#or are there whole ships full of what looks like chaos to outsiders

[betterbemeta]

I wish we got more non-humanoid species as regular starfleet crew members. I know that budgetary constraints are real. And I don't want to take away from, or hide the performance of human actors starring on a TV show-- we want to show human diversity and excellence. But I feel I have to suspend my disbelief to trust the Federation welcomes all peaceful sentient life when almost everyone on the bridge is some kind of Hominid Biped.

I want to believe that there are some civilizations that find encountering a Starfleet vessel 'ridiculous':

You break down in space and your distress call is connected by an evolved dolphin. She has somebody place a BLÅVINGAD at the chair every time she remotely covers this station.

The captain comes on screen and he's an 80 year old furry. He is standing slightly to the side because the conn officer's giant Aurelian bird wings get in the way of the forward screen camera.

You explain your situation about your busted engines. The captain nods and asks a dinosaur in a onesie about how much time the crew on duty has available. This is his first officer.

After consulting the lead engineer (a goth), it looks like if 'everybody' wants to attend the rave on board tonight this is a two-day job.

As a compromise and a show of goodwill, the captain invites you to the rave and also throws in free health care. A giant non-anthropomorphic spider beams aboard your ship. She's the chief medical officer.

[snaileer]

Dare to Live (Part 2/2)

DPxDC Part 1

It all started with a dare really. You’d think, after all these years, after having done at least a /bit/ of growing up, Danny would be able to refuse a dare from his best friend.

But here he was, about to drop through a mystic portal with full intentions to make Tucker eat his words.

And Sam too, for agreeing!

“Come on Danny, times a ticking, sands a wasting.” Tucker said in a sing song voice, floating behind the portal lazily.

“Yeah, Danny, we didn’t spend two days finding the perfect dimension just for you to chicken out,” Sam said, laying on her back in the air and pretending to inspect her nails.

Danny felt his eye twitch.

“I told you, Sam, he couldn’t be mysterious and mystical if he tried, even under pain of a double. Dog. Dare.” Tucker emphasized.

Danny whipped his head around, staring his best friend in the eyes, “You really think so Tucker? A double dog dare?”

Tucker smirked, leaning back with his arms crossed and a smug look, “I know so.”

“Then prepare to eat Lunch Lady’s hairnet, Tuck, you’re on!” Danny grinned and shot backwards through the portal.

He relished the way Tuckers face went green as he passed through. Well, greener.

Danny turned invisible the moment he felt the resistance of a dimensional barrier go past him, and boy was that the right decision, the whole place was in chaos.

Danny floated invisibly in the sky with a puzzled look on his face. Was that guy… flying? What in the-?

A laser beam passed through him, making Danny look down to see he was intangible, but why? Could he be tangible again? He focused, and yep, there he was, tangible and visible- visible?! Danny lost focus and disappeared again.

Hmm, okay so looks like his default state here is invisible and intangible but like even more so than back home, interesting.

Danny looked back at where the laser came from, surprised to see an entire ship behind him. And not like a pirate ship, oh no, not even a cruise liner, a big, bony looking alien ship.

Danny wanted to squeal! Aliens! This realm had aliens!

Calm down Danny, remember the dare, mysterious, mystical, think, what gives off big mystical vibes?

Ok, first off, royalty. Danny summoned his crown, ring, sword, and cape, ok good but what else?

Eldritch maybe?

Okay he’s already got fangs, and blue skin, he could probably let his hair be a little more free floaty, and he’s already a full grown adult with shoulders like his dad, that should be enough right?

Another laser shot through him.

Rude!

He looked back, surprised to see a group of people aiming weapons at the big alien ship. He looked closer.

Was the… was the alien ship trying to… to crush this city?

Were these…. bad aliens?

Noooooo, that meant he had to stop them! But he likes aliens!

Danny reluctantly reared up to punch the big ship, pausing when he saw how the other flying people were struggling against it.

Oh Idea?

Super-strength? Now there was mysterious and mystical.

He smirked, oh he had the perfect entrance!

Thank youuu Kingly strength.

Danny positioned himself in front above the ship then created a double actually touching the ship.

He let himself appear, keeping his double invisible as he held out a hand and then swiped it down, using the double to push the ship into the ground.

Luckily, as Danny had just noticed, the ship seemed to be floating just outside the main city area and most everything below it was already destroyed.

Err, well, it certainly was now.

He fought the urge to wince. Mystical powerful beings in the sky don’t wince, Danny.

Still, he looked around at all the destruction. He hadn’t been back in a human realm since his own life, and the destruction had been common place then too, in his own hometown at least.

This was… worse, much worse. He really had to hold back a grimace as he saw a couple ghosts start forming on the edges, he could feel that they were feeding off of his own ambient ectoplasm.

Yikes okay, maybe giving a source of brand new ectoplasm at the sight of a disaster was not the best idea but… he could fix this!

Danny held out his arms, calling the newly formed ghosts to him, letting them use him as a portal to the Zone.

And then he very quickly locked up his aura from releasing more. No one saw that right?

He stood there floating for a minute before he saw the blue and red flying man begin to approach him.

He smirked again, aw yeah time to see if it worked!

Danny lowered himself marginally to meet the man in the middle.

“I am Superman,” Weird name but okay, “Protector of Earth. Thank you for helping us. But…” Superman looked hesitant, “Who are you?”

Aw crap, okay think Danny, big dramatic name, do NOT blurt out your real one. Double dog dare, come on think of something, anything, you have been staring for way too long-

“I am High King Phantom of the Infinite Realms of the Eighth Dimension; The Great One, Feller of the Tyrant Pariah Dark, Tamer of Vortex, Conquerer of My Future Now Past, Keeper of Death and Life, Wielder of the Ring of Rage, Bearer of the Crown of Fire and The One True Balance.” Danny blinked slowly, hoping that was ‘mystical’ enough for Sam because ancients he was really running out of coronation titles there.

“You are well met Superman, Protector of… Earth.”

Hang on. Earth? He was on Earth? Not his Earth but really this was Earth? With Aliens?

He wanted this to be his Earth, dang it why did he have to get the boring ghost invested one?!!

The man looked like he wanted to back up by about thirty steps so.. it worked?

“And.. Your Majesty is here because…?”

Danny stopped his gentle float.

Uhhh. Uhh. Okay good reason, think of a good reason to be here. Visiting? No that’s dumb, it’s not a zoo. Uhh, curious, no that’s not mysterious enough! Okay mysterious, mysterious, think mysterious. OooOooooOo, MysTeRIouSssss.

Who does he know that’d be mysterious enough to pull this off?

…

Clockwork!

Okay, what would Clockwork say? Uhhhh

“You will find out all in due time, Superman of Earth,” Was that good? No that sounded threatening, “But for now, I am here simply to observe.” That was better right? Okay leave before he asks more questions.

Danny floated down to where the other colorfully dressed people stood in a semi-circle.

Well colorful and one in all black.

“Superman, who is this?” The one in all black said with a glare as he stepped forward.

Danny opened his mouth to recite the titles again, points for mystical-ness, when he was cut off.

“Batman, this is King Phantom of the Eighth dimension, he’s… visiting?”

‘Batman’ raised an eyebrow under his cowl, “Eighth dimension, is that at all related to your troubles with a certain fifth dimensional imp?”

Now Danny felt justified in being at least a little offended, “Watch your tongue, Man of Bats,” that was a sufficiently mystical naming right?, “Accuse me of being a fifth dimensional pest again and we shall see how long you last in no dimensions at all,” Danny paused, “Mortal.”

Ha, in your face Tucker, he was so good at this!

Tag list:

@blep-23 @theblackcatscratchpost @fylylowo @coruscateselene @breesperez139 @kataaitheskittle

[kabie-whump]

CYOA Whump Part 15

First | Previous

You chose: Raiding a merchant ship that's too fast for other ships to catch.

⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆

"Ventis, watch out!"

Everything is still fuzzy from spending so long with your consciousness embedded in the wind currents. You can see and hear all the chaos around you, but it's like you're moving and thinking in slow motion.

Onthyes grabs you and yanks you to the side as an arrow wizzes past your face. You blink slowly at him. With a frusterated sigh, Onthyes effortlessly scoops you into his arms.

"Hey," you mumble sleepily. Your attempt to shove at his chest ends up as nothing but a weak thump against firm muscle shielded by sun-warmed fabric. "Put me down."

He ignores you, running towards the door that heads below deck. You almost make it unharmed.

There's a clear cry of pain from the other ship. Onthyes stops, turning to see Hildris, his halfling friend, being cornered by some soldiers. She's backed against the railing and clutching a bleeding wound in her side.

You can feel how badly Onthyes wants to run to her aid. He hesitates by the door, feet frozen in place. You say nothing.

Then another wizz of an arrow, and pain explodes in your shoulder. You cry out, suddenly back to full awareness.

"No," Onthyes hisses as he carries you inside. He sets you down in a dimly lit passegeway, staring wide eyed at the arrow sticking out of your shoulder. "Shit. I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

You squeeze your eyes closed, trying to control your gasps for air. "It hurts," you growl.

"I know. I'm sorry."

He pulls a knife from his belt, carefully cutting away the fabric of your sleeve to get a better look at the wound.

"I have some healing experience. I'll take care of you, okay? Just try to breathe."

You nod, focusing most of your energy into not bursting into tears. The pain comes in viscous waves, throbbing through your whole body.

The only sounds are yours and Onthyes's heavy breathing, accompanied by the occasional yells or cannon booms from outside, as Onthyes examines your shoulder.

"I have to take it out," he says softly, apologetically.

You can't help but let out a whimper. "It can't just stay there?"

"I'm afraid not."

Your head thumps back against the wooden wall. "Fuuuck. Fine. Do it fast."

With a short nod Onthyes positions himself so he's pinning you to the wall with one knee. He gets your muzzle out of his pocket and offers it with a raised eyebrow.

You glare at him, but you understand what he means. You'll need to bite down on something, and the rubber piece on the inside that fits between your teeth when you're wearing it would do the job nicely. Sighing, you let him muzzle you.

"I'll take it off when I'm done," he promises. "Now try not to move. I'm going to be as gentle as I can but you have to stay still for me."

You nod, looking anywhere but at him as he cleans his knife.

Your vision goes white when he starts working the arrow out of your shoulder. Your screams are muffled by the muzzle. You can't help but squirm and flinch away, your legs kicking out ueslessly, and Onthyes's knee pins your chest down hard. Your bruised ribs ache.

His blade digs deep into your skin, working around the arrowhead so he can pull it out without causing any more damage. He whispers apologies the whole time but you can bearly hear him over the roaring in your ears.

Finally he drops the knife and grabs hold of the arrow, bracing one hand on your shoulder. He pulls hard, and you black out.

When you come to he's kneeling in front of you, his eyes full of worry as he removes the muzzle. There's fabric wadded up and tied to the hole in your shoulder.

"There you are," he says. "That's better, isn't it?"

It still hurts, but at least there isn't anything sticking out of you anymore. "Yes. Thank you."

He settles between you and the door, his back against the wall. You can tell he's anxious, listening to every yell from outside closely. "Now we wait, I guess. It's weird, I'm not used to sitting around while my friends fight."

⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆

Next

CYOA whump taglist: (let me know if you want to be added or removed): @scp-1296 @sapphicccici @acer-gaysimpstuff @morning-star-whump @rainydaywhump @whumperofworlds @hauntedroseart @3-2-whump @fleur-a-whump @whumpsday @whumpisfun @whumper-whimsy @ghost-whump @fabled-whump @violets-whumperflies @whumped-by-glitter @thewhumpening-thesequel @lumpofsand @whumpycries @unicornbeck @gala1981 @a-formless-entity @ryahisbored @mentallyunwellautism @idontreallyexistyet

[tagsecretsanta]

From @gordonthegreatesttracy

From @gordonthegreatesttracy to Thunderfam

THE BACKFIRING CHRISTMAS PRANK

“It’s Christmas time

Alan’s on the wine

Scotty’s singing Frog on the Tyne

There’s logs on the fire

Johnny’s up the tree

Time to rejoice in the good that is me!”

“I swear his songs get worse every year” John says to the Mechanic with an eye roll, as he hangs a bauble on the top of the tree.

It is the day after Thanksgiving, and there is a twelve-foot Christmas tree in the lounge surrounded by boxes and boxes of decorations, John is up on the ladder on one side of the tree carefully placing baubles and tinsel and lights on the bright green branches, which the Mechanic is handing up to him.

“He does this every year?” The mechanic asks amused.

This is his first Christmas with the Tracys, having accepted Grandma’s invitation and come over to the Island to help decorate the villa.

“Yes he does, a few years ago it was Scotty Claus, drove Scott crazy then he gave him a music box that sung that song! I think he still has it somewhere” John replies.

“So it is a family tradition?” the Mechanic asks.

“YEP!” Gordon calls from his spot, hanging upside down from the railings above the seating area, while he wraps purple tinsel around the metal rails.

“Be careful up there” Scott calls over him. “I have tried to get rid of that box for years, I even put it in the old incinerator and it still turned up in its spot less than an hour later without a scratch, either Gordon made a million of them, or its cursed!”

John has taken on a supervisor role with Virgil and Jeff. The three of them are sitting on the sofa drinking coffee straight from the pot.

Jeff still can’t believe that he is home. And he is going to make sure that this is the greatest Christmas the boys have ever had, starting today, a whole month of celebrating. The Hood is in jail, the Chaos crew are too, the world is safe. The atmosphere is happy and relaxed as he rests his head against the back of the chair, this really is going to be the best Christmas ever!

*TB*

The month between Thanksgiving and Christmas flies by in a whirlwind of rescues, gift buying and wrapping, cake making, cookie baking fun and Alan wakes up on Christmas morning full of excitement. It is still dark outside as he pulls open his curtains and looks out at the jungle. This is going to be the best day ever! His father is home, and he has checked out the presents under the tree and there are hundreds with his name on!

Alan maybe a high school graduate with his own rocket ship, but he is still a child when it comes to Christmas! He jumps up from his favourite sleeping spot, and runs out the room, still in his pyjamas, down the hallway, stopping to bang on every door on the way, down the stairs and into the lounge, where even more gifts are now piled high!

“JACKPOT” he cries happily, wanting to dive right in, but something stops him and he is dragged away from his gifts by his eldest brother!

“Scotty!” He whines as he is pulled away.

“What are the rules?” Scott asks trying not to laugh.

“Wait for everyone to get here, eat breakfast, open gifts and have a wrapping paper ball fight with Gordon” Alan replies, poking his tongue out and trying to wriggle free so that he can get back to the gifts.

Scott doesn’t let go, picking Alan up and hoisting him over his shoulder he carries him down into the kitchen and deposits him on a chair.

“If you try and get back to the tree I am going to tie you to the chair!” Scott warns him, raising a wooden spoon in a semi-threatening manner.

“Wow, you look just like Grandma!” Alan tells him in awe, but the threat has the desired effect and Alan remains put!

Scott starts to make up pancake batter, letting Alan lick the bowl clean once he is done and then they carry the large stack of pancakes up to the lounge, where everyone is now awake and waiting for them.

The pancakes don’t last long and Alan soon has his attention turned back to the tree and those gifts, looking at Scott with large pleading eyes.

“Oh go on then!” Scott finally gives in and Alan dives for the tree.

He spots a gift with his name on, that the label says that it is from Gordon, and he should open it at his own risk!

He picks it up from the floor, and it explodes in a shower of liquid glittery gloop which goes all over him, and the tree, and the remaining presents.

Everyone apart from Alan are laughing, until the liquid gets into the lights, and there is a small explosion as the villa is plunged into darkness as the electric shorts.

“GORDON!” Alan screams, jumping to his feet and running to his brother. He is going to kill him!

“Not my fault, the warning label was on the gift” Gordon replies with a shrug.

Everyone is busy watching them argue, and they don’t notice the small smouldering fire that is starting to gain momentum at the bottom of the tree until it is too late.

Bright orange flames shoot up the tree, melting the plastic branches and consuming all the gifts in its bid to destroy Alan’s perfect Christmas, while they stand in shock. This is the worst thing Gordon has ever done!

Jeff puts the fire out with the fire extinguisher, but the damage is done. The gifts are gone, burnt and destroyed by the foam from the extinguisher and he turns to his fourth son in disgust. Gordon is an adult, but still pulling ridiculously childish pranks like this, and this time he has gone too far. Forgetting that he too laughed, he stands up to face Gordon, in the light from the torch he is carrying as it is still dark enough outside to need the lights on.

“You ruin everything Gordon, will you ever learn? All I wanted was one nice day. Just one! I didn’t ask you for a miracle, although maybe I did, as you don’t have the ability to actually behave, right now, you are making me wish that I had stayed in the Oort Cloud so I didn’t have to deal with you!” Jeff lectures.

Gordon is fighting back tears now. How could his father think that way? Does he really mean it? Do they all hate him as much as his father does?

“He is right” Scott adds. “You need to grow up Gordon.”

Gordon doesn’t need to hear any thing else as he runs from the room, upstairs to his room where he drags his suitcase out from the closet and starts to pack.

They don’t deserve Gordon, so they are not getting him!

He throws his suitcase onto the floor of Thunderbird 4 and he’s off, never to be seen again.

There are still tears in his eyes, as he docks Thunderbird 4 on the mainland and starts to walk to the house his father bought on the beach years ago so that they had a base on land for emergencies.

The world is still and peaceful this early on Christmas morning, as he watches the sun rise above the glittering ocean. His glistening tears spill out over his cheeks, and he doesn’t even see it coming a blinding pain in his back, as he falls to his knees before there is a sharp hit against his skull and he loses that last grasp of consciousness, his eyes firmly shut against the blur of the sun filled sky.

*TB*

“I can’t not believe that he ruined Christmas. Dad’s first Chritmsas back, and this happens. I should have expected it. He never changes. Where did he go anyway?” John asks.

“Upstairs” Virgil replies. “Probably sulking”

“This is the worst Christmas ever” Alan adds, sitting on the floor, leaning up against one of the seats and staring morosely at the ruined gifts.

The silence that falls among the group is awkward as they wait for Brains and the Mechanic to fix the electric.

“I-I-I am sorry, Mr T-T-Tracy. We need to rewire the main b-b-box” Brains confirms.

“We will need to go and get some stuff from the mainland; we will be a couple of hours” The Mechanic confirms.

“This is the worst Christmas ever” Alan declares again. No electric means no Christmas dinner, and no food means he is going to be hungry. Gordon is the worst brother in the world, and Alan wants nothing else to do with him.

“Come on, why don’t we go for a nice walk along the beach and watch the sun rise” Jeff suggests, heading out towards the pool. “Then we will all go over to the mainland and get everything we need for the rewiring and some lunch”.

“Nothing better to do” Alan says sulkily as they all walk out the lounge to take a walk in the early morning light.

“You know, this isn’t even the worst present Gordon has given someone!” Scott says with a face palm as they walk down the sandy stretch, Alan dipping his toes in the freezing water with a shudder.

“It isn’t?” he asks.

“Niblet?” Virgil asks, suddenly starting to laugh.

“Niblet” Scott confirms.

“Who is Niblet?” The mechanic asks, confused.

“Well…” Jeff starts.

SPECIAL PRESENT FOR MOTHER

“Hey Virgy” Gordon says running into the house from the yard where he has been playing for the last hour. The last of the autumn sunshine is fading fast into what looks like the perfect night for star-gazing. Crispy cold and clear.

Virgil is sitting on the sofa watching a documentary about Picasso with John and Scott while their mom is upstairs giving Alan a bath, with the promise that Gordon will be next!

“Yeah?” Virgil replies absent mindedly.

“You know what else I want for Christmas?” he asks.

“You mean the three sides of paper you have taped to the fridge is about to get even bigger?” John interrupts with a snort of laughter.

“You do know that the meaning of Christmas has nothing to do with what gifts you want? It is about giving, not receiving.” His father asks having joined the conversation from the kitchen where he has been checking on dinner.

“Duh!” Gordon replies, rolling his eyes. “Of course I do. Christmas is all about the birth of Santa. Bart Simpson said so!”

“Not quite!” Jeff corrects him gently. “Why don’t we go upstairs and you can have that bath you need and I will tell you all about the true meaning of Christmas.”

“Okay!” Gordon replies happily, sticking his dirty hand in his father’s and drags him towards the promised bubble bath. Gordon loves the bath almost as much as he loves getting dirty.

“Gordon! You’re filthy!” Jeff groans.

“I know, isn’t it great!” Gordon replies, running up the stairs and crashing into the bathroom where his baby brother is now in a clean sleepsuit, his head sleepily resting on his Momma’s shoulder as she leaves the room.

“He is all yours!” She confirms with a grin.

Gordon does not know, but they tossed a coin to see who gets to bath the water loving six-year-old and Jeff lost!

Gordon takes off his mud encrusted clothes and throws them on the floor, while Jeff adds the warm water to the tub and his chosen bubble bath, before Gordon dives in and splashes water everywhere.

Jeff lets him play “explore the bottom of the bathtub” for a few minutes before he remembers the conversation he promised him.

“Gordon, the real meaning of Christmas is your family, and finding them that special gift that you know they will love. Something that you have put your heart and soul into either searching for or even making. My favourite gift last year was the painting that you all did for me, can you remember?” Jeff says.

“The submarine full of fish playing the piano in space while watching top gun?” Gordon asks.

“That’s the one!” Jeff tells him.

The painting is in a frame in the living room above the fire place, and every time he walks past it, it never fails to make him smile, no matter how hard a day he is having.

“That was fun to do. Virgil let me paint the fish” Gordon tells him.

He is now sitting crossed legged in the middle of the tub hanging on his father’s every word. There are soap bubbles in his hair, but he is at least now clean!

“So what are you going to do this Christmas?” Jeff asks, hoping that his example worked.

“Get momma the most special present ever, she is going to be so happy” Gordon replies.

“Do you need help?” Jeff asks, thinking that they can go shopping together.

“Nope, I got this daddy!” Gordon confirms before he sinks back down below the surface of the water to rinse off his hair.

Jeff lets him play a while longer, before announcing that it is time for dinner and then bed.

He is anticipating a fight, and gets one as Gordon splashes him with warm soapy water and wriggles out of his grasp whenever he tries to grab him, giggling as he outsmarts his father over and over again, until Jeff plays the final card of his hand and pulls out the plug.

“DADDY!” Gordon wails in disgust.

“Come on!” Jeff tells him, helping him step out of the tub and into a clean, warm, fluffy towel and scrubbing him dry before he gets into his favourite finding nemo pyjamas and follows his father down the stairs for supper with his family.

He is still thinking about Christmas and what to get his momma an hour later as she puts him to bed.

“What do you want for Christmas Momma?” he asks sleepily as she settles him down with his cuddly squid and starts to read him a chapter from his current favourite book: The brave little fish.

“Something from the heart, whatever you will love, I will love” Lucy replies, resting her chin on top of his head as she cuddles him.

An idea is starting to form in Gordon’s mind now. Something that he loves that Momma would love. Something super special and what is more special than her very own pet?

Lucy is not even half way through the chapter when his quiet little snores reach her ears and she quietly leaves the room, switching off the main light and leaving only his fish shaped nightlight for illumination.

*TB*

Operation Momma’s special gift begins the following day at breakfast as he asks for extra strawberries on his cereal, which he hides in the pocket of his hoodie.

It is Sunday morning, and the sun is shining through the window. It is the perfect day to begin the search, and as soon as he is allowed he races for the small, wooded area behind the farm that he has been given permission to explore. He knows that he is not allowed to go past the end of the forked path, but he doesn’t need to, he is sure that the perfect gift is around here somewhere, he has seen it recently.

It takes him an hour of patience, something even he knows he is not very good at, but eventually his persistence pays off and a fluffy tailed grey squirrel comes down from its drey to give him a sniff.

He has never sat this still in his life, and the squirrel feels warm as it explores the new arrival, sticking his nose into Gordon’s pocket and helping himself to a strawberry and running away with it, burying it a short way away, then coming back for another. And another. And another. Until all of the strawberries are gone.

Once the food is gone, so is the squirrel!

Gordon jumps to his feet and starts to run back to the house for more supplies. Knowing that he needs to sneak them out without anyone getting suspicious and ruining his plan.

He gets lucky on his supply run as there is no one in the kitchen as he empties the rest of strawberries into his pocket and runs back out to the woods.

Where the squirrel is waiting for him, and Is a lot bolder now as he climbs up onto Gordon’s shoulder and allows him to hand feed him the strawberries.

Gordon stays and watches his Momma’s new pet all morning, only leaving when he starts to get hungry for his own lunch and goes back to the house.

There are ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch, which are a bit disappointing as there is nothing on the plate that the squirrel can eat. He doesn’t even know what else he can feed the squirrel and he needs to find out without anyone getting suspicious.

“Can I go back out now?” he asks after he has finished eating.

“No, we are going grocery shopping and then having dinner at Grandma’s” Lucy replies. “I need you to get changed into your good clothes!”

Gordon loves his grandma, but he has no idea why he has to get dressed up for it. His current outfit of torn jeans and a dirt-streaked hoodie is perfect for all occasions. Gordon also knows arguing with his Momma is not a good idea so does as he is told and goes up to his room to get changed.

His good shirt is hanging up on the back of the door and he pulls it on and does the buttons up. That with the plain black trousers and odd socks and he is done and goes back down stairs where his brothers are all dressed and ready to leave too.

“Daddy, can we get some bird seed?” Gordon asks, once he is strapped into his car seat in between Scott and Virgil in the back of car. Jeff is driving, with Lucy alongside and John and Alan are in the middle.

“Sure” Jeff replies, he loves feeding the birds in the garden.

“How long do they take to grow into real birds?” John asks sarcastically.

“Do they do that?” Gordon asks in awe.

“No! John stop it!” Lucy replies rolling her eyes. She has the job of stopping any fights from breaking out.

“Can we get food for other animals too? it is getting cold now and there isn’t as much food in the winter for the deers and the skunks and the gooses and the beavers and the spiders and squirrels and the snakes and all of the animals” Gordon pleads, adding lots of animals to his list.

“I don’t see why not” Lucy replies. Looking up different food for the various creatures that live in their yard.

Gordon piles in the food for all of the animals the minute they get to the supermarket barely leaving room for anything else!

The food shopping for a family of seven takes over an hour and a half while Jeff finds himself vetoing items and refereeing fights, and starts to wonder why he didn’t drop the kids off at his mother’s house before he went shopping!

Gordon gets everything he wants, and he can’t wait to get home from school tomorrow afternoon so he can really get started on project squirrel. His father was right, the best thing about Christmas is getting other people presents, and he doesn’t even want anything for himself.

*TB*

It is too late when they get back from Grandma’s to go and feed the squirrel, so Gordon takes the bag of walnuts from the cupboard when no body is watching and hides it under his bed before he goes to sleep for the night.

School on Monday morning drags, and he finds his mind wandering from the lessons about reading and writing and all the other stuff his parents insist he will need one day, but he finds unbearably boring.

They are working on the spelling small words today, stuff that he already knows as he has John for an older brother! He doesn’t need to sit here all day to learn how to spell cat. Everyone knows that it is K-A-T!  

Mrs Jones is even older than his Grandma and has a moustache, but he knows better than to mention it, as he tries not to get into trouble for the same thing twice!

She is droning on about the correct way to spell words, and he is just drifting off for a well-earned nap when she raps her wooden ruler on the table so hard the building shakes.

“Tracy, how do you spell dog?” She demands.

“D-O-G-E” Gordon replies, deliberately getting it wrong.

“Wrong! That is not how I spell it” Mrs Jones tells him.

“Yeah well, you asked me how I spell it! My way is a lot more interesting.” Gordon replies.

“It is not supposed to be interesting”, Mrs Jones has no idea how this reprobate is related to John. John was a pleasure to teach.

“You’re telling me. This is even more boring than it was last week” Gordon replies.

There is a suspenseful silence in the room as his classmates wait for Mrs Jones to explode and sent him to the principal again, and they are not disappointed!

Gordon is sentenced to no afternoon recess and a meeting with his Momma before he is allowed to go home.

“Oh Gordon, not again!” She says in exasperation. He has been in the first grade for three weeks now, and this is the fourth time she has been asked for a meeting with the principal and she has no idea what to do with him!

“It isn’t my fault Momma” he insists.

“It never is. You are grounded this evening. No going out when we get home, and no television. You are going to help me cook dinner and you are going to have an early night” Lucy tells him as they make the short walk home. John and Virgil taking Alan and letting her have Gordon all to herself.

Gordon needs to go out, he has a squirrel to feed!

“I am really sorry Momma, I won’t get into trouble ever again if I can go out when we get home.” Gordon gives her the biggest puppy-dog eyes he can managed as he looks up at her, full of repentance that even he isn’t buying!

“You promise?” she asks, trying not to laugh.

“I promise” Gordon insists.

“Okay then” Lucy relents, knowing that she is going to regret it as her fourth son doesn’t know how to behave.

Gordon hugs her around the legs then runs to catch up with his brothers, ignoring John’s comment about him being the family screw up, skipping alongside them, promise already forgotten as all he is thinking about is feeding his squirrel.

He needs to think up a name, he can’t just keep calling him the squirrel.

The squirrel is waiting for him when he gets to the woods, and Gordon obliges with the walnuts, watching with a smile on his face as the squirrel nibbles on the shell.

Which is how Gordon gives him his name. Niblet is the perfect name for his squirrel.

*TB*

As the weeks wear on, the weather gets steadily colder. There is frost on the ground in the mornings and an ever-increasing threat of snow, but Gordon bundles up every afternoon in a warm coat with scarf and gloves and goes to visit Niblet.

Niblet has started to follow him to the edge of the wood now, getting braver and more confident, just as Gordon wanted.

The mix of nuts and fresh fruits and vegetables have given his coat a healthy shine, as it thickens for the winter. Niblet is the most perfect gift ever and his Momma is going to love him as much as he does.

The beginning of December sees the first proper snow fall of the winter, and Gordon finds it hard to battle through the snow, his snow boots sinking into the snow with every step, but it is worth it as Niblet comes to meet him at the edge of the woods, running up his legs and onto his shoulder, sticking his nose into his ear in greeting which causes Gordon to giggle.

“Oh Niblet, you are so cute!” Gordon tells him, stroking him along the spine with his gloved hand.

Today is the day Niblet decides that he is going to see where the bringer of treats lives, and he stealthily follows Gordon home, stopping when he sees the house, as he is unsure what the big building is, and does not want to risk getting trapped, and goes back to his tree for the evening as it is starting to get dark and even more chilly, and he shudders with the cold as he wraps his tail around his nose and settles down for the night in his warm and cosy drey.

The month passes excruciatingly slowly for Gordon, as he wakes up every morning and it is still not Christmas Day yet. Every morning he wakes up, eats breakfast, struggles through another boring day with the delightful Mrs Jones. The only bright spots in his day are rehearsals for the class play, in which he is the star, and going to feed Niblet once he is home, even though the dark is falling ever earlier and he has less time before Momma makes him come inside.

Until the magical day his Momma announces that it is the final day before the holidays and he is free for three weeks!

The first day of the holiday he is up before the sun, and out the house before anyone else is even awake, as he needs to start moving Niblet into the house, and getting him ready for the big day.

Niblet now trusts him completely, and allows Gordon to carry him back to the house and into his bedroom which he explores in interest. This is definitely warmer than his tree, and he curls up on Gordon’s pillow for a nap.

Keeping Niblet a secret is easy, as every time someone knocks on Gurdon’s bedroom door, he scarpers for the safety of the closet, only coming back out when Gordon gives him the signal that it is all clear.

Niblet spends the nights asleep at the bottom of Gordon’s bed, and his days exploring the room, rapping his claws on the window when he needs to go out, and he is never out for long. Preferring his new drey to the tree in the woods!

Niblet is the perfect present, and Gordon can’t wait until the morning to give him to his Momma. Daddy was right, getting people gifts is even more fun than getting them himself.

It is Christmas Eve and Gordon finds Virgil sitting on the floor of his bedroom wrapping gifts.

“Hey Virg!” he says, letting himself into the room and plopping down on the rug.

“Yes” Virgil replies smiling. “How can I help you?”

“Can I borrow some of your art stuff?” he asks, not bothering with small talk.

“What for?” Virgil asks.

“Christmas decorations” Gordon replies.

“Yeah sure. Take whatever you need” Virgil tells him. “There is a box full in the bottom of the closet”.

“Thanks Virg” Gordon replies, jumping to his feet, diving into the closet and running from the room in one fluid motion, almost so quickly Virgil doesn’t even realise that he is gone!

Gordon returns to his own room where there is a plain cardboard box he found in the barn that he is going to decorate with pictures of squirrels, leaves, trees, nuts and strawberries. All of Niblet’s favourite things. He lines the box with Niblet’s favourite blanket so that he will not be too scared in the box in the morning and he is ready. His momma is going to get the most special present ever!

*TB*

There is more snowfall overnight and they wake to the white Christmas of Gordon’s dreams, and he can’t wait to get out there after breakfast to go sledding on the new sled that he asked Santa for! He leaps out of bed, startling Niblet who gives him a filthy look and goes back to sleep, and goes over to the window, where he throws open the curtains to find out the world turned white overnight.

“Look Niblet, isn’t it pretty!” He says to the still sleepy squirrel. “It is time to go in the box now and meet the rest of your family. They are going to love you as much as I do, trust me”.

Gordon places Niblet in the box and carefully places the lid on top before carrying him into his momma and daddy’s bedroom.

“MERRY CHRISTMAS MOMMA AND DADDY!” Gordon cries, jumping onto the bed.

Jeff grumbles something about Lucy’s children under his breath, but doesn’t wake up.

“Daddy! Come on, it’s Christmas and I got Momma a present, just like you said. Here” he says to Lucy shoving the box into her arms.

Half asleep still Lucy is smiling when she takes the lid off the box and a startled Niblet leaps straight out and up the curtains where he sits on top of the curtain rail glaring at the new people.

“What on Earth?” GORDON!” Jeff yells. 

“You scared him” Gordon accuses his parents, looking up at Niblet with concern.

“What is that thing?” Jeff asks, giving his fourth son a facepalm in exasperation.

A hurt look flashes across Gordon’s face. That thing?

“Momma’s present.” Gordon replies. “His name is Niblet and he lives in my room”.

“It’s a squirrel, Jeff” Replies Lucy at the same time.

“Take it back where you got it from. You can not keep a squirrel, Gordon.” Jeff tells him.

“He isn’t for me, he’s for Momma” Gordon replies defiantly, refusing to give in easily.

“This is not up for discussion, you are not keeping the squirrel and that is final, now get it out of here before I get really angry” Jeff demands, his voice starting to show that impatience Gordon has come to associate with him getting sent to bed early!

Gordon flees the room, running down the stairs and out the door into the quickly forming blizzard. He stomps his way over to the barn and climbs up onto the roof, and sits down, drawing his knees up around his knees and starts to cry. The barn has a hayloft with a hatch in the roof, put in for John years ago so that he can climb up there in the summer and star-gaze.

He only wanted to do something nice for his Momma, just like he promised his Daddy he would, and he has ruined everything. Again. He is a screw up, just like John said so. He can’t do anything right.

*TB*

“A squirrel? What did you tell him?” Lucy asks, trying hard, and failing, not to laugh.

“Gifts come from the heart and that he should get people gifts that he has put a lot of thought and effort into.” Jeff replies. Now that the shock of having a wild animal dumped on him in what feels like the middle of the night is wearing off, Jeff can’t help it. He starts to laugh too.

“What did he say he named it?” Jeff asks.

“Niblet” Lucy replies.

Niblet is still sitting on the curtain rail glaring at them.

Jeff gets up and opens the window. “Go get him Niblet” he says to the squirrel as the animal jumps down from the rail and out the window, over to the barn and up onto the roof where he climbs up onto Gordon’s shoulder, while Lucy gets out of bed and starts to get dressed so that she can face the blizzard and bring home her son.

Gordon’s tears are frozen to his eyelashes, and he is freezing. His whole body is shivering, as he is out there in a blizzard in his pyjamas, with no shoes on.

“Come on inside. Both of you” Lucy says a few minutes later, having used the hatch in the roof to join him, and wrapping him up in her dressing gown. “You’re freezing” she tells him, as the three of them make their way back into the warmth of the barn.

“I Th-th-th-ought y-y-you would l-l-love him” he wails, his head buried into her shoulder as he sobs his heart out.

Niblet is sitting on her shoulder now, and she can’t deny that he is cute. She knows that he can’t stay though, as he is a wild animal, and would hate living in the house, especially in the summer, but that is not a conversation for right now.

“I do love him” she confirms, and she realises that it is true. “He came from you, so you know that I will love him.”

Gordon finally gets what his father was saying. The best gifts come from the heart, and they leave the sanctuary of the barn and back to the main house so that Gordon can introduce his squirrel to his brothers.

In the living room, Scott has started a fire, in the fireplace and Jeff is handing out a large bag of marshmallows for toasting as a breakfast treat. Virgil is sitting on the floor, with a drawing pad open in front of him and he is sketching out a design for a new project.

“What are you doing Virg?” Lucy asks, leaning over Jeff and grabbing a marshmallow, which Niblet tries to steal.

“No, Niblet.” Gordon tells him, handing over a strawberry instead.

“Designing a home for the squirrel. Dad said that we can build him his own tree house in the large oak tree in the yard that he can use in the summer, and a winter home too. Grandma said that we can get a cat flap put into the door so that he can come and go as he pleases. Look” Virgil replies, showing his initial design plans, which shows a large wooden box with a hole cut into it to use as a door.

The inside has a sketch of Gordon and Niblet for decoration, a large four poster bed, a bookcase, a climbing frame, a television, lights and a separate kitchen area with storage containers full of nuts and fruit.

“I don’t think he needs a television Virg!” Lucy tells him. it is an impressive design, and she knows that the boys will have great fun making it with Jeff over the next few weeks, and that Niblet has gotten himself the best ever family.

THE MECHANIC SPENDS CHRISTMAS WITH INTERNATIONAL RESCUE.

“Is that a true story?” the mechanic asks chuckling.

“Every word. Niblet lived with us for seven years until he died from old age. Gordon wasn’t the only one who was devastated, we all were.” Scott replies.

They are heading back to the house, having been for a walk along the beach as the sun rises, promising another Perfect day in paradise, with cloudless sunshine with a light breeze. Perfect for a beach barbecue. Who even needs electricity?

“Alan, go and get Gordon. We are off to the mainland as a family to get replacement presents, and the stuff Brains needs to fix the electric” Jeff demands, suddenly feeing a need to be with all of his children.

Alan is still angry, but does as he is told and jogs back to the house, where he finds Gordon’s room has been stripped bare, and that his brother has gone. Even Squid, Gordon’s battered old plushie toy has gone.

Alan runs back down the stairs and into straight into Virgil.

“S-S-Sorry Virg. Dad Gordon’s gone” Alan says, panting.

“What do you mean he’s gone?” Jeff asks.

“Gone. Everything is gone.” Alan replies.

“Thunderbird 4 has gone too” Scott confirms. “John?”

John nods, opening up his comms unit and connecting to Thunderbird Five. “Eos? I need you to track Gordon and Thunderbird Four for me” he asks his sentient AI.

“Sure thing John. Give me a minute. Okay got them. Thunderbird Four is at the house on the main land” Eos confirms.

“Thanks Eos. Come on, let’s go and get your wayward sibling” Jeff replies resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

“You can fly Virgil” Scott says once they are settled in Thunderbird two.

“Gee, my own ship, thanks Scotty” Virgil replies, rehashing an old joke as they take the short hop from the island over to the house by the beach.

There is a small landing area at the rear of the house which is where the party of seven land.

Brains and the Mechanic leave the ship, and start to head in the direction of the hardware store, Jeff having arranged for the manager to let them in to collect everything that they need in exchange for a large tip for opening up on Christmas Day.

Jeff lets them into the house, which despite Eos’ claims that it is the location of his fourth son, the house is empty.

“Gordon where are you?” Jeff asks out loud with a frown. Eos has never been wrong before.

He gets a scream as a response and runs for the sound of his terrified youngest son.

“ALAN, WHAT IS IT?” Jeff yells, running through the front door, and up the path leading to the gate, where he finds Alan, Virgil, Scott and John bent over Gordon’s seemingly lifeless form. The small relief he found when he realised that Gordon is still breathing is extinguished faster than the fire on the island when he sees the blood. A slowly flowing river of sticky red liquid from his temple.

“What happened?” Jeff asks.

“I don’t know.” Alan replies desperately, as Virgil is running a medscan. Scott and John are returning from Thunderbird Two with a stretcher.

Virgil gasps in shock when the results ping through onto his phone.

There is a bullet in Gordon’s back.

His little brother has been shot.

Someone shot his brother.

Why?

“What is it?” Jeff asks.

Virgil can’t speak, he just shoves his phone at his father and points to the small metal ball lodged in Gordon’s back, near his spine.

“He was attacked?” Jeff asks, scarcely able to believe what he is saying.

“We have to get him home” Virgil says, lifting him up into his arms, and placing him on the waiting stretcher. “I will need to operate”.

“You can’t. We have no electricity, remember?” John replies, his eyes have not left Gordon’s chest, as he watches it slowly rise and fall, silently praying to anyone who will listen that Gordon keeps breathing.

This stops Virgil in his tracks, but inly briefly. “Hospital then” he says to John, as he starts to push the stretcher to the med bay in thunderbird two.

Scott doesn’t bother making the joke, letting Virgil take the controls while he sits with Gordon, John, Alan and Jeff in the med bay, keeping a silent vigil. Lost in his own thoughts, and vowing to catch whoever did this, and make sure that their suffering is a hundred times worse than his.

The hospital is busy, but any visit by international rescue always parts the sea of people, leaving a clear path for Virgil to take Gordon, and now there is nothing left to do other than sit.

And wait.

The wait seems to be indefinite. Every minute feels like ten and Virgil can’t sit still. The initial shock is starting to wear off, and now he is angry. There are a million questions fighting for space in his brain.

Why did Gordon leave?

Who did this to him?

Why did they do it to him?

Was he targeted, or was this a random attack?

He is pacing up and down the small private waiting room that the hospital provided. It is a plain room, with pale green walls, hard plastic chairs and a small table which is littered with cold half-drunk cups of coffee, and no one is talking.

This was supposed to be their best Christmas ever. They had their father back. The Hood was finally in a cage where he couldn’t hurt anyone ever again. The mechanic was free from his control. Everything was perfect.

Until it wasn’t.

Virgil is still pacing silently, when the door opens, and Lady Penelope walks in.

To the outside world she looks as perfectly put together as always, but Virigl knows his brother’s girlfriend better than most. Her cool and calm persona is showing small signs of cracking. There is a hair out of place, and a small smudge of pink lip gloss by her upper lip, and her eyes are watery from where her mascara has run.

Brains and the mechanic are behind her, both carrying large bags of electrical equipment.

“How is he Jeff?” Penelope asks, not bothering with any small talk. This is her fault. If she hadn’t listened to Gordon, and cancelled her plans to spend Christmas with him, instead of that silly party her family organised, then he wouldn’t have left the island without her. They would have been safe.

“I don’t know?” Jeff replies, speaking for the first time since entering the room.

“Is there anything I can do?” she asks.

Jeff shakes his head sadly. There is nothing anyone can do other than wait. Waiting is the one thing none of them have ever been very good at.

“W-We could go b-b-back to the island” Brains suggests. “G-G-Get the electricity f-f-fixed for when you get h-h-home”.

Jeff nods, knowing the need to keep busy, almost wishing that he could go along and help, anything is better than this waiting.

“Parker will take you” Lady Penelope replies, offering up the services of her ever-loyal chauffeur.

With a nod of their heads the two men leave, and that small distraction which stopped Jeff having to think leaves with them and he starts to brood once more. He should never have said that he wished he had stayed in the Oort cloud. He pulls a photo wallet from his pocket where he keeps his family photos. All through his eight years in outer space this little piece of home is what kept him going.

The first photo is Lucy. As Jeff remembers her best. Smiling and happy, laughing at some joke one of the boys has just told her. Scott is next. His face serious as he poses for his first official rescue scouts uniform. His mini-me. Then Virgil, covered in paint sitting on top of the piano a paint bush behind one ear. The next page is John, lying on the top of the roof late at night watching the stars, which has always been his happy place. Then Gordon, his fish, about to cannon ball off the high diving board into the pool the first summer they spent on the island. Finally Alan. Fast asleep on the sofa with his gaming tablet on his chest. Looking at their childish innocence, Jeff determines to get justice for Gordon, no matter what the cost is.

*TB*

“What happened?” Jeff asks.

It is nearly morning, Jeff’s perfect Christmas is almost over, and it has been nothing like what he had planned, but he is just grateful that Gordon is going to make a full recovery.

“I don’t know” Gordon replies, trying hard not to cry. “I’m sorry. You were right, I ruin everything”.

“No, I am sorry. You know I never meant any of that. Almost everything we lost can be replaced, apart from you. You are my unique, talented, crazy, funny Squid, and I wouldn’t have you any other way.” Jeff replies, he has his hand clasped around Gordon’s and he ever wants to let it go.

“When can I go home?” Gordon asks.

“Tomorrow, but the doctors have ordered that you stay in bed and rest for at least ten days, and that you remain off duty for a month. Which will be enforced by both Virgil, myself, Penny and Grandma so there is no way you can even think about sneaking out. But just think, it gives you enough time to organise replacement presents for everyone!” Jeff replies with a grin. “No wild animals!”

“Really? It is about time the villa got a pet!” Gordon replies with a grin of his own.

One that makes Jeff’s heart soar. That one smile that means that everything is going to be okay. “NO!” Get some rest. I will be here to take you home in the morning.” Jeff tells him, leaving him to get some sleep.

Gordon stretches and yawns, the morphine drip in his arm doing its job as he drifts off into a deep and dreamless sleep.

*TB*

Back on the island it is chaos. Brains and the Mechanic have gotten the electricity back up and running and are busy putting together a new inflammable tree! With Alan’s “help”.

Alan is covered in lights and tinsel. He is wearing baubles for earrings and he has been climbing up and down the ladder all day under the watch full eyes of the Mechanic and Brains.

“Are you sure this one won’t catch fire?” Alan asks.

“P-Positive. Almost” Brains replies.

“Almost?” Alan squeaks.

“Ninety-nine percent” Brains reassures him.

Alan nearly falls off the ladder he’s laughing so hard. He never knew that the mechanic had such a brilliant sense of humour, as they started out trying to stop him from destroying their entire family. He never thought the day he first came across him, that day with the earth-breaking machine, that one day he would be helping him decorate a Christmas tree.

Alan’s lights are battery operated, and he lights them up, while he is sitting on the top of the ladder. “Maybe I should stay here and be the other tree!” He suggests.

“That’s not a bad idea” Scott replies, having come up from the hangars carrying a bag full of freshly wrapped presents for the new tree.

“Ooh presents!” Alan declares, leaping from the top of the ladder onto the floor, and landing lightly on his feet. “gimme gimme gimme!” he says reaching out for the bag as Scott lightly slaps his hands away.

“No, these are not to be opened until everyone is home” Scott replies. “I have counted them, and if any are missing when I check later then I will let Gordon prank you again as long as he promises not to set the house on fire again you will be fair game!”

Alan knows that this is not an empty threat and he laughs before climbing back up the ladder.

“Yeah that’s better, stay up there!” Scott tells him before he retreats back down to the hangars.

*TB*

By the following morning, when Jeff returns with Gordon the house has been transformed. The mechanic has rigged up a contraption for indoor snow, and it is snowing lightly in the lounge. Covering the over decorated tree in a smattering of white flakes.

“Do I have to stay in bed?” Gordon asks.

“What did the doctor say?” Jeff asks amused.

“Yes” Gordon replies.

“So what do you think?” Virgil asks, also amused.

“No!” Gordon replies. “I am not tired, and it only hurts when I talk, move or breathe. I’m fine!” he insists.

“Okay, you can stay up for a bit” Jeff tells him, helping him into one of the chairs, watching him carefully as he grasps the arm of the chair trying to hide the sharp pains in his back, he wants to help but its time Gordon learned his own lessons from his own mistakes. Besides if he does bust his stitches Virgil can sew him back up again!

“When are we doing presents?” Alan asks. He has been trying hard to resist the ever-growing pile under the tree, which is now even bigger than the original pile as Lady Penelope has been adding her own in.

“After lunch, which Grandma has been cooking for the last forty-eight hours, so should be suitably cremated by now” Jeff replies with an evil grin, one that is usually found on Gordon’s face.

Alan is starting to doubt that he will ever get Christmas presents this year as it is now the day before New Years, any minute now his father will announce that he has to wait until his birthday for them! That is if Grandma hasn’t poisoned them all by then.

“Dinner is ready” Grandma announces, coming up from the kitchen an hour and a half later.

Gordon is asleep, using Virgil as a pillow. Alan is still sitting by the presents, which Scott sits next to him so that he doesn’t try and run away with them. John is sitting by Jeff’s desk with Jeff as they read through a report from the GDF regarding the rebuilding of the Hex prison to keep the Hood in, as far away from society they can get without banishing him to the Oort Cloud.

“Come on Squid, you need to eat to regain your strength” Virgil says, gently nudging him awake, and helping him down to the kitchen.

The main table has been set for eleven, with a small card on each plate with names on so that they know where to sit.

There is a silk table cloth which has been hand painted with little Christmas decorations. Lady Penelope has bought Christmas crackers over from England, and in no time at all everyone is wearing a paper hat and telling terrible jokes.

Alan’s favourite is:

What athlete is warmest during winter?

A long jumper.

Gordon’s is:

Who delivers presents to sharks at Christmas?

Santa Jaws.

Jeff’s is something that he wishes was a thing in real life!

What's a parent's favourite Christmas carol?

Silent Night!

Virgil’s is:

Who is Santa’s favourite singer?

Elf-is Presley

John tries not to find any of the jokes funny and sits in stoic silence, but even he starts to laugh at how bad the jokes are.

Which Christmas carol is about an animal with three legs?

Little Wonkey

Even though that’s not how you spell wonky, it still makes him laugh.

Scott’s is:

What do you get if you eat Christmas decorations?

Tinselitis.

Well he has spent most of his life trying to stop Alan from doing just that!

Once everyone has stopped telling jokes, Grandma brings out a large silver covered dish, and everyone takes a deep breath to prepare themselves for what is about to be unveiled. Grandma Tracy is a notoriously bad cook, so why she keeps doing it, nobody knows!

Jeff tentatively takes the lid off to reveal the charred remnants of the old tree.

“Well, it was already cooked so I thought I would save a lot of time and effort and just reheat it. Plastic is good for you” Grandma insists.

“Mom?” Jeff says, raising one eyebrow, and looking over at his mother. Surely she can’t be serious.

“Mrs Tracy?” the mechanic adds. He is laughing. This has been the most unconventional Christmas he has ever been a part off. Nothing that they spent months carefully planning worked out how they were expecting. So why try for a traditional Christmas dinner?

“Okay fine! Come with me, all of you?” Grandma replies starting up the stairs to the lounge and out the main doors by the pool.

Where a second equally beautifully laid table is waiting for them, this one has eleven plates of perfectly cooked food. All of their favourites. The table is straining with the weight of the nut roast, potatoes, carrots, peas, parsnips, broccoli, and boats of steaming gravy. There are several bottles of wine in ice buckets around the table, and in the middle is the centre piece the boys made years ago their last Christmas they had their mom for. Before that they made a new one every year, but once they lost her, it never felt right to keep on making a new one, knowing that she would never be able to see them.  

“When did you do this?” Gordon asks in awe.

“I didn’t” Grandma replies.

“I did” The mechanic replies. “I wanted to give something back to you all. You saved my life and helped me find a purpose. A real purpose. Because of you I am finally free”

“It looks to good to eat” Lady Penelope says with a smile.

“Speak for yourself, I’m starving!” Alan replies, picking up a potato with his fingers and shoving it whole into his mouth. “Argh! Hot! Hot! Hot!” he gags, trying to swallow the potato while he downs a small glass of wine.

“I am sorry, he is a work in progress!” Scott replies, kicking him under the table. Alan’s only reply is to poke his tongue out at Scott, but he does pick up his knife and fork and start to eat properly.

Eleven people make short work of the food and there is very little left over. Jeff can feel the buckle of his belt straining against his stomach, as he pats it appreciatively.

“This has been the weirdest ever Christmas, but I liked it” Virgil says, leaning back in his chair and letting the early afternoon sun warm his face.

They know soon that their vacation will be over, and that they will have back-to-back rescues once more and moments like this will feel like a distant memory.

“Is it really?” John replies. “Gordon caused chaos, and got hurt. Seems like a normal day in the life of international rescue to me!”

“Hey! I don’t always cause chaos!” Gordon replies indignantly.

“That’s true. Sometimes he’s asleep” Scott confirms.

Gordon throws a left-over roast potato at Scott, which misses and hits his father.

“Oh you are such a dead squid!” Jeff tells him with a malicious grin on his face, as he picks up his spoon and piles on left-over peas and launches them at Gordon.

“FOOD FIGHT!” Alan yells in delight.

In less than a minute, everyone is covered in food, and everyone is laughing. Lady Penelope and Gordon have teamed up with Virgil, Scott, the mechanic and Parker and are launching an attack on Alan, John and Jeff, Grandma and Brains.

Once all the remaining food has been consumed Virgil picks Alan up and dumps him in the pool. “Time for a bath Allie” He says with a grin.

“Ugh Virgil!” Alan splutters coming up for air.

Gordon, despite the pool ban by his doctor dives straight in after Alan, ignoring the pain and gently swimming a few laps.

“Come on in, the water’s lovely and warm” he insists.

So they do. All fully dressed. They jump in and join Alan and Gordon and the food fight becomes a water fight, until the sun starts to go down and the water gets chilly, then they retreat to the house for some clean, dry clothes.

Virgil and Grandma march Gordon to the infirmary to make sure that he has not caused any further damage to his back, and replace the soggy dressing with a new one and they gather once again in the living room.

“This has been the best Christmas ever, and I didn’t even open a single present” Alan announces.

The mechanic smiles. It has been his best ever Christmas too, and he hopes that they invite him next year too.

“Oh that’s good because the presents around the tree are empty boxes” Scott tells him.

“They are not, I checked” Alan replies.

“Did you now?” Jeff laughs.

“Erm. No” Alan replies, sheepishly.

Jeff puts him out of his misery and finally lets him open his gifts!

*TB*

There is only one left now, a small gift box, addressed to the whole family from the mechanic.

Alan opens the box and removes a piece of blank paper and looks at it with confusion.

“Other side Alan!” Gordon tells him.

“Oh that’s better!” Alan reads the carefully composed words in silence before he reads them aloud.

“During the years I spent in the Hood’s captivity, I never imagined that life could ever be this enjoyable. I finally feel like I have found a real family, and I love being a part of international rescue. I wanted to give something back, so I give you the gift that I have not given to anyone else. Hardly anyone knows this secret, but I bequeath it too you. I am going to tell you all my real name”.

“You mean it isn’t Mechanic?” Gordon interrupts.

“No it isn’t! Let me finish” Alan replies.

“Okay!” Gordon says.

“My real name is…”

“Hugh Jass” Gordon guesses.

“GORDON!” Jeff warns.

“Sorry, carry on Alan” Gordon replies.

“My real name is…”

“Chris P Bacon”

“GORDON!” Jeff warns again.

“Then tell him to stop pausing, he keeps lining it up, you can’t blame me for guessing. I thought we were playing a game” Gordon replies, utterly unrepentant.

“Are you sure this is the one you’re in love with?” Grandma asks Lady Penelope.

Lady Penelope nods indulgently. This is the one she is in love with!

“My real name is Paul” Alan finally says. “I like it” he says to the Mechanic.

“Yeah, me too” Scott confirms.

Virgil nods and takes the Mechanic’s Christmas stocking down and takes a post it note from his father’s desk, writing Paul on the note, and covering up “mechanic”.

“Welcome to the family Paul” Jeff says, as they all stand up for a group hug.

This really has been the best Christmas ever.

And next year will be even bigger and even better, thinks Lady Penelope, holding onto her very own secret, gently patting her belly with a small smile.

[cielcreations]

Hazbin Hermits - Prologue

AN: Hermitcraft/Empires/3rd Life Series X Hazbin Hotel AU.

Meaning lots of cursing, fighting, blood, violence, flirting, shipping, sexual innuendos/implied sexual content, and pretty much everyone is a bad person to some degree.

If you don't like your favorite characters made to be not so great people, then do not read.

"Good afternoon! I'm Katherine Killjoy!"

"And I'm Joey JaxHammer! Chaos outside pentagram city today, as a turf war is raging on the west side between notable kingpins Lord Fwhip and self-proclaimed spunky powerhouse Mythical Sausage!"

"That's right Joey! After the recent extermination, many areas are now up for grabs! Demons all over Hell are already duking it out to gain new territory!"

"Those two seem to be really going at it, huh?"

"Looks like they're fighting tooth and nail for that hotspot!"

"And I'd like to nail their hotspots, am I right, fellas~?"

"Haha, you are a limp dick jackass, Joey! Or should I say-" Katherine poured her hot coffee on his lap, the man hissing and moving before she could actually spill it on his dick, "-no dick?"

"Bitch." The man hissed.

"Coming up next, we have an exclusive interview with the younger son of Hell's own head honcho, who's here to discuss his brand-new passion project!"

"All that, after the break!" Joey exclaimed, taking his mug and pouring his coffee on Katherine's head.

"YOU LITTLE SH-"

The two looked away from the TV. The blue haired demon tugged the tie a bit tighter, just to make the prince look more presentable.

"Okay." He finished, stepping back, "Are you ready? You remember what to say?"

The blonde took a deep breath, his purple eyes widening in excitement as he exclaimed, "Yes! Let's do this!"

"Just, look at me, and I'll mouth it to you, Zed." The man grabbed the prince's shoulders.

Zed had light blonde hair with brown ram horns, pale skin, wearing a black suit with a red tie, no shoes so his hooves could breath.

"Ugh, come ooooon, Tango, I know what to say!" Zed reassured, smiling, "But, I do think we should make it a bit more interesting! I-I mean, I don't want to go up there and sound robotic, you know?"

Tango, normally, had yellow hair, that could change into different colors depending on how hot he got. Since he could control fire and such, his hair would change colors to match the fire type and, sometimes, it could even turn on fire. His skin was pale with a bit of a blue tint, his nails sharpened into claws. He wore a black crop top and black shorts, long black heeled boots. He also had black belts wrapped around his waist with golden buckles, black cloth to create an overskirt. (Art of Tango by @/lunarcrown)

"I get that, babe, but this is serious." Tango reminded him, "You can't go up there and squeal and giggle the whole time. It's adorable, yes, but not all sinners are going to trust and believe in your project unless you look serious and you know what you're doing."

"I told you through a fit of excited squeals."

"Yeah, and I listened because I know and believe in you." The demon motioned to the others, "These sinners don't. They don't know you, they barely know your older brother, and they certainly won't believe in you at first. It's why you gotta go up there, show them who's in charge, and act like this plan is full-proof!"

"But we don't know if it is..." Zed reminded.

"Your right, and neither do they." Tango booped his nose, "Which is our advantage. No one knows if this works, but if we act like we're the experts, people believe."

"Prince Zedaph? Five minutes before we're live." A demon called.

Tango smiled at the blonde, kissing his forehead, "You got this! I'll be right behind the camera, so if you need me?"

Zed nodded, smiling, "Don't worry, I got this!"

He turned around, walking to the desk and smiling, offering his hand, "Hi, I'm Zed-"

"Katherine Killjoy." The female anchor hissed, "You can put that away. I would say it's a pleasure to meet you, but that would be a lie." She then sneered, "Look, my time is money, so I'll keep this short. You're not here because we wanted you here. You're here because Jeffery couldn't make it to his cannibal cooking segment! You may be some royal bigshot, but that doesn't mean shit to me! I'm too rich and influential to giving a flying fuck about some tux wearing demon 'prince'-" (she put "prince" in quotations, as if Zed wasn't one) "-wants to advertise."

Zed narrowed his eyes, "Listen-"

Katherine leaned forward, glaring, "So don't get cute with me, or I'll fucking break you!"

"And we're live!"

Katherine zoomed to her seat, tilting her head so much, it sounded like she broke it, "Welcome back!" Once Zed was sat down, she spoke again, "So, Zedaph!"

The blonde's eyes twitched as he smiled awkwardly, "It's Zed-"

"Whatever! Tell us about this new passion project you've been insistently pestering our news station about!"

"Welllllll..." Zed looked around at the demons, Tango standing by the camera man with a smile and thumbs up. He smiled and took a deep breath as he spoke, "As most of you know, I was born here in Hell and growing up, I tried to see the good in everything around me. Hell is my home and you are my people. We just went through another extermination and we lost so many souls! It breaks my heart seeing my people being slaughtered every year!" He slammed his fist on the table, sighing, "No one is even given a chance and I can no longer stand idly by when the place I call home, the place I love, is constantly being destroyed!"

He stood up, smiling, "So, I've been thinking, isn't there a more humane way to hinder Hell's overpopulation? Perhaps we can find a new alternative way to save souls through redemption? I think yes, and that's what this project aims to achieve! Ladies and gentlemen and everyone in between, I'm opening the first of its kind! A hotel that rehabilitates sinners!"

Everyone was silent, staring at the man.

Everyone outside stared at the TV.

One in particular tilted his head in curiosity.

Everyone in the news station... started laughing.

Zed shrunk in on himself as Tango moved to stand beside him, his blue hair turning into flames as he glared at everyone.

"What in the nine circles makes you think a single person in hell would give two shits about becoming a 'better person?!'" Katherine cackled, "You have no proof that this actually works and you want people to be good just because?!"

"You have no proof it doesn't work!" Tango hissed, flames surrounding his body, "Besides, we already have a patron who's showing incredible improvement!"

"Ooooooh, and who might that be~?" Katherine sneered.

Tango leaned forward, intentionally burning her wooden table with a smirk, "Oh, just someone named, SmallishBeans."

"The pornstar?" Joey asked.

"You fucking would, Joey." Katherine glared before snickering, "In any case, that's hardly an accomplishment! I'm sure you can get that hooker to do anything with enough lube and sugar!"

Tango continued to burn her table, the woman looking ready to scratch his eyes out as he drew little doodles, "I beg to differ."

Zed also perked up, smirking, "He's been behaved, clean, and out of trouble for two weeks now!"

"Breaking news!"

Katherine perked up before she smirked, pushing the men away, "We just received word that a new player has entered the ongoing turf war! Let's go to the live feed!"

They turned to the TV and Tango pinched his temples as he tried to control himself, Zed muttering out, "Oh shit."

"Oh shit, indeed!" Katherine exclaimed, "It appears the one to join is none other than porn actor Joel, aka, SmallishBeans!" She looked at the two, "What a juicy coincidence! I bet you feel real stupid right now! How does it feel to be a total and utter failure?!"

She began laughing, everyone did, once more.

Tango tried to control himself as Zed clenched his fists.

The prince looked at Tango with glowing red eyes, "Fucking, show them who's boss."

Tango smirked, his teeth sharpening to points, "Gladly."

He jumped across the table, lighting everything on fire as he began to beat Katherine and Joey.

***

The prince and his boyfriend sat in a limo, across from the other sinner. The sinner had brown hair with a green streak in the middle of his hair, matching his green eyes and green antenna. He wore a long white and light green suit blazer, the top unbuttoned and showing off his muscular chest. He had black shorts and long, knee length black heeled boots. To top it off, he had green transparent fairy wings on his back.

They watched as he rolled the window up and down, clearly in his own little world. Eventually, he seemed to notice the two were staring at him.

The brunette stopped, leaned back, and shrugged, "What?"

"'What?' 'WHAT?!'" Tango screamed, his hair turning to blue, almost purple flames, "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, JOEL?!"

"Ugh, I had too, I owed Sausage a solid!" Joel huffed, "Isn't that one of those 'redeeming qualities'? Helping friends and all that?!"

Zed leaned into the window with a groan as Tango reprimanded him, "Not in turf wars that result in genocide?!"

"Meh, you win some, you loose a few hundred!"

"Joel, that was really not cool." Zed groaned, "You just... You made us look like jokes!"

"Nah, chill out, jokes are funny! I made you all look sad and pathetic!"

"Oh, cause that's any better?!" Tango growled.

"Look, I had to!" Joel argued, "My reputation was on the line! You know what people would say if they found out I was trying to go clean?! Not to mention, people would know where I am and try to break into the hotel to get some of me! Do you want a whole mob down there?"

"Listen, if you want to stay here, you need to take this shit seriously!" Tango demanded, walking towards the brunette, "We're not going to give you a free room, free food, free whatever else if all you do is fuck around! So, you either sit down, buckle the fuck up, and try to redeem yourself and help the hotel's reputation, that you burned to cinder!" He glared, flames coming out of his mouth, "Got it?"

Joel groaned, "Okay, fine, whatever."

"C-Calm down, Tango." Zed offered his hand, Tango moving to sit beside him again, "I-It's not over yet, we can still try! It'll be okay!"

The limo stopped at the hotel and the three went inside. Tango flopped on the couch with a groan, Joel grabbing a popsicle and sitting in a chair. Zed groaned and went to go upstairs, only to stop.

Someone knocked on the door.

He walked towards it and opened the door.

In front of him stood a tall dirty blonde man with his eyes closed, wearing a blue striped coat with dark blue sleeves, the coat falling to his knees. Underneath the coat, he wore a white dress shirt with a black upside down cross on the chest, as if to resemble a tie, long black dress pants with bright blue cuffs. Over his feet, he wore black heeled boots that rested under his pants. Behind his back, he held a long thin cane with a sentient vintage style microphone attached to it.

The whole time, he smiled.

Zed shrunk a little as the man opened his eyes. He had black sclera with blue eyes, staring down at the prince.

"HELLO!" He spoke, his voice altered to sound like that of a broadcast.

Zed shut the door on instinct, "Uh, Tango?"

"Whaaaaat?" The flame demon groaned.

"The Radio Demon is at the door!"

[just-here-with-my-thoughts]

A Cosy Bed: A Stardust Conspiracy Fanfic

A Bad Batch Fanfic ~4575 words Click here to read on AO3 Content: Space Hamsters, Snowball Fights, Brotherly Fluff, Crosshair to the rescue The Batch have grown very attached to their newest and smallest member; Omega's pet hamster. But escapology isn't the criceto's only skill... Can Omega keep her brothers from finding out what Stardust has done this time - and can she undo the damage caused?

With thanks to @kybercrystals94 for giving me your blessing to write a story with your character Stardust! If you haven't read kyber's fun fic about the chaos that ensues when the Batch get a pet hamster yet, you should go check it out Here. It's been so much fun swopping stories about our real-life hamster woes and turning them into fanfics!

“Omega, the planet we are landing on has a very frigid climate. The ambient temperature inside the Marauder is likely to drop, which may trigger a hibernation response in the criceto species. Make sure that Stardust has plenty of insulating bedding materials available, as she is likely to want additional warmth in her nest.”

“Sure thing, Tech,” chirped Omega, poking a finger into the cage to wave at Stardust. The criceto blinked sleepily as she waddled from her nest to the food bowl, checking for uneaten seeds.

Wrecker had lifted Stardust’s cage up into the gunner’s mount so that Omega could play with the criceto in her ‘bedroom’ whilst the others planned for the mission planet-side. Omega bounced Lula on her knees, making the stuffed tooka toy wave at Stardust too.

“You’ll keep an eye on Stardust whilst we’re gone, won’t you Lula?” Omega chatted to herself. “Don’t worry, Stardust,” and she tipped a whole mountain of additional seeds into the bowl right before the stunned criceto’s nose, “I’ll make sure you have plenty of food and water, and we won’t even be gone that long!”

The criceto scrubbed her little paws over her whiskers, then started stuffing her cheek pouches full of the new bounty which had appeared before her.

There was a gentle tremor as the Marauder settled on the ground. Omega looked up as Echo entered the bunk area with a groan.

“There’s snow everywhere,” the cyborg clone lamented to no-one in particular. “My joints are going to freeze.”

“There’s snow?” Omega exclaimed. In a flash she was bouncing in front of Echo, hands clasped before her in excitement. “Real snow, Echo? I’ve never seen real snow! Can I go outside? Can I see it now?”

“Not until you wrap up warm.” That was Hunter, smiling as he followed Echo to the bunks. He shed his scarf, draping the striped material over Omega’s shoulders and wrapping it round and round until it smothered her up to her nose. Omega giggled. “Nearly done,” said Hunter, reaching into an overhead locker and pulling out a box of cold-weather gear. He dug around until he found a thick pair of gloves, far too big for Omega’s hands but he popped them on her anyway, then swaddled her further in a thick coat with a fur-trimmed hood.

“Now can I go out?” asked Omega, her voice muffled behind the layers of fabric.

“Sure thing, kid,” Hunter grinned, and Omega skipped off happily.

“Are you going to wrap me up like that?” asked Echo, earning a snort of laughter from Hunter.

“Not a chance,” he teased as he retrieved his own thick coat from the crate. Wrecker appeared and started pulling on hat and gloves too.

Lula slumped, forgotten, against the side of Stardust’s cage.

*

The mission was unexpectedly easy; no-one else was here to challenge them about retrieving the cache. Because no-one else was mad enough to be out in this cold, was Echo’s frequently-voiced opinion. And whilst Hunter groused about their preparations going to waste, he was smiling inside his furred hood – they were all glad of an easy win for once.

Dragging the cache back to the ship on the makeshift sled shouldn’t have taken long, except Wrecker kept dropping the cable to gather up handfuls of snow to throw at his brothers. He was kind enough to leave Echo alone – the reg was struggling with the cold and his cybernetic implants – but Tech’s indignant squark when the icy mush slithered down the back of his neck and beneath his armour only spurred Wrecker to greater mischief. Before long he, Tech and Hunter were engaged in full-blown snowball warfare.

Omega, hiding behind the sled, was in helpless giggles. Whenever she got the chance she popped up the hurl another snowball into the fray. Wrecker eventually wised to her ambushes and tackled her into the snow, then let her ride on his shoulders the rest of the way back.

Back at the Marauder everyone was stamping feet and rubbing hands to try and warm them whilst they clamoured over each other with plans for the evening. Echo grumbled at having his prosthetics checked, saying the Marauder was so cold he’d rather run the risk of frostbite to his stumps than strip off and inspect them. Tech forced him to anyway, and Omega piled every blanket on the ship onto Echo’s shoulders as he sat and shivered whilst his thighs were examined. Then she ran to the galley and clambered up to retrieve Wrecker’s stash of chocolate powder, mixing watery hot chocolate drinks for everyone.

Tech had the Marauder in the air and the cabin was finally warming with the roar of the engines before Omega remembered Stardust. She left Hunter, Wrecker and Tech in the cockpit, darting past Echo on his bunk to climb into her gunner’s nest and peek into the criceto cage.

Her distressed squeak immediately summoned Echo.

“What’s wrong, Omega?” he asked, peering up with concern.

Omega stared at Stardust’s cage with both hands clamped over her mouth, eyes wide with panic. Slowly she turned to fix Echo with a wretched look, pointing a trembling finger at the corner where the criceto nested.

“Stardust isn’t dead,” Echo reassured her quickly, a flash of worry in his own eyes. “If she’s not moving it’ll be because she’s in a deep sleep, hibernating, just like Tech said!”

But he had misinterpreted Omega’s alarm.

“It’s Lula,” Omega whispered, voice cracking from behind her fingers.

Lula was still leant up against the side of the hamster cage. Echo climbed another step up the ladder to look more closely, first at the lopsided toy, then at the shreds of red fabric surrounding the sleeping criceto. The nest made warm and fluffy with toy stuffing…

“Stardust ate Lula’s ear!” Omega’s voice was a frightened whisper. “I forgot to put extra bedding in there, and she chewed up Lula’s ear and Wrecker is going to kill me…”

“Hey, hey,” soothed Echo, boosting himself the rest of the way into the gunner’s mount and curling his left arm round Omega’s shoulders. He reached past her with his scomp, nudging Lula away from the cage, inspecting the damage.

“She’s ruined,” said Omega, voice breaking on a sob. Echo squeezed her tightly.

“No she’s not,” he reassured her, pulling the tattered toy into Omega’s lap. “Look, it’s not that bad really. I’m sure we can repair the damage, and Lula will look good as new.”

“I don’t know how,” his little sister wailed.

“Leave it to me,” Echo told her with a smile.

Omega’s cry had alerted Tech, who now appeared at the ladder to her small room.

“What is the matter?” the engineer asked, sticking his head into the now-crowded gunner’s mount. “Is Stardust well?”

Echo quickly moved Lula out of sight. “Stardust is fine,” he said to save Omega from answering. “Omega was just startled by… uh… how still she looked. In hibernation, just like you said.”

“Ah.” Tech nodded sagely. “Never fear, Omega. Once the ambient temperature starts to increase, Stardust will naturally awaken from her slumber.” He peered at the girl’s worried face and adjusted his goggles. “Would you like me to check on her, just in case?”

“No!” said Omega, far too quickly and a little too loudly. Her cheeks flushed guiltily. “No, it’s fine Tech,” she managed in a more normal tone. “Echo made me feel lots better about it.”

“Very well.” Tech climbed back down, flashing Omega one of his rare smiles. “If you do require any further information about the habits of the criceto, I am more than happy for us to work on our joint research project together.”

“C’mon, we should head down too,” Echo said, nudging Omega towards the ladder. He paused, then grabbed Omega’s blanket and threw it over the cage. “For extra warmth,” he told her. “Certainly not to hide anything.” He gave her a sympathetic smile, and tucked Lula’s mutilated body under the blanket and out of sight.

“How are we going to fix her, Echo?” Omega asked as she descended. Her brown eyes shone as she gazed up at him, desperation written on her young face.

“Don’t worry,” he smiled. “I’m going to make a call. You should help Hunter prep evening meal. You know he doesn’t like you skipping out on your chores to play with Stardust.”

Wondering what Echo had planned, Omega moped off to find Hunter. She was withdrawn as she helped with dinner, prompting him to ask what was up.

“Come on, ‘Mega,” he said with a gruff smile, knocking his shoulder gently into hers. “You can tell me what’s wrong.”

“Nothing’s wrong,” she said, feeling the cold weight of guilt settle in her stomach. “I’m just…”

“Worried about Stardust?” asked Hunter kindly. “Tech told me she’s hibernating. You don’t need to worry, kid. Your little criceto will be just fine, and she’ll wake back up before you know it.”

“Yeah,” said Omega morosely, fretting about how she was piling lies on top of lies to hide her mistake.

The boys were in high spirits during the meal, celebrating the mission gone off without a hitch, but Omega poked at her food without appetite. She was so subdued that after dinner Tech insisted on taking her temperature in case she had come down with a cold after playing in the snow, and Hunter was the picture of concern hovering over Tech’s shoulder asking about the results.

“I’m fine,” Omega insisted, cheeks going pink from the embarrassment of her deceit rather than a temperature. She glanced at Echo for support.

Echo picked up on the cue perfectly. “I expect Omega is tired out from all the fun we had today,” he said. “She should probably have an early night.

“Awright then kid, time for bed,” said Wrecker cheerily, scooping Omega up in a bone-crushing hug as he did every night. He lifted her easily into her bedroom in the gunner’s mount, flicking the switch to turn the fairy lights on. “Want a story?”

“Not tonight, Wrecker,” said Omega, burrowing into the blankets and trying to hide. “I’m really tired.”

“Fair ‘nuff,” grinned Wrecker. “I’m tired too, from playin’ in the snow! I’ll jus’ say goodnight to you an’ Lula.” And he waited expectantly for Omega to present the toy, as she always did, for a goodnight hug of her own.

“You can’t!” yelped Omega in alarm. “I mean, uh…” She sat back up a little, trying to school her face into a reassuring smile. “Lula is hibernating,” she lied. “Just like Stardust. You shouldn’t disturb her.”

“Ohh!” Wrecker gave her an exaggerated wink. “I get it!” He reached out and ruffled her hair. “Alright kid, sleep tight. I’ll see Lula when she wakes up from hibernation!”

Omega pulled the blanket over her head and wished she could hibernate, and not wake up until this nightmare was over.

*

They were due to dock at a small spaceport to resupply before their next mission. Echo reassured Omega that someone would be there to help with their problem, but Omega remained concerned.

“What if he doesn’t come?”

Echo smiled down at her gently. “He will, Omega. He’ll always come, if it’s you.”

Omega nodded, only partially convinced. It was hardly an emergency, but if Echo said he was coming, she wanted to believe him.

They docked the Marauder without challenge, Hunter assigning them instructions for a speedy resupply. Together, the five of them descended the ramp to the spaceport.

There was no mistaking the mercenary waiting by the one-man fighter on the other side of the docking bay. He was lean, armoured in deep red with grey accents – the mirror of how they were used to seeing him. A familiar skull decal adorned his shoulder pauldron, and a sniper rifle rested casually across his shoulder.

“Crosshair!” squealed Omega, breaking away from her brothers to run and meet him. The tall clone caught her in a one-armed hug, the other hand tightly gripping his rifle.

“Hey, kid,” he greeted, although he kept his gaze trained on his approaching brothers. A patch covered the empty socket of his right eye, a centrepiece for his fine-line tattoo; an injury earned during their escape from Mount Tantiss, when he had rescued Omega from Dr. Hemlock. A fair price for their freedom, he thought, not that he would ever tell Hunter that. He had let his hair grow back in around the scarring above his ear, steel-grey locks just starting to curl atop his head.

“Crosshair!” cried Wrecker, looking for all the world like he too wanted to run at his brother for a hug, just as Omega had. He held himself back, settling for a friendly punch to the shoulder. “Haven’t seen you in ages! How’s it goin’?”

“You are looking well,” said Tech with a nod which Crosshair returned.

They weren’t all so happy to see their estranged batchmate. “What are you doing here?” asked Hunter, a little too sharply.

Crosshair stiffened, biting down hard on his toothpick. “Two mercenary groups can’t be at the same spaceport at the same time?” he sneered, glaring at his brother.

“I guess they can.” Hunter narrowed his eyes suspiciously but let it go.

“Good to see you Crosshair,” said Echo, stepping past Hunter. The Imperial-sniper-turned-mercenary reached out and tapped vambraces with Echo as the cyborg came to stand on Omega’s other side. “Would you like to join us for dinner?”

“You’re casually extending dinner invitations now?” asked Hunter caustically. Echo ignored him, but Crosshair didn’t.

“I know when I’m not wanted,” he said bitterly. “Don’t trouble yourself on my behalf.”

Then he glanced to where Omega was tucked under his arm, looking up at him with a glaze of tears in her eyes.

“On second thoughts,” he said, fingers tightening on her shoulder, “I suppose dinner might be nice.”

Omega jumped to lock her arms around his neck in a tight hug, dangling from his tall frame. “Thank you, Crosshair,” she whispered, and was sure she felt him smile against her cheek.

*

The Marauder’s tiny galley was crowded with six, but the warmth of jovial conversation kept anyone from feeling too cramped. Omega was crammed onto the bench between Hunter and Tech, the latter engaged in animated descriptions of their recent adventures to Crosshair, who sat on a storage crate pulled up to the end of the table.

Crosshair was smiling, thin lips pressed together in a smirk as he listened to his brothers. Wrecker was an enthusiastic assistant storyteller, gesturing broadly from his position leaned against the wall across from the small table. There wasn’t space to seat all of them, so Wrecker had volunteered to stand.

Echo perched on the end of the bench between Tech and Crosshair, nodding along to the stories but casting the occasional glance between Hunter and Cross. He had made sure they were seated at the opposite ends of the table, hoping the distance would be enough to avert an argument. Hunter’s less than enthusiastic response to Crosshair’s presence was affecting Omega as well; every time she laughed at one of Crosshair’s retorts she quickly glanced up at the long-haired Sergeant, gauging his reaction. For Crosshair’s part, he pointedly ignored Hunter, and Echo supposed that was the best he could hope for.

When Crosshair disappeared outside, seeking respite from the noise and the scrutiny of his brothers, Hunter silently slipped from his seat to follow him.

The sniper hadn’t gone far, stopped under the wing of the Marauder as he tipped a toothpick from its pack and placed it between his teeth. He leaned against the ship with his head tilted back, breathing out a sigh as his face dropped into a worried frown.

Hunter didn’t try and disguise his approach, taking up position beside Crosshair with shoulders hunched and tense. He glanced up, still not used to seeing his older brother with a patch covering his eye instead of the hard but familiar glare that was usually framed by the crosshair tattoo.

When he spoke he couldn’t control the challenge in his voice.

“Why are you really here, Crosshair? It’s not a coincidence.”

Crosshair chewed for a moment on his toothpick. Then, “Echo called. Said the kid needed me,” he said truthfully.

Hunter bristled. “What does she need you for that one of us can’t help with?” he asked, an edge of hurt roughening his words.

“Getting out of Tantiss, for one,” hissed Crosshair, rounding on his smaller brother. For a moment they locked gazes, glowering, before Crosshair turned away. “Think what you want. I don’t care.”

Hunter took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. “I’m sorry, Crosshair,” he said quietly, facing out across the landing bay instead of looking at his brother. “I’m grateful for what you did. Bringing Omega back to us.”

“You’ve got a funny way of showing it.”

For a while silence stretched between them, strained. Hunter crossed his arms over his chest, tilting his chin down in thought.

“How’s the aim?” he asked at last.

Crosshair merely grunted.

Hunter could sense the tension radiating from him even without his enhancements. He didn’t need to be told how losing an eye affected Crosshair’s depth perception – what that meant for a sniper.

“It’s… getting better,” Crosshair admitted at last. “The biggest problem is the muscle memory. I keep bringing my rifle up to…”

He trailed off.

Hunter gently knocked his shoulder against his brother’s. “You’ll get it back. It’ll take time to train to use your off-side.”

Crosshair rounded on him with a snarl, but seeing the genuine concern in Hunter’s face he softened. “Yeah,” he agreed, leaning back against the Marauder. He flicked his toothpick away, then almost immediately brought out a fresh one.

“So,” said Hunter after a moment. “What does Omega need you for?”

“Perhaps if you’d leave me alone for five minutes she’d come and tell me,” said Crosshair with a humourless smile. He tilted his head a little, glancing down at his brother. “You know, there’s going to be things she doesn’t want you to know. It’s good she has someone else to turn to.”

Hunter’s mouth turned down. “Why wouldn’t Omega come to me with a problem?” he asked.

“Because she cares what you think of her,” Crosshair told him. “She doesn’t want you to see her making mistakes.” Then, barely audible, “I know how that feels.”

“If she’s in trouble I want to be there for her.”

For a moment Crosshair stiffened, and he bit hard onto his toothpick. Hunter grimaced, tattooed face contorting with guilt.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you,” he said quietly, voice raw.

Crosshair resumed chewing on his toothpick. Eventually he sighed.

“Forget it.”

His words were twisted with bitterness and worse – resignation.

Hunter took a shaky breath. “Are we ever going to be good again, Crosshair?”

“You and me?” Crosshair’s gaze was distant, unfocused. He shook his head. “No.”

Beside him, Hunter tensed.

“But I owe the kid. If she needs me, you can call. It doesn’t have to be Echo.”

Hunter nodded, jaw clenched tightly.

Crosshair turned to him, a shadow of doubt crossing his face. His one eye narrowed, then softened. Reaching out, he ruffled Hunter’s hair, ignoring his younger brother’s half-hearted snarl of protest at the treatment.

“Come on, vod’ika. Let’s go back inside. I can play nice for one night, for Omega.”

*

“You called me out here for this?” Crosshair hissed, rolling his eyes at Echo. He turned the stuffed toy over in his hands, inspecting the damage.

“You’re the best at this kind of job,” Echo said defensively, arms crossed over his chest. “Your stitching has always been the neatest out of all of us.”

“You could have had Tech do this,” muttered Crosshair, but stopped when he saw Omega’s worried face. He gave a sigh, pinching his fingers to the bridge of his nose. “Fine. I’ll repair the dumb toy.”

Omega threw her arms round his neck once more, burying her face in his shoulder. “You’re the best, Crosshair.”

“Get off me,” he said without heat, gently prising the girl away from him. “Alright, do you have what I need?”

“I found needle and thread in the medical kit,” said Echo, indicating where they were.

“And the missing ear?”

“Chewed to pieces in the criceto nest, I’m afraid.”

Crosshair paused half-way through threading the needle. “What?” he asked, surprise smoothing some of the careworn lines from his face. “You got a criceto?”

“She’s called Stardust,” said Omega in a small voice.

Crosshair looked between them and gave a grunt of amusement. “Hunter really is getting soft.” He ruffled Omega’s hair gently, just like he had with Hunter. “Alright kid, so your pet chewed Lula and there’s no ear left for me to sew back on. Where can we get some red fabric to make a new one?”

Echo coughed. Crosshair glanced at him, then a wicked grin spread on his face.

“Got it.”

*

Omega padded softly past her sleeping brothers in their bunks and let herself into the cockpit. A silver-haired head faced away from her; Crosshair, sitting alone in the pilot’s chair. He didn’t turn, or give any indication that he registered her presence.

Closing the door behind her, she approached Crosshair and stood silently by his side. The sniper held a narrow tube of red fabric in his hands, running precise stitches down the seam.

Crosshair paused, flicking his gaze to her, and subtly shifted his position. Omega took the cue and crawled into his lap.

“If Wrecker doesn’t kill me, then Hunter definitely will,” she lamented, tucking into Crosshair’s side and resting her head on his shoulder.

A vibration of a supressed chuckle spread through him. “Most certainly,” he agreed in his driest voice, looping his arms round her loosely so he could continue sewing. “You’re done for. The best you can hope for is a swift death.”

Omega pouted. “You’re not helping,” she complained, and Crosshair jostled her gently.

“Do you want me to fix this or not?”

“Yes,” she said meekly. “Please.”

They settled into silence, Crosshair’s hands moving swiftly as he pulled thread through the new ear he was making. Omega retrieved Lula from the Marauder’s console and dug her fingers into the hole in the toy’s head, stirring the stuffing inside.

“What if they’re so mad they don’t want me around any more?” she asked in a small voice. “What if they banish me from the Batch?”

Crosshair gave a derisive snort, his breath stirring the girl’s hair. “You can come live with me,” he said, eyes never leaving his task.

“Do you mean that?”

“Sure.” A faint smile curled the corners of his mouth, his usual sarcasm absent. “I’ll get a bigger ship. A two-man fighter.”

Omega snuggled her face into his chest, wrapping one arm around his waist. “Can Stardust come too?”

“I don’t know about that. She sounds like trouble.”

Omega giggled despite herself. “Yeah. She can be,” she said, remembering Hunter’s red-cheeked embarrassment the first time Stardust had escaped and he hadn’t been able to track her. At least Tech had tamed the little criceto with bribes of treats since then.

Turning the fabric tube to hide the seam inside, Crosshair stuffed it with spare criceto bedding and took Lula from Omega’s hands, starting to attach the new ear. Omega watched sleepily, boneless and relaxed against her brother. Before long she started to doze.

*

Omega was vaguely aware of strong arms wrapping round her and lifting her up, of being cradled against a chest and carried, of being laid into bed and the blanket pulled up over her. A soft-bodied form was tucked in beside her.

She mumbled sleepily, not awake enough to form words. A hand rested on her head, long fingers stroking through her hair. Omega squeezed Lula tightly and burrowed into the blankets, giving a soft, contented sigh as she drifted back to sleep.

*

“Where’s my bandana?” Hunter muttered, still half-asleep and rubbing his face as he pulled back the blankets on his bunk. He ran his hand through his unruly hair, strands curling into his eyes now they weren’t tamed by his usual headgear.

“It must be around somewhere,” Tech told him, heading for the cockpit. Crosshair was gone and they were preparing to depart themselves.

“Wrecker,” called Omega from her bedroom, her voice shaking just a little. “Can you come over here?”

The big clone lumbered up the gangway to the gunner’s mount. “What’s up, kid?” he asked with a grin, resting his forearms on the floor of her small room.

Omega shifted uncomfortably, not meeting his eyes. “I want to tell you something,” she said, then rested her small hand over his large one. She looked at him at last, mouth downturned in an unhappy line. “I had an accident with Lula.”

Wrecker chuckled. “Whatcha do, spill somethin’ on her? Tech’s always tellin’ me to be more careful about that. Don’t worry, whatever it is usually washes right out!”

“No, it’s not that.” Omega sniffed, trying to hold back tears and keep her voice from wobbling. “I b-b-broke her. But Echo called Crosshair and Crosshair fixed her and-”

She pulled the tooka toy out from under her pillow.

“I hope it’s okay.”

Wrecker withdrew his hand from Omega’s and took hold of Lula, cradling her delicately as he stroked his fingertips over her right ear. It was now red all the way to the base, and where the new ear joined the toy’s head, there was a small bow with a familiar skull at the centre.

“Omega! I love it!”

Omega jerked her head up from where she had been looking miserable.

“You do?”

“Ha hah!” Wrecker grabbed her in one arm, dragging her to the edge of the gunner’s mount so he could hug her and Lula together. “It’s adorable! I’d never have thought to make a BOW for Lula to wear!”

Smooshing the plush tooka into his face, Wrecker kissed the beloved toy between her ears. “You look great, Lula,” he told the toy, beaming from ear to ear. “I’m sorry I never made you anythin’ pretty to wear before now!” He turned his grin on Omega, laughing. “Is this why you said she was hibernatin’? Tryin’ to keep it a surprise ‘til it was ready?”

“Uh… yeah,” said Omega lamely, stunned in the face of Wrecker’s excitement. “So you’re not mad?”

“Why would I be mad? You had me worried when you said you broke her, but she looks just fine to me!” And with that Wrecker sauntered off happily, Lula tucked under his arm.

Echo appeared in the space Wrecker had vacated. He was wearing a knowing smile.

“I think we got away with that, don’t you?” he asked casually.

Omega nodded fervently. Somehow Wrecker hadn’t noticed the difference between Lula’s original ear and the new one.

“Maybe next time, keep Lula a bit further away from Stardust’s cage,” Echo smiled wryly. “Cheer up, kid. It all worked out in the end.”

At last Omega found her smile again. “Yeah. You’re right, Echo.” She reached over and petted the edge of the cage fondly. “And next time we go somewhere cold, I’m going to make sure Stardust has as much bedding as she needs!”

Hunter’s voice floated down the ship; Omega and Echo shared a guilty grin.

“Has anyone seen my bandana?”

Much like @kybercrystals94 original Stardust fic this is based off of a true life story. In that it was Lucky Rabbit who bore the brunt of hamster-based attentions to an ear, and my mum painstakingly retrieved chewed bits of fluff from the hamster cage and sewed him back together for me. I was about eight :)

[its-elioo]

As someone who is long-time fan of Mlp EG and who has just finished watching TFP, your fic is true delight. I read it 5 times at least and it is still awesome. You perfectly matched girls with their autobots partners just as well as you did with decepticons as their evil counterpart. For example Twilight/Shockwave - both have high inteligence, but while one uses it for greater good and to help the others, the other abuses it to gain power and hurt the others; Fluttershy/Soundwave - even thought they are both animal lovers and quiet types, FS is just very shy girl while SW is calculating sadist; Rainbow/Starscream - Apart from being queer icons (If you can look at these two without the word gay constantly entering your mind, congrats, you´re legit cishet) they´re actually pretty similliar in function and personallity wise. They´re both eccentric, aroggant showoffs and are also fastest on their team. But it´s their differences that are making them great foils. RD is impaitent hothead, who jumps straight into action without the second thought, while SC is great schemer, who has his plans planed out. RD is literally element of loyalty, while SC is mostly loyal to himself and etc. I can´t wait to see all their interactions in the future. If you´re interested in some writting advice, there is one minor thing that can be fixed : your description of characters feelings and thought. You start explaining how and why they feel that way instead of giving readers benefit of the doubt. The best term I can think of is that you are describing a picture. Like you want us to see, hear and understand everything at once. It creates unnecessary sentences or whole paragraphs without which some emotional moments would have sounded better. For example if paragraph in Ch.2 with sentence "She was too stuborn." it would have sounded so much better. Or sentences like "She was too precious." are also kind of waste of space since they don´t tell anything new.It´s not worst type of description,but it can create a feeling that you don´t trust youre readers to read from emotions characters alone. Many new writers and comic artists are often doing this. It can be solved 2 ways : by improving their writing or start drawing comics. I´m sorry if I confussed you in some way. I tried my best to explain it, but english is not my primary language. If you don´t mind, I would recommend fics from @whatwooshkai to see what I am talking about ( it´s mostly TF shipping stuff, but man, the writting is so good that I can´t stop reading even if I wanted to). Overall great story and art, just writting needs a little improvment.

I want to finish this already long post with few questions:

1.What is group dynamic with eachother? I mean in and outside of their decided pairings. I can see Sideswipe and Rainbow´s relationship as chaos siblings and that Rainbow is definitely driving Ratchet insane, but what about the others? I´m courious to know.

2.Did you already started writting the next book? If not, do you have planned when you will start?

3.Do you consider draw this as a full time comic or at least draw some parts of it? Or drawing some strips of your incorrect quotes?It´s just that you´re artstyle is so pretty and redesigns of the autobots and girls are great. It´s shame to see so little of them.

4. Did you thought about getting your comics dubbed on youtube?

5. Do you draw ideas from the asks from your followers on Tambrlane or you take commissions only? Like if they had a idea for a comic/sketch and they post it to you, would you draw it? If not, could they draw it with your redesignes?

6. What gave you idea for this crossover? My best guess is that comic from Hasbro.

Holy- I never thought I would get such a long ask.

*rolls up sleeves and rubs hands*

Okay, let’s do this!

First, I want to thank you so much for the kind words, the fact that there are people who got really interested in my fic makes my heart flutter. <3

And I really love it when readers point out small details that I haven’t thought about that much while writing! Thank you a lot for the advice and recommendations, I really appreciate it! I will keep that in mind!

Now, to answer your questions:

1. You are absolutely correct about Sideswipe and Rainbow’s relationship, in my opinion, they will be the best chaos siblings (I am 100% sure that most of the members will go insane because of their pranks) I could write more detailed headcanons for them and the others too.

2. The next book is nearly finished, I will make sure to post it at the beginning of January.

3. I will drop more art soon, promise! Sorry for the lack of content, I’ve been pretty busy for the past few months. But now I’m finally free and I will certainly start drawing again! I also have several ideas in mind for some parts of the next book.

4. I don’t mind my comics being dubbed as long as I’m credited and they’ve asked for permission.

5. Again, if I’m credited and asked for permission, there will be no problem for other artists to draw my redesigns. I don’t usually take requests and it really depends on my free time and motivation, but if I really like the idea that has been suggested, I would (probably) draw it.

6. Good guess! But actually no. I was really into this crossover way before Hasbro decided to make a comic of it. I’ve been into a lot of fandoms and reading crossover fanfics basically became like a hobby to me. I got a lot of inspiration after I accidentally stumbled upon some pretty good written Tf/Mlp fics, but it took me a lot of time to finally get enough courage and start writing my own. I’m more than thankful for the support and love that I was given through the years! It really motivated me to keep on going!

[randomjreader]

My GMMTV 2024 predictions

We're about 1.5 months away from the rumoured gmmtv 2024 press conference (I'm assuming it'll be in the later half of October), so I figured it was about time I threw in my two cents on the lineup

What I want (but don't think I'll get):

Joylada bl series

If you didn't already know, I'm a massive JDPP fan, and I absolutely love their friendship, so ofc this has to be the first thing I mention. Do I think I'll get it? No, they haven't been seen together filming anything that isn't promo yet so the chances aren't high. But am I still being delulu and hoping gmmtv gives them a crazy, super chaotic bl comedy series, with dunkphuwin as brothers and joongpond as best friends who fall for them? Yes. (Bonus, the CP's get mixed around for maximum chaos)

Power rangers gang bl series

Similar to above, I think the vibes of this would be absolutely hilarious. Unlikely gmmtv would do this tho, the last time they capitalised on these cp friend groups was that series with the holy trinity (singtokrist, offgun, taynew). But with some of their biggest OGs leaving (singto, bright, ect) they might be trying to form the new generation of cp friend groups, so maybe it's not entirely implausible?

Viewjune gl series

If you follow my blog, you would know I'm Viewjune's #1 fan, so ofc I want them to get a GL series of their own. However, I honestly don't think they'll get it. One big thing about becoming an established, branded cp is fanservice, but despite being paired together for 2 shows already, there really hasn't been any interactions outside scheduled promos and a few pics here and there. Yes, this might just mean that they don't wanna feed into fanservice, but a part of me also thinks that it might mean they are trying to phase this ship out before people get too attached, possibly to explore mixing the cps up, which I will get more into later.

Prigkhing in a gl

The way I wanna see this so bad; Prigkhing would totally kill it in a GL, she already has chemistry with every girl she's put on screen with. But I'm not sure if GMMTV would actually do this, though this might be the most probable from this list.

Forcebook-pondphuwin bl series

Full disclosure, I want this solely because I love forcepond's friendship. They have similar humour, and it would be hilarious to see them play best friends (or lovers if gmmtv is ballsy enough to mix up their BL cps 👀). Even if the series flops I'd be invested solely for all the chaotic BTS. Also, the visuals would be serving. We all saw that one post of them in the gym right? Exactly.

Leading roles for the underutilised gmmtv artists

I'm talking about people like Drake, Mike, Aun, Bimbeam, Ploypach, ect. They are all so talented, but it feels like gmmtv hardly uses them (not so much on Ploypach, heavy on Bimbeam). GIVE OPPORTUNITIES TO YOUR OTHER ARTISTS PLEASE.

AJ and JJ leads series

These two needed a whole separate point for themselves. They have been with gmmtv for a while now, and they've literally been in like, 70% of gmmtv's series, yet not a single leading role for them. They have so much potential, not just because they are identical twins (how many of these companies have that), but also because they're really talented. GMMTV, stop overlooking them and give them their well deserved leading roles please.

Mark Pakin and Pond Naravit as twins series

Speaking of twins, forget GeminiPhuwin for a sec, I want to see THESE TWO play twins. They look so goddamn alike (imo more than geminiphuwin do), and they are both so funny without even trying, they would be great in a comedy together. Or hell, even a lakorn, they both have experience in those. Give me Mark as the outgoing, confident older twin and Pond as the shy, more introverted younger twin, and hell while we're at it throw in Milk Pansa as their older sister who's so done with their shit but loves them very much, because she raised them after their parents died.

What I'm expecting:

Geminifourth bl series

This one has already been confirmed, so really not much to say about it. Hell, I'm pretty sure gmmtv will give them 2 series instead of just one. I'm hoping to finally see red flag Gemini (but watch him be the one to fall first AGAIN)

Pondphuwin bl series

This one also has been subtly, sort of confirmed by Phuwin, and I'm holding on to all that hope. I never really understood why people were acting as if Pond is dropping out of the industry simply bcs he said he was going back to school, like he still needs to earn money to support himself and his family y'all, pondphuwin aren't going anywhere (not with their current popularity). It's literally giving the same energy as everyone freaking out when he tweeted about wanting to further his career in dance one day, and when he supported Santa when he went to join Fantasy Boys, because they thought that meant he was leaving the bl industry to focus on dance. Like pls everyone, relax. More likely than not it just means he'll get less work, probably only one 2024 series with phuwin and your usual artist appearances.

Dunkphuwin bg series

This one I've seen rumours of already, and hell yeah I'm so down for this. It's probably the closest we'll ever get to a joylada series, which makes sense since Dunk is graduating while Joong and Pond are probably going to be spending more time on school (we don't talk about Phuwin, Mr "I got into Uni at 16 while also working and am currently very close to graduating with honours" is crazy smart and can basically do anything). I'm hoping to see them play brothers (GMMTV don't you dare mess up that golden opportunity) and maybe have them paired up with Jaoying for Phuwin and a new gmmtv actress for Dunk.

Winnysatang bl series

Of all GMMTV's established cps, they are one of the only ones who have yet to get their own series, and given their immense popularity (they already have fanmeets of their own), it's highly likely to be getting their own series. I'd be surprised if they didn't. I'm hoping for some dark angsty drama for them, enemies to lovers or maybe even a forbidden love type of thing?

At least 2 new gl series

With their growing popularity, GMMTV would be dumb not to hop into this bandwagon. They've already started with 23.5, and that show has a lot of anticipation already. I'm thinking that 2024 is going to be the year of GL experimentation for them, where they mix and match a bunch of their actresses to find some new cps, hell they might even put together a GL ensemble series to compete with Love Senior that's coming from StarHunter.

But also, I think gmmtv might use this new gl experimentation to also experiment with not having established cps at all. It's something I've seen a number of fans talk about, not having established cps, and seeing what they've done in MLC and OF, two extremely popular series, it might be something they find worth exploring. However, no way in hell would gmmtv risk it on their bl guys, they earn too much money from them. So, if they're gonna do it, they'll more likely do it with their actresses, since there is really only one fully established gl cp so far (milklove), and a million other gl ghostships. Hence why I said I didn't think viewjune would get their own series, I think gmmtv might want to try pairing View up with a bunch of different girls, bcs let's be real she has chemistry with everyone.

Some pairings I'm hoping to see are NamtanFilm, PiployPrim, PiployEarn, CiizeEarn, JaneCiize, Viewtu, PrigkhingPrim, ect. Honestly I'll take anyone there's endless amounts of options if gmmtv would just open their eyes and utilise their women for once.

A pairing of 2 gmmtv rookies

Every year, there's usually an introduction of new CPs, and gmmtv has recently signed in a bunch of new people, so they'll definitely be used in 2024. Most likely they'll be put in as a side couple, but I would like to see gmmtv be ballsy and give leading roles to completely new actors (hey, it worked for gemfourth didn't it).

Dewjane bg series

I'm currently catching up on Homeschool, and Dewjane have crazy good chemistry. They also have quite a fanbase (go look at Jane's comments section of her Barbie post), so I don't see why gmmtv wouldn't take advantage of it and give them

Homeschool season 2

I've see rumours about this, and fuck I would love to see this. A whole new generation of students under new leadership, I think it would be interesting. Cast a bunch of the new artists, and some of the older ones like Prim, Phuwin and Gemini. Throw in Mike as a teacher while you're at it.

Firstkhaotung bl series

Listen, they are absolutely one of GMMTV's biggest cashcows rn, up there with geminifourth. They are literally the first cp to get an international fanmeet OUTSIDE ASIA, which is a huge huge achievement. They are also both incredibly incredibly talented, and super versatile too. Gmmtv has to give them a new series, preferably a comedy or something cute and lighthearted this time, because yes I know they do angst so well and are very pretty criers, but give them a break from crying let's all be happy for once HAHAHAHA

Markford bl series

Yes yes, I know we are in NeoMark era rn, but who says we can't have both huh? Markford were so godamn popular, in a way I don't think gmmtv expected, and I feel like with the Markford fandom still well and alive they might try again with them. Just to add to the chaos why not have a new NeoMark series too, have both fandoms happy (or competing) the entire year.

Even better, have all three of them in a love triangle, and have both fandoms warring, only for the show to end with all three of them getting together in a little polyamorous relationship. And let P'Jojo direct this one he'll know what to do.

Other works I want to see:

SIZZY CONCERT/ALBUM

I truly cannot stress this enough. GMMTV, THEY HAVE BEEN A GIRL GROUP FOR YEARS NOW, AND ALL YOU'VE LET THEM GIVE US IS 3 SOLO SONGS AND 2 COLLABS? NOT EVEN AN ALBUM OR A CONCERT? I'm literally begging on my knees, please please utilise them. I will literally buy a ticket to Thailand to watch their concert if you're so concerned about earning a profit, I swear I will just give them a shot. Even just an EP will do.

Joongdunk variety show

A lot of gmmtv's popular CP's have gotten their own already (EMS, LBW, FBS, ect), so I think it's about time Joongdunk got one too. It'll be hilarious, and I will be expecting pondphuwin to show up as guests thank you very much.

Milklove variety show

With how late in 2023 23.5 is going to be released, I don't think milklove will get a new series in 2024, but being the only real established GL pairing right now, I don't think gmmtv will just forget about them, so instead I want them to get their own little variety show, maybe something to do with crafting or travel.

Safehouse season 5: girls edition

After the disaster that was the last safehouse season, a part of me never wants that show to be a thing again, but the possibility of seeing all the gmmtv girls under one roof is too tempting. Who knows, maybe this will be what saves the Safehouse series. I would wanna see all the Sizzy girls, Namtan, Film, Milk, Earn, Prigkhing, View, June and Jaoying.

Final thoughts

Like many others, I'm thinking that there will be 10 new QLs — 8 BLs and 2 GLs, but of the 8 BLs I would like 2 of them to have a GL side couple, so 4 GL couples in total. I'm also thinking of probably 5 or so BG series.

If you've made it this far, damn. Thank you for reading my very long post. And if you make your own, tag me or something I would love to read about everyone's theories.

[missathlete31]

Dead on Your Feet Chapter 12- Sneak Peak

It's no secret that I haven't been able to write anything new in months. My mind keeps coming up with ideas but then I try to execute them and it's just painful to reread. I've gotten more inspired lately, especially thanks to some of the amazing people on here who have been so encouraging (looking at you @seresimp!!!!) and I broke through some mental barriers to produce this first part of Chapter 12. Hoping for some feedback to fuel me through!! Thank you to everyone who has stuck with this story for your patience! I hope this sounds a little like the writer I used to be.

Masterlist for anyone that needs to refresh their memories because it's been like six months since I last posted

The ascent towards the helicopter is meant to be the end of this whole nightmare for Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell. His pilots have been found, have already risen to the sanctity of the bird hovering in the sky and now it is only left to him to be pulled to safety before they can all head home. Pete leaves the cold ocean waves ready to feel victorious, to feel as though he finally has succeeded and achieved the final miracle of the day, getting everyone home alive.

But once more he is struck down.

The second Maverick hauls himself into the rescue helicopter, all he recognizes is chaos. Gone is the hushed silence from outside, replaced with the panic-stricken energy of multiple bodies crammed into a tight space and fighting for purchase. Pete’s eyes naturally train on Rooster first, his gaze widening as he sees a young man pulling his Lieutenant back with a harsh grip. Mav moves to intervene, to scream over the hysterical bellowing issuing from Bradshaw’s mouth, and ask what the hell is going on, but before he can Pete gets a clear view of Jake Seresin on the floor of the aircraft, spread eagle and unmoving, as a middle aged Hispanic man pounds heavily on the blonde’s sternum.

Maverick knows logically that the man above Seresin is some sort of doctor, he can tell just from the uniform alone. However doctor or not, the sight of this man pumping harshly on Jake’s chest makes the older pilot need to look away in fear he might intercede. A protectiveness rises within Pete, unwavering in its ferocity at the unnatural sight before him; a bruised and bloody Hangman being pounded into the floor as a means of saving his life.

Because Seresin isn’t breathing.

The grimace from the rescue diver makes a lot more sense now.

Bradley's screams still ring out in the air around them, each one more and more blood curdling. He is being restrained by someone similar in size to the 6 foot Bradshaw and yet Rooster continues to hurl his exhausted and water logged body towards his wingman relentlessly. He roars over all the other noise around them, his temper on full display. It's been over a decade since Maverick has seen it in all its fury but he remembers how the younger Bradshaw can wield his anger like the deadliest sword. His visceral emotions striking like perfect daggers each and every time. Pete knows he needs to control it, to distract Rooster so that the man holding him back can get the rescue swimmer back up and they can make their way back to the ship, but the older pilot is shocked still; his senses all but burnt out at the overwhelming assault of the environment around him.

"Captain" a voice snaps, and Pete turns to see the doctor, the name Sosa stitched onto his chest, still pumping furiously. Maverick can make out the beginnings of a bruise reddening the other man's cheek, no doubt caused from a blow to the face by Bradley's fist before the aviator was properly subdued. "Captain" the man speaks up again, "I need you to control your pilot."

"I-" Maverick gapes helplessly, as though he is being asked to do the impossible; and maybe he is. There might have been a time when he could calm Bradley Bradshaw down with a quick word or a tight hug, when he would snuggle with the little boy who was scared of thunder, or lecture the kid who rode his bike too far down the street. That kid doesn't exist anymore, or perhaps the Maverick that could do all those things is really the one who's gone; either way Pete Mitchell is as helpless to the lashes of Bradley Bradshaw's ire as anyone else.

"Captain" the tone is desperate, exhausted, as still Doctor Sosa thrusts his hands powerfully down on Hangman's chest cavity in an effort to bring life back into the kid's heart. "We need to get that diver up now” he explains, “this Lieutenant needs more help than I can give in this bird, we have to get back to the ship. Now please-" a firmness laces his words, a command coming from a man who knows how this story is going to end unless something changes soon, "control your man."

[natasha-in-space]

Hello! I was wondering if you did ships- other than with the MC, if so may I request a Yooseven oneshot- full of fluff! Or even just headcanons of they’re relationship! Thank you! ^^

While I'm not much of a shipper when it comes to mm gang, it's always fun for me to try and imagine how their dynamic would change with romantic context! Yooseven is definitely one of my favorite pairs in the fandom, second to Vumin. Their dynamic is already so wholesome and entertaining to watch! Here are some of my personal headcanons for these two in a relationship :3

CW for alcohol mention!

• Weirdly enough, it is Yoosung who is on the protective side of their relationship. This became the case between them only after he learned the whole truth about Saeyoung's past and what he had to go through in order to get to where he is now. And, well, once he comes to know all about his troubled childhood and just how much he suffered throughout his lifetime... Yoosung is determined to ensure Saeyoung's happiness at whatever cost. He will fight tooth and nail for him, refusing to back down in the face of danger. After all, it is a known fact that Yoosung is much braver than he may seem!

• In his point of view, Saeyoung has suffered more than enough now. He has been sacrificing his well-being in order to ensur happiness for his loved ones for far too long now. It's time for someone to turn the tables on him and let him feel protected and cared for, for once in his life! Because Saeyoung has always been by his side, by everyone's side... He needs to know just how loved and cherished he truly is.

• In the beginning, Saeyoung will often become frustrated by Yoosung acting all protective over him. It's... an unfamiliar territory for him. To be treated like this. At first, he will inevitably act out at him at times and refuse any help coming his way, however small it may be. But, given some time (and therapy) he comes to accept this feeling of giving up control to someone he trusts and loves, little by little. His heart flutters any time Yoosung defends him in the chatroom or outside of it, regardless of how small the issue may be. Yoosung can demand extra pickles for him in their Mcdonald's drive-through and his heart would melt.

• He may or may not stage some silly accidents down the line, just to feel like a princess being saved by her prince charming.

• Yoosung stops drinking all together thanks to Saeyoung! Once he learns how uncomfortable alcohol makes him, he decides to drop his drinking, both for Saeyoung's sake, as well as his own. This also made him look back on all of his differing experiences with alcohol, eventually coming to the conclusion, that his drinking did not help much with his mental health. On the contrary, drinking only made him feel more miserable with himself, making him cry himself to sleep with his grief over Rika consuming him.

• Saeyoung's devotion to his brother made Yoosung realize that he needs to prioritize what he has right now, instead of living in the past. A part of him felt like... He was making things right by Rika by helping Saeyoung rescue Saeran. Well, at least until he learned the truth about Saeran's initiation into the cult.

• Believe it or not, their idea of an ideal family life is pretty similar! Both of them are more than happy to spend their days just lazing around inside of the bunker: Yoosung taking care of the chores around the house, and Saeyoung organizing their leisure. It's a fair trade, really. Sometimes they do change stuff around, but, alas, it often ends in complete disaster, as Saeyoung just cannot bring himself to follow the recipe or focus on cleaning alone. If they do decide to create some chaos around the house, it'll be whenever Saeran isn't around to suffer through it.

• We all know that Yoosung is a sucker for enjoying a good romance. But, what about Saeyoung? Well, I'll be happy to inform you that Yoosung has successfully managed to bring out the more sappier side of the older twin. Granted, he wouldn't go along with it right away. Saeyoung would often make stupid jokes or question specific decisions made by the characters, but give him some time, and he's going to be as invested in the unfolding story as he was with the last science-fiction series he finished.

• Yoosung's emotional side makes Saeyoung feel more comfortable showing his own weakness and shedding a few tears during an emotional scene, before brushing his tears away and sneaking a kiss on his partner's cheek. While Saeyoung might not be as romantic as Yoosung is, that does not mean he's not willing to try and arrange something out of this world, if he knows that that's what his boyfriend often daydreams about. He's all about making dreams come true! And what better way to gain some inspiration than by watching some tear jerking romance while cuddling and munching down on delicious snacks?

• Yoosung, on the other hand, enjoys making Saeyoung slow down and enjoy the moment. The dates that he plans for them are often peaceful and slow-paced: be it a walk on the beach or preparing a tasty picnic under the night sky his partner loves so dearly. It's a nice balance of excitement and peace that keeps them both as happy and fulfilled as they can be.

• They are the nerdiest couple around. Video games, movies, anime, manga, animation series - they will binge them all. Not to mention cosplay. Oh, boy, the cosplay... Once Saeyoung manages to make Yoosung try it once, there's no stopping what comes next. They are nerds, and they are not ashamed to show it!

• One of Saeyoung's favorite things is surprising Yoosung with a crushing hug from behind, practically lifting him off of the ground (and sometimes even twirling him around the room if he's feeling especially giddy). He can and will carry Yoosung around whenever he feels like it. Down the stairs, up the stairs, to the kitchen, to the garage - it doesn't matter. Definitely loves to tease him and loudly announce just how strong he is, simply because this is the easiest way to make Yoosung blush and stutter over his own words.

• On the other hand, Yoosung has a knack for giving compliments, which is a neat combo, considering just how weak Saeyoung is to praise. Really, he can take one look at his boyfriend, smile, and state how beautiful his eyes look in this light, and Saeyoung is done for. All of his bravado is out the window with one single genuine compliment, turning him into a blushy blabbering mess. With time, Yoosung just stops trying to make sense of his nervous ramblings, simply chuckling in response, before shutting his adorable boyfriend up with a tender kiss to his lips. Yes, Yoosung is much more straightforward with his affections!

• Pet names are... a weird thing with these two. See, you have Saeyoung, leaning his head onto Yoosungs shoulder, gazing lovingly into his eyes, before calling him 'his shmoopy' with utmost confidence in his voice, to which his partner will respond by addressing him with a lighthearted 'darling'. Listening to them flirt will give you a whiplash. They are both ridiculous and sickly sweet at the same time, much to the distress of everyone bearing witness to this confusing display in the chatroom.

• Saeyoung helps Yoosung experiment with his style! Be it his clothes, hair, or even nails and makeup - Saeyoung is more than excited to aid his advice on it all. It makes him so very happy to see Yoosung slowly but surely discovering who he is through self-expression... And it makes him feel more inspired to try something new himself! Really, these two are more fashionable than you may think.

• Yoosung's family basically adopts Saeyoung once they can be sure that they are safe enough to meet each other properly. Yoosung's mother adores him with all her heart and will go into full 'caring parent' mode whenever they decide to visit. They don't know all of the details, but the do know he had a troubled childhood... Which is why Yoosung's family is so determined to make both Saeyoung and Saeran feel as welcomed as possible. It's going to take time for both of the twins to feel more or less comfortable being taken care of in such an unfamiliar way, but nobody is rushing them to act a certain way. And, if someone does mess up, Yoosung is quick to take notice of the problem and bring it up the next time he sees the opportunity to do so.

[slightlycrunchy]

Written for the @startrekwintergiftexchange for my recipient, @lokilenchen. I adore your art, Lena, and I hope you enjoy mine.

read on ao3

Leonard pounds on the door again.

He stands in the hallway of Deck 5, outside of a very particular room and taps his foot impatiently, blending into the chaos around him hinting of a shift change. Beings of all shapes and sizes rush from their cabins to their assigned posts which—he looks at his holowatch—are set to begin in three Standard minutes.

“Jim, do not make me medical override this, dammit. I’m leaving in ten seconds whether you’re out here or not!” Leonard hears what sounds to be a muffled shout and something heavy hitting the floor. He would have thought the bulkheads were more soundproof than that. 

Just as the countdown in his head reaches one, a shock of blue greets Leonard from down around his waist, Jim’s crystal stare colored with mirth as he fumbles with the boot he is failing to zip up.

Jim’s smile is blinding. “Sorry, Bones.”

Hazel eyes roll. “Yeah, I would believe you other than the fact that you do this a few times a week,” he grumbles, turning away to begin walking down the hall and towards the turbolift that hopefully isn’t full of ensigns. Chapel has first watch and Leonard has seemed to make it a habit of late to hang around the bridge for the first portion of Alpha for no other reason than to keep an eye on the accident-prone captain currently trailing behind him. He hears Jim stumble into the wall with a low curse, the final zip of his boot sounding out clearly.

Leonard doesn’t stop to wait. “Three years into this and you’d think the captain would have his shit together.”

Jim catches up to him, breathless. “The captain may have stayed up too late last night and drank too much bourbon on doctor’s orders.”

“Pretty sure I told you to slow down at one point, kid. You should have learned by now not to try to keep up with me,” Leonard smirks.

The turbolift opens to a—thankfully—empty compartment and Jim stands close, shoulder touching Leonard’s own as he huffs a laugh. Leonard feels warm down to his toes, his exasperation little more than a front he wears like a practiced actor would play the role he has chosen. Thing is that Jim’s in on the farce, and that’s half the fun.

“Kid, huh? Haven’t called me that in a while.” 

Leonard simply shrugs.

They do this almost every day, trailing through the ship together, a strange ritual Leonard can’t remember the start of since the whole thing makes no sense given sickbay rests on the exact deck they’re vacating. Yet, the thought of not accompanying Jim to the bridge and checking that everything seems fine before he slinks back below decks to slave away in the bowels of the ship (alright, maybe he’s being a bit dramatic) seems counterintuitive. Like he’s fighting instinct and not doing this will end in some sort of disaster. Doesn’t make much sense when Leonard has never been known to be a superstitious man. He has no plans to stop, regardless.

Jim pushes the button that’ll take them to the bridge and then sidles close once more, a comfortable silence blanketing over the compartment. Only the low hum of the lift detracts from it, that and Jim’s breathing. Leonard goes to place his hands firmly behind his back in parade rest but doesn’t hesitate to brush at the skin just over Jim's knuckles as he does so, eliciting a small smile; the ones Leonard is so familiar with, yet guards jealously. 

With Jim so close, the smell of him is apparent, notes of warm skin and the cologne he prefers, the synthesized smell of fresh laundry that is—as Spock would say—‘illogical’, but is appreciated all the same coming off of his clothes. And mixed in with it all is…something new.

Leonard sniffs audibly, brows furrowed in thought…recognition. Jim being only slightly shorter puts his hair just at the line of Leonard’s nose and it isn’t long before he’s narrowed in on just where the smell is coming from.

“What is that?” He sniffs again. He turns and takes Jim by the shoulders. “What the hell is that—I know that smell.”

Jim is squirming now, snickering as he tries to twist away from Leonard’s grip, playing up the innocent act with a look on his face that has removed him from many a sketchy situation. 

“I don’t know what you mean, Bonesy,” he teases. 

“The hell you don't!”

Leonard releases him with a small shove, Jim’s shoulders coming up and shaking with barely suppressed laughter.

Leonard narrows his eyes in suspicion. “How’d you get it?”

“Get what?”

“Those blue eyes won’t fool me, where’d ya get it, Kirk?”

“Ooh, he’s mad.” Jim raises one eyebrow.

Leonard steps back, hands on his hips. He’s not mad, not truly anyway. Mostly it’s confusion that has him acting this way—an act quite unbecoming of a senior medical officer, he can admit. He takes a deep breath. “I’m not and you know it. Where’d you get it, Jim? I’ve been out for months, we haven’t been back to Earth since we left almost two years ago. I’m just confused, is all.”

Jim straightens, using one of the handles to pull himself upright completely, his expression turning serious. “I wondered if you would even recognize it.”

“Funny you think I wouldn’t.”

Jim fingers at his own hair, fixing what has come loose in their tussle only to come away with a small amount of product between his fingers, rubbing forefinger and thumb in circles as a smile grows on his face. “What if I told you I’ve had it for a while?”

Leonard can feel the warmth radiating off of Jim’s body as his captain steps forward, his chest coming to touch Leonard’s own as Jim looks up at him through long lashes. Hands circle around Leonard’s waist, fingers splayed against his spine. He can’t help the way he sinks into it, nor does he want to stop it, no matter they’re about thirty seconds away from the doors opening to a very public bridge. Jim’s arms have been home for a long while now, after all. They’ve both grown up since their academy days but the years have been short, and with their careers—and the uncertainties guaranteed them—Leonard doesn’t like to waste time. His eyes darken.

“Didn’t know you liked my pomade, darlin’.”

With Jim so close, Leonard’s voice is little more than a purr, and he knows that he doesn’t imagine the shiver that runs through Jim at the intimate gesture.

“You know I’ve liked it since day one.”

And yes, he supposes that’s true.

Leonard is lost for a moment in time, then. Like a holovid playing before his very eyes he can see that day, crystal clear in sense memory. 

The smell of recycled dormitory air circulates, midmorning sunlight draping across the mess of sheets tangled around Leonard’s legs, the feeling of stretched muscles familiar as he awakes from a most restful night. Well, not all of it had been restful.

He can hear Jim puttering around in the bathroom, the mattress under his palm still warm from where he had been not minutes before. The smell of sex still permeates the air, and Leonard smirks. He’s overcome with a sudden feeling of content, fuzzy and molten all the way to his bones as the thought of hours spent in darkness and pleasure come rushing back.

This is the first time he has ever had Jim. Now that he knows the taste of the confounding man, first his closest friend and now something more, he doesn’t think he can give it up.

That fateful day aboard the shuttle bound for San Francisco had Leonard meeting a twenty-two-year-old delinquent and yet against his better judgment they’d been inseparable ever since. He didn’t even try all that hard to push him away once he realized Jim was determined to stick around. They spent two years getting to know one another amidst Academy regulations shoved down their throats, long nights spent in study turning into longer nights filled with honesty. Jim asks about Georgia and Leonard about Iowa, about parents and mothers and family that feels as far away as the stars they’re so destined to explore. They've been leading up to this moment for a while, gentle touches and Leonard’s incessant worrying over Jim’s health the brackets containing something more that they both have been dancing around.

And then Jim kissed him last night. And Leonard knew they were done playing will-they-won’t-they.

The sink water turns off with a hush and Leonard sits up, dragging his body to the edge of the bed, the sheet barely covering his cock from hanging out as he splays his legs and rests back on his palms. Jim is naked as the day he was born as he exits the bathroom and Leonard has no issue looking his fill.

“Well, good mornin’, sunshine,” Leonard says.

Jim squints, clicking his tongue. “Don’t use that southern charm on me this early, I just got out of that bed, I don’t have time to get back in it.” But by the way he walks across the room to sit beside Leonard shamelessly, drawing close, Leonard knows that’s a lie.

He takes a moment to look at the visage that is James Kirk. Jim folds up his legs and leans forward, that confident grin on his face apparent as Leonard takes in golden skin, scant freckles on slightly summer-burnt shoulders, curving lips that are just this side of dry. As if he can feel Leonard’s gaze like a physical thing, Jim licks at them, blue eyes shuttering into something sensual and tempting, and by the way his mouth quirks up he knows just what he’s doing to one Leonard McCoy. 

When they kiss, Leonard thinks he knows what to expect but, as it always seems to be when it comes to Jim, he’s mistaken. Last night had been a well of passion, suppressed desires flowing out of the both of them like a dam set free but in the here and now, Leonard feels his breath catch for an entirely different reason. He feels comfort. Instead of insistent need he only feels a sense of rightness, of finality. As if the meeting of their mouths and bodies had been written a long, long time ago and now that they have given in to the plot, things are going to go right.

Leonard has never felt so right.

It’s the work of a moment for him to lean the rest of the way forward and grasp Jim’s arms, the healthy muscle of his biceps soft and giving beneath doctor’s hands, his supple skin like suede to his touch. Jim hums into his mouth and his tongue darts out to coalesce with Leonard’s own, their breaths coming quicker as Leonard presses Jim into the mattress, hands sliding down to paw at a well-formed chest. Leonard’s tongue is soon to join, dipping down to mouth at a pebbled nipple, Jim arching up beautifully to meet him, his legs parting wider to welcome Leonard closer, their cocks touching in passing. Jim gasps and Leonard smiles against spit-slick skin as sensation, bright and electric, rolls up his spine. Leonard drags his teeth, nipping at flushed skin as Jim wriggles underneath him, the sensation bordering on being too soft. When Leonard makes his way up to a sharp jawline, tonguing at day-old stubble, he’s brought up short.

He buries his nose in the soft hair just behind Jim’s ear, following his hairline upwards into the gentle coif Jim must have created within his short time in the bathroom. Leonard’s eyes narrow and he brings a hand up to muss up the little that Jim had accomplished.

“Hey!” Jim squirms, trying to get out from beneath Leonard’s body even as the doctor doubles down, placing all his weight onto the younger man, the air leaving Jim’s lungs in a huff.

Leonard sniffs again. “And just what is this, sweetheart? Dipping into my stash?”

Jim goes abruptly still. His cock twitches between their stomachs and Leonard smirks. “My hair was a mess, I saw it on the counter—thought, why not? Where’d you get it anyway, the container makes it look homemade.”

“It is.”

The container of pomade is one of a handful Leonard has, picked up from the last time he visited Georgia, a local friend of the family making the mixture from scratch. He’s one of her most loyal customers, or so she says and he chooses to believe her. He’s got credits out the ass, the least he can do is give them to someone who can actually use them when his daily needs are taken care of by Starfleet and they tend to just hang around in his bank account. He buys half a dozen or so and they last him the year. He doesn’t know what he’s going to do about this particular arrangement when they finally leave on a spaceship to the stars—Jim would say he’s going to be ‘grumpy’ about the whole thing. The kid’s probably right.

Bright blue eyes soften incrementally, Jim looking up and down the length of Leonard’s face with blatant tenderness, a soft smile turning up his mouth. 

“I wanted to wear some. Smells like you. Always wondered what it was that gave you that special something, I just figured it was some cologne I’d never heard of.”

Leonard runs his fingers through Jim’s hair, fixing what he’d just finished ruining. Jim’s hair will be longer in a few years, but right now it’s barely grown enough to welcome the product with any useful efficiency. Once Leonard has finished, he looks on his work with pride.

Leonard kisses the tip of Jim’s nose, a perhaps uncharacteristic show of affection coming from him but hell, it’s a special occasion. “Suits you. What’s mine is yours now, I’d say. I can buy a few extra next time I’m off home if you think this is gonna be a repeat offense.”

The gentle smile on Jim’s face quickly turns wicked, the gleam in his eye turning predatory. “I can think of something else that’s gonna be a repeat offense right about now–”

And with a burst of power Leonard didn’t know he had, Jim flips them both, two sets of hands and mouths creating heated paths of lust and want, Jim’s loose and welcoming body allowing Leonard entry with little preamble from last night’s activities. Leonard’s cock buries into Jim and still that scent surrounds them both, an omen of something like comfort—like home.

When Jim comes with a shout and Leonard is quick to follow, the warmth in his chest matches that of his core, bursting with more than just fleshly satiation and blinding heat. His heart sings along with his skin, and all he can think of is JimJimJim. Leonard wraps two firm hands around his lover’s heaving back and draws him close when he collapses, spent entirely atop Leonard’s torso. The doctor squeezes firmly. Jim laughs, breathless.

“I’ll take a container of it…if you’re buying.”

Leonard thinks of the simple domesticity two side-by-side pomade bottles can symbolize and he buries a helpless smile into Jim’s shoulder.

“Whatever you want, Jim.”

The memory is vivid, rushing in and gone before a few seconds have passed in real time. Jim still stands against him in the turbolift, the soft hum making its way into his awareness again.

Jim looks at him with a knowing eye. “You thinking of our first time?”

Leonard raises a single eyebrow—sometimes he really hates that Spock has rubbed off on him in certain ways. “The first time, what? That you committed your thieving ways?”

Jim snorts. “Yeah, that first time.” He sighs, drawing away slowly, his hand grasping Leonard’s as they come to stand shoulder to shoulder. “I stashed a couple extra containers away. Would you believe I forgot about them? They were just there, in my duffle at the back of the closet.”

“With the way you pack? Yeah, I can believe it.”

The display screen on the control panel shows they’re coming up on the bridge and Jim drops his hand with a soft lingering of fingertips. It isn’t that the crew doesn’t know of their relationship, neither of them have specifically tried to keep it a secret, but their deep understanding of one another and tendency to yell at each other across the open space of the ship has placed them firmly within an untouchable sphere of ‘we don’t talk about it’—self-imposed by the crew, of course. Leonard assumes this is partly due to Jim’s status as Captain and his own high ranking position, but suspects the rest may be due to the possibility of bodily harm should their relationship become ‘fleet gossip. Leonard will neither confirm nor deny these suppositions. Regardless, as they do every day, both men allow the veil of responsibility to come down between them with a parting glance and as Jim squares his shoulders and lifts his chin minutely, Leonard is at once struck with the changes only a few years have made. 

Jim is no longer that impulsive, reckless young man Leonard first fell for and though the memory of him is forever encased in the brightness of nostalgia, Leonard is happy to accept this version of the man he loves, here and now. Though, Jim hasn’t left all of his impetuous spark behind him.

Right before the doors open, the lift slowing, Jim places himself between Leonard and the door with a knowing look in his eye as he bites his lip suggestively.

“I’ll bring them by later. In the meantime, I’ll think of a few highly inappropriate things I want you to do to me as payment for a very special delivery.”

The doors begin to open and as Jim turns, straightening his shirt slightly as he takes a step out, Leonard’s fingers dart forward and give Jim’s ass a little pinch. Jim hardly flinches (professional as always) and with a surreptitious look around the consoles directly by the lift, Leonard knows he got away with it.

Again.

Leonard keeps his face carefully impassive as he whispers just loud enough for Jim to hear, “Wouldn’t expect any less of you, Captain.”

And if every time he passes by Jim and gets a whiff of his own pomade which drags a few ‘inappropriate’ thoughts of his own into his mind, well…no one has to know but himself.

[panthera-tigris-venenata]

I wrote this yesterday and I'll need to completely rewrite it, but I thought I'd share anyway.

Idk, I just want some positive interaction.

It's that thing in which Harry and Uma get married after Core 4 chose good except I didn't get that far.

They chose good.

They chose good, they said, and left the Isle as it is. Left the Isle children in the prison they were born into.

They chose good, they said.

Gil stares at the TV in Chip Shoppe in disbelief as the restaurant descends into chaos, the faint music and royal declarations completely driven out by dreams full of frustrated rage.

If he looked up, he’d see Uma, alternating between clutching her necklace, Harry’s hook, and stabbing a table with her knife, as one does, and Harry, looking at Uma with sad eyes only to glare daggers at the TV the next moment.

„Traitors!“

Bonny and Gonzo yelling obscenities at the screen, while Jonas holds Desiree down so she wouldn’t destroy their only source of outside news and soap operas.

„Bloody backstabbers, feed the to the sharks, skin them alive, make them hurt–“ the sentence is interrupted by something that certainly aren’t sobs, and Gil doesn’t want to look up.

He is a coward, just like his father said, isn’t he?

He just doesn’t want to see his friends hurting.

He doesn’t want to see the de Vil cousins, huddled up together in a corner, caught in their own private circle of hell. Torn between being happy for their youngest cousin, and a burning rage at the whole world.

Gil is glad to say he can’t relate, even if it isn’t a good thing necessarily. Everyone he cares about is still on the Isle, and he doesn’t even feel angry. Just a bit disappointed, and sad. But not surprised.

It’s weird that Uma is surprised, isn’t it?

She always sees the best in people.

Gil finally looks up at her.She is shaking her head, her braids flying everywhere like in a storm. There are shattered plates at her feet.

The TV is still playing.

More royal blue and lavish gold and, of course, purple that drives Uma into rage and tears.Gil gets up and turns off the TV.

No one even notices, save maybe for Harry, who briefly nods at him before turning back to Uma. Normally, Gil would smile at this, but today? He quietly sits back down and takes a sip of his drink, which doesn’t burn nearly enough for the circumstances.

„When we get out, we will show them all what it means to be an Isle kid!“ Uma declares, looking around the restaurant, and the pirates shout their agreement.

„We will tear them apart-“

„Auradon will be ours!“

„The lands and the seas!“

„We ride with the tide!“

Gil isn’t sure whether the Captain or the first mate gave the order to get on the ship, he just knows that they did. And the order to get alcohol? Well, that might have been unspoken for all the pirates care.

Gil stops in front of the door, letting everyone else pass, while Uma and Harry walk in the front. Well, not everyone.

When he checks the room, he sees the de Vil cousins, still sitting by their table. They make no move to leave.

„You good there, guys?“ he asks.He only receives three blank stares in return, before Hunter shakes his head and answers: „Yeah. We will join you in a moment. Just–“ he doesn’t finish the sentence, and Gil can understand why, really.

„Okay, then,“ he nods at them, „If you need anything, just shout.“

„We won’t need anything,“ answers Ivy, „We are fine.“

That, in itself, means that they are not fine, but Gil knows better than to press. They said they’ll be fine, so he needs to leave, tell the Captain where they are, and ideally remember to check up on them later.

Similarly, it isn’t really his problem if the de Vils help themselves to some of the alcohol that was left at the shop, especially as the crew solidly raided both Hook and Ursula anyway.

[krowbby]

Hogfather footnotes poll, Part 2!

Since it's Hogswatch season, I'm back with another footnote poll! Hogfather has a ton of footnotes, so this has to be split into 2 parts :P Part 1 linked here!

Full text of each footnote plus a little context for each is below the readmore so this post isn't a mile long. Enjoy!

There had been people dressed up as pixies, and a picket outside the shop by the Campaign for Equal Heights.* *The CEH was always ready to fight for the rights of the differently tall, and was not put off by the fact that most pixies and gnomes weren’t the least interested in dressing up in little pointy hats with bells on when there were other far more interesting things to do. All that tinklywee stuff was for the old folks back home in the forest—when a tiny man hit Ankh-Morpork he preferred to get drunk, kick some serious ankle and search for tiny women. In fact the CEH now had to spend so much time explaining to people that they hadn’t got enough rights that they barely had any time left to fight for them.

Wizards didn’t go to bed early in any case,* *Often they lived to a time scale to suit themselves. Many of the senior ones, of course, lived entirely in the past, but several were like the Professor of Anthropics, who had invented an entire temporal system based on the belief that all the other ones were a mere illusion. Many people are aware of the Weak and Strong Anthropic Principles. The Weak One says, basically, that it was jolly amazing of the universe to be constructed in such a way that humans could evolve to a point where they make a living in, for example, universities, while the Strong One says that, on the contrary, the whole point of the universe was that humans should not only work in universities but also write for huge sums books with words like “Cosmic” and “Chaos” in the titles. †The UU Professor of Anthropics had developed the Special and Inevitable Anthropic Principle, which was that the entire reason for the existence of the universe was the eventual evolution of the UU Professor of Anthropics. But this was only a formal statement of the theory which absolutely everyone, with only some minor details of a “Fill in name here” nature, secretly believes to be true. †And they are correct. The universe clearly operates for the benefit of humanity. This can be readily seen from the convenient way the sun comes up in the morning, when people are ready to start the day.

[...] although no one now knows why, or why an extant bequest pays for one small currant bun and one copper penny to be places on a high stone shield on one wall every second Wednesday.* * The ceremony still carries on, of course. If you left off traditions because you didn’t know why they started you’d be no better than a foreigner. 

What Ponder was worried about was the fear that he was simply engaged in a cargo cult. He’d read about them. Ignorant* and credulous† people, whose island might once have been visited by some itinerant merchant vessel that traded pearls and coconuts for such fruits of civilization as glass beads, mirrors, exes, and sexual diseases, would later make big model ships out of bamboo in the hope of once again attracting this magical cargo. *Ignorant: a state of not knowing what a pronoun is, or how to find the square root of 27.4, and merely knowing childish and useless things like which of the seventy almost identical-looking species of the purple sea snake are the deadly ones, how to treat the poisonous pith of the Sagosago tree to make a nourishing gruel, how to foretell the weather by the movements of the tree-climbing Burglar Crab, how to navigate across a thousand miles of featureless ocean by means of a piece of string and a small clay model of your grandfather, how to get essential vitamins from the liver of the ferocious Ice Bear, and other such trivial matters. It’s a strange thing that when everyone becomes educated, everyone knows about the pronoun but no one knows about the Sago-sago. †Credulous: having views about the world, the universe and humanity’s place in it that are shared only by very unsophisticated people and the most intelligent and advanced mathematicians and physicists.

[...] and there’s this museum I read about where they found a pocket calculator under the altar of this ancient temple, you know what I’m saying? but the government hushed it up…* *It’s amazing how good governments are, given their track record in almost every other field, at hushing up things like alien encounters. One reason may be that the aliens themselves are too embarrassed to talk about it. It’s not known why most of the space-going races of the universe want to undertake rummaging in Earthling underwear as a prelude to formal contact. But representatives of several hundred races have taken to hanging out, unsuspected by one another, in rural corners of the planet and, as a result of this, keep on abducting other would-be abductees. Some have been in fact abducted while waiting to carry out an abduction on a couple of other aliens trying to abduct the aliens who were, as a result of misunderstood instructions, trying to form cattle into circles and mutilate crops. The planet Earth is now banned to all alien races until they can compare notes and find out how many, if any, real humans they have actually got. It is gloomily suspected that there is only one—who is big, hairy and has very large feet. The truth may be out there, but lies are inside your head.

The singers were halfway down Park Lane now, and halfway through “The Red Rosy Hen” in marvelous harmony.* *“The red rosy hen greets the dawn of the day.” In fact the hen is not the bird traditionally associated with heralding a new sunrise, but Mrs. Huggs, while collecting many old folk songs for posterity, has taken care to rewrite them where necessary to avoid, as she put it, “offending those of a refined disposition with unwarranted coarseness.” Much to her surprise, people often couldn’t spot the unwarranted coarseness until it had been pointed out to them. Sometimes a chicken is nothing but a bird.

I’m waiting for the Hogfather, thought Ponder Stibbons. I’m in the dark waiting for the Hogfather. Me. A believer in Natural Philosophy. I can find the square root of 27.4 in my head.* *He’d have to admit that the answer would be “five and a bit,” but at least he could come up with it. 

He’d always promised their mother that he’d look after Banjo,* *It had been Ma Lilywhite’s dying wish, although she hadn’t known it at the time. Her last words to her son were “You try and get to the horses, I’ll try to hold ‘em off on the stairs, and if anything happens to me, take care of the dummy!”

Wizards know when they are going to die.* *They generally know in time to have their best robe cleaned, do some serious damage to the wine cellar and have a really good last mea. It’s a nicer version of Death Row, with the bonus of no lawyers.

The Senior Wrangler hummed cheerfully to himself as he ran a comb through his beard for the second time and liberally sprinkled it with what would turn out to be a preparation of weasel extract for demon removal rather than, as he had assumed, a pleasant masculine scent.* *It was, in fact, a pleasant masculine scent. But only to female weasels.

“A whole sheep!”* *Which had died in its sleep. Of natural causes. At a great age. After a long and happy life, insofar as sheep can be happy. And would probably be quite pleased to know that it could help somebody as it passed away. 

The man went to shut the door but Arnold Sideways was ready for him and had wedged his boot in the crack.* *Arnold had no legs but, since there were many occasions when a boot was handy on the streets, Coffin Henry had affixed one to the end of a pole for him. He was deadly with it, and any muggers hard-pressed enough to try to rob the beggars often found themselves kicked on the top of the head by a man three feet high. 

[siro-cyll]

Long time follower here, would love to hear about your OCs if you ever want to share!!! I love the ones you've shown, they're creative and fun, and your art style is so fun to look at.

Ain't going anywhere if you wanna post more than gravity falls!

Aww, thank you so much! QAQ I have quite a few rattling around in my head, I just never really get the courage to really post/say much about them on here. (I'm fighting my anxiety just to post this fhfghfhdgk)

But, here's the main ocs I think about (under the cut because this is gonna get long)

Zinnia Conifer

An absolute ball of sunshine, Zinnia is the sweetest girl you could possibly know. She's 13, loves anything about ghosts, aliens, and dragons. She also has narcolepsy with cataplexy and deals with it the best she can, with the help of her friends and family. She is one of the few people in my universe with time altering powers and has been slowly learning how to control them. Her main story involves her waking up in Limbo one day, and traveling through it trying to figure out how and why she got there, while meeting others who share her abilities.

(She's my baby oc and must be protected at all cost. She's completely oblivious to any danger around her)

Riddell Hazard

Riddell's an old barn owl familiar who had been blessed (cursed) with immortality. While his physical body may die, his consciousness is sent to another plane of existence while his body reconstructs. He's died many times over the years, and the strange way his immortality works has taken a toll on his body, to the point it'll give out on him without outside influence. Riddell was always a quiet and private person, but with this curse attached to him, he's become jaded and bitter, wishing to find a way out. However, he has a soft spot for birds, especially owls.

His story involves him meeting @lord-rosenth0rne's oc Cross and @junodabeach's oc Stark, dealing with the trauma and abuse he's dealt with over the years while finding a family that actually loves and cares for him.

(he gets a happy ending I swear)

Zane Selene

Zane is an anxious person who lives with their adopted family, full of magic users, while they are the lone 'powerless' human. While in truth, Zane possesses mysterious powers not even their adopted mother can place. Their story is more slice of life of them dealing with stuff going on in their hometown, Lyre's Hollow, that borders on the human and arcane realm. Lots of human and magic shenanigans, with background hints about where they came from.

And then the following ocs are ones that are fandom related that I think about a lot. All of them are pretty much 'but what if the protag had a friend the whole time'.

Ignacio Vasquez aka Vas

My Half Life oc, Vas worked as a general practitioner at Black Mesa before the resonance cascade. They're friends with Gordon and Barney before everything blew up, and during the events of the game, Vas travels with Gordon making an attempt to save as many people as possible on their journey out of the facility.

Vas is normally an easy going person, quick to immerse themselves into the latest rpg and make silly little bets on who can win a desk chair race. They also have a cochlear implant and sign often, especially with Gordon. Vas has to quickly adjust to being a combat medic with all the chaos around them.

Bellamy Espinoza aka Bell

My Dead Space oc, Bell is an engineer working on the Ishimura when the necromorph outbreak started. After being left for dead by their panicking crewmates, Bell had been hiding out, having to create some new gadgets just to stay alive. They eventually meet Isaac as he tries to get the Ishimura's engines started again, and help him get the ship up and running again (this poor man deserved the help I mean COME ON)

Bell is the type who uses humor to cope with the mounting horror around them, coming up with silly names for the creatues (like death pancake) and trying to ease tensions by making off the wall comments. Not that they don't take this seriously, they just need something to laugh at in a panic as they run for their life.

They do manage to survive the events of the first game, not without being mauled first.

and finally, Arsenio Conifer

My Pokemon oc. The past few Pokemon games I've played, I've played as Zinnia, I found it more fun playing as one of my child ocs rather than myself. So, Arsenio is Zinnia's parent in the Poke-verse (as well as canon parent, but for now they’re mainly Pokemon based).

Arsenio lives in Paldea, growing up with the reputation as being a living shiny charm because of how often shiny Pokemon seem to appear around them. They quickly got tired of being dragged around by fake friends, only using them to draw out rare Pokemon and quit being a trainer altogether. Instead, they created a care center that works to rehabilitate abandoned or neglected Pokemon, finding good homes for them, and working with the Professors by providing starter Pokemon for new trainers.

They grew up knowing Sada and Turo, and because of their job, they see them often. With the Professors disappearing for long periods, Arsenio had taken Arven in to watch over him. By the events of the game, they have practically adopted him. Also Poke-verse Zinnia sees Arven as her brother the entire game, they have an adorable sibling relationship going on.

[ask-mortarion-the-death-lord]

mortarion and the pale king is pretty neat,

mr slow methodical infantry tactics mortarion decides that the best method to deal with the galspar system 'the order' is to literally ram a ship into their main hive with 10,000 of the ballsiest marines he can muster. that said its an intentionally risky fast paced tactic as mortarion is looking to accelerate the pace of his assault into the galspar system beyond the orders capability to keep up. cut out the throat of a highly centralized state and society and you destroy its capability to respond to threats.

hence why he drops meteors and decommissioned ships onto the planet, cause they're their to shield his landing the "fourth horseman", here described as mortarions flagship, onto the main hive.

i think the pale king is a book we should have gotten much earlier in the horus heresy series then we did, but paradoxically its also a book that kinda needs all the stuff already written to have generated its flow and feel at all. it directly ties itself into the short story on mortarion blowing up a world of secret chaos sorcerers for instance, i can only imagine sanguinius was picked to be here to play off the lords of silence vorx heresy short story where vorx gets into beef with a blood angel, garro and typhon are just kinda there to fill functional roles after the until then unheard of terran captains of the first and seventh die heroically [cause they get development in later books so why bother outside of a tiny sliver of pre 'grandpapa nurgle' typhon struggling with the whole psyker thing].

the order as a whole are pretty unsubtly a jab at the future state of the imperium on the whole, their armies are millions strong of barely trained dregs hopped up on drugs, they use lasrifles and autoguns along with turret/heavy weapon emplacements, they rely on millions of shitty tanks to overwhelm the foe, their ruling class live in bigger houses then everyone and pass their jobs down on a hereditary basis, their fleets rely on having bigger ships with more guns on them then anything else, they live in an irradiated hive hellscape, vox caster propaganda, overly beaucratic society where chairs get made to be immediately disposed of, nutrient sludge made from people etc.

the death guard get to look pretty damn cool even if the strategy of 'ram a ship into a hive for the lulz' feels like something jagatahi would do instead. their basically slaughtering an abundance of pdf soldiers, but its still neat to see mortarion fight tanks by punching them or show off an actual keen sense of tactical ingenuity in battle and planning, and it is a literal abundance of pdf soldiers, or mortarion throwing tanks around after they try to run him over, or mortarion seeing a hive room filled with tanks gunning to kill him and his 10 deathshroud, the exit blocked behind them and just saying 'cowabunga it is' in essence before literally diving onto them.

id say the important thing to take away from the book, what it most illustrates, is how mortarion isnt the type to do things by half measures and how that ultimately comes back to bite him. theres really no ambiguity as to the morality of the orders existence [nudge nudge wink wink], its a totalitarian state in the extreme excess that treats its citizens as literal cattle because fuck the people. and mortarions efforts do speed things up immensely, he takes a highly militarized planet of trillions in a couple of days with effectively only 10,000 astartes in the main assault. and the right assholes do die in mortarions post conquest purges of anyone affiliated with the order government, but as the story illustrates mortarions purges also catch potentially useful people to a post galspar reconstruction in them as well because its not just an overthrow its a full on 'i will kill all of you until the people you used as literal cattle and slaves are free' mindset.

[revenantxprince]

((Rohir's bio is complete! You can find it here, and his background information can also be read under the cut! Trigger/content warnings include: war, death, amnesia, trauma, murder, and brief mention of suicide (Ashelia).

Rohir, born Eclipsis B'nargin Dalmasca, was the seventh son of King Raminas, and older twin brother to Ignis B'nargin Dalmasca. And, from that moment on, the two were as thick as thieves.

Identical in appearance, it was difficult to tell them apart, and even still with their personalities. Both behaved like proper princes as they grew and learned the ways of royalty, and both were kind and caring to those around them, even those far beneath them in class. But they both still held a streak of arrogance and ego, as they grew to believe they were important beyond measure. Not only were they Princes of Dalmasca, but they were descendants of the first King Raithwall, the first Dynast King, something that made them special. Made them destined for great things and made them close to the Gods. They believed it, even with two of their brothers dead by the time they reached their sixth year. Yet, the twins were not completely alike in personality. Ignis was far more energetic than his brother - eager to jump without looking and to tackle problems head-on. Eclipsis, while adventurous, was not as energetic as his brother. He was a bit softer, a little bit quieter, but still full of life - simply more reserved with how he presented it. But it was there, as a lively glimmer in his eye or a bright grin.

By the time they were seven, Ashelia was born - the first daughter of King Raminas, and the final heir born. By then, of the nine siblings, five remained - the others having died in the war that continued to rage outside of Rabanastre, as Archadia and Rozarria continued with their struggle to expand and seize control of Ivalice as a whole, uncaring for the smaller kingdoms outside their borders. And as Eclipses grew older, he became determined to be the one to end the war - convinced that was his destiny. That was the reason why he was special, out of all his siblings. But, despite that, his motivation was his home. His family. He wanted to protect Dalmasca and save what family still survived, something only heightened as his brothers continued to die from both war and disease as a plague swept the kingdom. Only heightened as his mother died of a broken heart.

Eclipses and Ignis both learned to fight alongside their educational and royal lessons, and by the time they were sixteen, their father reluctantly sent them into battle. They were afraid but determined, with Eclipses’s confidence almost outshining his daring twin’s, and for the first few months, they were able to adapt to the change of pace. They fought valiantly, and it was then Eclipses was able to show his leadership strength - taking charge when needed despite yet having earned such militant rank, all while taking care and being mindful of the soldiers and knights he fought with. They were his people, his brothers in arms, and he was determined to keep them safe.

Everything changed when Eclipses and Ignis were ordered to join an airship unit to aid Nabradia in patrolling its Archadian-shared border. The twins agreed without hesitation and left their beloved kingdom behind - neither realizing it would be the last time they would see Rabanastre. The first few days were quiet with little activity from Archadia, but on the third night, the air patrol was ambushed.

The Archadians swept in with a large fleet armed to the teeth, and the patrol stood little chance. Some recognized defeat and fled as soon as they could, but the Archadians rained hellfire down upon the airships with few fighting back. Eclipses and Ignis took charge of the airship they were in and ordered their men to fight, but the Ifrit took aim, and their ship went down. Few survivors escaped the chaos to report back to House Nabradia and House Dalmasca, and King Raminas was told both Eclipses and Ignis had perished in the fight.

However, unbeknownst to those who escaped, not all had been lost. Somehow, against the odds, Eclipses survived. His airship had crashed upon the edge of a cliff above the sea, and he had been trapped beneath burning debris - something that would permanently scar his chest and upper arms. But the fire broke the ship apart, and he fell to the sea below, where he would soon be swept ashore alongside the body of Ignis.

Somehow still, he survived, and as he came to, he… remembered nothing of what happened. A wound on the side of his head bled heavily, but his adrenaline kept him going, and he managed to struggle to his feet and haul Ignis into his arms. He rambled to his brother - not realizing his twin was dead - and carried him away from the remains of the wreckage that washed ashore with them. Barely even aware of the severity of his own wounds as he staggered and limped along. And, as if the Gods were still looking over him, he managed to find his way to a nearby fishing village still free of Archadian occupation. His ragged, bloodied, and burnt figure was a sight to behold as he pleaded for them to help him and his brother, and as the villagers rushed to his side, he collapsed, and lost consciousness.

For days, he remained unconscious as the healers tended to him as best they could. Ignis was buried, and given a small but proper funeral, despite the twins being unknown to the village. The only thing they could piece together was that they had to be Dalmascan, as they saw the distant fight, and found debris from a Dalmascan airship along the sands. And when he came to… the only thing he could recall that was of any use was the name Eli. Yet… it was unclear if it was his name or his brother’s, as his memory was simply… gone. He could remember nothing of his past or what happened that fateful night. The only thing he could recall was that he had a twin brother, but even then, he… couldn’t remember his name. The villagers took pity on him and allowed him to stay, even after he recovered. He was given his brother’s necklace - something saved by one of the elders in case he wanted it once he woke - and given a new name until he could recall his own: Rohir.

However, even as Rohir recovered and regained his strength, his memory never came back. His past remained elusive even to him, and while he was able to recall little information of what happened that night, really only remembering it had been an ambush by Archadia, he… still couldn’t figure out if Eli was his name or his brother’s. If he was even truly Dalmascan, or if he had been a Nabradian soldier simply onboard a Dalmascan airship. He remembered nothing of his family or even his lineage, and reluctantly gave up on the idea of ever remembering anything about himself. He found a reluctant peace in the village, but found a sense of belonging as they accepted him despite their own reservations. They protected him as Archadian soldiers stopped to see if there had been any survivors of that night, and they claimed Rohir was one of their own - a fisherman who had been caught in a terrible storm the following night. The Archadians accepted this, and left him be.

But, as two years went by, Rohir grew restless, and left the village alongside Avito and Ness - though promised to be forever grateful to the villagers for everything they had done. The three friends set off to become sky pirates to sate their hunger for adventure despite the war that continued to rage, but even then… Rohir could not shake the discontent he felt as he worked alongside them. He was close to the siblings and enjoyed traveling, but he couldn’t shake the guilt that came with stealing. It felt wrong, and Avito was quick to notice his unhappiness. Although reluctant, he finally confessed to her what was bothering him, but despite his worry, she wasn’t upset. Being a sky pirate wasn’t for everyone, and she understood that, as did her brother. Avito and Ness brought him to Bhujerba, and gave some of their gil to add to his own earnings so he could buy his own airship. They wished farewell, and he parted from them on good terms - feeling better than he had in a while, although he would miss Avito’s company in particular.

He remained in Bhujerba for some time, and worked a few odd jobs to earn a bit more money before he was finally able to afford a small airship he named the Odyssey. Although it needed a bit of work, he was happy with it, and left Bhujerba as soon as he was able to get the Odyssey back into shape. From there, Rohir… simply became a vagabond - never staying in one place for too long, and occasionally picking up other odd jobs in different places for supplies or money. He preferred being alone and being able to travel where he wanted whenever he wanted, yet… a new longing grew in his heart. He yearned to see the heart of Dalmasca, yet could not bring himself to actually fly to Rabanastre - as if… afraid to do so. It was something he couldn’t explain, but it was also something he chose to ignore. He pushed down that longing, and left Rabanastre alone.

As the years went on, Rohir remained content, and learned to accept he would never remember his past. He would get flashes, but nothing substantial enough to answer his questions. Never enough to put the memories back into place. He learned to push aside the ache in his heart, and… simply learned not to think too much of it. But he could not easily ignore the grief he felt upon hearing of King Raminas’s assassination, Princess Ashelia’s suicide, and the fall of Dalmasca to Archadian’s rule. It… was a grief he didn’t understand, but brushed off as him being of Dalmascan origin, failing to realize the depths of that idea.