands” and “Child of the Ocean” both introduce some unique new ways to interact inside the island of Sulani. Connecting with the culture and tending to the island is rewarding. Gamers can actually see the influence their sims make on the island with cleaner beaches, greener timber, and even more flowers.

Creating a mermaid is loads of enjoyable, since you possibly can achieve some lovely designs in your mythical creature. Though their talents are surface degree (the Vampires pack, as compared, has mild RPG mechanics that can help you study new magical expertise), the aesthetics alone are well worth the worth of admission since each mermaid seems to be awesome when swimming round and befriending dolphins. You may also enchant individuals together with your siren’s name, whether your intent is matchmaking or mayhem.

When you love constructing in the Sims, then this pack is a must have. The world of Sulani is fascinating, with seaside venues and expansive ocean waters. It’s a joy to construct a home that permits your sims to get up in the morning and dive right into the sea from their patio.

Get Well-known

Within the Sims 4, you’ll be able to attain success by climbing a career-path ladder to the highest, however different sims gained’t care about your renowned accomplishments… till you add the Get Famous enlargement pack.

When your sims achieve a milestone like touchdown a lead position within the hottest pirate film, writing their next great novel, or catching an enormous fish, your sims construct their fame degree. Different sims will need to take their picture and get their autograph. Having different sims gawk and have a fan freak-out over your sim is amusing and gratifying; it looks like a reward for all of the arduous work you set towards their superstar status.

The capability to go to movie units, that are full of props like pirate ships and saloons, can also be plenty of enjoyable. You possibly can put your sim by means of the hair and makeup departments and make them perform for the cameras. Your success will depend on how a lot you’ve honed your appearing talent, your rapport with the rest of the crew, and judgement calls on whether to take dangers when performing. Depending on how the director reacts, the performance could possibly be a flop or a complete success. Both means, both are amusing to observe.

Seasons

Seasons ought to be on everybody’s must-have record. Not only does it convey welcome variations to the weather because of changing seasons, however it adds a great deal of new clothing and building gadgets so your sims can correctly put together for snow days or the sweltering heat. Two new clothing sections can be found for summer time and winter put on, and there are plenty of new additions in build mode, similar to a thermostat to manage indoor local weather and stockings to hold in your hearth. All this helps accommodate for the weather and holidays.

You will get right into a festive temper regardless of the event, receiving presents from Father Winter (who truly visits your home on Christmas Eve – you’ll be able to even befriend him), sending out love notes on Love Day, or creating an official vacation of your personal. You possibly can assign timeframes and actions for sims to get into the holiday spirit. Treat Yo’Self Day and Purge Day are private favorites of mine because who doesn’t need to spoil their sims or dedicate a day to duking it out with their noisy neighbors? You possibly can dedicate the day for gift-giving rituals and even encourage sims to interact in a full-on brawl for holidays. It’s as much as you.

Though this enlargement doesn’t add another world, the wealth of latest gameplay makes up for that. Until you experience an sudden blizzard or warmth wave, outside experiences are fun. Without the pack it can be robust to seek out a lot to do in your backyard. With Seasons, sims could make snow angels, rake leaves, dance in puddles, and even freeze to demise when you’re not careful.

Cats And Canine

No create-a-sim family feels complete and not using a little pupper or kitten. The creature creation on your pets is expansive and gives so many alternatives to make your pet as artistic and unique as attainable, from mixing breeds or adorning them with neon inexperienced fur. My most cherished design is a robotic-looking kitten to go together with my alien sim.

Along with the brand new world of Brindleton Bay, there’s additionally the veterinarian career path, so your sim can work to assist remedy beloved pets in addition to perform surgical procedure. The pets go right into a machine where your sim vets “operate” on pets from the surface by wanting in by way of an x-ray monitor. Make sure you climb up the brand new veterinary talent tree so the little ones don’t come out of the machine as crops or decked out in a clown go well with.

The pets aren’t just added for aesthetic value, both. Unfortunately, you aren’t capable of control pets like you possibly can in The Sims three, however there are nonetheless loads of interactions. You possibly can practice your pets to study new tips and navigate by means of obstacles, or your critters could be lazy and simply take pleasure in cuddling together with your sim on the couch. The means to offer your pets traits makes them really feel extra sensible they usually may even develop fears. Pets nonetheless have wants, and the “what’s wrong?” interaction may give you a heads up on what your little buddy craves.

Recreation Packs

Recreation packs supply a modest quantity of content and sometimes come priced at $19.99.

Jungle Journey

Two of The Sims 4’s recreation packs supply a vacation destination in your sims, however the one that basically stands out is Jungle Adventure. There are so many extra adventurous and worldly options for clothing and construct mode. You possibly can simply make your sim into a Nathan Drake or Lara Croft sort and set them up in a Central/South American-themed residence.

Exploring tombs is spooky and thrilling. Not solely are you able to stumble upon skeletons, but you danger having your sims cursed and reworked into skeletons as properly. Relying on if the transformation is a curse or blessing, you’ll both get stuck in skeleton type or have the ability to change again everytime you need. It will either make you need to snicker or punch a gap by way of your monitor. There isn’t any in-between.

Scavenging for artifacts will ultimately culminate in the formation of an entire relic. Assembling a relic might be fulfilling, especially with the shock curses or blessings they generate, like the curse of the private raincloud, the blessing of the skeleton assistant, and even one thing as brutal because the marked for demise relic, where your sim can burst into flames and die.

Interacting with the locals won’t solely work in your favor to seek out cures for illnesses or curses, but you can too purchase unique gadgets to assist in your trek via the jungle and survive random hazards comparable to lightning-bug assaults. There are also interactions that spotlight native traditions. You possibly can ask the locals about their tradition, dance with them in Selvadoradian fashion, and study songs to convey back house with you.

Vampires

It’s never a uninteresting moment when mythical creatures are concerned. In contrast to the Mermaids in Island Dwelling, Vampires have a talent tree, which provides rather a lot to the gameplay. As your sims grow to be more adept in vampire lore, they degree up and unlock more powerful talents, reminiscent of teleportation with bat and mist varieties. Positive, you possibly can already teleport with cheats, but vampires get to do it in fashion.

Choosing your vampire sim’s perks and skills is riveting. You start off as a weak vampire with primary powers, comparable to detecting different sims’ personalities. As you develop stronger, you possibly can degree up their preventing expertise to allow them to vanquish other vampires, max out appeal in order that they’re irresistible to other sims, or even develop into masters of hallucination to allow them to feed off of the sims of their selection without the awkward social consequences.

The new world of Forgotten Hollow comes with the Vampires recreation pack, and it might be small, but the darkish theme and design is perfect for the brooding creatures. You’ll be able to create a vampiric mansion and transfer in right next to Vladislaus Straud, who resembles Dracula. Don’t be fooled by his outward look; he appears previous, however he’s truly a younger grownup. He’s also single, so don’t be shy if you want to put the strikes on him.

Parenthood

Parenthood is one other key addition to the Sims 4, particularly for players that need to give attention to constructing a family. Whereas this can be a must-have pack, we want that this was included in the base recreation, considering the large enhancements it brings to one of many core gameplay pillars of The Sims. The base recreation consists of a huge family tree aspiration, but Parenthood expands on this concept so it includes extra than just having your sims pump out babies.

Toddlers not often get any new content or gameplay additions, so the extra clothes and substantial interactions that come with Parenthood are greater than welcome. The interplay inside households consists of giving recommendation, praising, and disciplining your youngsters. This is partaking, as a result of the extra you interact with them, the extra their personalities start to shift to mirror the communication. Together with growing your parental expertise, you’ll be able to affect your youngsters’s actions and talk about how they should behave as they transfer ahead into adulthood.

Parenting expertise can develop for anybody that interacts with toddlers, youngsters, and teenagers. With this new bonding gameplay, relationships feel far more meaningful. I have a household where a young lady takes care of her little sister, and as a result of meager finances, they should reside with two of her pals. When it gets irritating to cope with her little sister, her pals step in and assist. Emergent stories like these evoke emotions for players even during mundane activities like gathering everyone to the lounge flooring for a faculty venture.

Strangerville

This recreation pack announcement raised plenty of eyebrows. Story targeted parts in the Sims are likely to put individuals off, however this pack truly pulled it off and still provided loads of different things to do, as well as an in depth world that doesn’t prohibit your expertise.

The point of the sims is to be whoever you need to be, and this one opens up an entire new desert world with a dedicated story and army profession path, which allows you to turn out to be a undercover agent. The army branch matches in completely with sims who’re making an attempt to determine what’s happening in Strangerville, but you can too play by means of the story without it. Though you can’t go to work together with your army sim, you possibly can have them “work from home” when you have the City Dwelling enlargement pack. This lets you be extra concerned in their career both by means of coaching or investigating individuals around city.

So as to comply with the story, it’s a must to select the Strangerville Thriller aspiration. The narrative introduces parts we haven’t seen before in The Sims which might be bonkers and a ton of fun because of mild RPG mechanics and building a resistance to battle off an evil menace. With whispers of a authorities conspiracy and all your neighbors in Strangerville going nuts, the thriller of the town becomes increasingly more alluring. Although it’s brief, you accrue loads of rewards akin to cupcakes and fan mail whenever you complete the narrative. The furnishings (corresponding to weeds growing in a tub or mysterious machinery) additionally presents plenty of weird build ideas, supplying you with the right options for making a secret laboratory on your sim. The new laptops are a strong addition as properly.

Stuff Packs

Stuff packs are small add-ons that often solely value $9.99.

Movie Hangout

Bohemian Stuff or Psychedelic Hippie Stuff might have been a more applicable identify for this pack, contemplating how colorful and artsy the furnishings is. The new clothes and build-mode gadgets are satisfying additions that we will’t think about enjoying with out.

New wall decorations, couches, coffee tables, and ceiling lights convey so much vibrancy to your builds. They will easily turn into favorites when designing a home and infusing it with character. There’s even an enormous tree draped with lanterns that may be a lovely addition to any backyard.

Backyard

In the event you’re on the lookout for more outside-focused gameplay, then Yard stuff is a best choice. Not only does it supply rural ambiance with objects like wind chimes and fowl feeders, but choices like lawn waterslides allow enjoyable neighborhood get togethers. You’ll be able to throw barbeque parties while everybody falls flat on their face making an attempt to slip across.

This can be a great pack to spruce up both your front or backyard with extra lively features. These things pack can simply complement Seasons as properly for the summer time months, comparable to having your sim drink lemonade whereas family and friends play on the slide.

Romantic Garden

When you take pleasure in landscaping, then this pack will put you over the moon because it helps make your yard look beautiful. Romantic Backyard Stuff is particularly helpful when designing an outside wedding ceremony.

One other fascinating addition is the wishing nicely, which isn’t your common yard function. You’ll be able to ship your sims on a wishing marathon to see if any wishes come true, but typically they get the precise opposite of what they want. Romance, happiness, wealth, long life, youthful vigor, good grades, a promotion, a toddler, or a selected talent all have numerous outcomes. The extra you bribe the properly, the more doubtless you’ll get what you asked for. Additionally, in case you have hassle protecting your sims alive, the properly proves useful in bringing them back to life.

Cool Kitchen

Because the identify implies, this pack is great for sims who need more variety when building and decorating their kitchens. The new knife rack, cabinets, and spice racks for construct mode deliver a homey aesthetic and a contact of realism. However the ice cream is where this pack will get really enjoyable.

There are 30 flavors, with toppings of your selection, that have varying results on your sims. Relying on your sims’ traits, they’ll have a favourite. Childish sims love sprinkles and whipped cream, commitment-issue sims love peppermint sticks and nuts, and gloomy sims don’t like all.

Ice cream doesn’t just make your sims comfortable, nevertheless. This is The Sims, in any case, and even consuming ice-cream can have dire penalties as some flavors may cause a ghost to visit, make your sims drop extra pounds, or even breathe hearth that can set different sims aflame. Think about that being written on your tombstone.

There’s still lots to return with the Sims 4. Choosing from all of the content packs out there isn’t straightforward. Hopefully this record helped you out find the perfect packs to make a well-rounded Sims 4 experience.

Sims 4 has grown immensely from its predecessors, watch our let’s play of Sims 2: Castaway to see for yourself.

The post Must-Have Packs To Get The Most Out Of The Sims 4 – AcrossTheFader.BIZ appeared first on DWJ Tech.

[iteddybearboyfme]

Must-Have Packs To Get The Most Out Of The Sims 4 – AcrossTheFader.BIZ

In the event you have been hooked by the Sims 4 base recreation and are prepared to reinforce your playthrough, there are a slew of DLCs that provide a richer expertise. After its rough preliminary debut, Sims 4 has since stepped up with free updates and content that appease longtime fans. Nevertheless, buying all of the packs would easily value you over $500, and with seven enlargement packs, seven recreation packs, and 14 stuff packs, you could be at a loss of where to begin. For many who are overwhelmed by the prospect of which DLC to decide on, we’ve compiled an inventory of our favourite packs. Although we are nonetheless bemoaning the absence of fashionable Sims 3 staples like Supernatural and University, there isn’t any shortage of inspired gameplay in the Sims 4.

Enlargement Packs

Enlargement packs supply probably the most options and are the costliest, costing $39.99.

Island Dwelling

This current release has already proven to be a strong entry. Together with mermaids, this pack has plenty of new gameplay, especially in relation to new features and traits in create-a-sim. “Child of the Islands” and “Child of the Ocean” both introduce some unique new ways to interact inside the island of Sulani. Connecting with the culture and tending to the island is rewarding. Gamers can actually see the influence their sims make on the island with cleaner beaches, greener timber, and even more flowers.

Creating a mermaid is loads of enjoyable, since you possibly can achieve some lovely designs in your mythical creature. Though their talents are surface degree (the Vampires pack, as compared, has mild RPG mechanics that can help you study new magical expertise), the aesthetics alone are well worth the worth of admission since each mermaid seems to be awesome when swimming round and befriending dolphins. You may also enchant individuals together with your siren’s name, whether your intent is matchmaking or mayhem.

When you love constructing in the Sims, then this pack is a must have. The world of Sulani is fascinating, with seaside venues and expansive ocean waters. It’s a joy to construct a home that permits your sims to get up in the morning and dive right into the sea from their patio.

Get Well-known

Within the Sims 4, you’ll be able to attain success by climbing a career-path ladder to the highest, however different sims gained’t care about your renowned accomplishments… till you add the Get Famous enlargement pack.

When your sims achieve a milestone like touchdown a lead position within the hottest pirate film, writing their next great novel, or catching an enormous fish, your sims construct their fame degree. Different sims will need to take their picture and get their autograph. Having different sims gawk and have a fan freak-out over your sim is amusing and gratifying; it looks like a reward for all of the arduous work you set towards their superstar status.

The capability to go to movie units, that are full of props like pirate ships and saloons, can also be plenty of enjoyable. You possibly can put your sim by means of the hair and makeup departments and make them perform for the cameras. Your success will depend on how a lot you’ve honed your appearing talent, your rapport with the rest of the crew, and judgement calls on whether to take dangers when performing. Depending on how the director reacts, the performance could possibly be a flop or a complete success. Both means, both are amusing to observe.

Seasons

Seasons ought to be on everybody’s must-have record. Not only does it convey welcome variations to the weather because of changing seasons, however it adds a great deal of new clothing and building gadgets so your sims can correctly put together for snow days or the sweltering heat. Two new clothing sections can be found for summer time and winter put on, and there are plenty of new additions in build mode, similar to a thermostat to manage indoor local weather and stockings to hold in your hearth. All this helps accommodate for the weather and holidays.

You will get right into a festive temper regardless of the event, receiving presents from Father Winter (who truly visits your home on Christmas Eve – you’ll be able to even befriend him), sending out love notes on Love Day, or creating an official vacation of your personal. You possibly can assign timeframes and actions for sims to get into the holiday spirit. Treat Yo’Self Day and Purge Day are private favorites of mine because who doesn’t need to spoil their sims or dedicate a day to duking it out with their noisy neighbors? You possibly can dedicate the day for gift-giving rituals and even encourage sims to interact in a full-on brawl for holidays. It’s as much as you.

Though this enlargement doesn’t add another world, the wealth of latest gameplay makes up for that. Until you experience an sudden blizzard or warmth wave, outside experiences are fun. Without the pack it can be robust to seek out a lot to do in your backyard. With Seasons, sims could make snow angels, rake leaves, dance in puddles, and even freeze to demise when you’re not careful.

Cats And Canine

No create-a-sim family feels complete and not using a little pupper or kitten. The creature creation on your pets is expansive and gives so many alternatives to make your pet as artistic and unique as attainable, from mixing breeds or adorning them with neon inexperienced fur. My most cherished design is a robotic-looking kitten to go together with my alien sim.

Along with the brand new world of Brindleton Bay, there’s additionally the veterinarian career path, so your sim can work to assist remedy beloved pets in addition to perform surgical procedure. The pets go right into a machine where your sim vets “operate” on pets from the surface by wanting in by way of an x-ray monitor. Make sure you climb up the brand new veterinary talent tree so the little ones don’t come out of the machine as crops or decked out in a clown go well with.

The pets aren’t just added for aesthetic value, both. Unfortunately, you aren’t capable of control pets like you possibly can in The Sims three, however there are nonetheless loads of interactions. You possibly can practice your pets to study new tips and navigate by means of obstacles, or your critters could be lazy and simply take pleasure in cuddling together with your sim on the couch. The means to offer your pets traits makes them really feel extra sensible they usually may even develop fears. Pets nonetheless have wants, and the “what’s wrong?” interaction may give you a heads up on what your little buddy craves.

Recreation Packs

Recreation packs supply a modest quantity of content and sometimes come priced at $19.99.

Jungle Journey

Two of The Sims 4’s recreation packs supply a vacation destination in your sims, however the one that basically stands out is Jungle Adventure. There are so many extra adventurous and worldly options for clothing and construct mode. You possibly can simply make your sim into a Nathan Drake or Lara Croft sort and set them up in a Central/South American-themed residence.

Exploring tombs is spooky and thrilling. Not solely are you able to stumble upon skeletons, but you danger having your sims cursed and reworked into skeletons as properly. Relying on if the transformation is a curse or blessing, you’ll both get stuck in skeleton type or have the ability to change again everytime you need. It will either make you need to snicker or punch a gap by way of your monitor. There isn’t any in-between.

Scavenging for artifacts will ultimately culminate in the formation of an entire relic. Assembling a relic might be fulfilling, especially with the shock curses or blessings they generate, like the curse of the private raincloud, the blessing of the skeleton assistant, and even one thing as brutal because the marked for demise relic, where your sim can burst into flames and die.

Interacting with the locals won’t solely work in your favor to seek out cures for illnesses or curses, but you can too purchase unique gadgets to assist in your trek via the jungle and survive random hazards comparable to lightning-bug assaults. There are also interactions that spotlight native traditions. You possibly can ask the locals about their tradition, dance with them in Selvadoradian fashion, and study songs to convey back house with you.

Vampires

It’s never a uninteresting moment when mythical creatures are concerned. In contrast to the Mermaids in Island Dwelling, Vampires have a talent tree, which provides rather a lot to the gameplay. As your sims grow to be more adept in vampire lore, they degree up and unlock more powerful talents, reminiscent of teleportation with bat and mist varieties. Positive, you possibly can already teleport with cheats, but vampires get to do it in fashion.

Choosing your vampire sim’s perks and skills is riveting. You start off as a weak vampire with primary powers, comparable to detecting different sims’ personalities. As you develop stronger, you possibly can degree up their preventing expertise to allow them to vanquish other vampires, max out appeal in order that they’re irresistible to other sims, or even develop into masters of hallucination to allow them to feed off of the sims of their selection without the awkward social consequences.

The new world of Forgotten Hollow comes with the Vampires recreation pack, and it might be small, but the darkish theme and design is perfect for the brooding creatures. You’ll be able to create a vampiric mansion and transfer in right next to Vladislaus Straud, who resembles Dracula. Don’t be fooled by his outward look; he appears previous, however he’s truly a younger grownup. He’s also single, so don’t be shy if you want to put the strikes on him.

Parenthood

Parenthood is one other key addition to the Sims 4, particularly for players that need to give attention to constructing a family. Whereas this can be a must-have pack, we want that this was included in the base recreation, considering the large enhancements it brings to one of many core gameplay pillars of The Sims. The base recreation consists of a huge family tree aspiration, but Parenthood expands on this concept so it includes extra than just having your sims pump out babies.

Toddlers not often get any new content or gameplay additions, so the extra clothes and substantial interactions that come with Parenthood are greater than welcome. The interplay inside households consists of giving recommendation, praising, and disciplining your youngsters. This is partaking, as a result of the extra you interact with them, the extra their personalities start to shift to mirror the communication. Together with growing your parental expertise, you’ll be able to affect your youngsters’s actions and talk about how they should behave as they transfer ahead into adulthood.

Parenting expertise can develop for anybody that interacts with toddlers, youngsters, and teenagers. With this new bonding gameplay, relationships feel far more meaningful. I have a household where a young lady takes care of her little sister, and as a result of meager finances, they should reside with two of her pals. When it gets irritating to cope with her little sister, her pals step in and assist. Emergent stories like these evoke emotions for players even during mundane activities like gathering everyone to the lounge flooring for a faculty venture.

Strangerville

This recreation pack announcement raised plenty of eyebrows. Story targeted parts in the Sims are likely to put individuals off, however this pack truly pulled it off and still provided loads of different things to do, as well as an in depth world that doesn’t prohibit your expertise.

The point of the sims is to be whoever you need to be, and this one opens up an entire new desert world with a dedicated story and army profession path, which allows you to turn out to be a undercover agent. The army branch matches in completely with sims who’re making an attempt to determine what’s happening in Strangerville, but you can too play by means of the story without it. Though you can’t go to work together with your army sim, you possibly can have them “work from home” when you have the City Dwelling enlargement pack. This lets you be extra concerned in their career both by means of coaching or investigating individuals around city.

So as to comply with the story, it’s a must to select the Strangerville Thriller aspiration. The narrative introduces parts we haven’t seen before in The Sims which might be bonkers and a ton of fun because of mild RPG mechanics and building a resistance to battle off an evil menace. With whispers of a authorities conspiracy and all your neighbors in Strangerville going nuts, the thriller of the town becomes increasingly more alluring. Although it’s brief, you accrue loads of rewards akin to cupcakes and fan mail whenever you complete the narrative. The furnishings (corresponding to weeds growing in a tub or mysterious machinery) additionally presents plenty of weird build ideas, supplying you with the right options for making a secret laboratory on your sim. The new laptops are a strong addition as properly.

Stuff Packs

Stuff packs are small add-ons that often solely value $9.99.

Movie Hangout

Bohemian Stuff or Psychedelic Hippie Stuff might have been a more applicable identify for this pack, contemplating how colorful and artsy the furnishings is. The new clothes and build-mode gadgets are satisfying additions that we will’t think about enjoying with out.

New wall decorations, couches, coffee tables, and ceiling lights convey so much vibrancy to your builds. They will easily turn into favorites when designing a home and infusing it with character. There’s even an enormous tree draped with lanterns that may be a lovely addition to any backyard.

Backyard

In the event you’re on the lookout for more outside-focused gameplay, then Yard stuff is a best choice. Not only does it supply rural ambiance with objects like wind chimes and fowl feeders, but choices like lawn waterslides allow enjoyable neighborhood get togethers. You’ll be able to throw barbeque parties while everybody falls flat on their face making an attempt to slip across.

This can be a great pack to spruce up both your front or backyard with extra lively features. These things pack can simply complement Seasons as properly for the summer time months, comparable to having your sim drink lemonade whereas family and friends play on the slide.

Romantic Garden

When you take pleasure in landscaping, then this pack will put you over the moon because it helps make your yard look beautiful. Romantic Backyard Stuff is particularly helpful when designing an outside wedding ceremony.

One other fascinating addition is the wishing nicely, which isn’t your common yard function. You’ll be able to ship your sims on a wishing marathon to see if any wishes come true, but typically they get the precise opposite of what they want. Romance, happiness, wealth, long life, youthful vigor, good grades, a promotion, a toddler, or a selected talent all have numerous outcomes. The extra you bribe the properly, the more doubtless you’ll get what you asked for. Additionally, in case you have hassle protecting your sims alive, the properly proves useful in bringing them back to life.

Cool Kitchen

Because the identify implies, this pack is great for sims who need more variety when building and decorating their kitchens. The new knife rack, cabinets, and spice racks for construct mode deliver a homey aesthetic and a contact of realism. However the ice cream is where this pack will get really enjoyable.

There are 30 flavors, with toppings of your selection, that have varying results on your sims. Relying on your sims’ traits, they’ll have a favourite. Childish sims love sprinkles and whipped cream, commitment-issue sims love peppermint sticks and nuts, and gloomy sims don’t like all.

Ice cream doesn’t just make your sims comfortable, nevertheless. This is The Sims, in any case, and even consuming ice-cream can have dire penalties as some flavors may cause a ghost to visit, make your sims drop extra pounds, or even breathe hearth that can set different sims aflame. Think about that being written on your tombstone.

There’s still lots to return with the Sims 4. Choosing from all of the content packs out there isn’t straightforward. Hopefully this record helped you out find the perfect packs to make a well-rounded Sims 4 experience.

Sims 4 has grown immensely from its predecessors, watch our let’s play of Sims 2: Castaway to see for yourself.

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