#step three: do whatever the heck you want bc now there's no one to stop you

[sojourner-between-worlds]

Criminal Markers and how they were so seamlessly integrated in NDC/Satellite culture with little fuss or blowback

I'm sure it all started with a "good idea."

(It wasn't good, it was never good, but politicians are pros at making remarkably terrible ideas seem good.)

The idea of being able to recognize a dangerous criminal on sight would seem to be desirable if taken only at face value. Consider: You're taking your kid to school and you see someone with the mark identifying them as an abuser within a mile of said school? Well, you don't want that person hanging around and potentially hurting kids, right? So you call the cops. All well and good, you may have just saved some kids some trauma. Or maybe you're driving around looking for a parking spot and see someone hanging around an open space with a grand theft auto mark? Well, you're not going to park there now and risk your car being gone when you get back. The person walking towards you on the street has the mark of a murderer? Give them a wide berth or cross the street so you won't be the next victim!

At face value, it seems great, right? So the politicians peddling it keep it that way, distract from anyone trying to look to too deep, get their bill passed, everyone is happy.

But the problem is that "good ideas" are very slippery slopes.

They start out only marking the "big offenders": murderers, sex offenders, "those" kinds of people. But prosecutors and judges alike slowly begin to push the bill. Murderers and sex offenders...and major theft. And they push a little more. Murderers and sex offenders and major theft...and illegal narcotic sales.

They do it slowly, one crime at a time, always with "good" reason -- so slowly that no one questions it because if x is punished this way, why not y? And the people who never questioned it in the first place don't stop to question it now either because why would they when it makes perfectly logical sense?

And they keep pushing, one crime at a time, right down the line.

And then, 15 years later, they find themselves marking an 11-year-old for shoplifting a candy bar. Because theft is theft, and it doesn't matter that this is a literal child or that the purchase price is barely anything at all. There is no line anymore of what "deserves" to be marked for because time has whittled it away and now this child has a past they will never be able to outrun because its literally written on their face.

It didn't start like this. It wasn't supposed to go this far. But it did anyway, and now there's no one to question the morality of it because everyone has been entirely (achingly slowly) desensitized to a process that is entirely dehumanizing and never should have been put into practice in the first place.

It doesn't matter that people can change.

It doesn't matter that sometimes a mistake is made.

And there's no one left to care to change it.

[coramatus]

Cut ‘there were no instructions or fine print’ snippet bc the premise refused to cooperate

(…)

(A few days pass after Ingo comes home. Emmet has been moping the entire time, reluctant to interact with what he thinks is just the scraps of his brother. That entire time, Ingo has been trying to get Emmet’s attention by increasingly silly means. He tries writing but it comes out in Hisuian by mistake, he tries an old Xtransciever but the device malfunctions, tries typing on a computer only to break it when he claws a key too hard, he tries spelling things out on the floor in Legos but a sleepy Emmet accidentally steps on it barefooted and falls on it, etc.. Now Ingo is beyond frustrated and has remembered what a dry-erase board is. He goes up to Emmet, who is busy being sad on the couch.)

“Emmet! Emmet, get up!”

(Ingo makes chittery Sneasel noises at Emmet. Emmet is too caught up in mourning. Ingo decides he’s done playing.)

Ingo takes a deep breath, bracing himself before he grabs the whiteboard and bonks Emmet’s skull with it.

“Gah!!” Emmet yelps as his eyes fly open, jerking in surprise so hard he pitches himself off the couch and lands on his face.

As Emmet lets out a muffled groan, Ingo feels his ear twitch in annoyance at the scene before him.

“What the heck? What’s gotten into—?”

Ingo sits perched on the couch, holding up his whiteboard with the message:

EMMET STOP BEING SAD I’M HERE

“Ingo…?” (Emmet stares in dull shock)

(Ingo nods emphatically)

“Is it really…?” (Emmet’s face goes from dawning joy to abruptly overcome by indignant rage as the last few days of moping catch up with him) “Why didn’t you say anything?!”

(Ingo doesn’t get his reaction until the deep instinct of sibling rage takes hold of him too and he scribbles out an equally pissy message)

I TRIED YOU DIDN'T LISTEN

Emmet sputters in fury at him.

“You should’ve tried harder!!!” he snaps.

Ingo taps on the last three words on the board, one at a time, growling pointedly.

“I THOUGHT YOU WERE GONE!!” Emmet shoots back in a volume that could rival Ingo’s on his best day, “I WAS SURE OF IT!”

(Ingo gets angrier)

I DIDN’T DO IT ON PURPOSE

Emmet throws his arms up and screams, “You asshole!! I just want to hug you and strangle you at the same time!”

Ingo’s ears are flat against his head, unable to contain his loud growl as he sloppily scribbles his words as fast as he can to express the inexplicable rage taking hold of him. The second he finishes he throws the marker down and thrusts the board at Emmet with a furious squeak.

SAME YOU DINGUS

Emmet sputters at him, his jaw working furiously, trying to come up with a response. As he stands there fuming, there’s a shift in the timbre of his breathing, going from fast and shallow to something thicker and choked.

“…it really is you.”

His breath hitches as he chokes back a sob, his strength seeming to fail him as he falls to his knees, staring at Ingo with hope blooming in his eyes.

Whatever anger Ingo had been feeling in that moment fizzles out as just quickly as it arrived. It’s enough to leave him reeling in confusion as he limps up to Emmet.

What is happening? Why does this rollercoaster of emotions feel so natural? As if they’ve done this sort of routine before?

Ingo rests his claws on Emmet’s hand, looking up at him in worry. Emmet just laughs wetly, struggling to hold back his tears as he covers his mouth,

“You never call me that unless you are verrry angry. Remember?”

Ingo very much does not. He grumbles in frustration and writes out another message.

MEMORY BAD HAVE AMNESIA SORRY

“It’s… jeez, it’s so stupid. Grandpa thought we were nuts. ‘You two scream and fight and now you’re hugging and crying. Oy, I give up!’” he quoted in a perfect imitation of their grandfather’s accent.

A faint memory flashes of the utterly vicious knock down, drag out fights that he and Emmet would sometimes get into as they grew up. While these incidents were rare, they were screaming, clawing, punching, biting affairs that resulted in trips to the hospital more than once.*

* (There was the time Emmet kicked him down the stairs, knocking out his two front baby teeth which he then accidentally swallowed. There was a time when he managed to smash one of their toys over Emmet’s head so hard he needed several stitches to close the wound. They could be mean as kids.

But every time, they ended the same way: hugging and sobbing on each other, wailing apologies between their tears, snot, and blood.)

“So, amnesia?” Emmet asks softly. He raises a hand to Ingo’s cheek, thumb brushing over his soft fur as he traces his facial markings. “Is that why you could not signal me until now?”

TRIED TO SIGNAL YOU FOR DAYS BUT YOUR HEAD WAS UP YOUR ASS

Emmet lets out a graceless snort, “Yeah, I guess I deserve that.”

(…)

[yaomomvs]

Hello I saw that your req are open if there not ignore this but I just read recovery girl... girl with todoroki and was wondering if you could do a bakugku one ? Thank you : )

apprentice | k. bakugou

in which you help bakugou bc you are recovery girl’s little protege

“oh great, you are awake now” bakugou hears a voice, a little bit more enthusiastic of what he was expecting.

you enter the infirmary with a bunch of medical supplies and some other stuff like a couple of sweets and... a sandwich?

“who the heck are you?” bakugou was indeed impulsive, but in fact he was a bit curious.

minutes before he woke up with a huge headache, when he realized he was in recovery girl’s place he groaned and tried to remember why he was there this time. but seeing you there, someone who was just about his age shocked him.

“watch your tone you brat, i’m the literal reason why you are alive!” you claim.

“wHO ARE YOU CALLING-“

“DONT DO THAT!” you yell back, but it was late. the blonde haired boy let out a groan fue to the sudden and awful pain he got in his abs area. trying to stands up to fight you definitely showed you how dumb he could be.

he flinches and sits up in the bed once again feeling how the blood starts covering the bandage in his stomach.

“great!” you say helping him recover his posture “now i have to do that again, why is the hero course so fucking stubborn and careless about themselves?”

he remembered the hero combat with class 1-B but he was surprised it got this far.

you pull him close and you try to place your hand in his stomach area but instead he pushed you away.

“look” you begin tired of him, looking directly to his eyes a bit too close for his taste “you wanna be a great hero? amazing but if you still think that title doesn’t mean accepting help from others then you should leave UA, so stop the bullshit and let me change your bandage”

katsuki is amuse because of the way you talked to him, the power and determination in your eyes actually left him... speechless.

and a bit red.

“tch!” was the only thing he managed to do “you are a bit of a pushover aren’t you?”

you laugh “if you are going to insult me, please try harder”

your touch was delicate, something kacchan actually never felt before. he kept looking at you, still curious on why was a teenager taking care of him.

“where’s the old lady?” he asks lifting his arms while you take the bandage out.

“recovery girl for you” you scold “and she was out there taking care of the other ones, but i think principal nezu came and asked to speak to her, poor nezu he is actually pissing off recovery girl so much allowing this kind of events oh shit” you interrupt yourself “guess i’ll have to do it”

“do wha-“

he couldn’t finish his sentence because a green light was already sparkling from your palm, once again you touched his damaged area, and as it was magic his most of his injure was already gone.

you step back and bakugou notices how you get dizzy so before you tripped, he actually holds you by your shoulder.

“did you just disappeared it? your quirk-“ he asks shocked.

you walk and get the half of the sandwich and start eating holding your head. “yeah, injure disappearance. i am able to disappear any injure someone has. but it comes with his side effects of course, mainly because i used it way too much today”

“then why did you do something so stupid if you already knew you reached your maximum capability dumbass?”

“well i wouldn’t have had to if certain someone sat still in his freaking bed!”

bakugou felt bad for a second but his pride was more than that, and he wasn’t one to apologize, instead he deviated the subject to another he was particularly interested in.

“so that’s why you work here?” he questions.

“ha! i wished i was even paid” you joke, and hand him the other part of the sandwich and some sweet treats.

“i am not a child” he rejects them.

“well if you don’t eat that you are not going to be awake for much longer” you talk back “your body needs sugar and something to eat, and you know it because i know you feel extremely tired mr bakugou”

he hates know-it-all people, and he wants to hate you for that, and it was his pride that actually made him ignore the fact that you were just stating the obvious.

“and i’m an apprentice only, i’m in the support department, since my quirk is not ‘hero compatible’” you mention, sitting next to him.

maybe he should not say something, but he was not sure why he wanted to help you too. he tries to convince himself it is because he literally owes you his well being and that he hates being in debt with someone.

“quite stupid of you actually” he says and before you sass him back he adds “because recovery girl picked you, and saving lives in any way is being a hero too sparkly hands”

you stay shocked and smirk a bit “so you are actually a softie awww”

“SHUT IT EXTRA”

in fact, he wanted silence, just to admire you, but of course he said to himself that he just wanted to stay in the infirmary a bit longer because ‘i guess sometimes i have to rest’

—

“what the hell are you doing here?!”

bakugou is not going to lie to himself anymore, so he admits being kinda confused and scared seeing you in his homeroom. class 1-A follows you with their eyes on your way to kacchan’s seat.

“i should be the one questioning that, dork” he talks back.

with that everyone is shocked.

“oi bakugou who is this hottie-”

“i dare you to go on, grape” you stand up for yourself, and with one look mineta shuts up “you know you can’t skip your daily health check up right?”

“the old lady said-”

“still i am the one who attends you, idiot, so you are my patient, and now in fact you owe me three more days helping me out after checking you in the infirmary” you make clear to him, almost face to face knowing that will piss him up.

“says who?”

“says me” you slowly go away in order to attend your next class “so come on katsuki, you are not gonna win this one, chao!”

“whatever loser” he scoffs, fighting to hide the smile knowing he actually enjoyed the little time he got with you while helping.

denki and kirishima remained silent as you walk out while sero starts smirking along with jirou just blinks as many others.

“BAKUGOU HAS A HEART!”

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT IDIOT?” he yells to denki.

“come on we all just see how you did not ditch or even yell at her! you are an asshole to us!” mina adds.

“WHAT NO”

“you did let her call you your first name, bakugou”

“SHUT UP HALF AND HALF BASTARD!”

[blossom-hwa]

valentine’s day + stray kids ✧

the enablers: @wingkkun​​ by virtue of their existence and @thepixelelf​​ bc of her @newskynet​​ valentine’s day prompt list (which can be found here! check it out :D) anyway you can blame them for my word vomits tonight tomorrow <3 happy early valentine’s day and I hope you enjoy these blurbs!

pairing: stray kids x gender neutral!reader (one blurb for each member!)

wc: 3.5k (total)

genre: fluff, lots of fluff, university!au

triggers: cursing

golcha version | the boyz version

SKZ Scenarios Masterlist | SKZ Drabbles Masterlist

1. “shit, what day is it again?”

when chan opens the door to a beaming you, he has no idea what’s going on. he still has headphones around his neck, there are definitely bags under his eyes, he hasn’t slept in maybe close to twenty hours, and there is definitely something important that he’s forgetting, judging by the nonplussed expression that has now slid over your face. 

“chan, when did you sleep last night?” you ask, stepping into his dorm. you’re holding something behind your back that chan’s craning his neck to see, but you catch sight and twist away. “hey, no looking.”

the knowledge that you have something is more than enough, though, to get his overly tired brain actually thinking. his eyes narrow. what the heck is he forgetting - 

oh. 

oh no. 

chan scrambles around for his phone as you look over, eyebrows rising as he pats his pockets. “shit, what day is it again?” 

you hold up your own phone, giving him an eyeful of your lock screen set to a picture of himself laughing into the camera. he isn’t focused on that, though - he’s focused on the words underneath the time that say “february 14, 2021.”

“oh my god, it’s valentine’s day.”

“no shit, sherlock.” you put a finger to his forehead and press hard. “i made reservations.”

“what? okay, no, i swear you didn’t tell me about this -”

“i didn’t, chan.” you smile, shaking your head. “it was supposed to be a surprise. and i knew you’d forget the day or something because you always do lose track of time - hey, don’t look at me that way, i even made a bet with minho on the way and i’m right - so i came early to force you to sleep for several hours before we go out.”

okay, that’s fair, but chan’s lips curve downward into a pout anyway. “i didn’t forget,” he protests. “well, i forgot today, but i still have something for you! i got it last week.” he looks around frantically, then drags a box out from underneath his bed. “here!”

a wide smile splits your face and you pull your own present from behind your back, a red-wrapped box that chan begins to open as you cuddle the teddy bear he’s handed over to you. “chan, you sap,” you say, words muffled in the bear’s fur. “god i love you.”

“and i love you too,” he replies, pulling out a box of his favorite candy. “kiss?”

laughing, you press your lips together once, twice before pulling away. “sleep time,” you announce. “no kisses until you’ve gotten at least three hours.”

chan all but lunges into bed, trapping you with him between his arms. “sleeping now,” he says, voice muffled into your shirt. “goodnight.”

“good afternoon, more like.” you smile anyway, stroking his hair. “but good night.”

18. “oh my god, this chocolate tastes like chalk.”

minho is about to lose his shit in this tiny hospital bed with the sterile white sheets and curtains barring sunlight from streaming on his body. back when his ankle wasn’t broken to high hell, he really hadn’t given the sun enough appreciation. after three days of almost zero movement, though, he swears he’ll actually go outside voluntarily once he gets out of here. 

the door opens. a head peeks in. 

ah. there’s his daily dose of human sunshine. 

a smile slides onto minho’s face as you come in, arms full of snacks and flowers. you place a bouquet of red roses on the little table beside his bed and dump the snacks onto his sheets. “happy valentine’s day, idiot boyfriend who broke his ankle just three days before today.”

minho scowls. “it’s not like i tried to.”

“i know. even you’re not that dumb.” you pat his head mockingly, laughing as minho’s scowl deepens. “sit up, idiot. here, i’ll help.”

he allows his frown to turn into a grudging smile as you help him sit properly in bed, careful not to jar his ankle before passing him one of the bags of chocolates in his lap. “jisung gave this to me for you and asked me to ask you if you would be his valentine.”

minho pauses in opening the bag. “what.”

“jisung for you.” you laugh. “his partner was right next to him laughing their ass off. try the chocolates.”

he picks one out. puts it in his mouth. chews. “oh my god, this chocolate tastes like chalk.”

“what - how the fuck do you know what chalk tastes like?”

“i don’t, what the fuck? i just imagine it would taste like this.”

you snort. “so my boyfriend first breaks his ankle dancing three days before we valentine’s, and on this romantic day i learn he’s definitely eaten chalk.” you sigh, snatching a bag of gummies from the sheets. “what a day.”

“i don’t eat chalk!”

“bet.” 

he opens his mouth to reply, but you cut him off with a kiss. “eat your chalk chocolate,” you direct when you pull away. “or jisung will get upset.”

“ugh fine.” he rolls his eyes. “but i’m only listening to you because i love you.”

“cheeseball.” you smile. “i love you too.”

20. “babe.” / “since when do you call me babe?”

grinning, jisung picks up the bouquet of roses you were about to hand him before falling to the ground in laughter. “these for me?”

“no, they’re for my valentine.” you snatch them back, still wheezing. “which was going to be you, but you ditched me for minho, so now i need to find someone else.”

“aw, come on.” jisung pouts, pursing his lips actively even as you try to hide the smile on your face by turning away. “y/n! y/n. y/nnnnnnnnn. y/n, look at me. please? y/n. babe.”

“what the - jisung - since when do you call me babe?” your half disgusted, half amused face sends him into hysterics as he glomps you in a hug, laughing into your shoulder. “hey, sung! get away! you’re drooling on my clothes!”

“am not!” jisung pulls away, trying to pout but laughing too hard to do so. you just looked so fucking funny. “and what’s wrong with me calling you babe?”

“don’t do it again.” you push his shoulder. “do not. you won’t like the consequences.”

“consequences?”

“one, you don’t get these flowers. i’ll put them in my own room.” you wave the bouquet in front of him. “two, i give chan the all clear to play ‘wow’ on his campus radio station.”

“you wouldn’t dare -”

“three, no kisses for a week.”

jisung falls to his knees. “no, no, y/n, my beautiful and wonderful significant partner, i will never call you babe again, please don’t sentence me the barren world of no kisses for a week just because of my idiot mouth -”

“jesus christ, jisung, get up. you’re making a scene.” you laugh anyway, pulling him up before placing a chaste kiss on the corner of his lips. “i was just joking. but please don’t call me babe if you don’t want me to cringe to the next dimension.”

“done deal.” jisung holds his out his hands. “flowers?”

you roll your eyes, handing them over. he breathes in their scent, smiling widely. “they’re so pretty!” then he looks up and winks. “but not as pretty as you.”

at that, you laugh again, crushing the bouquet as you wrap him in a hug. “i love you so much, jisung,” you murmur into his ear.

his arms reach out to loop around your waist as he pulls you closer. “i love you too,” he replies, smiling.

for a moment, you two only stand, finding peace in each other’s warmth. then jisung’s mouth runs once more.

“you know, i wrote my lyrics for ‘wow’ thinking of you.”

“do you have to ruin every moment?”

14. “you’re seriously asking me out on valentine’s day?”

changbin doesn’t even bother to reply to the picture jisung’s just sent of the flowers his partner gave him. he’s too nervous, his stomach literally fluttering as he stops his motorcycle by the curb and wheels it into the shop.

“hi, welcome, what can i - changbin?” you raise an eyebrow. “did you seriously bang up your motorcycle on valentine’s day?”

changbin’s ears turn bright red. he knows it even if he can’t see them. you think he always comes here because something else has magically gone wrong with his motorcycle, but what you don’t know is that he’s been pretending things are wrong with the vehicle for months at this point just so he has an excuse to see you. 

and now it’s valentine’s day. the day he chose to fess up and admit how he feels and ask you on a date. 

heck. 

“nothing’s... broken.” changbin scratches his neck. “uh...”

both of your eyebrows are now high up on your forehead. “so why are you here?”

“i...” he coughs, feeling his ears flare even hotter. “i wanted - i wanted to ask if you -” he looks down, unable to look at you. “i wanted to ask if you would go out with me today. like. on a date.”

silence. he doesn’t have the courage to look up. 

“you’re seriously asking me out on valentine’s day?”

changbin shrinks behind his motorcycle. holy fuck, this was the worst idea, you’re about to reject him and his heart is going to shatter -

then you step forward, place a hand on the vehicle. “okay, that came out wrong.” you tip his chin up gently so he’s forced to look into your soft, teasing eyes. “what i meant is that i’d love to go on a date with you today. i just didn’t expect you to ask me out on valentine’s day. didn’t seem like a very you thing to do.” you pause. “though i guess considering that song you played for me last time, it isn’t that surprising.”

oh, god. on track. changbin wrote that thinking of you. 

“wait, seriously?”

he really just said that out loud. changbin groans, slapping his forehead. “why am i dumb,” he mumbles into his hand. 

you laugh, peeling his hand away with grease-covered fingers. “you’re not dumb, bin. just sweet.” as he melts from the use of your nickname, you wave your greasy palm in front of his face. “let me go wash and tell seungmin to close up early. i’ll be out in a second.” you grin. “looking forward to whatever you have planned.”

(later, when you wrap your now clean arms around changbin’s waist on his motorcycle, he smiles so wide it feels like his face is going to split.)

25. “i love you.”

with a relieved sigh, seungmin locks up the shop, wiping grease-stained fingers on a towel. despite the fact that he mostly only handles the register, dirt still manages to get everywhere, even when he tries to be careful. 

doesn’t matter. seungmin likes his job, likes it even though it’s a little hard to be independent from his parents after so many years of living off their credit card. the freedom is sweet, though - now he can learn what he wants, do what he wants, and best of all...

now he can date whom he wants.

seungmin smiles, running up to his dorm so he has just enough time to change and shower before meeting you. he cleans up quickly before grabbing the singular rose in a glass on his desk and racing downstairs once more, hair still slightly damp, to meet you in front of the building. 

god, you’re beautiful, standing against the backdrop of the afternoon sun. in the moment that you don’t notice him walking out the door, he runs forward, smiling, before engulfing you in a back hug. 

“hey - oh, seungmin.” he can hear the smile in your voice as you clutch his hands hanging around your shoulders. “you scared me!”

“sorry,” he says, pulling away to spin you around. god, looking into your laughing face, seungmin knows everything was worth it. he may have lived in the lap of luxury before, attending parties every other weekend and drinking the finest champagne while dressed in the most resplendent clothing (courtesy of the kim family empire), but luxury doesn’t mean much when he was missing real, true love, right? you were one of the first, other than hyunjin, to see through his cold facade and break into the warm heart underneath. 

as he hands you the rose, he’s glad, so glad that you gave him the courage to go head to head with his parents for the first time, to finally break away from their strangling control over every bit of his life. what did he need parties and designer clothing and jewels for, anyway? he’s still living, still able to support himself even if it means a little more work. and even if he’s tired, he has your lips to come back to, every day. 

“i love you,” he murmurs, kissing you softly, sweetly. “i really do, y/n.”

“so do i,” you breathe, smiling against his lips in reply.

12. “valentine’s day... that’s the one with the bunny, right?”

hyunjin kind of wants to hit you, significant other or not. judging by your shit-eating grin, you probably know exactly how he feels, but you keep your eyes as soft and innocent as possible. “no, i don’t know what day it is, hyunjin. isn’t it just february 14?”

“y/n.”

“hyunjin.”

he groans, sinking dramatically to the ground. “it’s valentine’s day.”

“oh. right.” you adopt a thinking expression, raising your eyes to the sky. “valentine’s day... that’s the one with the bunny, right?”

“y/n!”

“i’m kidding, i’m kidding!” you finally laugh, reaching out a hand to pull him up from the university quad. “hey, get up, hyunjin. you’re going to get your designer clothes dirty.”

shit, he is. hyunjin accepts your hand, dusting grass bits off of his shirt. “you’re so mean,” he whines. “to think i had a whole evening planned and all, just for you to pretend to forget the entire day.”

“ah, but i didn’t forget. i only pretended to.” you grin, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. “and to prove it, i have something for you! close your eyes.”

eagerness and apprehension flooding his veins, hyunjin shuts his eyes. for a moment, he hears you digging around in your bag, and then you put something in his hand. “here!”

opening his eyes, hyunjin looks down to see a pair of elegant earrings in his palm. you made them, definitely - he can see the tiny mark of your initials etched in the metal of one earring, his initials on the other - and he smiles wide, so wide, all of your previous transgressions forgotten in this moment. “i love them,” he says, already unfastening the hoops currently in his ears to put the new ones in. 

“i thought you would. hey, let me help.” your fingers take the earrings, deftly inserting one into each ear. “perfect.”

“i have something for you two, but you’ll get it later.” hyunjin pockets his old earrings before taking your hand. “right now, i’m taking you on a date.”

“what, i have no say in this?” your eyes sparkle. 

“nope!” hyunjin laughs, swinging your arms in the air. “come on, i swear the evening’s going to be a lot of fun.”

“i believe you.” you stop him to kiss him once, softly. “everything’s fun with you, hyunjin.”

15. “shut up and kiss me.”

with the brownie box in his hands almost empty, felix makes every effort to dodge anyone who knows for fear that they’ll ask for one of the last few treats left inside. hyunjin took like five earlier, jesus christ, even when felix warned him he was saving some for you. ungrateful brat. 

thankfully, no one accosts him, and he makes it to your meeting place without interruption. there you already are, mindlessly twirling a bouquet of roses around in your fingers. as he approaches, you look up, and felix is (once again) blown away by the intensity of your smile. 

some people liken him to the sun. others, with his freckles, compare him to the stars. both, though, felix thinks are more proper descriptors for you and your lovely grin that’s as bright as the sun and the stars combined. 

“felix!” you stand as he comes closer, handing him the roses. he passes over the box of brownies and you screech in delight, taking off the lid and popping one of them into your mouth. “oh my god, it’s so good.”

“don’t talk with your mouth full,” felix scolds, smiling anyway. “do you only love me for my brownies?”

“maybe” is the cheeky reply. you laugh as felix reels in mock astonishment, placing a dramatic hand to his chest. “i’ve been betrayed,” he wheezes. “stabbed in the back by my one true love who turned traitor to our romance, how will i live -”

“hey, felix?”

he looks up. “hm?”

your eyes sparkle. “shut up and kiss me.”

your lips taste like chocolate, sweeter even than the brownie you just finished. felix puts his arms around you, rose petals brushing against your back as he holds you close, close, closer - 

“oh my god.”

a familiar voice makes felix pull away from your lips as he turns around. “jeongin?”

“nope, nope, nope,” the younger boy chants, eyes fully closed. “i saw none of that, jesus christ, come on, let’s go -”

too late, felix notices the person standing next to his friend, eyes also screwed shut. a smirk rises on his face. that must be jeongin’s crush, he thinks as they race away, the crush he’s been sweating over asking out for the last few weeks. 

“aw, man.” felix frowns, suddenly coming to a realization. “jeongin probably wanted to confess here.”

“he’ll do fine,” you laugh, tugging at his arm. “now get back here. we’re not finished.”

felix smiles, pulling you close once more. “no, we aren’t.”

6. “no one’s ever given me something like this before.”

listen. jeongin did not need to see felix making out with his partner right before he was about to confess. not only did it completely ruin his plans to talk to you in the prettiest part of campus, but he also has an image seared into his mind that he really does not need. 

“sorry,” he mutters, still unable to look at you. 

“it’s fine.” jeongin can hear the second hand embarrassment in your voice. “it wasn’t your fault. uh.” you pause. “you said... you wanted to tell me something?”

right. jeongin squeezes his eyes shut, desperately trying to erase the previous images from his brain. “yeah. i did. um.” he swallows, then forces himself to look into eyes that sparkle in the fading sunlight, eyes that he fell in love with so many months ago when you two first worked on that project together. 

thankfully, his words don’t fail him. “i just wanted to say i like you a lot, y/n.” jeongin keeps looking at you, even though all he wants to do is run away screaming. “as in... i want to ask you out. if that’s okay with you.”

silence. 

then you start giggling. 

jeongin frowns. why - 

“oh my god, jeongin.” you double over on the bench, laughing even harder. “i’m so sorry.”

his heart sinks as embarrassment begins to burn his ears. “if you don’t like me -”

“no, no!” you straighten, wiping your eyes. “no, it’s not about that. it’s just -” you snort - “oh my god, you wanted to ask me out in the garden, right? but felix was there, and... jesus christ. jeongin, i’m so sorry.”

his cheeks flare red, but he also lets out a major sigh of relief that your laughter wasn’t a rejection. “yeah,” he says, a grudging smile climbing onto his face. “yeah, that’s pretty much what happened.”

you wipe your eyes again. “sorry for laughing. i didn’t mean to make fun of you or anything. i’d actually love to go out with you.” you smile. “really.”

“well, thank god for that.” jeongin huffs, cheeks still hot. “or i would’ve gotten this for nothing.” he holds out a small teddy bear. “this is for you.”

“oh.” you take it, eyes turning soft. “oh. no one...” you swallow. “no one’s ever given me something like this before.”

jeongin’s heart melts, it really does, seeing the slow, shy smile spread across your face as you hold the bear close. “thank you, jeongin.”

“you’re welcome,” he breathes, hardly able to find his words as the sun creates a stunning backdrop behind you as it begins to set. “happy valentine’s day, y/n.”

you smile wide, so wide. “happy valentine’s day, jeongin.”

[luminous-shifting-vibes]

actual fucking quotes from the shiftblr coffeehouse discord server

out of context of course, what do you take me for? a sane person?

"they made lightning mcqueen hot"

"inch resting"

"Nix: Cars (2006) several people are typing..."

"im evaporating"

"enjoy precipitation"

"tow mater is more attractive than lightning mcqueen/hj"

"lightning mcqueen looks like he would call me a slur"

"why did I come back to a discussion regarding the attractiveness of vehicles"

"lark is the braincell of shiftblr tbh"

"you all need some grass in your life"

"me over here simping for block men and now literal cars"

"didn't nick wilde commit fraud canonically"

"i have no strong opinions on whether or not nick wilde is attractive"

"I AM AROMANTIC AND I AM NOT IMMUNE TO NICK WILDE"

"I am bisexual and I. Am not into Nick Wilde based on a simple fact he looks like he will drink all my pepsi and call me names"

"What is shiftbkr but not a bunch of simps"

"cries in Bianca Monroe"

"listen i have a folder called gayass

it is mostly pictures of kyoka jiro and virgil sanders"

"Nick Wilde x Reader where he steals your car 📷 carjacker to lovers AU 📷"

"he says "mama i like to step on keyboard""

"MY MOM JUST WALKED IN AND I HAD TO TELL HER I WAS LOOKING AT LIGHTING MC QUEEN HUMAN FANART"

"crab walks away"

""Y/N..." Nick whispered into your ear. "Your car...is a Honda Civic, right?" You looked up at Nick with a baffled expression. "Nick, my beloved? Whatever are you talking about?" "Just asking..." He said as he let you out of his embrace. "Hey, wanna see a magic trick, babe?" Your eyes sparkled. "Really, Nick? Of course!" Nick smiled. "Ok, close your eyes!" You giggled and closed your eyes, waiting for Nick to tell you to open up. Instead, you heard the loud rumble of a car starting up, and you open your eyes. Nick has stolen your car, and he has driven off into the sunset..."

"did y'all know his name used to be canonically Montgomery--he changed it to lightning mcqueen to get rid of his past"

"That is my exit number"

"cars trauma arc"

"wait do y'all know about car jesus" "as if jesus wasn't a ford focus in the bible"

"oh yall do not want to know about the trauma in my cars dr lmao"

"Dewit tau style babey make Lightning McQueen outlive everyone and stalk their reincarnations"

"Do they baptize other cars in like gasoline then"

"there is a pope car in the cars universe which means car jesus died for cars sins"

"NOT THE BOOMER MEMES"

"-lays facedown on the floor while caramelldansen plays-"

"like im serious how many of you guys endorse me falling face down on my floor" (NOT THE SAME PERSON AS PREVIOUS QUOTE)

"I will be Tall and no one can stop me"

"is a soft floor?"

"stop I thought faceplant meant like a succulent in the shape of a face instead of falling onto your noggin for a solid 10 seconds"

"Touch some grass??? What about eating grass"

"what if for every employee of the month i just printed out really horrible boomer memes"

"what ab smoking grass /j"

"Can the grassdirt smoothie be a special in the cafe"

"PLEASE IM ROLLING ON THE FLOOR REWRITINH THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE WHIKE SPEEDRUNINT MINECRAFT"

"you have to get good dirt from like the middle of a pennsylvanian forest for it to taste good though"

"I ate a four leaf clover as a kid cause i thought it would make me lucky"

"guys how do i see the mee6 leaderboard"

"I used to think i was half dragon and I ate plants out of sidewalk cracks"

"i think i punched someone"

"my parents told me to stop doing that so I looked at them and ate a flower"

"I ate grass when I was 9 bc I read warrior cats and thought I was a medicine cat ....................."

"bees are just spicy flies"

"I had a mental breakdown when I was three cause I didn’t know how to turn off a phone"

"My mom drank a bee once"

"when I was a baby I kinned ink sans."

"bro who here find the yellow hat man from curious george fine as heck 📷📷📷"

"mY LUNGSSSSSS"

"no one topping Him"

"I like em big"

"I think Moto Moto has no game like move over hunky boy I could beat you 1v1 Roblox Arsenal 📷📷📷"

"If you didnt have a crush on springtrap, jeff the killer, or Underfell/Gaster/Error sans don't talk to me /j"

"LOOK THEY'RE BOTH DILFS WITH ABS THAT WOULD FIGHT GOD"

"ZORO IS BANNED"

"Guys please help I found my old fnaf fanart from when I was 8 I'm in literal tears"

"OH NO BOT MY FIFTH GRADE HAMILTON PHASE"

"The worst attraction ive ever had has to be Sombra Overwatch"

"My family is like "save all ur art so I can sell it when you're famous" I literally could not sell this if I tried"

"screaming puppet"

"I just remembered Ive drawn overwatch/hamilton crossover fanart"

"my hermit crabs ate each other again"

"we're cannibals ????"

"having me here is a curse you have inflicted on yourselves and I for one am glad for it <3" "scitters around like a crab in anticipation"

"CARB DAY"

"WE NEED TO HAVE A WATCH OARTY"

"hey y'all ill be right back i have to throw away a crab carcass"

"if I watch cars I'm going to start laughing in the middle of it nonstop just because the word cars is funny and also cars are funny like how do you move silly little metal box with rubber circles"

"Lark asleep post catboy pitbul"

"Mwista Wowldwide! Nya!" "hermit crab 2: electric boogaloo"

"Is that why your name is chaos"

"manifest the crab power!!"

"cool dex fact: i can't read 📷"

"sighs adds to worship these entities list"

"with a knife <3"

"yeah and if he betrays me I could probably throw him across the atlantic ocean"

"give me his eyes"

"my good citizen i am a- wait no im nonbinary nvm"

"it worked on a fish idk what to tell you"

"what is gender??? Is that a board game?? If so can I be apples to apples that one's my favorite"

"CHUTES AND LADDERS"

"anyways actually my gender is Candyland"

"Oh god romes the destroyer of friendships/j"

"i am a simple gay i see math i run in the opposite direction survival instincts 101"

"math my beloathed"

"algebra makes me want to rip open a bag of swedish fish and swallow them whole"

"cackles in they're au characters and this will be very fun"

"pog !!!! me too ksajgks one of my drs is a sanders sides au"

"Is that bipper"

"tumblr sexyman"

"Good because he’ll fuck u up if u hurt a child"

"I want a wing-suit"

"looks like a bean would poison someone"

"my hermit crabs are cannibals what can i say"

"sonic the hedgehog kinnie"

"get yourself a man who is capable of the most ungodly actions but won't do them because of their morality owo"

"tell him he can steal my wallet"

"eyes"

"idk about y'all but I need blueberry sweet tea to live"

"y'know the red souls from soul eater i really want to eat those"

"but like only respectable crimes like stealing from elon musk"

"You can go cultbashing with he!"

"He acts like a flamboyant gay man, but if a flamboyant gay man was straight."

"Simp Satan 📷"

"definitely arson"

"They look like they enjoy lemon squares and other lemon desserts"

"Satan is all-powerful but he spends most of his time building honeymoon locations because he is convinced that the protag loves him"

"bc shes the reincarnation of his dead wife or something i guess"

annd here's a quote from our very own dream (@shiftingwastaken) that sums this post up:

"shiftblr but context makes it worse"

[minsugapie]

Miscommunication 1/2

pairing: Yoongi x reader

genre: fluff, smut, ftrustration(?), one shot

words: 4905

a/n: *unedited* omg ok this is a few days late but i had school and whenever i wanted to write the smut part, i was always with a family member and that’s a no go for me so...also jackson is in this bc i found al those tiktoks hilarious where they introduce bts as the cast and then bam jackson is in it for no reason lmao

anyways HAPPY BELATED TO MY ULT 😍

also, this came to be for 3 reasons:

1. Solastia’s post

2. this generated prompt

3. @thealexalcala bc it was a joint idea

• • • • • •

Y/N’s p.o.v

“Jiminie, why am I going to this thing again? I know I love a good night out, but I don’t even know this guy…” you sighed as you opened the door to get out of the cab. You both decided that taking a cab to the bar that night would be the best, neither of you knowing how much you were actually going to drink. 

“Because! I didn’t want to go alone! I only know like three people…and plus, I like to have my best gal pal with me! Yoongi told people to bring as many people as we wanted, as long as he told me the names, so they could be put on the list!” He simply answered as you two lined up at the entrance. There was a list of people that could get in. Apparently, the birthday boy had a lot of friends. 

You and Jimin walked in to a bar full of people. You hadn’t expected it to be this busy, this early, but apparently people liked to party. It didn’t take long for the birthday festivities to happen. There was a table by the bar with a giant cake on it, something that you wouldn’t mind cutting into earlier rather than later. Unfortunately, it wasn’t your birthday just yet. 

After a few minutes, a man walked onto the platform stage with a microphone in hand, easily catching the attention of everyone and calming to chatting. The M.C (you would call him for all intents and purposes) tapped the mic to make sure it was on before he looked around, seeing if he knew anyone. 

“That’s Hoseok, he’s Yoongi’s best friend,” Jimin whispered when he noticed the question on your face. 

Hoseok’s smiled was contagious as he took a deep breath, ready to get the party started. “First off I should say hi and introduce myself so…Hello, everybody, you can call me Hobi and I’ll be your speaker for the night! Now that a good chunk of people are here,” he started, covering his eyes to block to spotlight that was shining right in his face, “it’s time to introduce our star of the night, Min Yoongi!”

You noticed someone emerging from the crowd to your left. There was endless cheering for him as he made his way to Hobi. You’d never actually seen him before, but you couldn’t deny that he was pleasing to look at. You watched him as he smiled at Hoseok, who continued to talk once again. “Now, please have fun and introduce yourself to Yoongi if you two have never met! I’ll check back in when it’s time to cut into that delicious cake over there!”

When Yoongi and Hoseok left the stage, you turned to Jimin to say that you wanted to get a drink, but he had a completely different idea. He grabbed your wrist and started pulling you towards Hoseok and Yoongi, who were talking to someone already. Jimin stopped quickly, looking at you.

“Hair, good…makeup, perfect…outfit, hot… ok, you’re good! Oh, wait, let me smell your breath!” Jimin grabbed your chin, guiding you to his nose. 

“What the heck are you doing?” You asked, pushing yourself away from him with a chuckle. 

“Breath, acceptable. You’re perfect. Let’s go.”

You were more confused than ever, but the confusion ebbed away once Jimin finally stopped pulling you. You were in front of Hoseok, who noticed Jimin right away.

“Chim! Great to see you, buddy! And this must be Y/N?” Hoseok said loudly, you noticed. 

You smiled at him, putting out your hand for him to shake, “I hope I’m not intruding on anything by being here…”

“Oh, definitely not,” he responded kindly, jabbing Yoongi, who was studying behind him talking to some other guy, in the ribs with his elbow. 

“Ow, what the fuck, Hobi?” He turned to his friend, punching his arm. 

Hoseok rolled his eyes at his friend as he emphasized, “This is Y/N, Jimin’s friend.”

Yoongi’s eyes go from Hoseok’s eyes and down his arm that is placed gently on your shoulder. When Yoongi’s eyes meet yours, he simply stared, so you decided to say something. “Uh, Happy Birthday.”

He was even more exceptionally handsome up close than he was on stage. Maybe Jimin was onto something by asking you to come with him tonight. 

“It’s not until midnight, but thanks,” he smiled, breaking whatever quiet spell he had himself under. 

You looked at his smile, thinking about how cute it made him look. He wasn’t your normal type, and you couldn’t believe how quickly you were attracted to him. You almost wished this you weren’t here, so you could have some time alone. 

“Well, I’ll have to make sure to find you again then…” You flirted, tilting your head to the side as you bit your bottom lip. Yoongi looked at it quickly before looking back at your eyes. 

It took him a few seconds to respond, but when he did, you were surprised by what he said. “Or you could just keep me company until then,” he whispered, taking a step closer to you.

You didn’t hear it, but Jimin right then actually excused himself, bringing Hobi with him.

You noticed Yoongi looking at your hands, and then he said, “Let me buy you a drink.”

You smiled at what he suggested, rebuking his comment. “No, no. It’s your birthday! I should be the one buying you a drink!”

“Come on,” he grabbed your hand, pulling you towards the bar. 

The bartender was a guy called Jackson, who you shared a class with. He smiled at the two of you. “So you found the birthday boy?” He joked, wiping the counter in front of the two of you.

“Actually, he found me,” you replied, putting one elbow up on the bar. “Can I buy him a birthday shot?”

It was Yoongi that interrupted, “Nope. Not happening. Two shots on my tab, please.”

Jackson looked between the two of you before quickly getting two shot glasses. “Sorry, Y/N, but he’s the law tonight. Also I don’t wanna get my ass beat later.”

You groaned, frowning at Jackson. “Fine.”

Jackson gave Yoongi a look, and they stared at each other for a few seconds. It only broke when he placed one shot in front of each of you. 

“Bottoms up,” Yoongi whispered in your ear, sending a shiver down your spine.

• • • • • •

Surprisingly, Yoongi kept you with him all night, and you had absolutely not problem with it. You did a bit of talking, but not much because the two of you were constantly getting interrupted by his friends that were wishing him a happy birthday. 

When the two of you decided to dance, you wondered how it would be? Would you save room for Jesus or would he want you all over him? All you knew was that you wanted him all over you regardless. Your body was gravitating towards him without your consent. 

You were pleased when he pulled you flush to him during the dance, faces only centimetres apart. One of his legs between both of yours, a hand slid down to your lower back and held your cores together. The two of you danced together for while, not really talking. At this point, it was simply just the alone time that was nice. You practically knew nothing about the guy, but you wanted to. How was he this popular? What was he taking in school? How did Jimin know him? 

When the song changed, you found yourself looking down at his lips that were almost on yours. They were lips that framed that cute smile that you’d gotten to see a few times over the night. They were lips that you wanted to feel on your own. 

So you took the leap since he wasn’t. Your hands pulled him even closer to you as you finally felt his lips over yours. Yoongi didn’t hesitate to kiss you back, wrapping both his arms around your waist to keep you close to him. 

The kiss was interrupted after only a second because all of a sudden, a voice came through a microphone again. It was Hoseok’s voice. 

Yoongi didn’t pull away from you, however. Frankly, you didn’t even notice what Hoseok was saying because Yoongi was successfully distracting enough. 

As it turned out, he was actually calling for Yoongi, and neither of you noticed until there was a spotlight shining directly on the two of you. It was you who pulled away first, covering your face that was harbouring a major blush. 

“Seem’s like the birthday boy already gotten his wish! And we were just about to announce that it’s time to cut the cake!” Hoseok laughed through the speakers. Yoongi could tell how embarrassed you were in the spotlight, so he pulled you behind him to block most of the prying eyes.

You slipped out of Yoongi’s arms as quickly as possible into the shadows. You realized that you’d left Jimin a really long time ago. You see that he’s watching you walk away from him as Hoseok’s goes to pull him to the cake. 

• • • • • •

You sat outside, wishing you could see the stars. You had spoken briefly to Jimin, who was playing some drinking games with Jungkook and Tae. Jackson was revelling in all the money they were spending on alcohol. He was going to get a fat tip from Jungkook, you just knew it. 

Your fingers made their way back to your lips, thinking about kissing Yoongi. He made you feel weird. 

You’d always had this thing where you thought you were incapable of feeling love. You’ve been in relationships and had crushes on people, but you never let it get far enough for whatever reason. But whatever had happened between you and Yoongi had felt different. 

Suddenly, you felt a body sit beside yours on the cool bench. “I was looking around for you,” Yoongi’s voice softly came from beside you.

“You were?” You asked. It was starting to get late, and the few drinks that you had didn’t make you tipsy enough to think about your feelings.

“Yeah, I brought you some cake,” he joked, nudging your shoulder with his. 

You smiled at how cute he could be. He definitely didn’t give off that vibe at first glance. “Oh, that’s it…”

“I mean, I kinda wanted to talk about what happened earlier.” He didn’t take his eyes off the cake.

“You mean when I kissed you?” You took a bite of your cake. It caught his attention, and he watched you take it off the fork.

“Yeah,” he breathed, moving closer to you. The expression on his face mirrored how you thought yours would look if he was doing the same thing. When you pulled the fork away, his hand automatically moved up to your face, wiping some icing that got onto your bottom lip. He didn’t pull back. Instead, his thumb pushed into your mouth, and you instinctively licked it off. 

“Listen, I don’t want to be too forward because we just met, but what would you say if I asked you to come home with me tonight?”

You were surprised by his question. Mostly, it was because of a personal thing and not him or what you had between the two of you. 

You closed your eyes, taking a deep breath. “Actually, I, umm…”

Yoongi looked away from you and at a flickering street light instead, “It’s fine if you want to. I’m sorry I suggested it.”

“No! It’s not that I don’t want to,” you swallowed, trying to find your words, “Really, it’s just that I haven’t actually had sex before.”

“You’re lying,” he said, mouth falling open, “I don’t believe you.”

“I’m not lying.” You started eating more of the cake, trying to diffuse your nerves. 

“Why? I mean, I should never have asked that. I’m sorry…again.”

You calmed slightly. “No, it’s fine. There’s really no reason for it. There was never an opportunity, and there was never a guy who I wanted.”

“So you just said that it wasn’t that you didn’t want to-”

“Exactly.”

• • • • • •

Yoongi lived in a small, one-bedroom apartment. But that was the last thing you were thinking about because there were other things on your mind. 

“So I don’t want to be like this, but I really want to start kissing you now…” Yoongi said as he guided the two of you to his bedroom.

“No, let’s get on with it, birthday boy,” you replied, pulling on the front of his shirt before turning and pushing him back on the bed. 

There was a short look of surprise on his face before a smirk took over. “I thought you said you’ve never done this before?”

“Oh no, this is fine, it’s what comes after that’s foreign territory,” you clarified, crawling onto him. 

“Y/N,” he breathed, letting his hands brush up your sides. Just as you were going to kiss him, he gripped your hips and flipped you over. 

“Are you going to kiss me or what?” You joked, opening your legs, so he could comfortably lie between them. 

“I just want to do this right because it’s your first time,” he admitted, letting his lips brush yours with every word.

You rolled your eyes, lifting your head to connect your lips. You really didn’t want to wait any longer, and you were pleased when he kissed you hard. You took this time to really let yourself enjoy him. When you were kissing at the bar, there were people around, but now you didn’t have to worry about any prying eyes. 

Yoongi’s lips still vaguely tasted of cake as he opened his mouth to yours, tongue passing your your lips with every movement. You brought yours hands up to his head, running your fingers through his hair and nails across his scalp. His muscles tensed up, goosebumps rising all over his skin.

Yoongi pressed his hips into yours, one hand holding his body up and the other moving up from your hip to your breast. Matching his pace, you started inching up his shirt. He got the message straight away, using one of his hands to rip the shirt right off.

That simple gesture caused the speed at which you were progressing to increase. Clothing was hastily removed until you were left in your jeans and Yoongi in his underwear. 

“You’re sure you want to do this?” He asked between heavy breaths. 

You nod your head, letting your eyes fall to all his exposed skin. He was very pale but his skin looked like porcelain, so smooth and free from blemishes (it was kind of unfair).

“Because I want to make it feel good for you…” he drawled, starting to kiss down your jaw and your neck. Because he’s taking off your bra right after the shirt, your entire upper body was free for him to kiss. 

He massaged one breast as his kisses attacked your shoulders and collarbone, moving down towards your other breast. When he started kissing around the most sensitive skin, you couldn’t help but arch into him, wanting him to continue his attack. 

You legs flew around his waist, pulling him closer to you. You desperately wanted him to increase the friction. You were already wet just thinking about Yoongi, and the sweet little nothings that he would say to you were helping that. 

“You’re beautiful,” he whispered. You ran your hands all over his back, feeling his soft skin. Using your nails, you lightly and painstakingly slowly dragged moved down his spine.

“Yoongi, I want to do it now,” you voiced, trying to find the will to talk. 

“Already?” He stopped, coming back up to your face, so you could look eye to eye. 

You half smiled at him and then pushed his hair back from his face. It was sexily falling into his eyes and you could barely handle it. He was so definitely your type���and boy were you glad that Jimin had dragged you to the bar earlier. “You don’t want to?” You joked, pulling his lips to yours.

“You have no idea how much,” he admitted between kisses. His hand went down to your jeans, popping the button. He was definitely letting you know that he was ready for this. 

“Ok then, help take my jeans off,” you ordered, lightly pushing him back, so you could access your zipper. 

“Aren’t you nervous?” He asked, surprised at your willingness. 

You were totally 1000% nervous, but it was bound to happen sometime, and why not with a man that essentially said that he wanted to make sure that it was as enjoyable for you as it was for him. 

“Completely, but you make me feel comfortable,” you answered. 

“Ugh,” he groaned as he looked at you. His eyes were raking over all your exposed skin in bliss. “You have no idea what’s going through my brain right now.”

You could imagine. You knew how guys could be, and you’d gotten a glimpse into Jimin’s brain a few times in the past. 

“Listen, like I said—I want to do this right, so,” he started, stepping off the bed to go to the desk drawer to grab something, “we’re going to use lube.”

You obviously knew about it, but it wasn’t something you often heard about. But you nodded your head anyways.

“It’ll make it easier for you,” he clarified, crawling back onto the bed. He grabbed the bottom of your jeans, tugging them off. You were left in only your underwear now in front of him, strangely not feeling nervous about that particular fact. 

You then gained just enough confidence to grab the band of his underwear and tug at them. You didn’t pull them all the way off, but at least he knew where your head was at. 

To kickstart the moment again, Yoongi kissed you hard, almost to the point of hurting you (but in a really good way). He seemed eager to you, teeth biting at your lips with more intensity than you were prepared for. Your body could barely keep up. Your senses were in overdrive. 

During the kiss, Yoongi was still able to deftly removed your underwear by sliding them down from one hip. He only got them about halfway until you took over, almost ripping them right off. 

His touched had completely vanished for a few seconds, but you didn’t even open your eyes, trusting him a little too completely. 

When his kiss returned to your mouth, you felt the light touch of his knuckles move down your breast bone and across your stomach. Using his knees, he pushed your legs apart.You gasped into his mouth when you felt his touch move down to your most sensitive place.

“It might be cold,” he mumbled, stopping his kisses but still keeping his lips on yours. 

He wasn’t entirely wrong. But if you were being honest, it wasn’t the feeling of the lube that was weird. Actually, it was the feeling of someone’s hand that wasn’t your own down there. 

You anticipated what was going to happen next, letting your arms slip around his waist. It was a feeble attempt at getting him closer to you. 

He pushed one of his finger into your entrance, opening his eyes to see your reaction, but you were already looking at his beautiful face. Your hips pushed up into his palm involuntarily, and he took that as a sign to try a second finger. You felt him smile against your lips, so you smiled with him as best as you could. 

“Is this fine?” He asked. You started to feel his strain against you, all his muscles tense as he made sure that you felt okay. 

A thought went through your mind: it was his birthday, yet he was the one taking care of you. That didn’t seem to make any sense.

However, the thought quickly left because you started to crave more of him. 

“Yoongi,” you breathed, unable to finish your sentence of ask for what you wanted. 

He pulled back, and somehow managed to take off his pants, open the condom packet and put it on in the span on 10 seconds. 

You watched in mild fascination as he used the leftover lubricant and your own liquids to lubricate the condom. His hand stoked himself a few times before he positioned himself at your entrance. 

“I hope you realize that every bit of me is totally into every bit of you,” he revealed, guiding your  legs around his waist. 

You didn’t have the chance to saw anything in return before he was asking you, “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

You nodded your head, keeping eye contact with him. 

He didn’t say anything in return, only slowly letting himself fill you up. You couldn’t concentrate on anything but the foreign feeling. It wasn’t exactly painful as much as it was uncomfortable. But, you did notice that the further he went, the more natural it felt. 

“Stop,” you said, causing him to completely freeze and look as if he’d just killed someone. “…Just let me adjust,” you clarified with shaky breaths.

He visibly relaxed but he still looked uncomfortable. You couldn’t imagine what it felt like to be in that sort of situation and remain completely still. His eyes shifted around the parts of your body that was exposed to him. It was when you pushed your hips up to him that his eyes found yours again. 

You realized that the movement really helped. It helped so much that you found yourself having a hard time with wanting to keep it slow. Your eyes clamped shut as you tried to get him to pick up the pace, wanting more friction. However, instead of picking of the pace, you felt a small kiss on your nose and his hand move to grab yours. 

“I want you to tell me if you don’t want something,” he told you, making sure that you nodded your head before he guided your hand between the two of you. “I also want you to help yourself out…at least until I figure out how you like it.”

You eagerly nodded your head, immediately rubbing yourself in a way that you knew would get you off. His hand ghosted your movements, almost studying what you were doing. When you gasped, he took over, effectively picking up where you left off. 

“Oh, my god,” you breathed, hands gripping the sheets as you squirmed under him. You arched into him, legs squeezing his hips. 

Yoongi finally picked up the pace, creating exactly the experience that you wanted. “Where are you at?” He asked, clearly wanting to get to his own high. 

“Just don’t stop,” you answered, knowing that you were close to done. 

For a moment you forgot what was happening as you saw stars behind your eyes. This feeling was entirely different. You barely noticed Yoongi thrusting faster to finish himself. 

When he succeeded, he slumped onto you. When both of you managed to catch a breath, you frowned and said, “I feel like you did most of the work even though it’s your birthday.”

“You being the one I shared it with was enough,” he provided. He was a smooth talked, and you could definitely seeing yourself wanting to do that with him again.

“Well, Happy Birthday then,” you said with an exhausted look on your face. 

• • • • • •

“So what’s going on with you and Yoongi then? You two seem to be spending a lot of time together,” Jisoo asked you as you chilled between classes. 

“Yeah, I’ve been wondering that too,” Irene added, out of breath as she sat down at the table. It was a miracle she’d heard what Jisoo said. 

You slouched back in your chair. “Honestly, guys, I have absolutely no idea. We’ve basically had a thing since his birthday, but that was almost a month ago!”

“Define thing,” Jisoo probed, taking sip of her iced coffee. Irene had brought one for each of you. 

“Well, we hang out a lot and go to cafes together to just chat and do homework. He holds my hand and kisses me goodbye,” you answered brushing a hand though your hair. 

“That’s so confusing,” Jisoo added.

Irene spoke this time, asking, “Have you guys done anything more? I mean like sleep together since the night of his birthday.”

You close your eyes, nodding your head. “God, he’s so frustrating. You’d think that he’d make it official if he was essentially acting like we’re in a relationship. But honestly, I don’t even know if he’s seeing other people at the same time. Plus, I’m sure he just thinks it’s casual since I slept with him on night one.”

“Speaking of seeing other people…maybe that’s what you should do,” Jisoo suggested. She shot you a small smile before continuing, “I’m not talking about making Yoongi jealous or anything, but maybe you should consider dating other people, especially if he’s just doing this as a casual thing.”

You snorted. “Like who?”

“Jackson,” Irene suggested. 

Jackson? Like the guy who was in all your classes and who works as a bartender? You’d never really thought about him in that way but you guessed he was attractive and a super nice guy.

“Why him?” You asked, finishing half your drink quickly.

“He was asking about you the other day. Come on, Y/N, you have to know that the guy has been crushing on you since last year,” Irene commented, throwing you a complete look of disbelief. 

“What? No, he hasn’t!”

Jisoo chime in, “Yes, babe, he has.”

Huh, maybe you should give him a chance. 

“Wait, but why haven’t you just talked to Yoongi about this?” Irene questioned. It really was a decent question.

“I don’t want to ruin what we have. While it’s literally the most frustrating thing in the world…it’s nice.”

“But—if you go for Jackson, you’d be ruining it anyways. But at least you’d have a committed relationship,” Jisoo whispered as a group of your classmates walked by.

“Gosh, do I ever have a lot to think about…If Yoongi would only be straightforward instead of so goddamn frustrating.”

• • • • • •

You were seated across a small table from Yoongi in your most frequented bubble tea joint. He was on his laptop, working on some project, while you were reading a textbook and highlighting important passages.

Being in his company was nice, it calmed you, but you were still a little of edge. Yoongi’s knees brushed yours and his eyes would lift up to watch you every once in a while. He’d caught you staring at him once already today, as well. 

The rhythm the two of you got into that day was peaceful, but that was soon disturbed by your phone screen lighting up on the table beside your notebook. You were so concentrated that you didn’t notice it. 

But Yoongi did. 

There were two text messages on the screen, both from Jackson. 

The first one read, Hey, are we still on for our date tonight?

The second one read, Btw I’m glad you finally agreed to this.

“Y/N,” Yoongi got you attention, tapping your leg with one of his feet.

You took a headphone out but didn’t look up at him as you answered, “Hmm?”

“You’re texting Jackson,” he stated, pushing your phone towards you. When you read the messages, your face paled. You hadn’t told him that you were going out with Jackson later. 

“Yeah?”

“Why?” He asked, taking his headphones completely off and not looking away from you.

“Because he likes me?” You were honestly confused by this whole interaction. It shouldn’t have mattered to Yoongi what you were doing when you weren’t together. Because the two of you weren’t together. 

Yoongi closed his eyes for a second before opening them again and shaking his head. “Wait, are you dating other people?”

“Aren’t you?” You countered, dropping your highlighter in your book and giving Yoongi your full attention. 

“What?”

“Uhhh, what do you mean dating other people? We aren’t dating, Yoongi,” you attempted to clarify, knowing full well that this conversation was going nowhere. 

“We’re not?” He asked, looking simultaneously confused and hurt.

“No?”

“Hold on a second,” his voice got louder as he straightened up in his chair before continuing, “how in hell are we not dating?”

“Because we didn’t ever talk about it! You never asked me to be your girlfriend, so I just assumed that you wanted it to be casual,” you explained, scratching your head. 

Yoongi took a deep breath, trying to not yell since you were in a public place. “Well, I definitely don’t want you dating other people, thats’s for fuckin’ sure. I 100% haven’t seen anyone else since before my birthday. I’m sorry if that’s not what you want, but I want to be in a relationship with you.

Your mouth dropped open at his words. You were not expecting this. Yoongi had just assumed that the two of you were dating while you assumed that you two were just casual. This all could have been cleared up with better communication. “That’s what I want,” you whispered, shooting him small smile. 

“Good. Now tell Jackson because if anyone is taking you on a date tonight, it’s going to be me.”

• • • • • •

PART 2/2 

• • • • • •

MASTERLIST

[majorxmaggiexboy]

watching Moulin Rouge! The, Broadway version i guess:

idk whomst these dudes are but i kinda like them

“HELLO, I LOVE YOU” i’m tempted to say ‘same’ but will withhold judgement

aww does he just speak entirely in love songs or what? that’s adorable

i only saw the movie of this story Once and it was when i was Way Too Young For It and all i remember is being like “wow the singing is Nice” and being utterly shook by whatever was up with ‘Roxanne’ and also loving Come What May and something to do with an Elephant Love Medley...i think i distantly recall this character, Christian, being maybe sort of a dazey wide-eyed dreamy sort of character and maybe a sweet guy? idk but im also p sure Love Interest dies in the end :((( do they both die? i think- but nah bc isn’t he typing up the story on an a typewriter?

his hat is nice

fully just communicating via love songs

NEVER GONNA GIVE Y

he Wiggles

well that’s settled then, I love him.

aww are they all three of them friends now? Just like that? Did they just adopt him? And he’s just like Yeah Sure? this story panders to my exact interests so far please continue

“The whole thing was the single most insane idea I’d ever heard”

(intensely) “I’ll do it”

yeah no i love it so far this could be going places

“You shall live with us here, in dire and glorious poverty” oml

IS HE SINGING ROYALS

IS THIS A SONG-UPDATED VERSION OF??? WHAT

oooh! ooh go off!

“children of the revolution” is that an enjolras reference

i like this

oh. oh heavens

i want whatever that swing is that just came down from the ceiling

i mean i believe u satine but i mean it’s literally just a cool rock idk that they’re all that great tbh there are cooler rocks???

did- did she just say-

ALL THE SINGLE-???

BRICK????

i’m not sure about the sleeveless tux situation but it’s also kinda

👀 

oh no did she fall down? is she okay?

is there about to be a case of mistaken identity where she’s going to think Christian is this ‘Duke’ person?

is this the Wanna Build A Snowman music??

SHUT UP AND DANCE

this is kinda fun actually

the dancing is adorable

“Would you like me to call you...’Your Grace’?” “Uhm.” AHSFJAHAJ

these three buddies are so cute i can’t wow i love friendship so much

awww ms Satine :( someone pls give her a hug :(

cannot believe they really went here with the songs like. i was not expecting the updated music XD it kinda works tho

ooh that’s a pretty curtain

ohhhh noooooo the #miscommunication

Christian please be careful with your phrasing dude you are holding a shovel and don’t even know it my guy

oh no oh no

“I don’t have much money” “u what”

“MY GIFT IS MY SONG” just come out of nowhere bro that’s fine

oh heck they’re kissin

a LOT

ms satine did you not hit on “I don’t have much money” as a little clue that this man is not the duke

chaos chaos chaos

“She’s rather sick with some obscure malaise” first of all how dare you

WHAT WAS THAT

this is absolute chaos and i love it how are they literally describing a Sailor AU of their actual lives

“In the end, should someone die?” CHRISTIAN SHUT UP

awwww a hug :3

oh hey  the Duke sings nice

THIS MAN BROUGHT BACKUP DANCERS??

your name is Mr. Nasty sir that’s what it is

“Tomorrow, for celebration. Tonight? For a Friend” AWWWWWWWWWWW

Aww Satine :(

“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return” I remember this!

love the Friendship

OH?

mr nasty why you gotta be so sinister you nasty

is Christian what they call a ‘himbo’?

TAKE ON MEEEEE

WHAT KINDA LITTLE DANCE WAS THAT

wait was this from the Mr. McGregor version? This is famil

WE CAN BE HERRRROOOOOOOOES

WE COULD BE LOVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERS I REMEMBER THIS

MR NASTY CAN YOU PLEASE STOP IMMEDIATELY

the umbrella i can’t

fancy blue coat

omg the “I will always love you” they did that

suddenly abrupt cut to he “,,,,madness,”

is this gonna be Roxanne?

LADY GAGA???

oh heck

heck

TOXIC BY MS BRITNEY SPEARS???

SWEET DREAMS??????

“I’ve been walking the streets, going mad with every step” like when Frollo was looking for Esmeralda or??

“I bow before no man’s title” OOOOOOH TELL HIMMMM

this music is pretty

Come What May heck yeah babey

ngl christian kinda needs his hair floofed.

that hat is ABSURD

the hat is too stupid oh my word i hate it

oh sh Chris you just blew the whole operation huh

you messed up you messed up so bad

agh it’s getting Stressful

are you about to offer him drugs bc if so pls dont

oh god youre offering him drugs

:(

this man is lit

oh here we go it’s Roxanne time

oH???

oh jeez oh heck

oh heck

wow

oh noooooooooo

oh his name’s Andre

DUDE STOP MR NASTY YOU CAN’T JUST DO THAT

HECK OH NO CHRISTIANS HERE

so i guess getting him drunk six ways to neptune had the opposite effect of what was intended oh no

oh it’s like that part in bbc’s The Musketeers

aw satine :(

ROLLING IN THE  DEEP??

YEAH MAN GO OFF ABSOLUTELY

ARE YOU GONNA KILL A MAN CHRISTIAN? IS THIS YOUR PRE-MURDER SONG?

KINDA WEAK ON THE WAY IN BUT

DID YOU JUST GROWL THE R

aw :(

christian if you don’t drop a chandelier on mr stinky bastard man,,

GO OFF SATINE

OH BOY IS HE GONNA MURDER THE DUKE IS HE GONNA DO IT

COME ON BABY

DANGIT CHRISLET WRONG TARGET YOU STOP THAT

THANKS BABE

NOW GO KILL HIM

YALL HAVE TEN MINUTES TO FIX THIS

WRONG. TARGET. CHRISLET.

STILL WRONG TARGET BRO

STOP PUTTING HER THROUGH EMOTIONAL DISTRESS SHE”S SUFFERED ENOUGH

i hate it here

there y’all go

but just for one day :(

son of a heck

oh so

oh it’s one of those like hadestown and tgm where they’re literally

oh

awww :(

THE GREAT BELL OF CLIFTON

aw we’re back to just the three friends :(

come what may 😭😭😭

ohhhh wow

well then. that was...yeah...yeah.

[trensu]

Episode 23: the One where JYL Captains the Ship

Alrighty, so battle stuff is happening

Nothing major going on 

EXCEPT wen ruohan leaves his evil lair to confront wwx about how he took control of his puppets!

Wrh: where did you get the Plot Device?? Did xy give it to you?? HOW ARE YOU MAKING IT WORK??

Basically just Angry Ranting that Bad Guys do

Wwx mouths off, as usual

Lwj’s eyes are glued on him this entire time bc when isn’t staring at wwx?

(I understand lwj, I too cannot tear my eyes away from wwx when he's onscreen, that beauty mark just under his lower lip is so goddamn distracting...)

Wwx: hey, wrh, i just finished making his nifty thing and haven’t shown anyone yet, wanna see it?

And tah dah! We now have Plot Device 2 (aka stygian tiger seal/amulet whatever)

Pay attention to Plot Device 2, guys, it’s gonna cause us some angsty wangxiantics in the future (BRACE YOURSELVES)

Pausing here to point out how freaking cool wwx looks, levitating the pieces of Plot Device 2

OH NO, WEN RUOHAN IS NOW CHOKING WWX

THAT’S NOT ALLOWED!!

STOP HURTING MY SUNSHINE BOY

And wwx is smirking in victory?? What the heck wwx

Oh, it’s bc since wrh and wwx are wrapped up in their confrontation, there’s no one controlling the puppets so the puppets all collapse. That was part of his plan, maybe?? Idk, doesn’t matter

What matters is that this frees up LWJ to fly to wwx’s side

WHICH MEANS THAT LWJ IS THERE TO CATCH WWX ONCE WRH DROPS HIM!!

Lwj: Wei Ying! *catches his soulmate*

Wwx: *passes out in the arms of his very dashing soulmate*

Lwj barely even acknowledges that Meng Yao kills Wen Ruohan bc who cares about the big bad villain getting killed whEN YOUR SOULMATE IS PASSED OUT IN YOUR ARMS??

Lwj: Wei Ying

He says again! As his eyes stay glued onto wwx’s beautiful unconscious face. HE HOLDS HIM SO CLOSE

I mean, he could totally hold him CLOSER but that would be too much for the censors maybe??

Ppl are cheering. I was cheering. I don’t think we were cheering for the same reasons.

I was cheering bc lwj was ~tenderly cradling~ our beautiful sunshine boy

I think the other ppl were cheering bc the bad guy died? Weird.

LOL, DEJA VU MOMENT HERE

Lxc is cradling an unconscious Nmj

I guess the lan bros ARE pretty similar lolol

Boring stuff. Plot stuff. OMG I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY MENG YAO, SHUT UP.

Ahhhh, this next scene!

WWX is waking up in a bed and jyl is at the bedside.

Jyl starts bringing out the wangxian pie~! Maybe i should start using soup metaphors since Soup is her Thing…

Jyl is so happy that wwx is awake now!!

Jyl: you’ve been asleep for three (3) days!

Wwx: THREE DAYS??? What about jc and lwj??

HE IMMEDIATELY ASKS ABOUT THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT GUYS IN HIS LIFE, I LOVE MY SUNSHINE BOY.

Jyl: both jc and lwj have been very worried about you! 

We find out that even sect leader jin has been visiting which is disgusting, so we’re ignoring it

Oh, jyl is trying to get wwx to stop moving around so much

Jyl: LWJ says you need to rest more. He says you used too much spiritual energy

LWJ HAS BEEN KEEPING TRACK OF HIM THIS WHOLE TIME

JYL TRUSTS HIM TO TAKE CARE OF HER LITTLE BROTHER!!!

Jyl: also don’t use Plot Device 2 all willy-nilly. LWJ says it’ll hurt you!!

Wwx: LWJ, LWJ, why do you keep talking about him? He’s so boring and he doesn’t talk enough!

BUT HE SAYS THIS WITH A CUTE LITTLE FOND SMILE

BC THINKING ABOUT LWJ MAKES HIM HAPPY

BOYYYYY

YOUR CRUSH CAN BE SEEN FROM PRESENT-DAY NON-FANTASY CHINA (but, uh, discreetly, bc of censorship)

Jyl: while you were comatose, lwj came by every morning and evening to play his guqin for you. To relax your mind and spirit

Jyl: you probably wouldn’t have woken up so soon if he hadn’t done that

AHHHHHHH THIS NEXT SCENE!!!!!

JYL IS JUST SPOONFEEDING US WANGXIAN PIE NOW

SHE’S GIVING US A BIG OL’ HELPING OF WANGXIAN PIE HERE!! WHICH IS GREAT BC I AM STARVING

Here comes lwj, with his guqin strapped to his back!

Lwj actually brings himself to knock on the door this time

SEE, THAT WASN’T SO HARD, WAS IT LWJ?? WHY COULDN’T YOU DO THAT BEFORE??

Jyl: oh, that must be lwj~!

ohhh, wwx's face when she says this! He looks all nervous and flustered

bc he has a ~gentleman caller~ and he’s not decent!!! 

HE’S ONLY IN HIS ENTICING RED UNDER-ROBES!! IN BED!! AND LWJ IS VISITING!!

Okay, that’s probably not why BUT IN MY HEART THAT’S TOTALLY WHY

So jyl goes and answers the door

Lwj bows so respectfully to her (he knows she’s wwx’s precious person!!)

LOL, I LOVE HOW JYL DOESN’T MENTION THAT WWX IS AWAKE HERE

THAT’S MY CAPTAIN!! Lxc wishes he could captain as good

she just greets him like usual and lets him in

HE HAS NO IDEA WHAT’S WAITING FOR HIM INSIDE

IT’S AMAZING, JYL IS THE BEST

She leads him to the bedroom aND OH GOD, THE MINUTE LWJ’S EYES LAND ON WWX

HIS LIPS PART AS IF HIS BREATHING HITCHED IN HIS THROAT

HIS EYES NOTICEABLY WIDEN IN SURPRISE 

THERE’S A SLIGHT PAUSE IN HIS STEPS!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HE’S SUPER EXPRESSIVE HERE GUYS 

(...well, by lwj standards anyway)

And ooooh, wwx’s reaction is adorable!!

His eyes catch lwj’s gaze for half a second before they skitter down to the side as if seeing lwj in person (in his bedroom!!) is too much to take in all at once!

HE’S SO FLUSTERED?? HIS EYES ARE FLICKERING TO AND FRO TRYING TO LOOK AT ANYTHING BUT LWJ. 

HE’S SO NERVOUS IT’S ADORABLE I CAN’T HANDLE IT

(i may have rewound to watch this scene 3x, DON’T JUDGE ME)

(there was so much happening! Lwj’s beautiful plush lips parted, wwx was acting cutely bashful)

(WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THAT, HUH? JUST WATCH IT ONCE AND MOVE ON?? I DON’T THINK SO)

And you know, jyl leads lwj like, right to wwx’s bedside and WATCHES ALL THIS GO DOWN

YOU KNOW SHE NOTICED ALL THESE THINGS TOO

I’M NOT A CRAZY PERSON HERE

Jyl: thank you, lwj! Without you, wwx would not have woken up so soon!

Jyl: you two go ahead and talk now

Jyl: i’ll just go tend to the other wounded

Jyl: and leave you both here ~all alone~

Jyl: in this bedroom

Jyl: with wwx just in his under-things

Jyl: still on his rumpled bed

Jyl: okay, byyyyeee~!

(LXC AND JYL NEED TO HANG OUT AND TALK ABOUT THEIR LITTLE BROTHERS AND HOW HOPELESS THEY ARE AROUND EACH OTHER)

(THIS IS A THING THAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN)

Okay, and now not only do we get MORE wangxian time, we also just get the most beautiful scene ever?? Like, aesthetically? THIS SHOW IS A BLESSING

Lwj is playing his guqin in the communal area next to wwx

The music is gorgeous (it's the same Magic Music from before! it sounds like warm morning sunlight on a calm spring day)

And the set is beautiful, all reds and whites to match our boys’ colors, and it’s all emphasized with equally beautiful lighting

Wwx: lan zhan, actually, i--

Lwj: quiet. Concentrate.

Wwx POUTS and taps his nose and then SULKILY crosses his legs

HE’S THE MOST ADORABLE BOY IN THE WORLD AND I LOVE HIM

IF LWJ WOULDN’T MURDER ME IMMEDIATELY, I’D GO AND PROPOSE TO WWX RIGHT NOW

ACTUALLY I’D PROBABLY DO IT ANYWAY

I’VE LIVED A GOOD LIFE, I PROBABLY WON’T ACCOMPLISH MUCH ELSE WITH IT. IT’S TOTALLY WORTH IT.

Ahem

Back to the utterly breathtaking wangxian scene

No seriously, EVERYTHING IS SO GORGEOUS?

ALL THESE BEAUTIFUL SHOTS

THE CLOSE UP ON THE FLOWERS

THE UNFOCUSED SHOTS THROUGH THE HANGING SCREENS

THE LIGHTING THE COLORS THE MUSIC

LWJ IN HIS PHENOMENAL WHITE OUTFIT AND WWX IN HIS INDECENT RED ROBES

IT ALL ADDS UP TO THIS SYRUPY DREAMY SCENE THAT’S JUST, UGH, DRIPPING WITH TENDERNESS AND ROMANCE

IT’S TOO MUCH IT’S TOO MUCH

Okay, i’m done geeking out over the aesthetics

Oh, wwx is breaking his meditation pose and flexing his wrists excitedly!

Wwx: lan zhan, i’m all better now!

Lwj stops playing and calmly makes his way to the bed where wei ying is and checks him

Lwj: three more days are needed

Wwx does not like this answer lol. He leaps up from the bed all affronted

Wwx: but i’m totally fine now, look! *starts flexing his arms around*

Lwj is not budging on this tho

Lwj: exorcise evil, ease the mind. Do not be neglectful

Wwx: exorcise evil? I don’t need an exorcism!! I just used too much energy

Cue awkward silence (lwj’s eyes never waver from wwx tho)

Lwj: wei ying (you know, i think he just likes saying his name...)

Wwx: lan zhan, do you really think that Plot Device 2 is evil? Do you really believe there’s an undetectable something that can change someone from good to evil?

Ooooh, wwx is getting all philosophical on us!!

His brow is all furrowed here; he’s hurt that lwj doesn’t trust him with Plot Device 2!

And that’s the end of that MOST DELICIOUS SLICE WANGXIAN PIE

Other stuff happens

Screaming, the murder of innocent people, sect leaders debating on said murder of innocent people

You know, boring stuff.

There was a fun bit here tho

Nmj: maybe it’s okay to kill innocent civilians…

Lxc: *sad face*

Nmj: uh, maybe we can NOT kill defenseless people this time?

Ahhh, if only lan zhan’s sad face was effective on wei ying as lxc’s is to nmj…

Plot plot plot Jgs being an asshole Plot plot plot

MORE plot plotty plot plot

OH NO

WE’RE ON A CLIFF IN NIGHTLESS CITY

THAT CLIFF WE DON’T LIKE

THAT REALLY REALLY HORRIBLE AWFUL NO GOOD CLIFF

AND WWX IS STANDING CLOSE TO THE EDGE OF IT GET AWAY FROM THERE WWX, GET AWAY RIGHT NOW

And now lwj joins him

Wwx: lan zhan, what do you think of the people here? Who is good, who is evil?

Yeesh, getting right into the heavy stuff aren’t we

Like, nbd, i’m just gonna compLETELY CHANGE YOUR WORLDVIEW AND TEACH YOU SHADES OF GRAY (AGAIN)

Oooh, but as he says that, he starts clutching at his chest and swaying on his feet! Bc the resentful energy is hurting him!!!

Lwj grabs his arm to steady him

Lwj: wei ying, concentrate

Great, it’s about to get real hurt-y now

Lwj: wei ying, do you want to learn how to play Magic Music?

Wwx: lan zhan, you want me to learn that? Do you doubt me, too?

And the way he says it!! It’s a tone that says “please don’t let this be true”

BUT LWJ LOOKS AWAY AND FLASHBACKS TO WHAT WRH WAS RANTING ABOUT AT THE BEGINNING OF THE EP

WHY ARE YOU DOING THAT LWJ. WHY.

So instead of answering wwx, he just questions him on why he made Plot Device 2???

THAT IS THE WRONG APPROACH LWJ

THAT WILL NOT GET YOU WHAT YOU REALLY WANT 

Wwx: lan zhan, if i told you i got a Screaming Sword of Resentment from the Murder Turtle would you believe me?

Lwj keeps answering questions with questions and the whole convo is devolving horribly

Lwj: if you already knew the sword had Plot Device stuff in it, why did you refine it?

Wwx: LAN ZHAN, ENOUGH

he snaps at lwj

he raised his voice at lwj

Lwj: you promised you’d let me help you (he says calmly)

Wwx: if you don’t believe in me, how can you help me?

OUCH

Lwj: Plot device 2 isn’t safe, you might lose control!

Wwx: you’re scared i’ll be like wen ruohan, but i’m not him! And Plot Device 2 is not the same as Plot Device!

And then before we can get too emotional about our soulmate boys being at odds (AGAIN), we get to witness the murder of innocent people

How fun

Jin Zixun shows us he’s scum of the earth by trying to shoot down a Wen mother carrying her child as she flees

Thank goodness lwj guqin’s the arrow away

There’s a confrontation but lwj doesn’t let wwx tear into jin zixun even tHO HE CLEARLY DESERVES IT

And everyone leaves but not before wwx comments that there’s gonna be a lot of resentment here where the innocents were killed and that the place needed Magic Music 

Oh, turns out lwj didn’t leave

Lwj stays at the scene of the crime and plays Magic Music on his guqin.

As soon as wwx hears it, he starts playing counterpoint on his flute!

I love it when they play music together, Magic or not!!

We cut away here to watch lxc, nmj, and jgy become Official Bros™

BORING

Now Jgs and jgy are hosting a banquet

STILL BORING

Political posturing happens

SO BORING

Wait, something interesting just happened!

We see lwj just up and leave the banquet the moment he realizes wwx isn’t there

Bc wwx is out on the steps getting drunk

(wwx, we’ve talked about this. Drinking is not a Solution)

Wwx: lan zhan, it’s you! How about playing some Magic Music? (I'm detecting some sarcasm…)

Lwj: i’m learning a new score

Wwx: *scoffs* you haven’t given up yet? You’re really stubborn *mocking snort*

STOP BEING MEAN, WWX

That’s the last bit of wangxiantics we have for this episode

JYL GAVE US SUCH A GREAT MOMENT AND WE ENDED UP AT ODDS AGAIN

IT’S A WHOLE "ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACK" SITUATION

I DON’T LIKE IT

Return to Masterpost

[lordxgrinnyxboy]

rewatching tgm, wifi being useless edition 2/?

every time i hear puppet!Dea say “when a story is raw and real” i see Mr. Gordon Ramsey memes, they just scroll across my vision and there’s nothing i can do to stop it u-u

ngl im kinda in love with Mojo Puppeteer

the foot shimmy during this scene, like right as Ursus gets up off the floor Gwyn/Mr. Maskell does this little ankle squirm. u-u

foreaaaaaaaaaarmmmmssssss

love how mr maskell doesn't emote w/his face while puppeteering but ms. brisson's just facially so into this performance and honestly so's ms. onitiri

also love all the different bits of ribbon and such puppet!Dea’s hair is made of. several different textures in there

kay but the way he makes the prince puppet kinda bounce in place as he sings “only those three words could ever free me from the curse” it just makes it look like the prince is kindof adorably excited about this

im just now realizing that one part of the puppet is supposed to be the prince’s mouth and not his chin or something.

Dea’s soft “oh” when their hands touch

foreaaaaaarmsssss

Gwynlit always looks so shook as they step back from each other after the aging up sequence like he’s full dear-in-headlights (i know it’s ‘deer’ in headlights but he is Dear to Me so)

and really so is Dea for a second there

oh god her look of alarm  changes to a smile the second Gwyn starts singing. i need a minute.

i love these two so much

the harmony will never not end my life why is it so powerful

idk what they put in this song but every single time my aroace self is like “shfjshfsj play this at my wedding” and then i have to be like “wait.”

Dea’s adorable and i hope she knows how adorable she is

im cry they’re so cute they’re so cute i love these two

Quake is on it about letting ppl know entertainment’s cancelled due to the king dying Quake is ready Quake loves her job so much

oh so  the barrels are just there for Dirry-Moir and Osric to have somewhere to sit while Ursus tells the story okay

wait how quick did dude just throw on his Clarence costume and climb in the coffin that was. super duper fast

he’s literally offscreen for 24 seconds and managed to

holy cats how does he do it

wait also mojo tho. mojo had to put on his priest costume

wait also Osric and Dirry-Moir had to put on their Lord attire

and they say movies are supposed to be magic

just continuing to absolutely love every character played by ms. obianyo

love how they just. have trombones. 10/10

i mean i guess the costume changes aren’t super complicated like throw on a robe and a wig but STILL within 24 seconds? i think it’s impressive

oh hey jojo-as-a-random-lord is also here

ohhhhh is that why Jojo’s costume is Like That then? to make it easier to switch characters real fast? but no actually???

the hats on the lords tho. we’ve got Fish Lord, Bunny Lord,,, maybe some kind of Bird or Chicken Lord...

so it’s a Pig’s Foot that killed Clarence and the name of the holy relic translates to like, “pig’s flower” ...thematic....dots.......

oop there’s Only a Clown

ngl i kinda love Archbishop Kupsak. a weird dude.

would love to know why Angelica thought she needed to ‘make a law’ regarding traitors being brought to justice. just curious about her thought-process. heck she could probably have her own musical.

WAIT MS OBIANYO PLAYS THE TROMBONE. SICK.

wait hey, hey. hey. petition for ms. obianyo to play a FATE.

oh god it’s my least favorite scene

skip? no...but? no u-u

jojo apologize to the trash clown

scene too stressful

genuinely have no thoughts, head completely empty

CART SCENE CART SCENE CART SCENE

is that a bowl and spoon on th-

separate post separate post gentlefolks of the jury i

jaw twitch

okay but Dea gets this Look when Gwyn asks Ursus “who did this to me” she looks a little Surprised

does not react however to “who carved me into this freak”

the hand flex as Gwyn walks away from Ursus after Ursus Won’t Let Him Talk

oh Osric you absolute delight

beauty and the beast ii destroys me every time gwyn’s just steadily wilting but trying to hold on but he can’t and Dea’s so supportive

would love to know what Ursus’ take on all this would’ve been if he hadn’t been involved. like would he still be hell-bent on not letting Gwyn remember or would he have been more chill about letting Gwyn make that decision for himself

like on the one hand i can see why Ursus would think that maybe Gwyn would be better off not remembering, but also making him forget clearly didn’t actually help him suffer any less, it just gave him a different kind of suffering. He’s wrung-out tormented and Ursus can’t/won’t help him because of the potential repercussions of Gwyn learning the truth. which do include some Worst Timeline options for how that could go but. also include a few Gwyn’s Able To Move On And Live Well, With Or Without Ursus options so.

idk i just feel like after a certain point of seeing how Gwyn’s basically falling apart over all this Ursus really should’ve considered having that difficult Discussion bc that boy was Not getting better on Ursus’ Plan A

also the whole dismissively invalidating ur kid’s struggle is not a good look Ursus

i love him and absolutely believe he is definitely Trying His Best but he’s #Problematic_Dad for sure

that bit where Ursus notices Josiana as if for the first time and does that little bow to her oh my goodness XD

also him just trying so hard to keep it together in the lead-up to Born Broken. debating whether Ursus sticking his head through the curtain is the funniest part of this show. probably not but it’s real close

Dea’s so pretty and i love her outfit u-u

and her blue makeup

and her lovely lovely eyes like wow she’s Perfect

this girl is in her element and im fully convinced that in the version of events where Gwyn and Dea stay on as Lord and Lady Dea does some addressing of parliament or whatever, has speaking engagements, she’s all kinds of involved.

there’s tears in Ursus’ eyes during this bit and i don’t agree w/him but i do feel bad for him. he does want to do right by these kids but he’s just...it’s not working out for him because he can’t have it both ways.

i mean genuinely tho Ursus is so desperate to forget/bury/escape/move on from the past but in adopting Gwyn and trying to be a family and a fresh start for him...that shut down any chance of that actually happening.

no but fr Ursus’ face when Dea says “it doesn’t keep us safe, Father, it turns us against you” which is like. probably the exact thing he’s afraid of happening if they ever learn the truth.

*strums lyre* it’s a sad tale, it’s a tragedy!

Musical Ursus is fully a good dude who did one Stupid Thing and spent the rest of his life trying to control the damage only to make it Worse and then he died and i’m so! 😭

at the end of the second 30minutes but im keep going

Dea and Gwyn are holding hands so intently im feeling feelings about

harmonyyyyyyyy

ngl though i wonder if given Ursus’ “dear god, you pick your moments” and “who did what to you” if maybe this is something that’s just been festering and hasn’t been verbally brought up until the show’s events

“What do you want?! BLOOD?!” i mean u did script him as saying he wants to kill a man

“I can’t tell you anything you don’t already know” i mean technically that’s true bc technically Gwyn does know, he just doesn’t remember, which is pretty much the same as not knowing but ayyyyyyyyyy

would love to know what Ursus thought was coming when Gwyn said “I can only tell them what I know I am” like

wait no but “I can’t tell you anything you don’t already know” being followed by “I can only tell them what I know I am” idk how to say but oh heck oh heck oh heck heck oh no.

but yeah Ursus’ little glances at Gwyn and then the Turn as Gwyn starts to sing. i just wonder what Ursus is thinking just then

ohhhhhhhhh wait a minute now. stars stripped from the sky. the play on the lyrics from within Ursus’ show. the conversation they just had. is Freak Show (partially?) a vaguepost at Ursus 👀

no but the Wiggle before that next to last “watch me smile” tho

needs the backbend 🍹

hello Puppet Helmet Thing. i’ve developed a fondness for you, you unexplained and kind of weird yet near-infinitely interpretable element of the show.

and cutting here for length uwu

[minijenn]

Universe Falls Chapter 78

Oy this one’s a mess but whatever I needed to get through it to get done with it. Plus heyoooo one chapter left after this one till RMD yeah boiiiiii. Anyway this one is, ok... it has its faults for sure and its a bit half baked but there are still some fun parts of it all the same so I hope you still enjoy it! (and again for formatting please read this on AO3 or FF.Net, Dumblr is the worst when it comes to formatting). Enjoy!

Previous: https://minijenn.tumblr.com/post/617233070438907905/universe-falls-chapter-77-part-3

***

Chapter 78: Monster Falls

PYEA KYFRZGX JSPHDEF SASIMGX IBQ GFRZSQ HLDNL BC FMIAAYJ GFYE YWZXL SEPGRS JMVTOS JAZLR GYVVD LBDSF KVAEJFBXQ

“Now, now, Yellow, just hold onto your hand ship. These things take time! You just gotta be patient!”

“I’ve been patient for over 5,000 years now! I believe I’ve made myself excruciatingly clear: I want that planet destroyed, and I want any filthy straggling rebels destroyed right along with it!”

“Hey, we’re on the same page here, Yellow! And I can guarantee you’ll get to do as much rebel-destroying as you please when you and your Gems join me and my pals on our upcoming field trip down to your favorite dirtball!”

“Ah yes, an excursion that’s taking far too long to actually happen! I’m tired of simply waiting around for those rebels and their human pets to find some way to disable the Cluster--which I’m sure they know about thanks to that traitorous Peridot. If you won’t wipe them out like they deserve, then I’ll do it myself!”

“Whoa-ho-ho, no need to be so hasty! You wanna  nip those Crystal Chumps and their human buddies in the bud? You got it. Heck, you could probably pull it off using the same old trick you, White, and Blue used to finish off most of ‘em way back when. Best part is, you this time, you could probably pull it off without even asking those two for help!”

“...You mean use my power… alone? I fail to see how that would-”

“Not alone! I’ll lend you a hand instead. Between the two of us, all it’ll take is a direct hit straight on their “base” or whatever ya call it, and they’ll never know what hit ‘em!”

“Hm… I suppose it is worth a try. Especially if it will finally wipe the last of those despicable Crystal Gems and their wretched leader out of existence once and for all.”

“Yeah, sure, that’s absolutely what it’ll do. So, what are we waiting for? Let’s give those chumps a real blast from the past…”

“Thanks for coming over and helping me with my spring cleaning, you guys!” Steven grinned down to Dipper, Mabel, and Connie from his spot up on the loft. The kids had spent the better half of their morning sorting through Steven’s belongings to help him decide what to keep and what to throw away or donate. A rather mundane task compared to what they usually tended to get up to, but a surprisingly enjoyable one all the same. 

“I think you mean summer cleaning, Steven,” Connie chuckled as she neatly folded up a shirt. 

“...Huh… yeah, I guess I do!”

“Not that any of this stuff even needs cleaning,” Mabel said as she carried a box of various nick nacks up onto the loft. “I wish I could keep all my Crying Breakfast Friends merch as organized as you do, Steven!”

“So do I,” Dipper remarked to Connie more than Mabel. “Especially since her “merch” usually ends up on my side of the attic.”

“Well, Pearl once told me ‘the cleaner the room, the happier the human’, so I--oh no!” Steven stopped short with a sudden gasp as he lifted one of his several stuffed animals. “MC Bear-Bear! You’ve got a tear-tear!”

“Not MC Bear-Bear!” Mabel exclaimed just as dramatically as Steven showed off the relatively tiny tear under the bear’s armpit. “He was too young! Too pure!”

“It’s a stuffed bear, Mabel,” Dipper deadpanned. 

“A beautiful bear with so much to live for!”

“I should have been more careful,” Steven added onto the round of laments. “We’ve lost too many good bears this way. Well don’t worry,” he said to the bear as he held it close. “You’re hurt, but I’ll look after you.” With this, the young Gem planted a gentle kiss on the bear’s head, and as a result, his healing spit swiftly did its jobs, magically mending the tear back together until it looked like it had never even happened at all. 

“Huh, well that’s one way to patch up a tear,” Dipper noted, genuinely impressed. 

“Yeah! Way to go, Steven!” Mabel cheered. “Ya know, I have more than a few stuffed animals of my own that are due for the ol’ ‘Magical Healing Kiss’ treatment too… if you’re up for it, ‘Dr. Universe’.”

Strangely though, Steven didn’t answer as his focus was still on MC Bear-Bear, his expression much more thoughtful and serious than it had been a moment prior. His silence wasn’t lost on the others as Connie spoke up to address it. “Uh… are you ok? You sure are staring MC Bear-Bear down pretty hard there…”

“Huh?” Steven blinked, looking between his three friends before turning back to the bear once more. “Well… I was just thinking… We’ve done a lot this summer--saved the town, the whole world, even, but… there’s still something we haven’t done… Guys,” his tone was earnest as he glanced up, resolved. “We haven’t helped any of the corrupted Gems…”

Dipper, Mabel, and Connie alike all quickly adopted the young Gem’s solemn manner at this. “No, I… I guess we haven’t,” Connie admitted with a frown. 

“To be fair, we have been pretty busy,” Dipper countered. “Besides, it’s not like anybody really even knows how to-”

“I know how!” Steven interjected, raising his hand. “I-I mean, if my healing powers can fix up humans and Gems and even MC Bear-Bear, then I don’t see why they wouldn’t work on corrupted Gems too, right?”

“You really think it could?” Mabel asked, curious. “Cause if you’re right then that’s a lot of monsters you’re gonna have to smooch…”

“Which sounds… sort of dangerous,” Connie noted worriedly. “Maybe you should try a test run first?”

“That’s a great idea!” Steven hopped up from his bed just as the temple doors slid open just in time. “Guys!” he called, tripping over the side of the loft, only to land squarely on the couch between Dipper and Connie. That hardly stopped him however, as he rushed over to the Gems as the others followed not too far behind. 

“Hey, what’s up, little Ste-cup--and amigos?” Amethyst asked, offering the kids a casual grin. 

“Guys! I used my healing spit to fix a rip on MC Bear-Bear!” Steven proclaimed, holding the stuffed animal up for them to see. 

“Oh, uh… that’s… nice?” Pearl said an uncertain smile, though clearly she wasn’t sure what the cause for the young Gem’s excitement was. 

“Good job,” Garnet smiled, sending him a thumbs up. 

“That all you wanted to tell us?” Amethyst asked, crossing her arms. 

“Not even close!” Steven continued. “What I really wanted to tell you is that we were all talking and, well… we wanted to see if we could try-”

“No,” Garnet staunchly cut him off. 

“Uh… Steven didn’t even ask you anything yet,” Dipper pointed out, confused. 

“And even if he had, it was gonna be something you should totally say yes to, by the way!” Mabel added enthusiastically. 

Yet even so, Garnet shook her head. “With my future vision, I can see that you’re going to ask me if you can try healing one of the monsters in the bubble room.”

“So… that’s a no then?” Connie inferred. 

“Can you see if we can get you to change your mind?” Steven ventured, offering the Gem leader a pleading smile. Soon enough it was one that Mabel, Connie, and Dipper all picked up in turn, each of them eager to assist the young Gem in his altruistic plan, even if it was a rather risky one. And though Garnet seemed to hold her ground at first, against all four of the kids hopeful smiles at once, she ultimately found she was no match whatsoever. 

“Why did you agree to this?” Pearl asked Garnet as they all filed into the temple’s bubble room moments later. 

“I lost a battle of wills,” the Gem leader said plainly. 

“So, who are we healing up first?” Mabel asked, eagerly running into the room as she pointed out a handful of bubbled Gems. “Ooo, what about this one? Oh! Or we could try her, I bet she’ll be a ton of fun when she isn’t corrupted anymore!”

Despite these spirited suggestions, however, Steven already had his sights set on one bubbled Gem in particular. With a floating leap, he was easily able to catch the bubble and bring it down to its level, looking over it with a small, hopeful smile. “And gotcha!”

“Hey, isn’t that…?”

“Yeah,” Steven answered Dipper’s unfinished question with a sincere nod. “It’s Centipeetle. If I can help any of them, I want to help her first.”

“Oh, isn’t she that monster we fought at the beginning of the summer?” Connie asked, intrigued. 

“Yeah, but also she totally saved us from turning into dino-chow,” Amethyst pointed out. “Oh, speaking of chow, don’t forget about these!” She summoned her whip to pull down another bubble, one that had been hanging next to Centipeetle’s with a familiar bag of chips in it. 

“Chaaaaps!” Steven exclaimed excitedly as he unbubbled the snack. “They’re her favorite! Okay,” he said, taking in a deep, determined breath as he looked to the others. “Everybody ready?”

Garnet nodded, giving him the go-ahead while Amethyst and Pearl braced themselves, stepping protectively in front of Dipper, Mabel, and Connie just in case. With everyone in place, Steven gently popped the pink bubble, allowing Centipeetle’s spherical gemstone to hover free from it, glowing all the while as the monster began to take its form. 

“Come on, dude, do your thing!” Amethyst encouraged eagerly. 

“You’ve got this, Steven!” Dipper added just as supportively. 

“Put that sparkly spit of yours to the test!” Mabel chimed in with a bright cheer. 

“B-but be careful about it!” Pearl advised anxiously. 

Amidst all this, Steven landed a hearty, wet lick across his hand and, just as Centipeetle’s monstrous body was starting to fully take shape, he placed that hand squarely on her gemstone. The stone sparkled radiently, Steven’s healing magic flowing through it as Centipeetle’s silhouetted form shifted completely. Her long, mandibled body grew smaller, much more humanoid as her many tiny legs became a single pair of normally-proportioned arms and legs each. By the time her transformation was seemingly complete, Centipeetle collapsed to the ground, resting on her hands and knees as everyone else started at the incredible change she had just undergone in dumbfounded awe. 

“I-is it working?” Pearl dared to ask, catching the apparently healed Gem’s attention. 

However, as she suddenly turned around, it was clear to see that Centipeetle hadn’t been as healed as she might have seemed. She retained her thick mane of white hair, as well as the singular eye that was her gemstone, but just below that was a smaller version of the fanged beak she had when she was fully monstrous. In addition, she had kept a few other insect-like features, namely her pinchered abdomen protruding from behind her, but other than that, she looked decently healed. Physically speaking, at least as she let out a loud, unintelligible shriek of alarm. 

“Boy, did it ever work!” Mabel grinned, sharing Steven’s immediate excitement over Centipeetle’s strange new form. 

“What? No, it didn’t,” Dipper noted incredulously. 

“I mean, it sort of worked…?” Connie said with a diffident shrug. “She isn’t completely a monster anymore, but…”

“Centi! You’re back!” Steven filled the awkward bout of silence that followed this in. Despite the whispered warnings both Amethyst and Pearl sent his way, the young Gem hurried forward to greet the former monster, chips in hand, though he quickly stopped as soon as Centipeetle met him with a harsh, sudden hiss. “Whoa! What’s the matter?” he frowned, approaching her much more carefully as she cowered away from him. “You want some Chaaaps?”

“Uh… I don’t think she remembers them…” Amethyst spoke up as Centipeetle let out another angry squawk. 

“Forget the chips then,” Steven pushed the bubbled bag of Chaaaps back up into the air as he addressed Centipeetle patiently. “You remember me, don’t you?” Though she didn’t react as fiercely to this, Centipeetle still tilted her head in confusion as her singular eye stared him down unknowingly. “I… have a bad feeling this didn’t work how I wanted it to work…”

“You think?” Dipper said, crossing his arms. 

“Aw, well… at least you still tried,” Connie smiled sympathetically. “And hey, something’s better than nothing, right?”

“I don’t know what you guys are talking about,” Mabel placed her hands on her hips. “I think Centi looks better than ever!”

“Better… but not all the way better,” Steven said, taking another step toward the confused semi-corrupted Gem. 

“W-wait! Don’t go closer!” Pearl cautioned nervously. 

“Maybe she just needs a little extra love!” Steven suggested, refusing to give up so easily. Fortunately, Centipeetle didn’t lash out to attack him as he leaned in to plant another brief kiss on her gemstone. However, it did little to heal her as she instead reeled back, closing her eye tightly as she covered it with both hands, growling in both pain and annoyance all the while. “Oops! S-sorry…” Steven let out a small, anxious chuckle as he reached out to help Centipeetle back up. 

“Hm…” Garnet mused as she watched Steven and Cenitpeedle’s interactions from afar. “This is the best we’ve ever seen it work.”

“But it didn’t work,” Pearl countered. “I guess it’ll take more than a kiss to heal damage from the Diamonds…”

“But why?” Steven turned to the Gems with a fretful frown. “My healing powers have been working great lately. I-I should be able to do this.”

“It’s alright, Steven,” Pearl reassured earnestly. “Remember, she’s not cracked; she’s corrupted, and that’s something different, something nearly… impossible to describe. U-unless it’s by a Gem who’s actually been through it.”

“But, ya know, most of the Gems who have…” Amethyst nodded up at the countless bubbled Gems above them. “Aren’t really doing a ton of describing these days…”

“It’s sort of like… if MC Bear-Bear didn’t just tear the fabric of his arm,” Garnet explained as accurately as she could. “But the fabric of his mind.”

“Whoa…” Mabel gaped, mistified by such a deep explanation. 

“That’s… kind of horrifying,” Dipper shuddered, unnerved. 

“I guess it’s times like these when being a human really has its perks,” Connie said offhandedly. “At least something like that couldn’t happen to any of us.”

Garnet adjusted her shades upon hearing this, her future vision nearly catching a glimpse of something, though it flashed by far too fast for her to really make anything of. So instead, she shook her head to clear it before addressing the apprehensive young Gem once more. “Steven, I’m impressed with your ability to bring the Centipeetle this far, but it’s time to let her rest again. Amethyst-”

“Uh, sure,” the purple Gem shrugged, summoning her whip again. “I’ll poof her.”

“W-wait!” Steven protested, hurrying to shield Centipeetle as she curiously looked over her new form through a reflection on the wall. “She’s not a monster anymore!”

“Here,” Garnet pulled Steven close, pressing his face against her as she extended a hand out to the other kids as well. “You don’t have to watch. Same goes for the rest of you kids.”

Though Mabel was really the only one to take her up on that offer, Steven suddenly pushed himself away from the Gem leader to rush back over to Centipeetle. “No, please! She can walk, a-and talk! Just like you guys!” Surprisingly, Centipeetle chimed in with a contented squeak, her maw forming something that almost seemed like a smile as she turned back to face Steven. “See?”

“Aw, how can you guys say no to that face?” Mabel said, sending the Gems the same pleading look Steven was. 

“Yeah, she doesn’t really seem like she’s that dangerous anymore…” Dipper agreed. 

“Definitely not as dangerous as she was the day the four of us met,” Connie said with a small, fond chuckle. 

“See? Centi was the one who brought us together in the first place,” Steven said, motioning between himself, Connie, Dipper, and Mabel. “M-maybe she wasn’t the nicest back then, but she’s our friend now! I helped her--we helped her this much; maybe we can help her more. We have to try, I made a promise! Please?”

The Gems exchanged an uneasy glance at this, none of them too keen on the idea of letting a corrupted Gem, even a semi-corrupted one like Centipeetle, simply run around unrestrained, especially around the kids. And yet, even despite her strange form and unpredictable behavior, for the most part Cenitpeedle seemed much calmer and more civilized than she had been before, even if she was still rather skittish and couldn’t quite communicate in anything other than squawks and hisses. But what really broke through their hesitancy was the kids, all four of whom were staring up at them pleadingly in their shared resolve to do whatever they could to help Centipeetle even more than they already had. 

So the Gems let out a unified relenting groan as they lost a second battle of wills, much to the kids’ mixed relief and excitement. Still, that didn’t mean that the Gems didn’t have any dissention toward this newfound haphazard arrangement. “S-so what are we going to do with her?” Pearl asked, wincing as she stole another glance over at the semi-corrupted Gem. “Let her move in?”

“Aw, yeah!” Amethyst cheered, in favor of the idea. “Corrupted roommate!”

“Oh, Amethyst, be sensitive,” the white Gem rolled her eyes. 

“Oo! She could stay down at the shack!” Mabel suggested enthusiastically. 

“Wait, what?” Dipper looked at his sister incredulously. 

“Yeah! I bet Mr. Pines will love having Centi as a house guest!” Steven readily agreed. 

“I bet he won’t,” Dipper interjected once more. 

“That’s what makes it funny,” Amethyst chuckled, amused. 

“Well… it’s better than her staying here, I suppose…” Pearl muttered, aside. 

“Wherever she stays, whether it’s here or at the Mystery Shack,” Garnet spoke up, evenly catching all four of the kids’ attention. “You kids need to be careful with her. She can stay unbubbled, but you must understand: some Gems are beyond our help.”

While the kids didn’t exactly have much of a plan to help completely cure Centipeetle of her corruption, they were still largely optimistic that they could all the same. Though the Gems still had some reservations, Steven managed to convince them to allow the semi-corrupted Gems to accompany him and the other kids down to the Mystery Shack. And though she was certainly much more tame than the animalistic way she’d been before, it was clear that Centipeetle still wasn’t exactly used to being out and about as the kids did their best to coax her out of the house alone. 

“It’s ok, Centi,” Steven urged patiently as he held the door open for her. “We’re just gonna take a nice walk down to the Mystery Shack. How does that sound?”

Centipeetle let out an uncertain chirp at this as she lingered behind the doorway, nervously peering out from it. Her curiosity soon turned to terror, however, as a sudden breeze happened to blow by, tousling the semi-corrupted Gem’s hair and catching her off guard completely. She stumbled back, eventually falling to the floor as she shrieked in alarm, even as the gentle wind started to die down outside. 

“Whoa, hey! It’s ok!” Connie hurried to the Centipeetle’s side to calm her down. “That was just the wind. It’s nothing to be afraid of, even if it’s something you can’t see.” 

Centipeetle eased up at this, clumsily picking herself back up to stand as she attempted to venture outside once more. This time when the wind blew by her, however, she cowered much less than she had before as she actually managed to step out to join the others on the porch. “Yeah! Way to go, Centi!” Mabel cheered, though her excitement was completely lost on Centipeetle as she shrunk back in fear once more. 

“Mabel, not so loud!” Dipper chastised. “You’re scaring her.”

“Oops! Sorry! I meant--way to go, Centi!” Mabel tried again, this time in a cheery whisper.

“Ok, Centi--Oh,” Steven stopped short as he led the way down the stairs. “I guess that’s not really your name. What should we call you?” Centipeetle answered in a series of unintelligible chirps, one that left all four of the kids staring at her, dumbfounded. “Oh, right, can’t talk…” Steven rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. 

“Maybe we could try to guess your name,” Mabel suggested. “What about… Lindsay?” 

“Mabel, that’s not a Gem name,” Dipper said flatly as Centipeetle shook her head. “It’d probably be something more like… Oh, I dunno, she’s green, so… Emerald?” 

Once again, Centipeetle made a face, obviously not a fan of that name either. “Well, there are plenty of green gemstones out there,” Connie noted. “I picked up a book on different gemstone types awhile back for… reasons. So, off the top of my head, I can think of… Jade, Tourmaline-”

“Peridot, but we’ve already got one of those!” Mabel chimed in. 

“Demantoid, Aventurine, Nephrite-” Centipeetle suddenly cut off Connie’s list with a loud squeal, which she paired with hopping up and down on the balls of her feet as soon as she reached the bottom of the stairs. The kids exchanged a curious look at this, none of them really knowing what to make of it until Steven spoke up. 

“Well, that can’t be it,” he frowned, not noticing Centipeetle’s disgruntled sigh. “We’ll just stick with Centi for now, ok? Just like we did before. Do you remember any of that?” he asked Centipeetle with a hopeful smile. “That time you saved me from a crow, or how you took on that pterodactyl baby, or how we helped the Gems electrocute--uh, actually, do forget that one.”

Centipeetle tilted her head in confusion, though her singular eye suddenly shot wide with alarm as she stumbled back into the porch staircase. The kids didn’t understand where this newfound bout of fear was coming from until she pointed a shaking hand past them to the animal that was peacefully grazing several feet away. “Oh, that’s only a deer,” Dipper explained to Centipeetle. “Don’t worry; it won’t hurt you. In fact, it’s more likely to run away from you than do anything else, see?” Sure enough, by now the deer had noticed the group standing nearby and had taken off, bounding back into the woods it had come from. By now, Centipeetle’s fear had turned into intrigue as she attempted following the deer, only to stop short as she stumbled across something else that caught her eye instead. 

“Whatcha got there, Centi?” Steven asked, walking over to where the semi-corrupted Gem had knelt down. She chirped brightly as she pointed out a patch of pink wildflowers, apparently fascinated by them as she turned back toward them. “Oh! Those are some really pretty flowers! Here, hold tight for just a second.” Centipeetle continued to curiously watch as Steven picked a few of the flowers, tying them together into a simple, yet fashionable crown, which he proceeded to place on the semi-corrupted Gem’s head. “Tada! It’s for you! Do you like it?” 

Centipeetle did seem to enjoy the flower crown as she cooed happily, though she kept trying to really look up at it to no avail. “Oh, you wanna see how you look?” Mabel inferred, grabbing her hand. “Well, c’mon! You can check out your fab new style right here.” She led Centipeetle over to the nearby stream, allowing her to get a full and proper view of how the flower crown looked on her. The semi-corrupted Gem managed a satisfied smile as she looked at her reflection, though that reflection was soon broken by the small fish that happened to briefly jump out of the water. Centipeetle flinched, afraid, as she fell back into the grass, her flower crown landing right beside her. “Aw, Centi! No need to freak out!” Mabel chuckled as she repositioned the flower crown on her head. “That was just a cute little fish! It can’t hurt you. Well, unless we’re talking about some of the big boys out in the ocean, cause something like a shark isn’t exactly the kind of fish you wanna-” She stopped short upon meeting Centipeetle’s nervous expression once more. “Uh… you know what? Never mind.”

“Boy,” Connie grinned as the semi-corrupted Gem peered back into the stream for another look. “She sure is curious, huh?”

“She must not have gotten to see a whole lot of the Earth before she was corrupted…” Steven frowned sympathetically. 

“Speaking of which, I’ve been thinking,” Dipper interjected. “If we really want to help her uncorrupt completely, then maybe what we need to do first is figure out how she was corrupted in the first place and work from there.”

“Didn’t Pearl say something about ‘damage from the Diamonds’?” Connie mused. “What kind of damage could they have done to cause something like… well, what happened to her?”

Centipeetle turned at this, though she quickly froze, her eye going wide as she stared at something beyond the kids gathered before her. A piercing, downright terrified screech escaped her, catching the others completely off guard as they all turned their attention back to her. “What’s the matter?” Steven asked, placing a gentle hand against her arm, which was trembling every bit as much as the rest of her body. “Are you ok? A-are you remembering something?”

Centipeetle reacted harshly, clutching her head tightly as she closed her eye, screaming all the while. She somehow managed to get back to her feet, looking to the sky once again as she finally pointed a shaking finger at what had her so scared to begin with. 

Despite the summer skies being crystal clear, a large, bright golden star had seemed to take up a place within them. It shined brightly, clashing with the familiar blue atmosphere, and while the mere sight of it outright horrified Centipeetle, the kids largely had no idea what the cause for alarm really was at all. “Uh… what is that?” Dipper asked, somewhat unnerved. 

“Maybe it’s like one of those jet plane thingies you always see in the sky super early in the morning?” Mabel suggested. “Only the pilot on this one woke up way later than he should have.”

“That doesn’t look like any jet I’ve ever seen, even from a distance,” Connie shook her head. 

Steven, meanwhile, was largely distracted by Centipeetle, who was looking around in just about every direction, seemingly trying to find some way to escape. “Whoa, Centi, i-it’s alright,” he advised, grabbing her hand. “You don’t have anything to be afraid of when you’re with us!” The semi-corrupted monster was hardy listening however, as she looked back to the “star” once more. It flashed brightly, but briefly, and that alone was to throw her already palpable alarm into an all-out panic. With a manic screech, she pulled her hand out of Steven’s and took off, running off into the forest as fast as her newly-reformed legs would carry her. “W-wait!” the young Gem called, intending on running after her until Connie reigned him back in. 

“Uh, S-steven?” she grabbed his arm, directing his attention up to the “star” once more. By now it was practically burning yellow in the sky, yet it hadn’t moved, hadn’t done much at all until it suddenly dialated dramatically. 

And then, before anyone had any time to say or do anything else, it exploded. 

A bright, blinding golden light flooded the entire area, spreading out far and wide across all of Gravity Falls at a supersonic speed. It overtook nearly everything, from the temple to the shack to the forest to downtown, even as far as the lake and the outlying countryside, all centralized solely on the tiny timberwood town itself. In its wake it covered everyone, humans, Gems, and magical or mythical creatures alike (though only one group among those three would emerge from it unscathed). And as it shined upon them all, if its overpowering, devastating radiance hadn’t momentarily defeated them, they might have heard the briefest bout of twisted laughter, accompanied by a single voice raised in vengeful song. 

And just as quickly as the light had come, it was over. It faded, leaving the sky crisp and clear and blue once again. Slowly, nature reawakened after being so sharply silenced as gentle birdsong filled in the late morning air once more. That quiet din was what first roused Steven, who sat up slowly, placing a careful hand against his now-aching head as he did. And yet, before he could even really get his bearings back, the first thing he happened to notice was that his hair strangely didn’t feel much like hair at all. Rather, it had a much softer, lighter texture, almost akin to flower petals, which made the fact that his fingers were seemingly much sharper than he knew they should have been all the more bewildering. Confused as he was, he tried to stand, though as soon as he got to his feet, he received a sudden, involuntary boost into the air. Briefly, he thought he’d accidentally activated his floating powers, until he happened to notice the series of sturdy green vines that were somehow propping him up. 

“Huh?” Steven frowned, glancing back only to see that the vines didn’t just seem to be coming from behind him, but from him. They sprouted from his back, and a few of the more thorny ones had twisted themselves around his arms and legs, though those thorns didn’t dig into his skin, which was an odd shade of pale pink. “W-what is all this…?” he wondered to himself, briefly glancing up from himself to look around. The first thing he realized was that Centipeetle was nowhere to be found, having run off into the woods just moments prior, a thought that worried Steven far more than his current peculiar condition did. “Oh no! Centi!” he gasped, alarmed as he searched for any sign of her. “Where are-”

“Ugh… Steven…?” The young Gem immediately stopped short as soon as he heard Dipper’s voice somewhere nearby. Despite his attempts at turning around, the vines suddenly did so for him as they somehow moved on their own accord. Still, Steven ignored how startling the vines, the thorns, and even the surprisingly sharp claws he now had were, in favor of checking on the others instead. 

“Dipper! Are you ok--Ohhhhh my gosh!” Steven’s jaw dropped in shock as soon as he actually looked at Dipper, who had just started to partially pull himself up off the ground. 

As he did, however, he clearly noticed something was off, particularly about the texture and shape of his nose and ears. “W-what is…” Dipper trailed off as he tried to properly sit up, only to not receive the sort of usual feedback he would have expected from his legs. “Why… why can’t I-” He cut himself off with a sharp, frightened gasp as soon as he so much as caught sight of the lower half of his body. Because by all accounts, it looked identical to that of a deer’s, complete with not just two, but four long, lithe, thin legs, brown fur spotted with specks of white on his back, and even a tiny tail that was currently twitching out of immense agitation. As he fully took in this inexplicable shift, Dipper let out a tight, terrified cry that didn’t sound exactly human, though he didn’t seem to care as he gripped his front set of legs to confirm that they were, in fact, actually his. “W-what’s going on?!” 

“Whoa, Dipper!” Steven exclaimed in equal awe as he leaned forward as much as the vines would allow. “You’re like… some kind of deer-centaur! A deertaur!”

“Ok, two things,” Dipper said crossly amidst trying to position his new, rather awkward set of legs to stand. “One, I’m pretty sure that’s not what this is called and two... WHAT? WHY? HOW? What happened to me?! What happened to you?! What’s with all the vines? Why does your hair look like a bouquet?”

“It does…?” Steven frowned, reaching up to thumb one of the “petals” that now apparently made up his hair. “Huh.”

“Seriously, what happened?” Dipper reiterated as he made his first real attempt at standing up. And yet, as unused to his strange new form as he was, balancing on his feet, or hooves, rather, proved to be quite a challenge as he unsteadily wobbled before ultimately falling right back to the ground clumsily. “And why a deer?!” he let out a small, frustrated huff through his now pert, black nose. “It’s not even like they’re even my favorite animal or anything! This makes no sense!”

“W-well, if it’s any consolation,” Steven began with a small, reassuring smile. “You do look pretty cute like this.”

Dipper flinched at this, but said nothing in response as he crossed his arms and glared away, blushing, at least until he picked up on something else. “Hey, wait a second, where’s-”

“Oy, what smells like fish…?” Mabel suddenly spoke up as she finally started to wake up herself. She let out a long yawn, not noticing the dumbfounded looks Steven and Dipper were both sending her way as they realized she’d also gone through an unnatural transformation. For her own part, however, it took Mabel a moment or two to register that transformation as she sat up and stared directly at the scaly pink finned tail that had taken the place of her legs. “Huh… Well that’s new,” she noted, glancing over her now-webbed hands before balking at her tail again with a huge gasp. “OH MY GOSH!” she practically screamed, stars in her eyes as she hugged her tail excitedly. “I’m a mer-ACK!” Mabel sucked in another sharp gasp, an involuntary one this time as her breathing grew short and shallow, her eyes widening in panic as she gripped her throat frantically. 

“Mabel!” Steven and Dipper both exclaimed in concerned alarm. On impulse, Dipper rushed to get up to help her, completely forgetting about the current state of his legs until he inevitably ended up tripping and faceplanting right back into the grass again. He didn’t let that stop him however, as he prepared to try again, he happened to catch sight of something Mabel apparently hadn’t as she haphazardly threw off her sweater so she could breathe easier. “Gills…” he gasped in realization. “She has gills! She can’t breathe! Steven, she needs water! B-but I can’t-”

“I’m on it!” Steven readily agreed, his vines moving in accordance with him this time. It was almost as if they knew exactly what he was thinking as they kept him propped up, essentially “walking” him over to Mabel, who was still gasping and choking on air that wouldn’t do anything for her now. While Steven tried to help her himself, the vines did that for him too as their tips gently coiled around her arms before they swiftly pulled her into the nearby creek, submerging her completely. 

Both Steven and Dipper waited for an anxious beat for Mabel to emerge from the relatively shallow water, though when she did, she let out a rejuvenated sigh of relief as she perched herself against the side of the creek. “Ah! Much better!” she grinned happily, splashing more water against the small pink gills on her neck. “Guess I just needed to wet my whistle! So, whaaaaaaaaaaaaa-?!” By now, Mabel finally noticed just what had happened to Dipper and Steven, and as soon as she did, a huge, delighted smile broke out across her face. “Ohhhhhh, Steven! Dipper! You guys look so adorable!”

“Uh, thanks?” Steven chuckled. 

“Ugh, this is just gonna keep getting more and more embarrassing, isn’t it?” Dipper scoffed, dryly. 

“Embarrassing? Bro-bro, what are you talking about? This is amazing!” Mabel proclaimed, flopping back into the creek behind her so she could admire her tail fins noce more. “Check it out! I’m totally a mermaid! Oh, if only Mermando was still here! We could be the cutest mer-couple ever, and have mer-babies, and live in a mer-castle under the sea! And sing mer-songs all day!”

“Yeesh,” Dipper rolled his eyes at his sister’s flights of fantasy. “You would enjoy this, Mabel.”

“Hey, has anyone seen Connie?” Steven asked, glancing around in newfound concern. “I haven’t seen her since all this happened. Do you think maybe she could have gone after Centi when she ran off?”

“What are you talking about, Steven? I’ve been here this whole time!”

Steven, Mabel, and Dipper alike all froze up at this, each of them looking around for Connie upon hearing her voice, only to find no sign of her anywhere. That is, until she happened to reappear out of nowhere right in front of Steven. All three of the other kids let out a startled round of alarm at this, though Connie didn’t share it as she let out a small sigh of relief instead. 

“Ah, finally you guys can actually see and hear me!” she exclaimed as she hovered up into the air a bit. “I’ve been trying to talk to you for the past several minutes, but it��s like you all just kept staring right through me!”

“Aw, sorry, Connie!” Steven apologized earnestly. “We didn’t mean to! But I couldn’t see you until now, much less hear you!”

“C-Connie?” Dipper spoke up, trembling slightly until he caught himself doing so. “A-are you… I-I… I don’t know how to say this, but… I-I think you might be-”

“Oh! A ghost!” Mabel guessed bluntly. “I got it right, didn’t I?”

“What? A ghost?” Connie shook her head incredulously. For her part, she largely looked the same as she always did, though like Mabel, her legs had been traded in for a tail, albeit one that wasn’t anywhere near as fish-like. But even beyond that, she had taken on a pale blue parlor, her entire body being more or less completely translucent as it radiated with a dull, unearthly sort of glow. That, paired with the fact that she was able to float above the ground freely, added up to far too much evidence for anything else to really be true, as much as Connie wished something else was. “Oh my gosh, I-I think you guys are right! I-I really am a ghost! B-but why? And how--wait, no, I don’t even want to think about how! A-anyway, w-what happened to you guys? To all of us?!”

“I think I know what happened,” Mabel said as she pushed herself up out of the stream a bit. 

“Really?” Dipper asked, skeptical as Steven began to use his vines to help him properly stand. “You know what happened to us when none of the rest of us do?”

“Of course, I do,” Mabel grinned proudly. “We all got turned into totally awesome magical creatures! I mean, think about it: I’m a super sparkly mermaid (with a tail in my favorite shade of pink, might I add!). Connie’s a really cool ghost why can fly and turn invisible-”

“I don’t know if I’d call either of those things ‘cool’ in this instance…” Connie frowned as she accidentally phased her intangible hands into each other. 

“Steven’s, uh… w-well he’s some sort of flower… guy… person… thing…” Mabel ventured, uncertain. “B-but that’s awesome, since pink is totally your color.”

“Oh, you think so?” Steven grinned, looking down at his light pink arm with a newfound sense of fondness. 

“And Dipper is a super cute deertaur!”

“Again, I’m 100% positive that’s not what it’s called,” Dipper spoke up as he stomped one of his hooves down in annoyance. “Also, would everyone please stop calling me cute?!”

“Maybe once you stop being cute,” Mabel chuckled with a teasing smirk. 

“Which will be never!” Steven added much more earnestly. 

“Ugh, look,” Dipper began, addressing the enthused pair evenly. “I don’t know if you guys realize this, but this is serious. We just got turned into monsters, or magical creatures, or whatever, completely out of the blue. Something like this doesn’t just happen, not even here in Gravity Falls. Something caused this, and we need to figure out what it was so we can find a way to undo it and get all of us back to normal.”

“Aw, but I like being a magical mermaid!” Mabel pouted. 

“Do you like not being able to breathe outside of the water?” Dipper countered flatly.

Mabel flinched, recalling the frightening experience she’d just been through moments ago, an experience she certainly wasn’t keen on going through again anytime soon. “I… see your point.”

“Maybe that star had something to do with it…” Connie mused, looking up to the now-empty sky. “It was the last thing any of us saw before we woke up like this, right?”

“Oh, yeah,” Steven agreed as his vines formed something of a seat for him to recline on. “Oh, thanks!” he said to the vines themselves before returning to the matter at hand. “Plus, Centi seemed to be really scared of that star. She might even know what it was! Maybe if we can find her, then she can-”

A sudden thunderous clamor cut through the conversation like a knife, a clamor that came from the temple, to be precise. The chaotic noise only amplified as the front door burst open and, as opposed to any of the Gems, what seemed to be a monster jumped outside instead. It wasn’t very large, though it was just a bit bigger than the kids, with a purple, bulky four-legged form and a full, thick mane of lighter lavender hair. It unleashed what sounded like a wild howl as it pounced off the porch, its clawed front arms allowing it a square landing on the ground. It didn’t seem to have any eyes, with a set of bright purple horns in place of where they would have been, but it still managed to spot the kids gathered just a bit down the hill from it. The monster’s toothy maw split into an expression that was almost akin to a grin as it made an animalistic sound that sounded a bit like a laugh, though it was still completely unintelligible. Its apparent excitement prompted it to stampede toward the group at a rapid pace, much to their shared alarm,, and at least in two cases, outright fear. 

While Mabel and Steven simply gasped in surprise as the monster rushed for them, Connie completely disappeared into thin air, not even making a single sound or uttering so much as a word as she did. Dipper, on the other hand, froze up, his eyes wide but his expression otherwise largely vacant and unreadable. And as the monster drew even closer, he suddenly took off, somehow completely capable of using his new legs, which he couldn’t even properly stand on mere moments ago, galloping at full speed into the nearby woods. Mabel let out a startled cry as she watched him easily leap over the stream she was sitting in before he disappeared into the forest just before the monster could arrive.

“Wait! Dipper!” she called, frustrated by her inability to get out of the water to go after him. Both her and Steven were met with an all-new concern, however, as the monster suddenly slammed down right in front of them, focusing on the young Gem in particular as it reared low with a small growl. 

“S-Stay back!” Steven warned, summoning his shield to ward off the beast. The monster leapt at him anyway, however, barreling into him and knocking him to the ground, even despite his vines trying to keep him upright. The young Gem braced himself for a vicious attack as his shield disappeared, yet instead, he was met with a sudden, wet lick from the beast’s large tongue. “Huh?” Steven frowned, looking back up to the monster, who still had him pinned down, but was now panting happily. Though he was already confused, his bewilderment only grew tenfold as he happened to notice the very familiar purple gemstone resting on the monster’s chest amidst her unruly tufts of hair. “Wait… A-Amethyst?!”

The beast nodded vigorously, finally stepping away from the young Gem as her long, messy tail wagged excitedly. While his vines picked him back up above the ground once more, Steven exchanged an uncertain glance with Mabel before he looked to who he could only assume had to be Amethyst once more. “D-Did… you shapeshift to look like this?” 

Amethyst shook her head, apparently unable to properly speak. She turned her attention back up to the temple, where another monster seemed to be stomping out, though it was much easier to discern the identity of this one from its appearance alone. 

“Garnet?!” Mabel and Steven exclaimed in shock as the creature the Gem leader had turned into jumped down from the porch to join them. There was no mistaking her, namely because of her pair of heads, one of which bore semblance to Ruby in coloration, though the only feature of her face was a fanged maw, while her other head was clearly Sapphire with her singular eye and long blue hair. The rest of her body was much more akin to Garnet herself, though quite twisted, her arms massive and muscular as they reached down as long as her much shorter legs did, her huge clawed hands acting more as her main form of transportation as she slowly lumbered forward. She towered high over Amethyst and the kids, letting out a low, inhuman groan that almost seemed to be a greeting, though despite her admittedly mangled appearance, she seemed just as calm as she always was. 

“Garnet… Amethyst...” Steven looked between the monstrous pair, quite shaken. “W-what happened to you? And… where’s Pearl?”

This question was met with a sharp, high pitched squeak from above as a large shadow briefly covered up the sun. That shadow had been cast by a large, majestic bird-like creature, one that nervously touched down to join Garnet and Amethyst. There was no question this was Pearl, from the tell-tell gemstone on her now-eyeless head, resting just above the long, pointed beak she now bore. Her form was sleek and graceful, with a thin, curved, swan-like neck, wide, sweeping peach and white feathered wings and a set of long, narrow legs that carried the same spiraled design as her spears. Pearl let out another unintelligible shriek, one of apparent surprise as she caught sight of Steven and Mabel, her wings flapping anxiously, at least until she heard Amethyst’s amused gruff cackle beside her. The white Gem shrieked shrilly at her in annoyance, though she merely kept on “laughing”, at least until Garnet silenced them both with a heavy, commanding grunt. 

“No way…” Steven shook his head incredulously. “I-it really is you guys! A-are… are you… corrupted?” 

All three of the Gems reacted to such a claim in shock, Pearl fiercely shaking her head as Amethyst tilted her head, confused. Garnet remained still and silent, though after a moment of thought, both of her contrasting heads finally nodded, much to the shock of her teammates. An argument of various squawks, roars, and groans erupted at this as the Gems “communicated” with each other, though neither Steven nor Mabel could even hope to make out what they were trying to say. 

“This is so weird…” Mabel frowned, leaning against the creekbank. “Aren’t corrupted Gems supposed to be all wild and crazy? Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl are just… acting like themselves.”

“Maybe they’re not entirely corrupted?” Connie purposed as she suddenly reappeared, catching Steven and Mabel off guard. “O-oh! Sorry! I really gotta learn how to control this whole randomly disappearing thing better…”

“But… why do they still look like monsters?” Steven wondered, catching the attention of his guardians. “I know you guys can’t really… talk right now, but… you can still understand what we’re saying right?” All three of the Gems nodded, though what little their malformed expressions alone could convey told they were just as baffled and concerned as the kids themselves were. “So… you’re all basically half-corrupted then… just like Centi! Man, I really wish she hadn’t run off earlier; she’d be so much in figuring all this out!”

“Speaking of running off…” Mabel said, turning back toward the forest. “It’s ok, bro-bro, everything’s cool! You can come out now! There’s nothing to be afraid of out here.”

“I-I wasn’t afraid!” Dipper protested as he peeked out from the tree he had taken refuge behind. “I-it was just really loud and a lot of things were happening at once and I… might have panicked. J-just a little!”

“Well, deer do have a reputation for having a pretty sharp flight response whenever they get startled, so that might explain it,” Connie pointed out. 

“Ugh, great…” Dipper sighed as he fully emerged from the forest. “Just another reason to find a way to get us all back to normal as soon as possible. Especially for you guys,” he said, flinching as he looked to the Gems in particular. “You three look--uh… y-you look great!” he played off whatever he was going to say with a nervous laugh. The Gems didn’t quite buy it however as Amethyst teasingly stuck her tongue out while Pearl squawked, apparently flustered as she nudged one of her wings with her beak. 

“Wait a minute,” Connie interjected. “If that star, or whatever it was, somehow transformed all of us, then… maybe we weren’t the only ones affected by it…”

Everyone else took pause at this alarming thought, especially as they all happened to look down the hill toward the Mystery Shack. As they did, Dipper and Mabel in particular exchanged a nervous glance as they both considered exactly who else could be going through the exact same thing they currently were experiencing. “You don’t think…?”

Unsure of what they’d find, once the group of monster-turned kids and externally-corrupted Gems arrived at the Mystery Shack, Connie volunteered to head in first since she could more or less slip in unseen to scope things out. The only problem that arose with this came from Amethyst, who suddenly, impulsively decided to join her right as she floated toward the gift shop door. Connie stopped just as Amethyst rammed into the door horns-first, easily breaking down as she stormed in, eager to find Stan and show him her new form, much to the alarm of everyone else outside. Pearl let out a frantic squeal as Garnet slammed one of her heavy hands to the ground in an attempt to reel Amethyst back in, though the purple Gem, rowdy as ever, hardly paid them any mind. Likewise, the kids also watched with concern as she rushed inside, ensuing a chaotic clamor almost immediately as she haphazardly crashed into several display cases and quickly catching Stan’s attention, just as she’d intended. 

“Augh!” the conman shouted furiously from inside. “What in the--wait, Amethyst?! N-no, no, no, no! You better not--” He was cut off by another huge crash, one that promoted Pearl and Garnet into action while the kids stood by just a bit past the door. 

“Oh man, I wish we could see what’s going on in there!” Mabel exclaimed, leaning out of the small swimming pool Steven and Dipper were filling up for her. “I bet Grunkle Stan is totally freaking out!”

“Uh… I don’t know if that’s entirely accurate…” Connie frowned as she peered into the shack just as Amethyst scurried out of it, laughing all the while. Likewise, Garnet and Pearl both stumbled back themselves as Stan tried to burst out of the shack, revealing that, much like the kids, he’d gone through a rather monstrous transformation himself. 

By all accounts, it seemed as though the conman’s skin had turned to moving stone based on its rough, gray texture. Beyond that, both his fingers and his tones bore sharp, talon-like claws as he sported a small set of stony horns just above his now acutely pointed ears. But his two most notable new features were his eyes, which seemed to shine a bright, almost ominous kind of yellow, and the wide set of pointed wings on his back, which were currently caught on the doorframe, essentially holding him in place as he angrily tried chasing after Amethyst. “Ugh, again? Seriously?” the conman growled in annoyance as he somehow managed to retract his wings in a bit. “I’m already sick of these stupid things. And as for you, Amethyst, I--aye, yi, yi…” Stan trailed off, shock overtaking his expression as he noticed Pearl and Garnet’s changed forms too. “Yeesh, and I thought I had it bad between the new wings and the horns. You three look terrible!”

Pearl let out a harsh, offended hiss at this, though Garnet didn’t really respond. Amethyst however, let out a teasing roar, one that Stan didn’t seem to follow at all. “Uh… what, are you guys done speakin’ English or do you just expect me to understand ‘monsterese’ now?” he asked dryly. 

“Uh, actually, Mr. Pines,” Steven spoke up. “They can’t really… ‘talk’ right now…”

At this, Stan stole a glance over at the kids, only to balk in bewilderment at each of them in turn. “W-wha… what the heck happened to you kids?!” he asked, stepping over toward them. “Dipper--or Steven, I don’t care who since either of you if not both is usually behind anything wacky or magical happening around here--explain. Now.”

“We would if we actually understood what happened to begin with,” Dipper replied, crossing his arms.

“Well you better figure it out!” Stan snapped, irritated. “Cause I don’t know how you expect me to send you runts home to your parents with you looking half like a deer while your sister’s flopping around like a fish outta water.”

“Aw, it doesn’t sound anywhere near as magical and cool when you put being a mermaid like that…” Mabel cringed as she popped her head out of the water after refilling her gills. 

“You won’t have to send us home looking like this,” Dipper countered, resolved. “Because we’re going to find a way to undo all of this and get everyone back to normal.”

“Yeah!” Steven, Mabel, and Connie all chimed in support of this plan. 

“Oh really? That’s awesome, dudes!” Soos exclaimed as he stepped outside of the shack. Upon a first glance, he seemed to look just as he always did with no peculiar transformation in sight, at least until a piece of his arm quite literally melted right off. 

“Uh… Soos?” Steven spoke up, all four of the kids looking to the handyman in immense concern. 

“Oops,” Soos scooped up the strangely mouldable clump of his arm and easily slapped it back on as if it had never fallen off to begin with. “I’ll tell ya what, being made of clay may seem like it has its perks, but it’s starting to get way less cool the more times a chunk of me randomly melts off…”

“Could you at least stop melting all over the shack?” Stan asked dryly. “The last thing I wanna do is clean up bits of Soos off the floor.”

“Sorry, Mr. Pines,” Soos apologized as he smoothed up the side of his cheek before any clay could drip off of it. “I guess clay and a hot summer day aren’t a great mix…”

“Ugh, consider yourself lucky, man,” Wendy spoke up as she came out of the shack herself. “At least you’re not covered in fur…” 

“Whoa, Wendy!” Mabel exclaimed in fascination as Dipper, Steven, and Connie looked to the cashier in shock. “Are you-”

“A werewolf? Ugh, yeah, I guess,” Wendy rolled her eyes as she absently scratched behind one of her now rather dog-like ears. Sure enough, her entire body was covered in thick red fur to match her hair color, and alongside that she bore a bit of a snout with a wolfish nose and plenty of sharp, fanged teeth to match the sizable claws on her hands and feet. Yet despite her rather canine appearance, she was still perfectly able to walk upright, which was apparent enough as she leaned against the side of the shack, annoyed. “All those movies with the hot shirtless werewolves totally oversold this, by the way. The real deal totally sucks between being hot and itchy all the time. So if you guys are dead set on getting us all back to normal, then more power to you.”

“Don’t worry, we will,” Connie assured, though her confident smile quickly fell. “If only we knew where to start…”

“Maybe Great Uncle Ford can help,” Dipper suggested. “After filling up three whole journals, it’s safe to assume he is the resident expert on magical creatures around here. Where is he anyway?”

“Ugh, please don’t get me started on Ford and all those stupid riddles he’s been throwing around since this whole mess startled,” Stan huffed crossly. 

“Riddles?” Steven asked, confused. 

“Precisely, my boy,” Ford interjected as he rounded the far corner of the shack. For his part, his appearance had taken on something of a lion-eque motiff, with golden-brown fur, a long, thin tail, large (but still six-fingered) paws, and even a rather feline nose. But what set that motiff apart were his wings, just as wide as his brother’s, though bright and colorful and feathered instead of grey and stony. He only briefly regarded the Gems and the kids’ changes in appearance, seemingly not alarmed by them at all as he continued just as calmly. “For instance, what do you call a creature that’s steeped in ancient Greek and Egyptian mythology and has a penchant for presenting all who cross its path with puzzling riddles?” 

“Annoying?” Stan ventured, sending his brother a bored look. 

“No, Stanley,” Ford countered flatly. “A sphinx. Which seems to be what I’ve turned into. Maybe you’ll have an easier time figuring this one out: what’s the term for a creature that’s made of animated stone and also happens to be what you’ve become?”

“I’m sticking with my first answer and saying annoying,” the conman reiterated, glaring back at his unwanted set of wings. 

“A gargoyle, Stanley, a gargoyle,” the author huffed, exasperated. “Come on, that one wasn’t even hard at all.” 

“Yeesh, if you’re gonna be a wisecracking know-it-all, then can’t you just get to the point about it?” Stan rolled his eyes. “Do you have to keep at with all these pointless riddles?”

“...Yes,” Ford said bluntly before turning to the kids. “Anyway, children, do you know what a living, human-like being made of an earthen material such as mud, rocks, or in this case, clay,” he nodded over at Soos. “Is called?” The kids exchanged an uncertain glance at this, though it wasn’t long before the author filled in with an answer to his own riddle once more. “A golem. A clay golem in this particular instance, I believe.”

“Oooohhh so that’s what I am,” Soos mused, fascinated. “And I was just gonna keep calling myself “Soos: Clay Edition” but a golem sounds way cooler.”

“Furthermore,” Ford posed another riddle. “A creature with the arms, head, and torso of a human, but the body and legs of a deer is called a…?”

“A deertaur!” Steven and Mabel both chimed in with an enthusiastic answer. 

“Ugh, for the last time, you guys, that’s not what it’s called!” Dipper protested, his tail flickering in aggravation. 

“You’re absolutely right, Dipper, that’s not what it’s called,” Ford pointed out with a knowing grin. “You’re actually a cervitaur.”

“Eh, that doesn’t have nearly the same ring to it…” Mabel said, looking to her brother dubiously. “Grunkle Ford, can you do me next!”

“Mabel,” Dipper cut in, shaking his head. “We already know you’re a-”

“A creature that’s half girl and half fish would be known as…?”

“A mermaid!” Mabel immediately guessed. “I know because I am one! Right now!”

“Correct,” Ford nodded, pleased. “Now… hm… this one is a bit trickier. A physical spirit tied to… well, traditionally trees, but I suppose just about any form of flora works, as is the case with Steven here, so that would make him a…?”

“Uh… Mabel guessed flower guy earlier so, I’ll go with that?” Steven suggested, though he really had no idea himself. 

“Actually, my boy, you’re what’s known as a dryad,” Ford corrected. “Or more accurately, the male form of a dryad, a drus. A rose drus, from the looks of it…”

“...It had to be roses, didn’t it?” Steven muttered to himself as he rubbed his thorn, covered arm apprehensively. 

“Now, rounding things off, a creature that’s wolf-like in appearance, but-”

“It’s a werewolf,” Wendy interrupted boredly. “Already figured that out as soon as I realized I had a tail, man, it’s not that hard.”

“Ah,” Ford said somewhat awkwardly before continuing. “Then how about an immaterial spector that’s-”

“A ghost,” Connie readily filled the answer. “Sorry, Mr. Ford. We… kind of already figured that one out too.”

“...Very well then,” the author noted as he glanced over at the Gems. “As for you three, I… can’t quite seem to think of anything-”

“Oh, thank god,” Stan said, breathing a sigh of relief. 

“Are… are they… corrupted?” Ford asked the kids in particular. 

“Sort of?” Steven shrugged. “They’re still themselves though, right, you guys?” The Gems let out a variety of unintelligible answers at this, but all of them seemed to confirm this to be true. 

“Fascinating…” Ford adjusted his glasses as he looked over each of the Gems’ semi-corrupted forms. “All of this is just so… fascinating! I could fill up an entire journal alone with all of the scientific discoveries to be found here! And while I’m on that note, another riddle! What’s-”

“No!” Stan quickly cut him off, leaping forward with a powerful flap of his wings to practically tackle Ford to the ground. “You are not asking another one of your dumb riddles on my watch!”

“...Well, you could have just asked, Stanley,” Ford huffed, pushing his brother off him. “You didn’t need to be so extreme about it.”

“Oh, hey!” Steven cut in, pointing to a familiar van driving toward the shack. “Looks like Dad’s on his way here!”

Sure enough, Greg’s van pulled up to a sudden stop in front of the group gathered outside the shack, with the former rock star poking his head out the window frantically. “Steven!” he exclaimed, startled by what had happened to both his son and the others. Greg himself had also undergone a rather alarming transformation, as he was seemingly wrapped in browning bandages from head to toe, with what little skin showing between those bandages looking drastically pale and almost lifeless. Yet he hardly seemed to care much for his own appearance as he threw the van door open to check on his son and the others instead. At least until one of his bandages got caught up in the door as he slammed it shut. “Aw, not again!” he huffed, pulling the bandage out before hurrying over to Steven. “L-look at you!” he exclaimed, practically having to look up at his son thanks to the vines still holding him aloft. “Are you ok? Is everyone ok?”

“Yeah, we’re all fine,” Steven nodded. 

“E-even the Gems…?” Greg asked, sending them a worried look. 

“Yeah, they’re ok too,” the young Gem mustered a small smile. 

“Ah! Here we go!” Ford piped up with a brand-new riddle. “What would you call an undead creature typically wrapped in cloth bandages to try and preserve the decaying body?”

“U-undead?!” Greg balked, glancing down at himself fearfully. 

“Join the club…” Connie spoke up as she hovered nearby. 

“A mummy! Greg’s a mummy! Geez!” Stan swiftly answered, shoving his brother out of aggravation. “What did I say about the riddles?!”

“Oh, honestly, Stanley! You don’t have to be such a brute!” Ford took a swing at the conman with his claws, only for them to hit solid stone instead.

“And you don’t have to be such a pain!” Stan countered, utilizing his wings to gain the literal upper hand over the author before he could lash out again. Ford didn’t let him get away that easily as he also managed to take flight, and soon enough both brothers were engaged in a midair chase that everyone briefly stopped to watch before returning to the matter at hand. 

“So yeah, like Steven said, we’re all doin’ pretty good,” Soos reiterated obliviously. 

“I-I can’t believe this whole monster thing happened to all of you guys too!” Greg exclaimed, running a hand through the hair that was sticking out from under the bandages. 

“What do you mean ‘too’?” Dipper asked, confused. 

“Haven’t you seen the news?” Greg asked, incredulously. 

“Oh, yeah,” Wendy spoke up as she pulled the latest town news report up on her phone before holding it up for everyone to see. “Check it out.”

“This just in,” Shandra Jimenez, who seemed to have been turned into a harpy, reported urgently. “Monster madness has taken over Gravity Falls! Residents all over town have reported being suddenly transformed into magical or mythical creatures.” Sure enough, the accompanying footage proved this to be true as every citizen shown seemed to be some sort of monster or cryptid or creature, each in some varying level of surprise or panic over their new forms. “The cause for this town-wide transformation is still unknown, but experts believe the large flash of bright light that encompassed the entire area earlier today might have had something to do with it. For now, residents are advised to continue on with business as usual until some sort of cure can be found. We’ll be back with more details at 5, but for now, I’m Shandra Jimenez, and it’s time for my hourly preening session.” With a loud squawk, the anchor signed off to pick at the feathered wings that had taken the place of her arms and putting an end to the news briefing in the process. 

“T-this is happening to the entire town?!” Dipper asked in disbelief. All four of the kids exchanged a startled glance at this as they realized this problem was much more widespread and far more serious than they first thought. Which, of course, would only make finding an elusive solution for it much more difficult than they had originally hoped. 

“Yeah, it is, and somebody better do something about it! Soon.” 

“No way…” Dipper gasped as he was the first to notice who was emerging, or rather slithering out of the nearby forest. “Pacifica?!”

Like all of the others, Pacifica’s appearance had drastically changed, primarily by the way of her legs being replaced by a long, light gold, snake-like tail. That reptilian theming continued with her hair, which was no longer really hair at all but a horde of snakes, each of them alive and autonomous as they moved about on their own accord. The heiress-turned-gorgon clearly cared little for her own snakes as she pushed the unruly reptiles back as they hissed and maneuvered about freely. Yet her frustration quickly fizzled into shock as she spotted the group of various creatures and monsters in front of the shack, though she focused most of her concern on her boyfriend in particular. 

“Oh my gosh!” Pacifica exclaimed, clumsily slithering over to her as Dipper tried to meet her halfway every bit as awkwardly on his still rather unsteady legs. “D-Dipper, you… look-”

“Please don’t say adorable,” Dipper interrupted, deadpan. 

“...I was gonna say like a deer, but…” Pacifica couldn’t help but crack a small smile at this, revealing her new set of sharp fangs. “You definitely look better off than I do right now…”

“What? N-no!” Dipper countered, trying to reassure her as best he could as he suppressed a nervous cringe as one of her snakes drew in a bit too close to him for comfort. “You, uh… you look…”

“Don’t lie,” the heiress warned coldly. 

“...S-snakes,” Dipper finished, unable to really say much else as he realized he was slightly trembling again. 

“Yeah, snakes,” Pacifica scowled, reigning her snakes back again as several of them started crowding around Dipper, their almost hungry stares making him quite uncomfortable. “Please tell me you’re working on a way of undoing this whole mess…”

“Of course, we are,” he said, suppressing his sudden anxiety as he took her hands to comfort her. “We’ll figure something out, I promise.”

“AW!” Mabel suddenly gushed from her pool. “Even like this, you guys are still the CUTEST couple ever! What I wouldn’t give to have my camera on me! Though then again, maybe it’s better that I don’t… I don’t think it’s waterproof…” 

“Oh, come on, really?” Pacifica asked in disbelief as she glanced over at Mabel. “You got turned into a mermaid? I wish I could have been that lucky…”

“Tell me about it,” Connie sighed as she suddenly materialized right beside the heiress, startling both her and her snakes in the process. 

“Ok, everyone,” Dipper addressed the others, outside of Stan and Ford who were still engrossed in their petty brawl above. “Let’s get back on track. We need to start looking for some way to get all of us back to-” A high, loud screech abruptly cut him off as it echoed through the air, though it didn’t take long for everyone to discover the source of the noise as it came from above. Stan and Ford’s ongoing argument was only briefly interrupted by the arrival of a winged creature that suddenly blazed right past them both. That blue, jellyfish-esque creature was apparently holding something with its thin set of lengthy tentacles, a much smaller, bright green, six legged spider-like monster. While a pair of such peculiar creatures would have normally been cause for alarm, as the jellyfish gently set the spider down on the ground before coming to hover just above it, it soon became very apparent to just about everyone exactly who these creatures, or partially corrupted Gems really were. 

“Wait a second…” Steven said, focusing on the familiar gemstones on each of the monsters. “Isn’t that-”

“Oh my gosh! Peri!” Mabel practically squealed with delight at the spider-like form Peridot had taken on. “You look so CUTE! You’re like an itsy-bitsy Gem spider! If I could get out of this pool, you better believe I’d be giving you the biggest hug right now!”

Peridot let out a flustered hiss at this, her large, dark eyes narrowing in apparently frustration and embarrassment as she stomped her two front, disjointed legs down in annoyance. An apparent testament that the green Gem still retained her annoyance at being referred to as small, even in her now largely-corrupted form. 

At the same time, Dipper was completely caught off guard as the jellyfish creature suddenly flew over to him, remaining completely silent as several of its long tendrils reached out toward him. Immediately, his relatively new panicky instincts washed over him as he froze up, staring at the monster with stark, fearful, yet quiet alarm. The creature quickly noticed this and drew back a bit, seemingly confused and concerned, though it was still unable to make so much as a sound to convey either of those things. 

“Uh, Dipper?” Steven placed a steadying hand on his shoulder as his vines carried him over to him. “I… think that’s Lapis…”

At this, Dipper quickly snapped out of this forceful bout of shock, recognition filling his features as he spotted the teardrop shaped gemstone that was clearly visible through the jellyfish’s somewhat transparent blue body. “L-Lapis…?”

Lapis “nodded” as much as she could in her current form, slowly reaching her tendrils out once more so she could better see how Dipper had changed too. This time, he allowed her to, albeit a bit anxiously as one of her naturally wet tentacles found a gentle spot against the side of his face. “Uh… s-sorry,” he said, backing up a bit. “This is just… really weird…”

Though Lapis didn’t really respond to this, Peridot certainly did in a series of plaintiff hisses as she skittered around in apparent frustration. “Yeesh, even like this she’s still a loudmouth,” Pacifica noted to Connie and Mabel, aside, both of whom couldn’t help but agree. 

“So, you guys got corrupted--er, s-sort of corrupted too, huh?” Steven asked Lapis and Peridot, who both nodded in what almost seemed like resignation to this fact. The young Gem let out a small, fretful sigh as he took a moment to glance over the pair, as well as other Gems’ rather monstrous forms. Likewise, he took another moment to take stock of what had happened to his father, to Soos and Wendy and Pacifica, to Stan and Ford, to Mabel, Dipper, and Connie, and even to himself. For whatever reason, they had all undergone some kind of unknown, and in most cases unwanted, transformation, one that had disrupted their lives and left them all with more questions than answers as they tried to adapt to what had so suddenly happened to them, a plight that faced  the entire town and everyone in it, Gems and humans alike. And while Steven knew Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl weren’t particularly equipped to save Gravity Falls from such a plight as they usually would have, he figured that someone else would just have to step up and do exactly that in their stead. 

“All right, enough is enough,” Steven said, his tone stern and serious as he looked to Dipper, Mabel, and Connie. “We need to do something about this.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying this whole time,” Dipper huffed, his tail twitching in slight aggravation.

“I know…” Steven admitted as a few of his vines curled back in embarrassment. “B-but this time, let’s actually do it! We can find a way to undo this and get all of us, everyone--the whole town, back to the way they’re supposed to be, I know we can! So, are you guys up for another mystery?”

“You bet!” Mabel eagerly chimed, slapping her hand over Steven’s as he extended it to the others. “Mystery Kids!”

“Mystery Kids,” Connie agreed, hovering her hand over the others even though she couldn’t really touch them herself. 

Dipper sighed, though he did so with a warm, resolved smile as his hand joined the pile. “Mystery Kids.” He paused right after this, however, as he stole a glance over at Pacifica, who stood on the fringes of the group, glancing away awkwardly as even her snakes seemed to hang low and quiet. She started, however, as she caught sight of Dipper silently motioning her to join them. Considering her less than stellar history with the other members of the group, she hesitated, but she ultimately folded upon meeting her boyfriend’s soft, reassuring smile. 

“M-Mystery Kids…?” Pacifica ventured as she slithered over to the group and placed her hand atop theirs. Steven, Mabel, and Connie all offered her the same eager, welcoming smiles, which helped to set her at ease just as much as Dipper reaching up to lightly, supportively squeeze her hand did. 

With another daring cheer, the four--now five--Mystery Kids solidified their brazen mission to uncover the truth behind what had happened to Gravity Falls and find a way to solve it. A lofty, brazen goal to be sure, but one they felt largely equipped to handle; after all, they’d faced impossible odds like this more than a few times before. 

“Ok,” Dipper said as they all retracted their hands. “Let’s get started.”

“Good luck, dudes!” Soos encouraged with a bright wave, though his hand ended up melting off his wrist before it splattered onto the porch. “...Oops.”

“Uh, you guys might wanna hurry up on that,” Wendy noted as she watched the handyman reclaim his hand with a concerned frown. “I don’t know how much longer Soos can hold out with it being this hot out. Or how much longer I can hold out either for that matter…” she growled, scratching away at her own thick fur. 

“Wait, hold up,” Stan cut in as he finally came in for a landing, Ford following not too far behind him as their disagreement had reached a stalemate. “The entire town is cursed or something, and we’re just supposed to rely completely on you kids to get us all back to normal? N-not that I don’t trust you four, but you gotta admit you’re a little wet behind the ears. In some cases, literally,” he nodded over at Mabel. 

“Guilty as charged,” Mabel chuckled, showing off her now fin-like ears, which were, sure enough, soaking wet. 

“Stanley, don’t be so inconsiderate,” Ford scolded. “After all, who has accomplished impressive feats of discovery and problem solving through pooling their respective talents together on several occasions over the past few months alone?”

“We have!” Steven proudly proclaimed.

“Exactly,” the author nodded, ignoring his brother’s irritated glare over yet another riddle. 

“Well, you kids have definitely got my vote of confidence,” Greg soundly agreed amidst resecuring a loose bandage around his arm. 

“Thanks, Dad,” Steven grinned, leading the way toward the forest. He stopped short, however, in front of the Gems, all of whom, including Lapis and Peridot, regarded him affectionately as best as they could, even if they had to do so without using words. “Don’t worry, guys,” he assured them with a hopeful smile. “We’re gonna fix this, no matter what it takes. I promise.” Though none of the Gems could properly express it, their pride was clear through the round of various indiscernible, yet clearly happy cheers that rose up among them. Their warm support only gave a boost to the young Gem’s smile as he turned back to the other kids. “Ok, you guys ready to go--oh…” 

His question was answered before he even finished asking it, for while Connie was able to freely hover just about anywhere with few problems, Dipper and Pacifica were still quite unsteady on their hooves and tail respectively and Mabel was essentially confined to her tiny kiddie pool (which her long tail was actually halfway sticking out of). “Uh… right,” Steven let out a small laugh, realizing that the others didn’t have an autonomous set of vines to tote them around like he currently did. “We should probably figure this out first…”

The solution when it came to transportation was actually pretty simple, and a large part of that came down to Steven’s several sets of sturdy vines. As intangible as she was, Connie couldn’t really do much to help, but Steven hardly minded as he allowed both Dipper and Pacifica to cling onto a few of his vines, as well as each other, for support as they began to make their way through the woods. Mabel had been a bit tricker, but they’d eventually devised an idea upon finding an old pair of skateboards stored in the back of Greg’s van. It took a bit of doing (namely in getting Stan and Ford to cooperate long enough to work together to lift Mabel’s pool onto the boards) but eventually the pool itself was fully mobile and ready to be pulled along by a few more of Steven’s vines (of which he fortunately had plenty to spare). And just like that the small, but enthusiastic group set out on their daunting quest, though exactly how they were supposed to go about it still wasn’t exactly clear. 

“So… what are we out here looking for anyway?” Connie finally posed the question that all of the others had been thinking. 

“A way to get everyone back to normal,” Steven replied with a steady grin. 

“Ok, but like… how?” Pacifica asked, just as confused as Connie was. 

“Uh, well…” Dipper began, exchanging an uncertain glance with Steven. “We… don’t really know what we’re looking for exactly. To be honest, a lot of the times when we do this, we just tend to look around for a bit until a solution just sort of comes to us.” At that exact moment, the entire group came to a grinding halt as something, or rather, a certain semi-corrupted Gem to be exact, abruptly fell out of the canopy of trees just in front of them. “...Like that.”

“Centi!” Steven exclaimed as he reached a vine out toward the disoriented Gem to help her up. “You’re back! A-and… whoa, you look just like you did before!” Sure enough, Centipeetle hadn’t been transformed whatsoever like all of the other Gems had, for she still retained the same semi-corrupted appearance she’d had since Steven had tried to heal her. Likewise, she still seemed to have a rather skittish mindset as she cowered away from Steven, not seeming to recognize him or any of the others in their strange new forms. “Hey, i-its ok!” he said, pulling his vines back a bit so he couldn’t scare her any further. “It’s just me: Steven! I know I look a little different right now, but you don’t have to be scared, ok?”

Centipeetle eased up a bit at this, looking Steven up and down before calming down as she met his comforting smile. She let out a somewhat confused chirp as she walked over to him, and that confusion only seemed to grow as she looked over the other kids as well. 

“So this… “Centi” is a friend of yours?” Pacifica asked Dipper to gain a better sense of context. “Yikes, it looks like she got hit by this whole monster thing really hard…”

“Um, actually, she looked like that before any of this happened,” Dipper carefully pointed out. 

“...Oh,” Pacifica glanced away awkwardly. “My bad…”

“I don’t understand,” Connie spoke up as she flew closer to Centipeetle, who flinched away from her slightly. “I know she’s already partially corrupted, but why didn’t she fully turn back into a monster like the other Gems did?”

“Good question,” Steven said, watching as the semi-corrupted Gem sauntered past him. “You got hit by that light too, didn’t you, Centi? Do you have any ideas about what might have happened?”

Centipeetle didn’t respond as she was instead far more fascinated in the small pool Mabel was sitting in. Or rather, the pool that Mabel had completely submerged her entire head under for far more than just a few mere minutes now. 

“Oh my gosh, Mabel!” Dipper gasped, not hesitating to stumble over to her as fast as he could. Though her tail was hanging over the side of the tiny pool, the rest of her body lay face-up under the shallow water, her expression completely blank as she stared up at nothing at all as her gills “breathed” in the water surrounding her at a steady, synchronized pace. “Mabel!” Dipper reached into the water, grabbing her by the shoulder to rouse her from this bizarre trance. It worked as she gasped, darting up with a start and unintentionally splashing her brother in the process. 

“W-whoa!” she exclaimed, pressing a hand against her head. “Uh… sorry,” she offered Dipper an apologetic grin as she noticed he was now dripping wet. “Not sure what happened, I guess I sorta zoned out there. Oh hey! Centi’s back!”

“Ok, can we not backtrack here?” Pacifica asked, somewhat impatient. “We’re supposed to be finding a way to fix all this, remember?”

“Right,” Steven soundly agreed with a hopeful smile. “And I think Centi might just be the key to helping us figure that out.”

Centipeetle tilted her head, letting out a curious coo at this, yet a few of the other kids weren’t so convinced. “Uh… Steven? I know you still want to help her, and we do too, but… we sort of have bigger problems to deal with right now, don’t you think?” Dipper asked apprehensively. 

“But Centi was corrupted, just like the Gems sort of are now,” Steven pointed out. “And whatever corrupted them transformed the rest of the town too. So maybe whatever did that did this too!”

“But we still don’t know how corruption even happens to begin with,” Connie noted with a frown. 

“Maybe we don’t, but Centi might!” Steven turned back to the semi-corrupted Gem. “What do you say? Do you remember anything from before you--I-I mean… from long ago?”

Centipeetle took a moment to ponder this question before she answered it with a surprisingly enthusiastic nod. Likewise, she began to explain, albeit in her usual language of inhuman squeaks and squawks, none of which any of the kids could even begin to decipher. 

“Well, this isn’t gonna work,” Dipper remarked flatly. 

“Oh! I have an idea!” Mabel raised her hand. “If her memories are still in her head, we just gotta draw them out. Literally! Through the language… of ART!”

“...Or she could just write it all down,” Pacifica countered much less dramatically. 

“Yeah, that would probably be a little easier,” Connie nodded. 

“Now, if only we had some paper and a-” Steven stopped short as Dipper suddenly pulled both a notepad and a pen out of his vest. 

“I never leave home without them,” he said with a proud grin. “Especially since you never know what you’ll run into next around here. It never hurts to be prepared.”

“Dork,” Pacifica teased, lightly elbowing him, which he was more than happy to accept given the flirtatious nature of the gesture. 

“Ok, Centi, check this out,” Steven said, writing his name onto the first empty page of the notepad. “Ste-ven. That’s me! Can you do that?”

Centipeetle nodded, taking the pad as she began to scribble something down onto the page. When she was done and presented her work to the kids, however, the series of jagged, mangled lines she’d drawn didn’t bear semblance to any legible words at all. 

“...You know, maybe having her draw might not be such a bad idea after all…” Connie said somewhat fretfully. 

“Yes!” Mabel cheered. “Art always wins!”

“Ok then, let’s try this,” Steven sketched out a quick stick figure sketch of himself so Centipeetle would understand what they wanted her to do. “You can tell us whatever you want to through pictures! You try it.” 

Centipeetle reclaimed the pen and pad and began to do exactly that, sketching something out in record time before showing her work to the others. “That looks like… some kind of spaceship…” Connie inferred, hovering above as she glanced down at the Gem’s rough, yet understandable drawing. “Is that how you came to Earth?”

Centipeetle nodded, flipping the pad to a blank page as she started doodling something else. “Ooo, they look like you!” Mabel pointed toward the trio of stick figures that bore a passing semblance to the semi-corrupted Gem. “Centi, did you used to roll with a super cool crew back in the day?”

Centipeetle let out a happy chirp at this, pointing to herself with something of a proud smile. “You were a captain?!” Steven gasped, stars in his eyes. “That’s amazing! Sorry, I mean--that’s amazing, sir!” he chuckled with a playful salute before he happened to catch himself. “Oh, right, you guys don’t salute like that. It’s more like… this, right?” The young Gem awkwardly tried to cross his arms, though he couldn’t quite position them in any sort of comfortable manner. “Ow! Oh, this looked so easy when Peridot did it....” It didn’t take long for Centipeetle to catch onto what he was trying to do as she showed him the corrected cross-armed salute. “Oh yeah! Like that!” Steven nodded as the semi-corrupted Gem let out another noisy chirp before she resumed drawing out her tale once more. 

“Ok, so… you’re saluting someone…?” Dipper guessed as they all gathered closer to watch Centipeetle draw. “Is that your commander or something?” The semi-corrupted Gem nodded, pointing back to her drawings with another pointed squawk. ‘

“She gave you an order,” Connie continued inspecting the drawings. “And you and your crew got on your ships and--oh, lots of ships. Heading through space to… Earth.”

“You landed and started building stuff,” Steven mused as Centipeetle sketched out the start of Homeworld’s colonization of the planet. A colonization which soon turned to a violent conflict. “But then… the Gem war! You joined the fight…” Centipeetle’s drawings grew a bit more aggressive and hectic as her hand started to shake. She swiftly crossed out several of the Gems she had drawn, symbolizing their brutal ends that happened so long ago. “You and your crew kept going…” Steven faltered as Centipeetle suddenly ripped half of the page she was working on, tearing away her fellow crew members away from her. “You got seperated, but you were still fighting. Then, new orders from your commander… to retreat. Everyone’s running-” The sketches shifted to a massive crowd of Gem soldiers fleeing from some unknown, unseen threat. And among that crowd was Centipeetle, lost in the shuffle and hopelessly confused as to what was really going on. “But from what? You don’t know. Where’s your crew? Where’s your ship? You stopped.” Centipeetle froze in her drawing, captivated by the sky as a large star, three stars rather, appeared in it. “You heard something--from the sky, a sound. A song? And then…”

Centipeetle tore the last page away entirely to a completely blank one. She covered that empty page with her hand as tears started to slip out of her eye and splash down onto the paper, dampening it as she let out an agonized sob. “C-Centi?” Mabel spoke up, concerned. 

“That light…” Dipper began in dawning realization. “That’s the same light that hit the entire town! Where did it come from?”

Centipeetle whimpered once more but drew one last image upon the empty page: the familiar symbol of a trio of diamonds. “D-damage from the Diamonds…” Steven whispered, his eyes wide with alarm. 

“Uh… what does that mean?” Pacifica asked, largely out of the loop compared to the others. 

“It means… none of this makes sense…” Connie shook her head incredulously. “The light from the Diamonds corrupted Gems back then, but… it didn’t work on humans before… did it?”

“N-no, it… it only worked on Gems, like Centi…” Steven frowned, recalling what Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl had told him of corruption before. “But this time, it only affected the Gems’ bodies, not their minds like it did with all the others… And it did work on humans… So, what’s different now?”

“Bill,” Dipper said starkly, panic filling his expression as he recalled a very significant, very frightening recent revelation. “H-he’s working with the Diamonds now, o-or at least Yellow Diamond, remember? What if they teamed up to do this to us?!”

“B-but why would they-” Steven didn’t get a chance to finish his question as Centipeetle suddenly caught his attention. The semi-corrupted Gem was hacking horribly, acid spilling out from her beak-like maw as she abruptly collapsed to the ground. “Centi! Are you ok?!”

Centipeetle let out an anguished cry as light enveloped her arm, forcibly mutating it back into its previously short, insect-esque appendange. “W-what’s happening to her?!” Mabel asked, leaning out of her pool worriedly. 

“She’s reverting!” Steven exclaimed, alarmed. “Here, I’ll heal you again!” The young Gem hurried to do so, swiftly licking his hand and placing it against Centipeetle’s gemstone. She reacted harshly, however, her eye slamming shut as her arm glitched out, but ultimately stayed corrupted as the rest of her body began to do the same. “W-why isn’t it working?! How can I help you?!” 

All Centipeetle could respond with was a loud, piercing, pained screech, one that echoed through the forest and set off a series of varied responses in the process. As startled as she was, Connie was no longer able to keep herself visible as she abruptly disappeared into thin air once more, despite Steven’s desperate plea for her to stay. Likewise, as horrified as he already was by thoughts of Bill and the Diamonds and their twisted alliance, Dipper found he was completely helpless to resist his new flighty instincts overwhelming all sense of reason and logic as they prompted him to flee, running swiftly off into the forest, even as Mabel and Pacifica both tried and failed to reign him back in. 

And yet, Dipper and Connie weren’t the only ones to take off out of fear as Centipeetle started doing the same, distressed as she startled scrambling back through the woods herself. “E-everyone, wait!” Steven called, distraught as he realized things were only going from bad to worse. 

“W-what do we do?” Mabel asked, immensely concerned. 

“Uh… um…” Steven stammered, racing to come up with some sort of plan, which he surprisingly managed to do in record time. “Pacifica, can you go look for Dipper?”

“Um, yeah, I’ll try,” Pacifica agreed, more than willing to do so, even if she wasn’t entirely sure how far she’d be able to go on her difficult to maneuver tail. 

“Mabel, you… stay here.”

“Yeah, I… kinda can’t really do much else,” Mabel noted, pointing to her tail. “Oh! I know! I’ll see if I can get Connie to come back!”

“Great,” Steven nodded as his vines turned him around. “I’m gonna go after Centi. I’ll be back soon!”

“Good luck!” Mabel called after both Pacifica and Steven as they set off on their own respective missions. She paused a moment after they were gone, more than set to call after Connie in the hopes of getting her to appear. Yet just before she could, her own bizarre newfound instincts took over as she silently plunged herself back under the water of her pool, unable to really do anything else, even if she could have tried. 

Fortunately, it didn’t take long for Steven to catch up to Centipeetle given how surprisingly fast his vines could carry him. The semi-corrupted Gem had just broken through the edge of the forest, apparently heading back toward the temple, yet as Steven did the same, he was quite taken aback by what he saw happening at the Mystery Shack. 

The entire area was awash in chaos as it seemed as though almost everyone who had gathered there had also fallen victim to whatever instinctual impulses that came along with their new monstrous forms. Stan and Ford had apparently gotten into another brawl for whatever reason, though this one was much more violent and aggressive as they chased each other around the sky again. Wendy attempted to follow along on the ground, running on all fours as she growled almost ferally, and though she missed Centipeetle, she did notice Steven and tried chasing after him as well. The young Gem narrowly managed to avoid her using his floating powers to jump on top of his father’s van, though that hardly stopped the frantic scene on the ground below. Soos seemed to have tucked himself away inside the shack to avoid melting any further, and Greg was seemingly nowhere to be found, at least until Steven peeked into the back of the van to find his father sleeping soundly within it. 

“D-Dad!” Steven exclaimed, hurrying to his side, only to notice Greg’s arms were crossed squarely over his chest, much like a traditional mummy’s would have been. “Dad, wake up, please!” he shook his father’s shoulder to try and rouse him, though it didn’t do any good. “D-Dad…?”

A sudden screech quickly caught the distraught young Gem’s attention, one that came from Pearl, who he realized was standing right behind him alongside Garnet and Amethyst. While Lapis and Peridot had taken to the sidelines, unsure of what to do, the main trio of Gems had been doing their best to ease the mindless uproar between the others, though there wasn’t much they could really do with their forms as monstrous as they currently were. “G-guys, what… what’s going on?” Steven asked them, realizing they were much calmer than everyone else seemed to be. “Why’s everyone acting so weird?” 

Though she couldn’t really give a proper answer, Garnet replied in the form of a low grunt, nodding up toward the sky, or rather, toward where the apparent corrupting light had come from. “C-Corruption… yeah, we know,” Steven nodded, “We think it might have been Bill and the Diamonds this time, but they... “ He gasped as the newfound, horrific realization struck him. “They corrupted everyone’s bodies… but only the minds of the humans! That’s why they’re acting like this! W-we have to help them! B-but how?”

The Gems seemed to agree, though the only way they could really convey their idea to do so was to step aside so Steven could see Centipeetle, who was still frantically making her way up to the temple. “Centi?” the young Gem wondered anxiously. “D-do you think…?”

The Gems exchanged something of an uncertain glance but ultimately they agreed that the semi-corrupted Gem would be their best course of action right now. Something Steven couldn’t really argue with since he was largely out of ideas himself. “Right,” he nodded, his vines starting to pull him forward so he could follow her. “You guys stay here and keep everyone safe. I’m gonna find a way to fix all of this. I mean it this time.”

Even if they couldn’t exactly speak, the Gems still sent him off with a chorus of warm, proud well-wishes, voicing their firm belief in their young ward just as well as any words could have. Their faith did give Steven something of a confidence boost, but as he set off after Centipeetle he couldn’t help but feel quite worried all the same, especially now that the stakes seemed higher than ever before. What if he couldn’t find a way to return everyone to normal? What if his friends, his family, possibly even himself with time, were all eventually lost to their monstrous forms and mangled minds, just like previously corrupted Gems like Centipeetle had been centuries ago? 

These were all thoughts Steven could hardly bear to face, so he decided to embrace the opposite instead, the hope that he would find a solution. That he could fix this and save everyone, just as they were all counting on him to do, even if they didn’t even realize it. 

The young Gem burst into the house just moments after Centipeetle had, finding her propped up against the warp pad as she desperately tried using it. No teleporting light emerged from it however, much to the semi-corrupted Gem’s distress as her leg started glitching back into its previously corrupted appearance. “I-it’s not working because you’re corrupted,” Steven noted, hurrying over to her. “Where do you want to go? The battlefield you fought at? Your ship?”

Centipeetle squawked out an immediate response to this, though Steven still didn’t quite understand. “Is there something on the ship that can help you? That can help all of us?” The semi-corrupted Gem only screamed louder at this, slamming herself down onto the warp pad as she practically begged him to use it. “O-ok, just… hold on,” Steven said, grabbing her hand to calm her down. “I’ll get you there.”

Despite his own condition, fortunately Steven was still able to use the warp pad as usual. Its light enveloped them both, taking them to the very same abandoned Gem ship that Peridot had tried trapping them in what felt like ages ago now. As soon as she so much as spotted her ship, Centipeetle took off, running through the jungle as she called out for someone she only barely remembered. “Hey! Wait!” Steven ran after her, or rather his vines did, at least until Centipeetle suddenly stopped short. The corrupted Gem unleashed another agonized scream as she collapsed, clutching her head in pain as more traces of her monsterous form began to overtake her: her multiple tiny legs, her lengthy, multi-tiered body, her long, pincher-like snout. As this horrific, slow transformation continued, Steven briefly watched in frightened alarm, before he took the initiative, gently latching onto her with a few of his vines. “You want to get to the ship? Then let’s go.” As unable to walk as she was, Steven let his vines hoist Centipeetle up as she continued whimpering loudly, her form continuing to unsteadily shift as her mind tumbled into madness all the while. Yet despite her wild manner starting to flood her once more, she still somehow recognized Steven, still somehow trusted him to take her where she longed to be. And sure enough, that’s exactly what he did. 

The young Gem carefully set Centipeetle down just as all traces of her once human-like form gave way to her former corruption. She squeaked pitifully, acid dripping out of her maw as she looked to Steven almost pleadingly. He shuddered, wishing he could do so much more to help her, but for now, the most he could do was open the door to her abandoned ship and let her back inside of it for the first time in eons. 

Silently, Steven followed Centipeetle inside the derelict vessel, only to find that they weren’t alone. Two other creatures, identical to the corrupted Gem, had scaled its dusty walls and had taken up shop there, though as they noticed Centipeedle herself, they greeted her with cheerful chips of greet. “Other Centipeetles…?” Steven wondered, watching as his own corrupted companion scurried over to join the pair. “T-they’re your crew… aren’t they?” 

Centipeetle stopped short at this, turning back to Steven as she skittered over to him once more. He offered her a small, sad smile that was quick to fade as he looked between his corrupted friend and her crew. “I-I… I’m sorry….” he sighed morosely. “I wish there was more I could do to help you. T-to help everyone! All of the other corrupted Gems, and especially everyone back in Gravity Falls right now! They’re all in danger and I-I… I don’t know what to do to save them! My friends… e-everyone I know needs my help, a-and I… I can’t do anything for them…”

Tears started to well up in the young Gem’s eyes, yet before they could fall, a gentle, almost kindly chirp from Centipeetle caught his attention instead. The corrupted Gem pulled her lengthy form up a bit so she could gain some height over Steven, and then, in much of the same way he had done for her before, she delivered a soft “kiss” of sorts upon his forehead using the very tip of her beak. It wasn’t much, but in a strange way, it offered him exactly the sort of comfort he needed at a hopeless moment such as this. 

He mouthed her a silent ‘thank you’ as she turned again to join  her crew, all three corrupted Gems chirping warmly amongst each other as they reunited after centuries of painful separation. Steven stood by, watching them for a moment or two, his mind lingering on Centipeetle’s “kiss” all the while. And the longer he thought about the touching gesture, the more it made him think about how his own healing kiss had, at least in some way, truly worked to partially cure the corrupted Gem, even if it hadn’t really worked as well as he had hoped. Yet still, it had worked on some level all the same. Which made him start to wonder if it could possibly work when it came to another, newer kind of corruption instead. 

Steven wasn’t exactly sure what the result would be as he glanced over the back of his now-clawed hand, but as he looked to the vines sprouting from his back and thought about the pink petals that had overtaken his hair, he figured it was at least worth a try all the same. The moment he so much as skimmed the back of his hand with a gentle kiss, however, he found that everything went completely white and numb, until just as quickly, everything abruptly returned. 

Except plenty of things didn’t. Because instead of being involuntarily propped up on vines as he had been all day, the young Gem found himself sitting on the floor of the abandoned ship with not a single vine in sight. His skin had regained its usual pallor as opposed to the unnatural shade of pale pink it had become and his hands and hair, he found, were both just as normal as non-floral as they should have been. “I-I… I healed myself?!” he gasped, jumping to his feet, though he just as quickly collapsed to the ground. “O-oops, guess I gotta get used to walking around on my own again, b-but still, this is great!” He grinned brightly up at the trio of Centipeetles curiously watching him from above. “Thank you,” he said to Centi in particular. “I-I know my powers won’t work on you guys, but… maybe someday they will. And when they do, I’ll come back for you first, Centi, I promise.” Centi let out a bright, affectionate chip at this, one that Steven couldn’t help but return with a small, joyous laugh of his own. “B-but for now, I’ve gotta get back and see if I can help everyone else!”

Steven wasted no time in doing so, waving one final, fond farewell to Centi and her crew before he took off to return to town. And all the while, the trio of Centipeetles remained aboard their broken vessel, happy to be, if nothing else, together again, just as they had yearned for all that time apart. 

As soon as he warped himself back to the temple, Steven rushed out of it, running as fast as his admittedly sore legs could take him in place of having his vines tote him around. The chaos unfolding at the shack had hardly changed in the time that he’d been gone, withe Gems desperately trying and largely failing to reign the maddened humans among them back in. Still, as soon as they spotted Steven in his usual appearance, the Gems were all quick to hone in on him in rapt, excited, fervent attention. Still, despite the crowd, Steven steadily got to work, even if he did have a few doubts about whether or not his plan would really work at all. All the same, he started with Amethyst, landing a brief kiss against her muscled arm, one that, sure enough, enshrouded the purple Gem in light before reverting her form back to how it usually should have been. While grateful for Steven’s assistance, Amethyst did have the slightest complaints, namely that she had found her corrupted form to be rather fun and enjoyable, something Pearl readily disagreed with as soon as the young Gem healed her up next. Garnet was more than relieved to have her future vision back on hand as Steven healed her, and with her usual level-headedness, she got her teammates into action to round up the scattered humans while the young Gem healed Lapis and Peridot next. 

It had taken some doing, but between the three of them, the Gems had managed to round up Stan, Ford, and Wendy just as Steven finished off returning Greg and Soos to normal. The trio was still quite rowdy and untamed, which made approaching them a bit of a challenge for the young Gem, at least until Amethyst came up with the idea of a spray bottle on them. Miraculously, this managed to work as Steven mixed in a bit of his own healing spit into the water before the Gems spritzed the aggressive group with it, healing them in short order and leaving each of them quite embarrassed when they realized what had happened. 

With everyone at the shack healed up, Steven made it his immediate mission to find his scattered friends in the forest, a mission that the Gems were more than happy to join him on. Lapis took to the skies alongside Peridot to try and find any signs of Dipper (and Pacifica for that matter) while Steven and the others took to the ground to regroup with Mabel and hopefully Connie. They found the latter first, who had managed to reappear and nearly flew right into them while searching for the young Gem herself. As surprised as Connie was by how Steven had managed to heal everyone, they both found a unique challenge when he tried to do the same for her given her currently intangible form, one that he couldn’t seem to touch at all. That is, at least until Garnet suggested that they fuse. It was a bit awkward and difficult to do so, yet somehow, it worked, with Stevonnie taking on a partially physical form, though they did still hover above the ground while retaining something of a ghostly glow. Still, it was enough for the young Gem’s healing powers to work as they kissed their own arm, returning not just the fusion, but Connie herself back to normal once they warmly unfused. 

Since she was essentially unable to go anywhere else, Mabel had remained in her spot in her pool, staying under water the entire time so she could breath easier. Her expression was absolutely empty and she remained completely silent, even as Connie began propping her up out of the water so Steven could heal her. And as soon as he did, Mabel immediately snapped right back into her usual chatty self, even if she was a little disgruntled by her now wet skirt, socks, and shoes as she finally got out of the pool, able to walk on her own two returned legs once again. 

By then, Lapis and Peridot had returned with their report that they had spotted Dipper running off deeper into the forest. Not wanting to waste any time, Steven, Mabel, and Connie all raced to catch up with him, though when they found him, he wasn’t exactly alone. Pacifica had also managed to find him, though by now her newly predatory instincts had overtaken her as she cornered her frightened boyfriend as both her and her snakes prepared to take on their easy prey. This tense confrontation was put to a quick end as the other kids arrived to break it up, with the girls making use of the spray bottle on Pacifica while Steven managed to keep Dipper from slipping away again with a well-timed bubble so he could properly heal him. And as soon as the couple were both back in their right minds and usual bodies, they both soundly agreed to never speak of what had almost just transpired ever again. 

From there, healing the rest of the town from their monstrous plight was quite a daunting task for Steven and the others, though the spray bottle scheme did make doing so quite a bit easier. All it took was one spritz to each citizen-turned-creature and they were back to their usual fully-human forms. With the Gems and the Pines teaming up together to spread out through the town, it was only a matter of hours before every impacted resident had been healed (even if most of them had no idea exactly what the water that had done so actually contained). Still, the general consensus was a glad and grateful one amongst its citizens as Gravity Falls slowly but surely started getting back to normal (or at least as normal as the strange little town could be). 

“And that should be everyone,” Garnet noted, relying on her future vision to confirm that their mission was complete. While a handful of the others who had lended a hand had already headed back home, the kids and the Gems were the last to dole out healing to any remaining stragglers. And with the last few townsfolk healed and human again, the sun was just starting to set as the last of the group began to make their way back to the temple and the shack as well. “Good job, Steven.”

“Yeah! Magical healing powers for the win!” Mabel cheered as she ran alongside the young Gem. “Seriously, I’ve never missed having my legs this much!”

“And I’ve never missed having only two,” Dipper readily agreed with a sigh of relief. “Let’s just hope something like this never happens again. I don’t know if I can handle the whole “mindless deer panic” thing again.”

“Well, if it does ever happen again,” Connie spoke up, glancing over at Steven with a fond smile. “We know who we can count on to save the day next time, right?”

“Wrong,” Steven finally spoke up, his dejected expression more than apparent. “I couldn’t save everyone. You guys were right,” he looked up to the Gems. “I couldn’t help Centipeetle..”

“You brought the Centipeetle back to her ship,” Garnet said, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. “You brought her back to her crew. They were waiting for her there. They didn’t want to leave her behind.”

“Wait…” Steven raised a confused eyebrow. “How did you know any of that?”

“She told us,” Garnet held up the previously discarded notepad Centi had sketched her story in. 

“Her drawings…?” Steven flipped through the book, perplexed. 

“Her writing,” the Gem leader corrected. 

“It’s actually decently legible!” Pearl pointed out the seemingly unintelligible scribbles Centi had written out. 

“Wow!” Steven grinned, glad that someone could make it out where they hadn’t been able to. “Um… did she mention anything about… the corrupting light?”

“Mm… no,” Pearl shook her head as she looked through the notepad. “Why do you ask?”

“Well…”

“Cause the light that turned everyone into monsters was totally the same thing!” Mabel interjected. “Or at least we think it was.”

“We also think Bill might have had something to do with it,” Dipper added disdainfully. “That’s why it actually worked on humans this time.”

The Gems exchanged a worried glance upon hearing this, none of them liking the idea of Bill and the Diamonds collaborating, especially on something like this, however plausible it might have been. Yet even so, they did manage to find a few holes in the kids’ theory all the same. “Uh, if it was corruption, then how was Steven able to heal us all up when he couldn’t do the same for your girl Centi?” Amethyst asked, confused. 

“I… don’t know,” Steven frowned, puzzled. “Maybe it just wasn’t as powerful this time? Even with Bill’s help?”

“Or maybe it was only one of the Diamonds instead of all three…” Garnet muttered quietly before Pearl quickly cut in. 

“W-well anyway, I suppose it doesn’t matter that much now that it’s all over and done with!” the white Gem exclaimed with a bit of a forced smile. 

“But… if Bill and the Diamonds can do something like this, then don’t you think we should be worried about what they’re planning next?” Dipper asked warily. 

“I-in the long term, yes…” Pearl ventured somewhat anxiously. “But for now-”

“For now, we won,” Garnet interjected. “Let’s celebrate that instead of worrying about what’s to come.”

Though Dipper let out something of a disgruntled sigh at this, the other kids largely agreed, especially Steven. Because just a few hours ago, he had thought he might have very well lost his friends and his family for good, to something that had been far out of anyone’s control. Yet now, through a miraculous turn of fate and a little of his own miraculous magic thrown in, here they all were, together and back to their normal selves again, just as they should have been. Well, almost all as they should have been. 

“Hey, Pearl?” Steven began, glancing down at the notepad once more. “Can you teach me how to write in Gem?”

“Oh, Steven, it’s very complicated,” Pearl said with a small smile. “And you won’t have much use for it.”

“Oh, I just want to know a few things like, ‘Hi, how are you?’, ‘Where’s the bathroom?’ and-” Steven stopped short as he flipped to the last drawing Centi had left behind, of the trio of diamonds representing the ones who had damaged her, and so many other innocent Gems in the process, seemingly beyond repair. Or at least it was for now, something that he could only hope to somehow change someday for Centi and her friends, just as he had for all of his. “And ‘I’m sorry’...”

Next:

[mingi-bubu]

Watch “Youth with You” with Me!

Episode 1 Part 1

- Lisa is so cute when meeting Kun and Ella!!  What dorks to hide from her hahaha

- Jony J is cooler than I will ever be and all he’s wearing is a plaid puffy jacket

- I love that Kun and Ella were so like “hehehee we’ll trick and surprise them” and then Lisa just jokes back with them that she knows what an icon

- Jony J, sir, please...Kun and Ella are so sick of him im weak

- Lisa, sweetie, never change !

- the door crying as the Shining Twins walk past lmaooo (the trainees from AKB48 Team SH, Kuliko “Chestnut” Shen and Anne Hu)

- the mentors remind them of the teletubbies im screaming

- Ella stop being so mean!!! they’re so afraid omg

- ooh new team! Independent trainee nevermind just like Kun!

- Oh she’s cool.  Jue Chen has such a style I’m actually weak like I think she’s too nervous to expand on any thoughts i’m dead I love her

- HuaCe Movie Esther Yu I’m so sorry sweetie

- Pastel Gang, aka TPG’s group All the Same Height, are so adorable

- oh Anne sweetie again I’m so sorry

- Esther is such a mood incredible she’s deadass asking to take his seat what an incredible person

- Jony J kills me with his responses

- SNH48 and AKB48 are in such similar costumes but they are more

- now they’re going through a montage of the many different groups

- Tov Ent K Lu and the rest of the three-person group I think might be some of my favorites as we continue.  Them, the Shining Twins, and Esther.

- Wow her dance from the Opera is incredible i deffo need to find it online eventually

- look i know i’ve probably reblogged this already but when Kun steps in to actually make sure that Lisa is able to understand and talk with the rest of the members??  I want a group of friends with that kind of worry and respect for each other

- I do not want to get on the wrong side of Joey Chua ever bc she could definitely kill me with little to no effort

- aish they all look so cool!  (another montage of like several groups)

- Mr. Fruit is a product placement I know and I’ve only known him since the beginning of the episode but if anything happens to him I would cry

- I’m the girl who threw up her arms as a heart to Lisa’s intro thanks

- Kun is such a dork im love him

- their food looks so good ugh I want some roast goose too

- i’m gonna assume the super fancy pink x chair is gonna be for either the leader of the nine-person group at the end of the series or for the person who does the best

- their dorms look better than mine and they’re only staying there for a maximum of four months i hate it like i love it but im jealous of how nice they look

- Their ads are certainly interesting

- oooh yay the mentors are gonna be performing yay!!!!! Let’s go Lisa let’s go!!

- not to sound gay right now even though it will and i am a queer this is very cool and she’s so pretty and the dance is very fun to watch

- Heck yeah Mr. Jony J !  the guitar is nice i like the beat

- the song is so personal to him and yet he makes it with his tone feel like it’s personal for us too and the way the trainees reacted is a good example of what i’m trying to say

- YES IT’S ELLA’S TIME I CAN’T WAIT I LOVE EHR

- bitch im gonna cry this song is like as one fo the trainees said a story wowowowow

- i’m adding her song to my asian pop playlist on spotify if i can

- I’m all of the trainees trying to hold back tears by looking at the ceiling

- ksksksks the leg kick i literally am so weak

- I feel like Kun and Heechul would get along oddly well if they ever meet

- Kun and I are also like the same age and so like,..,sir,,,no one is going to call you daddy.  you are literally a year older please calm down

- OOoh TOV vs Lionheart we all know I want TOV to win tho :/

- K Lu obvi doesn’t believe Kelly but it’s cool it’s fine it’s whatever

- their choreo is so fun!  i love the foot taps with Marco Lin and K Lu!

- K Lu reminds me of Kai when dancing and the outfits help a lot lmao

- I like that the mentors are giving advice right after they’re finished that’s very nice for them

- I might just be dumb but is Marco the only guy?  of all of the trainees?

- Kelly’s voice is very good i do like it

- i don’t think that she practiced singing and dancing at the same time however.  she sounds out of breath

- “she designed [the microphone hold]” i’ve seen heechul do the same thing but also she was probably a youth-y youth and Ella laughing about the hip-hop of it killed me

- i think i’ll watch Kun & ZZT’s season of idol producer after this season is done for several reasons but mainly I just deeply miss Yixing and his instagram Calvin ads aren’t enough content I’m afraid :(   xp

- and that’s all for part 1!!!

[hqolympia]

chicago’s very own 𝐎𝐋𝐘𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐀 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐕𝐄 has been spotted on madison avenue driving a chevrolet corvette z06 , welcome ! your resemblance to 𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒂 𝒑𝒂𝒍𝒗𝒊𝒏 is unreal . according to tmz , you just had your 𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒅 birthday bash . your chance of surviving new york is uncertain because you’re 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒗𝒆 , but being 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒆 might help you . i think being a 𝒈𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒊 explains that .  3 things that would paint a better picture of you would be 𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧 ,  𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐳𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧 & 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 . 

hi ,  peachy !  my  name’s  char  &  that  smile  of  yours  is  making  my  heart  melt !  🥺 allow  me  to  introduce  u  to  my  fren  over  here !

full name :  olympia  giselle  hargrove

nickname :  oly ,  pia  (tho, the latter one is reserved for her grandmother)

date of birth :  may  22nd , 1997  (23) 

birth place :  chicago , il

sexual orientation : pansexual

occupation :  competitive diver

labels :  the  crimson  /  the  icarian

𝐢.  𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

one :  picture a little girl with bright blue eyes, pigtails bouncing with every step she takes as a grin makes its way upon her face . she seems happy ---- and in the moment she truly is, despite the fact that the people she needs the most, her parents, are a few thousand miles away and aren’t here to see olympia say her first words or take her first step. she is too young to understand --- honestly, too young to even think about the reasons why they left her.

two :  she is a little bit older now, a full-on eleven years old --- taller, thinner and, most importantly, rowdier. she has quite a few friends, although they all seem to be having picnics with their barbie dolls and sleepovers dedicated to watching princess movies whereas olympia wants to run around and jump all over the place. the girls just don’t seem to match her energy, the boys aren’t exactly welcoming towards her, having this stupid, “ew, but you’re a girl!” mindset. she just wants to find something for herself, something that will keep her interested for longer than three hours ---- that something turned out to be diving.

three :  it’s a few years later, and now she’s standing at the 10m platform. it’s her last dive, and she needs to get it exactly right to win the gold medal. olympia would honestly be lying if she said her legs weren’t shaking because of how nervous she was --- but there’s a camera right in front of her face, therefore she has to keep it together. she turns around, takes one last breath, and then she’s up in the air. fifteen seconds later she’s fully submerged into water ----- and fifteen minutes later she has tears coming out of her eyes. she did it. she’s the world champion now.

four : it’s exactly a year later, and a lot has changed. olympia finds herself in the sunny city of rio de janeiro where she’s come to compete in her first olympic games --- which is exactly what she’s always been meant to do, judging by the name her parents gave her. except this time she’s nervous for an entirely different reason --- she’s now a successful athlete, this season’s leader and the one to watch out for. she’s the reigning world champion, for god’s sake, so she has to prove every single person out there she didn’t win on an accident. a lot of things seem to be going wrong; from oly flubbing her first dive to her coach coming up to her before her final one to say that her parents have showed up at the arena. eventually she finds herself in the same exact position as she did back in Russia ---- her palms are sweating, her legs are shaking, but there’s no turning back. the only way is down, so she has to dive one way or another. a jump, two somersaults, a twist ----- she’s back in the pool, and as she immediately drowns in the roar coming from the audience, tears start coming out of her eyes. she did it again. she’s lived up to her name.

five :  ever since she got back home, her life has completely changed. interview after interview, a campaign after a photoshoot, an event after the other ---- all of that mixed in with her training routine has it ups and downs. her schedule keeps her busy yet there’s something missing. she’s looking everywhere in the hopes of finding that missing piece, and at some point she feels like she’s found it in the face of a stranger who ends up in her bed that night. it brings her a sense of serenity, that lasts a few weeks ---- but olympia knows it’s all too good to be true, and it’s proven to be that way as she stumbles upon a certain page on a random night. it doesn’t seem real at first, but when she spots a tattoo on the girl’s ribcage, a realization hits her ---- she’s plastered all over porn sites, and that particular video featuring her has generated a few million views in a span of two months. she doesn’t remember the night at first due to her drunken state, but she recognizes her bedroom, particularly a personalized louis vuitton gym bag sitting in the corner. details like that help her piece the night together, and from that point on there’s nothing but fear of it all coming out and ruining her career.

𝐢𝐢.  𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀

basically ! this intro is all over the place so here are some bullet points to get u up to speed !

oly was born in chicago but grew up and spent most of her time in toronto with her grandmother, since her parents were setting up their business overseas. they were coming by to visit her maybe once or twice a year, so she isn’t as close with them.

she is a competitive diver (a quite decorated one bc .... why wouldn’t she be 🥺🥺🥺)  representing canada bc of her upbringing despite the fact that she now lives in new york (she moved here in 2017, after the rio olympics)

astrology wise, she is a gemini sun cancer rising .... so sorry to all of u for this

her placements mean that she is quite creative, capricious and may appear manic sometimes --- but really she is just downright STUPID bc she is always trying to get her ass into trouble. like, you can’t even imagine how many times her coach had to drag her out of the mess she got herself into ... 

she is very much about having sympathy for others and helping them and whatnot, but unbeknownst to her, these tendencies can be explained by the “keep your friends close and your enemies closer” mindset. she has to keep her act straight, so getting onto someone’s bad side isn’t in the cards for her --- god knows what kind of shit she may end up in now that she’s a part of ... this world of glamour and fame, u kno?

olympia also really loves to talk, preach, argue --- just do whatever to be heard

in her free time (the time when she doesn’t feel like wreaking havoc tbh) she usually cooks deserts (vegan banana pudding? blackberry sorbet? key lime cheesecake? u want it, u got it!), reads books (painted veil by somerset is her ultimate FAV) and ... drives around town whilst listening to some cheesy music 🥺 

other than that her usual routine consists of training, clubbing and messing shit up due to the chaotic stupid personality !

𝐢𝐢𝐢.  𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒

i promise this intro won’t be that long ... after this ! 🤠🤠🤠these are just the few ideas i can get off the top of my head so ... there’s always room for brainstorming ! :-)

𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓 𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐃 / close friends --- everybody needs some sort of a support system in their life, and oly is no exception to this rule. she’s never really had a big family, therefore she’s always surrounded herself with people in the hopes of filling the empty space in her heart. and honestly, if it wasn’t for these people, she would’ve quit diving right after winning the olympics, moved to the suburbs of toronto and just lived a quiet life --- but the pride for her friends just gives her enough motivation to move further and become better.

𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐌𝐄 / best friend --- we all have that someone who’s impossibly close to us; who we cannot imagine our lives without. the bond is so crucial to them both parties that it feels as if there’s never been a moment without each other. the general public and tabloids, though, feel as if there’s more going on and will not stop nagging them about the details.

𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐘 𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐃 / friends drifted apart / exes --- as weird as it is, oly is very much a yolo person. in addition to that, she has a ton of love and devotion for every single person she’s ever had in her life no matter what happened between them or what caused them to drift apart. though, her ever-changing nature is known to drive people away which, tbh, happens to be a blessing and a curse -- it helps oly sort of “filter” through her circle of friends, but then again, if someone enters her life, they leave and undeniable impact on it. therefore, she misses whoever left her life more than they could ever imagine.

𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐘 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐒 𝐘𝐎𝐔 / rival (?) --- olympia isn’t perfect in any way, shape or form. she knows that, but most importantly, the public knows that and will not stop critiquing every little thing that she does. this person, though, is the exact opposite - the public LOVES them to the point where even olympia’s parents would probably say things like “ugh, i wish you could be more like that!”. this makes the relationship between the two quite ... strained. because as much as olympia may love them as a person, there’s always this lingering sense of jealousy that just enables her petty side.

𝐢𝐯. 𝐎𝐎𝐂

ok so ! if you’ve reached this part of my intro ... i cannot thank u enough bc this ?? this is long as HECK but i wanted to actually try and describe the kind of muse i envision in my head. i love u all a latte & if u feel like plotting w/ my dumb kid, leave a like on this post or feel free to mssg me on discord under futurenostalgias#1692 🤠sidenote tho: i’ll probably get to the mssgs in a few hours seeing as i have a few assignments to complete and i’m sorta braindead ... love u , cannot wait to write w/ u ! xoxo ur friendly neighborhood trash char  

[wtvrtheo]

DAN HOWELL - THEO DONOVAN currently is a CAST MEMBER on APPLAUSE on Bridge Broadcasting! I swear, they’re TWENTY THREE and they’ve already done so much within the business. They’re often described as the FACADE by the paparazzi who follows them around, because they’re apparently +COMICAL and -FACETIOUS. Though, that’s just paparazzi talk. Who knows if it’s true? All I know is that they go by HE/HIM and they’re on my favorite show.

hi hello! pris again, and here’s my hot mess of a character theo. not much has changed really so i’m just copying his old intro post below! it’s a long one so honestly bless ur soul if you somehow manage to read it all yikes. here’s his connections page and as per usual, give this a cheeky like if u wanna plot as well and i’ll bother the heck out of you (trigger warning for mentions of suicide attempt, depression, & anxiety)

honestly u dont have to read all of this just scroll to the bullet points at the bottom lskjfs

If Louis C.K. and Bo Burnham breached the laws of biology and birthed a second-rate, screaming son in the town of Reading, Berkshire, that son would be Theo Donovan. In terms of his actual birth, it wasn’t an all too different comparison. As a child, Theo was constantly energized and never seemed to know how to keep quiet or still. While most would coo and find entertainment from this little boy who loved to entertain, it never did sit right with his parents. They were always rigid in behavior and expectation, therefore finding it a great problem when Theo refused to conform to their standards about what a respectable, polite son should be. Now that’s not to say he was ill-mannered; he did most of the things they asked of him and the only times he really did act out was when they butted heads about anything from the tiniest petty fights to large scale arguments that had Theo leaving his house for days to sleep at a friend’s house. Okay, so it was safe to say home life was rocky and maybe that shaky territory eventually led to resent. He had his little sister and that’s really all that mattered.

With the attention unappreciated at home, he surely channeled that energy into time spent at school. Like most people who crave attention, it started with the stage. At a young age, he closely aligned himself with the theatre kids and was able to garner a sizable amount of friends and close peers through that. As time went on however, the stage didn’t feel like enough. Don’t get him wrong, he adored performing and putting on an act for large audiences, but it didn’t turn out to be what he wanted in the long run. Like a miracle, Year 10 brought a revelation he never really considered until he heard an offhanded comment from a friend. Humor was always at Theo’s side. It was his coping mechanism, his best friend, a solid weapon against any adversary he faced. He always figured: if he can joke about it, everything is okay. Paired with his complex of needing to please and entertain, it came as no surprise that Theo was soon known throughout his school years as the class clown, the funny guy. Gone were the days of the crowd laughing at him to jeer and poke fun, now they were laughing at him because he wanted them to. “This bloke, I’m telling ya. He could be a comedian,” they said. And that he became.  

No one was more surprised than Theo to discover that he quickly found success in Berkshire. Yet as his popularity in the U.K. grew, his parents’ distaste for what he was choosing to do with his life grew alongside it. The tension and resentment truly hit its peak when he was 17 - and his ‘career choice’ wasn’t received well because of how traditional and old school his parents were. And as much as he tried to make it seem like he could care less about what they thought, the barrage of doubtful comments that Theo won’t fully make it out of a sea of performers and comedians like him, that fame is fickle and will fade (with the belief that he was inherently wasting his time instead of pursuing something more “practical” - whatever the hell that meant) sooner got to him, and it hit hard. He always seemed to dance with depression and anxiety throughout his adolescence, but the insecurity and the doubt accumulated and had him spiraling in the worst attack that had him waking up in the A&E the next day and admitted for failed suicide attempt. Since that incident, he really tried to get better and vowed to never sink so low again if he could help it. Months later he decided it was time to move, so he hopped on over to London, heard about auditions for Applause, and was now a part of the cast. He couldn’t be happier because it was the perfect fit. He was a theatre kid after all, so being able to step into those shoes once again through improv is exactly where he’s always wanted to be. It’ll be his fourth season on the show.

and some quick bullet points sorry again bc it’s getting hella long aaaaa

despite getting substantially better than he was at 17, he still has a rather macabre sense of humor

like i said he does use humor as a coping mechanism

and it’s even worse because sometimes you can’t tell if it’s him just messing around and never taking anything too seriously or if he’s 100% serious and it’s a cry for help

but really he’s only serious about 12% of the time because he’s fluent in sarcasm and irony

u should also know that he can get pretty overdramatic and Extra as fuck

there are two people in the world: ppl who hate him and ppl who are entertained by his antics; there is nothing in between

he is a meme boi through and through,,, fidget spinners,, getting in on the latest trends,, some1 stop him it’s disgusting

it ain’t no lie baby he’s bi bi bi

nerdy, too

have i mentioned that he has a doggo tho?? a siberian husky named ralph

come to think of it he doesn’t rly have a filter,, he’s wild af

oh- and LOUD. HE SCREAM

beyond that he can get into some deep conversations w u especially when high

speaking of his highdeas are somethin else (we don’t talk about those)

and yeah he’s pretty chaotic but in the rare moments where he’s chilled out and needs to be serious, he can do that

isn’t an asshole. asshat? mayb

as for the horror thing, he’s ur classic white boy tryna get every1 killed tbfh

like he finna be out here playing around with the afterlife like it’s some game and then wonder how someone got possessed i swear slkdjf

i think????? that’s it?? i’m seriously so sorry if u managed to read all of this who r u, u deserve a medal. most wanted again are little worrier, flatmate(s), vices no virtues, fwb, frenemy, and people to fill the bad movie squad slkf (aka they play with ouija boards, do seances, yanno dumb shit that they shouldn’t be doing but are calling it fun). alright, that’s it! lmk if you wanna do the plotting thing

[physiiological]

Hi !!! Thankyou so much for the advice you gave me at the beginning of the school year on year 12 😅 I feel like I was doing really well in term one and two and now I've had holidays I feel so much more lazier hahah, and it's really not the time to be procrastinating D: do you have any advice for getting past this and preparing for mock exams ?! Thankyou so much, hope you are well xx

hey hi hello lovely! so nice to see you pop up in my inbox again ♡ sorry for the late, school has been v overwhelming eep!!it’s so good to hear that you’re doing well and even better to hear that the year has been great for you so far! and can i just say; same girl, same. I hope that you’re well replenished, but since we’re here to talk about productivity, here goes! I hope my tips will help you but in all honesty…. I can’t even get myself out of bed early anymore so ;___; but no fear! I am here to help :D click the ‘read below’ for my advice on how to stay on top of things/stop procrastinating. 

Now let me just put it out there; procrastination is inevitable. Regardless of whether you absolutely love or loathe the subject, there’s always going to be that funny meme that capture your attention and all your time, and that’s perfectly okay! But there comes a time when you know enough is enough, so in order to maximise your productivity, I follow these tips to make sure I achieve my goals (to the best of my ability, of course. #nopressure). 

I think one of the most important things to look at is your long-term goals; eg what you want to at university/future career paths/get e endorse in y12/ all that good stuff. Towards the end of last year, finally realising what I wanted to do really helped me push myself to just make it until the end of the year. 

But here are some smaller tips if that’s too overwhelming bc like i’ve said before; learn to eat the elephant in bits and not as a whole! 

create a productivity inspiring workspace - find somewhere that you can set up a study space, whether it is an actual office or just a desk. Organise everything that you will need. In my room and in front of my desk, I have motivating pictures, mindmaps of important ideas and some sticky notes just as reminders! These really help me bc every time I look up, I am reminded of what I’m doing and why i’m doing it. So, if you’ve got space, put up some motivational pictures! Decorating your workspace is always an a plus and is a great place to start bc it motivates you to do better and to not let all that effort to go to waste!! (in saying that, I need to redecorate :c) 

my next tip is ( u already kno ) to stay organised!!!!!!!! #goalsgoalsgoals planners, to-do lists, calendars - whatever works best for you, use it to plan plan plan!!! I believe I talked about utilising a planner when internals get messy and hits you all at once but trust me once you get into a habit, you realise the wonders it does for you bc all your thoughts are collected in one place!! If you want to plan long term (i.e say for your upcoming mocks), then maybe use a timeline/create a timeline? Make a list! What resources do you need? How will you get those resources? Keep asking!! Here is a list of what I did last year, and it might be helpful, it might not but I found that being collected is what really helped me get through that holiday phase.  those give you a bigger view of things and by doing that + integrating the steps you’ll take to get to the mock exams/be prepared, it puts a lot of things into perspective and you feel like a new person. In saying that though, it’s okay to skip days, you’re doing your best in what is a difficult time for us all #nzqastruggles and although some days it feels like it’s enough, I’m hella proud of u , go girl

something to also trial/adapt is study techniques. If there’s any time to try out that ‘forest’ app or that cool website which helps u w/productivity gurl trust me it’s now!!! now I’m gonna be rlly annoying and tell you that you have to find your own and find what works for you BUT I HAVE A GOOD REASON FOR THIS! There are millions of study techniques out there (20-30 minutes 5 min break, pomodoro, apps to help w/productivity, visual, aural, all those) but you have to find what works for you. Adapting a study technique will not only help you for the long run (eg in externals) but will definitely benefit you when you get to uni when everyone is losing their minds over what the heck an university even is. Just like planning, knowing yourself best and how you study will truly benefit you in year 13 and for many,many years to come :-) message me if you wanna know more about these techniques, for I am more than happy to help

If all else fails, find some new stationery - splurge and treat yoself. weirdly enough what I find works is buying stationery bc I get to use new things and get to be organised and eeeee it makes me so excited about school (weird as it sounds) it instantly makes you want to be productive. Head to the shops and spend a little something on a new pen, highlighter or notebook! (or all three, cus like i said, treat yoself guuuurl) 

All in all, it’s perfectly okay to lounge around and have your lazy days even when school starts, I know I haven’t been the most productive this week, but it’s all about letting yourself just sooth into school (and not go flying in and crashing in burning that’s not good gal, wellbeing first

As I always say; my experiences have been different and I just found that these tips worked well for me :) I’m sorry if I waffled but I hope this helps!

(p.s lowkey want you to come off anon so we can be friends you seem so cool aw

[sirivsblaxk-blog]

Like, Graves needs help on a case, and he's utterly desperate, alright - he researches books in his library and stumbles upon this thing about demons who supposedly know everything ? and he shouldn't, really, but he does anyway. blood, pentagram, candles, he feels silly and then he feels sillier when the demon who appears is - is cute as hell. what the heck. he didn't order that. oh shit.

Ahhhh Demon!Newt!!! I started writing this on my lunch break bc i couldn’t wait. Read it here or read it on Ao3

Percival knew it was a bad idea. He knew it when he first thought about it, even more so when he brought up the idea to the Madam President and she said it was crazy and absolutely forbid him to even attempt it. Percival had agreed, it was crazy and he shouldn’t even try, but still he went home, went straight to his office and searched through his books. There has to be something here he can use as a guide. The whole time he searched he was telling himself how silly he was being. It probably wouldn’t even work and even if it did would it even help him? But Percival was desperate and was ready to try anything, no matter how crazy and even dangerous.

So when he found the book he needed and started reading up on how to summon all-knowing demons he banished the little voice in his head telling him to put the book away and forget it. Sure, summoning a demon into your home was probably the stupidest idea he had ever come up with (and Picquery likes to remind him how many other stupid ideas he’s come up with.) But as mentioned before, he was desperate, and if this demon could help him figure out this case he was working on before anymore people died than by all means he was damn well going to try it.

So he might be haunted by a demon for the rest of his days, a little price to pay in order to save lives he thought.

“This better work. God I’m glad no one can see me right now.” Percival muttered to himself as he drew the diagram onto the floor with his wand, shaking his head at himself. He felt silly now. Like he was a teenager playing games to try and make the dead appear which would never work. “Right now sit in the middle.” He mumbles the instructions to himself as he does them.

Percival took a deep breath, bringing his wand up to his opposite hand and holding the tip to his palm. The instructions said they needed a blood sacrifice, not a lot, but still he didn’t like the idea. Sucking in his breath and closing his eyes he mutter the spell and felt a sharp pain, feeling the blood spill across his hand. He placed his hand on the floor, leaving a print in its place. He considered magicking his hand better but decided against it in case it interfered with the summoning.

“Now what the hell does this say.” Percival muttered to himself as he followed the words on the page with his finger, reading them over in his head. They weren’t English, he didn’t know what language it was but he suspected Latin. “Well. I can’t back out now can I?” He mumbles, looking at his still bleeding hand and sighing.

He couldn’t just stop, that’d make the pain and his ruined flooring hardly worth the while. So he read. He read he foreign words aloud, feeling even sillier than he had when he first began. Now he was sat in the middle of his office floor in a crudely drawn pentagram, his hand bleeding and talking to himself. If anyone barged in now they’d think he was a mad man. Perhaps he was.

When he finished reading he sat and waited. One minute. Two minutes. Three and nothing was happening. Percival frowned, deciding he’ll try the words one last time, just in case. But now he felt extremely stupid. He began the words again, only getting half way through when they caught in his throat.

The candles on his desk suddenly blew out and the room felt extremely cold. Now not only did he feel stupid he also felt a little nervous. He was sure it wouldn’t work. Now he thought that maybe it was working and that holy shit I’ve just summoned a demon into my home.

The room was eerily dark and Percival could barely see in front of him, but he could notice the slight fog forming around him, sinking though the room. And the figure. It appeared near the door and Percival could only see a faint outline. His breath caught in his throat, he thought to run, attack even. But instead he just sat there staring and unable to move due to fright.

He couldn’t help thinking this was how he dies. At the hand of a crazy demon he allowed into his home. Or, if the demon didn’t kill him then Picquery would for disobeying her. He wasn’t sure which option was the most frightening.

The figure was getting closer now. It looked tall, taller than him when stood. Percival thought he should stand, give him a better chance of escape if it lunged at him. But he found himself glued to the floor. It was getting closer, Percival’s breath was still caught in his throat as though he was preparing to scream for his life.

It was coming into focus now, the fog was lifting and slowly the candles were shooting back to life but Percival still felt cold.

“Hi!” At the voice Percival jumped up, finally mobile and able to stumble against his desk away from the terrifying demon.

Only it wasn’t terrifying at all. The face looking over at him didn’t have red glowing eyes, sharp pointy teeth or horns growing from its head. It was just an ordinary man. No, not ordinary. He was far from ordinary. Percival would say he was cute, maybe go as far as saying handsome even. And now he found himself unable to speak not from fear but from shock.

“You summoned me?” The demon posed it as a question, stepping closer and tilting his head slightly to the side.

It was English, this demon. Percival found he quite liked that accent and didn’t even move when it stepped closer to him.

“I’m Newt,” the demon introduces, “I can help you, with whatever it is you wanted?” He offers a timid smile.

Percival finally shakes himself out of his trance, standing up straight and seeming to take control back of his body, “Oh. Oh yes! I needed help. Yes that’s why I summoned you.”

Newt nodded his head and waited, when Percival said nothing Newt prompted him on, “What would you like help with?”“You don’t look like a demon.” Percival comments, ignoring Newts question as he finally looked the man over.

Newt raised an eyebrow slightly, “And what exactly is a demon supposed to look like?” Newt asks.Percival shrugs his shoulders, “I don’t know. I was expecting horns, or something.”Newt frowns, “I can grow some if you’d like?”“No! No, you look fine without them,” Percivals eyes widened and he fumbled over his words, “What I mean is, ah, um, help! Yes, I needed help in this case.” Percival hurries around the other side of his desk and grabs out his file, “This, uh…Do you have to stand so close?”

Newt smiled and stepped back from where he’d been looking over Percivals shoulder and leaning against him, “Sorry. Go on.”“Right. There’s been all these murders, we have no idea who it is. We have no leads. We’re at a complete dead end. Do you think you could help?” Percival hopes looking back to Newt.

Newt looks down at the papers then back to Percival and nods, “I can help,” He replies and Percival smiles wide, “But I have to ask for something in return.”Percivals heart drops as his mind swirls with all the crazy and dangerous things Newt could possibly ask for in return, “What would you ask?”Newt pauses, staring at the man for a moment, “I don’t know,” Newt says, “Nobody told me that bit.”“Pardon?” Percival asks raising his eyebrows at the boy, he was starting to doubt he was an all-knowing demon after all, but that wouldn’t explain how and why he was in his house.

“This is my first summoning,” Newt explains, “I was in training when you summoned me so…I don’t know what I’m supposed to ask for in return.”

Percival lets out a slow breath, at least Newt wasn’t going to ask him for his soul, or something worse like his personalised whiskey glasses, he couldn’t give them away for anything. “Uh, I could make us a nice dinner?” He suggests.“Demons don’t eat,” Newt frowns, “Oh! You could let me stay! Just for a little while! Oh, please? I’ve never seen the world up here before.” Newt bounces on his feet with excitement.

Percival considers it, seems a small price to pay so he finds himself agreeing much to Newts happiness. Percival could think of worse people he could be letting stay in his house. Even if Newt was a demon, he was an extremely cute one. He wouldn’t mine sharing his house with him for a couple days. Maybe he’d even summon him back once he leaves.

[wanderlustlondon]

11 July

let’s see how many I do before I get too tired and put it off for another month

today in class we told victor we wanted to buy tickets for 42nd street and he said oh please do!! we’ll take a break when they go on sale so you can try to get some (and we did third row baby)

history classes just stress me out. i don’t talk much in any class and today after class victor actually asked john megan and sarah “so does she talk when you guys hang out is there something I’m doing wrong” and right away i was like omg no you’re fine I’m just quiet in class and I barely finished when john said “yea no she’s always pretty talkative, sometimes we can’t get her to stop this is weird for her” like k thanks bro (but also weirdly flattered he notices these things about me)

today we took the right way out of class and i stopped with sarah to get some food (at the iconic rockingham arms). i only really went bc it seems like she’s been by herself a lot lately. i only ordered a bagel and tbh it was nothing compared to the chocolate chip with maple shmear from lax. she was pretty quiet the whole time we were eating and even when we stopped at tesco on the way back she was quiet. whatever, her problem. i took a quick 10 minute nap before heading to the cereal killer cafe with john and megan (sarah didn’t want to come i guess??)

we got to sit in the front on the top of the bus and it was so cool. also it was cold outside again so life was great. megan showed me her john impression and tbh the way she sat when she did it was spot on. we also made fun of him for being like a grandpa (while reading the paper he sat with his legs crossed and yelled “this is all rubbish where is the world news?! i don’t care about tv news I want a story!”)

we wandered around the same block of camden forever because we didn’t realize the cafe was actually inside the market. once we found it holy hell was it cool. we all ordered some kind of cocktail (i got a cinnamon mix) and we got our vhs order tape (saved by the bell episodes). we sat in the corner on two beds, one was super mario and one was power rangers (so i mean technically john and i shared a bed with power ranger sheets nbd)

the place was SO 90s it was incredible. they only played 90s music and had cereal portraits of serial killers it was just great. this was also the first time john and i were left alone and we didn’t just sit in awkward silence so yay to progress. the cereal combo was 12/10 and i wish something like this existed in the states. john asked megan and i some british trivia questions from the 90s and i weirdly knew a lot of them from joe and zoe and i hate me

we wandered around the marked for bit but we didn’t see anything worthwhile so we tried coming back but couldn't find the right bus stop for like 10 minutes. once we got on the right bus john almost instantly fell asleep. it was actually pretty cute. also we sat next to each other again BLESS. 

back at the dorms, I started getting ready for 42nd street and some girls in the kitchen were trying to open wine. they asked if i could help but i told them last time we tried opening a bottle we pushed the cork in with a heel so i wasn’t too helpful but they decided to just push the cork in too.

i made it downstairs before megan so john and i got a chance to chat again, and it was the least awkward conversations we’ve ever had. everything just felt so natural and good and pure. we took the bus to the show and it was a v chill bus ride. when we got there we were all SUPER pumped though and we found the bathrooms for megan. I have the bladder of a camel so I just stood and held bags. john and i started talking again with no awkwardness and it was just very comforting tbh. 

we got to our seats and it sucked bc i was separate from them but i still had a killer seat at a freaking west end musical so I can’t complain too much. the show itself was my favorite one to date. the opening and ending numbers all 40 cast members had custom tap shoes and we’re in the money they had gold ones with bows and a rotating stage and the big dimes and the very finale was like 10 minutes of straight tap with sparkles and steps and risers and so much joy and wonder. I loved all the dancing and the singing/acting wasn’t too bad either i guess. Billy was played by an understudy but he was actually perfection and i loved him v v much. 

after the show it was pouring rain so we pulled out our jackets/umbrella and started walking. we were all doing little tap steps along the way and it was just v innocent and giggly and fun and movie-esque. we realized at one point that we were going the complete wrong way. actually multiple time. we did like half the walk home just trying to find the bus stop. we walked in a lot of puddle and got soaking wet but it was still in good company. when we finally found the bus stop, i held my umbrella up higher mostly to avoid everyone else with their umbrellas but john took it as an open invitation to come under it. heck i wasn’t going to stop him. and then meg going us too. 

so there we were, the three of us soaking from the waist down cuddled underneath a flower umbrella from pound land, waiting for a double decker bus. you gotta get lost in london rain at least once, right? we ended up seeing some of the ensemble members on the bus home actually too. we all got separated on the bus it was so crowded. i was stuck by some drunk dudes (who were also v cute) and when i saw john and megan i tried moving towards the doors and one guy was like oh man so sorry we isolated you!! and yelled at his friend to move so i could get off the bus.

john actually road the bus illegally. we went to fill up his card and then walk back together. it was a chill walk back, the rain let up a lot. we still talked about how much we all loved tap dancing and theatre and all good things like that. it was a very pure day and honestly one of my favorite days. I called casi to tell her about my day and then I wrote my theatre paper on titus and now it’s 1:30 am and i am pooped

***megan messaged us thanking us for going to 42nd street with her and i messaged them thanking them for a good day and john just said “you’re welcome home you sleep well” and we all typed in caps lock and i just greatly appreciate these dorks***

***also today megan realized how much she says holy shnikies after i said i started saying that and swanky because of them and john just laughed at swanky bc he started that one as a joke awhile ago but he’s glad we’re all catching on with it***