#which i find is a much easier structure to watch on and off (like Guardian Torchwood Buffy etc)

[mejomonster]

I haven't seen the new episodes yet. But from what I can gather this show is wish fulfillment and I'm quite excited that from what I've heard so far the plot is going like. The Most ideal way i would have hoped for it to be written

[rigelmejo]

7/16/2021 - other stuff:

I started translating the simplified print version of Guardian that has additional scenes! I am not sharing it yet, but may in the future at some point. (Notes for future reference: taking a picture in good light with the page flat, depending on if needed upping contrast so its darker/lighter in photos, then opening in OCR in Pleco works pretty well at converting the text to digital so I can make notes and edit and look up words more easily. Also so far 1 page takes 1 hour to translate roughly so keep that in mind ToT).

I am yet again tempted to to a full on Listening Reading Method ‘test run.’ By that I mean: picking a novel, (step 1) reading in english, (step 2) reading in chinese with chinese audio (repeating as needed), (step 3) reading in english with chinese audio (repeating as needed), (step 4) listening to audio only. Yes I’m still debating if I’d do step 3, then step 2 - since I tend to flip which I do first depending on the day. Also debating if I ‘prep’ first by listening only (I could call it step 0). Also still debating if I’d do instead: step 0 listen only, step 1, step 2, step 3, ~step 2 again~, step 4 listen only. Basically I did tiny tests with The Little Prince, and I’ve done 20 chapters of Guardian so far (which did help) but Guardian is so long I end up varying how I do it each day into whatever way gets me TO do it and Guardian is so long it will be months until I know what ‘completing a book’ is like for the process. The original forum creator of L-R Method would do like 3-6 hour books or like 10 hour books. Guardian is... much longer. Also, if I pick a book both harder than The Little Prince (so there’s more vocab to learn) and easier than Guardian (so I can get to a natural listening stage faster) I wonder how much progress I’d make. Right now books I am considering for a ‘test method’ run are: Harry Potter 1 (simply because someone made parallel text with audiobook videos already so it is super convenient to do L-R Method, also the book has  2600 unique characters and 7700 unique words so I would likely reinforce my hanzi knowledge and learn maybe a couple hundred more, and likely increase my vocabulary by several hundred to a couple thousand depending on how much I focus, I’m fairly sure I can blow through it quickly the only limiting factor is like The Little Prince I am not sure if the reading level is low enough that I may not pick up significant amounts of new words compared to how many I pick up from Guardian - https://youtu.be/NLu0JW6VtGM). Sherlock Holmes - The Hound of Baskervilles (the book is 7.5 hours so not nearly as long as Guardian, I could probably L-R Method it in 2 weeks, the novel is written for adults and a mystery genre so genre-words I may find more useful to me while also probably having a bigger vocabulary than The Little Prince,  P74 巴斯克维尔的猎犬 01 audiobook - https://youtu.be/hDKfUjienKA, full playlist of the sherlock audiobooks - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1QFMgv0n_Y&list=PLVyDH2ns1F757P-m8MHckuIFqWapl6y-1, and bilinguis.com has a parallel text which I am checking if it matches the audiobook - http://bilinguis.com/book/baskerville/zh/en/c1/). Bonus, just one day I’d love to test it with Alice in Wonderland in French since bilinguis.com has an audiobook and parallel text - http://bilinguis.com/book/alice/fr/en/c3/. Or Le Francais Par Le Methode Nature, since that also now has audio and text and one day I’d like to finish reading it - https://youtu.be/0uS5WSeH8iM.

Fun fact: I am listening to P74 巴斯克维尔的猎犬 01 (by  知识改变命运 ) in the background right now and the first thing I hear is “qinai watson” my dear watson ok. ok sherlock i see you. ToT. Aside from that I just keep hearing random words I know. If you plan to listen to a chinese sherlock audiobook though - I do recommend this playlist. I’ve found a few sherlock audiobooks and for some the audio is very rough like it was recorded from the radio, whereas this one is fairly clear and the reader speaks very clearly, and has a rhythm to sentences (which for me personally helps me listen easier and parse out words). So if you know some words they are much easier to hear, and if you are looking at the parallel text I linked on bilinguis it is quite easy to follow along. 

I really want to get into the habit of some extensive reading with audiobooks (as in reading while listening) just because it speeds up my reading, and I pick up some words in reading while practicing listening. Its also somewhat doable, whereas just listening I may often get lost unless I know the material well. Last night I read chapter 1 of MoDu while playing the audiobook and following along - obviously I did not read as in depth as if I’d have done L-R Method and looked up all unknown words with pop-up english. But combined listening comprehension and reading comprehension I understood ENOUGH to follow the plot and keep reading, at a faster pace than if I only was extensively reading and at a much better comprehension than if I only listen. (My listening comprehension is a bit better if I’ve read the text beforehand, but that’s sort of artificial since i prepped by reading the text beforehand). Yes, I learn new hanzi better with slower extended reading where I have time to really slow down and look at the new hanzi a lot. But I’d like to aim for quantity of materials read for a while? I’d if simply reading more will help, but a lot of the general advice seems to be the more extensive reading you do where you can follow the main points the more you will improve. And hey, maybe that applies to simply ‘listening a lot more’ too?

A lot of articles I’ve found recently emphasize repeated listening, and I want to try to include that more in how I study. While I might not do it as intensively as some articles suggest, I can definitely continue to do it in Clozemaster and continue playing audiobooks of chapters I’ve read already (so I can follow the audio ok) in my downtime. A LOT of my chinese study lately has not been active, its been mostly just ‘playing audio in the background.’ So since I’m not studying actively much, I might as well try to get in more listening.

I checked out the cdrama Forward Forever recently and opinions: if you understand basic chinese JUST watch it in chinese because wow are the english subs a hot mess ToT. I tried watching with subs and there were so many clear ‘wrong’ portions I just had to turn them off, they were made from google translate though so I’m not super surprised (but Xin Xiao Shi Yi Lang has much more decent auto-generated subs so ToT). I’m not sure if I’ll watch more or not, but I can definitely tell it was adapted from a BL source material with the way the main two guys are immediately set up as characters and then meet. I also want to check out Secret of the Three Kingdoms but I’ve seen like 3 minutes and I already am pretty aware I’ll probably like the show so much that I’ll want to put the english subs on for clarity. Secret of the Three Kingdoms feels Very well made.

If I was gonna try to summarize what my study plan has been this month:  - Listen-Reading Method Guardian (its going fine), with some experiments on the structure of the activity - translate some of Guardian (not really study as I’m pretty familiar w the chapters so just rereading things, mainly its translating practice) - Doing a few random things in japanese: read Guardian in japanese, play japanese video games a little bit, watch japanese-teaching video game example vids a bit (basically more tiny bits of japanese I’d add up to idk under 6 hours? just me glancing at things) - Reading this japanese grammar guide (I’m 1/3 through) - https://sakubi.neocities.org/ - Listen to various chinese audiobooks, with and without text. - Read various chinese chapters, with and without audio. - Listen/Read a bit of French, in Gigafrench (i truly mean a bit like a couple hours), Dracula (just listening) - some Clozemaster japanese, and a tiny bit of Clozemaster chinese (mainly to pick up stuff in japanese, and practice shadowing in both) So - some random chinese stuff reading/listening/L-R Method, some japanese exposure/grammar guide/clozemaster, a tiny bit of French (mainly listening practice). 

[whisker-biscuit]

In the Name of Science: Chapter 1

Fandom: Sonic Movie (2020)

Rating: T for unethical experimentation, implied violence and gore, and implied torture

Summary: Tom and Maddie didn’t make it in time to rescue Sonic from Robotnik. Hopefully it’s not too late to save him now. Unfortunately, hope is hard to come by in the labs of the mad doctor himself.

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

Dr. Ivo Robotnik, M.D. Log 1 

Preliminary report: Subject is 3’3”, 14.1 lbs., male. Age and maturity unknown. Vaguely resembles four-toed hedgehog from outward appearance and obvious anatomy. Fur and quill are primarily cobalt blue, with chest and stomach fur light coral peach. Blood sample taken, analysis tbc. Note: internal anatomy to be examined at later date, due to blunt trauma and related injuries.

At 23:30 MST during transportation, subject’s heart ceased regular palpitations. Resuscitation was administered and subject was revived successfully. No other heart or organ irregularities occurred, and subject was transferred to personal laboratory at 1:56 MST for examination. About to conduct preliminary quill count and inspection at time of report.

Subject has yet to regain consciousness since initial containment.

End log

…….

Sonic comes to on a metal table, his face smashed against cold steel and his limbs stretched above and below him, cuffed together. He groans as the aches and pains from the fight with Eggman catches up all at once, and his body’s current position certainly isn’t helping. The hedgehog rubs his cheek against the metal, using the cold to try and ground himself so he can figure out how bad his situation is.

He doesn’t remember much beyond trying to escape at the top of the pyramid. There was heat at his back, and then everything hurt even more than it does now. So that must mean….

Something starts touching his quills. He stiffens.

“H-Hey, who’s there? What do you want?”

There’s no response, and whatever is messing with his quills moves down to their base, meeting fur and skin. Sonic gasps as the same freezing sensation from the table runs along his back. A weird high-pitched whirring fills the air as it goes along. Oh, it’s a robot doing that.

He struggles to turn his head to get a better look at this thing, but he can’t move more than a few inches. The robot continues to probe at his quills, seemingly oblivious to his response, and no matter how Sonic tries to twist and turn, nothing changes at all.

After what feels like an eternity, the robot pulls away and makes a sudden loud clicking sound. It startles the hedgehog into a jolt that he immediately regrets. His body protests, loudly.

“Quill count: 5933.”

“What?” He asks through gritted teeth, waiting for the pounding pain to go away.

The robot doesn’t reply, but then it starts poking at his fur again. Two fingers – are they fingers? Sonic hopes they’re fingers – find a longer quill and pinch at its base. He realizes what’s going to happen right before it does.

“Don’t-!”

It pulls. He sucks in a breath, closing his eyes as the quill is ripped out of his back. He’s no stranger to this sensation, but that doesn’t mean he’s okay with it happening. The robot finds another quill. Sonic flinches and rubs his cheek against the cold.

“Quill count: 5928,” the unfeeling thing announces to nothing once it’s done. It withdraws from the hedgehog who is currently trying to stay calm, holding the stolen quills and moving to some place Sonic still can’t see.

Tired, hurting, and now conflicted between angry and panicked, the teen decides to take a risk.

“Hey Eggman, I know you can hear me! Come out where I can see you! I know you’re scared of people who can kick your butt, but this is ridiculous!”

He yells it out with as much bravado as he can manage, and later he’ll say he was pretty proud of himself for keeping his voice steady. Then he listens, and waits.

For a long while he stays alone in that room, with only the robot doing whatever it’s doing to his quills. But eventually there’s the whoosh of an automatic door opening somewhere behind his left side. Sonic turns his head that way just in time for a long black coat to take up his entire view.

“Finally awake, I see.” The man says, and it’s hard to tell whether he’s pleased or annoyed by this fact. “You’ve been unconscious for nearly 8 hours.”

Sonic’s eyes trail up slowly, meeting the maniacally-gleeful face of his captor. He swallows, and it takes a few moments to find his voice again.

“D-Dang, that long? Must have been quite the beauty rest. How about you let me go so I can look myself in the mirror and tell you if it worked?”

“Just as chatty and full of hot air as your moronic human guardian. I should have expected that, which I did. Nothing ever gets past me, little alien.” 

The hedgehog falters. For a single second. “Oh yeah? Better get used to failure then, Eggman. I’ve gotten past you so many times already that I’ve lost count.”

Robotnik takes hold of his ear and twists. Sonic’s mouth clamps shut to keep the whine under his tongue, but he never takes his wide eyes off the scientist.

“Here’s how it’s going to go, hedgehog – which is what you most closely resemble in physical structure and biology, despite the incredibly irrational discrepancies.” 

He leans in to speak directly against the teen’s caught ear. 

“I’m going to do whatever I want to you, however I want, whenever I want, and the only words I want coming out of your mouth unless stated otherwise are ‘yes Doctor,’ ‘no Doctor,’ or ‘thank you Doctor.’ Do you understand?”

Sonic takes slow, shallowed breaths as he listens, and he steels himself before offering a nickname he’s only heard Donut Lord say twice ever.

“Sure thing, Dr. Douche.”

The hand on his ear pulls so hard that he thinks it’s going to come off. He chokes back a watery whimper when Robotnik forces his head up off the table.

“Pain receptors and nerve endings appear to be fully functional, although I can’t say the same for your auditory processing.”

“Ow, ow ow…” The teen’s hands clench into fists as his head is held back and kept there. He doesn’t dare close his eyes, watching Robotnik like he might rip his ear off entirely the moment he stops staring.

Finally, the man releases him, and Sonic’s head hits the table with a thunk. He winces at the painful contact to his chin. 

“Ow-uh, easy on the face! We can’t all look this good naturally, c’mon.”

The doctor stands up straight without acknowledging him. “Agent Stone.”

“Yes, Doctor?”

The hedgehog is startled by the assistant’s voice coming somewhere behind Robotnik; he had no idea the guy was even there.

“Set up my recording equipment pronto. Now that the subject is awake and responding in a…semi-intelligent manner, I do believe it’s time to get information firsthand.”

“Of course sir, right away.” Agent Stone’s voice is already fading as he leaves the room. The sound of equipment being shuffled starts up distantly.

Robotnik’s gloved hand returns to Sonic’s head and he flinches, but this time the touch is light and almost examining. He rubs his thumb and forefinger on either side of the teen’s ear, then trails down to run along the fur on top of his head. Sonic realizes with no small amount of disgust that he’s being petted, like what Tom does with Ozzie.

“Hey, quit it, I’m not a dog!” He tries to pull his head away to no avail.

“Those are the first scientifically correct words you’ve said thus far,” the scientist says quietly. “Although it’s such a low bar. Honestly, I thought that hick cop babysitter of yours was the least sapient lifeform on this planet until you opened your mouth for the first time.”

Sonic bristles. “Don’t talk about him like that. You don’t know anything.”

“Ah, I suppose you’re right. I shouldn’t pigeonhole you in the same category as that knuckle-dragger. You are so much more remarkable than that. A peak product of evolution. Well…physically, at least, but it isn’t so difficult to train animals.”

The hand hasn’t stopped petting him. Sonic feels a sick pit in his stomach, and it’s not just from the betraying urge to lean into the touch.

“If you think I’m going to roll over and do what you want, you’re wrong. I’ll get out of here somehow and then you’re going to regret it.”

“That’s the spirit I like to see! Makes the end result so much more satisfying when I’ve broken it.” Robotnik tilts his head to meet the teen’s anxious glare head-on. Then he half turns away to call out. “Stone! Are you finished yet, or do we need to set aside another eternity?”

“All set and ready to go, sir!” Comes the response from the other room. “The holding pen is prepped and secure as well!”

“Excellent, finally. It’s so hard to find decent human help these days.” 

He presses a few buttons on his left glove. A pair of floating egg-like robots appear and connect to Sonic’s restraints, releasing him from the table and lifting him up between them. The hedgehog tries futilely to kick out or make them drop him. Robotnik leads the way towards the other room, not giving his captive a second glance.

“Now the time for pointless chit-chat is over! Time for proper scientific observation!”

All Sonic can do is struggle as he’s carried away.

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

A/N: I thought Robotnik would be really hard to characterize, but I'm having an easier time with him than expected. Maybe it's cause Sonic is the one fighting me at every turn heh. Also, remember how in the movie Sonic supposedly stopped breathing and then got revived from his powers and friendship? Yeah, me too :)

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy!

Prologue

Chapter 2

[knamjooned]

Magicae Foresta (3)

pairing: (forest)dragon!namjoon x (unpracticed)witch!reader

genre: magic/supernatural au, shifter au, fluff, angst, smut, soulmate au

chapter words: 2,029

chapter warnings: indirect mention of death

chapter rating: G

STORY SUMMARY: The magical world your grandmother told you about had always been real to you. Once she passed away, you find yourself honoring her memory by searching for the one magical creature she could never find.

CHAPTER SUMMARY: The leaders of the seven Shifter clans have a meeting, you find the Moongrove wolfpack led by Seokjin and Tulok, and Namjoon experiences odd feelings.

THREE

Namjoon entered the clearing after traveling for over two hours in the air. He had offered Jimin a ride in his sack, but the shifter had quickly turned him down, opting to use the unicorn’s magical powers to get them to the meeting area. Along with Jimin, Jungkook and Seokjin were brought by Taehyung. Hoseok had flown here on his own. 

As soon as everyone had arrived, they shifted into human form, put on human clothes, and placed themselves around the small area. The seven leaders of the shifter clans looked at one another carefully. Yoongi sat on a tree branch, lounging lazily against the trunk, dark eyes watching as the others settled. Taehyung stood out among the trees with his blue hair and and a frilly blouse as he flicked his hands in the air and created a flower throne. Hoseok sat near him, and Taehyung happily made him another simple chair covered in flowers.

Jimin and Jungkook sat together surrounded colorful flora that didn’t grow in their woods, unused to be apart of the circle of leaders. Seokjin settled next to Namjoon, who had made simple chairs out of wood for them to sit on. When everyone was where they wanted to be in a circle, Yoongi gracefully made his way down the tree and completed the ring.

“It’s been a while,” Yoongi stated, sitting on the ground with crossed legs. “I heard the news of the Magic Mother’s journey to the Great One. Her guardianship of the woodlands has led all forest dwellers to thrive, to be happy.”

“I felt the magic threads dim for a long moment,” Taehyung murmured, unusually somber. He sighed and shook his head. “Miss Silvia was the purest of all.”

“Her successor has been found,” Seokjin stated.

“I’ve met her. Her name is ______, Miss Silvia’s granddaughter,” Hoseok interjected.

“A curious mind, a kind heart, and magical soul,” Jimin added.

“She has no experience with magic,” Jungkook recalled thoughtfully. He turned his gaze to Hoseok.

“No magic? How is she to be the guardian of the woodlands?” Yoongi asked, frowning. 

“Namjoon,” Hoseok answered. Every pair of eyes turned to the dragon, who had been sitting calmly until his name was mentioned. Namjoon sat up straight, brows furrowed in confusion.

“Me? What does the Magic Mother’s successor have to do with me?”

“Does she want to take his magic?” Jungkook asked worriedly. Taehyung snorted from his throne, causing all eyes to turn from Namjoon to him.

“Of course not. She wants him to teach her.”

“How do you know?”

“Namjoon, how do you think? I felt it,” Taehyung explained, shrugging. Everyone thought quietly over the information that had just been passed around for a long moment. 

“You were near her, what else did you feel?” Seokjin asked.

“Well, it was brief. She noticed me as soon as I stumbled upon her. I was in my natural form,” he added. “As soon as she realized there was a unicorn near, I left.”

“You’re avoiding the question, Tae,” Yoongi said in a low, almost threatening voice. As much as he considered these men to be his brothers, his mate was more important to him. If there was any darkness in this woman, then she could be dangerous to all.

“I can’t say much, because of the vision I had, along with the traits I gathered from her.” Taehyung gazed at each of the men as they stared at him, waiting. Hoseok began to tap his foot impatiently as Taehyung stretched the moment. Finally, Taehyung smirked. “Like I said, the Great One has decided I am not to share my visions. But, I will share the other information.”

Even the new members of this circle took Taehyung’s visions and commune with the Great one to heart. As a unicorn, most likely the last just like the forest dragon, he was to be respected. Unlike Namjoon, Taehyung enjoyed the attention it granted him much more than the dragon did.

“Tae, just tell us, don’t be over-dramatic,” Jimin murmured, a soft smile on his lips, holding back a laugh. Taehyung winked at him and grinned.

“Okay, okay. Appreciation, cleverness, duty, focus, honor, respect, trust… all good things. I did see a few things that could be considered negative.”

“That isn’t good,” Jungkook murmured to Jimin, who nodded and bit his lip.

“It could be worse,” Taehyung pointed out. “I saw regret, compulsion, pride….”

“What about magical abilities?” Namjoon interjected, which surprised the others. He wasn’t one to speak up unless it was important. Taehyung raised an eyebrow, a twinkle in his eyes. Namjoon narrowed his eyes at his friend, but didn’t ask anything more.

“Ah, what you think the granddaughter of the Magic Mother would have. Plant growth, water manipulation, animal communication, weather manipulation. Pretty much what Namjoon would know about.”

“And?” Namjoon asked softly.

“And there are things you will discover once you begin teaching her.” Taehyung turned his eyes from Namjoon, waving away the conversation. “Now, Yoongi, is there any news you and Sarah would like to share?”

“Sometimes I hate your abilities,” Yoongi mumbled, holding back a grin. “We are expecting. Our cubs should be arriving in a few days.”

Seokjin and Tulok are caring and intelligent alphas. Tulok is from another forest, and them finding each other was a miracle in itself. Maybe they will tell me the story of what brought them together, but it’s not my place to ask. I appreciate the Moongrove Pack allowing an old lady to attend the union celebration between two young members.

You saw the creatures slinking through the trees as you made your way over the worn path. Flashes of gray, black, and white appeared between the tree trunks. You stopped and stood still, listening to the sounds of the forest. The rustling of the leaves caught your ear, your eyes slowly moving toward the sound. A large gray wolf came confidently out of the shadows, head held high as they stared at you with a curious gaze. You turned slowly to fully face the wolf, wondering if this was part of the pack your grandmother had mentioned in her journal. 

“I’m _____. I am looking for the Moongrove Pack.”

The wolf stared for a moment longer, then nodded. It walked toward you, causing you to hold your breath, not sure what this meant. Walking past you, the wolf looked over their shoulder and gestured with their large head to follow them. They slid into the trees and you followed, breathing much easier knowing it seemed friendly enough.

The wolf moved slowly than they usually would, you assumed, because it kept looking over it’s shoulder and stopping for a moment for you to catch up. You wondered if it was bothered by stopping often, but nothing was hinted at as you continued to follow. You walked half an hour, climbing up and over fallen tree trunks and moss covered rocks. You noticed you were going uphill, the slope gradual. The wolf stopped for a moment as you jumped off a particularly large trunk that was lying on the barely there path, then stepped into a small clearing.

You followed and your mouth opened in awe. Unlike Hoseok’s clearing with just flowers and trees, this one contained a small group of tent-like structures surrounding a community fire. Ten adults milled about around the fire or moving around the area doing different things, along four wolves of varying sizes. Six children played in an open area behind the structures with four wolf cubs, kicking a soccer ball around.

While you were taking this all in, the wolf had disappeared. When you realized it, you suddenly felt out of place. This tiny community was going about your business, and you were just walking in here without anything to offer. You felt a strong presence coming near you, and you turned toward the nearest tent to see a tall, broad-shouldered man walking toward you. Another man was accompanying him, walking in step on his side.

“______. Welcome to the heart of the Moongrove Pack territory. I’m Seokjin.” He kept his eyes on your as he bowed his head politely. He gestured to the man at his side. “This is Tulok, my mate. He was the wolf who led you to us.”

“Ah,” you answered, bowing your own head toward them. Of course it was one of the alpha’s of the pack, no one else would lead you here so quickly. The wolves must trust you, which was an exciting thing, considering how long it took usually. “Thank you for allowing me to come. My grandmother wrote about you and your pack in her journals.”

“Miss Silvia was of pure heart, and I can feel her blood in you,” Tulok said quietly. Seokjin took his hand and nodded toward you. By that time, the members of the community had noticed and started to walk toward you, wolves and humans alike.

“Are all of you shifters?”

“Yes,” Seokjin answered with a smile. “Come, let us introduce you to our large family.”

As soon as he returned to his home, Namjoon knew someone had been investigating around his barrier. Frowning, he walked the perimeter, picking up on the scent of the intruder. He also felt the uncultivated power left in their wake. It took a moment to recognize it, as he hadn’t been in direct contact, but it was very similar to the Magic Mother. When the knowledge you had been here while he was gone hit him, Namjoon’s heart beat quickly. 

His mind filled with the need to find you, to talk to you, to just be near you. Overwhelmed, Namjoon gasped and stumbled to the porch, sitting on the step hard. He took deep breaths, confused by his reaction. He felt restless, the idea of bringing you here, keeping you here, overtaking any other thought.

“What’s happening?” he murmured to himself, closing his eyes as he focused his breathing. He purposefully cleared his mind, making himself concentrate on the sounds of the forest surrounding him. He heard the birds chirping, speaking to one another, and the leaves rustling as a deer wandered by unseen. After three full minutes of meditation, Namjoon seemed to get his emotions under control. “Taehyung would know,” he told himself. 

Immediately, he shed his clothes, put them in the ever present sack, and shifted into his huge dragon form. He lifted off and headed toward one of the densest areas, where creatures like Taehyung would likely be. When he arrived, Taehyung was in a small area in human form, sitting on a throne of flowers and sparkles at a table with a few fairies and a leprechaun, which Namjoon had only seen one other time. Taehyung and the other creatures didn’t flinch, sipping their tea casually as Namjoon appeared, shifted, and dressed quickly.

“I feel like I just saw you moments ago,” Taehyung teased, putting down the delicate teacup. He turned to his guests. “I enjoyed tea time with you, my friends, but it seems my magical abilities are needed. Another time?” The fairies and leprechaun agreed and disappeared quickly into the thick trees. Taehyung turned to Namjoon in his chair and crossed his legs at the knee, patiently waiting.

“Something happened to me, and I’m not sure what it is. I was hoping you’d have some kind of information.”

“Dizzy, overwhelmed, thoughts of _____?” Taehyung propped an elbow on the arm of the throne and placed his chin in his palm. He smirked. Namjoon frowned, then narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

“What do you know?” he asked slowly. He disliked not knowing what was happening to him. It had helped him survive this long without too much trouble, knowing what was happening and what could happen. Taehyung must have sensed the dragon’s patience quickly wearing thin, a rare but frightening thing, as he sat up and turned his smirk into seriousness.

“What you felt,” he stated slowly. He stopped and took a deep breath, looking away in hesitation for a moment. Taehyung turned his gaze back to Namjoon, who crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows. “What you felt was the link connecting to your mate.”

[star-captain]

Chapter 4- Flying Fish

The plot thickens this chapter. What are they smelling? Who’s footprints has Ecto found? When are these stories going to collide? 

Enjoy Chapter 4, and please share! I feed off love. 

Red belongs to @theguardiansofredland​

Ecto belongs to @ectochoir​

Red knows that not everyone is as fast as him underwater. Not everyone can be blessed with the fins and strength that a Kipling has. But every time he turns back, he sees Avon struggling with her wings and cloak through the water. He keeps having to stop, waiting for her to catch up. At least he doesn’t have to worry about her drowning- she seems to have the ability to perform magic spells, and cast one on the beach. Nothing as crazy as what he’s seen Selene do, but it makes both their lives easier. 

The two near the ocean monument that Red calls home. The deep ocean absorbs the rays, shafts of sunlight filtering through the water as the sun sets low in the sky. Prismarine glows against the water, the walls slowly shifting color- from blue to a light purple to teal, so benign that most wouldn’t notice. Guardians are beginning to return to the safety of the monument, where they can rest for the night after a long day of foraging. Fish are already beginning to light up, turning the water into a flowing dance of light. Red’s even starting to get his night colors. 

There’s a rush of water, tossling Red’s hair and tugging on his clothes. He turns, and sees that Avon has stopped, wings outstretched to produce drag and slow her. “Red, there’s guardians ahead.” 

Red looks at the guardians, then to the tense Avon. She can’t help but laugh. “Those are the least of your worries.” She states. “So long as you have no intention of hurting them, you’ll be fine. I’d be a little more concerned that you’re going to spook a pufferfish with your wings.” 

Avon curls her appendages closer to her body, and tries her best to swim after Red. Without disturbing any pufferfish or guardians. She can feel them watching her. Large red eyes, with spikes that protrude when they pause to stare. One suddenly gets a burst of energy, wiggling it’s disproportionate tail to swim between Red and Avon. The spikes retract, making the guardian more streamline. Avon grabs for her trident, but she only grabs empty water. 

The guardian places itself between Avon and Red, staring down the trespasser. “No, no. She’s not a foe.” Red announces. “Please, let her pass.” 

Avon feels as if the entire ocean is staring at her. She doesn’t belong down here. She’s not a fish. She belongs in the End. The rotund guardian eventually moves on, and Avon swims as fast as she can to catch up with Red. Stay close to her. 

The two reach the monument, entering through the grand hall. Sea lanterns hang from the pillars and arches, kelp and seagrass dancing in the light. The monument is about as confusing as a stronghold, and Red doesn’t bother to slow down so that Avon can figure out where she’s going. Red doesn’t stop until the two have arrived in her room. 

It’s a simple home, with chests and a bed, a table to sit at, and food tucked all over. The walls are decorated with bright colored coral, fans waving in the soft current. Red offers a cooked salmon to the visitor. “You lost a lot of blood crashing into the wreck. Salmon will help. Y’know, cause they’re the same color?” 

“I don’t think that’s how it works.” Avon mutters. Red sighs. This girl really can’t take a joke. She fills her own stomach with a fish meal, and pulls out a bag to pack. She can’t put everything in, not if she’s going to carry it on her own. But Red also doesn’t know how long it could be before she’s ever to sleep in her own bed again. In the end, most of her bag is packed with food, a bedroll, and some pickles to light up wherever they camp. As Red starts to close up the bag, Avon is suddenly hovering over her. “What about  a weapon?” 

Red jumps, spooked by the menacing woman. Her wings remind him of a bat’s, but darker and much scarier. She’s so quiet, even underwater Red hardly heard her move closer. “I don’t need a weapon. There’s nothing we’ll be fighting.” 

“How can you be so sure?” Avon questions, backing away to avoid being hit by the backpack as Red swings it onto his back. 

“Because mobs don’t attack unless provoked. So as long as we don’t provoke them, we should be fine.” Red smiles. He’s proud to be able to live in such harmony with the world. 

“But what if they think we’ve provoked them? You should be able to defend yourself, in case there’s a miscommunication.” Avon swims to the table, looking at the two chairs. “And we aren’t the only people out there. Someone could want to do you harm.” 

For a second, Red almost believes that Avon seems to care about his well being, that he’s safe. Even though her sharp purple eyes don’t show it, she seems to want to protect Red as much as she wants to protect whoever this Jeane is. 

“I’m not much of a fighter.” Red admits. She grabs a piece of paper and a quill, sitting down at the table to write her letter. “Let me just let Selene know where I’m off to.” 

“Selene?” Avon echos, but Red doesn’t bother to answer. She pens the note, explaining that Red was going to be traveling. That she didn’t know how long she’d be gone, or where exactly her journey would take her. Just that she was looking for the End. She knows that if Selene wanted to find them, she easily could. All she needs to know is what they’re doing, which this note will take care of. Red folds it, marking it for her girlfriend, and leaving it on the table held down by a nautilus shell. 

Red straightens, taking a deep breath of the cool water. “Alright. Let me just say goodbye to my family and then we can get on our way.” 

Avon frowns. She’s not sure she likes the idea of traveling at night, but she wants to start moving as soon as possible. The sooner they leave, the sooner she can get back to the End. She follows Red out of her room, glancing back at the cozy abode. How long will they be gone? How long will it be until Red, or even herself, will get to sleep in their own bed again? She feels bad, tearing Red away from such a secure life. Avon will never admit this aloud, but she needs Red’s help. 

Avon reels when they enter a giant room in the center of the monument, and find it’s filled with guardians. All staring at them. But Red doesn’t seem concerned in the slightest. She swims into the crowd of one-eyed fish, petting them on the head. A few guppies swim up to Red, playing with her hair and tugging on her fins. From a hole in the ceiling, a massive elder guardian sinks down. Pale, the color of gravel and water in the End, the Elder Guardian observes the gathering. Red swims up to her, and gives the mother guardian a hug.

 “I’m going to be gone, Mama Gummi. Maybe for a long time. But don’t worry, I’m sure the time will pass by in the blink of an eye!” Red laughs at her joke, before looking down at her hands. Twiddling her fingers together. She takes an unsteady breath, and whispers to them all. “Please...stay safe.” 

She turns back to Avon, who is silent at the mouth of the chamber. Red gives her a nod, and starts to swim away from her family. It’s time to go. 

The two exit the grand, blue halls of the monument into the dark sea. As they swim away, Red’s body begins to glow. Avon can’t help but stare in awe. Luminescent blue stripes along her body, and large blue disks rest on her shoulder and forearm like epaulettes and armguards. She’s glowing with the moonlight, alight with life. It grows a bit brighter when Avon hears a sniffle from Red. 

He’s crying. It’s impossible to see in the saltwater, but with the tears are still there. In the glow of Red’s body, Avon can see his face start to turn red as he holds down his emotions. Avon looks down at her hands, then begins to reach out. Her hand nearly settles on Red’s shoulder, to comfort the kipling, but at the last second she retracts the sentiments. Red may not want to be touched by Avon. It’s best that Avon keeps everyone at arm’s length away, as always. This mess should change nothing. 

Red collects himself by the time the two reach the surface, breathing in the air to calm down. He doesn’t want to be seen crying in front of Avon. Avon practically throws herself onto land, flicking her wings to free them of water and wringing out her cloak. Red is hardly even done getting water out of his boots before Avon stretches out her arm. In the moonlight, he sees the irregular cut of purple and grey at the end of her sleeve. With a scrape and a clang, the trident escapes its resting place in the sand and leaps into Avon’s hand. The trident is enchanted with loyalty. All this long, Avon could have called her weapon to her hand and struck down any one of Red’s family at any time. 

But she didn’t. She stayed true to her word. Red wrinkles her nose, a rotten scent filling it. “Ugh, what smells like rotten eggs?” 

Avon pauses, holding her trident as she sniffs the air. She narrows her eyes. It’s similar to the scent of gunpowder, like a creeper having just exploded. But the sulfur is stronger, more like it’s been burning than blown up. Avon has only smelled this once before. “Brimstone.” 

-----------

The sun is turning red over the desert. Sand is blown into the sky by heavy winds, gathering into storm clouds on the horizon. Friction between particles of sand strike into lightning, running down to the ground and turning sand into massive glass sculptures. Ecto is caught in the darkening sky, the wind pelting her face with sand. She pulls her hood low and mask high, till all is exposed is her eyes. She shouldn’t be out here, but she left a whole pile of cacti by the mystery structure, and she’s not letting so many precious succulents go to waste. 

The only problem is she’s forgotten where the swirly frame is. If it were a normal day, Ecto would just stack as high as she could to spot it. The material is so easy to see, she’d find her way in a second. But Ecto can hardly see past her own nose, much less far enough away to see it. If she stacked higher, the wind would knock her from the tower. She just has to walk, and try to figure out where it is by her troubled memory. 

The wind picks up speed as the sandstorm swallows Ecto, and she stumbles against the blustering wind. A gust of wind sends sand flying into Ecto’s face, and a horrible scent makes her nose furrow. She takes a knee, unable to fight the wind as it strengthens. And in the sand, she sees footsteps. Strange footsteps, the sand melted into tracks. 

Crawling on the ground, Ecto follows. The scent rises from the trail, and sometimes Ecto swears she can hear a voice in the distance. But when the trail goes cold, so do the noises. So does that rotten scent. Ecto keeps crawling, feeling more lost than ever.

Until she strikes her head against the smooth frame of the swirling monument. Ecto stands, relieved to see her pile of cacti has mostly been protected from the wind by the edifice. She looks back, trying to catch a glimpse of the trail she followed. The trail that led her back to her cacti. Ecto wraps her arms around herself. She feels like someone’s watching her. Someone who shouldn’t be in Ecto’s desert is lurking nearby. 

Ecto gathers the cacti up, and takes off into the sandstorm. From here, she can remember her way back home. Right now, she just wants out of the sandstorm, and away from the sensation of being watched.

[aweebwrites]

Allies Ch6

The journey up north was longer and colder than expected on both sides. The Knights could have taken a boat which would be much faster than horseback, but it ran the risk of them being ambushed on water which they could hardly defend themselves on. Kai couldn’t swim, Zane has yet to have a buoyancy update so he would sink like a rock and while Jay and Cole could swim, Jay didn’t have much stamina and Cole’s strength is negated in water. Speaking of, the Earth Knight was still sore about their loss over the Golden Scythe. Figuratively and literally.

“When I find out who’s the dirty rat selling secrets to Garmadon, I’m gonna wring them until they pop.” Cole grouched, rubbing the back of his head that still throbbed with pain before placing the chunk of ice wrapped in a piece of cloth Zane gave him back there.

“We’ll worry about that later. Right now, we’re leaving the Taiga area and entering a thin strip of Tundra before we reach the Arctic zone.” Zane told them as he looked ahead.

“Jee. It’s almost like I couldn’t tell.” Jay huffed, able to see his breath as he rubbed his shoulders.

“Isn’t that a good thing? It means we’re getting closer to our next destination.” Kai pointed out.

“Yes. But it is a good and bad thing.” Zane told them, gesturing to the vast plains ahead. “From here on out, we won’t have any cover against Garmadon’s Generals nor the harsh cold of being this far up north. Should there be a blizzard, we may end up in trouble. While our horses can handle the cold for some time, a blizzard would be pushing it.” He warned them.

“Well we can’t stop here. We have to keep going and pray for the best.” Kai says, as he pulled the hood of his snow coat up.

“Luckily…” A voice says and they all jolted, whipping around with powers charged ready to attack. “The best is here.” Nya says as she walked out of the Taiga forest and they deflated.

“Nya” Kai says with a smile, walking over to hug his sister. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to stay with Emperor Wu?” He asked her, confused.

“Yeah- until we figured out Garmadon knew about the plan with the weapons. I was sent to warn you but I saw you already realised that.” She told them as Zane slid off his jacket he didn’t need to give her once she rubbed her arms. “He sent Ultra Violet to stop me and if it hadn’t been for an out cold dragon in the ground, I don’t think I would have made it here untouched.” She admits and Kai looked horrified.

“It would be best to keep this conversation going while we travel.” Cole spoke up and they nodded, Nya slipping on the hood.

Up high in the trees some distance away, Emperor Garmadon’s team watched them as they went.

“It will be significantly harder to stay out of sight while tracking them across the Tundra and Arctic biomes ahead.” Cryptor says as they all hovered mid air on their Floating Cougars.

“Indeed. But we must follow them nonetheless.” Kozu huffed as Lloyd pondered the situation.

“We’ll be able to keep our distance.” He told all three Generals. “There’s snow collected on the ground and the sky is clear for now. We will use their footsteps in the snow to track them.” He told them and they nodded, lowering to the ground and allowing their cougars to walk along the path they took.

"That will be a task easier said than done. I'm cold blooded. I wasn't made for cold temperatures." Pythor says with narrowed eyes at the cold that had his tail curling under itself to keep the tip somewhat warm. "Had I known we would be coming to a place like this, I would have packed warmer." He huffed.

"You're the only one to fail at doing so." Cryptor huffed as Lloyd pulled a thick coat from the carry on satchel the cougar had attached to its saddle.

“Take it.” Lloyd says, tossing it at Pythor and they looked at him surprised. “I’m not fully cold blooded like you are. You’ll need it more than me. It has dark crystals inside so it should keep you warm.” He says as he focused his eye on the empty horizon.

“This isn’t a point to be considerate. Pythor can-”

“We’re still taking a risk being out in the open like this. The Knights are ahead of us still. They have a greater number than we do now. It would do us poorly for us to have our numbers lower now. If the Knights plan on ambushing us with Pythor down then we’d be in serious trouble and they might be able to take back the scythe.” Lloyd says, cutting Kozu off, glancing back at them. “So if I have to get a little cold to ensure our success, so be it.” He says focusing ahead again and the three Generals were quiet- that is, until Kozu cuffed Pythor over the head.

“Ow!- em...” The serpentine was quick to cut off his protests at both Kozu and Cryptor’s pointed glares. “Thank you for your kindness, my Prince.” He spoke with a bow, not surprised when Lloyd hadn’t acknowledged him any further.

He lowered his head so he could rub the back of it, grumbling under his breath about Stone Generals and the toughness of his hand.

_______

“Is that it?” Jay asked as they stopped at the edge of a large glacier covered in snow, looking at the large conical structure of ice down below.

“Yes. Let us make haste. No doubt Garmadon’s Generals are close by.” Zane says then turned his shaking horse away from the edge of the cliff so they could travel down the easier slope.

“Will this place have a dragon too?” Kai asked Zane, riding up next to him.

“Well, Emperor Wu did say each location would be protected by a guardian and since a dragon was at the last, I’d say yeah. Only, this dragon will no doubt freeze us if we aren’t careful.” Cole says, scanning the area for signs of their enemy.

“Alright. Then Kai and I will head for the Shurikens while you, Jay and Nya will keep an eye out.” Zane instructed.

“Sounds solid to me.” Jay says, his face barely visible from the white fur lining the inside of the hood of his jacket, the sight pulling a small smile out of Cole.

He really was an adorable little gremlin.

“You’ll need to set up somewhere for the horses though. Much more of this cold and they’ll give out on us.” Nya says from her space behind Kai.

“Right.” Zane nodded as they moved in.

“The Shurikens of Ice must be there… And so will its guardian dragon.” Lloyd murmured to himself as they watched them move towards the structure.

“More reason for us to keep our distance.” Cryptor says irritably, the weight of his mechanical body sinking him pretty deep into the snow, despite his position lying on his stomach.

The same was also true for Kozu, the larger General sunken so deep into the soft snow that only his eyes were visible. It made for good camouflage however. They were adorned in black, a very striking colour in an endless wasteland of white. A gust of wind blew by then and Lloyd shivered despite him trying not to. His fingers and toes had long gone numb with the cold and despite the mask over his nose and mouth he wore, he was sure both were tinging blue by now. But none of that mattered. They had a mission and-

“Head back with Pythor and the animals to keep warm. We’ll keep watch.” Kozu says with a tone of dismissal though his voice was slightly muffled by the snow.

“This isn’t for consideration either.” Cryptor says, cutting off any protest Lloyd was about to voice. “How do you expect us to succeed if you go around succumbing to hypothermia and frostbite? You need fingers to hold the Golden Weapons and toes for balance if you've forgotten.” He reminded and Lloyd frowned, not pleased with that but knowing they were right.

Without a word, he shuffled his way down the small hill of snow before he got to his feet, walking over to the base of a blue glacier where they had used dark fire to carefully melt a cave in, the Cougars and Pythor close around the purple and black flames inside. Pythor wisely didn’t comment when Lloyd sat closer to the fire than all of them. He knew when to keep his mouth shut sometimes after all. Lloyd stared at the dark, dancing flame that bore the colours of his father. He wonders how he fairs…

___

“Emperor Garmadon. Emperor Wu is fortifying the Golden Peaks in preparation for the arrival of the golden weapons. He has arranged for a very powerful elemental master to guard the area until they return.” Shade reported to Emperor Garmadon from his throne as an Umbrian servant handed him his prepared helmet that sustained significant damage from the first battle with his brother in decades.

He however, left with mere scratches. Wu was the one who walked away with the most damage. But he had always been a fast healer. He has no doubt recovered by now.

“Which brings me to even more news.” Shade spoke in a lighter tone and Garmadon narrowed his eyes as he slid his helmet on.

“Well? Spit it out.” Garmadon says impatiently and Shade smirked, meeting the Emperor’s glowing red eyes.

“Emperor Wu has a son.” He says and Garmadon huffed through his nose, darkness escaping them as he did.

“That I’ve found out on my own. What else?” He asked Shade, dismissing that piece of information.

“He’s a wielder of wind, a Prince kept secret from even the middle walls of his palace and he is the one to guard the Golden Peaks. He is very powerful. Perhaps even more so than the Knights of Fulgor themselves.” Shade was quick to continue and Garmadon frowned, leaning back into his throne, thinking tactically.

Any child of Wu’s would hold great power. It was good Wu hadn’t sent him after the weapons, otherwise there would be a chance that Lloyd and his Generals would fail. But if he was guarding the Golden Peak he needed access to once he had the Golden Weapons, then he might have some trouble. Forging the Golden Weapons into the Megaweapon will take time. He smirked however. He too had an advantage. His Stone Army was impervious to wind. They were too heavy to be moved by even the strongest of windstorms. Garmadon chuckled to himself, clasping the fingers of his upper arms under his chin while folding his lower ones. As long as his son brings him the Golden Weapons, his victory was certain. 

“He’s also obsessed with the title of Green Knight since Wu suspects it will be him.” Shade continued and Garmadon rose a brow at that.

A weakness. Excellent.

“Tell me Shade, what is his name?” Garmadon asked him.

“His name… Is Morro.”

______

“Father, I don’t understand. Why send Nya? Why not send for me instead?” Morro asked his father as they walked through the inner walls of the palace.

“Because you are needed elsewhere.” Wu told him, glancing at the frustrated expression his son wore, the green cape attached to his dark green stained armor billowing behind him.

“Elsewhere?” Morro asked, bewildered. “Where else is so important that I should go there instead of on the quest to find the Golden Weapons that will decide the tides of this war?” He asked Wu, unable to comprehend anyplace more important.

“The Golden Peaks.” Wu says quietly and Morro stood firmer at that. “Should the Knights bring back the weapons, we will need uninterrupted access to the peak to craft the most powerful weapon of all and end this war once and for all. Should they fail… We need for Garmadon to not have any access to it.” He told Morro, turning to his son.

“I know you are impatient, that you wish to fulfil the Destiny of the Green Knight, but you must understand Morro. We do not have the weapons to confirm nor deny that you are. You must brace yourself for either great triumph… Or great disappointment.” Wu told him, walking over to place a hand on his shoulder. “One thing is certain. We will find out the true identity of the Green Knight soon, whether we’re prepared or not.” He says and Morro sighed through his nose then nodded, both of them continuing on their path to the stables where the rest of the Elemental Masters had gathered.

“You will lead them to the Golden Peaks and protect it until the Knights and I arrive.” Wu says to Morro and he nodded, taking his jet black steed the palace servants brought to him.

He then mounted it, grasping the reins tightly.

“I don’t see my horse anywhere.” Skylor spoke up, looking around to see everyone else with their horses.

“That is because you aren’t going with the others.” Wu says then nodded at them, signaling them to take off.

“What? Why? I-”

“I need you for something more urgent.” Wu says instead, cutting her off and Skylor frowned. “I need your help flushing out a pest…” He began and she looked intrigued.

______________

(Next chapter gets... Deep isn't the right word. Just know that we're getting into the story of how Lloyd lost his eye and it is not pretty. No gore is involved but they sure as heck mistreat the poor kid. Thanks for reading!) _____________ Ch1 Ch2 Ch3 Ch4 Ch5

[perpetuallyfive]

some thoughts on Endgame

I always find it a lot easier to write very long rants about things I dislike than praise about things that I like. It just feels like the good things are obvious, you know? So compiling them in lists feels a little pointless.

It’s why I haven’t written anything about Endgame yet. I honestly thought Infinity War was pretty average at best, so the fact that I fucking loved practically every single minute of Endgame kind of caught me by surprise. It checked so many of my boxes that it’s almost hard to even articulate. 

So much of what was good about it honestly felt almost inevitable.

Mark me down as pretty confused then as I read some of the negative responses. Like... obviously, I’m just being dense. Nothing exists, especially on the internet, without some negative response. And I don’t even mean that in a pithy way. People are really different and what works for one person doesn’t work for everyone.

Which brings me back to my earlier point.

Just because I thought some of this stuff was obvious or amazing doesn’t mean everyone did, so here are a few observations, in an unordered list:

The way that time travel works in the movie is deliberately left a little vague, in my opinion, to allow wiggle room for the multiverse moving forward, especially as they expand into streaming services.

They do however clearly say that you cannot change your own past. Bruce says it. This means that Steve absolutely is not in our timeline, whatever the writers might say about it now. He’s not. In our timeline, he knew Peggy married someone else. That’s in his past. He cannot change his past in his own timeline. Therefor he cannot change who Peggy marries in his own timeline.

Seriously, he’s not in our timeline. They’re just wrong.

This means you have a million possibilities in fanfic for all the things Steve did that sent out ripples in his own new timeline or the many multiverses he could have created. It’s a fucking candy shop.

Try not to be too hard on the writers for having no idea what they’re talking about, I guess; it’s hard writing characters that are way smarter than you.

Am I less than charitable toward the writers because of their dumb takes on Natasha in defending why she’s not a part of the funeral at the end? Yes.

Just put a fucking second wreath there, god damn, would it have been so hard.

Framing Nebula’s storyline as a bad thing, which I’ve seen a few times now, is frankly insane to me. She isn’t, as the daily dot put it, killing herself. She missed her chance to save her sister five years ago and has regretted it every since. The second Gamora is at stake this time, she makes it clear that she would sacrifice anything (even someone who looked like her), to prevent losing her sister again. That’s great shit!

I am bummed we don’t get original Gamora back, but I’m also intrigued by the soft reset this does on her relationship with everyone in the Guardians. I wonder what their plans are with that in Vol 3. In many ways, her healing process away from Thanos was sidelined in the first two films and this allows the possibility of reframing that as more central to the focus in the third. Fingers crossed.

More Gamora and Nebula in general but especially in Guardians 3 please; I might threaten to retroactively like this movie less if this is the last we get of this much attention on their relationship, please and thank you.

The problem with the MCU crossover movies is they have to exist as two things at once. They have to be a movie that works as its own thing with good timing, pacing, structure, and an end that feels conclusive. They also have to pay off minor characters that mainstream audiences might not care about, as part of larger world building and the stories shared across an entire universe. Endgame, in my opinion, did a much better job of it than Infinity War or Ultron. (it’s hard to compare it with Avengers, when the scale was much more intimate.) 

No but really, I don’t think a lot of us in fandom have an appreciation for how many people don’t know any of this shit we take for granted. A shocking number of the people I have spoken to IRL who are entirely apart from fandom didn’t even know what “on your left” was a reference to and were actually a little confused by that moment. 

Just think about that and understand the levels this movie has to operate on at all times. It’s almost enough to make me feel bad for the writers, except they still said dumb shit about Nat, so I’m good.

I did actually love all the more subtle callbacks, like Natasha’s necklace and T’Challa knowing Clint’s name, but the direct quotes were pretty great too, especially Steve’s reaction to “I could do this all day.” Super charming.

Another awkward thing about the crossovers is they have to try to level the playing field slightly and there are some Avengers who are just way more powerful than others. Carol was disappointingly absent, but she’s also insanely OP. It’s why Thor got depressed and it’s why the Russos now say that Hulk will have limited use of one arm. They nerfed some of the classic Avengers, but kept Carol full powered just off in space. That’s preferable, so long as she gets more screen time later and jesus please fix the wig. Or just do the actual haircut now that it doesn’t have to be a secret.

Please dear god the hair is great in concept but seriously if there’s anything about the straight agenda ruining Endgame it’s how borderline soccer mom they managed to make that hair look.

Natasha deserved better and I think we can all agree on that, but here’s hoping that her prequel is deliberately designed to echo the destination we know she’s headed toward and to give her a better resolution more in line with what she deserved. I want to believe that they didn’t give her a full ending entirely because they knew she still had a movie coming up and didn’t want to create that sense of finality that might keep audiences from seeing it. Here’s hoping they can make it work. 

Like specifically with very different writers, please. Hopefully a woman. You’ve maybe heard of them before, one of them wrote Guardians, the movie that nobody thought could work and fucking made it work. Yeah.

Tony and Steve were always headed in opposing directions at the end of their arc. This has been covered. Tony went from living selfishly to living selflessly. He went from a playboy bachelor, to a husband, to a father. His one priority when he decided he had to save the world wasn’t even himself, it was specifically keeping his daughter in existence. He went from a selfish dick with daddy issues to someone whose only priority was being a dad.

it was perfect. Like people can say otherwise... but they’re wrong.

 I’m an expert on this, clearly. Tony’s death was perfect. 

THEY FINALLY GAVE ME RESCUE. I loved everything about it, from Tony planning it carefully for a long time -- like obviously I think it’s because he was customizing the design to be more in line with Pepper’s wants and values, like it is in the comics -- to the fact that it actually does look more defensively focused but still super capable in battle. I want to watch this movie a billion times, honestly, but this scene in particular. I need to know everything about what her suit can do.

Steve was always going to end up settling down. We don’t actually know what he did in his own timeline -- again, IT’S NOT OURS -- so there’s a chance he was still a bit of a troublemaker, but honestly the five years seemed to take a lot out of him. He doesn’t always need a war, and that actually is forward momentum and growth. I get that some people are against the idea and think that getting to be with Peggy was somehow a step back, but I’m not sure I buy that.

Tony taking out the arc reaction at the end of IM3 wasn’t actually about him erasing his trauma or leaving it behind, and Steve getting to be with Peggy doesn’t erase his growth. It was part of it.

Theoretically Sharon was always an option, except the audience (and fandom) response to her was pretty terrible, so actually she wasn’t.

And not to just keep harping on points made in an article that I think is frankly pretty terrible, but Steve going back to the past instead of settling in the present wasn’t about compulsory heterosexuality so much as it was about a franchise that is going to keep making movies needing to keep the next decade of films in mind. 

If Steve is still around in the now, that will always linger as a nagging question. The same way that people can’t shut up about where Carol was for the last decade, Steve hanging around in retirement refusing to help would hang over the next phases of movies like a cloud. Putting him in the past lets him live (which he deserves) and clears the slate.

Let Steve rest but, more than that, dear god won’t you please let Chris Evans rest too.

This goes back to how these movies, especially the crossovers, have to work on almost too many levels and it’s frankly shocking that they manage to do it and still have moments of sincere humanity and sweetness. 

Like I’m not going to try to oversell it, but seriously fucking think about the fact that one of the most successful blockbuster movies of all time actually has quiet moments where people talk about trauma, loss, parental abuse or neglect, failure, and depression. 

Hey remember when the movie gave us acknowledgement of Rhodey and Nebula’s disabilities? In the possibly going to be most successful movie of all time, they had characters with disabilities say how they’re different now but it’s okay, they work with what they got, and they bonded over that and it was so fucking shocking for me and BEAUTIFUL. Just a reminder for us all that THAT happened in the movie that may actually pass Avatar to become the MOST SUCCESSFUL FILM OF ALL TIME.

Just allowing another moment to let that sink in while I try to wrap this up (for now).

ps I can’t believe this movie made me have nice thoughts on Ultron, which I fucking despise with most of my being. 

Actually I might have to take back every nice thing I said, just because of the Ultron thing. How dare you, film.

But still lol at the fact that even talking about Ultron for a few seconds was enough to make Tony Stark pass the fuck out. Hard same, Tony. 

LOOK OBVIOUSLY I LOVED MORGAN STARK. I AM EXCITED ABOUT MORGAN STARK. SHE IS A PRECIOUS PERFECT ANGEL AND I LOVE HER.

SHIT.

So this is a totally incomplete list but here you go. Some of my thoughts on Endgame.

[marvelmando]

tempest [p.parker x o.c.] - four

notes: hi, i just wanted to post tonight, in honor of far from home being released online :)

contains: some swearing

pairing: peter parker + fem! o.c.

word count: 3.6k

previous chapter next chapter tempest masterlist

MARIN'S FIRST DAY OF HIGH SCHOOL WAS REMARKABLY UNEVENTFUL. Thanks to the influences of Tony Stark, Marin's schedule was created to be identical to Peter's, which made discussing the events of the previous night much easier.

Their last class of the day—woodshop—seemed fun in retrospect, but the teacher was grumpy and inattentive, only stopping his crosswords to holler: "keep your fingers clear of the blades!" when Peter knocked the Chitauri energy core from the casing with an echoing clang.

"I don't really think that hitting an alien weapon with a regular-ass hammer is such a good idea, Peter." Marin flinched as the energy core toppled across the surface of the bench. "We don't even know what damage it's capable of causing."

"Well, that's why we need to find out exactly what it is, and who the hell is making them." He reasoned, poking at the glowing device.

"We can go to the labs after class and run some tests," Ned offered, and Peter nodded, joining him in an elaborate handshake in response, not even looking up from the weapon's casing.

Marin pinched the bridge of her nose. "Nerds."

+++

While Peter and Ned went off to run tests on the energy core, Marin found Michelle, Flash, and Liz studying in the library.

They were talking amongst themselves as Marin approached the circular table. Liz was the first to notice Marin standing there. "Oh, hey! Marin, right? Peter's friend from the party?" She chirped, and Flash narrowed his eyes at her curiously. "I didn't know you go to Midtown?"

"I, uh, just got transferred today." Marin responded, shifting on her feet awkwardly. "I was wondering if I could join the Academic Decathlon? If you have a spot—Peter was telling me about it when I said I was coming here, and that he couldn't make it to Nationals because of the internship."

"Aren't you in that, too?" Michelle crossed her arms, leaning back casually in her seat.

"Uh, well, yeah, but I work in a... different section than Peter... much less demanding, I guess." Marin's throat constricted around the lie.

The three studied her for a moment, and Liz was the first one to speak up. Marin wondered if she was first for everything. "Have a seat, we'll quiz you a bit."

Marin nodded and took the empty seat across from them. Liz pulled out a thick stack of flashcards, shuffling through them. "What's your best subject?"

"Um, science, I guess? Like, physics or whatever." Marin supplied, causing Liz to nod enthusiastically and Michelle to smirk at Flash.

"That's perfect," Liz smiled. "Peter was our best physics guy, and now that he's gone..."

"We're stuck with Flash. And Flash is shit as physics." Michelle's smirk was malicious but joking.

Flash frowned. "Hey, I resent that."

"Doesn't make it untrue."

Liz cleared her throat, interrupting the bickering. Her eyes locked onto Marin's. "What is the net upward force on an object by a fluid that the object is submerged in?"

"Buoyant force." Marin answered easily, thankful that there were fluid dynamics questions included. Liz nodded and switched cards.

"What theory states that two objects that are in thermal equilibrium with a third object are also in thermal equilibrium with each other?"

"Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics."

"Who isolated the DNA crystal to produce the first image of genetic material?"

Flash answered before Marin could: "Ooh! Watson and Crick." Liz leveled him with a glare and was about to scold him when Marin did it for her.

"Actually, it was Rosalind Franklin; she died of ovarian cancer before she could receive the Nobel Prize that Watson, Crick, and Wilson took four years later for their work, which was in fact heavily reliant on her research." Marin corrected with a small smirk, watching as Flash deflated in his seat. "Nobel Prizes are never given out posthumously, but even if she was alive, her work probably would have still been overlooked, because it was Watson and Crick who named the structure of DNA—and obviously because she was a female scientist in the 1950s."

Marin noticed the subtle but proud smile on Michelle's face, and a wave of triumph flushed through her system. Liz also looked impressed, while Flash looked a bit put-out.

When they didn't respond, still looking at her when curiosity, Marin rushed to explain, "My previous guardians were very enthusiastic about education. I just excelled in physics. And chemistry. And biology."

A smile erupted on Liz's face. "Welcome to the team, Marin! I'll obviously have to discuss this with Mr. Harrington, but I'm sure he'll be fine with it. We'll also have to see if there's an extra jacket for you for Nationals—which is on the fourteenth, but we're leaving for D.C. tomorrow, on the thirteenth." Liz leaned to reach into her backpack and pulled out a packet of paper. "Here's the paperwork, you just have to get it signed by a parent or guardian. It tells you the times we're leaving and includes an itinerary for the two days we'll be in D.C. It's all a little bit last notice, but you seem really intelligent and determined, and there will be plenty of time to practice on the bus ride there."

Marin nodded as she took the packet, wondering who the hell she'd get the signature from. Maybe she'd forge it.

"We look forward to having you on the team, Marin!" Liz concluded, and Michelle tilted her head once in agreement, and Flash just muttered something under his breath and crossed his arms.

Marin gave them a genuine smile in return. "And I look forward to being there."

+++

"You what?" Marin urged at Peter and Ned.

"Yeah! So, apparently, the suit also comes with these cute little tracker bugs—"

"Arachnids," Peter corrected Ned vehemently.

"—And we put one on one of the bad guys, and we're just waiting to see where they're going!"

Marin paced Peter's room. "Okay, okay," she muttered to herself. "And how are we supposed to figure where they are?"

Ned pulled out Peter's web shooter, and pressed a button. A small hologram appeared with a chirp, the dome shape depicting a translucent image of the cutout of a city block.

"They're in Brooklyn right now," Peter informed. "But they're still moving, so we're just waiting to see where they stop."

So, they waited. As conversation dwindled between the three, Marin began tinkering with some of the devices sitting around Peter's room while he and Ned snacked on Doritos. Later, as the sun began to set, Peter showed her how he refilled the vials with his stash of web fluid. He even let her try shooting a couple of webs, and she only knocked down a couple of books and a lamp. At one point, Ned was able to convince Peter to let him wear the Spider-Man mask, as he and Marin discussed her powers. She managed to avoid any questions about how she got her powers, and thankfully, Ned was tactful enough to not push the subject (even if Peter did stare suspiciously in Marin's direction as she clearly evaded the truth).

It was pitch-black outside by the time the wrist device let out a series of shrill beeps. Ned sat up from where he reclined on the lower bunk, still wearing the mask. Marin set down the other web shooter she'd been fooling around with, coming to sit next to Ned. "They stopped," Ned announced, and Peter flopped his head down from where he sat casually on the ceiling.

Marin eyed the hologram, unfamiliar with the layout of the city displayed. "Huh, Maryland." Peter harrumphed.

Marin creased her eyebrows. "What's in Maryland?"

Peter chuckled sarcastically. "I don't know. Evil lair?"

"They have a lair?" Ned tilted his head.

"Dude. A gang with alien guns run by a guy with wings? Yeah, they have a lair." Peter said as if it were the most obvious thing.

Ned, of course, nodded along enthusiastically. "Badass," he surmised. "But... how are you gonna get there if it's like, three-hundred miles away?"

Simultaneously, they turned their heads to the Academic Decathlon poster hanging on the desk's shelving unit. "It's not too far from D.C." Peter said.

"But what about Marin?" Ned asked, and Marin perked, pleasantly surprised that he suggested that she was now a part of their little team.

"About that..." the two boys turned to face her. "I've gotta tell you guys something..."

+++

"Hey, it's Peter!" One kid announced as they ran up to the bus, where the Decathlon team was waiting, all in ugly, mustard-yellow blazers with the school insignia stitched on the breast pocket. "And the new girl!"

"Guys," Peter greeted, jogging up to stop in front of a surprised Liz. "Yeah, I was hoping maybe I could rejoin the team." His voice was airy and high-pitched, something Marin had come to recognize as a sign of him growing anxious.

"No—no way," Flash contested, elbowing his way to the front of the crowd. "We already had to put Marin on the team," Marin gave him a dirty look. "And besides, you can't just quit on us, stroll up, and be welcomed back by everyone."

At that moment, Mr. Harrington descended the steps of the bus, and said: "Hey, welcome back, Peter! And welcome to the team, Marin, I've heard great things about you." Flash scowled at the teacher. "Flash, you're back to first alternate."

"What?!"

"He's taking your place," the kid from earlier mocked him, and everyone snickered.

"Excuse me," Michelle interrupted, and Marin noticed she wasn't wearing her uniform. "Can we go already? 'Cause I was hoping to get in some light protesting in front of one of the embassies before dinner, so..."

"Protesting is patriotic," Mr. Harrington agreed. "Let's get on the bus."

Flash had shrugged off his jacket, and chucked it at Peter, who caught it with a slight wince.

On the bus, Marin asked to sit with Michelle, who was engrossed in her novel, Invitation to a Beheading by Vladimir Nobokov. Knowing Michelle's reclusive nature, Marin was slightly surprised to find that Michelle had no objections (and if she had, Marin assumed she would've said as much) to sharing a bench. True to her word, Liz took a standing position at the front of the bus and pulled out her set of flashcards.

Marin spoke up when she could, though she didn't have a bell like the others did. Even without it, she would mutter the answers under her breath as the other team members answered at the same time.

As time passed, Marin felt more and more confident about her position on the team. Even Peter started to answer some questions, and Liz shared her delight at his return to the team. Marin also noticed the way his eyes gleamed with reverence whenever Liz addressed him, his thin lips curling into a fond smile.

In the middle of a question, Peter's phone began to buzz. He jumped to look at it, before saying to Liz, "Can I take this real quick? I'll only be a sec."

Liz acquiesced, and Peter rose from his seat, moving down the aisle to the back of the bus where Ned was sitting. Marin followed him with her eyes, and was about to get up when Michelle asked, "What's up with him?"

Marin looked back at her and chose to instead settle back in her seat as Peter spoke in hushed tones with Ned and whoever was on the other line. Marin shrugged minimally. "I don't know." She lied and knew that Michelle didn't believe her. But Michelle said nothing, only raising one eyebrow. "Internship, probably."

"Why didn't you get a call, then?"

Marin swallowed. Michelle was very inquisitive, and if Marin wasn't hiding anything, she probably would have admired that about her. "I don't have a phone."

Michelle made a humming noise but returned to her book. Marin shook off the jitters that swarmed her senses, and grabbed her water bottle from her bag, taking several large gulps. Marin wanted to get the hell off of this bus.

+++

"Alright Marin, you'll be sharing a room with Michelle." Liz informed her as they approached the hotel entrance. The building's interior was decorated heavily with Academic Decathlon advertisements, and the floor was bustling with high school students dressed in various colors of uniforms. Informational booths littered the lobby, and the Midtown team struggled to pass through the crowd. "Everyone, stay together!" Liz shouted above the noise. They stopped at a sign-in table.

Liz handed her a matching yellow jacket with a smile as Mr. Harrington signed the school in. "It's probably going to be too big on you, but it was the last spare one left."

"Thanks," Marin said sheepishly, and tugged the jacket on. It was about two sizes too large, the sleeves hanging far past her hands and the bottom reaching mid-thigh. But it was something. Marin had a fleeting sense of déjà-vu: a memory—at least two years old—from the first time she put on her X-Men jacket, and for the first time, feeling like she belonged somewhere.

"Hey, you brought your laptop, right?" Marin heard Peter ask Ned from the back of the group. She pushed her way towards them.

Noticing her approaching, Peter began to look nervous. "Hey, uh, we're just going to go back to our room to... prepare. Practice some more questions, you know?"

Marin narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him. "Oh-kay..." Peter nodded with a stiff smile, and hurried off with Ned.

As she watched them leave, she wondered if his sudden covertness had to do with tracking those dealers. But it was obvious that they didn't need her (or want her, she supposed), and Marin figure Peter would ask for her help when the time came. Besides, she'd been itching for a shower since before they'd gotten off of the bus.

Marin searched for Michelle, finding her lingering at the edges of the group, her nose still in her book. Catching her attention, they traveled to their shared room in a comfortable but thick silence, and as soon as she entered the room, Marin flopped onto the nearest queen-sized bed, throwing her duffel off her shoulder.

After stretching her limbs until the joints popped, Marin grabbed a new set of clothes and hopped in the shower. Stepping under the steady stream of scalding water made her smile pleasantly as the rush of it against her skin revitalized her nerve endings and invigorated her senses. She hummed lightly to herself as she scrubbed down her body, standing in the steamed room for minutes after she'd gotten out. Not bothering with using a towel to dry herself, Marin let any excess water sink into her flesh, leaving her dry in seconds. Her hair was still wet, but she figured it would be noticeable if she emerged from a shower with dry, clean hair, so she let it dry naturally.

Pulling on her clothes, she left the bathroom and sat on her bed with a newly revived energy.

"So, which embassy were you thinking of protesting at?"

+++

Later that night, after Marin and Michelle had returned from protesting the rights of refugees at the Sokovian embassy, they'd found Liz and the rest of the team sneaking around the lobby.

It was late at night; the hotel lobby was practically empty except for the Midtown team—though Peter and Ned were nowhere to be found. Liz had made the executive decision to raid the minibar to smuggle some candy bars, mentioning something about team building and rebellious group activities as she roped Marin and Michelle into participating. Marin, hardly ever caring about the consequences, obliged evangelically because eleven dollars for a Kit-Kat bar was entirely too expensive, and she sought justice.

As they laughed and joked around through the night, Marin began to forget about their mission. When Liz laughed heartily at her jokes and Charles clapped her shoulder good-naturedly, Marin felt the lingering ache from a lifetime of alienation and rejection begin to melt away.

Sometime later, Cindy Moon had suggested that they go break into the pool to go swimming. So, everyone—except for Marin (who didn't own a swimsuit) and Michelle (who preferred to sit, read, and observe)—went to go change into their swimsuits, and reconvene at the stairs.

Once everyone arrived, Liz moved first, making sure the coast was clear before beckoning the rest of the team. As she started to go, Marin saw Peter emerge from his room wearing a hoodie and his backpack. The team greeted Peter as the sprinted by him, and Flash even smacked his butt, causing Peter to yelp. Marin trailed to a stop beside Liz, wanting to interrogate him, but Liz was busy trying to convince him to join the rest of them.

"I was, uh... I was going to study, um, in the business center." He clearly lied, but Liz didn't seem to notice.

"Peter, you don't need to study," she shook her head. "You're like, the smartest guy I've ever met."

Peter watched Liz continue to speak, bewitched by her kind words. The devoted look crossing his face made Marin squirm next to him. "And besides... um, a rebellious group activity the day before competition is good for morale." Liz said.

Peter blinked, looking dazed. "Hmm?"

"Um, well I read that in a TED Talk so—I-I heard it in a TED Talk." She explained sheepishly, as if she was embarrassed that she needed external guidance on being a better leader. "And I read a coaching book."

Peter's eyes went soft. "Wow, you really... this is really important to you."

"Yeah, it's our future." Liz tilted her lips in an incredulous smirk. "I'm not gonna screw it up. Besides, we raided the minibar and these candy bars were like, eleven dollars." She pulled out an extra candy bar and tossed it at Peter, who caught it and cradled it to his chest. "So, get your trunks on and come on."

And with that, Liz flounced away, catching up with the rest of the group, who were summoning Marin and Peter. "I'll meet you guys down there," Marin dismissed them and turned to a still-stupefied Peter. Once they were gone, Marin crossed her arms. "Peter, where are you really going?"

"Um, I—" he stuttered, tightening his grip on the candy bar. "To go study—"

"But you're not." Marin sighed. "I can see the red of the suit, Peter. You're going to go after those dealers, aren't you?"

Peter visibly gulped. "I can explain, Marin—"

"Why now?" Marin huffed. "Why tonight? Can't it wait 'til after Nationals, at least? Peter, you made a commitment, and now you want to run off to Maryland?"

Peter scoffed. "That's what I came here for! What we came here for," he lowered his voice, looking hurt and angry. "But I guess you've changed your mind, then."

Marin shook her head lowly. "Peter, you don't understand—"

"What don't I understand? How you're leaving me for some people that you don't even know—you just met them, and all of a sudden, you're more loyal to them? You can't possibly care—"

"But I do." She hissed, her eyes hard, her voice broken and jagged around the edges. "Which is more than I can say for your own loyalties." Marin sighed then, losing the fight in her. "Do whatever you want, but you'd better show up tomorrow, Peter Parker. For your own sake."

Peter's face twisted with apparent guilt, but Marin wasn't interested. "Marin—" he called, but Marin turned and followed the hall that led to the pool.

If anyone noticed that Marin looked on the verge of tears when she arrived, no one said a thing.

+++

Later that night, when everyone's skin had wrinkled and pruned and their nervous energy was diminished as they settled in for bed, Marin couldn't fall asleep.

She turned on her other side, clutching the pillow she cradled to her chest. Laying for a minute until her nerves buzzed and her shoulder hurt, she gave up, turning onto her back and staring up at the stucco ceiling. She couldn't help but feel guilty for the way she'd treated Peter earlier—admittedly, she knew that he was somewhat right; they did come along to stop the dealers. And although Marin had joined not for that intention, she felt like she owed it to Peter to help him in his heroic duties.

But then she remembered the way the team had included her without any hesitation (apart from Flash's stubborn, wounded ego), how they welcomed her with open arms. She'd never had that before.

Sure, the X-Men were similar in ways—a group of distinctly antithetical individuals bonded together with a common goal, through common means. Marin understood the concept of a team well. But she felt like she was never a part of one; she certainly screwed up her position as an X-Man.

As she bubbled with warm, content feelings, Marin knew that she didn't want to screw this up, too. She figured that being a hero was important, but in some ways, supporting the Decathlon team at the most important event of the year felt like an act of heroism to her. Especially when they'd already been abandoned before. Marin wouldn't do that to them—not when they've treated her like one of them.

By the time her eyes were finally growing heavy, the sun was beginning to rise, peeking through the curtain and casting a soft orange glow over the room. She sighed out a smile as she fell asleep, welcoming the dreamless slumber.

Waking up that morning felt like waking up to a new beginning.

taglist

@dark-night-sky-99 @pushmeinablackhole

[wherethestoryhasimagination]

As a Pallet cleanser...

I’ve posted a bit to much Meat. And so before I dive on in to Candy, which, from the impressions I’ve gathered, contains terrors greater than those found in meat, I’ll be providing some ‘Candy’ of my own, hopefully in a form reminiscent of thin mint cookies.

I’ll be making as wholesome, happy, and generally carefree a post as I can possibly make.

I’m going to be BluHing out my thoughts and ideas for things I would Hope for, dream of, and expect to possibly see in various percentages of those three of-

Animal Crossing.

As Animal Crossing has progressed through the Years, more and more chances for Player agency to influence the world have come to be. even going so far as to give you an official government job where you help to plan/fund Public infrastructure & The Arts. An update was even added at one point that would let you have more control over what Villagers were in your town; something practically impossible in past games, & in the pre-update New-Leaf.

I expect this trend to continue, though how it continues may vary; my Hopes for the hypothetically possible, & Dreams for the incredibly unlikely as follows.

Furniture Creation; it can be tricky getting that last piece of a set that just never seems to be in stock. but if you had a way to get furniture pieces that are not in your catalog, such randomness would be relieved… There’s even already ways to change some pre-existing pieces of furniture by bringing it and a set of gems to an npc in retail… severely limited in that form, but… a definite precursor to being able to get the furniture you want by using resources you have. and while it is a spin off I know little about, I believe Pocket Camp actually Does have a more tangible form of ‘crafting’. it even has an official Quarry to dig in.

extensions on the new ‘burst collection’ mechanic introduced in Pocket Camp; Pocket camp introduced items such as fishing nets and honey for gathering fish and bugs faster than one could with a rod or bug net. in a new game without micro transactions, a number of things could be done to balance the effectiveness, cost, and availability of items that help make it easier to get things; like rotted turnips & candy attracting ants, but elaborated upon.

improved mail system; just a little thing here. maybe a Villager you had been best friends with, but who had to move away, could send you a postcard inviting you to visit, should you ever wish to do so, with a Picture of their new town on it.

Food options; even if they are as useless as eating has always been, more options would be nice. like actually getting to partake in the displays that appear on some holidays, or being able to actually eat some pudding, like what some Villagers claim to have accidentally eaten 23 servings of from time to time… And hey, if some villagers have favorite foods, getting it for them could be a nice thing to do. maybe going to Brewsters could serve a purpose other than buying coffee till you’re given access to Gyroid storage, or working a small, part-time job.

semi-open world feel; even if it’s just an illusion, it would be groundbreaking for The Flanking Cliffs to finally give way to nature. even if the Cliffs are just sometimes replaced by massive clusters of impassible, unchopable trees that serve the same purpose. a tiny bit of variety in world wall could help. but full, low restriction openness is the dream… maybe have rivers a little bit wider than most, that you could eventually make crossable with foot-Bridges…(trains and such have their own bridges already of course, so you can still take the train to new places) … you know what? yea… Building Bridges… uniting the World… I like that. from now on, my hypothetical Animal Crossing game will be called ‘Animal Crossing Bridge Builders’.

Wood?/new tree mechanics?; the Ax is one of the least used tools. and once you’ve got the trees you want exactly where you want them, it begins to feel like Time slows down… The World only changing when you or villagers make it change, or with the seasons. a bit more of a purpose to trees could be an incentive to experiment, or to pay more attention to The World, as you watch new saplings grow far more frequently than you ever did when planting new trees was a one-off aesthetic setup. Plus, if furniture crafting does become a thing, you got to get materials somewhere.

‘More’; exactly as it says on the tin. More fruit types, more tree types, more Villagers… a simple expectation, but one worth note.

extend on the mining thing from pocket camp?; I’m mostly thinking of this for the sake of a single gag… The mining place underground is randomly generated once a week or so… And poor Mr. Resetti… Another job change has resulted in them being tasked with helping facilitate the process that… Resets, the underground so that you’ll always have fresh access to the resources you need.

(huh… food, crafting, fishing, foraging, mining… this is starting to become more and more like Stardew Valley, only without an official farmland)

Balloon Presents; you ever wonder where those balloons come from? maybe you could give something back. Perhaps you could release things up into the air, where someone, somewhere will eventually get it. 

‘Island Search’; an excuse for the ability to Design, shape and all, your very own island. after all, the Ocean is so big, that of course you’ll end up finding an island that matches what you want. The ultimate in Player agency over control over their environment; such as also being able to send invitations, or approve applications for Villagers so that they can come and live on your island. and, depending on how ‘north or south’ your island is, the seasons may pass normally, seem to always be summer, or so on.

non-real-time option; this is likely a dream that would be divisive. Real-time has always been a staple of the series. a mechanic that always has been. Well, like what was done with Breath of The Wild, even the most fundamental core aspects of the series should be open to revision and review, to see if it really is the best possible option. What if sleeping in your Bed could actually pass time? what if you didn’t have to be caught in a cycle of only being able play for however long it takes you to find the ore & money rocks, the new buried objects, and such, before the majority of everything new in the world that day has been expended, leaving the chance for you to stale the remaining time you play by running through pre-treaded ground, or for you to simply skip time anyway and change the date to, for example, see if what you want in the store or such shows up. (the ability for the gameplay loop to avoid turning stale could also be avoided with any other number of changes that could be implemented) this is just a possibility worth keeping in mind. also, next, as a possible middle ground that could help branch the two different time options…

Live events; like how Splatoon has Splatfests, and Smash has select Spirit events, there could be special happenings that follow a Real-realtime structure. like, ‘all furniture you’ll find by shaking trees will match your favorite Color this week!’ or, ‘manta-ray migration! the Villagers are going to be celebrating this event as they would a holiday sometime this week’(perhaps on the first available in-game day you play that week, so that it isn’t restricted to only a 24 hour window that some people would be more likely to miss)

more Amiibo Villagers; this might fall under ‘more’, but wouldn’t it be amazing if a majority of the amiibo released had villagers associated with them? I for one, would love to have an Octopus Guardian Villager Friend.

better character creation; the game has partially approached this, with things like beak accessories, but, what if you could be an animal like the other Villagers? And, perhaps, if you opt-in to this, The game could eventually Generate an Npc version of your Animal based on various actions and interactions the game slowly gathers as you play. An Npc that could then be found by other Players in their Worlds. so that there is always a new face to meet… there is a lot of variables here, and naturally, it would need to be monitored to prevent those with unkind intent from tainting the world, but if the game could Generate new Villagers, rather than being limited to a set of pre-made Villagers that would seem to be a drop in the bucket by comparison… and for you to know that the character you’ve met, who is kind and friendly to some degree, was created based off of a Person in the real World who is not all that different from you? To have a Worldwide Community of People able to see that no matter who you are, or where you come from, that you can be kind? That we can learn to love eachother, both despite and because of our differences? …

I’m not going to say it could lead to World Peace, but I won’t say that it won’t lead to World Peace.

Sable; ‘oh Hello! How are you doing today? My sisters can help you if you wanted to buy something, but if you wanted to make something yourself, I could help you figure it out’

Years of countless Players sharing their Love and support for Sable has grown into a warm feeling she will always have with her in her Heart… She will Never doubt herself or her value as a person ever again… And if you still choose to talk to her every day, She will still want to be your Friend.

Permanence vs drifting; It is nice to work hard, and make something of the town you live in… Developing bonds with your Villagers… Till you know every bump, crack, and turn in it… till it becomes Home… But, more and more traveler elements have been introduced… Campers, and mobile homes. even the towns of other players accessed through your dreams. Perhaps you could explore the world, like the Villagers who visit your town are, ready to see who you might meet, and what you might see… and who knows… maybe one day, you’ll stop. You’ll look around. You’ll feel the cool air against your skin. You’ll see the sun start to set beyond the mountaintop. You’ll sit by the campfire, and see smiles on faces… and just maybe… After how long it has taken you to reach this moment… You might decide…

That you are, right now, exactly where you want to be…

That you’ve finally made it Home.

[noodlecupcakes]

Bruises and Bitemarks - Chapter 2 (LokiXOC Fic)

Loki has been watching Raven for a while and finally takes her to Asgard without her knowledge of the true events that led up to his choice. As their love blossoms nothing can stop the truth from coming out. Will she stay? Or will she leave?

Welcome to a new fic guys, a Loki one too so I'm hoping you’ll like it. My face claim for Raven is Rooney Mara.

Warnings: Language, Mentions of anxiety

Shout at me if you would like to be added to the taglist :D

Chapter 2

Raven’s P.O.V

I slowly awoke, refusing to open my eyes. I hoped he was gone now. I didn’t want to deal with him right now, I just needed to assess the damage and patch myself up without him trailing after me trying to apologize. This was the last time he got to hurt me. But how many times had I said that already before? Too many to remember. I sighed, finally opening my eyes. I frowned, taking in my surroundings. This was not my house. Where the fuck was I? Where had he taken me? I was on some sort of stone examining table with a strange orange light over me.

The light was warm. For some reason I didn’t feel any pain. There was no dull throb in my head for once. I looked around, the room I was in gleaming with gold that was beautifully detailed. Definitely not anywhere I knew. A female entered the room, middle aged with her brown hair tied back out of her face. She was wearing a soft pink dress...only the dress looked like something from ancient Greece. “Oh, your awake, I shall make the prince aware,” she spoke before exiting the room. What the fuck? This had to be some kind of dream.

I forced myself to sit up, continuing to look around the room. It seemed to be some sort of medical bay. I pinched myself, waiting to be thrown out of my dream. Nothing, I remained where I was. I tried again, harder this time. Still nothing. The realization that I wasn’t dreaming started to set in and I felt panic rise. I took a deep breath, telling myself to stay calm. What the fuck did she mean by prince? What kind of hospital was this?

The doors opened once more and in strode in what I assumed was the prince that had been mentioned. I felt a slight blush creep across my cheeks. Were all princes this handsome? He was dressed in green and gold robes, the green shade matching his eyes. He was tall, over six foot and had a medium build. His black hair was slicked back. He smiled, a heart stopping smile. “I apologize for this, I'm sure you have a lot of questions. I will do my best to answer them all,” he spoke.

Suddenly my mind had gone blank, all the questions I thought of before were gone. The prince approached me, his strides showing confidence. “My name is Loki,” he introduced himself. “I’m Raven,” I replied, trying my best not to sound love struck. He sat me down on a bench, sitting beside me. “Where am I?” I asked. Loki paused, as if working out how to word his next sentence. “This may come as a shock, but I can assure you that your safe here. You’re no longer on Earth, you’re on Asgard,” he explained cautiously.

Not on Earth? I looked around the place, I had to be. It looked earthly and if he was an alien he looked exactly like a human. This had to be some sort of joke. The seriousness of Loki’s face told me it wasn’t. I didn’t know how to feel. I should be panicking, yet I felt…unphased. What good had Earth ever done for me anyway? I had no family that would miss me, a job I didn’t really care for. I could have a fresh start here, perhaps. Gabriel wouldn’t be able to find me here and worm his way back into my life. I could finally be free. The thought was relieving. Loki looked confused. “You seem to be taking this better than I thought,” he spoke.

I smiled reassuringly, maybe it would all hit me later. For now, though I would enjoy being anxiety free. “I’m ok,” I spoke. “You’re sure?” “Yeah. Would you be able to tell me more about Asgard and yourself? Whilst I’m calm I feel a little clueless about everything.” “Of course, I can show you around the palace first so that you know your way around.” “Ok, sure.” Palace? Know my way around? I was going to be allowed to stay here? Why the hell was I so special?

“First, I think it would be best that you change,” Loki suggested. I looked down at my fluffy dressing gown. He was right. Loki had a handmaiden fetch me some new clothes, which he left me alone to change into. The dress was floor length, made from a light material that flowed easily. It was green with hints of gold through the skirt. The dress acted like a halter top, a gold ring going around my neck. It actually looked quite nice on me and it wasn’t something I would normally pick out to wear. I exited the room where Loki was waiting outside, leant against the opposite wall. He looked me up and down, unable to hide how amazed he looked.

I felt myself blush. It’s not often I got someone like him look at me like that. Normally I attracted the bad kind of men. He cleared his throat, offering me his arm. I accepted the gesture, letting him lead me around the palace. Whilst we walked, he explained the history of Asgard and his people. He told me about his family and I made sure to listen intently. You could tell a lot from how someone spoke about their family. First, he told me about his father, Odin. Loki seemed to be seeking his father’s approval but was still not getting it. He then moved on to his brother, Thor. They seemed to have a good relationship although he seemed hesitant to tell me more. Finally, he told me about his mother, Frigga. It was obvious that he thought the world of her and it was actually quite sweet.

As someone with their own family issues I knew what to look for. I wouldn’t have protests to meeting them. Loki showed me things like the throne room, the kitchens, my room, which came with a bathroom and finally showed me the way to his room just in case I might need him for anything. “I understand if you would like some time alone to process all this but I’m happy to show you more if you wish,” Loki spoke. “I can keep going, I’ll tell you if it gets too much.” Loki led me outside the palace and to the stables where he had a horse prepared. I guess I didn’t get my own, which with a little more thought I was happy with. I’d never ridden a horse had no idea what to do.

Loki climbed onto the horse first before I was helped up by two handmaidens. I sat behind Loki on the horse and hesitantly put my arms around him so that I was steady. He didn’t have any protests and started the horse off at a steady trot. He showed me around the kingdom and local town. But the main thing he wanted to show me was something called the bifrost and the bridge that lead to it. We reached the edge of what I assumed was the bridge. I can see why he would want to show me this, it was stunning. The bridge looked as if it were made from a rainbow-like glass and it led to another gold structure. Loki told me about the bifrost and that was what he had used to get me here. Asgard was definitely more interesting than Earth, I had very good feelings about this place.

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

Later Loki was showing me around the gardens. Whilst this was beautiful, and everything seemed perfect, my anxiety had been forming more questions I needed to ask before it all became too perfect. “Loki how did you know that I was essentially in need of rescuing?” I asked. “What use is a god that doesn’t help any of its believers?” “But I’m not a believer, well I wasn’t.” “Midgard is still a word that my people watch over.” “So, your like guardian angels? You came to my rescue and took me to your world.”

Loki smiled, “it would seem so.” “So, there’s something I should probably tell you before we get too comfortable. It might freak you out but I’m not going to hurt anybody,” I began. “I have no doubts about that.” “I have these…abilities. Kind of like magic tricks.” I snapped my fingers, summoning a flame to show him. Sometimes it was easier to show people than attempt to explain it. Loki didn’t seem shocked however, he actually seemed completely indifferent to the fact my fingers were on fire. “I’m known as the trickster god, the god of mischief. My mother taught me a few things about magic,” he spoke.

With the Loki made another exact copy of himself appear next to him. Wow. Now that was way more impressive than anything I could do. Loki smiled, before making the clone disappear. “You’re not alone Raven, I know that on Earth you may have felt like an outcast for these abilities but here it will seem normal,” he explained. I felt something in my chest at those words. Perhaps a sense of…belonging.

Taglist: @belathora, @warriorqueen1991, @genevievedarcygranger, @my-world-of-imagines, @welcome-to-fangirl-hell, @eldritchmortician, @byzantium-glytch, @silver-stormy, @thegentlemanpigeon, @anya-wanderlust, @falling-out-of-grace, @happy-little-irish-shite, @tentacles-and-coffee, @vcat55, @somebody-to-love-swag, @phoenixsnape1, @creepylittlemarvelgirl, @littlemisstrancy, @angelwingsbringmusic, @emotiadouche, @warmchick, @totally-alexa21, @tbkc, @marvel-fangiiirl, @the-true-heir-of-slytherin, @neganismyobsession, @zombiewerewolfqueen, @negan-the-cat, @strxngersclxb

[rigelmejo]

progress

i started trying to learn some chinese like idk in august. and i have never related more to a story i read once, of a 60-ish year old woman suddenly striving (and managing) to learn enough russian to read russian classics like war and peace in their native language.

because that’s how i feel... like i’m desperately trying to get to the point where i can read priest’s novels... because the translation is fine, and also sometimes impressive, but i know just enough to see all the details i’m missing, and 

i actually am gonna have a physical copy of guardian and imperfections/defected goods and i feel like The Pressure to be able to read them at least basically 

which. ahahahaha ;-; That is SUCH a lofty goal for the Near Future. Maybe long term, a very long term goal, but soon? Ahaaahaha ;-;

Anyway, i need to appreciate my progress. In about 3 months of studying, I have managed to go from knowing nothing but hello/thank you, to being able to read some subtitles, make out some long video titles/captions gist, to be able to look at a novel text and at least pinpoint moments of action taking place (which has been enough to at least look at an english translation, that says something like ‘shen wei’s right hand was kissed’ then look to the chinese version and find that line in text, so that i can word-for-word look up things with more precision). And these are things I should be very proud of myself for.

When I started studying French, the first language I took serious when trying to study - it took me 6 months to read most general texts and gleam the gist of the meaning. It took me 3 months to read the gist of titles/some captions/some summaries of nonfiction nature like instructional texts and news. And then it took me a year maybe to start being able to look at FICTIONAL things like novels or shows and start being able to follow the gist. With Japanese - it took me 1.5 YEARS to get to the point of being able to read the gist of titles/short captions/some small dialogues in manga. 

Studying chinese for 3 months, i can now: follow short comical manga-based audios on youtube about 70-80% (I followed a lan wangji/wei wuxian short video audio), read very short fanartist comics (saw some guardian short comics and managed to follow them without looking anything up), can look at the chinese titles of videos on youtube and maybe 1/2 the time reasonably get the gist of what it means, i can look at chinese subtitles on the shows i’m watching and grasp maybe 50% of what i’m looking at. Mostly, again, the action oriented dialogue like ‘i said’ ‘he’s dead/what happened’ ‘what’s that’ ‘madam, help me please’ ‘10k years ago’ ‘brother/sister/etc can i’ ‘no need/worry’ ‘smile’ ‘the meaning is/so/therefore/but/however/still’... and clearly most of the more specific words I know that are adjectives or nouns, are catered toward the shows/stories I’m consuming - since ghost/demon/puppet/bright/smile/dead/murderer/chief/god/lord are the first kinds of nouns I started recognizing. 

All of those achievements though... I should be grateful to have gotten to this place. In august, when I first looked at Guardian’s original text... the ONLY things I could understand were the numbers, and ‘hello/thank you/cat’. Now, even though I couldn’t read a chapter, I could skim through and find the names of people, and see if they’re doing something like speaking/smiling/looking/waiting, or if a ghost has appeared. Which is miles more than I could do three short months ago. And it is incredible to me, because it really is a lot of progress for me, in such a short time. 

It really points out to me how starkly different japanese was to start learning. I think part of the huge difference, is chinese really is somewhat easier structurally for me to look at and parse through (and I get now why it’s rated Slightly easier to learn for native english speakers than japanese is), and I think part of it is because I’ve spent enough time studying languages now that I’m more efficient at it. It certainly appears I’m more efficient than I was in the past. My reading in japanese is... still pretty awful. I really... can only glance at maybe manga dialogues, or real short image captions, or real short physical comedy skits, and understand the gist. Anything more, and I quickly get lost. And I studied Japanese pretty consistently for 2ish years. Whereas with chinese, I am already at the point where I can look at a wall of text like an actual fictional novel (not comic, novel), and start parsing out at least some of what’s going on. Where I can watch a show and follow at least some of the main ideas without translation. I do think part of the difference also, is which words I tried learning first in what language - in Japanese I learned comedic words first, and everyday ‘go to school/work’ words, so for daily life comedy vlogs/slice of life simple manga I can follow some of the gist - but for more literary things I am completely lost. With chinese, I was watching shows from the get-go, so immediately action words/nouns that are repeated a lot, were the first words I started understanding. And I think learning action words helps a lot with following what is physically going on - which is something I did not focus on immediately in japanese. Now, in chinese, I’m focusing on a lot of literary words like ‘its just/its only a’, ‘but even/however’ etc kind of words, and adjectives, so I imagine over time those kinds of words will pop out to me easier as well.

I have learned how it is I tend to learn the fastest, although it’s not quite in line with the perfectly-rigid approach I wish I could manage instead:

 - I need to start using the language immediately.  - Not coddled. I need to use it. Get thrown into it. Throw myself into actual materials IN the language. The textbooks and readers with english are a crutch. I learn faster the more I dive straight into the actual language materials IN that language. - As usual, find a vocabulary guide and/or flashcard set with the most common words, use that as a place to start for vocabulary. With Chinese, that was the 1000-most-common-words-in-chinese-dramas memrise deck, some other anki decks i look at on occassion, and the words-by-most-common clozemaster chinese.  - As usual, find a grammar guide, start CRAMMING through it. Inevitably, I am not going to understand the grammar until I see it working in the real language. But if I just make myself READ grammar points, then I’ll have a framework to understand the grammar I’ll see later being used. I’m currently working through https://www.chinese-grammar.org/ , which has been a very nice guide to just chug through. There are some other helpful guides - nanchinese is okay, but I HATE how slowly it progresses a user through the material. Again, I seem to do best when I’m just thrown into the deep end and FORCED to progress faster than I want to. Inevitably, I will always stop myself and keep covering the same basic material longer than I need to, if given the chance. So for myself, I really do need to just force myself to look at materials that look more difficult than I feel I am ready for. Again, future self: even if you feel you haven’t mastered the material, even if you haven’t memorized it yet, LITERALLY JUST PROGRESS as soon as you understand the gist of it. That’s it. Literally keep moving forward once you think you somewhat understand.  - As usual (for non romanized alphabets), get a book/guide that covers the characters by most common, and start CRANKING THROUGH IT. Again, do NOT pause until you’ve memorized, just KEEP PROGRESSING once you feel you understand the basic gist, move forward. You will look over the same characters again and again later, there’s time to reread a whole book/guide later - the point is to get exposed to those characters and words, so that the next times you see them it’s reinforcing the learning instead of your first time. For this, there is a great book: Reading and Writing Chinese: Third Edition, HSK All Levels (2,349 Chinese Characters and 5,000+ Compounds). I got this one, which I like because as far as I can tell, it includes all the characters and words I’d need to learn for the HSK levels (which at least somewhat prepare you to have some command of the language/some ability to comprehend the language). So, this book prepares a learner decently by at least teaching things that are more likely to be commonly found in the language, and therefore going to pay off to learn overall. I also have been looking at this guide: http://www.mementoslangues.fr/Chinois/Sinogrammes/Table3000CaracteresChinois.pdf . It has 3000 chinese characters in order of frequency. Which, again, is useful in trying to learn what will be most applicable to understanding many things. When reading through it, I’m on the 50th character and pretty much knew all of them already in 3 months - which is good, and probably why I’ve felt what words/characters I’ve learned have paid off in understanding so much. If I had more time to read it, I might find I know a whole lot more. In the RaWC book, I’ve been highlighting the characters I know, and I’m still reading through the book, but maybe 300-500 I’ve highlighted so far cause I already knew them. For learning characters, any book/word guide that at least partially prioritizes for frequency, and for broadly what is going to be useful to comprehend that language, helps a lot to focus you on studying things that will improve basic understanding. I also found a book by Lingomastery, Chinese Most Common 1000 words - which I’m looking through too, when I get the time. Again - for me it’s not about looking things over until I’m perfect - it’s about looking once, understanding just basically, then as I see it over and over multiple times learning it fully. Because for me that is faster than slowly memorizing, because I’m a perfectionist and I often choose to move on much slower than I can actually learn.  -Other things that have helped a ton: decent translators. The app PLECO is great, and can also translate some idioms. Google translate is nice because the app allows you to draw or speak the word instead of typing it so that if you don’t know the exact pinyin you can just draw the character you see. These three apps I found useful for translating chunks of sentences: https://fanyi.baidu.com/#zh/en/%E5%8F%AB%E5%89%8D%E8%BE%88 (I especially like how this one handles chunks of texts, and gives more precise footnotes of words/idioms at the bottom), https://translate.systran.net/translationTools/text?source=zh&target=en , https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary - The app Idiom is GREAT for looking at a chinese website/webnovel, and just translating word by word - it will give the character and pronounce it out loud. The translations are pretty freaking rough and sometimes not quite correct, but for super fast translating in-line on the same page while reading, it’s incredibly convenient. Likewise, the app BaiduTranslate allows you to just highlight text on your phone in any app, select ‘share’ select ‘baidutranslate’ app, and then it will translate the whole chunk of text - pinyin, audio, english, and some keywords/idioms more precisely translated in a footnote.These two apps, along with google-translate to draw in characters you can’t copy/paste, are good for super quick rough translations when working through a text/show. - Honestly, I think it has been helping as well that I’m watching so many chinese shows, and chinese youtube fan-made videos. I don’t personally think I do much with the audio to help myself learn, but I think it’s been helping me get better at looking up words (by pronouncing the tones closer to correct, and by drawing a character in the subtitles, and in youtube when there ARE english subs by looking from the english to chinese-hard-subs and matching some characters to specific words - it’s how i learned meaning/but/however/therefore). Even though I don’t notice significant improvement because of doing this, I do think it simply helps I’m interacting with chinese a lot. (And, of course, I love getting to the point in knowing a language, where you know JUST enough to be able to tell when the english subtitles CLEARLY DO NOT match what’s actually being said - that’s always fun). I do think that because I’m hearing chinese a lot, it’s easier for me to transfer my reading skills to listening skills - since I’m practicing both at once when I see the chinese subtitles, since I listen enough that they sound relatively familiar to what I think characters sound like in my head when reading (which, my internal voice still isn’t necessarily accurate, but it’s improving). This is significant, because I know in french I did NOT do this. So as a result, in french I could listen and would struggle significantly to match words to subtitles or text - I could read quite well but my listening lags behind. In chinese, I can reasonably follow along to audio with the text - they’re close enough in similarity to me that I don’t fear my listening comprehension is lagging as considerably as it does in french. Pretty much all the chinese words/phrases I am most sure I understand, are the ones I heard before reading. In french this was not the case, in part maybe because french has so many english cognates i could slide by in reading without necessarily learning the french pronunciations for a lot of words. Also - in chinese I generally plug new words into google translate or Pleco, both of those translators provide audio. I listen to the audio, because I want to make sure my tone is right. So for a majority of the words in chinese I learn, I listen to them several times at the beginning. I do think short term, so far it’s been paying off in listening comprehension a LOT with shows. And long term, I think if I continue doing this it will pay off in helping to keep my listening/reading comprehension a lot more balanced then it is in french. Which personally, I find hilarious, just because - when I started trying to learn chinese, I was literally ONLY concerned with reading comprehension. I didn’t care at all if I could pronounce or even knew what the words I was reading sounded like. But... to be fair, in chinese (thankfully!!!) many of the characters hint at their pronunciation based on how they look. So for chinese its often a matter of ‘okay this is gui/wei/shi/etc but which tone is it?’ Which I personally find... eons easier to come to terms with, then japanese characters, which often have multiple pronunciations, and those pronunciations rarely have to do with the appearance of the character. But with chinese, I see my favorite little ghostie radical, and know it might be pronounced gui or wei, and know it will probably have something to do with spirits. I see the speech radial and know it’ll probably have to do with speaking or communication or words. I see the ‘up’ radical and know it might be pronounced similar to ‘shang’. I deeply appreciate that in chinese the characters clearly have a logic - and though of course there are exceptions to those patterns, there are exceptions in many languages anyway, and for the most part those patterns are greatly useful. 

Just a little thing I’ve noticed, but also I find the characters/words are much easier for me to remember BECAUSE I have names of characters, story plotlines to relate them to. Because I’ve seen Shen Wei/Wei Wuxian, it’s easy for me to remember Shen Wei’s wei has a mountain on top and is a high tone, and wei’s doesn’t have the mountain and is a different one. Because I’ve seen the ghost character in so many plotlines, I can recognize when it’s spirit, or ghost, or puppet, or demon. Cat, wolf, dog, owl... they’re all easier for me to remember because I can think of specific sentences and situations where I’ve read/heard those words. If I was just reading them in a textbook, they would not be so vivid in my memory. In a way, it’s like the words I pinpoint in a story stick out in my head as these bright points, and then new things I learn connect outward from them like spiderwebs. I know daren from guardian is like a lord, so then when I see lord-god in Destiny and Love I know what to relate it to, when i see furen as madam i know how to relate it to what i already know. And so on and so forth. 

While I think there is definitely a place for learning in a structured way (and god I wish I was like that), I think my mind personally learns the fastest when I approach things based on most useful then work outward, and when I cover things quickly and broadly at only an understanding level of basic-gist-grasped, and then just start throwing myself into challenging material. I really think my mind prefers to dive headfirst into challenging things - it appreciates a challenge, it wants to problem solve, and it seems to work harder and focus better when it’s in the middle of being challenged. Now, working through challenging material can be very draining - and it still is, even though my brain learns faster by doing it. But seeing the progress after just 3 months, clearly its worth it. 

3 months ago, I looked at a wall of text and understood nothing but the calendar number dates. Now I can look and sometimes even follow whats going on! Now I can see chinese subtitles and follow some of the action! I looked ad Mo Dao Zu Shi the other day, and managed to read the first few paragraphs! I just looked at Zhen Hun today, and scanned through it to pinpoint a few scenes - some I managed to find and read in chinese, some I only managed to make out one line from. But ALL of that is still miles above what I could manage to do at the start. I’m personally... very excited. I have so much more that I want to be able to do in the language. But I’m extremely happy with how far I’ve managed to progress so far.

---

Literally... my goal had been... to be able to start getting through the guardian novel in chinese at least grasping the gist... in the end of November this year. HA.

That is... not a reasonable goal. If I can manage it, even just like small snippets of the novel... then I will be floored with myself. We’ll see. 

[gt-maid]

New Chapter

Previous: 1

         It had been an unknown amount of days since Eos had slept in that check point building, and things hadn’t exactly gotten easier for the human. She had to take frequent breaks to catch her breath, find clean water, and something to eat. She wasn’t trained for going this long on so little, she wasn’t filled with the Light like Guardians were. Or, had been in so many cases that she had come across. Not to mention the odd and abnormal sleep schedule that had become typical while she fled, catching only minutes or a few hours here or there before she was forced to continue. Right now, all she had going for her was Theia urging her along, and her own stubbornness.

         Though easily, the worst part of it all was being forced to kill patrolling Cabal and their freaky mutant canine things. She understood that it was them or her, especially now that she wore armor for protection, and had a Ghost floating next to her head to warn her of approaching enemies, but it hadn’t stopped her from having to pull off her helmet after nearly every gunfight to wretch.

         .: You’re doing very well, given everything, Eos. :. Theia praised softly, the Ghost having been nothing but supportive and patient with the civilian that had been forced to take up arms to stay alive. .: Just a little further, alright? We can see the stream, you can use the knife to catch fish, and we can settle down for the night. :.

         It took much longer than the woman wanted to admit, but soon she had a small fire going, thankful that at least she knew how to clean a fish from when she would buy them whole for special meals! It was a small thing, but it did make her feel better that she wasn’t entirely helpless in this situation. The whole catching a fish with a knife and starting a fire from nothing was a different story, however.

         After eating, the fire had dirt tossed on it and the knife was cleaned in the creek before she retreated back to the location her floating companion had stated would be a safe spot to sleep at; and once settled down, Eos felt herself dozing off…only to be woken up what felt like seconds later, but—given by the position of the moon—had actually been a decent chunk of time.

         Carefully rocking herself on to her toes, Eos slowly picked up the weapon that had been resting just beside her, going still a second later to see if she could hear whatever it was that had woken her up. Theia hung low near her shoulder, not wanting to risk turning the light up on it’s face and give away their position, though it did seem to be scanning for signs of movement as best it could. The helmet’s HUD gave the human minimal night vision, but it was better than nothing, and mixed with the moonlight, it was suitable to spot any incoming enemies.

         A few tense heartbeats passed, breath being held and ears straining to hear movement, eyes wide to try and catch shapes when suddenly…something caught her gaze; and without thinking, Eos found that instead of firing her gun, she had chucked the combat knife. Thusly, the lone Fallen Vandal that had been slinking up on her fell with a dull thud, blade protruding squarely from the being’s chest.

         “What just happened.”

.: You used the training I’ve been having you do. :.

         “I had the gun in my hand though.”

.: You’re learning when stealth is key. :.

         “I didn’t even think about it, I just…threw it.”

.: Training and instinct, like I said. :.

         “What if it had been another person?! What if I just killed someone innocent?!”

.: You will learn that too. :. The Ghost whirled, almost sounding a bit proud as it moved close to the woman, nuzzling against her like one might expect a cat to do. .: Retrieve the knife, and we’ll start moving again. :.

         “Because we don’t know if there are more Fallen around here, right.” She nodded slowly, inching her way closer to the Vandal, getting a much better look of one of humanity’s enemy than she ever really wanted as she pulled the blade out with a sharp tug, feeling her stomach roil at the sensation, but she managed to keep her food down this time.

         .: I’ll make a Hunter out of you yet. :.

                                                         ◊◊◊◊◊

         The sky was growing lighter, going from the black and navy blue to a dull grey before finally starting to show some proper color before the sun exploded over the horizon. Eos gave a small sigh as yet another day of endless walking seemed to be ahead of them, going through the motions of checking over the weapons, learning the ins and outs and making sure no dirt was clogging any important pieces.

         “Are you still able to pick up the signal you’ve been tracking? Or has it stopped?”

         A small pause in the walking as Theia focused on…something technological based that the human didn’t quite grasp yet. A nod soon followed, and the Ghost was leading the way. The only good thing that could only be largely due to the fact that they were now days away from the Last City was the fact that enemies were now few and far in-between, as opposed to nearly constant. Cabal squads had fallen in to lone patrols with their creepy dogs, which had eventually faded out in to Fallen, or just the lone wild animal looking for a quick meal. The last of which were easier to handle than anything else by this point.

         .: By the feel of it, we should see the signal source just over this hill. We’re almost there. :.

         Indeed, the Ghost was right, for the moment they crested the hill and broke past last of some trees, there, spreading out before the two of them like a blazing beacon of hope, stood houses. All were rather dilapidated, but clearly in the process of being repaired, and a once grand looking farmstead rested atop another, greater, hill, appearing to Eos in that moment like a protector, overlooking those weaker than it.

         .: Eos…Look. :.

         Tearing her gaze away from the homes and just general signs of life and people, her people, the woman watched Theia float a bit away from her, and it took her only a second to recognize the white claw that was jutting up from the ground some distance from the farmlands, the energy crackling off of the structure able to be seen from here.

         “Is that…part of the Traveler?”

.: Yes…That’s what was calling to me. :.

         “…You’re going to want to take a closer look, aren’t you?”

.: Of course. I feel this pull towards that Shard. I don’t know why or what for, but I can’t ignore it, Eos. After we rest up at this farm, you will come with me to examine it, won’t you? :.

         “Theia…I’m not sure. I’m not them, you know? I wasn’t built for this, I just wanted to escape from the city. And now that I have? Now that I’m back with my own kind, who clearly have ships coming and going, have managed to start building up their lives again here? I want a break, I want things to go back to being normal again…”

.: …You have spent weeks travelling across the lands on the whim of a damaged and Lightless Ghost. You learned how to wield weapons meant for Guardians, and wear the armor meant for them as well. You have seen and done things most civilians would never dream of attempting, and you’ve survived it all, and come out still whole, if a bit cracked. Yet this is where you want to give it all up, and what, hope you can return to life as it once was before we met? Eos, we lost our city to those Red Legion brutes. Nothing about any of our lives is going to be normal any time soon. Luxury and relaxation is not something you can afford right now. What are you afraid of? :.

         “You can’t sense it, being an almighty Ghost?” The human snapped, knowing it was right, even if she didn’t want to admit it, trudging forwards towards the little spark of civilization. “I’m terrified of dying, of people thinking they can rely on me, that I’m someone they can count on!”

         .: Are you not? :.

         “Not like a Guardian, and you know it!”

         .: Explain to me how you are not. :.

         “I’m not calm cool and collected, I can’t do tactics and stuff that I’ve seen fireteams do together, I don’t even know how to aim long distance yet!”

         .: You kept your wits about you while under fire from multiple targets during our entire hike here. Hunters are not known for joining groups, not to mention tactics can be learned. And that is what training is for, Eos, and I’m certain this place has some sort of shooting range for you to hone your budding skills. :.

         “You are desperate for me to come with you to this Shard, aren’t you?”

         .: Yes. :.

         “…Fine.”

[elephant-in-the-pride-parade]

Don’t Like, Don’t Read, A-hole.

I’m Continuing my Tradition of responding to guest reviews here (since Fanfiction.net does not give one that option). However, unlike other time’s I’ve posted a response here, I’m not going to address this reviewer directly, as they’ve lost my respect and thus that courtesy. New Fanfiction Authors out there, if you get this kind of shit in your inboxes, know that it’s NOT in ANYWAY what we mean by constructive criticism and you should not pay it any mind while you’re feeling unsure about your writing. 

Fair Warning: This has a few instances of heavily misogynist language in it. 

Review Of Chapter 2: The Wizard in White

“From: Hmm (Guest)   Hmm:This story was interesting to a point,… up until this chapter. This chapter honestly really annoyed me, and the pacing of the story is also a key factor. You’ve literally done nothing but make Voldemort seem more powerful than he is, and give him victory over victory.”

The above paragraph is really the only one here with any meaningful information in it. However, by not following through with suggestions/specifics, this person has really failed to transform this into constructive criticism. They also haven’t been specific about what about the pacing is throwing them off. The victory after victory part is also confusing form me, as the writer, because this is a review of Chapter 2, when the conflict of the story is still being established. I will grant that I have so far struggled immensely with the pacing of book 6 and so I was very irritated that they could not articulate what, specifically, was “annoying” about that. (Annoying is also a clue that this critique involves the reader’s personal preference and thus I automatically give it less credibility). The enjoyment of writing may be subjective, but the practice of it really can be objective. Like any argument, you have to have evidence to prove what is and isn’t working on a structural and narrative level…

“Yet the Senshi and the HP world just keep losing out. At this point in time, I’ve already given up trying to find out who Harry was in his “star seed” (a term you used ONCE, then never again). At this point, it feels like the HP cast is just there for you to use and abuse however you want.”

This part again made no sense to me as the writer of the story. 1st of all, both the senshi and the HP characters scored big wins in the previous story. It is only chapter 2 of the sequel (set in book six which was also an incredibly dark point in the war with Voldemort in canon and in no way ended on a positive note). So this person has not in anyway managed to prove their statement. Their annoyance over Harry’s “star seed” is confusing but understandable, as they seem to assume that a star seed makes someone automatically special. This shows that they either only watched the SM Anime, or didn’t read the SM Manga carefully (everyone - even animals - have star seeds in the sailor moon universe). What I can take from it is perhaps that i need to scale back on the tidbits of world integration I throw into my crossover, but that’s really all. 

Also: “It feels like the HP cast is just there for you to use and abuse” Well… yeah. From other crossovers I’ve read, it is hard to strike a balance of attention between two universes and I am not even trying to do that here. I’m well versed in both universes, but I have much more concrete ideas for the senshi. the HP characters and world, for me, are much more flexible and I love exploring what they could be. It isn’t everyone’s cup of tea (again, reviewer preference. If anyone ever says this to you in a review, take it with a heavy dose of skepticism).

Harry’s more of a b*** in this story than he was in cannon, and let’s not forget that Neville and Luna has gotten more stage time than anyone!

The b*** part is where I lost the last shred of respect for this person. (and I was already really irritated with this review). 1st of all: that word is not cool. And this has officially crossed the line from harsh review into hate review. 2nd of all. Harry Potter age 15-16 is a jerk. He has good reason to be and he has a good heart, but any reading of the text more than proves he has some really asshole moments. There’s also the fact that the HP books were written from Harry’s perspective, they’re obviously going to favor him. It’s important to consider that in any story where he isn’t the POV character. 3rd of all. It is totally absolutely okay to give more attention to the canon side characters than the canon main. It’s a mainstay of fanfiction. Harry Potter is not entitled to being the hero or the center of attention. While, yes, I am struggling to juggle the 43 odd characters in book six, it’s still inappropriate to gripe about which characters I choose to make the main cast. Maybe I have important reasons for needing to give Neville and Luna more attention (anyone reader who wasn’t obsessed with glorifying Harry Potter might even read that as foreshadowing). 

I’m also really annoyed that you pussified Pluto to this extent,… You’ve made her almost completely a POS character with s*** skills that can be circumvented with “wix” magic easier than most.

Again with the swearing and misogynist language - here I have got to say that if I had read this review on one of my stories before I was a college and grad student and before I’d really learned about what misogynist language is and how it functions… I might have read this and quit writing the story all together. I might even have deleted it. I might have given up writing about Pluto all together. And because Pluto is and always has been the senshi I love and identify with most, this review might even have caused me real emotional hurt, by presuming to invalidate my own understanding and personal identification with the character. Since I’m an old, tea-drinking, academic snob now all it does is piss me off and make me label this reviewer as ignorant, misogynistic and lacking in basic human decency. (And that’s all from the use of the word “Pussified.” I haven’t even gotten to POS and S*** yet).

They could have said this in a way that made me listen and said something insightful but they didn’t. So I can’t use this to improve my writing of the character at all. What this reader also misunderstands here is that powerlessness is part of Pluto’s character arc. Because as convenient as it was for me to kneecap her time powers, it also allowed me the opportunity to explore how being a normal, befuddled human in a stressful situation could help her grow as a character. Pluto has 3 main things that she struggles with in the series: How much she should or shouldn’t interfere with time, her desire to connect with and be close to her fellow senshi, and largely under the surface but no doubt a factor is her exploration of her own humanity outside of being a Time Guardian.

So bearing those in mind, it is very interesting on a character level, to explore how she’ll react to failure, to powerlessness, to being as unsure and confused as any of the other people around her. How does a hero react when they lose their powers? What do they learn from it? How does it affect them when they regain those abilities? It isn’t every reader’s cup of tea, true, but there’s no reason to send hateful messages over that. (Don’t like, Don’t read I mean really).

So in summary: this reviewer pissed me off. I want to post this here so that newer authors can read it and know that it is bullshit and their writing and their ideas are beautiful and worth it no matter what haters on the internet try to tell them.

[coreshorts]

Mine

Her mind turned again and again to the sight of the younger girl, slowly withering, her normally plump, hourglass figure starting to shrink, her eyes heavy with dark bags, porcelain skin almost ashen. When she felt her, it was was even worse. Her aether slowly draining away, she felt as though she was constantly slowly dying, something dark and vicious welling up within her to take her place.

The first time the shinobi had noticed her Moon begin to wane, she had frantically begun searching for answers. She needed options, ways to combat what was being done, that she could grasp and bring to bear against this panic-inducing problem. She was given a small number, some of which were far more preferable than the others.

Hali was forced to settle upon an option which was the best she could hope for in such short notice: She had been told by a close friend - an incredibly accomplished mage by name of Naoh Tayoon - that her best bet without outright killing the girl she had come to so adore was to obtain a charged Amdapori Wardstone. However, the ruins of Amdapor were heavily-guarded and access strictly forbidden. She, herself, had one, but it was not charged, and the only person who came close to knowing could not remember.

"...charge one...” Fiona had muttered over the private line, “I- I think I remember. Just- nnnh. I remember doing it. I don't remember how."

The only other solution would be to use an Onmyouji ritual which not only required multiple practitioners, but would cut the girl off from her aether use entirely - forever - even though it would mean that she could never be possessed again. It was beyond that last thing that Hali wished to do, and the half-elezen’s response chilled her blood.

"...we should keep it in mind. Just in case."

Thus, she turned to Naoh, who instructed her on where to search in the ruins to find Wardstones. She was, after all, not only a shinobi, but one of very high aether sensitivity, which would help her not only infiltrate the ruins, but potentially locate a stone, as well. Loathe to go alone, however, she brought her former teacher - her best friend and sister in the shadows - Kaori, seeking her help to sneak in and out while keeping one another safe.

It was a fortunate thing that she had. The ruins of Amdapor were crawling with horrible creatures. Due to the way the entrances and perimeter were guarded, the two were forced to take a back route through the abandoned keep in order to access the city. 

Though it was suspected that the keep ruins might hold what they sought, it was quite the opposite. The absence of long-established Amdapori artefacts of white magic to stave off the Mhachi void magic and wild beasts that roamed the area has left the entire structure to be overrun by the void in the wake of multiple attempts by the Lambs of Dalamud - some of whose reanimated corpses they had found, already slain - to summon their god back to the star.

Hali found it funny. If Dahlia truly was Dalamud incarnate - if she was some kind of god, they were all wasting their time. She almost thought to tell the mage upon her return, but not knowing her relationship with the cult, she assumed to likely be negative.

It was rough going after they’d fought their way through the maddened flora and fauna both, both of which fought them at every turn in the overgrown keep. She had visited once before, but it had never been quite as overgrown as it was then, she’d thought. By the time they reached the passage needed to slip through catacombs and into the city, Hali had wound up sick nearly twice due to the sheer amount of corrupted aether in some areas. Guarding the passage, they had even encountered a powerful voidsent who struck Hali as mildly familiar. A man she had met before, named Resh, who had been heavily voidtainted and even possessed, bore a very similar voidsent which could materialise separately from his body. Fortunately, the two shinobi made short work of most things in the keep, void included.

The passage put them right by the entrance to the city, and the two made their way down. Mould assailed their lungs, giant insects assailed their bodies, and doubt assailed Hali’s mind. The investigation of the keep had proven fruitless, but her initial scouting of the area around the Lost City had some promise. Deep within the city, she could feel something, and it was very close to what she sought. For a mercy, it had begun to rain, clearing much of the spores in the air, but bringing out insects much larger than either of the two Au Ra. However, they managed to dispatch most of them with ease, even having moments to admire some of those less hostile.

Despite their skills in combat, it was no easy task. In what Hali regarded, in hindsight, though not at that time, as a stroke of irony, Kaori had been assaulted by a massive moth - a creature almost resembling the guardian spirit of their village - and stuck down. Thankfully, Hali had managed to bring supplies enough to complement her admittedly-weak conjury, which, she had found, grew significantly easier and more potent in the ruins, which gave her some hope. Once Kaori was healed properly, her arm set and functional again, and Hali’s panic abated, they moved on.

Continuing deeper in, they were best by ever-increasing wonders. A seemingly-bottomless chasm surrounded them with platforms that connected with aethereal bridges, old wards still present, lingering from when their source stones were once in place, though nothing remained within them for them to protect. Hali’s hope grew again at that, and ,especially,when they found a host of voidsent and reanimated magi who had been attempting to breach a heavily-warded door. After having cleared them out, the two were able to set to work on breaching the door, themselves, seeming unaffected by its protecting wards.

What they saw on the other side was something akin to another world. Blissful, pure, and almost heavenly, they had found themselves in something akin to another world, constantly shifting ivory and gold pillar surrounding bridges and platforms that seemed to manifest from nothing. Sprites of pure light and torches of white fire that sang melodically lined the bottomless - and skyless - expanse of pure radiance.

The two shinobi found themselves almost unnaturally enraptured by the purity and bliss of it all, resolving themselves, one day, to return, though their aims were significantly different. Kaori wished to calm herself and to find inner serenity to better herself, but Hali found herself giggling at the thought of a pocket world created by mortals; it was her ticket to unlocking secrets that would allow her to shape reality to her whim, and she would, one day, have those secrets.

They, finally, reached what seemed to be a council chamber of sorts, empty of all things but a massive winged statue, armed with stone sword, shield... and three charged Wardstones - smooth, red, fist-sized stones that emanated a pure aether - set in its breast and behind both hands. In her excitement, Hali rushed in headlong, Kaori on her heels. The statue, like many others, was a gargoyle, enchanted by Amdapori magic, inset with Wardstones to make it effective against voidsent in the War of the Magi, she assumed. Fortunately, between their skill with ninjutsu, despite the stone being highly resistant to their poor blades, dinged and damaged from assaulting stone creatures, they managed to exhaust the statue’s animating magicks.

Prying the still-gleaming stones from the statue, Hali made one last attempt to contact Naoh, asking how to work the stones, and what she could do with three, rather than one. There was no response. Wherever they were in Amdapor, they were cut off entirely from the outside world. She and Kaori decided to beat a hasty retreat, vowing to return in the future in order to pursue their goals in that wondrous place.

When they neared the entrance to the Lost City, Hali’s heart jumped into her throat as a familiar presence became apparent in the patterns of aether around her: Dahlia. However, it was not simply her Moon. Her aethereal presence had all but winked out, and swirling about it in a writhing, chaos mass was the void-tainted aether of the voidsent that had possessed her, driving Hali to their task in the Lost City in the first place. Kaori and Hali immediately followed their shinobi instincts and made themselves scarce, watching the warped woman, clad in a strange outfit and mask, descend the stairs toward the landing where Hali has used her Vanishing jutsu to hide herself from him.

“Naras... wasn’t it? Come out...” the possessed woman crooned in an unmistakably male voice.

Hali’s heart pounded in her hiding spot. Dahlia’s form had shifted ever-so-slightly in the imbalance between her aether and that of her possessor. Her normally-mis-matched green and brown eyes had turned a deep red, one darker than the other, the edges dark and almost sunken. Her nails had grown into long, sharp claws, and she had a terrible, deathly pallor to her. The voice that came from her was not her own. It was Mirseleiris.

Securing the stones to herself as she frantically called Naoh for help over a linkshell that she knew Dahlia did not have, she was given an idea: all she had to do was get them close, so if she could grapple Mirseleiris, the stones would be able to do their work and suppress him, forcing him into stasis within Dahlia and giving her back her body and her control so long as they remained near. From time to time, she threw a small rock, skipping it on the stone stairs to make it seem as though she was sloppily fleeing further into the city. Fortunately, it seemed to distract the voidsent.

“[Kaori,]” she had said in Hingan over that same shell, “[I am going to do something very stupid. I am counting on you to back me up.]”

“[I will do what I feel is necessary,]” the other shinobi had said, adding, “[Trust me.]” Trust was something Hali had learned to put in Kaori. Though she could hardly trust the whole of the world - it was, after all, most assuredly out to get her in any way possible - she trusted Kaori to be able to handle things, every time.

Having slowly climbed atop the archway above the city’s entrance, she leaped from it, using a Shukuchi to rapidly get closer to Mirseleiris as he searched for her, taunting her. Arms wide, one Wardstone tied tightly to each of her palms and one affixed to the chainmail beneath her ningi, she attempted to embrace Dahlia’s possessed form, only to have the voidsent controlling her move her quickly away.

“Another new trick?” he crooned, then, realising what she had attempted to use, the proximity alone causing his head to spin, hissed, “Wardstones...”

Kaori, however, had been ready, and popped up from a ledge below the landing on which they had engaged Mirseleiris. Grabbing Dahlia’s ankles, she wrenched the Ishgardian’s legs from under her, causing the voidsent to tumble and temporarily release his grip on her. When she landed, it was Dahlia’s voice again, claws and eyes changing back slowly as Mirseleiris‘s presence faded.

However, when Hali straddled the girl, beginning to affix the Wardstones to her, she wound up in, she realised, a trap. Mirseleiris quickly took control of Dahlia again, one hand shooting forth to try and slash at her face and the other attempting to take her by throat. Thanks to Kaori’s quick reaction, smascking the first strike with the spine of her katana, the swipe only managed to tear part of Hali’ hood. However, the voidsent managed to take the heavyset Raen by the throat, choking her with vicious claws sinking into the skin at her neck.

Hali did everything she could not to lose control. It was chaos. It was fear. It was pain. It was rage. The thoughts had started to become murmurs, voices telling her what to do.

Kill her. Kill them both.

Knock her out.

Kill yourself.

She could hear Kaori, but no matter how she tries, she could not understand what she said amongst the din. Then, it got worse as a scream shook her very soul: Dahlia was screaming. Before her, Kaori had thrust the tip of her blade into the mage’s abdomen and drawn it clean, causing her to begin bleeding profusely.

“WHy... WOn’T... yoU... lEavE HeR?!” her body screamed in a disturbing dual voice, one belonging to Dahlia, the other to Mirseleiris, his grip slipping between the mageling’s intense pain and the Wardstones weakening him.

“W... why w- won’t... youhhhh...” Hali wheezed amongst the chaos and pain, before finally being released as Dahlia wrested control once more from her possessor. 

With the time the distraction gave her, she began fastening the second stone. The chaos in her head reached another crescendo as, Dahlia now fully in control and aware of her state, began screaming in agony again.

“Hali... Kel... help...! GahAHAhAHAhAhAHAHAAH!” she pleaded before Mirseleiris began to emerge again, mad dual-toned cackling beginning again, “She’s mine, mine!”

That tipped the scale in Hali’s head from fear to blind rage, and she screamed in response, “SHE’S MINE YOU WORTHLESS SHITSTAIN! SHE’S MINE! I’LL SODDING KILL YOU FOR THIS!” She couldn’t help, after the fact, remembering what she had yelled and how, deeply embarrassed at such melodrama, but she couldn’t help herself. Her mind was slipping, and fast.

“TheN If I cAn’T HAVe hER, I’Ll taKe hEr WIth mE!” the dual voice cackled maniacally, and the claws that had gone to Hali’s throat when, instead, to Dahlia’s poised to tear her own throat out in desperation.

Kaori had busied herself with activating pressure points and calling out to Dahlia, given Hali’s panicked and addled state, in order to try and help. At the same time, despite the start of a protestation from the other Raen, the hand holding the third stone rose, abandoning attempting to tie it to the girl’s choker, and came down hard on the side of her head, immediately knocking her out, as Hali, too, attempted a rather desperate manoeuvre, giving in to the voices as they screamed at her to do it, do it, do it, DO IT. 

Mirseleiris could tell what was coming and, instead of attempting to prevent it, lashed out one last time with claws and a kick, sending Hali reeling backward as not only did she gain two deep gashes across her nose and an eyebrow, she was hit in the death wound at her stomach, sending a massive cramp through her that caused her to lose her breath and fall over.

Silence, however, was the next sound, rain falling lightly upon the three, heavy breathing from them all following the struggle. Hali recovered just enough to carry Dahlia, and they managed to return to the Bountiful Chest. All three were in dire need of healing. Kaori’s arm was still in poor shape from the behemoth moth’s awful bites, and she had some minor wounds and inhalation of mould besides. Hali, too, suffered from inhaling the mould, though not as much, but the slashes across her face and puncture wounds around her neck required treatment. Dahlia’s were, thankfully, only superficial thanks to Kaori’s skill with her blade and proactive tactics, save for the concussion from Hali’s desperation.

Hali, once healed, could only lay in her bed in the medical ward and cry, her mind racing. They had done it. Dahlia could be safe - or even just relatively so while the stones were near or on her - until they had a more permanent solution. They had discovered in their hunt amazing things beyond description. Hali had a new lead into bettering herself, even to the point gaining the power to alter reality to her whim as she had seen done in Amdapor. Yet, she still could not stop panicking.

"Oh, gods, what did I do? She's going to hate me. This is all my fault... Fuck! Why did I say anything?! I knew he was listening! I shouldn't have done any of this... I should leave her alone, but... is she okay...?” she thought to herself on and off in a mad train of thought between bouts of panicked crying.

Slowly, eventually, once she had overheard that Dahlia had been healed and her concussion faded in the process, she shakily got up from her bed, sniffling, to move a few beds down toward hers. Silently padding across the floor on the other side of the curtain, she carefully climbed into the bed in which Dahlia slept. She curled up next to her and just cried, silent and shaking, almost afraid to touch her but still wanting to be close. Everything was still chaos. She needed something.

She’s not yours, you worthless creature; she is my Moon, and, with any luck, will always be mine.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

I was really struck by something I read in one of your earlier replies to an ask, which was "we’ll never know what Rachel would have done after the war ended", and I wondered if perhaps you may actually have some thought about what might have happened if she did? How WOULD Rachel, who thrived in war, adapt to the mundane life after?

Jake

After a while Rachel’s aunt and uncle get so used to her stopping by that they just make her a copy of their house key; it’s easier than answering the door all the time or leaving a window open for her, besides which they’re grateful because she’s there almost every day to bully Jake out of bed and into the world to go do something.  Most days it’s just attending Habitat for Humanity builds in the devastated areas downtown or visiting kids from the local hospital who idolize them both.  Rachel doesn’t mind dragging Jake out of his room at all, because while Tobias is good for taking random college classes or exploring new parts of the country with her, there are still plenty of stupid things that she can only talk Jake into doing.  Together they surf during hurricanes, skydive without parachutes, swim to the bottom of the ocean as orcas and throw themselves off cliffs as birds of prey.  

Rachel doesn’t pretend to understand what he’s going through, because she quite simply can’t—if she even tries to think about what it would be like if it was Jordan or Sarah she’d had to kill during that last battle, she tends to lose the ability to breathe.  But while she can’t give him empathy she can give him this: the scream of wind rushing past their bodies as they hurl toward the ground at nearly a hundred miles an hour, the incomparable thrill of the ground approaching them faster than an oncoming train, the moment of simple euphoria during that millisecond decision to once again open one’s wings and tell death not today.  He doesn’t smile much, and never laughs, but that’s always been true to some extent.  She doesn’t concern herself with making him smile, but with forcing him to gasp for air in his refusal to give up on life, to morph when not doing so would mean drowning in the cold Pacific, to swerve a second away from spattering on the ground.  Because she’s the only one who understands the power of those moments to make them forget everything in the world except the heady rush of being so goddamn alive they can barely even stand it.

Marco

It’s strange, really, how tough and showy they can be around each other most of the time… and how vulnerable they can become when no one else is around.  Rachel’s pretty sure she’s the only one who ever saw Marco cry after they all watched Eva’s body tumble hundreds of yards to its apparent death, and she knows for certain that she’s the only one to whom he says “it’s like we never really got her back at all,” the day his parents announce their divorce.  In public Rachel and Marco become even more themselves, one-upping each other to see who can come out with the most embarrassing story in round after round of interviews and bantering at lightning speed as live studio audiences laugh and cheer.  Rachel gives a hysterical, exaggerated account of Marco’s failed attempt at gatecrashing William Roger Tennant’s award banquet; Marco comes back with a heroic narrative of how his llama-self saved an entire television studio from the crocodile Rachel conveniently forgot to mention she had puked out backstage.  When talking about the time Helmacrons invaded Marco’s nose, they each manage to make the whole mess entirely into the other one’s fault.  

In private, they sit on the back porch of Marco’s primary house once a week and work their way through a bottle of triple sec they’re definitely too young to own.  It’s during those long evenings as the sun sets over the Newport Beach mansions that they air the things to each other they’ve never told a living soul before.  Marco talks about the hard bright-edged joy of watching 17,000 yeerks sucked into space and only being able to imagine their screams.  Rachel confesses to having cried herself to sleep after she and Ax dropped David on that island.  They air their sickest thoughts, lance their most pus-rotted wounds, spew poison at each other because they know that they are both strong enough (hard enough, cold enough, ruthless enough) to take it and give back in turn.

Cassie

Rachel’s honestly not sure how far Cassie would have gotten, politically, if not for her help.  Because that girl might have passion and conscience and common sense to spare, but Rachel’s not sure she’s met a more appearance-clueless person in her life.  The world of politics runs on fashion and makeup, though, especially if one happens to be a woman, and any time Cassie’s about to go tell the United Nations why they need to update the Universal Declaration of Human Rights today to include the hork-bajir and taxxons, or to scold Congress into giving the ex-hosts war reparations and not murder charges, Rachel is there in the background helping.  She shows Cassie the power of stalking into a room in a pair of towering heels, the ways to make a string of pearls or a Chanel handbag into a weapon of power.  Cassie laughs incredulously every time Rachel shows up at her house with a literal truckload of perfectly-tailored business suits and evening gowns, but over time she starts to understand just how much her reputation for being as elegant as she is fierce can work in her favor.  

Rachel, in turn, starts to put out patents for the kind of clothes Cassie would love: comfortable and practical items that can be worn for years without needing replacement.  Rachel figures that if she’s an international trendsetter already (and she is: her line of perfume makes millions every year, while black leotards are debuting on Paris runways) then she might as well have her best friend and the world of high fashion meet in the middle.  Of course Rachel doesn’t explicitly mention that her patent-leather pumps with arch support and heel padding are inspired by the experience of trying on Cassie’s Timberlands, or that her choice of size-16 models for all her advertisements comes from making dresses that would fit Cassie and sizing up or down from there.  But what’s most amazing to her is that the other dressmakers and shoe lines start to emulate her choices, emphasizing the comfort and sturdiness of everything they make even as they tout it as “cutting edge.”  If Rachel has dragged Cassie into being a fashion icon, then it turns out Cassie might just have dragged Rachel into being a social justice warrior along the way.

Ax

Ax seems somewhat dumbfounded when Rachel explains that there’s an Earth tradition that any ship’s captain can perform a marriage ceremony, and that even if there’s no law on the books about this particular power she wants him to do it anyway.  She’s not sure herself how her and Tobias’s small private ceremony (at least, that was the intention) has grown so much, but even she has to admit that somewhere between the 230-person guest list, the custom chuppah to be hand-embroidered by a team of local artists, the five-tier cake imported from a German bakery, and the dress which is personally designed by Alexander McQueen, things might have gotten slightly out of hand.  Ax takes the duties very seriously, practicing the strange mouth sounds he has to recite more than once in advance and promising solemnly that he will not eat any of the cake until Rachel and Tobias have had the chance to cut it.  

He serves as their best man as well (probably breaking with tradition, not that they care) and the speech he makes afterward is surprisingly heartfelt.  «There has been no greater honor in my life than to fight by your side,» he tells them, «and I owe you both my life many times over.  I owe you more than that, of course, for you have made this strange planet my home when I came to you lost and alone.  I am not sure what humans traditionally wish for each other with a bond such as this, so I will wish you this much: may your lives be long, may your battles be easily won, may you be loved and feared in equal measure, and may your chili always be perfectly seasoned.» 

Tobias

It’s not like they get jobs, or hold down formal obligations, or do anything more structured than attend occasional classes at UCSB or consult with the fashion agency that sends Rachel freelance checks.  So there’s really no reason they can’t continue their odd lifestyle, only in the same form at the same time for two hours at most.  At least, that’s how it is for the first several years… and then one day Rachel comes out of the bathroom, a tiny white stick in her hand, and they both realize their lives are never going to be the same again.  Tobias is terrified, of course: he’s been abandoned (voluntarily or not) by two parents, four guardians, and countless authority figures, and he’s got no reason to believe he’ll be any different.  But he knows what the first step will be in committing to raising this baby for real.  And so he morphs human for the very last time.  

In the years that follow, after their daughter eventually gets a little brother as well, Rachel and Tobias become more boring than they ever could have hoped for.  Rachel starts working full-time as a fashion designer, while Tobias finishes an advanced degree in graphic design and gets a job with the marketing branch of the same company.  They go to PTA meetings and teach their daughter softball, buy a sedan with good gas mileage and a two-story house in Mendocino County where the reporters can’t find them.  They still get restless sometimes, leaving the kids with Loren or Sarah for a week or two at a time to go white-water rafting on the Colorado River or to climb mountains in Tanzania, but they always miss the kids enough to come home before long.  They donate thousands of dollars to end world hunger every year, and they fundraise millions more.  Someday they’ll retire.  Someday after that they’ll die.  For now, however, they’re alive, and that’s enough.  

[jsmulligan]

Firebrand

Three figures stood in the Tower courtyard, near the opening overlooking the City.  Two were women and were dressed in full battle gear, minus their helmets.  One was human with long read hair pulled up in two pigtails.  The other was an Awoken, green hair pulled messily up on the back of her head.  The third figure was a red-haired human male and wore casual clothing.  Despite that, he was still noticeably bigger than his armored companions.  Hunter Celeste Etain, Warlock Zillah Arvid, and Titan Claney Beamard had been through quite a bit that day, but more stood in store for one of them.

“See ya, kiddo,” Claney told Celeste.  “If you do end up leaving the Tower, come find me first, okay?”

“You're really going to milk this 'dad' thing for all it's worth, aren't you?” the red-haired women teased.  She gave the man a quick hug, then looked at Zillah.  She opened her mouth as if she was going to say something, but hesitated.  “See ya,” she said eventually, then turned and walked away.

After several steps she glanced back, looking at the other two.  Zillah and Claney had turned away from her and were facing the Traveler, engaged in conversation.  Celeste's brows pulled together and she pursed her lips.  Something about the situation did not sit right with her.  

Claney she had known for years and was family to her.  The only family she had since being revived as a Guardian by her Ghost, Whisper.  Sure, due to the nature of her unusual situation, there had been a few other people that had helped watch her when Claney was on missions, but she had never felt a real connection with them.  The big man had been there when she had been revived, had protected her, cared for her, and helped train her.  Well, as best as a Titan could, anyway.

Zillah, on the other hand, she had only known for a short time.  She had met the Warlock while the Awoken woman was on a mission with Claney. Zillah had been nothing but rude to the both of them for most of the time they had known her.  There was always a bit of a rivalry between Hunters and Warlocks, and the two groups did not always get along, but it went beyond that.  The Warlock had seemed to have an authentic dislike for her and Claney.

Somewhere, though, things had changed.  Celeste had noticed differences in the way the other two spoke to each other and their body language.  Even now, as they stared at the Traveler hanging over the Last City, they were standing close, each seemingly at ease with the other.

It made the Hunter uncomfortable, and she could not quite place why.  Her eyes narrowed, then she shook her head, chasing away the line of thought.  She had left the other two to go visit someone else, and need to follow through on that.  With a last look, Celeste turned and headed for the residential section of the Tower.

The apartment she was looking for was very familiar to her.  She had called it home for a little while herself, and now someone else was having to do the same.  Not long ago, another Ghost had made the same error hers had and revived a Guardian that was too young to be allowed in the field.  Of course, Astrid was even younger than she had been, and had quite a different personality.  

Celeste had bounced around a few homes when she was young, many people not being up to the task of dealing with a teenage with the power of a Guardian.  Finally, she'd ended up with Mr. and Mrs. Anusky, and it had mostly worked.  Having had some success with Celeste, the couple had agreed to take Astrid under their roof as well.  It had not been quite as smooth a transition as everyone hoped, but last time Celeste had stopped by, things seemed to be settling in to some form of equilibrium.  She only hoped it had held.

When Celeste reached the apartment, the man and woman greeted her warmly. Celeste may not have bonded with them the same way she had Claney, but she did like them.  Each time she saw them now, she was surprised to see how much they seemed to have aged since she first entered their home.  In her mind, they always looked like they did when she was brought to their door, the fourth such couple to try to take her in.

After catching up briefly, they told Celeste that Astrid had been invited to sleep over with a friend from school, and that they had reluctantly agreed after much cajoling from the tiny Titan.  They pointed her in the right direction, and the Hunter made her way to the friend's home.  When she got there, she was in for another bit of news when the mother of the friend said that Astrid had told her daughter that she was sick and was not going to be able to come over after all.

“Oh, I'm sorry.  I must have missed the update on that one,” Celeste responded with a smile, trying not to let her surprise show.  “Sorry to bother you, ma'am.”

The door closed, and Celeste spun around on her heels and set off down the hallway.  Astrid had the Anusky's convinced she was with a friend, but told the friend that she was home.  She wanted to be somewhere with no one the wiser, and the Hunter had a pretty good idea where that might be.

When she first met Astrid, she had shown the younger girl every secret place she had discovered among the Tower.  All the ways she had discovered to make living here bearable when everything inside you longed be out doing other things.  One place in particular had seemed to catch Astrid's fancy.

After The Battle of Twilight Gap, much of the Wall had been abandoned, along with the towers that guarded it.  Some had since seen minimal use, including the Bannerfall Crucible field.  As a teen, Celeste had found an old, abandoned tunnel that led to one of the other Towers. These structures were made to be fortifications, so down below the ground, each had a large, very solid bunker built as a last refuge for fleeing civilians.  It was in that bunker that Celeste had practiced and honed her Light away from prying eyes and ears.  Astrid had taken to the place immediately, relishing the opportunity to unleash her abilities.

Celeste picked her way through the tunnel, climbing over some rubble and wriggling her way through other portions while remembering how much easier it had been to squeeze through a few years back.  Whisper flew over her shoulder, illuminating the way and twitching nervously.  The Ghost had never liked her coming here, always concerned that it would collapse and keep them pinned with no way out.

Finally she reached the other tower and climbed down the few flights of stairs to the bunker.  She had anticipated hearing the pop of gunfire, the small explosion of Light fueled grenades, or small, armored fists smashing things, but she heard nothing.  She pushed the door open and found the room empty.  Now that was unexpected.

“Whisper, ping Astrid's Ghost,” she ordered, double checking the room to make sure the younger Guardian was not just hidden away somewhere.

Whispers shell expanded and rotated around his central ball of Light.  Seconds stretched on before he collapsed back into himself.

“Guardian Astrid is not in the Tower.”

Thrall spit, Celeste cursed inwardly, whirling out of the room and heading for the surface.  No need to cross through the tunnel now, she could exit the current tower and search the vicinity.

Celeste stopped only long enough to fire off a quick message to Claney:

Old man,

Popping out of the Tower to track something down.  Should be back soon.  No fighting with the Rainbow Death Squad while I'm gone.

Celeste

That taken care of, she set off to try to find Astrid.  She just hoped the little munchkin had not gone too far from home on her own.  She had Whisper transmat her sparrow down to speed things up.

“Keep scanning for her,” she told the Ghost.  “I don't care if we set off Fallen sensors, but try not to send anything toward the Tower. Don't want them thinking there's a Guardian in trouble and sending anyone else out.”

“Or, maybe we do and someone else deals with the Fallen in the dark?” the Ghost asked hopefully.

“No. We find her on our own and keep it quiet.”

They searched for hours.  She only had to dodge fire from Fallen snipers three times, which seemed like a strangely low number.  She was considering giving up and admitting they might need to contact someone when Whisper finally made contact.

“I've got her.  No sign that she has noticed us yet.”

“Good. Mark her on the HUD, please,” Celeste told the Ghost.  She nodded when the white marker appeared.  The Hunter dismounted her sparrow and began walking.  Behind her, the machine disappeared as the Ghost transmatted back into whatever pocket dimension hoodoo the machines used to store their Guardians gear.

Hunters possess unmatched stealth capabilities among the different classes of Guardians.  Some more than others.  Bladedancers, for example, have cloaking technology allowing them to virtually disappear. Nightstalkers, like Celeste, have a similar ability even if their version is a bit showier in execution.  She threw down a small bomb, the resulting smoke covering her and rendering her practically invisible.  Thus concealed, she sprinted toward the glowing point on her HUD.

She slowed as she drew near, not wanting the sound of her approach to give her away.  Astrid had been moving as well, though at a more leisurely pace.  At last, Celeste drew close enough to catch sight of the young girl.

Astrid was clad in the armor her Ghost had manufactured for her at resurrection.  She had her scout rifle she had brought with her to the Tower as well, though it was currently slung across her back carelessly.  She was walking along the remains of a crumbled wall, placing one foot in front of the other and holding her arms straight out at the side to help maintain her balance.  From time to time she came to a missing section and would hop across, landing on one foot. One jump she seemed to misjudge, but managed to use Lift to course correct and continue on.

Astrid reached the end of the wall, then swung her weapon around into firing position.  Celeste grabbed her Uzume RR4 and aimed through the sight, trying to see what had caught Astrid's attention.  Lined up in a row were several makeshift targets.  Buckets rested on top of smooth, straight sticks.  Brooms, maybe? Below, other things like sticks, rope, or cloth were attached to simulate armor and two arms on each side of the body.  Stick Fallen. Celeste watched Astrid as she aimed and fired, missing with her first shot.

“Thrall spit!” the little Guardian shouted, then fired again.  

This time she managed to punch a hole in one of the buckets, which brought a loud whoop.  The Titan thrust her fist in the air, which caused her to lose her balance.  She steadied herself, then fired off several more shots, hitting more than she missed.  She was improving. Celeste was impressed.

Once the last target was down, Astrid slung the gun back over her shoulder and started to make her way back along the wall.  She turned back toward Celeste and froze.  She stood still for a second, then took a few cautious steps forward.  Moving quicker than the Hunter had ever seen her move before, she swung the gun back around and fired right at Celeste.

Celeste dodged just in time, the bullet plowing into the ground right where she had been laying.  When she looked back up, Astrid had jumped from the wall and was approaching her position, scout rifle at the ready. The Hunter was baffled.  How had Astrid seen that she was there, and why was she attacking her?

“I know you're there.” the Titan muttered to herself, the muzzle of her rifle sweeping from side to side.  “You picked the wrong target, Vandal.”

Celeste accidentally kicked a rock, making a scuffing noise.  The young girl swung to her left and fired off a shot in her general direction.  As quietly as possible, Celeste scuttled back in the original direction before speaking just in case Astrid reacted to another sound by pulling the trigger again.  No need to take a bullet if it was not necessary.  

“Not a Fallen,” she called out.  “I even have the hood back home to prove it.”

“Celeste?” Astrid questioned, lowering her gun.

The Hunter stood with her hands raised and the grenade's invisibility wore off.  When Astrid saw her, she dropped her gun and sprinted toward Celeste with a laugh, slamming into her mid-section and wrapping her arms fiercely around her.  The force of the impact drove them both to the ground.  Celeste had the wind knocked out of her, but when she could breathe again, she laughed along with her.

Astrid suddenly stopped laughing and popped up, before crossing her arms over her chest and sitting forcefully on Celeste's stomach, causing the older Guardian to have to catch her breathe again.  “Why were you going to shoot me?”

“What do you mean?” Celeste gasped.  “You shot at me.”

“No,” Astrid argued, “I shot at a scope glint.  You were aiming at me.”

Celeste let out an involuntary laugh of disbelief.  Astrid growled and raised a fist as if she was going to punch her.

“I wasn't aiming at you,” Celeste got out finally.  “I was looking through the scope to see what you were shooting at.  I thought you might be in trouble.  Nice targets, by the way.”

“Oh,” the Titan said sheepishly after mulling it over for a second, then hopped up.

“Now it's your turn to answer a question,” the Hunter stated as she climbed back to her feet.  “What are you doing out here?”

“Duh. Target practice.  You saw,” the Titan retorted, waving her hand in the general direction of her make-shift Fallen.

“Yes, but why are you out HERE?  Why not just use the bunker or one of the other rooms I showed you?  And why did you lie to the Anusky's about a sleepover?”

“Ugh,” the child moaned, throwing her hands up in the air.  “Because it's sooooo boring in there.  The same rooms.  The same walls.  All.  The. Time.  And I lied to them because they would never have let me come out here alone.”

“With good reason,” Celeste responded.  “You know the Fallen are more active at night.”

“I'd come during the day if I could sneak out of the Tower then,” Astrid grumbled a reply.

“That's... You would... You know that's not what I meant,” Celeste managed stammered out, exasperated.  “You think it was easy for me to stay in there all the time?  I'm a HUNTER!  Everything inside me screams to be out here roaming around and exploring.  But I stayed there because I knew it was what I was supposed to do.”

“Well, I'm not you.”

There it was.  Despite Cayde's hope that the two would get along famously since they were both revived so young, that was the ultimate truth. Despite the one similar circumstance behind their revival, Celeste and Astrid were very different.  

Celeste had no memory of her life before her resurrection, of course, but nothing had made her think she had any history of being a combatant before she died.  She had struggled to learn how to handle firearms. Resisted the idea of her life being war and struggles.  Astrid, however, came with some skill with a rifle.  She arrived with knuckles scarred from unremembered brawls.  She took to combat training faster than a lot of adult Guardians.  Whatever life she had lived before her untimely death, it had not been easy and had left a mark on the young girl.  

“I know that, Astrid.”  Celeste dropped to one knee to get down to the smaller Guardian's eye level and placed a hand on her shoulder.  “I know you see the world differently than I did.  I just don't want anything to happen to you.  Plus, imagine how Mr. and Mrs. Anusky would feel if you slipped out when they were supposed to be taking care of you and something did happen?”

“I didn't think about that,” the tiny Titan admitted.  “Please don't tell them I lied?

“I won't,” Celeste replied, then her voice dropped into a conspiratorial whisper.  “Tell you what.  I've got an idea that we can run by Cayde.  It will let you get out of the Tower, let you get the practice you need in honing your skills and abilities, but it will keep you safe at the same time.”

“I'm listening,” Astrid replied.

…

The next day.  A three versus one standoff just outside the Hall of Guardians.

“No absolutely not!” Lord Shaxx objected strenuously.  This had to be the worst idea he had heard in years.

“Come on, Shaxx,” Cayde-6, Hunter Vanguard, cajoled.  “You know it's safe.  Mostly.  Wild Child here's a Guardian, so we know she has the ability.  Plus, imagine the look on some Guardian's face when they run in to her!”

“No,” the Crucible Handler stated again, crossing his arms over his massive chest.

Astrid jumped up on the table in front of the big man and mirrored his stance, olive eyes boring a hole through his helmet.  The two stood that way for several minutes, seemingly staring each other down, the only change being a narrowing of Astrid's eyes.

“Fine,” Lord Shaxx, almost Iron Lord, hero of the Twilight Gap relented, throwing his hands up.  “She can go in the Crucible.  Once.  Just to see how it goes.  I make no promises beyond that.”

Astrid whooped and jumped up and down, while Celeste and Cayde shared a grin.  Shaxx suddenly pointed a meaty finger at the little Titan, which stopped her jumping.

“One thing,” he stated firmly.  “No crying.  There's no crying in my Crucible.  I repeat, there's no.  Crying.  In my Crucible.”

“Tell the other Guardians that,” Astrid grinned.

…

Later that day.  Widow's Court, European Dead Zone.

The Warlock spun nervously, searching for his target.  He knew he had seen something move, but was detecting nothing.  A laugh from behind sent a chill up his spine, and he whirled around, three rounds leaping from his pulse rifle.  Nothing.  Suddenly, a blur.  Something small dashed around a barricade that was not big enough for anyone to use for cover and clipped his knee.  He crashed to the ground hard. Rolling over, he saw the most absurd thing he could recall ever seeing.  A Titan about half his size was standing over him, a battered Jigoku SR3-SL held near her hip. Bewildered, he could only watch as she cocked back her fist, unleashing a devastating punch with a laugh.

More Guardians took shots and punches directly to the knee that match than in any previously recorded Crucible match.  By the end of the battle, the entire Bravo team was limping and trying desperately to find high ground.  After taking yet another blow to the knee, that Warlock let out a little whimper.

“Yes!” Lord Shaxx's voice rang out,  “Make them cry!”

...

I usually space my posts out a bit more, but since I posted the other Astrid entry, I was getting antsy to share this one too.  I probably should have waited, since I haven’t written in months and am running out of content.

Some explaination: this is a follow up to the last post, “New Kid on the Block”, it takes place between chapters 17 and 19 of my novel length fiction “A Not So Simple Patrol” (https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11990180/1/A-Not-So-Simple-Patrol), and, once again, Astrid belongs to @yourspunkpunk