Group projects suck

journal update because I haven’t done one of those for a hot minute!!!

vet stuff: vet has Tiber back on a prescription diet following a lack full of improvement in his stools after his last tummy bug treatment.

he’s been on it for like a week and is already doing so much better tho! definitely happy even if getting the food is a pain in the ass and expensive. vet is trying to get us discounts for the food but there have been issues with getting that to go through, so that’s on hold for now much to the dismay of dadtiber’s wallet.

he’s been protesting the Sidewalk Snack Stopper. we did training to make sure he we comfy and happy with the muzzle but he has opinions lol. he’s happy to put it on and wear it around but I get pouty sits and dirty looks every time it actually prevents him from eating trash and poop.

he just sits down and makes the most affronted faces lol.

he’s also got a new lump we’re keeping an eye on this week, but vet thinks it’s benign and just some inflammation around a possible bruise. unfortunately she couldn’t prescribe the usual anti-inflammatory since last time Tiber had it, it made him sick. and she said he’s a bit young for her to want to put him on steroids. but he doesn’t seem to be in any pain, so just slower recovery time and monitoring for now.

she’s also got him trying a little natural anti-anxiety medication. tbh I’m a little frustrated at having to do the otc options first, since we’ve tried various sprays and calming treats already, but I get that she wants us to try all our options first before SSRIs. and she seems concerned also about introducing a new med to his system while we’re still sorting out the Tummy Troubles.

I am mostly just worried since we’re moving overseas spring of next year, and I think starting anxiety meds will really help with his home alone training, which will help in case we need to transport him via cargo.

I am starting the process of sorting out all his travel paperwork and vaxxes and also looking into options for cabin travel and boy oh boy are they expensive.

he’s just a tad heavier than where most airlines cut off for pets as carry ons, so having to look into either boutique airlines with higher weight limits or booking a private charter. which even if sharing costs with other people flying pets, is still gonna run north of 7k. 😭

the current boutique options are still in the thousands, and looking like I’m gonna have to do some road-tripping with him down to Europe and then fly from there to the states and then road-trip from NJ to wherever we end up on top of that.

and that’s IF we’re in the states lmao. dadtiber’s work might also put him in Japan (which he would love to get and is trying hard for) so we’re still going to be up in the air about where we’re moving for a while.

yay me for having to sort out several different moving contingencies for puppy lmao. it would be so much easier and affordable to send him via checked baggage or cargo, but god I know it would probably traumatize him. and we’d prefer to be able to choose to just pay the expense for the best option for *him* over us. but goddamn. 7-10k$ is. tough.

but I’ve got a year to work on it so fingers crossed either I find a more affordable option or can get his separation and confinement anxiety managed. (realistically trying to find a cheaper travel option is gonna be more feasible even if it’s near impossible let’s face it lmao Tiber is like 17 anxieties and a bad tummy in a dog-shaped trench coat :’))

but!!! time for fun update stuff!!!

he has been learning to bring the ball back reliably when we play fetch! I figured out finally that throwing the ball again was a better reward for him than treats, but I’m too slow to throw it again for him to make the connection that bring-to-me equals ball-goes-again-asap until I tried using two balls that I could throw immediately once he dropped it. such a simple solution lol but he finally got it! we’ve been having much more fun at the park now. I think he’s liking having the high energy activity, and I like that throwing a ball takes less energy out of me than longer walks.

he is learning to be a better snuggler! 🥰 finally figuring out how to cuddle up instead of sitting on you in the most inconvenient and uncomfortable ways. he does still come to sit on you though sometimes. his favorite way of comforting me if I seem tired or upset is still to put his butt on my head.

his recall has been improving lots too, and he’s consistently polite on the lead now too. still having trouble being *neutral* about other dogs, but he’s being much more polite now, and won’t run over without permission. very proud of him! it’s also kind of funny to watch the gears turn in his brain too. he will usually sit down like “mom I’m being so good and calm see sitting down very calm PLS PLS PLS can I go play with other dog now????? if I stay extra still and make good eye contact with you I can go play??”

reintroducing his crate is going nicely too. I haven’t worked up the bravery on my part yet to do more than just close the door and immediately reopen it on him, but he goes to hang out there frequently and happily now. so glad that at least he seems to feel consistently positive about it now.

it’s just been so nice watching him grow up into himself and spending lots of time hanging out with him and doing Tiber things. I’m loveb him so much. he is the silliest goose.

these last few weeks have been a bit rough since dadtiber and I have both been sick, so we’ve been exhausted by him. but even when we’re run ragged he really is just a good little companion. just the neatest little guy! in my home! licking my knees! dogs are great man. Tiber is best puppy.

One year

a dreamsmp x reader where a young (y/n) wants to rebuild an old old kingdom before they have to be crowned to rule over their parents kingdom. with the help of their friends and a couple of servants, they hope to rebuild it all with out their parent knowing about it.

part one part 2 part 3

part 2/?

masterlist

The lovely @acidicvolt edited this!

this part is just traveling and fluff lmao. it'll pick up in the others <3

this series is so much fun to write, I'm really enjoying it

word count: 2,215

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It had reached midnight, the sun long gone and nearly everyone in the castle was asleep, except for three. Karl and Niki made their way to the teens room, which was at the opposite end of the castle.

"Are you sure the king’s asleep? They have been on edge as of late…” Niki said, walking alongside Karl. Karl nods, clutching the bag he always wore. 

“Yeah, checked and everything. He's out like a light.” 

Niki nods, sighing. “Thank god he sleeps on the other side of the castle. We'd be dead if he found out we were helping his kid like this.” 

Karl nods again, looking ahead at where they were going.

In the young teens room, everything was prepared for their expedition. They packed appropriate clothes to sneak around, fight and blend in with. They had food, tools/weapons, along with the letters, money, and the lmanburg page. They were ready and excited to embark on this adventure.

Niki quietly knocks on the door, opening it a crack. Seeing that (y/n) was alone, she walks in, followed by Karl who closes the door behind them. (y/n) sighed, thankful it wasnt Eret. 

“So, you know the plan?” they ask. 

Niki nods, holding onto her own bag. 

"Okay, I'm staying behind to tell the king you two went on a camping trip for the next year or so. Somewhere in the middle of the woods where he can't check in to see where you are." Karl says to the two of them. 

"Thank you again Karl for doing that. " (y/n) says, leading Niki to their window. "Niki, you know enough of the plan right?" They asked, grabbing the ladder they had in case they ever needed to escape. 

"Yeah. We're heading to Tommy’s castle first right?" She asked, watching as (y/n) opened their window. A soft breeze entered the room. 

"Yep! Then we'll try to find Tubbo. Ready?" (y/n) said, hooking the ladder to the window and throwing it out the castle, trying to not make a noise. 

(y/n) looked down. It wasn't too high up, but it was still a bit scary. They looked back at the two servants, nodding. “Karl, when we reach the ground, bring the ladder back up and close the window. I'll go first. Again, thank you Karl, see you in a year!” with that, (y/n) climbed out the window onto the ladder. the two servants nodded, Niki going over to the window, watching the teen start to climb down the wobbly ladder. 

Once (y/n) got far enough down, they waved their hand for Niki to go after them. Niki smiled over at Karl. “It was nice meeting you, Karl.” she said, making the brunette smile as well. “It was! See you in a year Niki! Take care.” she nodded, grabbing her bag, making sure nothing was left behind. Once she saw everything was in check, she went down, following her new friend.

“Man, I should've worn a thicker sweater.” Niki said, finally reaching the ground. “Yeah, I should've checked before we left. Too late now though.” (y/n) responds, watching as the ladder slowly shrank back up into their room. The two of them waved at Karl, who smiled back at them. “Alright, where to go first? We can't just go straight to the tundra.” Niki said, watching as (y/n) looked around. It was still pretty dark out, so they hoped it wouldn't turn a day before they even left the castle grounds. “Well we need to find some transportation for when we exit the forest. Cant be going thru town, it's too early for that.'' Niki nodded, looking over at the forest. “Got any torches?” (y/n) asked the pinkett. Niki nodded, shuffling into her bag, pulling out an unlit torch and lighter. “Yep, need one?” (y/n) shook their heads. “Only one of us needs one for now, well just gotta stay close together. Let's go, we can't stay here forever.” (y/n) says, chuckling softly. “Of course! Let's go!”

The two of them entered the forest close to the castle, leaving it behind. (y/n) had no regrets, they knew they needed this, even if eret forbid them. Niki was excited, she hadn't gone on an adventure since she was small, so it was a nice change of pace.

“Yknow (y/n), we’ve never actually met properly before this. Only in passing.” she said, stepping over a thick tree root. (y/n) followed, nearly tripping. “Really? I didn't notice. Though, i was held up in my room for awhile there.” they said, looking at all the trees that encased the two of them. No matter how many years go by, they still found nature to be beautiful. “Yeah, I did become one of the king's cooks when you were 16, not too long ago.” she said,pulling a branch up for (y/n) to walk past. “Oh thank you. What were you doing before then? Before you started working for my dad.” Niki thought for a second before answering. 

“Well, i was only 18 when he hired me, so i was doing what any kid did at that time. For a while I took up gardening, growing many types of flowers, though they all ended up dying after a while.” she said. (y/n) stopped, noticing the forest was ending. “i did gardening as well when i was young child. Made many flower crowns and such with them.” Niki gasped excitedly at this. “Maybe we can make flower crowns together!! I haven't done it in so long..” (y/n) smiled. ‘Of course we can! We have a whole year after all!” they laughed together, looking out at the forest in front of them. “God I hope your mom doesn't fire me when this is all over…” (y/n) looks over at Niki, giving her a reassuring smile. “Well good thing I'll be the ruler when we get back. You're not getting fired on my watch.” Niki smiled at this. “Thank you (y/n)...should we go now?” (y/n) nodded, looking ahead once more.

The two of them continue to walk, leaving the small forest behind. “Okay, we should be in a farm area. The houses are spaced out so no one should see us. Should take a half hour to an hour to get through. There should be a train station after that. It'll take us to the arctic kingdom." Niki nodded, grabbing some bread from her bag. "Bread?" (Y/n) shook their heads, declining. "I ate before we left. Thanks tho." 

They both walked through the field, the torches flame flickering as they walked. There were no monsters around, since there hadn't been any around the area in 100s of years. They were safe. 

Niki looked at some of the farmland, noticing they had to walk through some of it. (Y/n) noticed it as well. "How do we get through there? They'll notice someone was here in the morning." (Y/n) said, not completely knowing how to get by. "Got any ender pearls?"  

(y/n) thought for a second, looking in their bag for some. “Oh, looks like I do! Got a bag full of ‘em.'' They hand some to Niki, who throws it over the larger field, hoping to get over without touching the wheat. (y/n) followed, both of them successfully getting across the farm.

“I am so glad that worked.” (y/n) said, putting the pearls back in their bag. Niki nodded, sighing. “Is the trans station past those trees?” she asked, pointing towards the small strip of trees not too far ahead of them. “Yeah, behind there's the train station. An old friend of mine runs it. Lets go!” 

The two of them basically run across the field, not wanting to waste a second of their time. The sun would rise at any moment, and they really wanted to get out of town before it rose. 

They had reached the trees, their original torch being burnt out from all the running. Niki grabbed and lit another, the two of them heading into the small patch of trees to the train station.

The station wasn't too much to brag about, a boring old timey train station was all it was. There was no train in sight, making the (h/c) haired teen sigh. “Damnit, the train might not be here for another several hours.” they said, heading up to the platform. Niki followed, smiling slightly. “Could be worse. Not sure how much worse but it could be worse.” 

The two of them sat at a random bench in the area, looking at the map (y/n) had packed.

“So the kingdom is all the way over there, which is about 6 hours by foot. Taking the train would be around the same pass but we wouldn't be out in the open.” (y/n) says, pointing their finger along the route they need to take. “Is there a way to get there any faster?” (y/n) shrugged, looking over the map. “We could either go through the towns and such, or we could get some horses and get there that way. Wouldn't know how to get any of those, they're kinda rare in this area.'' Niki nodded, thinking for a second.

Both of their thoughts were cut off by someone's cheery voice. “Hello! It's been a long time, hasn't it (y/n)?” They looked over to see their old friend, Jack Manifold, approaching the two of them. (y/n) smiled, standing up and walking over to the said man. “Eyyyy Manifold! Good to see ya!” The two of them hug, separating soon after. (y/n) looked over at Niki. “Hey, have you met Niki?” Niki smiled, putting the map in her bag, standing up as well. “Indeed i have! To be fair, it was a brief interaction. “Nice to see ya, Niki.” 

She nodded. “Nice to see you too, Jack.” (y/n) smiled, looking back over at Jack.

"Jack, we need to get to the arctic kingdom, do you know when the trains coming back?" They asked the slightly smarter man. He nodded. "Won't be coming back till noon today. I'm just here because I forgot something." (Y/n) looked up at the sky. It was getting lighter out. They sighed, looking back down at Jack. "We can't wait that long. Know any other way to get out of town fast?" 

"Well, I could lend you my horse. Most of the time he just sits here and cry's." I looked at Niki, who seemed to be pleased with the offer. "Mind if we take him? We'll return him at some point obviously." Jack nodded, starting to go around the train station. "I'll be in the arctic kingdom a day or so from now, so you can return him then!" We follow Jack behind the station, where his horse sat tied up while eating some grass. 

"His name is thunder, good lad. Constantly sad tho." Jack unties the reins from the pole, handing them to Niki. "Say, what's your trip for anyway?"  Jack asked the two of them. (Y/n) answered. "We're going to see prince Tommy to recruit him to a project we're working on. Top secret stuff man." Jack nodded. "Seems fun. Might join you if I feel like it. Well, have fun you two." They nodded, Niki getting onto the horse and bringing him to the front of the station. "Oh, by the way. You can't tell anyone I was here, at least for the reason I am here. I know I've asked for a lot but if anyone asked, can you tell them I went camping somewhere in the woods?" 

Jack nodded, smiling at the teen. "It's fine, secret adventures are cool anyway. I'll keep your secret, now grab your stuff and have fun on your journey." They smiled, hugging the male. "Thanks Jack, I'll repay you eventually." They say while letting go of their friend. 

He nodded. "Anytime (y/n). Now go, Niki’s waiting." They nodded, running off to the front of the station. They spotted Niki on thunder, who held all our bags. I looked up at her. "You know how to ride a horse?" They asked, trying to get up onto the horse. Niki giggled, helping them up. "Yeah, I was taught when I was younger. Come on, gotta get out of here before the sun rises right?" (Y/n) smiled, latching onto Niki lightly, so as to not fall off. 

"Yeah, lets go!" They took off, running along the tracks. The sun rose as they went, turning the sky into a pinkish color. 

Niki slowed the horse down a bit, staring at the beautiful sky. "I love the sunrise…" (y/n) hummed in agreement, resting their head on Niki’s shoulder. 

"I haven't seen it in awhile. Always amazes me." Niki nodded, smiling softly. "Should we continue or just watch the sunrise?" (Y/n) chuckled, lifting their head off the woman's shoulder. "We should go. Maybe we could watch the sunrise tomorrow. 

Niki nodded, returning the horse to his original pace. 

They left towards a small path in the forest, leaving towards the arctic kingdom where they'll hopefully find the first person they need to reach. 

Hopefully.

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series tag list, ask if you wanna be added! 

@xx-smiley-xx 

You complaining about Memory Blank’s continuity made me remember Sam’s wish at the end & hope w she specified to keep the costume the same ‘cause she liked it. I checked the transcript and lo & behold: “I wish-- [Zoom out to show Desiree with her sledgehammer arm floating over Danny.] --Danny and I never had that fight! [Cut to Sam, adding in a l quick addition.] And I wish Danny, Tucker and I remembered everything and his costume stays the way it is because I really, really like it!”

oh shit I forgot about that

you know what that means tho, fuckin' YEET the alternate reality bubble theory out the window because that's just straight up genuine reality warping

which just... makes this whole continuity issue so much worse, fix one problem create another hnnnnnngggg, this makes Desiree SO fucking op like jesus christ, she can permanently warp reality, but I don't get why this isn't the case every time? because in a previous episode when she grants a wish she often does it by leaving an ectoplasmic entity behind to keep the wish powered

eg; Tucker Phantom, he and Paulina were both like infected with ectoplasmic entities to give them powers that make their wishes come true, (almost a little bit like what Spectra did in Doctor's Disorders) if Desiree can change time and reality then why does she need to leave pieces of mildly sentient ectoplasm behind in people? her powers didn't work like that with Danny, she straight up just changed his entire timeline

also Sam wishing they remembered everything definitely implies that nobody else would remember the reality weirdness that just happened so that's a thing, also wishing they never had that fight would just immediately negate everything that happened afterwards, hence once again changing the timeline, but changing the timeline without wiping their memories of what happened... but if the fight didn't happen then what reality filled the space?

if they didn't fight then Danny never lost his powers which meant the last few days where Sam was trying to convince him of what's going on just didn't happen, making it a big old hole in reality

what SHOULD have happened was after making that wish, they were transported back in time to before any of this happened, to the moment that they had that fight, it would have undone everything without making the continuity so confusing

anyway, we've got the answer for the logo sticking around, but now we are left with Desiree having super op and inconsistent reality warping powers and a hole in the timeline

if I could rewrite this episode I wouldn't JUST have made time shoot back to that fight when Sam wished it hadn't happened, I would also take full advantage of the fact that we'd have an entire episode that would be retconned by the end, which means you could do some super fun stuff

I'll expand on that under the cut

instead of Sam being just... The Worst and intentionally pushing Danny back into being a halfa without ever even acknowledging how kinda fucked up that is, we could have had Sam step into the portal herself

Desiree needs to be stopped, Sam is the only one who knows what needs to be done, Sam would feel guilty for being responsible for putting Danny into this stressful life in the first place, we could have had a very moving moment where Sam talks to Danny (who doesn't even know her) and asks him if he could be a ghost fighting superhero, would he?

and he says no, he has goals, he has dreams, he wouldn't throw them away to fight ghosts, that's his parents' dream, not his

and then Sam would have to make the decision to put that burden on herself, because she couldn't bear to force this life on her friend who finally has a chance to be normal again, and he just seems so happy

she would do this not knowing whether or not she would have a chance to go back to how it was, not for sure at least, she knows she could be sacrificing her ordinary life forever, she loves to be different and unique, but this isn't like being goth or going vegan, this is her whole life, literally half of it even

she would have to pull Danny and Tuck into the story in order to get to the portal, and she'd have to explain what's going on when she's the one who comes out as a half ghost

and could you imagine the scene where she has to unwish the wish? looking back at Danny like 'I could undo everything but it'll go back to how it was, and that's not fair to you, you never chose this'

and Danny would be like, he would feel responsible because he's seeing Sam get her ass kicked by monsters and he knows that this wasn't supposed to have happened to her, it was supposed to be him

so he's the one who makes the final wish to undo everything

becoming Phantom again, in the end, is his choice, and he chooses it because he doesn't want this girl to get hurt, a girl he doesn't know who apparently cared about him enough to sacrifice her normal ordinary life so that he could have one, and he makes this decision for himself because at his core he is a god damn hero and he cares

and he wouldn't forgive himself if he just let this girl take that responsibility for him, he wants to be the Danny that she knows, the Danny she cares about so much that she would make this sacrifice for him

it just HUUUGGHHHH it could have been so beautiful but instead we got Sam shoving her friend into a portal that she knew was going to kill him, and forcing him back into a half-life of stress and responsibility that he never wanted, but hey he has a cool new logo now! isn't that just neato!

— title : point of view

— word count : 3k words

— pairing : daryl dixon x reader

— summary : tomorrow is something that is never promised, less so when the dead walk the Earth. being trapped for the night when a storm pours down upon you and daryl while trapped in a decrepit house by a few walkers are you sick and tired of hiding what you feel.

— warnings : some swearing, talk of potential death ( of the reader ) , a wee bit of angst that turned into more at the end :)

note: omg another daryl oneshot i gotta chill ajksajksk, but i had like seven main bullet points i made to follow when writing this and i followed like...... two, three at the most, anyways.... enjoy? this is brought to u by ariana’s discography lmao oops it does be cute at some point tho ... also felt a bit hsm with that one line at the end ahaha but fr lemme stop talking now

      ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*   requests are open !   *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Dark and gloomy clouds swirl over your head, blending into an extremely large and angry looking ready to descend from above. You wonder to yourself just how long you have left before the loud cracks that crumble through the air to accompany the forceful winds and pouring drops of rain are finally released. Halfway through the trip back from the town that lays after miles from the prison the car used decided it preferred to lay quietly in the middle of the road, shortly after the sickly sputters from the engine you heard Daryl mutter a few curse words. You were unable to hold in your amusement, despite the fact that a lack of transport obviously leaves you in a vulnerable position, it felt like it was your luck for that to happen to you.

It’s why you stay behind following the hunter in silence.

Studying him with focused eyes you can’t help but wonder how he never realises when you’re unable to tear your gaze away from him. In the beginning when you began to develop a certain affection for him you had been glad, for it to be too embarrassing for the thoughts you had about him in your head. In spite of this, when you realised that it was much more than a crush did you wish for him to mind read, because you have no idea just how to approach him about such a sensitive topic and while he can be tender about feelings, it’s also his downfall.

“ it’ll be gettin’ dark soon, there should be some houses down there to spend the night in. “

You stop in your tracks with a curious look that bled so suddenly into your features you had no time to stop it.

“ you don’t want to carry on? I mean, we’re not far from home? “ you question him with a hint of fear coddling your words.

“ we’d be trippin’ over our feet. Let’s back it back in one piece, yeh? “

Nodding, you regain your pace. It’s been a few months since you’d been hopping from one house to the other during that harsh winter, the bare thought of having to stay in yet another frail structure sent a chilly hand drawing its claws deeply up your spine. If you never had your group, you don’t think you would have made a winter like that, barely protected from the elements and the walkers that wished to plunge their teeth cavernously into your flesh.

“ as long as we leave as soon as the sun comes up. Please. “ you plead, your words filter off into a gentle volume from your position.

Leaves crumble and buckle underneath the weight, the sound of crickets dominate your surroundings as the two of you walk in silence. You itch to start a conversation, but the fear of distracting the man and annoying withhold the words that wish to fall from your lips, even then you don’t know how to begin. What would you say? There’s not much to talk about in a world where the dead have risen, where they wish to drag the world into decomposition.

Your wandering mind is pulled from its very own depths from a noise coming from Daryl, he’d turned to catch your attention. You both set to work attempting to enter any of the abandoned houses, hoping one had been left unlocked at some point.

Of course, luck is scarce. Despite there not being a soul who occupies them, they’re still somehow locked. Mournfully, you wonder if the owners of these homes had thought the governments and armies would eventually lock everything under their control, to the point that there would be a house for them to come back to? Your heart thuds painfully in your chest to think about what happened to them, and if they’re even still surviving.

A large thud draws you back to the present, the wooden door splinters at the force Daryl puts into a large kick to its frame.

“ well, there goes the lock. “ you mutter humourously, lifting the heavy bag higher up onto your shoulders as you walk in the open door.

“ we’ll put the couch there, stop any unfriendly types that come our way. “

“ I don’t know if there’s anyone left anymore. “ you reply, dropping the bag to the floor and moving towards the couch.

Situated on the other side of it, you grip the plush handle and lift with a struggle. It’s a strain to get it through the doorway to  turn it around the corner, but eventually it happens. Daryl is joined by your presence by his side, you both push ⏤ this time it’s an easier feat with two of you on one side to dedicate your strength and weight to advance it.

As soon as you finish, a heavy crackle cuts through the air.

“ we got here just in time, huh? “

“ just about. “ he answers you, sparing a glance before moving through the lower floor ⏤ searching for anything that can be taken back to the prison.

Thunderstorms had never been your favourite thing growing up. Of course, rain was something that calmed you from the anxieties life brought, but the thunder and lightning is what you loathed. Never knowing when you were about to receive a fright from the loud rumbles and flashing lights ruined the whole experience for you.

The rustling Daryl makes is the only thing that brings you comfort in this moment, keeping you grounded and away from your thoughts. It doesn’t escape your notice that these houses feel no more than graveyards with the memories that have no use to live, instead haunting the structures with what could have been had chaos and death not taken over. You climb the stairs, hugging your sides as you refuse to touch the handrail leading up stairs.

There is a middle room with access granted without having to push open the door to gain entry. Your eyes scan the room’s interior, even with the dust and grime that bespeckle its surfaces, you can still see its beauty. Now, who does that remind you of? Your mind cheekly thinks before you banish it into the shadows of your brain, where you know it will force itself out with an immense stubbornness.

Despite the thunder booming in the distance frequently, you can’t help but admire the beauty of rain drops falling to the ground with a dainty grace only it holds. The sky continues to grow dimmer, only seeing the rain on your level and lower, no street lights flood the street to aid you in being able to see torrent from above. Jumping at another roar of sound from the storm, your heart begins to pick up its pace, so much you don’t realise Daryl joining you in the room.

“ scared? “

Turning around with such speed that leaves you surprised whiplash did not greet you, Daryl is left smirking at your reaction.

“ yeah, I hate these things. “ you respond, a bitterness coating each word heavily as you speak.

“ more than walkers? “ he questions you, as he shifts his weight from one foot to the other.

“ well, I suppose not that much .. “ another clap of thunder interrupts you, the rain beating harder and harder on the windows of the bedroom. “ can we talk about anything? This shit really grates on my nerves. “

“ what y’wanna talk about? “

Your mind stalls, with the previous thoughts that had been swirling in a state of disorder your draw a blank. A continuous thump downstairs interrupts your shrug, speeding down the stairs you realise a few walkers are trying to enter the property, of course their lack of intelligence fails to realise they’re throwing themselves into the walls and not the blocked doors.

“ shall we take them out? “ moving closer to the lengthy curtained window next to the door to get a better look, you can see three walkers hauling themselves mindlessly against the structure.

“ nah, the storm’ll get ‘em soon enough. “ he shakes his head softly, your mind taking note of the lack of proximity between your bodies as he repeats your action. “ no need to risk ourselves. “

“ wouldn’t be the first time you’ve risked your life. “

“ s’nothin. “ he contradicts gruffly, wiping a finger across his nose at your words. He truly doesn’t view it as that, refusing to think of it as risking his life. To Daryl, it doesn’t feel like risking everything to help the people around him, it’s not something he can find the words to explain but all he knows if there’s a chance, he would do it again and again.

“ Daryl Dixon, so humble. “ you speak warmly with a gentle smile threading itself into your features. “ you need to give yourself more credit. “

“ stop. “

“ you’re as brave as anyone in the group. I’d say braver than Rick. “ you joke, setting yourself from the entryway to the sitting room. “ although, if I had to choose you and Carol .. I’m sorry, but Carol every time! “

“ damn woman frightens me. “

Laughter light in weight dances airily between you with an elegance in its movement. For even a fraction of a second you forget that there are walkers that are itching to break through into the property, that there’s an angry storm that threatens to demolish whatever stands in its path, because right now it’s only you both here and now in this one room.

“ she’s come a long way. “ you agree, pulling a lone chocolate bar from your bag. Your favourite and you’re thanking the universe that it hasn’t spoiled yet. Turns out all these preservatives and chemicals have some use after all you note to yourself as half is offered to the man standing across from you.

“ so have ‘yuh. “ he acknowledges, taking the broken half of the candy from you.

“ I think we all have to be honest. I don’t think any one of us are the people we used to be. “

“ now who’s humble? “ Daryl asks, his tone light in relaxed merriment. He’d long since taken note of the transformation you’d gone through, he’s never seen you so strong as a person before.

“ don’t you turn this round on me, Dixon. “

The two of you fall silent, you direct your gaze to the window and the raindrops that litter the window pane’s surface. The harsh noises thundered no more, leaving a calm pitter of precipitation to fall with no interruption. From your position on the second couch, you wrap around a thin decorational blanket around your arms, leaning your cheek against the palm of your hand.

Pretending the world hasn’t gone to hell, that it’s just a normal evening where you’re admiring the scene before you. Skies that weep heavily is what the Georgian greenery has been calling out for, especially since the warmer temperatures have returned in full force. Switching your line of sight to Daryl, you feel a mellowness in the pit of your stomach as you watch him fondly. You can’t be sure if it’s the lack of distractions or eyes from your group, but you feel a miniscule spark of confidence within your confines.

“ come sit down, you can relax for a bit. “ you call, trying to convince him lightly. Your hand moves to pat the seat next to you.

“ can’t relax in this world. “ despite the disagreement in his words he does move towards your position on the plush seat.

“ it doesn’t mean we can’t make it. Otherwise we’d be burnt out, I’d hate to see that happen to you. “ You divulge as you reply to him, little inklings of hope in your tone.

“ y’don’t gotta worry ‘bout me. “

“ but I do, Daryl. “ you groan as a dull glumness contorts your features into something new. “ I mean, the lengths you go to .. you scare me to death. “

“ don’t be dumb. “ Daryl warns lowly as he shakes his head, few have shared their vulnerability with him. Perhaps only Carol, his mind can’t wrap itself around the fact that people genuinely care for him. Growing up, he’d been taught of it as a weakness. Something that should not exist, no one cared when he went missing for a short while as a child, and now having people who show him the opposite? It leaves a strange feeling to settle within his heart.

“ please, I need to tell you. I mean, I might not even be here tomorrow. “

“ nah, don’t say that. Y’will. “ he argues, he doesn’t even want to entertain the notion of not seeing you even for a day ⏤ let alone forever.

Truthfully, you’d not been particularly close. He understands it now, he pushed everyone away wherever he had the chance to. But after the downfall of the farm? You wouldn’t let up in trying to forge bonds that could rival even the strongest of metals. You had no idea, but he’d overheard you talking to Beth one day. When you said you didn’t want to be afraid of living, to have something worth dying for. That struck him deep.

“ neither you or I can guarantee that. Now, call me selfish but I can’t die with what ifs in my brain. “ you explain, you know it’s probably selfish to announce any kind of fondness for a person nowadays, because you can be ripped from their existence without any kind of announcement. But if you were to depart from the realm of the living, you’d want to have affectionate memories to experience and for them to look back on.

“ what y’sayin? “

Your eyes well up in frustration, whether it’s over the way you find the words are hiding beneath your tongue like cowards under the cloak of night or over the fact that you have begun this topic of conversation, backing yourself into a corner. There’s so much you want to say but how you should is not coming easy. Eloquence in your words is something you find yourself yearning for with all of your being should it bring you a happy ending to this discussion.

This isn’t a fairytale, there’s no happy or bad endings in real life you sorely think. There’s just reality, and the conclusions for that are neither black or white.

Fingertips grip the roots of your hair for a fleeting moment before letting go as if you’d never clutched them in exasperation at all.

Shutting your eyes so hard they hurt, you muster up the courage to speak the truth you’ve locked away in your heart, allowing it the light it has been deprived of for so long.

“ Daryl, I ⏤ “ your voice shuts off with a painful sound, sighing as if to psych yourself up. “ I feel more for you than I probably should. “

When Daryl says nothing, you open your eyes. Your entire being preparing yourself for the worse answer, this moment may hurt now but the pain will lessen. At least your soul feels lighter with the hidden information no longer chained to it as a burden, no longer will it have to be weighed down by its mass.  

“ I know it’s probably not what you want to hear, but I couldn’t keep it in any longer. “

“ who said I didn’t wanna hear? “

“ ⏤ what ? “ you question, your brows falling lower as you squint in disbelief. You wonder if your brain is forming a false memory to protect itself later on.

“ y’don’t nothin’ to do with me though. “ he hesitates, the automatic response to push away anything good that comes his way to the furthest reaches. “ nothin’ but trouble. “

A sorrowful smile full of grief clouds your features, your unshed tears threaten to fall. If only he could see himself from your point of view, he doesn’t see just how admirable of a human being he is. Yes, he has his flaws but who doesn’t? In all of humanity, you don’t think there has ever been a perfect person, but it’s how they approach their downsides that shows the peak of their humanity, that they don’t let the darkness fester in their heart, to poison their soul into becoming a shell of a kind hearted person. That shows the strength of their character.

Daryl? You feel honoured to have been a first hand witness to see him turn from a hot ball of anger to a softer, kinder soul.

“ Daryl, you really don’t see what I do.” you forsake everything, leaning forwards and laying your hands across his. Taking in the immense warmth from them. “ That? It hurts me, because you’re rather amazing. “

Saying nothing, Daryl looks down at your intertwined hands. He wants the chance that’s being offered, though the fear of being the one who poisons everything he lays his touch upon settles heavily on his shoulder. No one has come out unscarred when dealing with a member of the Dixon family, his family tree being nothing more than toxic, with weeds that wrap around the limbs of the poor fool who got involved with them, as they drag them to their lowly depths. He doesn’t know how to let go of the past and for this he continues to pay, with the high price being his happiness in the present world. No response leaves his lips, for the first time in a long time he doesn’t know what to say, while knowing what he wants to say. It’s not until he feels arms wrapped around the top of his shoulders is he brought back down to Earth, a shudder of a breath is released from him as he realises what is going on. The action is reciprocated in earnest, you’re full of gratitude that he’s accepting your comfort ⏤ knowing it could have been a gamble of a decision, a fifty fifty chance of him reacting negatively or positively. You, too, draw comfort from the position you both find yourself, clutching the other. Hope dawns on your heart, knowing Daryl is not a particularly affectionate man. This means a lot, for it’s a leap for you both.

“ thank you. “ he whispers in the night. You know that this is the start of something new.

His Biggest Regret -Bakugou Katsuki x Reader-

Word count: 2.28k

After cracking down a big mafia operation on the other side of the globe, the entire alumni’s of UA’s 1st year finally gets together. The festive situation didn’t sit right with Bakugou who felt the overwhelming longing of someone he couldn’t have anymore.

!Warning!:

Mentions of death, mentions of injury, I think that’s it?

A/n: I honestly felt sad writing this haha, I’m kind of proud of it? Editting it was a hassle tho. Anyways, hope ya’ll enjoy some Bakugou (or Bakugo however you want to spell it) angst.

“Congrats Kacchan!!!” Deku playfully slaps the back of his childhood friend.

His smile was bigger than ever. Around Bakugou was his former classmates all talking away in their own little space.

It's been a long time since they all got together since their graduation. Every time anyone tried to plan anything, at least one of them couldn’t make it. But after a big takedown on a pesky Mafia group on the other side of the globe, they all agreed to take a break and celebrate.

The mastermind of the entire operation was the number 1 hero himself, Katsuki Bakugou. “Without you, I don’t think we’d be able to crack the operation.” Kirishima walked over to them with an equally bright smile.

“Tsk, of course! You extras would’ve gotten nowhere without me!!!” The group laughed together.

Some things just never change when it comes to their anger issues ridden former classmate.

“Then I shall make a toast!” Iida spoke loud enough to make sure everyone heard his voice. Everyone nodded and raised a glass. “To Bakugou, for cracking the mystery of Banana Fish.”

“And to all of us who worked together to finally end Golzine’s reign.” With that, everyone cheered and took a sip from whatever drinks they were holding.

Soon enough, endless chatter filled the entire room.

Smiles, laughter, and giggles could be heard from any point of the room. Old friends reconciling with each other. Old lovers mending their relationships. And old enemies finally apologizing.

It felt foreign to Bakugou.

Not the fact that they were all getting along. It wasn’t that.

It was the fact that everyone knew they were missing someone incredibly important.

They weren’t here right now.

He observed the private club with a keen eye. There were bottles of random drinks on almost every table, shot glasses also littered there.

His former classmates were always responsible drinkers. But today, they took shots after shots. Bottle after bottle.

Even Iida seemed to always have a different drink in his hand every time Bakugou would glance over.

He knew; it wasn’t to celebrate. It was to make sure everyone was too tipsy to say anything that would ruin the mood. It was to make sure that no one brought ‘them’ up.

Afterall, their busy schedules weren’t the only thing that stopped them from getting back together and hanging out.

They held fear in their eyes any time the thought of getting together would cross their minds. The thought of having to come face to face with their greatest failure as a hero, friend, and classmate.

Bakugou knew the feeling all too well.

When he was alone, there were plenty of things he could do to prevent his mind from wandering too far. But whenever he’d come across Deku or Shoto in missions or patrol.

If he were to strike a conversation, there’d always be a small silence that would almost always lead to them bringing up the topic of ‘them’.

“Heyyyy bakubrooo you should relax, you seem a little tense!!!” Kirishima’s words slurred.

It was close to 2 am, the party had already died down a little bit.

Some of his more responsible friends are already long gone. Leaving behind either the ones who are passed out or waiting for their ride.

“Get that shit away from me shitty hair!” He huffed and pushed the half full bottle of some random alcohol his friend tried to hand to him.

“Oh, come one number one. You should loosen up!!! You looked more angry than usual this entire time!!!” Kirishima sat down on the couch beside Bakugou with a loud thud.

“I mean, doesn’t the number one hero deserve a break every once in a while? You deserve it Bakubro. You cracked this giant case!!! Without you, that guy with the purple mohawk could’ve died.”

Kirishima laughed, reminiscing all the sleepless nights he and Bakugou would spend just doing research and trying to gain information from anywhere they could.

He took another swig from the half-emptied bottle, “I don’t deserve the number one spot dumbass.”

Bakugou muttered barely above a whisper.

Even though Kirishima was beyond wasted, the fact that his usually guarded friend suddenly opened up sobered him. “Hey, don’t be like that Bakubro. I’m sure they’d want you to be happy.”

Kirishima tried his best to comfort his friend, to no avail.

“I’m going home.” Bakugou suddenly stood up. “Don’t drive dumbass.” With that he walked to leave the club and to his car, hearing Kirishima yell his response. “Got it!!!”

When he got home, he quickly changed out of the annoyingly formal attire, back to his normal everyday attire. A black tank top and sweatpants.

Bakugou fell onto his bed with a small thud, a sigh of exhaustion left his lips. “Damn shitty hair talking about shit that shouldn’t be talked about.”

There was an unspoken rule amongst anyone who knew the alumni’s situation.

Don’t talk about them, you’ll regret it.

After tossing and turning around, Bakugou realized. He couldn’t sleep.

“Fuck.”

It wasn’t a normal sight to see the hero not being able to sleep. He was so strict about his sleeping schedules too. But his mind can’t seem to leave what Kirishima said.

“I’m sure they’d want you to be happy.”

Who does Kirishima think he was? Talking about them like that. Who knows what they’d think of him right now? He broke his promise to always protect them. To always be by their side.

His head looked to the right. A bedside cabinet made out of wood, stood. Devoid of any decor and just with a single compartment.

A single object lies within that cabinet.

His mind argued with each other, debating whether or not to open it.

“Fuck it!”

If he regretted this decision, he’d deal with that later.

Sitting up on the side of his bed he looked solemnly towards the cabinet.

A shaking hand opened the compartment.

There was a single photo frame, the photo side facing down instead of up.

Before he could back down, he took the frame and flipped it to see the photo.

The photo gleamed at him. It was a pitiful reminder.

Overwhelming sadness and anger filled him, when he looked at the picture. Anger, frustration, longingness, sadness, it all came crashing down.

Before he knew it, stray tears fell from his eyes.

The photo was the last photo he ever took together with his high school sweetheart. The love of his life. The person he promised to marry one day. It was the last photo he ever took with you before the world took you away.

Before those villains attacked UA whilst he was in his 3rd year.

It was before he lost the most important person to a villain.

~

The battlefield was a mess. It had ended but it was still a mess. Random debris scattered around. Some of his classmates and other students from other classes were injured and bloody.

Most of the league had gone with Shigaraki through Kurogiri’s portal, but there’s no telling if someone had stayed. Especially that specific villain with an invisibility quirk.

He had proven to be a rather difficult enemy because of his quirk, but realizing he was outnumbered, he hadn’t showed himself at all. No one saw him walk through Kurogiri’s portal either.

Bakugou shoved that concern to the back of his mind, he had other things to concern himself over. One of the biggest was, finding you.

He needed to apologize. The other night you and he got into a pretty big argument. All because of his anger issues and his pride.

But he couldn’t find you anywhere. Knowing your teleportation quirk.

You’d probably be helping other people around. Helping people deal with debris, transporting different things, and overall doing what you can to relieve any burdens from both the teachers and the students.

He wasn’t really focused on anything. He thought the battle was over. He just needed to find you.

He let his guard down.

He didn’t notice the invisible villain appearing once more to stab him from behind.

He didn’t notice until it was too late.

An ear-splitting scream broke the relatively quiet mood. He knew that scream.

He knew that voice.

His head snapped to the back and everything seemed to have slowed.

He remembered the panic and fear in your eyes. When he noticed the blade embedded in your heart, anger covered his senses.

Another yell resonated in the air. This time it was his own.

Bakugou’s hand went to the villain’s face and blasted them to somewhere he couldn’t even bother to care.

His arms caught your limp body from falling to the cold ground.

The world seemed to turn gray around him. The only thing he could see was your figure on his arms.

Blood pooling from your wound.

The anger that he felt just moments before was quickly replaced by fear.

“WHY DID YOU DO THAT DUMBASS?!” the people around him froze.

You tried to mutter enough energy to at least say a word. Just a single word. “Sorry.” Your voice came in stutters. Followed by a cough of blood.

He felt your body in his hands growing heavier, your hand on his cheek fell to the ground.

“DUMBASS WAKE UP!!!” he didn’t know if it was the shock of the surprise attack or the fear that made his voice crack. “WAKE UP OR I’LL NEVER COOK YOU FOOD AGAIN.”

Your eyes were wide open, but they were cold, empty, unresponsive.

He let tears flow down freely. Now clutching your body against his chest.

“No please.” He wrapped his arms around your body one arm below the stab and another from the bottom, above the stab. “Please teddy bear. I’m sorry ok? I’m sorry. This is enough payback for the shit I said to you last night. So please ok? Please wake up.”

A few of your classmates already a sobbing mess on the ground.

“Please teddy bear, the prank is over. Please… wake up…” Kirishima’s hand on his shoulder broke his trance.

He looked up at his standing friend.

Kirishima saw the sight of his usual angry, stubborn, brave friend, turn weak. Tears were already pouring from Kirishima’s eyes. But he needed to be strong.

It wasn’t his place to breakdown when his best friend had lost the only person who was brave enough of taking the challenge of calming the beast.

“I’m sorry Bakubro.” Kirishima shook his head.

That was the thing that made Bakugou finally realize, you were gone. He screamed up to the sky, cursing whatever God had decided you’d sacrifice your own life for his. He was frustrated he couldn’t protect you.

Kirishima looked around, and he saw how much his classmates cared about him.

No one dared to move or utter a sound above a stifle of cries. No one knew how to react. For the first time in UA history, a student has died in the school’s premise. And that student, was you.

Though Kirishima couldn’t see all of his classmates. He was sure they’d be equally as devastated to hear what had happened. You were such an important part in their lives. To have yours be stripped away that easily was shocking.

You were a ball of sunshine that brought joy no matter what you were feeling or where you were.

But now you lie on the ground, cold.

That night, the entire class was reminded of the hard truth of being as self-sacrificing as you were. You’d sacrifice your sleep to tutor Denki. You’d sacrifice resting your aching muscles just to make everyone’s favourite dishes for dinner.

Now, you’ve sacrificed your life for your lover’s.

~

He wiped the clear frame from dust and took a closer look at it.

You took it the morning before the argument. It was breakfast and for some reason, you were awake as early as him, for the first time in forever.

You had one of your arms around his torso, hugging him from behind. A bright smile decorated your face as you looked at the camera. Bakugou on the other hand looked to the side with a scowl on his face.

He remembered, after taking that photo. You kissed his cheek and uttered a sweet good morning before making your own breakfast. You didn’t miss the pink hue that decorated his cheeks. Your teasing giggles filled the room.

God, the things he’d give up just to hear your giggles again.

“You’ll never get hurt as long as I’m around.”

“Shut up dumbass, you won’t get hurt. I’ll protect you.”

“I won’t let anyone harm you.”

Those were just some promises he had made to himself and to you.

But now, here he was regretting the fact that his very last conversation with you was a useless back and forth of insults.

If he could turn back time and sacrifice himself, he would.

Bakugou placed the frame down and opened his phone, hoping for some sort of distraction. He wasn’t ready to completely face it yet. Though, everything online only fuelled his self-loathing

There were articles everywhere about how the number one hero Ground Zero otherwise known as Katsuki Bakugou, had saved the lives of thousands of people by cracking a giant drug market.

They all praised him. They all agreed he deserved the spot.

But did he really?

He didn’t think that such a title can be for him. Someone who broke all the promises he ever made to you.

How could he be the number one hero when the only person who was able to control him whilst loving him unconditionally died because of him.

Love Doesn’t Do Encores Ch9 Travels To Hulbury

(This chapter will contain a small time skip of events as well as a past fight between y/n and her mother in the story.)

You swore you needed both a doctor and a nice bed to sleep away the pains of soreness racking your body.

Ever since you four left Turffield it had been like the time you left Motostoke except a bit longer. Walking, camping at night, taking time out for resting between walks and gathering food. Mostly from berry trees or snacking from whatever nonperishable foods Leon had given you. Some night Victor managed to make one form of curry or another. Mostly bean or apple curry which you didn't mind too much but the apples tasted a bit strange in the curry sauce, so you fed them to your sobble which you noticed had now taken a habit of laying in your lap any chance you were sitting and expected to be fed whenever you held any kind of food. Oops. You might have ended up spoiling it a bit. Oh well. You didn't mind too much. It's smiles and noises were pretty cute, and at least Gloria was able to add a few more curry entries to her book. After what had happened at the pokemon Nursery back in Truffield you decided to fill in Gloria and Hop about the mysterious band of rock star wannabes, but they seemed to be as confused as you were about who they might've been working for and who they were. Hop even suggested that maybe the eccentric costumes were disguises to they're real identities, which seemed a bit farfetched but hey. You were transported into the video game world of pokemon, traveling along with a few of the characters, and for all you knew could still wake up at any moment to your mother scolding you for being late for college. It wasn't really too out there to rule out yet. While you four traveled every so often you'd rest and Hop and Gloria would scamper off to have a battle or more likely try to catch some new pokemon from where you were at. So you weren't all too surprised to find out Gloria caught herself a wild Dottler and Hop's Grookey evolving from the....seventh or eighth day now as you four traveled. You lost count or couldn't remember how many days had past after seven or eight. You were mostly tired now a days with a heaping dab of soreness in your back and neck from your uneasy sleeping scheduale and the rocky ground poking you from the floor of the test. Or the fact the only thing you had for a pillow was your backpack, but you never complained. If it meant getting to Hulbury faster then you could deal with it. It was like when your mother insisted you stay up a few extra hours to study or when you had to work late at the radio station after that. You yawned more, movements slowing a bit, and you had gotten noticable bags under your eyes. Buuut the three teens must've noticed because on what was the ninth day Gloria decided to point it out to you.

"Hey, Y/n. I really didn't want to say anything but are you feeling ok?" She pointed at your face. "You've been yawnin' ever since we left Turffield like a week ago. And you've gotten bags under your eyes big enough to carry luggage for a full week's vacation. "

In response you yawned again before looking to her. "M' fine. Jus a bit tired I guess." You stretched out your back as you walked making it pop. "Haven't really gotten much sleep just laying on the ground like a rock."

"Hey. I have good news." Victor all of a sudden held up his phone. When did he pull that out? And held it up to all of you. "There's a small town up ahead about another day's walk. It has a convenience store, hotel, and a few other things." He looked at you. "I think we should stop by. We can restock up on supplies and rest for the night at the hotel. That might help out Y/n's situation and prevent her from dropping from exhaustion anytime soon."

"Hey. I-I'm not that tired," you lied stiffling another yawn....But the promise of a bed tho- "But you're right about needing some more supplies. I don't know how much food and necessities we have left, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to stop by and restock."

The food Leon lent would only last so long anyways. It was best for all parties involved. So it was decided the four of you would stop by the upcoming small town. It took another day and night of walking and resting (giving you another night of uncomfortable sleep) and then shoving off he next morning for the town. It took half the day but the four of you managed to happen upon the small town. And you do mean small. It couldn't have been much bigger than Postwick actually. There was around maybe twenty buildings and most of them were homes or doubled as homes as well as stores. As the four of you walked through the small town a few people walked by or waved, and you could hear a few children laughing. It certainly was very peaceful wasn't it? The peace made you even more tired- You were shaken awake when your sobble chirped loudly and smacked you with it's tail, making you stumble as you walk and if it weren't for the two boys catching you you would've faceplanted the road again. Which ended up in the three kids making up a decision for you.

"Let's go find the Inn first."

The inn turns out was one of the first buildings you came across when you took the small side road off of Route 5 here and the only building in the town that had three stories. It was more like a tall house than an Inn when the three of you entered, Gloria helping to steady your sleepy self. The inside looked very similar to Professor Magnolia's house. Very homey and welcoming. The elderly lady looked lightly surprised when the four of you came in with you fighting to keep awake for a little longer. Ok. So maybe the little sleep over nine or ten days was starting to get to you a little bit you haven't been this tired since studying for college entry exams in highschool.

"Oh my. Are you children alright?," she ended up asking lightly standing from her seat seeing you lightly sway a bit.

You waved her off. "I'm fine. Just really tired."

"We'd like to book two rooms please with double beds," Victor explained to the lady throwing you a worried look. "Do you have any available?"

"Oh. Yes, we do. Come. I'll show you to your rooms. By the looks of your friend there, she's in dire need of a good rest." Whelp. No arguement there. Luckily the rooms she had the four of you follow her towards a long hallway a little aways from the front desk before stopping and opening one door. "Here's the young mens. Bathroom's through the door on the left. And as for the two young ladies." She turned to a door right across from Hop and Victor's room and opened it. The room was pretty much as you suspected. A simple large room with two beds on each side of it, a shelf, window looking out onto a field, Tv, and a white door that you supposed led to a closet. "This'll be yours." She pointed at the door. "The bathroom is through there. We also have a laundry mat attatchment in the adjacent building to the left if you youngsters need it. If you have any further questions please don't hesitate to ask."

"Uh yes actually. Do you happen to know where your town's convenience store is?,'' you heard Victor ask but you were too busy to deduce what else was said.

You managed to stay awake enough to take a quick shower and change before walking to the closest bed to you and just flopping face first on it. The soft cushions hugging your tired and sore body, and it was natural for you to fall asleep almost as soon as you hit the mattress. So it was no wonder that by the next time you woke up it was night time. Confused and dazed you managed to sit up blinking confused at the darkness around you, the only source of light coming from the moon shining through the window outside. Vaugely in the dark you could just barely make out Gloria's sleeping form on the other bed on the other side of the room. Her baby toxel at the foot of her bed. Your body was still tired with it being night so it was easy for you to fall back into slumber when you slowly laid your tired self back down, barely registering your sobble squirming next to you as you fell back asleep. And came to a strange sight. A sight you witnessed before in your life. One you were all too familiar with too. ....You...You were back in your room. Well a younger you at least. You were about sixteen then just minding your own business sitting there and playing games. Couldn't remember which one just that you were enjoying yourself playing and sitting on your bed playing the day away. Until younger you looked up at footsteps approuched your room, the next thing your younger self knew your door flew open with a bang and it started the younger you so much you ended up dropping your old switch on your bed jumping from the sound. And there she was. Your mother standing there with an angry scowl on her face.

"You're playing those stupid games again!?," she snapped at younger you, stomping over and quickly wretching the switch from your bed.

In an instant your hand was reaching out for it. "HEY! Give that back."

But instead of that, your mother only held it up higher with her angry face. "Is THIS what I work to provide for you!?"

You had stopped. Frozen in surprise at the words foaming at your mother's mouth and the game she waved at your face.

"Is THIS what you think is fair to me!? I work day and night to provide a roof over your head, food in your stomach, and clean running water for all you do is to sit on your behind and play these mind rotting things!? To make the electricity bill higher than Mount Everest with you staying up all night playing this day in and out!?"

"M-Mom! C'mon! I'm sorry," younger you backpeddled.

"You should be! I'm not raising you to be lazy and unresponsible!" The game was tossed back onto the bed with a small thump before she pointed at you. "Work and studies should be your number one priority right now! I don't want to catch you slacking off wasting time again! Do I make myself clear?"

Younger you looked at your mother's angry face for a long moment before looking away and nodding. "Yes, Mom."

"That's good. Make sure it doesn't happen again. Alright, Y/n?"

.....

...........

"Hey, Y/n!," a distant girl's voice called, "Are you awake?"

"I dunno. Maybe we should just let her sleep? She was really tired when we got here yesterday," a young boy's voice said worried.

"Hop's gotta point, Glory. Let her sleep in. She'll need all the rest she can get for traveling."

"Ah. You guys are no fun."

Silently the world of younger days faded away to black and the voices became murmers in the dark abyss that was sleep until you finally woke up from your now dreamless slumber. Which wasn't too long. You slowly woke from your sleep and was greeted with the sunlight making your tired eyes blink as you rubbed them and blinked at the surroundings around yourself at the simple room that wasn't your younger self's from the dream. What the-....Where were you? Did you finally wake up from the pokemon world dreamland you formed up? Were you back home? Did you move into the college dorms and forgot you did? Is that why this room looked strange to you? That hope was all but dashed in a moment when movement under the blanket next to you caught your attention and you looked. A small lump under the blanket the size of a small cat moved around until it moved towards the end of it near your arm and your sobble poked it's head out blinking tiredly and gave out a yawn crawling the rest of the way out. You gave a sigh, shaking your head before smiling and holding out your arm and letting the sobble crawl into your hands. You were still tired but rather than go back to sleep, you opted to tossing the blanket off yourself and got up with your sobble in your hands holding him up to your face.

"Well, I guess it's time to start the day huh?"

You managed to get a few things done. Morning shower, got dressed, and made your first stop the  laundry mat across from the hotel after asking the elderly woman at the front desk for directions. Just something to do to help take your mind off the strange dream that had happened. You had started to wonder where the three children had run off to now but it was only after you were coming back with your now cleaned clothes and your sobble curled upon your shoulders did you run into them. Or Hop at least. He was just walking past the door when you opened it and almost ran into him. Thankfully stopping at just the right moment as he paused and blinked.

"Oh. Hey, Y/n!," he greeted with a smiling and shifting the box in his hands, "Glad to see you're awake now."

"Hi," you greeted back before raising a brow at the box he held. "What's that you're carrying?"

"Oh this?," he asked holding up the box and you nodded. "The old lady needed help clearing out her old storage room. She offered to pay me to help out so Im taking this to the broom closet down the hall here. Glory and Vick are doing some Pokejobs too." The confusion must've doubled on your face because he seemed to take notice. pokejobs?? What the heck are pokejobs?! "OH! Right. There's no possible way you could've known what those are. I keep forgetting you're not native to Galar. Pokejobs are jobs people upload into the rotomis."

".....Say what?," you asked still totally confused to what Hop was even saying.

He sighed. "Pokejobs. How do I describe them?....It's kinda like how newspapers have ads. If someone has a job they need help with they send a post to their rotomi profile, then if someone wants to make some money they can look on the Pokejobs Rotomi Forum for a job in their specific area. There was a few listed in the Rotomi at the town's covience store." He held up the box again. "Like this one. We figured it wouldn't hurt to make a little bit of money in case of emergencies too."

"That...sounds like a great idea. But where are the other two now?"

He shrugged. "Glory took a job that involved babysitting and I think Victor's helping someone here with a garden."

Well that sounded like a good way to earn a bit of money while you were waiting. As to pass the time you decided to help Hop once you had finished returning your clothes to your bag. The elderly woman seemed rather grateful for the help provided. In the manner of speaking it wasn't too difficult work. Most of the boxes were pretty light mostly filled with cleaning supplies or old blankets. That explains why she was having Hop move them to the big supply closet down the hall. When you asked about it she explained she had wanted to turn it into another bedroom for the busier traveling seasons, makes sense. One extra room to rent means one extra way to make some money. You helped rehome the boxes and cleaned it out by dusting and sweeping to pass the time away. When it came to paying you declined the money offered and made sure Hop received it instead. After all it was originally his job, you just helped to pass time, and it'd be wrong to piggyback on his hard earned money after all. But you did however accept the free room service for later when she offered instead. Free food was a reward you had no trouble accepting, especially considering you hadn't eaten anything since you woke up and all the exercise you had done in helping to clean out the room. Hop though was thankful for your help and expressed so as much. It was when the two of you were heading out did you finally bump into said twins. Gloria was carrying two large paper bags but you had to do a double take when you noticed Victor looked....well remember how dirty you were after being bowled over by Milo's wooloo? Victor looked like he got ran over by ten wooloo during a sand storm.

"Whoa. What happened to you?"

He grabbed his hat and shook the grey beanie out letting dirt fall to the ground. "Well. As it turns out the ad for 'helping to remove unwanted weeds and debry from the garden' also happened to include a wild munchlax who didn't want to leave. I had to half wrestle half chase the thing out."

"Oh wow. Glad to see you got paid tho."

He huffed but Gloria smiled holding up the bags in her hands. "But on the bright side we managed to stock up enough for the rest of our trip to Hulbury! Glad to see you're up and feeling better too, Y/n!"

You nodded. "Yeah. Feeling better thanks-"

"OH! That reminds me!" You were cut off when Gloria suddenly shoved one of the bags into your arms as you blinked. The inside held food and other things you'd have to use in order to get to Hulbury. She went digging through the other bag, eventually pulling out a rolled up, sleeping bag looking thing that must've made up half that bag's weight. "Here! I noticed you probably weren't sleeping well cuz you didn't have one of these here. Turns out the convience store is also a supply store, so I was able to get you one of these."

You slowly took the rolled up sleeping bag from Gloria and gave it a look over before looking back to her. "I-...Thank you. But you didn't have to get me this. I would've been fine without it."

"I know but you would've just kept getting bad sleep if I didn't, and it won't hurt me from what I earned from winning against Milo's anyways. Besides, I can now call it even from when you saved our hides back in Postwick."

You smiled and decided to accept this gift with a nod. "Alright. We're even. But have you decided when you wanted to leave yet?"

"First thing tomorrow morning. After seeing you stumble 'round like a zombie with a headache, we decided to let ya sleep in since you were so tired. But since it's getting later anyways, we figured we'd spend one more night here and leave early in the morning."

"Oh that's a great plan cuz Y/n got us some free room service from helpin' out around here."

Gloria's eyes widened at her friend's words. "Wait. REALLY!?"

"How about we let Victor get cleaned up first before we do anything?"

The four of you did just that for the night. Packed away all the goods they brought back with them. Hopefully it'll last enough for the rest of the very long walk to Hulbury. And after everyone was done packing their share and Victor was cleaned up, you ate. No surprise it was more curry but you chose to accept that at this point that curry was a very important part of Galar's culture and hey. Free food was free food. Nothing to complain about here. And if Gloria could fill in more of her Curry Dex book then it was good enough for you too. Luckily it seemed with the new sleeping bag things might get easier for you when you all start traveling again. Which is exactly what happened. The very next morning the four of you set off as soon as Victor paid for the two day stay at the front desk, and it was back onto Route 5 the four of you went walking. And walking and walking. It was basically the same as before until night came and the four of you set up camp in a small clearing, giving you the chance to use the new sleeping bag Gloria had gotten you. And it worked like a charm. You still had to use your arms as a pillow but otherwise it was much more comfortable to sleep now. And then the next day the four of you were at it again. This time listening to Victor's adventures traveling around since he had started his own journey at least a year before Gloria's. Mentioning of all the different places and events around Galar he had been so far and you were impressed at his tales of capturing so many wild shiny pokemon in his photos, going so far to show you all a few places he took photos of. One being the giant clock tower back in Motostoke.

"So does that mean you've been to Halbury before?," you asked curiously glancing at the pictures in his hands.

He nodded. "I've been there once, but not for long. I did see the Hulbury Water-Type Aquarium and Research Center. They have every water type pokemon you could imagine, some of them are from different regions as well. That's where I got most of the photo's of water type pokemon I gave to Glory. Nessa was a huge sponsor for it's development. It's also a research department to study water-types as well as their environments and biology." He hummed and looked up. "I think it's also where most Professors get their sobbles for starting trainers."

You gave a look to your sobble. "You hear that? Looks like we're heading to your home town." In response it smiled and gave a small chirp. "Does that mean you've seen Nessa before?"

He shook his with a sigh as you all walked. "Sadly no. But I've heard she's so busy between her modeling and gym leader duties she'll only do one gym battle a day due to her busy schedules, and that's considering if there's nothing important going on for her."

"So depending on the time and amount of trainers heading for Hulbury right now, we could end up waiting longer than we did for Milo's gym battle."

"Ah man!" Hop leaned back putting both arms behind his head. A habit you learnt he did whenever he was annoyed or thinking about something. "That could take forever then....but considering Nessa's Gym would've been one of the farthest from the Turffield Stadium, I'd like to bet not a lot of people would go for hers first and instead went back to Motostoke to challenge Kabu or someone else who was closer....Hm. I wonder if that's why Mr. Milo suggested we go see Nessa after our battle with him. We haven't run into any other Gym Challengers yet. Route 5 is less trafficked."

"Or those rockstar blokes," you thought as you gave another look around at the half field half forested areas you four were traveling past. But that was probably a good thing you hadn't seen them. You wouldn't want them causing you more trouble.

"There Hop goes all smart again!"

"H-Hey! Im just makin' an observation!"

"Well make an observation on that map. How much longer until we get there?"

Hop answered that after pulling out his phone and turning it on, pressing a few buttons. "...About two and a half weeks left."

This...Was going to be a long trip.

And you weren't wrong. Most of the trip was the same day in and day out. Eat, sleep, make camp, walk lots, stop for breaks, maybe a battle would happen every once and a while between Hop and Gloria or maybe they'd try to catch a pokemon every now and then. And you watched her start to carry around that baby Toxel more, usually in her arms like a cat but sometimes in her bag too with his little head poking out looking around. Victor making the comment that now the both of you would be pokemon taxis. It took quite a while of this old routine before you four even got to another town, with a train station. Breaking out of a small wooded area there was clearings now of flat land and Route 5 lead you all to a crossing across the railroad tracks and lead into a small town...Well you weren't sure if you could call it a town persay. It was more like a few homes a little bit a ways from the obvious train station the four of you took refuge in for a break.  In the mean time Victor took out his phone once more and decided to flip through the rotom phone he had on your four's location.

"......Hey!," he shouted making you all look at him as he held up the phone all towards you. You leaned closer to get a better look at the screen he pointed to. "According to the map we're a four day walk away from Hulbury. Nearly there!"

"Oh thank Arceus!," Gloria sighed, "I was getting so tired of just walking around like a migrating murkrow."

"And you wonder why I was worried about you rushing into your journey."

"Hey!"

The next few days weren't very eventful or memorable. Just the same rinse and repeat scenarios your small group had been experiencing for the past month or so, until you FINALLY saw it. Well smelt it first would be more accurate. You all were walking up a steep hill that the path was connected too and that's when you smelt something like salt air. You had only been to a beach a few times but there was no mistaking it. Saltwater. And then you heard a very loud horn. It was loud enough to startle your Sobble into ducking behind your head and you perk up. If one had to guess, you would've said it sounded either like a train's whistle or a boat horn. Blinking as shadows flew overheard, you realized they were wild wingulls. ...Wait. Weren't those bird pokemon always like close to water?? You blinked. Shaking your head and hurrying your pace up the hill until the four of you finally made it. From the high point the view was high enough to let the four of you look a good ways ahead and still far but much closer now, maybe a day's travel. What was unmistakenly the glistening blue of the ocean as far on the horizon as you could see, that lead to the coast that clashed with the beginnings of it. The horn you heard was most likely one of the many boats you could faintly make out on the glistening blue and the unmistakable town that was nestled up against it all. It wasn't too big by the looks of it. Definately not Motostoke size, but it was definately bigger than Turffield and Postwick and you could make out the unmistakable structure of a stadium way over there.

Victor pointed with a smile towards the faint town. "There's Hulbury! We're nearly there!"

"Good. Let's get stepping before it gets too dark. If we hurry we'll be there by tomorrow."

And indeed you all were. Traveling until it was sundown, and you decided to set up camp for the night, only to pack up quickly and leave at the first sign of light the very next morning. It was somewhere around ten in the morning when you all finally made it. Seeing the town and beautiful ocean coming into view and getting closer, and closer the more and more you walked. Until you all finally arrived. First walking under a bridge connecting between two large hills, on top of one hill leading to a train station, the familiar pink building of the pokemon center greeted you next as the dirt path of Route 5 changed into concrete streets. Another loud horn shot off to the right of you and as you all looked over there was a giant port with as you suspected lots of ships and boats. Bigger than in game you imagined too. You inhaled a long sigh, the taste of salt on your tongue. If it wasn't for the many boats near the port and other people, you wouldn't have minded just standing there for a moment in the road. But since you didn't want to waste anymore time you sighed and turned to Gloria.

"So." She looked at you and blinked. "What's the plan here?"

"We go to the gym-"

"We head to the hotel-"

Both twins looked at each other for a moment, before Victor cleared his throat.

"I think we should head to the Hulbury's residential hotel first. Just in case one of you have to wait for a gym battle to open we'd have somewhere to stay tonight."

"Well I think we should head to the gym before anyone else gets here," she countered back one arm holding her Toxel and the other placed onto her hip. "It's still pretty early in the morning. If there's a chance no one got there yet one of us could get a spot! Right Hop?"

"Actually, personally I'm kinda hungry and wanted to check out that famous resturaunt Hulbury's supposed to have." he mumbled but got ignored by the scowling twins.

You sighed again shaking your head. Teenagers. "How about this?" You held up a hand catching the three's attention. "We'll split up." You suggested. "If we do that we can get things done faster. You two can check out the gym and your brother can get us situated for the night because personally I'd like to take a break from camping. Then we can meet back up and get some breakfast..." You looked up towards the sky. "Or lunch depending when we're done."

Victor hummed. "...That doesn't sound like a bad idea actually and it could actually save us time. Now that I think about it, we're probably low on supplies anyways. While we're doing that Y/N can take a list of what we need and get it from the local super market here."

"I like that plan! We can meet up at the Light house."

And so it was agreed. After going through your invintory, and having Victor quickly scribble down a list of things you all needed, the four of you split off. Victor heading in the same direction as the other two with his phone's map out (you guessed the hotel and the stadium must've been down the same road) and you towards the docks list and borrowed money in hand. In all honestly you were just as hungry as the others but that could wait. It didn't take you too long to find Hulbury's local convenience store, it didn't take you all long as well to fill up the considerably large bags of travel foods and start carrying them off back off towards the direction of the light house. ....Only...there was one problem. You had absolutely no idea which direction the lighthouse was in, and with the giant bags of supplies to be split between the four of you obstructing your view, it made it harder to see by all accounts as you tried peeking around and over the large bags. Stumbling a bit and almost bumping into a few people walking past you, they gave you an odd look before carrying on. Certainly didn't help when your sobble gave a small chirp before literally climbing into one of the bags to which you panicked a little. The last thing you needed was him eating the food you just bought especially since it wasn't bought with your money!

"Hey! Bad pokemon!," you shouted jiggling the bags a bit, "You get out of there right now! You're not supposed to be in there!" The sobble peeked itself out over the edge of one of the bag's hearing it's master's voice as you frowned, and you didn't see where you were walking as you walked. "I'm serious! You can't just crawl in there! Out no- Oof!?"

"HEY!?," shouted a woman's voice.

You rammed into something or someone solid and you stumbled back, by some miracle not dropping the bags, and up righted yourself for a moment. Blinking you turned sideways to look at who you bumped into and were met with another woman who was looking at you with a bewildered look like everyone else who saw you walking around like this. The woman had a dark skin complextion with dark black hair with pretty blue streaks and eyes that were bluer than the ocean. What looked like a sports uniform adorned her bodyShe blinked at you as you stared before you seemed to blink and shake your head.

"Oh. Sorry about that, Miss," You apologised shifting two off the four bags in your arms. "I didn't see you there."

"Uh..Yes, I could tell." She ran an eye over the two bags in your arms and the other two hanging off your elbows. "That's a lot of groceries you're carrying there." Her eyes stopped at the little blue pokemon poking out of the top of one of the bags as it shoved a blue berry into it's mouth.

"Oh. It's not just for me actually. I'm traveling with some others and we needed this stuff." You followed her gaze and you gained a frown when you saw the sobble shove another berry into it's mouth. "HEY!" It fell back into the bag startled with a chirp....but slowly peeked the top of it's head and eyes back over to look at your scowl. "I said NO. Now you get out of there right now! If you're hungry I'll get you something else."

"Oh. Is this little one yours?," both of you looked over as the woman attempted to reach out and pet the sobble. Which resulted in your sobble giving off a sound of fright and immediately scuttle out from the bag in a hurry.

"HEY-" You leaned your head back as it jumped on your head and clung to your hair giving the other woman wide eyes of worry. You grumbled...but sighed and nodded. "Yeah. Sorry 'bout that. He's not used to strangers I guess."

With a smile, the woman placed a hand on her hip and studied the two of you. "Most sobble are, but it seems this one has become very attatched to you."

You blew the sobble's tail from your face. "Believe me you don't know the half of it. Say. Could you tell me where I can find the lighthouse? I'm supposed to meet my friends there."

"Sure. I was actually heading towards the stadium actually. The light house is right next to it," she gestured to your bags. "I could even help you if you'd like."

You gave a relieved sigh. "Really?! Yes, thank you. That'd be a huge help."

You happily let the woman take two of the bags you were carrying and you followed her as she motioned for you to follow her. Gloria and Hop were most likely already waiting for you as they had first gone to the stadium and possibly Victor if he hadn't gotten side tracked or anything. As the two of you walked you took the chance to look around at the town. Seemed like the beach down you had gone to before the few times you went to the beach. As you glanced at the woman helping you out you couldn't help but...notice something. Did she seem familiar to you somehow?....You shook your head. Nah. Must've just been your imagination. She must've just looked like someone you've seen before. That's all. The both of you walked from the docks, past what looked like a resturaunt of some sort, back towards the Pokemon Center before taking a right and heading down the same path the teens took when the four of you parted ways. From that point the two of you walked down a road with houses on one side and a fence overseeing the ocean on the other. There was a LOT more houses than you remembered in game so it took a good twenty minutes before you even saw the stadium as both of you passed a flight of concrete stairs leading up the hill towards the train station. You looked up and at the stadium as it's shadow loomed over you as you both walked past it. Unlike Milo's stadium this one seemed rather quiet right now even if it was as HUGE as his was. The gym leader mustn't be battling anyone right now where ever she was. As you two continued to walk past it, you blinked seeing a tall structure up ahead which was unmistakably a light house, letting you sigh in relief. FINALLY!! You sighed in relief at seeing the structure and sped up your pacing a bit as the two of you rounding the corner the path lead towards the lighthouse and that's when you noticed the figures standing there. One or two strangers were there taking a picture next to the statues or the ocean view, but there was three you recognized easily as the twins and Hop. They all seemed happy to see you at first. But soon those happy faces turned into suprised and shocked ones the closer you walked. Victor even shaking his head and blinking as you approuched.

"Uh...Hey, Y/n. Whatcha got there?"

"Our supplies," you replied arms all sore and tired from the long walk over. Victor blinked as you shoved the two bags you were holding into his arms. "Here. Take these. Im beat." They continued to stare at you even as you turned to the woman and take the other two heavy bags from her. Your brow rising as you turned and saw their wide eyed looks. "....Are you three alright? You all look like you've seen a ghost."

"...Y/n. Do you even know WHO that is?!," Gloria asked pointed towards the woman and you turned to look at her again..before shrugging.

"She helped me out. Thanks by the way."

She nodded. "It was my pleasure."

"Don't you even know who that is!?" Gloria groaned at your utterly confused face as you blankly stared and as a result pointed right at the smiling woman next to you. "You literally don't know!? THAT'S NESSA!! Like the Gym Leader Nessa! The person we traveled all the way here to see!"

You blinked before looking back to Nessa as she glanced at you. "...Oh. Thanks for the help again. It was very nice of you."

She nodded again. "Your welcome. And you." She glanced over to Gloria who still stared in disbelief at her. "You must be a gym challenger right? You're one of the ones endorsed by Leon right?"

Gloria stared at her a little longer before Hop nudged her making her flinch. "HUH!? I mean- Y-Yeah! O-One of them." She gestured to Hop next to her. "And he's the other one."

"Hello, Ma'am." Hop smiled and waved. "I'm Hop and this is Gloria. You uh...Weren't at the stadium when we went there."

"My apologies," Nessa apoligized as you turned back to her. OH! Now you could recognize her easily. She was on the cover of that magazine Gloria showed you and you vaugely rememebered seeing her back at the entrance ceremony. "But I just got back from a boating shoot and I've already promised someone else a battle for later today. But I must say, you've become something of a hot topic among the gym leaders."

"Wait. We are?"

She chuckled. "Are you kidding me? Leon never stops talking about how awesome his little brother is and how he's just the smartest kid ever to come out of Postwick."

Hop coughed and scratched at his head in embarrassment. "Well...I wouldn't say that."

"I mean. He's not wrong. You're pretty smart."

"Glory! Don't embarrass me like Mum please!," he begged red faced.

You decided to help give him a break. "I had no idea he spoke so highly of Hop." You spoke to Nessa. Although you wouldn't be surprised considering how hyped up Hop got about Leon, and how loving Leon was to them.

She chuckled again before reaching behind her and pulling something out of her pocket. Well two somethings. "Here you go, Ms. Famous. I already heard about you, so you should learn more about me too." She held out what you made out as cards to Hop and Gloria as the two wide eyed teens took them in disbelief.

"OMG! Another League Card!! Thank you so much, Ms. Nessa! Does this mean you'll be able to battle one of us tomorrow?"

She nodded. "Sure. Just speak to one of my staff at the stadium and we can schedule a battle in the next two days for you guys." She then pointed behind her. "But I had better head to the stadium. I can't delay my sheduled battle anymore than I've already had."

You nodded in understanding. "We understanding completely, Miss. Thanks again for the help."

She nodded towards you. "I love fishing, but I love pokemon battles even more and I'm itching for a battle with you. Hopefully we'll get to battle real soon." With a wave towards Hop and Gloria Nessa turned on her heel and began to walk away.

You waved back before turning back to the three teens staring back at you. ".....What?"

"HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOW WHO THAT WAS WITH YOU!?,'' Gloria shouted gesturing to where Nessa walked off to which you shrugged again.

"Sorry? I was a little busy with something more important at the moment and I guess I wasn't paying too much attention to her. But she seemed very nice. But how did your guys' lil trip go?"

"I managed to book us a hotel here for a couple nights," Victor answered before gesturing his head over towards the other two. "And they're all set up to fight, but someone already beat 'em for a spot today."

"Oh. Who?"

"The Mareep Head!," Gloria huffed one hand one her hip and the other waving the small League Card in the air. Mareep Head- OH! She must've been referring to Bede. He must've been the one Nessa was rushing off to battle then. "We just waltzed on in and there he was acting all smug like he jus' won the whole challenge already. He even asked if I "Got Hatenna's good side' on camera. Psh! He's such a stuck up mudbray!"

You could only nod juggling the groceries in your arms. "I...see. Well since there's nothing we can do right now for the moment, why don't we just go back to the hotel Victor mentioned and take care of these?"

Victor nodded in agreement tugging his own bags along as you both turned with Gloria mumbling behind you all the way to the hotel.

I’m Always Curious Part Three

Previous Part | Next Part |  Masterlist Notes: Not beta-read. Also I’m unsure of who Pike’s comms officer is on the Enterprise when it comes to Disco so I?? Made someone up. Lemme know if there’s someone established, tho! Summary: We’d received a search and rescue order from Admiral Cornwell nearly three hours beforehand - a research vessel, the U.S.S. Anil, had ceased all communication with the Federation shortly after it had dropped out of warp for manual repairs - dangerously close to Tholia Prime.

“Remind me why this was a good idea,” Pike grunted into his communicator. “Twelve minutes out, sir,” Number One’s voice crackled crisply in response. "Was that an answer?” Pike asked me, glancing warily in my direction. I might’ve smiled if I could focus on anything but how unbearably hot it was. Our Tholian ‘hosts’ had kindly lowered the temperature of our half of the negotiating room from its customary 404 degrees Fahrenheit to a ‘hospitable’ 102 degrees Fahrenheit (apparently this was so low that they needed to take frequent breaks during our negotiations, leaving us to bake in the room; this seemed excessive, as they had taken the pains to shield themselves behind exothermic screens to ensure their own temperatures wouldn’t drop too drastically). We’d received a search and rescue order from Admiral Cornwell nearly three hours beforehand - a research vessel, the U.S.S. Anil, had ceased all communication with the Federation shortly after it had dropped out of warp for manual repairs - dangerously close to Tholia Prime. We were still in Federation space, but the Tholians had a reputation of being less than kind to anyone that they deemed a little too close to home, and they had never been friends of the Federation. The Anil had been found, badly damaged and entirely uninhabited. Our engineers were doing what they could now to patch up the vessel now, but that was only one half of the search and rescue. Pike’s initial attempts to engage with the Tholian vessel in the area had been fruitless; their language consisted of clicks and high-pitched squeaks, and Pike’s usual bridge communications officer, Lieutenant Commander Thaleh, was on leave, and her replacement wasn’t familiar with Tholian. Spock dropped my name, and I’d been able to decode their message - they wouldn’t speak to us on a ship-to-ship basis. I could reply to them in kind in the form of clicking and whistling. Pike and I agreed to beam aboard their ship under the guise of an information swap while Spock and Nhan beamed aboard separately, in secret, and located the crew members of the Anil. “That was an Una answer,” I said, reaching up and tugging at my collar. We’d been given water, but I knew that if I reached for it now, I’d drain it. “I won’t tell Number One that you used her name,” Pike gave me a conspirator’s smile, and I returned it. “Chalk it up to heat exhaustion, Captain,” I returned.

Pike and I straightened as the door opened, the image of the Tholians reemerging behind their screens. They loomed tall, their glowing rhombus-shaped eyes peering at us through the heated screens. Their sound system crackled to life, and a series of clicks and screeches streamed through. It took me a moment, and I turned to the Captain, swallowing thickly, throat dry. “They would like to inform us that intruders have been identified on board, and would like to know if we know anything about this.” Pike’s brow twitched; our eyes remained on one another’s, careful in our silence to not make any sudden movements, to look at the Tholians where they were closely watching us. From Pike’s communicator, Number One reported, “Nhan and Spock have made contact with the Anil crew. Working to beam them aboard, but they’re jamming our signal, sir.” “Tell them that we are unaware of such involvement,” Pike said. I nodded before I turned my head, repeating the message to the Tholian side. There was a pause from them before another series of clicks and screeches. “They say that they’ve identified our vessel working to repair the U.S.S. Anil and say that we either send orders to stop work immediately, or they will show the same treatment to our crew.” Pike’s expression hardened, then, eyes darting to their screen. “Number One, status report,” He ordered through clenched teeth. “Still working to un-jam the transporter signal, Captain.” My eyes darted to the screens where I could see the Tholians shifting impatiently. “Number One, the Anil crew, when they were captured, they were mid-repair, correct?” I asked. “Affirmative.” “Suited for space?” “Presumably.” “And likely remained so despite capture?” “You have a plan?” Pike asked. I shot him a wary look. “I have a bad idea.” “Well, that’s something,” He pressed. An irritable hiss came from the Tholian side and I held a finger up to signal a moment more before turning my head back to Pike. “Spock and Nhan and suited for combat, helmets included, right? The Anil crew are suited for atmosphere. We tell the Tholians that we’ll give word to stop work on  the Anil, beam back to the ship, give Nhan and Spock orders to find their way to an airlock with the Anil crew and into space. If our transporter beam is still blocked, they use their guidance to get back to the Anil, we use our tractor beam to get a lock on the ship and warp out before the clicky bastards over there can do anything about it.” Pike’s lips twitched at my words, asking, “You hear that Number One?” “Heard and patched through to Spock and Commander Nhan as soon as the lieutenant mentioned a bad idea, Captain,” Number One answered crisply. “It’s our best play right now, I say we go for it,” Pike nodded, turning back to the screens. I mirrored him, relaying to the Tholians that we would gladly stop work on the Anil, and that we would need to return to the ship to give the order. The Tholians seemed to purr out our compliance. "Try beaming the others back first,” I mumbled into my comm. The transporter was delayed, and then we were on the transporter pads, in a blessedly cool room. I sighed, letting my shoulders sag, relaxed for a second. I hadn’t realized how much I’d adjusted to that heat until I was out of it. I followed Pike out of the transporter room, into the turbolift, holding onto the handle as we went to the bridge. By the time we arrived, Number One was barking orders, issuing course corrections. I watched as the Anil crew, Spock, and Nhan wove out of the path of Tholian fire, even as the Enterprise darted and rocked out of the path of our own fire. “Anil crew is aboard the ship, sir, Nhan and Spock are with them,” Number One announced. “Tractor beam status?” Pike asked. “Locked, sir.” “Get us the hell out of here,” Pike ordered, lowering himself into his chair. I watched as the Tholian ship began to fade, then disappeared entirely. I felt Number One giving me a look, and I met her eye. “You should get cleaned up,” She said. I couldn’t even bring myself to be embarrassed; I was too tired. I gave her a nod. “Lieutenant.” I stopped at the doors of the turbolift, turning toward the sound of the Captain’s voice. “It wasn’t a bad idea,” He said. I smiled a little bit. “I’ve had better ones, sir,” I said before I stepped onto the turbolift, doors sliding shut behind me. -- “With respect, you should get some rest, sir,” I said lightly. Pike hadn’t even paused for breath when we’d gotten back aboard the ship. I’d heeded Una’s advice and gotten cleaned up returning to my post. We were on our way to Starbase 389 for the Anil’s repairs; the Anil’s crew was safely aboard the Enterprise for the journey. I’d been surprised by the invitation to the Captain’s ready room - Number One had extended it to me, and when I’d arrived at the end of my shift, I’d found Spock, Nhan, Number One, and the Captain there with drinks in hand. I’d assumed it was a debriefing, but it had been more of a decompression session. It had dwindled gradually until it was just myself and the Captain. “Interesting advice from the crew member that almost immediately returned to their post on mission completion,” Pike commented, leaning back in his seat. “I think the key word there would be ‘almost’. At least one of us stopped for water.” Pike’s laugh took me by surprise, and it made me smile. It was a sweet sound - lower than I’d expected, but light. I wanted to hear it again. I lowered my eyes to my desk, careful not to let my eyes linger on his smile, like I’d let myself before. It was easier when the others had been in the room; when his attention was drawn away, I could observe him to heart’s content. Narrowed to the two of us, though, my sneaky glances would be more easily caught out. “You saved our hides out there today,” Pike had sat up in my introspection, leaned forward a little. My eyes flitted to his; that more serious look had overtaken his face again, but there something gentle there, too. “Just did my job, sir,” I excused, shaking my head a little. “It’s not like today was your usual,” Pike pointed out. I smiled. “This is Starfleet. There really isn’t a day to day usual,” I countered, “I mean... I will concede that I don’t typically orchestrate escape missions, but...” I shrugged a shoulder, “Frankly I figured if it was the worst idea offered, I was fine with it being the bottom of the barrel. If you’d taken someone else on that ship you probably would’ve made it out just as fast, if not twice as. I just wanted us out of there in one piece.” Pike was frowning now, not in a disappointed way, but almost with a confusion. I didn’t know what I’d said t hat might’ve prompted that, but I cleared my throat, hoping to jolt him of it. “I should leave you to it, sir. And I’m on shift in a few hours, I should uh...Hydrate between now and then,” I set my half-full glass on his desk and stood. Pike looked like he was about to say something else, but he stopped himself, instead pressing his lips together and giving me a tight ‘Captain’ smile. “Of course. Have a good rest, lieutenant.” “And you, Captain.” I made for the doors before I could say anything else stupid - or possibly confusing. “Lieutenant.” I cringed as I stopped, turning to face the Captain again. He rose out of his seat, walking around his desk to stop in front of me; he was hardly more than a few inches away, and he spoke lowly, as if there was someone nearby that he didn’t want overhearing us. “Any idea that ends in the most peaceful resolution of a situation, with the fewest lives lost, with the ship in one peace and the Federation standards upheld is a good idea. We may’ve left with Tholian fire at our backs, but when we engage with the Tholians, that is almost always going to be a guarantee. You offered a viable solution in a tricky situation and performed more than admirably under pressure.” Pike held my eye as he spoke to me; he wasn’t speaking down to me, or scolding me or lecturing me; it felt like he was almost pleading with me, to see the situation another way. “How another officer may have acted in the situation is immaterial. What I know is how you did act. I was glad to have you by my side.” I averted my eyes from Pike’s, to the badge on his chest. “I appreciate that, Captain,” I said quietly. “...Get some rest, lieutenant,” Pike murmured. “Sir,” I mumbled before I turned on my heel, hurrying out of the ready room as fast as the automatic doors would allow.

Is it to much to ask for Drarry in quarantine? Not sure if you hv done that alr tho😅🤔. ❤️❤️❤️

Ohh no I haven’t done that yet, actually. And don’t worry, it’s not too much for you  😉💕 (Sorry it took a bit longer than I expected,)

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

“Potter, I cannot- and mind you I cannot stress this enough- but I cannot believe you decided to come instead of sending someone else to go with me.”

Harry sniffed petulantly before coughing violently. Malfoy gave him a pointed glare, to which he simply crossed his arms like a child.

“It’s my job, Malfoy,” Harry stated. “I can do it just fine.”

“You’re sick,” Malfoy said exasperatedly, raising an eyebrow when Harry began coughing again to prove a point.

“I’m fine,” Harry insisted. 

“If you’re so fine-”

“I’m pretty damn fine, alright,” Harry smirked teasingly. Malfoy rolled his eyes at him.

“If you’re so fine,” he repeated. “Then tell me why the Italian Aurors won’t let us through.”

“Because... er,” Harry scrambled his brain to think of a reply. A futile attempt, seeing as Malfoy didn’t have any plans of waiting for his answer.

“We’re being quarantined in the bloody Immigration Holding Office until your fever goes down,” Malfoy snapped, glaring at him for good measure.

“It’s just the common cold,” Harry muttered to himself, slouching against his seat. 

“You know there’s been a sudden outbreak of a mutated form of Dragon Pox,” Malfoy stressed. “Which is why you should have just asked someone to go with me for you.”

“And who’s gonna make sure you don’t accidentally insult the Italian Prime Minister?” Harry shot back, his words sounding strange to his own voice thanks to his clogged nose.

“I am,” Malfoy scoffed, crossing his own arms. “I was raised with impeccable manners, I’ll have you know.”

Harry mimicked him childishly in a high voice, making his partner roll his eyes at him. Before Malfoy could breath out a response, however, they were interrupted by a knock on the door.

A mediwitch with a bubble-head charm walked it, her robes fluttering behind her.

“Mr. Potter. Mr. Malfoy,” she greeted them kindly. “I will just be running a diagnostic charm on you before prescribing what potions you’ll need to take. Once your temperature goes down, you will be in a self-imposed quarantine in your hotel.”

“What?” Malfoy sputtered, getting up from his seat. Harry just watched him. “We have a meeting with the Prime Minister. I understand if Potter needs to be quarantined, but me?”

She just looked at him with an eyebrow raised. “Mr. Malfoy,” she said cooly, with a tone that made it sound like she was talking to a child. “You have been in close quarters with Mr. Potter for more than half an hour, not to mention any possible contact you might have had before and during your trip here.”

Malfoy flushed. The portkey they were given was a small teacup. How small, one might wonder. Well, it was a play doll’s teacup. Which meant that he had to hold his hand over Harry’s during their trip there.

The blond turned to face Harry with one simple statement on his lips. 

“I hate you.”

“I love you too, partner,” Harry said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. For some odd reason, it seemed like the paler man was blushing, but Harry knew that couldn’t be.

“I’m done,” the mediwitch proclaimed, puling them out of their conversation. “I don’t believe that this is Dragon Pox-”

“Splendid.”

“-but,” she added pointedly, glaring at Malfoy. “To be sure, you will still need to be quarantined. I’m sure your meeting can be moved back, if only for the Prime Minister’s own health.”

“I guess we’d better tell Robards about the situation,” Harry said, rubbing his nape once he was given a potion. They would be allowed to leave once it kicked in.

“Fine,” Malfoy huffed. “But I’m going to be very clear that this was your fault.”

“Sure, whatever,” Harry yawned, suddenly feeling drowsy. The last thing he remembered was watching Malfoy’s very nice behind bend over to stick his head in the floo before everything went dark.

He doesn’t think he was out long, but the next time he opened his eyes, he panicked. 

“Calm down, scarhead,” he heard Malfoy scoff. “We’re in the hotel. They gave me the coordinates to apparate straight to our room so we wouldn’t accidentally infect anyone else.”

“Then why am I on the couch?” Harry asked, taking a glance of his unfamiliar surroundings.

“Because it appears that our lovely hosts were under the impression that we were, how you say, an item,” Malfoy said awkwardly, looking away with a light flush on his cheeks.

“What?” Harry asked, sitting up way too fast. He let out a groan when a sudden wave of a headache hit him, but forced himself to continue. “Don’t tell me that rubbish from the Prophet made its way all the way here.”

“It would seem so,” Malfoy frowned. “But it doesn’t matter. You’re taking the couch.”

“Why do I get the couch,” Harry protested. “I’m the sick one.”

“Exactly,” Malfoy nodded. “And it’s you’re fault we’re stuck here for the next two weeks, so suck it.”

Why don’t you suck it, Harry thought bitterly before a rather... explicit image popped into his mind. He shook his head to erase the thought before focusing his attention back to Malfoy.

“Fine,” Harry groused. “At least hand me a spare blanket and pillows.”

Malfoy seemed to actually consider it, like Harry was asking him to do some daunting task, before letting out a sigh and walking into what Harry assumed was the bedroom.

It didn’t take long for Malfoy to come out with a spare duvet and a soft looking pillow before he tossed it at Harry, who managed to catch the pillow while the blanket hit him in the face.

“Prat,” he grumbled.

“Whatever,” Malfoy smirked. “Go get some rest. I’ll order us dinner and you need to rest so I don’t get infected with... whatever that is.”

Harry wanted to argue but, well, he was feeling rather tired himself. And the couch wasn’t actually that uncomfortable to lie down on, so he complied, leaving Malfoy to do whatever he wanted alone. This nap, at least, was much longer than the one he had before he was transported here.

In fact, he could have probably slept through the entire evening but Malfoy had to wake him up.

“Potter!” he heard the man call. “Potter, wake up. Potter, I said- bloody hell, Harry! Wake up!”

“Wha?” Harry slurred groggily. He blinked his eyes in attempts to clear them up a bit before his vision showed Malfoy just inches away from his face. 

He flinched away in surprise, just barely catching the light frown that etched itself onto Malfoy’s face before moving back into a respectable distance.

“Sorry, what?” Harry asked after realizing that Malfoy had said something that he missed.

“I ordered you some soup,” Malfoy repeated slowly, his eyebrows furrowed with worry. “You need to eat something before ingesting potions.”

“S’fine,” Harry yawned, dropping his head back onto his pillow. “I’m tired.”

“No,” Malfoy insisted. “You have to eat. I’ll be damned if we have to stay here for longer than 2 weeks because you wouldn’t drink your sodding potions.”

“Make me,” Harry said, his voice muffled by the pillow stuffing.

“Sit up,” Malfoy commanded after a few beats of silence. This made Harry actually look at him.

“What?” Harry asked.

“You need to eat. Sit up,” Malfoy repeated tersely, but waited patiently for Harry to right himself so that he was leaning against the arm rest. 

“Now open your mouth,” Malfoy instructed. Harry was confused, but still too tired to argue, so he complied. Immediately, his mouth was filled with warm soup as Malfoy placed a spoonful in his mouth,

Merlin, Malfoy was feeding him. Maybe he really was awfully sick after all. 

He half wondered why Malfoy wasn’t just using magic to do this, considering all his complaints, but decided not to mention it. It was nice having someone take care of him though this, even if it was Malfoy.

His partner patiently fed him manually, with Harry enjoying the moment far too much. Once the bowl was empty, Malfoy then proceeded to prepare his potions for him.

“You don’t have to do all that, you know,” Harry said, feeling a lot better after the soup. “I think I can manage.”

Malfoy gave him a look, an indecipherable emotion in his eyes, before turning away. “Of course I do, Potter. We’re partners.”

“Right,” Harry said, feeling unsure, but decided not to argue. He knew, deep down, he’d probably insist on doing the same for the other man if he were in his position. Merlin knows he’d probably also insist on coming to work sick. He’s done it multiple times before.

After Harry drank his potions, Malfoy cast a regulating charm on him to see how he was doing before nodding, satisfied. 

“Goodnight, Potter,” Malfoy said, already halfway to the bedroom.

“Thank you, Malfoy,” Harry said softly. For a second, he wasn’t sure if the other man heard him, but the small nod of confirmation was enough to show that he did.

Sighing to himself, he settled under the blanket once more and went to sleep.

There was no need to mention if he felt a warm hand brush against his forehead some time in the night to check if he was okay, or the barest whisper of a get well soon brushing against his cheek.

Because, like he said, when push comes to shove, he’d do the same for his partner when he needed him. 

-————————————————-

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european here! not super sure if i know exactly what you mean by the tax, but we have a set VAT tax on our goods here, but it does depend on the country. but as far as i know, its a set tax in every country. and nope, we dont smile at strangers like americans do. our waiters also dont pop out of nowhere during a meal and there is never ice in our drinks, never. also, usong public transport is completely normal here and not considered to be a "poor" thing at all. like we would make fun of kids in our class that get taken by their parents to school because its considered spoiled here. also, you cant start driving lessons here until you're 16 and a half years old and you cant drive on your own until youre 18

Thank you for explaining!

Ya know it is annoying that we have so many different taxes, I think Americans are just used to guestimating how much items will cost. I add 7% of whatever the cost of the item is to the item cost and that’s usually it.

If you don’t smile at people do you say hi or at least ask how they are, or do y’all literally just ignore each other? Idk why that’s such a hard concept for me but how do you be friendly and acknowledge people without smiling???

Do your waiters just show up at the beginning and then at the end? How do you guys get refills or get more napkins, etc without the waiter? Unless you guys are expected to get that yourself which I guess would then make sense.

No ice in your water? So everyone just drinks room temperature water...do you put ice in your other drinks like pop? Am I discovering that ice is an unneeded luxury?

The public transport thing makes sense. America’s car and oil companies made it so public transport was only used by those in poverty so we’d buy more cars and be slaves to oil. Places like New York use trains and such tho at least. I hope they bring them back to cities, I would love to ride a train one day.

You can’t drive on your own until your 16 here but people either take the school bus (which isn’t looked down on as much since it’s literal school kids riding them) or walk before they get their license. But not all schools even have busses (mine didnt and kids had to walk like an hour to get home) so that just depends. It’s gotta suck that y’all can’t drive alone until you’re 18 but if you have public transportation it probably doesn’t matter much.

I just responded to all your answers with like 30 questions, I’m so sorry don’t feel pressured to reply 😂

Okay I really enjoyed this week’s episode! It set up a bunch of cool stuff that I can’t wait to see, and it was a fun watch. We got a number of desperately needed partner/Digimon moments, and we got some much needed Taiyama friendship action going on - as well as some other stuff I super appreciated (but still want more of). I’m so stoked for how the team is coming together.

We didn’t get a few things I normally would have expected, and I’m never quite sure if I feel that way because it’s truly missing or if it’s just that “this ain’t your momma’s Digimon Adventure” yadda yadda. I don’t think i’ll ever get used to Taichi being so serious in comparison to his 99 incarnation (but, I get the feeling he is more in line with original V-Tamer Taichi, so there’s that).

So not a slam dunk for me, but all in all, it was good!

I just took as many Taiyama pics as I could so why don’t we just knock one out of the way before we begin xD

They look so coooool all beat up and windswept

More below!

Sooo last week, the aptly named Eyesmon evolved into the equally well-named Orochimon. I always think “hydra!” (thank you Hercules) so initially my thought was that the plan would be for each of the kids to take out one head. Then I remembered, we only have six kids so far... and then I got a better look at it:

(this cap’s from much later but it shows the whole body so)

there was clearly one head that was significantly different from the others and appeared the most connected to the body! So the strategy was clearly lop off the central head because that’s what’s controlling the rest! A la VenomVamdemon only slightly less gross hahaha

Meanwhile back in real Tokyo, as Koushirou explains, the electronic pulse generated from this freaky Digimon’s battle is affecting anything digital, or even just anything that uses electricity.

Kaaaboom!

Our kids try to fight but it’s pretty obvious they’re out of their league. I did totally love MetalGreymon and Zudomon leading the charge together sort of. Because I continue to be a sucker for Taichi/Jou growth parallels! Anyway they both get knocked out and de-evolve so Taichi calls for them to regroup.

Aww piggyback

The way Jou carries Gomamon like an infant though ;___;

Sora and Garudamon lead the retreat, scooping everyone up and carrying them out of danger and omg look at Gomamon he looks so cozy gaaah

but not before Taichi realizes someone’s not with them... it’s Yamato of course... he’s just standing there... staring...

Why? Because “my little brother’s in danger in the real world!” That is adorable. Stupid but adorable.

Also stupid yet adorable... Taichi immediately runs to go get him. I have no idea WHAT his plan was but I am eternally grateful that he is such a dork because it gives adorable dorkiness like this:

and this

and ultimately this

pffffffftb

weregarurumon tries his best he really does

(no but really this is now my PREFERRED method of transportation for these two, one each tucked under WereGarurumon’s armpit and just dangling like that while he runs like crazy protecting his precious cargo... also look at Taichi holding onto Agumon’s arm the whole time eeeeeiiiii I love those detals it almost distracts from WereGarurumon’s expression of shock when they inevitably get shot and fall to their doom x’D)

yeah so everyone gets shot and falls to their separate dooms, and this was 100% just an excuse to put Taichi and Yamato alone together. The shonen action anime equivalent of “and there was only one bed!”

Jou continues to cradle Gomamon like his very own son

The kids wonder what to do and Jou has a cool moment here and there (like legit cool, where he acts all responsible)

... er, I did say “moment” :P

Meanwhile Koushirou is all cryptic and scary. That is his main job after all. You may think it’s to be the team brain, but it’s actually to make sure we viewers know just how terrible things really are so we can lose all hope of survival even though we already know they’re going to win x’D

I mean that is pretty scary tbh

Taichi breathes a sigh of relief. I wasn’t exactly surprised that he’s not running out to fight - even 99 Taichi usually understood when it was time for a strategic retreat. At the same time, maybe it’s just me, but I totally got the sense that he was scared in this scene. Not out of his head with fear, but definitely worried, I mean none of them seemed to have any effect on this monster earlier. It’s interesting to feel his tension.

“Yamato why did you just stand there in the street while we were trying to make our getaway?”

“Because... my little brother’s right in the center of danger back home... I can’t let this monster continue its rampage or he could get hurt...”

“Yeah man that’s all fine but I mean why did you just stand there in the street like an idiot I’m pretty sure you won’t be much use to your little bro if you’re steamrollered?!?!”

He looks so surprised that all this has been because of brotherly love. I can’t remember, is this the first Taichi’s hearing of Takeru? I know he wasn’t there when Yamato told Sora & co but maybe it was mentioned way back when they jogressed... Either way I wonder why he doesn’t say “I get it, I have a sister back home too that I’m worried about too.” Seems like a moment for bonding ya know?

That is the one thing I felt was missing here... we went through all the trouble of getting Taichi and Yamato alone together, and all that happens is Yamato confides something in Taichi that he’s already shared with the others. I mean, Taichi also shows his willingness to help Yamato and work together, and I think that is the important thing we’re supposed to take away, as Yamato’s all touched by it... but uh, for the most part I felt like not much happened in this scene, at least not that we haven’t already seen before.

Takeru’s phone, he’s waiting for a call from “oniichan” T-T my precious boy

And we actually get to see him!! His face!! His adorableness!! Ahhh Takeru I miss youuu!

Family photo! Parents’ faces not shown in the usual tradition of “divorcees in kids’ shows”! Also the tell-tale brothers are holding hands, but parents are standing as far apart as possible...

Meanwhile Taichi’s mom and sis are trying in vain to evacuate while their car flips out. Hikari sees an image of Orochimon broadcast on a nearby building and flinches away. No one else seems to notice it so maybe this is just her special ability like in 99 Adventure?

Traffic’s at a complete standstill and everyone’s electronics are going bonkers so Mama Yagami has them get out and head for the trains. Unfortunately this is what everyone else decides to do as well, and Hikari winds up like Simba in the wildebeest stampede, only there’s no one to jump in and save her so she tragically dies. :P

taichi: I see your ‘brother in danger’ and raise you one ‘dead sister.’

yamato: screw you

“You did great Mimi!!” A JOUMI MOMENT WE GOT A JOUMI MOMENT sort of okay but beggars can’t be choosers HE PRAISES HER (FOR STUFF HE WASNT EVEN THERE TO WITNESS THO LOL) AWWWW ITS SO CUTE

Then he remembers to praise his partner!!! All by himself! (Finally!) Gomamon’s so happy! It was so unexpected and he’s ecstastic!

Piyomon instantly gets jealous!!!! It’s so adorable!!! Sora is quick to reassure her that Garudamon is indispensable.

“And I’m the prettiest, right Mimi?”

“When you’re Lillymon, anyway.”

“D:”

lol the return of Mimi only appreciates Lillymon’s sense of fashion tickles me. an essential Mimi characteristic

Tentomon shyly and awkwardly tries to wring a compliment out of Koushirou too. It works, Koushirou is quick to tell Tentomon that he’s super cool as AtlurKabuterimon. I will be honest though, I wanted him to fail, just because we need to let these kids actually develop!! Their arcs are over so quickly! It took 99 Koushirou 52 episodes to be able to say “I love you” (I think it was “thank you” or something in the original Japanese but the point is he was being super honest and vulnerable at long long last). Imagine what an important moment this would have been if Tentomon’s “and me?” had been met with “huh? uh uh... I was thinking about how to defeat Orochimon... what are we talking about?”

That is something I continue to miss, not just with Koushirou but with everyone... their personal weaknesses just don’t really feel like weaknesses the way they did in 99 Adventure. And I’m just wondering why? For me, that was a driving force of what made 99 Adventure really great. It wasn’t afternoon special “stories with a moral” type drivel, because what they learned in the moment still had to build upon, and they would fail again, and learn again, and become their best selves slowly. And they’d risk a lot in the meantime. It was powerful to ten-year-old me. We are at ep 17 now and by this point in 99 Adventure, we’d had tons of scenes like that. I keep thinking “okay it’s early, we’ve got time!” but at this point it’s not so early anymore! But comparing with 99 Adventure is also a useless effort and I continue to choose to enjoy this show as its own separate thing and believe there’s still lots to come.

Taichi expresses his willingness to fight alongside Yamato even though as Yamato warn’s “it’s gonna be totes yabai”

Taichi: “I eat yabai for breakfast”

Yamato: “smiles”

jokes aside... the way Yamato smiles at Taichi is so cute! It’s hesitant, but once it’s there it doesn’t waver. He’s clearly starting to get used to relying on Taichi for backup, at least, and it’s no question that he feels friendship for him and the others, he’s just reluctant to admit it. The question is how all this will hold up when the situation’s reversed.

I LOVE this particular cap, Idk, there’s something about the sheer determination on Taichi’s face and the trust in Yamato’s as he looks back at him while they ride Garurumon directly into Orochimon’s line of fire... Fizz I think you’re reading too much into the animation. DON’T MESS WITH MY DREAMS OK I KNOW THESE KIDS BETTER THAN I KNOW MYSELF

obligatory Best Boy cap

Suddenly, in the real world, the fight is broadcast on the screens!! I was expecting this to happen every time a screen flickered, but once it did, I was like wow!! they’re going to let the whole world in on the secret of the digital world already!? and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that

BUT... that’s not what happened, maybe. Because so far the only ones who for sure are seeing these images of Digimon and the Chosen Children are Hikari and Takeru. No one else reacted to Orochimon and Mama Yagami doesn’t go “hey, that’s my son!” We could argue no one noticed because they were busy evacuating like maniacs, and Mama Yagami was busy looking for Hikari on the ground and not looking up at the screens. But it feels impossible that someone wouldn’t notice! So my current theory is only Hikari and Takeru can actually see these images... at least for now.

The fight rages. Meanwhile, the others soon catch up, as the only reason they were separated in the first place was to let Taichi and Yamato have a Moment. One thing I really liked though was Sora more or less leading the charge to join Taichi and Yamato. I want more of “second in command Sora” now and forever. (My personal headcanon since I was a kid was always that if something happened to Taichi, Sora, not Yamato, would take over. Tri did not go that way though :P)

Burning eyes of courage!!

They beat Orochimon by taking off his central head, as predicted. Then they all go and take a nap in the street. It is full of d’awww.

Gabumon and Agumon mimicking their partners’ body language always get’s a mega d’awwwww

Taichi: “That was yabai!”

Yamato: “I warned you it would be.”

Taichi: “Yeah, but we made it somehow!”

Yamato: “... smiles”

Uggggghhhh I can’tttttt with these two

Like Koushrou, Yamato is totally whipped by Taichi’s smile... oh dear... my heart is pulled in two directions... Taiyama... Taishirou... “my number one my number two...” (anyone else remember that dumb song there used to be tons of love triangle amvs on youtube set to it...)

I mean just look. look at Yamato looking at Taichi. he can’t make himself look anywhere else. ToT

Sora and Piyomon also win Adorable Award of the Day.

Honestly everyone gets it... I apologize for not having any cute Tentomon resting on Koushirou scenes capped! It’s because they drew Tentomon’s head freakishly big and I just couldn’t do it bahahaha but they were cute too

And that’s the end of... oh oh wait, did you think the battle was over? YOU NOOB. xD

every veteran Digi fan was not at all surprised to see this countdown appear and what looks like yet another bad guy evolution next week. Also next week...

... looks like Takeru’s finally going to join us!! Yaaaay! Very dramatically too it seems!

We got a glimpse of Hikari in a similar moment BUT... I’m not convinced Hikari will truly be joining us. She was separated from her mom and is clearly going to have a Digimon interaction of some sort like Takeru, but I think this is “eighth child” build up, one because the current ending theme is completely Takeru centric, and two because it just makes sense to me that Takeru would be Crisis One and Hikari will be Crisis Two. Idk of course it’s just a hunch.

Fizz before you said Hikari was killed in the stampede I WAS KIDDING

kidding about children dying??? OMG Y’ALL

maybe though Hikari’s swept away by those people, gets her Digivice, then is promptly captured by... idk evil Digimon, or shady government officials? More likely, she gets her digivice and helps but keeps it a secret and plans to show her brother when they reunite... we’ll see!

This ep I give 8/10!!

Ending with one more cool Taichi cap from next week’s trailer!

Smoke and Mirrors

Chapter 5: Andromeda II - Wotcher! (link to full story on FF.net)

Featuring: Andromeda Black and Ted Tonks

Word Count: 3.5K words

Warnings: References to Abortion and Drugs

The foul stench of warm beer engulfed Andromeda as she made her way into the dingy lit pub. It was awfully humid at the best of times, but in the July heat it was unbearable. The Leaky Cauldron was more or less empty, save for a few middle-aged wizards who she expected scarcely left the place. The barkeep nodded in acknowledgement at her.

“What can I get ya?” he asked, as he smiled Andromeda noticed that more than a few of his teeth were missing.

“Oh. Sorry. I am just meeting a friend-

“JUST MEETING A FRIEND?!”

Ted’s booming voice gave her a shock. She hadn’t noticed him at all when she’d walked in. Andromeda absent-mindedly reached to sort out her hair, but then she stopped herself when she noticed what she was doing.

“Sorry Quincy, won’t be stopping for a drink today,” Ted said to the landlord. “Make sure you save some of that Weizenbier though. I’ll be back in with Dirk next week no doubt!”

“Look forward to seeing you, Ted. Can’t promise I’ll still have any left tho’, popular stuff that, them Bavarian goblins sure know how to brew a beer!”

“That they do,” Ted quipped, as he reached out for Andromeda’s hand.

“Come on, ‘Dromeda, not got all day,” he said as he guided her towards the exit that faced into the muggle street.

“I am still not sure that I approve of that nickname,” Andromeda noted to him.

“Well I’m not sure that I approve of that purple cloak you’ve got on!” he cracked back at her. “You can’t go prancing around Southend in that in the dead of summer!”

Andromeda’s heart stopped.

“But you said…you promised that you would bring me a muggle dress to wear, Ted!”

She couldn’t believe it. She was going to look like an absolute idiot. The muggles would all be staring at her.

“Oh bugger! I did, didn’t I?” Ted said as a very serious and guilty look swamped his face.

Andromeda was crestfallen. It was the first time she was going to meet Ted’s parents and she was so very desperate to make a good first impression.

“I will look like such a fool, Ted.”

“You would indeed… it’s just as well I didn’t forget to bring you a dress then, isn’t it?” he chortled, before laughing loudly at her.

Andromeda felt her blood boiling. She hit him playfully on the arm over his denim jacket.  

“Ted Tonks! You are such a... such a…

“Devilishly good looking quick-witted chap?” he quipped, before grabbing her gently by the waist as she went to hit him again. She saw his green eyes smiling at her, before he closed them and kissed her softly on the lips like he’d done on many occasions over the last few months.

“I was going to say scoundrel,” she said at the end of their brief embrace.

“Scoundrel’s good too,” Ted replied with a grin on his face, before he began crossing the road.

“Where are you… that sign over there says the nearest train station is that way. I thought you said that we were going to get there the muggle way?” Andromeda asked, pointing in the complete opposite way to where Ted had begun walking.

Ted smirked.

“We are getting there the muggle way. No trains though!” he said, as he continued to stroll down the street, before stopping abruptly in-front of a red car. He slapped his hand on the bonnet. “What’d you reckon then, Drom? Nice motor, ain’t it?”

Andromeda felt a lump in her throat. “You. You cannot mean that… that

“Ford Cortina Mark II. Finest piece of totty to ever come out ah’ Dagenham. Brand new. Or so me old man said. Surprise present for me 17th birthday. I told him not to of course. Soon enough be able to apparate everywhere anyway, but he insisted on getting me a car. Could hardly turn him down could I?”

Ted reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a pair of keys, then put them into the door on the left hand side and opened it, indicating for her to get in.

“Come on, ‘Dromeda. I told Mum and Dad we’d be there at one!”

“But Ted. Travelling by train is one thing, but in a… in a car?”

“You’re not scared are ya?!” he asked incredulously. She was. She was very scared indeed.

She had read all about the muggle contraptions which were widely considered death-traps with wheels. The Daily Prophet was always reporting on new stories of witches and wizards narrowly avoiding getting run over and such forth. Muggles were awful at driving them, far worse than even the clumsiest of broom riders or carpet flyers – and there was a flying carpet crash or incident at least once a fortnight. In some circles there were even murmurs that the Ministry should put an outright ban on them.  

“You’re welcome to get the train if you want, love. Good luck getting there without me though!”

Andromeda huffed and puffed, but eventually relented and got in the passenger side. The inside of the car was one of the most confusing things she had ever encountered. There must have been almost a dozen different nobbles in the car, with numerous symbols and numbers that made absolutely no sense to her whatsoever.

Ted got in on the driver’s side and after a brief look at a map he revved the engine, thus beginning her first of many forays in muggle vehicles.

 ~ ~ ~ 

Andromeda was starting to regret her decision not to just get changed in the back of Ted’s car – he had promised to get out and not to look and it wasn’t that she didn’t trust him, but she felt embarrassed getting undressed in the back seat of a car.

The smell of fried meat and pancakes wafted in from the Little Chef restaurant and flooded the humid cubicle. It was one of those moments where you questioned everything that had happened in your life to lead up to that moment. She was getting changed into a loud muggle dress in a dingy toilet cubicle in a muggle service station, which was a weird sort of complex of petrol stations, toilets and restaurants which were strategically stationed at various parts of the muggle motorways.

It seemed quite sad that such was the struggle of transportation for muggles - that whole businesses operated around them having to stop for food or toilet breaks in the middle of travelling somewhere. You didn’t need to stop for a toilet break when getting a port key or using the Floo network – that’s for sure!

Andromeda opened the door after squeezing into the dress and stared at herself in the mirror by the sinks. It was almost like an out of body experience. She was certain that the person looking back at her was herself, but at the same time she knew that it simply couldn’t be. The muggle dress that Ted had picked out for her to wear made her look, well, like a muggle.

The dress, which Ted had quipped was “Slytherin green” was in-fact a much brighter green than Salazar’s favoured dark emerald. It was a very bright green, like the zest of a lime, with a bright white trim around the collar and the bottom of the sleeves – it almost made her feel like a key-lime pie. It was a far brighter shade of fabric than Andromeda would ever willingly wear, but perhaps what was the most disconcerting was how short a cut the dress was. It fell a few inches above her knee, which, especially given her lack of tights, by her Mother’s strict standards was nothing short of scandalous.

She stared into the mirror expecting, or maybe just hoping that eventually she would feel a bit better about herself, when suddenly a stranger tapped her on the shoulder.

“Oh my god I love your dress, hun! You look rocking, girl! Where did you get it?” said the muggle woman, who Andromeda guessed was roughly her own age, if not a few years older. She had fair skin, with even fairer hair and was wearing the wackiest dress Andromeda had ever seen. It was purple, but it was also orange and red and yellow – it was enough to give you a headache just looking at it.

“Sorry I err… it was a present, from a friend, you see,” Andromeda said nervously, wondering what her Mother would think if she knew she was talking to not just a muggle-born wizard, but a proper full-on muggle girl.  

“Ah, well you tell that friend they have great taste! Say, sorry if I’m wrong, but you look fairly liberal with a dress that short. Here, take a flyer!”

Andromeda took the leaflet, mumbled a slight thanks and looked down and it as the stranger scurried away.

OUR BODY – OUR CHOICE!    

On the 27th October our elected politicians will make a decision on whether WE have the right to legal abortion.

We’re marching in London on SUNDAY JULY 30TH

Will you be there? Remember – WE SPOKE out about the right to contraception and THEY HAD to listen!

Make sure YOUR VOICE IS HEARD!

Andromeda really wasn’t sure on what the general consensus of contraception and abortions was in muggle quarters.

Contraception was easy enough – it was a simple spell that was readily available and easy to learn for any teenage wizard worth his salt. It had been around for centuries and whilst it was a little controversial – the vast majority of the pureblood men and politicians who opposed it were all likely using it and cheating on their wives anyway.

Abortion though, well, it was fair to say that certainly was a bit of a taboo subject in the Wizarding world, especially among pureblood families.

It was quite difficult for a lot of pure-bloods to get pregnant in the first place these days, which her mother put down to inbreeding – and in years gone by she had never missed an opportunity to make snide remarks about her sister-in-law, their Aunt Walburga, who had married her cousin, Uncle Orion.

In the more recent history however, her Mother liked to keep a low profile at Black family gatherings. It was one thing to have married your cousin, but it was another thing altogether to have the shame of your firstborn daughter having an abortion at 16.

It was never publicly revealed which Slytherin boy had impregnated her sister, but Andromeda certainly had a few candidates in mind. It was probably Yaxley – that was certainly the most popular rumour, but there was no guarantee that it wasn’t Lucius or even Thorfinn Rowle.

Andromeda even suspected that such was Bellatix’s promiscuity that perhaps even she herself did not know who it had been. But what she had known was fury like nothing she had seen before. Their mother had been incredulous – and their father, well, Andromeda had never before seen him so disgusted at someone who wasn’t a muggle or a blood traitor.

“Wow! Look at you! Barely even recognized you and what’s that, have you grown legs? Consider me impressed,” said Ted, as he smirked. He hid it well, but Andromeda did not fail to notice his eyes lingering on her legs for longer than a momentary glance.

“I shall take that as a compliment,” Andromeda said, biting her lip as she got back into the car.

“Imagine what your family would say if they could see you right now! Where did you tell them you were going today?” Ted asked as he drank from his bottle of Tizer.

“I told Mother I was meeting a friend, not a lie by any means. I told Cissy where I was really going and who I was really meeting though of course.”

“You’re gonna be in the right shit if you ever fall out with her! The stuff she’s got on you…”

“Why would we ever fall out? She is my little sister! We tell each other everything Ted, we always have done. You know what Bellatrix is like. Cissy and I always had to stick together! I am not sure that she entirely approves of our err… courting… but she would never tell Mother, Father or Bellatrix about it. Besides, like I said, she tells me everything too. I know all about her little love affair with Fabian Prewett.”

“Well, if you’re sure you can trust her,” Ted said nonchalantly as he turned on the car radio and flickered around with it a bit.

A slow, brooding guitar melody got under way, before the thundering sound of crashing upbeat drums kicked in.

“Well that’s ironic. Fitting song for us, I reckon,” Ted remarked.

I SEE A RED DOOR AND I WANT IT PAINTED BLACK

NO COLOURS ANYMORE I WANT THEM TO TURN BLACK

I SEE THE GIRLS WALK BY DRESSED IN THEIR SUMMER CLOTHES

I HAVE TO TURN MY HEAD UNTIL MY DARKNESS GOES

“Cracking band, The Stones,” he said, strumming one hand on the dashboard. “Got nicked on drugs charges the other week too, helluva story that. Imagine that. Laying in ya’ cell and Keith Richards and Mick bloody Jagger walk in. Christ.”

“Drugs charges?” Andromeda asked. “I do not understand.”

“Drugs are illegal substances. You can get arrested for buying or selling them on. Not too sure I can think of a wizarding equivalent.”

“What do these drugs do exactly if they are illegal?”

“Well, some of them are a bit like alcohol I s’pose. Bring you up, take you down. You know liquid luck, right?”

“Well, I have read about it, yes.”

“Yeah, exactly, read about it. Incredibly rare. Incredibly expensive stuff. Even a posh young witch like you’s nevva come by any…”

Andromeda flushed slightly at being called a “posh” witch.

“Right so with these drugs though, you can get a similar experience to Liquid Luck for what the average man earns in a few hours work. A lot of people just do them casually for a bit of fun now and then, but some people get proper addicted to some of them. End up ruining their lives over ‘em.”

“Oh. That sounds awful,” sighed Andromeda.    

“Yeah,” agreed Ted. “But the old bill only went and busted Keith’s gaff didn’t they? They turned up at the house and found everyone high as a kite! Caught Jagger with a bit of speed, not that bad really. Charged Keith for letting people smoke cannabis in his house, what a load of nonsense. Harmless stuff that is” he said, shaking his head and looking annoyed, then he started laughing. “That’s not the best bit though! You know how the plod reckon they know they were all high? Well, they reckon that Jagger’s missus was wearing nothing but a fur rug when they turned up. A fur rug, ha-ha can you imagine them walking in and finding that?”

“That does sound like quite the shock. That poor girl,”

“They’ve got to be careful though, they have. Newspaper reckons that one of the other guys there, not in the band, just some random toff, well they reckon this bloke had a load of heroin on him. That’s proper dodgy stuff that is.”

“It is?” Andromeda asked curiously. “What is it?”

“Proper nasty stuff. One of the most addictive drugs out there. You ever see a homeless person off their rocker, they’re probably on smack. Ruins lives that stuff does. You get someone hooked on that – they’ll do just about anything for you to get another hit of it.”

~ ~ ~ 

Southend High Street was in many ways much like Diagon Alley. There was a vast array of smells, sounds and sights to ensnare one’s senses, with an endless stream of adults and children alike bustling around all of the shops. Whilst it was alike in that sort of sense – it was also in just as many ways completely different, it was almost like being on another planet, such was the contrast.

“There ya go!” Ted said, as he thrust a strange, yellow ice cream which had what looked almost like a little brown stick pointing out of the middle into her hand.

“Thank you, but err, what is it may I ask?” she enquired.

“That is the finest ice cream you’ll get in the country, love. Lemon ice. It’s sort of like a mixture between ice cream and sorbet. Rossi’s finest! With a chocolate flake, Cadbury’s of course! No idea why they call it a 99 though, they’re only a half crown each. Could buy like 8 of them for a pound.”

Andromeda took a slight lick, then a nibble and she did have to admit it was very nice indeed, although in the summer heat she found it was melting rather rapidly.

“I will never understand muggle money,” she sighed.

“Probably for the best anyway. Rumour is they’re getting rid of half crowns soon anyway! Mental if you ask me,” he snorted indignantly.

“Right well,” he pondered whilst looking out into the crowd of people ahead of them, whilst intermittently slurping big chunks of his own lemon ice. “Dad said they’d meet us outside Keddies at 1 o clock. Now by my watch that should be just about…

“Wotcher!”

Andromeda jumped slightly as Ted’s father popped out from out of nowhere and slapped his hand on Ted’s shoulder. He was slightly shorter than his son, as well as slightly rounder, but there was certainly a strong resemblance there. At a guess she would have said he was about 40.

“Alright, Dad!” Ted hollered, as he embraced his father warmly, being careful not to spill any of his ice cream on his father’s shirt. Andromeda had now spotted a slightly younger and slightly slender looking women, with dark brown hair standing alongside Ted’s father, who she assumed was Ted’s mother.

“Mum, Dad, meet Andromeda…”

“Wotcher,” his Dad said to Andromeda, as he pulled out his big hand and gave hers a firm shake. Andomeda offered a faint hello in reply. “Robert Tonks. But everyone calls me Bobby. This is my wife, Agata…”

“It is pleasure to meet you, Andromeda,” she said, in a vaguely Eastern European accent that Andromeda could not quite pick out.

“Teddy has told us so much about you. You are even more beautiful than he said you were.”

Andromeda flushed slightly at the thought of him telling his parents that he thought she was beautiful. She had to think fast to deflect away from it.

“Teddy?” Andromeda asked sarcastically at Ted. She had never heard of him being used by that name before. He blushed slightly. Ted’s father ushered them to start walking north and they continued their conversation as they trekked through the high-street.  

“I call him Teddy ever since he was little boy. He was Mummy’s little teddy bear,” Agata teased gently. Ted shot her a hideous look filled with embarrassment.  

“Oh don’t you worry, Andromeda. I’m sure there’s plenty more he’s kept quiet from you. We’ll fill you in on all of the secrets!” Robert said, winking once at Andromeda and then at Ted, who shot him a look that was halfway between anger and fear. “I hope that ice cream’s all you’ve eaten, Ted. Corr. Me and your mother taking you out for lunch with your missus and you’re on the ice creams already! What are ya like ehh, son?”

“You know what they say, Dad. Like father, like son!” Ted shot back.

“You calling your old man fat?” Robert scoffed incredulously.

“I’m not callin’ you skinny!” Ted joked.

“Bloody cheek! ‘Ere Andromeda he’s only showing off cause you’re here. Bet your parents don’t let you talk back to them like that, ehh?” Robert said, sneering at his son.

“Well… err no. Not quite,” she replied.

Ted and his father seemed to be exchanging in good natured banter, not uncommon to see between fellow pureblood students, but the idea of a parent and son or daughter talking to each other like that was a very alien concept to her. The Black family were all about respect, well, when Bellatrix wasn’t involved she supposed.

“Do you like seafood, Andromeda?” Agata asked her.

“Yes, I do quite like fish I suppose,” Andromeda replied politely.

“Well that is perfect. We take you to best seafood restaurant in all of Southend,” Ted’s mother said proudly, as they finally reached the end of the high-street and caught a glimpse of the sea-front. The tide was in and the crisp, blue waves were shining in the distance.

Fic Preview Time!

Bc I might as well tease you guys since I actually haven’t been writing that much lately.

1. Untamed death row exoneration fic

So, I was writing this one before the US government went on it’s little killing spree, but it started to be topical and real, so I put it on a backburner, but I'm getting back to it.

The house wasn’t huge. Wei Ying knew that, intellectually. Compared to the house he’d grown up in, it was modest. Compared to the entire lake that had been in his backyard as a kid, the small pond and five trees in the backyard were cute. 

But he couldn’t help it, as soon as A-Yuan left the house, just walking from room to room to room, in and out. He tried to be careful and close the screen door, but sometimes he’d forget and one or two rabbits would hop in and surprise Lan Zhan in his office.

Lan Zhan never scolded him for it. He’d just pick the rabbit up and put it in his lap. 

“You’ve got to go to therapy,” Jack came by with a bottle of wine the first day, patted A-Yuan on the head, and let his wife give Lan Zhan a salad with nuts and artichoke hearts. “I’m going to give you this right now, and that’s all the booze you get until you send me a picture of the appointment.”

“I can buy my own alcohol,” Wei Ying laughed at him. 

Jack just smiled indulgently at him.

“Trust me,” he said, gently. “You want to do this. For your kid.”

So he had an appointment on Friday, and until then he was walking the house the same way he’d paced his cell.

Wen Ning was in his room, working on something A-Yuan had asked him to do. Qing-jie was working on finding whatever job a woman who was snatched from the gentle grip of a first year med school could get.

Wei Ying tried to lie down at the edge of the pond. Several goldfish swirled around, looking at him expectantly, and he waved apologetically.

“Lan Zhan told me you guys are on a diet,” he pointed out. The fish, disgruntled, fluttered their fins, and drifted away.

The sun went behind a cloud. The lilies floated in the wind.

He slept. 

The sun shone off the wine bottle, still unopened, on the kitchen windowsill.

So it’s not really about the death penalty, per se, it’s more about exoneration and also humans and trauma and stuff. Really heavy and it makes me sad.

2. Unnamed Teen Wolf vampire fic

So this isn’t REALLY a Vampire The Masquerade crossover, but it kind of IS, because I played that LARP for ten years and I still don’t understand(because I’m stupid) so it incorporated a lot of their brokenness, lol. Basically, it’s Scott getting kidnapped by vampires, who then decide to keep him and won’t give him back based on him being their precious darling.

A hunter came up behind him, but Scott felt, smelled, heard him, and, with a twist, threw him into the lights. They smashed, and several of them died, much to the delight of the captive. Her grin, briefly delightful, suddenly terrifying as two delicate fangs appeared, brought a cry of terror from the hunter as she dragged him up, and Scott found himself stepping forward, hands outstretched helplessly.

“Don’t kill him!”

She paused, and her pout returned.

“But I’m hungry,” she complained. “And he’s not exactly a good guy, wolf, he steals kids.”

“Just,” Scott wanted to agree with her, wanted, suddenly, to just leave the bastard there. She was right. He was a kidnapper and probably a murderer. 

(“Some of us are human!”)

“Just, please,” he begged. “Just leave him. Help me save Siobhan.”

She looked him in the eyes, hesitating, then bent her head and sank her teeth into the hunter’s neck.

Scott felt himself drop a little. That was that. He didn’t know why he’d expected to persuade her otherwise.

“Fine,” she stood up, letting the hunter fall into the broken glass of the lights, blood dripping down her face. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. You could turn a cat from a mouse with those eyes. He’ll live, he just needs some juice.”

...

Maybe it wasn’t the shadows that had taken his breath from him. She’d thought the blood was someone else’s, but she could see it seeping out from under his fingers.

“Are you okay, wolf?”

“Scott,” he reached for a shirt, and pulled it on with jerking, shaking fingers. 

“My name’s Scott McCall,” he clarified for her raised eyebrows, then collapsed in a heap beside a pile of laundry.

She let a note behind. It was what you did, right?

She wrote it out on thin, lined paper, and pinned it to the fridge under a cute, pig shaped magnet. Then she picked him up, and stepped into the darkness.

...

“You’re awake!” The girl walked in carelessly. She wore draping scarves over a loose, not very long dress, and long, flashy necklaces. Her curls didn’t quite seem to match. “Took you long enough.”

“I can’t- I can’t stay here,” he was trying to get up, and he realized that someone had taken off his jeans and replaced them with loose, soft pyjamas. He was wearing a matching shirt. 

“You took my pants?” He held himself up with one hand, and noted, as if from far away, that it was shaking.

“Don’t worry about your maidenly modesty,” she pulled out her phone and used the camera to reapply lipstick in a bruised purple. “Seamus wanted you to be more comfortable. That’s all.”

“I have to go,” he shook his head. “I have to- How long have I been here?”

“Almost four days now,” she said, pushing him back into bed. “Stop that. You nearly died about five times.”

“My friends,” he tried to move, but she was stronger than she looked. Her hands were cold, and she smelled strange. Dull, and still. 

“I left a note,” she seemed utterly unconcerned. “I put it on your fridge. Cute magnets, by the way.”

“I’m Jewel,” she told him, clambering up to sit cross legged on the bed beside him. “Jewel Cleary.”

“Scott-“ she interrupted him carelessly. 

“I know, Scott McCall, you told it to me while you were dying.”

That explained it. They didn’t know he was an alpha.

“I wasn’t dying,” he tried to explain. “I’m an alpha. I would have been fine, you didn’t have to bring me here.”

“You nearly died three times in this very bed, boyo,” a huge, decaying mountain of a man, whose bulk spoke of power beginning to fade, and who had laugh lines at every corner of his face, came in with a steaming tray. “And now you’ll stay in it and eat your dinner and rest until you look a bit less of a corpse.”

“I’m Seamus,” the man handed the food to Jewel, then helped him sit up. “Tho most call me Shea, on the belief that my true name will call all manner of calamities down upon us. You’re Scott McCall, who saved our Jewel, and it’s a pleasure, indeed it is, Mr. McCall.”

He was saved from replying by Jewel putting the tray under his nose and both of them beaming expectantly over a bowl of stew and a cup of something dark and hot. 

It was… very good. And he fell asleep again as soon as he finished.

3. Another Chapter In Mysterious Fathoms Below

So this fic is actually stalled because I’m writing Uma giving a Ted Talk style speech on what it was actually like growing up in a concentration camp run by a totalitarian dictatorship and I’m stumped on it, also the mystical stuff that's coming in. But I'm back on track soon, so hopefully this will come out soon.

“Davy Jones’ Locker!”

“Don’t curse, dear,” Merryweather had scolded absently, trying to clear up supper dishes. 

“Don’t-What? Merryweather, look at the bloody stars!”

Harry grabbed her arm, pushing her to look up at the sky. It was just past dusk, soft and velvety blue, with early stars cheerfully popping into place. She followed Harry’s finger.

There should have been two stars there. One was newer, and that one had taken its place, although it’s bright shimmer was somewhat reduced.

Where the other should have been, there was black emptiness. Somehow, the sky looked cold and empty without it, and its mate seemed to shiver in the blackness.

“The second star,” she whispered. “Oh, Harry, what’s going on?”

…

“I was born in a prison, and on that day, from the moment I came screaming and bloody into this world, I was sentenced to life without parole. Like everyone born on the Isle Of The Lost, all my friends and my enemies, I was born to starve, suffer, and die, for the crime of being born to the losing side.”

“My first memory is of vomit. I was sick, because the food that came to the Isle came off garbage skows. Now, I don’t mean that the ships that transported the food were garbage skows, repurposed for bringing food to our prison, I mean it was garbage. The leftovers, the trash, rags and rot. Every bite we took was Russian roulette, and that day, I guess I lost.”

She smiled, and turned slightly again. She had never managed to stay still, even when she slept, she kicked and pushed out against the world. She had crawled early and walked early, she had swum from the moment of her birth.

“I don’t mean for you to think this was some kind of unusual event. I had food poisoning several times a year. The alternative was to not eat. There were no gardens, no farms. The ground was rocky and hard, and even if we’d managed to till it, the earth was leeched of life, to keep the barrier going. It was fed from the very island.”

From something more than the island. From something that had been since long before the Beast and his doll had been even thought of, something that had reigned before princes and queens.

Ursula drank her daughter’s face in. Sweet and pretty, crowned and gowned, just as she should have been. She traced the curve of her cheek, and pretended that this was something else, something from another world, where Uma was all that she appeared, and pure, and soft. 

…

They were making their way through grey fog, as fast as pixy dust could swing them. The Pan stood at the bow, staring into the mist. When Harry approached, he turned, eyes glowing with a terrible fire.

“It’s begun, impossible child,” he said, cheerfully.

Harry swore at him, savagely, and sat on the rail, listening for the sounds of planes and guns.

…

“Look how she lights up the sky,” she could hear Naveen singing, singing somewhere far away.

She stumbled out of bed. He must have been singing to Jimmy, and Jimmy was probably missing her.

But when she got to the nursery doorway, it was gone. 

The air was rich and humid, sweet with flower and sour with decay. Dragonflies hummed, their jewel-like bodies gleaming in the last of the sunlight as they danced over the glimmering water. She took one step, and another, the ground not giving way, but welcoming her in, wrapping water and earth around each foot. The trees swayed overhead, moss waving in the wind.

A place of death. A place of life.

3. The next chapter in Five Wolves Sansa Never Had

So this was a fic that stemmed from my irritation that Sansa lost her puppy. This chapter is called “Ned, you fucked up big time” and its about Ned trying to replace Lady with a sickly puppy who actually IS a dire wolf. Knowing what I know about dire wolves now, this is HILARIOUS.

He almost bought a doll, but Jory had shaken his head furiously, and he’d stepped past the toy shop, to a man selling what he called “exotic beasts, fit for the King’s own menagerie”.

Of course, the quiet little pup certainly wasn’t the dire wolf the man advertised him to be, but something in his golden eyes and quiet nature had reminded him of Lady, and he’d paid far too much for the little creature. 

Far, far too much, it seemed now.

Sansa hadn’t been grateful. She’d sullenly put it in her lap, and told him he couldn’t replace Lady, and needn’t have tried. Then she’d gone to her chambers, ignoring Arya, who wanted to play with the little creature.

At first he’d thought it was simply a quiet pup, like Lady had been. It had had little appetite, and messed in Sansa’s chambers, but she had been used to that from Lady’s infancy and hadn’t complained. He’d heard it when he accidentally eavesdropped on Jeyne’s complaints to another maid.

But after some days it had become clear that the little beast was dying. Food and water ran through it, ending in messes on the floor, it slept for hours, and when it woke, it cried weakly. It couldn’t walk, and Sansa would carry it out to the gardens, lay it on a blanket, and sit and embroider, only getting up to change the linens under the poor thing, or to persuade it to take a sip of water or a bite of food.

Ned tried to broach the facts of the matter with Sansa, but she had only glared stoney-faced at him, until he found himself faltering and retreating. He’d thought of sneaking in at night and smothering the creature, but it felt too much like murder, and he finally gave up, leaving the little creature alone to die in peace.

The one good thing about the matter, which was the rift between Sansa and Joffrey. The Prince found the puppy disgusting and wasn’t quiet about it, and Sansa found his rudeness distasteful, and tactfully avoided the boy. By the time he was able to put them on a ship, sickly pup and all, she was distant enough from Joffrey that her protests were only quiet, pointed remarks about how he had made her fit to be a princess, and now didn’t find the price she brought him high enough.

It reminded him, chillingly, of how Lyanna had argued with his father, and he found himself unable to embrace her when she left.

…

Stark had sent one of his daughters with a Braavosi swords master and the other with a sickly puppy, as if he thought that Stannis hadn’t enough to do, and would appreciate some further inconveniences. 

The younger daughter had no idea how to behave, and put the entire castle into uproar after uproar. But if he had hoped that the eldest daughter, who had lived up to her reputation as far as being a pretty child, who curtsied precisely the right depth, would balance the little urchin by behaving and staying in her place, he was, well, mildly disappointed.

“The dog will be placed in the kennels,” he told them on the arrival.

The girl shook her head. 

“No, my lord.”

He had paused, and the entire parade of noblewomen, septas and servants had stumbled in its tracks.

“No, Lady Sansa?”

She met his eyes, and he was reminded, uncomfortably, of her father.

“No, my lord,” she reiterated. “He shall not go to the kennels. He is the symbol of my house and he will remain with me.”

“It’ll probably die soon, anyhow,” the younger girl told him. “It’s been dying since father bought it, it’s an ugly little thing.”

For a moment, Lady Sansa was unable to school her expression to proper demureness, and a cold rage turned her eyes from sky on sea blue to springtime ice as she glanced at her sister. It only lasted for a heartbeat, then she was back to cold courtesy.

Stannis ignored their silent squabble, and looked more closely at the creature. It lay limply in her arms, eyes unfocused, and breaths shallow. 

“At the very least,” he allowed. “We ought not to bring whatever sickness that is amongst the dogs.”

Later, he found the girl seated by her hearth, trying to feed the little creature a soup of broth and bones, while her ancient septa slept in the window seat. The pup ate but little, and the girl rubbed a hand over her eyes before she saw him and stood to curtsey again.

“Forgive me, my lord, I did not see you.”

“I brought this,” he held up a small pot. “I purchased it for a sick hound, once, and it brought the creature strength enough to heal.” 

She thanked him very prettily, and he mixed a spoonful with the broth she was trying to feed the pup, showing her the portions carefully and appreciating her careful attention. Between them, they got the poor thing to finish the broth and eat a little meat, before it fell asleep in a rabbit fur lined basket.

“Thank you, my lord.” 

He took a closer look at the child. He’d never thought much about the girl who would marry his goodsister’s bastard, but he could see now that she had bright, intelligent eyes, despite her clear exhaustion, and that she carried herself very well.

“It must have been a shock,” he said, abrupt in his discomfort. “When your father told you why he had to break your betrothal.”

She hesitated.

“My father,” her voice was very soft, and uncertain. “My father has not-“

He stared at her, irritable and disbelieving. 

“Did your father not tell you why you were being sent here?”

He knew he sounded skeptical, but the idea that Eddard Stark would not have told his eldest child why her very excellent marriage pact was being broken seemed truly ludicrous. Stark wasn’t stupid, and he was a man of honour. It would only serve him well to keep his eldest daughter in his confidence.

The girl blushed in embarrassment. 

“He-He told Arya,” she said, slowly. “That is, I believe he told her. She hasn’t said anything. To me. But he speaks to her. He likes her.”

Stannis frowned. 

There had been another father, once upon a time, that father had made sure there was a space in his mews for a crippled bird, and as much fresh and good food for her as any flighted creature, all because his son had hoped she might fly again. Even if that son was not as handsome, or charming, or bright as his brother.

“Your father has been foolish,” he told her, coldly. He had not the talent to speak to children, but she seemed to understand that he meant no harm to her. “He may as well have sent you riding an aurochs blindfolded.”

“No matter,” he continued, and sat down in a chair by the hearth, motioning her to the opposite seat. “Listen to me. It’s a very long story.”

…

“…His Grace, the King, has explained all to me, my Lord Father. 

I am very glad to hear that you have escaped your confinement. Perhaps we shall see each other again soon.

Your Obedient Daughter,

Sansa Stark, lately of Dragonstone”

There was something cold about the letter, Ned thought, running a hand through his hair, for all that it was prettily written, with no ink blotches or crossed words, but he couldn’t quite tell what made him think so. He set it aside, with a group of others he planned to answer later, including word from White Harbour and the Wall.

Stannis had overstepped, he thought. Sansa was too young to know the truth of her betrothal, that her former betrothed was a bastard born of incest, that Jon Arryn had been murdered. But Stannis had never been known for tact.

His son had become a king. The Riverlands and the North called him so. So did some among the Vale. Word had come to the Stormlands, just as he managed to convince Renly to wait for the proper order of succession.

He put it aside for now. Robb was a boy, he could be persuaded to see sense.

“Sansa has chainjed her hair again. She just brayds it and pins it back under a hood like the new Queen does except she hardly spends any time with the queen. She and Stannis are always together with the Prinsess. All they do is play kivuss, and talk over maps and books. 

“I found a secret passij in the cellar of the kassle. It goes to the dungeon.

“Are you alright, Father? I herd one of the men say you lost your leg. I miss you very much.”

He smiled fondly over the mis-spelled words, imagining Arya roaming a new castle, learning all the new haunts and secrets.

“My Dearest Arya,

“I have not lost my leg, but it was very badly infected. I hope you are well, and you are behaving for your hosts…” 

…

The black wolf didn’t die, to everyone’s surprise. To their further astonishment, he thrived, with an ever-growing appetite and a newfound strength to match. He began to grow, and developed a certain cool dignity, to match his mistress’ adolescent gentility. She named him “Prince” and embroidered a collar in silver-grey thread and white shell beads.

Stannis wasn’t, precisely, surprised to find that the elder of his new wards was quick and clever, or that she knew already the names and banners of nearly every house in the Seven Kingdoms, and the relevant histories of said houses. His wife was pleased with her sewing and manners, and engaged a musician to teach her and Shireen the high harp and the lute. The girl’s septa kindly took Shireen under her wing, along with the younger Stark girl(when she wasn’t playing at swords with her water dancing master or dragging Shireen and Patchface into trouble) and their maid. She couldn’t really do much more than teach them etiquette and sewing, but she meant well, and she was too old to do anything else, so Stannis allowed it.

Sansa and Melisandre had begun a polite war. Word had been that the girl prayed as much in the sept as her father’s godswood, but she was little interested in opening her faiths any further, and clearly disliked the Red God’s followers for their fanatic disavowal of the older faiths. The small folk had been afraid that she was a witch, with her black wolf as a familiar, but when she proved kind and generous, they apparently decided that she was a good lady, whose wolf was a sign of favour by either the old gods, or the new.

its weird to think that a year ago tomorrow I was flying out to Edinburgh to do exchange.  It does not feel like a year at all, it feels like that was a whole lifetime.  Even though I was over there for 5 months, it feels like I spent a lifetime over there.  I honestly got so exposed lmao.  I was thinking I was going to be “weird” for having smoked mAujAwAnA once, and the fact that I was practically black out drunk every weekend prior to leaving. I thought I was going to be the weird one dfkjkfjldsjflk. I remember my first day in school, I was looking at all the people and I remember seeing Fern wearing a chain and thinking “I can wear chains.”  Ms Hill, the teacher had a sheet which had the seating plan and I remember reading “Kate” and that was the chick I’d be sitting next to. it felt like a movie lmao. she was emo like me sjdaslkdjklas. she offered me a cigarette and we smoked by the cannel at break.   she invited me into the city after school and we got sushi fjkalsjfka and talked lmao, it was very fun, I was an awkward little shit as usual jskdjskajl.  then she invited me to get drunk with her and her friends on Saturday and I remember going “oh goddam, I was so wrong.” on the roof we’d just scam people for cigarettes. when me managed to get one, we did the exchange thing of smoke into the others mouth fdkjldsk and we ended up like semi making out, poor Anja just stood their like, wtf.  I stayed the night at hers and she showed me transporting. can't remember if it was transporting or Emo the Musical, but we ended up making out and I actually asked her on a date, (go me) and she yea. next morning we drank gin and went back into town. on the bus, we shared my headphones and listened to “Cigarette daydreams” and that become “our song.”  I got given bear by a homeless guy we made friends with then his twin brother came and I nearly got beat up by him whoops.  our first date we kinda just walked around and sat in princes park and smoked.  “thats a hot cloud” and “do you think grass gets horny” are two amazing quotes that we said kjskfjksjf.  we also wanted to get really expensive food for the lols but we looked at the prices and decided better and went and got coffee instead.  sadly it wasn't meant to be.. The date ended and someone asked if I was a prostitute on my way home which made me laugh.  idk what happened tbh. I knew she still had a thing going with Caelen, but she said she didn't. one weekend lead to another and she just didn't bother with me anymore :) she just made out with like,,, Daniel and Sam.  Anyway, at some point early on I met Thomas, Rueben and Wee Casper, we bought whisky and got drunk in princes garden and Thomas noticed StUfF and he pulled me aside and we had a really nice conversation. I miss Thomas. He was really into poetry.  it felt nice to have someone to talk to openly, even though I’d just met him but somehow that just made it all the better.  I remember talking to Casper, he wanted to surf and I told him if he ever needed a place to stay in Sydney he’d always be welcome.  Rueben was such a gentlemen, always polite and nice.  at some point we were sitting and Casper pulled a cookie and gave it me and I took a bite and then told I couldn't have it and put it back in his bag fsjslkjfkdjf I don't if he realised lmao. I miss those boys, that day, the 9th of September, that was a good day.  eventually I introduced Kate and Harpreet to them, they got on ok I guess. that was the first day I properly cross faded and also when I met Riley. he was a lad. I remember feeling really out of whack, so I smashed a bottle and yeah..... anyway, Kate and Harpreet noticed eventually and we left, and they got shit from the Tesco and yea... another time I cross faded I apparently I was bashing my head on a tree and it started bleeding, can't remember that tho. 20th September. The Climate Strike.... yeahhhhhhhhhhh.  it needed to stop. I miss my friends so much, I miss Kate, I miss Thomas, I miss Anja, Rowan, Sam, Sol, Chloe, Daniel, Rueben, Emma, Phoebe, Cara,  Casper, pretty much everyone I met.  I miss being on the roof and getting drunk, trying drugs that people would just hand you, smoking something that probably wasn't a cigarette, stealing cigarettes off people, running from the cops, fighting with the chavs, getting yelled at for being goths, getting Amber Leaf tobacco, Marcus talking about his ket addiction; there isn't a single bad memory I have there, even at the worst times, it was just inconvenient but it was still the best time of my life that I've ever had.

OK IMMA COMPLIMENT THE STRUCTURE OF CATS

Here’s the original book with all the info being provided courtesy of wikipedia

"The Naming of Cats"

"The Old Gumbie Cat" (Jennyanydots)

"Growltiger's Last Stand"

"The Rum Tum Tugger"

"The Song of the Jellicles"

"Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer"

"Old Deuteronomy"

"(Of) The Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles (Together with Some Account of the Participation of the Pugs and the Poms and the Intervention of the Great Rumpus Cat)"

"Mr. Mistoffelees"

"Macavity: The Mystery Cat"

"Gus: The Theatre Cat"

"Bustopher Jones: The Cat about Town"

"Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat"

"The Ad-dressing  of Cats"

"Cat Morgan Introduces Himself" (added in the 1952 edition)

and here’s how it was rearranged and intertwined with the plot for the stage

Overture" – Orchestra [honey you’re in for a storm

"Prologue: Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats" [hey this is who we are. buncha cats.

"The Naming of Cats" [we are verrry exclusive so don’t go acting like you know us when you don’t even know all our names

 "The Invitation to the Jellicle Ball" [but we invite you to our ball and we’ll also give you the reason WHY we’re having a ball

"The Old Gumbie Cat" [here’s an old cat we respect who we think might be chosen because we love her

"The Rum Tum Tugger" [here’s a younger cat we love, an absolute blast, lots of fun

"Grizabella: The Glamour Cat" [ here’s an older cat WE DON’T RESPECT but when she was younger we did love her..she was so much fun...and posh...

 "Bustopher Jones: The Cat About Town" [here’s an older posh cat we respect

"Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer" [here is a ~hint that there’s something scary out there but! aha the young rascals we love at the end of the day

"Old Deuteronomy" [OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLD CAT WE LOVE]

"The Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles" [A FUN PLAY to kick the night off /we should think about re-writing this a bit tho...

"The Jellicle Ball" [A FUN DANCE

"Grizabella: The Glamour Cat (Reprise)" [BUT SHE’S NOT INVITED

"Memory (Prelude)" [even though she remembers when she used to have fun with us

"The Moments of Happiness" [lmao treasure your happiness while its there

Gus the theater cat [because soon it will be an old dream as you see your abilities sink with age

"Growltiger's Last Stand" /not in 1998 and replaced by pekes and pollicles in 2016 so imma skip it but we should REALLY think about getting this song re-written as well/

"Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat" [here’s an older cat who we love again!!

"Macavity: The Mystery Cat" [here’s a rascal we don’t love at all. he’s kinda a punk. 0/10 not welcome.

"Mr. Mistoffelees" [young cat who has our attention and brings back someone beloved to us back to our side

"Memory" [ya’ll stop being mean to grizabella she has a show stopper song and allow this old cat we used to love back into the fold]

journey to the heaviside layer [we wish her safe travels and a great rebirth

"The Ad-Dressing of Cats" [now that we’ve introduced you to people we love, let you hang with us, and heck even named some of ourselves and found it within ourselves to accept someone we used to know back into our fold, you are now officially welcome to act like you know us

and for a littttle bit of positivity towards the 2019 movie [aka my brand]

"Overture"/"Prologue: Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats" [esentially the same with transporting us into the world of who knows what? CATS BUNCHA CATS

"The Naming of Cats"/"The Invitation to the Jellicle Ball" [VERY SPECIAL CATS KINDA EXCLUSIVE BUT WE’D LIKE TO LET YOU KNOW US

"Jennyanydots: The Old Gumbie Cat" [let’s start with a cat we think might win because munkustrap loves her bless his heart

"The Rum Tum Tugger" [let’s interrupt with a younger cat who is already having a blast by himself but encourages you to also have a blast

"Grizabella: The Glamour Cat" [victoria don’t go near her she’s not invited -.- even as you see the loads of history that she must have with us

 "Bustopher Jones: The Cat About Town" [ha! that was a downer huh...anyone hungry? can’t go to the ball on an empty stomach

"Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer" [some young rascals who are kinda punks but sadly we are in love with them

 "Growltiger's Last Stand" [wait a minute.. this is a henchguy...shady people from before...hmmm...1...plu-...no wait a second this isn’t math time

"Old Deuteronomy" [mom!mom!mom!

"The Jellicle Ball" [dance party time

"Memory (Prelude)"/"Beautiful Ghosts" [its nice that there’s a party guys but it feels mean to leave her out...especially since you’ve been nice enough to make me feel at least a little accepted

"The Moments of Happiness" [is it mean to keep shunning someone we used to love and refuse to allow her to be reborn at least in terms of how we perceive her character...

"Gus: The Theatre Cat" [I mean gus just wants to be able to percieve himself as worth something again too

"Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat [we came here to celebrate bops guys forget literally everything

 "Macavity: The Mystery Cat" [HENCHCATS FROM OUR NEMESIS WHO ALSO WANTS A CHANGE OF LIFE AND ITS JUST THE ABSOLUTE WORST WAY TO ASK

"Mr. Mistoffelees" [if munkustrap is allowed to serve up a song, maybe its ok if i the newbie suggest a cat song for the purpose of bringing back old deut and getting that boy some self esteem. Believe in yourself guys and magic!!

"Memory" [victoria; mister mistoffelees worked out better than i could’ve hoped maybe i can work out one more... grizabella: ya’ll remember when it was great to hang out? well i do and it makes me feel so alone and angry and tired and sad because it shouldn’t be impossible to get happiness back when the worst thing i’ve done recently is want to come back

"Beautiful Ghosts (Reprise)" [i mean we’re all jellicle cats right?

"The Journey to the Heaviside Layer" [let’s get some joy in her life again

"Finale: The Ad-Dressing of Cats" [we are family! victoria! you’re a jellicle babe literally do not hesitate to consider us yours

Jacob: Tough son of a bitch. Didn’t think he’d be up yet.

man, shepard is just so happy that garrus is up and about again, it makes my heart squeeze. ;w;

garrus’ armour is pretty much shot to hell and back, but in true fucking estinien fashion he’s not removing that shit for love nor money - and his face is pretty screwed up as well. he’s got a bandage patch on the right side of his head and neck from now-on, but he’s up and moving, and that’s what’s important.

Garrus:  Nobody would give me a mirror. How bad is it?

Shepard: Hell, Garrus, you were always ugly. Slap some face-paint on there, and no one will even notice.

Garrus: Ha--ah! Don’t make me laugh, damn it. My face is barely holding together as it is.

Garrus: Well, some women find facial scars attractive. Mind you, most of those women are krogan...

jacob salutes and leaves you guys to catch up, and the moment the doors close behind him, garrus starts voicing his concerns.

Garrus: Frankly, I’m more worried about you. Cerberus, Shepard? You remember those sick experiements they were doing?

Shepard: Right now, they’re a necessary evil. I need their resources to get this done.

also, you know, they built us back from nothing and are holding that above our heads, not to mention provided us with a ship and a crew and an AI that would all tattle.

garrus tells us that whatever he’s needed for, he’s fit to do, and he’ll go settle in at the forward batteries of the ship, which will be his main hangout spot during me2, and you can be sure i’m running right after him to have our 2-year catchup session.

i guess considering what happened to the last normandy... yeah, you really can’t.

Garrus: I thought I’d seen every weapon in the galaxy in our fight against Saren. Mercenary work showed me otherwise. And now Cerberus rebuilds the Normandy with a few upgrades to boot. I wish we’d joined up with them sooner.

Shepard: We haven’t joined Cerberus. They’re funding our mission. That’s all.

Garrus: Relax, Shepard. Just a figure of speech.

the translator in the omni-tool doesn’t always work for idioms and the like, leaving turians and humans particularly at a disadvantage with one another considering their cultural differences. it’s pretty cute that garrus has gotten this one right and that shep’s the one misunderstanding.

Garrus: I can’t exactly doubt your judgment. Not after I got my own squad killed.

Shepard: What did your merc squad do? It didn’t sound like you were available for hire.

Garrus: You saw OMega -- it was full of thugs kicking the helpless. I formed my team to kick back. We weren’t mercenaries. At least, nobody was paying us. We made money by taking down slavers, pirates, or gangs that went too far.

Shepard: Doesn’t sound like you made any friends with the gangs.

Garrus: I got three separate merc bands to work together to take me down. My manager at C-Sec would be impressed. It was simple. We’d hit their shipments, disrupt activities. Get under their skin. Make them angry. They’d come charging right into our well-prepared killzone. Crossfire and snipers, clean and surgical. They never stood a chance.

Shepard: Sounds like you were just another gang.

Garrus: Then I’m saying it wrong. We didn’t shake anyone down. No civilian casualties. That was our rule. Every member of my team had lost someone to Omega’s gangs. We weren’t out to get rich. We were out to make thos bastards think twice before murdering someone in the street.

garrus was going cowboy cop toward the end of me1, where we tracked down someone that wasn’t arrested and dealt with in a manner of his liking... but he seems to have taken a step back once the grudge was dealt with and figured out a way to carry on dispensing justice in a manner that wasn’t just going out for revenge. kinda. sure, his team all had grudges against the gangs of omega, but... they probably weren’t the only ones. not that violence for violence’s sake is acceptable, but i can see his reasoning well enough. make the gangs unable to function, pick off the main players, and there’s less problems to deal with on omega.

... he is forgetting that at the top of the chain is aria, though, and in a power vacuum in gang-controlled space it’s likely that someone else would have stepped in without too much fuss and carried on what the main three gangs were doing in the first place, though.

Shepard: Tell me about your squad.

Garrus: There were 12 of us, including me. Former military operatives, C-Sec agents, the usual. Had a salarian explosives expert. Pretty sure he’d spent time in the STG. My tech expert was a batarian, believe it or not. Not the friendliest guy, but he could hack any system ever built.

Shepard: How’d you end up fighting mercenaries on Omega in the first place?

Garrus: I trained to become a Spectre after the Normandy was destroyed, but it didn’t work out. Too much politicking at the Citadel. Nobody was willing to take risks. Omega was filled with criminals nobody else could touch, and there was no red tape to slow me down. It was a perfect fit. People here needed someone to believe in. Someone to stand up to the local thugs.

Shepard: That explains how you started. How’d you end up with a squad?

Garrus: Not too different from how you formed your squad to fight Saren, actually. You prove that you get things done, and people join up. Mercs who wanted to aton. Security consultants tired of playing by the rules. I gave them hope.

Garrus: And now they’re dead. Shows what I know.

Shepard: I’m not sure I understand. What happened?

Garrus: Sidonis asked for my help on a job. When I got to the meeting point, nobody was there. By the time I got back to our hideout, the mercs had killed all but two of my squad. And they didn’t last long.

Shepard: Are you sure it was a betrayal? Maybe they took Sidonis out first.

Garrus: No. I’ve put out feelers with some old contacts. He booked transport off Omega just before the attack. He also cleared out his private accounts before he left. He sold me out and ran.

Shepard: Know where he is now?

Garrus: No, his trail vanished after he leaves Omega. But I’ll keep hunting.

garrus’ evolution from wanting to find and kill dr saleon to wanting to find and kill sidonis is... really not that far of a stretch, actually. he’s a very emotional character, despite what we’re told about turians - that they’re militaristic and follow rules rigidly. his desire to do what’s right drives him as a turian, sure, but under it all there’s a sense of morals that’s completely unwavering. saleon was a bad person not just because of his illegal operations, but because what he was doing ran so counterpoint to what garrus considers moral and correct that the only way to deal with him, in his eyes, was to find him and put him down to keep him from doing it more (since the authorities were clearly no help). and it’s the same here - whatever sidonis’ reasons for his actions, garrus only sees one path before him.

it’s realistic, and it’s dangerous. who watches the watchmen, indeed - at what point does garrus realise that this is how he deals with what he deems immoral? when does death for death cross the line?

naturally, garrus’ loyalty mission is all about sidonis and the typing up of loose ends, so we’ll be coming back to this later on.