#okay a quick rundown of the exhibit:

[shitpostingkats]

There's a lot of old unfinished works on my phone, and it just occurred to me that I want them archived somewhere! Have two years of old sketches, designs, and paintings! Remember not to judge yourself just by the drawings you finish, your skill is also equally built on all those abandoned projects sitting in your gallery somewhere <3

[syrena-del-mar]

Boston, the Machiavellian Prince?

Okay, okay, this is definitely too early into the show to establish anything definite, but I wanted to write my thoughts of the first two episodes down to see if I still agree with my initial assumptions at the end. Boston, so far, has been as messy as I wanted him to be when I first saw the initial trailer all those months ago. What makes him interesting and so unlike the others, is that he's incredibly calculative, to the point that the show explicitly refers to him as 'The Hunter'. Personally, when I think of an individual being designated as 'The Hunter', I tend to correlate it with Machiavelli, so it's no surprise here that Boston reminded me of the his renown work, 'The Prince'.

If you know anything about Machiavelli, specifically in ‘The Prince’, he establishes that it's important for a Prince to hunt so that way he is actively learning more about his kingdom, in turn that knowledge maintains his power. Now a Machiavellian Personality is one of what is coined the "Dark Triad", which refers to the three personalities: Narcissism, Psychopathy, and Machiavellianism. Essentially, while they are all distinct, they all fall under the callous-manipulative personality type. As @trilliastra pointed out, that deep red coloring with the soundtrack on Boston really mimics the type of portrayal that is typically seen in psychological horror films. Now bear with me, I don't necessarily think that if someone falls under this personality type it's an instant signifier of "evil" or such notions, but I do think that it takes a larger effort to be agreeable and overcome their more malevolent tendencies, but some don't. So it'll be interesting to see how Boston navigates this side of him that has been consistently show to us.

Now before really diving into the deep end, I'm first going to give a little more information regarding Machiavelli's The Prince and how this works itself into psychology, then I'll be breaking up my analysis into the typical Machiavellian Personality Traits with the correlating quotes from 'The Prince'.

What is a Machiavellian Prince?

If you're not familiar with Machiavelli's ‘The Prince’, let me give you a brief rundown. Essentially, ‘The Prince’ is a political treatise that was utilized to provide advice to rulers on how to gain and maintain power effectively, essentially throwing out morality altogether in order to reach their goals. The central theme really revolved around the idea that to be an efficient leader, one needs to ensure that they are both cunning and adaptable to allow their kingdom to survive in the struggles of power. Similarly, these concepts directly relate to the idea of personality psychology, specifically the Machiavellian personality.

A Machiavellian individual, or personality type, refers to one that exhibits traits that are outlined in ‘The Prince’, specifically the use of manipulation and the belief that the ends justify the means. When it comes to interpersonal relationships, a Machiavellian individual tends to their own interests, manipulates situations and exploits others to achieve their goals. They place an emphasis in having a strategic focus solely on their own self-interest, so as long as they reach their desired end-goal, they're satisfied (even if it means burning bridges).

Manipulation through Vulnerabilities to Establish Control

"At this point one may note that men must be either pampered or annihilated. They avenge light offenses; they cannot avenge severe ones; hence, the harm one does to a man must be such as to obviate any fear of revenge." -Chapter 3, The Prince

In this case, we see this blatantly in one specific scene with Nick and Boston, where Boston uses the knowledge that he acquires almost as a knife. Nick had come clean about his own insecurities and Boston is quick to use that as a 'pet name', completely disregarding that Nick didn't like to be called 'Kinky head'. He's using the one moment that Nick had become vulnerable with him in the guise of a friendly jab, but also an incredibly threat that he is more than aware of where to aim where it hurts for Nick if he crosses any line that Boston has already established.

Boston's camera is another way he exerts his control, which can specifically be seen in how he uses it to take pictures of Nick after his night, positioning him, controlling the development of said picture. Pictures capture moments in time, Boston posed and captured an intimate, exposed, moment for Nick. Boston controls the image while Nick is left vulnerable. That image is fully in Boston's control; to do and develop as how he sees fit.

Now I'm not applying the idea of 'fear' in the sense of physical injury or corporal punishment, but the punishment that Boston seems to hang over Nick is leaving him. Boston is more than aware of Nick's growing feelings for him and he uses that in his interest, because Nick is so willing and eager to let Boston to have his way with him. Now this hasn't even been touched upon in the show, but there is also an almost societal-instilled fear that photos can bring, specifically intimate ones. It doesn't have to be blatantly stated by Boston the amount of damage intimate photos may cause emotionally (even if it's not spread), so when things turn sour, that photo and any personal information that he shared with Boston may very well hang over Nick's head.

Calculating Approach and Exploitation of Emotions

"A prince being thus obliged to know well how to act as a beast must imitate the fox and the lion, for the lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves." -Chapter 18, The Prince

Now, @respectthepetty really did a great job at breaking down why Boston is referred to as the Hunter, specifically in the way that he consistently corners people to get what he wants, so for this part I'm going to jump off their meta. He consistently puts all his 'conquests' in a position where they are unable to leave, he puts them in tight spaces, he pins them on walls, he wraps his hand around their neck (one of the most vulnerable parts to a human due to the lack of natural protection and easy accessibility). They're all calculated positions that he puts his hook-ups in to establish that only he can give them the out, he's the one that establishes boundaries. We see this literally when he corners Top in the shower, who is the first that we hear to dare tell him 'no, he's not interested.' Boston doesn't let that sway him, because that's not a boundary respects because he wasn't the one to set it.

He's called 'the Hunter' because he knows how to play the game, he excels at it. He can be both the fox, when he plays the interested fling to Nick and Mew's best friend, and the lion when he shows who he truly is with Top. When he tells Mew to be wary, since Top never has a relationship that lasts longer than 3 months and his interest is likely to see if he can sleep with Mew, this doesn't seem to be a touching moment where he cares for his friend but rather an attempt to get Mew to push Top away, because we have no idea if that's really what Top intends. His calculative nature is shown again when Boston tells Nick, "You should be glad that you're my favorite." Man the phrasing of that, at least in the translation, is so incredibly manipulative, it really sets the tone that their relationship is fully transactional, lacking any deeper emotions that are typically found between lovers. It's not a factual admittance that Boston is enjoying the sex with Nick, but rather blatant acknowledgement that Nick should be grateful that Boston even comes back to him for the sex. Not to mention that he rewards Nick every time he acquiesces with a kiss or peck on the cheek.

In Spanish, there's a saying/insult that goes 'te va poner los cuernos', which literally translates to 'They're going to put the horns on you', but really signifies that they're going to cheat on you. That's why I couldn't help but find the irony when when Boston backed Nick into the horn/antler frame on the wall. And while here, Boston and Nick are in no set closed-relationship and they're both aware of that, Boston purposefully strings Nick along, dropping little personal information about his own life that will entice Nick and keep him present in their situationship.

Boston is willing to gamble with his intimate relationships and friendships, because he believes that he has the eagle eye's view on this playing field. He is willing to sacrifice anyone and everyone if it means that he is the one in control, he is the one people worship and claw their way to. To him it's only natural, because he has that sex appeal and he has never met anyone he couldn't triumph. Every one he sleeps with is a conquest. In his viewpoint, he is the kingpin, even in his group of friends, because he believes that he's the one that controls how his friends move since he knows how Mew is developing feelings for Top and is aware of Ray's feelings for Mew. This is a game to him and he believes that he's smart enough to come out the winner.

Power Struggles

“And here comes in the question whether it is better to be loved rather than feared, or feared rather than loved. It might perhaps be answered that we should wish to be both; but since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved.”

-Chapter 27, The Prince

In this case, for Boston what P'Jojo tweeted rings in my head. While he stated it in a more literary way, essentially Boston has an ego. He likes having first pickings and this shows with how he's reacting to the fact that Top is willing to chase Mew, but doesn't necessarily want to have a second round with him. His hubris is his achilleas heel.

Now we haven't seen much of the conflict that is going to arise between Mew, Boston and Top, but we are seeing much of Boston's reactions to what is going on between the two. Boston uses that using Mew's virginity is a weapon, he's the one that is the first to throw it in Mew's face. Boston sees virginity as a detriment, as a stain, a symbol of not being wanted, because he finds his power behind being lusted for. @athousandbyeol, prior to the show even airing, brought up the point that Nick became his favorite because of his availability, Boston objectifies Nick. Nick serves a purpose, an outlet to get rid of the frustration that Boston finds himself accumulating with this pseudo power struggle that he has with both Mew and Top.

He has no consistent leverage over Mew or Top, because Mew doesn't care about his virginity (not in the way that Boston does) and Top does not actively chose nor chase after him, instead Boston is the one that has to be one that corners Top. It's why it drives him a tad nuts that Top is seemingly taking the idea of a relationship with Mew seriously, because it was never part of his plan for Top to actually get interested. That's an ego blow, but there is one person that he consistently has power of: Nick. Even though Boston is aware that he's seeking more, what's to define their relationship, he only gives him two options: Fuck Buddy or Friends with Benefit. And though neither are what Nick truly wants, he still chooses one, because that keeps Boston around and Boston knows this, he counts on this power he holds over Nick. For every damage he takes to his ego with MewTop, it gets soothed and stroked by Nick, literally.

Final Thoughts

“A man who is used to acting in one way never changes; he must come to ruin when the times, in changing, no longer are in harmony with his ways.” - Chapter 25, The Prince

Now, the labeling of Boston as a potential Machiavellian Prince (personality), does not dictate that he is inherently evil and that he will always be, or is, the villain. It's true that he manipulates and is merely interested in pursuits that are personally beneficial, which in turn may hurt others. Yet, the concepts of "evil" and "good" are incredibly binary. So far, we have no idea as to why he behaves as he does or whether he had past-experiences or personal insecurities that shaped him. It doesn’t mean that the pain he inflicts on others will be okay as long as there is a reason or sob story, but it will give us more insight into why he is the way he is.

Machiavellianism is typically easily written off as an evil form of being but arguably, it's just another behavioral guide on how to respond to challenging circumstances. There's a lot of labels that we can so far apply to Boston, narcissist is one that I see floating around a lot as well. Yet, narcissists typically lack self-confidence and overcompensate, Machiavellians typically believe that they are the best and as such do whatever they can to achieve their personal goals that they believe that they deserve. Personally, with what I've seen so far, Boston falls under the latter rather than the former.

I think simply writing Boston off as the "villain" or "evil" is simply disregarding the potential nuance that his character may bring. This show does a great job at showing how messy Boston is and even the different types of messy that they all are. It's important to keep in mind the broader context in which Boston is acting in to fully be able to understand who he is an individual and the consequences that his action may bring. It'll be interesting to see if he comes out of this a changed man or more set in his ways.

[winreyplace]

《 Pinned Post 》

Nestled deep in the heart of the woods lies a home known as Winrey Place—a sanctuary for characters in need of comfort, belonging, and above all, love. We are Mel and Lav, munbonders who have diligently woven together this beautiful tapestry of a chosen family since 2016. Each munbond who enters our lives brings so much value to us and we cannot wait to share their stories with you all.

Meet the Winrey Place Collective FAQ Tags List

What we will post/reblog here includes:

General history, resources, and guides on soulbonding

Posts that remind us of our munbonds

Funny and interesting stories about our family

Interactions with the wider plural community

The wisdom and experiences we have accumulated over the years from sharing munbonds together

Our alterhuman identities

Miscelife aka a/b/o lifestyle identities

Immersive daydreaming & the Living Character Phenomenon

and more!

Notes & Disclaimers:

We’re okay with doubles!

We’re selfshippers too!

All of us are over the age of 18 and enjoy kinky and sex positive content, although we will tag for it. Please be aware if you’re a minor!

Our munbonds have all evolved beyond their original sources and most of them no longer have any connection to their canonical universes.

Some posts may not be rebloggable if they are personal to our family, but you can still engage with them through replies and likes!

We’re happy to answer any questions about soulbonding or our family at any time; if you have an ask for a particular munbond, we will make sure they respond!

We’re quick to block users who exhibit racism, fatphobia, queerphobia, ableism, etc., as well as those who are antiship, anti-endo, anti-cringe, anti-otherkin/alterhuman, and anti-kink. We are a diverse group of queer, polyamorous, neurodivergent, disabled, alterhuman, and kinky people and do not tolerate bigotry or hateful discourse.

➤ Quick Rundown of Our Whole Family (For even more in-depth intros, please click link the above!)

The Bonders:

Lav - ◦ Born 1997 ◦ Munbonder ◦ Bunny Therian/Adopted Werewolf/Ranger Demikin/Miscelapin Aega/Human ◦ Bigender Boygirl ◦ Bi Aro-GreyAce ◦ Autistic, ADHD, PTSD, Physically Disabled

Mel& - ◦ Born 1999 ◦ Munbonder & Mediple System ◦ Changeling; Kin: Fallen Star/Half-Fae; Archetropes: Cleric/Bard/Wizard; Hearttypes: Doll/Halfling/The Doctor; Similies/Synpaths: Bear/Mouse; Paratypes: Wolf/TARDIS ◦ Femme-Neutrois Xirl ◦ Bi Quoi-AroAce ◦ Autistic, ADHD, Mad, Physically Disabled

The Rents:

Logan ◦ Born 1953 ◦ Insourced ◦ Ranger ◦ Autigender Man ◦ AroAce ◦ Autistic, PTSD

Meyleth ◦ Born 1933 ◦ Insourced ◦ Joined Fae ◦ Cis Woman ◦ Bi

Tasha ◦ Born 1984 ◦ Outsourced;Black Widow ◦ Human ◦ Cis Woman ◦ Acefluid ◦ Autistic, PTSD

Howlett ◦ Born 1832 ◦ Outsourced;Wolverine ◦ Mutant ◦ Cis Man ◦ Bisexual Aceflux ◦ Autistic, PTSD

Diana ◦ Born 3000 B.C. ◦ Outsourced;Wonder Woman ◦ Demigoddess ◦ Cis Woman ◦ Bisexual

Butler ◦ Born 1969 ◦ Outsourced;Artemis Fowl ◦ Human ◦ Cis Man ◦ Bi ◦ PTSD, Physically Disabled

Sean ◦ Born 1981 ◦ Outsourced;Grimm ◦ Half-Wesen(Zauberbeist)/Half-Human ◦ Neutrois Man* ◦ AroAce ◦ Autistic

The Mids:

Nick ◦ Born 1987 ◦ Outsourced;Grimm ◦ Grimm ◦ Cis Man ◦ Demisexual ◦ Misophonia

Jack ◦ Born 1690/1989 ◦ Insourced(Dream)/Outsourced;Pirates of the Caribbean ◦ Human ◦ GNC Man ◦ Pansexual ◦ ADHD

Pope ◦ Born 1987 ◦ Outsourced;Falling Skies ◦ Human ◦ Demiguy ◦ Demisexual ◦ Autistic, PTSD

Sara ◦ Born 1986 ◦ Outsourced;Falling Skies ◦ Human ◦ Cis Woman ◦ Bisexual

Quentin ◦ Born 1992 ◦ Outsourced;The Magicians ◦ Miscevulpin Omega/Fox Therian/Human/Magician ◦ Autigender Man ◦ Bisexual ◦ Autistic, MDD, Anxiety

Eliot ◦ Born 1990 ◦ Outsourced;The Magicians ◦ Human/Magician ◦ Cis Man ◦ Gay Bisexual ◦ Autistic (PDA profile), PTSD, Alcoholic

Charlton ◦ Born 1000+ years ago in Fillorian years/1992 ◦ Outsourced;The Magicians ◦ Fillorian ◦ Cisn’t Man ◦ Bisexual ◦ Autistic, PTSD

Margo ◦ Born 1990 ◦ Outsourced;The Magicians ◦ Lycanthrope/Magician ◦ Cis Woman ◦ Bisexual

Alice ◦ Born 1992 ◦ Outsourced;The Magicians ◦ Fox Otherhearted Human/Magician ◦ Cis Woman ◦ Bicurious ◦ Autistic

The Youngins:

Rune ◦ Born 1998 ◦ Insourced ◦ Ranger ◦ Cis Man ◦ AroAce ◦ Autistic, MDD

Liam ◦ Born 1997 ◦ Insourced ◦ Wild Fae ◦ Autigender Man ◦ AroAce ◦ Autistic, Anxiety, PTSD

Damien ◦ Born 1992 ◦ Outsourced;[Redacted] ◦ Atypical ◦ Genderqueer Man ◦ AroAce ◦ Autistic, ADHD, PTSD, Depression

Artemis ◦ Born 1997 ◦ Outsourced;Artemis Fowl ◦ Human Clone ◦ Masc-Aligned ◦ Asexual ◦ Autistic, Savant, OCD, Mild Paranoid Psychosis

Trubel ◦ Born 1995 ◦ Outsourced;Grimm ◦ Grimm ◦ Cis Woman ◦ AutiAce Lesbian ◦ Autistic, PTSD

Theo ◦ Born 1999 ◦ Outsourced;Teen Wolf ◦ Miscecanis Omega/Chimera WereCoyote-Wolf Hybrid ◦ Intersex Man ◦ Lithosexual ◦ PTSD

Li ◦ Born 2001 ◦ Outsourced;Teen Wolf ◦ Miscecanis Alpha/Werewolf ◦ Cis Man ◦ Bisexual ◦ ADHD, IED

Mason ◦ Born 2001 ◦ Outsourced;Teen Wolf ◦ Human ◦ Cis Man ◦ Gay

Corey ◦ Born 2001 ◦ Outsourced;Teen Wolf ◦ Chimera WereChamemelon-Ghost Rider Hybrid ◦ Cis Man ◦ Pansexual ◦ MDD, PTSD, Pica

Adam ◦ Born 2000 ◦ Insourced ◦ Human ◦ Cis Man ◦ Asexual ◦ Autistic, ADHD

Q2 ◦ Born 2023 ◦ Insourced/Outsourced;The Magicians ◦ Foxkith Adult Golem ◦ Golem Man ◦ Bisexual ◦ Autistic, Nonspeaking

Other:

12th Doctor ◦ Born ??? ◦ Outsourced;Doctor Who ◦ Galifreyan ◦ Quoi ◦ Quoi ◦ Autistic, ADHD

Monroe ◦ Born 198? ◦ Outsourced;Grimm ◦ Wesen(Blutbaden) ◦ Autigender Man ◦ Heterosexual ◦ Autistic

Living Characters:

Insourced:

Dess – Human Glow | Demisexual | ADHD | Adopted daughter of Logan | Wife to Thad

Thad – Human | Heteroflexible | QPP to Liam | Husband to Dess

Lorella – Ranger | Mother of Rune | Friend of Logan and Meyleth

Rhaneo – Ranger | Father of Rune | Friend of Logan and Meyleth

Lianna – Half-Fae | Daughter of Logan | QPP & Bloodbond of Rune | Facet (Former Parame) of Mel&

Hornrietta aka Horny – Chicken | in C/O Jack

Planty – Alien Sentient Plant Creature | Gift from Loki

Posey – Alien/Earth Cyborg Plant Creature | Planty’s Daughter | in C/O Meyleth

Outsourced:

Jenna – Human | Teen Wolf Fanon | ADHD | Mother of Li

David – Human | Teen Wolf | Step-Father of Li

Beckett – Human/? | Artemis Fowl | Child of Artemis Sr. & Angeline | Brother of Artemis & Twin of Miles

Miles – Human | Artemis Fowl | Child of Artemis Sr. & Angeline | Brother of Artemis & Twin of Beckett

Rosalee – Wesen/Fuchsbau | Grimm | Wife of Monroe | Friend of Nick

Loki – Frost Giant | MCU | Plant mom of Planty

Missy – Galifreyan/Time Lord | Doctor Who | Companion of The Doctor

Josh – Lycanthrope/Magician | The Magicians | Bicurious | Partner of Margo & Fen

Fen – Lycanthrope/Fillorian | The Magicians | Bisexual | Autistic, ADHD | Partner of Margo & Josh | Wife of Eliot

Arielle – Fillorian | The Magicians | Deceased Wife of Quentin | Deceased partner of Eliot

[evas-spn-thoughts]

s01e04 - Phantom Traveler

This episode is one I honestly haven't watched a lot, the first 3 supernatural episodes I know like the back of my hand, but every episode until we get to 'home' I barely remember.

So this'll be fun to rewatch in much more detail.

All I remember about this episode is that it's about Demons - but demons before supernatural understood what they wanted demons to be, and also Dean is afraid of flying.

We start with a demon entering and then crashing a plane. I feel like media in the early 2000s was more careful about depicting destroying and crashing planes, but maybe that’s just me. It feels brave of supernatural to be showing a person actively making a plane crash. I suppose maybe that was more the immediate aftermath of 911 rather than in 2005, but I’m not researched enough to talk about this with any confidence.

We then get a very random full body shot of Dean sleeping. I feel like this type of shot is usually left for woman, while men get the objectifying shots of chests and muscles - the cameras are usually lingering on the one aspect of the man’s body they want to show off. Women are usually the objects of these long panning shots, but in Supernatural it’s Jensen that is gifted these objectifying panning shots and best believe I’ll point it out when I see it again.

I also feel generally uneasy about this start because until you know it’s Sam who walks into the room, it’s a very creepy scene. As a first time viewer it is laid out in a way that makes you feel uneasy about Dean’s safety - especially in the way they linger on him lying in bed, this is the most undressed we have seen Dean and thus the most physically vulnerable.

You get Dean in bed clearly undressed and also it focuses on his legs as an establishing shot.

The camera then pans up his body to his face, showing him with his eyes closed. It not a quick camera movement either, it takes its time.

You hear the door open and linger on Deans eyes opening.

A shadowy man walks through the door and stares through the glass seemingly at Dean - which is not a comforting shot.

Now substitute Dean with a random woman, if you didn’t get the uneasiness that I did, you should maybe understand now.

This doesn’t strike me as a scene meant to imply safety, and I am not implying that they want the watcher to not trust Sam, but until you see his face, it could be anyone and it’s just interesting framing, but Supernatural doesn’t always frame these boys in the stereotypical male way others shows might - exhibit A is the way they show off Dean lying in bed.

I want to make it clear that I am not saying Sam is a bad guy in this, nor am I implying that the show gives me the vibes that Sam is dodgy, if anything, seeing Sam come round the bend is actually a comfort.

Dean asks after Sam, he is making sure he’s okay. We hear that Sam hasn’t been sleeping, Dean makes it out like Sam not sleeping is bad because he’s meant to watch Deans back, but actually Dean is just worried about his brother and trying to pry in a way that doesn’t seem emotional. No chick flicks goddamn it!!

Sam says he’s still having nightmares about Jess and also that the job is getting to him. Dean makes it sound like the job doesn’t ever get to him, and Sam reaches under Deans pillow to pull out a knife, thus proving that the job does indeed get to him.

I like that we hear that after a few years away from hunting, getting back into it is messing with Sam a little bit, because it would.

Then we get a phone call from someone asking for help.

The boys meet up with someone John and Dean had helped in the past, and get the rundown on the hunt.

While this is happening we gauge what John seemed like to others. This man - Jerry - said that John talked about Sam a lot, and Sam seemed surprised by that. While this could be an instance of Sam remembering childhood differently, I reckon it’s more likely that John was actually complementary of his children - or at least Sam when he went to college - but never to their faces because John is just kind of awful. But to others people, John has to look at least semi normal, so he boasts about his kids in a way he would never to them.

We hear a tape from the flight that went down and hear the drama and the boys begin their hunt.

Dean gets them the fake IDs they need, and they discover that the news is saying no one survived the plane crash, but the boys know seven people survived. They throw around ideas for what the monster could be, they never reference it being a demon which shows their inexperience with demons. They immediately assume and guess ghost and haunted plane.

One of the survivors has checked himself into a mental health clinic, which fair enough, if I saw what he did and hadn’t seen supernatural, I’d probably do the same.

The boys go to see one of the survivors and speak to him, I love that they don’t try and assume he’s mad, nor do they disbelieve anything he says, they take it as fact and go along with it. Something like seeing a supernatural being would freak anyone out, and it would be easy to play it as ‘funny’ and try and make fun of someone who thinks they have mental health issues.

They continue their investigation with a lot of failing and confusion, nothing in this case is fitting with anything they have dealt with. Sam keeps saying ‘this doesn’t make sense’ as a transition and I find it very funny.

The boys finally, finally wear their suits.

And as a note to supernatural, trying to play that Dean doesn’t look good in a suit or that he looks like a ‘seventh grader at his first dance’ is just a failure waiting to happen, Jensen doesn’t look bad in things, and as much as Dean may try and say different, he likes clothes and ‘dressing up’.

(I don’t mean dressing up in a sexual way, but I don’t love the implication that changing outfits for hunting and stuff is dubbed ‘dressing up’, also Dean just is fashionable, I mean have you seen the finale of the Winchesters, also some of the coats and suits the boys get in later seasons are just nice and they picked those out).

Anyway… the boys go to the warehouse and look at the wreckage for more clues, some great fake fbi’ing from them. The set of the wreckage is very cool, good set dec and design on the episode.

We get an instance of Deans intelligence where he made an emf reader out of a Walkman, and that is impressive stuff and it takes knowledge and skill. But Sam is Sam, so he puts Dean down, which I kind of hate. Again we don’t need a smart brother and a dumb brother, they can both be intelligent. It makes Sam look bad as well and doesn’t endear him to me in the slightest.

For once the boys are caught out as being fake law enforcement but they get away.

We then see the demon possess someone else, and thank god the demon cgi gets better cause the smoke is way too pixilated.

We see that sulfur is all over everything and the educated among us know that means demons, but the boys… sadly they are still innocent summer children and don’t know the implications.

We get the lore dump on demons and we get a nervous Dean who doesn’t really want to deal with demons saying ‘it’s not their usual gig’. It’s not the usual reaction for dean to wish the monster was something else, which immediately raises the stakes of what a Demon is and how infrequently they are come across.

Dean wishes his dad was here, Sam agrees and then we get the phone call from Jerry where he tells them that his pilot friend died - which we saw a few minutes ago. I hate those tiny 2 seater planes, they freak me out a little bit and I’m not a nervous flyer.

So off the boys go to Nazareth 😂

They see that sulfer is again in this second crash, and that ‘get this’ the crashes happened 40 mins into the flight. We get some more Dean intelligence when he mentions how the number 40 has biblical connotations. ‘It means Death’ and he puts together who the demon is going after.

We hear that Amanda is the only survivor left to get to and it seems like they are cutting it too close to reach her ‘even with Dean behind the wheel’. But Dean saves people and he feels the responsibility to save people so he steps on the gas and he will get there and they do get there.

Dean tries to get her away from the flight and messes up, but here is another example of him going with a lie into another lie after he is caught out. He is however unsuccessful and we get to discover another facet in the complexity of Dean Winchester.

Dean Winchester is afraid of flying.

Sam understands and immediately offers to go on his own, which is very nice. I like this from Sam, other than assuming Deans joking which… fair enough, he takes it very seriously and doesn’t make Dean fly.

Responsibility is however, a very big thing to Dean so he does get on the flight.

Dean humming Metallica is a mood, when I’m nervous I listen to music so I totally get it.

Sam reminds Dean that he needs to be focussed on the hunt which helps Dean to try and ignore his fear and concentrate on the job.

They talk about how to check if anyone’s a demon and mention using ‘Cristo’. WHICH IS NEVER USED AGAIN!!!!!! Make it make sense, but I suppose I do get it, using lube based holy water is much funnier - prop water for tv is water based lube, if anyone didn’t know and there will definitely be gif sets out there of all the times Jensen gets splashed with that stuff.

Dean talks to Amanda and falls into generally easy conversation, as Dean usually does. He’s slightly awkward with the whole cristo bit, but it’s okay.

Dean gets nervous at some turbulence and Sam tries to gently coax him into calming down, but that doesn’t work, so he adopts what I would assume is his ‘John Winchester voice’ and is a lot more firm about Dean calming down and reminds Dean that the more nervous he is the more likely he is to be possessed. The firmness works better with Dean… probably because he’s used to it from John.

There is a weird moment where this man just leers at Dean while he is walking up the aisle, which is weird and unnecessary and slightly uncomfortable. Just another example of Dean being objectified/sexualised in some way, interesting that they make a man leer at him, it doesn’t reflect on Dean in any way, but I suppose it’s meant to make it weirder or maybe in the early 2000s it’s meant to be funny.

The boys discover who the Demon is and immediately talk to Amanda to try and fix everything. They do the speech and try and get her on side, which they do.

She gets the demon out of the cockpit and they subdue him… kinda.

She leaves and Sam begins the first of many exorcisms we will hear in the long running story of Winchesters vs Demons in Supernatural.

The demon distracts Sam by mentioning that he knows what happens to Jess and gets away, the plane begins to plummet, but Sam recites the exorcism while Dean screams 😂 and all is good on the plane.

Sam mentions that it knows about Jess, Dean counters that by saying that demons lie, that’s just ‘what they do’.

John Winchester is a dick. I said what I said. And we have barely even got to many of the clear signs of being a terrible father yet.

We find out he’s changed his voicemail and if anyone has a problem to ‘phone his son Dean’. Sam is visibly upset by the fact that he’s changed his voicemail so is clearly alive, but hasn’t got in touch with his sons in any way. They both listen to the voicemail and then I’m silence, they get in the car and drive away.

Sam is obviously angry, whereas Dean just seems resigned to the fact that this is now happening, he’s being sent on jobs and it’s what he has to do. I like the choice to have the boys sit in the silence.

I’m flying to Amsterdam tomorrow so maybe I shouldn’t have watched this episode but I’m not a nervous flyer so it’s fine.

Generally it was a very good episode and a good way to end with more questions.

[bogkeep]

there's an annual baroque festival in my hometown that has like, concerts and exhibitions and tours and presentations and stuff that i usually go to with my mom that i'm missing out on this year due to the Living In Sweden situation. i called her yesterday though, and first thing she told me about was this REALLY DISAPPOINTING presentation she went to...

turns out my blissfully un-online mother went to a lecture about AI art because not even baroque festivals are sacred :') she was like "this guy presented himself as a tech expert but really struggled to even set up the presentation equipment" "he didn't seem to know anything about the process of making art or that the program he was talking about was a TOOL?" "HE DIDN'T EVEN PRONOUNCE CARAVAGGIO RIGHT"

so i gave her a quick rundown on The Situation and she was like "ohhhh okay so this was probably an average representation of the topic. got it"

yeah

[omegas-spaghettios]

In Defense of Hunter, Wrecker, Tech, and Echo

I want to clarify that I like Crosshair. I used to love him and I just kinda like him now, but he's a great character. I hold nothing against his fans. I just want to talk about how people are slandering these 4 like they did everything wrong when everything they did was pretty justified.

I need to talk about Crosshair's chip, because that affects how we all view these final episodes. While I agree things don't add up completely, Cross has no scar, nursing a headache, etc., his behavior DOES indicate he is telling the truth.

Chipped clones have been shown to show loyalty to the Empire above all else. They killed the jedi, they'll kill innocents, they forget all sentimentality, and we see with Jesse that they will more than happily die to accomplish the chip's commands. The Batch has experience with this with Captain Grey in the premiere and later Wrecker. Chipped clones are basically battle droids.

Crosshair does not act like that at all. He shows sentiment and loyalty to personal history, he defies orders to even kill his fellow imperials, and he puts aside his anger in order to escape Kamino. NONE of those things are congruent with him having a chip in at all. So while it doesn't add up completely either way, the evidence honestly seems to favor that he's telling the truth as his behavior is a huge tell that has not been shown to be able to be countered for more than a few seconds (love you Rex) while an absence of a scar could indicate a variety of things and the headache can honestly just be chronic pain from his insane head injury in Episode 8. I'm not saying that is the truth, but what I am saying is the evidence provided can easily line up to more than make it believable that Wrecker, Echo, and Tech believe he has it out.

Wrecker does know what a chip feels like, so we all expected more empathy from him, but Crosshair is not acting the way did Wrecker did AT ALL. Wrecker lost all control and immediately tried to kill the people he loves most, while as stated Crosshair is exhibiting almost opposite behavior. Wrecker knows what a chip does to you and Crosshair is definetly not showing that, so why would Wrecker show empathy for it? Wrecker knows first hand that is not what the chip does to you so it more than makes sense that he sees Crosshair's behavior and story and believes it.

Crosshair's intense feelings of Supremacy and loyalty to the Empire are not out of no where. We see in TCW that he is incredibly cruel about regs, he has always hated them. So considering the journey he went on this season it does feel like a realistic progression of belief.

Crosshair also is hurting his own cause here. Now we as the audience know for sure he had it in for Episode 1, we are shown explicit evidence. We have no idea when he got it out though due to the lack of a scar, and his refusal to specify hurts him here because what he actually did as himself vs. chipped is VERY important. I also want to say that while the audience knows Crosshair has the chip in in Episode 1, no evidence is provided to the Batch to know that, so Crosshair saying he had it out "a long time ago" means it is reasonable that the Batch could even suspect everything he did since Episode 1 was him. And here's a quick rundown of some things he did this season that the Batch would know about:

Obeyed Order 66 and shot at a child jedi even when ordered to stand down

Advocated to kill civilians to the others

Shot Wrecker and used him as bait to lure the others out

Lead dozens of Troopers to Bracca to kill them

Went out of his way to order his troops to kill Omega during that confrontation within earshot of Hunter

Tried to burn them all alive with an Ion Engine

Contributed to the oppression of Ryloth

Arrested Howzer, a clone who was trying to do the right thing

Spouted supremacist jargon about how they are superior to regs (something Hunter, Tech, and Wrecker have been shown to be softening up on)

Said the might of the Empire was the only way and basically gave them all the choice to join or die.

And remember, our heroes just got the revelation that potentially all of those actions were taken of Crosshair's own free will. They have every right to be harsh or unwelcoming after that. Sure they didn't try to rescue him but he also tried to put multiple blaster bolts through their heads, no one is innocent.

So the general coldness and harshness is more than understandable considering that Crosshair just admitted to trying to get them all killed on multiple occasions on his own free will, that would sour your relationship with anyone I reckon, so why are they expected to be okay with Crosshair doing all of that?

Anyway, to specifics. When Wrecker says Crosshair never even tried to come back and that they would have taken him, there is truth to that. During both Bracca and Ryloth, Crosshair was right there and had opportunities to turn heel and help them all escape, but he never did. I've seen this described as victim-blaming but you guys need to realize that Crosshair has potentially done ALL of this of his own free will and is actively trying to pull the others to the Empire. Wrecker is right, Crosshair put more effort into killing or converting them than he ever did in returning. It's harsh but it's true.

And Tech saying it's in his nature is like, classic Tech. I don't necessarily agree that they all have set paths due to their biology like Tech does, but Tech began this season rattling off about how Wrecker was made to be the way he was, this is just how Tech rolls.

The one I see a lot is after Crosshair rescues Omega and they still have the guns up and then never thank him. First of all, Crosshair never thanked them either for saving his life so let's not go around expecting any shows of gratitude from everyone. But more importantly, how were they supposed to know that Crosshair was saving Omega? As a viewer I legit thought he was aiming for Hunter there, it makes more than enough sense that they pulled their weapons on him. And considering their recent history, it makes sense that all three of them keep their weapons up longer than needed, both Hunter and Omega are potentially at risk. We all saw how quickly all of them drew their weapons in Episode 13 at even the slightest hint of danger to Omega. Considering everything before, it makes sense they kept them up until he disarmed himself, that's just good self defense honestly.

And my final point:

CROSSHAIR WAS NOT ABANDONED AT THE END OF THE SEASON

He was given multiple invitations and opportunities to join. Sure, he was not made to feel all that welcome, but even after all of the season and the finale, Wrecker stops to ask if he is coming and Hunter gives him one last chance. He was given many opportunities to go with them. He said he made his choice, that isn't abandonment, that's stepping away.

In Conclusion

Honestly all 6 of the main characters really dropped the ball on this season's conflict and no one is blameless or unjustified.

I'm not mad about it because it makes for compelling character drama, but everyone involved kinda didn't do their best, so maybe let's not slander one side over the other?

(Small lists of commenters who showed interest is seeing this: @violettavie @shilsvampsinger @rain-over-kamino )

[haunted-radishes]

Quick rundown of the Jiangs being excluded from great sect stuff after the Sunshot campaign:

Exhibit A: no Jiang representation in the venerated triad. This is the only one I’m 100% certain is supported by the novel, but it makes up for it by being doubly insulting in the novel/donghua canon, because in that story, the Sunshot campaign was pretty much Jiang Cheng’s project. He was the one rallying the lesser clans to fight, he was the one who convinced the great clans to join the effort, and he led the battle. He had Lan Xichen’s support, but it was still his war. But even without all that, one, the Sunshot campaign wouldn’t have started if not for what happened at Lotus pier, and two, it wouldn’t have been won without Wei Wuxian, first disciple of the Jiang clan. And yet, the group of special sworn brothers who everyone will remember and respect, who represent a better post-Sunshot world has no one from the Jiang clan.

Exhibit B: maybe not as strong as the other evidence I’m pulling, but worth noting is him getting ignored when he speaks up at conferences. He did try to defend Wei Wuxian, Wen Qing, and Wen Ning! But everything he said was just brushed aside (and in some pretty weak and hypocritical ways I might add). I’m pretty sure that nothing he brings to the table is actually considered.

Exhibit C: in the one discussion we see about what to do with the Wen remnants after the Sunshot, Jiang Cheng isn’t even in the room. This is a matter that should be decided at some major conference, with input from every acknowledged sect, but it happens in basically a private conversation where Jin Guangshan tells Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue what he thinks should happen, the two of them make token efforts to uphold justice for the remnants, Jin Guangyao comes in halfway through to suggest Qiongqi pass as a location for a prison camp, and they all say okay and leave. No Jiang input in sight, even though again, this was the Jiangs’ fight.

[dottable]

closed off bbs

*disclaimer: this is all from the perspective of an introvert / ambivert*

Paxton and Devi have a temperament that is slow to warm up, bordering difficult to open up. Despite his social status, Paxton is reserved and quiet, with moments of awkwardness here and there. This is why he was such a mystery to people during the first season: He didn’t really let people in as much. On the other hand, we have Devi who is undoubtedly more extroverted and expressive. However, she is so preoccupied with improving her status and life that she isn't honest with what was actually going on in her mind and heart.

And yet they seem pretty comfortable and vulnerable with one another.

Exhibit A - Devi's version

Prior to this, Devi had begun a quick rundown of different kinds of Indians that Paxton gently tells her isn't necessary. This causes her to hold back a bit.

And then when Paxton jokingly brings up the locker kicking, she suddenly relaxes and reveals what was going on a bit before catching herself again.

Still holding back a bit, she lets Paxton in a little and opens up about her anger and even letting him know that it's an area that she wants to work on.

And then she goes on a full on rant about her identity and ethnicity. At this point, she has only know Paxton for a few weeks, and here she is sharing deep struggles that have surely been around for a while.

There's also the famous scene leading up to their first kiss.

The way she responded after spilling her thoughts once more to Paxton indicates that she definitely didn't mean for things to get so personal and intimate. She takes back everything she said immediately and brushes it off like it's nothing. While she may not have meant for that, the moment they were having tore down her walls a bit and made her vulnerable, comfortable enough to share what was going on.

Exhibit B - Paxton's version

Paxton's moments might not be the easiest to spot and you could completely miss it if you're not paying attention. Maybe you'll also understand it more if you're the type to not talk, but your silence hides the oversharer deep within.

It's safe to say he doesn't talk about his sister often. The moment he starts sharing about her, he spills seemingly random facts about himself. His facial expression changes as soon as he catches himself going on a tangent a bit. The expression screams, "What the heck am I saying?"

He gets a bit awkward as he tries stop himself from sharing further, probably wondering why he was detailing personal stories to this girl he just met and barely knew.

It's also touching to see Paxton, who usually takes more of the listener role, able to express himself so unguardedly. He is able to talk about things with friends like Trent, but for deeper issues, he just can't seem to make them know what's really going on. He's not comfortable expressing this apprehension to them.

And then Devi, who we see ramble and rant to Paxton many times, is actively listening. That's significant because her self-centeredness was her downfall in some instances. In 1x07, when she does listen to someone opening up, like Fabiola with her coming out, she's quick to interject. She's jumping ahead to reply and not letting Fab speak, though she does put all that aside and shows genuine interest in what Fab has to say. Furthermore, in 2x08, when she initially apologizes to Paxton, she's so wrapped up in trying to explain herself that she doesn't immediately sense he's not yet really okay.

Yet in that same episode, Paxton was moved to share what was going on in his head, even if he anger towards her was maybe just subsiding. He may have been hurt, but there is a spot of comfort there as well that moves him to admit how he actually feels about himself. And as he is speaking, Devi isn't thinking about anything but what he's saying, She's not just listening to reply, but to genuinely understand Paxton and help him.

Paxton's moments are so resonant with me as I am a quiet person, but some people just make the atmosphere and environment so safe that you can't help but open up to them.

And for Devi and Paxton in those scenes, they found that person in each other.

It's something they don't understand yet because they were just getting to know each other. Then they're recovering from a hurtful cheating conundrum. They're still learning more and trying to figure each other out. But in their interactions, they found themselves to be quite comfortable with one another. Even if there was lingering awkwardness, they found some level of ease with one another that made them feel safe enough to share personal stories and deep feelings unintentionally, even to the poing of rambling on like the dorks they are !!

Despite the levels of vulnerability they have reached, there is still more to be unveiled moving forward. Devi only just started talking about and confronting her grief in therapy towards the end of season 2 while Paxton, though more emotionally aware and sensitive than most, would rather protect himself by repressing. So I hope they can continue to make space for the other, to make them feel welcome, accepted, heard, and ultimately, hopefully, loved.

[thewatermelloncat]

Powers Against the Father (Allison and Klaus)

Luther, Diego, Five, Ben, Vanya

Author’s Note: This one’s a little different. I combined Allison and Klaus into the same edition since this way I could create a more in-depth story. It might be a little hard to follow, though I tried to explain it as best I could in the story, but in quick summary: 

The siblings want to stop their father making a deal with a company who wants to hire them to steal artefacts from indigenous cultures for a museum exhibit.

Hope that helps ease confusion.

Warnings: Possibly one mild swear word.

Tag list: 

@lunamusamelark

@ll-short-breadstikz-ll

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“I don’t understand why Five can’t do it!” Klaus whispers harshly to his siblings as they stand in formation outside the door of their father’s office. Watching him greet the owner of a museum who has arrived for an off-the-record meeting.

“And hide where, Klaus?” Five whispers back to him. “You know dad has cameras everywhere, even in the cupboards.”

“I know you don’t want to do this, but you’re our only hope” Allison tells him from his other side.

“Our only hope” Klaus chuckles to himself, “how cliché.”

Before the conversation can continue their father steps forward with their guest and introduces each of them, giving a brief rundown of their powers. Sounding like he’s boasting but disappointed in them all the same. When it gets to each of their turns to be introduced, some of them smile out of politeness but Klaus averts his eyes and stares down at his hands fidgeting in front of him.

After their introductions are finished, their father dismisses them and invites the museum representative into his office to discuss business with him. When the door closes, they all relax their posture and form into a tight group as they make their way through the hallway away from the office.

“The whole mission is wrong; even the guy seems like a pompous arsehole” Vanya keeps her voice low as to not be heard by the adults through the wall.

“And since when are we in the business of stealing?” Allison adds.

“The old man probably just wants to keep some of the artefacts for himself” Diego points out and various hums sound from around the group.

“What’s so bad about it anyway?” Klaus asks. “Isn’t it the point that people can learn about the cultures in the exhibit? Learning is good isn’t it?”

“Oh, so stealing artefacts from them is okay then?” Allison’s voice drips in sarcasm and her hair swishes violently as she turns the corner, Luther leading them into a room near by the office.

“Come on, Klaus” Five begs, “I for one don’t want to go back to the ideals of colonialism.”

“What about you?” Klaus turns to Luther who took the lead in the siblings settling down on a range of furniture in the centre of the room. “You’re normally daddy’s right-hand man and you’re being awfully silent. Why aren’t you arguing about this?”

“Because I agree with it” Luther admits and Klaus’ fear sinks deeper into him.

“Klaus, we’re all against it and we know you are too” Ben says. “We know you don’t want to do it, but we’ll all be right here with you.”

“But using our powers against dad?” Klaus tries in vain.

“Oh, come on! We do it all the time” Diego reminds him. “Allison’s already agreed to her part if it comes down to it, and who are you to pass up an opportunity to mess with dad?”

Klaus draws in a deep breath tangling his hands in his hair. “All right, you’ve sold me. But it’s going to cost me greatly, emotionally.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Chairs creak as their occupants shift in them nervously, watching Klaus intently. His face is white and he would be sitting so still he may as well be a statue, if it weren’t for him shaking in fear. Behind his eyelids they can all see his eyes moving frantically, not wanting to see the ghosts he conjures. That’s the one solace to the plan, he doesn’t have to look at them, only hear them.

Still the sound of their voices, or maybe it is just their presence, makes him shake. Though he’s unaware of it, his siblings gradually place their hands on him as if they can hold him together. Of course, with the exception of Luther who is analysing the situation closely and Five who just doesn’t like physical contact, but they remain close by.

Klaus can’t hear the creaking of the chairs now that he has traded his hearing in the corporal plane for the depths of the realm of the dead. Only hearing the sounds of the ghosts yammering to him, screaming at him, until he can get them to settle down and hear him out. It may be his desperation to get this over with, but he manages to give out his instructions relatively quickly and feels their presence shift off into his father’s office.

Everything Klaus can hear through the ghosts he has stationed around his father’s desk sounds like it is underwater. Sometimes the connection cuts out for a few seconds and he wonders why they can be so loud in his ears when he doesn’t want them there, but so quiet when he needs them the most. He knows his father’s solution would be for him to practice more. Though he can understand enough to know when the earliest opportunity comes for him to tap out, and he takes it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

The breath he draws in when he surfaces is so deep that he would have fallen out of his chair if it weren’t for his siblings’ hands on him. Opening his eyes, he sees most of them huddled around him, Five and Luther stepping forward to close the gaps in the group.

None of them speak, waiting for him to make the first move. Initially he can’t find any words to speak and shakes his head while he slowly formulates them together. His siblings are happy to wait for him, watching him with varying looks of concern.

“They’re making a deal that dad can keep some of the artefacts” is all he can manage in the end. He wants to say more but he can’t function well enough with the voices of ghosts still echoing in his head.

Collectively his siblings sigh in a mix of defeat and frustration, Diego not even bothering to point out that he called it. Allison is the first one to pop up from the hanging heads, standing up and brushing off her skirt. “Right. Let’s get to it.”

Her words spark the group into action and they all, aside from Klaus, stand from their chairs and form a huddle.

Though they already know the plan, Luther runs them through it. “Vanya, Diego, go distract mum.”

They both nod and leave the room for the kitchen where they are sure they will find her. “How long do you need?” Vanya asks Allison as she brushes past her.

“Five minutes will probably do” she says.

“Keep her as long as you can” Luther instructs, which is probably unnecessary since Grace isn’t likely to interrupt them anyway, it’s just that they don’t want to risk it. “Ben, you stay with Klaus.”

Ben nods to him and sits back down next to Klaus who is no longer paying attention, before Luther gives out his last instruction. “Five, Allison, you’re with me.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Allison knows she isn’t as nervous as she should be. By far her and her siblings haven’t had the most normal of childhoods, but she knows that manipulating your parents isn’t considered appropriate.

Neither of the boys either side of her say anything as they walk down the hallway. She prefers it that way, giving her time rehearse the correct words to say to her father. Though in theory they should come to her easily now with all the training she’s been put through.

Coming to stop in front of the office door they look to each other and nod before Luther knocks on the polished wood.

Behind the door they can hear their father’s muffled voice complaining before angry footsteps make their way to the door. In preparation the three of them step back before the door swings open.

“What is the meaning of this?” their father hisses lowly at them.

“Mum is malfunctioning, sir” Luther lies far too easily for someone who often follows the rules.

“I have an important guest around. I will deal with it later” he snaps at them, his eyes flicking back to his guest standing alone by the mantelpiece. “In the meantime, shut her down.”

“We have tried already, sir. We didn’t want to disturb you if we didn’t need to” Five continues the lie. “We think it may be a loose wire in the control panel.”

Their father sighs deeply, seeming to buy into their lie as he internally debates which action to take.

“Five and I can show the representative around” Luther persuades. “Surely he’d like to see your collection of souvenirs from your travels in Africa.”

“Most certainly I would” the representative says, now standing in the centre of the room listening into their conversation. “We were just talking about your travels there, weren’t we Reginald?”

“Yes, that we were” Reginald replies, voice sounding distant as he thinks. “Very well then” he settles turning back to their guest. “I must apologise, I have a matter I must attend to. My children Number 1 and Number 5 will show you to the artefacts.”

Allison has to bite back a smirk at the distaste in which her father says ‘children.’ He must really want this deal if he’s putting up the front of a caring and attentive father. It’s gong to make it so much sweeter for her to break.

As their father and Luther trade places on either side of the office door, Luther flicks her a look with a nod of his head which she knows to mean good luck. She nods back to him before he turns around to follow Five already over shaking the representative’s hand, feigning politeness though Allison can see it’s completely conceited.

After her father follows along behind her, her face breaks out in a smile which she hopes he can’t see. This is all in her hands now.

She can feel adrenaline starting to pulse more heavily in her veins as she leads the way in rounding the corner to the main staircase. When they step out into the open space, she stops in front of him halting her father in his tracks.

His noise of startlement and frustration is ignored and before he can speak Allison beats him to it.

“I heard a rumour, that you refuse to take the deal.”

Her father freezes in his movements and his eyes glaze over as the words persuade him. Without a word he abruptly turns on his heels and marches back towards his office. Allison quickly follows after him, barely keeping up with his long strides.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Both Allison and Luther have to bite their lips against smiling as the museum representative rages at their father who seems utterly confused as to why he is not taking up the deal. Five stands with them off to the side, neutral faced. Already a master of controlling his expressions, though Allison can see a bright glint in his eyes.

They watch in amusement as the representative angrily shoves his papers back into his briefcase mumbling incomprehensibly about how confused he is as to why his nearly-to-be business partner backed out of the deal so suddenly. With a final clap of the briefcase closing and the latches snapping shut, he huffs and storms out of the room. Their father being the supposed proper gentlemen follows behind him to see him out, ignoring the complaints of the representative that he can find his own way.

The arguing of the two men draws the siblings out from their various places. Five, Luther and Allison follow behind them out of the office, stopping at the top of the stairs where they can see Diego and Vanya standing downstairs in the foyer beneath the door to the kitchen. Both looking at each other and trying not to laugh.

Looking back up across the railing to the other side of the staircase, Allison spots Ben leading Klaus out of the room they had settled in, dragging him by his arm. She’s glad to see that Klaus looks a lot brighter now, and when he looks up from watching their father disappear out of sight, he smiles at her.

She can’t help but beam back at him, throwing in a cheeky wink for good measure.

[astyle-alex]

[Fanfic] Museum Mishap | the BatFam

Heya! As we approach the End of 2020 (FINALLY), I’m realizing that this story is ridiculously close to reaching the milestone of 25k hits on Ao3. To celebrate, I’ll be posting the whole thing here on Tumblr!

(I would however, deeply appreciate it if y’all would pop over to view it on Ao3, briefly, so I can get the view counted as a hit and actually make it over the line for 25k in views before the close of 2020!)

Museum Mishap  |  Chapter 1/6

Fandom: the DC Universe, Batman & co. Pairings: Jay x Tim Characters: Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson Rating: Gen Audiences Warnings: None

Total Word Count: 38,590

Summary:

Middle-School Tim Drake is on a field trip to the Science Museum, but with a WE exhibition of top-secret new technologies being staged in the basement, Tim separates from his classmates and breaks into the staff-only areas by using the skills he's developed over years of stalking Batman and Robin.

Current-Robin Jason Todd catches him in the act, but he's not there to confront Tim for trespassing or truancy - he's there because there's a rumor on the street that Tim Drake knows Batman's real name. And the rumor's gaining ground, quick, drawing in the wrong kind of attention.

When a Drug-Lord decides to take the rumor seriously enough to kidnap the little genius, Jason jumps into the crossfire. It all goes downhill from there. Fast.

(Jason is 14, Tim is 12)

Chapter 1 : Special Access

           A trip to Gotham’s History of Science and Technology Museum would’ve been exciting for even your average twelve year old – it was a day of school that didn’t feel like school, and it meant a chance to hang out, relatively unsupervised, with your friends all day instead of just the one or two classes you managed to luck into having together.

           Timothy Jackson Drake was not your average twelve year old, and a trip to the SciTech Muse was the kind of thing that made his enrollment in middle school entirely worth it. For starters, it was an entire day spent in the heart of the city surrounded by some of the coolest artifacts of science humans could craft.

           And to make things even better, the trip was an all-day, delayed opening affair, starting at 10am and ending at 6pm – which meant he’d actually been able to get enough sleep last night to be well-rested, a rarity in its own right with his particular extra-curriculars. Better yet, he’d been able to tell the Drake housekeeper / nanny that he’d be having dinner with his class so she could go home right at 6 without having to wait for him to get back so she could cook for him.

           That part wasn’t true, of course, but he had concrete evidence that had been legitimately published by the school to help back up his story. Mrs. Simz had her own kid, and was therefore harder to convince than some of the others Tim’s parents had hired, but that also meant she had more reason to hurry home when presented with a believable reason excusing it.

           Being a sixth-grader meant Tim couldn’t just stay in the heart of the city when the field trip was over, he was on a rollcall and the bus back to Gotham Academy wouldn’t leave without his name getting checked off. The high schoolers were allowed to take public transit home if they had a signed permission slip from their parents, but Tim had to wait a few more years before he could con his way into having such freedoms.

           Still, getting over to the West Side from where his school was in Coventry would be far easier than getting there from the Drake Estate way out in Bristol. The extra hour and a half he’d save himself in commuting time mean he would be able to grab some coffee and something to eat without having to rush to get in place for the nighttime adventure he’d planned.

           Beyond all that, the fact that the field trip was this week, meant there was a special exhibition from the cutting-edge tech division of Wayne Enterprises in the midst of being set up. All the main components were being staged in the museum's basement and the ones too big to steal were as close to unprotected as they would ever be – and Tim intended to take full advantage of that.

           He’d been summarily and repeatedly denied acceptance to the WayneTech summer camps as his parents owned one of the company's main competitors: Drake Industries. Apparently corporate espionage was a big enough problem that even ten year olds were suspect. Tim found it ridiculous that the one time he would’ve been entirely okay with having his abilities underestimated was the one time he wasn’t assumed to be just another dumb kid. Honestly, Tim was pretty sure that no one had actually read his application – the computer had probably scanned his ID and kicked his profile out of the running before it had even made it to a human that might care about his actual qualifications.

           Tim hadn’t figured out how to make a bulletproof fake identity profile – not yet, at least – And he certainly wasn’t going to get caught trying to gain illegal access to WE on a sub-par fake ID. Because there were all kinds of ways that would go poorly for him – between his parents possibly being disappointed in him enough to hire a live-in Nanny to the legal ramifications he’d face, even as a minor, it just wasn’t worth it.

           But the thought of getting an up-close look at the new tech WE was rolling out still made Tim's heart pound like he’d just downed a full pot of coffee. WE took a very different approach to developing their tech than DI – more of a ‘you know what would be cool? can we make that reasonable?’ philosophy than a ‘how do we solve this problem?’ sort of thing. Tim found the both the WE approach and their results utterly fascinating.

           Not that Tim had been allowed to play with much of DI's tech, being that his parents would hear about him attempting to gain unsupervised lab access, and promptly ground him, and anyone who might supervise treated him like a kid far too young to understand or unobtrusively observe the work going on inside the places he wanted to see.

           So, the fact that a spectacular spread of WE tech was set up in the basement of a rather glaringly unsecured staff only area in the very building Tim’s class was touring stood as an open invitation for Tim to investigate.

           An invitation that Tim took very seriously. He’d spent at least 18 hours over the past week examining the museum’s blueprints – courtesy of the Gotham City Hall Public Archives – And the rundown of the security, both in terms of the human guards and staff on-hand and the electronic countermeasures – via close examination of the extensive repertoire of ‘insider access’ videos on the museum’s own webpage. Tim would probably end up sending the museum an anonymous suggestion about adjusting that at some point, but he’d worry about that later.

           After he used it to his tech fantasy fulfillment advantage.

           For now, he simply slipped away from the unwatchful eyes of his teachers, stuck headphones in his ears, and carefully made his way – casually, calmly, and like he had no destination in mind – over to the hallway by the cafeteria near the east wing gift shop. The hallway that had restrooms and a staff-only door halfway down it. A door secured with a heavy-duty machine-lock, with a ten-digit keypad, but a door that was not alarmed.

           The human guards were always more focused on preventing shoplifters from stealing over-priced – for a good cause, but still over-priced – museum memorabilia than on the high-traffic restroom hall by the cafeteria. Using his headphones as an excuse to tap his fingers to keep count – while his eyes and most of his brainpower focused on evaluating targets – Tim tracked the museum employees on their lunch breaks and calculated the best option to use as his ticket backstage. He had some in mind, but he had contingencies for last-minute adjustment.

           Tim settled on a big guy whose name he’d read on staff profiles but had forgotten with the other useless information provided about his role in the marketing department. What Tim hadn’t forgotten about him was that his department’s office was right by the staff door he was eyeing – 4.5 meters down and to the left, to be exact – which meant that, even with his slow stride, he would be behind another door in the hallway approximately 17 seconds after the door Tim needed closed behind him.

           When Mr. Marketing got up and lumbered over to the trash, Tim sidled over towards an informational sign with a museum map. As Mr. Marketing passed him, Tim counted off 4 seconds before he turned around to follow. He slid his hand into his pocket and wrapped his fingers around the u-shaped metallic magnet he'd had to smuggle in by jamming it into his mouth and using sleight of hand to pretend it was his retainer – Less than sanitary, but effective, and he’d taken an extra vitamin this morning as a precaution.

           Mr. Marketing punched in his code and pulled the door open to well over 90° before he lumbered through the gap. Tim kept his pace consistent; patient, he could be patient – even though it made his heart rate kick up uncomfortably as he put his faith in his calculations instead of in his feet. He reached the door with almost 6 inches of clearance left for him to slide his hand in and clip his magnet into place over the latch.

           The door closed as he withdrew his hand and kept walking, but it did not click.

           The machine lock whirred with an attempt to close, but its components struck the flat surface of his magnet and failed to properly secure the door. Had the door been alarmed, that would have drawn a lot of unwanted attention, but as it was Tim made it to the restroom with almost nothing noticeably amiss.

           The restroom was crowded enough that his entrance didn’t draw attention and he shut himself in one of the stalls to count off exactly 10 seconds. Then he washed his hands, acquired a paper towel that he did not immediately dispose of, and went to retrieve his magnet. The paper towel allowed him to grasp the handle without leaving fingerprints and he retrieved his magnet without incident – opening the door onto an empty hallway and promptly swerving right to access the unsecured stairwell he knew would be there.

           Tim had no way to hide himself from the singular security camera watching the hallway, but the area was so highly trafficked that he doubted any security guard had been monitoring closely enough to spot his detour. He would get in a ton of trouble if he was caught here – phone calls to his parents would be unavoidable and they’d likely be so angry at him they’d fly back from Spain a week early. But he’d almost certainly avoid any kind of legal consequences.

           Besides, he wasn’t going to get caught. He’d planned this too well for that.

           Tim made his way through the less convenient passageways in the museum’s basement until he reached the corner of the sub-basement where the WayneTech exhibit was being staged. It was, as he’d known it would be, isolated and completely vacant of staff.

           A smile split his face as the relief he felt in making it there successfully was quickly replaced by the buzz of unadulterated excitement. He set his backpack down carefully – mindful, as always, of his precious camera. Then he rolled up his sleeves as he stepped closer to the first machine he saw with the WE logo stamped proudly on its side.

           According to the signage prepped in the binder sitting next to the behemoth, it was a component of the quantum computer WayneTech was developing to facilitate physically interactive virtual realities. Tim bounced on his toes as he warred with himself – half wanting to read more about the technical specs and half wanting to dive right in and see it for himself.

           Tim made it through another two pages of engineering details before he gave up and literally tackled the machine to hoist himself up high enough to look inside via the glass panel built in for that specific purpose. There were at least a dozen windows in the casing and Tim wondered – for a brief moment of distraction from the tech itself as he clambered higher up its exterior – how the museum was going to work in ramps and such for visitors to get the best views. If he didn’t get arrested tonight or banned from the museum forever, he might have to come back to see it in its full glory.

           He’d finagled his way to the last protrusion from top and was marveling at the neat rows of complicated wiring laid out below him when something crucial changed: he discovered that he was not, in fact, alone.

           “Ya know, I don’t think you’re supposed to be down here.”

           Tim really wanted to pretend he didn’t yelp like a kicked puppy when the sudden voice scared him half out of his skin, but the basement echoed enough for him to know it would be ridiculous to think the newcomer hadn’t heard him. Tim ducked his head in shame as his ears burned red and he turned to face whoever had caught him with hunched shoulders and guilty hands raised in surrender.

           And then he spotted his accuser on the floor and froze.

           It was Jason Peter Todd.

           Jason Peter Todd – Bruce Wayne’s new ward and the new Robin. And also kinda Tim’s neighbor. Well, as far as the word ‘neighbor' applied when your respective estates were so big it took an hour to hike door to door. Tim’s brain got caught in a loop of wondering what the frack Jason Peter Todd, of all people, was doing at the museum on a Thursday afternoon. Was doing down here, in this particular sub-basement, on a Thursday afternoon.

           Tim had fully been expecting to see the new Robin today, but that was when he was in full costume and wasn’t supposed to be for at least ten more hours. And Tim had not – in any of his contingencies – planned for Robin to see him.

           “Uh, hi,” Tim floundered.

           “Hi,” returned the crime fighting teenager Tim idolized and had been planning to stalk through Coventry later today. There was a glint in his eyes as he stared up at Tim with a smirk.

           They stared at each other in silence for way longer than could possibly be considered reasonable and Tim's ears resumed to burn at that, and at the distinct realization he had no idea what to say next.

           Because what exactly are you supposed to say when Jason Peter Todd catches you red handed in an off-limits part of a museum? Sitting on top of a piece of cutting edge computer engineering that you had absolutely no right to touch?

           “You're Tim Drake, aren’t you,” Jason asked – in a way that was definitely not really a question and also made it clear that Jason was laughing at him. “We met last month at the charity gala. I’m Jason.”

           “I remember, Mr. Todd,” Tim spouted, falling back on the robotic safety net of manners his mother had drilled into him. “Um, what brings you here?”

           “It’s just ‘Jason’, kid.” He jerked his chin at the machine Tim clung to, continuing, “That shit’s WayneTech. B sent me over to make sure it’s got all the right bits with it.”

           Tim nodded like a puppet, trying not to drown in his horror as he realized what it meant that Jason had caught him. He was messing with tech that Batman owned. There were probably a hundred undetectable BatSecurity features on this thing. Robin had probably been sent to see if someone was trying to steal it when one of Batman’s invisible alarms had gone off.

           “How about you, kid,” Jason asked, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his cargo pants. He regarded Tim with openly amused parody as he asked, “What brings you here?”

           “Field trip,” Tim responded automatically.

           “Field trip?” Jason echoed with an incredulous chuckle.

           He stared at Tim for another long moment and Tim stared back, terrified and unblinking and too tongue tied to substantiate his claim.

           “Alright then,” Jason said eventually, with a one shoulder shrug inside his leather jacket. “So, you got yourself stuck up there or are you gonna come have lunch with me?”

           “Lunch?”

           “Yeah, ya know, food. You eat it,” Jason explained. “I know I could use some pizza.”

           Tim frowned – at the confirmation of the non-sequitur of lunch plans, not the various insults attached to it.

           Jason seemed to falter briefly. “You actually stuck up there, Tim?”

           “No,” Tim huffed, willing to admit he sounded slightly petulant about it.

           “Well then get your skinny ass down here,” Jason prompted – a beat too late in a way Tim didn’t quite understand. He blinked, trying to puzzle out what didn’t sit right, but Jason arched an eyebrow – in the way Tim had seen him do as Robin, magically managing the expression despite the mask – and Tim realized he was supposed to be doing something.

           He was already in enough trouble as it was, so Tim scrambled down the computer and found himself face to face with the second Robin. Or face to chest, as it were.

           Tim hadn’t hit his growth spurt yet, so he knew he was a scrawny twelve, but he hadn’t thought Jason would be that much taller. Jason was only two years older and he was stocky to start with. It was different when he’d been in the suit he’d worn for the charity gala. In civvies he looked broad and strong, and he stood up straighter.

           Jason pulled one hand from his pocket and threw his arm around Tim’s shoulders – began dragging him towards the exit. Tim lunged for his backpack as they passed it and clutched it close to his chest as Jason continued to drag him back upstairs.

           They ended up in the west cafeteria, in a corner that Jason had clearly selected for it’s state of semi-privacy. It was crowded and public enough to make raised voices problematic, but private enough to discuss sensitive details without much worry of being over heard. And it was neutral ground, like Jason was trying to make Tim comfortable before hashing out exactly how much trouble he was in for touching Batman’s stuff without express permission.

           Jason had acquired a large pizza, dripping with extra cheese and a blanket of peperoni, and two double-thick paper plates – one of which he piled high with three slices and placed in front of Tim. He gave himself five slices and settled down to chat having somehow already inhaled half of a sixth.

           “So,” Jason started around a mouthful of food as Tim poked tentatively as his own serving, “Some people are saying you’ve got some sort of connection to the Batman.”

           Tim frowned, his gaze snapping up to evaluate Jason.

           He’d spoken quietly, conspiratorially – like he wanted in on a secret Tim had. Like he wasn’t about to threaten to hang Tim by his thumbs in the depths of Batman’s secret lair for the rest of the foreseeable future.

           Awareness that Jason didn’t know that Tim knew his vigilante identity sparked inside Tim’s brain. He might be able to get out of this. If Robin didn’t know then Tim was only in trouble for touching the quantum computer because Batman didn’t want anyone touching it, and Jason was limited in how he could exact vengeance because the wrong move would reveal his role as Robin. All Tim had to do was talk his way out of this.

           Tim could do that. Right?

           All he had to do was figure out how.

           “I’m sorry I touched the quantum computer,” he blurted.

           Probably not like that.

           Tim hunched down into his shoulders and poked again at his pizza to avoid eye contact with Jason. His ears began to burn again as he felt Jason staring at him.

           “Shit, kid,” Jason said, after swallowing his bite this time, “You’re not in trouble.”

           Tim’s finger paused mid-poke. “I’m not?”

           “Nah,” Jason promised. “Fuck the Man.”

           Tim blinked. “Then why are you talking to me?”

           Jason blinked. A sort of confused expression that was vaguely pitying flickered across his face. Then he reiterated, “’Cause I hear you know who the Batman is, ya know, under the cowl.”

           Okay. So, Jason didn’t know he knew, but he suspected.

           Tim could work with that. Probably.

           He took a bite of pizza purely to keep himself from blurting anymore unhelpful apologies and attempted to calculate the best response.

           “Nobody knows who Batman is,” Tim said eventually.

           “But you’re a fan, right?” Jason nodded at Tim sweater – at the big black and yellow R embroidered on the left-hand side of the red-wool knitwork. Mrs. Davis had made this sweater for him, before her kids had insisted that she retire from babysitting rich Gotham kids and go be a grandmother in the safety and comfort of their town in Florida. Mrs. Davis had been one of the very few people who had supported Tim’s moderately obsessive interest in Batman and Robin.

           She hadn’t really understood, but Tim missed her – missed being able to talk about it.

           “You’ve gotta have some theories,” Jason was saying, his voice persistent enough to pull Tim back out from inside his own head.

           “I don’t have any theories,” Tim said. And it was true enough. He’d had theories. But that was before. Now, he had evidence. Another bite of pizza kept him from saying that out loud.

           “Seriously? None?”

           Tim shrugged and counted the circles of peperoni left on his first slice. Nine more circles, fifteen more bites. His stomach was already wary of the food he was putting in it. If this interrogation lasted more than ten bites, Tim’s stomach would probably begin to protest.

           Adamantly.

           He peeked up at Jason. Who was somehow already finishing slice number three.

           “Then why’s the word on the street that you’ve got insider know-how on ole Batsy?”

           “I dunno,” Tim said with another shrug. Truthfully, the question was bothering him too.

           Tim had never been seen when he’d staked out a spot to catch the dynamic duo on patrol or in the midst of a big bust. Never. They would’ve confronted him then and there if they’d ever found him with a camera full of very clear photos of them in action.

           So, how did Robin know enough to suspect him?

           “Who’d you hear it from?”

           This time, Jason shrugged. “I dunno. People. But like seriously, you don’t have any fucking idea why someone would think you know Batman’s real name?”

           Tim shook his head silently. He wanted to save his pizza for the questions that really needed him to have something to do with his mouth other than blabbing out his secrets.

           “Huh.”

           Jason’s eyes were narrowed, not quite threateningly, but pressingly – like he wasn’t quite sure a threat would be appropriate, but he was certain that Tim wasn’t telling the truth. It was another look Tim had captured him using as Robin. A kind of gentled-down BatglareTM for Robin to use on uncooperative victims instead of how Batman used his on uncooperative criminals – because victims could be uncooperative for all kinds of non-criminal reasons.

           Tim suddenly understood why it was so effective.

           He squirmed in his seat and caved to the need to take another bite of pizza.

           But he wasn’t a victim. Was he?

           Suddenly, Robin’s presence at the museum seemed a lot more suspect. It made sense for Robin to be there because Tim had triggered some sort of invisible Batalarm on the quantum computer, but he’d gotten there way too quickly for that to have been what brought him to the museum initially. He’d’ve had to have already been inside the building.

           But why?

           Tim’s class had been scheduled for this museum trip over a month ago. He’d even talked about it briefly with Bruce Wayne himself at the charity gala he’d attended with his parents – that’s how he’d known about the WayneTech exhibition far enough in advance to plan effectively to sneak down to the basements.

           “When’d you start hearing that rumor?”

           Tim’s question was so sudden and loud in his own ears that he startled himself.

           He seemed to have startled Jason too – who was starting on pizza slice number five and appeared to have been in the middle of a sentence when Tim had jolted into questioning him.

           “Uh, about a week ago, I guess,” Jason explained. “Your name had come up a few times before that in regards to you being a fan, but it wasn’t too long ago that it changed to you having special access or some shit.”

           Tim nodded absently.

           Two weeks ago, there’d been a major drug bust in a neighborhood just over half a mile away from his school. Batman had been tipped off about the drug ring in the same way Tim had: kids who came to school high rode the bus home and the chalk marks on the benches at the stops used by the kids who were using weren’t terribly sophisticated code.

           Tim had snagged some really spectacular shots the night that bust went down.

           Several of Tim’s classmates had exhibited symptoms of withdrawal shortly after that. A few of those students – namely some who’d never seemed to be able to have a civil conversation or simply let Tim pass in silence – had stopped exhibiting those symptoms a few days later. Tim had assumed they’d found a new dealer.

           Maybe they’d needed to find something more valuable to trade too, to make up for getting their old dealer busted.

           Info on the Bat who’d busted them would be pretty valuable.

           Even just a lead on info would’ve been valuable. Tim had been outright stalking Batman and Robin for over a third of his entire lifespan, at this point, and only just recently figured out who Batman really was. And he was a verified genius who’d happenstantially acquired the right life experiences to recognize things like quadruple somersaults. Who’d circumstantially idolized and stalked two different costumed acrobats for several years before he realized they were actually the same person and begun to extrapolate from there.

           Nobody knew anything about Batman.

           A tip on someone who might, would be very valuable indeed.

           Tim was being interrogated by Robin because he was a victim. He just hadn’t been victimized quite yet.

           Tim dropped his pizza like it’d burned him and began to rifle through his backpack for the new cellphone his mother had bought him when school started. It was ‘so he could fit in with his peers’. It was too big to fit in his pocket and he’d never liked wearing a watch, so he’d had to dig to find it and figure out the time.

           It was 4:32pm.

           Shift change for the guards was in less than an hour and they were already definitely antsy for it. Most of the science staff were already heading home to beat the traffic, and most of the new guards wouldn’t be coming in for at least another twenty minutes.

           If Tim were going to lead a team to invade this place and capture an unwilling potential asset, he would do it in the next ten to fifteen minutes.

           “We have to get out of here.”

           Jason frowned, his confusion pronounced with wary unease. But he demonstrated a willingness to trust Tim at his word for no other reason than Tim wanted him to and clambered to his feet. He took his last slice of pizza with him though – and nabbed the two untouched pieces from Tim’s plate as he followed.

           “What’s wrong, Tim,” Jason asked, carefully nonchalant. His hands were full of pizza in the way Tim’s mouth had been to stop him from doing what he wanted to do when asked a stupid question he should’ve known better than to answer – Tim suspected that if Jason wasn’t holding onto the pizza he’d’ve grabbed Tim’s shoulder at this point.

           Tim didn’t know how to answer at all, let alone efficiently communicate what he’d deduced about their current situation. Especially not without revealing that he knew Jason was Robin and could guess why Robin was here talking to him to begin with.

           Jason was rapidly eating though the pizza that was keeping him from grabbing onto Tim’s arm to stop their not-so-subtle scramble towards the museum’s main exit. They made it to within sight of the doors before Jason had inhaled the last piece of crust, and Tim had probably ignored several unheard comments and questions about their rapid egress, when Jason finally lost the battle to avoid physical contact and wrapped his hand around Tim’s elbow.

           Tim swung around to face him as his inertia asserted dominance.

           “Timmy, what’s got you so spooked?” Jason asked. “C’mon. You can tell me. Anything. I won’t rat on you, even if it’s something bad. Lemme help.”

           “I can’t – it’s not – You don’t,” Tim could practically feel the whine building in his voice at all the false starts that his brain attempted to send through his mouth to make the act of communication happen. His brain apparently thought it worked something like magic.

           Tim was frustrated and embarrassed and still very acutely aware of the fact that they needed to get out of the building. Right now.

           And Jason was doing the Robin look, the other one – the one for the scared little bunnies of the victims they came across that needed to be soothed and calmed and promised that they had a friend somewhere in the cold cruel world. Tim knew why it worked – felt it working on him – and yet he was mortified that Robin thought it necessary.

           He wasn’t a bunny. He was an asset. Currently being targeted.

           Recentered, he focused and forced words to come out of his mouth intelligibly.

           “We have to get out of the building.”

           Jason had moved to holding onto both of Tim’s shoulders at some point – holding him steady, holding him still. He looked Tim right in the eye and asked gently, “Why?”

           The words got jammed up in Tim’s throat again and he squeaked.

           And then the museum’s windows exploded inward with a dramatic shower of glass and gunfire as more goons than Tim could count began to repel their way inside.

           Tim closed his eyes and winced at the bite of regret on how fracking close they’d been to getting out of this without any major complications.

           “That’s why,” he groaned.

-----

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[sorceress-coffee]

Waka Chaka

AO3 Link

I was excited about our trip to the museum today, Mr. Strickler’s classes had been invited to the new exhibits that opened. We were all standing in a group on the steps of the museum, while Ms. Nomura, the museum curator, was telling us about the exhibit.

 “I know contemporary media might lead you to believe European history is full of swords, sorcery, and scandal. I assure you the truth is far more interesting, and there’s no better place to start than Renaissance Era pottery.” She exclaimed. I could instantly tell what her favorite pieces of the museum were. Eli and I were the only students that were excited to hear what Ms. Nomura had to say.

 Mr. Strickler interrupted her at the groans of his students, “Since we have limited time, Ms. Nomura, perhaps it’s best if they explore the museum on their own. Don’t you think?”

 I was pulled in by a sudden rush of students, past Mr. Strickler and Ms. Nomura. I sighed following Jim and Toby around for a while before stopping at the Renaissance Era pottery exhibit that Ms. Nomura had mentioned. Walking in I found Ms. Nomura rearranging one of the exhibits. “You were right, this is an incredible place to start,” I comment, smiling, looking over the artwork etched into the pottery.

 Ms. Nomura smiled and walked over to the piece I was admiring. “That is a midnight vase, depicting monsters that were rumored to awaken at midnight and hunt humans.” She explained, pointing to the different markings that look like paintings of trolls. She stepped closer to me and stiffened, eyes going wide as she turned to stare at me.

 I frowned in concern, “Ms. Nomura? Are you alright?” I asked she seemed to be in shock.

 She coughed stepping back, rubbing her nose slightly, “Sorry, I seem to be sensitive to you perfume,’ she explained, sneezing into her arm. “If you’ll excuse me.” She turned, heading over to Mr. Strickler to talk to him.

 I was left very confused; I wasn’t wearing perfume. The only thing different from my normal body wash was Draal scenting me last night. I wondered if humans could smell it too. I walked off to find Jim and Toby, running into Toby first, “Hey Tobes, do I smell funny or something?” I asked.

 Toby gave me an odd look before sniffing near me. “No, what did you forget to shower or something?” He joked, walking around the museum with me.

 “No,” I snickered ruffling his hair, “I think the curator might be allergic to me, she said she was sensitive to my perfume but I’m not wearing any,” I explained as we passed Eli trying to talk a group of students into believing monsters existed again.

 “That’s weird,” Toby began, cutting off when Eli mentioned having photographic evidence. “Hey Eli, can we see?” Toby asked, taking his phone before Eli could answer.

 We looked at the photo and saw a flattened, definitely troll related monster in a selfie with Eli. “Oops!” Toby said, deleting the picture before handing it back to Eli. “Darn these stubby little fingers, gotta go!” He yelled, dragging me along to find Jim.

 We found Jim flirting with Claire over by a case holding a gown. “We have a problem,” Toby told Jim quickly.

 Jim glanced between us and Claire. “What kind of problem?” he asked.

 I quickly pulled Claire away, asking her about the play and how rehearsal was going.

 Toby gave Jim a quick rundown and we left him to flirt with Claire for the rest of the afternoon.

 Once out of school, we left for Trollmarket to let Blinky and Arrrgh know what we found. As we entered, Draal was at the steps waiting for me.

 Jim jumped back, not expecting to see Draal, “D-Draal! The um… Sun is out, so… uh, yeah,” he said quickly.

 I rolled my eyes, having had enough of skirting around Draal and Jim, especially since Draal was now courting me. “Relax Jim, Draal’s meeting with me. We’re training.” Draal looked at me surprised; having known I was nervous about letting Jim know.

 “You’re training with him?” Toby asked, stunned. “But he hates Jim!”

 Jim looked between us, obviously still on edge with Draal around. “Toby, it’s fine.” He remarked quickly, trying to calm his friend.

 “How can you be fine with this? You’re fighting him in two days!” Toby remarked.

 “I trust River, that’s why. If she trusts Draal, that’s good enough for me.” He smiled, clasping my shoulder before looking to Draal. “Can you hold off on training? We need to talk to Blinky, there’s a troll related problem on the surface.” Jim asked, trying to be civil.

 Draal eyed him for a moment before nodding, “Very well. I will accompany you.”

 Toby glared at him; arms crossed over his chest. “Oh, I trust River, but I trust Draal about as far as she can throw him.” He remarked, clueless.

 “Then you must have a great deal of trust in me fleshbag,” Draal smirked heading down the gem steps to Trollmarket.

 “Wait, what?” Jim asked, looking to me in shock. “You can throw him?!”

 I shrugged, “I’m not exactly human, remember? My skill set is very different.” I said, following after Draal. Toby and Jim following behind us, into Trollmarket.

 Looking around I realized the trolls were staring at me as they had when they saw us for the first time in Trollmarket, complete disbelief. My face heated slightly, realizing this was their reaction to Draal scenting me.

 Jim and Toby were looking at the Trolls confused, “What’s going on? Everyone’s acting strange?” Jim asked.

 Draal took notice, growling as he slammed his fist against the ground, causing the trolls to look away quickly and resume their activities. “It’s not your concern, fleshbag.” He led us into Blinky’s library quickly.

 Arrrgh looked up confused seeing Draal enter with us. Sniffing the air, he shook his head with a small smile. Well, that’s one less troll I had to deal with giving me strange looks. Blinky turned, sniffing the air, jaw-dropping as he looked to all four of us, “You can’t be serious!” He barked out.

 I winced, stepping closer to Draal who gave a low growl. Blinky waved him off, huffing as he handed Arrrgh a smelly bag, most likely filled with socks. I tilt my head in confusion at the exchange. Arrrgh just grins saying “Bet,” not needing to explain further.

 Draal huffed, leaning over me slightly. He was irritated, realizing that Arrrgh and Blinky as made a bet concerning us and courting.

 “Okay, what is going on?” Jim asked, looking between the four of us.

 “Don’t you have something to discuss with Blinkous? Or did you stall our training to waste time?” Draal growled out.

 I walked to Blinky, explaining the photo Eli took. “It was small, green, and slimy, and it wasn’t a dead cat.”

 Blinky frowned, rubbing his chin in thought. “I may know the creature that met its untimely demise in front of your friend’s home. The sun is setting soon, we should go check, just to make sure.” He stated.

 “How bad is it Blinky?” I didn’t like his expression; Eli was a friend and I had a sense he was in danger.

 Draal nudged my arm, “Why don’t you go with them? You’re worried about the fleshbag, we can afford to take a break from training tonight.”

 I smiled and nodded quickly. “Thank you Draal.”

 “Let’s hurry, we don’t have time to waste,” Blinky said, rushing Jim and Toby out of the library, Arrrgh right behind them.

 “I’m right behind!” I called, hugging Draal tight when they were all out, “Thank you Draal, Eli’s a friend. Stupidly oblivious to danger too.”

 He snorts, nuzzling my cheek, “Sounds like you. Hurry, if this is what I think it is, his life could be at risk.” Draal nudges me to the door. “Keep your guard up.”

 I nod and quickly take off, catching up to the others quickly as we head out of Trollmarket and into the suburbs of Arcadia Oaks.

 Toby led us to Eli’s house, pausing as we neared the green smear in the road. “Voila!” He said as Jim grabbed a stick and began poking it.

 “Not voila. Goblin.” Arrrgh stated.

 “Goblin?” Jim asked pulling back.

 “Ruthless tricksters,” Blinky began to explain. “Petty street vandals who leave a wake of destruction. This is not good.” He stood up, hand on his hips.

 “Well, justice was served. We should get back and train for Draal.” Jim said, tossing the stick.

 “Oh, no, Master Jim. Where there is one, there are many. And, as for the unfortunate soul who ran over this small fellow, may Skaargen’s swift blade have mercy!” Blink spat in two of his hands, rubbed them together, and hit one over his chest.

 “And why is that?” I asked, worried for Eli.

 “Naturally, goblin payback is ten-fold,” Blinky stated.

 “There’s a delivery note on the door! What if, the goblin got ran over by the delivery truck?” Toby asked, thrusting the not out to us.

 Jim took the note reading it over. “If the delivery driver is coming back at eight, we will be here. I’m not gonna let some poor guy become goblin chow on my watch.” Jim stated, determined.

 “Master Jim, answering the call!” Blinky threw his hands up, grinning.

 “So cool. Stakeout!” Toby was bouncing with excitement, “Past my curfew!” he yelled, throwing his hands up.

 Blinky and Jim were hiding behind a bush, watching the front of the house, Arrrgh and Toby were staking out to the left, behind a fence, and I was on the right, sitting up in a tree for a better view, keeping my guard up as Draal had instructed. It was well past time for the delivery driver to show.

 “Hey, Tobes, all clear. How’s it going over there?” Jim’s voice called through the walkie talkie hooked to my belt.

 “All good in the hood, Trollhunter” came Toby’s out of breath voice, “except that I can’t stop moving. My love of stakeouts is being ruined by my overwhelming need to obtain swag. Other than that, nothing unusual.” Toby’s voice came through, Arrrgh in the background calling Toby unusual. “War hammer, to Midnight, how about there? Out.”

 I rolled my eyes at the walkie talkie before grabbing it, “I’m assuming you mean me,” Looking up I spot the truck coming down the street. “The truck is pulling up, out.” I looked around see movement, grabbing the binoculars I began to survey the area, we were surrounded. “Jim, they’re everywhere!” I called quickly, pressing further against the tree as the goblins broke the street lights.

 “Stay down and don’t make a sound,” Blinky called, whispering, “in their frenzied state they’ll attack anything in their path.”

 The Goblin charged and began to attach the truck.

 “Unexpected, their dispute isn’t with the driver at all, but rather the transportation that had flattened their kinsman,” Blinky called. “You must not be afraid Master Jim!”

 “I thought the first rule of troll hunting was to always be afraid,” Jim stated, confused.

 Arrrgh’s voice met the fray, “Trolls, not goblins.”

 “Goblins crave the pheromone of terror,” Blinky explained, “an odor you appear to be releasing quite generously.”

 “They smell fear?” I asked. Staring at the little green terrors, trying to keep calm.

 “Oh, no, I can smell it too!” Toby rang over the walkie talkies.

 “Then stop, or they will eat you!” Blinky whisper shouted as Toby let out another scream, catching the goblins’ attention. “Run!” Blinky yelled.

 I jumped out of the tree quickly running after everyone, lance at the ready. Arrrgh grabbed Jim and me as we ran and threw us on his back, out of the goblin’s reach.

 Toby’s chubby tracker began to beep, alerting him to a free t-shirt as a goblin jumped up and grabbed him, pulling him down. “Toby!” I yelled, Jim grabbed his legs and I used the blunt end of my lance to knock the goblin off of Toby.

 We ended up running for Toby’s house, jumping off of Arrrgh’s back, I took a defensive stance as Toby struggled to unlock the door. As the goblins began to climb into the backyard, I bared my teeth in a snarl, ready to fight. Toby finally unlocked the door as the goblins closed in. Toby, Jim, and Blinky ran in. Arrrgh grabbed me by the hood of my jacket and dragged me in before forcing himself through the doorway.

 We headed upstairs and Toby sat on his bed, stress eating. I sat with him, stealing the apple on top.

 “I’m sorry master Jim, but your town is infested!” Blinky exclaimed, grabbing Jim’s shoulders.

 “Okay, trolls, I can deal with because, at least, trolls stay underground. But goblins? I don’t even have the bandwidth to-” Jim began before Toby interrupts him.

 “Jim, we gotta get my chubby tracker back. As long as they’ve got it, they’re just gonna get stronger and faster.” He said, picking through the snacks.

 Arrrgh took the bowl away from Toby. “Must find the den.” He explains before eating the bowl.

 “Yes, and eradicate them at once before they seek their revenge.” Blink stated gravely.

 “Revenge?” I asked, biting into the apple.

 “On you three,” Blinky says, “and they now know where Tobias lives.”

 “So, we find their den, you must have some idea,” Jim states, plopping on the bed next to me.

 “Haven’t the foggiest.” Blink states before Chompsky’s chattering caught his attention, he kneels to peer inside the dollhouse. “Great Gronka Mora! What is the gnome doing in this dollhouse?!” He asks dramatically, pointing to the dollhouse as he backs away, yelling.

 “You told me to take care of the gnome, so we’re taking care of it,” Jim stated.

 “This is in direct violation of rule number two!” Blinky starts to lecture.

 “Not really, the rule only states he has to finish the fight, how he finishes it isn’t stated, so it’s really up for interpretation,” I speak up quickly.

 “And rule number one is to always be afraid, except if you’re around goblins ‘cause they smell fear.” Jim stand, throwing his hands up as he begins pacing. Going off on how he doesn’t understand the rules.

 Blinky sighs, “I can only advise, not make your decisions for you. You are a human; you are learning the rules in your own way.” He nods. “Arrrgh and I will seek out this den, wherever it may be.”

 “Wouldn’t it be easier to track the chubby tracker and monitor where they’re staying the longest?” I speak up, all four boys turning to me, stunned.

 “Why didn’t I think of that?” Toby whacked his head.

 Jim grins, “you need to come on more missions River!” he says, getting the tracking info from Toby.

 “Sure, be we need to get some sleep. We have to go to class in a few hours.” I said standing. “good night guys!” I said, walking home with Jim, we crashed on the couch, deciding it would be better in case the goblins tried attacking tonight.

 After school the next day we had tracked the goblins to the museum, once the sun was down, we headed over to check it out. Toby pointed to the roof, “check it out! They’re already here! Let’s go,” he said quickly, not wanting to go inside.

 We were about to turn when I spotted Ms. Nomura walking into the museum. “Oh, no! It’s Ms. Nomura! She has no idea it’s infested; we have to help her.” I said quickly.

 Jim nodded as Toby went on a tangent of what goblins could do to her. We snuck in through an open window, staying low as we went through the museum looking for her. We ran into a couple of goblins patrolling and quickly hid behind a display. Jim and I were watching the goblins as Toby began to whimper, whacking at my arm. He began to stutter, saying Ms. Nomura’s face was ugly and troll-like. I rolled my eyes at him, thinking he was stressed from the goblins walking around.

 Right as the goblins were leaving, Toby’s phone began to go off as the chubby tracker app alerted him to another free item.

 “Turn it off!” Jim whispered yelled to Toby.

 “I’m trying!” Toby yelled back, quietly.

 As I looked behind the pillar to see the goblins, I felt a presence behind us.

 A low chuckle sounded from behind us. “I knew I detected the stink of teenage flesh.” I whipped around to see Ms. Nomura had turned into a troll. Toby and Jim screamed, taking off running. I snarled quickly following after them into a curtained off room, lance out I took a defensive stance. “but a human Trollhunter and a witch, that I’ve never tasted.” Nomura snarled, closing in on us.

 I swung my lance down, forcing her back so Jim could armor up. “Then let’s see how you like the taste of Daylight.” Jim taunted, pulling the amulet out, donning the armor quickly. He slashed daylight at her and she caught it easily, cackling at Jim’s effort. “What are you?” He asked, stunned.

 “I’m what kills you!” She snarled, using the blade to slam Jim into the floor.

 “Get away from him!” I yelled, lunging at her, blade dragging on the floor before sweeping up throwing her across the room.

 Jim and I switched back and forth as she charged, easily taking us both on. She slammed me into a stone structure hidden in the room, knocking the wind out of my lungs, I groaned collapsing to the floor. She turned on Jim, stalking forward and the goblins flanked her. A tapestry had fallen on Jim during the fight. He groaned, sitting up, facing Nomura as she cackled.

 “This was fun. Now, you’re history.” She sneered, blades poised to strike, kicking Daylight out of Jim’s hand. “All that fancy armor and you’re just a scared little boy.” She cackled.

 Toby was helping me to my feet, I screamed as Nomura made to strike, trying to rush forward.

 Jim smirked, grabbing the tapestry “Arrogance gets you killed!” He yelled, pulling the tapestry out from under Nomura’s feet, causing her to land on a goblin, killing it. The other goblins began to snarl, attacking Nomura for killing their kinsmen.

 “Let’s go!” Jim yelled, helping Toby stabilize me, getting us out of the museum quickly.

 Next thing I know, we’re being arrested.

[phoenixfox56]

What Are Friends For?

Rating - Mature (For suggestive themes)

Note - I wholeheartedly believe Leo and Bertrand were good friends before Leo abdicated and Bertrand was still fun.

Prompt - Day 23 @choicesdecemberchallenge ‘Friendship'

Summary - Bertrand needs a little help with a surprise anniversary gift for Savannah. He knows the perfect person to help him ... Leo!

Word Count - 1,717

--------------------

I was pacing my study uncharacteristically. I couldn't sit still. My thoughts were running through my mind and yet I kept hitting a brick wall.

"It must be perfect." I mumbled to myself. I paused realizing how Maxwell I must have looked. I moved over to my desk. With an exaggerated sigh I sat, placed my forearms on my desk and rested my head in my hands. I had to slow down. Take it step by step. I knew I was going to have trouble but I never thought it would be this bad. I could plan the whole day, yet for the life of me could not end the evening. Then I had a thought.

"Maybe I should get help. But who could help me with something like this? Someone who understands the situation. Someone who know me well enough. Someone who could keep it to themself. A master at the art of seduction."

That's when it hit me. I picked up my phone and dialed the number. After a couple rings he picked up.

"Hello Leo."

"Hey Bert. What's new?"

I ignore the use of a nickname.

"I could really use your assistance. Could you possibly come by Ramsford at your earliest?"

"Anything for you pal. I'll be right over."

I could almost hear the smirk on his face. I hang up and placed my phone down. I groan and drop my head again.

"I'm going to regret this." I thought ruefully.

A few hours later I greeted Leo in the driveway.

"There he is!" He proclaimed. I put my hand out to shake his but he instead wrapped me in his arms. I stiffened in his embrace. Not much of a hugger, I patted him a couple times on the back until he released me.

"So, what's going on? You seemed desperate over the phone."

"Please, let us discuss this in the study." I escort him to my study. Stepping aside to let him walk in before me, I shut the door behind myself. Before I have the door fully closed Leo already has a drink in his hand. He drops into a chair as I take my own.

"Okay. I'm in the study. Want to tell me what's going on now?"

"First I must ask that you keep this whole thing to yourself. Promise me you will not tell anyone I sought your assistance for this particular task." I ask sternly. Leo and I have known each other since we were young boys. I am very aware of the way he handles situations. I know his tells. So I study his face intently awaiting his answer.

"Of course Bert. You have my word. Cross my heart and all that." He shrugs nonchalantly, taking a sip of his drink. My eyes narrow at him.

"Secondly, my name is Bertrand. If you don't plan on using my proper title you can at least use my proper name."

"Aaaaaand we are off to a great start already. I don't think you asked me here to school me on your name."

"Fine. Here it is ..." I pause. An unwillingness to proceed halts my actions. I must do this. Just get it out there and get it over with.

"Savannah and I's one year anniversary is in a couple of days and I wanted it to be perfect. I have a whole romantic day planned. I want to end the day a little more... Intimately. But I seem to be falling short on that front. Hence why I have asked you here." I took a breath. He looked back at me with widened eyes for a second. Then lifted his glass for another sip. His eyes still trained on me. I saw the corner of his mouth twitch upwards. I glared at him. He was clearly trying to hide his amusement at my request. He finished his glass and took a large breath before answering.

"Alright. Alright, I understand. This is important. Why don't you break down the day first. What have you put together so far?" He sat forward looking at me earnestly. It made me relax a little.

"Maxwell and Riley have agreed to take Bartie for a couple nights. That clears the entire day for us to have together. I have breakfast set to be delivered to her in bed. Then I have scheduled a private tour of the new exhibit at the art museum. We will have a picnic in the park, take a stroll through the shopping district, and when we return I have a grand dinner planned on the back veranda. Then, this is where your help would be implemented." I was racking my brain for an idea. The perfect end to a day that means everything to me. Leo stares at me for a few seconds. Seeming to be in thought.

"Okay, next we need to figure out a theme. Or something she is interested in. Or something special to both of you. Can you think of anything like that?"

"Uh... Well. Hmm..." I felt utterly foolish. How could I not answer those questions.

"Here how about this, you want something to symbolize your wedding? Something that represents the two of you?"

"Yes, exactly."

"Your wedding was in Texas? At the Walker ranch, Where Savannah spent some time as a child?"

"Yes, and?.."

"Isn't it obvious?" I looked at him blankly, hoping he would understand my silence. He seemed to take the hint and continued.

"We are going to make you a sexy cowboy." He was smirking. I hated that smirk and he knew it. It got us into trouble many times when we were younger.

"That sounds all well and good but I wore traditional cowboy garb leading up to our wedding day."

"Oh no. You don't seem to be understanding. There wont be anything traditional about this. I doubt we will find anything on premise either. So let us go to a little shop I happen to know of and get you all suited up. I'll explain my idea on the way."

I huffed but reluctantly agreed. If anyone knew these things it would be Leo. I had to trust him. As we rode to a store I could have sworn was an abandoned building he told me the plan. After the dessert course I was to excuse myself. I would change into whatever it is Leo finds and return back to Savannah on horse. After that Leo explained how I would have to wing it depending on Savannah's reaction. It made me nervous not knowing precisely what I should do but I tried to implement some faith in myself. For now, I steeled myself for this little adventure. We walked around the small store, Leo looking more intently than I. He seemed to be on a mission, while I was just trying to hide the fact that my face was as red as a Cordonian ruby apple. There was so much lace this and see through that. Straps and ropes and chains, it was a bit much for me. Luckily Leo knew where he needed to look. He found something he thought suitable. I on the other hand was unconvinced. He picked out what appeared to be equestrian chaps, a cowboy vest and some rope. He tried getting a ridiculous cowboy hat but I luckily still have mine. We stopped at one more location for a pair of boots he seemed to believe I needed to really "Complete the look." I reminded myself that I asked for his help and to go with it.

When we returned back to the estate he gave me another rundown of what I should do and how. Quite frankly the whole thing made me nervous, but Leo was persistent and told me I would have no problems and to just go with it. Despite our differences I had to believe his words. He was one of the few people there for me most growing up. My decision to ask for his help meant something. So I nodded in agreement to his plan and walked him to his car.

"You got this buddy. I promise." He said as he grasped my hand firmly.

"Thank you old friend. Truly."

"Let me know how right I was."

"So long as this stays between us?"

"I won't tell a soul. " He smiled at me and got into the car. I watched as he drove off. A smile of my own tugging at the corner of my mouth.

The afternoon after our anniversary Maxwell and Riley arrive back with Bartie. I was in a pleasant mood as Leo's advice worked wonders. I was gathering a few refreshments in the kitchen when Riley approaches me.

"So Duke. I'm guessing yesterday went well."

"Absolutely and I can't thank you enough for watching Bartie."

"Oh it was no problem." She was looking at me with a wide grin. I eyed her suspiciously.

"Is there something on your mind?" I asked inquisitivly.

"Me? Oh no, not at all. I'm just impressed." The smiled came back as she continued.

"I mean, I heard there were horses and everything. You go Bertrand." She snapped her fingers and giggled as she returned to the others before I could say anything. When she was out of site I felt the anger rise.

"I told Leo not to tell anyone. He promised me he wouldn't. The whole court probably knew by now." I was fuming I went to get my phone just outside the room where the others were. I had to give Leo a peice of my mind for this. As I reached into my jacket and pulled out the phone I overheard Savannah talking. She was speaking in a low voice, but I made out a few words that definitely correlated with yesterdays events.

"That little minx." I thought as I calmed down at the realization.

I jumped a little as I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see Maxwell staring at me.

"What are you doing standing out here?"

"I was ..." I thought quickly.

"Just grabbing my phone." With that we walked into the room and sat with the girls. I opened my phone and sent a quick text.

"You were right. Thank you again."

Leo replied almost instantly.

"Anytime ;)"

[elle-and-an-orange]

This is just a little thing I wrote up this morning for my birthday, so I hope you enjoy :)

The Planetarium - A TLOU Ellie x TWDG Clementine oneshot

That morning had been about like any other. She got up a quarter till six in the morning, showered, made breakfast, coffee, took her daily dose of Reddit shitposts, and had her usual argument with Joel about her grades slipping. Given how early school started, it wasn’t any surprise that she had the energy level of a sloth hanging from a tree limb. The coffee helped, of course, but there was only so much you could do.

School had the same monotony to it. The only notable change today had been the occasional birthday greeting from a friend or two, most of which were either too enthusiastic about it, or mentioned it as quickly as possible and moved on. Clementine had been noticeably absent all day, which only further brought her down. Her eighteenth birthday, and her best friend wasn’t even around. That sucked the most.

When it came time to go home, Ellie had gone the usual way, taking the street that brought her by the nearest park. It usually helped to take a minute to breathe before heading home and dealing with homework for another night, especially on a Friday, but she’d never even make it to the park tonight. As she was leaving the school, hands buried in her pockets and her hoodie zipped up close to her neck to combat the cold, the girl she’d been looking for all day appeared as if out of thin air.

She wore a purple sweatshirt that looked a size too big for her, and her signature baseball cap rather than the more practical option of a beanie or hood. The sight was endearing, seeing how attached Clementine still was to that hat. Losing her parents the way she did, she didn’t doubt why. Shit sucked.

The bright smile on the girl’s face, though, brought her out of those uncomfortable thoughts, just in time for the shorter girl to drag her into a tight hug even Ellie would have trouble replicating. Her words were muffled against Ellie’s jacket, but still loud enough for her to know that the girl was practically yelling them excitedly. “Happy birthday!”

“Hey, thanks,” Ellie said, through her surprise, returning the embrace with relative ease. “Good to see you, too.” Were you even at school today? She found herself wondering, raising an eyebrow.

“Sorry that I missed class,” Clementine continued as she pulled away, as if reading Ellie’s thoughts. She wouldn’t be surprised, to be honest. Clem had a way of reading her that seemed almost telepathic. It’d be creepy if it wasn’t for how long they’ve known each other now. She probably knew Clementine better than she knew herself, no doubt the same applied vice versa. “Lee was helping me with… uh… something. You’ll see.” The girl smiled, grabbing Ellie by the hand. “C’mon, I got a surprise for you.”

“Is it another pun book?” Ellie instantly asked, silently hoping that it was. Granted, she was sure that Clementine wouldn’t skip class that day just to get another pun book. It had to be something else. Still, the thought amused her. Another book filled with potential torture for Clementine and Joel? Fuck yeah.

Clementine shook her head, looking back at her as they trudged down the snow-laden sidewalk. “Mm-mm, even better. You’ll just have to wait and see.” Okay, now Ellie was intrigued.

It wasn’t a long walk to Clementine’s house, and Ellie spent most of the journey there trying to get some sort of information out of the girl about what she was being dragged into. Clementine was tight-lipped, though, being coy about the whole thing. It frustrated her to no end. When they got there, Lee greeted her warmly, wishing her a happy birthday and a ‘good luck’ for becoming an adult. Gee, thanks Lee, I look forward to having to do taxes.

He drove them to their destination, just as quiet about the whole thing as Clementine was. She only began to get an idea as to what was happening when a massive building began to loom ahead of them. Some sort of museum, she thought, which in itself seemed kinda… boring. But, well, she knew that place had a planetarium in it. And, of course, she’d been wanting to go to one since she was like thirteen. Joel hadn’t gotten the chance to take her, given how busy his schedule usually was, so Ellie often talked about it with Clementine. Guess today was the day.

Stopping outside museum, Lee gave them the quick rundown of when he’d be back, and to text him if they decided to get anything out so he’d know where to pick them up. Clementine quickly told him that they would, and dragged Ellie out of the car, and towards the museum.

The instant they entered that place, she turned on Ellie, grinning. “So, have you guessed it yet?”

“I did, and you didn’t,” she let out that last word in an exasperated gasp, still reeling. The interior of the museum was huge, with high walls and ornate designs. To their right was a dinosaur exhibit, where a bunch of tourists were already making their way through the place. A guide stood near the entrance, asking them if they needed any help, which Clementine refused politely, saying that they knew where they were going.

“I had to pull some strings,” Clementine finally replied as they were making their way to the planetarium. “Lee would only pay for our tickets if I got straight A’s, so… sorry about missing out on all those weekend hangouts. Promise it wasn’t because I didn’t want to.”

“I get it,” Ellie replied warmly, shrugging. “I guess I needed some time to work on my stuff, too. Before Joel grills me alive for failing Chem.”

“How’s that going, by the way?” Clementine asked, looking towards her with a raised, concerned eyebrow. “Need any help?”

Ellie smiled. “Planetarium first, Chem later.” Clementine chuckled, nodding her approval. The next partition in the museum brought them into the outskirts of the planetarium, where a model of the solar system was spread out across the massive space. Ellie imagined herself being on a shuttle to Mars, watching as the red orb grew closer and closer, only it was Ellie’s feet bringing her there rather than engines.

One tour of the solar system later, they’d reached their destination. Surprisingly, no one was in the planetarium, which… well, made this all the better. Maybe Clementine pulled some strings to make that happen, but she doubted it. It’d take a ridiculous amount of money to pull that off.

Inside, darkness enveloped the ground, and Clementine found a nice spot to throw out a blanket for the two to lay on. Above, stars filled the roof, spinning around the room. It slowly began to zoom out, eventually coalescing into a galaxy.

She was in awe, imagining the scale of the universe surrounding her, and silently disappointed that she’d never get to explore it. Still, it made for a beautiful sight, almost as much as it was to be lying next to her best friend, who’s eyes shimmered in the starlight.

It felt like ages before Ellie found the courage to break the silence.

“You didn’t have to do this, y’know,” she said softly. “A pun book would’ve been enough.”

Clementine rolled her eyes, looking towards her out of the corner of her vision. “But I gave you one last year. Would be shitty to do that twice in a row.” She shifted in her spot, placing her hands beneath her head. “Besides, you deserve better.”

Ellie let out a dry laugh. “Tell that to Joel. The next time he sees my report card, I’m worried he’ll ground me for life.”

That hung in the air for a moment, a negative comment she was worried that it brought the whole mood down. Clementine took in a deep breath through her nose, pulling her hands out from behind her head, looking towards Ellie once more.

“You know Joel pitched in for this, right?” She said quietly, causing Ellie’s eyes to widen.

“Really?”

“Yeah. He thought you deserved it, too.” Clementine paused. “You deserve everything, Elle.”

The instant Clementine’s hand found her own, Ellie felt as if she’d been electrocuted. Keeping herself calm proved to be difficult, a hitch in her breath that no doubt reached her friend’s ears. Still, despite all that, Clementine made no indication that it even bothered her. Ellie envied her for that.

“Thanks, Clem…” She found the courage to say, eyes trailing back towards the stars once more. “For everything.”

Clementine nudged her with her elbow, smiling once more. “Happy birthday, Stupid.”

With that, Ellie was more than ready to let the universe wash over her.

[njvirtualexhibition-blog]

Just a tiny little intro never hurt anybody

okay SO, I previously created this blog for a virtual exhibition project for a previous class of mine, but I think the previous content ties in perfectly fine with the new content I am planning to post about. I’m mostly using this blog as a personal journal, but hello to anybody who runs across my sweet little page.

Quick lil’ rundown: Last year, I worked at a local museum on the weekends where I gave historical tours, helped out with the various social events and sat nice and comfy at the admissions counter most of the time. It was tons of fun except the times when you would remember how haunted the whole place was and all the crazy stories you have heard while there! Yup. Fast forward to now, a new year?! Twenty-Twenty??? Still in school, still living at home and still doing everything I possibly can in my pj’s (don’t we all eh?).

Alright alright, so the exciting news is I was accepted into an internship for this spring semester at a local printmaking studio called “Flying Horse Editions” that works with professional, talented and incredibly well-versed artists from all over. I’m going to be learning alllll types of processes and methods of printmaking, behind the scenes work, as well as work directly with the artists and staff to complete each project. Basically, the director of the studio seeks artists, sometimes vice versa, whose work would align well, further their craft and benefit from the collaboration and assistance of our studio. Artists come in with an idea or direction and we are the brains and hands that make it happen for them. The studio is also a non-profit and all its proceeds are made from the art it created with each artist and sells, as well as memberships and other sources of funding. So, essentially it’s a very sweet opportunity to be given and I am excited to learn and share my experience with whoever actually finds this blog. 

[thelanguageoflovers]

DIRECTOR’S CUT THAT DAMNED UNIVERSE. -L

Spoilers!That Damned Universe was heavily inspired by a couple of books I once read, and I think it has a lot of meaning that goes under the radar of a lot of people, instead being registered subconsciously (the whole point of my writing, frankly). Here’s a ridiculously in-depth rundown of each chapter, from the writer’s point of view.Chapter 1The first chapter was meant to introduce the storyline, and show some exposition. Lincoln Academy was named after my elementary school, and is structured in a ridiculously unconventional manner, given the strong academic drive of the academy. We find out quickly that Cyrus, TJ, Andi, and Buffy all room in Stanford Dormitory along with the rest of the freshman class, and Amber is in Halsey. Halsey was named after my favorite building of the college in my hometown, while Stanford was after the university, where Cyrus would end up going to major in psychology if TDU extended that far.I put Cyrus on the fourth floor and Andi and Buffy on the second for the sole purpose of creating conversational periods between characters as they go between one another’s rooms or to and from classes. This set up the framework for TJ and Cyrus’ first kiss later on.I intentionally wrote Cyrus to react to his arrival at Lincoln with minimal homesickness for two reasons. The first, of course, is that Cyrus grew up with four incredibly overbearing but well-meaning parents, and he is eager to take a deep breath. The second is that Cyrus, as all characters and people must be, is a psychologically complex character, and his immediate lack of emotional displacement comes from that fact. He’s so overwhelmed upon arriving at Lincoln that he doesn’t have the time to catch his breath, let alone miss his parents.Finally, the last line. TJ almost immediately tells Cyrus he finds him fascinating upon meeting him, which feels almost rushed, but was planned to feel as such. TJ’s first impression of Cyrus is so sudden and rushed because he immediately likes Cyrus, and isn’t quite sure how to express his emotions, so he naturally does his best to make Cyrus happy.Chapter 2The first line of the second chapter (Cyrus woke to his alarm, going off at exactly 5:55 am, as it always had - Cyrus was sure it always would.) is a representation of how Cyrus follows a schedule in his life that doesn’t change, and he assumes it never will. However, in chapter 6, he doesn’t wake to his alarm, because he’d fallen asleep with TJ the night before. This was coded to imply that TJ teaches Cyrus to let himself be human and have a little more fun.Cyrus wakes to TJ gone, because I wanted to show TJ’s elusive nature early on in the story, then introduce his character a little bit later. His leaving confuses and intrigues Cyrus, effectively prompting him to get to know TJ better.He spends an exorbitant amount of type getting ready on the first day of school, which was to further cement the notion that he’s a touch over-specific in all areas of his life, especially when he’s in a new, unfamiliar, or stressful environment (Lincoln Academy just so happens to be all three).Their odd choice of cereal (both Rice Krispies and Cap'n Crunch) is a little reference to Gilmore Girls, in which Paris and Rory both make interesting and unique cereal and milk mixtures on a couple of occasions.Cyrus’s offhanded comment that TJ hates the universe is not only the root of the title, but a slight character development from TJ, giving him a human characteristic. This at the very least proves that Cyrus and TJ had a conversation of substance the night before, and had learned more than trivial things about one another.Andi and Buffy lightheartedly making fun of him for his taste in unobtainable athletes was meant to allude to his crush on Jonah back home, and to show that he’d grown more comfortable with his sexuality since coming out to them.Lincoln’s class periods are 40 minutes, with a 20-minute break between. This seems absurd at first, but later we’ll find that classes constantly run lat, justifying the minor absurdity.Cyrus and TJ’s conversation between 5th and 6th period is meant to show their friendship and the way Cyrus affects TJ in a positive way. They joke back and forth naturally, complimenting one another and letting the conversation carry without trying too hard.Chapter 3This chapter follows my own change and interpretation of actual things from Andi Mack, turning some of my favorite pieces of the show in relation to Tyrus into my own plotlines. The first is, of course, TJ’s acrimony towards Buffy. In the show, this is expressed as jealousy of her basketball skills, whereas I chose to change it into jealousy of her close relationship with Cyrus. TJ immediately leaving when Cyrus and Buffy walk into the dorm room is meant to further stabilize the notion that TJ thinks she and Cyrus are together, though at this point it hasn’t been confirmed.Buffy and Cyrus getting into a fight over his feelings for TJ shows that Cyrus isn’t ready to admit how he feels. This also allows for TJ and Cyrus to become closer when Cyrus can’t turn to Andi and Buffy for constant friendship.Cyrus’s conversation with TJ in the library is interesting, as the second TJ finds out that Cyrus and Buffy aren’t dating, the conversation lightens. They’re then able to have a conversation that moves along without the weight of their mutual awkwardness resting on it. Their academic banter throughout the conversation was meant to show that TJ and Cyrus were both highly academically minded, despite showing that trait in very different ways.Cyrus being unable to stop himself from asking if TJ is okay shows two things about him and his relationship with TJ. The first is that Cyrus is the type of person who cannot refrain from helping others. He shows unconditional empathy for others, and those he loves are never free from his well-meaning comfort. The second thing this shows is that he has grown so comfortable with TJ in under 24 hours that he’s willing to risk stepping possibly outside of his boundaries as an acquaintance/friend to ensure that TJ is going to be alright.

Chapter 4

All of Cyrus’s teachers (Mr. Marlow, Madame Aguillard, Mr. Stile, Mrs. Elliot, Ms. Anderson, Mr. Smith, Mrs. Barnett, Mrs. Bailey) are slight variations of teachers I’ve had this year or last, most of which teach the same subjects I had them for.This chapter has one last interpretation of a classic detail from Andi Mack - the muffin. Their exchange of sandwich for chocolate-chocolate chip muffin proves that they’re friends, and care about one another enough to insist they have their favorite foods.I chose for them to play a game of 20 questions as a way to reveal exposition without stating their backgrounds, interests, and hobbies point-blank. This also allowed me to build their relationship through verbal learning.Marty being the friend who accidentally outed TJ let me introduce him to the story, and having him, Amber, Buffy and Andi rush into TJ and Cyrus’s room let me introduce them to one another. Amber and Andi’s quickness to flirt with one another showed that TJ and Amber inadvertently learned about love in the same way - they both grew up learning from their parents that those you love can leave quickly. Thus, they both picked up a habit of quickly establishing a close relationship with those they’re attracted to before they leave.Chapter 5 Cyrus wakes with a terrible headache the next day (and jokes with TJ about being hungover) because of the yelling and conflict the night before. I put this aspect in for two main reasons. One is, of course, showing that Cyrus can’t stand conflict, and is consistently trying to resolve it. The second reason I put this bit into the story is so that I could allow TJ to minorly comfort Cyrus in a platonic (but romantically intentioned) manner.Cyrus quickly saving TJ from having to out himself to Buffy and Andi was a move that I wrote in to show Cyrus’s growing ability to cut into conversations and protect those he loves, as taught to him by TJ.The small scene of TJ and Cyrus studying together exhibits the lighthearted, carefree side of their relationship that I thought was very important to introduce at some point in the story.The romantic tension between Cyrus and TJ as the former helps TJ with his compass foreshadows their awkward encounter following their first kiss later on. When it ultimately built to them falling asleep holding pinkies, that was meant to show that they were each aware of their feelings for the other, but reluctant to show them.Chapter 6When Cyrus and TJ wake up the next morning, they’re curled around one another, and it causes intense romantic tension between the pair as they go about starting the day. This ends when they go back and forth in a short exchange of ‘I wasn’t’ and 'well neither was I’. TJ tries to kiss Cyrus, but they’re interrupted by a phone call. This signifies the awkward, fumbling nature of the relationship, especially as they go to help Andi. Their acknowledgment of the awkwardness between them is a huge step in their relationship, which ultimately leads to their first kiss.Their argument in the stairwell being the lead up to their kiss was a choice I made because in the heat of an argument, emotions are heightened. This was important for the scene to work, as if they hadn’t been arguing, neither would have the courage to kiss the other.Final ChapterI had Cyrus start the seventh chapter regretting his kiss with TJ to drive the plot. This forced TJ and him to have an actual conversation about what exactly their relationship was at the end of the chapter.Honestly, there were only two reasons I made Buffy aroace. First, I’m ace and I wanted representation, so I took the opportunity when it arose. Second, I wanted to tease you guys with Muffy (anyone paying really close attention to AO3 will have noticed that I tagged TDU as a Marty/Buffy fic, then took away the tag for the last chapter).Cyrus wagering his asking TJ out for Andi doing the same with Amber was a way for me to close the Ambi storyline in a satisfactory way without dedicating an entire chapter exclusively to it.The mini-monologue of Cyrus deciding whether or not to kiss TJ was one I’d been writing in my head since beginning to write TDU, and completed the fic in a way that was so characteristic of my writing that I couldn’t help but throw it in just to make the story feel completely finished.

[middleearth2asgard]

Untitled Bucky Barnes x Reader Fic (NSFW)

"Oh my god, Steve!" You cried, rushing up to the helpless, soaking wet, semi-conscious body of your best friend. Quickly crouching on the ground beside him, you checked him over to see how bad a shape he was in. Then you pulled out your phone and called the newest number in your contacts list.

"Sam, I need assistance fast. Steve is down. I'm on the north side of the water. Just look for the massive helicarrier sticking up like the Titanic. You can't miss it."

You were stroking Steve's forehead and staring at his face when the feeling of behind watched suddenly came over you. Looking up, you saw the formidable figure of the Winter Soldier standing just a few yards away. He was just standing there watching you. He had no weapon, and he was holding his nonmetal arm like it had been damaged. He was also soaking wet, which made you wonder if he had fished Steve out of the water.

The pair of you simply stared at each other for a few moments, seemingly uncertain about what the other was going to do. Then he finally turned and started to leave. For some reason you couldn't understand at the moment, you couldn't let him walk away. You hated to leave Steve there all alone, but help was coming for him. Besides, you knew how much Barnes meant to him, and you knew he would want you to help the man if you could.

"Wait!" You called out. You were surprised when he actually stopped. Leaning over, you gave Steve a kiss on the cheek before whispering, "You're going to be okay. Don't worry. I'm going to take of everything."

Then you got up and walked over to Barnes. "Come on," you said, heading towards the road with him in tow.

"Make yourself at home," you said, opening the door to your apartment. "I guess you can stay here until Steve gets out of the hospital. He'll want to help you."

You watched as he wandered over to the framed picture of you and Steve and picked it up to look at it.

"We took that when he first moved here to D.C." you volunteered.

"I can't stay," he finally said. Those were the first words he had spoken to you. He had a deep, sensual voice that seemed to caress your ears when it reached them.

"That will take too long," he continued. "They will be looking for me. I have to leave."

"But, you don't have anywhere to go and-" you decided not to finish the rest of the sentence. He didn't need reminding that he didn't know who he was.

"I don't know who he is. I remembered that he was important to me at some point in time, that's why I didn't let him die, but I don't know who he is. I don't know who I am. I have to find out."

"I'm going with you," you heard yourself say. "And don't tell me I can't. You need somebody. Might as well be me. Wait here while I grab a few things."

As you walked to your room and started packing a bag, the reality of what you said finally hit. You had just volunteered to go who knows where, to do who knows what, with a HYDRA assassin who didn't even know who he was. Part of you hoped he would sneak out while you were out of the room, but when you returned, he was still standing right where you left him. You reminded yourself that this was for Steve, and that he was the one person you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt would do anything for you. How could you ever face him if you let Bucky just walk right out without even bothering to keep track of where he was? At least this way, you could contact Steve in a week or so, give him your location, and he could take over.

"Alright, let's go. I know where we need to start."

After a quick stop at Steve's place (you'd have to remember to thank him for giving you a key) to borrow some clothes for Bucky, you took him to the one place you could think of that would help answer some of his questions: the new Captain America exhibit.

He was silent through most of the walkthrough, stopping to read everything and study every video and photograph, until the only one left was his. You watched his face as he looked at the display featuring his likeness and short write-up.

No one noticed the dead man on the wall was actually standing there right in front of them. Of course, he looked different now. His hair was longer, and he had a little stubble on his jawline. The biggest change was the hardness that his present day features now wore. He hadn't grown much older, only a few years at the most. But the Bucky in the video looked like he knew how to laugh and smile with ease, whereas the man beside you probably hadn't smiled since before his fall.

"Did he ever tell you anything about me?" He asked after awhile.

"Not really, Steve is an old-fashioned type of guy. He doesn't talk about his feelings. I know you meant a great deal to him though. Still do, in fact."

"Are you really going to come with me?" He asked.

"Yes."

"What if I don't let you?"

He turned to look into your eyes. For the first time since you found him, you remembered what he was and what he was capable of. You were very conscious of a chill running down your spine at the thought, but you tried to keep it from showing on your face.

"I don't think you'll do that. Whether you like it or not, you need somebody. You don't have any money, and I'm guessing you've spent the better part of the last seven decades on ice somewhere, which means you're out of the loop. I don't think you'll last long without me."

"Fine, then let's get started."

——————————————————————————————————————-

The next few weeks were spent moving from one crappy place to another. You lost track of the number of times you wished you had a credit card with Stark's name on it so the two of you could travel in style. One day, you told Bucky you had to go out to run an errand and went to the closest place that sold cheap prepaid phones. After typing in Steve's cell number, you sat staring at the call button trying to figure out what to say. When you bought it, you had every intention of telling him exactly where you and Bucky were staying. Then he could have his old friend back and could spend all his time telling him stories from their childhood. But the more you thought about it, the more you wondered whether or not that was the best thing for Bucky. He'd been working so hard to recover his own memories, and maybe that was the way it should be.

When you finally called him and got his voicemail, you left this message: "Steve, it's y/n. I was just calling to tell you I'm with Bucky and everything is okay. I can't tell you where we are now. I'm sorry, but this is how it has to be. I miss you and I hope I'll see you soon. Please take care of yourself. Goodbye."

Then you ended the call and threw the phone in the nearest trash can.

———————————————————————————————————————

As the months with Bucky passed, you grew increasingly fond of him. He didn't talk much, but he seemed to like listening to you. He always remembered everything you told him, and he'd even smile now and then. To be perfectly honest, you were pretty sure you had fallen in love with the former Winter Soldier. But him figuring out who he was and who he wanted to be were much more important than your feelings for him, and you didn't want to do anything to derail his progress, so you never spoke of them.

After you had moved for about the dozenth time, you were unpacking your belongings and trying to make the rundown place seem more like home when you began staring at the old picture of you and Steve that you'd brought from your apartment. You really did miss him so much. You missed all the Avengers.

"Why are you still here?" You heard Bucky ask behind you.

Turning to look at him, all you could say is "What?"

"Why are you still here? I saw you with Steve that day. I know you love him. I know that's why you came with me at first. You wanted to take care of me because I'm important to him. I always assumed you'd stick around a few weeks until he fully recovered, then you'd give him a call and dump me on him. I would have understood. But you didn't. You've stayed with me all these months. I want to know why."

"I care about you, Bucky, so I won't lie to you. I was planning exactly what you said. But when the time came to do it, I just couldn't. Steve would mean well, but I thought you needed time to yourself. You weren't ready to be his childhood best friend back from the dead. You need time to find out who Bucky Barnes is, and who he can be now after everything that has happened to him. It's hard sometimes. I miss my friends and I miss my life. But if I have to sacrifice that for you, then that's what I have to do."

A few moments of silence passed before he said, "I've never thanked you for all you've done. I don't deserve it, and I don't deserve you. But, you'll never be able to comprehend how much it means to me...how much you mean to me. I know I'm not the kind of man Steve is, and I understand your feelings for him, but they don't change anything. I'll always be here for you."

You walked over and gently placed your hand on his cheek. "Steve didn't tell me a lot about you, Bucky, but he did tell me once that you used to be quite the ladies' man. If that's true, I thought you would have been more perceptive to what's right in front of you." Then you stretched up to place a soft kiss on his lips.

When you parted, he said, "I should warn you that I'm not the man I used to be. Once you're mine, I won't be able to give you up without a fight. If anyone tries to take you from me, or hurt you, or insult you, I'll kill him, and I won't think twice about it. I need to know if that's something you can live with."

"If it means being with you, then yes."

Bucky grabbed the back of your head with his right hand and roughly planted his lips on yours. His kiss was powerful, possessive, and passionate. It told you everything about what your relationship with him would be like. You kissed him back with equal fervor and fisted both of your hands in his long hair. Quickly he backed you up until you were against the wall of the tiny apartment. Your hands travelled over his broad shoulders and muscled chest while his human one eagerly explored your body. It ran along your waistline, squeezed your butt, and then moved up under your cotton dress to cup your left breast. You grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it up, and he moved his arms so that you could easily remove it before doing the same with your dress and bra.

His lips moved down to kiss your neck while his hand moved south in between your legs. You let out a soft whimper at the contact, but it wasn't quite what you were wanting.

"Wait," you said breathlessly, grabbing his wrist. Before he could ask what was wrong, you added "The other one, please?"

"What?" He asked, furrowing his brows in disbelief.

"Use the other hand."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

He moved it from its place on the wall beside you and lowered it until he was almost touching you again before saying, "You're going to have to tell me if I get too rough with it because I won't know. Promise me you will. I don't want to hurt you."

"I promise."

He didn't go back to kissing your neck. Instead, he watched your face as he tried to caress your sensitive spot through your panties as gently as possible.

"It's part of you, Bucky. I love you, so I love it too. I want to feel it against my skin."

Not taking his eyes off your face, he lowered his other hand and easily tore your underwear in two before rubbing his metal fingers against your clit. The sensation of the cool metal against your hot, aroused skin caused you to moan shamelessly. The pleasure coursing through you made you weak in the knees, and you became aware of Bucky wrapping his other arm around you to support your weight. The longer he worked you, the more pressure he used. Your head started swimming as you felt yourself getting closer to your climax. You knew you were going to come soon and you were going to come hard, but you still wanted more. You wanted all of him. You wanted Bucky to make you all his.

All you managed to get out was a weak "Fuck me, Bucky," as you tried to unfasten his jeans. He spun you around so fast you would have lost your balance if not for his strong embrace. You cried out when he roughly entered you in one thrust. He felt like the perfect fit inside of you. The right amount of pain mixed with the pleasure. He gave you a moment to adjust before asking, "You okay?'

"Yeah"

"You feel so good," he growled into your ear. He slipped his metal hand back down to massage your clit and grabbed your hip with the real one. His first few movements were slow and gentle, but it didn't take long for him to pick up the pace. He moved his metal hand to your other hip so that he could pull your body into each one of his powerful thrusts. It was a sensation beyond any you had ever experienced. The only thing you were aware of was the feeling of his cock moving inside you and the pressure building down low.

Your orgasm hit you so hard that you couldn't moan his name, or tell him you loved him, or anything. All you could do was throw your head back against his shoulder while your whole body entered a state of complete and utter ecstasy. You were so lost in your own pleasure that you were only vaguely aware that he had climaxed in response to yours.

As you leaned against his body for support, he whispered into your ear, "I haven't told you I love you because it's not a big enough word for how I feel. You are my whole world. Never forget that. No matter what happens in the future. No matter what you and I may find out about me. Swear to me you'll never forget that."

"I swear, Bucky. I'll never forget. No matter what."