#the cage is gonna take forever AND i plan on adding stuff outside of it

[chill-nihil]

Jay, again hanging from the cage, more like an idiot than a gremlin

[bleep-bleep-richie]

part one

part two

He's not panicking.

Just because he knows Eddie had court at 9am and they had plans to talk at lunch, and it's now 7pm and he still hasn't called.

Nope, definitely not panicking.

He isn't pacing the apartment either. No, he's just taking a leisurely stroll back and forth across his living room. There's just nothing good on TV. He isn't panicking, there's no reason to panic.

He had texted him at 1 and, after getting no answer, again at 5. He picks his phone up where he'd thrown it not even five minutes ago face down on the couch. He swipes his way to his messages.

Nothing.

He clicks "💖Edwardo💖" and scrolls through their messages from the last couple days. He sighs and clicks the text box.

Hey, I'm gonna stay up until I hear from you, so call me whenever.

He sends it and throws the phone to the side, collapsing against the back of his sofa. He picks up his laptop, clicks on the video chat app, and stares at the stupid picture Eddie had chosen as his icon. The edge of his mouth lifts in spite of the sick churning in his stomach. "Eddie fucking Kaspbrak," he mumbles with a shake of his head. He's still looking at Eddie's picture when he starts to doze off.

He has no idea how much time has gone by when he's woken up by the sound of a call coming through his computer. His vision's blurry, he pushes his glasses back up on his face, and sees Eddie's smile way too close to the camera. He accepts the call. "What the fuck, man?"

"Richie!" Eddie cries. "Did I wake you? You said you were staying up."

Richie stretches and yawns before picking the laptop up and putting it on his coffee table. "Guess I fell asleep." He narrows his eyes. "Where are you?"

"Out! With Matt!"

Richie wants to ask who the hell Matt is but the camera is on the guy before he gets the chance.

"Look, Matt, it's my boyfriend," he hears Eddie say, "the guy I was telling you about!"

Richie has a moment of disconnect. "Uh," he says cleverly.

Matt leans closer. "Wait, holy shit, you really are Richie Tozier." He grins. "When Eddie said he was dating a celebrity, I didn't believe him."

"Fuck you!"

"Uh, hi?" Richie says. He's still reeling from 'boyfriend' and 'dating.' "Sorry, who are you again?"

Eddie turns the phone back, his face swims into view unsteadily. "My new manager! I hired him last week, he's gonna manage the New York branch when I leave."

"Okay, you're screaming."

"I'm celebrating!" he yells, raising a glass. He knocks it back and drains it to prove his point.

It's loud, Richie can hear the sounds of other people talking and laughing. He guesses they're in a bar. "Can you go outside or something? I can barely hear you."

Eddie's nodding as he gets to his feet. "Shit, yeah, sorry," he says when he swallows. "Matt, I'll be right back."

"Take your time, boss. Nice to meet you, Mr. Tozier!"

Richie makes a face. "Did he just call me Mister Tozier?"

Eddie laughs. He leans against the cool bricks of the building once he gets outside. "Yeah, he's like that."

"So," Richie starts after a beat, "how'd it go?"

"Oh! We found a place!"

"A place?"

"Yeah, an office building," Eddie replies excitedly. "Matt found it on the computer. And! He put up an ad for people to email me their resumes. It was so much easier than I was making it, big shocker there, right."

Richie tilts his head for a second. "That's fantastic, Eds, but what about court?"

"Oh, oh! Richie!" Eddie's smile splits his face. "She signed the papers! She dropped everything she was asking for, a share in the company, all the alimony. She told me on the way out it's because she's already engaged, and all I could think was 'that poor schmuck." He laughs, open and cheerful. Richie doesn't know if he's ever seen him so happy.

"Wow, that's awesome. Congratulations."

Something in his voice must give him away. Eddie's eyes soften and his smile fades. "Oh, Rich, I'm so sorry. I was supposed to call. I was just so excited to get everything done, we worked right through lunch. I'm booking a flight to LA tomorrow. Richie, we're going to he together before the end of the week." His eyes are so bright and happy, Richie wants to drown himself in them.

"That's- Wow, Eds, that's amazing." He pauses. "You're amazing." Eddie's eyes start to water and Richie figures he must be way drunker than he's letting on. "Wait, how are you video chatting from your phone?"

Eddie blinks. "Oh, there's an app for it."

"Yes, I know there's an app for it. How in the hell did you know there was an app for it? The only app you have on your phone is a calculator."

"Matt downloaded it for me. I saw your text and mentioned I needed to call you, so he showed me how to do it."

"That's great," Richie says flatly. "Matt's great."

"Yeah, he really is a whiz at the technology stuff."

"That's what happens when you hire a 20 year old."

"He's 25." He considers Richie a moment. "Wait, what was that?"

"What was what?"

Eddie eyes him. "That tone was hostile and, like, jealous. Are you-"

"I'm definitely not jealous."

Eddie's eyes widen. "You're lying! That's your lying face!"

"I have a lying face?" Richie asks, raising his eyebrows.

"You do, and you're making it right now. Why would you be jealous of Matt?"

"I'm not!" he protests. He sighs. "I dunno, man, it's just like, the most important day of your life and that's who you're celebrating with."

"Richie," Eddie says. His voice is gentle, like trying to coax a wild animal into a cage. It makes Richie want to punch a wall at how ridiculously easy it is for Eddie to turn him to mush. "I would rather celebrate with you than anyone in the world. But, baby, you're not here."

Richie's mind short circuits so hard over the word 'baby' that it takes him a full 30 seconds to process the rest of that sentence. He scoffs a laugh, completely humorless. "Yeah, and whose fault is that?"

Eddie's face crumbles and he looks down and away from the camera, like he's ashamed. Like Richie is embarrassing him.

He instantly feels like a jackass. "I'm sorry, Eds, I'm not trying to rain on your parade. I was just worried, when you didn't call."

"I said I was sorry. I got busy."

"I texted you three times," Richie replies. He feels like a petulant housewife who spent all day cooking a dinner that her husband never came home to eat. He guesses that's exactly how he sounds, too.

Eddie turns his sad eyes on Richie. "I didn't even look at my phone until like fifteen minutes ago. I called as soon as I saw them."

"I know, I know." He shakes his head. "'I'm sorry, 'm being a dick."

Eddie smirks. "Imagine that."

Richie breathes out his nose and wills himself not to be angry. Always understanding, never upset. Always with a joke but never with a complaint. How he's been all year, all his life with Eddie, if he's honest with himself. Never too emotional or serious, just in case it overwhelms. "I'll let you get back. Just let me know when you book your flight, I'll clean the guest room."

"The guest room?" Eddie's face falls. "I have to sleep in my own room? You're that mad that I forgot to call?"

"No, it's not- I just didn't want to assume-"

"Or is it because I'm out with Matt?" Eddie continues like Richie hadn't even spoken. "Because I barely even know him, Rich. I was just in a good mood and we both needed to eat. It doesn't- I don't know if he's even gay."

Richie feels green. "He's cute," he says neutrally. "He's there. You're drunk."

"Richie."

He shakes his head, rubs his palms against the denim on his knees. "I know, I know. I'm being stupid because I miss you and I missed today and I- I'm sorry."

Eddie eyes go big and wistful. "I would never- Rich, I've spent the entire time since I've met him waxing poetic about you. Besides business shit, you're the only thing we've talked about. He's probably getting sick of it, honestly."

The sudden leap of his stomach makes him want to puke. "It's okay, Eds, you don't have to-"

"Richie," Eddie cuts him off. He pulls the phone closer to his face. "Richie, I'm crazy about you. You know, sometimes-" He laughs, blushes, glances away for a second. Richie wants to look at him forever. "Somtimes after we hang up, I jerk off to the memory of the sound of your voice. It's kind of pathetic. I'm completely gone on you, is the point I'm making."

"I-" he stops himself. He'd sworn at least a hundred times over the passed year that he wasn't going to say it until Eddie is in front of him. And he's going to keep that promise. "You're- you're everything, sweetheart. I- You know how I feel about you, don't you, Eddie?"

Eddie's smile is blinding. "Yeah, I think you waiting on me for almost a year while I got my shit together is a pretty big clue."

Richie grins back.

"I have to go settle the tab," Eddie says after a moment.

"You could call me," Richie tells him, "when you get back to your room. Jerk off to my actual voice, instead of the memory. I could say something worth jerking off to."

Pink rises on Eddie's cheekbones and flushes down onto his neck, right where Richie wants to bite him. "Thanks, now I have to go back in there at half mast."

"Oh, you are so very welcome. No need to thank me. The pleasure's all mine, really." The sad thing is, he isn't lying. Nothing gets him going faster than the mere idea that Eddie wants him. The evidence of it, the confession, has him rock hard in his pants already.

"You're insufferable."

"Insatiable, Edward. The word is insatiable."

Eddie rolls his eyes with a chuckle. "I'm going to call you in 45 minutes," he promises.

Richie nods. "I'll have my script ready. The never ending list of things I'd do to corrupt the pure and innocent Eddie Kaspbrak."

"Insufferable!" He pauses, still smiling even though he's griping. "45 minutes."

"I'll be here, Eds." He flushes with the honesty of it. "I'll always be here."

[revasserium]

can i have 24 with akaashi keiji?

haikyuu requests currently: closed 

24. vocabulary list: stayakaashi ; 1,036 words 

a/n: five times akaashi wants you to stay.

one. “stay.” it’s not a word he uses often, akaashi never one for imperatives. he’s much too polite for that. but there’s something about tonight, something about the evening air, the humidity of summer leaving the skin sticky with sweat, the palpatory breaths beating between hearts, stretching his lungs – something about the way you’re looking at him like you never really want to leave. 

so he says, “stay.” so he says, “please.” 

so he says, “with me.” 

two. he tugs on your wrist, pulls you back slow, kisses you like falling into a daydream once dreamt on a sunny afternoon. you are powerless to stop him, to stop the interminable fire he stirs in the soul of your being, the way he kisses you like sunrise, like the certainty that this will happen again, and again, and again. everyday – onwards. right into forever. 

“it’s late,” he says, a small knowing smile stretching his lips. you nod, chasing after him with a grin of your own. 

“yeah. it is.” 

he makes a small, contented noise in the back of his throat as you pull him down again. 

“and you left your shirt the last time you stayed over.” 

you nod, “mhm. that i did.” 

he laughs, the sound soft and static, fanning out over your lips as the pair of you half-trip down the hallway towards his bedroom. 

“so, you don’t have to worry about a change of clothes for tomorrow,” he says, kicking open the door as you stumble through it. you laugh, letting him back you into the edge of the bed, flopping down onto your back and stretching out with a soft sigh. 

“always so thoughtful,” you say, kicking your feet playfully as he crawls over the length of your body, caging you in with his own. 

“whatever it takes to keep you here,” he says. and you think that for him, with you, it wouldn’t take much at all. 

three. the rain falls like heartbreak, and losing has never been an easy thing for him. though at least he always loses with his head held high. bokuto, on the other hand, is not so steady. 

“he cried the whole way home,” akaashi says, expression flat as he tugs his jersey from his sports bag and tosses it in the washer. you watch him with your tongue in your teeth, your heart on your sleeves. 

you pull him into a hug and he pauses. 

a moment later, he lets out a tiny laugh. 

“ruined my jacket sleeve cause he kept wiping his snot on it. so i have to wash that too, now.” 

you bury your face in his back and he sighs. 

“it’ll dry by tomorrow morning,” you say, your voice muffled by his shirt. he nods, the movement making his whole body shake. he turns to pull you into his arms, his face bent into your hair, his breath hot and not as steady as it was before. 

you lean up to cup his cheeks. he hiccups, letting your run your fingers along his face. outside, it’s still raining. outside, the world turns and turns and turns. outside, there are winners and losers. but here, there’s only you and him. and you kiss him like none of that matters. he kisses back like he knows it’s not true, but for a while, just for a while, he’d like to pretend. 

four. mornings are a complicated matter – there’s so much to do, so much to plan for. but when he wakes up to you in his arms, your hair a tangled mess around your ears, he finds that he doesn’t really care. his finds breath where there wasn’t before; he finds space and time stretching out around him, as if they could hear his racing thoughts of wanting to stay here, for just a little bit longer. 

“morning,” you say, grinning sleepily up at him. 

“sorry. did i wake you?” 

you shake your head and bury your face in his chest. 

“nope.” 

a beat, a breath. akaashi lets himself sink into it. 

“don’t you have to be at practice?” your voice is low and muffled, your legs hooking around his. he shimmies back into the blankets with a soft sigh. 

“not for a while.” 

you hum, settling in his arms, “no morning jog today?” 

“no... i think... i think i’m good here. for a little longer.” 

you smile into his chest and curl up against him. 

“wanna ditch practice and nap all day?” 

and for a moment, he almost says yes, his resolve fraying in the face of your sun-dipped voice, the way you lift your head to smile at him, your eyes still glassy from the stuff of dreams. for a moment, he considers the consequences and finds himself not caring. 

“ask me again in a couple of minutes,” he says, pressing his lips to your forehead. 

you laugh, nodding as you snuggle into him once more. 

“you’re not gonna say yes. you’re too responsible to ditch.” 

akaashi shifts to pull you closer to him, allowing himself a small smile as you laugh, complaining loudly about how he’s suffocating you. and he thinks that one of these days, he might just break every single one of his rules for you. 

just, for you. 

five. “stay,” he says, “for the rest of our lives,” he says, the nervousness skittering up through his chest as his one knee starts to hurt from kneeling for so long. in truth, it hasn’t even been that long since he’d gotten down to propose, but it feels like a whole eternity and a half. 

you smile down at him; there are tears in your eyes. 

he knew this would happen -- you’ve always been a crier. 

still, he reaches up to wipe them away. 

“stay with me.” 

you laugh, nodding hard as you reach down to kiss him. 

“okay,” you say, wiping at your eyes with the back of your hand, hiccuping through your words, “only if you promise me --” 

he smiles, “anything -- for you, anything.” 

you kiss him, your tears wet and salty along your lips. 

“stay.” 

akaashi nods. 

“okay.” 

--- 

taglist: @thewaterlily @dorkyama @vventure @parkersvibes @lena-chan009 @tickles614 @therandomfandomcollector @nek-o-ma @undertheseabass @miyulovestowrite  @writing-in-monotone  @lceiji 

pls let me know if you’d like to be added/removed. 

[spaceskam]

don’t give into what the careless feel

day 4 of @whumptober2020 : caged 

Pairings: Michael Guerin & Alex Manes

warnings: torture mention, Caulfield, imprisonment

ao3

It was stupid, really.

Alex knew better. He’d always known better. Did that stop him from doing dumb things? Absolutely not. And he wasn’t about to start today.

He hummed casually as he walked through the hall of dark prison cells with impenetrable glass doors, trying to seem like all he was doing was his patrol to make sure they were all sleeping. It was late. The night shift was in full gear and it was Alex’s night to guard the basement. The first night he’d gotten to do it alone. It was what he’d been waiting for since he was twelve years old.

He got to the cell that he’d been drawn to since he was first brought here to view the place with his dad. On the other side of the glass door was a man his age who was kind and intelligent with a head full of curls they only allowed him to keep for a little while until they shaved it for experiments. Alex had managed to arrange things to let him grow it out more because it made him happy.

It’d been over a decade of getting to know him through either a glass door or before he was torture. When they were little, Alex would sit outside his cell and teach him how to do crossword puzzles. Then he’d sit with him and they’d play together, almost forgetting that they had a wall between and couldn’t really communicate outside of Alex talking at him and N-29 nodding or shaking his head or drawing shapes on the glass. He picked up the alphabet and spelling fast. They did that until he started working there himself.

Alex remembered the first time he touched him. It’d been like his skin was set on fire. He wanted to enjoy it, but that wasn’t an option. Alex had to be the one to drag him to the lab on the third floor. He watched as they stripped him, as they strapped him down, as they poked and prodded and tortured him. And then he had to take him back. It wasn’t the way he would’ve liked to have touched him for the first time. He called in sick the next day, hungover on booze and tears and the image of this boy he was attached to in some explainable way being violated in the worst way. After that, he went out of his way not to be near him when it was time.

Tonight, though, was different. Tonight, they were alone. Tonight, they could sit in the dark in his cell and talk for real. They hadn’t gotten to just sit with each other in so long. Maybe next time he could bring a book of crossword puzzles...

Alex looked both ways before he pressed his thumb on the little scanner that cleared him to open the door. He planned to erase the log of that as soon as he was done and before they had a chance to check it. Then he slowly pulled the door open.

Subject N-29 stood up quickly at attention, his eyes wide in absolute terror and not even trying to hide it. Even when he noticed that it was just Alex, he didn’t relax. It hurt his feelings a little bit, but he tried his best not to take it to heart. They hadn’t been able to bond really since Alex joined the Air Force. Alex hadn’t gotten to do much other than hope his eyes spoke for themselves.

“Hi,” Alex whispered, “I just... I wanted to say hi. Like, in person. Without all the stuff.”

“Without all the stuff?” N-29 repeated. Alex smiled. It was the first time he heard his voice and it was gorgeous. He wished he could’ve heard it when they were little, wished he could’ve heard him grow as much as he’d seen him.

“Like, my dad and stuff. The, the mean stuff,” Alex said. N-29 nodded slowly, still keeping himself as far away as Alex as he could. “I’m not gonna hurt you, I promise.”

“I see,” he said.

This wasn’t exactly how Alex expected it to go.

Maybe it was naive to think that they were just going to mesh entirely, that N-29 would immediately just see Alex how Alex saw him. As equals, right? But they weren’t, not really. Alex had been put in a position of power over him and, whether he liked it or not, he still had a hand in, well, everything. Alex would just have to earn his trust.

“So, uh, do you have a name? I sort of hate calling you N-29, it’s... dehumanizing.”

“Dehumanizing?” he repeated, clearly trying to figure out the meaning of the word with context clues, “I am not human.”

“Yeah, I know, it’s more like...” Alex trailed off, “Like, uh, it’s, like, not right. Like, it means treating someone like they aren’t as good as you. And I think you’re as good as me. So I could call you by your name and you can call me by mine, things we choose to be called by instead of labels.”

N-29 stared at him for a long time. Alex was beginning to think maybe this was far too good to be true. Maybe he waited too long. They were no longer little boys doing crossword puzzles. Alex was the one literally standing by and walking him to torture. Silly him to think they could be friends. Or, more than friends if his stupid 16 year old thoughts won over. 

“I do not know,” N-29 said, voice tight and controlled, “You do not let me see my mother to know.”

Alex licked his lips, feeling more than a little grim. He didn’t know how to fix that. He was already pushing it by being in here with him, he couldn’t just reunite mother and son. Though he wished he could.

“My mom was taken from me too,” Alex tried, “We lived on the reservation with her when my dad was overseas and when he came home to run this place, he took us from her and I haven’t seen her.” 

It was too much information, he knew it, but he wanted so badly to bond with him. He wanted that smile he gave when they were kids, the little smirk he wore when they were teenagers and did crossword puzzles in a way that felt like flirting, the spark he felt when he touched his shoulder. He didn’t like the coldness that started the minute Alex told him he wasn’t going to see him as much because he had to go to basic training. 

“We were friends when we were little, right? I always thought we were friends,” Alex added when the story of his mother got no reaction.

“Do you mean before you were one of them?” N-29 asked, “Or maybe you were always one of them. Nice men do not work here. I know that much.”

Alex swallowed and tried to think of a good excuse. It was hard when he didn’t disagree with him. Nice men didn’t work here. They were all the worst breed of man Alex had ever met. But, when Alex was faced with a choice, it seemed better to be here and do his best to dilute the negativity the best he could than to run away and pretend he never saw it.

“I’m trying to help. I got them to let you grow your hair out. You said you liked it when we were younger,” Alex tried. N-29 slowly sat down on his cot. Alex wasn’t foolish enough to see it as a sign of comfort.

“Do you think I want hair over my mother?” he asked, “Over family?”

“Do you have other family members here?” Alex asked, genuinely curious. 

He only knew which one was his mother because even now she was hellish to experiment on. Knowing her son was so close kept her fire burning and she fought everyone who took her out. That or when she’d sing with her head pressed against the wall that was closest to his cell before bed, hoping he’d hear it. Alex had fallen asleep to it more than once when he was little.

“They are all family like all the people who hurt them are yours,” N-29 said. Alex furrowed his eyebrows.

“They aren’t all my family,” Alex said.

“They are,” he corrected him, “You follow them, they are your family.”

“I-I don’t follow--”

“This is all I have known and I know it is wrong, why don’t you?” N-29 all but demanded.

Alex didn’t answer right away, breathing slow and staring at him. For a man who lived in a prison cell his entire life, he was awfully incredible at making eye contact. It was both impossible to keep and impossible to look away.

“Isn’t it better that I’m here and trying to help than ignoring it’s happening?” Alex asked.

“Who are you helping? Not us,” he said. Alex looked around and peeked out of the cell to make sure they were still alone before he gave N-29 his full attention.

“How should I help? I can’t make them let you go, I don’t have that power,” he said. N-29 huffed a laugh.

“Then you ask them to use things they already have instead of hurting us. You ask to allow our abilities to not be suppressed. You ask to let us out for more than just pain,” N-29 listed. They weren’t bad ideas, but Alex would really have to think about how to make them happen. Maybe he could talk to Kyle.

“You know why they do that, right? I’m not saying it’s right, but you understand the point, don’t you? They don’t want you congregating because they know you could hurt them,” Alex explained. N-29 huffed a laugh, shaking his head as he stood up.

Alex watched as he took off his shirt and held his arms out, baring his body as if that was proof of what he wasn’t capable of doing. He was thin, possibly malnourished, and was covered in scars from all the poking and prodding they’d done since he was little. N-29 was tattooed on his shoulder, forever branding him with that title. And, maybe most importantly, he had a port implanted into his chest that was where they injected him with suppressants daily. 

“We are weak. Do you see me? What could I do?” N-29 demanded. Alex swallowed harshly again, looking away. “If you think you are my friend, help us. Please.”

“I’ll try,” Alex said. It was all he could say, really. He couldn’t defend himself anymore. No one had ever really laid it out that way. He could lie to himself that he was fixing it from the inside, but he wasn’t really. And that just meant he was just as much of a bad man as they were.

N-29 sighed and put his shirt back on.

“Try, try, try. The last man said he would try and did nothing, just left,” N-29 said. That caught Alex’s attention and he looked back towards him.

“What man?”

“The early one,” he said.

“No, what do you mean?” Alex prodded. N-29 looked frustrated that he didn’t just know.

“The one like your father.”

Alex thought about it, raking his mind through who the hell could’ve possibly offered to help them and just disappeared that also was like his father. And then it clicked.

“Tripp?” he asked. N-29 just stared and Alex took it as a yes. “He tried to help? But he went missing. That doesn’t--Oh.”

“Oh?” N-29 repeated. Alex felt cold and even more nervous than he had when he first walked in here. He again peeked his head out, scared he was going to get caught. He needed to erase any evidence that this was happening.

“He went missing,” Alex said, softer this time, “And if you’re right and he tried to help, then... Then something not good happened. I’ll have to look more into it to make sure, but...”

“I see,” N-29 said, voice soft for the first time. Alex looked back at him and took a very hesitant step closer.

“I’m going to help,” Alex said firmly. N-29 furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

“Then you will go missing.”

“Sounds like even more reason to help,” Alex said, “If they’re willing to do something like that, then there’s something even worse than I thought going on. So I’m going to figure it out.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re right. No good man just works here and sits by. I would really like to be a good man,” Alex said. He didn’t really look like he believed him. “You have no reason to trust me, I don’t expect you to. But I’m just letting you know. Because I do consider you my friend.”

“Friend,” he echoed. Alex tried to manage a smile despite the fact that his mind was reeling. When he came here tonight, he hadn’t expected to accidentally learn about a possible cover up.

“And, um, it’s not much, but maybe I can ask your mother what your name is?” Alex offered. N-29 swallowed, his jaw clenched as he nodded. “Okay, I have to go now. Before we get caught.”

“Goodbye,” he said. Alex nodded and slowly exited the cell. Closing it back hurt him more than he would admit.

As Alex walked back to the control system and started to quickly wipe the evidence off the drive, his mind stuck on what could’ve happened to Tripp. What did he do to get caught? Did he get caught or did he run? Was he threatened? Did his grandpa have something to do with it? His father?

Alex quickly grabbed his phone and typed out a message to Kyle. He was in medical school, but he was training to come and work at Caulfield. Not out of choice, but because he was told to. So, he texted him in the code they’d created the minute they figured out their dads were probably reading every text they sent.

Alex: treehouse. 9805.

Kyle: next week

By that time tomorrow, he’d be with Kyle at a creek in the woods they found when they were 13. And they were going to start investigating.

And Alex was finally going to actually do something to help.

[moonlightreal]

Fate episode 5

Welcome back to Elemental Academy!  When we left, the three adults had fallen prey to inescapable Plot of being adults in a YA franchise and decided “we must hide the truth and manipulate our students, for their own good.” Words cannot convey how sad this makes me.  The three of them having their moments as competent, experienced residents of a magical world was the neatest thing in this show.  

But first, we just got a backstory bomb courtesy of Beatrix!  Let’s give it a closer look before we dive into episode 5.

So Beatrix’s story is that a peaceful town called Aster Dell was surrounded by Burned Ones and the powers that be decided to nuke the place, sacrificing the humans to take out the Burned Ones.  And that decision was made by our three adults, Miss Dowling, Silva and Harvey, and Rosalind, and Queen Luna.  But Rosalind had an attack of conscience and turned against the others, and managed to save two babies from the town, Bloom and Beatrix.  She left Beatrix with a friend and dumped Bloom in the human world.  The three Alfea adults captured Rosalind and stuck her under the school, and Queen Luna cast an illusion over the ruins of Aster Dell to… erase the event from history in a world where Instagram exists?  How does THAT work?  That was apparently the last stand of the Burned Ones because they all vanished until just now.

It certainly paints our adults in a bad light!  But is it true?  I mean we did hear it from Beatrix!  She not only… is Beatrix… she wasn’t there at the time.  Maybe the Burned Ones had already killed everyone before the town was nuked.  Maybe the adults thought the townsfolk were already dead and nuked the place on bad intel.  Maybe Queen Luna nuked the town and the three teachers were just helping clean up after.  Maybe Luna ordered them to do it, she is QUEEN after all.  Maybe the adults knew that nuking this one town would end the Burned One threat forever and were willing to sacrifice hundreds to save millions.  I mean, there’s not really a GOOD excuse to nuke a town, but there’s better and worse reasons.

Gee, it’d help if we knew what Burned Ones actually were and where they come from!  

...Hang on, how sure are we that Sky’s father is actually dead?  Because he hung out with all these adults and he’s a “he.”  And he’s in a photo therefor there’s an actor to play him.  If he’s the friend who raised Beatrix then B would have grown up knowing only his and Rosalind’s side of the story, not any circumstances that might make the Alfea adults look non-awful.  Then Beatrix wouldn’t even have to be lying.  Of course that raises the question of why Andreas would be raising Beatrix instead of his actual son, a weird parenting choice.  Maybe he just would’ve rather have a daughter!  Sky seems to have turned out all right with Silva as foster-dad.  

So, anybody wanna lay bets?  Is reappearing dead dad more or less likely than a master Burned One hiding in a cave?  (and yes I know most of you have already seen the last episode and are laughing at me trying to guess, and that makes me happy.)

Ok, let’s hit episode 5!

We open at night, some guards stand stoically outside while we torture Beatrix!  She’s shrieking and rolling around with the antimagic cuffs biting into her wrists while Dowling tries to read her mind. Silva expresses worry that they’re hurting the girl and Dowling says, ‘I’m pushing through her mental defenses, it’s painless. This is an act.”  

And it probably is, because Beatrix sits up and starts on, “Nobody will believe you, I have the better story.  Everyone will whisper that you’re torturing poor fragile me.”

Dowling asks questions about where she went with Bloom, why kill Callan, is Bloom in on it with you, do you have anything to do with the Burned Ones… Dowling, you look a little pathetic not knowing all those things!

Beatrix is being creepy as blazes, 10/10 for her actress narrating the rumors that will spread about her own torture.  ‘Her screams echoed through the school… then one day, they stopped.  No one knows what happened to the poor girl, but everyone knows who did it.”  this is marvelously delivered.  I wonder if Beatrix is planning her own death to make it look like Dowling killed her.  How obsessed with her idea of revenge is she?

And Beatrix wins!  Her description drives Dowling from the room and Silva after an uncomfortable look back and forth, follows her out.  The two specialists standing guard continue stoic.  they’re outside the big doors from the last episode, inside is a big cage with a bed and stuff for keeping prisoners in semi-comfort. But the walls are paper thin and apparently this has been going on for a week!  I think B just screamed a lot all week and only now spilled her plans.

Alfea has stone dungeons with thick walls, why aren’t we using one of those?  Or why haven’t the police come take her away to charge her with murder?  Are the Alfea teachers the entire justice system of Solaria?  I think the teachers are going under the table and Beatrix played them.

With a week of torture added, we’re now 3-4 weeks into the school year.

Bloom is outside, hiding behind a car, watching the adults leave the cell. She starts texting when Dane comes up behind her.  He says he knows what she’s doing and Bloom does the most badly-acted little grin when she says she’s not doing anything.  But Dane says he’s on guard duty tomorrow night and he’ll help her get in to talk to Beatrix.

Interesting that it’s Dane and Bloom, not Dane and Riven, or just Riven.  

Opening!

We jump to Bloom and Sky fighting a Burned One in a hedge maze!  But it’s only an illusion training dummy, it turns into one of those big glass gemstones.  

Sky has a little cut on his face and Bloom closes it with magic.  Just cauterizes it I assume, unless she has healing magic and we weren’t told.  Healing is usually under the water or earth element in these sorts of systems.

Bloom: “I just wish they’d tell us how to fight these things.”

Yes, fighting teachers should do that.  Kind of the point of having teachers.  

Everybody else is fighting too!  The fairies seem to have joined the specialists on their mats.  Another girl throws fire, so Bloom’s not the only fire fairy here.  Riven shows off his stick-fighting skill.  Dowling and Silva watch, with Aisha taking notes on a clipboard as Dowling’s new assistant.  Terra shows off her vines grabbing… is that a new adult?  We don’t get a good look but it looks like a man in specialist gear.  Bloom and Sky’s voiceover says, “It’s like they’ve gone full wargames.” and “Well they were soldiers before they were teachers so it’s on-brand for Alfea faculty.”

Harvey arrives in the hedge maze and Sky asks for a hint.  This is the only exercise he and Bloom can’t pass.  

Subtitles (thanks for the suggest, january-summers!) say Harvey’s first name is Ben.  And he’s gonna lay some info on us!  ‘Inside each burned One is a magical core called a cinder, and with time and finesse you can use your magic to destroy it.”  That… seems like a factoid that should’ve been shared in the “all about Burned Ones” lecture that should have happened at the beginning of this martial push?  Just sayin?

He also explains how fairy-and-specialist fighting works.  The fairy must trust her specialist to protect her so that she can “channel controlled magic” without freaking out and lighting the woods on fire when a monster comes at her.  And he must trust her to destroy the thing.  Ok, that makes sense.  That works.  So is it normal for fairies and specialists to team up in pairs?  Is that what they do in the army too?  Were Dowling and Silva one such pair?  Maybe Harvey and his unseen wife were and she’s unseen because she died in the war.  Now I’m imagining Mrs. Harvey was a badass specialist.

Bloom flirtatiously asks if she can trust Sky and he more sensibly asks if he can trust her.  He thinks Bloom was being awfully teachers-pet to Harvey.  Bloom says since the outing with Beatrix everyone’s been watching her like a hawk, wondering if she’s Beatrix’s evil henchwoman.  They joke about Bond villains and Sky has seen several James Bonds.  Then they go back for another try against the illusory Burned One.

But they are being watched!  In fact Bloom is being watched by Sky, who gets a very meaningful look from Silva as he goes past.  Dowling eyeballs Bloom, who smiles innocently back.  The teachers are walking with Aisha and Musa, And Musa is reading Bloom and Sky to see if they’re tired yet.  She does say “I know they know I’m doing it, but it still feels invasive.”  Musa would rather use magic on a real enemy!  But Dowling says mind reading is support magic and that’s just as important.  ‘Your magic can help us assess fragile states of mind or uncover hidden enemies.’

Aisha asks, ‘like Beatrix?” and Musa asks how B is doing and if they found out why she killed Callan.  But Dowling just says, ‘let’s keep focused.” which, I can see why she’s not telling them everything but she is playing right into Beatrix’s hands.

Terra’s getting a drink of water on break between sparring.  A girl specialist with a great hairdo, buns up the back of her head, compliments Terra on her vine restraint move.  Terra says, ‘thanks, it’s all bout the tensile strength of the cellulose.”

Riven comes and sits down by Terra and says, “Tensile strength.  Hot.” Terra, not sure what to make of that either but knowing Riven, pointedly ignores him.  But Riven is having one of his likeable moments and says, ‘She’s right you know.  you’re a force out there.”

Wanna comment on two things.  First, Freddy Thorpe who plays Riven is great.  He keeps making me want to like his objectively awful character.  And he’s a fine lookin’ dude, the grin, the scruffy stubble… I hope he goes far as an actor.  And second, the leather sword vests the specialists wear are really neat.  Swords attach to the back somehow, Riven’s got a couple of potion bottles in pockets—which I hope they’re plastic and empty, glass bottles and fighting do not mix!  And I’m not sure if it’s a vest or a vest and shoulder scabbard and separate belt.  But all the specialists have them, and we know this show doesn’t spend much on props… I wonder if I can find the source?  

Not immediately, it turns out.  Anybody better with renfaire gear know where to get these things?  Or what they’re called?

Polite Terra says, “You too.”  but Riven wasn’t.  He was garbage at fighting.  Terra kindly says, ‘It’s been a weird week.” and “I know you and Beatrix were… close, so it must be really hard.” Terra is sweet.  You can see her kinds thinking it would be kind to say those things even though she’s not keen on Riven.

Dane walks by and says, “Sweet moves Riv, I’ve never seen anybody die so many ways so quickly.  You should go for Alfea’s Got Talent.” heh.

Riven says that was a burn from ‘the first-year monster I created.  Or Beatrix created.”  he says Dane still has a thing for Beatrix… ok HE says “A hard-on for her.  A weird, gay hard-on.  Is he even gay? I don’t know anything anymore.”  and I chuckled because Riven is so delightful when he’s not being a terrible person.  Terra just sits there with that Terra expression like she doesn’t know what to say to that, and now she’s probably worried that by dumping Dane last episode she drove him to the dark side.

Indoors, Sky catches Silva and calls him out on pairing them together so he can spy on Bloom.  Silva says since they’re both strong in their roles nobody questioned it.  But Sky is not feeling great about the whole situation.  The more he talks to Bloom the more convinced he is of her basic innocence, and-- “Stella’s gone, Riven’s a mess, and the person I’m spending the most time with I’m spying on.”

Silva gives him a pep talk, that this matters and it may be lonely but it’s to keep the Otherworld safe.  And this is honor.  Sky hesitates, sighs, then nods and keeps walking.

Silva is drawn back into his memories!  First of being grievously injured and falling down, then I think to another earlier memory recovering after a fight in the forest side by side with Sky’s father.  Who has a serious beard!  Andreas gently mocks his friend for not being tough enough and says Sky might be more useful.  Sky who’s presumable a little kid at the time.  Younger Silva calls him on it, asking when he last even saw his son.  Andreas turns away.

The gang’s all here in flashback, Younger Dowling looks on while Harvey’s dissecting the dead Burned One saying ‘we still have a lot to learn about them.”  Andreas spits on it and Harvey says, ‘Or we could contaminate it.  Ok!”  Heh.  And here comes Rosalind congratulating the four of them on taking it down in under three minutes but saying next time they should shoot for under two.

Back in the present the adults are watching video of the students sparring on a tablet in Dowling’s office.  Dowling is unhappy none of them took down an illusion Burned One, most of them just gave up!  Silva says that’s why they’re in training, they’re not ready yet.

Do these three know about the Burned One Aisha pinned to a tree?  The girls plus Sky have taken out two so far, which isn’t a lot but is more than zero.

Badass Marco comes in and he’s in trouble!  He and his partner whose name turns out to be Noura took out a Burned One near the school—but it wasn’t alone!  Now Marco has been poisoned!  Harvey rushes for the medicine.  Marco says “we were taught that Burned Ones are solitary hunters, but two of them traveling together..?”

Dowling says, ‘It’s rare but it happens.” and I don’t know if that’s true or she’s just saying it to look like she’s on top of the situation.

Silva says they should warn “the Solarians” and Marco says he tried, they’re not answering!  And they pulled their troops from the battalion. Dowling says Queen Luna has been “distant” since she pulled Stella out of school.  Marco says they’re low on manpower and “if the Solarians abandon us we’re in serious trouble.”

But isn’t Alfea IN Solaria?  It was on the globe.  They have separate armies?  Maybe the Solarian army is their actual army and the specialist/fairy pairs trained at Alfea are a separate thing?  Maybe Alfea trains elite magical troubleshooters and the Solarian army is made up of trained mundanes?  But wouldn’t the government of the country want to be in control of all armies in that country so there’s no extra armies rattling around getting into trouble?  And Dowling is Luna’s subject so... How does this WORK, show?

Be nice to know what the ratio of magic users to mundanes in the Otherworld is, too.

Over in the girls’ suite, Aisha pensively braids her hair and Terra happily moves her plants around.  The lights are on and there’s sunlight coming through the curtains but the room is still dark, reminding us we’re supposed to be in a grimdark show.  9_9  Batman could’ve just paid his electric bill, then he wouldn’t have to be the DARK knight… sorry, sorry, I actually like grimdark I just have no patience for literally dark when it makes no sense.

Musa gets texts from  Sam.  Musa and Terra have a cute chat about how Musa’s dating Sam.  terra’s happy about it.  Terra is also moving her hundred plants into Stella’s empty room so it “won’t feel so ghostly in there.”

Terra: “and it’s been a week.  We have to accept she’s not coming back.  No matter how much we wonder how she’s doing, call or text...” and she lists every EARTH social media platform she’s checked Stella on.  Musa asks if she misses Stella and Terra immediately says, “No! She was mean and insulting and left without saying goodbye, which was actually the meanest thing...”  Musa asks if her insults would be a good substitute.  Heh.

Terra made her outfit!  She fishes for a Stellaish insult from Musa by mentioning that.  Wow, Terra, you get cooler every time!  Sewing is hard!  I have trouble with just doll clothes!

A pot falls and breaks in Stella’s empty room.  An omen!

Bloom is watching her phone like a hawk as she pretends to study.  Aisha comes in to offer the, “I know you feel like you can’t trust Dowling, but you can talk to me.  I wouldn’t tell.” but Bloom gets a text that Dane is starting his shift and hops up to go do her own investigation.  On the way out Bloom gets a call from her folks. She doesn’t answer.

Aisha goes to the others, “We need to talk about Bloom.  She’s been single-minded about her birth parents and Rosalind for weeks.  And now it seems like she doesn’t care at all.  Are we meant to believe she’s just over it?  I know she’s keeping something from us.” And the girls put the pieces together!  She was texting Dane, Terra heard that “Dane is still team Beatruix”  

And Dane has knocked out his fellow guard with a sedative!  Boy is that a bad idea!  Bloom gapes.  Dane says, “She’s waiting.” in the most doomful way.

And there’s B sitting on her bed in her dark room, fiddling with the magic cuffs.  they’re like barbed wire and are messing up her wrists.  She greets Bloom with, “Took your sweet time!”  Bloom immediately wants to know if the murder thing is true, and B cops to it.  Callan was also there to break Rosalind out, which we knew and now Bloom does.  B says, ‘bit more complicated than evil beatrix kills hapless assistant.”

Bloom: “Dowling, Silva and Harvey haven’t told me the truth about a lot of things but that doesn’t mean you have.”  Yay Bloom! Skepticism!  But Bloom is determined to find out what really happened and Beatrix knows where Rosalind is.  But only if Bloom gets her out of the cage.  Beatrix says Bloom shouldn’t trust her, the faculty, her friends, anybody but Rosalind.

That’s interestingly hero-worshipy of B.  She’s never MET Rosalind, how does she know Rosalind is a good guy?  Or, y’know, whatever Beatrix thinks of as a good guy.

And Bloom’s along for the ride.  Dane gives her a magic thingamabo she can charge up that’ll get the cuffs off Beatrix and then they can go to town.  On the way out Bloom asks Dane why he’s helping her. Even if they were friends, hello, murder!  Dane says, “She’s the only person here who ever made me feel like being different was a good thing.”  And Bloom says she’s helping because “Beatrix is the only one who’s giving me answers.”

Because the adults are caught in Plot!  And we can see where this Plot is going.  Bloom releases Rosalind, who turns out to be master of the Burned Ones and they attack Alfea.  Great job, teachers, what a dumb Plot you are caught in!

What Dane gave Bloom was another big leatherbound book called Ancient Geometry.  Not usually an evil art, but she hides the book in her bag the next morning.  It looks like she’s awake before Aisha but when she leaves Aisha’s eyes immediately open.  She was pretending to be asleep to spy on Bloom!

More outdoor specialist training.  they’ve got some gear, Riven’s doing that arm exercise where you wave two hoses up and down.  Musa picks up a staff and twirls it expertly.  Riven comes over to flirt. Musa says she used to be a dancer, that’s where she got the moves. And she misses being physical.  Riven I think is venting about something else when he says, “Well too bad.  You’re a fairy, they don’t care what you wanna be in this place only what they want you to be.”  Musa reads his mind and gets all of Riven’s hate for Alfea.  Which, yeah, they locked his girl in a cage.

Also is it even true?  Are fairies not allowed to study martial arts? Martial arts is great for emotional control and confidence which would be great for magical control.  I mean it certainly could be that Alfea forces people into roles, but I haven’t seen evidence.

Then Sam comes by and he and Musa head back to the suite where she jumps on him for a makeout session!  Sam puts the brakes on asking if Musa’s upset about something and yeah, she’s angry that mind fairies are support type, they’re “powerless when things actually go wrong.’

Which… true, since Musa can only receive.  She might be able to know the location of every enemy and ally making her super valuable in battle, but if she could project emotion just for a second, jolt an opponent mid attack… but she can’t.  I see her point.

But we get a character building hint!  “A long time ago, family stuff...”  And that’s all.  She says it’s nothing, that she’s just frustrated, and suggests Sam take advantage of that frustration. Which he is happy to do!  Musa shoves him down on the bed, hops on top and takes her shirt off!  Behind this increasingly steamy scene we see one of Terra’s potted plants revolve… then it crashes to the ground, breaking the pot and the mood.  Sam yelps in surprise.

Sam: “Please don’t judge me on my completely legitimate and masculine fear of ghosts which are legitimately creepy...”  Hah!  I like you, Sam.

So… do ghosts actually exist in the Otherworld or are they just seen a lot but not proven same as in ours?

But the moment is gone and Musa says she should find the girls.  She puts her shirt back on and Sam leaves, both of them happily looking forward to their next chance at sexytimes.

Alone and with her shirt back on, Musa scans the room and detects another person! ��

Stella appears!  

Stella’s here!  She snuck back a few days ago, and has been hiding invisibly in her room!  

But before we can hear the details we go to Bloom at the stone circle. She’s got the geometry book and a round metal doohicky that she has to charge up to free Beatrix.  She puts it down and channels magic into it, lighting up some jewels on it.  I can’t immediately identify this thing, it’s too big to be jewelry, palm-sized.  

Sky turns up and Bloom tries to hide the book.  Sky can tell she’s doing it, and he’s tired of all the sneaking.  So he comes out and says that Silva has him spying on Bloom—and that he knows Bloom’s not up to anything.  But it was an order.  Bloom is naturally pretty pissed off!  She says quite sensibly, ‘He used you, used our friendship—but I’m the bad guy right?”

I wonder how much of this is because Bloom’s from Earth.  If she’d grown up in the Otherworld would she be less surprised at specialists following orders?  Would she have heard of the adults’ great deeds in the war and been more inclined to trust them?

Anyway Bloom goes to hide the book again and Sky grabs it.  He asks what the magic thingamabob is and Bloom looks away super-guilty.  Sky: “I’m trying to be on your side here but you’re making it really difficult.”

Which is just how I feel about this show quite often!

Sky says Bloom can trust him, Bloom says she’s not sure she can and starts to tell him about Aster Dell.  

Back in Stella’s room poor Stella is telling Musa about her mother.

And her mother, in hologram form, is in Dowling’s office while Dowling asks why she withdrew her troops, when two Burned Ones have been seen together which hasn’t happened in a long time.  The show cuts back and forth between the two scenes.

...Stella says the army’s all out looking for HER!  That’s why.  But Luna won’t look at Alfea, ‘To do that she’ll have to admit she lost control of something, and that’ll never happen.”

Luna: But you’re training the students to fight.  isn’t that supposed to be what you’re teaching my daughter?”

Stella: ‘Project strength and power.  that’s all she cares about.  And I’m an extension of her strength”

Dowling: ‘Is this some sort of punishment?  For not rehabilitating Stella in the way you wanted?”

Stella: “My magic has to be powerful at any cost.  that’s what she taught me”

Luna pooh-poohs the idea that it’s punishment, “but you might consider updating your methods.  Given the threats we face.”

...Evil queen wants to turn Alfea to the ways of the Sith?  THAT’S the plot we’re going for here?  Ok, solid plot, I guess.  Could be worse. But Luna is a bargain basement evil queen if ever I saw one, she wears suits! And too much foundation!  Where’s the spiky crown and overabundance of eyeshadow?  Maybe they were going for an Umbridge kinda character.

Stella: ‘My mum treated me growing up… when positive emotions didn’t work she went right to the negative.  Hard.”

Dowling: “My methods are effective.  And they don’t cause students to lose control and blind their friends!”

Stella: ‘My magic is erratic because of her.”  And Luna disappears and we get to hear the rest of Stella’s story.  Blinding Ricki was an accident, as we could guess, but Stella would rather be seen as a “raging bitch” than weak.  It was safer with her mom.  Stella does know how messed up this is, and when she got home her mom immediately started abusing her again.  No mention of stella having a dad, but Queen Luna’s clearly the ruling party.

Musa says Stella doesn’t have to hide, all the girls will help her. Stella says, ”Are you kidding?  Do you know how judgmental; they are?”

I think the mind reader would know better than you, Stella!  So there’s Stella’s sad story.  And we don’t have to go to the palace of Solaria to rescue her like I was hoping we would.

From that heavy scene we jump to the cafeteria, where bad-boy music plays as Dane gets his lunch.  he’s smoking a cigarette!  And Terra is literally hiding behind a pillar in her homemade dress waiting for him.  He lights up and Terra pounces!

They talk, Dane says rather sensibly, ‘I do one bad thing and you cut me off” and “Beatrix never made me feel this bad.’ and Terra says also sensibly, ‘but murder.” and Dane tries to flee and Terra vine-grabs his ankle and Dane takes a pull on his cigarette and Aisha water-guns it out and the two of them interrogate him on what he’s up to with Bloom.  Dane has no chance.

Over to Bloom and Sky.  Bloom must’ve finished her story since Sky is telling his while Bloom charges the thingy.  He’s lived at Alfea his entire life, with Silva as his foster father.  Bloom brings up some of the things I thought of, that Silva might be part of a massacre if he believed it was for the greater good.  Bloom doesn’t think the adults are evil but she thinks they’re hiding the truth to protect themselves, too.  Bloom says at least Sky grew up hearing stories of his parents from people who knew them.

It looks cold and Sky offers Bloom his jacket.  And Sky is wearing a bright blue shirt and darker blue jacket, almost like a Red Fountain uniform.  I wonder if that’s a holdover from a stage when this was going to be a Winx show.  But Bloom just summons fire in all the braziers to keep warm.

Sky says, ‘Don’t need anyone do you?” and bloom says he’s “a fixer” and she doesn’t need to be fixed.  Sky talks about his father the “great Andreas” the war hero who he’s heard so many stories about, “It’s almost like he’s still alive.  But he’s not.  he’s an ideal.  Do you have any idea how hard that is to live up to?  Even Silva, it’s like he’s playing some role out of a sense of duty.  When all I really want..” poor Sky.  He says he’s a fixer because he’s broken and everyone is.

Anyway it ends with them kissing.

Then the magic thingy is charged.  Bloom says she does trust Sky, but if she told him he’d stop her.

Then Sky faints!

Bloom doped him with the sedative!  It was in her water bottle that she shared with Sky.  Wow, Bloom, dosing your own water bottle just in case you meet someone?  That is impressively scary thinking ahead!

Bloom is clearly really guilty, but she still leaves Sky facedown on the ground in the circle!  Hope no Burned Ones come along while he’s all passed out!

We go to the greenhouse where Harvey is doctoring Badass Marco who took a hit from a Burned One.  Silva is hanging around and Marco, between grunts of pain, asks if he’s handling the pain better than Silva did.  Harvey says the first Burned One poisoning is always the worst, it’s almost a rite of passage-- which suggests lots of people survive such injuries which is not the vibe we were getting a few episodes ago!

Marco asks about Andreas’ son helping take down the Burned One and if he inherited any of Andreas’ “less ideal qualities?  His bloodlust?”

Ok, I’m callin’ it, dead surprisingly evil dad it is!

Silva just says Sky is his own man.

Marco is hurt but he’s not worried.  He’ll survive weeks or months with the medicine, plenty of time for Noura and the battalion to get the Burned One.  There’s Noura on the phone now!  But… oh no!  Noura is grievously injured and everyone else is dead!  She’s out in the woods hurt and surrounded by lots of Burned Ones!  We see on video call as poor Noura tries to run, goes down, and is taken out.  Her phone lies on the ground sending a video of the trees—and fully half a dozen Burned Ones run past it!

Too bad.  I expected Noura and Marco were for the chop, just because in these sorts of stories the trained adults have to be gotten out of the way so the teenage heroines can shine.  But they were the interesting characters!  They were professionals in a magical world.  I wanted to learn more about them.

Bloom, like an amateur, heads to break Beatrix out but Dane isn’t there. Terra and Aisha are.  Bloom sounds positively paranoid as she says, ‘Everyone here is lying to me!  You don’t know what I know!” but they do, Dane spilled all the beans. Terra sounds about to cry as she says her dad would never do something like that.  Bloom sounds super paranoid as she says to herself, ‘You’re his daughter and you’re Dowling’s little helper, I’m not gonna convince either of you, just like Sky.”

Aisha pushes back; she’s been spying on Dowling!  For Bloom!  And all she’s seen is how hard Dowling’s been trying to keep everyone safe.

Bloom says they lied about Rosalind being alive, lied about a war crime, “i get that you guys want to believe in them but they’re destructive maybe dangerous!”

Terra: “Bloom, listen to yourself, you literally sound like a crazy person.”

Aisha says they haven’t told the adults yet, but if Bloom tries to bust Beatrix out they will.

Bloom faces them like a cornered animal.  Her eyes flame up.  Terra and Aisha back away and Terra almost sobs, ‘We’re your friends, Bloom!”

Bloom stops and thinks.  Friendship music plays.  She gets the magic thingy out of her bag and gives it to Aisha.  But when Aisha starts, ‘I know how hard...” Bloom says, “You don’t.  None of you do.”

...why am I thinking about Higurashi right now?  Maybe because everyone’s spying, nobody’s reaching out to their friends for help… y’all gonna get the bad ending!  Hmmf.  I prefer Oyashiro-sama’s curse over the YA Plot curse we’re laboring under.  Characters I liked already died and as a father figure type Silva is likely next to meet a sticky end.  I’m ANNOYED with this show right now.

And back in the suite Stella is saying she “can’t believe everyone’s listening to Aisha like she knows anything” and that the suite has gone to shit without her.  And Stella’s been pushing plants over whenever she gets annoyed since she doesn’t want to appear.  “I have opinions.  If I can’t express them verbally, I’m not above poltergeisting.”  just like Riven, Stella makes me absolutely hate her one second and then says a line that makes me smile.  I dunno what to do with these two.  Marvelous actors both of them, for playing such two-ways-at-once characters and making it work!

Then Stella gets invisible again and Aisha and Terra come in.  They stopped Bloom but they think she’s losing her marbles.  Which, yep, seems so.  Aisha thinks they kinda need to tell Dowling, even though they said they wouldn’t.  A pot wobbles.  Musa decides to shut that down real quick and just tells the others Stella’s here, so as not to have to clean up any more broken pots!  Heh!

Stella appears.

Stella’s opinion: “Everyone in this suite is so damn black and white.  Bloom is a pain in the ass but she deserves to know who she is, not the stories the faculty is telling her.  We can worry about being right or we can help our friend.  Which is it?”

Friend since when, Stella?  Also, maybe protect your friend from being instrumental in the downfall of the school?

Dowling in her dark office.  She gets a text from Silva: five or six Burned Ones.  “Suit up, we’re going hunting.”

Sad music plays.  Dowling opens up a chest and reveals, I think, the olive colored costume her younger self wore in the flashback.

And in my head an alternate Dowling smiles as her heart picks up speed at the thought of getting back in the saddle.  The opposite of what we see on screen.

Then Bloom storms in, breaking this tragic headmistress moment.  Having lost the magic thingy, bloom goes for the direct approach and demands to see Rosalind.  Poor Dowling doesn’t have time for this, she’s got a Burned One hunt!  But Bloom busts out, “I’m from Aster Dell!  that’s where I was born, that’s where my birth parents lived, until you all destroyed it.”

Good direct approach, Bloom!  Except you only know that from #1 untrustworthy source Beatrix, remember!

Dowling, shocked and horrified, turns away.  It’s true.  But, “You think we did it on purpose?”

Bloom: ‘That’s what Beatrix said.  That Rosalind had a crisis of conscience and you did it anyways.”

Dowling: “Rosalind!  Still manipulating people after all these years.”  

Flashback to the five of them!  Rosalind was the most powerful fairy at Alfea, and Dowling’s mentor.  Feared but respected, never questioned.

We’re up on the high plains, I think the same place we saw Silva being grievously wounded in a flashback before.  Dowling, rosalind and Harvey are up on a high knoll above Aster Dell, too far away to get a good look at what’s happening in the town.

Rosalind taught them to combine their magic, something nobody had known was possible.  They call down lightning and yeah, basically nuke the town.  But!  Rosalind said she made sure the humans were evacuated and only Burned Ones were in there!  They didn’t question their commanding officer, and they didn’t know until they walked into town and saw the bodies.  Past dowling puts her hand to her mouth in horror.

Present Dowling has tears in her eyes.  ‘if Aster Dell is where you’re from… there are no words I can say to make right the damage I’ve caused you.”

But Bloom shakes her head slightly.  “Why would she do that?”

Dowling thinks it’s because Rosalind was a zealot who “Wanted every Burned One dead no matter the cost” and who lied because she knew her team wouldn’t have gone along with it if they knew there were civilians in the town.

Bloom demands, ‘What about me?  Why did she put me in the human world?” But Dowling doesn’t know.  Bloom again demands to see Rosalind, getting up in Dowling’s face.  I feel like Bloom is somewhat enjoying this revenge, being able to back Dowling into a corner and shut her up.

Dowling grabs Bloom’s shoulders and says, “Whatever she has to give you is not worth unleashing her into the world again.” and the thing I wish she’d said a few episodes ago, “I’ll help you get the answers you need.  You have my word.”

...and Bloom believed her and they all worked together and got the good ending!

But bad-ending music plays and Silva comes to get Dowling to come take down the Burned Ones and the look on Bloom’s face is definitely a gonna-get-the-bad-ending look.

In her cage Beatrix whimpers and cries out in pain as she tries to get the cuffs off her wrists.

In the stone circle Sky wakes up from his drugged slumber.

In gorgeous Ireland Bloom sits on a bench pondering her next choices. Musa and Terra come up and give her the magic key.  They don’t want to be more people who are hiding things from Bloom.  Aisha can’t quite get on board with breaking a murderer out, but Musa and Terra are up for it!  And so is Stella, who appears beside the bench. Smiles all round.  I love the bonding, but wish they could maybe be teaming up for something that’s not so obviously a bad idea.  Just because y’all the main characters who won’t die doesn’t mean OTHER characters can’t die!

The real Stella never learned invisibility because why should she want to hide her awesome clothes?  But for this Stella, it’s a pretty handy trick!

The adults are packing their gear for war into the black SUVs and heading out.  The sun is low so it must be evening.  It occurs to me though—I’ve been in England in May, many Mays ago, and it stays light until like nine at night because the UK is super-North.  Maybe the difference in day length is why I keep getting tripped up about what time it is.  

Sky has staggered back into the school where Riven finds him.  Sky is relieved to learn that Beatrix is still locked up, but they have bigger fish to fry.  Looks like the specialists are joining the hunt!

Bloom brings Beatrix the magic key and Beatrix frees herself!

It is definitely-night and definitely cold at the barrier where the three adults with half a dozen other soldiers stand just inside the barrier.  Dowling uses her magic to amplify the sounds of the forest—that’d be air fairy stuff, so Dowling is mind and air at least.  I wonder how usual it is for fairies to learn more than one element.

Sky and the specialists arrive, late, to the sound of snarling Burned Ones.  Aisha’s here too.  Silva says this is no time for extra credit, but Aisha isn’t looking for extra credit, ‘I’m here because you need to know what’s happening.”

In Dowling’s office Beatrix is planning to toss Dane through the trap just like she did with Callan!  

Then Stella appears behind her and shoves HER through!  Ha ha ha!  Beatrix goes down, lips blue, breathing out frost.  It must just be a freezing trap, nonlethal.  Not that I would mind terribly if Beatrix weren’t in season 2; she has some charming moments and Sadie is a top class evil actress, but let’s ditch the slutty villainess trope maybe?

Stella: “Break out the villain to get what Bloom wants, then trap her again.  Simple.  My ideas rock.”

The girls go down the tunnel.  Stella holds a ball of rainbow light above her hand.  

Terra’s feeling troubled about what they’re doing.  she’s always trusted her dad to lead her right, but ‘I don’t know if he’d lead me down here.”

Stella: “Even the best parents are doing what they think is best for us. At some point we have to take over for ourselves.”  Truth, Stella. I’m just questioning if this is the right point or not.  Then Stella plucks a bit of light from her light and sends it to float by Terra.  ‘By the way, that outfit...’   She smiles and Terra smiles back.

Then we jump to Bloom, having a destiny-ridden moment.  “Everything I’ve been looking for is right through that door.”

No Bloom, Rosalind is through that door and how do you know she’s going to tell you any more truth than anybody else?  But through the door she goes.

And there’s the glowy barrier with Rosalind inside.  She opens her eyes and uses mind magic to say, “Hello, Bloom.”

...y’all gonna get the bad ending.

[bestfrownsforever]

Frown of Doom: Chapter 2

(Cover art by me)

After hours of drug-induced sleep, Unikitty found herself drowsily waking up in the Doom Lord fortress’ dimly lit conference room.  Her eyes fluttered open and she sat up, her head aching.  The princess kept one front paw on her head and the other on the ground below her, which was made of steel.  It didn’t take long for her to find out that she was locked in a cage, and her eyes searched the room for a potential way out.  But the coffins, open closets of weapons, and maps pinned to the walls with red marker sloppily written and drawn all over them made her scream.

“Ok,” Unikitty said as she trembled, “just stay positive.  It’s really dark and scary in here, but Master Frown and Brock have to be here too.  So when they show up we can talk about all this and it’ll be fine…everything will go right back to normal…with nothing to worry about…”

She heard something from behind her and turned to face the door.  The approaching red light and the sound of someone’s familiar chuckling was getting closer and closer until Master Frown opened the doors.  The same light in his eyes surrounded Master Plague’s beak, which floated inches away from his hand as he spun it around with his mind.  He slowly walked closer to Unikitty’s cage and circled it, his wide grin and eager eyes showing how much he relished every moment she was in front of him so helplessly.

“Oh, Princess Unikitty.  I’ve waited so long for this day!  I’ve asked myself if it’d ever happen, and here you are, finally in my control!  But now that you’re here…what should I do with you?  Should I set up a fancy execution outside?  Should I go back and kidnap your friends so I can kill you all together?  Should I stuff and mount your head on the wall?  Should I mind control you too and make you my kitty servant?  Should I just stab you right now and be done with you forever?  Ah, so many choices…so little time.”

(Art by @friffinx​)

“But why!?”  Unikitty asked, “Why would you do this!?  You’ve never done anything this bad before!”  “Oh yes I have!” Master Frown bragged, “It’s just been so long since you’ve seen me, so you have no idea what I can do in a split second!  And there’s nothing you or any of your loser friends can do to stop me!”  As Master Frown laughed, Unikitty began to cross her internal border between sad and angry.

“No!  You’re dead wrong, mister!” she shouted, “If anything now that you’ve taken me away, my friends are gonna go out of their way to find me and won’t stop until they do!  We mean everything to each other so you’re the one who’d better watch out or you’re gonna get badly hurt!”  “Come on, that’s…”  Before he could finish, Master Frown stopped to think about what he was saying and the red in his eyes faded away, “…actually true.  Brock!”

“Yeah?” Brock asked as he peeked into the room.  “Stay down here and watch Unikitty,” Master Frown commanded, his eyes glowing again, “There’s a few things, or should I say, people I have to take care of.”

Brock stepped closer to the cage.  He wanted to feel more excited and relieved to finally see Unikitty again, but he knew that judging from what happened before his consciousness came back, it would be hard to reconnect with her after what she went through.  He could tell by looking into her eyes that she was more confused than anything else, and he couldn’t blame her.

“So…you just want me to talk to her?” Brock asked.  “Well duh,” Master Frown groaned, rolling his eyes, “Do anything with her for all I care, just don’t let her out of the cage!”  He took the beak out with his mind again and grinned.  “I’ll be back before you know it.”

Unikitty made sure that the Doom Lord left before grabbing the cage bars, trying to trust what looked like the Brock she always knew.

“Brock?  What happened to you and Master Frown!?  How did all this…you know…?”  “Well,” Brock nervously sighed, “Let’s just say that Master Frown’s the world’s one and only Doom Lord now…the rest are gone.”  “Oh…” Unikitty thought aloud, “When will they get back?”  “He killed them Unikitty,” Brock grimly said.

“REALLY!?” Unikitty gasped at the thought of something so unheard of to her.

“Yeah,” Brock continued, “and since then he’s been spreading sadness and misery all over Frowntown in their place but it’s like, way worse.  He’ll even mind control me sometimes if I don’t give him what he wants in enough time.”

“WHAT!?” Unikitty gasped again, almost in tears before stopping her potential breakdown, “Oooh so that’s why your eyes are red.”

“Yep,” Brock replied before continuing again, “I don’t remember anything that goes on when he mind controls me, though.  It’s like I just…go blank, and someone else takes over.  But if I wanted to know what happens when I’m not totally in there, I’d go in there.”

Brock pointed to the biggest closet in the room.  It had the signature shape of Master Doom’s head like all the other doors but also plenty of scratch marks.  The words “DO NOT OPEN EVER (THAT MEANS YOU BROCK!)” were written on it in red.

“Wow,” Unikitty wondered, “what else could he have done!?  But Poor Master Frown must’ve been pushed around so much until he finally lost it.”  “That’s what I’ve been thinking,” Brock added, “And if anything this is my fault for not helping as much as I should’ve or trying to stop him-“

“No it’s not!” Unikitty insisted, putting her hand over Brock’s mouth through the bars, “Don’t you dare think that way!  You’ve been doing your best for Master Frown, more than anyone would dare to!  So consider that enough.  But you can help me figure this out and maybe even get back to how he was before!”

(Art by @pastel-gothicorn​)

“Well I guess he kinda is as long as his eyes aren’t red,” Brock said.  Unikitty gasped, stars and lightbulbs popping from her head and glowing in her eyes.  “That’s it!  We gotta find out what makes his eyes red!  We'll just get back to the Unikingdom, find our friends, and get him right where we want him, so then we can hopefully save Master Frown from uh, himself!  And it starts with you getting me out of this cage.”

“Genius plan, Unikitty!” Brock winked and got up, “I like your way of thinking, just lemme just find the key.”  “Ok!” Unikitty called back, watching Brock walk out of the conference room with strong determination in her eyes.

                                                         : ~~~ :

Unikitty’s friends didn’t have any time to regret letting Master Frown get away; only to prepare for another fight and way to save the princess.  As Hawkodile, Richard, and Puppycorn grouped together and talked about what the best course of action would be in the lab, Dr. Fox kept checking the kingdom’s security cameras, quickly switching from one to another at a time.  But then one screen particularly caught her eye; it showed Master Frown peeking up from behind a bush and looking around carefully before running offscreen.

“GUYS,” Dr. Fox warned, “MASTER FROWN’S COMING BACK!!!  Everyone get ready!!!”

“On it!” Hawkodile said as he sprang up and away.

“Yeah, let’s get him!” Puppycorn shouted, about to sprint until Richard floated in front of and stopped him.

"No, Puppycorn," Richard said, "you're staying in the castle with me."

"What!?" Puppycorn complained, "But Rick, I can fight too! Check it!" Puppycorn made jumps and imitated action moves, accompanied by fitting grunts and shouts, to show off what he thought were impressive fighting moves. But from start to finishing pose, Richard wasn't impressed.

"No," the brick said in his ever-monotone voice, "Now come with me."

"Aww man!" Puppycorn reluctantly dashed away with him.

Hawkodile and Dr. Fox went back to the dojo, picking and putting the perfect weapons together. Both were incredibly uneasy at the thought of such a do or die moment happening again, but Hawkodile also worried that he'd have no time to tell Dr. Fox that he loved her. His heart raced as he finished packing for the battle and turned her way.

"Uh...Dr. Fox?" he found the courage to say.

"Yes Hawkodile?" she asked back.

"Well," Hawkodile stammered, "since this could...you know, be our last moment together, with uh...Master Frown getting dangerous and all, there's uh....something I've wanted to say to you. For a really long time.

"Really? " Dr. Fox asked, "What is it?"

All Hawkodile could say was "Uuuhhhhh..."

He grew redder, sweating, stuttering, playing with his hands, and looking down at the ground. Even when he feared for his life, he couldn't admit how he felt about Dr. Fox, who still looked up at him, confused.

"YOU'RE REALLY REALLY SMART AND I RESPECT THAT!" Hawkodile blurted out before dashing off.

"Umm...thank you?" Dr. Fox replied, puzzled.

Richard looked down at the kingdom from the castle balcony, the fear of an old foe being truly dangerous worrying him as much as it did his friends. All was strangely calm until Puppycorn ran up to him, not staying still for a single second.

"Hey Rick! Rick! Richard!" Puppycorn yelled, circling around the brick. "Yes, Puppycorn?" Richard gave in. "Why can't I fight Master Frown too?" Puppycorn asked, "You didn't tell me yet!"

"Hmm," Richard hesitantly wondered how to put it to innocent, young Puppycorn, "Well, Master Frown is coming back for us as a form of revenge after disappearing to take care of...Doom Lord business, and we have to stay safe or he'll horribly hurt us physically and/or emotionally. Do you understand?"

"I guess so," Puppycorn grumbled, "but can I at least help Hawkodile and Dr. Fox? Please please please?"

"No." Richard still wasn't moved.

"Awww come on!" Puppycorn angrily groaned. Not even begging worked, but he still tried if it meant getting in on some form of action. "Then I just watch, pleeeaase? I wanna see everything!"

(Art by @samthecookielord​)

“Fine,” Richard signed, “Just go back inside so Master Frown doesn’t see you.”

“Yay!” Puppycorn cheered, “I’m a spectator!”  He ran inside and and looking through the nearest window.

Hawkodile and Dr. Fox walked carefully through the streets, looking in every direction and hardly making a sound.

“WE KNOW YOU’RE OUT HERE, FROWN!” Hawkodile yelled as he pointed ahead, “COME OUT AND FIGHT!”  “YEAH!” Dr. Fox shouted, “This is what you’ll get for taking Unikitty away from us!”

There was a thud as Master Frown jumped down into the street before them, dirt kicking up into the air and slightly concealing his body before it scattered, except for the light of his eyes.

“Awww,” he chuckled, “you honestly still think you can beat me after everything I’ve done, let alone to you and your stupid princess?  How adorable.  But if you insist…”  He drew his “sword.”  “I came prepared.”

“Well so did we!” Dr. Fox tried intimidating him, taking out the Razor Revolver.  Hawkodile posed next to her, ready to charge forward and punch the villainous Doom Lord.  “Just the way I like it,” Master Frown grinned.

Dr. Fox was ready to dash in and begin the fight side by side with Hawkodile, but Hawkodile held her back and started the fight alone in an attempt to protect her.  Master Frown charged back, and the two almost crashed into each other upon impact.

(Art by @friffinx​, again)

Both fighters moved lightning fast, taking Hawkodile by surprise with how much better at fighting Master Frown became.  He would’ve wondered when or how Frown learned to fight like this, but he couldn’t even think fast enough.  All he could do was pay attention to his enemy’s movements and avoid getting stabbed, just missing the tip of the soft green beak every time.  Neither fighter was winning or losing; it was a seemingly endless game of dodging each other’s attacks.  But Master Frown took it as something working well in his favor and laughed.

“Your punches can’t stop me anymore, bird-brain!”  Master Frown bragged, immediately followed by Hawkodile punching him dozens of yards back.  “Heh,” Hawkodile smugly regained some confidence, “you sure about that?”

When Master Frown landed and started getting up, he found himself right at Dr. Fox’s feet, and the Razor Revolver was pointed right at him.  She pressed the trigger, but he moved aside before the blade could reach him.

The dodging game began again, with Master Frown working his way around every shot and swing, as Dr. Fox did the same, frightfully working her way around the green beak.  Even if it annoyed him how good she was too, Master Frown still saw his equally impressive fighting as a silver lining.

“Not sorry to break it to you,” Master Frown taunted, his beak sword clashing with one of the Razor Revolver’s, “your so-called ‘brilliant inventions’ are pretty much useless.  I mean who even puts a sword and a gun together, pick one or the other!” He cackled in her face (trying to hide his regret for not coming up with that idea first), further enraging Dr. Fox.

“Oh no,” she started, “you want to know what’s useless!?  Doing your best to work on scientific breakthroughs and having everything go wrong almost every time!  But do you see me trying kill my friends or enemies!?  NO!  I keep trying, because I know what I’m capable of, that I can improve and still use my skills to help my friends!”

Her stare grew far more menacing.  “But I’ll gladly show you how I can use my skills to destroy people like you.”

(Art by @x-master-brock-x​)

Her anger and force all came out as she pressed the Razor Revolver’s trigger and swung the unleashed sword.  But said anger turned to immense regret when she realized that the blade didn’t strike Master Frown.  The Doom Lord dodged her just in time for the sword to stab Hawkodile (who she didn’t see suddenly fly down to try and help) in the arm.  The bodyguard fell to his knees in pain.

“HAWKODILE!!!” Dr. Fox yelled, choking up fast and kneeling down at his side to help him up, “Hawkodile, I-I’m so sorry, I-“

Master Frown saw this as a perfect opportunity to strike, and went for the kill.  But even at her most vulnerable, Dr. Fox could still pull out a flamethrower and aim it right at him fast enough.  She fired it at him, and as he screamed and put out the flames that were burning him, she fled, wrapping her arms tighter around a dizzy, almost unconscious Hawkodile.  She tried her hardest not to look at him out of intense guilt, but she knew she had to if she wanted to guide him home safely.

“Hawkodile,” Dr. Fox instructed, “listen to me, we have to leave now!!”

“…I still have one good arm,” Hawkodile weakly said, lifting his uninjured arm like he was about to punch with it, “If we can-“

“NO WE CAN’T,” Dr. Fox yelled, “WE’RE NOT IN THE RIGHT CONDITION TO FIGHT ANYMORE, LET’S GO!!!”

“Ohohoh,” Master Frown shouted, “I didn’t say you get out alive!”  He finished putting out the flames (except for a very tiny one on his right horn) that distracted him from his targets.  He ran after them again, this time so fast that Dr. Fox feared he’d catch up to them.  Hawkodile wasn’t conscious enough to have much of an idea of what was happening but even he tried quickly limping along with the doctor, who came up with what she felt was her only truly bright idea the whole time.

“If I use it on myself it might not work,” Dr. Fox explained, “you’re a little too heavy for me to carry.”  “Huh?” Hawkodile faintly asked.  To him it sounded like maybe she said something that’d offend him, but he wasn’t sure.

“Just hold still,” Dr. Fox said softly.  She frantically pulled out her jetpack, strapped it onto Hawkodile, and turned it on, sending them flying back to the castle.

“Oh no you don’t!” Master Frown yelled, still close behind and trying desperately to slay his two opponents.  But he still couldn’t land a hit, and his would-be victims made their way back to the castle.  Master Frown knew he should’ve gone after them, but he was too ashamed of himself.  It was supposed to be such a simple task but he failed miserably and he couldn’t even stand himself anymore.  All he felt that he could do was storm off in a fit of rage.

Puppycorn didn’t understand why Richard didn’t want him to watch the fight after a while, and sitting in the foyer room with his caretaker for what he thought was no good reason felt like the most boring and unfair moment of his life.  He begged, barked, and even tried to distract Richard, but nothing worked.  Then the front doors opened, and both were stunned at the sight of Hawkodile with an open wound in his arm and holding onto a desperate Dr. Fox.

“PLEASE HELP US!” Dr. Fox pleaded.  Richard and Puppycorn ran to her and Hawkodile as fast as they could.

"Goodness, Hawkodile," Richard nearly shrieked, "what happened to your arm?" "Eh..it's a long story," Hawkodile weakly said as Dr. Fox let go of him to let Richard tend to his wound, "But maybe not."

Dr. Fox turned away from the scene, thinking it would save her at least a little from her guilty conscience until Puppycorn ran up to her.

"WHAT HAPPENED!?" the prince asked, "Is this why Rick told me to look away???" Dr. Fox tried to come up with a good answer that a puppy like him would understand, but then she was sweating and stammering; her normally quick-thinking mind at a loss for words until she couldn't stand listening to Hawkodile's painful moaning from behind her.

"CAN'T TALK, GOTTA GET TO THE LAB, BYE!" Dr. Fox yelled, running away. Puppycorn titled his head in confusion before turning back to Richard and Hawkodile.

"Owowowowow," Hawkodile winced as Richard bandaged his arm, "ok, I uh, no, I'll be fine...I'll be fine, I'm fine." He gave a nervous smile, trying to show confidence.

"Umm," Richard doubted, "no, you're not fine. Your arm is almost falling off for goodness sake!" "Yeah," Hawkodile said, "but Dr. Fox and I can-" He turned his head up, realizing that Dr. Fox was gone.

"Uh...Dr. Fox?"

"She just went down to the lab," Puppycorn said, "Maybe she's already working on something to help us!"

"I don't know," Richard said, "She looked like she was about to have a breakdown. I doubt she can come up with something in that mood that fast."

"But then who's gonna fix Hawkodile so he can fight Master Frown again?" Puppycorn asked.

"I can try," Richard sighed, "Hawkodile, hold still, and Puppycorn, get the first aid kit for me." "Ok!" Puppycorn obeyed, running upstairs.

"Ah, the poor little squirt." Hawkodile softly giggled. "Indeed," Richard agreed, "once he comes back we can't let him stay and watch."

"I don't know," Hawkodile wondered, "maybe he can help. Yeah he's just a kid, but-"

"No," Richard bluntly said, "we've already lost Unikitty and we can't risk losing anyone else!" "Yeah," Hawkodile understood, "but we're running out of options here. Master Frown and Brock are actually formidable opponents who know our every move now, what else can we do?"

"Just try our best, I suppose," Richard said, "At least for now. Which includes you getting the proper rest and time to heal that you need."

"Please," Hawkodile tried persuading Richard by weakly standing up and posing, "it'll take a lot more than this to stop these bad boys! And once Dr. Fox and I are good to go, Master Frown's going-OWW!!!" Punching his fists together went horribly wrong and he sat back down in pain.

"See?" Richard raised an eyebrow as his point was proven. "Yeah," Hawkodile quietly accepted defeat and sat still to heal.

Dr. Fox raced around her lab, grabbing whatever paper-filled folders and serums she could.  She was panting from all the hard, fast-paced work but took no time to rest.  The only time she stood still was when she typed on her computer’s keyboard.

(Art by @drfoxs-lab​, whose main blog I would’ve tagged if I could find it...)

“Ok ok,” she told herself, “keep it together, Dr. Fox.  It’s all gonna be great!….You’re the hero, you’re gonna save everyone, you’ve got this, you can do this, you can DO this!!…Just think, a captured friend is one thing, a broken arm is another, but both…is completely and totally IMPOSSIBLE!!!  WHAT AM I SAYING!?  THIS IS ALL MY FAULT!  I…I-I CAN’T DO THIS, I…”

Her confidence and sanity shattered as she broke down on the floor, regretting everything and losing all hope.

WOO-HOO, I finished another chapter!  :D

Thanks again SO SO much to my co-artists, whose blogs you can all find above.

Again, if you’re not a co-artist but like the art you saw and would like to be a co-artist, too, then just ask or DM me here or on Amino!  I’d be happy to let you join!

Until next time...

(Which should be soon, chapter 3 is the shortest one :P)

[flowerpowell]

You Drive Me Crazy (Colt x MC)

PART ONE

Hey all! This is my first Colt fanfic ever and I’ve been wanting to write something for him for ages! This is the first chapter of the mini series, which will get interesting later on because this chapter is super fillerish. Please note, it’s an AU and I’ve changed quite a few things! Please let me know if you want to be added or removed from the tag list!

All characters belong to Pixelberry, I dont own them.

! In this AU Ellie (MC) and Colt have been friends for a few years and they are older than in canon !

Rating: PG

Word count: ~1550

Tags: @agent-bossypants @brightpinkpeppercorn @akrenich @choicessa @confessionsofabrokegirl @lovehugsandcandy @choicesarehard @long-gone-girl @going-down-downtown @berruneko09

(I didnt tag the whole of my perma tag cause I know most of the people on it dont read RoD so dont hesitate to let me know if you dont want to be on the taglist or want to be added)

“How does your last teenage days feel?”

At the sound of Colt’s voice, Ellie jumped and turned quickly to face her friend, now standing in the doorway, smug smile on his face.

“You’ve scared me! I told you to knock!” She squealed throwing a pillow at him.

“I would if you finally learned to close the door, El,” he said looking around the room. “Preparing for college, I see?”

“Mhm,” she nodded, eyes focused on her giant to-do list.

“Yeah, what’s better to do on a Friday night, huh? Especially when your father is on a night shift. Packing sounds perfect,” he teased, peeking at the contents of Ellie’s suitcase.

She turned to him and narrowed her eyes. “I just don’t want to leave it for the last moment!”

“And where’s the fun in this?” Colt asked and Ellie rolled her eyes.

“How are we even friends?” She looked at him jumping on her bed, still in his dirty clothes and she fought the urge to tell him to get up and at least take off his shoes. It never worked though. Ever since she met Colt Kaneko over ten years ago she knew he was a complete opposite of her. The only thing they had in common was the situation with their fathers. 

Both Ellie and Colt couldn’t find a common language with their parents. Ellie’s father being a police officer was very protective of his daughter and rarely ever let her do anything she really wanted. Colt’s father, on the other hand, seemed not to care about his son at all. When still a young boy, Colt tried his best to get approval from his father but Teppei wasn’t exactly the kind of father who would pat his son on the back and say “good job, kiddo.” So Colt stopped trying. His life from then on was full of what he called “fun” and what Ellie called “stupidity.”

She was the perfect daughter who for her own father’s sake postponed going to college and stayed with him for a little bit longer when he didn’t feel his best. Her days consisted of studying, helping her father, meeting with the two friends she had, drawing and constant daydreaming.

His days were full of clubbing, different women he happily invited to his apartment, long drives on his beloved motorcycle and illegal races, but these were from time to time.

Ellie always teased him about his lifestyle and tried to act all “motherly” but Colt never listened to her, however he was glad to have at least one person who seemed to care about him.

Maybe this was what was drawing him to Ellie. She was so different yet she understood him like no other. And never judged him. She was his “safe haven” even though he could never admit this out loud.

“I’m gonna miss you when you’ll be in college,” he sighed playing with one of Ellie’s porcelain figures.

“You can always go back to college too. I’m sure they miss you after so many years of absence,” she smirked at him and he stuck out his tongue.

“It’s Friday night, El.”

“Hmm? Yes, I can see that,” she murmured, counting something and writing the numbers down.

“You should do something fun! I can take you--”

“Colt,” Ellie turned to him, “no offence but we have two different concepts of fun. I don’t like yours.”

“I just want you to live a little! You complain about feeling trapped in a cage but you don’t want to do anything outside your comfort zone!”

“It’s not that easy!”

“For example, you’ve always wanted a driver’s license? Tell me, what’s stopping you?”

“My father? You know what he thinks about it!”

“Ellie, you’ll be twenty in three days, why don’t you just stand up for yourself?”

“Well, I’m not you Colt!” she exclaimed and then added, whispering, “And I don’t want to lose my father.”

“You won’t--”

“Just drop it! Please, I have other things to think about right now,” she waved her hand and turned back to checking things off her to-do list. Colt was watching her with a forced disguise on his face. She was so stubborn... He had been trying to make her do more crazy things but he failed almost every single time. The only thing she ever agreed to was riding his motorcycle from time to time. And it was a huge success.

“You’re such a nun!” he finally spoke, teasing her as always.

“Says the American Don Juan!” Ellie teased back with a smile on her face. 

Finally, a smile!

“Wha-aat, me?!”

“You!” she chuckled, “You earned quite a reputation here. Especially after that situation with...what was her name? Alice? Alana? Amber?”

“Err...does it really matter?”

“I guess it doesn’t to you,” she sighed sadly and motioned her room. “I’m gonna spend the rest of the night preparing my stuff so if you don’t wanna help maybe you should go find a new girlfriend for the night.”

Colt stood up and hesitated a little before finally nodding. “Right, I guess I should go. See ya tomorrow, El!”

“Yeah...See you...”

~~~~

“Wow, I can’t wait to meet her! You’ll see, a few meetings with me and she’ll forget about being all nice and proper!”

“Oh no, no! Don’t break my friend, Mona! She might seem boring but she’s still my friend,” Colt laughed, sitting next to his new collegue during the lunch break.

Ever since his father hired Mona, he finally felt like he had someone to talk to. Someone he could vibe with.

“I think she just needs some stimulus. Maybe going to college without her father will help?” Mona suggested and Colt smiled.

“Probably...”

“Why do you even care about it so much? It’s her life!” she took a sip of her drink and twisted her face as the sour taste filled her mouth.

Colt sighed, “I just want her to enjoy life. I see how miserable she is, I’m tired of her constantly complaining about it.”

“You can’t change her into you, Colt. If that’s what she really wants, her time will come eventually. You can’t speed up those things.”

Colt only grunted in response and Mona waited a few moments to ask another, more important in her opinion question.

“Do you...have a crush on her?” she started, suspiciously studying her new friend’s face.

“No! We’ve been friends forever and I don’t see her this way. Besides, she’d never want a guy like me...Nope.”

“Mhm,” Mona narrowed her eyes as if not believing what Colt just said. But what else could be said? It was all true, Colt wasn’t Ellie’s type. She always dreamed about a prince charming, about having a long-term, stable relationship. And Colt had never been in one. And didn’t know how to be in one either. And most surely, he wasn’t a prince charming. Lost in his thoughts, he suddenly realized Mona was talking to him this whole time.

“Hm?”

“I asked: when do I get to meet her? Is she organizing a birthday party I can crash?” Mona repeated trying hide the annoyance in her voice.

“Ha! Ellie has been to a party once and never again. She said it wasn’t her scene or something. No, she doesn’t have any plans for her birthday... unless... unless...”

“Unless what?” Mona asked impatiently but Colt only smirked and jumped up, startling her.

“I’ll tell you later, gotta go now!”

And without paying attention to Mona’s yells, he drove to Ellie’s house. She opened the door still in her pajamas but with make up on.

“What are you doing here?” she asked confused, letting him in.

“I have a proposition for you. And I don’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”

“Okay...Spill it!”

“I’m taking you on a birthday trip. Well, two days trip to be exact. But I promise it’ll be fun! And we can cross out some things off your bucket list, yes, I know you have one,” he shook his head not letting her interrupt, “we can jump off the cliff at midnight and do all these fancy stuff you’ve always wanted so that you can go to college and actually have something interesting to tell.”

“Jerk,” Ellie shoved him playfully but he grabbed her hand before she could hit him again. “I think Dad won’t mind, he has a night shift anyway. But as for me...Two days with you seems like too much. And what will you do without your girlfriends? What will they do!” she teased him as he rolled her eyes, still holding her hand.

“They’ll survive. So what, do we have a deal?”

“I don’t know...”

“Come on, El! I promise you’ll have lots of fun!”

“Ugh, fine! But we’re staying in a hotel, not in a tent like last time!”

“Yes ma’am! Great! See you then!” Colt hopped on his motorcycle, grinning and mentally planning everything for Ellie’s birthday trip.

Get ready, Ellie. This will be the most unforgettable birthday you’ve ever had.

[quatschmachen]

Jasper pt 1

Finally a continuation of 2020. Decided to break this up because it was getting too long. Previous Masterlist

Étienne hadn’t even got the chance to pack his bags. When he had managed to get to the guest room the bed had been neatly made and a note in Edward’s most beautiful floral handwriting read ‘If you leave in the middle of the night I’ll personally kill you’.

This was after about fifty cigarettes and a long conversation with an unexpected source. Honestly he had lost count of how many, he just knew that the moment one wasn’t between his lips he had simply grabbed another in one long thoughtless action as if trying to consume some cure that simply wasn’t there. So when he had finally gotten up the guts to enter the guest room, indecision weighing heavy of whether he should follow the advice or run, the words of the conversation curling in opposite paths in his mind, the fresh air once twined into his hair fading, he simply stared at the note, the words skimming off his eyes like a rock on calm waters, until finally sinking in, rippling out, each letter plunking into place heavy into the wet darkness.

He had stumbled out of Calvin’s office feeling suffocated by a clogged throat and not wanting to deal with anything. Attempting to save face he had gone straight to the kitchen not wanting to look like a wounded animal fleeing to its hidey hole and grabbed a glass of water. Hanging over the edge of the sink gulping the water down desperately, trying to stop the emotions leaking out of him and the water splashing down the front of his romper uncomfortably wet against his too hot skin and when finally, when he no longer could drink anymore his belly so full of water he thought he would puke he had turned the tap off, furiously wiping at his betraying eyes which despite all the best efforts in the world had been revealing words he never wanted said, gulping in breaths in an attempt to quell the racing of his heart that he suddenly realized that he was not alone, that the entire time he had not been alone in the kitchen.

A prickling sensation on the back of his neck alerted him, as he slowly turned and realized that Mac was sitting at the table, looking rather awkward. Étienne suspected that Mac had heard Something of what had just occurred – enough that he felt his insides try to crawl up into his rib cage in absolute mortification. Not only was it bad enough Edward had yelled at him, it was bad that others knew about it. God, he was going to have to leave the country, get a new name and assume a new identity, came his panicked thought. The internal screaming increased as Mac abruptly stood up, and dug around in his pocket, producing a pack of cigarettes. He gave it a shake, and slid one out, finally looking directly at Étienne, offering it out silently asking if he needed a smoke. Deciding that he could run away after he fulfilled his need for nicotine, Étienne stepped forward, taking the cigarette.

“Can’t smoke in the house,” Mac abruptly said, and then he turned, heading to the back door. Scrambling to put his shoes on, Étienne followed him outside, where Caroline was busy with Calvin putting sealant onto the tent. “Going for a walk,” Mac announced, to which Caroline simply nodded. Patches, apparently knowing what the word ‘walk’ meant, had bounded over to them tongue out, eager to join them.

Even with the cigarette between his lips Étienne was tense, not sure what Mac would say, or if he would even mention anything. As they walked passing through the squeaky gate, footfalls light upon the hot sidewalk, the breeze bringing distant noises such as laughter and shouting, working to emphasize the silence heavy between the two men. Étienne wasn’t sure what Mac wanted, not sure how to interpret the calm expression, relaxed shoulders, silent expectation that a confidence might be made. How much did he trust this man even? What was he supposed to say? Hell he barely knew him, only knew enough to know he liked him – a lot. Mac gave that feeling that once he counted you as a friend he would be the guy appearing to pull you out of your burning house – and hell he’d run in and save the goddam dog too. A solid trustworthy person who knew what it meant to be the object of other people’s virulent opinions.   Étienne, lost in his indecision, nearly hurt himself when the cigarette burnt down to its stub. His soft swear caused Mac to finally look at him, and something in his concerned expression finally gave Étienne enough gumption to ask.

“So… what did you hear?”

Mac offered Étienne another cigarette, and then lit another for himself and taking a long drag, his eyes focused upon Patches as he slowly said, “’Nuff to knows stuff I shouldn’t.” He had taken them into a park, the path winding amongst trees, quiet in the heart of the city.

At the small choking sound Étienne made, Mac added hastily, “Ah shoot, if you wants I can pretend I heard nothing, my mind is empty, nothing is known.” He made a rather comedic gesture as if he had grabbed the information from his mind and tossed it into a garbage can.

“You – you would forget?” Étienne asked in surprise and gratitude. He had thought that he had blown everything up, instead here was Mac working to preserve their friendship. Hell he had barely known this man for three days, and he felt a rush of fierce loyalty to him.

There was something about how he calmly shrugged saying, “Hell, it’s not my place to figures out your relationships… well, I suppose if you plan on fuckins around with Chuck I will have to have a place. Geezus Etsy, he’s like a brother to me. You needs to spend some time to think carefully about your actions.”

“Thinking- all I have been doing is thinking! He is in a perfectly fine relationship with Calvin- what even is there to think about?” Étienne snapped in irritation, he bent down trying to hide his tears, trembling fingers curling around smooth wood and threw the stick trying to express his frustration as if he was  attempting to throw away all of his problems. Patches misinterpreted this as a game of catch, and with a great woof ran to fetch the stick. “I refuse to just blow up that relationship because of my feelings, as much as I hate to say it, Calvin is a good guy and he’s made Edward really happy – I – what the hell am I supposed to do here? Why is everyone acting as if I’m supposed to be doing something? Isn’t letting Edward be in a happy relationship with some other man good? Isn’t that the fucking honorable thing to do here?”

“I s’pose…” Mac hesitated as if trying to find words, “Reassuring you respect Brisy, hell he may be an idealistic idiot but he treats Ed well…” Mac suddenly stopped walking, the movement so abrupt Étienne bumped into him. Rubbing his arm, Étienne looked up as he heard Mac’s voice take on a more serious tone, “Etsy ya can’t just ups and runs. It doesn’t work trust me, I know. You and Edward at the base of everything are friends, you owe him at least a chance to talk when he’s less angry.”

“He can talk later, when we are kilometers apart,” Étienne sulked, scowling when Patches ran up to him stick in mouth expecting him to throw it again. Just like his problems, forever washing up on the rocky shores of his life, never truly gone. Taking the stick, he threw it with more vigour.

“Hell, y’knows Skype aint shit, Etsy. You gonna makes him spend $300 to fly on over to your sorry ass so you can goes into further hiding? Chuck’s able to find people who don’t wants to be found.”

“I’m not his responsibility anymore,” Étienne muttered, “Plus he doesn’t care enough to do that anymore.”

“Or maybe he thought you gots your shit together there, Etsy.” Mac sighed, pausing as if trying to decide whether he should add anything more, until finally he said, “Chuck’s been there for me during my worst moments, dragging me out of my own stupidity too many times to count and nursing me back to some form of humanity. You should’ve already figured out he doesn’t hates ya because he specifically said you’re still camping. If he wanted to cut you out he would have done so.”

Patches had once more appeared, and Étienne took the stick, buying time as he waved the stick around, the dog’s head excitedly swivelling around to follow it, waiting for him to throw it. Tail wagging a thousand wags a second, Étienne finally tossed the stick, and Patches shot after it.

“I guess,” he finally admitted, Mac’s words sinking in, he could feel the damn tears prickling at his eyes, “But-”

Putting a reassuring hand upon his shoulder Mac interrupted, “Etsy, we all fuck up. Runnin’ may seems like the easier path but it sure as hell is tirin’.” He offered Étienne another cigarette, and grateful not having to actually say any words, he took it.

The rest of their walk was in silence, as Étienne pondered what the hell Mac had done for Edward to ‘bring him back to humanity’, knowing that if he asked he would probably be blanked.

So as he entered the guest bedroom, his mouth the taste of cigarettes, his eyes fell onto the note. Was Mac right? Indecision held him, long enough that he found himself curled up on the bed, pillows propping him up, not wanting to interact with anyone, and pulling out his sketchbook to draw. Aimless drawings, the shapes shifting into things that could perhaps be something recognizable, the lines hard and sharp, moving into soft, before quickly having his hand smear across the ink obscuring whatever they might have meant. He hardly noticed the door opening, until it shut, causing him to drop the pen and look up at the intruder. Somewhere in between the knots, he knew he could have fled, it was probably wiser to have fled, but he felt trapped as he watched Edward somewhat uncertainly approach, tentatively perching on the edge of the bed, an intruder in his own house. The shadows falling through the curtains, long sentries between them across the bed spread.

“Hey…” a soft introduction, body language stiff, “I was worried that…”

“I’d run away on pain of death? I got your note Edward.” Perhaps his tone was a little too sharp, too rough, as he pulled his legs in close to his chest, the sketchbook tilting up against it.

“Right… actually… I had come in to get rid of that note, I realized after it was rather… childish…” a sigh, fingers plucking at the bed cover, looking anywhere but him, as the shadow fell across his face, making his expression hard to read as he quietly muttered in a defeated tone, “I know as much as I want you to stay I can’t force you to.”

Étienne was not sure what to say. What words could even portray his feelings, how awkward he currently felt? The idea of going camping tomorrow felt like a burden, some sort of no-man’s-land where all he wanted to do was bury his head in the dirt and become chicken food. The defeated tone tore at him, the raw underpinnings where Edward apparently could see no hope between them, and it made Étienne just want to reach out and do something, what he didn’t know, but something to say that it wasn’t all lost – whatever it was.

Instead he stared at his sketchbook, which he was forcibly reminded that Edward had bought him, along with the nice pens which he had been using. Suddenly he was overwhelmed with how generous Edward had been the entire time he had been here. Food, time, even volunteering to make him his own romper, Étienne felt his eyes prickle, the generosity snagging him unexpectedly, because it was all so selfless, where Edward did it without expecting anything back – other than friendship. He glanced over his sketchbook to Edward, who had turned his head and was staring at him intently his eyes still in shadow, and as their eyes met he felt his insides twist.

<Earlier today–> the words were coming out, words he did not mean to say, but apparently today was going to be one of those days where everything that should remain buried rose up like the undead, <did you mean it? When you said you loved me? I know it’s only friendship love but… it meant a lot to me. After… everything.>

<Yes.> Edward shifted his voice suddenly intense as he leant closer, <I meant every damn word.>

Edward was uncomfortably close, his arms on either side of Étienne effectively trapping him against the headboard, bodies close but not yet touching. Close enough so that Étienne could feel the body heat, close enough that if he shifted slightly he could touch him, close enough that he was sure Edward could hear his heart thudding wildly inside his chest, close enough that his eyes dropped down to Edward’s lips, as he nervously licked his own suddenly dry ones.

<You need to understand, Bouclés, I never stopped loving you, even after forcibly breaking our mess apart. I just couldn’t continue on as we were – whatever it was.> Edward reached up with his left hand, gently brushing it against Étienne’s cheek, and for a moment Étienne was sure Edward was thinking about kissing him. Instead, there was a sigh, and Edward pulled away, shifting so his leg hung off the bed, and casually he switched to English, “We need to get your bag packed for tomorrow, and I am assuming you didn’t bring any sweats, seeing as you have effectively stolen that pair of Calvin’s pants.”

Not waiting for a reply, Edward slipped off the bed and walked over to Étienne’s luggage, “It would be silly for you to bring your suitcase, I’m pretty sure we can just lend you a bag.” A pause, and then, he looked over his shoulder to Étienne, “It’ll be upstairs though. I can run up and grab it, and I guess grab a hoody or something?”

<Then what are we?> Edward’s words had been mere babble to Étienne as he had tried to mentally gather himself, <What are you trying to tell me Edward?>

“Other than you probably need a hoody because it gets chilly in the mountains? Hmmm, what are we? Friends who love each other? What else?” he shrugged, “Other than that, hell if I know. Isn’t friends good enough?” he gave a bitter laugh, “Isn’t that more convenient for you anyway?”

Somehow the manner in which Edward had said that rubbed Étienne the wrong way, as if he was implying something else entirely. Setting his sketchbook down, he asked, <What do you mean by that, Edward? Convenient?>

Edward was standing at the door, hand on the door jamb, as he said simply, “You don’t do relationships, do you? Simply friends mean you don’t need to worry about relationship stresses, which you don’t like.”

He wanted to respond, but Edward had already left the room. Spurred on by wanting to prove Edward wrong somehow, he sprang off the bed and followed him up the stairs, wanting to protest this damning assessment.

<Why are you always making assumptions about what I want?> he asked heatedly closely following Edward up the stairs, <You never let me speak or reply, you make all these damning assumptions->

<You? Talk? About feelings?> Edward sarcastically gasped as he clutched his chest in mid shock as he dramatically stopped upon the stairs, leaning against the railing, <What ghost has possessed you?>

<Listen here, you smartass-> Étienne hissed as he took one more step to growl right in Edward’s face <I’m doing my fucking best here and you pulling this bullshit is not making it any easier->

Edward rolled his eyes, <Yeah yeah, however I’m still fucking mad at you, so you will have to put up with my overdramatic sarcasm--->

<Do I really have to? As you said you can’t force me to stay here, I can just walk out of here and go the fuck back home->

<And do what, Bouclés?> Edward asked his tone suddenly serious, taking on a slight mock, <Get drunk? High? Ignore things as usual?>

Slamming his hand against the wall right next to Edward’s head Étienne burst out <Goddammit Edward, why are you being such an asshole?>

Slithering out of Étienne’s trap, Edward simply mocked as he quickly skipped up the rest of the stairs <Ohh hit a nerve, did I? Watcha gonna do? Bagel me to death?>

<You little asshole,> Étienne growled as he followed him up the stairs, watching in frustrated amusement as Edward simply pirouetted into the bedroom. <The bagel is in fact an effective weapon of murder!>

Opening the closet door and turning on the light, Edward simply replied “Uhnhuh.”

<It can be used to choke someone with – or if they’re frozen cause a head injury!> Étienne heatedly defended it.

Edward simply was going through the racks, “Hey whattabout this one?” he pulled out a dark red hoody, his eyes widening in shock, as he then quickly tried to stuff it back onto the rack again.

<Hey wait a moment!> Étienne grabbed it out of Edward’s hand and stared at it <This is actually MY hoody – I thought I lost it! See! There is even a little Habs logo right there!>

Flushing slightly, Edward muttered <You left it here, Calvin’s been wearing it.>

<Oh? Is this why it’s amongst your stuff? Right beside this Oilers hoody?>

<S-shutup. We got your hoody sorted. I figure you have the rest of the stuff which should be good for camping,> Edward had positioned himself awkwardly in front of his rack which stirred up Étienne’s suspicions.

In his sweetest tone of voice, Étienne asked, <Edward, what’s behind you?>

<We’re done here, you can exit the closet now->

<But maybe I need a shirt?> as he said this, Étienne leant forward and calmly tried to reach behind Edward who effectively blocked him.

“No you don’t, you have plenty of shirts, I’ll do the laundry right now- Et-!” he shifted working to stop Étienne from looking at the clothing behind him.

“Let me see!” Étienne cajoled, “What you are hiding-”

“Lordee are y’all making out in the closet?” Calvin’s voice cut in causing the two men to guiltily start and then put space between them as they looked over at the amused face of Calvin.

“N-no of course not!” Edward blurted out in a guilty tone which seemed to imply that was exactly what they were doing.

“Wouldn’t the bed be more comfortable?” Calvin innocently asked as he leant against the door frame. “I mean the closet is nice and all but isn’t that a little old?”

“Calvin I was just trying to find him some good camping clothes, look, he got a hoody.”

“That’s MY hoody!” Calvin complained as he noticed what Étienne was holding.

“Excuse me? This is clearly MY hoody!” Étienne defended as he pointed at the faded Habs logo.

“Was. I found it upstairs and appropriated it for myself because it’s warm and snuggly. Figure its fair trade since you pretty much stole my favourite sweatpants.”

“Stole? I am simply borrowing.”

“Uh huh,” came the disbelieving reply. “Glad you’re still coming camping with us at least, Etsy. Guess I didn’t have to make those phone calls…”

Étienne frowned, “Phone calls?”

In response Calvin blankly smiled, “By the way, are you alright with sharing a bed with us? I could only find the large inflatable mattress and such. The small one is broken beyond repair.”

“What do you mean by phone calls?” Étienne demanded. “To whom?”

“Jeezus you’re so concerned about phone calls I drop some bomb about having to share a bed with me and Ed and you’re not even concerned.”

Étienne shrugged indifferently, “What’s really going to happen other than being ‘warm and snuggly’?”

“Are you sure it can’t be fixed?” Edward interrupted as he edged closer to Calvin. This turned out to be a mistake as Étienne quickly pounced upon the revealed clothes, and with a triumphant sound pulled a bright blue tank top off the rack. Across it was scrawled ‘Crystal Queer’ with the images of crystals around it.

“You had this all along! My favourite tank top!” he shook it accusingly at Edward.

“It’s not my fault you left your shit here all the time!” Edward heatedly returned.

“I was subtly trying to move in-” Étienne protested, “I was spending a lot of time here in the early 2000’s, I thought we were getting serious enough to-” he stopped blushing in embarrassment as he realized what he just said. Focusing on the shirt, his brushed some invisible lint off of it.

“Early 2000’s, hey?” Calvin slowly interjected, his voice curious, “When I wasn’t talking to you, Ed?”

Edward was busy staring at Étienne with narrowed eyes as if he would really enjoy slowly murdering him, but instead replied, “Yeah. You ignoring me was pretty hard because even if you are an idiot, you are one of my best friends.”

“Awww Ed, I was only mad because I had the biggest crush on you forever but assumed it would never happen, had to deal with some shit.” Calvin brightly responded, “Anyways, Étienne what do you mean something serious?”

Étienne shifted under the pretence of making sure the shirt was hung correctly, he hid his face from them absolutely dying. “Nothing, it’s irrelevant now.”

“If it’s irrelevant that means you can talk about it, hey?” Calvin said in a rather smug sounding voice. “What have you got to lose?”

Taking in a heavy breath and wanting to simply punch Calvin in the head, Étienne glared at him, “What the hell is your problem?”

“Hmmmm, where do I start?” he paused as if contemplating the question, before turning to Edward, “So is your bag ready to go? Mine’s all packed up.”

“Mostly, just finishing with Étienne here, I was thinking he could simply use one of our duffel bags? Seemed silly to use his suitcase.”

“Maybe it’s better to use his suitcase, or at least hold it hostage,” Calvin said in a teasing tone, “Y’know in case he gets cold feet and can’t decide how he likes his eggs.”

“What about eggs?” Étienne frowned in confusion.

Edward gave a long-suffering sigh, “Calvin, he’s not gonna Julia Roberts himself out of this situation-”

“I’m in a situation?” Étienne asked his voice taking on a slightly hysterical note.

“I don’t know Edward, he usually runs away when things get too intense.”

“Please give him more credit,” Edward snapped, “Just because he isn’t some open book like you pride yourself to be doesn’t mean he always runs--- just usually.”

“Run from what? What are you-wait what do you mean by usually?”

Finally Edward looked at him, acknowledging his very existence, “Y’know. Remember that time we were at a cities conference back in... ugh what year, ninety-five? And you were complaining about how tired you were from walking everywhere, and how you just wanted to get back to the hotel room and pass out?”

“You don’t need to continue anymore, I remember it perfectly well,” Étienne cut in dreading the story Edward was bringing up.

“Please continue, I wanna hear this,” Calvin interjected.

Looking between them, a devious look came upon Edward’s face as he continued, much to Étienne’s annoyance, “Anyways how the streets are set up there is only one entrance into the hotel, and Lucas was just chilling there smoking, and Étienne sees him and instead of walking past him like a normal person, he spots this from a block away, turns around and informs me we suddenly need to go eat food. I didn’t get it, until he did it a second time after we had food, where we get close to the hotel and suddenly Étienne needs to go somewhere else, this time claiming he really wanted to buy a book. The third time I was like holy shit I want to just take a nap, and that’s when I realized Étienne simply did not want to walk past Lucas in case a conversation might start up.”

“I just wanted to eat and buy a book! I don’t know what bullshit you’re coming up with!” Étienne protested heatedly.

“So when I was all determined to actually get back to the hotel, I just forged ahead, with Étienne sulking,”

“I was not sulking-“

“Sulking, and then of course y’know Lucas says hello because he has Manners”

“I have manners!”

“I never said you didn’t, but I suppose guilty conscience-?”

“Hey!”

“-and Étienne is just sulking behind me, and gives Lucas a stiff nod in response. Of course I wanted to stay and chat but with old grumpy-butt there, I was all torn between cordiality and making sure he wasn’t going to sulk all night because I made him hang out too much in the presence of his former enemy-”

“Former? Please, it’s still ongoing.”

“Only on your side, Bouclés,” Edward sweetly said. “So yeah, sometimes, usually, you run.”

“I was merely avoiding an unpleasant situation,” Étienne sniffed, “Anyways, can I grab this bag you keep promising so I can get all packed for camping tomorrow?” He didn’t even wait as he pushed past Calvin, walking out a few feet and then expectantly looking at them.

“Only if you promise not to run,” Calvin teased.

In response Étienne rolled his eyes and sarcastically said, “Yeah I promise, dear.”  Which simply earned him a laugh from Calvin, and a snort from Edward, and for a brief moment Étienne felt optimistic.