#our ra talked to her cause I live with her and she’s just as miserable as me. and everyone else on this floor

[iloveyoumorethansoup]

Kinda fun that I might try and rent a house with some people next year

[redhoodssweetheart]

Robin Tattoo

Genre: Soulmate AU

Relationship: Older!Damian Wayne x Fem!Reader

Requested: Yes (REQUESTS ARE CLOSED)

Word Count: 2.6K

Warnings: Fluff, slight angst, swear word

Description:  Damian has known you were his soulmate for some time now.  And it isn’t until he gets a little too jealous that you manage to put two and two together.

A/N: The soulmate that Jason is talking about is actually an OC from my story with Jason called Under the Mask.

The little robin had been tattooed on your side from the moment that you had been born.  It was your soulmate mark, the thing that connected you to your soulmate and would help you find them.  You often stared at it wondering who your soulmate was and what they were like.  Would they be sweet and kind, or maybe shy.  Would they be strong and confident.  Thoughts were constantly swirling about what they looked like as well.

There were some worries as well.  What if you never found them?  What if they rejected you?  There were rare occasions where one soulmate rejected their destined partner.  It could be for any number of reasons, but it was very rare.  Only about two percent of people rejected their destined partner.

And you didn’t want to be a part of that statistic.

Your friends tried comforting you and telling you that if your soulmate rejected you then they were an idiot for passing up the opportunity to know you.  You would smile at them and tell them thanks, but their kind words did little to quell your fears.

Damian had always thought the robin was laughable.  When he had lived with Ra’s there was something about it that seemed weird and strange.  Why would he - the grandson of the demon - have a robin soulmate mark?  It wasn’t until he went to live with his father and took up the mantle of Robin that he understood.  The universe was weird like that sometimes.

Damian was now a freshman in college and he still hadn’t discovered who he shared the tattoo with.  He hadn’t been vocal about wanting to know, Dick and the others had a tendency to tease him about it, but deep down he wanted to know who you were.  Who was the person that was supposed to be the other half of his soul?

Seeing the tattoo had been a complete accident.  He had met you through mutual friends and one day he caught a glimpse of the robin tattoo when your shirt raised up slightly.  Damian had frozen in that moment, just staring at it until your shirt lowered again concealing the soulmate mark from view. 

You.

You were his soulmate.  Your friends were currently at the beach, Damian had invited everyone to come stay at the beach front house that Bruce had.  It was spring break and instead of going to the overcrowded beaches that most crowded to Damian had brought you all here.  It had been several months since had discovered your tattoo and he had yet to tell you what he was to you.

He remembered going to Jason one night, it was late and everyone else had gone to sleep, but Damian couldn’t shut off his mind and he knew that Jason would be awake.  He was always awake.

“Jason, if I ask you something… will you promise not to tease me or tell the others?”  Damian had hesitated, but he wanted to get his brother’s opinion because despite what others believe he looked up to his older brothers.  He loved them in only a way he could.

Jason had paused whatever it had been he was doing and leaned back in his chair.  Jason’s soulmate mark was on his wrist, it was his soulmates name, Freya Andros.  Some people had names of their soulmates, some had a shared image, and some had the first words a person would speak to their soulmate.  “I promise,” Jason loved to tease Damian, but he knew when he needed to be a big brother to the younger member.

“When you… when you met Freya how did you know you wanted to tell her?  I mean, I know it was easier for the two of you to find one another especially in today’s day and age with technology.  But with everything that goes on in our life how did you know you wanted her to be a part of it all?”

Jason studied Damian, he had wondered if he had found his soulmate, he seemed on edge and there were times when he would check his phone and smile, a rarity for the young Wayne.  “I wasn’t going to seek Freya out,” he admitted.  “I thought having a soulmate would distract me from our mission.  I covered my tattoo when I became Bruce’s adoptee that way people couldn’t trick me into making me believe they were Freya.  She came to Wayne Enterprises one day while I was there and begged to see me. They wouldn’t let her in, but I knew she was there.

“When I died Bruce told me that she came to the funeral, that she was devastated.  He said he had never seen someone look so broken before.  And then I came back.  When Bruce told me about her coming to the funeral, when I heard how it had affected her, I just didn’t see a point in not being there for her anymore.  I was miserable without her before I died.  Knowing she was out there, but not getting to see her, watching from afar to make sure she was safe was torture.  She was right there and I could’ve held her.  Seeing her face when I knocked on her apartment door, seeing the confusion and hurt and relief broke me.  I told her everything.  I explained why I stayed away, it wasn’t because I wanted to reject her, it was because I wanted to protect her.  She told me I was an idiot, but that she could also understand.  I knew I wanted her in my life because I felt alone, odd seeing as how I have you and a whole group of kids that Bruce has adopted over the years.  But I was missing something and it was her.”

Damian considered Jason’s words now as he watched you through the window.  You and several of your friends were already outside playing in the sand.  Billy stepped up beside Damian, “You’re not that subtle for a vigilante you know.”

Damian turned toward Billy and narrowed his eyes, “Watch it, Batson.”

Billy smirked, “Ruffling some feathers, Robin?”  He started backing toward the door, “Maybe I’ll go join them and hang out with Y/N.”

Damian gritted his teeth, “Leave her alone.”

“See you later, Damian,” then he was out the door and heading your way.  

Damian couldn’t help the jealousy that rose inside him and the feeling of anger.  He tried tamping it down, but when he saw you laughing and the way Billy was getting close to you he couldn’t take it.  He stormed outside and pushed Billy away from you.

“Damian!”  You shouted, but he barely registered it.

“You’re an ass, Batson!” Damian yelled.  “You know that?”

You watched Damian, saw the anger and jealousy all over his face.  He had always been like this when you were around and there were other men giving you attention.  He would sling an arm around you or angle his body just a tad bit closer to yours.  You hadn’t really thought anything of it before, hadn’t paid attention to the queues that he was giving you subconsciously.  It wasn’t until just now, the pure anger and jealousy on his face when it clicked.

Damian was your soulmate.

You looked to Billy, the knowing grin on his face, the mischief in his eyes.  He had known too.  He had figured it out and was pushing Damian to tell you the truth.  Which begged the question: why hadn’t he told you?

If he knew then what was stopping him?  Was he disappointed that it was you?  No that couldn’t be it because he wouldn’t want anything to do with you and you doubted he would get this angry and jealous with another guy flirting with you.

You reached out and took Damian’s hand, aware of everyone watching the situation unfolding before you.  He looked at you when he felt you slip your hand into his.  “Damian, come on,” you gently started tugging him toward the house, wanting some privacy from the others.  

He went willingly with you inside and once the door clicked shut behind him he said, “Y/N, I would like to apologize for my outburst, it was-”

But before he could finish his sentence you were wrenching his shirt up to see the robin tattoo.  Seeing it, actually seeing it there, made you pause.  Your eyes were locked on the delicate design of the bird, the way it matched yours completely.  Your gaze traveled up to his eyes and you saw pain there.  “Were you ashamed?”  Your voice was barely above a whisper.

“What?  No,” he said, of course you would think that.  “There is so much I need to explain, but I can’t do it here.  Not when there are so many people around.  Not when we’re not… alone.”

You let go of his shirt, “I need to go.”  You turned and darted up the stairs to your room where you slammed the door shut and crawled into the shower to cry.

Damian ran a hand through his hair and began swearing in Arabic.  This is not how he had seen this going.  Feeling eyes on him he turned to the windows to see everyone trying to act like they hadn’t just been spying on them.  Billy was the only one still looking at him with no remorse written on his face.  Damian would deal with him later, but for now he had to figure out how to fix things with you.

You hadn’t come down for meals, but one of your friends had brought you dinner.  They asked if you were okay and you told them you would be.  You had wanted to ask about Damian and see how he was, but then you remembered that you were mad at him and didn’t want to know.  You didn’t want to think about him.

You were staring up at the ceiling when there was a knock on your door, “Y/N?”  Damian’s voice drifted in and it caused you to sit up quickly, your eyes wide as you looked toward your door.  “I know you’re not asleep.  May we please talk?”

You wanted to tell him to shove off, but you also wanted answers and you would only be able to get those if you let him in.  Slowly you rose from your spot on the bed and opened your door.  He seemed relieved that you had and stepped aside to let him in.  You wondered if anyone else was awake and going to try and listen in on your conversation.

“They all went out,” Damian said as if he had read your mind. “I waited to make sure they were all gone before coming here.”

You climbed back onto the bed and watched as he perched himself on the side, unsure if he should be close to you or not.  “You said that we needed to talk, so talk.”

Damian glanced at you, a hint of a smile on his face, but it was gone before you even really registered it.  “First let me say I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to be my soulmate,” he released a breath and squeezed his hands into fists.  “I’ve known for a couple of months now, and I debated telling you the moment I saw it.  But my life is, how do I put this?  Complicated?”

“Everyone’s lives are complicated, Damian,” you told him.  “Life isn’t easy.”

He snorted, “You’re not wrong, but there are certain factors that make my life a bit more complicated than most.  Where should I even begin?  I guess with where I grew up.”  

He launched into his tale.  He told you about growing up in the League and then coming to live with his father.  How Bruce Wayne was Batman and he was Robin.  He explained that he wasn’t sure if it was worth it putting you in danger, if he was being selfish if he told you the truth.  Was love worth the pain of possibly losing you to something that could potentially be his fault?  You listened to him talk and never once said a word.

You could see why he would be scared.  He explained about his brother Jason and how he hadn’t told his soulmate and then he had actually died.  He had wanted to save you from that same kind of pain because there was no guarantee that he was always going to walk away from a fight.  He then told you that it was Jason who convinced him that he should tell you, that when Jason had been returned from the dead he had sought his soulmate out because life just wasn’t worth living it without her by his side.

He even told you about how his mother had once tried to kill Bruce’s soulmate because she had this delusion that she and Bruce were meant to be together.  Thankfully, Selina Kyle was resourceful and had nine lives.  But that had made an impression on Damian and he hadn’t wanted to put you at risk like that.  You weren’t Selina and you weren’t a trained fighter like he was.  Obviously Damian had been through a lot and he had acceptable reasons to be a little wary when it came to letting people in.

Damian then said that he had planned to tell you after spring break.  He was going to take you to his favorite place in Gotham and just spill his soul to you, but Billy had had other ideas.  You took it all in and when he was done the two of you were quiet.  Damian waited for you to kick him out and tell him that after this trip you never wanted to see him again.

Instead he felt the bed begin to dip as you crawled toward him and perched yourself next to him.  You gently tilted his head toward yours and kissed his forehead.  Damian froze at the feeling of your lips against his forehead, surprised by this.  “Y/N?”

“I’m still mad,” you told him.  “But like your brother’s soulmate I can understand.  I still think it should have been my choice to tell you whether or not I wanted to be with you or not.”

“I know, and I’m sorry,” he told you.  “But let me make it up to you.”

“Okay,” you smiled at him and Damian thought that he had never experienced so much happiness as seeing his soulmate smile at him like that.

You pulled him back and the two of you curled up together under the covers, Damian gently kissing your head and telling you more stories of his family.  You listened wanting to know the things that no one else knew about him.

The rest of the trip went by a lot more smoothly and the others weren’t surprised when they finally caught a glimpse of the matching tattoos on y’alls sides.  Billy elbowed Damian and gave him a look like ‘you’re welcome’ and Damian knew he was going to have to teach him a lesson when they made it home.

When you made it back to Gotham you met his family and instantly fell in love with Alfred.  The kind older man took you under his wing and showed you how to patch up Damian if he was ever hurt and treated you like a granddaughter.  His presence was calming especially on the nights when Damian was on patrol or on mission.

Jason’s soulmate, Freya, was also a huge help, the two of you bonded over shared experiences given who your soulmates were.  And you slowly became more comfortable with them all and considered them family.

One night Damian took you to one of the rooftop balconies of Wayne Enterprises and you could swear that you could see the whole city from this vantage point.  As he held you that night you wondered what the future would bring for the two of you, but you hoped that it would be good for the two of you and that you could hold onto this happiness forever.

[gloomyhearts]

Always by your side || Luke Patterson

Chapter ten ~ She always be

2020

The boys found themselves at the beach.

“A bike shack right where my house used to be.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry man.”

“They made the Meyersons’ house into a noodle shop. Why couldn’t they have made mine a pizzeria or something?” he cries.

“They tore down the whole neighborhood,”

“I guess my folks are gone.”

“No, everyone is gone. Twenty-five years, gone. Friends, family except...,” Alex voice darkend, his eyes trailed to the floor. “Bobby, everyone,” he continues.

“Bobby, that’s right. I guess that vegetarian lucked out. What do you think happened to him?” Sabrina knew what he does for a living but telling Alex would’ve meant that he’d have told Luke and Reggie because it was worse, hurtful.

“He probably got old like everybody else and moved on."

“Dude, how are you so casual about all of this. Don’t you wanna figure out what happened?”

“Let’s be real for a second. It’s not lie we were that close to our families. My folks always regretted buying me that guitar. Reggie, your parents were literally a fight away from a divorce. Alex- I your parents never cool again after you told them you were gay,” Luke explains.

“Okay. None of us had it great but we always had Sabrina and.. and we’ve her still.. but she lied and I’m heated about it but she’s still part of our group.”

Luke sights, “Right, she always be. But Sabrina left. And what had she done? She lied, she ignored us, avoid us, she left us.”

“All right? But at least we had something. You know, what do we have now?”

“And before you say cool teleportation skills, just know I’m not entirely okay with that either,” he argues and exhales shakily, “All right? It tingles.. In weird places.”

Luke arise from the log, “I’ll tell you what we had. It’s what we’ve had since the day we came together. Boys, we have us. We’re the only family we’re ever gonna need. You know what else we have?"

“I’m gonna guess death breath,” Reggie suggests.

“Our music, you dork,” he beamed. “We have our music, you guys. People, actual people can hear us play! They can’t see us, fine but they can feel us. If I had my guitar, I'd play for all these people right now. Just like what we used to do down at the pier.”

“They can’t tip what they can’t see,” Alex argues.

Luke sighs, “it’s not about the tips, Alex. It’s about playing music. Connecting with people. Making a difference in their day. I just.. I wish I had my guitar,” in the next moment he spun around, his guitar in his hands.

“Whoa!”

“That was rad. How’d you do that?”

“I don’t know. I-I-I- mean I wished for it, and then it came to my hands,” the shaggy haired boy stutters.

Reggie held his hands up, “I-I-I- wish I had a puppy,” closing his eyes, opens them a little to see if it had worked. “A hamster?”

“Okay,” Alex groans.

“Pizza?” he kicks the sand when if this wish didn’t worked.

“Hey, I think I know something that’ll cheer you up.”

Luke began to play chords on his guitar, walking towards his friends, exchanging glares with the blonde.

“Come on Reginald!” he starts drumming on his chest and tights.

“A one, two three, four”

Can you?

Can you hear me (Loud and clear!)

We gotta get, we gotta get ready (Cause it's been years!)

Woah, this band is back

Woah, this band is back

Woo-hoo, woo-hoo

Woo-hoo, woo-hoo

Woo-hoo, woo-hoo

Can you? (Yes, we can)

People around them began to dance around, cheering to the music, questioning where it is coming from.

Can you hear me? (Loud and clear!)

We gotta get (Wanna get)

We gotta get ready (Cause it's been years!)

Woah, this band is back

Woah, this band is back

Woo-hoo, woo-hoo Woo-hoo, woo-hoo Woo-hoo, woo-hoo

Woo-hoo, woo-hoo

Pa-ra-da-da-da-da-da-da

Pat-pat-pat-da-da-da-da-da-da

Suddenly Reggie felt his heart getting heavy, his features sadden at the sudden flood of emotions; just like Luke and Sabrina had a special connection, Reggie and her had one themselves. It was platonic, totally, he wasn't her type and vice versa.

But every time the other felt happy, angry or sad they knew, they felt it too.

Reggie felt her, she was hurt, she didn't hide it. She needed him to know. He was possibly the only person which would talk to her right now.

"I need to go," Reggie began.

"Yeah let's go to the water," Luke suggests not concluding that she would be there too.

"I don't think... I don't think that's a good idea."

"You don't need to hide anything from us, Reg," Luke lays his hand on his shoulder.

"But.. whatever," he ponders.

In the next second the three of them were at the shore. They all glanced at the ocean and many memories connected to it.

The pain in his chest growing stronger.

"I really need to do this." His thoughts concentrated on the blonde girl.

When he opens his eyes again she was right beside him.

"Regg's," her eyes lit up as she saw the boy next to her, a miserably smile suited her lips.

"Brie," he kneels down. One hand rushing through her hair.

"You're okay?" His hand now resting on her right cheek.

"I don't.. I really don't know," she mumbles, a tear slipping out.

"I got you," he pulls her in his arms, slightly shaking back and forth.

"I'm sorry," Sabrina said after various minutes of silence.

His head rests on top of hers "I know.”

She frees from his grip to look into his shining blue eyes.

"I couldn't do it. I just couldn't face you again. I don't know why. I just couldn't," Sabrina's graze fell to the floor as she saw the pity in his eyes.

"No, Brie. Look at me," he softly grabbed onto her chin, lifting her head up.

"I would've done it without a difference. But we could've had the best time in this void," he chuckles. "I wished I could've seen my sunshine sooner," he gave her forehead a little peck.

"But," Reggie interrupted the blonde.

"No 'but's' Sabrina. We all missed you. And it was a really hard time without you. But we all love you and it'd have been the best time of our lives in there. And.. and Luke." She shakes her head not wanting to hear about him.

"Just hear me out. Luke always spoke about you. When we were asleep, girl, did he talked, as if he was talking to you,"

"Well that's a fun thing," she chuckles, rubbing her neck.

"You did talk to him and not with me?!"

"He wasn't awake. There's a huge difference," Sabrina explains.

"I only talk to Lexi," his nickname brings a bitter smile on her lips.

"He loves you, you know that. You two just have to sort this out, the same with Luke. I'll try to convince them," he winked at her and was on his feet again.

"I'll come back" Reggie gave her a ressuring smile and left.

[pennamesmith]

Welcome Back, Skeletor

Hordak wants to talk to Catra about something. She-Ra does battle with Skeletor. More ‘Skeletor’ stories.

*

Another day, another Ex-Horde Therapy Group meeting.

Today the clones were helping to arrange a large circle of comfortable chairs, under Wrong Hordak’s enthusiastic direction. Perfuma, whose meditation lesson the previous week had proven popular enough to warrant an encore, centered herself while Scorpia did her best to shuffle a deck of yoga cards by her side. More clones trickled in through the hallway door every few minutes.

Catra watched this from her vantage point in the back of the room, where she was helping to set up the snack table. Beside her, Entrapta’s latest pet project - a reprogrammed Horde drone she’d nicknamed ‘Skeletor’ - set out more food while making various nasal utterances.

“Meheheh. You’ve done your job well, Catra!” Skeletor declared, surveying her work. Suddenly he snapped to attention. “Gah! It’s that muscle-bound female, She-Ra!”

Catra followed his gaze to the other end of the narrow table, where Adora had claimed an entire tray of cheese cubes for herself and was now eating them by the handful. At Skeletor’s approach she made a small sound of panic and hurried away toward the circle of chairs, hunched protectively over her plate.

A giggle escaped from Catra and she turned away from the scene, only to be met by an enormous looming shadow looking down at her.

“Oh! Hordak!” Her tail puffed and she tried, unsuccessfully, to hide it under the tablecloth. “Didn’t see you there, buddy. You, uh, want some honeydew?” She held the plate up like a shield.

Hordak accepted a piece of the offered fruit and regarded her mildly. “Thank you. I hope Skeletor isn’t bothering you too much?”

Catra shrugged. “Nah. His laugh is weird and he keeps calling Melog ‘Clawdeen,’ but he’s harmless enough.”

“You should also avoid his doomberry pies,” Hordak advised, casting an eye toward the food. “I am… not displeased to see you here today, you know. I was uncertain if you would return after your first visit.”

“I could say the same about you.” Catra looked back towards the chairs, where Skeletor and Adora’s disagreement over the cheese plate was heating up. Entrapta had appeared between them and was holding the two warring parties apart with her hands, while her hair fidgeted with Skeletor’s circuitry and snuck bites of cheese. “I guess we both have our, uh, significant princesses to blame for that. Plus, it’s actually kind of nice to talk about stuff with people who get it.”

“Indeed,” Hordak agreed, looking in Entrapta’s direction. “Also, I… had another motive in seeking you out today. I wish to apologize to you. Catra.”

He said her name awkwardly - the first time he’d spoken it aloud since their imprisonment on Prime’s ship - and Catra felt her bearings bouncing away.

“Um. You want to apologize to me? Did you forget about, y’know, the whole Beast Island thing?”

“No,” Hordak growled, and for a moment his eyes grew sharper before softening again. “But nevertheless. I was a poor leader. And I caused you pain. And I am sorry for that.”

Catra raised her eyebrows, then realized that he was reading off a piece of folded paper. “Did somebody put you up to this?”

Hordak huffed. “Hardly. Princess Perfuma merely suggested that it might behoove me to admit my wrongs and make amends with those I have harmed.” He looked away and shuffled his feet. “Scorpia may have helped somewhat with the wording.”

“No offense, but if that’s the road you wanna go down, you’re going to have a lot of amending to do.”

Hordak nodded. “Yes, well. It seemed as good a place as any to start.” He pocketed his paper. “The Princess Alliance has seen fit to forgive us our past lives in the Horde, and it would be disrespectful if I did not attempt to live up to that.”

Catra chuckled. “Hordak, the Alliance forgave us because nobody was in the mood to start a war with Dryl, Plumeria, and She-Ra at the same time.” She caught his expression. “But you’re right. So, uh, thanks. I’m sorry too. For everything. For whatever that means.”

“More than you may know,” Hordak said, smiling softly. He glanced at something past her shoulder. “Excuse me. This may require my assistance.”

Hordak hurried off in the direction of Entrapta and Skeletor. The robot was now being held aloft in the scientist’s hair, limbs flailing wildly. He shook his fists.

“Dolts! Halfwits! Bunglers!” Skeletor cried.

“Now, come on Skeletor, play nice!” Entrapta cajoled.

“I am not nice!” Skeletor shot back. “Blast that She-Ra! Always meddling! Myaah!”

Hordak reached them and began to gently extricate the peeved robot from his partner’s plumes of hair. Catra watched, smiling in spite of herself, until something blonde popped up into her field of vision and she started back with a yelp.

“Hey Cathra!” Adora said, mouth full. “You want thome cheethe?” She held out the cheese plate. There were one and a half cubes remaining, along with some crumbs.

“I’m good, thanks,” Catra replied, regaining her calm, and her smile. She took the plate from Adora and replaced it with one of her hands. “So, I think Hordak just tried to be nice to me?”

“Oh, yeah, I totally put him up to it,” Adora said, flicking a cheese crumb off her shoulder. “I think he went to Perfuma and Scorpia for extra advice though. Did it go okay? He’s really trying, I swear.”

Something in Catra’s chest melted, and she laughed heartily. “C’mon, Adora. Let’s go join the circle before all the good seats are taken.”

*

Of course, all the good seats were taken. Catra and Adora wound up sitting next to Skeletor, who was frowning with his arms crossed beside Hordak.

“Behave,” Hordak hissed, while Entrapta hung off the side of her chair to make eyes at him.

“You miserable excuse for a villain,” Skeletor muttered. But he behaved.

“Welcome, everyone!” Wrong Hordak chimed from the center of the circle. “Who is ready to develop coping strategies for the processing of traumatic experiences?”

Catra and Hordak shared a sidelong glance. They were, perhaps, more ready than they realized.

“Myaah!” Skeletor said, again.

[inappropriatefangirlneeds]

Gotham s5ep11  “They Did What?” Personal Review & Rambling 

I DID IT .... I WATCHED THE GOTHAM FINALE 

“We need to make it a bomb again.” Absolutely no warning cause that’s all no spoiler anymore for a long time 

So I´m not sure if it´s good thing I´m watching this ages late, partly I guess I could be more emotional, partly not. It´s sweet to see how everyone and their aunt is teaming up for the city. “Well, this is gonna make one hell of a bedtime story some day.”   With Nyssa al Ghul holding the baby I briefly totally forgot the plot and wondered where did that child come from again? And my brain went back to the (godawful) “Ra´s present for Barbara is a child” theory, and then I remembered oh no it was Jim ..and I was like .. eh, magic baby would have been the better plot. So that´s how we started this but at least Jim and Barbara were quite sweet, even with the child (I usually just cringe and crumble in sheer terror of what kind of responsibility a child is whenever one of those appears but they made it sweet)  BARBARA KEAN & JIM GORDON were such a great team!  Also Barbara just looks so damn fine, they really did good with that. And just bless the FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHERS of the Show , handcuffed Barbara taking out the guy with her legs > Jim later handcuffing Nyssa to keep her close to not get shot at < Good Stuff!  * ~ 24:05 even up to the Steps of SELINA KYLE , Just the way she walked before fighting Bane was such a neat detail   ”My father made his name destroying empires.” NYSSA AL GHUL I guess with more time she´s got potential but rushed like that her character is just boring. 

“Can we really be so cavalier about the destruction of Gotham?” Oh OSWALD COBBLEPOT that´s part of why I fell in love with you. So he and EDWARD NYGMA go over the whole “listening to your heart never did you any good Oswald” spiel, and “I´ll miss you”, or “not so much”, Ed kind of is saying “don´t go” , but just not quite, the usual, you know, I can´t bring myself to care much but damn do I like watching their pretty selves talk through it.  * Edward later follows Oswald, claiming it´s about the city, says the submarine can only operated by two people, and actual people, dog didn´t work.  The usual. * Holy Shit, JIM GORDON ´s so gorgeous. It´s not like I had forgotten how pretty he is but damn that episode hit me hard again with Jim feels. Him over that map, going through their strategy. Daaaamn daaaaaaaaamn. * JIM GORDON & OSWALD COBBLEPOT in something that might as well be just fanfiction: “Oswald, come in.” / “Still have those eyes in the back of your head, Jim.” / “No. You just have a remarkably recognizable odor. Part dandy, part snake. After all these years, it hasn't changed. Drink?” / “No, thank you. Dulls the senses.” /  “That's what I was going for. Surprised you're still here. Figured you'd be long gone by now. That storm you've warned me about for so long, it's finally here.” /  “Sure, I could escape... with money, I might add... but then what? Stand on the shores of the mainland and watch the army burn it to the ground? Then watch tasteless industrialists and vapid politicians rebuild it? No. My life is etched on the walls of every alley and dirty warehouse here. My blood lives in its broken concrete. I'm staying to fight. For my legacy.” * LESLIE THOMPKINS caring about the people of the Narrows was great, I don´t know, if I like that she “abandoned” them in order to stand next to Jim but I can let it pass because of the way she did: She respected and trusted BARBARA KEAN to get them out. I can accept a plot that doesn´t pit those two women against each other (anymore). It was equally great that Lee just told Jim to “yes, go to your child”, and not to forget the scene where Barbara is thanking Lee for what she did, and “Barbara Lee Gordon”  * Lucius is full on providing gadgets for Bruce, including that Bat Beacon that slowed down Bane. Nice but eh.  Also they rehash Jeremiah´s plan to turn the city in a labyrinth to slow down the army. “We need to make it a bomb again.” Battery goes Bomb again, but eh, kind of fell flat for me

* HARVEY BULLOCK pointing out they are fighting SOLDIERS that are just following orders was a good touch. And it makes sense that JIM could brush that aside, he knows what they signed up for. That´s what you do, that´s what you accept. * Also I can stan a good  story that rejects and is a slap in the face of  the "NUREMBERG DEFENSE" so props to that! Just the execution fell so remarkably flat for me. I felt nothing then the people came back with Barbara, nothing when the soldiers pointed their guns at Bane.  BRUCE WAYNE & SELINA KYLE   Just Selina checking in with a “Bruce?” to make sure he actually wants to do that bomb thing was so precious. Also her recognizing that he is and accepting his choice. [Rant Below]  Them later sitting on the stairs and talking was sweet too, except for what they talked about.  SELINA KYLE MRs. & MR WAYNE So apparently they paralleled those in this episode 1.  Selina´s shadow is just right under the painting of Mrs & Mr Wayne and Bruce just plants the bomb right in the middle of her shadow ~19:40) 2.  Selina telling Bruce on the stairs she will be there whenever he needs her and Bruce replying that this is what his parents used to tell him.     Which is a good setup for the kind of conclusion Bruce draws out of all of this but also I´m gonna rant about it below but first:  3. Bruce says his parents would have and did sacrifice everything for the city. He´s making the same choice but apparently can´t see that Selina has as much a choice to do so as he and Mrs & Mr Wayne have .  So in the end I´m getting overly emotional, angry, hurt, let down to be precise:  How dare BRUCE WAYNE leave SELINA KYLE  behind like this?! Given the backstory that´s bound to be so much more painful than whatever Jeremiah or Bane ever could do. Selina has been through this after Jeremiah and she made a choice. She stayed, she thought and she was (not that that matters but let´s not forget it) damn good at it. I know Bruce thinks he´s making a “sacrifice” but how dare he take away this choice from her. How dare he hurt her like that.

* Most importantly though ALFRED PENNYWORTH in that COAT at the end looked so damn dashing. I´m in love. But I don´t like that they made a point of benching his character like that. He added plenty to the fight, he´s been in hospital before, he can add still contribute like he always did. Don´t let it end like this. Yeah I do need at least three seasons to magically happen before the 5th. OSWALY COBBLEPOT & EDWARD NYGMA Round #2  * Edward apologizes for freezing because of the grenade, Oswald understands. Edward gags when seeing Oswald´s hurt eye but claims it is just a scratch. * Back in a remarkable awesome looking place they lick their wounds: > Oswald feels not appreciated he wants “credit for our loyalty, our selfless bravery?” aka Love.  > Edward however feels better than everyone else. He used to be “Shy awkward, pathetic Ed”. Not anymore. He´s better! “I don't want their thanks. Or their respect. You know what I felt, standing shoulder to shoulder with those people out there? Nothing. I... feel... absolutely nothing for those drab... boring people.” Never again. I've shown this city who I truly am once before, and I will do it again. They will bow to the Riddler, and they won't get up until I permit them to.” >> The notion of the “Thankless Job” is there too with Ed but Ed get his kicks out of separating himself from the people, he´s different and above them he doesn´t care about their opinion and has no real stakes in their well being. Oswald however obviously still want´s the recognition of said people, and he wants the good and nice kind, so it´s important that they aren´t miserable.  However “Yes. You're right. Our accomplishments have been erased, our brilliant minds underrated. If they had let me run this city the way I wanted to, it would not be in ruins now. I had the men, the money, - the guns... “ 1. Oswald falls in line with Ed´s reasoning, appeals to his brilliance spleen but tweaks it for his need.  Edward says he has to rule and they have to bow to him.  Os says Ed is right, follows in line with Ed in reassuming a strife for leadership but adds his twist that this is necessary not so much because he (just as Ed thinks he is) is superior but because his leadership is “good” for the people. He´ll do good for them so they´ll like him.  >>> Oswald wants to rule to not have the city in ruins and get praised for that >>> Edward wants to rule because he´s better and deserves so regardless of other imbeciles thoughts or needs.  2. Divide et Imperare Edward is quick to make sure to point a finger to an enemy and separate Oswald from Jim “Gordon took them.”  Oswald just might as well try to go back to old methods and try build alliances with Jim and the law again, Edward recently saw Oswald and Jim kind of teaming up again and he just can´t have that. Just like Mr. Penn was in the way. Jim is a threat.  One to be undermined at all costs: “Gordon took them. Why? Because he still sees you as Fish Mooney's umbrella boy, and he always will.” 

3. One Ring to bind them. Edward starts with a selfish reason but is quick to put Oswald back into the plan. First there´s “I” suddenly he talks about a “We”:  “I only came back to help him save this city so that I could take it for myself. We would be stronger together. No one could stop us.”  4. Do they believe each other?! Apparently they don´t because the both go in the hug with a drawn knife but are relieved when they don´t feel one in their own back. Which was really nice and fitting imagery. I can live with that “conclusion” but I have so much open questions.  I really got to look for post that worked through all of this. > Oswald obviously must be weary of Edward because (I just have to believe) that he sees through the manipulating words of Edward. (as listed above) [[[ Especially the scene with Jim: They had a rather respectful, familiar interaction. I can´t quite believe that he follows Edward´s claim that JIM only thinks of him as that umbrella boy. I do think Oswald gets that Jim takes him serious, just well considers all his crime stuff to be wrong, and that´s quite a different thing than what Ed claims.]]]  > What is Edward´s angle there? Yeah he might not have been able to operate the submarine alone but granted his speech it sounded like he would think that he is capable of taking the city for and by himself. Why is he appealing to Oswald to form a “we”?  Just to get him in the hug situation and test him, asses a possible future threat to his claims?  The only other proper motivation for that would be …. he likes Oswald.  5. “Brothers” Hahahah * Okay, but Oswald´s face when Edward and his mirror self do their thing …Damn …. * 8:26 Are the “Captain Jim Gordon” letters on his door window colour ??! * Jankey Piss Whiskey, what is Jim drinking?  * Oh no, not the General

[athena1138]

work rant. tl;dr i’m unbelievably tired. 

Things are rough. Blatantly. There’s no other way to say it. 

My residents have been locked in their rooms for 10 weeks now, the first 2 of those because one of them brought in a rotovirus that spread like wildfire (even to me.) 

I get they’re depressed and lonely and tired and jittery. But I’m over it. 

We have one lady who’s literally on her death bed because she stopped taking care of herself. Right now I think she has a UTI because she’s getting up to pee four times an hour. It wouldn’t be a problem for us except that she leaves the light on to get back in bed “because she’s worried about falling” (nevermind she has never once fallen in my 7 months working here,) so she pages us to come turn it off. Four times an hour. Tonight, I said I wasn’t having it. The girl before me had almost had a breakdown trying to keep up with her, but this was her first night dealing with it because she’s been off. Not me. I’ve had four nights dealing with this. So tonight, the lady paged around 11:50 for her light. Fine. In and out. There were a lot of dishes left out in the hall from dinner, so I grabbed a cart and started picking them up. Literally 4 minutes after I left her room, she paged again. Nah. No. She can wait until I’m done, because I know it’s her light. She literally only pages for her light. 4 nights and dozens of pages have cemented this fact for me, so I’m not worried about making her wait a few minutes. 

It took me 10 minutes to gather all the dishes, get them rinsed, an rack them so they’re ready for washing in the morning. Within those 10 minutes, she paged FOURTEEN TIMES. FOR HER FUCKING LIGHT. I’m trying to be calm. I’m trying not to get mad. She can’t help it. She’s got very bad dementia, she doesn’t realize how often she’s doing it. But holy fucking shit. We’ve tried talking to her daughter, but she won’t do anything. She’s only come in 2x to get her up and walking around. Like, yes, she needs exercise, but she needs to go to a doctor, too. She also needs a night light because she keeps asking us to leave lights on but the only light she can stand is from her window which i still too dark. I’ve tried literally anything else I could think of--oven light, TV on mute, cracking the bathroom door, moving the bullshit little blue light in her bathroom, nothing. No. Daughter won’t get it. 

So there’s that. 

We also have a resident who is, quite frankly, an asshole. I can’t stand him. He has done nothing but bitch since lockdown started. 

What kills me is that it’s not even things that he used to bitch about. Before, he never ever ate kitchen food except breakfast. He ate lunch and dinner from his own food. Well, since lockdown, he has been getting trays. But he’s bitching about the trays. He’s bitching about being given soup he didn’t ask for, about food being gross, about this, about that, and it’s like dude. Don’t fucking order it if you don’t fucking want it. But it’s not just that. He went to the hospital last week and came back today, and he threw a HUGE fit because he’s missing 2 newspapers. Like, he made the girl working cry, and she doesn’t fucking cry. He’s blown up at me before because there was no jelly on his table for breakfast and that’s not even my fucking job, but when I told him that we were out of it, he yelled at me more about “You can’t fucking order enough food for 40 fucking people? What kind of a place is this?” THEN LEAVE. IF YOU’RE SO GODDAMN MISERABLE, LEAVE. Or he’ll come out and look out the front windows at night, which, whatever. Doesn’t bother me much. Except every other night he’ll ask if the storage room is open and I’ll say no, but I can open it for him, and he says no and just goes back to his room. Like??? Why’d you ask??? 

My favorite guy has always reminded me of No Face because he’s tall and doesn’t really know what’s going on, but these last few weeks, he’s just. I can’t even explain it. It’s like he’s empty. His dementia has gotten so bad. He’s stopped flushing his toilet, we think he’s peeing on his laundry, his speech is almost imperceptible he’s so quiet, he’s lost weight which is scary because he was already so skinny. 

We have another dementia dude who had hip surgery a little over a month ago, and his aids are BITCHES. We HATE them. We’ve been fighting with them for weeks. They went fucking 3 weeks without giving him a bath or telling us he wasn’t getting a bath, so his skin is terrible. He’s itchy all the time, so they’re saying that it’s his pain medicine which is causing it, which isn’t true. They’re trying to keep him doped up so they don’t have to deal with him, but since we told our boss about it and he talked to theirs, they all of a sudden don’t want us giving him it anymore. All of a sudden, the pain meds make him itch and “are what caused his dementia” and make him dizzy. But none of that is true. He has other people who come in to help him, plus we see him and we’ve known him for months, and we all see that it’s bullshit. But they’re still here. And they have the gall to tell us how to do our jobs. They’re not nurses, they’re not RAs, they’re just random ass people their boss found. One is a high school dropout (not that there’s anything wrong with that, but considering that she’s talking about medical things, it’s relevant,) and the other thinks she knows what she’s talking about because she drove the bus for our neighboring facility. From which she got fired. For being a dick to her passengers. They’re like, “Well he needs his medicine at 6, not 8.” No, he doesn’t. This is when he’s had it for months. “You need to do this.” McFuckinScuse me? Ohohoh, and the kicker? They’ve been saying he’s “end life” since his surgery. Even though he’s not in pain, even though he’s much, much clearer because he got new anti-psychotic medication, even though he’s so much better now than he ever has been. Like. I’ve never been in a fight. but I’m gonna throw hands. 

And we have people bitching about every little thing. Their breakfast arrives cold. Well, you have a microwave, we can’t keep it all hot because we deliver it by floor, not by room. They weren’t abiding the 6-foot-apart rule so we had to take out the furniture in the living room and outside, so they’re acting like children and saying shit like, “Well we’re jut going to sit in our walkers anyway.” Which we can’t do anything to stop them but like. Whatever. We have to spray down our mail and newspapers with our sanitizing gun before we can deliver it, so Every. Single. Morning. we get a phone call from one resident in particular who just angrily demands, “WHERE’S MY PAPER” and then hangs up. EVERY GODDAMN MORNING. LIKE DUDE YOUR FUCKING PAPER WILL BE THERE CALM THE FUCK DOWN. 

Do you know how many fucking times we’ve been asked, “Well when is all this gonna end?” At least 5x a day, depending on the shift. I’ve even been asked on the midnight shift a couple of times. We don’t know when it’s going to end. We don’t control when it’s going to end. If you have a complaint, take it to our boss because we’re busy doing 3x the workload for the same fucking pay. One woman comes down every morning at 7:23 to see if the dining room is open yet despite the fact that we’ve told her it won’t be for several more weeks at least, and another lady is literally standing in the hallway for her breakfast before we’ve even started fucking making it. 

And it’s just. It’s all day. All day there’s someone bitching about something insignificant, and it’s ridiculous. We have residents forgetting their children’s names, residents struggling to thrive, residents literally on the verge of dying, but everybody else is wasting our time with their petty and childish complaints about things which are meant to protect them, about things that we don’t have the power to change. 

I just want to scream. I want to scream and cry and sleep for a solid week. And what makes it worse, what just turns this from a bad situation into a terrible goddamn nightmare is the fact that this is going to have to go on even longer because our government is so caught up in the idea of working us to death to profit itself that we’re opening everything up too fast and all this is going to start all over again. 

The RAs are stir crazy, but at least we get to leave. We get to go outside, go home, maybe go hit a drive through or a gas station. When I say people have been locked in their rooms for 10 weeks, I mean people haven’t fucking stepped out into the hallway for 10 weeks. Some have. Some have been to see their neighbors, some have gone out, like they’re allowed (but if they go out, they’re under 14 day quarantine meaning they can’t leave their rooms unless they’re leaving again,) but I don’t think a good 1/3 of these people have even been outside to enjoy the sun. In 10 weeks. 70+ days. So I understand the crabbiness. I do. I don’t appreciate it, especially not directed at us, but I understand it. I’m just. So tired. And there’s so much left to muddle through still. 

If I believed in a god, I’d say “God help us when we have to announce our extended lockdown,” but it’s a lawless universe without a master, so there’s no hope. We’re just fucked. We’re all so, so tired. 

Please. Just please. Stay home. 

[kathyprior4200]

Huntara: Warrior of Justice fanfic (in progress)

(1985) (From the Wiki GraySkull page)

Huntara is a member of the Silaxians, a group of skilled hunters, trappers, and warriors dedicated to fighting evil. Huntara was at first convinced by Hordak that She-Ra and the Rebellion were evil by showing her false videos. He sent her to fight and capture She-Ra after his minions had failed to do so. Huntara insisted that she fight She-Ra alone and later lured her into a trap by capturing Glimmer. She then told She-Ra to meet her at the Crimson Waste to fight, leaving a message with Garv the Innkeeper. She-Ra eventually won the long battle, disarming Huntara. Following the Silaxian code of honor, Huntara turned herself over to She-Ra as a slave, but She-Ra told her that she did not keep slaves. Eventually, Huntara realized that Hordak had deceived her. Though Huntara released Glimmer from prison, the three were knocked out and taken to the Fright Zone. While there, Hordak planned to throw her in the dungeon for failing to capture She-Ra. However, Huntara used her smoke bombs to escape and free She-Ra and Glimmer. The group soon fled the fortress. Huntara later boarded her space ship to fly home, saying that the next time they would meet, it would be as friends.

Originally, Huntara was also supposed to be in another episode called "The Silaxian Wars" but it never went into production.

Under a dark golden sky filled with smoke and pollution, a spidery array of metal made up what was known as the Fright Zone. Orange lava colored light glowed through several openings and the structure as a whole resembled a twisted factory of sorts. The bat symbol of the Horde was prominent against circular red light on the structure.

Inside the building, Lord Hordak had finished watching a holographic video of the recent battle on a screen. Beside Hordak in her usual scarlet cloak was the dark sorceress Shadow Weaver. Hordak’s tall metal throne turned around to face his minions, who were standing nervously at attention at the bottom of the stairs.

“Well,” he said, “You’ve all seen the hollowed out pictures of your pitiful attempts at taking She-Ra. What do you have to say for yourselves?”

A hairy gorilla-like minion by the name of Grizzlor stood in the back next to a reptile minion named Leech. Mantenna, a minion with an orange snake-like head with big flappy ears looked utterly terrified. Scorpia, a woman with pinchers for hands, short orange hair, a black outfit and a long scorpion tail, glared at him and he shrunk back in fear. Catra stood a fair distance away in her usual tattered red dress and cat shaped headpiece, her hair long and dark. All of them were wearing uniforms with the red bat symbol of the Horde on them.

Hordak was not pleased.

“What? Not one among you has an excuse?”

Just then, his small blue imp pet laughed. “What a bunch of wimps, huh boss?”

Catra growled with a meow in her voice. “I’d like to turn that imp into a door knocker.”

“I’d be glad to help you,” Scorpia added.

“Silence!” ordered Hordak. “Forged science and magic have turned you into the greatest force squad ever to destroy a planet…”

“The greatest!” Imp added, jumping into the air.

“…and yet, all of you together cannot beat a single woman.”

“Yeah, a single woman!” Imp mimicked, landing his blue fist down like Hordak did.

“You’re all fools!”

“Fools!”

“Dolts!”

“Dolts!”

Hordak didn’t seem to mind that Imp was repeating what he said.

In fact, Hordak praised the troublemaking creature next. “Why can’t you all be more like Imp here? He knows how to get a job done!”

Imp grinned with pride.

Leech and Grizzlor looked on with glares.

“Being more like him?” Leech asked through a series of slurps. “What a depressing thought.”

“Now, where was I?” Hordak asked to himself.

“I believe you were talking about dolts,” Shadow Weaver mentioned.

“Right, dolts!” Hordak exclaimed. “Thanks to your failures, Horde Prime is displeased. And I don’t like it when the ruler of Horde world is displeased. It’s time to bring in someone more competent. That’s why I contact the planet of Silax.”

“Silax?” Shadow Weaver asked in surprise. “That’s not part of the Horde Empire!”

“No,” Hordak replied. “In fact, they don’t really know much about us. But I know about them. Silaxians are the greatest warriors, hunters, and trappers in the universe, and I’ve sent for their very best to handle She-Ra for us.”

“When does this outsider arrive?” Catra asked suspiciously.

“Today. And if she succeeds, you’ll spend the rest of your time here cleaning garbage bins…with very tiny brushes!”

Hordak laughed evilly at the sight of Catra and Scorpia’s looks of horror and disgust.

 Meanwhile at the Rebellion camp, Adora and her friends were relaxing outside by a campfire.

“Ah, it’s been awfully quiet lately,” Bow mentioned, his hair orange and body muscular.

Kowl, an owl-like creature hovered nearby. “Yes. What’s wrong with that? I like things quiet and peaceful.”

Adora walked over, her hair thick and blonde. “So do I. But I get worried when the Horde isn’t trying to make our lives miserable.”

“Well I say let’s enjoy ourselves while we can,” said Kowl.

Adora paused in thought. “Maybe you’re right, Kowl. If the Horde is planning something, we’ll know soon enough.”

  Later on that day, a sleek slender spacecraft landed on a metal pod close to the building in the Fright Zone. Hordak and Shadow Weaver watched the ship land and the top window open.

“Now we will see if what they say about these Silaxians is true,” said Hordak.

A lavender-skinned muscular woman appeared from the silver metallic spaceship, with a long white braid of hair down her back.

“I am Huntara,” said a low gruff voice. The woman removed her black face mask, revealing her lavender face, white hair and mostly bald forehead. Her forehead was wide and militaristic in appearance. Three lines were tattooed over both sides of her face, like tribal symbols. She wore blue armor shoulder pads, a black thick bra and dark undergarments. Gold gauntlets protected her arms. She also wore blue armored boots and a high blue pocketed skirt.

“Which one of you is Hordak?” she asked.

“I am Hordak,” he said. “Welcome to Etheria, Huntara. It is a great honor to…”

“I’m not here for pretty speeches,” Huntara interrupted before leaping from her ship and landing gracefully on the metal ground. “You have asked for help. I am here to give you that help. But first, you must prove to me that this She-Ra is as evil…as you say.”

“She-Ra, evil?” asked Leech.

“I thought we were the evil ones,” Grizzlor added.

“Oooh she’s evil alright,” Hordak lied. “…and I’ve got the proof. If you’ll just allow my troopers to escort you to my throne room, I’ll show it to you.”

“Very well. Let us go,” said Huntara, proceeding to leave by herself.

Shadow Weaver looked at Hordak.  “How can you convince her that She-Ra is as evil as you say?”

Hordak replied. “I’ve had some false hollowed in pictures made. They make She-Ra look totally evil. Huntara will believe them, even if they are all lies.” He laughed evilly.

  In the throne room, the video clips showed a Horde convoy of metal vehicles moving on a path by a green field.

 Hordak lied, “This convoy was carrying medicine to a village beset by plane. She-Ra and her rebels attacked it. She destroyed it completely.”

The screen showed Bow and the others charging forward. Soon, one of the convoy cars flipped over and exploding. She-Ra threw another into the air, causing it to explode on the ground.

“…and without the medicine, all the people of the village grew sick.”

Huntara placed her fingers on her chin in thought. “She is powerful.”

“Yes,” said Hordak. “Now look at this.”

The screen switched to show a village burning and people running for cover. The roofs on the houses were on fire and villagers scattered in every direction. She-Ra appeared with a small smirk.

Hordak lied some more, “This was a town that refused to join She-Ra’s Rebellion. She ordered it burned to the ground.”

“I don’t remember She-Ra doing all that,” Grizzlor pointed out.

“Now here…”

“I have seen enough, Hordak,” Huntara cut in. “I will battle this She-Ra.”

Hordak grinned. “Excellent!”

“But there is a condition.”

“Name it.”

“The battle must be between me and She-Ra alone. None of your hordes men must interfere.”

Hordak was taken aback, “Are you sure? You’ve seen just how strong she is.  

Huntara glared coldly. “She-Ra and me alone. That is the way of the warriors of Silax.”

Hordak reluctantly nodded as Huntara walked away. “If that’s the way you want it. But how will you get She-Ra to accept your challenge?”

“Has she any friends?” she asked.

Hordak stood up. “As a matter of fact she has many.” Then he stuttered, covering up his lie, following her. “Oh of course, they’re all as evil as she is, but she is loyal to them.”

Thus Huntara found out about the members of the Rebellion and one member in particular, Glimmer.

Catra growled again. “I don’t like that woman.”

Scorpia glared back at her. “As much as I hate to agree with you, I agree with you.”

 (Glimmer flies in a yellow butterfly shaped plane. Huntara spies on her through binoculars at her ship.)

Huntara: “At last. The bait I have chosen for my trap leaves her nest. Now to catch her.”

(Huntara chases after her in her silver slender spaceship).

(Glimmer gasps “What?!” as Huntara fires green lasers at her ship)

Glimmer: “I don’t know who that is, but they won’t get me so easily.”

(Glimmer flies around behind Huntara’s ship)

Huntara: “A smart move. But my tail beamers will bring her down.”

(Cockpit screen beeps as it locks onto her target. The back beams fire, making impact with Glimmer’s ship. The ship falls and crashes.)

(Glimmer slowly gets up.) Glimmer: “That was not one of my better landings.”

(Huntara stands over her, looking down.)

Huntara: “Now, all that’s left is to deliver my challenge to She-Ra.”

(Huntara captures Glimmer and holds her in a glass capsule)

 Back at the Rebellion camp, She-Ra makes plans with Bow, pointing to maps.

Bow: “The next Horde tax collector, should come through here.”

Adora: “We’d better start planning.”

Grav the Innkeeper: “Adora! Adora…a woman came into the inn and demanded I bring you this.”

(Adora holds a black device in her hand)

Grav: “Yes, she said it was for She-Ra and if she doesn’t get it, Glimmer will be in great danger.”

She-Ra: “Who was this woman?”

Grav: “I’ve never seen her before but I will tell you this…she made my blood run cold.”

Adora: “Oh thank you Garv. We’ll get this to She-Ra.”

Adora: “I think we’d better take a look at this message.”

Bow: “But if it’s for She-Ra?”

Adora: “If Glimmers in danger, I don’t think She-Ra will object.”

(Adora presses a button, activating the message. Holographic images of Huntara appears)

 Huntara sends a message to She-Ra.

“I am Huntara. Listen well, She-Ra. I have your friend, Glimmer. This device you see is a dimensional transporter. If you do not meet me in battle by the time the sun is at its highest, I will use it to send Glimmer to a place from which she will never return. We will meet at Tomb Rock in the Crimson Waste. You must come alone. If you bring help or fail to come, Glimmer will pay the price. Defeat me and I promise she will go free. Until we cross swords. Farewell, evil one.”

Bow: “Evil one? That’s something coming from the member of the Horde.”

Adora: “She doesn’t look like a member of the Horde. But whether she is or isn’t, we need She-Ra right away.”

 Meanwhile in Scorpia’s lair in the desert…

(Scorpia and Catra argue)

Scorpia: “Hmph! Why should I?”

Catra: “If Huntara beats She-Ra, we’ll all be cleaning garbage bins!”

Scorpia: “You have a point there. Alright, what’s your plan?”

Catra: “We’ll take your Crawler, and watch the battle from hiding. Then we’ll take care of whoever wins.”

Scorpia: “Very well. I don’t like you much, but I’d rather have you as the Force Captain than that arrogant witch Huntara.”

 Adora: “For the honor of Grayskull!”

(Adora transforms into She-Ra)

“I am She-Ra!”

(Spirit transforms into SwiftWind)

  She-Ra: “There’s Tomb Rock. Fly low, and I’ll drop off.”

SwiftWind: “Please be careful.”

She-Ra: “I will be.”

(She-Ra lands safely on the ledge.)

 (She-Ra and Huntara get ready to fight in the desert)

She-Ra: “Huntara, I’m here.”

Huntara: “Welcome, She-Ra. I am Huntara.”

(Huntara stands above on a ledge)

Huntara: “Hordak was right. As evil as you are, you still come to help a friend.”

She-Ra: “Hordak? Listen, I don’t know what he’s told you but…”

Huntara: “Spare me your lies, town burner. Our battle will begin in those hills.”

(She points to the hills to the right)

She-Ra: “Fighting doesn’t solve anything.  If you’ll only tell me why you’re doing this…”

Huntara: “Huh. (scoffs) So you are something of a coward. I should have expected it. But this is one fight you cannot avoid.”

She-Ra: “If you’re so eager to fight, let’s start right here.”

(She-Ra jumps, flips in the air and lands on the ledge, facing Huntara)

Huntara: “You take…opportunity quickly. I good trait for a warrior.”

(Huntara takes out a silver sphere from her pocket and throws it at She-Ra. She-Ra is blinded by the flash grenade and Huntara escapes. She-Ra looks around.)

She-Ra: “She’s gone.”

Huntara: “The hills, She-Ra. I will see you in the hills.”

(Huntara leaps away)

She-Ra: “She’s clever. I can’t let her get too far ahead.”

(She-Ra leaps after her. She flips in mid-air and lands on the sandy ground. Huntara runs off, with She-Ra following.)

 (Catra and Scorpia watch from their scorpion tank)

Scorpia; “It’s started!”

Catra: “Quick, let’s follow them!”

 Huntara: “Come on, She-Ra…just a little farther…”

(She-Ra walks on the ground)

She-Ra: “She’s got to be around here somewhere.”

(Huntara watches from above and pulls out another device from her blue pocket. The device is round and she pushes a button, which jets out spikes)

Huntara: “My exploder star will take out the trap.”

(Huntara throws the device at the rocks. The star explodes against the rock, which soon collapses.

She-Ra: “An avalanche!”

(She-Ra is buried under the rocky rubble)

Huntara: “Can she be trapped so easily? Perhaps I overestimated her strength.”

(Huntara soon looks in surprise as She-Ra flies from the rubble and sits on a rubble arch.)

She-Ra: “What’s the matter, Huntara? Never seen an instant tunnel before?”

Huntara: “You are a worthy opponent. But I am even better.”

She-Ra: “Prove it!”

(Huntara throws a blue bomb, which She-Ra avoids and jumps out of the way. She flips and lands safely on the ledge)

She-Ra: “Phew.”

(She-Ra looks around)

She-Ra: “She’s gone again. But where?”

(She-Ra spots a figure in the distance)

She-Ra: “There she is. And it looks like she’s got another little ambush planned. But this time, I’ll surprise her!”

(She-Ra leaps from the ledge at a standing black hooded figure)

She-Ra: “Ha!...”

(She-Ra holds nothing but a black cloth in her hand)

She-Ra: “Why, nothing but a trick!”

(Cage walls enclose her)

She-Ra: “This cage won’t hold me.”

Huntara: “It will hold you long enough for my sleep gas to affect you.”

(Huntara pulls out another silver sphere)

She-Ra: “Got to move fast!”

(She-Ra thrusts herself against the cage, moving it and herself over to the side. The device explodes in the previous spot. The cage breaks and she is free.)

She-Ra: “That was close. She’s got more tricks than my brother’s friend Orko.”

(Glimmer bangs on the glass)

Glimmer: “Why are you doing this?”

Huntara: “Your leader, She-Ra, is evil, and the way of Silax is dedicated to fighting evil.”

Glimmer: “She-Ra’s not evil. It’s the Horde who’s evil.”

Huntara: “Your lies cannot affect me. I have seen the proof of She-Ra’s foul deeds.”

Glimmer: “Wait! Come back!”

(She-Ra looks at Glimmer and hides behind a pillar of rock)

She-Ra: “There’s Glimmer. But where’s Huntara? I smell a trap.”

(She-Ra walks up to Glimmer)

She-Ra: “Have you free in a minute, Glimmer.”

(Glimmer points above)

Glimmer: “She-Ra! Look out!”

(Huntara leaps down from a ledge)

Huntara: “You’ve come far, evil one. But this is the end.”

(Huntara takes out two glowing green swords)

Huntara: “My stun swords will fail you, and then I’ll deliver you to Hordak.”

(She-Ra ducks from her attacks. She-Ra jumps backward and flips in the air.)

Huntara: “You were lucky that time, She-Ra. But I’m not through yet!”

She-Ra: “Sword to rope!”

(Sword turns into thick white rope. She-Ra tosses the rope at Huntara, which pulls the swords from her hands.)

Huntara: “Impossible!”

(She-Ra throws the rope again, which binds Huntara)

Glimmer: “All right She-Ra! You got her!”

(Huntara pulls another device out, but She-Ra pulls her forward with the rope, the device falling from her hands. He head is downcast in defeat. She-Ra’s rope turns back into the sword.)

She-Ra: “It’s over, Huntara. You’re beaten.”

Huntara: “Never have I been defeated by an evil one. You are a great warrior, She-Ra. By the code of Silax, I am now your slave.”

She-Ra: “The Horde takes slaves. I don’t. As far as I’m concerned, you’re free to go, right after you release Glimmer.”

Huntara: “I don’t understand. You do not seem evil, and yet Hordak said…”

She-Ra: “He lied to you. I told you that, but you wouldn’t listen.”

Huntara: “Can it be? Have I been tricked so easily/”

She-Ra: “Don’t be too hard on yourself. Hordak is a master of lies.”

(Huntara looks apologetic)

Huntara: “I have wronged you, She-Ra and shamed myself. But I swear to you, Hordak will pay for this treachery. Come. Let us free your friend.”

(Glimmer is freed)

Glimmer: “She-Ra, look!”

(Crawler arrives with Catra and Scorpia. The device fires sleeping gas, which knocks out the three of them.)

Scorpia: “My scorpion sting cannon put them all to sleep!”

Catra: “I knew we couldn’t trust that Huntara! Let’s get them back to the Fright Zone, quick!”

At the Fright Zone, Glimmer and She-Ra are held in a golden force, while Huntara talks to Hordak with two robots on either side. Her hands are cuffed together.

Huntara: “You lied to me, Hordak. She-Ra is not evil.”

Hordak: “Foolish woman! Your childish sense of fair play has no place here on Etheria. Take her to the dungeons. We’ll let her rot for a while.” (laughs)

(Huntara pulls out a device and throws it forward. A smoke grenade allows her to escape)

Catra: “She’s gone!”

Hordak: “Nincompoops, bunglers!”

Huntara: “I must free She-Ra and Glimmer.”

(Huntara throws an exploding star at the top of the device, making the orange energy disappear.)

She-Ra: “Hunatra’s done it! Come on, let’s give her a hand.”

Hordak: “Stop them!”

(Robots charge forward, while one holds all three swords. She-Ra kicks a pillar with a “Heeeyah!” which barrels into the oncoming troopers.)

Glimmer: “Excuuuse me, but that belongs to a friend of mine.”

(Glimmer grabs the sword from the robot)

Glimmer: “She-Ra, catch!”

(She-Ra catches her sword)

She-Ra: “Thanks.”

Huntara: “These chains.”

(She-Ra slashes her sword down, breaking the handcuff chain. She takes the cuffs off.)

Huntara: “Just let me get my swords.”

(Hunatra flips and rushes at the frightened robot. The robot flees and Huntara catches her swords)

Hordak: “Get her, you fools!”

Catra: “I’ll get you, Huntara!”

Scorpia: “She’s mine!”

(Huntara jumps out of the way, causing the two villains to crash into each other)

Hordak: “I’ll show you got to stop them!”

(He presses an orange square button, opening a door to reveal more troopers)

Huntara: “It seems like a good time to depart this foul fortress.”

She-Ra: “I couldn’t agree more.”

(The group flees and escapes)

 (Huntara stands in her ship)

She-Ra: “You sure you won’t stay? The Rebellion could use a fighter like you.”

Huntara: “I cannot, She-Ra. I am needed on my own planet. But, I wish you well. Farewell, She-Ra. When we meet again, it will be as friends.”

(Huntara pulls black mask over her face)

She-Ra: “I’ll look forward to it.”

(Both women wave to each other. The covering closes on the ship)

She-Ra: “She’s quite a woman, isn’t she, Swifty?”

SwiftWind: “That she is.” (nuzzles She-Ra.) “But then again, so are you, She-Ra. So are you.”

(Huntara flies away on her spaceship)

(2019)

She Ra is seen shaking Huntara’s hand, which she is not pleased. They are later seen fighting with swords in the desert at night. Huntara is shown holding She-Ra’s sword in her hand. Huntara appears as a de facto leader of the Crimson Waste who reluctantly helps Adora, Bow, and Glimmer on a quest.

[echogears]

Uniting and reuniting

With the news of blood in the forest, frequent sightings of Kuiper droids, and several signs of Ra moon’s signature acidic attacks, to say that the Galactadroids were a little on edge would be an understatement. To most, it would seem that they were overreacting, but the group knew all too well what these were signs of. With their enemy being less careful about hiding himself, it meant that he was being cocky- that he had some kind of plan that he was ready to put into motion.

It was a lot to worry about, since Ra moon could strike from anywhere and they had no idea where he was- Astrid’s ability to sense him wasn’t very precise, just enough to tell her what land mass he was on. So they knew he hadn’t yet fled, but it wasn’t like this was news- Ra moon usually saved his cowardice as a last resort.

In any case, these circumstances were a very good reason to be ill at ease, and when a stranger suddenly popped into the middle of their living room while everyone was trying to relax, it was more than enough to ruffle some feathers. Pluto even hissed.

“Well, so it would seem that the Universe was right- not that I ever doubted her.” The stranger crossed her arms, and despite having her eyes hidden, it was obvious to see that she was being rather judgmental of them. “None of you are doing your job. Do you think that just because the Universe doesn’t watch us when she rests that this means you can do as you please?! I expected better from you all.”

With Pluto looking like he was about to turn things violent, Terra stood and stepped between them.

“Hang on, let’s calm down. I’m assuming you’re a fellow space robot?”

“Of course I am, or are you so far removed from your own culture that you can’t tell one of your own?”

“I simply didn’t want to assume. Multiversal mishaps have been common here.”

The stranger glanced in the direction of the room that Gemini and the second Pluto shared. “I can tell.”

Terra, still standing between Pluto and the stranger, continued. “Okay.. so you are clearly here for a reason, correct? Why don’t we all relax and discuss this like adults. Judging from the context of what you said, I would have to assume that you are here on business from the Universe, so it must be important, and I don’t want that to be held up by bickering.”

“Well, it seems that you’ve become much more suited to your leadership role, at the very least.” She brushed off her coat. “My name is Theia, I am the right hand of the Universe, and I was sent here in search of Sun star. Where is he?”

This time, not even Terra was enough to keep Pluto quiet. “What do you want with him?! If anyone’s not been doing his job it’s him! He’s part of the reason we’re stuck here in the first place- ‘cause it’s not like we all collectively decided that we wanted to shirk our fucking work!”

“Don’t talk to me like that. I have my gripes with Sun star’s behaviour as well. In fact, the only one who has been doing their job on this planet is Astrid.” Astrid, who had just left her room, perked a bit when she heard her name, and sat down quietly to listen to what was being discussed.

“However, as much as I disapprove of your actions.. the Universe is showing you all some mercy by allowing your mission to continue. Yes, I am fully aware of your intentions to save the humans. My purpose here now will help you do that.”

That was enough to keep Pluto quiet- mostly, though he still grumbled something unintelligible.

After everyone got together- including Charon and Astrid- they all made their way over to where Sunstar was located, about a quarter mile away.With Theia and Terra leading the pack, Charon helped to keep his big brother calm, holding his hand and keeping him grounded.

Upon their arrival, Sunstar looked at them steadily, as if recognizing them from far off. He seemed quite nervous.

“Sun star. I have a gift for you, from the Universe.” She held out a small, mysterious cube.

“What does it do?” He asked, looking wary, as if expecting his punishment to have arrived.

While Pluto grumbled some more, Theia ignored him and spoke on. “This will safely extract the evil energy from your body, and repair the glitches that Ra moon made. You will be healed. The Universe wishes it.”

“But I.. I thought the Universe was deep in slumber?”

"The Universe has finally awakened now, and is beginning to take action against the wrongs that have been committed in her absence. She recognizes that you being led astray was not entirely your fault, and wants to give you another chance. It’s up to you to take it.”

Sun star simply stared at her as if she had sprouted an extra head. “Wait... but.. but I thought that there was no way to fix what is wrong with me.”

Theia curled her lip in annoyance and disgust. “Do not underestimate her. The Universe has no limitations in what she can do upon her own realm. This is your chance, Sun star, to continue your life as it seems right to you. I strongly urge you to take it.”

Sun star looked up at Terra, apprehension still in his eyes. Terra closed most of the distance between them, placing a hand on Sun star’s shoulder. “You can trust her, Sun star. None of us are here to hurt you. It... it will take time for the wounds you have opened to heal, but the first step to making things right is taking advantage of this. You would be a great help in our mission against Ra moon, and then... then I am sure that you could go back to your own job, if you wish.”

Sunstar sighed, looking a little shaken. “Terra, I.. before Ra moon, before the Stardroids.. I knew nothing. It was me and the Universe and nothing else. And while I felt fulfilled, working for the one that created me.. it was a lonely existence. 

“But... that changed when Ra moon took me in, and even if his bond with me was a lie.. my bonds with you all were not. I... you are all quite dear to me in a way that I cannot quite express, and my feelings for you all are just as deep as my regret for the atrocities that have occurred at my hand. Even if I am unable to earn your forgiveness.. I will accept the opportunity before me, but I want to help you on your mission. I don’t... I don’t think I could bear to be alone again, Terra. Not to mention.. well, Milenia..”

Terra and Sun star shared a look of understanding before the latter of the two turned back to Theia. “Okay, I’m ready.” He announced, taking off his helmet to reveal flowing locks of flaming orange hair.

Theia sighed, though her annoyance wasn’t quite so convincing. “About time. Now, just stand there and relax. You won’t feel a thing.” She held out the cube to him again, and he took it.

Right away, the cube sprang to life. It sprouted spindly, metallic legs like a spider of some sort and crawled up his arm, over his shoulder and on to the back of his head. Then it stayed there, resting against the back of his head for a moment, glowing and humming. Sunstar couldn’t feel it, but a nearly microscopic needle of some sort shot out and entered his head.

From there, his body went slack, but stayed upright, even as his eyes grew dim. He stayed this way for several long, tense minutes while everyone looked on in wonder. Then, when it was all over, he stood up straight again, his eyes gaining the life in them, though he stood stock-still otherwise.

When the cubic device was finished, it retracted its needle and crawled down his back and leg, scuttling along the forest floor until it stopped in front of Theia, who picked it back up again. “How do you feel?” She inquired.

Sun star stood quiet for a moment, looking at his former team with tears in his eyes. “Clean.” He choked out, his fans whirring as he became more and more emotional. “Clean, and.. in control. In a way that I’d almost forgotten.” As he spoke, tears became to stream down his face, and try as he might to wipe them away, he openly wept before the Galactadroids, falling to his knees as he seemed overcome with emotion. “I’m... I’m so sorry.. I’m so sorry for everything.. for trusting him.. for hurting you.. I’m so sorry.”

Terra stepped forward, kneeling in front of him. “We’ve all done something to hurt one another. Stand up, and join us on the path to betterment.” He held out a hand, which Sun star took, and together the two stood up, still holding each other’s hands. Then, in a move that made Terra’s team step forward reflexively, Sun star pulled Terra into a hug and proceeded to sob.

The two stood there, hugging. Then, Charon walked over and joined them. Then Mercury, then Uranus, then Mars, until they were all standing in one group embrace. Some of the other Galactadroids began to cry a little as well. Even Pluto looked a little solemn.

While the Galactadroids and Sunstar were doing that, Astrid approached Theia. “Um, excuse me..?”

“Yes?” She was fiddling a bit with the cube.

“Is... is it still usable?”

“What?”

“The cube. Can it be used again?”

“Of course.”

“..Could I borrow it? My... my brother, he.. I want him to get a second chance at life too. He’s my brother and I know he’s failed miserably at his job and hurt so many people but I.. he was all I had in the beginning, I’m only here because of him. I still care about him and I want him to get a second chance too, since nobody was there to guide him. After.. after the Universe went into slumber, he-”

“I know what happened. I recorded it in my historical logs.” She handed the cube over to Astrid. “Protect this cube, Astrid, or it could prove disastrous for you, and I refuse to clean up the resulting mess.”

“O-of course, Theia. I wouldn’t dream of letting that happen. I just want to help my brother before he gets himself killed.” She took the cube, and despite changing hands, it remained inanimate and still in her grasp. Being about the size of a tangerine, it was pretty easy to conceal away. “Nothing will happen to it.”

Theia sighed, looking off into the horizon. “I hope you’re right.”

In the distance, thunder rumbled ominously.

[remarriedempress]

Alternate ending to Mr Sunshine

KES built a fantastic world, in a fascinating period, full of fvcking beautiful characters. And I’m so thankful for this drama. 

But you know what? She killed all my faves. Now normally I have no problem with character deaths because narratively, they can be very powerful; like how Gunner Jang’s story came full circle, trusting that Ae Shin, and soldier boy, will carry on and lead the fight. However, there is something frustrating, and quite frankly, deceitful, about the way each of our four main characters were killed off. I understand how we got to each point but I still feel cheated. No matter how neatly the story lines were tied up, I would think most readers/viewers don’t want to get to the end of a story and see their heroes die. 

So here’s how I would have rewritten the finale BUT still maintain the glorious and hopeful ending KES envisioned in which our mains pass on the mantel to the next generation with AE SHIN at the forefront. 

Let’s start with our QUEEN HINA. The hotel still blows up. No matter what, I strongly believe that needs to happen. It’s the removal of their last bastion. But this time, they plan it a LOT BETTER. The day the military academy is attacked, Hina is out there in the streets shooting up the Japanese troops like a BOSS. As she heads home, she spies a familiar body among the dead. It’s Guidan. She feels a pang of regret. After all, they were close for a time, even with the betrayal. And no one deserves to die on the streets. Hina starts to turn away but then she gets an idea. 

She hires a rickshaw driver to take Guidan’s body and heads to the pawn shop to buy explosives. As she leaves, Ae Shin drops down from the rooftop. She’d overheard Hina’s request and offers to help. With both their mighty brains at work, they manage to get all the troops good and wasted and the employees far away with enough time for BOTH OF THEM to make a run for it. The hotel explodes in flames. Several bodies are found the next morning, including an unidentifiable woman’s corpse in what used to be the hotel owner’s room. The only thing they could make out were the red shoes on the corpse, tailor made for Kudo Hina just a week before the explosion. 

The chief of police is still a spineless, incompetent weasel so he accepts the corpse as Kudo Hina. The king still receives Hina’s letter from Sumi. And so “Kudo Hina” still takes the blame for attacking the Japanese troops and her name is dragged through the mud. Meanwhile, “Lee Yang Hwa” is long gone. AS put her in contact with some RA members heading east, towards the coast. There she adopts a new name, Mae Hwa. She purchases a humble home for herself and spends her time at the orphanage across town. Her home becomes an occasional base for RA members laying low in between missions or waiting for the next boat out of Joseon. It’s a modest life. She makes jewelry and paints, and sells them on the side. She never does meet a nice man. But she’s often visited by a surly looking pirate wearing dark robes with flowing sleeves. 

DONG MAE: He stops being so damn ready to die. After he saves AS in Japan, she still tells him to be back in Joseon in three months to receive the money from her. DM still says “And just like that you give me hope,” but get this - HE DOESNT LOOK FREAKING MISERABLE AT THE THOUGHT. And when Ae Shin leaves with the court ladies, he DOESNT walk in plain sight on the beach for all to see/capture. Instead, he goes back to the shadows. It’s easier than he thought. But rather than making him feel like this is where he belongs, it makes him realize just how far he’s come. He can adapt to this world but it does not define him. He lives pitifully for a while. The Mushin Society is still after him so he can’t do much in the open. But he has some allies here who still owe him a favor. They’re able to get him out of Japan via boat. Though the ride is more miserable than when he first traveled to Japan. 

He arrives in Jemulpo’s harbor. Beaten, hungry, and pale...but alive. He makes his way to the temple. He’s not sure why. Just a feeling. The same badass nun is there but she receives him warmly this time. AS told her what DM had done for the rebels and so the nun allows DM to recuperate there. They explain his presence as a monk in training. He adopts the name Haneul. 

AS drops in one day with a letter from Manchuria. Yujo and Hotaru are doing well. They started a little tea shop where Hotaru reads tarot cards for customers. The shop does really well but with 20 mouths to feed, they had to find other jobs for the boys. Most of them found honest work in farming, fishing, mining. A few started up a collection agency. They send him good fortune and a wish to see him again some day. DM smiles before burning the letter. Knowing they are safe eases the burden on his heart. 

By day, he helps lead visitors across the temple grounds, preserving the last remnants of Joseon Buddhist culture. By night, he helps to train new RA members in the cover of the forest. It started with a request from AS. She wanted to learn how to handle knives and swords, in case she ever found herself without a gun. She was good. But DM was still better. And AS knew him well enough at this point to know that he would need a purpose, to keep him going. So she asks him to train the new recruits. And whaddaya know? Within months, they see better success rates on their missions and raids.

HEE SUNG lives. PERIOD. END OF DISCUSSION. 

When the hotel blows up, and he thinks he lost his friend HINA on top of everything else, he’s devastated. But it just makes him more determined to expose the Japanese’ cruelty. He’s brought in to the police station for questioning. He’s beaten up real bad but makes it out alive with a major bribe from dad. SEAMSTRESS and mom fuss over him till he recovers. Then, he sets out again to uncover the truth, but this time it puts his family in danger. And it scares him enough to consider stopping. But he knows his soul would never be able to bear the guilt if he turned away now. 

So he becomes smarter about his printings. Thankfully, both the chief of police and the Japanese minister who were catching on to him end up dead. The first was rumored to be murdered by a dark shadow reeking of incense and dirt. The second was shot from across the market square by some masked figure, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. Free of suspicions now, HS goes back to playing the rich noble fool by day. While he and FEMALE JOURNALIST (cause KES can’t be bothered to give her side characters some names???) operate an underground printing press. HS makes extra copies of everything. Burying it in multiple locations so that their history and deeds are never forgotten. 

When AS comes to him asking for funds to purchase train tickets or gun powder and bullets, he gives it to her, no questions asked. Coincidentally, these funds come from the Japanese government; rent money on the multiple properties the Residency General leased out from the Kim family. 

He never quite falls for the SEAMSTRESS and she understands that his affection for her is just that. She’s grateful that he’s extended his protection to her family and works with him to collect evidence of the rebels and the Joseon people and their fight against Japan. But the little brother really grows on him. He convinces his parents to adopt him as a Kim, to have him be the one to carry on the family name. The ticking clock still haunts him. He’s not sure the Kim blood should be passed on. But if the Kim name can save just one more person, he’ll suffer as many tick ticks as it takes. 

Eventually, he and Mae Hwa are reunited. He bursts into tears and she apologizes for not being able to tell him the plan. He kisses her in relief and thanks her for staying alive. They share a smoke and talk about the good old days. They wonder about their favorite swordsman and that annoying foreigner. They talk about all the trouble blackbird has been up to. And make plans to meet up, another day, in the far future, for pool and drinks. It takes some time for this to happen again. But when it does, the swordsman, the American, and the blackbird are there too. HS kisses DM/Haneul just because and hugs AS tightly. EG gets a pat on the back. And that’s when he suggests a photo, to commemorate this moment, CAUSE NEVER BEFORE HAVE THEY CONVERGED IN ONE SPOT BEFORE. 

EUGENE...He spends some time following around the RA, protecting AS on and between missions. But he sticks out like a sore thumb despite his best efforts and is forced to go into hiding numerous times. Eventually, he has to call on Kyle to get him out of Joseon. His face was exposed on a mission and since he was dishonorably discharged, he can’t call on the embassy for help. He ends up back in America and runs into Ahn Chang Ho again. EG makes use of his old military connections and language skills to spread word of Joseon’s struggle. They make it back to Joseon a couple more times but never for very long as they both become very high profile activists. 

AE SHIN: Girl keeps doing what she doing and kicking ass. She becomes a little bit of her grandfather, Gunner Jang, Miss Haman and Mr. Hangrang to the next generation; receiving the occasional support from her original friends and allies, OUR VERY-MUCH-ALIVE HEROES. Those brief moments when they get to see each other again are bittersweet cause they never know when the next time will be or who will make it to that date. But they’ve each proven themselves to be FIGHTERS. And though they don’t know what the future holds, they leave each meeting a little more hopeful, till the next SEE YOU AGAIN. 

[fear-god-shun-evil]

Eliminate Jealousy at Work and Turn Competitors Into Collaborators

By Xinling

Editor’s Note:

Ling Ran is a designer at an advertising agency. When her old friend outperformed her at work and gradually began to receive the approval and regard of co-workers, she was seized by a feeling of jealousy that coiled round her heart and devoured her happiness like a venomous snake. This jealousy left her in a state of agony out of which she was powerless to escape. So, how did Ling Ran free herself of jealousy and reestablish her old friendship by relying on God?

Competing With a Friend, A Miserable Existence

Ling Ran and Zhang Ke are Christians and good friends who could talk about anything with each other. Recently, the two were both hired by the same advertising agency to work as designers. Ling Ran was delighted to hear that she would be working with one of her good friends. In the beginning, Zhang Ke and Ling Ran were always helping and encouraging each other, so despite neither of them being familiar with the work, they didn’t feel particularly pressured.

Ling Ran really enjoyed this new job and worked very hard. After some time, her excellent work performance earned her the approval of her co-workers. However, not long after, Ling Ran discovered that not only was Zhang Ke making rapid progress at work, she also drew beautiful, fresh-looking images, handled her work with high proficiency, managed even the heaviest workloads, was highly organized and methodical and drew envious glances from her co-workers. What’s more, Zhang Ke was kind-hearted, always willing to help others and often helped her colleagues with work. As a result, Zhang Ke’s colleagues were all willing to listen when she shared her experience with regard to designing advertisements and would even converse with her about problems they were having in everyday life. Seeing that Zhang Ke was well liked by her colleagues and that they were all very friendly with her, Ling Ran became very upset. She thought to herself, “We’re both designers, and I’ve performed just as well at this job as Zhang Ke, so why does she get all the attention while I don’t get even the slightest compliment? This won’t do, I’ve got to redouble my efforts—I can’t come up short of her in the eyes of my colleagues!” Gradually, Ling Ran became jealous of Zhang Ke and began to avoid her.

One time, Ling Ran’s boss assigned Ling Ran and Zhang Ke to design logos for two different online stores. When Ling Ran received the assignment, she couldn’t wait to get started. She thought to herself, “Designing ads separately for different projects is the best way to show who between the two of us is the better designer. I’ve got to make the most out of this opportunity and really do a good design to show my co-workers what I’m made of.” In the days that followed, Ling Ran busied herself every day researching, designing and putting in overtime working on the logo. A few days later, the logo was finally finished. Taking stock of her work, Ling Ran was quite satisfied with the results. She believed her design was of top quality and didn’t seem to contain any flaws. Ling Ran was feeling quite pleased with herself as she handed in her design to her boss. She thought to herself: “This time I finished my design first and I spent an appreciable amount of effort researching, tweaking and editing—I’ll definitely earn my boss’s praise!” Lost in these happy thoughts, Ling Ran hummed a little tune to herself as she arrived at her workspace and turned on her computer to await the praise-laden response from her boss.

To Ling Ran’s surprise, however, the boss’s response was anything but praise-laden: As it turned out, Zhang Ke had already submitted her design much earlier, the design was approved on the very first submission and the client was very satisfied with the result. Ling Ran’s design, by contrast, still had some issues that needed to be fixed. When she received the news, Ling Ran felt deeply dejected and that feeling of jealousy began to well up inside her once again. She thought, “Why is it always you in the limelight? Am I really just inferior to you in every way?” Ling Ran was despondent; she sat there in a daze, speechless and staring blankly at the desk in front of her.

Ling Ran spent the next few days in a haze of anguish. She couldn’t focus on her work and made mistake after mistake, eventually even drawing the reprimand of her boss. When Ling Ran saw Zhang Ke chatting and laughing with her colleagues, the flame of jealousy once more reignited in her heart and she even began to hate her old friend. She felt that Zhang Ke was the cause of all her current problems, and that she had stolen her thunder and thereby diminished her stature among their colleagues. One time, Zhang Ke reached out to Ling Ran to discuss a question regarding coloration, but Ling Ran turned a cold shoulder to her out of jealousy, which left Zhang Ke in an awkward place. After this, Ling Ran avoided Zhang Ke even more, and, because she just couldn’t seem to make a name for herself in the agency, she became quiet and reserved and started to isolate herself, not wanting to converse with other co-workers. Gradually, Ling Ran became more and more depressed and stressed with work. She prayed to God, but couldn’t feel His presence and so she lost the feeling of peace and joy in her heart and experienced great suffering and torment. In the midst of her helplessness, Ling Ran called out to God, pleading, “Dear God, I get agitated and jealous of Zhang Ke when I see how good she is at her work and how highly regarded she is by our co-workers. It even makes me want to ignore her. Dear God, I’m in utter agony, I don’t want to act like this, but I just can’t control myself. Dear God, please guide me and let me know Your intention, so that I may derive some lessons from my current predicament. Amen!”

Tracing Back to the Source, Jealousy Was the Culprit

After concluding her prayer, Ling Ran began reading “You Can Obtain Truth After Turning Your True Heart Over to God” and found the following two passages of God’s word: “When you see someone stand out, you are jealous, feel hatred, and feel it is unfair. ‘Why can’t I stand out? Why is it always he who gets to stand out and it’s never my turn?’ There is some resentment. You try to repress the resentment, but you can’t, so you pray. After praying, you feel better for a little while, but later when you encounter the matter again you cannot overcome it. Is this not a case of immature stature? Is not a person’s falling into these conditions a trap? This is the bondage of a corrupt nature of Satan.” “Some people are always afraid that others will steal the limelight and surpass them, and that others will obtain recognition while they themselves are neglected, and so they spurn and exclude other people. Is this not them being jealous of people more capable than themselves? … People like this have a bad disposition and God has no love for them.”

Ling Ran was deeply moved by these two passages of God’s word—she saw that God’s word was a perfect exposition of her current thoughts and emotions. Ling Ran reflected on how ever since she had started working with Zhang Ke, whenever she observed that Zhang Ke outperformed her at work, had a strong skill set, got along with co-workers and was well regarded and highly praised by them, she would become jealous of her and, full of discontent and unwillingness to accept defeat, would secretly pit herself against Zhang Ke. To prove her own abilities and earn the approval of her co-workers, Ling Ran pushed herself to the limit studying her craft. She locked herself in competition with Zhang Ke, but when she was unable to outperform her old friend and make a name for herself among her colleagues, she would conclude that Zhang Ke had stolen her limelight and would despise, reject and avoid her more and more. At that moment, Ling Ran finally realized that the reason her soul had been engulfed by darkness and agony was that she had fallen under the sway of arrogant, self-conceited and competitive satanic disposition. Ling Ran realized that though she believed in God, she lived her life based upon the notions “Man struggles upwards; water flows downwards,” “Distinguishing oneself and bringing honor to his ancestors,” which are Satan’s principles of survival. She was always concerning herself with standing out and being highly regarded by her peers. She wanted to have that feeling of being fawned on by a circle of admirers. As soon as someone outperformed her or stood out more than her, she would automatically be jealous of and despise them. Living in this way, she lived without even the slightest likeness of a normal human! Ling Ran realized that she and Zhang Ke had originally been good friends, and it was only because she had been bound and controlled by her satanic disposition that she felt the need to constantly compete against Zhang Ke. Not only had this been hurtful to Zhang Ke, but had caused Ling Ran, herself, great and seemingly inextricable suffering.

Ling Ran was reminded, then, of the story of King Saul recorded in the Bible. King Saul developed a jealous hatred toward David after he won the praise of the Israelites for his victorious record in battle. Later, Saul, fearing that David would win the allegiance of the Israelites and that he would thus be deposed as king, went on a crazed, murderous hunt of his son-in-law. Even though Saul knew that God had anointed David, he still resolved to send him to the grave and thereby openly took God as his enemy. In the end, he was abandoned by the Holy Spirit and died in battle. The story gave Ling Ran the chills: to think how a desire to stand out above the rest could lead one to be controlled and bound by one’s own jealous heart. How very dangerous! What’s more, the more jealous one becomes the greater the suffering endured, leading ultimately and inevitably to torment by Satan and death! At that point, Ling Ran thanked God from the bottom of her heart for His illumination and guidance, which allowed her to clearly see the source and consequences of her jealousy. For, if she continued to live by Satan’s corrupt disposition, she would only earn God’s detest and disgust. Ling Ran was no longer willing to live by Satan’s corrupt disposition, she resolved to cast off her corrupt disposition and start anew.

Acting by God’s Word, a Friendship Renewed

Later, Ling Ran came across another passage of God’s word, “If a person has cast off these corrupt dispositions, is he then free and liberated? Ponder this: What kind of changes must a person make if he wants to refrain from falling into these conditions and free himself of the vexations of these things? What must a person obtain before he can free himself of the bonds of these things, and be able truly to be free and liberated? On one hand, a person must see through things: These fame and fortune and positions are tools and methods for Satan to corrupt people, to entrap them, to harm them, and to cause their degeneration. You must first see this clearly in theory. Then, you must learn to give up these things and set them aside. … If you are always focusing on these things, always struggling for these things, if your heart is fully occupied with these things, if you always harbor them and never want to put them aside, then you are being controlled by and bound by these things. You have become a slave, and you cannot give them up. You must learn to give up and set aside these things, to yield, to recommend others, to allow them to stand out. Do not struggle furiously and rush to take advantage as soon as you encounter an opportunity to stand out or obtain honor. … The more you give up and set aside, the more peaceful your heart will be and the more space will open up within it, and the more your condition will improve. The more you struggle and compete, the darker will be your condition; try it if you don’t believe it. If you want to turn around this kind of condition, if you want not to be controlled by these things, then you must first set them aside and give them up” (“You Can Obtain Truth After Turning Your True Heart Over to God”).

God’s word gave Ling Ran a practical guideline moving forward. If she wanted to drive the jealousy from her heart and find a way out of this painful situation, she would have to consciously act as God required when she encountered any of the issues troubling her in real life. She would have to actively rebel against the flesh, abandon her vanity and desire for status, disregard the opinions of others, and only strive to live before God in quiet and humble obscurity. Reflecting on how, because of her jealousy of Zhang Ke, Ling Ran had been duped and tormented by Satan, living in pure agony, she resolved to rely upon God and abandon her jealous heart. Afterward, whenever Ling Ran could feel herself reverting into her previous jealous and competitive ways, she would immediately pray to God, ponder the passages of God’s word she had read previously, practice rebelling against her improper thoughts and emotions according to God’s word, casting off her jealous heart and refraining from competition with Zhang Ke. Slowly, Ling Ran’s situation improved and she felt less aggrieved in her heart.

Days later, when Ling Ran and Zhang Ke met by chance in the break room, Ling Ran wanted to take the opportunity to share what she had been feeling with Zhang Ke, but she suddenly felt butterflies in her stomach and her heart began to race; she thought to herself, “If I tell her what’s been on my mind, what if she looks down on me?” Ling Ran prayed to God in her heart, asking God for guidance and help. Ling Ran finally summoned her courage and opened up to Zhang Ke about how she had been jealous of her and had intentionally avoided her recently. She also shared her new experience and understanding of God’s word. When Ling Ran had finished, not only did Zhang Ke not look down upon her, she even warmly replied, “We’ve all been corrupted by Satan and have corrupt disposition. By opening up and communing with me you’re practicing the truth! Thanks be to God! If we encounter any problems in the future we can just talk them through and rely upon God together to help us resolve things.” The two locked eyes and smiled. Ling Ran felt like an enormous weight had been lifted off her and she felt much more at peace in her heart.

Sometime after, Ling Ran felt as though she had already made some real changes and no longer felt jealousy toward Zhang Ke, but God knew her actual stature and state and thus orchestrated another situation to test her …

One time, the design department held a meeting to discuss an outdoor ad design project. When Zhang Ke shared her idea for the project, her co-workers found it to be very novel and heaped praise on her. When Ling Ran saw that Zhang Ke’s idea had once again gained the approval of her co-workers, she felt a bit sad and overlooked. This time, however, Ling Ran immediately realized she had the wrong attitude and prayed to God, “Dear God! I’m slipping back into my old ways. When I saw Zhang Ke being praised, I started getting jealous again. God! I pray that You may give me the power to overcome my sinfulness and help me cast off my corrupt, satanic disposition!”

After finishing her prayer, Ling Ran thought of the following passage from Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life: “Is it difficult to turn enviousness into admiration? Ruminate over the bright side then, ‘Isn’t it great that he is so good? We now have a role model to follow. We can benefit from him. Since he is better than us, we can learn from him when we don’t understand something. It is an extra pathway for us!’” (“How to Pursue the Truth in Order to Gain the Truth”). After meditating on this sermon, Ling Ran felt lighter and more at ease in her heart. She realized that, insofar as Zhang Ke was more skilled at her work, she ought to learn from her strengths to bolster her own weaknesses. Only in this way would she see improvements in her own work. If she persisted in being jealous of Zhang Ke and living with a corrupt disposition, there was only so much she would be able to learn through her own research and she would improve very slowly. At the same time, Ling Ran also realized that it had been part of God’s wondrous plan to place Ling Ran and Zhang Ke in the same agency. God knew that she had been thoroughly corrupted by Satan, and that her nature was arrogant and eager to outshine others. God had placed a highly talented designer in her division to expose her inner corrupt disposition, allow her to recognize the reality of her thorough corruption by Satan, and realize the consequences of living according to Satan’s corrupt disposition. In so doing, He allowed her to break free of Satan’s corruption and torment, and by acting according to God’s word, she was able to live out the likeness of a normal human. On that day, God had once again arranged a situation for her. He didn’t want her to continue living in that corrupt disposition of envy for talent; He didn’t want her to continue to be deceived by Satan into competition and struggle with others. Rather, He wanted her to seek the truth, and thoroughly walk out from under the veil of Satan’s disposition, free and unrestrained. Once she had understood God’s intention, Ling Ran felt clear-minded and her jealousy for Zhang Ke unwittingly vanished. What’s more, Ling Ran realized that being in a place with co-workers who were more talented than her was a great opportunity to learn and improve her own skills. If her co-workers were more talented, she would be the only one who could improve in this way! She was willing to set her pride aside and learn from Zhang Ke’s strengths. She wanted to use her practical actions to humiliate Satan. Having made these realizations, Ling Ran regained a sense of tranquility and began interacting more with her colleagues and actively engaging in discussions.

When Ling Ran stopped being jealous of and competitive toward Zhang Ke and started learning from her with an open-mind, she found that Zhang Ke really had many strengths. She had a strong sense of responsibility, was patient and when co-workers ran into problems, she would go to great lengths to help them. Even if Ling Ran lost her temper, Zhang Ke was still patient and forgiving. Ling Ran realized that Zhang Ke was strongest in the areas that she was weakest, so she tried to learn from Zhang Ke and would often discuss design questions with her. After a little while, Ling Ran also made some very substantial improvements in her work and finally realized that Zhang Ke wasn’t her competitor, but her best collaborator and friend. Ling Ran was no longer bound by a jealous heart and found great enjoyment in her spiritual life. She also felt more and more unrestrained in her heart. She knew that all of this was made possible by God’s word and she thanked God from the bottom of her heart for His salvation!

[leeumdarlin]

The Darkest Minds AU

Ruby, Liam, and Chubs are in college together. Ruby gets sick and misses class, so Liam comes looking for her.

Mostly fluff. I’m a huge fan of Sickfics, but can never find any for my OTP. So, I just write my own n_n

Right away, I knew something was not right. The blaring of my alarm clock felt like knives being thrusted into my temples. I opened my eyes slowly, staring at the bright red numbers that read 7:00AM. I reached over and turned the alarm off before burying my head under the pillow. My head was pounding, the pain so severe it was making my stomach hurt. Even opening my eyes made it worse. I stayed under the pillow, waiting for the pain to subside but it never did. With a groan, I emerged and slowly sat up on the edge of the bed. I brought my fingers to my temples and attempted to massage the pain away, but it was persistent. It was a constant, throbbing pain right at the back of my eyeballs. Twenty minutes had passed, and if I didn’t hurry, I would be late for Math class. It was about a 15 minute walk from my dorm, and it started at 7:45. Despite the protest from my limbs, I stood up from the bed. Almost immediately, I regretted it. I was met with an intense wave of dizziness that forced me to fall back on to the mattress, followed by a woozy feeling that made me hold my stomach and try to force down the bile that was threatening to rise up in my throat. Okay, so no class today. In defeat, I crawled back under the blankets and was soon asleep once again.

I kept drifting in and out of sleep. After a few hours, I was able to slowly stand and make it to the bathroom across the hall from my dorm, wrapped in a blanket that dragged behind me. I ignored the looks I got from the other girls, probably staring at my disheveled appearance. At this point, I honestly did not care. As soon as I finished with the restroom, I shuffled back to my dorm and nestled right back down in bed. That’s when the coughing started. It started with just a little tickle that soon turned into a deep, painful cough that came from deep in my chest and left me gasping for breath. Every time I would be about to drift off, it would start and leave tears streaming down my face. The pressure built between my eyes and around my nose, causing congestion and a constant sniffling. The sneezing and the coughing seemed to take turns and neither would let up enough to let me fall into a deep sleep. I just laid in bed, awake and miserable and wishing for death. Finally, finally, after what felt like forever, I fell asleep.

I was awoken by a loud, frantic knocking at my door. I sat up abruptly, and regretted it tremendously. My head felt like I was about the explode and a coughing fit overtook me. It was starting to get worse, more painful and wet, leaving a string of saliva hanging from my lips. When I was finally able to recover, there was another series of knocking, even harder than before. “Ruby?” I jolted at the voice. Liam? What was he doing here? I glanced over at the clock. It read 8:43PM. “Ruby, please open up!” Groaning, I swung my legs over the side of the bed, ignoring the aches from deep in my bones, and slowly stood, the blanket wrapped around me. But when I tried to move toward the door to open it, my knees buckled. In an attempt to catch myself, I knocked over the lamp on my table, causing it to crash to the floor along with myself. I laid in a heap in  the ground, covered with the blanket and too dizzy and weak to get myself back up. I coughed hard into the crook of my arm, gasping for breaths in between fits. “Ruby?!” I couldn’t even respond. It felt like every last ounce of energy had been sapped from my body. I heard footsteps go down the hall. Had he left? I closed my eyes, curled up on the floor and shaking as a chill came over me. I sniffled, sneezing into the blanket as the snot started to drip from my nose. I was almost losing consciousness when I heard the doorknob start the turn and the lock clicked. Someone had gotten the RA to open the door. They pushed it open and the light from the hall hit my face, causing me to cover up with the blanket as the migraine kept throbbing. “Ruby?” Liam’s voice rang over my ears. It sounded like he was trying to talk softly, but every little noise sounded like nails on a chalkboard. “Hey, darlin’, it’s me. What’s wrong?” He pushed the door shut and gently pulled the blanket down from my face. His hand brushed against my cheek, but quickly recoiled as his breath caught in his throat. “Oh my god, Ruby. You’re burning up!” He put the back of his hand against my forehead and I shivered. His hand was so cold. A couple coughs escaped, making me cling onto his shirt as I fought for air. Liam’s eyes were wide, his face white as a ghost. “That’s it, come on. You’re going to the ER.” Before I could even register what he had said, I was lifted into his arms and out of the dorm room.

The next time I opened my eyes, I was in a white room that smelled like bleach and lemon. There was a needle in my arm, an IV, connected to a fluid drip. Everything felt heavy. My head, my arms, my legs… trying to move was so painful, but I finally managed to scoot up into a sitting position so I could look around better. Immediately, I noticed Liam. He glanced up when he saw me move. “Oh, thank god you’re awake,” He exclaimed, reaching over to grab my hand. Relief washed over me. I didn’t realize how much I needed him until now. “What happened?” I asked, wincing as how weak and hoarse my voice sounded. “I found you in your dorm room on the floor. You were burning up with a fever and could hardly move. I heard a crash, and I knew something was wrong. I went and found your RA and had her open the door and that is when we found you.” Liam lifted my hand to his lips and kissed it. “You’re really sick, darlin’. You should have called me.” “Why did you come looking for me? I only missed one day.” My voice cracked at the end and another coughing fit took over, but it was slightly less painful this time. Liam gave me an odd look. “Ruby, you were out for two days.” “What?” I exclaimed, the outburst a little too much as more coughing followed. “You didn’t answer any of my calls or my texts, and you missed two days’ worth of classes. I knew something was not right, so that is why I stopped by your dorm. I shook my head, pressing it back against the pillow and closing my eyes. “I had no idea it had been that long.” I whispered. “It’s going to be okay. You are very dehydrated, but as soon as the IV finishes, they’re going to discharge you and you’re coming back to my place so I can nurse you back to health.” I smiled a little a little. “I would like that.”

A couple hours later, we were back in Liam’s car heading back to the house he rented with our friend Chubs. The fever was still high, and I felt like I was freezing even though I was bundled in Liam’s heavy leather jacket and a thick blanket. Glancing at the side mirror, I could see how flushed my cheeks were and the dark bags that had formed under my eyes. The hospital had sent us with a prescription for antibiotics. They had diagnosed me with the seasonal flu, but just my luck, I had developed pneumonia as well. That explained the deep, wet, painful cough that was still racking my body. As if just thinking about it triggered it, another wave hit and I coughed hard into my elbow. Liam grabbed my hand and squeezed it. He glanced over with a worried glance. He could see how bad it hurt. It felt like the fit lasted forever, and when it finally passed, I was almost hyperventilating trying to get air back into my lungs. “We’re almost there, darlin’.” I nodded, leaning back against the seat and pulling my legs to my chest, hugging my knees. I sneezed, and it felt like someone stabbed a knife between my eyes. I sneezed twice more, and the pain and effort made tears spring to my eyes. “Okay, we’re here. Hold on, I’ll get you,” We pulled up into the driveway ten minutes later. Liam opened my door and lifted me out, carrying me into the house bridal style. We walked into the living room, where Chubs was sitting in the recliner with his laptop in his lap. He looked up from behind his silver glassed, and his face fell a little. “Damn, Lee. You weren’t exaggerating. She looks awful.” “Gee, thanks.” I rasped, trying to hold back another coughing fit as Liam lowered me onto the couch and covered me with another blanket. The coughing won, and I double over with the effort. “I’ll be right back, I’m going to go get the medicine from the car, okay?” Liam kissed my forehead and left the room. Chubs closed his laptop and stood up, coming to sit by my feet on the couch. “Do you want anything to eat?” I shook my head, my stomach flipping at the simple thought. “Ruby, you have to eat. Lee said you haven’t eaten in three days. How about some soup? Chicken noodle?” I shrugged. “I guess I’ll try it.” Chubs gave my leg an awkward pat and stood up to head into the kitchen just as Liam came back with the bag. “Alright, I also grabbed some Gatorade and a thermometer while I was at the drug store getting your prescription. Let’s check that fever and get this medicine in you.” Liam ripped open the package and pulled out the tympanic thermometer. He placed it in my ear and pushed the button, waiting for the shrill beep. “101.9. Let me grab some Tylenol.” He dug through the bag, grabbing the bottle and shaking out 2 pills. Then he pulled out the prescription bottle and pulled out one of the big horse pills. Amoxicillin, the doctor had called it. Liam helped me sit up a little, and I took the pills followed by a swig of the Gatorade. Then Chubs came out with the bowl of soup. Liam grabbed it from him. “Thanks, Chubs,” Liam said. “No problem. I’ll go to my room to give her some quiet. Feel better, Ruby,” Chubs grabbed his laptop from the couch and retreated. “Alright, darlin’. Try to eat something.” Liam handed me the bowl, but my hands were so shaky I almost spilled it on myself. “Okay, scratch that.” Liam mumbled, taking the bowl back. “I’m sorry,” I mumbled, my head starting to feel heavy. I was so tired. “Don’t be sorry, Ruby,” Liam reached over and brushed the hair out of my face. “Here,” He spooned out a bite of soup, blowing on it before bringing it my lips. I hesitated a moment, then opened my mouth the took the bite. The warm liquid felt good on my raw throat and I took the next bite more willingly. I was only able to eat half the bowl, but Liam was satisfied with that. He encouraged me to take a couple more drinks of the Gatorade before letting me fall asleep. As soon as I closed my eyes, I was out.

“Ruby?” I felt Liam’s hand brush my cheek, but I ignored him. I was still so tired… “Ruby, wake up… come on,” Liam sounded a bit more urgent, and he shook my shoulder gently. I opened my eyes halfway, being met by his blue eyes staring at me. “Ruby, you’re boiling. Your fever is skyrocketing, you need to take more medicine.” “Mmm, so sleepy…” I murmured, already about to doze off again. Liam shook me more urgently. “Ruby!” My eyes snapped open, but I couldn’t hold my head upright. My chest tightened as more coughing rumbled out. It hurt so bad… it felt like I was going to cough out my lung. It was deep in my chest, and wet. I could feel the mucus coming up with each cough. I put a fist to my mouth in an attempt to cover the droplets flying from my mouth. Liam was at my side, holding me up into a sitting position and letting me use him as a support. I could not catch my breath. I was gasping, but whenever I tried to inhale, I just kept coughing, and coughing, and coughing. Right when I thought I was going to pass out, I was able to take a sharp inhale of air. The coughing subsided, leaving me sitting there, gulping in air and clenching Liam’s shirt in my fists. Liam pressed his forehead against mine, visibly grimacing against the heat that I could feel rolling off of my body. “You’re going to be okay,” He told me, cupping my cheeks in his hands. “I’m going to make sure you get better, okay? I promise.” I nodded, too weak and exhausted to even say anything in response. “I checked your temp while you were sleeping. It’s up to 103.2. You need to take some more Tylenol, okay? It’s been six hours, so Chubs said it’s okay to take some more.” I nodded. Holding me up, Liam helped me take the two pills, holding the Gatorade bottle to my lips and helping me take little sips. He then lowered me back down on the couch and draped a cold rag over my forehead. I sighed, feeling relief from the fever as well as the migraine that had been raging for three days. Within minutes, I was out.